I’m now determined. I’m telling him now. I’m going to tell him now. And in the name of Allah I uttered “Sorry, I am about to perform my prayers. Just if you wonder what am I doing”. Then he promptly responded, “Oh it's fine, it's fine" while patting my right arm with his left hand. We exchanged smiles while I glanced at his wife who was leaning against the window with the Malaysian Airlines' feather-stuffed pillow under her head, eyes shut. Phew, what a relief. What a waste of time letting the pessimism engulfing my mind all along.
As I finished praying I sat back, put on the headphone once again and browsed for any interesting stuff to watch or listen to on the screen. I went to the games section to have a look if there's any other passenger online whom I could compete with in whatever board game. Clicked chess. None. Clicked another board game. None. Maybe these people in this aircraft were not interested in online games, or perhaps I got them at the wrong hour. I was busy getting myself used to the remote when I suddenly noticed the man next to me bending forward looking at me with gestures as if he wanted to tell or ask me something.
I quickly took the headphone off my head and voiced, "Sorry?" He curiously asked; "You pray seven times a day is it?". I was surprised to hear that, never heard such a thing before. Now that while I'm typing this I tried to recall the Isra' Mikraj extraordinary story that I read in Raheeb Makhtum book [The lifetime story of Prophet Muhammad pbuh]; as Isra' Mikraj was the time when the performance of prayers a.k.a. solat was first decreed. I never come across the number seven.
Well maybe it reached this man with the faulty of the words of mouth I would say. "No, it's five times a day", I answered. "But for a long journey like this, we could combine our prayers two in one to make it easier for us", I added while grasping for ideas on how could I deliver the message in a way best understood, to make it clear that Islam doesn't and wouldn't burden its devotees.
"Are you a christian?" I questioned. "Yes, I'm a christian". "Catholic or protestant?". "Protestant, no idols", he joked. I smiled, not sure why did I do so, not quite understand his context really. He told me that he had read a little on Islam, about Prophet Abraham whom also exists in his religious belief. "Yes, our religions have a lot in common", I uttered. Actually the chat on our religions didn't last that long for the fact that I lacked awareness on Prophet Abraham in Christianity. [Can anyone out there help me with this?] So now I have to admit the importance of having the knowledge of other religions apart from mine alone, although I have no doubt with my faith. It's merely for the purpose of explaining to non-moslems since sometimes people seek to compare than to try to comprehend.
Time had elapsed and at last the touchdown announcement was heard in the air.
Not long after that Heathrow Airport saw me again on my own trying to locate which terminal should I go to in order to take my third flight to Dublin. It took me some time to discover the correct terminal for that the airport looked different from how it used to be. Was it me who forgot or was it the airport's rapid development was to be blamed? Huhu, whatever.
I went directly to the Aer Lingus check in area and checked in using the machine there. I still had to go to the counter to ask for the status of my checked in baggage. Poorly they couldn't tell about it at that moment but they assured me that with the code of the bag that I had in my hand I could later check for it's status soon.
"Do you want an earlier flight?". "No thanks". "Are you sure?". "Urm, when will the earlier flight be?". "At 6.30pm". "How long does it take for me to get to the gate?" "About 25 minutes if you go straight to the gate. Do you want to do some shopping or something?". "No". "So I think it should be ok for you". My mind was twirling, thinking of the pros and cons of both choices. Should I grab the chance, tawakal to Allah and arrive earlier in Galway [well not too early, perhaps an hour before midnight, alone!] or should I let it go, securing my checked-in baggage considering the probability of being stuck in the worst case scenario [again] thus giving way for the troublesome experience to take place [again]. Certainly, the I-don't-want-to-remember-that-day-again-'cause-it'll-make-me-sick incident was just too hurtful to remember.
"Well...?" the Aer Lingus staff looked deep into my eyes, his eyebrows raised waiting for my decision. I realized the seconds that I've stolen from him and thus...
As I finished praying I sat back, put on the headphone once again and browsed for any interesting stuff to watch or listen to on the screen. I went to the games section to have a look if there's any other passenger online whom I could compete with in whatever board game. Clicked chess. None. Clicked another board game. None. Maybe these people in this aircraft were not interested in online games, or perhaps I got them at the wrong hour. I was busy getting myself used to the remote when I suddenly noticed the man next to me bending forward looking at me with gestures as if he wanted to tell or ask me something.
I quickly took the headphone off my head and voiced, "Sorry?" He curiously asked; "You pray seven times a day is it?". I was surprised to hear that, never heard such a thing before. Now that while I'm typing this I tried to recall the Isra' Mikraj extraordinary story that I read in Raheeb Makhtum book [The lifetime story of Prophet Muhammad pbuh]; as Isra' Mikraj was the time when the performance of prayers a.k.a. solat was first decreed. I never come across the number seven.
Well maybe it reached this man with the faulty of the words of mouth I would say. "No, it's five times a day", I answered. "But for a long journey like this, we could combine our prayers two in one to make it easier for us", I added while grasping for ideas on how could I deliver the message in a way best understood, to make it clear that Islam doesn't and wouldn't burden its devotees.
"Are you a christian?" I questioned. "Yes, I'm a christian". "Catholic or protestant?". "Protestant, no idols", he joked. I smiled, not sure why did I do so, not quite understand his context really. He told me that he had read a little on Islam, about Prophet Abraham whom also exists in his religious belief. "Yes, our religions have a lot in common", I uttered. Actually the chat on our religions didn't last that long for the fact that I lacked awareness on Prophet Abraham in Christianity. [Can anyone out there help me with this?] So now I have to admit the importance of having the knowledge of other religions apart from mine alone, although I have no doubt with my faith. It's merely for the purpose of explaining to non-moslems since sometimes people seek to compare than to try to comprehend.
Time had elapsed and at last the touchdown announcement was heard in the air.
Not long after that Heathrow Airport saw me again on my own trying to locate which terminal should I go to in order to take my third flight to Dublin. It took me some time to discover the correct terminal for that the airport looked different from how it used to be. Was it me who forgot or was it the airport's rapid development was to be blamed? Huhu, whatever.I went directly to the Aer Lingus check in area and checked in using the machine there. I still had to go to the counter to ask for the status of my checked in baggage. Poorly they couldn't tell about it at that moment but they assured me that with the code of the bag that I had in my hand I could later check for it's status soon.
"Do you want an earlier flight?". "No thanks". "Are you sure?". "Urm, when will the earlier flight be?". "At 6.30pm". "How long does it take for me to get to the gate?" "About 25 minutes if you go straight to the gate. Do you want to do some shopping or something?". "No". "So I think it should be ok for you". My mind was twirling, thinking of the pros and cons of both choices. Should I grab the chance, tawakal to Allah and arrive earlier in Galway [well not too early, perhaps an hour before midnight, alone!] or should I let it go, securing my checked-in baggage considering the probability of being stuck in the worst case scenario [again] thus giving way for the troublesome experience to take place [again]. Certainly, the I-don't-want-to-remember-that-day-again-'cause-it'll-make-me-sick incident was just too hurtful to remember.
"Well...?" the Aer Lingus staff looked deep into my eyes, his eyebrows raised waiting for my decision. I realized the seconds that I've stolen from him and thus...
(To be cont'd)
A'laykum,
Thanks Sis Sahra for the 2nd part though it seems we are waiting for a 3rd part or even 4th or maybe 5th. I must say you are an excellent story teller with an impeccable English. Congrats! I hope you will complete the rest as soon as you can insya'Allah!
Ramadhan Karim,
Abdullah