Children's Corner

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with, out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching!

Fatima had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Fatima, let's wash the dishes.' But Fatima said, 'Grandma, Ahmed told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Ahmed did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Fatima to help make supper.'

Fatima just smiled and said, 'Well, that's all right because Ahmed told me he wanted to help.' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Fatima went fishing and Ahmed stayed to help.

After several days of Ahmed doing both his chores and Fatima's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Fatima make a slave of you.'
Thought for the day and every day.

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that Allah was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

In the heart of the Sahara Desert, in Southern Algeria lies one of its most unforgiving environments, a landscape of weather beaten rocks and canyons called Tassilli N'Ajjer. This place is set on a plateau that rises to 7,395 ft (2254 metre). It contains an extraordinary gallery – thousands of rock paintings, and engravings on the rocks that were made over a period of six thousand years.

These give an account of the region's climatic history. The earliest show elephants, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, cattle, gazelles and fish pointing to a climate that was filled with forests nourished by abundant rainfall. Hunters are seen among animals, trying to hunt big game for their survival as a race.

However, the later day paintings show cattle herders, which indicates farming and a settled way of life.

By 1200 BCE there are images of chariots, suggesting contacts with other Mediterranean tribes.

In the last phase there are paintings of camels – the essential animal used to travel wide distances across the desert – that indicates that lush, green landscape had formed into a desert destroying the flora and fauna of the area – a desert dotted with oases.

This evidence indicates that Sahara was not always a desert, and probably underwent a radical change after the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago. Five hundred miles (800 km) south of Tassilli N'Ajjer Mountains are the Air Mountains of Niger rising to a height of 1950 feet (640 metres) with more rock paintings of elephants and giraffes dating back to 5000 years.