Rukhsana Khan - Muslim Child

(CANADA)

W ake up, lazybones! Jamal sat up and rubbed his eyes. His sister Seema stood in the doorway. Didn't you hear Abi calling? It's time for Fajr.

Jamal glanced at the clock. Four-thirty in the morning.

As soon as Seema was gone, Jamal flopped back down. The mattress hugged his tired body, massaging his aching muscles. He felt so cozy. He wished he could bring the sink to his bed, make wudu and pray lying down.

Jamal, his father called, are you up?

Jamal bolted upright. Yes, Abi.

Pulling back the covers, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He took a deep stretch as a yawn passed through him. The pillow beckoned. He ignored it and tested the bare wood of the floor with his big toe. Snatching it back, he shivered.

He should just get up. The sooner he prayed, the sooner he could go back to sleep.

Seema was back. Get up right now, or I'm telling.

Abi: Arabic word for my father

Fajr: first prayer of the five daily prayers. It is offered before sunrise.

wudu: washing performed before prayer

Okay, okay. I'm up, he muttered under his breath. It's so hard being Muslim.

Seema heard him. I'm telling! You don't want to be Muslim!

I didn't say that! I just said it's hard, you know, getting up in the middle of the night to pray.

Seema sneered at him. Don't you know that prayer is a gift? God doesn't need your prayer, you do. With that, she left again.

If that were true, thought Jamal, why didn't he feel any better after he prayed? Was there something wrong with him?

Jamal made his way to the bathroom. Turning on the light, he staggered as it pierced his eyes. Groping around till he could see without squinting, he looked at the toilet. Naw! He didn't have to go. It would waste too much time.

Seema poked her head through the doorway. Too late he wished he'd shut the door. And don't forget to make wudu properly. Remember, prayer is the key to paradise, and wudu is the key to prayer.

Yeah, yeah. Get lost.

Seema turned red. I'm telling Abi

Okay, sorry. Now let me make wudu.

Seema started to say something, but changed her mind and left.

Jamal began wudu. He washed his hands three times. Rinsed his mouth three times. Cleaned his nostrils three times and washed his face three times and his arms up to the elbows, three times. Wetting his hands, he passed them over his hair and cleaned his ears, inside, outside and behind them.

Muslim: a Muslim follows the way of life called Islam. More than one-fifth of the world's people are Muslims.

Finally he heaved his right foot into the sink and washed between his toes and up to his ankle three times. Then he did his left foot.

Now he was ready to pray. He dried himself as best he could and went down to the living room. Seema was already praying her sunnah.

Standing solemnly on his prayer mat, he raised his hands to his ears and said, Allahu Akbar. God is Great. Then he crossed his arms over his chest.

Jamal kept his eyes down, reciting the Quranic verses carefully. The two sunnah rakaats went quickly. His sister had finished her prayers and was quietly saying her dhikr, her praise, the beads on her tasbih clicking as she counted them off.

Jamal began his fard, the more important prayer. He was halfway through when he had a big problem. He had to fart.

He couldn't concentrate anymore. He simply said the words as fast as he could, without even trying to mean them.

He should break his prayer. He should make a fresh wudu, but he only had one rakaat left! Maybe he could hang in there. He squeezed and hoped nothing would slip out.