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Literary Corner

 
The Scent of Brotherhood

By Joshua Burt

I was driving in my brand new car on my way to the Mosque. 
I saw a Muslim brother walking who looked like he was lost. 

I was fasting, I was hungry, and I was late for Maghrib prayer. 
But it was Ramadan and angels and blessings were everywhere. 

I gave him greetings, he returned them, and we drove off with our smiles. 
We started talking because the Masjid was another 12 or 13 miles.

We talked about the future, the present and the past. 
We talked about my car and if he should pay for gas. 

In fact we talked so much that I almost couldn’t tell. 
That somewhere in my car was an unusual smell. 

What was this awful odor? Just before I asked my guest. 
I realized all that talking revealed we had fasting breath.

I read somewhere that to Allah this smell was better than musk. 
But since I’m only human, I could not deal with that stuff. 

I thought real hard and knew I had to come up with some plan. 
So I tried to end our conversation by playing some Qur’an. 

The plan was working just as I was feeling weak in my knees. 
I discreetly rolled down the window so that we could get a breeze. 

AAAHHHHH, Al-Hamdulillah, that wind just felt so good. 
I never appreciated the wind like a Muslim should. 

We parked the car, went in the Mosque, prayed and ate as friends. 
The Imam talked about how one can wash away their sins. 

Every time I see that brother, we laugh about the day. 
The time we both had fasting breath, when I picked him up to pray.