Brownie Points

Recently we visited a saints tomb during festival time. The beach was crowded with pilgrims and visitors. A group of us (mostly women) strolled past a tent where women were cooking.

"Ah, you like couscous? Here!"
A lady brought out a huge round metal basin filled with couscous. The pan was at least 1 meter (3 feet) across. We all sat down on the sand and began to eat with our right hands. There was a dozen of us.

Two women wrapped in melhefs (colorful sari sheets) walked by slowly. She was interested in us foreigners. Since she was staring (a bit rude), we invited her to join us. She did.

The wind started picking up and soon we were eating sand with our couscous. We wiped our fingers as the lady who served us returned to fetch the pan.

Afterwards, we asked our hosts, "Why did that lady serve us couscous for free?"

"Ah, for ajr (religious merit). She saw that you were foreigners visiting the saint's tomb during the festival and any good deed is especially rewarded by allah."

We call it, "brownie points" to get into heaven.