Shehzada sat in front of Hazrathji and placed his books on the desk. He wondered why he had never thought of associating himself with a spiritual guide before Saeed had suggested it. It was doing him a lot of good. He felt more peaceful and relaxed. The raging fire that burned just below the surface did not show itself often. Anger cannot be extinguished, it can just be redirected. And his anger was changing its course. Instead of burning on small issues, it chose to erupt only at required places.

He opened his next lesson and read it. Hazrathji appreciated his progress. "You have worked hard and Allah never ignores hard work. Your efforts will be paid in full".

Shehzada had been thinking about punishing Mir Jafar from a long time and after his recent class on forgiveness he felt confused. He voiced this concern in front of his teacher.

"My dear boy. There is a fine line between justice and revenge. Justice is a virtue and revenge a sin. Justice is a man's right while revenge is a man's folly. Forgive a person you want to revenge but being a ruler justice is your duty"

"Alhamdulillah! That makes me feel a lot better", said Shehzada ready to leave. Now that people had started recognizing him he preferred to use the palace gates rather than the tunnel and made sure Ali was with him. He did not fear attack from his subjects. They easily parted to make way for him and bowed their heads in respect. But there was no saying what his enemies might do, for that he needed Ali. The sun was setting as they entered the palace.

"Shehzada you need to meet your little brother. He is missing you a lot", said Ali as he walked behind.

"You are right. Tell Firdous Ummi to send him to me after Maghrib Salah". He entered the Shahi Masjid to pray. With the crowning ceremony tomorrow this might be the last time he played with his brother as a Shehzada. What if he did not find enough time after he became Shehenshah? Not possible, he thought. Neither he, nor his brother could stay without each other for long. Whether he was the Shehenshah or not, Firoz would make sure he got his time.

"Assalamualaikum!" With a scream Shehzada Firoz Shah flung on him as he entered his room.

"Walaikumassalam!". Shehzada picked him by his arms and did a roundabout. The little boy laughed merrily.

"I want to go to the roof today please". Firoz Shah looked at Shehzada with puppy eyes.

"Come on then!" Shehzada ran out of his chamber towards the narrow stairs that led to a part of the roof and the battlements with his little brother following right behind.

Once they reached the roof they went to their favourite secluded spot. Guards posted on the battlements saluted them as they passed. They lay down facing the sky. It was a beautiful sight as usual! Millions of stars twinkled like lanterns, brilliantly lighting the vast expanse of black. Firoz Shah loved counting the stars and joining them to make patterns. "Akhi! Look at that one, when you join it with the star below it looks like a hammer".

Shehzada followed his gaze. "Yes it does. See that group of stars there, if you join them they look like Mir Jafar's nose". Firoz Shah clapped his hands and laughed.

"I am waiting for you to become the Shehenshah then we can change the shape of Vahash's nose!" Though Shehzada enjoyed the words he frowned at Firoz as he did not want to encourage him. Firoz realized his folly and immediately changed the subject. "You know Rehan made a dua and it got accepted".

"Really? Which one?" asked Shehzada as he continued to gaze at the sky. "Because I had 3 mothers even he wished he had more than one mother. He always prayed to Allah to grant him another mother and he got one!". Shehzada looked at him bewildered. What a strange tale. Surely there has to be a logical explanation for this extraordinary phenomenon. Rehan was the son of chief kaneez of Harem.
Though he was elder to Firoz Shah in years he was his only playmate and companion.

"Ayesha Khala is his present mother. How did he get another mother?"

"He has not met her yet. Ayesha Khala told him that he had another mother who loved him a lot and if he behaved like a good boy she would take him to see her". This puzzled the Shehzada even more. Mothers just didn't appear out of nowhere. As far as he knew Rehan's father did not have a second wife then how can he have another mother? Was she just creating a story to make Rehan behave?

"And where does Rehan's second mother stay?" asked Shehzada trying to make some sense of Firoz's talk. "I do not know that. But Rehan wishes both his mothers lived in one house so he can hide behind one while the other scolds him".

Shehzada gave his brother a knowing smile. "Just like you do Firoz".

"Firdous Ummi is very strict. That is why I go to Humera Ummi or Mariam Ummi. They love me more". Shehzada just laughed at his brothers complaints. "All of them love you equally. Probably Firdous Ummi loves you more than the others but you will not understand that just yet".

Firoz snuggled closer to his brother. "Firoz you are getting cold. Let's go down now".

As they descended the stairs Shehzada noticed someone quickly hide behind the curtain. He had a feeling this person had been waiting below for them to return. He turned to Firoz and signalled him to keep quiet as he drew his dagger. In one swift motion he pulled back the curtain to reveal Aiza! The poor girl started sweating. Shehzada didn't understand why an honest person will have to hide?

"Why are you behind the curtain? Were you doing something wrong?"

She quivered under his gaze. He always had this effect on women. No one dared to look at him in the eye while they spoke except his mother and Saeed. "Shehzada.... I just wanted to wish you luck for tomorrow's ceremony", she quickly said in one breath.

"Thank you. Is there anything else you would like to say?" She shook her head and sprinted away. Firoz had stood by them patiently watching the exchange of words. "Akhi, this is not the first time she was following you around. You should have scolded her". His bossy talk in a childish voice was what made him charming. Being born as Shehzada he had caught on to his status and his duty very fast. And sharing his brother was something he couldn't tolerate. Whether it be Aiza or any other person outside his immediate family, he did not like them coming close to his precious elder brother.

"Let her follow Firoz. In a few days she will give it up herself". Once she realizes how much I love Saeed... No, Mayera she will give up all hope, thought Shehzada.

From the time Saeed had revealed her real name was Mayera, he had found it extremely difficult to act strict in front of people. A smile involuntarily came to his lips even though he tried to suppress it. He remembered the incident today morning when he was talking to the court advisor Salman when his sight caught a blood red rose. He wondered what it would be like to give Mayera one and smiled widely. Salman was surprised and he had immediately tried to convert his smile into a frown which had resulted in him making a funny face. Salman must have thought he was mad by the time he finished updating him on the present criminals in jail.

Mayera... Mayera... Mayera... Such a beautiful name. She always behaved strict, prim and proper, concentrating on the work at hand. She was a master at ignoring feelings and at pretending everything was alright even when the tension around them was thick. He understood she was just being a good Muslimah and it just made him love her more. She preferred bottling up, not allowing unnecessary emotions to dwindle her. But he knew even she felt the same as he felt for her. How he waited for the day that restraint would fall and she would shower him with her boundless love. As soon as both their mothers had given their consent to the marriage he felt he was already engaged to her. And this did not even make him feel guilty when she stayed on his mind all the time. Had there not been any responsibilities on him, he would have married her by now. But she knew nothing of the permissions he had already sought and the preparations he had already done to make her his Malika.

Shehzada realized he had not been listening to Firoz's continuous talk as they reached Harem. Rehan came to meet him and they both disappeared. He decided to meet his mother and take her blessings as it was a big day tomorrow.

Malika Mariam was extremely happy to see her son give her a surprise visit. "My dear little boy is going to become the Shehenshah tomorrow". She kissed his forehead teary eyed.

"Please pray that Allah grants me enough courage and wisdom to fulfill my responsibilities well". She lovingly places a hand on his head. "You will my son. All my prayers are with you. You will make the best Shehenshah ever".

They sat together discussing his training and studies. "Is Saeed is still teaching you?", asked Malika Mariam.

"No. Hammad Khan is training me now. Saeed stopped coming". Malika was surprised. "Why? I thought you both were inseparable".

"Because her mother is very ill and she wants to take better care of her. And also because she wants to avoid me as I am showering her with too much attention".

Malika Mariam smiled. "She sounds like a responsible daughter and a level headed girl who is backing away from the advances of a Shehzada. I would have expected her to go head over heels and rush at the opportunity but she just turns out to be better than I thought. Can I meet her tomorrow? Surely she will come to see you crowned"

"InshaAllah she will and I will make sure you meet her"

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A/N

Narrated 'Aisha (rd): 
Allah's Messenger never took revenge for his own self in any matter presented to him till Allah's limits were exceeded, in which case he would take revenge for Allah's sake. 

Have a big heart and forgive people who compromise on your rights but if they are compromising on Allah's rights, ex: they are sinning etc; then it is commanded that they be punished for the sin they have committed.

If a man slaps you, he has sinned and has also violated your rights. If you decide to forgive him then Allah forgives his sin as well. Similarly if a man fornicates then it is commanded in the Quran that he be given a particular punishment. In this situation there is no going back. The man shall be punished for what he has done. You cannot forgive him. In the same way if a Muslim drinks alcohol, he has violated Allah's rights, not yours. Your duty is to punish him and it is Allah's wish to forgive him.

One more thing to be kept in mind is: once a person has been given the punishment for his misdoing exactly like how the Islamic law says by an Islamic government and he has also done taubah (repentance) then he shall not be punished for that sin after death.

And then there is the concept of Qisas. Qisas is "an eye for an eye" in simple words. If a man kills someone then his life can be taken in retaliation by the Islamic government. Similarly if a man breaks someone's teeth then his teeth can be broken. This should be done only on the command of an Islamic judge (Qazi) after he has done an investigation on the case and taken an account of witnesses. If it is done without consultation and involvement of government it will be revenge and not Qisas.

All these concepts have very fine rules which need to be followed word to word. Only an educated Qazi, a master in the science of Fiqh can carry out these jurisdictions under an Islamic ruler/government.

You must be wondering what about the countries that don't have Islamic law? In such cases it is Allah's wish, whether he chooses to forgive the sinner after he repents or punish him before/after death if he does not repent.

Coming to repentance (taubah):
1. You can do taubah till the angel of death becomes visible to your eye after which taubah will not be accepted.
2. One of the signs of day of judgement is that the sun will rise from the west. After this happens taubah will not be accepted.

Therefore we must hurry with our taubah. A true Muslim cannot rest until he asks for forgiveness after sinning. A Muslim can slip, he can commit sins but he cannot go without doing taubah. Lets judge ourselves. Can we stay without doing taubah after doing a sin?

Who can forgive what?
1. Allah can forgive all his rights (Huqooq-ul-llah) that you violate. Ex: missing salah, listening to music, drinking alcohol, lying etc
2. People can forgive all their rights (Huqooq-ul-ibad) that you violate. Ex: gheebah (backbiting), slapping someone for no reason, taking away someone's property unlawfully, abusing etc. In cases like these Allah does not forgive until and unless the person himself forgives you. Let's be careful. We have to make it a point to ask forgiveness from people. In case they don't forgive us in this world they are going to take away all our good deeds as payment after our death. Why should we give away our hard earned rewards to random people?

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I put up Shehzada's feelings on the request of a very enthusiastic reader of mine! :)
She specifically asked me to do it and until she did I hadn't realized I was missing out on mentioning his feelings. I do not want to write his POV as that will change the pattern of the book so I just put in a paragraph.
And the lovely pictures of Saeed that I have put up in the last few chapters were sent to me by najianida

Jazakumullahu khair for all the reads, votes and comments

Lots of love
Dr Mystic