Namlians received their Eid gift in the form of an early episode, and what an episode it was! Number 15 of Naml (or should I say Nahl) once again made us cry, laugh and ponder simultaneously all through its 55 pages.
****SPOILER ALERT****
Progress
Summarizing the story, we got several major developments. I would list them in bullets for your ease and mine:
- The Kardaars suspect that Faris is behind the accident in Dr. Bukhari’s hospital-to-be. Khawar resolves to find clues about finding Faris’s hand in all this.
- Shehreen requests to meet Faris in a restaurant, but seeing Haneen with him, changes the topic to the gun used to shoot Saadi. Faris mentions the gun’s exact model and Shehreen suddenly remembers that Sheru possesses this model.
- Ahmar is interrogated by Faris in front of Zumar and Haneen about the thing by which Justice Sikandar was blackmailed by Saadi. He tells them that Justice Sikandar murdered an OCP of Intermediate Board. This was the very same OCP whom Haneen is guilty of blackmailing.
- Saadi’s pen camera originally belongs to Mr. OCP and contains the video of him being murdered at the hands of Justice Sikandar. Saadi finds this pen on OCP’s desk when he goes to his house after Haneen’s confession.
- Zumar realizes that the keychain and the pen given to him by Gul Khan are Saadi’s. She meets Gul Khan who tells her that it was found in the purse of a lady from the under construction building. Zumar learns about how the woman look like but it is not enough to lead her to Sarah yet.
- Haneen reads Shaikh’s book and finds herself as the diseased person she saw earlier, who was diagnosed with Ishq. She gets horrified by seeing this and refuses the Shaikh’s offer to cure her.
- Hashim goes to meet Saadi and demands to provide confidential information about his Thar Coal project. Saadi refuses to co-operate at any cost. Hashim threatens him and leaves for a few hours giving him time to think.
- Aabdar Obaid comes to know that her father and Hashim are involved in keeping some scientist in a safe house as she overhears her father’s call to Hashim. Later on, she learns from Ahmar that Saadi is a NESCOM scientist who is most probably been abducted for the sake of confidential information.
- Hashim gets back to Saadi and plays Haneen’s audio message on Whatsapp in which she agrees to come with his driver to a hotel. He pressurizes Saadi by sharing his nasty plans with him. Saadi feels utterly helpless but then notices Haneen’s Whatsapp status of a part of Ayah 68 of Surah Nahl and a video camera icon.
- He notices that the audio message was sent prior to changing the status. He calms himself down and says that Haneen would never go with Hashim’s driver. Hashim makes snide comments but gets blown over when Haneen calls him and says that she won’t come as Saadi has forbade her to go. She also makes a strong point to discontinue any such conversation between them. Hashim gets utterly shocked and repeatedly asks Saadi what has he done sitting here? Saadi (all relieved now) recites these Ayahs:
“So when you recite the Quran, seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaitan. Surely, he has no authority over those who believe and rely on their Lord. His authority is only over those who befriend him and those who associate others with Him.”
Surah Nahl 98-100
- Haneen after sending that audio in which she agreed to come to a hotel remembers that Saadi used to post some Tafseer videos on his facebook page. She remembers the one about Ayahs 66 to 69 of Surah Nahl and plays it. Saadi explains that Allah (SWT) might have made an analogy of honey bees with girls. Honey bees are supposed to follow the paths made easier for them, just as young women are supposed to follow the straight and halaal path led for them. But now-a-days, honey bees are getting confused by the mobile signals in the air, which mess up their sense of direction and they get lost and deviate from the straight path. Likewise, girls are deviating from the straight path because of unlawful and unethical conversations with na-mehrams on mobile phone. Haneen cries while watching this video and then calls Hashim to discontinue any unlawful contact they used to have.
- Saadi used to ask his listeners to change their Whatsapp status to the Ayah learned today for 24 hours. That’s how he knew that Haneen has recently seen that video and will not go with Hashim’s driver.
- Shehreen meets Sheru and tricks her into telling her about the gun he possessed. Although, Sheru rejects outright that he had that particular model but in his stupidity gives all the clues against his statement through his body language.
- Zumar and Haneen watch the video of the OCP being murdered and then watch the whole video of Saadi’s meeting with the Kardaars. Both of them receive immense shock after this realization but decide not to tell Faris about this truth because he might do something stupid.
- Justice Sikandar has recently been appointed as a high court judge and a party is thrown in his honour. Zumar (along with Faris) is invited to this party. Faris remembers how arrogantly Sikandar had refused to plead his case justly. He plans Sikandar’s destruction by publicizing the OCP’s murder video and the honourable Justice’s Reputation goes down the sewers when that video is played in his party.
- Zumar is told by her doctor that her donated kidney is no longer supporting her.
Points to Ponder
- Zumar now realizes that Faris is not guilty, but has not told him yet. Her ego restricts her from confessing her fault. Let us hope that this does not create more problems for the couple.
- Speaking about Zumar, I hope she is not in grave danger because of her deteriorating health. But I remember a conversation between her and Hanna when Hanna asks her that why do writers kill the character we love the most and Zumar replies that the writer makes us love the character that is about to die. I hope this was not a clue for her death :(
- It might be Saadi whom Hashim remembers whenever he sees Haroon Obaid’s face and gets sad.
- Aabdar is getting closer to the truth. She seems pretty innocent but she has a sharp mind too. The question remains that who was her fiancé who beat Sheru up and why did Saadi not help him? Probably Saadi thought that this was for Sheru’s own good:)
- The revelation part was pretty straight forward, but thank God Zumar and Hanna saw that video safely. I was dreading some more twists before it.
- What was it that Shehreen needed to discuss with Faris? Is she really interested in him? Shehreen! Woman! Get a grip, you will only hurt yourself!
Best Scene
For me, and I am sure for most of you, the best scene was the Tafseer one. As I read the translation of the ayahs, some connections were being made in my mind to Haneen’s present situation too. But the way the whole concept was explained was awesome. Only this powerful reminder from Allah (SWT) and an explanation from her brother could snap Hanna out of her disease. The way it was showed that your good deed comes back to you was amazing as well. Saadi never would have imagined that he would help his sister and himself by a good deed done so long ago. But Allah (SWT) always remembers and returns the favours multiplying manifolds.
Quality Rating
The pace was fast as usual and character development was exemplary as usual too. The episode had all the elements tied together like a wonderful necklace. I would rate this episode as 5 out of 5 because for me it was flawless.
Share your own review with us please:)
Eagerly waiting for the next installment.
Noor-us-Saad