Ask our children:

1. Should we make people frightened and scared?

2. Should we play tricks on people?

3. What should we do if we hurt someone?

Now tell them the story:

There was once a little boy named Faraaz. He had a very bad habit. He would like to give people a fright! He would hide behind the door and when someone would walk into the room, he would jump out and shout, “BOO!”

Sometimes he would hide under the table, sometimes he would hide behind the curtain, and sometimes he would hide under the bed. Wherever he hid, he waited as quietly as a mouse, without making a single sound, until … “BOO!”

One day, Faraaz heard that his grandmother was coming to visit. This made naughty Faraaz very excited. Faraaz wasn’t excited because he missed her, or because he wanted to sit on her lap and talk to her. No! He was excited because he had never given her a fright before. Faraaz planned all morning, thinking about where he would hide. Finally, he decided to hide behind the bush in the driveway, so that as his old grandmother went past, he could jump out and shout “BOO!”

As he had planned, he went and hid behind the bush, making sure that no one could see him. He waited quietly, not even making a single cough or sneeze. Finally, the moment that he was waiting for came. His grandmother arrived and was slowly walking up the driveway. As she was passing the bush, Faraaz jumped out and shouted “BOO!”

Poor old grandmother! She got such a terrible fright that she slipped and fell! THUD! She hit the floor and lay still, moaning in pain. Faraaz was shocked. He didn’t mean to hurt her! What would happen to him now? Everyone would be angry with him! So he turned to run away and hide in his room, but as he ran, he tripped and fell, also getting hurt!

Now Faraaz and his grandmother both had to be taken to the hospital. Faraaz had broken his arm, and his poor old grandmother broke her leg. Faraaz felt so ashamed of what he did that he could not even look at anyone. Also, his arm really hurt, and he regretted what he had done. He went to his old grandmother, lying in the hospital bed, and said to her with tears in his eyes, “Dadi! I’m sorry I gave you a fright and hurt you! I promise you, I’ll never give anyone a fright again!”

His grandmother forgave him and hugged him, and everyone was happy that Faraaz had stopped his bad habit of scaring people.

Lessons:

1. We should never scare people and give them a fright. It is a big sin to do this.

2. If we hurt any person, we must immediately ask them to forgive us.

3. We must show our parents and grandparents love and be obedient to them. We must not hurt them and make them upset.

4. If we hurt people, it is possible that Allah Ta‘ala will punish us and make us get hurt as well.

Click here for the audio version of this story.