Our Space

Chapter 14

Sami no longer felt nervous answering this question about his family. He'd prepared answers which would avoid confessing his reality so early on. Usually, parents were satisfied by his answers.

"My father works abroad and my mother... She and sister... I mean, my sister... don't live in London," He felt the stutter was improving but of course, when the topic made him feel uncomfortable, he had to make a fool out of himself.

"But your accent's not so different from ours. Where did you grow up?" Radia asked. I can imagine listening to that voice all day, Sami thought to himself. It was a unique and calming voice.

"It's not so far from London. Takes a couple of hours by car. I take the train and bus. Takes me about... about three hours."

"Do you plan on moving back?" Uncle Irfan asked and Sami shook his head.

"I have my own flat. In London." Sami suspected he saw Radia nudge her father. His suspicion was confirmed when the father and daughter shared a smile.

"Good. I don't want my daughter too far from us," he admitted. Sami saw Radia look down, her cheeks flushing as she nudged her father again. "What?" He asked, turning towards her.

"You weren't supposed to say that," she said, barely above a whisper. Sami fought back a smile at Radia's embarrassment. He looked between the two communicating in a secretive manner and his heart warmed at the sight. So far, he'd only found good qualities in this girl and among them was her relationship with her father. Sami believed that a woman who valued her current relations would make a good wife.

"Moving on from that, Radia's asking if you have any questions for her."

"I could have asked that myself," Radia said and Sami could hear the teasing in her tone.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to leave?" Uncle Irfan asked.

"Dad!" Radia exclaimed, outrage and amusement mixed in her tone. Sami let out a little laugh.

"I guess I'll ask... I'll just go into one of, if not... the most important topic. What are your opinions about Islam?

"I guess we'll have to classify ourselves as Sunni(1) and I don't want to label myself anything further than that. I, personally, like to keep it simple, taking benefit from where I can. But I hold scholars in high regard. One of my favourite scholars to read about is al-Ghazali. He's so well rounded in his work. I mean, his work has Philosophy, though he writes against Philosophers, but he's got fiqh(2) and some Sufism(3) and it's all very interesting," Radia said, almost zoning out for a moment. It was clear to Sami that Radia held a passion in this field. "What about you?"

"I er... I agree. I like to keep things simple too. I don't like division in the Ummah. Lately, my interests... what I'm fascinated with is the Qur'an. I went to a class and we spent hours studying Surah al-Fatiha(4). The Qur'an is just..." Sami tried to think of words to describe it.

"So much packed into it. You can never stop studying the Qur'an. Every little thing means something!" Radia added, her eyes lighting up as she spoke about this.

"Exactly. Nothing can compare."

"The more you study the Qur'an, the truer that statement becomes."

"Yes, you're right," Sami said, feeling a little more relaxed as the conversation flowed easily. His stuttering decreased as they discussed the Qur'an and went on to talk about hadith and the Seerah(5) of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Sami couldn't recall such an interesting conversation in a marriage meeting before. He knew most girls didn't speak because they were shy, and he admired that quality. Though Radia was having a conversation with him, he knew she was shy too. He noticed how she'd constantly look towards her father for approval while speaking and she'd try to get him to join in too. He noticed how she kept balling her fists and he found it cute how she was constantly fighting a smile.