The Father, The Son and The Donkey

Once there was a father and his son walking through a town and with them they had a donkey. So on seeing this, the townsfold exclaimed: "Look at these foolish people! They have a donkey yet they do not ride it."

So the son mounted the donkey whilst the father walked by his side.

Upon passing another town the townsmen said; "How disrespectful is the son, he mounts whilst his father strolls along."

So the son dismounted to make way for the father.

Those standing on the street corners of the next town said; "What an oppressor the father is, he mounts whilst his son walks!"

Hearing this, the father and son both sat astride the beast and do you know what the inhabitants of the next village said? They said, "Do these people have no consideration for the donkey? They are burdening him with the weight of two!" So the father and the son had only one last option, which was to carry the donkey! The villagers of the next village jeered at them and said, "How foolish! They have a conveyance yet they become its conveyance!"

In the end, the father and the son became soo frustrated that they threw the donkey into a well! (Note: This site does not encourage throwing donkeys into wells)

(Taken from the book: The World of Teens Book 1, Written by Moulana Muhammad Yahya ibn Faruq)

The moral of this story is that don't always think about what your friends or collegues will say, especially the brothers who start to make a change in their lives. We notice nowadays that times have changed, friends no longer call towards the good and forbid the evil but instead people laugh and mock at the good their mate do and encourage evil. This also provides an obstacle for the people who do wish to make a change in their lives because in the back of their mind they will always have these thoughts that such and such doesn't like me wearing a juba because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the group, so instead lemme just wear a topi instead and settle for the minimum. The thing is, is that some people will never be happy with what you do and sometimes the best thing to do is to leave them to themselves.
One last point to note is that my dear brothers and sisters whenever we carry out any actions or good deeds, like wearing a juba or topi to college and for sisters whenever any of you start wearing the jilbab and headscarf, don't worry about what the people will say or think about you, but instead focus on actually doing the deed properly with sincerity and for gaining the pleasure of Allah. Like my beloved Shaykh mentioned in his talk, "If people call you a millionaire, will that make you a millionaire? If not, then similarly, if people call you silly or stupid for doing some good deeds that doesn't make you silly or stupid? no it doesn't, but instead these remarks should be thought of as just "hollow" and should not be taken heed of."

May Allah give us steadfastness in practising the deen of Islam and in following the Sunnah of Rasoolullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Ameen.