HANSEL AND GRETAL TWISTED TO A MORAL STORY FOR KIDS Hamid and Gazala - Umme Mohamed Twisted from Hansel and Gretel On the borders of a dark forest, far away, there once lived a woodcutter with his pious wife and two children. The woodcutter was very poor indeed, and the children, who were called Hamid and Gazala, had often not enough bread to eat. Their mother had died when they were very little and the woodcutter's new wife Eliza did not care for children, so times were hard for Hamid and Gazala. As winter came on they grew poorer and poorer, until at last one night the poor woodcutter said to his wife, "What are we to do? There is only one loaf of bread left and I fear we shall starve. "We must get rid of the children," answered his wife. "Tomorrow we will take them into the wood and leave them there. They will never be able to find their way home." "Oh no!" said the father, "I could not leave them there to starve." "Well, we shall all starve together if they stay with us," answered his wife, "so it will come to the same thing in the end." And she talked to her husband until she made him promise to do as she had said. Now, although it was late, Hamid and Gazala were wide awake, for they were too hungry to sleep, and they could not help hearing all the plans that were made. "Oh!" sobbed Gazala, "we shall be lost in the dark wood, and the wild beasts will eat us." "Do not cry, little sister," said Hamid. "I will take care of you InshaAllah." The next morning the wife came and woke the children very early. She told them they must get up and dress themselves quickly. "You shall go with us to the forest today, while your father cuts wood," she said. Then she gave them each a thick slice of bread for their dinner, and they all set out together. Gazala carried both slices of bread in her apron. Quickly Hamid made her recite the duas of leaving the home so that they could return home safely. Recite: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ "I depart with Allah's name, relying on Him. It is Allah who saves us from sins with His guidance (the ability to do so)." (Tirmidhi) It is stated in the hadith that if a person recites the above dua and departs then there is an (unseen) proclamation that his need will be fulfilled and that he will be protected from any harm or injury. On hearing this dua, the Satan goes away from the place and refrains from troubling the reciting person. (Tirmidhi) Also look towards the sky and recite: اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَضِلَّ أَوْ أُضَّلَّ أَوْ أَظْلِمَ أَوْ أُظْلَمَ أَوْ أَجْهَلَ أَوْ يُجْهَلَ عَلَىَّ "O Allah, I seek refuge in You from misleading or being misled or oppressing or being oppressed or from being ignorant or bearing the result of ignorance". (Mishkat) Now, as they went along, the father noticed that Hamid was walking very slowly with his sister. "Why do you look walk so slow, my son?" he asked. "I have to take care of my sister too, from now on "as he bit his lip a tear fell from his eye. But his father’s heart had turned as hard as stone with the love of his new wife. He was ready to abandon kids as beautiful as flowers, in a jungle. Where was his Iman? As he was walking, the verses of the Quran reminded him Ch17.31. Do not kill your children for fear of poverty; it is We Who provide for them as well as for you. Killing them is surely a grave sin. But how could he convince his disbelieving wife? Tears welled up in his eyes and he offered a small prayer. As they went farther and farther into the wood, the road grew more and more difficult. At last the woodcutter stopped and told the children to gather some sticks and make them into a heap. "I am going to light a fire to warm you," he said, "and then you can rest here until I return." So Hamid and Gazala sat and warmed themselves at the fire and ate their slices of bread quite happily, for they thought they heard their father chopping wood close by. But the sound they heard was only the dead branch of a tree swinging in the wind. Then, feeling very tired after their long walk, they curled themselves up on the dry leaves and fell fast asleep. When they awoke it was quite dark and the fire was out. The only sound they heard was the hooting of the owls overhead. "Oh Hamid, what shall we do?" sobbed Gazala. "We are lost in the woods and we shall never be able to find our way home." "Only wait until the moon rises, little sister," said Hamid. "Give me your hand and I will take you safely home." And when the moon began to rise and send silver moonbeams to light up the dark forest, the children set out, hand in hand, and found the way home very easily because he had recited his duas. "You bad children!" cried the woodcutter's wife, when she opened the door to let them in. "We thought you were never coming home." But their father took them up in his arms and kissed them over and over again in his joy, for he had been afraid that he would never see them again. Not long after this there came a day when there was only half a loaf of bread left in the little hut. The wife said to her husband, "We are even poorer than we were before. Must we all starve together or shall we take the children once more to the forest, where they cannot possibly find their way home?" The woodcutter was very unhappy at the thought, he had prayed to Allah for providing sustenance and he knew if the kids were with them Allah swt would surely bring a way out. He told his wife Eliza "I have done it once and my heart does agree to do this again "his wife snared at him "you coward" she said, "I will leave them in the forest this time" The children lay trembling in their beds as they listened to these plans, and poor little Gazala was terribly frightened. But Hamid comforted her again. "Come, get up, you lazy children!" cried the wife next morning. "You are going to the forest with us today. Here is your dinner." And she gave them two small slices of bread. Gazala put her slice into her pocket, but Hamid crumbled his into small pieces, and these he dropped along the way so that he could find his way home "What are you turning round to look at?" asked the woman. "Be quick and do not linger." "I was only saying good-bye to my white pigeon who is sitting on the roof," said Hansel. "Nonsense!" cried the woman. "There is no pigeon. It is only the morning sun shining on the wet roof." But she did not see that every time Hansel stopped to look back he dropped a crumb to mark the way. This time they went much farther into the heart of the wood. When the children were tired, their father told them to gather wood so he could make them a fire. "You can rest until we come back," he said. So they rested by the fire and Gazala shared her slice of bread with Hamid. Then they grew so tired of waiting for their father that they fell fast asleep. It was quite dark when they woke. Gazala wept, for she was sure there were wild beasts prowling about ready to eat them up. But Hamid was quite brave. "I will take care of you, little sister," he said. "And I can easily find my way home, for I marked the road with my breadcrumbs." But alas! The birds had eaten up every crumb and there was not one left to show them the way home. Still they wandered on and on, all that night and all next day, but they only seemed to get deeper and deeper into the forest. Hamid realized that this time he trusted the breadcrumbs to find his way home rather than trusting Allah swt. He repented his folly. He was in tears, forgive me O Allah I am not alone I have a sister to look after too. They had nothing to eat but a few berries which they found in the wood. When the third day dawned they were nearly starving. o They started praying to Allah swt. “We are alone and we have no one except you who can help us a way out” He remembered his mother teaching him حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ "Allah is sufficient for us and He is the Best Guardian". (Quran, Surah Al-Imraan) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ "O Allah, there is none worthy of worship besides You. You are Pure; definitely I have oppressed my soul by sinning". The Qur'an states that these words were recited when Yunus (A.S.) called upon Allah from the belly of the fish. Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) stated in a hadith that when any Muslim makes this dua via these words to Allah, then Allah surely accepts his duas. Hamid said, "O Allah I am stuck in the belly of this forest Allah only u can help me out " (Tirmidhi etc) As if in reply to their prayers they saw a women in a veil covered from top to toe who came to them and said,"Assalamualaikum wa rahamatullah " and put her hand around the kids heads lovingly. Gazala was scared and she rushed towards Hamid. "Walaikumusalam warahmatullah" Hamid replied, as he brought his sister close to him. Both didn’t know what to do. ”What are you doing here in this wild forest, its full of wild beasts" she asked them politely and with concern. The thought of wild beasts made them shudder. Hansel quickly replied," We are abandoned by our parents and we have no roof, we were trying to find our way back home but it’s impossible” he finished his sentence in sobs....Gazala too was crying bitterly by now. The women sat down and wiped their tears, she asked them "Would like to me to become your mother, I will take care of u feed u clothe u educate you?" Gazala almost pushed her but Hansel said ,"Our father might come searching us " The women said "its ok till then I will take care of you "She took them in her small cottage it was a clean and sparkling room. She bathed them and gave them clean clothes to wear .She made them read duas for wearing clothes then served them nutritious food. She made recite all duas and prayers on time. She was a pious lady just like his mother Hamid thought. He found his guts to ask her "aunty why do you stay here in this forest alone?" The women who looked beautiful without her veil replied,"Hamid, your uncle had this house since years and we do not have children. Last year when he went hunting a lion tore him apart. I do not have relatives I only remember having a sister at the edge of the forest but she too has died and her husband has remarried" streams of tears flowed as she completed her sentence. Hamid realized then she must be her rich aunt about whom her mother always told. He hugged his aunt and Gazala too for the first time felt close to her. A few days later there was a knock at the door of the cottage. Hamid raced to open it and saw his Dad forlorn and tired standing there."Hamiiid ,Gazalaaaa he screamed in happiness. Their aunt immediately veiled herself from him. Hamid asked, “why have you come now dad?" "Your mother is no more "replied his dad so I came to take you back with me. They said they wished to stay with their aunt Khadija as they wanted to help her because uncle was no more. Amin their dad remembered his sister in law who had married to a prosperous man from a noble family. He was happy that his kids had found her home which would build their this life as well as hereafter. via IiWords HIT SHARE/TAg