Ask our children:

1. Should brothers and sisters fight with one another?

2. If we have a fight with our brother or sister, what should we do?

3. Is Allah Ta‘ala happy or unhappy with us when we fight?

Now tell them the story:

Once upon a time, there were two sisters and a brother named Hawwaa, Faatimah and Muhammad. They lived together in a huge house, full of toys and interesting things to play with, and they loved to play together, BUT they were always fighting with each other.

Hawwaa would come to her mother, crying and complaining, “Mummy! Faatimah pinched me and pulled my hair!” Her mother would call Faatimah and ask her, “Faatimah! Why did you hurt your sister?” Faatimah would answer, “She tore my colouring book, and she did it on purpose! That’s why!”

Sometimes, it was Faatimah who would go to her father, crying and complaining, “Daddy! Hawwaa bit me! She bit me on my big toe! She chomped it like a burger! Look at the marks her teeth made!” When her father would ask Hawwaa why she had bitten her sister, she would say, “She bit me first! That’s why!”

Even their brother, Muhammad, would fight with them! But he wouldn’t bite, pinch, pull hair or hit. He had a very different way of fighting.

Muhammad would sneak into Hawwaa’s room, when she wasn’t there, and hide an alarm clock under her bed. He would set the alarm clock to ring at 2am, when she was fast asleep. Then in the middle of the night, he would giggle to himself as the alarm rang and Hawwaa woke up with a shock!

While Faatimah was asleep, he would go to her fuzzy slippers, and put ice cubes inside! Then, when she woke up in the morning and put her slippers on, she would get a shock because they would be cold and wet!

When Muhammad’s parents would ask him why he troubled his sisters, he would say, “Because they trouble me too! The other day, Hawwaa didn’t want to share the crayons with me, and Faatimah teases me and tells me I have a head like a butternut!”

Eventually, Hawwaa, Faatimah and Muhammad fought so much, and troubled each other so much, that their parents didn’t know what to do! They explained to them, over, and over, and over again, that good Muslims do not fight, and love each other – especially their own family, but they still continued to fight. Finally, they had an idea to stop the fighting, once and for all.

The next day, when Hawwaa did not want to share her toys with Faatimah, and they had just started fighting, their daddy came and said, “STOP! STOP! Hawwaa! Faatimah! Quickly say sorry to each other!” The two girls quickly said sorry, but then, their father said, “Now, go and make wudhu, and read two rakaats of salaah, right here where I can see you. After that, I want you to make du‘aa for each other, loudly, so that I can hear you.” Hawwaa and Faatimah were quite confused. “What du‘aa must we make?” they asked. Their father replied, “Make du‘aa that you stop fighting, that you love each other, and that you go to Jannah together!”

Hawwaa and Faatimah did as their father said, and as they read the two rakaats of salaah together, and made du‘aa for each other, they already felt better! But… where was Muhammad?

While Hawwaa and Faatimah were reading their salaah, Muhammad was being naughty again. He had taken Hawwaa and Faatimah’s crayons and hidden them in the tumble dryer! Just then, his mother came running and shouted, “Who put crayons in the tumble dryer! My whole tumble dryer is messed! It looks like a rainbow inside and all the clothes are messed with crayon!” Oh no! Now it was Muhammad’s turn!

Muhammad’s father, called him and also made him read two rakaats of salaah. Then, he also made him make du‘aa, loudly, for his two sisters. Muhammad said, “O Allah! Make me love my sisters! Help us to stop fighting! Please take us to Jannah together!” After they did this, he made them say sorry to each other, and explained to them, “Brothers and sisters must love each other and help each other – not fight. But if you do fight, you must forgive each other, and forget what happened! When you forgive and forget, you make Allah Ta‘ala very happy!” In this way, their father made them read two rakaats of salaah together, every day for a week, and make du‘aa for each other.

But that was not all. Their father said to them, “Since you are always fighting, your punishment is that for one week, you are not allowed to play with each other. You must each play, alone, in your own room!” As each day passed, Hawwaa, Faatimah and Muhammad played all alone, in their own rooms, and wished that they could play together again! Hawwaa was lonely, Faatimah was bored and Muhammad wanted someone to play with. As each day passed, they realized how much they missed each other, and they wished that they hadn’t fought with each other!

So, after one week, Hawwaa, Faatimah and Muhammad stopped fighting and became the closest siblings, always helping each other and always making du‘aa for each other. They realized that fighting with your brother or sister is NOT fun – it makes you sad and gets you into trouble. If you love your brother and sister, then they will be your best friend and will always be there to have fun with you! But the most important thing is that Allah Ta‘ala is happy with us when we love each other and we don’t fight.

Lessons:

1. We must not fight with our brothers and sisters. Allah Ta‘ala does not like it when we fight. We must love them and help them.

2. If our brother or sister troubles us, we must learn to forgive them and forget what happened.

3. We must always make du‘aa for our brothers and sisters.

Click here for the audio version of this story.