Children's Corner

Choose Your Friends

There was once an Enggang bird who lived at the edge of a forest, beside a fruit farmer’s orchard. Everyday the Enggang would fly into the forest to search for wild fruits and berries.

One day, the Enggang saw Crows eating from the nearby fruit orchard. Being attracted by how much the Crows were enjoying their easy food with little effort, the Enggang decided to come closer to the group of Crows.

At the outskirts of the fruit orchard, the fruit farmer was infuriated and upset with his loss of fruits.

The farmer said to himself:

“I must do something about this!”

So the next day, the farmer decided to set a trap in his fruit orchard. He was very careful in placing the trap so that none of the birds knew about it!

In the afternoon, the Crows came again. The Enggang also came later. The Enggang did not participate in eating the farm’s fruits but sat very near to them.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound:

“Snap!”

A giant net flew over all of the birds’ heads and all of them were caught in the trap. The Crows and the Enggang were all caught.

After getting caught, all the Crows felt guilty and did not say anything. However, the Enggang tried to explain to the farmer:

"Mr. Farmer, as you can see, I don’t belong in this group. I am bigger and more colourful than the rest. I eat wild fruits and berries from the forest. I did not steal from your orchard. Please free me!"

The farmer replied:

"I can clearly see that you look very different to the rest. I also cannot imagine how you have ended in my fruit orchard. However, since I caught you along with these other thieves, you will be treated just like how I will treat them after this!”

So dear children:

What can we learn from this story?

From this story, we learn that we are judged by the friends we hang around with. Even if we are good, but if we hang around with bad company, other people will judge us by looking at our company.

We must therefore be careful of choosing our friends. Also, we must always make an honest effort in everything we do.

Children's Corner

The Bundle Of Sticks

There was once a man who had four sons. They were always fighting with each other. Their father was upset with this. He often told them that life would be much better and more pleasant if they learned how to work together. Unfortunately, the four sons did not want to listen to their wise father's advice.

One day, the father decided to show his children something to teach them a lesson. He gathered many sticks together and tied them in a bundle. He then called his sons.

He gave the bundle of sticks to his oldest son and asked:

"Can you break these?"

The oldest boy tried hard to break the bundle with his hands, an then his feet, but he could not break any of the sticks. Each of the sons took turns, but none of them could break even one small stick.

Then the father untied the sticks.

The father then told his sons:

"Now break the sticks."

The sons easily broke the sticks one by one.

The father then told them:

"Do you understand what I have been saying all this time. If you are united, you will be strong, and no one can harm you. But if you fight between yourselves and go your separate ways, your enemy will be able to defeat you."

So dear children, what can we learn from this story?

The lesson we learn from this story is that unity promotes strength.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

"And hold fast all together, by the rope which Allah Ta'ala (stretches out for you) and be not divided among yourself."

Our most beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW also said:

"A Muslim is he from whose tongue and hands other Muslims are safe." (Bukhari)

Children's Corner - ANNOUNCEMENT

Salams All

InshaAllah from now on, I will be posting stories which have been tailored by Muslim scholars especially for children. Thus to ignite the spirit of Islam in them, and to act as a suplementing medium for them to learn Islam.

I humbly suggest that parents print these articles and read them out to their children.

Such efforts will also InshaAllah be beneficial, particularly for those communities of which English is not the first language.

Finally, I humbly emphasise too that such efforts only act as supplementary work. The main bulk of child training and tarbiyah lies in the hands of parents. May Allah SWT make our endeavours easy.

Ameen.