ONE of the jokes people talk about these days is about a street vendor selling kebabs. A man approached him and bought all of his kebab sandwiches and asked him to distribute them to the poor. The man then asked the vendor to give him a sandwich to taste. To his surprise, it contained falafel and not kebab as the vendor claimed. "I paid you for kebab and not falafel," the man said angrily. "Do not worry! It all depends on your intention. If your intention is to distribute kebab sandwiches to the poor, then Allah Almighty will reward you as if you have really distributed kebab sandwiches. It is about the intention," the vendor explained. I remembered this joke when I saw some cleaners at a prestigious university spraying the grass at the entrance with a green color to make the grass and foliage look green in order to impress visitors. The spray they used had a strong choking smell and was similar to paint. Obviously, public health is not as important as ensuring that the entrance is pretty for visitors. After all, the intention of university officials was to make the grass look green and ensure that visitors were happy. They, therefore, think that they will be rewarded because of their intention. I read a statement by a Jeddah Municipality official who responded to a piece of news that criticized the municipality for removing flowers and roses from the entrance of the town of Thuwal, located 80 kilometers north of Jeddah, following a visit by the Emir of Makkah. The official said that the flowers and roses had been planted for a special event that had taken place and that it was natural to remove them now that the event was over. My question to this official and all municipality officials is: Do people not deserve to see flowers and roses when they enter that town?
