Then

Sunlight glinting off of tall steel buildings, the scorching sun frowning in frustration as it tried to torment, unsuccessfully, the heads of those under it. Wind fought the heat, bringing with it salt from the nearby ocean. It smelled of the sweaty ocean scent. Sand, and perpetually damp rocks. Every now and then, a huge roar in the sky and an airplane would land in the big airport in the city as people from all across the world stopped here. There were two major reasons. This was the hub of the world. A major port. People stopped from one place to another as part of their connection. Second, this place had great educational facilities. Iranians, Saudis, Malaysians, Singaporeans. You name it, they had heard of the schools here. And they came here to study. You saw all ethnicities, almost all races.

The buildings were tall and magnificent. A metropolis in the making. This city had a future. And the future was full of sunshine.

The people were happy. They finally had a country, a city to call their own. Their roads were their own. Their buildings. They were not the major minority, they were the majority. They had seceded from the oppressive rule of their now neighbors. And they were free at last. To live in their houses. To worship as they pleased. They were muhajirs and what better honor than a title that the Prophet - may peace be upon him - held. A lot of them had emigrated from a place of oppression, and now they were here. This time, they had learned from their mistakes. They would educate themselves as much as possible, look at the man who had created this country, he had believed so firmly in education, and he had done what had been considered impossible. They would educate their children, they would become better than the people who had been living here since before them. The natives. They would do their part to help make this country, the country for all of them, a veritable Jannah on earth.

A few miles away by the sea, a boy walked with his parents. Skipping along. Waves ebbing and flowing at his feet. Giggling when the waves rushed past his legs. Making a stern but firm face when they became so strong that they tried to knock him down. But he was a big boy now. He was stronger than he had been last year and stronger then than the year before. He would not be knocked down by the ocean. This was his city. And the ocean should know it. The waves left behind a stone, a long cylindrical one it seemed to him. He bent over to examine it. It was hollow. He turned it perpendicular to the ground and out fell a bunch more. He threw the container away. Some snails were struggling to poke their heads out from the stones that had fallen down on the sand. He turned the ones that were upside down over and looked back at his parents. Neither had seen his good deed. But his mother smiled at him and his father kept talking on the phone, complaining as was his wont.