Children's Corner

There were about 70 scientists working on a project. All of them were really frustrated due to the pressure of work and the demands of their boss but everyone was loyal to him and did not think of quitting the job. One day, one of the scientists came to his boss and told him: 'Sir, I have promised my kids to take them to the exhibition being held in our township. So I would like to leave the office at 5-30 pm. His boss replied "OK, You're permitted to leave the office early today."

He went back to his seat and resumed the work and continued to work after lunch. As usual he became so consumed with the work that that when he felt it was time for him to leave and looked at his watch, the time was 8.30 pm. Suddenly, he remembered of the promise to his kids. He looked for his boss, He was not around. Having permitted him to leave early, he had wound up his work and left for home. Deep within himself, the scientist felt guilty for having disappointed his children.

He reached home. But kids were not there. His wife was sitting in the hall and reading one magazine after another. The situation was explosive, any attempt to initiate conversation would boomerang instantly, he thought. But mercifully, his wife asked him: "Would you like to have coffee or shall I straight away serve the dinner?” The man replied "If you would like to have coffee, I too would have it, but what about the children?" Wife replied, "You don't know? Your manager came here at 5.15 pm and has taken the children to the exhibition.

What really happened?

The boss who had permitted him in the morning, was observed him working seriously at 5 pm. He thought to himself, this person will not leave the work on his own, busy as he is deeply in the assignment. But if he has promised his children they should enjoy the visit to exhibition. So he took the lead in sending them to exhibition, He thought, the boss does not have to do it every time. But once it is done, loyalty will be established. That is why all the scientists at Thumba (in Kerala) continued to work under their boss even though the stress was tremendous. By the way, can you hazard a guess as to who the boss was....?

He was none other than Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India.

My children...

Do you know the story of the sad camel?

A camel was sad, because the owners wanted to slaughter it. What did the camel do? We will let the Companion, Ya'la bin Murrah (RA) tell us the story from its beginning. He said: I travelled with the Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) and I saw something from him that was amazing. We stopped at a place, when a camel came to him and stood in front of him. The Messenger of Allah saw that its eyes were flowing with tears, so he sent for its owners and said to them:

"What is with this camel of yours that it complains about you?"

His Companions said:

"We used it for our work, but now that it has grown old and it cannot work, we have decided to slaughter it tomorrow."

This means that they had agreed to have it slaughtered. The Messenger of Allah said: "Do not slaughter it. Place it with the other camels so it can be with them."

Ya'la then said: "So he branded the camel with the mark of charity and let it go (amongst the others)."

The tradition has been reported with more detail saying that the Prophet said:"Where is the owner of this camel?"

The owner came and the Prophet said to him: "Sell it to me." The owner said:
"No, rather we will give it to you as a gift, O Messenger of Allah."
In other words, "I am giving it to you as a gift from me."

The Prophet then said: "No, sell it to me."

The owner replied: "No, rather we will give it to you, O Messenger of Allah. It belongs to a family of a household that does not have any livelihood other than it."

The Prophet said: "I have only mentioned this about its affair (i.e., buying it) because it is complaining of too much work and very little feeding. Therefore be good to it."

This story teaches us the extreme mercy of the Messenger of Allah towards animals, and his kindness to them. We must follow the Messenger and imitate his deeds. For this reason we must be kind to animals.

Kindness to animals is something that Islam teaches us. We obey and listen to everything that is in our great religion of Islam. Therefore, we must not torment animals, but rather we should be kind and merciful to them. We must not forbid them from food and water, but rather we should feed them and give them drink. We must not harm them by beating them or dragging them forcefully.