The Bickering Brothers

Ask our Children:

1. Is it good for Muslims to bicker and fight?
2. How should Muslims treat one another?
3. What should we do when our parents tell us something or scold us?

Now tell them the story:

Once, there were two brothers, named Hilaal and Bilaal. Sometimes, Hilaal and Bilaal would be friends, and treat one another nicely, but at other times, they would argue and fight with one another. Their mother would scold them and tell them to stop fighting, but no matter how many times she scolded them, they would not listen.

One morning, when Hilaal came to the kitchen to eat breakfast, he saw that his brother, Bilaal, was sitting next to their mother, in the place where Hilaal normally sat. Immediately, Hilaal started to tantrum and shout, “Make him move! I want to sit there! Why is he in my place!”

Their mother first told Hilaal to sit in Bilaal’s place, but when he continued to tantrum, she turned to Bilaal and said, “Bilaal! You are the big brother! Will you move to another seat to make your small brother happy?” Bilaal did not care about being kind to his small brother and said, “No! He must sit somewhere else! I was here first!”

Hearing this, Hilaal started to cry even louder. Then, Bilaal started to make funny faces at him to tease him, so his crying got even louder. Finally, their mother sent both brothers to eat their breakfast outside because they were giving her a headache.

One hour later, Hilaal watched as Bilaal went into the garden shed to look for something. As soon as Bilaal went inside, Hilaal crept quietly to the door, slammed it closed and locked it from the outside. “Hey! Who locked me in here! Come back! It’s not funny! Help!” shouted Bilaal, as Hilaal ran away laughing to himself.

A few minutes later, their mother came to free Bilaal when she heard him banging on the shed door. As he came out, she said to him, “Bilaal! You and your brother are both being ridiculous! Stop fighting with one another and behave yourselves!” However, as he was walking away, Bilaal was red in the face with anger, and he was already plotting more mischief and trouble.

After lunch that afternoon, when Hilaal was playing with his toys, Bilaal came to him, carrying a plate with a delicious, chocolate chip cupcake on it. “Hilaal!” he called out, “Do you want this cupcake?” Hilaal turned his head, and as he saw the cupcake, his mouth began to water. “Yes! I want it please!” he said. But, in one second, Bilaal shoved the entire cupcake into his mouth and ate it! Then, Bilaal said to him, “Well, too bad, because that was the last cupcake!” And once again, Hilaal started to cry…

Later in the afternoon, when Hilaal and Bilaal’s mother entered the lounge, she saw that all the toys were scattered on the floor and none had been packed away in the cupboard. She called Hilaal and Bilaal, and when she told them to pack their toys away, they began to argue and fight. Hilaal said, “I only took out two toys! Bilaal took out the other toys! He must pack them away!” As for Bilaal, then he said, “Hilaal is lying! He took all the toys out!”

Their mother had had enough of this nonsense, and warned them that if they both did not pack the toys away, they would be in BIG trouble!

A short while later, Hilaal went into Bilaal’s room and saw the jigsaw puzzle that Bilaal had been working on for the past week. Bilaal had completed most of the puzzle, and had only a few pieces left to insert in the puzzle. Immediately, Hilaal broke the puzzle apart, scattered the pieces on the floor, and ran from the room, as he heard Bilaal’s footsteps approaching.

When Bilaal opened the door and saw his puzzle broken into pieces, he shouted, “Hilaal! I am going to get you back for this!”

That evening, Bilaal waited for Hilaal to go to the toilet. One minute after Hilaal went in, Bilaal switched the light off, leaving him in the dark. But this time, when Hilaal started to shout and cry, their father was home to hear it.

When he asked what was going on, the boys’ mother said, “They are troubling each other, fighting and bickering with one another the whole day. I scolded them and told them to stop it but they just didn’t listen to me. They gave me such a headache that I had to take a Panado!”

Hilaal and Bilaal’s father was most displeased as he called them before him. First, he made them say sorry to their mother, and then he told them that because they had been misbehaving, fighting and troubling their mother, they were both banned from all sweets, chocolates, chips, cooldrinks and junk food for two weeks!

Then, he said to them, “Islam teaches us that we must try and help people, bring them comfort and make them happy. Even before Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) was told that he was the Nabi of Allah Ta‘ala – he was blessed with the noble quality of helping people and making them happy when they had difficulties. The Hadith teaches us that making people happy is one of the greatest good deeds, after the fardh and compulsory good deeds.

“On the other hand, troubling people, making them sad and causing them pain, is haraam and a very big sin. A Muslim should not trouble any creation of Allah Ta‘ala – not even a bird or a cat – so how can you keep troubling your own brother? This is very disappointing and bad behaviour! A Muslim should not behave like this!”

Then their father said, “The second thing is that you children are not listening to your mother! You ignore her, shout and tantrum, and argue with her until you even give her a headache! The most important people in your life are your parents – your mother and father. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said that Jannah is under your mother’s feet. This means that if you want to go to Jannah, you must make your mother happy by listening to her, helping her and keeping her comfortable.”

Hilaal and Bilaal stood before their father with their heads down. They felt ashamed of themselves and were embarrassed that they had been behaving so badly, and had troubled their mother so much. They both went to their mother, gave her a hug, told her again that they were sorry, and promised to listen to her and stop fighting. Then, Hilaal and Bilaal said sorry to each other as well, and decided to stop fighting, and start living as Muslims brothers, being kind to one another and helping each other.

Lessons:

1. Muslims should not bicker and fight. Bickering and fighting is a sin and displeases Allah Ta‘ala.
2. Muslims must treat one another with kindness and love. They must help one another, and bring comfort and happiness to one another. They must not hurt people and trouble them.
3. When our parents scold us or tell us to do anything, we must listen to them. We must not argue with them, ignore them, pull up our faces at them and trouble them. Our parents are the main and most important people in our lives. Allah Ta‘ala will only be happy with us if we listen to them and make them happy.