The Holy Woman (30 page)

T
HE PLANE RESOUNDED
with the chanting of the
hajj
salutations,
Talbiya
, by devoted pilgrims.

‘Here I am, O Allah, here I am in Your presence! You have no partner, here I am! You alone deserve all praise and gratitude! You alone can bestow favours and
blessings
. Sovereignty is Yours and You have no partner,’ Zarri Bano happily translated to her sister as they sat together on one side of the aisle and Sikander, Habib and Shahzada sat on the other side.

It was a spectacular sight with the plane full of pilgrims, dressed in their special loose white
hajj
robes, all chanting enthusiastically: ‘Here I come, oh Allah’, and heading for the house of God, the holy
Al Kaba
, in Saudi Arabia in Mecca Sharif. One pilgrim stood near the cockpit of the plane, and using the plane’s intercom system led the chanting for their pilgrimage.

‘Have I got the words right, Zarri Bano?’ Ruby asked anxiously. She had learned the
Talbiya
by heart at home, but now in the excitement of the journey she seemed to have jumbled all the words yet again, and had to keep on glancing at the small guidebook.

‘Yes you have, darling.’ Zarri Bano smiled
indulgently
at her younger sister. An expression of pure joy lit her face all of a sudden. ‘Isn’t it exciting? I cannot wait to get to Mecca. People from the four corners of the world are converging onto Saudi Arabia. Dressed like this, Ruby, you too look like a devout, religious woman!’

Zarri Bano’s eyes slid over the white robe covering her sister’s whole body from her head to her feet. Ruby was very uncomfortable in the cumbersome clothes and head covering, but there was nothing she could do about it. All the other women were dressed in a similar fashion. Her hair, like theirs was tied back and hidden under the head covering, for it was wrong to let even one wisp of hair be seen, or for a single hair to fall in the Holy Mosque, the
Al Kaba
. ‘Even one hair littering the Holy Mosque would be a desecration of the highest sort, so be very careful,’ Zarri Bano had drummed into Ruby, frightening her at first, until she saw the amused expression on her older sister’s face.

Ruby hoped she could keep up with everybody in the prayer sequences, which they all seemed to know by heart and which she was trying to learn. She caught her husband looking at her. He was smiling and also chanting the
Talbiya
whole-heartedly.

‘Allah must be very busy listening to everybody’s prayers today at the holy site of Arafat in Saudi Arabia,’ Ruby chuckled to herself. ‘When all the pilgrims come from every corner of the world …’

The stars shone brightly in the night sky over the small town of Muzdalifah, a few kilometres away from the holy site of Arafat in Saudi Arabia. Like their million fellow pilgrims, Zarri Bano and her family had offered a special afternoon prayers at Arafat and had become
kjajjis
. Following in the footsteps of their Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), they were duty bound to spend a night in Muzdalifah.

Lying on her jute sleeping mat, purchased in Jeddah, Zarri Bano stared up at the sky above them with its
stars winking down at them, acknowledging their holy presence in the small town.

‘This is what
hajj
is all about, my dear Ruby!’ A trace of excitement still bubbled in her voice. It had been a very eventful day. She turned to face her sister,
half-asleep
on another mat, only a foot away. ‘Have you ever spent a night like this in your life? I know I haven’t. My bones ache, but my heart feels joyous and is still throbbing with the excitement. Look at the stars above, Ruby, they are greeting us and saying “Salaam. You are a
hajen
now.” Can you imagine, how on this very spot, over the centuries, every year, thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world have slept here? For one day each year, this place becomes the centre of the universe. Are you listening, Ruby?’ Zarri Bano raised her head to look at her sister.

‘Hmm, I am,’ the other girl replied, yawning. ‘You are right, this
is
a unique occasion. I am so glad we came. I don’t even mind the small pebbles digging into my back through my mat. You had better try to get some sleep, Zarri Bano. We have a very busy day ahead of us in Minah tomorrow. Look, I can hear Mother and Father snoring soundly, although Sikander Sahib is still tossing and turning.’

‘I bet the pebbles are digging into
his
ribcage!’ Zarri Bano joked. ‘Do you remember we have to collect seventy-two pebbles for the “Devil’s”
shaitan
site? So these under your mat and your husband’s will come in handy!’

When Zarri Bano turned on her other side, she came face to face with a hefty young Nigerian woman saying her late night-time prayers, only a few paces away. The woman’s husband was sitting near by, loudly reciting
surahs
from the Holy Quran. Zarri Bano closed her eyes,
totally content to share the moment with people from all over the world. Knowing she would never forget this night.

By the time Ruby got up, her sister had already read three chapters from the Holy Quran. She stood up,
feeling
embarrassed. Everybody was saying their prayers. She felt as if she had been sleeping in the middle of a mosque amidst strangers. Queues for the public toilets and ablution places grew longer. Makeshift taps had been installed wherever possible every few yards for the benefit of the pilgrims. Stalls were already set up for breakfast.

By six o’ clock in the morning, the sun had risen and everybody was up. Soon after breakfast, gathering their belongings together, the pilgrims all headed back towards Minah, and their tents.

Ahead of them lay the third important day of
hajj
, to be spent on the open plain of Minah in their tents. It was a day to be celebrated by Muslims everywhere – culminating in
Eid-al-Adha,
the second most
important
festival.

‘On this day, centuries earlier,’ Zarri Bano explained to Ruby, ‘Prophet Ibrahim turned his back on three consecutive occasions and spat on the
shaitan
, the Devil. In his footsteps we are to throw pebbles at the marked spot, to show our rejection of him. The
shaitan
had tried to dissuade Prophet Ibrahim from sacrificing his son Ismail.’

Reaching their tents by late morning, Zarri Bano, Ruby and Shahzada were told to take a rest by Habib, while he and Sikander, went to arrange the next holy ritual, the animal sacrifices, in the makeshift abattoirs nearby. By late afternoon, trays of meat began to arrive.
All pilgrims were duty-bound to distribute a portion of it to their neighbours, to eat a certain portion
themselves
and give the remainder to the Saudi government officials, for it to be frozen and sent to needy families all over the world.

After their ceremonial baths and change of clothing, the women cut off strands of their hair. The men either shaved or cut a portion of their hair, as a sign of
humility
and spiritual rebirth.

After dinner, Zarri Bano decided to take a walk around the plain of Minah with Ruby. They walked amongst the rows of tents, sheltering the pilgrims from the afternoon sun. People were roaming everywhere. Zarri Bano couldn’t believe her eyes when by chance she happened to spot Pakinaz and Ibrahim Musa, walking straight towards them. They, too, were just as amazed and delighted as she was.

‘Assalam-Alaikum,
Pakinaz and Brother Musa. What a lovely surprise! You are performing
hajj
this year as well? I can’t believe it!’ she said in English.

‘Yes, I cannot believe it either. Our parents are with us – wait until they find out that you are here as well!’ Pakinaz hugged Zarri Bano, kissing her fondly on both her cheeks. Zarri Bano looked at Pakinaz’s white veiled figure with amusement. ‘Strange we didn’t bump into you earlier anywhere else,’ Pakinaz then commented.

‘My family is here too,’ Zarri Bano told her. ‘This is my sister Ruby.’

Greeting Ruby, Ibrahim inclined his dark head towards her.

Zarri Bano explained to her sister, in Urdu, who these people were and how she had stayed with them in Egypt.

‘Oh, how nice. Let’s take them to meet the rest of the family,’ Ruby urged excitedly.

‘What a good idea.’ Zarri Bano turned to her family. ‘Would you like to meet my parents? They are in that large tent, with a green star on top – that is our symbol.’

‘Yes, we would like that very much,’ Pakinaz replied warmly.

Habib and Shahzada were delighted to meet the Egyptian brother and sister who had made their daughter so welcome in Cairo. After some refreshments and conversation, Ibrahim stood up to leave excusing himself. Zarri Bano decided to go with him to visit his parents.

‘Are you coming too, Pakinaz?’ Zarri Bano enquired. Her eyes, for some reason, had drifted towards Sikander. He had remained totally silent during their visitors’ stay.

‘I will follow you in a minute, Sister Zarri Bano. Just let me finish my drink.’

‘OK.’ Zarri Bano left the tent and followed Ibrahim Musa.

Pakinaz drained her cup then looked around and smiled at the four people in the tent.

‘I had better get going too,’ she said shyly. ‘It’s lovely to meet you all and to see Zarri Bano again. We missed her dreadfully when she left Cairo. My family really took to her presence. We all did, including my brother Ibrahim. Did she tell you that he asked her to marry him …’

‘And what did she say?’ Sikander asked sharply, speaking for the first time, his body coiled like a spring all of a sudden. Ruby turned to look at her husband, her eyes on his face.

‘What is she saying, Sikander dear? I cannot
understand a word. Don’t keep me and your
father-in
-law in the dark.’ Shahzada looked from Pakinaz’s innocent face to Sikander’s brooding expression.

‘She says, Mother, that the man who has just left the tent wanted to marry your princess of worship, your
Shahzadi Ibadat
,’ Ruby told her parents.

Habib and Shahzada stared at one another in surprise.

‘But she cannot, she is a Holy Woman,’ Shahzada voiced, smiling awkwardly at their Egyptian guest. ‘Ruby, please ask our visitor what Zarri Bano said when this Ibrahim proposed to her.’

Ruby translated her mother’s request into English and addressed Pakinaz.

‘Oh, she refused him,’ the girl said easily. ‘We were all very sad. We had all wanted Zarri Bano to marry our Ibrahim. My brother took it very badly. He liked her very much and probably still does,’ Pakinaz ended.

‘Did Zarri Bano tell your brother,’ Sikander directly addressed Pakinaz in English, ‘that she is a Holy Woman and has renounced marriage?’

Ruby was surprised by the hostility she glimpsed in her husband’s grey eyes.

‘Yes, Zarri Bano did tell us but we didn’t believe her,’ the girl answered pleasantly. ‘We were very
disappointed
. Sadly my brother is still single. We are trying our very best to get him engaged. This year we have almost succeeded!’ Pakinaz stopped as she saw Sikander stand up and march out of the tent.

Outside the tent, Sikander stretched his leg muscles which were stiff. He was wearing a long white cotton Arab robe similar to those worn by thousands of other pilgrims.

People were walking in all directions around the
tents. Sikander scanned the scene in front of him until his eyes fell on Zarri Bano’s dark veiled head. She was standing just a few yards away, near a rock, talking to the tall bearded Egyptian in Arabic.

Sikander’s grey eyes glinted coldly in the sunshine. The Egyptian had said that he was going to take her to meet his parents, yet here they both were having a cosy
tête-à-tête
. Even in profile Sikander could see that Zarri Bano’s lips were curved into a smile as she chatted to her friend. The Egyptian was looking down at her and smiling. From where Sikander stood, their exchange had all the trappings of a very intimate scene between a man and a woman.

Jealous rage burst through his body. His mouth in a tight line, Sikander strode angrily up to Zarri Bano’s side. His tall shadow fell ominously across the pair in the hot afternoon sun.

Zarri Bano turned, the smile still hovering on her lips and her dimple clearly visible, Sikander noted bitterly. Ibrahim Musa also turned, reading instantly the look in Sikander’s eyes and recognising the raw male energy behind the clear message: Keep Off. Ibrahim cast a questioning glance at Zarri Bano.

The smile deserted Zarri Bano’s flushed cheeks. In front of her stood two men, both of whom had once proposed marriage to her. She had never anticipated seeing them together in one place and at the same time. Her dimple disappeared. She looked from one man’s face to the other, before mentally distancing herself from both. The look in Sikander’s eyes made her feel guilty, all of a sudden – as if she had done something wrong. He had somehow sullied the pleasant moment with his presence and the accusing look in his eyes. The urge to explain herself grew strong.

‘Brother Ibrahim,’ she blurted out in English,
deliberately
laying the emphasis on the word
Brother
, so that both men noted her use of it and knew where they stood, ‘Brother Ibrahim was just telling me that he is getting engaged to Selima when he returns to Egypt. I have met Selima, she is a very nice woman. I was
congratulating
him.’

‘Congratulations, Brother Musa.
Mubarak
.’ Sikander politely extended his hand to Ibrahim, his eyes still cool although his words tried to express warmth.

‘Thank you. Shall we go to our tent? It is just over there. Would you like to join us, Brother Sikander?’ Ibrahim Musa politely suggested, leading the way.

Sikander joined them, albeit reluctantly, and was introduced to Ibrahim’s family. They stayed there for nearly two hours. In that time Pakinaz had joined them. They talked about Egypt and the time they had spent together. Not saying much, Sikander listened politely, sitting beside Zarri Bano on the floor cushions in the tent. To the rest of the group, he distinctly gave the impression that he was Zarri Bano’s
mehram
, her male escort.