Allah

            Mohammed comes from an American Muslim family. He lives with his mother and father in Santa Monica, California. They live in a two-storey house with a big backyard. In his backyard, there is a huge tree standing tall and mighty.          

            One day, Mohammed and his father, Mr. Abdullah, play football together in the backyard.  While playing, Mohammed suddenly thinks it will be nice to have a wooden house on the huge tree. So, asks his father, “Daddy, can you build a tree house for me? Please, daddy please.”  “Okay, let me think about it first,” replies his father.

            The next Sunday morning, Mr. Abdullah decides to start planning the structure of the tree house. He goes to his workshop next to his garage and draws his plan. He shows the plan to Mohammed. Since Mohammed likes it so much, he decides to start building it in the afternoon.

            The sun was scorching but it does not stop both father and son from the task at hand. They take wooden planks from the workshop. Mohammed brings the toolbox to the backyard. They use many things to build their tree house such as the saw, the hammers, and nails. Most importantly, they use wooden planks to build the tree house.

            Mohammed helps his father find nails from the toolbox. As they were putting together the pieces of wooden planks to build the wall and the roof, Mohammed suddenly puts his right hand on his forehead and looks up to the sky. He looks at the wide blue sky and asks his father, “Do skies have walls, daddy?”

            Mr. Abdullah smiles and says, “My son, that’s an incredibly good question.  Isn’t it amazing why there are no walls in the sky? What holds it up?”  Mr. Abdullah responds to his son.

            “Daddy, I can’t see any wall in the sky. The sky is so wide and vast. Neither can I see ropes pulling it up. So, if there is no wall or rope attached, how can the sky be up there? You use the wooden planks to build the walls of the tree house to hold the roof, but what holds the sky?” Mohammed asks his father, Mr. Abdullah.

            “My dear son,” says Mr. Abdullah as he strokes Mohammed’s shoulder gently. “Who do you think is so powerful to create such a huge sky hanging high up there without anything holding it up? Who do you think can hold up the vast sky up there without letting it fall on top of us on earth?” he asks.

            “No daddy, actually I can’t see anything bigger than the sky,” answers Mohammed.  “You see, that is the Power of Allah. Allah creates the sky so huge to prove that Allah is the Most Powerful Creator of the sky and the earth,” explains Mr. Abdullah.

            “Subhanallah, Allah Most Gracious. It’s wonderful. So, it is Allah who creates the sky and this wide world,” says Mohammed excitedly. “That is why we have to worship Allah.  Since Allah is the One and Only who creates all of creation, we submit to Allah as a way of being thankful to Him,” explains Mr. Abdullah.

That night, Mr Abdullah lets Mohammed sleep in the finished tree house. As Mohammed snuggles into his sleeping bag, he looks out the window. He sees the moon and the stars.  “Now the sky is dark with the moon shining brightly and the stars twinkling merrily. Oh, thank you Allah for making the sky so wide and blue in the day. Thank you, Allah, for making the moon and the stars shine on the dark night sky. Thank you, Allah, for making all the beautiful and pleasant things in this world,” Mohammed prays silently in his heart as he closes his eyes to sleep.