Considerate Kashif

Ask our children:

1. What does it mean to be considerate?
2. Why should we be considerate?
3. Is being considerate part of good character?

Now tell them the story:

There was once a boy named Kashif. Kashif was strong and intelligent, but he had one big weakness in him – he was very inconsiderate. He would not worry about fulfilling the rights of others, and because of that, he would cause pain and inconvenience to other people.

One morning, after Kashif woke up for madrasah, he went to use the toilet. He first wore his topi, recited the dua before entering, and entered with the left foot. After using the toilet, he exited with the right foot and recited the dua for leaving the toilet. However, because he was not considerate of other people, Kashif did not flush the toilet.

A few minutes later, Kashif’s sister entered the toilet, and faster than she went in, she came out shouting, “EEEEW! Mummy! Kashif did not flush the toilet again!” Kashif’s mother shook her head, tired of Kashif’s inconsiderate ways. She could not even call Kashif to flush the toilet now, as he was already in the shower.

Here as well, Kashif was most inconsiderate. He and his sister shared a bathroom, and since he went to shower first, she had to wait for her turn. However, she waited, and waited, and waited, and while the clock kept ticking, Kashif kept taking his time, having a long shower. When he FINALLY came out, his sister found that he had taken so long in the shower, that not only had he wasted lots of water – but all the hot water was finished.

Again, she complained to her mother, “Mummy! Kashif finished all the hot water in the geyser, so now I can’t even shower before madrasah!” Kashif’s mother scolded him as he ate his breakfast, but he did not seem worried at all, and calmly continued to chew his toast.

Just then, they heard a car hoot outside – Kashif’s transport to madrasah had arrived. Without a second thought, Kashif woke up, made salaam and ran out, leaving his dirty dishes on the dastarkhaan, though his mother reminded him EVERYDAY to pick them up and leave them in the scullery.

That afternoon, when Kashif returned home from madrasah, he opened the front door, entered while making salaam, and then slammed the front door closed. The door made such a loud noise that his baby sister woke up in her cot and began to scream and cry. Kashif’s mother scolded him yet again saying, “Kashif! I remind you every day to close the door quietly! Why don’t you listen?” Kashif did not say anything in reply, and did not even bother to apologize and say that he was sorry.

Later that afternoon, when Kashif’s father returned from work, he could not drive the car into the garage, as Kashif had left his bicycle in the middle of the driveway. Kashif’s father had told him before to keep his bicycle in its place, and not leave it lying around as it got in the way and caused inconvenience to people, yet he did not listen.

That evening, Kashif’s mother, father and sister sat together and discussed the problem of Kashif being inconsiderate. They realized that despite them speaking to him, time and time again, he was not realizing his mistake. The only way they could get him to realize his mistake was to make him feel what it was like to be inconvenienced.

The following morning, when Kashif was enjoying a deep sleep, his mother opened his door with a loud bang to wake him up. Poor Kashif got such a shock that he almost fell out of his bed! Yet, before he could even say anything, his mother walked out and went to wake his sister up.

Kashif got out of bed slowly, with his mood spoiled from being woken up with such a shock. As he came to the bathroom, he found that his sister was already inside. She took long in the bathroom, making him wait, and wait, and wait, so that when she finally came out, he had to rush to make sure that he would make it to madrasah on time. In fact, there was so little time left that he could not even eat breakfast and had to go to madrasah hungry.

That afternoon, when Kashif returned home from madrasah, he was in a terrible mood, as his day had started in such an unpleasant way. His mood was so bad, that he was about to slam the door closed, to show his irritation, when he realised something – was it not the slamming of the door that very morning that had made him feel so upset and spoiled his mood?

Only now, when Kashif himself was inconvenienced, did he realize how he must me making other people feel. He then thought about how he had to wait so long to use the bathroom, and how he had gotten so late that he could not even eat breakfast. But he also realized that he did the same thing to his sister. In fact, he sometimes did not even flush the toilet and finished all the hot water, leaving only cold water for her.

Kashif thought further, and he found that he had many other bad habits which caused inconvenience to others. Finally, he realised that though he had caused his family so much of inconvenience, and they had complained to him and scolded him so many times, yet not once had he even bothered to apologize – until now.

That evening, as the family sat around the dastarkhaan to eat supper, Kashif addressed them and said, “I am very sorry about my bad and inconsiderate behaviour to all of you. Please forgive me. Insha Allah, I will try my best to be considerate in future.”

Kashif’s father, mother and sister were overjoyed and gladly told him that all was forgiven. Kashif’s father then said, “In the Mubaarak Hadith, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said that the perfect Muslim is the one who is such that all people are safe from his tongue and his hand. From this Hadith, we understand that being considerate to others is part of good character. Therefore, we must always make an effort to ensure that we do not cause any person to be inconvenienced in any way. Remember – causing people inconvenience is displeasing to Allah Ta‘ala and is a sin.”

From that day on, Kashif became Considerate Kashif – the boy who always thought about the comfort of others before he did anything.

Lessons:

1. Being considerate means that we should make an effort to ensure that we do not cause any person to be inconvenienced in any way.
2. A Muslim must be considerate at all times. If we are not considerate and cause people inconvenience, then we will be sinful and Allah Ta‘ala will be displeased with us.
3. Being considerate to others is part of good character. Therefore, we must always make an effort to ensure that we do not cause any person to be inconvenienced in any way.