Everyone understands the language of love

The following is a story shared by a person I know, who does not want his name to be shared:

“It was close to Maghrib and I was exhausted. I don’t exactly remember the reason for it; probably the weather was hot during the day and I was dehydrated, or I didn’t have a proper sehri before Fajr. But the fact is I was tired. Sitting at a distance from the glorious Ka’aba and closer to the stairs leading to the upper part, I turned my gaze towards the clock tower to get an idea of how long it was till iftar. There was still around an hour left. The volunteers and residents of Makkah Mukarrama were busy serving the guests at this moment. I did not have anything to eat or drink with me yet apart from a couple of dates.

My gaze then caught a brother distributing orange juice to the fellow Muslims. I quickly left my bag at the place where I was sitting so that no one else would take that space and got up to collect the juice from the brother. Now the brother was actually distributing the juice to the people who were a couple of rows ahead of me. Whereas otherwise I would have just stayed at my place and waited for the person, today was not that day. I was too tired to watch the juice being served to others while it finished. There was not much left so I feared that if I stayed at my place, I wouldn’t get any! And while I was heading towards the person distributing the juice, a brother from one of the rows ahead of me got irritated and angered because of this action of mine. He signaled to me with his hands and asked me to go back and wait for the person to come to my row. Now he was speaking Arabic and I hardly understand it. But I understood from his actions that he wanted me to go back to my place and wait. He, too, didn’t understand my language but the issue was he completely misread by sign language as well!

I did not have a disposable glass with me either. And thus I had to take the glass as well from the juice distributor as he had them with him. Thus when I was on my way and this other brother who stopped me, I asked him if I could get one for him as well. Since he did not understand my language I pointed to the empty glass in front of him and then towards the guy giving the juice and then returned my finger towards his place signaling I could take his glass, get it filled with juice and bring it back towards him. He angrily shook his head, took his glass and that of his neighbor, got up from his place and left. I was appalled. I couldn’t understand why he got angry and was not able to comprehend the situation for a few seconds. He soon returned with both glasses filled with Zamzam water; he gave one to his neighbor and put one in front of him, asking me to go. His neighbor had already warned me when the guy left to get zamzam that neither does he understand you nor do you understand. He was so right. Now I understood what happened. He thought I was asking for the glass for myself so that I could get juice for myself!

I was not my usual self that day strangely. I would have reacted differently in a similar situation some other day, but that day was different. I would have gotten angry some other day but that day Allah (S.W.T) blessed me with patience and tolerance. I just wanted to make sure he understood what I actually meant and wanted to make him feel better and apologize, although I never meant to hurt or offend him. So I again turned towards the person with the juice and got a glass from him. Now in my haste to get the juice for my brother I lost my footing and mistakenly stepped on another brother sitting right beside me. I turned towards him and he was furious and told me to watch my step. I apologized to him and asked him to forgive me but clearly he wasn’t pleased. He pointed towards the sky with a frown on his face probably meaning that Allah (S.W.T) will deal with me. I knew this didn’t work. But then I turned back towards the guy distributing the juice and got the glass filled from him. I then went towards the guy who had gotten angry with me the first time and gave him the juice. He was extremely surprised and delighted. He thanked me for it and apologized for not understanding what I had been trying to tell him. Clearly he was now pleased and asked me to forgive him. But I had not gotten angry with him in the first place and I told him it was perfectly fine.

I, then turned again towards the guy giving the juice. I got a glass filled from him and gave it to the guy whom I stepped on. I then sat down and started pressing his foot just as a gesture to let him know I was sorry and that I wanted him to forgive him. He, along with 2 of his friends on either side of him started laughing and enjoyed this whole scenario a lot. He said it was perfectly fine and with a huge smile on his face thanked me for the juice. He and his friends continued laughing over the incident and enjoying it even when I was leaving. I was satisfied and I thanked Allah (S.W.T) for helping me out.

Finally I got the glass of juice for myself and got back to my place, eagerly waiting for the time of iftar to come! I realized that day that everyone understands the language of love. But also sometimes because of barriers to communication one does not understand exactly what the other person is trying to say causing anger and discontent. But getting over your ego and going that extra mile (or a few steps in this case!) goes a long way to making situations better. I hope Allah (S.W.T) rewards me for this small act and helps me act in a similar manner at other places and times in my life as well.”