Read Online She Wore Red Trainers by Na'ima B. Robert - Free Book Online Page A

choice?’
    â€˜Ooohhh!’ That was low and Rania knew it. But then I saw the wicked glint in her eye and realised: of course, she was just trying to wind Samia up.
    You see, out of all of us, Samia was definitely the most cautious when it came to religious matters. She even didproper research into things, finding out whether they were halal, haram, disliked or recommended. And the Sunnah , the way of the Prophet Muhammad –peace be upon him – was a big deal for her.
    Now, I’m not saying that it wasn’t a big deal for us born Muslims but she was definitely the most conscientious about things like that. When you’re born a Muslim, you do tend to take certain things for granted, accepting the rules pretty much without question and getting on with life. But as a convert – or revert as she liked to be called – everything for Samia was deliberate, a conscious decision to choose the correct Islamic position, to halalify her life in every area. I thought she’d be really offended by Rania’s low blow but she just shook her head. ‘No, babe,’ she said, nibbling on a piece of lettuce, ‘I’ve done research into this…’
    â€˜Of course…’ I added.
    She shot me a look. ‘And my decision to be a vegetarian is not haram because I’m not saying that it is forbidden to eat meat; I’m just choosing not to because I disagree with the way animals are treated and the whole way in which modern farming works. Did you know that they have bred bulls that have butts so big that they can’t reproduce properly?’
    That was it. We all burst out laughing. I laughed so hard that I almost fell off my seat. LMBO, literally. Rania choked on her Coke and sent it spraying across the table. Yasmin squealed, dabbing frantically at her hijab while I tried to control myself, wiping the tears from my eyes.
    â€˜I’m serious!’ Samia’s face was going red. ‘If you don’t believe me, look at this!’ And she whipped out her phone and typed a search into YouTube. When she showed us the genetically modified bulls with their enormous rumps, westarted howling all over again.
    â€˜Oh, I give up on you guys!’ Samia huffed, even though a little smile was tugging at her lips. But soon she was giggling too. ‘Yeah, yeah, I guess it is pretty funny…’
    â€˜Not for the cows, it ain’t!’ More howling laughter that earned us dirty looks from our waitress. She probably couldn’t wait for us to leave but, hey, we’d been coming here for longer than she had been wearing that striped pink apron so she’d have to just sit down and zip it.
    Then Yasmin spoke up in that quiet, deliberate way of hers.
    â€˜My aunts were talking about scheduling some marriage meetings with brothers before uni, in the next couple of months.’ She said it so carelessly, like it was no big deal. But it was a big deal. It was a huge deal. The table erupted again, this time with everyone asking about the hows and whys, names, details and Mottie stats.
    Rania cried out, ‘Hold on a minute! Didn’t your parents say that you have to finish your degree first?’
    Yasmin sighed. ‘Yes, but my mum’s older sister, Khala Shazia, has a daughter who has a Masters and is still single. She’s scared to death that I might end up like her so she’s convinced Mum and Dad to start looking now, just in case, even if it means a long engagement…’
    â€˜But I thought you had decided to tell them that you want to go to culinary school, not uni…’ Samia’s voice trailed off. We all knew how much courage it would take for Yasmin to tell her superambitious parents that she wanted to bake cakes for a living.
    Yasmin looked down at the table and fiddled with her straw. ‘Yeah, well, let’s just say it hasn’t come up yet. They’veall been distracted by this great big marriage debate. But