{"id":566,"date":"2015-04-26T12:06:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T16:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/?p=566"},"modified":"2016-09-22T10:58:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T14:58:41","slug":"rule-of-thumb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/?p=566","title":{"rendered":"Rule of thumb"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a beautiful spring day, and Manal<\/a> was playing outside. She was using chalk to draw different pictures on the driveway. So far she had made a rainbow, a hopscotch game, and three happy face drawings. Right now, she was working on a picture of a tiger.<\/p>\n

Manal loved to draw almost as much as she liked to work in the garden. Her mom had bought some brand new chalk for her last week, and Manal was making sure none of them broke off or rolled down onto the street. She looked up to see her dad trimming the shrubs, and called out to him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Baba, come see my pictures!\u2019, she said.<\/p>\n

Baba stopped his work and looked over to Manal. \u2018Give me a few minutes, sweety. I\u2019ll come by as soon as I\u2019m done with this plant.\u2019, he replied.<\/p>\n

Just then her mom and baby brother came out of the house. Her mother was carrying baby Yusuf, and they both walked by to admire Manal\u2019s drawings. \u2018Be careful, Mama! Don\u2019t let Yusuf mess up my stuff!\u2019\u2019, warned Manal.<\/p>\n

\u2018I’ve got him, don’t you worry Manal. I love your rainbow! How about I make some clouds around it? Do you have any white chalk?\u2019, asked her mom.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sure, Mama\u2019, said Manal handing her some chalk. Yusuf was clapping his little hands and gurgling happily at everyone, when Manal turned to look at him, just as she was closing the box of chalk.<\/p>\n

Suddenly the box slipped out of her hands and all the chalk rolled down the driveway. \u2018Oh no!!\u2019, she cried out, starting to run after her chalk pieces. Her dad was heading over to see her drawings, when he saw the chalk rolling away and quickly raced to help. Luckily, the chalk had fallen by the sidewalk, and they found all of them easily.<\/p>\n

Manal walked angrily towards her brother. \u2018Yusuf! That was all your fault! You made me drop all the chalk and now I\u2019m very very mad at you!!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Manal! What do you mean? He didn\u2019t do anything!\u2019, said her mother. Yusuf started to cry and Mama tried to calm him down.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sweety, I think you\u2019re upset about dropping the chalk, but we found all of them. Everything\u2019s fine, you know\u2019, consoled her dad.<\/p>\n

\u2018No! He was talking, so I got distracted. It\u2019s his fault I dropped them. He\u2019s always messing everything up!\u2019. Manal was very angry.<\/p>\n

Her parents looked at each other, while Manal stomped away and sat down on the front steps. Her mom and dad came to sit with her. Her brother had stopped crying and was happily sucking his pacifier now.<\/p>\n

‘Manal, you know Yusuf was just happy to see you. And I agree, he does get into your stuff sometimes, but what happened just now was an accident. You know he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing as yet, he\u2019s only a baby.\u2019, explained her mom.<\/p>\n

Manal shrugged and swiped at her tears. \u2018But he does mess up my stuff a lot!\u2019, she replied, still angry.<\/p>\n

\u2018Manal, what\u2019s the rule of thumb when you get mad?\u2019, asked her dad.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stay on track, don\u2019t bring up old matters back.\u2019, recited Manal grudgingly. She said it a couple more times and took a deep breath. \u2018You\u2019re right Mama. I\u2019m sorry Yusuf.\u2019 She gave him a smile and kissed his cheek.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m glad you feel better honey. Yusuf and I will go inside, and make some lemonade. Why don\u2019t you finish up your drawing and come on in afterward?\u2019, suggested her mom.<\/p>\n

\u2018Thanks Mama, I will. You know, Baba, I like that thumb rule. I give it a big thumbs up! Thank you for reminding me.\u2019, said Manal wiggling both her thumbs at her father.<\/p>\n

Her dad chuckled. \u2018I like that rule too, and I’m proud of you calming down so quickly. Let\u2019s go finish up your drawings now, and don\u2019t worry I won\u2019t distract you or drop the chalk box!\u2019, he teased.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaba!! You\u2019re forgetting the rule! No bringing up old matters remember?\u2019, she teased him back.<\/p>\n

They both laughed and went to finish their masterpieces.<\/p>\n

Story inspiration :\u00a0\u201cBe quick in the race for forgiveness from your Lord, and for\u00a0a\u00a0Garden whose width is that (of the whole) of the heavens and of the earth, prepared for the righteous. Those who spend (freely), whether in prosperity, or in adversity; who restrain anger, and pardon (all) men, for Allah loves those who do good.\u201d (3:133-134)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not lawful for\u00a0a\u00a0Muslim\u00a0to desert (stop talking to) his brother beyond three nights, the one turning one way and the other turning to the other way when they meet, the better of the two is one who is the first to greet the other.\u201d [Bukhari]<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a beautiful spring day, and Manal was playing outside. She was using chalk to draw different pictures on the driveway. So far she had made a rainbow, a hopscotch game, and three happy face drawings. Right now, she was working on a picture of a tiger. Manal loved to draw almost as much … Continue reading Rule of thumb<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[157,82,116,117,153,118],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=566"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ruku.kazia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}