Small but Powerful: Elephant's Makeover
Rukhsana Khan’s book, Elephant’s Makeover, is all about making friends, bullying, and accepting the way you were created! Elephant makes an unlikely friend in this story: Ant!
Ironically, in the wilderness of the African Savanna, the situation is reversed. Ants are the bullies! They bite elephants who try to eat off their trees.
Elephants learn from a young age never to touch a tree branch with ants on it. The ants swarm up into the elephant’s trunk and bite the tender skin inside. Elephants grow up afraid of ants and the ants protect the trees of the Savanna from the elephant’s rough way of eating, sometimes so rough that a smaller tree gets torn down.
In this way, young trees are protected until they are better established. It’s amazing that a creature so small can scare off the world’s largest land mammal. SubhanAllah.
Another story where small creatures carry a lot of power is in Surat Al-Fil, The Elephant. The ruler of Yemen called Abraha Al-Ashram had built a church that he hoped would compete with the Ka’aba in popularity. But no one visited his place of worship, and in his anger he set out to destroy the Ka’aba.
He brought with him a huge elephant called Mahmoud and when they got close to the Ka’aba, Mahmoud refused to walk towards it.
Allah sent bird carrying stones. These birds dropped the stones on Abraha Al-Ashram’s army and they were destroyed.
Something small like a bird, doesn't seem all that powerful, does it? But those birds were able to destroy an army, by the will of Allah. Just like those ants on the African Savanna, Allah gave them that power over huge elephants.
Sometimes we feel too small, or perhaps not pretty enough, or not smart enough. Remember, anything is possible with Allah’s help. Do your best and trust Allah with the rest.
In Elephant’s Makeover, Elephant realized she was beautiful just the way she was. We also know that Allah made us, and He made us in the best shape. Sometimes we are so fixated on the things that aren’t what we hoped, that we don’t see the other blessings Allah gave us. Look around, we all have so many gifts. Let us remember what Allah gave us and be grateful. Alhamdullilah.
Elephant’s Makeover is a great conversation starter on how Allah created us in the best shape. Get your copy here!
