“My dear, what are we to do?” asked Abu to his wife, Fatima.
“Why what happened?”
“I told you remember, the Madrasa Imam asked for something for the relief of those affected by the last draught.”
“Why not give it out of the last prize that you received from the Caliph?”
“Don’t you remember? Ali already took it from me, for the loan my father took from his father.”
“I was about to ask you, how much are you going to pay?”
“Believe me, even if I told you, you won’t understand.”
“Okay what are you going to do?”
At that very moment, the village announcer came to the town square.
“This announcement is to bring light to the new decree, if one spouse dies before the other, he/she is entitled to a respectable pay as insurance for the rest of their lives.”
“That’s it!” shouted Abu.
“I knew I should never have let you out in that sun. My dear husband has gone crazy.”
“No, no. Hear my plan out.”
A little while later, just outside of the palace of the Caliph’s wife.
“Begum Calpiha, Begum Calipha….” Cried Fatima.
“What’s going on here? Why Fatima, wife of the great poet, Abu Salim. Why are you crying, my dear friend?”
“My husband… My husband…”
“What did he do to you? Did he beat you? I’ll have him whipped. Guards!”
“No, no. He just went to the abode of Allah! I didn’t know what else to do. There is not enough money to do the last rites.”
“Fear not. By the decree of my new husband…”
“Begum….? Hmmm.” whispered her maid.
“Oh sorry. By the new decree of my husband, I confer upon you the payment that is sufficient enough for you to live a long and prosperous life.”
“Thank you, Begum.”
As a happy Fatima went back home with the money jingling in the purse around her waist, a hand came around and snatched it.
“How dare you!” shouted Fatima.
“That is sufficient enough to cover this month’s interest of your late husband’s loan!” shouted Ali.
“How did you know that he died? And please give me back the money, I need it for his last rites. And how do you expect me to survive without money?” Cried Fatima.
“Well, If you want to have a more prosperous life that you enjoyed with Abu, why not consider marrying me?” blushed Ali.
“What did you say?” shouted Fatima.
“I will forget about his loans”
“Couldn’t you have started with that? Tear the document in front of me tonight at my home, and I might just consider.”
“I will my beautiful Fatima.”
“By the way, how did you know about the demise of my husband?”
“I have spies in the Caliph’s palace”
“Why?”
“I plan usurp his throne and power.”
“So, you are saying I would be the new Begum?”
“You will, my beautiful mayflower.”
After reaching her home,
“Abu. Abu. You won’t believe what just happened.”
After a long and tiresome flashback,
“Great. We can now kill two birds with one stone. You will now try and brainwash Ali into tearing up the document while I make a visit to the Caliph.”
Later at the Caliph’s palace,
“Your Excellency. Your Excellency!”
“What is my dear Abu?”
“My wife just died!”
“How?”
“The Madrasa Imam just called her as an illiterate and she literally died out of shame.”
“Why that imp? I shall have him beheaded.”
“Please leave him, Sire. He is important for the education of young children.”
“I found your character to be valiant even at this very sad state. Please accept these gold coins as my token and as compensation for your dead wife.”
“Thank you, Sire.”
After Abu left,
“How dare that Imam speak of such things? What if he calls me the same thing he called Fatima, just because I never even went to the Madrasa to stay clear of rains!”
At that moment,
“As-salamu alaykum, Calpih. The Imam wishes for an audience.”
“Tell him that I do not wish to meet him ever and if he shows his face at my palace’s footsteps again, I shall have him boiled in hot oil!”
“The Calipha also has ordered….”
The Caliph whispered, “Hmmm.”
“Sorry, your excellency. The Begum wishes your presence at her private gardens immediately.”
“Indeed, I shall!”
Later at Abu’s home,
“Success! My dear husband, I have successfully persuaded Ali to tear of the document!”
“Me too, my dear. I have brought the money to give the Imam!”
At that very moment,
“It’s the royal precession! The Caliph and the Begum are coming this way!” shouted Fatima as she peeped through the door.
“Quick, lie down dead!”
The royal guards broke the door to enter,
“Your Highness, both the spouses are without breath!”
The Begum went to the lifeless corpse and her husband went to Abu’s and both of them took the lifeless bodies and kept them in their laps.
The Caliph announced,
“My dear Abu. Even after I gave you the money, you decided to join the footsteps of Allah after your wife. Woe is mine!”
The Begum intervened,
“My dear husband, I think you have got it reversed! Fatima joined her husband and not the other way around!”
“My dear begum, Abu got the money from me for her dead wife, see. It was him who died first!”
“That was the money I gave to Fatima after Abu died!”
After a few minutes of a tensed conversation,
“I will give ten thousand golden coins to the one who will tell me which of these two died first!”
An excited Abu rose and announced,
“I died first!”
“Abu, you are alive? How dare you trick me?”
“I will tell you why my husband did it, O Caliph!” said the faithful Fatima as she sprung up after hearing the Caliph’s uproar.
Later outside,
“Ali. Ali. You will never believe what just transpired!” said Ali’s spy in the Palace!
“Excellent! I shall put the cherry on top of the cake to make sure that cheat Abu is beheaded and his wife is mine!”
Ali started running towards Abu’s home, and told to the Caliph,
“Your Highness. This Abu has cheated me……..”
After a long speech
“…… So, I ask you to give him a fitting punishment and his wife’s hand in marriage against his loan!”
“Yes. I shall give him the punishment he deserves! He shall be locked……”
“I think he should be beheaded instead!” said Ali.
“…locked inside my heart forever. And you too shall be locked inside the prison for uprising against me and for putting your horrid eyes on another man’s wife!”
As the guards dragged Ali out of the Abu’s home,
The Caliph asked his friend, “Now tell me. Why did you trick me?”
Abu replied, “It’s all for a good cause!”
An extract from the pen of the author of ‘‘The Ashes of the Prey”, who believes that Muslims are good humans too and not all are indulged in bad activities. I suggest to everyone out there to change their mentality about muslims.
Kudos,
Karthik Sreeram Kannan.