The Dare By Aishah Elusogbon

"What is wrong with you Safiyya?! It's just a piece of of clothing! What's the big deal?!"

Safiyya stared at her husband incredulously. She could not believe he was saying that. "I cannot believe you are saying this! It's just a piece of clothing?! My hijab is half of my identity! How can you call it a piece of clothing!"

"Oh, is that why you went to the party with only your underwear under your khimar?! So that you're half naked and the Khimar can complete the other half?!"

"One minute." Safiyya said. "I do not always wear only underwear under my khimar when going out. I only did that because I knew you intended to pull of my khimar in front of everyone at the restaurant!"

Sadiq crossed his arms and tapped his feet. "And how did you know?"

"I overheard your conversation with that foolish friend of yours…!"

"Don't you dare call Nasr foolish!" Ṣadiq warned his wife in a dangerous tone.

"You are right. I shouldn't call him foolish." Safiyya said cooly as she lost control of her anger. "He merely advised you to pull off my hijab in public, and you obeyed. So he's not the foolish one."

Safiyya regretted the words immediately they came out, and she had only about five seconds that it took her husband to fully understand the underlying meaning of her words before she felt his palm strike her cheek.

A loud silence followed.

Several seconds passed before Safiyya shot her husband's furious face a quick glance, bent her head and then said in a tone filled with deep regret. "I am very sorry, Ṣadiq. I'm sorry for insulting you. I had no right to…. I'm sorry."

Ṣadiq stared at his wife's bent head. "You are not to leave this house wearing that piece of clothing again." He said in a deep serious tone. "We are in America now. We need to adapt and blend in."

Slowly, Safiyya looked up, and Sadiq saw in her eyes a defiance so strong that he was momentarily shocked. Safiyya had always been a submissive wife; neither rebellious nor defiant. She always obeyed him. That's why he'd been shocked and furious when she'd told him that she'd worn only underwear and socks under her Khimar at the restaurant only thirty minutes ago. 

However, this confrontation was even more shocking.

At that moment, Safiyya's large round eyes turned cold. The brown orbs darkened and sharpened, and her voice hardened as said, "You are very determined to listen to your ex-muslim friend and strip me naked in front of all your friends, right?"

Before Sadiq could reply, Safiyya had walked out of the room.

In the few seconds that she was absent, Ṣadiq realised that their eight year old triplets were standing by the door and watching the whole scene. How long they'd been there, Ṣadiq did not know.

Before he could react, Safiyya returned, wearing one of the free long sleeved ankle length gowns that she usually wore under her Khimar. But she'd doned off the khimar and was holding it in her hand.

The determined look on her face scared him.

However, the look disappeared and was replaced by her usual soft loving look as she bent in front of her worried children and said. "Go to bed, girls. Your father and I are just having an argument."

Ni'mah, the most outspoken of the trio, asked a most outstanding question. "Will the man I marry also hit my face when we argue?"

Sadiq felt his heart squeeze. 

Dear God, what have I done?

Safiyya's face softened even more as she placed a palm on her cheek and replied. "No, Ni'mah. I said something I really shouldn't have. But your father isn't always like that. Your father was never like that. Shaytan takes advantage of people when they are angry. That's why I always tell you that whenever you get angry, you should say …?"

"Audhu billahi minash-Shaytanir-rajeem" The three girls chorused quietly.

Safiyya smiled, "Good." She kissed all three on their foreheads. "Now go upstairs and sleep."

"We're not feeling sleepy." Nurah said.

"Then go to your room and perform Tahajjud. Tell Allah to forgive your Umm and Abu."

 Sadiq felt his heart squeeze even tighter. 

"Okay." They chorused and slowly walked up the stairs to their room.

When they heard the sound of their door closing, Safiyya then stood up and turned to him.

Her face had changed again.

"Safiyya…"

Safiyya put on the khimar she'd holding in her hand and picked up her phone. "I've been enduring this strange change from you for over three months." She said in a cool tone as she switched on the phone and began to swipe over it.

Sadiq watched her with increasing apprehension.

"Ever since you became friends with Nasr, the wise man, you've been skipping Salat, you've stopped your voluntary fast, stopped reading Qur'an, and you don't even give me my marital rights."

Sadiq stared at her face as she said this and felt his apprehension increase the more. Never ever would Safiyya speak of or hear him speak of sex without her blushing to her neck. It was one of the million reasons why he'd fallen in love with her. Her shyness.

But now, her face was pale and white. And her tone, eyes, expression and heart were cold.

Sadiq shivered slightly. "Safiyya …"

"Now, I want to know if the devout Muslim I married is still in there, or I have totally lost him to his friend, Nasr."

All the initial anger and seriousness in his tone had disappeared this time when he spoke. "Safiyya, I …"

Safiyya dropped her phone on the head rest of the couch beside them in such a way that the screen faced them both.

Ṣadiq saw that both of them were very visible on the screen and felt his fear envelope him. "Safiyya?"

"We are live now, Ṣadiq."

Sadiq's heart went pat-pat-pat. "Live?"

"Yes dear." Safiyya nodded. "Live on Facebook. About two to five hundred thousand people are presently watching us."

Just then, the door opened and Nasr walked in. The smile on his face disappeared when he beheld the scene before him. "What's going on here?"

"Ṣadiq here is about to be a man." Safiyya replied without sparing him a glance, but there was a small one sided smile on her face. When she continued speaking, it was to her husband. "We're in front of several people now: family friends, family friends, and of course,Nasr. Now is a better chance to do what you wanted to do earlier tonight."

Sadiq's heart momentarily stopped as he realised what she meant. 

"That's right." Safiyya confirmed as she stared straight into his shocked eyes. "You can remove the khimar now, and let the whole world see what your wife possesses. I am not naked, remember? I am wearing a very unrevealing dress under this Khimar. So I am sure you do not have much to worry about. So," she put her arms to her side."You have the stage."

Sadiq stared at her. He did not … could not speak.

"I am not going to stop you. You just do it."

Sadiq looked into her eyes and felt body turn cold as he saw the underlying meaning of her words.

If he did it, she would leave.

Dear God. She need not say it. It was there in her eyes. He knew her well enough to recognise that threat. If he did pull off her Khimar, she would leave without looking back.

"Do it, bro." Nasr said.

Ṣadiq had almost forgotten that he was there.

"Yes bro." Safiyya said sardonically. "Do it."

Sadiq did not know what to do.

"Come on bro." Nasr said. "You're the man. You're the head. You can do whatever you want. You're the boss. "

"Do it." Safiyya said.

"She's not naked, bro." Nasr reminded him.

"That's right." Safiyya said with a sardonic smile. "Even your friend knows I'm not naked."

Ṣadiq swallowed, and Safiyya watched him with a racing heart.

She did not know if he would do it or not. There was a time when she could have sworn that he would not do it even if a gun was pointed to his head. But "there was a time" was a long time ago, before he'd met Nasr at the football stadium.

She was not sure of anything anymore. Her husband's gradual change had devastated her, and she'd prayed and fasted over it. Eventually, she'd even decided to bear with it. But today had been the last straw.

She had no idea if what she was doing was wise or foolish. But she knew she could not bear it anymore. Today is the first day he'd intended to remove her Khimar in public. Today is the first day he'd raised his hand on her.

Today is the day that would determine the fate of their marriage.

" Ya Allah ." Safiyya prayed in her heart as she stared at her husband. "Bring my husband back to me."

"Do it bro. What 'you waitin' for?"

Ṣadiq looked up at Nasr slowly, and Safiyya didn't know what to feel when he picked up her phone.

Then her eyes widened when he smashed it on the floor.

There was a loud silence for some seconds as Ṣadiq stared at his wife's face with an unreadable countenance.

Suddenly, he said, "Get out."

Safiyya froze, and tears filled her eyes.

"Exactly." Nasr said.

Safiyya swallowed and wiped her eyes, then she turned and headed for the door.

Suddenly, she felt his hand hold her wrist gently, and she froze and frowned. 

"Not you."

Safiyya blinked, and turned to him with wide inquiring eyes.

But he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were on someone else.

Nasr blinked. "Me?"

Safiyya felt tears fill her eyes once more as her husband repeated the words she'd been wanting to hear him say to Nasr for the past three months.

"Yes, you. Get out."

"Bro …"

You heard him loud and clear bro." Safiyya said as she stood beside her husband to face their common enemy squarely. "Leave our house."

Nasr was shocked. "But bro …."

Ṣadiq walked past him and opened the door wide. "Leave Nasr, so I do not have to throw you out."

"No need for that, I'm leaving." Nasr said, still shocked, as he raised both hands in the air and walked slowly out of the house.

"And Nasr?" Sadiq called.

Nasr turned to him, hope glowing in his eyes. "Yeah, bro?"

"Do not ever come back."

The last thing Safiyya saw before her husband slammed the door was Nasr shocked face.

Ṣadiq turned to Safiyya.

Safiyya turned to Safiyya.

"I'm so sorry." Ṣadiq said with remorse as he walked slowly towards his wife.

"Me too." Safiyya said.

"I should never have let him get to my head. I thought I could change him, bring him back. But I didn't know…"

"It's okay."

"It's not."

"It is now Ṣadiq." Safiyya said as she held his hands in hers. 

Ṣadiq grabbed her into a tight hug, and she wrapped her arms around him even tighter.

"Alhamdulillah. " Safiyya said as tears of relief rolled down her cheeks. "Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamīn."

✍️✍️✍️

Ā'isha'