Aansuon ki Dua by Samreen Ahsan

About this novel

Aansuon Ki Dua by Samreen Ahsan is a gentle, faith-filled Urdu family novel that opens at dawn in a loving home. Prayer, love and small everyday moments set the tone, and the title means a prayer of tears.

The novel begins before sunrise. Aqeefa is sitting on her prayer mat in a corner of her room, kneeling in dua, when Maryam Begum knocks on the door. “Aqeefa, Sidra, beta, Fajr ka waqt ho gaya hai, ab uth jao dono,” she calls. Aqeefa wipes her face with her hands and glances at Sidra, who is still curled up asleep in bed. At the sound of Maryam Begum’s voice, Sidra sits up, and Aqeefa quickly opens the door.

“Mama, main ne namaz ada kar li hai aur Api bhi taqreeban uth gayi hain,” Aqeefa says, then picks up the Quran and goes back to her prayer mat. Maryam Begum looks at the prayer mat, then at Sidra, who is still struggling to open her eyes. “Shukar hai koi to hai jise namaz ada karne ke liye mujhe kehna nahin parta,” she says.

Sidra protests that she was just about to get up, and her mother says she knows exactly how much she was getting up. She sends Sidra to wake her brother first, because unless someone tells him, he never prays on his own. She doesn’t know how he managed to become a hafiz-e-Quran when he doesn’t even pray regularly, she says, and leaves the room. Sidra goes to wake her elder brother, Safi, and after praying, she lies back down in bed.

Aqeefa gets busy reading a book. After a while she puts it away in her bag, gently pulls the blanket from Sidra’s face and looks at her, but Sidra doesn’t move. Aqeefa draws the curtains, opens the window and takes a deep breath of fresh air as the red glow of sunrise appears. Samreen Ahsan sets a peaceful, devoted mood, and the title promises a story about prayers made with tears and how they are answered.

آنسوؤں سے مانگی گئی دعا کبھی خالی نہیں جاتی۔

Read more by Samreen Ahsan: Ishq Be Mazhab, or see all Samreen Ahsan novels and more romantic Urdu novels.