Dream Come True!

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