Good Manners
The columnist Nazneen Gulamhussein Mukhtar (Arusha, Tanzania) is the headmistress of Yaadgare Murtazawi Madressa, She is a mother to five children and loves writing and reading. She always wanted to inspire children – her favourite audience. Writing has been her passion for as long as she can remember and believes that effective learning takes place through storytelling.
Once I was reading a Magazine (Readers Digest) where I came across an amazing story. There was an old man who went to a program which was held for the Orphans. He was one of the Prominent people there, the Guest of honour- and hence was sitting on the high table which was for the VIPs – very important people! Suddenly, he happened to look across the hall and on the 1st row he saw a little girl, an orphan, and when she saw him, she gave a sweet smile. He says, “I had been feeling very low and miserable for as long as I can remember, but something in that sincere and sweet smile lit up my heart. Suddenly, I felt so happy!”
It is said- that this man was a retired Judge and very rich, and he had no relatives or friends. He made it a point to meet the little girl after the program, and when he learnt that she was an orphan, he actually
wrote his will, making this little girl his prime inheritor. You might think it was just a smile- what does it matter? But it certainly matters!
That’s why there is a Hadisof our Holy Prophet (saw), that when one looks with kindness and love towards his Parents he gets the sawab of an accepted Pilgrimage!
Some people have a wrong impression- ie the more pious and the more Taqwa you have- then you become a person who is very strict, and hardly smiles. But that is not true. In fact, a person who has Taqwa is pleasant and smiling, and this is something that attracts others towards Islam too.
This was one of the charming things about the Holy Prophet (saw). He would be smiling and kind towards the people. And Imam Ali who was such a great warrior, but he also had a good sense of humour. The Prophet was so jovial, that Once he was seated with Imam Ali they were eating dates- and the Prophet would keep the seeds of dates near Ali so it looked like- Ali had more seeds. After a while, the Holy Prophet (saw) says- “mashallah! You seem to be very hungry today! (and pointing to the seeds he said) You have eaten all those dates?”
Then Ali says-“ The Prophet of Allah is more hungry than me! Look he has eaten the seeds with the dates!” The people around smiled- it’s actually good to have a sense of humour.
One day an old lady comes to ask a question about Jannah, and what it would be like there- and the Holy Prophet (saw) says- “well one of the important things you should know about- is that there won’t be any old people in Jannah!”
Upon hearing that- the old lady thought- Ya Allah!- I am so old, what’s going to happen to me? She became sad and the H/P asked her- why are you sad? When she told him about what she feared- he said with a smile– “don’t worry you will go to Jannah, if your deeds are good, but Allah will make you youthful again!”
Kindness and good speech is also the best way to teach others what is good- it has been discovered that people will not learn- if you are too strict or harsh, but will learn more quickly, in an atmosphere where you allow them to express their views. Well, children, I’m sure you agree with me, right?
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