Reflections of a traveller

Subhanallah time does fly so fast. It feels like just the other day I was at university and planning for my future. Now I am married and mother of two alhamdulillah. Insha-Allah in couple of months we will be blessed with another precious baby :-) Every year is different. There are so many things to learn. This year has been quite a difficult one but it also has taught me a lot about myself and the people around me. I feel sad that time is passing so rapidly. It just shows how quickly we are getting closer to our end. I am scared but also hopeful that Insha-Allah Allah (SWT) will have mercy on me and my families and relatives and friends. When I see people celebrating the coming of a new year, I do feel confused. How can we be so happy and celebrating while our time is getting shorter. Or may be most of us are totally unaware of our departure. May Allah (SWT) help us in understanding the truth about life and death and the eternal life ! I hope and pray that year 2011 will be a very b...

"Dear kids, There is no Santa. Those presents are from your parents. Love, Wikileaks" I spotted this status at one of my Facebook friend’s profle and it just made me smile. Because of Christmas , the children programmes on tv are predominantly geared around the Christmas themes i.e Father Christmass, Christmass tree, lights, garlands, holly etc. My children are very young and they may not really understand the programmes they are watching. But I do feel worried sometimes thinking what if these programmes leave a lasting impression on their mind. Insha-Allah I am waiting for them to grow a bit older so that I can start explainig to them what we as Muslims believe. I don’t really want them to stop watching tv as that will not really solve the problem. They are more likely to grow up in this society so eventually they will come across all the different norms and values. I believe whatever they are experiancing in their life is part of the learning process. I hope as parents...

As Christmas is approaching, we as Muslim parents need to remind ourselves the true facts about Lady Maryam (AS) who is widely known as Mary in Western world and her son Isa (AS) who is known as Jesus in this part of the world. If we want our children to grow up as confident Muslims, we need to pass onto them the true message of our faith, otherwise they will end up being confused by the Christian version. Alhamdulillah we have the Book of Allah (SWT) to refer back to. In the Qur’an, Allah (SWT) mentions with great admiration the family of Ibrahim (AS) and the family of Imran (AS). In Suran Al-Imran Allah (SWT) says, ‘Allah chose Adam, Noah, Abraham’s family and Imran’s family over all other people, in one line of descent – Allah hears and knows all.’ – (Quran Surah 3:33-34) As you can see Lady Maryam (AS) is descended from a noble family, the family of Imran. Her birth story is also a very inspiring one. Her mother is a great example of a God-fearing woman. She dedicated her preciou...

 When I first heard this song, I felt so moved. I have totally fallen in love with the beautiful lyrics. Although this song is meant for a wife, I thought this is exactly what I feel like for my husband alhamdulillah. Once upon a time, I used to think love is just an illusion especially seeing the way love is depicted in the media. Seeing friends falling in love and act so crazily used to make me really annoyed. I even started to believe there is nothing called love; it's just lust but people are too embarrassed to use this term so they just call it 'love'. But I knew as Muslims we are supposed to wait till we get married then we will eventually find love but I wasn’t really sure about it. As I was single, I just thought that's just not going to happen. But Alhamdulillah marriage has completely changed my doubts about love. In Islam, love is very important and it is truly celebrated through marriage.  A loveless marriage is not really a marriage. When Allah SWT t...

Alhamdulillah I had my first scan today. This was the anomaly scan which is done usually around the 20 weeks of pregnancy. I was quite excited but also worried thinking what if the baby is not healthy. But alhamdulillah baby is alright. As soon as I saw the baby I felt so glad looking at its tiny body and hearing the heartbeat alhamdulillah. The scan lasted for 15 minutes. The sonographer asked me at the end whether I have any question. I was tempted to ask the sex of the baby but thought I am glad that the baby is healthy so what more to ask, alhamdulillah. Moreover, my husband doesn’t want to know so I thought I will respect his wishes. I thought of finding it for myself and keep it a secret but my problem is I cannot keep a secret for a long time :-)  Anyways, I bought the scan photo to keep it in my baby journal. I have kept all the scan photos, hospital tags, etc of my children. I have tried to write as much as possible in details about the whole experience and of course the ...

I am so glad to let you know that Alhamdulillah I am pregnant with my third baby and hope to meet my newborn in April Insha-Allah. I am hoping to share my experience as a pregnant mother of two on a regular basis up to my due date insha-Allah. I hope my posts will help all the sisters out there who are interested to know more about this great journey Insha-Allah. Please share your views through the comments section insha-Allah. Alhamdulillah Allah (SWT) has blessed us with two children. Our son is 3 years old and our daughter is 20 months old. I am in my 20th weeks of pregnancy. Alhamdulillah up until now I haven’t really suffered many problems. I did go through usual morning sickness during first trimester a little though. Morning sickness is definitely a misleading name for this unpleasant side-effect of pregnancy. Around 80% of pregnant women suffer from nausea and not just in the mornings! Many women feel waves of nausea throughout the day and some feel sick all the time. Res...

On Tuesday is the Islamic New Year insha-Allah. It is the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar and the start of 1432 AH. The New Year date changes every year as the Islamic calendar is roughly 11 days shorter than the Gregorian (solar) calendar. The Islamic or Hijrah calendar is lunar-based, consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries (concurrently with the Gregorian calendar) and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days and festivals. The first year was the year the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions (RA) migrated from Makkah to Al-Madinah where He (SAW) set up the first Islamic state in 662 CE, known as the Hijra. Each numbered year is designated either H for Hijra or AH for the Latin anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra). Muslims in general don’t really celebrate the New Year but the 10th of Muharram (the day of Ashura) is very...

The excellence of knowledge: The virtue of Salaf over the Khalaf Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali Daar us-Sunnah Publishers Alhamdulillah I have loved reading this book. It is very important for us to know what sort of knowledge is beneficial for us as our life is too short to waste in gaining knowledge that is not going to benefit us in any way. What scares me more is the possibility that I may end up reading something which will affect my faith (creating doubts, confusion) and ruin my chance to gain closeness to Allah (SWT). There is a beautiful supplication at the start of the book which I hope can help us in gaining beneficial knowledge, insha-Allah. The prophet (SAW) said, “Allah! Benefit me by what You have taught me, teach me what will be of benefit to me and increase me in knowledge.” [Tirmidhi # 3393 and Ibn Majah # 3833] I just tried to quote from the book a bit so that you can have an idea about the book. It is a must have book for any library, mashallah. It’s not really a thick o...

Alhamdulillah the December/January issue of Mum and Muslim is out now! Alhamdulillah thanks to all our writers, this issue is full of excellent articles. The sacred month of Dhul Hijjah is going and the Muslim New Year is almost here. It is also Christmas and we have produced some useful articles on the issues that Muslims in the West face at this time of year, insha-Allah. I am so glad that M & M is getting popular. This was just a dream once upon a time (in fact, not that long ago!) and now after almost one year, Allah (SWT) has blessed us with six issues full of very informative and inspirational articles alhamdulillah! All credit goes to Allah (SWT) and our dedicated writers! In the beginning, it wasn’t that easy especially creating the site with all its categories and getting good contents. When you start something from nothing, it is quite challenging to feel motivated! Sometimes I did feel like quitting thinking this is a very difficult task given at the beginning not tha...