Hiccups

The day before, a friend promised to pick me up at 1 past noon on Saturday. We had the intention to meet some people at 2. As he is known not to be punctual, I sms-ed him at precisely 1 for his whereabouts and to confirm to myself the lee-time of 20-25 minutes I gave him. His reply was almost immediate, saying he was about to leave. I figured the lee-time I gave him was correct as he is a slow driver and I took my own bloody time to get dressed.

By 1.30 I was ready and thought he would arrive soon.

By 1.55, I sms-ed him but he did not reply.

By 1.57, I sms-ed him again, hinting my annoyance at his lateness. Honestly, I was pretty much annoyed and had almost given-up as I hate being late – when I am, I would call ahead. Anyway, as I was about to step back into the house, he called and gave the excuse of performing the zuhr prayers first. That totally pissed me off!

No, I was not pissed off about the prayer; that is obligatory. But I was pissed off when he used it as an excuse! Zuhr begins at 1.21pm. In his reply to me at 1, he mentioned leaving his place. Couldn’t he have informed me that he would be stopping for prayers first before coming over? For the duration we were together for the day, I kept to myself, if anything, just to control my temper.

Later, when the meet was over and we were on our way back, I mentioned my annoyance at him and that this is not the first incidence. It was just a short less than a minute thing, but it must have made him feel pretty bad. Then, it was his turn to be silent…and me, feeling guilty.

Till early yesterday evening, I was still feeling guilty about having to tell him off. He is, after all, several years my senior. This incident may be just a hiccup in our friendship. One that occurs in many others and one that may keep repeating itself over time. But insyAllah, like the many others before and after, it will heal by itself. I certainly pray for that as I do hate feeling guilty.