The Forgiven Sin

THE FORGIVEN SIN

At nine o'clock on Sunday evening, in the rural part of Aisrep, Mother Negar was in the kitchen baking beef sausage rolls and vanilla-flavoured sweet croissants. She summoned her husband when she was almost done:

"Moharram, we're all ready for tomorrow. Cooking is finished. All we have to do now is to choose clothing to wear tomorrow evening. I'll also tell Shahnaz and Reza to get ready."

"Sounds like a good plan", Moharram replied. "Thanks for helping me put this together."

Shahnaz was a seventeen year old girl. She had black hair and dark brown eyes. She had chubby arms, and huge, muscular knuckles, for she had spent her entire youth years helping her father on the farm where they lived as a family. Over the years of digging dirt and freighting wheat with a heavy wheelbarrows, her physique was quite overdeveloped compared to her peers.

Shahnaz did not have a lot of friends, because she never went to school. Instead, between the ages of six and eleven, she went to the mosque every morning to study religion with his twin brother Reza. The people she usually hung out with were all females, as it was a sin for a girl to chat with single males. And now, she thought it was the most sorrowful time of her life, because her religious fanatic parents were forcing her to marry to someone she had never met. The way marriages worked in Aisrep was, the man, no matter how older or younger than the woman, would come to the woman's house to meet her. And if he liked her looks or her body, he'd make the decision to marry her, all by himself.

As anybody would imagine, Shahnaz did not want to marry someone she didn't like; she thought she'd rather get to know her future husband before anything serious happened. However, she also had to accept the fact that relationship before marriage was seen as a religious offense in Aisrep. If she loved anyone before marriage, she'd be executed; not necessarily by the law enforcers but by her very own family.

Unable to do anything, Shahnaz locked herself in her room, and did not leave there until she was summoned by her father the next morning, who reminded her to get dressed and put on her veil.

Unlike her parents, Shahnaz's brother, Reza supported her. He thought that it was unfair for his parents to force Shahnaz to marry someone she had no affection for. However, he was also scared of arguing with his parents about it.

The next morning, Shahnaz woke up at 5:30 a.m. She went to the living room and saw Reza sitting on an armchair, thinking deeply. "Good morning", she said. Her voice must have startled Reza, as he flinched from where he sat.

"I'm thinking", Reza said. "Thinking how to stop them from marrying you. There's a way, but I am afraid we can't... We may not... We may not be successful stopping them. You know, in our culture, if the girl flees home and meets a guy of her own choice, the family has to let them marry. Due to religious reasons, they think it's a sin for a girl to lose virginity before marriage. It's the silly idea of "honour" which Aisrepians care too much about. So I was thinking, you could perhaps run away, but there's a chance that they won't let you marry your true lover, but instead, they might... they might kill you. Do you think it's worth the risk?"

They stared at each other for almost a minute. Finally, Shahnaz agreed to do what Reza has suggested. "Ok, I should do that soon. In fact, as soon as this afternoon, before our guests come over."

Reza nodded. "I'm going to help you", he said.

...

After they finished talking, Shahnaz rushed into her room, put a few of her favourite clothes, some underwear, and a couple of must-have veils in her bag. When she came out of her room, she noticed that her parents had gone. "Probably shopping for some soda for tonight", she thought." Her brother Reza was in the living room, reading the latest issue of the journal published by his madrasa. The headline on the front page read:

FILTHY HOMO FOUND GUILTY EXECUTED BY LAW

For a moment, Reza thought if it was a good idea for his dearly beloved sister to run away. Reza was not religious at all; neither was Shahnaz. But in case she got caught, Reza knew that before the law was even involved, his father would take her life away, as in Aisrep, it had always been a tradition to be a victim of an honourless killing when an adultery was committed.

Upon entering the living room, Shahnaz noticed Reza folding the journal. "I'm ready", she said to him.

Reza sighed. "Well", he said, "We're lucky that our folks are out. We'd better hurry up. We have to leave before they come back. I mean now. Let's go!"

As he stood from his armchair, he grabbed a notepad and a black pen. He left a note to his parents for an excuse for their absence. The note read: "We're out to look for new veils for Shahnaz. I'm driving her. We'll be back in an hour."

After only a minute, they left the house.

...

At eight p.m. that evening, Negar and Moharram were still expecting their children. The guests– the groom and his family, were to arrive at 8:30 p.m.

"Should we call them?", Negar asked Moharram.

"Let's just wait", Moharram said, "They should be back around now."

They waited for what felt like hours. The guests arrived at the house at 8:30 p.m. sharp. They sat down in the visitor room, on the eight-feet-long sofa designed specially for the family. The walls were covered with golden frames with pictures of the family's male ancestors in them. In the corner of the room was an antique vase that contained live corals, with a wooden tag attached to it saying Summer 2012, Florida.

At 9 p.m., the home phone rang. Negar answered it. It was Reza. "Put me on speaker", he said. Negar did so. Reza continued: "You forced Shahnaz to marry someone she didn't know. We live in the 21st century. We don't have to follow the religious traditions of Aisrep. I'm letting you all know that Shahnaz has run away from you, and I helped her. She's with me now."

Then he hung up.

Moharram spoiled in anger. "Call that bastard back!", he cried. But Negar couldn't call him, as the number was hidden. They sat with guests for a little more, until the groom's dad told his folks that they should leave. Moharram didn't accompany the guests to the door. Negar walked with them to their vehicles, and apologized on behalf of Shahnaz, Reza, and Moharram for their attitudes. When she entered back in the house, she noticed that Moharram was still complaining. "I'm going to kill them both", he said, "Running away, huh? What if she finds a boyfriend and commits adultery? That's the most unforgivable sin in our culture. Damn it, Shahnaz. Get ready to face my riffle, you filthy whore!"

Upon hearing her husband's words, Negar started crying, and begged him not to do anything stupid to their one and only daughter, and their good-hearted, innocent little boy.

...

"Do you remember my old friend, from madrasa, named Jahid?", Reza asked Shahnaz, in the lobby of the hotel where they were staying, in separate rooms, in the north of their rural hometown.

"Yes", Shahnaz said.

"He wants to get to know you better. He is also open-minded, and modern like me. So he also wants you to get to know him, with no pressure."

"That's really great", Shahnaz said. "I really like him, as a friend. It'd be awesome if... if things worked out between us."

Four days later, Shahnaz and Jahid met at a local park for the first time. They sat on a bench, but avoided eye contact throughout their date in order not be noticed by strangers.

They talked for many hours, quietly, only staring at their feet, making sure they didn't look into each other's eyes. After a while, they both said goodbye to each other and left.

They kept seeing each other in the next few weeks. Everything was going so well for both of them. Shahnaz was very happy. She was still living in a hotel with his brother. One day, at the end if their casual date, Jahid surprised Shahnaz but asking her to marry him!

"I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you", he said.

Shahnaz replied: "I love you, too. But don't you think it's a little too early? We have only been dating for a month. I think we should wait for a little longer."

Upon hearing Shahnaz's answer, Jahid's smile faded. He got angry, and started yelling at Shahnaz. When Shahnaz started crying, Jahid hit him on the chest.

...

When Reza learned about what happened between Shahnaz and Jahid, he was shocked. "Well", he said. "The decision is yours to make. But if I were you, I'd consider separation. Because in our culture, once the man starts showing dominance over woman, the trouble goes on forever. Be careful, Shahnaz."

Shahnaz thought about his brother's advice for a few days, then she made a crucial decision; she decided to break up with Jahid, and go back home to her parents.

Without even saying anything to Jahid, Reza and Shahnaz went back home. They parked their vehicle, and Shahnaz sighed. "Time to face daddy", she said. "Look Reza, I really appreciate your help and your open-mindedness. If my father kills me, I want you to know how thankful I am to you. You're the best brother someone could ever ask for. I love you."

Hearing these words, Reza started crying. "Don't say that", he said. He tried to reassure Shahnaz that everything would be okay. Though he wasn't even sure what their father might do to them.

When they entered the house, they saw that their mother was washing the dishes, and their father was on the couch, reading the newspaper, as usual. As soon as they stepped in, his father saw them, and started running towards them, yelling. "Bastards!", he said. "How dare you come back here? Get the hell out of here before I make this place a hell for you."

"Hold on, father!" Reza said. "Please, please listen. We will explain everything. Shahnaz wanted to be with someone she truly liked. Few years ago, she had feelings for my good friend, Jahid. Apparently, Jahid liked her, too. They had met each other outside by coincidence. So now, they spent some quality time together for a while, until Jahid started hitting your daughter. They are separated now. And we're back here. I will admit that I helped Shahnaz to run away from her forced marriage. Now do what you got to do, dad."

"I'm going to kill you both", Moharram said. "I respect my religion, my principles, and the traditions of this lovely country. Adultery is the biggest sin. Couples, especially women, are never to go on what your stupid generation calls dates. They must love and marry whomever their parents think is good for them."

Their attempts to convince their father not to kill them didn't work clearly, Shahnaz thought. Maybe that was it. Maybe she did deserve this fate. The laws were all clearly stated in the constitution. If their father didn't execute them, the courts would.

"Think about it, dad", Reza said. "This is the norm in all western countries. We can't really stay behind by following Aisrep's traditions. I love Shahnaz. So do you, and so does my mother. Please, dad. Forgive us both. Let us be with the ones that we like; not the ones you choose for us. We'd be grateful if you did that. Please..."

There was a silence for a minute. And then surprisingly, "Fine", Moharram said. "Do whatever you want. You are forgiven. Just get the hell out of here. I don't want to see you again for a while. When you find your true lover, come back here. We'll arrange something to make you kids happy."

Shahnaz grinned. She turned to Reza, who was standing right next to her, and said: "It's a miracle that my father forgave us. I still can't believe it. It happened more quickly than I thought,"

Then she burst into tears.

Tears of happiness.