Why Didn't You Scold That Boy?

I was sitting behind Ibrahim Hadi on his motorcycle as we were riding down a street. Suddenly, another motorcycle drove speedily out of a road onto the main road right in front of us. Ibrahim had to brake so hard that he nearly fell off. The youth who was on the motorcycle that cut us off had a thug-like appearance and shouted: "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

He then stopped and looked at us angrily. Everybody knew he was the one at fault, and I really wanted Ibrahim, who had an imposing physique, to get off and teach him a lesson. Instead, he smiled at the youth's rude behaviour and replied," Salam, how're you?"

The angry motorcyclist was not expecting such a response so he paused for a moment and then said,' Alaykum Salam, sorry, forgive me'.  And went on his way.

On the way, Ibrahim started answering all of the questions I had in my mind.

"Did you see what happened? With one salaam, he calmed down. If I had started to shout and fight instead, nothing would have been gained except for stress and breaking morals".