Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The Story of My Cat















Assalm alykom:

I recently wrote a story about our family cat. I sent my story to www.islamonline to see if they were interested. I have never written anything before, therefore I was very surprised that they liked the story. They published it to the website in Ramadan. They did an excellent job putting the story together and illustrating it. The story is for children and was inspired by our family cat who is pictured here. Our cat had runaway from home. It is a true story about this misfortune. The only untrue part is the ending. Our real life story did not end as happily as the one I wrote. For the link below, go to the stories called The Power of Duaa': Yusseff's Wish and The Power of Duaa': Bootsie's Return. I hope you enjoy the story as much as my family liked it.

You will find the story here

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

assalamu alaikum Umnour,

Alhamduillah...this is incrediable...i think Sr. Sakeena will be thrilled to read this beautiful true story smiles. I remembered....everything... liked it happened yesterday.

ma salaama
love
ummriyaadh

Anonymous said...

Alhamdulillah...that is truly amazing. Our children need to read more stories like this one.

Anonymous said...

I also enjoy creating stories from our "real life" experiences. I find these help the children through so many of their experiences. However, I am curious as to why you chose to change the story? Why not include the sad ending and some hope or inspirational comment to help children learn that life does not have to have a happy ending to still believe in Allah and be thankful? What does it say to children when they know you changed the story? That you only beleive that Allah is listening when your Dua is answered? What about when you do not get the outcome you want?

Don't get me wrong, I love your story! If it had not come from a real experience I would not even make a comment. And I am not saying you were wrong to change it. I am actually looking for some dialogue on this. I often go through the same dilemma when I tell "real" stories. Should I change them or not? So just curious as to your reasons to change it. Perhaps would help me in my storytelling as well.

- Karima

Um Nour/Hollie Moore said...

Assalm alykom Karima:

When I made the story, my children and I made Dua that the cat would come back. I left with that ending because this is how we were still hoping our real life story was going to end. Only recently we are certain that it is not going to end this we because we just moved 3 hours away from our previous home. However, my family has a different great ending to our cat problems. The day we moved into our new home there was two little kittens trying to dart into our house as we were bringing in all our new things. One is very colorful and the other is the same color as our old cat. Right away the kids wanted the colorful one. Sadly, one night on my way home I found it on the road hit by a car. The other kitten became more and more persistant to come into out home. My husband gave in and just said to bring him in the house. Well to end the story happily, this cat is even more loved than our first. He is so sweet and lovable that even my husband who does not like animals in the house, is loving this cat. While the story did not end the way we expected it. Our dua was answered according to the Best of Planners who is Allah. Thank you for your input. I think that letting the story with less happy ending is good too. Like you said it teaches us the reality of things. I think with my story it was just a matter of we were still hoping for the return.

Anonymous said...

Dear Um Nur,

I love your story as it has evolved. It almost made me cry!

Blessings & Health,
Karima