A special Eid gift

I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw Tahir dragging a huge suitcase into the sitting room. The fact that he looked to the left and to the right as if to see if anyone was watching got me suddenly curious.
From my vantage point at the bedroom window, I could see everything in the parlour without being seen. Then the front door opened again and this time Ibrahim, his life-long friend, came in. To my amazement, he too was carry two nylon bags containing something that looked heavy.
‘Well done,’ Tahir said to him, reaching out to collect one of the nylon bags from Ibrahim. ‘Let’s count and be sure we have the correct number before we get them packaged.’ He added.
‘Alright’ Ibrahim replied, sitting on the carpet. At this point I couldn’t contain my curiosity any further so I quickly rushed from my room and joined them in the sitting room.
‘Assalamu alaikum, welcome home.’ I said, as soon as I reached them.
‘And what do we have here?’ I asked directing my gaze at the suitcase and the nylon bags.
‘Oh just a little project we want to do ourselves.’ He answered.
‘You mean it’s such a top-secret project you two can’t entrust it to anyone else?’ I enquired. ‘Don’t worry, if it’s about one of you buying bridal gifts so he can seek a new wife, go right ahead. We will get to know about it soon enough, such a secret can’t remain a secret for long.’ I taunted.
‘Oh women’, Ibrahim said, speaking for the first time. ‘You always think we have no agenda but plotting to take new wives. Can’t you give us credit for being a little more humanitarian than that?’ he joked.
‘You men? Humanitarian? No, even when you claim to be pursuing a humanitarian agenda, there is sometimes a hidden motive to it.’ I replied, smiling at him.
‘Well this is truly a humanitarian venture. And from what your husband told me, you inspired him to it. Tell her more about Tahir.’ Ibrahim urged.
‘Well, we decided to take the advice you gave your friend Asabe, during last year’s Ramadan because he had an experience similar to hers recently. We were together at the mosque last week and because he was some rows ahead of me, I planned to talk to him when the prayer was over. But by the time we said the salam, Ibrahim rushed out of the mosque in such haste I had to move quickly to talk to him. But when I caught up with him, he told me he wasn’t rushing to go somewhere but was indeed chased out of the mosque by a smelly prayer companion. He said if he stayed next to the man any longer he might end up throwing up because the man’s body odour was unbearable. I told him I had been through that countless times and that the last time I suffered such ordeal, I sat next to a man whose breath was like he hadn’t used toothbrush or chewing stick for weeks.’ Tahir explained.
‘Well, after Tahir’s consoling words, I wondered aloud what we can do about such people. His own theory was that they are too poor to afford soap and toothpaste, so they mingle with people the way they are, causing so much discomfort. But mine is that some people are just careless by nature because they sometimes look well-dressed, it’s the simple matter of using deoderants that is their problem. So we brain-stormed on what to do about such people before they succeed in chasing others away from the congregational prayer. That was when Tahir remembered the solution you proffered to your friend when she complained about a smelly companion during tafsir last year. He thought the best thing was to buy soaps, deodorants and toothpastes and give them free at the mosque. But I said the first thing should be for us to ask the imam to give us a few minutes of lecture each day for three days, extolling the virtues of keeping clean and smelling nice. I said we should ask him to specifically quote those hadith in which Rasulillah SAW emphasized the importance of taking a bath at least once in three days and where he encouraged the use of perfume and the miswak (chewing stick) at least twice a day. So the next day, we approached the imam and he gladly welcomed the idea and even added that he will start that very evening. In between Magrib and isha he gave the first lecture. The following day he did another after Subhi prayer and lastly he gave one after Asr yesterday. That was why we decided to strike today while the impact of the lectures is still fresh.’ Ibrahim concluded.
‘What do you mean by strike while the lectures are fresh?’ I asked.
‘He means that this stuff you see here is our humanitarian intervention towards having cleaner and fresher congregational prayers. In the suitcase are the deodorants and perfumes and in the nylon bags we have the toothpastes, tooth brushes and miswaks. We bought 200 of each piece. And here we have some small gift bags where we will be putting one of each item till each little bag has a deodorant, a perfume, a toothpaste, a toothbrush and a miswak. Our plan is to take it to the mosque and share to each person in attendance today. Those who don’t need them will obviously turn down the gift and whatever remains we will leave with the imam, for those who might hear about the gifts and come to ask later.’ Tahir explained.
‘But this is a great idea. I hope it helps those who really need it.
The only thing you seem to forget is that water shortage also contributes to the inability of some people to observe regular personal hygiene. If we can get our authorities to prioritise water supply then your mosque effort might yield fruit faster than you think.’ I observed.
‘Yes, you are right Bint. We do have to make efforts to get the water board people to increase water supply to all areas, generally, or otherwise raise funds to build and donate boreholes to some communities.’ Tahir concurred.
‘This project is getting bigger than we think.’ Ibrahim observed thoughtfully. ‘But whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well and getting mosque goers to smell fresh is a task worth doing anyday.
However we will take this first step today and make it look like a special Eid gift to the congregation since we are in the eid-il-kabir season.’ Ibrahim stated.
‘Yes, though in truth it is a step towards helping folks like you, whose stomach can turn over at the slightest upset.’ Tahir replied, teasing him.