After school and prayer, the children were talking about what they were learning and why they had to pray. They were confused and this question was now all over the place. Children were wondering why they have to pray, or learn the Quran. But then a girl named Maryam had an idea, “why don’t we go and ask the beautiful man that is always sitting on the bench at the park? He seems wise, and why don’t we all ask him for help? Our parents often talk about him being radiant too!” So the children went to the park and asked the man to help them. The man agreed and the children started to introduce themselves. Then, the man introduced himself and told the children he was named Haj Abdullah. Then, one of the children asked “So sir, You have done the Haj privilege?” and then Haj Abdullah replied, “Well Children, we’re all in the privilege of life. Now before we dive into your questions, let's learn about what Learning is!”
The children didn’t like the sound of that and some complained, but then Haj Abdullah heard the complaint and said, “Learning doesn't have to be boring, so this afternoon lets learn what learning is.”
Haj Abdullah said to the children, “when your parents teach you things like how to take care of yourself like; don’t run around in the streets, don't walk around while brushing your teeth. This kind of learning is to protect your body from dangers. Your parents care about you children, here, we learn about love so that we are safe from all dangers”
Haj Abdullah continued, “ but did you know there is a special kind of learning that's at a higher level that shows you how to take care of your heart?? There are many great teachers of the heart, one of them was Imam al-Ghazali. So lets learn about our heart!”
“Imam al-Ghazali tells us that we actually have two hearts. One is the physical heart that pumps blood. The other is our spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is invisible and like your physical heart, it needs to be loved and taken with great care. Your parents help build this spiritual heart even when you might not know it”
“Where can we find the answers to care for our spiritual heart? The answer is the Quran. The quran teaches us about the special learning to make our spiritual heart strong. And then, we prepare it for paradise!”
And then Haj Abdullah and the children shared about what their hearts have been learning and the children and Haj Abdullah promised to meet again tomorrow.
By Saifan
July 10th, 2020
