Noor Al Lahjiya

Yemenat

Ahmed Saif Hashed

In my first year at the Faculty of Law, Noor Al Lahjiya was the most beautiful and astonishing of us all. She came from the governorate of Lahj — and I had never imagined that Lahj could hold such overwhelming beauty, such evident enchantment that fills its surroundings and overflows. Her beauty stole minds and hearts alike, stripping us of every weapon of resistance; we came to her willingly, humbled and subdued.

What is this weakness that has taken hold of me, seizing everything within me, O God? A beauty I cannot resist — a beauty that reveals only my fragility, so delicate that even the gentlest breeze could topple me into ruins.

I stole glances at Noor Al Lahjiya like a thief, my heart trembling. I despise the deeds of thieves, O God — so why have You turned me into a trembling thief? Her beauty was so excessive that it made me fearful and infatuated. And I — who always raged against cowardice — suddenly found myself enslaved, bound by my adoration. I was bewitched by her and had become her possession. She was my lady, and she held the final word. Would she accept my servitude forever?

I have loved freedom to the point of death, yet this overpowering beauty enslaved me. It exercised its tyranny until I was reduced to a trembling captive. I had always borne the mark of denial, but in the presence of such beauty I yielded — confessing that her loveliness was God’s irrefutable proof of His presence on earth, a sign so powerful it made my heart quake.

Every morning I began my day with her image in mind. I placed my hope in her arrival and lived on renewed optimism. I would wait for hours, seeking