A Hero

Do you have a hero? Does your children have a hero? Maybe 50 to 60 years ago, a hero might have been a teacher, doctor, nurse, firefighter or policeman. Nowadays, the hero is the basketball player, singer,dancer or actor that makes 20million+/year. The hero's of the past did not make millions and they were portrayed to have morals and values and good character. These so-called hero's of today may make millions but most of them have children out of wedlock, arrest records,and a violent past. There are even fantasy characters that children call their hero,such as Harry Potter. All of these false hero's instill characteristics that are in completely against the teachings of Islam. These negative hero's promote money as something to worship, they do not promote marriage as a sanctity for the family, they promote violence , witchcraft and the list can be endless. I think that it is time to go back to the hero's of Islam. Do we really know them? They are the stories from Quran, Hadith, The Prophets, the Companions. Do we really know these stories?Are our children creating a sense about them ? Are they the hero's in our lives? Here is a story about a companion named Salamah bin Al-Akwa. He is an athlete you need to tell your children about. He was an extremely fast runner. Here is his story taken from Sahiha Bukhari:

Volume 5, Book 59, Number 507 Narrated Salama bin Al-Akwa: Once I went (from Medina) towards (Al-Ghaba) before the first Adhan of the Fajr Prayer. The she-camels of Allah's Apostle used to graze at a place called Dhi-Qarad. A slave of 'Abdur-Rahman bin 'Auf met me (on the way) and said, "The she-camels of Allah's Apostle had been taken away by force." I asked, "Who had taken them?" He replied "(The people of) Ghatafan." I made three loud cries (to the people of Medina) saying, "O Sabahah!" I made the people between the two mountains of Medina hear me. Then I rushed onward and caught up with the robbers while they were watering the camels. I started throwing arrows at them as I was a good archer and I was saying, "I am the son of Al-Akwa', and today will perish the wicked people." I kept on saying like that till I restored the she-camels (of the Prophet), I also snatched thirty Burda (i.e. garments) from them. Then the Prophet and the other people came there, and I said, "O Allah's Prophet! I have stopped the people (of Ghatafan) from taking water and they are thirsty now. So send (some people) after them now." On that the Prophet said, "O the son of Al-Akwa'! You have over-powered them, so forgive them." Then we all came back and Allah's Apostle seated me behind him on his she-camel till we entered Medina.

Is this not a great story. As you can see he ran so fast he caught up with the thieves. You can probably guess that the thieves where not on foot like Salamah. There was and advertising campaign not long ago presuding people to be like the athlete Michael Jordan. It said "Be like Mike" Well let us as parents start our own advertising campaign amongst our families. Let us begin to know who our hero's are . That way we do not have to be like Mike or anyone else the media promotes. We can be like Prophet Muhammad, the four Calipha, the companions, the Mother's of the believers and the son of Al-akwah. I hope to share more stories of "our" hero's so keep checking back!