It’s Iimi! The Final Struggle

The day has finally come. Sumeja and Bahrudin meet in the courtroom to finalize their divorce, divide assets, and set up custody arrangements. Kismetta finds herself a helpless bystander as she witnesses… The Final Struggle

Post-Comic Notes:

Hopefully, it should be obvious. But if it isn’t, Sumeja’s monologue on the last two pages is not a legitimate Muslim belief. Sumeja has rationalized common (but condemned) justifications for disobedience to Muslim teachings.

When I began planning the divorce storyline, I knew it would end with Sumeja losing her sons to Bahrudin. Plotting out how it could happen without “cardboard cutout” mustache-twirling villains took a long time. I’d considered everything from corrupt judges and bribery to sexism to Sumeja and Sheu-fuh blackmailed for an unsavory relationship.

Ultimately, I discovered that what Sumeja did broke US and International law. Once the judge learned that and—stripped of any reasons to declare the father an unfit parent—he would have no choice under US law but to order the sons returned. I think this was more plausible than anything else I considered.

As for what happens to the now-hyphenated Dhumzur-Grebo family, you’ll have to wait and see.

The name change was inspired by my discovery that Muslims did not have the custom of changing the wife’s last name. They usually keep their father’s last name. I later wrote that they were civilly married and followed American customs. However, I was annoyed by my research failure.

By the way, "Grebo" (a Bosnian surname) is pronounced Greh-bo, not Gree-bo.

Bahrudin’s Arabic translates as “Zuhayr? It’s Bahrudin. I apologize for calling so early. But I have a large amount of money to transfer for a divorce settlement, and I need it done before Wednesday.”

Image Credits
The final page image is © 2015 W. Fraser Sandercombe, used with permission. All rights reserved.

Some images used in this comic were AI drafted by the author using NightCafe and then edited by the same. No artist names were used in the prompts.