Maqsoom Novel by Huma Waqas

About this novel

Maqsoom (Urdu: مقسوم, “what is destined”) by Huma Waqas begins on Adeena’s wedding day, minutes before the nikah, when her sister runs in with a note: the groom has run away.

Adeena is sitting in front of the mirror, dressed and ready, mehndi on her hands, when her younger sister Areeba climbs the stairs through a house full of guests, pale and out of breath, a folded paper in her hand. Meesam Murad has left a few lines for his father: “Abba, mujhe jana hai.” He doesn’t want to marry Adeena; he can’t do this nikah before he reaches his goal in life; forgive him if you can. That’s all.

دلہن تیار بیٹھی تھی، اور دولہا ایک خط چھوڑ کر چلا گیا۔

What makes the opening work is Adeena’s reaction. She doesn’t cry. Her mother Azra comes in sobbing and holds her face, and Adeena only looks back at her with dry, empty eyes and asks both of them to leave her alone. Downstairs the whole house has found out.

Huma Waqas then shows the other side. Somewhere in the city, Meesam is sitting with his best friend Fahad, in jeans and a T-shirt instead of a sherwani, drinking water and forcing a smile. Fahad wants to know what he wrote in the letter and whether he has gone to see her. Meesam just asks how much money Fahad has on him. He isn’t proud of what he has done, but he isn’t going back either.

The title asks the novel’s real question: was this marriage ever in their muqaddar, or does naseeb have something else written for Adeena? It’s a long read, 677 pages in this PDF, with plenty of family drama around the central couple.

You can read Maqsoom online here or download the complete PDF for free. Huma Waqas has more novels on the site, including Ajab Bandhan, Mahween and Deed e Qalb. See them all on the Huma Waqas novels and our Huma Waqas novel list with a short guide to each book page.