Two Crayons, Two Smiles

Ruqayyah had a brand-new box of crayons from Dadi, her grandma. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and pink. All the colours!

She took them to nursery for Show and Tell.

At the drawing table, Ruqayyah opened her box. Scribble, scribble, scribble!

Her friend Maysa sat down next to her. But the crayon pot was empty. Maysa had no crayons. Not one.

Maysa looked at Ruqayyah's crayons, then at her empty paper.

Ruqayyah pulled her box close. They were her special crayons. Her tummy felt wobbly, like jelly on a plate. Wibble, wobble.

Then Ruqayyah had a little think. She loved colouring. And Maysa loved colouring too.

She picked out one crayon. Yellow, like the sun.

"You can have this one," said Ruqayyah.

"Thank you!" said Maysa, and she smiled a big smile. Ruqayyah smiled too. The wobbly feeling went away.

So Ruqayyah picked out one more. Green, like the grass. Now Maysa had two!

Maysa drew a big yellow sun. Round and round and round! Swish, swish went the sunbeams.

Ruqayyah drew pink flowers. Then Maysa gave them tall green stalks. One picture, made together.

At bedtime, Ruqayyah told Mummy all about it. "I gave Maysa two crayons. Then we BOTH smiled!"

Mummy stroked her hair. "You love colouring, and you wished Maysa could colour too," she said. "The Prophet ﷺ told us something special. When we truly believe, we wish for our brothers and sisters what we love for ourselves. And Maysa is like a sister to you."

Ruqayyah yawned. "Sharing makes two smiles," she whispered.

Mummy tucked the blanket around her, soft and warm.

Ruqayyah closed her eyes. She thought of the flowers, and the sun, and her friend.

Two crayons. Two smiles. One big yellow sun.

Goodnight, Ruqayyah.