Laahasil (Fruitless)

Few years back there was a TV play called ‘Laahasil’, it was a splendid play directed by our talented actress/ director Angeline Malik. If you can find it do watch it. The story is about non-Muslim girl, played by Angeline, who lives in UK/USA (I can’t remember the place exactly) and she works as an escort.

Anyways she meets a Pakistani Muslim man (very well played by Noman Ijaz) who changes her entire life; because of her friendship with him she begins to get interested in Islam. Within no time she finds her divine path, converts to Islam and becomes a devoted Muslim woman. Noman was unaware of her past or her profession marries her.

They start to live a happy life, they also have a son. However, one day Noman’s friend visits his house to meet the family and he immediately recognizes Angeline and informs Noman about her past.

Noman, despite of her begging and pleading divorces her immediately and throws her out of his home. He also threatens her to kill their son if she ever tried to see him again.

Angeline starts to work at the Islamic center where she meets a woman who suggests her to get remarried with this woman’s brother who is very rich and lives in Pakistan.

Their nikkah is done over the phone and when she arrives in Pakistan to live with her second husband, she finds out that the woman lied to her and her husband was a man of very humble means. 

On knowing the lies which his sister told Angeline he gives her the option to divorce her so she can go back to her comfortable life abroad. She refuses to go back and settles with the poor standard of living being grateful to her God.

They adopt a baby girl. Soon her second husband passes away and she was left all alone to support herself and her adopted girl. She toils, work day and night, lives a very hard life in extreme poverty but gives best education and facilities to her adopted daughter. 

However, she never loses her faith or dedication to God, rather she gets more religious and spiritual as her hardships grew.

The daughter grows up and turns out to be full of inferiority complex and always give her mother Angeline tough time. The daughter then meets a wonderful rich guy (played by Fahad Mustafa) who falls in love with her and despite of her poverty and his father’s opposition marries her. 

The marriage ceremony was a simple one held at the girl’s place which was not attended by groom’s father. After marriage girl turns into a walking monster, she would become jealous of anyone and everyone who even tries to talk to her husband.

She stops visiting her mother and quickly adapts herself with the lavish lifestyle of her husband’s family. Soon her father-in-law also accepts her because she always agreed with her father-in-law’s unethical business decisions while ignoring her husband’s wishes.

Seeing his wife’s misbehaviour with her own mother, Fahad starts to visit and look after now aging Angeline like a son. The story twists and Angeline and Fahad finds out that they are in fact real mother and son. Fahad is the son of Noman and Angeline.

He tried to tell his wife about the truth but she was always busy in her social life, hardly ever having any time to listen to him.

One day she finds out that her mother went on Umrah (Islamic pilgrimage) with Fahad, she gets extremely angry because as per Islamic law a woman can only perform Hajj or Umrah with her husband, father, real brother, and maternal or paternal uncle.

Since she is unaware that Fahad was Angeline’s real son, she goes to Angeline and point blank accused her mother of being married to Fahad as that would be the only way she could have gone on Umrah with him.

In that moment Angeline breathed her last breath, the shock of this horrible accusation took her life and she collapsed right at the doorstep where her daughter was standing.

When the daughter found the truth she lost her senses......

The reason why I wrote this story is because it depicts a particular mind-set deeply rooted in our culture. The mind-set is that if a man or a woman is deeply religious and spiritual, pray and praise their Lord Almighty and spend their lives as per the commands of God those people are always poor and miserable.

Not only they struggle with money but also they survive in extremely harsh lifestyles and most importantly they are always tested by God who constantly keep them in struggles and hardships yet they never lose their faith. And one day they just die.

It is unfortunate that our visual media and novels always portray that deeply spiritual and religious people live in dire circumstances, their relationships are always terrible, they don’t have proper place to live, they sleep on stone bricks but they are at peace.

While wealth and prosperity are not to be acquired or enjoyed; money is evil and someone who lives a comfortable life must be guilty of some moral crime.

My dear friends the reality is indeed very different. Poverty and spirituality are not interconnected. God has blessed us with a gift of life, the life that is meant to be prosperous. Prosperity is not limited to money but it means peace, health, love, wealth and abundance.

The whole idea that if you are sick and financially broke, then you are more spiritual- is absurd and ridiculous.

You might not be a billionaire immediately but if you are really in faith and try to have a true relation with God, He will bless you in all the spheres of your life. Please do not think that the desire to be rich and prosperous is negative or somehow it makes you a bad person.

When you pray, Thank Him with all your heart for each and every thing, for every relation, for your health, for every little and big thing that you can think of. Thank Him for His love for you, thank Him for giving you another chance, another day to live. 

Thank Him especially when you see someone else have what you wish to have...

Pray to Him for forgiveness, pray for happiness, pray for health, pray for the worldly wealth through Divinely blessed means, pray for richness in life, pray for the car you desire, pray for the big house you dream to have. Above all pray to be blessed with a beautiful palace in heaven.

And the magic ingredient is that when you pray and ask for your desires, do not ask them for yourself only but also for others. After all, we all are one energy originated from One Source.

Have a blessed Ramadan!

Sonya Syed (Day 536).