Love from a to Z

part. Because, masha’Allah, he was very cute.
“Ha-ha, of course, she says.”
“I’ll send you a picture.”
“I’m going to play Mom and Dad for a sec, okay?” Sadia stroked her
chin like Dad stroked his beard, and I laughed at how oddly like Dad she
did look. “Does he appear to have the same values as you do? Same
commitment to the deen?”
“Yes, actually maybe more than I do.” While Adam and I both did our
prayers (he’d told me that when he got his IV done yesterday, it was the

---

first Friday prayers at the mosque, the first jumah, he’d missed in a long
time), he’d also attended Islamic classes every week when he was in
London. I didn’t, only going to Muslim conferences and camps sometimes.
“Now I’m Mom.” Sadia tilted her head and looked at me carefully like
Mom did when she wanted to know stuff. “Does he treat his family well? Is
he family minded?”
“Oh for sure.” I nodded my head vigorously. “Like, his sister is special to
him. And his mom, though she passed away.”
“By the way, you are going to tell Mom and Dad, right?”
“Yeah, I mean soon.” I made a face, imagining telling them. “How would
I even do it?”
“Can I? You know I’m good at that stuff.” She laughed. “Remember
when I told them about Yasin?”
“Oh God. This guy is the opposite of Yasin.” I perked up. She had
actually done a good job of breaking the Yasin news. “Can you tell them,
then? His mom was one of Auntie Nandy’s best friends, if they want to
know more. But only say I met Adam—not that there’s anything major
going on.”
“Okay, I will. My love is calling me now.” She turned and laughed at
Jamil, her fiancé, offscreen. Then she leaned in and whispered, “Take it
from me—you want someone who’s good to his family like Jamil is. And
here’s one more thing I want to leave you with. From Mom, Dad, and me:
Make sure that you make the beginning of whatever you begin beautiful.
Make it right by Mom and Dad. Make it right according to our deen. The
beginning of something can determine the beauty of the entire thing, okay?
So no alone times or coming closer than you should be, okay? That’s how
Jamil and I did it, and, alhamdulillah, it’s been good for us. You know that.”
I nodded my head at the same advice I’d heard tons of times—from
everywhere: my family, the Muslim community, the mosque.
It was easy to nod to, but I wondered if it was such an easy thing to do.

---