Children's Corner

Drip-drip, drip-drip…

Farhanah looked up. She was lying on her bed reading a book.


“Oh no, it’s raining!” exclaimed Nazira, her younger sister. Nazira was sitting at her study table, writing a letter to a friend.


“Why does it have to rain? I was going to play with Zahraa in the garden later. Aunty Farida said that they were coming to visit us this afternoon.”


Mother walked into the room smiling. “Alhamdu-lillah, it’s raining! The earth smells so fresh! These first summer rains are much needed by the farmers to grow their crops. Our flowers and herbs in the garden will grow beautifully, insha-Allah.”


Nazira and Farhanah looked at each other and frowned. They were selfishly thinking about how they would be cooped up in the rooms and wondering how they would spend their time indoors. “What if it carries on raining tomorrow?”


“And the next day… and the next?”


“I wonder what it was like in the Ark during the time of Nuh (alaihi-salam). When it rained for 40 days and 40 nights?” exclaimed Farhanah.


“Girls, thank Allah that He has blessed us with these rains. What if we lived in a drought-striken land where there was no rain?”


Nazira thought for a while and said, “I suppose we are being selfish and ungrateful.” Mother said,


“We should read this du’a when it rains: Allahuma Sayyibun Na Fi-aa, which means: O Allah, do send us beneficial rain. Ameen.”


The girls repeated the du’a and then continued with what they had been doing earlier…


After a while, Nazira looked out of the window and exclaimed delightedly, “Look Farhanah! It has stopped raining and there’s a beautiful rainbow in the sky!” The girls looked upwards and smiled.


“The earth was looking so grey and dull with the rain-but now, look! The sun is beginning to shine and the sky has a rainbow of brilliant colours.”


Subhanallah! Glory be to Allah!


Just then, the doorbell rang. Aunty Farida stood at the door with a lovely cake in her hand and cousin Zahraa was standing beside her. Nazira skipped down the stairs to welcome them and then took Zahraa into the garden to smell the fresh flowers and see the rainbow that was quickly disappearing. The sun was now shining in all its glory, spreading its warmth across the land.


Allahu Akbar! Allah is the Greatest!

(Illustrated by Fathima Mall)

The air is still, the birds fly home
The sky has darkened, no animals roam
No trees, no plants, just the dunes and me,


The camels, the sheep, and my family
I love the desert and the starlit sky,
I sit on the sand and watch the clouds go by
I love the peace, it’s so quiet around,
Not a stranger in sight, no noise, no sound


From place to place I move with all that I own
This vast desert is my land, it is my home
My tent is my shelter from the heat and cold
I am a Bedouin, you know, a nomad, I’m told


I have no time for fancy clothes and toys
There’s no one to see me- no girls, no boys
I love being alone in this wide, open place
It’s like I’m in a special land, between earth and space


I don’t have many books, too heavy they’ll be
But the Quran I hold so very close to me
I meditate, I recite zikr, all my salaahs’ I pray
I am close to my Allah, throughout the day


I have no mansion, my home’s made of cloth,
No possessions I own, to earn Allah’s wrath
O Allah, please keep me forever this way
For to you, I shall come with nothing to pay
Dust unto dust – that’s what I’ll become
Till I meet You, my Lord, the Most Merciful One.

“ He is the King, the All-holy, the All-faithful, the All-preserver, the Almighty, the All-compeller, the All-sublime.” (59:23).


Allah has all pride and glory. He is beyond need and is without imperfection. Pride, an exclusively godly attribute must never be claimed by human beings. Allah hates proud people who elevate themselves above others. “ Allah does not love any man who is proud and boastful.” (57:23).


Punishment for pride in this life is spiritual blindness: “ I shall turn away from My signs the arrogant and the unjust, so that even if they see every sign, they will not believe in it.” (7:146).