The roar of the crowd echoed around the ice hockey rink as Ali scored
the winning goal of the final game of the season. His name was bellowed by
every single fan in the rink.
“ALI! ALI! ALI!” They
all screamed….
And that’s when Ali’s eyes
fluttered open.
Ali sighed; Ali had dreamed
all along to become a famous hockey player. In all his fantasies, he only
longed for the moment when the crowd would be silent; holding their breath and
Ali would be skating at his top speed towards his opponent. He would deke not
one or two, but three players from the opposite team in one go. The crowd would
gasp for air, clenching their fists tightly. And then, Ali would be clear to
face the goalkeeper. One-on-one, he would deke left, then right, then just when
the goalkeeper dives for the save he would shoot and score. The crowd would
jump in frenzy and Ali would wave back to the cheering and applauding crowd.
Ali knew deep down inside,
one day his dream would come true. His room was adorned with posters of hockey
giants like Wayne Gretzky, Mats Sundin, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovetchkin.
When he grew up he wanted to play for NHL and right now a good hockey kit would
help him further his ambitions.
Ali quickly woke up. Today,
he was super happy as it was the day when he could finally work towards
fulfilling his dream. After receiving $300 as his Eid gift the day before, Ali
had finally managed to save enough money for his hockey kit. Ali’s father has
promised him that he would take him to buy his hockey kit today, and Ali could
hardly wait.
After a long day at school,
the time finally came for Ali to go, get his hockey kit. Ali was impatient and
so he went outside his doorstep waiting for his dad to come. As he waited, he
noticed his neighbor, Hussain, sitting outside by his doorstep, his head in his
hands.
Ali walked over to him and
said, “Salãmun alaykum Hussain.”
“Wa’alaykum Salam,” replied
Hussain, sitting up straight, his voice a bit sad.
“Are you OK Hussain? How
come you’re so sad?” asked Ali.
“Oh, I’m fine. It’s just
that the devastating flood back home has destroyed my neighbour’s home and they
are asking for help.” Hussain said with deep sadness and with trembling voice.
“Oh…I see” Ali said deeply
saddened himself. Ali and Hussain had been neighbors ever since Ali had moved
to Toronto from Multan less than a year ago. Ali’s father was still struggling
for a better job and so they lived from “hand to mouth”.
Ali had seen the heart
breaking images of the people affected by the floods on his TV.
Ali couldn’t believe it.
His friends neighbours in Multan was devastated by the flood and here Ali was
happily about to go blow money on unimportant things, things that could wait a
little longer.
“Who cares…?” A voice
whispered within Ali. “You’ve waited so long to fulfill your dream… you can’t
just give it up for some flood affected family and that too far away in
Pakistan.” The voice said. Ali knew that was the voice of the Satan. He
couldn’t possibly listen to him.
Without further hesitation,
Ali stood up and ran back home to his room. He found an empty envelope and
pulled out all his money from his jeans pocket. He slowly counted all the money
carefully, it was exactly $750. After tucking the cash in the envelope,
Ali ran back downstairs towards Hussain.
“Hussain…” Ali began,
“Here, take this.”
Confused and bewildered
Hussain asked “Wha...t? Take what.”
Ali handed the envelope to
Hussain and said, “Send this money to your neighbour, it should help them”.
Hussain was speechless, slowly and silently, he raised his hand to receive the
envelope.
Ali went back inside, he
was a little sad and disappointed but he knew that he had done the right thing.
Later, when Ali’s father
came home, Ali told him why they couldn’t go today to buy his hockey kit. Ali’s
father was overjoyed and proud of his son’s righteous act.
A few weeks after this
incident, Ali was eating his diner with his family when he heard someone knock
on his door.
“I’ll get it,” Ali said as
he rushed to open the door.
It was Hussain at the door.
Hussain has tears streaming down his face as he ran to give Ali a hug.
“Thank you! Thank you!” He
said between sobs of happiness. “Because of your help, my neighbours are on
their way to recovery”.
Ali had tears of happiness
in his voice too as he heard the happy news of his friend’s neighbour.
Ali was pleased with
himself for doing a good deed.
And that’s when Ali finally
realized his dream had come true. All the Angels, Prophets and Imams were
cheering Ali as Ali had scored the winning goal into the hearts of humanity.
Ali had pleased Allah and surely Allah will reward him in this world and in the
hereafter.
By Amna Ali
