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

SubhanAllah

Every time when I'm awake
All things that I see
I know it's hard to believe
But it's from the Almighty
When the leaves fall from the tree
Every plant that grows on land
When the waves flow in the sea
It's by His command

To Allah do I return
Paradise is what I'll earn
If I work hard and pray
To my Lord every day
So Allah give me the strength
Show me the way the Prophet went
Let me hold tight to Your rope,
Without Islam there is no hope

Ya Allah I thank You
For my clothes and my food
As I live throughout this test
I'll remember I've been blessed
Ya Allah hear my dua
Please help your ummah
So that we can all unite
And praise You day and night
("SubhanAllah" by Kamal Uddin).

There's a knock on the door. I open my heavy eyelids and blink rapidly, trying to wake up. I sit halfway up on the bed.
"What happened?"
"It's time to eat." Mama opens the door. "You fell asleep on the odd night."
"I..." I sit fully straight, then pop out of bed when the full meaning of her statement hits me. "I fell asleep?!"
"You looked so peaceful when you slept, I didn't disturb you. Besides, it was late. Now come and join us for the pre-dawn meal." She opens the door wide and walks away towards the dining room.
I look back at the bed, disbelieving. The sheets are wrinkled just as they always are after I've slept on them. There's a book lying on the pillow. I try to remember. I remember sitting down on the bed, propped up with a pillow, and slipping lower and lower as I progressed into the book. I go and look closely at exactly which book it was that I fell asleep reading on an odd night.
"Taste it! How to taste the true beauty of Salah", it says. Oh, I remember now. I was done with Quran recitation and taraweeh prayer in my room, and had decided to read the book before praying any more, so that I could feel the difference in my prayer. I have read it before, and I'll read it again. Too bad I was so sleepy that I couldn't implement what I'd been reading straight away.
Wait. There's a way I can do that! I can pray tahajjud right now!
I roll out the prayer mat and make two units of prayer. The wording of the book runs through my mind. I find myself reciting at a calmer pace than I usually do. My thoughts do run here and there at times, but then I recite the next part of prayer, and try to remember what the book said about it, and feel it while I'm recalling it.
I complete the prayer and raise my hands in supplication.
Footsteps sound along the hallway, coming towards my door.
"Inaya!" I look up at the sound of Leena's voice. She thrusts a mug of milk at me. "Drink this up right now or you'll have to keep this fast on an empty stomach!"
"Oops," I say, reaching for the mug.
"No time for sound effects," Leena says. "Drink!"
I gulp down the milk, then after a pause, release a burp.
"Sorry," I say, embarrassed.
"You should have taken it slowly, in three breaths," Leena says. "That's Sunnah."
"Oh, yes." I shake my head. "Sunnah." I lower the mug of milk to the floor. "There's so much to concentrate on. Prayer. Supplication. Sunnah. Not to mention everything else. It's impossible to keep it all up at the same time!"
"Brush your teeth," Leena says, pulling me up.
"Yes, that too," I say.
"No, I mean, come on and brush your teeth and pray the dawn prayer!" Leena shakes her head at me.
"Yes, yes. But you ignored what I said."
"After prayer!" Leena calls out as she walks ahead.
After prayer, I go into her room.
"Leena!" I say in a horrified voice.
"Yes, Inaya?" Leena says calmly.
"I forgot to drink coffee! Why did you bring me milk? You should have brought me coffee!"
"Don't cry about it," Leena says. "It slipped my mind. Besides, one mug of coffee swirling around in an empty stomach would do you no good."
"I want to cry about it. How am I going to go all day without coffee?"
"Sleep on it." Leena smiles at me.
"No, seriously." I frown at her.
"Yes, seriously. Sleep on it! Don't you want me to talk about what you said earlier?"
"What did I say earlier?"
"That how can you keep up everything at the same time."
"What about it?"
"You focus more on your inner feelings. Your inner spiritual state. You do worship to build up your inner spirituality and in turn your inner spirituality improves the quality of your worship." Looking at me frown thoughtfully, she continues, "It's about mindfulness, you know? Being aware of Allah as often as possible. That's what you call 'taqwa'."
"Taqwa..." I put my head in my hands, thinking.
"Oh, you. Go to sleep, sleepyhead."
"I'm not sleeping. But now that you mention it, I should get some sleep. Talk to you later." I get up and head towards my room.
"Inaya, wait! You forgot something." Leena comes after me.
"What could I forget?"
"It's almost break time for you, remember?"
Break time? Oh, no...
***
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