hindsight is really 20|20. if i had the presence of mind to dig up from my head what Reehab said when suddenly thrust into that situation, let alone deliver it with the right body language and tone, i’d be chuffed to bits, never mind what the 100% Most Ideal Sermon would have been.

also, i don’t care if it’s a luxury they can’t afford, it is still irresponsible for an adult to give a young child coffee, it is not good for them as their brains and bodies haven’t grown sufficiently to deal with it. so, since no to the coffee and she had no money left, i really don’t see what else she could have reasonably given.

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.
Teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
🙂

I agree with u on the article. I’ve come to realize I was totally overreacting & analytical to a simple story. Me dealing with children beggars once in a while is TOTALLY DIFFERENT than dealing with them EVERYDAY of your life, at every corner. I forgot to realise where this took place too. The response & reaching out when poverty is rampant in a society. I only came to Egypt once but only as a tourist, met families living in mudhouse with barely enough milk powder for their dollfaced toddlers, girls who’d beg me for anything to give even my lipstick. Back in my country, poor kids get mthly pocket money fund, free milk books sch supplies, public transportation funded & any kids beggars or homeless are immediately housed in welfare homes or fostercare as per law, prohibited. So kids begging are such a rare occurence for me. Thank u for sharing ur experiences & sharing with public makes one vulnerable subject, for being open to my mean harsh criticisms & me jumping to conclusions. U should delete my previous comments k… =) Jazakallah khairn

ok, fine, i was very emotional when writing this. Like i said, i’m bias towards suffering kids. I get overwhelmed whenever i hear of children beggars. I apologize to the author & anyone else I’ve offended. I have no right to judge. Only Allah SWT does. Its the first time ive posted this kind of negative comment. Apologies to everyone. Sorry. Hope yall have a wonderful Ramadhan!

Rather than reply to the 3 of you individually, I’ll just some it up in one post and I pray that we all benefit.

First of all, thank you for taking the time to post and share with me your thoughts. Although the manner of the advice was a bit harsh and many conclusions were come to without proper evidence, your advices did make me think and re-ponder the situation, Alhamdulilah! 🙂

Second, while speaking on the internet it is very easy to assume negative connotations or assume the tone of the speaker because there are not verbal tones and facial expressions to go along with it…so while you are reading this I want you to know that I’m smiling :)–so imagine a happy and non-confrontational tone.

Bismillah,

I’d like to start by saying that I think the point of the story was completely missed. The intended point was to see the pure innocence and submission to the will of Allah and the trust he had in Him. I did not force him to give the money. I was speaking to him in a friendly manner with smiles and nods (as I said in the story). And when he handed over the money (He gave THREE of his 5 pounds because he was convinced.) He too was smiling. He, in those few moments was able to grasp the power of Allah and knew that whatever he gave would come back to him in another form.

It was mentioned that I should have given them more, as I stated and as Maryam so kindly pointed out, I didn’t have anymore. And I wasn’t intending to mention this as the story was about the lessons I learned from the boy, not about my actions, I immediately went to a near by atm, pulled out some money and went searching for the boy to give him more as a reward, but I couldn’t find him, Qaddar Allah. May Allah reward him and provide for him in this life ten folds over :).

“I mean come on, poor kid. What do u expect? :p Bcoz anyway if the author really believed in generosity & retribution himself, Allah SWT will multiply our charity & loves kindliness & perfecting our deeds. The above story is the kind of lesson I’d use more for well-provided children when sharing toys or gift vouchers etc, beggars” – fleur

That’s a really interesting point. Thank you for bringing it up :-).

Being here in Egypt, some of the most generous people I have met are people who have next to nothing. Generosity is not just for the rich, and we see this in the Seerah and the stories of the companions. At times when they had next to NOTHING, they would extend their generosity…and when they gave, Allah provided for them. Even in a hadeeth about food the Prophet mentions “Food for one is enough for two.” He doesn’t say “when you have food for 10 then you can feed 20.” While it might be a nice lesson to teach to wealthy children, don’t children who are not so wealthy need to learn life lessons as well? Don’t they need to learn to be generous with one another? Many of these children don’t have parents to raise them or their parents are so busy trying to make ends meet that they don’t have time to instill these values in them. As you said, feed a man to fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish–you feed him for a life time. Should we not take a moment to feed them intellectually and spiritually as well? And perhaps in this giving, Allah will provide for them more than they ever expected–if not in this life then the next.

I’ll be honest, when I first came to Egypt a few months back, I didn’t know how to deal with this new addition to my life, coming into contact with people asking and pleading for money. It’s not something that I was used to living in Houston Texas. Even more so, it was not easy to see YOUNG children doing this. Can you imagine every time walking into KFC or into a McDonalds, finding a row of young children just waiting for you to come out to ask for some money? Can you imagine walking out of the local super market and finding Mothers with their children waiting for you so that they can ask for some money? At first, I wouldn’t make eye contact, even if I did give them something. I couldn’t make eye contact. It broke my heart. I really just didn’t know how to deal. So I began to make dua, and still make dua, that He guides me to the best interaction with them. And later I realized that these children need smiles, these children need kind words, they need to be dealt with as the beautiful human beings that they are. Not just the children though, but also the adults who are asking. They are in need of a kind word EVEN if I don’t give them money. And in this place that I live now, honestly it isn’t possible to give each and every person I meet a shiny pound or some amount of money–but it is possible to smile and ask them how their day is going. It is possible to try to have a decent conversation with a young child and convince him that he’s worth more than people have let on.

It’s very easy to sit in a place where you don’t ever see children roaming the streets and think “well if I was in a situation I would…” but the reality is, reality is so different. Reality makes you grow and realize that the thoughts that I might have had sitting on a coach in a wealthy country, is not the same thoughts that I would have while walking the streets and meeting at LEAST 20-30 people asking for money each day.

Lastly, but most importantly, something that I had thought about after it happened, and again after all of your advices (may Allah grant me the wisdom to understand the lessons that Allah intended me to learn from the event and the comments thereafter 🙂 is that nothing…absolutely nothing…happens without reason.

When I was in the situation, it never occurred to me that they were not brother and sister. I naturally assumed that since they were together, that they were siblings.

While this was a slip on my part, I have seen in life that even in our slips Allah places immense wisdom. While the slip was a fault of mine, thinking back on it I can begin to contemplate on why Allah allowed me to have that small slip of mind….

Perhaps it was a lesson I needed to learn on controlling my desires and my ego and actually listen to others when they speak just as Abdullah did.

Perhaps it was so that Abdullah could learn a very important lesson and learn about the concept of generosity.

Perhaps it was because Abdullah needed someone to smile in his face that day and discuss things like the human being he is, instead of the way some people treat the children like him.

Perhaps it was so that I would see the event, write this article and some person who is beloved to Allah would read it, make dua for Abdullah, and his life would then be filled with wealth and blessings.

Even in our slips there are wisdom, perhaps it was one of the above…and perhaps it was more than that. Allahu alam.

Barak Allahu feekum 🙂
Reehab

Actually many places have children on the streets begging, not only that but also living on the streets alone without parents, raising each other! It is not only in my location but in many countries across the world! SubhanAllah it really is life changing to come across so many needy children and realize how different our childhoods are. It makes me rethink all the blessings that Allah gave me and thank Him for many of the things we take for granted.

Sorry to offend u. I have a tendency to be very overprotective to weaklings & kids & perfectionist attitude. Sorry. May Allah SWT bless her & u.. =)