Ask your children:
1. What should we do when we see a nightmare?
2. Are witches, wizards and people who do magic good people or bad people?
3. Before we sleep, what should we read for protection?
Now tell them the story:
Nabeel was a little boy who was fascinated with magic! He liked to read stories about wicked witches and evil wizards. In fact, he liked magic so much that he would read story books about magic every night before sleeping.
One night, when Nabeel was fast asleep, he had a nightmare. In his nightmare, he saw that an evil witch, dressed in black clothing, was slowly coming towards him. As she came closer, she raised her crooked finger, pointed at him and began to shriek! Nabeel was so frightened by what he saw in the nightmare that before he knew it, he jumped out of his bed and began to run! But because he was so frightened, and because he was still half asleep, he didn’t see where he was going, and he ran straight into the wall! “BOOOM!” went Nabeel’s head against the wall! Now Nabeel was definitely awake.
Nabeel looked around him and saw that the witch was not real – she was just a nightmare. So he climbed back into bed, pulled the blanket over his body and tried to go back to sleep. However, he was scared. What if he had the nightmare again???
The next day, when Nabeel sat to eat breakfast, his brother looked at him and asked, “Nabeel! Why do you have a big lump on your head?” Then his brother teased him saying, “Hahahaha! It looks like the red light on an ambulance!” Nabeel didn’t want to start a fight, so he didn’t say anything, and quietly ate his breakfast.
That afternoon, when he went to madrasah, his Moulana saw the lump on his head, and the dark patches under his eyes. Moulana called him and asked him with great love, “Nabeel my son! What happened to you?” Nabeel knew that he could always tell his Moulana what was happening and could tell him any secret. So he told Moulana about the scary nightmare he had, and how he was so scared, that he even ran into the wall! He was too afraid to go back to sleep, so now he was tired and had dark patches under his eyes.
Moulana thought for a moment, and then asked, “Nabeel, tell me, have you been reading books or watching movies about magic, witches and wizards?” Nabeel put his head down, feeling embarrassed, and then he whispered, “Jee Moulana, I have been reading books with stories about magic.” Moulana said to him, “Nabeel, witches, wizards, magic and these types of things are all evil and are all connected to shaitaan. A Muslim should not read about these things or be interested in them in any way. Please, promise me that you won’t read these types of books anymore!” Nabeel replied, “I promise Moulana! I won’t read any magic books – especially because I don’t want any more witches troubling me in my sleep!”
Moulana then said, “Every night, before you sleep, you must read your kalimahs, sleeping du‘aas, aayatul kursi and the four quls. If you do this, then insha Allah, nothing will trouble you when you sleep. If you ever see a nightmare, you must read “A‘oozu billahi minash shaitaanir rajeem” three times. Then, you must turn over and sleep on your other side.”
That evening, when Nabeel went home, he went to his cupboard and took all the magic books out. He packed them into a packet, took the packet to the kitchen, and placed it straight into the bin! “Nabeel! What are you putting into the bin?” his mother asked. Nabeel answered, “These are all the books with magic stories! They gave me a nightmare, and reading these books makes shaitaan happy, so I don’t want them anymore!”
From that day on, Nabeel read his kalimahs and du‘aas before sleeping. Because he listened to his Moulana, he always slept nicely at night. Nothing troubled him when he was sleeping, and he never saw nightmares again.
Lessons:
1. Before we sleep, we must read all our du‘aas, kalimahs and aayatul kursi.
2. Muslims must not read or watch about witches, wizards and magic because these are all evil. Witches and wizards are the friends of shaitaan.
3. If we have any problem, we must talk to someone about it. We can talk to our parents, or we can talk to a pious person like a Moulana or Aapa, because he can help us and will make du‘aa for us.
4. If someone teases us, it is better for us to keep quiet. If we become angry and tell them something, it might become a fight, and then we will be in trouble.