The holidays had just started, and Fudhail was very excited. Fudhail lived in Johannesburg, and his father was taking the family to Durban to visit their grandparents. Fudhail was so excited that he started packing his bags one week before! His grandparents always spoiled him, and bought him lots of sweets, chocolates and presents.

Finally, the day came when they all got into the car. As Fudhail’s father started the car, he read the du‘aa for traveling. Then, they got onto the road and set out for Durban!

Fudhail couldn’t wait to reach Durban, so he kept asking his father, “Daddy! How long left?” Fudhail’s father would just laugh and say, “Durban is far away Fudhail! We will reach in the evening insha-Allah!”

Fudhail wanted his father to just keep driving, without stopping, so that they could get to Durban quickly. But, before he knew it, Fudhail’s father stopped! Fudhail was anxious and asked, “Daddy! Why are we stopping?” Fudhail’s father replied, “My cousin lives here Fudhail! I want to visit him! I haven’t seen him in a while!”

Fudhail was not happy! Why did they have to stop and visit? He wanted to keep moving so that they could get to Durban quickly! But, he couldn’t do anything about it, so they went to the cousin’s house, met him, and then left after half an hour.

A little later, Fudhail’s father took an offramp again and left the highway! Fudhail asked again, “Daddy! Where are we going now?” His father replied, “My grandmother’s sister lives in this town. I want to meet her and take a present for her!” This time, when they went into the house to visit, Fudhail was bored. At least in the cousin’s house, there were other children to play with. Here, there was nothing to do! His mother and father just spoke to the old lady for some time, and then gave her some presents, and then they left. “Finally!” Fudhail thought.

That evening, as they were reaching Durban, Fudhail’s father said, “Fudhail! I noticed that you did not want us to stop and meet any family today!” Fudhail replied, “Meeting family is boring – especially when its old people! I wanted to come to Durban quickly!”

Fudhail’s father then said, “Fudhail! Visiting family relatives is very important! We must phone our relatives and keep in touch with them, and must also go to see them from time to time. That is how we keep close to our family and keep the love in the family. Our Nabi Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) taught us that we must keep in touch with our family! We must not forget them and ignore them!”

Then Fudhail’s father said, “Visiting old people may be boring, but it makes them very happy. When a person becomes old, then often, they become very lonely. No one visits them anymore and no one comes to talk to them. When we visit them and take presents for them, they become very happy and make du‘aa for us. When we make these people happy, then Allah Ta‘ala also becomes happy with us.”

Now Fudhail understood, so he said to his father, “Jazakallah for explaining this to me daddy! From now on, I will always try to visit my family and take presents for them!”

Lessons:

1. We must visit our relatives from time to time. If we can, we must take them a present as well. This will create love in our families.

2. When people are old, we must not forget about them. We must visit them, talk to them and make them happy. If they need anything then we must try to help them as well.

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