AMATULMALEEK COMPLETED BOOK BY MAMUHGEE

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In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

She remained silent, listening to her uncle’s voice rising in fury and resentment. The anger and bitterness were starkly evident on his contorted face, which bore no trace of gentleness or mercy.
All of this explosive rage and shouting was directed at her mother, who sat quietly, taking in his words.
Both the mother and her daughter—who was now old enough to feel a deep, aching pain in her heart whenever her mother was subjected to such lectures—kept their heads down. Neither of them looked up at him, let alone dared to counter the tirade that was causing the veins in his neck to stand out as he vented.
Uncle Bello himself always left with an increasingly bitter and frustrated heart whenever he came to empty his basket of fury before them. Since no one ever argued back, the mother would simply wait for him to finish and then quietly beg for his patience. As for Jannat, she wouldn't even lift her head, let alone speak.
This time, his lecturing and harsh words were exceptionally severe. Consequently, both her eyes and her mother's filled with tears, though neither wanted the other to see them cry.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his large traditional robe (babban riga), he repeated his final ultimatum to the mother:
"I swear by Allah, if Abdulhameed ever goes back to that Western school again and I receive another complaint about him, I will send him off to be a roaming Qur'anic scholar (almajiri). I cannot endure this grief. My brother died and left me nothing but your burdens! If you and your children cannot stay within the boundaries Allah has set for you, then pack your bags and leave. We can no longer sustain you."
He turned and stormed away, refusing to cease his shouting and scolding until he had cleared the doorway of their small, isolated section of the house—the very place they had lived alone in ever since the death of their father.
Her mother let out a long breath. Without glancing toward where AmatulMaleek sat, she picked up a needle and thread to resume mending Abdulhameed's torn trousers—a task she struggled with, as she was still too young to handle it expertly.
Neither of them uttered a word. Despite her youth, AmatulMaleek possessed an incredibly deep, reserved nature; she was remarkably adept at suppressing her feelings and keeping things hidden within her soul.
Knowing that AmatulMaleek would not say anything, her mother swallowed her tears to keep the girl from noticing. She stood up and walked toward a massive pile of laundry she had brought out, and began to wash.
AmatulMaleek stole a glance at her. Setting down the needle and thread, she fixed her clear, white eyes on her mother in total silence.
There was one recurring thought that constantly occupied her mind: If Mommy is truly my mother's sister, why does she only send us clothes and food from time to time? Why has she failed to rescue us and take us away from this miserable life of humiliation and degradation at the hands of my father's relatives?
Whenever their food supplies ran out, her extremely young little brother would resort to begging just to find something to eat. Meanwhile, she and her mother would go the whole day and night starving, unless her mother did evening chores for the other women in the household in exchange for a small portion of dinner to feed her children.
To her immense bewilderment, whenever a large supply of foodstuff arrived from "Mommy," the extended family would gather to divide and hoard almost everything. She and her mother would be left with a meager portion that barely lasted two days, throwing them right back into hardship.
They grew up in a massive, crowded family house that accommodated her father’s older and younger brothers, each with their own families. Some had two wives, some three, and others four, making the household heavily populated.
In that house, it was every man for himself and his immediate family. No one could afford to help anyone else because everyone was overwhelmed by their own financial burdens. Consequently, everyone lived a life focused strictly on their own survival.
There were five brothers heading the household, and all of them lived within the compound with their respective families; none had left despite how cramped and congested the living conditions were.
Her father had been the youngest of them all. He was the only one who pursued Western education and held a government job as a vice-principal at the local primary school in their village. Despite numerous opportunities and pressures to leave the village for a better appointment elsewhere, he refused to move. He remained there until old age caught up with him and he passed away, leaving behind his wife, his only daughter, AmatulMaleek, and a newborn son who was named Abdulhameed after him.
Before her father's death, their life within the Sanda Fulde family compound was vastly different from that of the rest of the household due to the exceptional care and protection he provided to her and her mother. Her father had never desired to take a second wife, both because of the economic constraints within the house and because he saw how proper upbringing (tarbiya) was failing among his brothers' countless children. Even though her father often shouldered the financial burdens of his nieces and nephews because their own parents couldn't afford to—his brothers never stopped procreating.
AmatulMaleek was the apple of her father’s eye. His ultimate goal and desire was to shield her upbringing from the other children in the house, whose morals were severely lacking. Although he tried his best to guide his brothers' children, their own parents would constantly undo his efforts. Therefore, he focused squarely on his own daughter, determined to give her an enriched life. He didn't hesitate to enroll her in school, making her the only female child in the entire extended family house to receive a Western education.
He turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to whatever criticisms the family leveled against his daughter and the lifestyle he chose for her. As a result, AmatulMaleek grew up highly introverted and reserved. She did not socialize or mingle with people, nor did she ever leave their section of the house to visit other quarters. The compound was so overcrowded that passing from one section to another was dangerous; some of the older men in the house would corner young girls and abuse them in the dark, unlit hallways. Many of the children in that house had been corrupted by one another, a reality the parents chose to ignore by simply covering up the incidents and marrying them off to each other.
This was the greatest source of anxiety for both her father and mother regarding AmatulMaleek’s life, as she was completely different from the other children. Consequently, she never stepped foot outside unless she was accompanied by her father; even if it was just a quick errand, her hand was always firmly held in his.
There was an unfortunate incident that nearly befell AmatulMaleek once. It was the first event to deeply traumatize her father's heart, triggering a cardiac illness that eventually claimed his life.
While running an errand in the remote, deep corners of the house, an older son of her uncle had cornered her in a dark hallway. He covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming and tried to violate her, completely disregarding her tender age.
Her father happened to walk in on this horrific scene. The shock caused him to collapse instantly. Fortunately, AmatulMaleek escaped unharmed. Following that incident, he packed up their belongings and moved her and her mother to Abuja to stay with her mother's close friend and sister, Mommy Abeeda. They lived there for several long months before eventually returning.
Even after their return, his heart never found peace or comfort living within that family house. Unable to take it anymore, he rented a house nearby and moved his family out.
There, their lives improved significantly, and their minds found peace. It was during this period that AmatulMaleek grew old enough to understand the relationship between her mother and her aunt, Mommy Abeeda—a woman whose lifestyle was a world apart from her mother's.
Initially, she didn't know they didn't share the same mother and father. It was only later, during their visits to Mommy’s house, when she noticed her mother working alongside the domestic maids, that she realized they weren't from the same womb. Still, she assumed they shared the same father.
Before her father’s death, nothing weighed heavier on his heart or caused him more profound grief than the thought of how AmatulMaleek and her mother would survive among his relatives if he were gone. This worry drove him to finally accept a job offer that a man named ASH TALBA had been persistently offering him for a very long time.
However, after securing the job offer and the accompanying housing accommodation, Allah did not decree that he would ever work the job. A severe illness struck him down, and it ultimately became his cause of death.
Following his passing, Madame Abeeda tried everything to take her sister away with her, especially since her sister had just given birth and her husband had died before the naming ceremony could even take place. However, her father’s relatives flatly refused to let them go, eyeing the meager inheritance he left behind to spend it themselves. Thus, Madame Abeeda was forced to leave her among them, along with AmatulMaleek, who happened to be the exact same age as Madame Abeeda's own precious only daughter.
Life in the house her father left behind became an unbearable burden. They desperately needed care due to her mother's postpartum state, and they had no one to look after them. Furthermore, her mother fell into a deep depression over the loss of her husband and the stress of childbirth, yet there was no one to nurse them.
When the rent on their house expired, they had no choice but to pack up and move back into the large family compound they had escaped. Fortunately, no one had occupied their old section, so they cleaned it up and settled in.
Ever since her father's death, Madame Abeeda had left the country alongside her husband, who didn't live in Nigeria permanently anyway; they only visited occasionally before traveling back. Madame Abeeda left the country entirely unaware of the misery and extreme deprivation her sister and nieces were enduring. Ordinarily, she was the sole provider for her close friend, as they considered each other their only true family.
Her mother had been raised by her own grandmother, but it was Madame Abeeda’s father who had financially sponsored all her needs because her biological father, before his death, had been his most trusted and loyal employee.
He never differentiated between her and Abeeda, treating them with equal status in his heart. He raised them to love each other fiercely, and they grew up as close as twins, viewing one another as an indispensable part of their lives.
Abeeda was also an orphan; her mother had passed away, so she grew up under the care of her stepmother. The two girls attended school together up until their final year of secondary school, when Abeeda’s father, Alhaji, passed away. His death marked the beginning of their physical separation, not because their love had faded, but because life took them down different paths.
Her mother, whose real name was Asma'u, returned to the village to live with her grandmother, where her care fell into the hands of her father's relatives. After failing to complete her secondary education, no further opportunities came her way until Allah brought her husband, her late father, who married her in a traditional village wedding. This union initially brought her life down to a basic rural standard, but because Allah blessed her with a deeply loving and caring husband, her life became significantly easier for a time.
Abeeda, on the other hand, was taken in by her maternal relatives following Alhaji's death. Along with her massive inheritance, they relocated her entirely to Port Harcourt, where her life was elevated amidst immense luxury, pampering, and vast wealth.
Abeeda went to Malaysia to pursue her higher education. At that very same time, Asma'u was living within the Sanda Fulde compound, experiencing a marital life that offered nothing but patience and endless trials.

Part 2

The vast distance between Asma'u and Abeeda never diminished the love or mutual respect they held in their hearts. Abeeda never returned to Nigeria without traveling down to the village to visit her sister. Consequently, almost all of Asma'u’s in-laws knew the depth of the bond and love that existed between her and Abeeda.
Every fine piece of clothing and high-quality food Asma'u possessed—which set her apart from the other villagers—was provided by Abeeda. Whether Abeeda was within the country or abroad, food supplies and elegant clothes were consistently sent to Asma'u at regular intervals.
Over on Abeeda's side, her maternal relatives were fully aware of the profound love between the two women. None of them ever tried to stop her; instead, they supported her efforts to improve Asma'u’s life despite her residing in a village. Thus, Asma'u held them in the highest regard.
Their physical distance did not prevent them from remaining each other's closest confidantes. There was no problem Asma'u faced that Abeeda did not know about, just as there was no anxiety Abeeda carried that Asma'u was unaware of.
When Asma'u struggled to conceive early in her marriage, Abeeda arranged to bring her down to Port Harcourt to see a specialist. Initially, Asma'u hadn't been overly distressed by her infertility, but seeing how deeply worried and invested Abeeda was, she became concerned as well. This prompted them to diligently visit various hospitals.
As the Hausa proverb goes, "Destiny is like sand; even if you mould it, it will not hold its shape." Abeeda deployed her full strength and wealth to seek medical help for Asma'u. She found no peace or rest until the day Asma'u woke up and discovered she was finally pregnant.
When Asma'u was two months pregnant, Abeeda was married off to Aleeyu Muhammad Talba, the son of her late father’s close friend. Neither she nor Aleeyu were in love; it was a marriage arranged for family connections, so they simply accepted it.
Abeeda's marriage to Aleeyu was purely a brief intersection of destiny ordained by Allah. Just three months into the marriage, Allah took his life after a sudden stomach illness that lasted a single day.
Following his death, on the exact day Abeeda completed her mandatory Islamic widowhood mourning period (iddah), Asma'u gave birth to a baby girl. The child was named after Abeeda, but they chose to call her AmatulMaleek because that was the name her father preferred. Thus, she answered to AmatulMaleek, though her official registered name remained Abeeda AmatulMaleek.
Abeeda could not attend AmatulMaleek's birth because she was dealing with a difficult, late-stage pregnancy of her own, which had taken a severe toll on her health.
Despite being in her postpartum period, Asma'u did not stay home; she traveled to nurse Abeeda until she recovered. Shortly after, Abeeda completed her term and gave birth to a baby girl, whom she named ASMA'U, though she was affectionately called Husnah.
On the very day of Husnah's naming ceremony, Abeeda was remarried to ASHRAF MUHAMMAD TALBA, Aleeyu’s identical twin brother. The two had never met face-to-face before, yet Abeeda's heart was instantly drawn to Ash Talba far more than it ever had been to Aleeyu. However, Ash’s personality was completely different from Aleeyu’s, and her life with him quickly proved difficult in many aspects.
This became the primary source of anxiety clouding Abeeda’s new marriage. However, Asma'u stood firmly by her side, offering constant encouragement and advising her to stand her ground and cherish her husband properly.
Ash did not believe in polygamy and had never desired to take a second wife. In his heart and soul, he accepted Abeeda completely. Yet, a mutual lack of emotional understanding and a failure to properly study each other's personalities strained their marriage. Fortunately, because both were highly educated, they never displayed signs of exhaustion or gave up on their union, let alone on each other.
The issue that most strained their marriage was Abeeda’s inability to navigate the emotional landscape of their relationship; she simply couldn't figure out how to penetrate his heart and fully win him over with her love.
In his eyes, she could read an intense, profound respect for her, but there was no passionate love beyond that. Therefore, she dedicated herself entirely to capturing a heart that seemed completely closed off to everyone else.
To the outside world, very few people knew that Ash was not Husnah's biological father, just as nobody knew that Ash was not his wife's first husband.
They lived a highly sophisticated, peaceful, and cultured life. Eventually, he moved her out of the country to where he resided with his mother and their only sister. This sister had returned to the family home after her first marriage ended in divorce, bringing along her young son, NAUFAL, who was now grown up and pursuing his studies.
Despite the great distance between Asma'u and Abeeda, Ash had come to know Asma'u very well due to the twins' deep attachment to each other. He highly respected Asma'u and her late husband, whom he had repeatedly tried to assist financially. Though her father had proudly declined the offers, a deep mutual respect and closeness flourished between the two families, which nonetheless brought a lot of subtle ease to her father's life.
As the years rolled by, Abeeda finally succeeded in winning over Ash’s heart. While she wasn't entirely certain she occupied every corner of it, she was confident that no other woman could ever find a foothold there. It had taken her years of marriage just to secure her own place in his heart, proving that Ash’s affection was not easily won by any woman.
He had no interest in other women, nor did he have time for romantic pursuits outside of his wife, Abeeda. He felt that loving her alone was more than enough for his lifetime, leaving absolutely no room for any other woman in his life.
Abeeda’s lifestyle underwent a massive transformation; she transitioned from the inherited wealth of her biological father to the staggering wealth of her husband, which completely eclipsed her own inheritance. Within the Talba family, Ash was practically the sole custodian of this level of fortune. Although their mother was wealthy in her own right, it paled in comparison to the immense estate they inherited from their late father.
Ash and Aleeyu shared the same father. After their father’s death, their mother remarried and gave birth to Aysha. Thus, Aysha had a different father, though they shared the same mother.
The twins were fabulously wealthy because of their father’s lineage, unlike Aysha, whose father left her with nothing beyond basic sustenance.
Growing up, Aysha harbored deep jealousy and resentment toward her half-brothers. Eventually, she married, had a child, and divorced. She went through three successive marriages, all ending in failure because she could never find a man who matched the immense wealth of her brother, Ash. Now left with no other options, and with their mother deceased, she packed her bags and moved herself and her son, Naufal, under Ash’s roof. Ash took over as a father figure to Naufal, providing them with unparalleled luxury and privilege.
Eventually, the management of the household fell largely into the hands of "Mom Aysha," as she was respectfully called. Because she was considerably older than Abeeda, she wielded significant authority in the house. Aside from the master of the house himself—the great ASH TALBA—Mom Aysha held the most power, practically placing her on equal footing with Abeeda within the estate.
Mom Aysha's presence gradually began to erode the close connection between Asma'u and Abeeda. Deep down, Mom Aysha detested the idea of Asma'u getting close to the family. Her harsh attitude and strict boundaries made Asma'u feel unwelcome, discouraging her from visiting Abeeda’s home even when they were in the same city. Consequently, their intimacy began to fade, compounded by the realities of growing older.
Following Husnah's birth, Abeeda did not conceive again until much later in life, when she gave birth to a baby boy named Haydar. To Ash Talba, Haydar was his only biological bloodline, yet in his heart, Haydar and Husnah held the exact same status. In fact, Husnah grew up entirely unaware that Ash Talba was not her biological father.
When AmatulMaleek was thirteen years old, her mother gave birth to her little brother, Abdulhameed. He grew up without ever knowing his father, as their father had passed away before his naming ceremony, leaving them in a state of utter destitution.
Their lives became marred by a massive, hollow void, with no clear path to fixing it or finding anyone to bridge the gap for them. They lived amidst bitter poverty, hardship, hunger, and constant scolding, a reality Abdulhameed grew into as he gained awareness.
After completing her primary education, AmatulMaleek's schooling came to a complete halt. Abdulhameed, by force of circumstance, became indistinguishable from a roaming beggar (almajiri) because they couldn't even afford decent clothes for him; they survived solely on whatever scraps Allah placed in their path.
In the entire extended family house, no one offered them food, as every household was consumed by its own poverty and lack.
Meanwhile, Madame Abeeda Talba and her children had risen to a status far beyond their past. Ash Talba was now widely revered by the public, who desperately pressured him to run for governor of the state. Though he harbored absolutely no interest in politics, his immense philanthropic work made him a legendary figure. Almost everyone knew "The Great Ash Talba." He gave away wealth as if he didn't know the value of money, making him highly influential among the elites, the wealthy, and the common folk alike. Despite the endless political maneuvers to drag him into the race, he remained firmly uninterested.
As for his wife, whom the world addressed as Madame Abeeda Talba, her life and the lives of her children became an elite spectacle viewed only from a distance. The level of security surrounding them was intense, as Ash shielded his family from the public eye. Now, communication between her and Asma'u was reduced to rare messages sent across long intervals of time. Recognizing the shift, her mother quietly resigned herself to her fate, focusing entirely on her orphaned children.
Two years after her father's death, Uncle Bello married her mother. However, after enduring endless misery and abuse at the hands of his co-wives, the marriage brought no relief to her or her children. They continued to taste severe hardship until the uncle grew tired of the financial burden and divorced her, claiming her troubles were simply too much for him to bear. Thus, within that very same family compound, she was married and divorced, left to continue the grueling struggle alongside her children.
She watched helplessly as Abdulhameed turned into a street beggar, while AmatulMaleek remained confined to their room. Her mother never permitted her to step out, even into the common courtyard, because the overcrowded house had become increasingly dangerous for teenage girls and growing children—many of whom had been secretly corrupted right under their parents' noses.
Ever since AmatulMaleek gained awareness, she had lived like a mute, rarely speaking because they had nothing to look forward to or celebrate. Aside from a mountain of misery, there was nothing else in their lives. She grew into an intensely quiet and reserved young woman, a disposition that brought her mother a bittersweet sense of relief and happiness. Every single day, her mother’s solitary prayer before Allah was simply for a way to secure a better future for her children.