It was one of those days… dull, grey and gloomy. The skies were threatening to repeat last night’s ‘explosive fireworks’. Adding to the nerve racking shivers and quivers, a chilly breeze roared in from over the dark and dim mountains perched on the northern edge of town.

She shuddered and trembled wishing that she had just sheltered indoors, cuddled, curled and coiled up in front of the old iron fireplace. It was definitely a warmer and a more cosy option to stay there huddled in blankets in front of the roaring flames. Ah, but one more stroll in the garden before the rains, and perhaps snow later that week, would maybe ease the pain.

That wasn’t a very good move. But she had decided, and she walked towards the koi-fish-pond. Maybe the beautiful colours of those thinly-finned creatures might brighten up her gloomy day. She climbed onto the concrete bridge. It had cost her father a fortune but it was beautiful. Red brick paving, cast iron balustrades and a beautiful bench to feed the birds.

She clasped the railing, looked at the water and gasped. Her reflection took her down memory lane… The masked man and the butt of his ugly gun smashing down on her face. The cries and screams of her father, as they beat him up yelling and yelping for “more and more” money, rang in her ears. As though this wasn’t gruesome enough, images of her mother pleading for mercy, only to be bashed by the heavily moustached grim-faced thug, just kept on flashing in her mind.

Her swollen face and the ugly scars were enough for her to re-live those horrible and horrifying moments.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” said the counsellor. “Focus on the positive.”

“Yes, but I can’t help it,” she thought to herself, running her finger gingerly over her swollen forehead.

The scandalous criminals were definitely behind bars but they tattooed their scars on the very fibre of her life. They haunted her dreams at night, and the sight of those terrible scars rudely reminded her of that grisly, ghastly and fateful day.

Oops, just as scars have their own ‘flashbacks’, so do ominous evils and sins; they too leave in their wake, remorse, regret and embarrassment… and a stinking stigma for years to come!

The sin may be forgiven by Allah Ta‘ala and the sinner may have turned over a new leaf and abandoned the vice. However, people forgive, but few forget.

These scars in her case were indeed unavoidable, but yes, the scars of transgressions and sins are most definitely avoidable.

How foolish for us, the rightly-guided, to ‘mess up’ the gift of life, ‘scar’ our untainted respect and ‘demolish’ our bright future! All this merely to enjoy some moments of ‘cooling off’ at the wrong places or chatting with and texting the wrong ‘guys’ (non-mahram males). What a terrible price to pay for a few moments of ‘fun’!

It would really be a shattering experience when we finally ‘secure’ our ‘Mr. Perfect’, with sweet dreams of the future, and everything set for us in life, when suddenly he calls it off after discovering: “She’s chatting with my friends on BBM”!

When Sayyidah Maryam (‘alaihas salaam) miraculously conceived without the biological means of a father, she was totally bewildered. It was no fault of hers. A great sign of Allah Ta‘ala was being manifested through her. But, is there anyone to grasp this miraculous event? Who will believe her that she was clean and innocent! Ah, she bemused: “… It might have been better, if I’d have died (rather than lived with the stigma of ‘sin’)”!  

When giving birth to this marvel and wonder, she exclaimed, “If only I would have died before this, or would have never existed.” (Surah Maryam v23)

Chatting on social media with the boys… ain’t it fun?

Nay… when the perfect-prospective finds out, he will definitely run.

What about a little tweet to the ‘guys’… will it matter?

The consequence is not sweet, rather bitter.

And Facebook… think that’s ‘cool’?

But when it boomerangs… your tears will fill a pool.

Be wise and think long term! Not only the long term of this world, rather the everlasting term of the Hereafter.