An old man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky withhis young son. Each morning he was up early sitting at the kitchen tablereading his Quraan.

His son wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in everyway he could. One day the son asked, "Papa, I try to read the Quraanjust like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forgetas soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quraan do?"The father quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied,"Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket ofwater."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out beforehe got back to the house. The father laughed and said, "You'll haveto move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river withthe basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again thebasket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told hisfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he wentto get a bucket instead.

The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket ofwater. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door towatch the boy try again.At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to showhis father that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leakout before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when hereached his father the basket was again empty.Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!""So you think it is useless?"
The old man said, "Look at the basket.
"The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different.It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean,inside and out.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the Quraan.

You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will bechanged, inside and out.
That is the work of Allah in our lives."