Story: Internet Matchmaking

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Muhaba

Muhaba

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Here's my new story. I will be posting it in parts insha-Allah.

I try not to write any unislamic stuff in my stories but the stories are works of fiction and sometimes they might contain material not entirely islamic.

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Story: Internet Matchmaking
Started Oct. 18, 2010

Saeid was crazy in love with the woman he’d met through an Islamic matrimonial website. The website was run by a national Islamic center which had masjids all over the country and so the service was available throughout the United States. Saeid had been to one of the Center’s programs where he met a brother advocating the service. The brother’s own daughter had found a practicing husband through the service, so Saeid knew he spoke from personal experience.

“Our representatives meet with the prospective spouse and their immediate relatives and talk to them ourselves, so we know who’s reliable, insha-Allah.” Brother Majid had said. “We look into the prospective spouse’s needs and personally find matches that fit those needs the most. If the prospective then want us to talk to potential spouses further or look into references, etc. we charge further. However, current first time costs are only $50 which can be paid when we find a match.”

So, after thinking a while, Saeid had agreed to sign up. And in a few weeks, he’d been informed of a sister named Khulood living in Louisiana who seemed to be his perfect match. One of the representatives had personally known her for many years and had vouched for her. So Saeid got her information and spoke to her and her family a few times, agreeing to meet them in three months. During this short time they would get to know more about one another through phone calls and email. Saeid spoke to the girl’s parents and brothers as well as an uncle. One time he even met the girl’s uncle when he was in transit in Saeid’s state while on his way to his country. The girl was originally from Morocco.

After three months Saeid finally went to see Khulood. But the shock was something that might’ve killed him! Khulood wasn’t at all the same person he’d seen in the few photographs he’d received. She was extremely overweight. He guessed she was at least 250 pounds. And from her behavior she seemed like she was suffering from depression which had crippled her actions. After meeting her and exchanging a few words, trying hard to hide his disappointment and anger, he was escorted to the male guest room where he met with her male relatives.

Now that Saeid knows the family had lied to him, what will he do? Find out in the next installment.
 
Ahh MashaAllah - you already have me interested from the first part :)

What will he do?

"Drum roll"........
 
I've been where Saied is at. Before I was Muslim, I met a few women through dating sites and sometimes the reality was far more disappointing than I wanted it to be...
 
this was funny.. I think this should come standard in all 'online matrimonial websites'

monkeydressed-1.jpg



that way if she is not a total ape you're pleasantly surprised and if she's then you're not too terribly disappointed ..
 
ßlµêßêll said:
this was funny.. I think this should come standard in all 'online matrimonial websites'

monkeydressed-1.jpg



that way if she is not a total ape you're pleasantly surprised and if she's then you're not too terribly disappointed ..
Click to expand...

Well I am of the "have no expectations" school of thought. Then you will never be disappointed and always pleasantly surprised.
 
lol, I understand the overweight part being "lie." but depression, really? How can you, by looking at a pic, decide that the person is not depressed?

and what's wrong with depression? If it is controlled then it is normal part of human emotions. It becomes a problem when it is accompanied with serious somatic disturbances. I am sure at some point in his future life, saeed would get depressed too. So he better treat other depressed ppl as he'd like to be treated!

No, I dont have MDD.
 
thank you for the comments.

here's part 2.



“I know it is a shock, but I can promise you that she is alright and will be fine,” her father said quickly.

“A shock?” Saeid blurted out, “it is more like a stab. And outright deception. Something that I can sue the matrimonial for.” Saeid wanted more to punch the man in the mouth for the lies he had told him these past three months but kept himself from doing so out of respect for the older man, something that had been taught to him as part of his religious culture.

“I can explain,” the man replied with a shaking voice. “Please don’t contact the matrimonial. I know it is a great disappointment for you but we were desperate to do this. Our daughter was near death and the only way to keep her from this self-destruction was to find her someone to marry.” He took a deep breath and Saeid saw that the man seemed to be suffering from breathing problems but Saeid could care less if he was dying.

“Already, she is much better,” Khulood’s father continued. “She has lost 20 pounds in the last three months and has even joined a fitness and health program which she had previously refused. Not to mention that her mood has become uplifted, although she has self-doubt and fears that you will reject her.”

“Even if you don’t want to marry her, we ask you to agree to get engaged. We hope it will help her condition to improve, otherwise we expect that she will not survive.” Her uncle said.

Saeid stared at him. “Get engaged? Are you crazy? That’s impossible.”

“Look,” it will only be oral and will not be revealed to anyone but family,” the uncle continued. “And everyone except Khulood will be aware that it is only an act. Please, it may be the only way to save her.”

Her father sat down, holding his head in his hands and Saeid wondered if he felt more sorry for him or for himself. So, finally he said, “tell me what happened to her first. I won’t make any agreements until then.”

Her father looked up, sighing. “She started college in the hope of starting a new life but it turned to disaster. In her third year at college she got engaged to a classmate. We know that it was sinful for her to attend co-ed classes but we weren’t very religious at the time.” He shook his head. “That was about three years ago. Anyhow, she was extremely happy to have found true love but a year later, right after she graduated, he broke the engagement abruptly and told her she was unfit to marry and that he was in love with someone else. After that she went into a deep depression, started overeating, hardly ever leaving the house. Her career suffered, she lost her job and we worry that she might have a heart attack. It seemed like she was in a gloom until we got her registered. After that, while she is upset and hopeless sometimes, most of the time her condition has improved greatly.”

Well, because of this matchmaking program, Saeid found himself in a fix. He didn’t know what to do. On the one hand he didn’t want to marry her since she might be a psychiatric patient and he couldn’t trust her family anymore. On the other hand, he didn’t want her to suffer another setback incase what her family had told him was true.

What will Saeid do? Find out in the next installment.
 

“Just don’t refuse her. We know it’s difficult for you, but all we ask you is to play the part. Nothing more,” Khulood’s uncle said quickly.

Saeid didn’t know what to do, but decided that since it was just an engagement and he could break it off any time, he’d go ahead with it. It was about saving someone’s life and he had wanted to do something good for a long time. So he agreed and they decided to have an engagement party over the weekend. Saeid was given some papers to sign which he read through quickly and then signed them. He was happy they didn’t indicate anything about a dower. All it said was that the dower would be agreed upon at the time of marriage one year from then and that this was just an engagement which could be broken by either side anytime. There was nothing seemingly fishy in the papers, so he wasn’t worried much. Besides, his friend from the matrimonial agency knew the people well and had vowed that they were honest. Saeid saw that the family had been hard-pressed because of the terrible situation which made them resort to such extreme actions. That was what he told himself to convince himself.

The family went to announce the news to the girl. “He has agreed to marry you on condition that you lose weight and that the marriage will not take place until a year later.” Her uncle said.

“The reason for that is that he has some business set up and a house he wants to make for his parents before he commits himself.” Her brother added.

Chubby-cheeks, Saeid started calling her in his mind, was overzealous about the plan. It seemed to work in her favor. “I thought you would reject me based on my condition.” She said honestly. “Tell me, why did you accept me although I don’t have looks like a model. And you can have any girl prettier and slimmer than me.”

“Looks aren’t everything.” Saeid replied. “I like to look through the exterior into the inner person which is what counts. Besides, my grandmother was almost your weight when she married and she lost much weight after marriage. However, at that time, being overweight was in.” that part had been true.

The two talked a bit more. Then Saeid went to his friend Kamal’s house who lived in the same city. “I don’t know if I should kick you,” he told him when Kamal asked him how it had gone.

“I know it was not good to deceive you, but the doc told us that she would die if her condition didn’t improve.”

“So why didn’t you get engaged to her?” Saeid asked angrily.

“She’d know it was just an act had I done so. She knows me well. And she knows I’m mad about one of her cousins and our families have already reached an agreement so most likely I’ll be married to her next summer.”

After two days, Saeid had the small private engagement party. None of his family members were present at the party since he had no plans to tell them about it. He had told them he was going to see someone but after learning the truth about her, he had informed them that it hadn’t worked out. And so now here he was at his first engagement party all alone except for his pseudo-in-laws and Kamal and Kamal’s family. The day after his engagement, Saeid went back home.

His parents and sister of course were dying to get details of the meeting and why it hadn’t worked out since in the past three months all he’d done was talk about the family he’d met through the matrimonial program.

“What did we expect? Matrimonial agencies are all a scam. Not to be trusted one bit,” He yelled. He was more mad at his friend who had set him up for this than anyone else.

And that was what his father was concerned about too. Didn’t Kamal say he personally knew this family?

“Apparently he didn’t have all the details,” Saeid replied. “The girl had been married before for a few months.” He lied, a lie he had practiced since the first meeting with the family. “She’s a divorcee, something they hadn’t told me about before. They thought I’d accept her; that I’d develop feelings for her over these past months, but the deception was more unacceptable to me than the fact that she’s a divorcee.” He had decided not to say anything about her weight or depression because he was afraid that had some risks involved.

“One lie means many more. Seriously I can’t risk it.”

“I can’t blame you.” His father agreed. And the rest of the family nodded in agreement.

“So Kamal didn’t know about this?”

“Apparently not,” Saeid answered. “He knew the family but didn’t have all the details. Anyway, I’m going to my room and rest. I really had a tough time.” He was truly upset about the deception and was even angrier at Kamal’s role. He had thought him a good friend. Still, he knew Kamal had been desperately trying to save the girl’s life. So how could he blame Kamal when he himself had just done a thing greater than Kamal’s?

***

Well, that wasn’t so difficult. What would be more difficult was how to continue communicating with his “in-laws” secretly? He had to continue that since the girl’s life depended on it and there was no way that he could tell his parents since they would never accept this. He knew his family well, especially his father, who didn’t give a **** about some overly obese, overly depressed girl’s fate. He was sure that his father would sue the family for the deception they had done, not to mention the Islamic center. Not disclosing a piece of necessary information was one thing but sending old or fake pictures was something else, something his father wouldn’t forgive.

But Saeid wasn’t like that. After his near death experience which changed his life, he wanted to do whatever he could to thank God for saving his life, and if that meant trying to save another human’s life, he would do it. He wondered if this was some kind of test on him, to see how grateful he was to God’s favor. He recalled the night of the accident. He had been to a party and was returning home with some friends. He’d been drunk and so had been the others although none of them had been badly drunk. They’d only had a few drinks. One of them, Abid, the least drunk, drove the car. Unfortunately, Abid was still too drunk to be able to judge distances at night and since they had the habit of driving at very fast speeds, disaster was inevitable. Crashing into a tree, all the four of them were badly injured. However, lucky for them, another car was passing by on the nearly empty road and got them medical help in time. But that was their wake up call. The four friends changed their lifestyle and started practicing religion more, and stayed away from parties and drinking and everything unislamic. They knew that the accident had been a test to wake them up and they had to learn from it since they might not get another chance again.

And so, here Saeid was a year after the accident, being tested again. Taking out his cell phone, he dialed his “in-laws” number. He had to call his fiancée and let her know how he missed her. After talking to Khulood’s father on the conference phone line, Khulood came on. “I really want to talk to your mom and sister,” she exclaimed after a bit. “I hope I can meet them although I don’t think it would be a good idea right now. What did you tell them about me?”

He wondered what to do, how to explain. The situation was more difficult than he had imagined. Finally he said, “I think we need more time before we can tell them and have you meet them. You must understand.”

He knew she would understand but he was afraid the news might hurt her. And he didn’t want anything to be a setback for her.

“What did you tell them about me?”

“That your family needed more time to decide and hopefully it would be concluded by the time my business is set up and the final payment on the house is paid. I didn’t want them to get worried, you know.”

“I feel like such a loser some time,” she cried

Oh no, Saeid thought. This was going the wrong way. “Look, with time all will be alright. This is a test on us. Do you know I was tested before and nearly died?” He blurted out. And told her the whole story.

“You are right. This is a test. I should be more patient. I wasn’t patient the last time. I hope Allah isn’t angry with me.”

“No, insha-Allah He will not be. Allah is most-Forgiving. And very understanding.”

After ending the phone call, he started for the house when he noticed his sister staring at him through the living room windows. “Who were you talking to?” she asked when he entered.

“A business partner.”

“Stop lying. You think I can’t see through your lies. I’ll bet even the story you told last night was a lie.”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“Why did you spend the weekend there?”

“Because I got married secretly. Why else.” He yelled.

“O come on, tell the truth. You’re hiding something, I know it.”

“Leave it, Lania.” He said, and then went out the door to his car. He needed to get away from there. He hoped Lania didn’t tell their parents.

Now that Lania is suspicious, will she cause trouble? Find out in the next installment.
 

Luckily when he returned, he saw that all was normal and his parents weren’t suspicious of anything. “I can see you’re upset son,” his father said. “But this is another test from Allah for your patience. Just be glad you found out the truth before you got married. I’ve heard of cases…” and his father went on telling them stories of people in his village, how they had been deceived et cetera, et cetera.

His nose-poke sister of course was different. She wouldn’t stop poking her nose and with whatever chance she got, she asked something about it. So when he went into the kitchen to get something to eat, she said, “I wonder if she’s as beautiful as in those pictures. Do you have any recent pics?” He had shown them several pictures of Khulood that he’d received when he had joined the service. He now realized that they were old pictures from when she was younger, possibly from the time before she graduated from college. And he couldn’t help wondering if they were doctored. Had she once been slim as in the pics or had she always been fat and depressed? He wondered.

“They’re on my computer,” he said sarcastically. “In fact even on my desk top. You should go check them out.” Getting a piece of cake and some juice, he left the room.

The next day, he went to his car early in the morning to call his “father-in-law” to ask about his fiancée and to get advice about what she had said the previous day. The call went well, but when he looked out of the car window, his sister was staring at him from her bedroom window. He was feeling exasperated. What was she doing up so early? Or had she been up all night waiting to catch him?

When he went inside the house, she came down.

“What is your problem?” He asked before she could say anything.

“You can either tell me or I’ll tell Mom and Dad about your weird behavior and let you deal with them.”

He was sure that if he told her, she’d tattletale on him. So he was stuck again. But finally, he decided to tell her. And see what happened after that. He really couldn’t bear the situation anymore.

“She’s really overweight. Not like the pics.” He started. “And she’s suffering from depression.” He wanted to cry. What had he gotten into? What would happen when his sister found out that he had agreed to get engaged just to save her life? But with nothing else to do, he told her the story. Including the bit about his conversation with his fiancée yesterday.

What will happen next? Will Lania tell their parents? Find out in the next installment.
 
can't wait for the nxt part!!!

sis ur installments r too short we want more :P lol Great story sis ur an amazing writer :)
 

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