The Upper Hand (1): The little boy who gave

Every Friday afternoon, after the Friday prayer, the imam and his 11 years old son would go out into their town to handout "Path to Paradise" and other Islamic literature. On one particular Friday afternoon, the boy said,

"OK dad, I'm ready!".

'Ready for what?'

"It's time we go out and distribute the booklets."

'It's cold and raining outside, son'

" But aren't people still going to hell even though it's raining?"

'Son, I'm not going in this weather.'

"Dad, can I go please?"

'Son, you can go. Be careful.'

The boy walked the streets of the town, going from door to door, handing a booklet to everyone he met. After two hours of walking in the rain, he reached the corner of the street and was left with the last booklet. Finding no one to give the booklet, he came to a house and rang the door bell. Nobody answered. He rang over and over again. Yet nobody answered. he waited a while but still nobody answered, As he was leaving the house, something stopped him and he turned back. Again, he rang the door bell and knocked loudly o the door. He waited and rang again. This time the door slowly opened.

A very sad elderly lady asked: 'What can I do for you son?'

The boy said, " Maam, I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I just want you to know that Allah really loves and care for you. I came to give you my last booklet."

The lady took the booklet and said: 'Thank you son. May God bless you.' With that, the boy left the house.

The following week, after the Friday prayer, the imam gave a lecture. Before ending his talk, he asked: 'Does anyone has any question?'

In the back row among the ladies, an elderly lady's voice was heard over the speaker.

'No one in this gathering knows me. I've never been here before, Before last Friday I was not a Muslim. My husband died a few years ago and I was alone.

Last Friday, on a particular cold and rainy day, I was contemplating suicide. I already had a rope around my neck and as I was about to leap off the chair, a loud ringing on the door downstairs startled me. I thought I'll wait a minute and whoever that was would go away. But the ringing kept coming and the person ringing started knocking as well. I hought: 'Who could that be? Nobody has ever ring my bell or come to see me.'

'I loosened the rope and came down to the door. I couldn't believe my eyes for there on my porch was the most radiant and angelic looking boy I've seen in my life. His smile, oh, I could never descibe it to you. The word that came out from his mouth caused my heart that had long been dead LEAP into life again. He gave me this booklet " Path to Paradise" thay I now hold in my hand. As the little angel disappeared into the cold and rain, I closed the door and read every word in the booklet. I am now a haapy vicegerent of the ONE true GOD. As the address of the congregation was at the back of this booklet, I came to say thank you to God's little angel who in the nick of time, save my soul from the eternity in hell.'

There was not a dry eye in the mosque. The shouts of Takbir filled the air. The imam descended from the pulpit and approched the front row where the little angel was seated. He hugged him and sob uncontrollably.

May Allah blessed those hearts that were touched after reading this article and acted upon it. Ameen.