The Language of Giving

Aslamu aliakum wa rahmat Allah wa barkatoo and HelllOOoo,

The scene: two little boys who look to be originally Pakistani (but perhaps UK nationals since they spoke English) sit next to an Egyptian lady and her 3 year old toddler

The Problem: The Pakistani boys want to play with the toddler, but there appears to be no common language between them. They speak Pakistani and English, and he speaks (3 year old) Egyptian…

But then, the Pakistani boys did an incredible thing.

They had been eating some chocolate while looking at the toddler and they’d finally reached their last chocolate.

There it was…the very last piece.

They decided to offer it to the toddler.

As the toddler’s mother “unwrapped” the chocolate, she offered it back to the boys. My twin said, you could see that the boys really did want it, their mouths practically salivating over it, but still, they shook their heads no,

And left it with this toddler,

This toddler they didn’t know,

This toddler that didn’t speak their language-

That, my friends, is the language of giving. And it, along with love, is the language of humanity.

Aishah, the Prophet's wife and the mother of the believers (may Allah exalt their mention) said: A poor woman came to my door carrying two little girls. I offered them three dates (i.e. since I had nothing else). She gave each of her two girls a date, and lifted the third one to her mouth to eat. Both her daughters urged her to feed them more, so she split the last date into two pieces and gave one half to each of her two daughters. I admired what the woman had done and told the story to the Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon Him) who said upon hearing it:

"Verily Allah obligated paradise for her due to this act of hers".

You shall not attain righteousness until you spend of what you love. Whatever you spend is known to Allah. (3:92)

(This is the reason our Imams say ‘don’t only give used clothes for charity/etc. Give what you love. Your new favorite piece of jewelry, etc.]