don’t you both bring the dog back to its owner,” Grandma Hana said. “I’ll start cleaning up this mess.”
Hude reached for the dog’s collar and noticed a nametag.
“Pal. The dog’s name is Pal,” he said.
As soon as the dog heard his name, he started to wag his tail.
“They should have named him Trouble,” Amani said. “Let’s bring him back quickly. I’m in no mood to make a new friend now, especially a four-footed one that eats my cookies.”
Hude and Amani started walking toward the new neighbors’ house and Pal followed them. As they approached the house, Mr. Carr opened the back door. Pal ran inside. Mr. Carr looked at the two kids in his backyard. They were filthy. Their hair was a mess. Their clothes were disheveled. He did not like what he saw.
“I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you should know that I am a very private person. I’d appreciate it if you could respect my privacy and stay off of my property. Have I made myself clear?”
Mr. Carr didn’t wait for an answer. He turned around and slammed the door behind him. Hude looked at Amani.
“Is that the kind of first impression you hoped we would make?”
Amani looked back at Hude.
“Is that the kind of person who would cut down a tree?”
What can a peach tree teach you?
HUDE and Amani woke up early the next morning to do Fajr prayers with their grandmother. Normally they would go back to sleep right afterwards. But today they stayed up to fix the damage that the dog had caused the day before. Amani blamed one person—Mr. Carr. Maybe if he wasn’t so mean, his dog would be better behaved. Maybe if he wasn’t so mean, she wouldn’t have to worry about the peach tree being cut down. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Grandma Hana told her last night that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said that it is best to be slow to anger and quick to calm. Amani was trying not to be angry, but she was struggling with it.
Hude wasn’t very happy either. But it was not because of Mr. Carr or the dog. In fact, he decided that he liked Pal. If he were a dog, he would have gobbled up those cookies too. His complaint was that the next-gen PlayStation was being released today and he had no way to check it out. His friends in Philadelphia were probably in a long line now, waiting for the store to open. And he hadn’t played any video games since he arrived.
“Anyone want some fresh mint iced tea? I think the mint was the only herb the dog didn’t uproot,” Grandma Hana said cheerfully.
She was the only person living in the white farmhouse on Sycamore Street who was in a good mood.
“Come,” Grandma said, noticing that something was wrong. “Let’s sit under the peach tree. It has plenty of shade.”
“The peaches are so big already, Grandma. It should be a good harvest,” Amani said, as they walked to the tree. She was already in a better mood.
“Inshallah,” Grandma Hana said. “The blossoms bloomed early. And there was a late freeze. I thought we might lose the entire crop. But alhamdulillah, the peach tree survived another challenge. And did you notice the shape? There’s just the right amount of blue between the branches. A peach tree should look like a goblet, with its branches reaching upward and gently angled outward from the trunk. Sunlight and air need to reach every branch. You know where to prune by looking at the blue sky between the branches. It’s the empty space that shows you the shape of the tree and not the tree itself. Almost everything can be learned from its opposite. How would you know if you were happy, if you didn’t feel sorrow from time to time?”
Amani smiled at Hude. Grandma Hana always knew the right thing to say at the right time. They sat under the peach tree, sipping cold iced tea.
“Why do you think Mr. Carr is so mean, Grandma?” Amani asked, looking at the new neighbors’ house.
“Amani.” Grandma paused, smiling. “Do you have something to say?”
“Astaghfirullah,” Amani said reluctantly, for she was not that sorry for what she had said. “But I still think he is.”
“Thinking is different than saying,” Grandma smiled. “Anyway, you might want to consider that there are many reasons why Mr. Carr may have been short with you both yesterday. Maybe he was tired from the move or missing his family. We just don’t know.”
“But we tried to be so nice to him. Hude cleaned up the cicadas. You and I baked him cookies. Mr. Carr doesn’t even know what we did for him.”
“But Allah knows what your intentions were and that’s what counts,” Grandma Hana said. “We always have a choice to do what is right in any given circumstance. With respect to Mr. Carr, we have a duty to treat him well because he is our neighbor, even if he is not particularly nice to us. Do you remember the story about the neighbor who used to try to annoy the Prophet, peace be upon him, by throwing garbage in his path? One day he walked out of his home but did not see anything. The Prophet wondered what had happened to the neighbor. He found out that she was sick and visited her. That’s a great example of what it means to be a good neighbor and a good Muslim.”
“It’s hard to be nice to someone who isn’t nice to you,” Amani said.
“It is,” Grandma Hana agreed. “It takes a lot of work to be a good person, and it’s often hard to know what is right to do. That is why Allah tells us to follow the example of the Prophet, who is the best of creation, peace be upon him. If you think about it, a good person is like this peach tree. Why do you think the peach tree never fell down in any storm all of these years?”
“Because it has strong roots,” Hude said.
“Exactly.” Grandma Hana smiled. “Can you see the roots?”
“No,” answered Hude.
“Even though we can’t see them, we know they are there because the tree hasn’t blown over. Strong roots keep the tree stable during storms. In the same way, our faith keeps us strong during difficult times.
“Who remembers the Hadith of Gabriel and the six principles of iman?”
“I do,” Amani said. “We believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His prophets, the Day of Judgment, and divine destiny.”
“Can you see all of these things, Amani?”
“No, Grandma.”
“Just like the roots of a tree, our beliefs keep us strong. There is more to our peach tree than just roots, isn’t there?” Grandma Hana said.
“It also has a trunk, branches, leaves...,” Hude said.
“And the peaches, of course!” Amani said.
“And we can see all of those,” Grandma continued. “The trunk, branches, and leaves are our actions. All
