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    The Invitation, a short story
    The Invitation, a short story
    The Invitation, a short story
    Ebook30 pages23 minutes

    The Invitation, a short story

    By Umm Zakiyyah

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    About this ebook

    Faith and Paula are childhood friends who accept Islam just as Faith’s relationship with her boyfriend, John, becomes serious...and just as Paula comes out as gay. With their newfound Muslim identity, must Faith sacrifice John, and Paula her sexuality?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUmm Zakiyyah
    Release dateNov 14, 2014
    ISBN9781310236365
    The Invitation, a short story
    Author

    Umm Zakiyyah

    Umm Zakiyyah is the bestselling author of the novels If I Should Speak trilogy, Muslim Girl, and His Other Wife; and the self-help book for religious survivors of abuse Reverencing the Wombs That Broke You. She writes about the interfaith struggles of Muslims and Christians and the intercultural, spiritual, and moral struggles of Muslims in America. Her work has earned praise from writers, professors, and filmmakers and has been translated into multiple languages.

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      Book preview

      The Invitation, a short story - Umm Zakiyyah

      THE INVITATION

      By

      Umm Zakiyyah

      a short story

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2014 by Umm Zakiyyah

      Published by Al-Walaa Publications.

      All rights reserved.

      This story first appeared online via UZ Corner at muslimmatters.org

      All characters and events in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.

      Table of Contents

      Part One

      Part Two

      Books by Umm Zakiyyah

      About The Author

      PART ONE

      I hugged my knees and concentrated my attention on the parking lot beyond my third-floor apartment window. It was all I could do to steady my trembling and think of something besides the torn envelope and embossed card next to me on the crumpled sheet of my bed.

      I was upset. I knew that much. But there was something deeper knifing at my heart.

      Your attendance is requested at the wedding celebration of…

      I gritted my teeth until my jaws hurt.

      Betrayal. The feeling sliced through me so suddenly that for a moment I stopped shaking.

      Fourteen Years Before

      Life as I knew it ended a week after my ninth birthday. It was late May, right when a month of school felt like a year, and the days dragged on until the desire for summer drove everyone, even the teachers, to a mixture of madness and dejection. Schoolwork was no longer displayed on classroom walls. Decorations were slowly and surreptitiously removed from bulletin boards, and the hall monitors turned a blind eye to students lingering in the corridors without a pass. And even failing students held a flicker of optimism because teachers no longer had the energy or concern to hold students back.

      Later, I’d find myself wondering if my life would have turned out differently had my mother’s energy or concern for my future mirrored the pity teachers had for hopeless students...

      I came home aggravated as usual. I was tired of the rushed homework assignments that I had to cram into my schedule

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