Mushaf by Nemrah Ahmed 

A novel about a helpless orphan girl who discovers the real meaning of the holy Quran which helps her cope with the vagaries of her miserable life.

About Author 

Nimra Ahmed Khan is a writer. Nemrah ahmed (also known as nimra ahmed or nemrah niazi) is a young pakistani novelist۔ She is the CEO of “Zanjabeel”. Her first novel was published in Khwateen Digest. 

Mushaf

I have read this book foruth time and this review is probably going to summarize the feelings I have had over the years about this story. 

Why I picked this book?

Indeed, why did I pick this book from a total of ~2500 books in my collection (Urdu+English combined)?

Much as I reasoned to read Amarbel first (some post somewhere on this blog), I didn’t. I want to use those tiny sticky bookmarks while reading that book, and my dad wouldn’t be able to read it then, so I’m refraining from picking that up. Dad is still on Jannat Ke Pattey, so I can’t read that either.

Peter-e-Kaamil and Aab-e-Hayat I have read very recently so I don’t want to “revise” it again so soon.

Mushaf it is.

Timeline

Started: 23-July-2026

Finished: 25-July-2026

Background

First Read

Don’t remember when I read it the first time, must have been sometime in 2015 when I discovered Nemrah Ahmed with Paras. Then I read Jannat Ke Pattey. This was probably the third outing with Nemrah. I was blown away by the story.

Second Read

27-Apr-2018: Reread. Promised to write a detailed review but never did.

Third read

24-June-2021: Re-read this after discussing the book at length with my sister. She feels like Mehmal, Quran talks to her. I know the broadstrokes but wanted to recall the complete story so. Still hits just as hard as it did the first time.

Fourth Read

25-July-2026: Reread again. This time I’m reading because I finally have a physical copy that I purchased during my month-long lets-purchase-some-books-for-my-bookshelf-and-disguise-them-as-birthday-presents-to-self spree. The person who prompted me reading the book the third time is no longer with us, she’s been gone almost two years. How the same story has a different story when it is read again and again. Allah uski qabr ko noor se bhar de aur apni rehmat ke saaye mein rakhe. Ameen.

With that, we begin with notes.

Notes as I Read

24-July-2026

Page 32 and counting.

P87

اپنی نادانیوں پہ کسی کو گواہ نہیں بناتے محمل۔

P105
One thing common and prominent in Nemrah’s writing is the extreme. Mehmal’s uncle beating her up in presence of the entire family and nobody said a word. That’s… disgusting and extreme, but possible in real life? Absolutely.

P145

ہم نے سنا اور ہم نے اطاعت کی۔

سمعنا و اطعنا

مجھے اس کی عربی پتہ تھی کیونکہ یہ قران کی ان الفاظ میں سے ہے جو پڑھ کر میری آنکھوں میں آنسو آ جاتے ہیں۔ اور حج کی آیات۔۔۔ اور قران کی سب سے آخر میں نازل ہونے والے الفاظ
الیوم اکملت لکم دینکم
۔۔۔ قرآن مجید کی سورۃ المائدہ کی آیت نمبر 3 کا ایک حصہ ، جس کا مفہوم ہے: ”آج میں نے تمہارے لیے تمہارا دین مکمل کر دیا“۔

P190

P224

لوگوں کی روح تک کٹ جاتی ہے محمل! سب قربان ہو جاتا ہے، وہ پھر بھی راضی ہوتے ہیں۔ اور تم۔۔۔ تم اب بھی شکر نہیں کرتیں؟”

P271

تو جس حال میں بھی رکھے، میرے مالک! میں تجھ سے راضی

P279

اللہ ہر اس چیز سے بڑا ہے جس سے میں ڈرتی ہوں اور خوف کھاتی ہوں۔

P284

کم از کم اس وقت وہ آرزو پر سلامتی نہیں بھیج سکتی تھی۔

یہ وہ بات ہے جو متواتر مجھے خود کی یاد دلاتی ہے۔ بہت کثرت سے میں اس صورت حال میں ہوتی ہوں کہ میرا سامنے والے پہ سلامتی بھیجنے کی ہمت نہیں ہوتی۔

Thoughts as I Read 

Ardent NA fans may come after me, because as much as I like the story, I have some thoughts, not all of them are flattering.

1. Command on language in the early parts of the book: Nemrah Ahmed doesn’t have a good command over language in this book. Also, in the first few pages, there’s very heavy emphasis on appearances. There’s info dump and also people especially FMC kinda shitting over others. The prose is very descriptive. What I’m trying to say is, Nemrah hadn’t come into her “element” yet, not in the early parts at least. I do recall later parts of this story had some kickass prose.
2. The transition was too fast. One moment, she was questioning things; the next moment, she was dars-e-Quran taliba questioning one of the popular scholars. Too sudden.
3. More sudden and abrupt was how Mehmal fell for Humayun. She met him barely, under not-so-pleasing circumstances. Every meeting is kinda same. There is hardly any moment which would make her go, “wow, he’s the one”. And suddenly, she’s accusing him, “aap bich raaste mein chhor kar jane walon mein se hain”. Arey bahen? Kab? Kaise?
4. Also, her obliviousness about Farishtey’s feelings was absurd. Bahot hi koi maathi heroine thhi. You see people’s face and you know they like someone. Sure, some might be able to hide it better IRL, but that was NOT the case with Farishtey, was it?
5. I know that the title demanded the focus to be on Mushaf, and Mehmal’s connection with Quran needed to be very strong and very often. It was all intentional, but I felt that EVERYTIME something was about to happen, she knew. EVERYTIME she opened Quran, the verses were relevant to her present predicament. I had a teeny tiny feeling: zyada nahin ho gaya. Again, I know it was intentional to establish the connection between bandi and Allah ki kitaab, but I felt it was overdone.
6. In 2-3 places, I felt Mehmal was jatao-ing how… pious (for lack of a better word) she is. “Tumhein pata hai Farishtey, main kaise Surah Kahf padh kar rone lag jati thhi?” And this happened 2-3 times. I understand the sentiment. There are some verses that bring tears to my eyes no matter what. I note them in my diary entries sometimes, but I don’t “discuss” it. There’s plenty of things I discuss with my family, but not this one. Yeh toh Allah aur bande ke beech ki baat hai na? I know, fiction… need to show people… teach them a lesson.
7. On similar lines, in the last act of the book, at one point, I felt that Mehmal is judging Farishtey.
8. The part where Humayun apologizes but doesn’t explain, and Farishtey explains a lot but doesn’t apologize made me think. It is so important to learn that both are needed for atonment, penance, repetence (the word that popped first was paraishchit, hehe).
9. Taimoor was undercooked, kinda like the prose in the initial parts of the book. Yeh jo aadhi-angrezi, aadhi-Urdu wale jumle hote hain, woh mushkil aur wannabe lagte hain mujhe.

How did others feel about this book? 

~~~

Shabana Mukhtar