Painting Pictures with Words

Have you ever heard a grown-up say “it’s raining cats and dogs”? They do not mean cats and dogs are really falling from the sky. It is just a fun way of saying “it is raining very hard.” Every language has little sayings like this — sayings that paint a picture instead of saying something plainly.

The Qur’an has beautiful sayings like this too. And when you learn what they really mean, they are like tiny paintings made of words. Let us look at three of them.

“The Coolness of the Eyes”

In the Qur’an, when Allah wants to describe a deep, happy, peaceful joy, He sometimes uses a lovely picture: the coolness of the eyes.

To understand it, imagine living in a hot, dry desert. The sun is blazing. Everything is warm and tiring. Now imagine a cool breeze touching your face, and cool water for your eyes. Ahhh. That cool feeling is relief. It is comfort. It is happiness after a hard day.

So when the Qur’an says something brings “coolness to the eyes,” it means a joy that settles you and gives your heart rest. When Musa (Moses) was a tiny baby and his mother was afraid, Allah comforted her heart so her eyes could be “cool” — so she could feel calm and safe again.

And the Prophet ﷺ once said that the coolness of his eyes — his greatest comfort and joy — was placed in the prayer. Is that not beautiful? When we feel worried or tired, standing before Allah in prayer can be the cool, calm rest our hearts are looking for.

“Lower Your Wing”

Here is another gentle picture. When the Qur’an teaches us how to treat our parents, it says something amazing. It tells us to lower our wing to them.

Wing? We do not have wings! So what does it mean?

Think of a mother bird. When her little chicks are cold or frightened, she spreads her wing and lowers it softly over them, covering them, keeping them warm and safe. It is the gentlest, most caring thing a bird can do.

Allah is telling us: be like that with your parents. Lower your wing. Be soft with them. Be humble and kind, patient and gentle — especially when they are old and need your care. The Qur’an even teaches us a tiny, beautiful prayer for our parents: “My Lord, be merciful to them, just as they cared for me when I was small.”

So the next time your mum or dad asks you for something, remember the little bird lowering its wing. That picture is Allah teaching you how to love.

“Untie the Knot in My Tongue”

Our last picture is my favourite, because it is a prayer — and it was said by a prophet who felt nervous.

When Allah chose Musa for a huge and scary job — to go and speak to a cruel king — Musa felt worried. He did not always find it easy to speak. So he turned to Allah and made a beautiful du’a (that means a heartfelt prayer). He said, in the Qur’an’s words: “My Lord, open up my chest for me, make my task easy, and untie the knot from my tongue so that people will understand what I say.”

Untie the knot! Can you picture it? When we are nervous, it can feel like there is a tight knot holding back our words, and we cannot get them out. Musa asked Allah to gently untie that knot so he could speak clearly and bravely.

This is a prayer you can use too. If you ever feel shy — before speaking in class, or reading out loud, or telling someone something important — you can ask Allah just like Musa did: “My Lord, make it easy for me, and untie the knot in my tongue.” Allah loves it when we turn to Him with the very same words His prophets used.

Living in What Is, Not What If

There is one more gift hidden in Allah’s way of speaking, and it is about how we think.

Sometimes our minds get stuck in “what if.” What if this bad thing happens? What if that goes wrong? Round and round, worrying about things that have not even happened. The Qur’an gently pulls us out of that. It teaches us to live in “what is” — to deal calmly with what is really in front of us, and to trust Allah with the rest.

That is a peaceful way to live. Instead of drowning in worried “what ifs,” we do our best with today, and we leave tomorrow in the hands of the One who holds everything.

A Little Wonder

Do you see how much can be packed into just a few words? “Coolness of the eyes.” “Lower your wing.” “Untie the knot.” Each one is a tiny painting, and each painting teaches your heart something true.

This is part of what makes the Qur’an so special. Allah does not only tell us things — He shows them to us, in pictures we can feel. And the more closely we look, the more beauty we find.

“And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy, and say, ‘My Lord, have mercy upon them as they raised me when I was small.’” — Qur’an 17:24