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By FATIMA KHAN, Staff Writer
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“I can’t wait till the Suns are in town, man!” Hamid said to Tahir as they sat down in the school cafeteria, which was bustling with students. “I wanna get courtside tickets.”
“And how are you gonna score courtside tickets? Did you just find a pot of gold?” Tahir replied sarcastically. “Which reminds me, how did you get those Nikes? I’ve only seen them for a hundred bucks everywhere!” he exclaimed before taking his turkey sandwich out of the brown paper bag and chomping down on it.
Hamid finished swallowing the spaghetti in his mouth. “Nah, man. No pot of gold for me. I just got a good discount on these!”
“The five finger discount?” Tahir laughed as he looked at Hamid.
Hamid rolled his eyes. “No. For your information, I got these online. They were 80 bucks, but my sister had a 50-percent off coupon and a $10-off coupon, so they came out to 30 bucks. I just got a good deal, that’s all,” Hamid explained as he turned his attention back to his spaghetti.
Tahir’s mouth dropped open in shock. “$30? For those unbelievable shoes? Man! How do you always get these amazing deals?” Tahir shook his head in amazement.
Later that day, Hamid invited Tahir over to play “NBA Live” on his PlayStation 2.
“What’s this?” Tahir asked as he picked up a blue ceramic jar on Hamid’s desk.
Hamid glanced up at Tahir as he hooked up the gaming system. He didn’t say anything.
Tahir opened the jar to find coins filled to the brim, as well as some bills. “Whoa! Is this your pot of gold?”
“It’s nothing, really,” Hamid said, trying to change the subject. “Let’s play. It’s all hooked up.”
“Come on, man! I know you’ve been trying to get good seats to the Laker game against the Suns! You’re collecting money for that?” Tahir wasn’t going to let up.
“No,” Hamid said, starting to blush.
“Then what’s all this moolah for, man?”
Hamid sighed, looking down. “It’s charity. There’s a family that just moved here from Africa. The mosque has been collecting money for them because they don’t have any food stamps yet. I just thought I would help a little.”
“A little?? Man, this is a whole lot of money! How do you give away so much money and still have enough for yourself?”
Hamid shrugged, “I don’t know. I guess it’s like the Prophet (PBUH) said, ‘Charity doesn’t decrease wealth.’ Every time I give money away, it comes back some other way. I either get an unexpected present from somewhere, or I get a really good deal on something I needed to buy.”
“Whatever you say, man.” Tahir was skeptical, but Hamid’s words were in the back of his mind as they played “NBA Live” against each other.
Two days later, Hamid couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.
“What’s going on, man?” Tahir asked as they stood outside Mr. Robertson’s science class waiting for the bell to ring.
Hamid couldn’t stop smiling. “Guess what I won?”
“Don’t mess, man! Wipe the grin off your face! You didn’t!”
“I did! That competition on the radio that I called in for, I won! We’re going to the game, baby! Courtside tickets!”
Hamid gave Tahir a high five as they jumped up and down in excitement.
Tahir shook his head in disbelief. How was it that Hamid always got all these good deals? That’s when Tahir remembered Hamid’s secret charity jar. Giving that money away really didn’t decrease Hamid’s money; it just made his money go a longer way.
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