Seeds of change : Be the best of womankind Part 2

“Seeds of change: We need a dawah revolution” by sister Fatima Barkatulla

We as human beings are very special. Allah Subhana ta’ala bestowed us with nafs. Nafs( soul) comes from the word nafees which means precious. Every year hundreds and thousands of babies are killed. Their crime is they are girls. Abortions are done in brutal way to get rid of the babies. After the abortion, the mothers are told that the pregnancy has been removed successfully. These poor souls are not even given any identity. They are just unwanted pregnancies! This is the world without Islam, where one night stand is a norm, people want to enjoy without taking responsibility.

40 million prostitutes around the world, 80,000 prostitutes in the UK. These are all daughters of Adam (AS). They were precious once upon a time. This cruel, materialistic world made their lives miserable. So many women around us are suffering. They are lost. Who will tell them that there is a God who loves them and cares about them? Who will tell them there is a purpose? Who will tell them the truth, my dear sisters?

This world is like a labyrinth. Most of the people are lost and don’t have a clue how to get out. You as a Muslim are given the map. But you are not sharing your map. What does it tell about you?

Shariah came for preservation of human life, dignity, lineage, property, sacredness of human soul. Who will convey this message?

The most important blessing in our life is our faith. We are so blessed to be Muslims, Alhamdulillah. How can we not share this beautiful faith with everyone else? We must start a dawah revolution.

There are so many people in this world; we will love to have our problems. Our problems are noting in comparison with what most of the people have to go through.

So what is dawah revolution? Every single day of our life can be a dawah day. We can make our family a beacon of change in our community. We need to think about dawah potentials. As sisters, we are significant. The most powerful change can come from a mother, who raises her children as future scholars and leaders. We all can be soldiers of Allah Subhana Ta’ala.

Think about what talent you have. Use your tool. Think about what you can offer your Creator.

Sister Fatima’s talk was really amazing, very emotional for me. I make sincere dua that Allah Subhana Ta’ala make me and my precious family do our best to serve Him, ameen! I hope we all can become good dawees InshaAllah.

I have always been a big fan of sis Fatima Barkatullah. You can have a look at her blog: http://muslimmotherhood.blogspot.co.uk/

Just a bit more info about her: “Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Fatima has had a rich Islamic education at an early age thanks to her parents. Fatima began her Arabic and Islamic studies in Egypt at prominent institutes such as Al-Fajr Center, Qortoba Institute and Al Azhar University. Currently Fatima is an instructor and lecturer for iERA.”

The next talk was by brother Hamza Tzortzis titled PhDawah on Campus (4.05 pm)

By 4 I was quite exhausted so the quality of my notes are that good, I’m afraid L Brother Hamza talked about the importance of dawah and how we Muslim women can get involved inshAllah to be good dawees. At the start he talked about knowledge. According to him, there is nothing such as secular knowledge. For us, every knowledge comes from Allah Subhana Ta’ala. Our Rabb taught us bayaan (Surah Ar-Rahman) i.e the words/ languages. Islam teaches us to think, to ponder. There is a grand design. Everything is here for a purpose. MashAllah as sisters we are especially blessed by Allah Subhana ta’ala. Muslim sisters maintain their haya (modesty) through hijab. We muslimahs are free from social pressure. Thus we can have a profound effect inshaAllah. He addressed us all the attendees to feel glad and grateful that we were able to take part at the event. We are here because we wanted to be closer to our Rabb Alhamdulillah. He recommended us to do the Call of duty course to learn about how to give dawah effectively.

A bit more about the dawah course:

As we are an ipod generation, we can do so much dawah through internet and all the technologies available to us, inshAllah. He asked us to study the lives of our great companions of our beloved prophet ( Sallallahu Alaihe wa sallam). Without their efforts and tremendous sacrifice, we wouldn’t have known about Islam. No doubt, Islam is the biggest blessing in our life Alhamdulillah. What are we doing to convey the message? He talked about how powerful and well-organised the Christian missionaries are. Subhanallah we have the truth but where is our dedication, sisters? Just imagine the world where every single Muslim takes dawah seriously!

You can find more about his work at http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/

My vision for your role in Dawah by brother AbdurRaheem Green

Most of the session was geared to fund raising for iERA. MashaAllah lots of generous sisters have donated, Alhamdulillah. May Allah subhana ta’ala put lots of baraka in iERA projects, ameen! He reminded us the importance of giving sadaqa in Islam and inviting people to our faith. Allah subhana ta’ala doesn’t ask us to convert anyone, as the guidance is only from Him. But He told us to convey the message and give them dawah. Dawah needs to become a culture, a habit, an essential part of our being. You, especially as a mother, wife, daughter, sister-in-faith can do this important job. He mentioned that if we give , then charity (sadaqa) becomes a proof that we believe in Allah subhana ta’ala. When we spend in Allah’s way, He gives us more! He subhana ta’ala increases our wealth through charity , subhanallah.

You can give your sadaqa to iERA through their website at http://www.iera.org.uk/

But just helping them financially, should never make us feel like yes we have done our duty of giving dawah. We need to actively engage in propagating the message of Islam among our neighbours, families, relatives and people in general, inshaAllah.

Climbing the corporate ladder to jannah

Sister Rahma Abulatif talked about how the Muslim working women should present themselves at workplaces. She is a policy & performance team leader. She was saying how sometimes we tend to think we need to dress and behave in certain way to fit in office environment. Unfortunately quite a lot of Muslim working women end up compromising their hijab standards. We really need to think how we carry ourselves as Muslims. Do we really need to compromise. If we are very well-organised and professional, that should be enough to get promotions. We need to learn how we can make any conversation a dawah conversation insha-Allah.

Sister Yasmin Mogahed did couple of small talks throughout the day through video link. As I was at the ‘Mother & Baby’ room, I couldn't really hear the videos very clearly. The way they made the video, she looked like a giant! Lol! I always love her beautiful talks and articles.
Do have a look at her website: http://www.yasminmogahed.com/
She also has a FB group: http://www.facebook.com/YasminMogahed
Her YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/yasminmogahedonline

The last talk of the day was by brother Abu Hafsa AbulMalik Clare. MashAllah an amazing brother, mashAllah. I was just listening to his talk and really didn’t get the chance to take notes. The title of his talk was Womankind: The Ummah’s Engine. He addressed us sisters as “Impact players” mashAllah. During the talk he called his wife and daughter who were abroad. His family said salam to us all through the phone speaker J He is a very funny brother mashAllah. As some of you may know, he is blind. But his disability did not stop him from calling people to their Creator Allah Subhan ta’ala, mashAllah. He talked about the great ladies in Islamic history. Maryam (AS) the ultimate single mum subhanallah! She (AS) has raised an amazing son, one of the prominent prophets mashAllah, Eesa (AS) aka Jesus (AS). She was always there for him.

He talked about Musa (AS)‘s mum and how she made sacrifice for her son, subhanallah. He mentioned Khadija (RAW) ‘the engine of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam)’.

You can find more about him through his mashAllah very active FB page: http://www.facebook.com/AbuHafsahAbdulMalikClare

Abu Hafsa "Abdulmalik Clare" - Blind Hearts

Alhamdulillah I am really grateful to Allah subhana ta’ala for giving me the opportunity to be there for the whole day. At the end of the session, they gave us all a dawah box each. MashAllah it was very kind of them Alhamdulillah.

May Allah Subhana Ta’ala bless every single person who worked so hard to make this event a success, ameen! May Allah Subhana ta’ala give us all the tawfique (ability) and tayseer (easiness) to implement the lessons we have learnt at the event, ameen! Lot of sisters here in the UK and in abroad are not that lucky like us to have this sort of events. And that’s why I really wanted to share my notes feesabilillah. My apology for notes being not that well-written L After all you really cannot expect that much from a very busy mum of three kids all under 4.5 alhamdulillah J Jazakallah kahiarn for reading this post.

iERA Seeds of change: Be the best of womankind

The event took place on 20 th May 2012 at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London. As you can see it took me almost a month to do a blogpost :-( I made quite a lot of notes and I am still typing them up whenever I get time. InshAllah hope to share the notes by end of this month :-) Please do bare with me :-) InshAllah so much to learn and implement bi-idnillah!

Alhamdulillah I felt really glad to be able to attend the event with my baby Yusuf. My husband looked after the older two kids with the help of mum-in-law alhamdulillah as I was off from 8 to 8 pm! I was really impressed by the way the sisters and some brothers organised the event mashAllah.

MashAllah they were very professional. A couple of days before the event, they sent an email providing all the information needed for the day i.e. timing, nearest stations, travel planner link, weather on the day, hijab protocol, etc. A couple of sisters were at the front entrance to give us a warm welcome. We were provided with bags which included quite a self-explanatory booklet about the event and programme for the day. At the end of the booklet, there was a personal action plan which I thought was quite a good idea mashaAllah. There were writing pads and pencils on each chair at “Mother & baby" room. I am not sure about the main hall.

They also had some sisters standing at the various train stations that sisters were coming from. There were some sisters at the lifts to direct sisters to their designated places i.e. main conference hall, crèche, mother and baby room. They had a designated place for buggies. I know from experience how messy it can get when mothers just leave their buggies and bags everywhere and these causes problem for other guests. The ‘Mother & baby' room was organised quite efficiently, chairs in the middle of the room (the screen was in the middle too but as it was quite a big one, mothers who chose to sit on the floor at the sides were able to watch the live programme comfortably), at one side there was a place for buggies as well as some chairs at the back for mothers to breastfeed. On the other side, they provided milk warmer and toys, bouncer, blankets for babies. That's why I chose to sit their on the floor and let Yusuf play there. Alhamdulillah it was really relaxing environment for everyone. They had plenty of activity stuff at the crèche.

Allocating a special place for mothers was really good. Sometimes as mothers of young children we miss out the lectures. Even if a mother wants to stay there but if the baby is making noise, the mothers end up getting some funny looks from our naive sisters :-(. If event organisers can allocate a special corner for mothers in the main hall, then everyone can enjoy the conference insha-Allah and the mothers won’t feel as conscious of disturbing others.

The volunteers were always there, occasionally asking whether we need tea, coffee. It was sold at a reasonable price of £1:50. Given the location of the event, the price was definitely a good one. They even provided lunch, although it wasn't mentioned to us when we bought the ticket so that was a treat alhamdulillah.

The lunch was a bag with a chicken roll, a bag of crisps, a chocolate bar, tissue and a fork and a bottle of water. I think it was great not to give a rice-based meal as it does have the potential to make us feel sleepy given we were there from 9 to 8. As you know unfortunately we tend to criticize food and don't feel content with what has been offered, they put a great reminder on the screen during lunch time showing “The next time you can't decide which type of food to eat, remember there is a mother in Somalia who can't decide which child to feed." Abu Hafsah

I think that was a briliant idea mashaAllah.

In the lavatories, they provided us with plenty of towels and there were water containers at each toilet. Surprisingly toilet floors were not wet :-) which is highly unlikely with any Muslim events. They also left a reminder at the back of the loo door "Cleanliness is part of imaan" There was actually quite a lot of beautiful reminders (from the Quran and the sunnah) through out the halls and the corridors.

When it was break for salah, the presenter told the first two rows to leave first and subsequently every other row followed them. I think this way, you can avoid the risk of overcrowding and steady flow of the sisters toward the prayer room. I remember at Twins of Faith event at Excel last year, the prayer room entrance was ridiculously blocked as people were not following the directions given by the volunteers. Even the volunteers were a bit out of their depth :-( There was a HUGE area for prayers but unfortunately a lot of the people ended up praying in front of the shops and corridors :-(

iERA sisters also allocated a sister to lead us for zuhr and asar salah at the mother and baby room. There was also a big prayer room for everyone else.

Around 6 pm, they had a 'Dance & hug' session which was quite refreshing. I think it would have been great if it was done at the start as an ice-breaker :-) MashAllah young sisters are most of the time, happy and friendly but sometimes our older sisters, mothers, and aunts need a bit of a push to get into sisterly love ;-)

I have taken quite a lot of notes. Mashallah the speakers were awesome. Even the booklet given by them is really good. I love reading it. Let me share some extracts from the booklet:

“We, the women of the Ummah are truly blessed. We have been freed from the shackles and narrowness of being slaves of created things and have been blessed to be slaves of the Creator alone, who knows us and loves what is best for us.

Millions of people around us are lost in darkness, they are searching for peace of mind, for meaning, for the fulfilment that we have. We meet them every day, we eat with them, we study with them, we work with them. How sad then if we do not fulfil our duty and share with them the light that we have – the light of Islam?”

Fatima Barkatulla iERA Lecturer & Instructor

The bubbly host Nida ul Iman : “ Three years ago I attended a conference unenthused, now three years later I stand in front of you welcoming you to iERA’s first International Women’ conference – “ Seeds of change: Be the Best of womankind”. So ladies, get ready to plant some seeds in calling the world back to allah. If we don’t meet again I pray we all meet in Jannah where we can see the fruits of the seeds we planted, insha-Allah.”

I can just keep quoting from the booklet but I want to share some notes I have taken from the talks insh-Allah. Some of the talks really hit me mashAllah. One of them was by Umm Raiyaan “Being a Muslimah- The power within” She talked about life and how we should lead our lives to please our Creator. Life is a collection of memories. What are your memories sisters? As we travel through the memory lane, there are some painful memories that we don’t want to remember and there are some which we cherish so much. She talked about a sister who had several miscarriages and wasn’t able to conceive. Instead of giving her mental support, her in-laws were abusive towards her. She was heart-broken but she made a dua to Allah Subhana Ta’ala asking “O Allah! Let me live my life for You!” MashAllah she has been a Qur’an teacher and lots of sisters have learnt the Qur’an, the word of Allah subhana ta’ala from her. As you can see, the sister decided to live her life to serve Allah subhana ta’ala with whatever skills she had mashAllah. Sometimes we have plans such as getting degrees, nice jobs, getting married, having children but we really need to understand that Allah Subhana Ta’ala got a plan for us . He knows what is best for us. We as Muslimahs need to trust Him and listen to Him. We all have the potentials to do a lot but the question is will we do it?

Umm Raiyaan runs a support organisation for revert sisters. You can find more at http://www.solaceuk.org/

Another talk which really caught my attention was Mothers of the Ummah: architectures of future by sister Umm Umar.

The essence of her talk was about the importance of mothers as the builders of our ummah. Motherhood is a skill. Mother is the factory of making a good generation. Her job is to make good human being. We all want good leaders for our Ummah but have we really sowed the seeds? As a mother, you are actually the window through which your child sees the world. Mothers need to make positive change from the very start of their pregnancies. They must instil the love of Allah subhana ta’ala from the very beginning. Who is your child’s role model? How is your child going to know his/her role-model? Life is too short. Do we really even have time to read all the fake, fairy stories to them??? Sometimes as parents we think there is not enough resources for our children. If you cannot find good Islamic resources, you can make up your own stories based on the Qur’an and the sunnah.

Tarbiyyah of nafsiyyah: Your child must know that you love him/her very much. Keep reminding them but they also need to know you love Allah subhan ta’ala more than them. Allah subhana ta’ala loves us more than our parents.

Tarbiyyah of Ibadah: We parents are the trainers for our children. By 7 they should be ready for worship. She mentioned very briefly tarbiyyah of Ilmiyyah and aqaliyyah but I couldn’t really take notes L

A quick summery of her talk was:

1. You as a parent need to have a clear goal i.e. what do I want them to be.

2. I need to be a good example

3. Constant guard of their behaviour

4. Warning

5. Make them repeat what you are saying so that it becomes a second nature for them

6. Maintaining enthusiasm.

The talk was kind of rushed so she couldn’t really explain the last couple of points.

One true story she told was quite amazing mashAllah. Once a Muslim kid was asked who is his role model. While most of the other kids just mentioned Superman, Spiderman as their role models, this boy said Bilal (RAW) is his role model. After the school the teacher asked the boy’s mum who Bilal is. MashAllah as you all know he was one of the great companions of our beloved prophet Muhammad (SAW). He was especially famous for doing the adhaan (call to prayer) in Medina mosque. I make dua to my Rabb that my children take these great Muslims as their role-models InshAllah. The mother of this boy read the true stories of prophets (AS) and companions during bedtime. No wonder the boy knew and fall in love with these great men of Islam.

Our life is too short to tell our precious children the fake & fairy stories. Umm Umar said that if we give them rubbish, then no doubt rubbish is going to come out of them. We are what we read and think about! Subhanallah her talk was very powerful mashAllah. She also said that we don’t really have any excuse such as there are not enough books on Islam. Just read them from the Quran and the sunnah ( Hadith books). Make your own simple stories based on the stories in the Quran and the sunnah. I wish she was given at least half an hour more to elaborate the points she mentioned. (The final part is here)

Beautiful snow arrives in London!

I am so glad that it's snowing in London alhamdulillah. I love the amazing view! Everything seems so peaceful mashallah. The world seems all sugar-coated :-) This year it's extra special as we are blessed with three gorgeous children alhamdulillah. Imran (4) and Ayesha ( almost 3) are enjoying their time in the snow. Baby Yusuf ( 9 months) enjoys looking at his siblings and parents playing with snow. Insha-Allah hopefully next year he can join in the fun. As usual we made a snowman in the garden. Although our snowman is not really a very good-looking one, it is OUR handmade snowman alhamdulillah. Yobo is a Liverpool fan so I used his Liverpool scarf to give the snowman a funny look. Kids used their toy bucket and spade to make the snowman and some 'sand castle' with our help. Alhamdulillah we had a great time today. I am glad that we have just created some sweet memories to cherish Alhamdulillah.

Whenever it snows it reminds me of the song Let it snow, let it snow... Allah subhana ta'ala has blessed us with so much...Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen.

First Ten Days of Dhul-Hijjah.. more blessed than last ten days of Ramadan!

Assalamu alaikum my dear readers and fellow bloggers,

I haven't been blogging for more than a month now. My son has started nursery so I am quite busy with all the school run alhamdulillah. I have to get three of them fed and ready by 12:30 and get there by 1. I walk there , carrying my baby in a sling and my daughter in the push chair and my big boy walks with me alhamdulillah. Sometimes he does get a bit tired but I just keep reminding him that he is a strong boy mashallah :-) I return home by 1:15 or 1:20 and again at 3:15 I leave for the school. By 4 or 4:15 we are home. So Monday to Friday this has become a routine for us. Sometimes it does feels like a mission impossible especially when the weather is not that walk-friendly but I just try to keep reminding myself that Insha-Allah I will be getting reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for every second of struggle I am going through to raise our children Insha-Allah! So as you can see this is my (not so valid) 'excuse' for not blogging for all this time :-] I hope to start blogging  on a regular basis insha-Allah as I do miss blogging :-( For me blogging is very therapeutic alhamdulillah and it also gives me a great opportunity to do a journal of most of the sweet memories I am trying to create with my family and friends, alhamdulillah. I always remind myself that I am on a journey to my Lord and I won't be given this life again so I hope to do my best to lead a good life with lots and lots of wonderful memories INSHA-ALLAH.

Okay now to the main topic of this post Insha-Allah. The great days of Dhul Hijjah is here now. Actually today is the 5th day of Dhul Hijjah. Alhamdulillah I am so glad that I have been able to fast. Alhamdulillah thanks to British weather it is not that hard to keep fast :-) Maghrib is around 4:30 and we finish shehri by 5:10 and do our morning prayer. The days are so blessed that our scholars have recommended to fast and do lots of good deeds such as Hajj and Umrah, zikr (remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala), extra-prayers, animal sacrifice, charity, istigfar and so on. I was just listening to the talk by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi about the 10 days. It only takes 10 minutes to listen to the talk so please do tune in to know more about this blessed days insha-Allah. If you cannot fast all the 9 days then at least try to fast on the day of Arafa which is the 9th of Dhul hijjah. Here in the UK it's this Saturday 5th November insha-Allah. Please do try to do as much as possible. We don't know whether we will be given this chance again. Lots of my relatives and friends have left us this year. We just don't know when our time is going to come to go so we really need to wake up and do our best to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, insha-Allah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us and help us in using this days to our best of abilities to get closer to Him and gain His pleasure, ameen! Please keep us in your precious duas. Below I have added the talk by the shaykh and also some more useful talks by other shaykhs . May Allah subhanu wa ta'ala reward all of them for their efforts , mashallah, ameen.
First ten days of Dhul Hijjah by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

Another good talk by Shaykh Sajid Umar ( Al-Kauthar)

10 days of Dhul Hijjah by Sheikh Dr Haitham Al-Haddad

Five years Alhamdulillah :-)

Alhamdulillah five years ago, on this day I got married to my husband. It took me quite a long time to find him :-) I used to tell my friend at university and at work, that I may never get married and live for the rest of my life with 99 cats! I don't know where I got this idea from but I was indeed quite worried about my future. I have always been a big fan of children. For me the biggest fear was the prospect of being childless forever! I have seen quite a lot of brothers through family and friends. The more I was going through these meetings, I was getting frustrated thinking this is not really working for me and love is just a myth! Alhamdulillah going to hajj in 2006 has made me help put things into perspective. I started to think more seriously about the purpose of my life. I even wrote in my diary that marriage is not an ultimate goal for me anymore. Before that time, I used to think only through marriage I can become a better Muslimah as if no other option is left for me to serve my Creator. I came to know that marriage is a sunnah not a fard (obligatory). So I decided that I would just concentrate in getting closer to Allah swt.

Alhamdulillah going to hajj and staying there with my dad for a month has changed my life forever. Alhamdulillah it has been a great time for me to reflect and ponder about my future. I met some amazing people during that time. They all have inspired me and helped me to rethink about my life and all the expectations I had. When I came back, I was really missing my time in Makkah and Madinah. Life in London felt so spiritually bankrupt! I stopped working full time as a teacher and started part time work. I started seeking more knowledge of my faith through attending circles at my local mosque. I didn't actively look for a partner either. But through my dad I came to know about my husband. Alhamdulillah we have talked to each other at our place twice and we did do our istikhara ( prayer for guidance) couple of times. I wasn't really sure that this will work out for me so didn't really had that many hope. But alhamdulillah we both were okay with each other and decided to go forward! Alhamdulillah we are still very happy with each other.

 Alhamdulillah we do treat each other as best friends. But I do believe that  he is also my guardian . My faith has taught me that my husband is responsible for taking care of me and  my responsibility towards him is to listen to him. Insha-Allah through loving him and listening to him ( apart from anything which goes against our faith), I hope to please Allah (SWT). Being married for five years, I have learnt a lot about life and most importantly about myself. Sometimes we tend to get too much carried away with the whole wedding stuff but marriage should be the priority for all of us especially the future husband and the wife! Now after five years of marriage I truly understand how difficult but at the same time how significant married life is! Now I can at least understand why marriage is regarded as the half of our faith (deen). Being a mother of three kids all under the age of 4 also taught me so much about myself. I do have my days where everything seems so hard . But also I have my days where I feel so delighted watching my children growing up alhamdulillah. Sometimes it just seems to be a dream to me. Allah swt has blessed me with so much! Alhamdulillah All Praise Belongs To Him and Only Him! I hope to be grateful to Him by spending every moment of my life thanking Him and obeying His commands, INSHA-ALLAH! May Allah swt keep us happy and blessed forever! Everything is from Allah swt . La hawla wa la quwwata illah billah... we cannot do anything good without His Help and we cannot save ourselves from anything bad without His Help. God is the Great Allahu Akbar!
"My Rabb! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your Favour which You have bestowed upon me and my parents and that I may do righteous good deeds such as please You and make my offspring good. Truly I have turned to You in repentance and truly I am one of the Muslims. " [Qur'an Al-Ahqah:15]

Ramadan journal

Alhamdulillah Ramadan started on Monday 1st of August. Today is the 3rd day of fasting. Alhamdulillah it's going well. I was worried that I may find fasting very hard as I am also breastfeeding my three months old baby. Apart from feeling a bit exhausted and thirsty, I am doing fine alhamdulillah. It just reminds me that Allah swt makes everything easy for us . I am trying to read one juz of the Qur'an ( around 20 pages) every day. I did do this last Ramadan as well but this year I am planning to read the tafseer too, insha-Allah. I still do come online everyday due to my magazine work but don't spend a lot of time online anymore, especially on Facebook :-) Alhamdulillah. Yesterday I went to the local sisters' halaqa, alhamdulilah as usual the talk was full of wisdom. Insha-Allah will blog about it soon insha-Allah. I am listening to talks on-line and trying to learn more about the deen insha-Allah. Through the Ramadan journal I would love to share whatever I am learning, alhamdulillah.

I have been listening to basics of Fasting by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, mashallah. Alhamdulillah I always learn something new from his talk. 1. The crescent moon is not really an Islamic symbol. It was never used during prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihe wa sallam. Islam as a faith does not have a symbol. 2. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihe wa sallam did get married in Ramadan. I haven't seen anyone getting married in Ramadan. 3. When someone is suffering from diseases like diabetes and are needed to have medication on a regular basis, they should not fast as our body has a right on us. Fasting may cause harm so for people in sickness fasting can be even haram (prohibited) subhanallah!

Excessive Love of Food and Drink - By Abdullah Hakim Quick 
Mashallah some amazing facts about our body and the benefit of fasting.

May Allah swt help us to do our best in this precious month, ameen, ameen, ameen.

Al-Noor Summer event

Alhamdulillah it was our 5th Al-Noor event. Mashallah once again they have done a great job. It was great to attend the event. There was a bit of shower but overall we really enjoyed our time alhmadulillah. Every year we as a family look forward to the event. May Allah swt reward the organisers, ameen.

Brothet Jawad was there mashallah. I'm so looking forward to his Ramdan tv programmes insha-Allah!

 Yummy food court :-)

7/7/2005

That was my first day of work as a sociology teacher . I was really excited. The headteacher introduced me to a very lovely sister who helped me to familiarise myself with the school and the girls I was suppose to teach. Her name was Farzana. She was happily married and mother of three beautiful children. On that day when the bombing happened, all the buses were suspended. I was quite scared thinking how on earth I am gonna go home! As a hijabi I felt quite unsafe to step out of the school. People were already guessing the culprits must be Muslim but unfortunately they were not wrong :-( I still don't understand how those guys thought that they were going to do a great job by murdering innocent people. They believed that nobody is innocent. Apparently most of us voted for Tony Blair's government so we have to pay the price. What a ridiculous argument! When Muslims don't really study and understand their faith, this sort of disastrous concept can cloud their mind and as a result we end up with some messed up Muslims who through their stupid action do more harm than good for the ummah. That day no doubt was a sad day for all of us but for me that day will always bring some special memories of my friend and sister in deen Farzana. She showed me all the stuff I needed for teaching. She introduced all her colleagues and students to me. I thought she must be a popular teacher mashallah. During all the hustle and bustle she was feeding her 2 years old daughter. She was so nice to me that she dropped me near my house on that day. I felt really grateful to her for helping me so much given we just met on that day. Needless to say, our friendship was getting stronger day by day. We used to discuss about all sorts of issue affecting the Muslims. I enjoyed talking to her as unlike most of the girls, we didn't really talk about make up and dresses and so on.

Sadly she was diagnosed with cancer in Ramadan.We lost her in March of 2008. I still remember the last time I talked to her on phone. Her brother donated her bone marrow and we all thought she was recovering from the cancer. She sounded very fragile but she was as usual very strong. She told me she was all right. I felt very happy thinking she is healing but just after couple of days I received the news of her death. Inna lillahe wa inna ilaiher rajeuun ... Certainly we belong to our Lord Allah swt and we will return to Him!

Last Sunday I went to her grave in Garden of Peace. My 3 and a half years old son Imran was with me. He looked a bit confused. I told him my friend is sleeping here. I felt so sad thinking about her. She was only 35. Her children were all under 10 around that time. Her children must be missing her so much. I miss her. Looking at the graves there I was thinking I can end up here very soon. Have I prepared myself for this home? Soon or later I am going to my grave. I am so scared just thinking about it as I feel I am not ready yet. May Allah swt grant my dear sister jannatul ferdous. May Allah swt bless her children and make them the best of Muslims. May Allah swt forgive us and help us to become better Muslims, Ameen.

Allah SWT is the best of planners!

On Monday around midnight my contractions started. I got quite excited, and started noting down the time of each contraction. I did my Isha salah and felt like it might be my last one so did as much duas as possible. I started breathing deeply through each contraction. By 2 o'clock I was quite sure this is definitely contraction and told my husband to wake up. I was too excited getting all the towels, plastic sheet, baby clothes etc out. I called my friend to come over just in case we need to rush to the hospital. My children (3 & 2 years) were sleeping quite peacefully so we didn't want to disturb them. By fajr time I was still in pain but not sign of show or water breaking! I felt quite disappointed but kept using my birth ball and read duas and deep breathing. DH didn't want to go to work but I told him it may take some time before I am in established labour so there is no point missing work. I sent my friend back and told her I will call if I need her. Around 9 in the morning my mum called to tell me she is on her way to my place with my youngest sister. My dad dropped them off before going to work. I didn't want them to worry so I didn't tell them I was having contractions. But by 11 the pain was quite bad so I went to have a warm bath. It did relax me a lot alhamdulillah. However when the contractions were coming back every 10 minutes it was really painful, no matter how warm the water was, I was feeling every bit of it! I called my midwife and asked her whether I should go to the hospital. She said to come when the contractions are five minutes apart. It just sounded so stupid. She said not to come as my ones were 10 minutes apart! I went to the bath again just to ease my pain. At 11:30 my water broke! As soon as the water broke, I felt huge pressure around the cervix. I just couldn’t lie down anymore. I called the ambulance, alhamdulillah had my mobile with me :-) the 999 lady said not to cross my legs and move from the bath. I told my mum to put the plastic sheets and the towels on my bedroom floor and move my children downstairs and don't come to my room. The 999 lady was asking me to get somebody there to help me deliver the baby but I just didn't want my mum or my friend to be there seeing me delivering my baby! Alhamdulillah I managed to get dressed and run to the bedroom. Got my mobile on speaker and followed the instructions given by the 999 lady. Her name is Abbey. May Allah swt bless you Abbey! :-)

I felt the top of the head at 11:35 and tried to press softly upward to avoid tearing as it gives time for the cervix to stretch. My baby's head felt quite big that's why I didn't want to lie down. The lady was asking me to lie down on my back but I was confident that squatting is the best position for me to give birth. I saw my baby's head coming out in the cupboard mirror in front of me. That was the ‘transition’ moment for me! The pain was really excruciating, I screamed really loud as I felt like I am going to explode!!! Within seconds my baby's head and then body was out. Then I sat down and held him close to my chest, alhamdulillah the cord was not around the neck and I used the towels to clean him! The 999 lady said now I can just wait for the paramedics to arrive and do the rest. My baby cried as soon as he was out and that was a big relief. So at 11:40 my baby was born Alhamdulillah. I was shaking but I was feeling so relieved as well thinking it's over now! I had a real natural birth alhamdulillah. My prayers were answered! I delivered my placenta naturally as well as I declined having any injection to speed up the process. I cut the cord as well. The midwives arrived in half an hour to do the rest and alhamdulillah I was also able to start breastfeeding just right after birth. I still can't believe what a birth experience I had subhanallah! I have been reading a lot about natural birth, homebirth, unassisted birth, hypno-birth, birth within techniques, etc. I did believe lot of the concepts but wasn't sure whether I would be able to implement the lessons. I kept making dua to Allah swt as I really wanted a very natural birth. I hated my hospital birth and wanted to avoid it at any cost. The second birth was also at home but the paramedics delivered my daughter for me. It was exactly two years ago. Alhamdulillah this time Allah swt made it possible for me to deliver again at home quite safely. I am also very lucky to have a very supportive partner who trusts me and respects my wishes. I am so glad to have my baby at home. Homebirth is the best Alhamdulillah! I am truly a believer now! Insha-Allah I will do reviews of all the books I have been reading through out my pregnancy as well as all the great sites, blogs, youtube videos I have been watching to learn about natural birth. I also would like to thank all my readers and friends for their prayers and best wishes. I am very lucky to have wonderful people like you in my life alhamdulillah! Jazakallah khairan :-)

Children's book: Ten Friendly Fish

Debbie Tarbett
(Illustrator)
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Little Tiger Press (1 Mar 2008)
Language English

My children (3 and 2 years) love this book and it is often presented to me to read in the evenings. Because the fish are 3D, they can touch them and play with them while I read the story. It helps them learning to count as well as learning about different sea creatures. Insha-Allah, we are going to get a couple more of the Debbie Tarbett books for them. They had this book for about a year and still love it and keep coming back for more. All in all a very enjoyable and educational read for 2-3 year olds. The 10 fish are solid and raised and one disappears with each page turn. The only problem is the pop page at the end is not as sturdy as rest of the book and you have to be careful with it if you don’t want it to be torn after few uses. Our one is already damaged a bit. But overall it’s a good book to have.

Children's book: Toddle Waddle

Julia Donaldson (Author), Nick Sharratt (Illustrator)

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books (1 Jan 2010)

Language English

There's a hullabaloo at the seaside when a toddler takes his friends on a stroll to the end of the pier.

With jaunty rhymes and bright, bold pictures even the youngest child will love this simple, playful story.

About the Author and illustrator:

Julia Donaldson is today's most popular picture book author and a multi award-winner. Her books include the modern classic THE GRUFFALO, THE PRINCESS AND THE

Nick Sharratt is the prize-winning illustrator of many books for children of all ages.

My children absolutely adore this book. I don’t know how many times I have read this book to them. Almost every night this is one of the books they bring to me to read for their bedtime. My son is 3 years old and my daughter is 2 years old. Both of them have already started guessing some words from the book even before I read it loud. They really love the bright and bold pictures. They enjoy spotting all the detail in the brightly coloured illustrations. In my opinion, this book is really good for children and great for helping their early phonic awareness of rhyme.