My Cinderalla Story : the hat

By Nur

Bismillah

Recently I was on vacation with my family and we were traveling by ferry from Istanbul, Turkey to Princess Island, also located in Turkey.

On this Island only horse driven carriages and bicycles are ridden, I saw no cars except for one small car-like cart. After we arrived at the Island, we waited in a long and tedious line up to be able to take a horse carriage ride.

After almost an hour of waiting we arrived closer and closer to the horse carriage, and the smell of horses filled the air. I had with me my beloved hat, which I bought in Istanbul before we embarked upon the ferry, and it was so dear to me, not only was it shading me in the scorching sun, but it was from Turkey! And at that time one of my only souvenirs.

At last my 2 sisters, mother and I embarked upon the horse carriage. We hoped on with joy and began our journey through the beautiful and delightful princess Island. In all my excitement, I put on my souvenir hat and with a smile on my face I reached in my bag to grab my i-pod in order to snap some photos.

You would think that I could be a little smarter and not wear a hat on top of my hijab while ridding a horse carriage where the wind is moving in my direction (not to mention the hat being a tad bit loose), sadly the inevitable happened and whoooosh flew away my hat behind me falling to the ground. I turned around as the horse carriage continued galloping along the street and I saw my lovely hat lying there on the street.

How careless could I be!

We began telling the horse carriage driver to STOP but he barely knew a word of English other than a word or two, I even started blabbering out the word “Qaf” which means stop in Arabic. My siblings were laughing at me while my mother was telling me to tell the people it was my hat while on the carriage.

Sadly the driver of the horse carriage just kept galloping along, I envisioned myself jumping off the carriage and getting my hat, but that did not look too pretty. However I did see an older Turkish man pick up my hat, we waved to him, indicating it was my hat. That man did not have a vehicle to chase me down. But he gave the hat to another younger man who was riding a bicycle on the Island; the younger man grabbed the hat and began riding his bicycle after us as we road away in the carriage. I waved back at him, trying to show that it was my hat. He peddled and peddled, and I was hopeful he could make it, but the carriage just would not stop!

The younger man finally put my hat on his head while he was pedaling, and at this point I thought – wait a minute is he stealing my hat! After a few minutes, he was gone and nowhere in site. My sisters and mother were saying that I probably was not going to get it; my mother said he was probably just randomly renting a bicycle here. Plus we were far away from him now; he was nowhere even in site!

I was sad, but I had in my mind one thing: Allah is able to do anything, He can decree that my hat be brought back, and it’s not impossible for Allah subhanahu watalaa. I even made dua to Allah subhanahu watalaa that I have my hat back.

After some time, I turned around and in the distant and the same younger man riding the bicycle appeared, WITH MY HAT ON – he did not give up!

SubhanAllah, you see! Don’t ever loose hope in the mercy of Allah. As this man appeared he came closer and closer to the carriage, and obviously the carriage driver still did not stop (he had no idea what was going on), the bicycle came closer and closer and finally he appeared next to our carriage with a huge smile on his face. He also, barely knew a word of English, so he just said "Hello" and said some things in Turkish, and handed my hat as he was riding beside the carriage. I was filled with joy, and said Thank you and JazakaAllah; I sure hope he understood that.

He went ahead of our carriage and rode away, and my hat was saved. As we went along the road we saw him sitting on the side of the street resting from his tiring adventure.

And you know when I received my hat back; I hoped that Allah would reward him for doing such a kind deed. That was one thing I noticed about people in Turkey – their lovely hospitality and kind demeanor. I mean if it were you, would you drive all that way just to return somebody’s hat that you did not even know? Never under estimate even a small deed, for that can be the deed which will take you to Jannah.

I'd love to hear your views on this topic. Please post in the comments section below! :)

Posted in: Allah,istanbul,Jannah,Mercy,Nur,princess island,the hat,Travel. lifestyle,turkey