Читать книгу What Changes Everything - Masha Hamilton - Страница 6

hadn't shrunk over the last year, even though he'd been a good man, or tried. Goodness wasn't simply a matter of intention; life conspired to sidetrack the well-meaning, and somehow doing right by those you loved most always proved far more complicated than being kind to strangers— as if the two, love and complications, had to be ingested in equal measure. He had long ago realized that the unintended sins of the virtuous caused the worst damage: sins committed when one should have known better, or tried harder, or spoken up or stayed silent.

"They will never know how fiercely I wish I could stand before them—before you— and ask forgiveness." Amin could have said those words, though they belonged to Najib. Even in the middle of it, Amin had known it as an exceptional moment in his life. What he couldn't see then was what it would cost him. He'd been so young. He'd do it differently now, of course. Another chance was not to be had.

Nor another chance at this day's noon prayers. Najib could be considered later. Lowering his forehead again to the prayer rug, he wordlessly asked Allah's forgiveness for his break in attention, cleared his mind, and offered praise for the Master of the Judgment Day, the Powerful One of ninety-nine names.