Ask our children:

1. Can we keep a pet dog?

2. Do Muslims lie and steal?

Now tell them the story:

There was an old farmer who had a pet goat. He used to play with it, feed it and make it sleep in his room every night. One day, he decided to take his goat for a walk. As he left his home, three hungry crooks saw him with his goat. They made a plan to steal the goat and have a big braai.

The first crook came to the farmer and said, “Wow! What a big dog you have!” The farmer became angry and shouted, “You fool! Can’t you see that it’s a goat?” The crook said, “No! It’s a dog!” and he walked away.

After a while, the second crook came to the farmer and asked, “Where did you buy such a funny looking dog?” The farmer was now a little confused, so he looked at his goat and replied, “No! It’s my pet goat!” The crook said, “No! It’s a dog!” and he walked away.

After a while, the third crook came to the farmer and burst out laughing. The farmer asked him, “Why are you laughing? The crook replied, “This is the first time in my life that I am seeing a dog with two horns and a beard!” The farmer was now sure that his pet goat was actually a dog. So he thought to himself, “I definitely cannot keep this pet dog in my home, because the angels will not enter my home.”

So the simple farmer left the goat on the side of the road and returned home alone. The three greedy crooks quickly grabbed the goat and took it home for a yummy braai.

Lessons:

1. If we hear the same thing all the time, we will slowly start to believe it. May Allah Ta‘ala save us, if we are watching TV, TV, TV, all the time, and listening to music, music, music, all the time, playing with the tablet, tablet, tablet, all the time, reading comics or novels all the time, then these things are going to fill our minds and hearts and make us forget Allah Ta‘ala and Deen. Therefore, we need to change our life to salaah, salaah, salaah, Quraan, Quraan, Quraan, zikr, zikr, zikr and du‘aa, du‘aa, du‘aa, so that these things become our life.

2. Muslims should not keep dogs as pets.

3. Muslims should not lie and steal.