Into the Light from the Darkness

By Nazia Ali

Naila has it all. Success, love, the perfect marriage & children. But after learning about an old friend that has cancer, Naila faces the hugest obstacle of her life. She faces her demons, fighting the void & fear that has forced her to make a choice. Can Naila overcome the biggest course of her life yet?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Mar 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483611235

Nazia Ali

After attracting a wave of local media attention due to her first published book called Healthy and Halal Choice, Nazia Ali discovered that writing is more than a hobby. It is her passion for health and desire to benefit from her roots that led her to writing. Her book offered readers a glimpse into Ali’s practicality of everyday choices related to diet and well-being, while providing delicious fusion-style recipes for a variety of simple everyday meals. Ali quickly went on to become a local health icon in her community, including her neighbouring high school to teach students about the benefits of healthy eating. She inspired many young adults to spend more time in the kitchen and explore the art of cooking. Throughout the book, Ali's depiction of lifestyle choices reflects her own sense of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being that underscores the need to live a balanced life. It is no surprise that Ali’s latest publication, Into the Light from the Darkness, embraced this very concept – a riveting novel that explores the trials and tribulations of life as the main character (Naila) transforms herself and finds guidance she sought her entire life. Born in Bangladesh in 1977, Ali was the oldest of four children and grew up shadowing her mother, an author & her father, a business man and a charity worker. Her family moved to the USA in 1988 where she studied and was raised for a better part of her life. Ali later found the love of her life and moved to the UK where she is now a property developer, charity worker, and community champion. She enjoys cooking, writing, and travelling with her husband and four children.

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Copyright © 2013 by Nazia Ali.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2013904852

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 03/18/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

306075

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Glossary

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my readers and my family. I’d like to dedicate this personally to the following people:

My wonderful paternal grandparents: Hakimur Rashid Choudhury and Foizun Nessa Choudhury.

My fantastic maternal grandparents: Abdul Muqib Tafader and Shamsun Begum Tafader.

My kind-hearted parents: Shanur Choudhury and Manoara Shanur Buli.

My respected in-laws: Mokbul Ali and Aysha Khatun.

My strength; my amazing brothers: Shakil and Habib Choudhury

My best friend and baby sister: Amina Choudhury.

My adorable angels, my nephews: Habib Jr and Arman Choudhury.

Last but not least, my sweet nieces: Malaika, Manaal, and Mayesa Choudhury.

Special Thanks

I’D LIKE TO say a special thank you to my better half, my soulmate, and my best friend for life—my husband, Mutahir Ali—and also my precious little diamonds and my beautiful children, Raihan, Shahamat, Shaneeha, and Siyana Ali. I wouldn’t have accomplished as much as I have in my life without their support, advice, encouragement, patience, and inspiration. I pray every day for our family unity to remain as strong as it already is. May the Almighty bless and protect us all. Amen…

Chapter One

THE BUZZING NOISE of the alarm clock sounded as Naila rolled over to her side and tapped the off button. She opened her eyes. Thanks be to Allah who awoke us after our death and He is the only one that can resurrect us . . . she recited slowly to herself after she opened her liquid brown eyes.

It was 4 a.m. She hopped out of bed and stretched before the windows. It was a shady morning. She quickly tiptoed to the bathroom and performed her ablutions before returning to her bedroom and entering a place of serenity as she meditated for five minutes. When she completed her meditation, she looked up to find her husband Adam spread across the bed in solid sleep. She chuckled to herself at the sight. He opened his eyes and greeted her, ‘Peace be upon you.’ She cocked her head to the side as he blew her a kiss, and she caught it in the palm of her hands.

‘Did I wake you?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘This has only been our routine for about a million years now,’ he joked.

Naila snuck a slight smile as Adam hopped out of the bed in his boxers and pulled on his sweat pants. He walked over to the surround sound stereo system and pressed ‘play’. The adhaan orchestrated its way around the house—every room, every crevice, and small space that was included in the foundational structure of the home. The children awoke—stretching, yawning, rubbing their eyes, and morosely getting up from their mattresses and rushing to get to the bathroom first to avoid being the ones to wait in the queue. Sami, the oldest son at eighteen, made it to the bathroom first and slammed the door on his little sister, Sabrina, who barely made it to the washroom. Sami laughed devilishly as he locked Sabrina out and enjoyed the accomplishing feeling of having first dibs on the washroom while taking his time. Sabrina, a small, baby-faced girl standing at five foot, started banging on the door for Sami to hurry up. Solomon, the middle child, was a sly little boy, highly competitive and brash. As he ran out of his room, he playfully pushed Sabrina out of the way to be second in line while Sabrina continued to knock on the door impatiently. While the two fought at the stoop of the doorknob, Sami continued to take his time and basked in the accomplishment of being the first for the washroom. He went on and took a well-deserved hot shower as he listened to his younger siblings fight over who would get to be second.

‘You always get to go to the bathroom before me!’ Sabrina squeaked to Solomon, who was still pushing her out of the way.

‘You’re too fat and lazy to get to the bathroom first, you oaf!’ Solomon replied.

‘All right, minions. God has blessed me to be the first child in the family. Therefore, I should get to have everything first,’ Sami teased from inside of the washroom.

‘Shut up, Sami!’ the siblings said in unison through the tall wooden door separating them from Sami.

Adam rushed out of the bedroom after hearing all the commotion and shouted at the children. ‘Sami, we have thirty minutes left for the morning prayer! Get out this instant and let Sabrina and Solomon have their turn! I’m giving you two minutes.’

Sabrina and Solomon were overjoyed at their father’s disciplining of Sami. They exploded in a million muffled giggles. ‘Ha, how’s that feel for you, first child?!’ Sabrina laughed. ‘Yeah, first child gets the first scolding!’ Solomon dropped to the floor, laughing hysterically.

Naila continued to sit patiently on the prayer mat, reciting the Qur’an as she waits for her oldest son to lead the prayer. Suddenly, Sara, her two-year-old, woke up crankily, screaming for her mummy as Naila reached over and held her in her lap while squinting and carefully reciting the Qur’an.

Adam called for his family downstairs, and Naila closed her book and carried her baby to the living room, where she found her three older children gathering around in congregation. Sami began his melodic recitation, which sent chills down everybody’s spines at the peak of the morning just before the day started, and everybody got lost in their worldly dilemmas. The family got lost in Sami’s exquisite recitation and gave their senses away to their individual connection to the Almighty. Their bodies felt lighter, their minds less heavy, and their spirits much fuller. Their morning ritual left each of the family members in a state of tranquillity away from the world and away from each other. And once they broke their prayer, they gathered around, and suddenly, all the teasing, joking, and bickering were substituted with love, caring, and helping one another as they all made their way to the breakfast table.

Sara began to scream for her mother’s attention again as Naila prepared her porridge. ‘Settle down, darling,’ she began to console her daughter and played with her. She gave her baby daughter the first bite of the porridge in the name of Allah.

Sami checked his text messages while making toast for his father and himself. ‘What should I put on the toast, Dad?’

Adam looked up from his morning paper. ‘Just butter is fine.’

Sami submitted to his father’s request while updating his Facebook status. Meanwhile, Sabrina poured her cereal and continued to argue with Solomon to share the milk.

‘Can you brats ever agree on anything?’ Sami said jokingly again. ‘Sami…’ Adam looked up at his oldest son, and Sami instantly lowered his head. Sabrina and Solomon secretly giggled to themselves as they watched their older brother being reprimanded.

Naila ran upstairs and began her morning rush, checking all the bedrooms to make sure that all the beds had been made, dirty laundry tossed away in the hamper, and school bags ready. ‘Sami, get upstairs and make your bed this instant! Sabrina, go collect your clothes and put them away!’ Sabrina sucked her teeth and dragged her legs upstairs in frustration. ‘Yes, Ammi Jhaan,’ she said unhappily.

Naila looked out the window at the morning sun and thought to herself, What a beautiful day! She opened the window and caught the warmth from the sun beaming on her face and enjoyed the sweet breeze blowing against her brushed-back hair. She looked at the clear blue sky and thanked the Almighty again for blessing her with another day, another enjoyable moment, and another heartbeat.

The children all ran into her room and tackled her down, giving her a flurry of hugs and kisses before they set off for school. ‘You guys are too much!’ she laughed and returned the hugs and kisses to all three of her children. She looked at her three kids with her liquid brown eyes and said a small prayer to herself for her children, ‘Protect them, Almighty.’

Adam was downstairs, finishing off the dishes and countertop before Sara started screaming in excitement and making an even bigger mess with her porridge. Adam glanced back. ‘Whoa, there!’ He quickly hopped backwards and snatched away the bowl of unfinished porridge. ‘Slow down there, little monster,’ he said playfully to his little toddler. Sara ran off, laughing sheepishly, searching for her mother. She found her in her bedroom making the bed. ‘It’s almost time for you to go to the Children’s Centre, my angel.’ Sara ran off when she heard her mother say that and grabbed her baby doll and started feeding her instead to occupy her time. Naila laughed at all of Sara’s antics and continued to clean up. She heard light footsteps on the staircase and quickly glanced towards the mirror to check her hair and sprayed a quick whiff of Adam’s favourite fragrance that he had bought for her.

He walked up and wrapped his arms around her in front of the mirror, watching his wife’s reflection—admiring it. He proceeded to tap a light kiss on her cheek, and Naila felt her heart rate go up as her cheeks started to fluster. She teasingly released herself from her husband’s grip and rushed out the bedroom, telling her husband her laundry list of tasks she needed to get done at X time and what she needed to do at Y place. She started to tidy up Sara’s toys, and her husband watched from the corner with his arms crossed and a smitten little smirk across his face in complete admiration of Naila. He continued to watch her as she began to get ready—showering, dressing, make-up, and finally tying her hijab. It’s almost as if he was watching all of this for the very first time. While watching Naila admirably, he scooped Sara up under his arm and flew her to the bathroom as if she was a superhero and helped her brush her teeth and got her ready.

While Adam was doing this, Naila checked the time and realised that she had forty-five minutes on her hands to complete her routine housework. She began doing her tasks excitingly given the adequate amount of time before she left to take her toddler to the Children’s Centre. As she was cleaning, she began to think. Naila used her chores as a way to escape from the world, reflect, and plan. It’s like a therapy for her.

Adam started rushing to get ready for work as Naila swiftly passed by her husband, snuck a kiss to him, and then beamed off towards the door with Sara.

It was a sunny late morning as Naila pushed her buggy on the walk back home from the Children’s Centre. She spotted a car that abruptly stopped in its tracks and beamed at her. She was startled, but then the window rolled down, and her friend Anita waved from afar. Naila smiled and greeted her friend, ‘Peace be upon you, sister.’

‘Long time no see!’ Anita parked at the curb and began to exchange conversation while reaching into her glove compartment for a sweet to pass to Sara.

‘Come by some time so we can have ourselves a cuppa and catch up,’ said Anita excitingly.

‘Yes, of course,’ said Naila, nodding her head. ‘I’m actually organising a coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Research in the coming weeks. You should swing by. We can use some of your help.’ Naila smiled.

‘Of course, Naila, If God wills! I’ll text you later for confirmation. I need to ask Musa if he’s willing to go. Maybe, Adam can have some company then,’ Anita said enthusiastically.

‘Sounds perfect,’ said Naila.

‘I’ll see you soon, bye!’ The women waved to each other and went their separate ways. On the stroll back home, Naila began to plan her day after she went home and put Sara to sleep.

I need to catch up on my exercise and add additional recipes to my cook book. Perhaps modify a few? What shall I make the children tonight for dinner? Thoughts began to flurry her mind as she reached her doorstep and heard the phone ringing away. She pulled her key out of the keyhole, grabbed Sara under her arm, and ran upstairs to catch the last ring before she missed the call. ‘Hello?!’ she said out of breath. It was her mother, and she greeted her with Peace be upon you. As she began to engage in conversation, Naila made a quick observation and noticed that her mother sounded a bit down. She proceeded to ask what was going on.

‘How’s your health, Maa? Have you been taking your medicine regularly? Slept well last night?’ asked Naila.

‘I’m fine, darling,’ Mother replied.

‘Are you sure, Maa? You don’t sound too good. Is everything all right? Is Ana okay?’

‘No, no, I’m fine, I promise! Remember last summer, you met my friendly neighbour Pho?’ Mother sighed.

‘Yeeeeeah?’ Naila replied hesitatingly.

‘Oh, Naila. Life is so short! His doctors have just informed him that he has cancer and he doesn’t have much longer to live.’

The words started to burn against her chest and sent uneasy vibes down her abdomen. She felt her heart drop and felt as though she was experiencing her mother’s neighbour’s pain as if it were her own. She began to perspire.

‘Naila?’

‘Nailaaaa?’ repeated Mother.

‘Y-y-es?’ Naila stuttered.

There was an awkward pause.

‘Maa, I’m gonna go ahead and put Sara to sleep. I’ll catch up with you later.’ She ended the conversation abruptly as the nauseated sensation of anxiety started travelling through her body. Sara, cranky and ready for her nap, began to cry, and her mother swung her head over her shoulder and started to pat her to sleep.

Naila fell back on her bed with Sara still resting her tired head on her shoulder. She began to recite everything she knew and asked the Almighty to obliterate every bad feeling that was consuming her at the moment as the tears were trickling down her cheeks.

She laid Sara down and made her way downstairs to grab a glass of water. How could this be? Here, she was planning her day out, and how abruptly and almost intrudingly the mood of the day just shifted! She began to remember her Lord again and stared out the kitchen window. She saw the lush, green trees and the grass that was due for a mow. A bird had just flown, and she found herself getting lost in the moment as she stepped into an observatory stage towards all of the creation. All of a sudden, her mobile phone went off, and the screen read HUBBY.

‘Peace be upon you,’