THE JOURNEY AND SOJOURN OF ILIYA

NIGHT PREACHING

Hearing the statement issued by Muhammad about his son, the mother began to bereaved as if he's no longer existing. " I have been trying to keep this boy away from the company he was living with, for I don't trust all his friends and the people he had been mingling with, and nowadays, the people you're living with, determine your potential. Now see what happened, he is no longer interested in studying and school affairs. Who knows his presence condition now and in what hand is he going to fall? only the omniscient God knows this" she whinged.

Iliya was swamped by the situation he got himself in, he began to search for any mosque as he earlier planned. Luckily enough, he heard a sound of Qur'an recitation coming from a far distance, he followed the coming sound to trace the source, which may make his puzzling circumstances half tackled, if not totally solved.

He then manage to ramble and reached out the place. Auspiciously, he found some reasonable number of people gathering around one small mosque having night preaching, he then called on the attention of one first aider, standing aside and narrated everything to him in nitty-gritty together with request of exigent assistance.

The man sympathised with his condition and felt bad for him. " ok, have a seat, let me get you something to eat, for I know you must be famished by now" The first aider said. Iliya was rapt and ecstatic over a recent development recorded, he expressed his appreciation and thank in advance. "T-t-thank you, I really appreciate" he stammered.

"Hmmm, had in been I don't get this mosque, how can I do? It's not easy for someone to leave his hometown and be in a vicinity of no body known by and to him. anyway! I'm now free from the severe embrassment, I would have received at that hellish ground called a place of learning. soon, I will be self directed" Iliya talking to himself.

"Here is the food, manage it, I Will table your problem to those in charge of this mosque tonight. But I do wonder how a small boy like you will leave his parents and has his way to where he knows no one. If I happened to be in your shoe, I will have go back to my parents without any in-depth analysis" said the first aider.

"You know, whenever you're doing something without the consent of your parents, then make sure that you are ever ready for a great failure, for it will certainly await you while you are running your affairs single handedly. This is just the undisputed truth. Therefore so long as you want to be a successful person, you must follow your parents, for they are the only people that will never wish bad for you, they like you more than you think. Kai! did you even think of challenges you will subject them to? Anyway! I will advice the mosque management to take you back to your parents. That's it" The first aider said in trying to entice Iliya over his condition.

While the first aider was busy attempting to cajole Iliya to go back to his hometown, Iliya was eating, his sense was unable to record anything said by the first aider, because he was busy trying to sustain and save his life from almost a whole day hunger. Before he finished eating, it's almost time for closure of the program at the mosque. "Let me see one of the scholar, who is at the helm of this mosque affairs to narrate everything to him, together with my suggestion of taking you back to your parents" lamented the first aider.

" ok" Iliya break the silence.

on meeting the scholar, he complained that it is high time to discuss issue of this nature, " just take him to the mosques' store and lock him there, for we can trust him at the first sight and from his first narration, he might be a notorious lier. Then, tommorow everything will be exhumed" said the scholar.

"You will spend your night in the store, and I will lock you inside as ordered by the person in charge of this mosque, tomorrow, during dawn prayer I will open you, so that to exhaustively discuss your issue after observing prayer" uttered the first aider.

"ok, no problem" answered Iliya.

Iliya was directed to the store, which contains some containers and kettle which are useful when performing ablution, together with some bags of sachet water which was used during the program. He then cleared a space where his body can be laid down. The first aider a farewell speech and locked him in the store.