WELCOME AGAIN, O’ RAMADAN!

As Ramadan approaches, let us remind ourselves about this Column’s favourite subject: kindness. A kindness is properly and ultimately met with another kindness. If one wants to live a fulfilled life, just be kind. It may surprise one how quickly doing a good deed turns around. And if one does good and it doesn’t apparently […]

As Ramadan approaches, let us remind ourselves about this Column’s favourite subject: kindness. A kindness is properly and ultimately met with another kindness. If one wants to live a fulfilled life, just be kind. It may surprise one how quickly doing a good deed turns around. And if one does good and it doesn’t apparently come around, never despair. Suffice it to remember that every good we do with good intention is rewarded by Allah sometimes immediately, sometimes much later, and sometimes delayed to the Last Day. Indeed sometimes we are compensated by protection from a would-have-been calamity we know nothing of.

Let us this week illustrate the benefits of sadaqa, alms-giving, (especially of food) with these two stories, the first of which we can title THE MORSEL:

“A long time ago, a woman’s son went missing. He was gone for so long a time that she finally lost all hope of ever seeing him again. One day, she sat down to eat. Breaking off a piece of bread from her loaf, she was about to put it into her mouth when all of a sudden a beggar appeared at her door and asked her to feed him. Not only did she give him the remaining part of the loaf of bread, but she also gave him the morsel that she was about to put into her mouth. Putting the loaf back together as best as she could, she handed it over to the poor beggar. As since she herself was relatively poor, she remained hungry for the rest of the day.

“A few days passed, and suddenly her son returned. They both rejoiced at the reunion, thanking Allah for this great favour. They sat down, and he began to give an account of the many hardships he endured since the time he went missing.

“He said, ‘Perhaps the most traumatic experience that happened to me occurred a few days ago when I was riding a donkey in a far-off valley. A lion suddenly appeared in front of me and, instead of attacking the donkey that I was riding, it leapt straight at me, throwing me off my mount. As fast as it could, the donkey raced off, and I was left as easy prey for the lion. It began to tear away at my clothes with its ferocious claws. I was so afraid that I almost fainted. The lion then leaned over me, getting ready for a lethal strike.

“But just as suddenly, a giant of a man dressed in white appeared and drew the attention of the lion from me. He approached, and without the use of any weapon, he pulled the lion away from me and wrestled it to the ground. Then looking at the lion with a menacing expression, the man said to the animal, ‘Stand and leave, O dog! A morsel for a morsel!’ The lion immediately got up and raced away.

“After seeing the lion speed away, I returned my gaze to the man; but he was no longer there, and I couldn’t find him afterwards. I stayed where I was for a number of hours, until my strength returned to me. Realising that the lion had done no harm to my body, I got up and walked until I joined up with a travelling party. I told my story to them, but there is one part of it that I was, and still am, extremely confused about: what did the man mean when he said, ‘A morsel for a morsel’?

“At this point during the narrative, his mother stared straight ahead of her with an incredulous expression, realising that the man came to save her son at exactly the same time that she had given up her morsel of bread to the beggar.”

The second story is closely related to this, and we can title it THE LOAF:

“In classical times, one of the governors of Egypt once summoned Ibn Furat (a classical Islamic Scholar) to come to him. When the two men were face to face, the Governor said, ‘I always had evil intentions regarding you. So much hatred did I harbour in my heart against you that I have always been making schemes to capture you and banish you from these lands. But do you know what prevents me from doing so? For many nights now, I have been seeing you in my dreams; you are always preventing me from reaching you using a loaf of bread to keep me back. And when I order my guards to kill you in the dream, you fend off their various attacks with the same loaf of bread. It always happens like that; that neither blow nor arrow reaches you; the loaf is your shield. Now tell me the story behind this loaf of bread.

“Ibn Furat said, ‘O Governor, ever since I was very small, my mother would come to me every night and place a loaf of bread underneath my pillow. Then in the morning she would give it away in charity on my behalf, and she never stopped doing so until she died. Then I continued to do the same myself, every night placing a loaf of bread underneath my pillow, and then in the morning giving it away in charity.’

“The Governor was greatly affected by what he heard, and he said, ‘By Allah, I will never even think about harming you after this day. I now think well of you and love you very much.”

Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, has said, “Sadaqa extinguishes sins as water extinguishes fire. Sadaqa appeases Allah’s anger and averts evil. And even a smile in your brother’s face is sadaqa.” The Hausa say, directly translating that Hadith: ‘sadaka maganin masifa.’

So, are you sure the children of your poor neighbours (and, if you live in Abuja, your neighbours in your hometown) will have something for Iftar on the First Day of Ramadan? Do you realise that buying this newspaper is a declaration of surplus? Therefore, find out their situation and give that loaf!

But of course, make sure you give the real needy, not the cheeky Nigerian beggar in the following story, The Nerve of the Nigerian Beggar:

“A man walks past a beggar every day and gives him N20. That continues for a year. Then suddenly the daily donation changes to N15. “Well,” the beggar thinks, “it is still better than nothing.” Another year passes until the man’s daily donation suddenly becomes N10.

“What’s going on now?” the beggar asks his donor. “First you gave me N20 every day, then N15 and now only N10. What’s the problem?” “Well,” the man says, “last year my eldest son went to university. It is very expensive, so I had to cut costs. This year my eldest daughter also went to university, so I had to cut my expenses even further.” “And how many children do you have?” the beggar asks. “Four,” the man replies. “Well,” says the beggar, “I hope you don’t plan to educate them all at my expense.”

Welcome, O’ Ramadan!