بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Yasir was gazing at the bright round white moon in the night sky of the month of Muharram in his summer vacations. The round shape of the moon has always fascinated him since his childhood. The moon would remind him of the playful days with his grandfather, in his courtyard. Yasir was lean and tall, polite and an introvert child. He was the third child of his parents with two elder brothers and a younger sister. His younger sister was hardly a year younger to him. Therefore, Yassir was not a child who gained much attention in his family right from his birth, the meager attention he received in his infancy was later taken away by the birth of his sister. That did not turn Yassir remorseful, for he enjoyed his solitude especially during the full moon nights.
Yassir would wonder at the miracle of the moon’s shape. The round circular shape would make him ponder over the perfect creation of Allah. He would think even the best art teacher would fail to draw such a perfect huge circle. Surely it is Allah (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) who has the power to make this happen. The thought of Allah’s power and might would make a fourteen year old, Yassir, lost in his thoughts for hours.
It was the call of his mother for dinner, that would remind him that he has to leave the courtyard and get back to complete his school assignment.
One day during dinner, he questioned why did Allah (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) create the moon. As usual, his father had the answer to most of Yassir’s questions. Father reminded Yassir that one Surah of the Qur’an is named after the moon, Surah Qamar. Further he told him that Allah (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) has told in the Qur’an that the moon is created by Allah (عَزَّوَجَلَّ)to help us to calculate the number of days in a month. Therefore, the Islamic months begin with the sighting of the moon. Yassir was astonished to hear that the Prophet Muhaamad ﷺ was given a miracle of splitting the moon into two halves as a proof to the people that he was a true prophet. Yassir in his excitement asked his father whether the Quran mentions that human beings will live on the moon. Father smiled and answered him, “Yassir I do not know about living on the moon, but Allah (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) has said that on Day Of Judgement- the qiyamat, the moon and the sun will bang against each other and evil be destroyed.”
After knowing so much about the moon, Yassir had gathered enough information to think while admiring the moon every evening, after maghrib, in his courtyard. The moon inspired Yassir to study the sky and space and he decided to become an astronomy after he grows up.
New Word Meanings:
gazing : looking at something
fascinated : excited
infancy : a childhood less than 2 years old
splitting : break
