Istikharah
JI 2 - Debt

Leon gets an email notification of the maturity of the debt installment from a Bank. That's the cost of his house.

He's frustrated not playing. Now he is without money, what will he pay for?

Leon put his head on the table. He's very frustrated.

The court filing has not yet developed. One more week the authorities will call Reza back.

"Okay, it's gonna be over soon." Suddenly Leon gains the power to come back to life.

He then rushed out of the office and met one of the prospective clients who would do the cooperation. Today he does have a meeting schedule with one of the prospective clients.

"I can't keep going like this. Must be spirit," said Leon while correcting his appearance.

Arriving at the promised place, Leon and his prospective client meet. They discuss all sorts of things. Until finally the prospective client felt confident and decided to work with Leon's company.

"Thank God everything went well" Leon said as he was in the car. He just got a client. And now the goal is to get back to the office.

***

Arini is telling her children the story of sleep delivery. Both are common in stories. If not already told, they do not want to sleep.

"You want a story of tigers and cats, dong, Ma!" Jasmine asks what story she wants.

"Yes yes. Cing and lime" Yusuf agreed with his brother.

They are like that. Often request stories they want to hear. Rarely want to hear the stories in the books. They have a lot of books.

Not infrequently the story they request is in the book, so Arini or Ani just read the book.

But since the story of cats and tigers is not in the fairy tale, Arini finally made up freely.

"In ancient times, cats and tigers coexisted. Tigers and cats both live in residential areas. They are very harmonious and peaceful." Arini paused for a moment while putting a blanket on her children.

"Telus, Ma?" Yusuf interrupted because Arini was silent for a moment.

"Then the beast god made a rule, if your day should stay in the forest and never go to the village again. While the cat remains in the village and never enter the forest. They live in peace because no one violated them" Arini said.

Just as Arini ends his fairy tale, Leon returns home.

"Lad..." Shouted his children simultaneously. The two get out of bed and run to Leon.

"You guys haven't slept? It's night, you know. You, Jasmine. Tomorrow you go to school" Leon said, crouching down to match his height with them.

Seeing the interaction of the child and father, Arini reviews a small smile. Because it's been a month more Leon always come home late, and if that's the case, of course the three of them never met at night. But today Leon came home quickly. At eight he was home.

***

"What's this?" ask Arini while thrusting her laptop in front of Leon.

Arini sent a late-pay notification email from a bank. Actually Arini does not know Leon's email password. However, Leon once borrowed Arini's laptop to open an email, and the email has not been issued by Leon.

Once he found out there was an email, Arini immediately rushed to Leon's office. The feeling is not good. It seemed like there was something Leon had hidden from him.

"Why are you paying late?" Arini asked as she looked at Leon closely. She was trying to figure out if her husband would give her a lie or a right answer. "What debt is this? What do you owe this much for? Why don't I know? Am I your wife or not? You actually think I exist or not, anyway?"

Leon lowered his head while squeezing the finger of his left hand that was under the table. He was confused where to say everything from.

It's Leon's fault, too, because he didn't tell Arini that half of the cost of buying a new house was the result of debt.

"Sorry, Honey. I'm not being honest." Leon replied while looking at Arini. "Our new house, half of his money is borrowed from the bank. The office economy is bad. Om Reza corruption," said Leon slowly. His voice sounded frustrated.

Arini twitched her suddenly throbbing head. Leon could have kept such a big secret from himself.

"Sorry, Honey. I couldn't tell you this from the beginning, I didn't want to make you burdened."

"Burdens said you? What do you think of me, the hell?" Arini began to get emotional. But he can still control it well. Even though he was angry, he still did not scream.

"Sorry, dear" said Leon. He felt so guilty about his wife.

"Let me pay off all the house debt, you just focus on the corruption. It's riba, you know not, anyway?"

"It's not riba, honey. This Sharia Bank. It deals goods with money, not money with money. The bank buys our house, then we will pay the remaining shortage of bills every month to the bank. Not that I borrowed cash to buy a house." Leon straightened out the wife's misunderstanding.

Arini and Leon had read an article about usury on the internet. They know that transactions between goods and money are allowed.

For example: The bank provides goods in the form of a house, then the customer will pay the house on credit. It is a transaction between goods and money. The bank gives goods to customers, the customer gives money to the Bank. So this transaction is a good with money.

Transactions between money and money are not allowed.

For example: The Fulan borrowed money from the bank to buy a house.  And every month the Fulan must pay the debt in accordance with the agreement with the Bank. This transaction is called money with money.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me? Do not let me know by myself," said Arini broke the silence between them.

"Om Reza is a lot of corruption. Including employee salary money he also took. And I pay the employees in debt" Leon said slowly.

"That's not riba?" Arini asked while looking at Leon's face fixedly. He knew how riba was strictly forbidden. And as much as possible he will avoid it.

"Sorry, Honey. I have no other choice."

"Yes already. It's up to you. If you think I exist, surely you will not forget me in terms of taking action" Arini said cynically.

"Sorry, dear." Leon could only regret his actions and continuously apologize.