Muslim Playgroup Activities

Mashaallah, i had a guest early this week, a lovely young australian revert with her 2 sons, a 4 year old, and a 14 months old. This post is especially dedicated to her. i was so amazed by her zeal to raise up her boys in the islamic way...
despite being brought up in australia, in a nonmuslim family, and being in the religion for just 7 years, she understood and realized the importance of raising up her kids the islamic way.. and is soo motivated to do it herself.. the right way
not many of us, the born-muslim mothers can really appreciate and comprehend..
thats one of the things that i like about being with reverts,
soo iman-rejuvenating.. you know what i mean?!
her level of concern is up to the level of changing non-muslim names in childrens storybook to muslim names...like bill to bilal! mashaallah! may Allah reward her and give her the strength to have istiqamah! Ameen! it is said that, when you make doa for another person, the angels will make that same doa for you.. what is my doa compared to that of the angels! may Allah make all of us istiqamah in providing our children with the best islamic environment and make them the means of our entrance to jannah.. Ameen!

am not planning to make this post a long winded one, so to cut it short, this sister, decided to homeschool her son and conduct a playgroup of her own, inshaallah.. so here i wanna share some of the activities i did with the kids in my playgroup, not long ago..

In my 2012 playgroup, i decided to choose a theme for each session ie a prophet a session.
so in the first session i told a story about:

Prophet Adam A.S. and an art related to it.. the hand-foot print fruit tree:

Prophet Salih A.S. and the egg carton camel..

Prophet Yunus A.S. and the paper plate fish:

Prophet Musa A.S. and the snake staff (you can get the template for the paper snake on this link:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mspiralsnake.htm :

 Prophet Sulaiman A.S and the egg carton butterfly (i know egg carton ants would be more related but since i have done that before, so i chose butterfly this time):

Surah Al-Fiil and the paper plate elephant mask (you can get the templates from this link: http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mplate-elephant.htm) :

in a special session, i invited a friend with her rabbits. she presented her rabbits and relate it to the greatness of Allah...:

 the template for the wooly paper plate rabbit can be found at this link: 
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhalfplate-rabbit.htm

I usually start of the playgroup with some games:

1. floor puzzle
2. passing parcel (in the prophet sulaiman AS session, the kids were asked to make different animal sounds based on the animal on the cards that theytook from the parcel)
3. giant pictorial floor dominoes for kids by TINKERS
4. guessing game (this is my favourite; try to get their mums to draw on the  white board and the kids guess what it is)
5. coloring 

Then, when everyones present, we start the art and craft.
While waiting for the paints to dry, we have a snack-time.. the sunnah way..
everyone is required to bring their snacks, preferably fruits, put them all on a big tray and eat together. on the sufrah (mat) beginning and ending with doa...

Then finally, STORYTIME!

This was the most challenging part for me, but the most fun part too!
It was more challenging than the normal playgroup cause i was telling stories of the prophets..
and if you look through the range of books on the stories of the prophet, you would find that most of the time, the languange and pictures are not toddler-friendly at all...
so i decided to draw on the white board, as i tell the story myself..
make it more interactive for the kids..
let the kids hold the marker once in a while.. they just love it!
Dont forget the Quiz time at the end! You'd be amazed at how these kids can really absorb your story!

Thats it! just 2 hours a week.. really a great way to get together with the other muslim ladies, especially when you're living far away from relatives and in a place like Australia.
If you're thinking of starting one in your area, make intention to do it for the sake of Allah..
inshaallah Allah will make it easy and at the end of the day, you might lose your voice and energy but believe me its fulfilling, inshaallah!

Recharged after Hajj

Almost 2 months now since I left Mecca.. I remember after just 1 week of leaving the holy city, while I was spending some time with relatives in Malaysia, it felt like I had left the city for ages!
It was like coming back from a totally different world!
And come to think of it.. Yes! It was totally a different world...
Where else can you find people competing with each other to please Allah...
Sacrificing their wealth, time, energy, sleep and comfort in order to seek the Beloved?
Other than those people who spend time in the path of Allah... I don't think there's any other place where you can find such a large number of people striving to please their Lord in such a manner..
The zeal for performing amaals were overwhelming!
Just looking at the crowd near the hajarul aswad, people would risk even their lives there to kiss the black stone...
To pray 2 rakaat behind the maqam Ibrahim , people would risk their heads being stampeded by those performing tawaaf.. At the rowdah, for just 2 rakaat there, people would wait for hours for their
'turn' that's not yet guaranteed that is... For tahajjud at the holy mosque, you would be lucky if you can find a spot on the roof if you come 1 hour before fajr... And that's after a long, arduous journey through a sea of people!
But why? Why do we do this only in the holy cities?
When the whole world belongs to Allah.. And all our actions elsewhere is in the knowledge of Allah...
Why is it that we tend to be 'pious' in just these 2 cities?

The answer is, according to scholars... 3 things mainly...

1. Our weak environmental iman..
We have to admit that because of our weak iman, it is very much affected by the environment we are in...
naturally, its easier to cover our awrah appropriately when everyone does.. easier to pray more sunnah solat, wake up early, everyday for tahajjud when everyone else does so.. on the other hand, to dress up like how you did when in makkah when you live in Australia, is not easy at all!
 Like my mum always tell us last time, don't be like the weed or lalang in Malay, what do you call it in English?!.. , that long unwanted grass that can easily be blown to different directions by the wind..
We should be like the banzai tree, it can be growing at places where no other plants grow, and it stands firm..
Have you ever experienced that feeling you get after a motivational course at school, that you wanna be a better person etc, you're all pumped up, all recharged as you walk out the hall..
Then by the time you reach home....it's gone with the wind... Back to square 1...
It's just a sad reality of being a human being..
But Alhamdulillah, Allah knows what's best for us, and through His mercy, there is always a way of overcoming our many weaknesses, if only we turn to Him...and make some effort to deserve His Guidance..

and that brings us to the second factor..

2. sacrifice..
thats the word man! sacrifice!
we all know the value of a hajj package, unpaid leave, the fact that you have to leave your loved ones, leave your comfort zone, these are all sacrifices.. and we know in this world, naturally, everything that we get with more effort becomes more valuable in our eyes.. the more we use our wealth, energy and time for something, we would naturally appreciate it more...
its a great quality of man that Allah has given us, if only we know how to use it...
unfortunately most of us just use it for our worldly gain..
when, in reality, it will benefit us the most when its used to gain the only thing that will benefit us in the Hereafter..eternally... our IMAN!
nowadays, even to use the toilet we need to pay some amount of money, and yet we thought that we are gonna enter jannah for free... strange...

conclusion is.. reflect.. how much have we sacrificed for our desires and this temporary deceiving dunya, thus making it more valuable in our eyes..
and how much have we sacrificed for our iman and deen in an effort to make it valuable in our lives..
in reality, most of us are only willing to give away our extras for our deen..
extra time, extra money.. which.. unfortunately, with our ever unfulfilled desires, dont come often..

and giving away extras is definitely NOT a sacrifice.. agree?

3. knowledge of the virtues of amaal..
everyone knows how many times the reward of any deeds done in the holy cities will be multiplied...
so yeah. inshaallah.. with firm believe in these promises by Allah, naturally one would get the zeal to perform more amaals..
everyone knows the reward of a mabroor hajj.. but not many know the virtues of  other simple but yet very virtuous deeds for example the use of miswak before salat, the 4 rakaat nafl solat before zuhr, some simple zikr for the morning and evening and many more.. these are simple daily amaals that will make a lot of difference on the day of Judgement... imagine it is said the difference of just 1 subhanallah will make a lot of difference between a persons jannah and another who said it more in his lifetime..
 problem with us nowadays is that we know the value of $1000 but we fail to realize the value of 2 rakaat of sunnah solat. in fact our scholars say that we have to have this feeling of ihtisab, thats believeing in the promises of Allah, when worshipping Him, in order for our amaal to be accepted...
in the end, am not encouraging people to be businessmen here...expecting profit from everything..
by knowing the values of amal, it will give one a clue of how much Allah love that amaal.. and that should be our main aim... to please Him...

conclusion is... we need to return to Allah with the best state of iman, but not all of us can go for hajj everyear.. even if we can, with our everfluctuating  iman, its difficult if its possible at all, to maintain our level of iman from one years hajj to the next.. so how can we survive this battle?
how can we get the environment, make some sacrifice for deen so as to value it and really embrace it and be reminded of the virtues of amaal so as to increase our zeal to be constant in our amaals??
the answer is.. go out in the path of Allah.. take a time out off this dunya for a while and spend some time in an iman-friendly environment, with iman-boosting friends, you know what i mean?
i found that the tableeghi jemaah provide a perfect platform for those who wants to achieve this in as minimum as 2-3 days, as frequent as monthly to 3 monthly...
find out more about it in the mosque near you!
or you can ask me personally via email!

may Allah use us all for His deen and keep us all in His path till the day we shall return to Him... Ameen!

Mecca 2012

Baiti Jannati...

i remember when i was a child my mum always say she wants to name our house baiti jannati..
my house is my paradise.. i think that was the first time i came to know of this term..
but i never really thought deeply about it.. ie what it really means?
superficially i guess, people would say that its a house thats full of happiness and contentment..
but how do we achieve this.. how can we turn our houses into jannah  on earth?!
last time, as a child, one of the things that i like to draw was my dream house and usually..
my dream house will have 2 big pillars at the main entrance,and a roundabout in the front yard encircling a fountain.. talking about materialism , huh?!
anyhow, will these make our houses baiti jannati?
reality is.. how many times do we see families living in big houses but found no happiness in it..
in fact most of the time.. these houses are empty because most of the time the inhabitants would either be busy working outside to gain money to pay for it or having a fancy holiday elsewhere..
an overseas jemaah once passed by a high class residential area in Sydney, one of the man said, more or less.. It feels like passing by a graveyard... No one is here!
Reality is... Spiritual contentment can only be achieved through spiritual means...
Yeah, you cant deny that physical means can help sometimes but at the end of the day, you would find that the contentment brought by physical means, are very temporary cause nothing physical in this world is eternal... That's why we would find ourselves chasing after one thing and we thought we have got it..then after a while, we would be chasing another thing..and the cycle continues..

In a hadith, Anas ibn Malik Radiallahu'anhu narrates that the Prophet salallahu'alayhiwasallam said: when you pass the gardens of Paradise, graze to your heart's content. it was asked: what are the gardens of Paradise? He replied: the gatherings for performing th Dhikr of Allah. (Tirmidhi)

Alhamdulillah.. Truly the solution to all the problems that the ummat is facing today lies in our beautiful deen...
So let's turn our houses to a place that will remind us of Allah...
Looking at the houses nowadays, people say that, when entering them, instead of making the doa when entering a house, we should read the doa when entering a bazaar! The fancy decorations, booming sound of the cinema-like home theatre etc have turn our houses into a bazaar more than a house... Astaghfirullah... And i think the chances of dying in our own house nowadays is relatively more, since we don't get to go to the battlefield, even if we don't actually die in our houses, at least, usually in the funeral service, our bodies would first be brought back home .. Imagine dying in a bazaar?! A place where syaitan roams, and as we know,where there is syaitan, there can be no malaaikah... They can't be together in one place...
When our souls are gonna be taken away, and we are in need of the Kalimah..
no one but the syaitan would be there to 'help' us.. Na'udhubillah... At this point.. Your house is your hell on earth!.. O Allah protect us all!!! Ameen!
Think about it?!

As Muslims, we have ways of doing things.. Even in decorating our houses..
It might not be to our likings, but most of the time, what we don't like is what's best for us...
Let's aim to please.Allah in everything that we do...
Find out what are the things that will shun away the malaaikah and thus Allah's mercy from our houses..

 It was reported from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The angels do not enter a house in which there are statues or pictures.” (Narrated by Imaam Ahmad; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 1961).

May Allah give us the strength to practise complete deen..
see.. some people might say, awhhh.. their just pictures.. big deal?!
am telling myself firstly.. there are so many doubtful or haraam things in deen that we still cant avoid
so whenever we can we should do it...

well, actually the thing that stimulate me to write this article is this picture i saw in a friends house..
this is what i call wise home deco!

a picture of the graveyard, man!
with a very thoughtful doa... we make doa for our exams, interviews, wedding day etc but we forget to make doa for our biggest day in this life... our last day!
a house deco that will remind us of our true destination..
a house that will help bring us to Jannah...  BAITI JANNATI!

Man-made man and our kids iman...

It's becoming more and more challenging being parents nowadays..

Am sure that inshaallah no one would disagree to this statement..

Children as we know can easily be influenced by their environment, what they see and hear especially.. To try to control these senses in this era of iPads, iphone, astro, 

Internet- you tube and google.. is almost an impossible thing to do..

My chiropractor lives with her partner, no kids, when I ask her one day, she said ...it's a big responsibility and keeps your hand full...

This is a nonmuslim lady who realizes the dangerous environment for kids to grow in nowadays..

We Muslims, knowing the things that we have to adhere to in our deen should feel even more worried ...

The thing is these days, everyone would agree that raising up kids these days is very challenging but not many would agree that for this reason, the kids need close attention and care 24/7..

Okay, if many would agree even to this fact, not many are willing to do it... Worse.. Some find it difficult to understand or accept why parents with high educational background choose to leave their promising career to take care of their kids..

A friend of mine who left her career was told by her friends.. Kenape la kau ni Kena membibik-kan diri? Which means - why do you have to enslave yourself..

 if you don't want to do it, at least, please don't discourage others...

Okay now back to the topic... No it's not about Frankenstein okay..

We re talking about the spider and the superman...

These days our kids seem to know more about these fictional super heroes than our true superheroes  like khaleed al-Waleed r.a. , saad ibn Abi waqqas r.a., etc. not just our kids, even ourselves, if a survey was to be made to the Muslim parents, how many of them know who khaleed al- Waleed r.a. Was.. I would not be surprised if it comes out that less than 5% of them know who he was...

Hopefully we are among this 5% group of parents, if not, then there's still time and ways!

Firstly, if your kids are still clean of all these fictional things, try to keep them clean..
if they are already into it , then try to limit it or slowly reduce it...

Cause it's not just about telling them the stories about the sahabah, but also about avoiding distractions... Cause you know how hi tech is used in these Movies and cartoons that once kids are into it, to get them sit down and just listen to stories of sahabah that doesn't come with pictures, animation or sounds is gonna be challenging...

For my kids, alhamdulillah, so far I manage to avoid the distractions (as much as i can, though not 100%).. Thus they have no choice but to listen to their mamas storytelling for entertainment...Tell the stories in their words, facial expression and action...

Am telling you.. This is what i call real entertainment man! ;)

Also found some useful short clips on YouTube just to add in some flavor to it..

 

Not to say that I don't use technology at all... With very very close supervision and Islamic shariah in mind.. Inshaallah, it can benefit...

the effect is tremendous! one day while I was cleaning Maryam one day in the toilet, I heard Mus'ab repeatedly saying khaleed al-Waleed r.a so many times.. I was wondering what that boy was up to..

 Then he came to me with his drawing board...

 he was actually trying to figure out how to spell Khaleed al-waleed r.a. in arabic
Khaleed al Waleed r.a, the sword of Allah.. And the last object is his helmet..

not just that, even when they are playing nowadays, they would not call themselves superman or spiderman.. but they  would be khalid al waleed r.a. or salahuddin al-ayubi!
may they grow up with the love to sacrifice for deen like that of our true illustrious superheroes in the past! Ameen!

1434H !

Yep... Its 1434H and am in my 4 th decade of life already! How time flies these days!! And when was my last post again?! Ermmmm... 1 year plus ago?! Time really flies man!
And it's not coming back...
May Allah give us the taufiq to use time wisely.. For every second of this life is a gift from Him...also a trust, which will be questioned for on the day of judgement.
And the wisest in time management are those who use it with death in mind...
How am I gonna use today to the best of my ability so if I were to die tomorrow , I would be prepared...
Am reminding myself first and foremost..cause after 6 days of being in Perth, still struggling to fit in the new schedule especially for tahajjud, now that fajr here is 3.36 and isha 8.20...2 growing kids outside and 1 inside, not forgetting the BIG baby ;)...Fiuh!
Hopefully by reminding others, Allah will give me the strength! That's the purpose of dawah anyway, you remind others sincerely, so you will have the strength to practice it yourself, inshaallah!

Seeing is Deceiving!

a definitely better, more rational and guiding phrase (compared to the common one: seeing is believing) for us in living our lives in this temporary world full of tests, trials and tribulations, temptations, high hopes etc.   Yep, having perfect eyes are truly a great blessing from Allah, if only we are able to use them in the way that will gain the pleasure of its Creator or its Real Owner. Otherwise, this great gift may, naudhubillah be the cause of our permanent destruction in the HereAfter.
AllahuAkbar, the joy of looking at your child smile at you alone is i think more than enough to describe the value of this gift.. (thats if one can ever describe it that is).

in bukhari it is mentioned:
Anas Radiyallahu'Anhu narrates that i heard Nabi Sallahu'alaihiwasallam say: Allah says: 'when I afflict my bondsmen with his two beloved possesions, he then exercises patience, I will grant him Jannah in lieu of it.'
 His two eyes are meant (here)

So come, lets be very thankful to Allah for what He has given us.. the gift of sight.
How?
Train them to see something that it can never see without zikrullah!
Let zikrullah overpower us until everything around us can remind us of His Greatness and Splendour!
Look at a tree and admire.. Not how big and beautiful it is, but how Great and Grand is its Sustainer, its Grower!
Look at a big, luxurious house and ponder.. not how rich the owner is, but ponder.. how we shall be questioned on our worldly possessions in the HereAfter. That when the time comes, we shall leave all our wealth. Our true possesions are really only those deposited on our book of deeds.

Anas RadiAllahu'anhu narrates Rasulullah Sallahu'alayhiwasallam said: On the day of resurrection, a person from the people of the fire who had been living a most comfortable and luxurious life in the world will be brought (and) dipped once in the Fire. Then he will be asked: O son of Adam! Do you recall seeing any good or a moment of luxury? No, by Allah, O My Rabb (Sustainer).
And (likewise) a person from the people of Paradise who had been living the most distressful life in the world, will be brought and dipped once in Paradise. Then he will be asked: O son of Adam! Do you recall any adversity or a moment of misery? He will reply: No. by Allah O my Rabb! Neither an adversity passed over me nor a moment of misery! (Muslim)

See but dont be deceived.. lets train our eyes to see beyond and thus strengthen our iman
unfortunately, i think, nowadays with our ever-fluctuating level of iman its very difficult. so maybe the best way is to avoid seeing as much as possible. lets lower our gazes with humility and zikrullah in our hearts. InsyaAllah, Allah will give us that pair of eyes that will be a witness to our steadfastness in this world.

A MEGA PROJECT

Nope, we're not talking about a community project, or a state or global project.
And its definitely not a multi-million or billion project.
It's simply a MEGA PROJECT! And the director or the head of the project is anyone with any of the following titles: mum / mama/ ummi/ mummy/ ibu/ mak/ amma etc..
And mind you that this project is not a choice, as long as u've got the aforementioned titles.. that's it!
You're in it! Whether you like it or not!
Regardless whether u're a doctor/ a teacher/ scientist,
whether you're a PhD holder/ a degree holder or Diploma holder,
malay. chinese, or mixed
Whoever you are
as long as you have delivered a child, then thats is
you're a shepherd! Congratulations! Seriously!

The objective of the project is simply to gain the pleasure of Allah.
The special most important task of the project is to shape a human being/ human beings for those with more than 1 child.
Its called a mega project here, because as you can see the task is difficult.
Its not a multi-million project because the benefits or reward or profit you're gonna get by accomplishing the project cannot be compared to anything in the world. Its way way bigger, grand and most importantly... its permanent!

As mentioned in a hadith:

Hadhrat Mu'aaz Juhani (RadiAllahu'anhu) reports tha Rasulullah Sallahu'alayhiwasallam said:
Whoever reads the Qur'an and acts upon what is contained in it, his parents will be made to wear a crown on the Day of Judgement, the brilliance of which will excel that of the sun, if the same were within your worldly houses. So, what do you think about the person who himself acts upon it?

In another narration, it was said that: One who recites the Qur'an and acts upon it will be made to wear a crown woven with noor, and his parents will be made to wear garments which will be more valuable than the entire world. They will say; Almighty Allah! what is it that we are given these garments for? In lieu of the reading of Qur'an by your child, will be the reply.

Also, it is given in Jam'ul Fawaa'id by Tabrani (rahmatullah alaih) that Hadhrat Anas had reported the saying of Rasulullah:
Whoever teaches the reading of Qur'an to his son (without memorizing it), all his sins whether previous or subsequent, will be forgiven; and whoever makes his child memorize the Qur'an will be raised in the Day of Judgement in the ssemblance of a full moon; and his son will be asked to start reciting, and for everyayat read by the child, the status of the parent will be raised to the next higher grade of Jannat, till the recitation of the Holy Qur'an is completed.

AllahuAkbar! If we are still in doubt whether or not to at least try make our children hafeez after having read all the hadeeth above, then we definitely need to question the state of our iman!
Allah, give us true iman, ya Allah!

Problem with us is that most of the time we fail to realize that this is truly a mega project thus we tend to ignore it or take it lightly.
As much as we'd like to handle our big projects in the field we're working in, ourselves or with the help of someone better, we should also regard the same for this project. Even more for this mega project cause failure to do so will cause us a great punishment in the HereAfter.
Unfortunately, many people today is happy to just leave their mega projects in the hands of maids, or daycares. Am not saying that we cant go out and achieve our aim in our careers but the point is we have to realize that by doing so, we are actually putting our mega projects at risk!

So we have to minimize this risk if we can't get rid of it totally.

Believe me.. insyaAllah, do it for Allah, whatever you sacrifice for His pleasure..

its gonna be worth it!

Dear mothers, these kids are great gifts and responsibilities from Allah.
Lets put all our effort to shape them up the way Allah wants it.
Of course, no one can promise that all of them will turn out the way we want them to but have full confidence that Allah is the Most Just, and Allah Knows whether or not you've done you're part.

Naudhubilllah, we have enough sins in our account, we dont want because of our negligence, our own kids, whom we used to call the apple of our eyes, on the Day of Resurrection.. they would come to us asking for their unfulfilled rights! AllahuAkbar! save us all from this great calamity!
Amin...

My Mega Projects: Mus'ab & Maryam