Strangers

On a beautiful warm day in winter, two strangers walk by ignoring each other. There was a time when they used to know each other, love each other, but now they are strangers and forever they will be.....

He betrayed her, she betrayed him. He is a husband, she is a wife, and they are married. He lied to her, she believed him. He lied again, she believed him. He lied again, she believed him again. He lied again, and that was the lie she couldn't take. He betrayed her, she betrayed him. Now, they are strangers and forever they will be.....

He wanted her to respect him, and trust him, she couldn't. It was hard for her to respect someone she couldn't trust. It was hard for her to respect someone who lied to her. It was hard for her to respect someone who again and again jeopardized their union....So, she stopped respecting him. So she stopped trusting him....She betrayed him. Now, they are strangers and forever they will be.


She looks at him and realizes that their life is a lie. She looks at him and wonders how he could've done what he did. She looks at him and comes to the realization that she doesn't know him at all. The first night they met, they were strangers. From small talk conversation, they became friends. One morning, they turned into lovers, they became husband and wife, they played house, but they did not play fair. Now, they are strangers again, and forever they will be.


He wanted her to accept everything, the lies, the betrayals...He wanted her to still love her despites all that...He wanted her to cook her meals, do his laundry, clean his house, love him when he wanted to and overlook everything else....She tried for a while, but she got frustrated and that's how she betrayed him. Now, they are strangers, and forever they will be.

They ignored the Qur'anic verse which says: "they are your garments and you are their garments" 2:187). Garments to each other because they provide one another with the protection, the comfort, the cover, the support, and the adornment that garments provide to humans. However, this husband was naked, this wife was naked, they didn't have any garments and now they are strangers, and forever they will be.

She looks at the pictures of their wedding, their outings, their past. Faces proud, still and serene, happy one could say. She wonders how they used to spend their days, what used to make them happy. She wonders what their life was like at the time they took that picture. She can’t remember. It was the face of her husband, and her face but she couldn’t remember coz it’s been too long. She wishes she knew the two people on the photograph, their memories, and their hopes. But above all, she wishes she could warn them not to be together. Unfortunately, they were already strangers...

What is she going to do know? She had two options. She could do what women have been doing for centuries. They forget about passion,intense connection, trust,honesty and values. They settle for an empty marriage and lower their expectations.But she got to thinking about fairy tales. What if Prince Charming had never shown up? Would Snow White have laid in that glass box forever? Or would she have gotten up, spit out the apple, gotten a job and a health care plan and moved on with her life? The choice was hers, the consequences will be theirs, they have become strangers.

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, a heart is broken. Could you pick up broken pieces, glue them together and pretend that the mended whole is as good as new? Isn't it better to let what's broken be broken, remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places?


Love is not about finding the right person, but creating a right relationship. It's not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build till the end. Honesty and Trust are important in achieving that, when they are lacking it hurts the relationship, it kills the love. As, they used to say, love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing......Love is not immortal.

That was the story of a husband and a wife, who on a beautiful warm day in spring, walked by ignoring each other. There was a time when they used to love each other, there was a time when they used to be proud of each other, now they are strangers and forever will be. That is the story of men. That is the story of women. It could very well be my story. It could be your story. But really, what is there to do when a husband and a wife become strangers?