A lady doctor is performing her duties in a local hospital, she is very intelligent and very modest at heart. This is an incident from her life and is a reflection of Allah’s system. She tells:

My father married another woman when I was in the third year of medicine and both my brothers were in their respective last year of school and college. I don’t know how my father suddenly made this decision. Along with mother, none of us knew about this and father brought his newly-wed wife home. That girl was only a few years older than me, and we all were terribly shaken by this act of our father. My mother remained quiet about this like always, and father shifted with his new wife to the room upstairs. His attitude towards his children was like before, kind and gracious. He seemed berserk moving up and down the stairs but we accepted this accident gradually with time. Often, our step mother used to come downstairs and have a good chat with us, she was a lady of good character. Our anger, grief and dislike slowly diminished away and when us siblings used to sit and discuss this tragedy we used to think who was actually at fault? Father? Who brought his newly wed wife so silently without telling us? Or our mother, who never talked to our father even when he was home? We had always felt a cold war between the two. In a few years, we were done with our studies, our father retired, whatever he received at his retirement he used it to marry his 3 children off, and we all got busy with our own lives. Allah blessed our father with three more children from the second wife in this time duration. Our mother accepted all this with patience and remained silent about it all this while. Father wasn’t financially stable after retirement, was burdened because he had to bring up three small children. I was earning by then, my practice was going really well, my income and earnings were more than my younger brothers. My husband was an engineer by occupation, but was also owner of family lands back in his village. One day, my father told me about his financial crisis. According to him, his income was very less. After subtractions, merely a few thousand rupees are left which are impossible to utilize for things like water and electricity bills, house tax and other household expenditures. When a father asks for money from a daughter, the shame and grief and disgust that he feels is what I heard in my father’s trembling voice that day. I told him don’t worry! You gave me a good education, dealt with my expenses, I will be happy to help you now. And so, I started sending him five or six thousand rupees monthly depending on how much I managed to save. My husband did not utter a word of disapproval at this act of mine. Time passed by like this and my father passed away due to cardiac arrest. At that time, my step siblings were very small in age. My step brother was only eight years old. I don’t know what came to my mind, but the money I had started giving my father monthly, I stopped giving that. May be I was thinking this agreement was with my father, not with these kids. And then these six thousand rupees are the result of my hard work, they are not less so why to spend them on these children? Afterall, my step mother has her own family too so they should help her raise these kids now. My own mother went to live with her elder son. So, now the burden of this house was not on me in any way.

The second month started, nature was maybe looking at my intention and actions, even this time I had no plan of sending the money to them. I write a check for the household expenditures and gave it to the batman to get it cashed from the bank. My batman returned, and informed me my income did not credit in my account. When I called the office, I got to know that over the past few months I have being overdrawing money for the house rent and now money will keep on cutting for a while now. It was the fault of people at the office but I had to face its consequences. When I returned home, another bad news awaited me. My husband had gone to his lands, where he had a fight with someone, and accidentally injured a person from the opponent party. The injury was so severe that the person was now fighting for his life. The opponent party was strong as well, they registered an FIR against my husband and the police arrested & took him to the police station. After this news I felt the earth shook under my feet. Lacs were spent on his bail, requesting the police to close the case, signing peaceful agreements with the opposite party, treatment etc. My husband’s job was in jeopardy now as well. It took me a fortnight in the village, when I returned home my daughter was running high grade fever. I was a doctor myself, but took her to CMH Hospital to a specialist but the fever wouldn’t go. The doctor gave a few medicines and my daughter slept. Next day I had to join my duty so there was a maid kept for the caretaking of the unwell kid. Still, I called and asked for my daughters health. At 2:30p.m I returned from my duty when my daughter called me “Mama! Mama!” and suddenly fainted. I rushed her to the hospital where she had 104 degrees of fever. She was instantly given injections, and cold sponges applied to her head. The fever settled at that time but shoot up in the evening again. She started having epileptic fits. ‘My God..! Where did we go wrong that the storm of sorrow has encompassed us from all sides?’ I was crying loudly and asking this from Allah while praying, was complaining to His Merciful Self, when suddenly one thought exploded in my mind like a bomb, and even my soul was wounded to pieces.

I had made a mistake, committed a crime. I had broken a promise I had made to my father. I did not send money to my step siblings. Don’t know how the milk fed kids must have cried? How did the woman manage to bear the expenses of their food and water? I was trembled at the thought of Allah’s wrath at this crime. I prostrated once again in front of Allah to ask for forgiveness. I withdrew eight to ten thousand rupees from these orphans, and Allah wasted five to six lac rupees of mine. My daughter was fighting for her life, my husband’s job was gone, and if that person had died due to injuries it would have been straightaway a case of murder. One after another test and grief had shook me to the core. Next day, I sent the money to my step siblings first thing in the morning and sent them double the amount after doing calculations of previous month as well. After a few days, I got to know that the money is back in my account. My daughter had recovered by Allah’s Grace and never had fits again. And the agreement of my husband with the opponent party proved fruitful.