Ask our children:

1. Is it fine to bully people?

2. Would we like it if people bullied us?

3. Does Allah Ta‘ala like a person who is a bully?

4. What should we do if we bully someone?

Now tell them the story:

There was once a boy named Bilaal who was very big and strong. He was only six years old, but he was so tall and strong that when people saw him, they would think that he was actually eight years old!

Because Bilaal was so big and strong, all the other children would be scared of him. His brother and sister, his cousins, the other children in school and madrasah – all of them were afraid of him. Bilaal knew that all the children were afraid of him, so he would bully them and boss them around.

If another child was on the swing in school, Bilaal would not wait patiently for a turn like the other children. He would grab the swing, push the other child off and then swing for as long as he wanted, without giving anyone else a turn.

If his sister had a chocolate, he would take it from her and eat the whole thing, but when he had a chocolate, he would not even share a single piece with her.

If anyone did something funny, then he would laugh at them, tease them and call them names. But, if he did something funny, or anyone teased him and called him names, then he would become angry and hit that person.

Since Bilaal was a bully, he had no friends. Everyone was afraid of him and nobody liked him.

One day, Bilaal was in the playground and saw that another boy had a new cricket bat. Bilaal immediately decided that he was going to go and take the cricket bat away from him and play with it himself. As Bilaal went to the boy and grabbed the bat, a soccer ball came flying through the air and hit Bilaal on the head! Bilaal fell down and started crying, and everyone in the playground was laughing at him!

Bilaal was very upset. He liked to laugh at others, but didn’t like it when others laughed at him. However, he could not do anything to the other children because there were too many of them. So, he remained silent, wiped his tears and quietly went away, feeling very embarrassed.

Later on, in the afternoon, Bilaal saw his neighbour’s son riding his bicycle in the street. Bilaal went out and thought that he would take the bike from him and take it for a small ride. But then, as Bilaal went closer and was about to push the boy off his bike, a dog suddenly attacked him! Bilaal turned and ran down the street with the dog behind him, barking and trying to bite him!

The following day, when Bilaal went to school, the principal called him into his office. Now Bilaal was very scared – was he in trouble? The principal said, “Bilaal! I notice that you have a bullying problem! Many teachers and students are complaining about your behaviour!” When he said this, Bilaal became afraid and his legs started to shake! The principal asked him, “Do you like to feel scared? Do you like it when someone makes you afraid?” Bilaal was so scared that he whispered, “No! I don’t like to feel scared!” The principal said, “Well, this is how the other children feel when you bully them! If you don’t like to feel scared, then they also don’t like to feel scared.”

Then the principal asked, “Do you want me to punish you, or do you want me to be kind to you?” Bilaal said, “Please be kind to me!” The principal said, “I will be kind to you, if you promise me that you will be kind to others and will stop bullying them.” Bilaal immediately agreed and promised that he would be on his best behaviour!

Then the principal explained something important to Bilaal. He said, “Bilaal! Allah Ta‘ala has made you strong so that you can help people and protect them – not to bully people and hurt them! You must remember that if you are strong today and can bully people, then on the Day of Qiyaamah, you will have no power at all before Allah Ta‘ala. If you want Allah Ta‘ala to be kind to you on that day, then you must be kind to people every day! Otherwise, if you bully people, then Allah Ta‘ala will punish you.”

When the principal said this, Bilaal remembered how the ball had hit his head, and the dog had attacked him, and realized that Allah Ta‘ala was warning him to stop being a bully.

That day, Bilaal went to all the children he had bullied, told them that he was sorry and promised to never bully them again. He also made du‘aa to Allah Ta‘ala and asked Allah Ta‘ala to forgive him and help him to have good behaviour. Bilaal decided that from that day, he would treat other people how he wanted to be treated – with kindness and respect.

Lessons:

1. We must not bully people or boss them around.

2. If other people bully us, we will not like it. So, if we do not like to be bullied, then we must not bully others.

3. Allah Ta‘ala does not like people who are bullies.

4. If we had bullied or hurt any person, we must tell them that we are sorry and ask them to forgive us.

Click here to download video