The Journey Had Already Begun!

Blur. Making decisions felt like a blur. The sense of time was a blur. Hours passed lying in bed, fiddling with my credit-less Nokia phone, hoping the home phone would ring and a friend would call me over. Was it real? Was I progressing? Was it meaningful?

Mum was so efficient. She never let me down. Only a few times was I asked to do any house chores, if at all. Dad, back from work—dinner was served. So peaceful. Dinner, or as we called it, lunchdin. We all sat—five siblings, Mum, and Dad. We didn’t bicker; plenty of that happened in whispered bedroom talks.

Writing this paragraph made it all make sense. Mum was so strong; it’s like she knew having a lunchdin as a family was the secret ingredient to a wholesome meal—the ingredient to a wholesome upbringing.

That blur was me, but the lens was Mum. She controlled the focus, holding our hands and walking us back into the picture frame. Landscape. It wasn’t portrait or self-centred; it was landscape. The whole family had to fit in, and we all had sharp focus. Every detail mattered—even when no ‘other’ was there. Lunchdin was served, birthdays were celebrated, gifts wrapped, and clothes ironed.

The journey towards Allah (s.w.t) had already begun. Mum started the engine.