Zayd and the Big Red Ball

Zayd had a big red ball. It was round and bouncy, and it was all his.

One sunny day, Zayd took his ball to the park with Mummy. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Roll, roll, roll.

A little boy sat on the grass. His grandad sat on a bench nearby. The little boy had nobody to play with. He watched Zayd's ball with big brown eyes.

"Can I play?" the little boy asked.

Zayd hugged his ball tight. "Mine," he said quietly. He didn't want to share. The ball was his favourite.

Zayd bounced the ball alone. Bounce, bounce. It wasn't much fun.

Then the ball rolled away — roll, roll, roll — right to the little boy's feet!

The little boy picked it up very gently. He rolled it back to Zayd, and he smiled a big, kind smile.

Zayd felt something warm inside his chest, like sunshine.

"Want to roll it together?" Zayd asked.

"Yes please!" said the boy. "I'm Eesa!"

Roll, roll, roll. The ball went to Eesa. Roll, roll, roll. The ball came back to Zayd. They laughed and laughed. The warm sunshine feeling grew bigger and bigger. Sharing the ball was much more fun than holding it tight.

When it was time to go home, Eesa held his grandad's hand and waved. "Thank you for sharing!"

Mummy held Zayd's hand. "You shared your ball. That was a good thing to do," she said softly. "The Prophet ﷺ said every good thing we do is sadaqah — a way of giving. And look! Now you have a new friend."

Zayd hugged his big red ball, sleepy and smiling.

One ball. Two friends. So much fun.

Alhamdulillah.