Shuaib received an
automobile from his brother as an Eid present.
On Eid day when Shuaib came out of his house, a
street urchin was walking around the shiny new
car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Uncle?" he
asked. Shuaib nodded. "My brother gave it to me
for Eid." The boy was astounded.
"You mean your brother gave it to you and it
didn't cost you nothing? Boy, I wish..." He
hesitated. Of course Shuaib knew what he was
going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a
brother like that. But what the lad said jarred
Shuaib all the way down to his heels. "I wish,"
the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like
that." Shuaib looked at the boy in astonishment,
then impulsively he added, "Would you like to
take a ride in my automobile?" "Oh yes, I'd love
that."
After a short ride, the boy turned and with his
eyes aglow, said, "Uncle, would you mind driving
in front of my house?" Shuaib smiled a little.
He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He
wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride
home in a big automobile. But Shuaib was wrong
again. "Will you stop where those two steps
are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then
in a little while Shuaib heard him coming back,
but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his
little crippled brother. He sat him down on the
bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against
him and pointed to the car.
"There it is, little brother, just like I told
you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Eid
and it didn't cost him a penny. And some day I'm
gonna give you one just like it...then you can
see for yourself all the pretty things in the
Shop windows that I've been trying to tell you
about."
Shuaib got out and lifted the boy to the front
seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother
climbed in beside him and the three of them
began a memorable ride. That Eid, Shuaib learned
what the RasulAllah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)
meant when he had said: "love for your brother
what you love for yourself".
