Trip to Regents Park masjid (mosque)

Alhamdulillah this Friday I went to Regents Park masjid to meet my friend Aisha. We talked about my Arabic study. I am really glad to know that I am actually doing good alhamdulillah. Her remarks made my day, alhamdulillah! I think learning a language is difficult but with determination and the support of friends and family, the path to learning gets easier. InshAllah from next week, we will study the Qur'an with the tafseer (explanations). I really don't want to master Arabic grammar for the sake of grammar itself. I find grammar quite dry. I do feel that now a days, when I read Qur'an, it's more about finding out what sort of sentence a sentence is, finding subjects, objects, predicates, participles etc. I really want to concentrate on the spiritual aspects of the Qur'an. At the end of the day, I want to understand the Qur'an to boost my imaan and connect to my Creator, Allah subhana wa ta'ala. I also want to teach my children the Qur'an myself. I am hoping this Ramadan will be an amazing Ramadan for me, given I am learning the Qur'anic Arabic, bi'idnillah.

I bought couple of books from the bookshop at the mosque. For myself, I bought Tafsir Al-Qurtubi: Classical commentary of the Holy Qur'an Volume 1 Translated by Aisha Bewley. It got 787 pages so quite a mammoth task for me to complete. The book covers the tafseer of Surah al-Baqara! This surah is the biggest surah (chapter) of Qur'an. I really love the way every verse has been explained. I hope I will benefit a lot from this book, bi'idnillah. It cost me £40 but I think the price is nothing in comparison to what I will be learning from this huge book, bi'idnillah. I will be sharing the gems through my blog inshAllah. Please do share your comments if you have read the book.

I bought some books for my kids as they have been demanding prophets stories for a long time. As I am a lazy mum, I just do the stories from my head during bedtime. But they really want to learn more. Imran is 5 now and Ayesha is 4 and both of them are quite avid listeners mashAllah. So to quench their thirst, I bought some books on stories of the prophets. InshAllah I hope to talk about them in future posts.

We had lunch at the masjid canteen. We had palau rice, kebabs and spinach cooked with potatoes. I had spinach with chicken before but never had it with potatoes. It was yummy. I will give a try soon inshAllah.
Aisha had to leave so I went to the basement to pray zuhr. I met one of the very special aunt from hajj time. I went to hajj in January 2006 with my dad. Alhamdulillah I met the aunt there. She is originally from India. She was quite old but she used to help others a lot. We had hundred and six people in our hajj group. Usually around lunch and dinner time, we the young ones from the group, would help serving the food. But aunt used to help us too, mashAllah. I was so glad to see her. MashAllah she is an inspiration. I hope if I am alive when I am old, I can be like her, always in service of others, bi'idnillah.

Alhamdulillah, there was another very generous lady in the masjid, who gave Yusuf a love toy car as a gift. I feel really touched when I receive a gift from a complete stranger. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward her for her generosity, ameen! She was busy reciting the Qur'an. I am glad that Yusuf (2) had a good time. I want to take my children to the masjid on a regular basis. I want them to love going to masjid.

Unfortunately our trips to the masjids haven't been all that rosy. Sometimes we get some aunts, especially recruited by the mosque authorities (So that parents can think twice before bringing their kids again to the mosque) , who keep complaining about the children ( for children behaving as children!) and staring at their poor (already quite stressed-out) mothers. Sometimes, I get really annoyed and frustrated. Most of the masjids don't really have any facilities for the children. No wonder, most of the kids don't really look forward to go to the mosque. InshAllah when I become a millionaire, I want to open a very family-friendly mosque just like the mosque of our beloved prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. We talk about raising our kids as good Muslims, but if we don't provide them with proper  environment, how on earth we can achieve this goal! May Allah subhana wa ta'ala give us the ability to understand His deen and follow His Guidance with sincerity, ameen!

I found this site New Muslim Kids while searching for an image of children and masjid. MashAllah they have some lovely collection of images to colour in. Do have a look inshAllah . My children will like colouring them, inshAllah.

Changing myself bi'idnillah

Bismillah, In the Name of Allah Subhana Wa ta'ala

Assalamu alaikum my dear readers, 

Jumuah Mubarak! Hope we all will be able to have a very productive Friday today. InshAllah I am going to Regents Park mosque with my youngest one to meet up with my very special friend Aisha. As you may know, I have started learning Quranic Arabic last year (November) through Arabicgems. Alhamdulillah I believe, I know more about Arabic grammar. Learnt some new words too, alhamdulillah. But I am still struggling with the exams. I am actually really bad when it comes to exams, I must admit. I love learning but I hate exams. Alhamdulillah our wonderful teacher/ ustadha has been very kind to me. She told me I should keep on learning and don't stress too much over the horrible marks :-(

Alhamdulillah my friend Aisha has offered her help to teach me Arabic inshAllah. She studied Arabic in Syria. Some of my friends who have learnt Arabic through Arabic in Middle eastern countries have told me that I must learn Arabic without the English grammar terms as it confuses the student and makes it too difficult to grasp the concepts. I am really looking forward to our meeting today, inshAllah. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make this journey to learn Arabic ( to understand His Book & implement the lessons in my life, to please Him, only Him) easy and full of baraka (blessings) for me, ameen! May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward my friend for her amazing support mashAllah. She is one in a million mashallah. I always feel very inspired by her. May Allah keep her blessed forever, ameeen! If you would like to benefit from her awesome writing, then visit her blog inshAllah. Like me, you will become an avid follower of her blog :-) 

Last couple of weeks have been very hectic and emotional for me. I feel like I am not doing enough hence not really achieving enough. I really need to change myself for better. My fear is what if I die without even trying to please Allah subhana wa ta'ala I always say to myself that I will be a better muslimah, a better wife, better mum, better daughter, better sister, better daughter-in-law, better writer and editor, better friend and the list goes on. But am I doing enough to reach my goal? Sometimes I feel really empty, I can't even describe in words how miserable I feel. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make me a better muslimah and give me the ability to do the best to earn His Ridwaan (Pleasure), ameeeen! 

I have been listening to some talks on changing ourselves so that I can learn from our beloved sheikhs and ustadhs. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala reward them for their great efforts to serve the ummah, ameen! I hope I can follow the suggestions, bi'idnillah.

I hope by next year, I can say that I have become a better Muslimah, bi'idnillah. Nothing is impossible with Allah subhana wa ta'ala's help. I love Allah and I know He will never abandon me, ALHAMDULILLAH.

Making the changes - Sheikh Omar Suleiman

Making the changes - Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan

The story of the baker and Imam Ahmed is mind-blowing, subhanallah. This one story is enough for us to spend more time in zikr, remembrance of Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

Ramadan is coming inshAllah!

Two months to go till Ramadan inshAllah! 
Allahumma barik lana fi Rajab wa Sha’ban wa ballighna Ramadan.
“O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan.” [Narrated by at-Tabarani and Ahmad]

Jumuah (Friday) reminder: Repentance, Reliance and Gratitude

Allah subhana wa ta'ala said (about what Nuh Alaihis Salam said to his people): 

"Ask forgiveness of your Lord; Verily He is Oft-Forgiving; He will send rain to you in abundance;and give you increase in wealth and children. and bestow on you gardens and bestow on you rivers." [Qur'an 71:10-12]

"If you were to put your trust in Allah, the way that Allah deserves, then you would be provided 

for as the birds are; they leave (in search of food) at the beginning of the day famished, and 

they  return at the end of the day full." (tirmidhi)


"And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you are thankful, I will give you more 

(of My blessings), but if you are thankless, then verily, My Punishment is indeed 

severe." [Qur'an 14:7]

Great reminder for Muslim mums

Jumuah (Friday) reminder

Assalamu alaikum my precious readers and fellow bloggers,
Jumuah Mubarak!
Alhamdulillah Allah subhana wa ta'ala has blessed us with another Friday. This is a great opportunity to reconnect with His book to please Him.
Reciting and reflecting upon Suran Kahf is highly recommended during Friday for Muslims. I remember when I first recited the surah , it took me one and a half hour to complete the recitation. I thought it is going to be a very daunting task for me to recite the surah every Friday! But alhamdulillah I carried on and I must tell you, trust me, if we try and our intention is pure ( just to please Him) Allah subhana wa ta'ala makes it very easy for us. He is indeed very Gentle and Kind to us. Now a days, it takes me almost 45 minutes reciting the whole surah, given kids are not in need of my attention :-) alhamdulillah. When you start reciting the Qur'an, first make as much intention as possible, so that you can get more ajr (reward) bi'idnillah. For example, intentions can be to please Allah subhana wa ta'ala, following the sunnah of our beloved Rasulullah  Sallallahu Alahi Wa Sallam, being a role-model for our children ( if they get into a habit of seeing us reciting the Qur'an on a regular basis, they will hopefully pick up the habit, in future, bi'idnillah), getting baraka, practicing our tajweed, memorizing the ayat and list goes on and on...
Having said that, I think it's very important for us to also read the meaning and if possible, the explanation of the surah too. Because the whole point of reciting the Book is to reflect and to implement the lessons in our daily life, bi'idnillah. If you are not able to read the meaning and the explanation, then listen to talks based on surah Kahf. Do we really have any valid excuse not to understand the Qur'an, given all the excellent resources available to us, thanks to the internet ? 

Even if we are struggling to recite the surah Kahf, we can listen to some wonderful videos to help us get into recitation mode, bi'idnillah. Try listening to Sheikh Mishary Al-afasy's recitation of Suran Kahf.  It's very beautiful mashAllah. I like the way, his tone changes according to the verse he is reciting. 

For understanding the surah , listen to the great video below:

Surah Kahf Better than a 3D movie by Sheikh Aslam AbuIsmaeel

MashAllah a beautiful explanation. Most of us are kind of obsessed with movies. The way he compares the story of the surah with modern day movies is brilliant. And listening to this talk, you will be able to relate to the surah. I also love Sheikh Aslam's accent :-) 

I hope you all have a lovely and very productive Jumuah today. Please keep us in your precious duas. Jumuah Mubarak :-)

Angels by your side & good news of Paradise

"And those who disbelieved will [then] say, "Our Lord, show us those who misled us of the jinn and men [so] we may put them under our feet that they will be among the lowest."41:29

"Indeed, those who have said, "Our Lord is Allah " and then remained on a right course - the angels will descend upon them, [saying], "Do not fear and do not grieve but receive good tidings of Paradise, which you were promised." We [angels] were your allies in worldly life and [are so] in the Hereafter. And you will have therein whatever your souls desire, and you will have therein whatever you request [or wish].

As accommodation from a [Lord who is] Forgiving and Merciful." 41:30-32

Explanation of these verses by Ustadh nouman Ali khan 

Are You Abandoning the Quran?

Explanation of ayah 27 to 30  of Surah Al-Furqan done by Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan.
"And the Day the wrongdoer will bite on his hands [in regret] he will say, "Oh, I wish I had taken with the Messenger a way.
Oh, woe to me! I wish I had not taken that one as a friend.
He led me away from the remembrance after it had come to me. And ever is Satan, to man, a deserter."
And the Messenger has said, "O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur'an as [a thing] abandoned." Surah Al-Furqan 25: 27-30

Learning Qur'anic Arabic

Bismillah... In the name of the Most Merciful

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen. All praise to Allah subhana wa ta’ala, this week I am going to start an online course to learn Qur’anic Arabic inshAllah. I am really looking forward to the course. I have always wanted to learn Arabic so that I can really appreciate the Qur'an but the courses were not really suitable for me. Being a busy mother of three children ranging from 20 months to 5 years,  also makes it quite hard to attend any course. But Alhamdulillah when we intend something good, Allah subhana wa ta’ala makes it easy for us to fulfil our dreams.  I hope I can really learn a lot inshAllah from the course.  I hope this Ramadan I will be able to understand at least some bits of the Qur’an without the English translation.  MashAllah the teacher seems really good. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala reward her for starting the course. You can find more about course at Arabic Gems.

InshAllah we will be following Professor Alan Jones’s Arabic through the Qur’an. Aside from being the very latest Arabic grammar written by an academic, one of the special features of the book is its exclusive use in its vocabulary of Qur’anic rather than modern Arabic. I am not that interested to learn the modern Arabic. Learning the Qur'anic Arabic is my priority inshAllah.

I hope to blog on a regular basis to keep a journal of my progress bi’idnillah and also share my experience with you all inshAllah. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala bless each student on the course with tawfique (ability) and tayseer (easiness) to learn the Qur’anic Arabic, ameen!

Brother Nouman Ali Khan's story night ( final part)

I have already written the first part so this is the final part. I hope we all can benefit from the notes, bi'idnillah. Apologies for the delay. Please do keep me and my family in your precious duas. For this part, I have used Mohsin Khan's translation of the Qur'an.

 

Musa (AS) realised that he made a mistake (hitting the man) and immediately asked Allah subhana wa ta'ala to forgive him. And he moved on which teaches us that we should never let our past rule our present and future.

Brother Nouman mentioned one of the names of Allah Subhana ta'ala 'Rakib' which roughly means that He is looking after us, taking care of us. We are like dumb sheep, almost jumping out of the cliff and He is holding all of us with the back of our necks! Subhanallah!

Now the 'juicy part' of the story :-) One of the generals of Pharaoh was a Muslim and a very close friend of Musa (AS). When the news of Musa (AS) killing the man, reached the generals, they had a meeting and decided to kill Musa (AS) on the spot, without giving him any chance to get to the palace and explain the incident. As Musa (AS) was growing up at Pharaoh’s palace, the generals were worried that Musa (AS) may be forgiven for the mistake. They really hated Musa (AS) and wanted him killed as soon as possible. His friend told him to get out of the city to save his life.

At this point, Musa (AS) makes another beautiful dua:

So he escaped from there , looking about in a state of fear. He said, "My Lord! Save me from the people who are Zalimuun (plytheists and wrong-doers)." And when he went towards (the land of) Madyan, he said, "It may be that my Lord guides me to the Right Way." [The Qur'an 28:21-22] 

You can notice that Musa (AS) is always connected to Allah subhana wa ta'ala by making sincere duas to Him. The most important thing a mother can teach her child is dua, sincere supplication to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Dua is the essence of worship. It's also the weapon of believers. I personally can’t agree more. I have always been a ‘dua fan’ and subhanallah duas are so powerful! Nothing is possible without duas.

And when he arrived at the water (the well) of Madyan, he found there a group of men watering their flocks and besides them he found two women who were keeping back their flocks. He said: “What is the matter with you?" They said: "We cannot water our flocks until the shepherds take their flocks. And our father is an old shaikh." [The Qur'an 28:23]

When Musa (AS) saw the two women wrestling with their animals who wanted to drink water, he didn't understand why they were preventing their animal from drinking water. He was a very straight forward guy unlike most of the men of this time. Without changing his tone to 'impress' the women, he just said "What is wrong with you?" Here notice the answer by the women. They were righteous women. They didn't want to give water to their animal while some men were there with their animals. They were waiting. They also said that their father is a shaikh (Wa Abuuna shayhkun kabiruun). Shaykh can have couple of meanings, here is this context, it means old and of high status. So the two women mentioning this mean, we are from a good and respectable family. These women were working women. We can learn what haya really means from their behaviour. There is nothing wrong in interaction between men and women but we really need to behave in a respectful manner. Their father Shu'aib (AS) was a prophet. And to the people of Madyan, We sent their brother Shu'aib. He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other Ilaah (God) but Him." [The Qur'an 7:85]

So Musa (AS) watered their animal, then turned back to shade and said, "My Lord! Truly, I am in need of whatever good that You bestow upon me!" [The Qur'an 28:24]

After helping them, here again he is asking Allah subhana wa ta'ala to help him. And Allah subhana wa ta'ala as always answers his dua...

There came to him one of the two woman, walking shyly. She said: "Verily, my father calls you that he may reward you for having watered our flocks for us." So when he came to him and narrated the story, he said, “Fear you not. You have escaped from the people who are Zaalimun (polytheists, disbelievers and wrong-doers).” [The Qur'an 28:25]

Meeting Shu'aib (AS) was like a job interview for Musa (AS) but he didn't hide anything and told him everything.

Here brother Nouman talked about the concept of 'takalluf' which is an Urdu term roughly meaning help from others. Culturally in Indian sub-continent we have this belief that we should not accept peoples' offer to help us in any way as it's against our dignity. Brother Nouman argued that this is actually not an Islamic trait. When someone is offering us any service we should accept is as a favour from Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

 

We can see in the story that Musa (AS) has committed a big sin and he needed to move on. He immediately asked Allah subhana wa ta'ala to forgive him and was keen to do good deeds. He was looking for any opportunity to please Allah Subahana wa ta'ala. That's why he says, "My Lord! Truly, I am in need of whatever good that You bestow upon me!"

This just shows that we should develop a desperate attitude to do good deeds. It can be helping others in any form possible.

Another interesting thing we can notice in this story is the relationship between the daughters and the father. After knowing about Musa's kindness, Shu'aib (AS) sent one of the daughters to get Musa AS to come to talk to him. As she was going on her own, she approached him shyly. How much confidence a father must have to send his daughter on her own to ask a man to come to visit him! More interestingly, while the father and Musa (AS) talking to each other, one of the daughters calls him and says, " O my father! Hire him! Verily, the best of men for you to hire is the strong, the trustworthy." [The Qur'an 28:26]

What a close relationship between daughters and the parent! Here Shu'aib (AS) shows his confidence in his daughter's judgement and he offers Musa (AS) one of his daughter as a wife and also asks him to stay with them at least for 8 years or if he wants for 10 years.

He said: “I intend to wed one of these two daughters of mine to you, on condition that you serve me for eight years; but if you complete ten years, it will be a favour from you. But I intend not to place you under a difficulty. If Allah wills, you will find me one of the righteous." He [Musa] said: "That is settled between me and you: whichever of two terms I fulfil, there will be no injustice to me and Allah is Surety over what we say."[The Qur'an 28:27-28]

Here, the father after consulting the daughter understood that the daughter was impressed by Musa AS's righteousness. She didn't need to say more than that to convince her father. Also, we can see how the father and the potential son-in-law are negotiating with each other. This is a guideline for all of us. The father who is the wali (guardian) of the bride does all the negotiation, on behalf of his daughter, with the potential son-in-law. Culturally we are so accustomed with groom's parents or elders doing the negotiation with the father of the bride. Sometimes, the groom is the last person to know what mahar has been decided or all the conditions of the marriage! We also have an issue with some men, not being man enough to approach the father of the potential bride to ask for her hand. There are guys out there who claim that they like someone and would like to get married but they don't even have the courage to tell their own parents! Then how on earth they can talk to the potential father-in-law! We are living at a time where getting married is an overly complicated process. The guidelines of Islam are very simple and straight forward. We really need to do our research and make the whole process easy and viable for our youth.

MashAllah brother Nouman said quite a lot about this issue. I cannot really do justice to his amazing talk. So please do excuse me for not being able to express it properly in writing L

He also talked about some similarities between Surah Kasas and Surah Yusuf. In Surah Yusuf, Allah subhana wa ta’ala says that the story of Yusuf (AS) is one of the best stories of the Qur’an ( Ahsanul Kasas) In Surah Kasas, as we can see it’s Musa (AS)’s story. There is a connection between these two surahs. As we know, Yusuf (AS) spent most of his adult life in Egypt where Musa (AS) was originated from. Both stories talk about relationship between parents and children, great lessons for all the parents. Surah Yusuf deals with a father-focused story while Surah Kasas deals with a mother-focused story. Even some of the terms used by the parents are exactly the same. We cannot really appreciate the identical words and their use if we are not well-versed in Qur’anic Arabic. The qualities of the both prophets are also very similar: Allah subhana wa ta’ala mentions that both of them are blessed with wisdom (hikma) and knowledge (‘ilm). They both were men of Ihsaan. The moment Allah subhana wa ta’ala said that they were muhsinuun (did good deeds) their trial started.

There are so many similarities between the surahs. They are connected to each other. Unfortunately we don’t really talk about these amazing facts. The Qur’an is such a miraculous book but we don’t really study the Book and appreciate it. He said there is a big difference between understanding the Qur’an and appreciating the Qur’an. The more we explore it, the more we will be amazed. It will definitely blow our minds, subhanllah! And this is exactly why, he told us, he did the story night. WE REALLY NEED TO STUDY AND APPRECIATE THE QUR’AN.

At the end, he talked about his projects especially the Bayyinah tv. InshAllah I hope to write about his vision and what he will be doing for next couple of years in another post. In the meantime, please do try to subscribe to Bayyinah tv inshAllah. Trust me, you won't regret, bi'idnillah. May Allah Subhana wa ta'ala reward him for his great efforts, ameen!