Neat Nazeera

Ask our children:

1. What does Islam teach us about being neat and being organized?
2. Why should we be neat and organized?

Now tell them the story:

Nazeera was a little girl who had good manners and was particular about her salaah. She was always respectful towards her parents, her aapa and her elders, and she always read her salaah on time.

However, Nazeera had one bad quality – she was untidy and disorganized. She would never keep things neatly in their place. Rather, all her things were always lying all over the place and were disorganized!

Instead of keeping her clean clothes folded neatly in her cupboard, she would leave them lying around on the floor. Instead of placing her dirty clothes in the laundry basket, she would also leave her dirty clothes lying around on the floor, so her clean and dirty clothes would get mixed up!

When removing her shoes, then instead of placing them in the shoe shelf, she would leave them wherever she felt like in the house. Because she did this, she often lost her shoes and couldn’t find them, and sometimes, people would trip on her shoes and get hurt.

Even when using other people’s things or things of the house that everyone used, she would not put them back in their place after using them. Rather, she would leave them anywhere and everywhere, and everything would be misplaced.

One day, Nazeera’s aunt phoned. Nazeera’s mother answered, and her aunt said, “I am going to visit nani! Do you want me to fetch Nazeera and take her with?” Nazeera was excited and eager to go with, but there was just one problem – her aunt and uncle were in a rush. If she was not ready in five minutes, they would go without her and she would be left behind!

Nazeera quickly ran to her room to change out of her pyjamas and get dressed. However, as she arrived in her room, she realized that she had a problem. She could not find her burqa! She looked high and low throughout her room, but she had left so many clothes lying around that everything was in a jumble! Finally, she found a dirty, smelly burqa in one corner of her room and decided to wear it.

Then, Nazeera ran to look for her shoes. However, she hadn’t placed them in the shoe shelf, and she could not remember where she had placed them! She looked in the lounge, and then in the dining room, and then, as she entered the study, she tripped and fell onto the floor! “OOOOW!” she yelled in pain! Nazeera got up from the floor and looked to see what has caused her to trip and fall and saw that it was the same shoes that she was looking for! She had left them lying around, and now she had tripped on them and had gotten hurt!

Finally, just as Nazeera was ready, and only one minute remained until her aunt and uncle came, her father called her and asked, “Nazeera! Where is my umbrella? You were playing with it yesterday.” Nazeera had not put the umbrella back in its place, and now her father needed it. She thought and thought, but she could not remember where she had left it! She said to her father, “Uhmmm… I’m not sure where I left it… I’m sorry.”

Nazeera’s father was displeased with her, because he had told her before that whenever she took something to use, she must put it back in its place after she was finished. He scolded her saying, “Nazeera! Last week you took my house-keys and misplaced them, yesterday you took my scissors and misplaced it, and now you have misplaced my umbrella as well! This is irresponsible behaviour! Islam teaches us that we must be neat and organized so that we do not cause difficulty for ourselves or for other people. Allah Ta‘ala likes people who are neat and organized!”

Then, her father said to her, “Since you are not listening, and you are still not trying to be neat and organized, I am going to punish you. Your punishment is that you cannot go to nani’s house today!” Saying that, Nazeera’s father phoned her uncle and told him that he should go straight to nani’s house without fetching Nazeera.

Nazeera was heartbroken and disappointed, and she started to cry, but she knew that her father was right. He had told her before to be neat and organised but she was naughty and didn’t listen to him. She didn’t like the punishment, but she knew in her heart that she deserved it.

That night, as Nazeera lay in bed, she thought about what had happened that day. She realized that not being neat and organised causes a lot of problems and difficulties. It does not only cause problems for yourself but also for other people. She also realized that her father punished her because he loved her and wanted her to become a good Muslim. If he did not punish her, she would not have learnt the important lesson of being neat and organised.

From that day on, Nazeera decided that she was going to be Neat Nazeera. Her days of not being neat and organised were over.

Lessons:

1. Islam teaches us that we must be neat and organized. Allah Ta‘ala likes those people who are neat and organized.
2. If we are not neat and organized, then we will not be able to find our things when we need them. Also, if we are not neat and organized when using things of the house, such as the scissors or tape, then other people will not be able to find these things when they need to use them. This will create difficulty for us and for others. If we make life difficult for other people, Allah Ta‘ala will not be happy with us.