Mufti Menk – When I Was Three Years Old

			Know, when I was little, my mom used
		

			to say that when I was 3 years
		

			old, I used to walk around the whole
		

			compound. My dad was imam in the masjid,
		

			and I was, mashallah, this I'm talking about
		

			the early seventies, the mid seventies, inshallah.
		

			Somebody here actually knew my date of birth,
		

			subhanallah.
		

			Now there's a there's a there's a boy
		

			here,
		

			and he just says,
		

			I was born on the same day as
		

			you. And he was right. Subhanallah. Masha Allah.
		

			Masha Allah. Well done.
		

			Inshallah, you'll be better than I am, you
		

			know. But
		

			my mother used to say,
		

			or my mother told me that when you
		

			were little, 3 years old, you used to
		

			go around walking the whole compound. Anyone you
		

			say, salaam alaikum, salaam alaikum, salaam. Until one
		

			of her friends came home to complain, your
		

			son,
		

			little boy walking all around the compound greeting,
		

			assalamu alaikum, assalamu alaikum, assalamu alaikum, assalamu alaikum,
		

			assalamu alaikum. He's forcing us to greet back
		

			and so on. My mother says, it's okay,
		

			tolerate him. Masha Allah.
		

			That was me.
		

			And I think to myself, I wonder why
		

			I used to do that. Probably was just
		

			impressed.
		

			Can you imagine a little boy walking around?
		

			So I I when I looked at that
		

			aunt, may Allah
		

			give a a good life, she's still alive.
		

			I wanted to tell
		

			her, instead of going to my mother and
		

			telling her, oh, so cute. You went to
		

			complain. Can you imagine? Allahu Akbar. I must
		

			have been quite a rough looking guy then,
		

			man.