Tricky Teen Girl: A Whisper of Peace [Ramadan Story]

Let Allah open doors in your brain

"I think..." I look at Leena and Jasir as they look expectantly back at me, waiting for my answer as to whether us sisters should let our brother Jasir into the Seerah listening session. "I think Jasir is in!"
"Yes!" Jasir punches the air in triumph. "I am 'in'! I am cool! I am the thing!"
"That's not what she meant," Leena says coolly. "She meant that you can participate in listening to the Seerah series."
"The what series?"
"Life of the Prophet (peace be upon him)."
"I'm already doing that for my Islamic Studies homework." Jasir's chin juts out in protest.
"Yeah, right," I say. "Rather, Mama's making notes from The Sealed Nectar for you to copy out."
"Same difference!"
"Anyway, you don't have to listen if you don't want to, but we're still going to play the audio, OK?" Leena pulls the laptop towards herself.
"No," Jasir whines. "I want to listen to Surah Rehman!" Leena and I look at each other, then at Jasir, then back at each other, while Jasir looks from Leena to me and back again. "What's so surprising?" he asks. "Can't I have a favorite Surah if I want?"
"Of course you can," Leena begins to say slowly, but then I interrupt her.
"Do you even understand it?" I say. I'm not a big Quran recitation listener and not understanding what's being said is the main reason.
Jasir shrugs. "I understand some words. Like 'Allah', 'Paradise', 'hoor'..." His voice trails off as I stifle a laugh. "What's so funny?"
"It's typical, you being a guy and identifying the word 'hoor'." I smirk.
Jasir gives me a look before looking away and continuing to speak. "Besides, I kind of, sort of know the first few ayahs by heart. I recite them in prayer now." He looks proud of himself. It is a few seconds before I realize that my mouth is hanging open. I haven't memorized a new ayah in--well, a while, let's just leave it at that. Here's Jasir saying he's not just auto-memorized by listening repeatedly, but put it into action in his prayer, too! Maybe my little brother isn't as unfocused as I thought.
"Wheeeeeee," Jasir makes a sound while striking a cool pose, all while lying flat on the bed. Leena gives him a playful push. He squirms and pushes her back, more roughly than playfully, but he knows she won't engage him in full-out wrestling like she used to when he was small.
I tap my foot. "Are we going to do something useful or not?"
"Depends on what you call useful." Surprisingly, it's Jasir who says this, not Leena. Leena seems as surprised as I am.
"What do you mean?" she says.
Jasir rolls over and sits up. "Maybe listening to Quran recitation when I don't understand it isn't useful, but maybe it is. Maybe watching Islamic reminders back to back for hours isn't useful, but maybe you pick up a point that sticks in your brain. Maybe making a cool fast-breaking meal is a lot of work, but maybe it counts as worship, too!" He slithers to the edge of the bed so that his feet touch the floor.
"Cut out all the 'maybes' and you make some good points," Leena says. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going to check Mama's progress in the kitchen," he says. "She'll be here with fruits and potatoes for you two to cut up any minute now. Then I'll have the laptop all to myself."
"You wish!"
"Dream on!"
Both Leena and I answer at the same time, then Leena adds more gently, "You know you're not supposed to use the laptop. You have the desktop."
"I lose everything every time the power goes out," Jasir says gloomily. "Whereas you two, with your laptop and your phones, can do anything."
"We only started 'doing anything' after Mama figured out how to put the wifi on the uninterrupted power supply, so the wifi doesn't go out when the power does," I correct him.
"Breakthrough in the Moin house," Leena says dramatically. "All day wifi!"
"No use when you can't Whatsapp your friend because her power is out and she doesn't have any wifi when that happens," I mumble.
"I heard that," Leena says.
"At least you have Whatsapp!" Jasir says loudly.
"Prep time!" Mama's voice arrives in the room before she does. "Girls, fruit salad. Jasir, nap time."
"Oh no," all three of us say in unison. We look at each other and burst out laughing.
"He's too old to have an official nap time," Leena finally stops laughing long enough to point this out.
"In Ramadan, he does, otherwise he drives us crazy counting down to fast-breaking time." Mama pulls Jasir up by the shoulder. "Come on, Jasir."
"But I was just starting to have fun," Jasir says.
"Lots of fun after fast-breaking," Mama says. "You're going with Papa to pray taraweeh."
"What?" Jasir's eyes widen. Leena looks jealous. I look relieved. Praying the night prayer in the masjid, while attractive to Leena, is a bit too challenging for me. I prefer praying it at home, in the comfort of my own room. It's a bit too much counting off units of prayer until I'm done and not enough spiritual engagement in prayer, though. I need to work on that.
"I have to, I have to--" Jasir springs from the bed and bolts out the door. "I have to wear good enough clothes for taraweeh!"
"After you're done napping," Mama calls out after him. Then she turns back to us. "Fruit salad!"
"Yes, Mama." Leena gets up, shutting the laptop. She follows Mama out the door.
"Inaya, come," Mama calls out.
"No chickening out of this," Leena adds.
"Who're you calling chicken?" I get up and speed after them.
"Speaking of chicken, come look after the frying chicken, Leena. Inaya can make all the fruit salad on her own," Mama says. I suppress a groan, remembering what Jasir said. I'll just have to intend all the fruit cutting to be worship, I guess!
***
Do you ever get stuck cutting up fruits and veggies for iftar?
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