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The
Adventures of Abdul
A Story by Jamil Momand
This is the story of a young boy who accompanied his mother to the supermarket
one day. His name was Abdul and he was a naughty boy who only thought of
himself and nobody else. He had few friends and lots of enemies.
"Do I
have to go the store?" whined Abdul. "Please come, it will be
fun," his mother replied. "I'll go if I can have an ice cream
cone," Abdul bargained. His mother consented and off they went.
When they
got to the supermarket Abdul ran ahead of is mother and tried to hide from her.
Then, in an effort to frustrate her, he went to the back of the market in the
storage area. There it was quiet and all around him loomed boxes and
crates filled with paper towels, cokes, lettuce and many other items one would
find in a supermarket. Abdul walked on further, forgetting all about his
mother and intrigued by this maze-like part of the store. Then his eye
caught something. A staircase leading downward. Without hesitation
he clambered down the stairs. He wanted to know what was at the bottom of
the store.
By this
time his mother was rather upset. She summoned the store manager and in a
jiffy there was a search for the youngster. Soon everyone knew about the
missing boy and there was a great whispering in the air. An hour passed;
then two, then three.
Abdul had
traveled at least a mile downward and he began to get scared. It was pitch
black. When he got to the bottom of the staircase, he saw a light.
It was shining through a door. Abdul slowly walked toward the door, lifted
his hand to the knob, turned it and pushed it open.
First he
was blinded by the light and could see nothing. Then, as his eyes began to
adjust, he saw great big mounds of sand. All around him was white sand and
above him the sun was beating down making it uncomfortably hot. How he
ended up out here from the back of the supermarket he was not sure but now he
was ready to go back. An ice cream would suit him well, he thought.
As he
turned around to go back, a gust of wind developed over one of the sand dunes
not far away. Just before Abdul got to the door the wind slammed it closed
and when he tried to open it again he couldn't. He looked upward and
found, to his horror, that the door was attached to the base of a gigantic
cliff. There was no store, no street . . . nothing! Everything was
gone. Confused and frightened, he started to cry.
He thought
of how he got into this mess. He realized that his own bad behavior and
spoiled attitude made him run away from his mother. Then he thought of his
mother who by this time was probably worried sick about him. His eyes
peered up and again the only thing he saw was sand. He suddenly thought of
death and that scared him even more. Was he going to die in this place
that was so hot and desolate?
Hours
passed and as Abdul stared into the sky he noticed that the sun was almost at
the horizon. Hungry and tired, he began to move away from the cliff into
the depths of the desert in a futile effort to catch the last rays of light
before it got dark. The wind howled and rippled his shirt and the sky
gradually changed color from orange to red, and finally to a deep violet as the
gigantic sun inched its way below the horizon.
As Abdul
watched he grimly thought about his future. Something he never thought of
before. Was he going to starve in this desert? His stomach growled
for food and he could almost hear his mother's voice calling him to eat dinner.
It used to be that Abdul would only eat the good stuff and leave his vegetables.
Now he longed for just one kernel of corn, or even one green lima bean.
Abdul
started to imagine other things too. He thought he heard the pounding of
hooves on the ground. They got louder and louder. Abdul quickly
turned around to find a white horse with a rider galloping straight toward him.
Abdul feebly got up to run but before he could get more than a few steps the man
snatched him up and raced off into the darkness of the desert.
Abdul
didn't struggle. He was afraid of being dropped. In ten minutes they
stopped at a village of tents. The rider was a big man who easily lifted
Abdul off the horse with one arm and grabbed a heavy sack with the other.
Abdul was really frightened but the big man seemed friendly. "Do not
be scared," he said, "I will not harm you." Abdul let out a
sigh of relief and nodded his head. "Where am I?" he asked.
They stopped at one of the white tents, paused for a moment, and went inside.
"We are part of a caravan headed toward Mecca."
Abdul was
more confused than ever. Abdul had heard of Mecca before--that was the
city which housed the great Ka'ba. He couldn't have traveled from Los
Angeles to Mecca in just a couple of hours. "How far away from Mecca
are we?" he asked, holding his breath. "We will be there late
tomorrow," the man answered.
Abdul was
too tired to think. Instead, he asked for some dinner and the big man
nodded his head. His name was Walid and his job was to make sure the
caravan was safe from all intruders. It was dark in the tent, so Walid lit
a lamp. Then he shoved his hand inside a sack and pulled out a few dates
and some dried beef.
Abdul took
the food and began to devour it. Walid grabbed his hand to stop him and
said, "How can you eat before giving thanks to Allah?" Abdul was
shocked. He was starving and this man wouldn't let him eat! Walid
said, "Say 'Bismilah ir-rahman ir-rahim." Abdul had heard of
that before. He was forced to go to the mosque every Sunday by his
parents. He said the words Walid told him and began to eat again. He
wanted more but was afraid to ask. Instead he asked him, "Do you know
where there's a supermarket around here?" "Tomorrow we go to see
the Prophet. Perhaps he can help you," Walid answered, ignoring
Abdul's request.
Abdul
thought there was something awfully strange about all this. If Walid was
talking about the Prophet it would be impossible. After a moment of
silence Abdul got up enough nerve to ask what the date was. "The
third of Sha'ban," Walid answered calmly. "What year is
it?" "The ninth year after Hijra." Abdul's lower jaw
dropped and began to search for some logic to all this. Walid interrupted
Abdul's search by announcing that it was salat time and that they should make
wudu. Abdul had never learned how to make wudu so Walid had to show him.
While they were making salat together Abdul had tears in his eyes. He did
not know what had happened. Was Allah punishing him for being so bad?
How would he ever get back to his mom and dad? Walid had said the Prophet
could help him but Abdul was scared to meet the Prophet. Maybe the Prophet
would be angry with him for all the mischievous things he had done in the past.
As
the sun rose higher it became hotter and the carvan had been on the road for a
few hours. There were camels loaded with all kinds of merchandise bought
in Syria: silk, rice, dates, pots, pans, clothes. The people in the
caravan had on long robes and were carrying things on their heads. As they
walked Walid kept assuring Abdul that they were not far from Mecca.
Abdul
himself began to change. He constantly asked Walid about the Prophet and
what he was like. Walid told him the Prophet was kind and gentle; that he
always told the truth no matter what. The Prophet was fearless even when
he was faced with great danger. Allah spoke to the Prophet through Angel
Jibreel. Abdul was fascinated. He wanted to talk to the Prophet more
than anything.
As the day
wore on, the wind began to howl louder and louder. Soon a storm was upon
them and the sand was blowing everywhere. Abdul tried to stay with Walid
but they got separated. Struggling to stay on his feet he kept calling,
"Walid! Walid!" but it was no use; the wind made too much noise.
Then everything got black and there was no noise at all.
When
Abdul opened his eyes again he was at home in his own bed. The covers were
halfway draped over his head and he felt hot and feverish. Had the whole
thing been a dream? Was he really at home? He looked around him and
saw all his toys in proper order. He looked at his digital clock on top of
the nightstand and it said 4:30 a.m. Abdul lay back down on the bed and
did not move. He thought about his dream that had seemed so real.
More than anything else he would have wanted to see the Prophet and talk to him.
Then Abdul listened for a moment and heard his father's voice in the other room.
His father was praying fajr as he always did. Abdul jumped out of the bed
and ran to the bathroom. He splashed water on himself and quickly made
wudu. He then stood next to his father in salat. "If I can not
meet the Prophet at least I can strive to practice what he taught,"
Abdul said to himself.
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