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.
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.
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]
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]
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:
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 :-)
