Ramadan Day 29: Al Baqarah 35 -36
September 21, 2009 at 3:57 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Community, Eid, Family, Homeschooling, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | 2 CommentsBelated post, understandably, but I still have to do it, even if it is on the second day of Eid. It would be a shame to have one day short of these Ramadan lessons we’ve managed to consistently establish with the tawfeeq of Allah throughout the blessed month. Alhamdulillah.
It was Saturday. Friday I was busy cooking the murtabak filling and Chicken Rendang. Not knowing when Eid will be for sure, I froze the chicken rendang, also because there was not much space in the fridge. I decided to do Saturday’s and Sunday’s ayah together, because Eid might very well be on Sunday and I wanted to finish all the ayah I planned to cover.
By now, the kids have gained some familiarity with Quranic words, especially those that are repeated. So I simply said the words in Arabic and waited for them to say the meaning in English.
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| 35: |
| Muhsin Khan: And We said: “O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimun (wrong-doers).” |
uskun: Root seen kaf noon. sakana means to be still. Sakinah means tranquility, peace. In peace there is stillness.
Kulaa is a little tricky for them. akala = eat. Kula = you two eat.
raghadan: Root ra ghain dal. Raghad means to be pleasant, comfortable, freely, and it’s also used for letting animals graze freely in a patch of pasture. Adam a.s. and his wife Hawwa was free to eat anything in Jannah, however much they want with no restrictions.
taqraba: root qaf ra ba. qarb means close. In Malay, Rakan karib means best friend. Karib is from Arabic Qarb though in our accent we don’t say the k as it should be in Arabic, unfortunately, which could very well change the meaning.
In Islam, we’re not just not allowed to do the haram, but we’re forbidden to een coming close to the haram. The kids and I, we churned out some examples of what some haram things are, and we conjured up ways one could accidentally slip into the haram by just being close to it.
Pork: You go to the grocery store and you have this curiosity to look at the ham.”Ew, yucky.” “But I wonder what it tastes like.” Oops!…you slip.
We did examples with alcohol, music.
S then told me of an exchange she had with her friends about music, after she asked me if music is haram, to which I said yes.
“X said that only wind instruments are haram,” she said.
So I explained about the duff and told them about kompang, which is used in Malay weddings. They were pretty fascinated and disgusted by the explanation of how it is made.
“So what did you say?”
“I still said we cannot.”
For a quiet and relatively ’shy’ and reserved girl, she’s pretty strong when it comes to stating the truth. I’m surprised. Alhamdulillah. May Allah preserve her in her goodness and strength. Ameen.
On another note of reflection, it’s also amazing how Allah began with informing all that is allowed, and then restricting it to one haram. Even in our lifes, there are so many halals but a few specified haram. A mercy from Allah indeed. Subhanallah.
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| 36: |
| Muhsin Khan: Then the Shaitan (Satan) made them slip therefrom (the Paradise), and got them out from that in which they were. We said: “Get you down, all, with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment for a time.” |
fa”azallahumaa: root zai lam lam. zalal : to slip, to make a mistake. There is a saying, ” the slipping of a scholar is the slipping of the whole ummah. I asked the kids what they understand by this, and they responded,
“Because the people follow the scholar.”
ihbiTtoo: root ha ba Tta. Huboot means to descend either by choice or by force.The form is changed to plural instead of dual, which has been the case in the few previous ayah (referring to Adam a.s. and his wife). This is because Iblees is included in this command.
ba’dhukum liba’dhin ‘aduww: some of you for others are enemies. Shaytaan will be enemies to humans. Or humans will be enemies to humans.
mustaqarr: root qaf ra ra. qarr means cold. When one is cold one doesn’t want to get out of bed, and would rather stay in the warmth and comfort of one’s bed or home. It also gives the meaning of temporary. Temporary dwelling on earth.
mataa’ means anything that is necessary to live.
I folded some murtabak in the spring roll wrappers and then left for grocery shopping with Hubs and H, leaving S and N folding the rest of the murtabak. When we got home, the murtabak were all folded and stacked neatly ready for frying.
The girls were invited to a Henna party in the evening, so hubs dropped them off while I stayed home cooking meat curry to go along with the Pulut Kuning or Murtabak. When Hubs called after Isha and said that Eid is on Sunday, I immediately started making the Gado-Gado peanut sauce and cutting the vegetables. It had been a long two days.
The girls didn’t call us to pick them up and when it approached 11 p.m. I was restless. I finally called them when I was pretty much done cooking. Let me just say that that night, they received two doses or more of scolding and reprimanding from hubs and I for ‘forgetting’ to call us to pick them up, and even ‘forgetting’ to ask a friend who lives not so far from us to take them home when they were about to leave. They were the last ones to leave and I was not very happy about their lack of guest etiquette.
Hubs said, “I told you. Don’t you notice how your mom doesn’t really like it when people stay over too long. That’s how other people might feel too.”
“Of course they won’t tell you to go home.”
It reminds me of surah hujuraat, and it also reminds me of the article I wrote for SISTERS titled Mind Your Manners on the etiquette of visiting. So imagine my chagrin when my own girls do not observe this etiquette. Ahh…well, one has to make mistakes and zalaal in order to learn. I hope they learn from this ’slip’.
Their hands though were henna’ed. Pretty nice. Personally though I still prefer the Malay style of henna; dark reddish orange on the first third of the fingers. I used to sniff the henna on my fingers in high school when I got bored in class. Even after a while, the fragrance was still sniffable. Now, if only I can get my hands on some fresh henna.
Ramadan Day 28: Al Baqarah
September 18, 2009 at 3:04 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Eid, Family, Homeschooling, Kids, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | 6 CommentsDay 28! How fast time flies. We’re already bustling with Eid preparations. I particularly feel it. It’s not easy trying to prepare for Eid the Malaysian way (where you want to have Eid food ready on Eid day, before you go off to Eid salat) while also wanting to keep up the ibadah the last days of Ramadan and attend Eid prayer on Eid. Hubby likes to have people over for Eid, and even though he says make something simple, I can’t. it’s probably more for us than for the people, I think. This year, S expressed her desire for Pulut Kuning on Eid. I’ve always made it for Eid since we came the United States. I’ve always made rendang too, but this year, we don’t have esay access to boneless cut beef, so no meat rendang this year. I did cut up some chicken before Ramadan, so this year inshaallah, I will be making Chicken Rendang for Eid. I’m also planning to make the Shortcut Murtabak inshaallah, since we have a lot of spring roll wrappers in the freezer.
On to today’s ayah. We reviewed the ayah that starts talking about the history of mankind. I even recited it slowly and told the kids to listen carefully and understand it from what they have learned. I figured that this aspect of the Quran (story) is particularly interesting and enticing to them, so it’s worth repeating a lot of times.
Because H was cutting off the crossword puzzle clues from the paper airplane and gluing them onto the crossword puzzle before we started this morning, he already knew what today’s ayah was about.
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| 34: |
| Muhsin Khan: And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.”. And they prostrated except Iblis (Satan), he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers (disobedient to Allah). |
“Today’s ayah is about Iblees,” he proclaimed.
What we learned:
Allah is literally now commanding the angels to serve human.
Two kinds of behaviors:
- Behavior of Shaytaan – arrogance
- Behavior of angels – obey Allah immediately
Which one do you want to adopt for yourselves?
All this while Allah has just informed the angels of the placing of humans on earth, and the angels responded, but now they start serving humans
The prostration is of honor and respect
This kind of prostration to human being is no longer allowed in our shariah. it was allowed before (e.g. Prophet yusuf alaihis salam) but not anymore.
Iblees: root ba lam seen. iblas, balasa means to be shocked, lose home, completely despair. Some scholars said that Ibless has no hope for the mercy of Allah anymore. Many times we have this feeling too, of,
I’m so messed up, ruined, bad.
And that may lead to us giving up and persisting in more sins because ‘we’re so messed up already anyway’, but Allah reminds us of His mercy so many times in the Quran, and in fact in our daily life. Bismillah ar rahmaan arraheem, if you say this before you do anything, you’re reminded. Al fatihah, reminds us of Allah’s mercy. We’re so enveloped in Allah’s mercy! And no human beings will be perfect. Even the prophet saw whose heart was cleansed physically twice, made mistakes. Kids pointed out the surah abasa incident. So, Allah will forgive. We just need to ask, and keep asking.
Abaa. Root: hamzah ba ya. Abaya – to refuse harshly.
wastakbar. wa + astakbar. Astakbar. Root: kaf ba ra: kibr – to be proud.
Iblees was tested. He was a devout worshipper all along such that he was included among the angels. But when Allah gave this command, he rejected it and immediately became of the kafireen. Lesson for us: apparent worship is not enough if your heart is not submitting.
About arrogance. Someone whom you know to have less knoweldge than you may come and say something that is the truth. How will you respond? With arrogance? or with humility, seeking the truth and not looking at the person but looking at what is being said? The manner of the angels: Subhaanak! (they glorify Allah) Laa ‘ilma lanaa ilaa ma ‘allamtanaa! (they mention their shortcomings). Apply this to us:
“You’re right. I was wrong.”
The kids were able alhamdulillah to give me the meaning of the words. They’re pretty easy words, but I think by now inshaallah they have gotten the hang of extracting root words thus gettinga taste of what I learn in my TQ classes every week. Alhamdulillah!! Though, after this, we’re inshaallah doing Khalid Ibn Waleed unless they ask me to continue on surah Al Baqarah (which would be very good review and studying incentive for me).
Now on to me finishing up my Quran reading, which now reminds me of this. This morning, as I was reading surah Mujaadilah, H was sitting right next to me. I was struggling with some words and as I paused, I heard him slowly reciitng them under his breath, even before I recited them.
“Do you memorize this?” I asked him.
“Yeah!”
“You memorize Juz 28 already??”
“Yeah! I’m in Juz 27 now!”
Oh…now wonder hubby was saying H is almost 5 juz, but I just said,
“Yeah, but he hasn’t done much reviewing. Does he even remember the old ones?”
We really need to sit down and come up with a schedule for his hifdh at home. Oh Allah, please help me with this.
Ramadan Day 27: Al Baqarah 33
September 17, 2009 at 2:33 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Baking, Community, Eid, Family, Homeschooling, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | 2 CommentsThe night of the 27 was last night (depending on when you start fasting of course!). I got tired of reading the same surah by myself at home so I chose to go for taraweeh at the masjid last night. On the way out, I got sucked into a conversation that led to,
“They believe that lailatul qadr is on the 27th.”
Hubs said that a lot of people wanted to sleep in the masjid last night. It was a weekday too. Even during weekends, the people are not too eager to sleep in the masjid, but on the 27th night, they want to.
Lo and behold, last night there was rain, lightning, thunder. It poured! If last night was not lailatul qadr, it just serves right people who only pick the 27th to increase in worship and slack the rest of the 10 days. May Allah not deprive us of the good. Ameen. And Allah knows best.
This morning, I started realizing that we should start getting the house ready for Eid. We’ve been too busy with the Eid Gift-ing that I actually didn’t realize how close to Eid we are. Today is N’s Eid Cookie-ing day, and as I type, she is cleaning up. Barakah indeed when you start doing work in the early hours in the morning. By 8 a.m. her pan of Butterscotch brownie is already in the oven. Subhanallah!
The History of Mankind in the Quran:
- First Allah informed the angels that He was going to place on earth a human being.
- The angels asked why, as human beings will only cause corruption and shed blood on earth.
- Allah says He knows what they don’t know.
- Then Allah taught Adam the names of all things and asked the angels to tell Him the names of those things if they are truthful in their claim.
- The angels respond by glorifying Allah and mentioning their shortcomings and then praising Allah again.
- Allah told Adam to tell the angels the names of those things, and after Adam did, Allah said to the angels,
- “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth and I know what you disclose and what you conceal?”
Today’s ayah:
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| 33: |
| Muhsin Khan: He said: “O Adam! Inform them of their names,” and when he had informed them of their names, He said: “Did I not tell you that I know the Ghaib (unseen) in the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you have been concealing?” |
- Difference between nabaa and khabr.
- ghayb. Two types of ghayb:
- General: what we can’t see in general, including people who are not in our vicinity
- Specific : things that we have to believe in like the six pillars of Iman
- tubdoona: root; ba dal ya. Buduw – to reveal. Badiya is used for desert because the desert is open and you can see everything in it. If you are above it, you can see everything, as opposed to flying over a forest. You can’t hide in a desert if a helicopter is searching for you from above.
- taktumoon. Root: kaf ta meem. Katama – to hide
- Allah told the angels He knows the unseen, the future (that human can do good on earth too and not just corruption)
- Adam is preferred over the angels because of knowledge
- The importance of knowledge again is highlighted. How can one perform hajj if he doesn’t know how to do it?
- A seeker of knowledge is better than a worshipper. Why?
H answered spot on: “Because he can make dawah.”
- A worshipper benefits mostly himself, but a seeker of knowledge benefits the ummah. One way or another a seeker of knowledge will spread the knowledge even if to one person.
- Having knowledge also guides your actions.
- E.g. given to kids: You know that a person walking, aprroaching a group is supposed to initiate the salam. You happen to be in this situation, so you do this.
- Another e.g. given to kids: You know that shaking hands when meeting a believer will make the sins drop from your hands. You do this when you meet a fellow believer.
- In this worldly, in terms of worldly things, people look up to people having Ph.Ds, professors, teachers. Even the wealthy look up to them, because of the knowledge they have.
- What about Islamic knowledge then? Long ago, they used to travel for months to seek and learn about just one hadith.
- Now, things are made so easy for us. Traveling to Houston for us might take about one day plus driving (and even then we all know how quite difficult that is, from our past visit to Houston), but it’s still relatively easy to what the sahaba and tabien had to go through.
- The seeker of knowledge has to give up many things in order to seek knowledge, even some extra acts of worship, but he is of higher status than an ardent worshipper.
- Worshipping is not just worship alone, but also seeking knowlegde.
- The hadith of the ants, fish in the ocean all making dua seeking for forgiveness for the seeker of knowledge with sincere intention.
- The angels conceal “We are worshipping you oh Allah. Isn’t that enough?” And Allah tells them that He knows this.
- The worship of angels and mankind is different.
Ramadan Day 26: Al Baqarah 32
September 16, 2009 at 1:23 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Deen, Family, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a Comment |
| 32: |
| Muhsin Khan: They (angels) said: “Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what you have taught us. Verily, it is You, the All-Knower, the All-Wise.” |
Today’s ayah is short and sweet but packs a lot of lessons, important ones too.
Arabic wise, there are no new words. The kids pretty much know what they mean, well, at least H does. Even before I explained them, he was listening intently as I recited the ayah in Arabic, and when I was done, he tried to say what it meant. He came really close.
The only word I had to elaborate on was al 7hakeem. From the root 7ha kaf meem. Hukm means to give order, to command, to give a decision. Hakeem, means judge, and a judge gives order, decision. Hikmah generally means wisdom. Allah’s decision is based not only on wisdom but on complete knowledge.
From the angels’ response, we learn:
When our mistakes are pointed out, we should humble ourselves and acknowledge our shortcomings. Kill that ego.
The angels glorified Allah first before acknowledging their mistakes and shortcomings. We should do the same. Say,
“You’re right. I was wrong.”
Then they glorified Allah again.
In an argument, even when you’re boiling inside, back down. The better person is the one who backs down especially when he’s boiling inside. It’s not “I’m right, you’re wrong.”
When coming across ayah in the Quran, we should apply it to ourselves first rather than bypassing ourselves and applying to others. When we do that, we are in actuality saying,
“See! I’m right. That person’s wrong!”
Thus we are not learning from the lessons of that ayah.
Apply the ayah to ourselves. If it’s stating something negative. Ask ourselves,
“Do I do that?”
and make dua that Allah does not make us one of those people.
If it’s stating something positive. Ask ourselves,
Do I do that?”
and make dua that Allah makes us one of those decribed in the ayah.
Ramadan Day 25: Al Baqarah 31
September 16, 2009 at 1:10 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Deen, Homeschooling, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a Comment |
| 31: |
| Muhsin Khan: And He taught Adam all the names (of everything) , then He showed them to the angels and said, “Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful.” |
Today’s ayah continues the story of the history of mankind.
‘allama means to teach. Ta’leem means to teach gradually. In Arabic, any addition of letters or even shaddah changes the meaning of the word. Allama means to teach and taleem means to teach gradually. The Quran was revealed in 23 years. One of the wisdom behind that is because gradual absorption has its own benefits.
I had her do this again because she understood that the prophet saw was in Taif for 13 years. Hmm...we really need to do Seerah soon.
Aadama. Root hamzah dal meem. Udma refers to a color that is neither too dark nor too light, somewhat beige. Adam is the name given to the father of mankind. Reminds me of a recent feature in National Geographic (I receive their newsletter in my inbox) of people tracing their lineage back to the Europeans. An African American traces his lineage back to white Europeans.
Asmaa” is the plural of ism. Samaa also comes from the same root (seen meem wau). Recently a baby arrived in the community. I went to visit them at the hospital and the ladies were telling the nurse that the baby’s name (Sumuw) means honorship. I asked the kids how samaa and asmaa are related through the root which means height, elevation. Then we talked/discussed how they’re related. Asmaa is plural for ism (names). When a person is given a name, his status is raised above others, as this makes him unique. Proper noun versus common noun. Whetstone Public Library is not just any public library, but it’s a unique special library that goes by the name Whetstone Public Library. Samaa is sky/heights (depending on the context of the ayah). That explains why they translated Sumoow as honorship. Amazing, eh?
Anbi”oonee from the root noon ba ya. Nabi is also from the same root and so is nabaa” (surah an nabaa”). In this ayah, anbi”oonee is translated as ‘tell me/inform me’. Nabaa is news. Nabi brings news. What news? Not just any kind of news, but news that truly concerns you. Khabr in Arabic is another word for news, but it refers to just any news. News of a stranger’s graduation or marriage or death does not necessarily concern you. That’s just khabr. But news of your family member’s death, graduation or marrieg concerns you directly. That is nabaa’. A Nabi brings about nabaa of the hereafter, jannah, hellfire, day of judgment. Does that news concern us? You bet it does!
Here Allah is challenging the angels to tell Allah the names of these things that He had taught to Adam if they are truly true in their claim that mankind is no good in earth.
This ayah also shows the status of mankind and highlights the importance of knowledge. Iqra’ was the first surah revealed. The command to seek knowledge. Without knowledge, how can we worship our Creator? Without knowledge how are we supposed to know what is from the Quran and sunnah and what is innovation? Without knowledge how are we going to know what to teach our children? Truly important that. Knowledge. Know what I’m sayin’? It also shows that this religion has a lot to do with seeking knowledge and acquiring it, and not just blindly following or remaining ignorant.
Mankind is bestowed with brain power that has a cap. This amaanat(trust) should be used to please Allah. And when it is…oh…the benefit of mankind on earth outweighs its harm.
Ramadan Day 24: Al Baqarah 30
September 14, 2009 at 8:55 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Community, Eid, Family, Homeschooling, Kids, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a CommentI started with reciting Al Baqarah from the beginning and stopping per ayah to recall the meaning of the words we covered. S was still sleeping as she fell sick yesterday and is not fasting today.
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| 30: |
| Muhsin Khan: And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: “Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth.” They said: “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, – while we glorify You with praises and thanks (Exalted be You above all that they associate with You as partners) and sanctify You.” He (Allah) said: “I know that which you do not know.” |
Today’s ayah starts the story of the history of mankind. Today’s lesson encompasses a lot of information and root words. S is going to have to catch up somehow. Maybe she can catch up by reading this post.
What we learned (and may I say that H is pretty serious and earnest when there is no S to rack up negative behavior with, since N is pretty quiet and unperturbed. It also helped that she was probably too sick to play around and not pay attention…hmm):
When wa izh comes at the beginning of the ayat, it gives the meaning of, “Remember that incident..”
We take it as a lesson that when we are about to do something, especially something that involves other people, we should inform them about it, and not just do it and then exhort them to do their part or get involved. Allah is giving us an example here of how He told the angels of His plan, and especially so (my reflection, not from my notes) because the angels are going to play many roles in the life of humans.
taj’aloo ; root jeem ain lam, meaning something whose state is changed. The exact meaning depends on the context, but here it means to place.
Khaleefah; root kha lam fa. Khalf means to come behind. Imagine a line of people, one standing in front of the other. When the first person goes away, the person behind takes his place.
Thus it also gives the meaning of succeeding:
- generations succeeds other generations
- rulers succeeds each other
It also gives the meaning of deputy:
- a deputy work for someone
- we work for Allah
- a khalifah as in the time of the khulafaa in the Islamic empires, were deputies of Allah to the people
nusabbih7; root seen ba 7ha, means to swim/fly. When one swims or flies, one is moving very rapidly as opposed to when walking. This gives the meaning of moving far away. When we make tasbeeh, we are removing all the negativity thrown by the people to Allah, far, very far away from Allah.
The beauty of the zhikr is that first we negate all the negativity, removing them very far away from Allah, we glorify Allah this way with subhanallah.
Next, we heap ALL praise to Allah, by saying Alhamdulillah.
Then we declare than Allah is greater than. Akbar doesn’t really mean greatest. it is superlative thus meaning greater than. Greater than what? Than anything you can imagine. And when we make salat, and say Allahu Akbar, we are saying that Allah is greater than anything we are doing at that moment. When the azhan is called, we hurry to make salat because Allah is greater than anything and everything we are doing at that moment.
nuqaddisu; root qaf seen dal, quds means to be far away. Baitul maqdis is called such because it is very far away from Makkah, thus is called the Far Away House. Qudus also gives the meaning of purification because when we purify we are purifying such that all filth is removed very far away.
Subbuh7un quddusun is magnifying the glorification of Allah by removing all negativity and more…
The angels were asking not as an objection, but they were asking because they wanted to know more. You can tell when a persin is asking just to find faults and to criticize or if the person is asking becuase he sincerely wants to know. E.g. I gave, “Why do you homeschool?”
One point of reflection from me: Allah had determined that Adam was going to be placed on earth even before he was created. This completely dispels some notions that blame our existence here on earth to Adam’s slippage from paradise, and even those notions that blame Eve. Of course this is not in Islam but I mentioned it to the kids anyway, because sooner or later they will come across those notions. They’d better be well prepared.
Before mankind populated the earth, the jinns roamed the earth and they were the dominant species. They created so much corruption that that’s why the angels said this about mankind when Allah told them about its creation.
Some of the wisdom behind the creation of mankind:
When humans do good, it can be a LOT of good. A human who enter jannah is even better than the angels, because the angels were created to obey Allah and worship Allah all the time, with no free will, but humans were created with free will. So when human is able to conquer his nafs and shaytaan, that is a huge accomplishment that raises his status more than an angel’s.
It is to test iblees. Contrary to some popular opinions, iBlies was not a fallen angel, but he was of the jinn who was obedient to Allah so much so that Allah placed him with the angels. So when the command forprostration to Adam was issued, it became a test for Iblies.
“Something in him just snapped. Imagine, he was worshipping Allah before and when Allah told him to make sujud to Adam, he snapped and said, ‘No way,’”
“And it’s the same with us, Allah may put us now in an easy situation and we obey Him. For example, Allah may make it easy for Abi to go to the masjid because our house was so close to the masjid when we were in C-bus. Then suddenly if Allah wants to test Abi, and us, He might make us live far away from the masjid to see if Abi will still go to the masjid as he should. And this is a test for not just Abi, but for us too. What will we do? We will see and we can think and we can do something. So when a person is tested, it also tests the people around him.”
Allah tests a person to see how true he is to his commitment to Allah. (I can go on about this with the word fitaan, but that was not part of the lesson I did with the kids this morning)
On another note…
The masjid here is organizing an eid gift event for the children whose parents sign them up. We are buying our kids’ gifts this year. I actually didn’t want to because I don’t want it to be an Eid tradition whereby then it becomes like Christmas. Gifts should be given anytime, throughout the year and not just on speaial occasions, but since we didn’y give the kids any gifts last year, we decided to give them gifts this year, just so they won’t feel left out when the rest of the kids at the masjid receive their gifts on Eid Day. So began our hunt for the kids’ gifts yesterday.
I had asked them, as soon as hubs and I decided to buy gifts for them. We were on the way to WalMart after dropping H off at his soccer game. Oh, and this merits a mention too, for our bad memory later on (for sure). This was H’s first soccer game for this season and it’s smack dab in the hot noon time in New Mexico, in Ramadan. I told hubby that he could have just told the coach to exempt H from the noon games until after Eid, but hubs said,
“He’s still young.”
I personally don’t quite like the idea of H giving up his fast for a soccer game that could have been postponed or skipped, but alhamdulillah (don’t know if it’s reverse psychology of us expecting him to break his fast after playing soccer, though it is not our intention as reverse psychology) he completed his fast despite playing 2 quarters in the high noon sun.
So on the way to WalMart, I asked the girls,
“Do you want us to buy your gifts or do you want to get them yourselves? If you get them yourselves, it won’t be a surprise though.”
After some thinking and deliberation, both girls said they want us to get their gifts.
“What about H? Do you think he would like to get his gift himself or for us to get it?”
“I think he’d want to get it himself. Because he can choose.”
When I asked him later on, he said for us to choose. S said he wants a bicycle. That boy’s Wish list is long. I know bicycle is one of the things he covets.
So hubs and I went shopping on Sunday, and I’m pretty sure we attracted a lot of attention, if not to us, then to our cart that was loaded and almost overflowing (some stuff did fall out) with toys. At both stores too. And even that, we haven’t bought toys for all the kids on the masjid list yet. Today, I went out with H to finish up purchasing those toys. We went to Walmart, loaded our cart with toys. I was checking of the kids’ names on my list as we browsed the toy aisles. When we got to the cashier, she commented,
“Is it someone’s birthday?”
“Uh..no, we have a celebration after a month of fasting, so it’s for all the kids at the mosque.”
“Oh, really!”
Then we headed to Barnes & Nobles and got armloads of toys and games, and then headed home. As I type, those bags of toys are sitting along our foyer. I’m too exhausted to go and sort them out. But I do know that I have 4 more girls to buy toys for. It’s fun, and the kids have agreed to help wrap them up for Eid. I consider this our sadaqah even though it’s not our money (will be reimbursed), but the time and sweat inshaallah. May Allah accept this from us. Ameen.
Ramadan Day 23: Al Baqarah 29
September 14, 2009 at 3:09 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Family, Homeschooling, Kids, Mothering, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a CommentH didn’t nap yesterday, and I just found out this morning at suhoor (S told me) that last night, instead of praying taraweeh at the masjid, H slept in the masjid library throughout. And there goes the “I told you so…” from my part to him.
No wonder when I woke him up for tahajjud this morning, he almost fell asleep (or maybe he did) when praying next to me. His sujood was somewhat longer and lazier, and when he was standing, he almost fell. It affected my khushu’ and made me feel like I should have told him to pray behind me instead of next to me.
The sun this morning was as bright as ever, so maybe not last night?
Today, I told the kids,
“I’m going to recite the surah from the beginning until where we stopped. I want you all to stop and try to understand the meaning, from what we have learned so far.”
So they did, and I did too. It was wonderful subhanallah! What a change…alhamdulillah.
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| 29: |
| Muhsin Khan: He it is Who created for you all that is on earth. Then He Istawa (rose over) towards the heaven and made them seven heavens and He is the All-Knower of everything. |
Today’s ayah is ayat 29:
fasawwaahunna: root seen wau ya, sawaa means to level, spread. Allah formed the 7 layers of heavens
Why was this mentioned? So man will reflect upon the greatness of Allah’s creation and use what Allah has created on the earth in order to worship and please Allah.
Ramadan Day 22: Al Baqarah 28
September 12, 2009 at 3:55 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Family, Homeschooling, Kids, Mothering, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a Comment
Yesterday I was engrossed in researching the Great Depression for the kids’ lesson for October. I don’t want to plan their school stuff too much, because that will make it too rigid, but I do want somewhat of s structured plan to go by, rather than just having it completely freestyle. I find that I am the kind of person who has to have something to go by, and not just completely wing it.
And I’m still not done with it.
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| 28: |
| Muhsin Khan: How can you disbelieve in Allah? Seeing that you were dead and He gave you life. Then He will give you death, then again will bring you to life (on the Day of Resurrection) and then unto Him you will return. |
Today’s lesson is on ayah 28.
kaifa.
“Kaifal 7haalik? what’s kaifa?” I asked them.
“How.”
- here it is meant for the purpose of amazement. How can you?
- takfuroona : root ka fa ra. In the Quran, kufr is used in 2 ways:
- disbelieve
- ingratitude (when you are ungrateful to someone, you hide the favor they have to you, you don’t acknowledge it)
amwaata (they wrote this down in arabic and they had to figure out the root). meem wau ta. Mati in Malay means dead. It’s from Arabic. Mayat (in malay it means corpse) is also from Arabic. Duhh.here, amwaata refers to a state of non existence, before we were all born, we were dead (non existent, lifeless)- fa ah7 yaa kum – then He gave you life. We were born. We talked about when the soul is blown into the fetus , after 120 days. If a woman has miscarriage before 4 months, it’s not considered a being, but after, you have to have janazah for the fetus, like we had for J.
- thumma yumeetukum – then He will give you all death. Refers to when we die.
- Thumma yu7hyeekum – then He will give you all life. Refers to Day of resurrection. On that day, everybody will be resurrected, even those who have been dead for millions and billions of years such that all the bones have rotted except for the coccyx. Everybody will be walking towards one destination. Everyone will be gathered. Some will be walking on their faces (surah Mulk), some will be small as ants, some will drown in their sweat as the sun will be only a meel away from their heads. Some will be under the shade of the throne of Allah and one of these people is he who grows up righteous. This belief in the hereafter is what will make a huge difference in how people act on this earth. Those who believe there is a hereafter as how Allah described it will make sure their actions are in accordance with what will grant them good in the hereafter. Those who don’t, won’t even care.
- turja’oon- you all will be returned. Everyone will be walking towards a destination, that is to Allah.
- how can you be arrogant, seeing all these? you were non existent before, no one knew about you and then Allah brought you to life. You came from a lowly beginning, sperm and egg.
- A scholar said that human beings began from a lowly place, beginning, and will end as a rotted corpse, and in the middle, we are all just walking toilets. I knew they would get a kick out of this and even told them,
“Please don’t write about this,”
Alas! H is at an age where digusting bodily functions amaze him, so here you have it (sigh).
Ramadan Day 21: Al Baqarah 27
September 11, 2009 at 3:04 pm | In 4-H, Al Huda Institute, Family, Homeschooling, Kid Talk, Kids, Mothering, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a CommentI woke up to an incessant ringing of S’ alarm clock, a green one we had bought at Wal Mart for her (the kids stuff ar pretty much color coded : S green, N pink and H blue, and H claims that Z is orange. He said, “Even when from the moment you gave him tha name I know his color is orange!” (Don’t ask me, I have no idea how that came about)). Hubby had already gone to the masjid for qiyaam and had told me last night,
“Just wake up when the alarm clock rings a lot of times.”
They had left the alarm clock ringing for me yesterday while they had suhoor, because I had told them I wanted to still wake up even though I can’t pray.
So this morning, I woke up and made wudhu’, read some Quran and made dua. I thought I’d just wake the kids up later, so I could make dua in peace, and I’m glad I did that. Because, these kids, once they’re up, the house comes alive, no matter what hour it is. So after I was done, I woke H and S up. N is sick, still feverish, and she had to break her fast yesterday and she is not fasting today, so I left her alone.
“H, wake up for tahajjud. Hurry up, it’s almost five a clock.”
“So ummi, how do we pray?”
Last year, they prayed with me.
“Just pray two rakaah, and make dua a lot during sujud, you can prolong your sujud, and make dua after your prayer. You can also add two more rakaah, and two more.”
“Do we pray together or separately?”
“Either one.”
They prayed separately.
Baby Z, despite sleeping quite late last night (walking and scouring the room in the dark, kicking the door while laying on the floor, etc) woke up while S and H were eating their suhoor. I’ve never had a child this un-routineless before and it drives me crazy. Alhamdulillah ‘alaa kulli 7haal. I have to say it’s from my own doings though. He was following some routine before, but after we moved, his sleeping arrangements just got messed up. I had thought it was ok, but it is apparently not, at least not for my sanity.
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| 27: |
| Muhsin Khan: Those who break Allah’s Covenant after ratifying it, and sever what Allah has ordered to be joined (as regards Allah’s Religion of Islamic Monotheism, and to practise its legal laws on the earth and also as regards keeping good relations with kith and kin ), and do mischief on earth, it is they who are the losers. |
Today’s ayah furthers on the description of the faasiqeen that was mentioned in yesterday’s ayah.
What we learned:
3 descriptions of the faasiqeen :
- yanqudhoona ‘ahd allah min ba’di meethaqihi – break their covenant with Allah after ratifying it
- yaqTta’oona ma amarallahu an yoosSal – cut that which Allah has ordered to be joined
- yufsidoona fil ardh – create corruption on earth
- yanqudhoona : root noon qaf dhad – to break something that has been made firm, e.g. unravelling knitting, crochet, etc.
- yaQTta’oona; root qaf Tta ‘ain (S got this one even while I was reciitng the ayah): to cut
- YooSsal; root; wau Ssad lam – waSsal to join
- I suggested they diagram it all, and the end of it, for the faasiqeen is alkhaasiroon (losers).
- The faasiqeen break the covenant they made (we all made) with Allah way before (mentioned in Surah Al A’raaf) we were even born.
- They also sever what Allah has ordered to be joined such as family ties, rights of Allah, rights of people. Some examples would be not talking to a family member because of some disagreements, preventing people from pursuing Islamic education.
- And this leads to creation of corruption (fasad), and fasad is of two types: tangible and intangible. Logging would be an example of tangible fasad. Backbiting would be an example of intangible fasad.
“Would we then say thet loggers would go to Naar?” S asked.
“Well, not if they repent before they die,” I replied. And i continued.
“We can’t say for sure that these people, that person etc will go to Naar, because we don’t know if they will be guided later on.”
Yesterday we filled up their individual calendars with deadlines. This Ramadan has been extra busy for us because of 4-H deadlines. With the record book submission date looming, we’ve been forced to work under pressure. So yeesterday, I sat them down and told them I need them to set a deadline for some things, such as
- when they want to bake what they want to enter into the fair (trial run)
- when they will let me know what they have decided to bake for the fair
- when they will bake for the fair
- when they will have their projects done
and I gave them some deadlines too
Alhamdulillah it seems that S has gotten the hang of dealing with planners and deadlines. I remember not so long ago when I was griping about her inability to organize and remember when her homework was due. I think throughout last year, she has matured a lot alhamdulillah, and is quite reliable. Alhamdulillah. Next in line is N. Oh Allah, please help me with this one.
But hopefully having them fill out their own calendars will train them to learn how to plan things, watch out for deadlines, and stick to them. This tarbiyyah is truly mentally challenging. I’m beginning to feel the weight of it, subhanallah. And on top of that, there’s my own individual self to still do some improvements on too.
Ramadan Day 20: Al Baqarah 26
September 10, 2009 at 4:26 pm | In Al Huda Institute, Eid, Family, Homeschooling, Kid Talk, New Mexico, Quran, Ramadan | Leave a Comment
Today starts the last 10 days of Ramadan. H went for taraweeh last night. He is so intent on waking up at night to pray tahajjud during the last 10 nights, and said to me,
“I want to wake up and pray the last 10 nights.”
That reminded me that I should too, even though I’m on ‘leave’.
I guess he really enjoyed it last year, when I woke them up upon their request to pray tahajjud (some of the nights) during the last 10 nights.
Alhamdulillah.
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| 26: |
| Muhsin Khan: Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger (or less when it is smaller) than it. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the Truth from their Lord, but as for those who disbelieve, they say: “What did Allah intend by this parable?” By it He misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And He misleads thereby only those who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah). |
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This morning, our ayah was the one where Allah gave the example of a mosquito. We reviewed yesterday’s ayah before starting on this one. What we learned today:
When we look at Allah’s creations, we have to reflect and ponder, and this will lead to attaining more guidance from Allah. We also have to increase dua in asking for guidance and not be lax in it.
yasta7hyee: root 7ha ya ya, shyness here is not the shyness meant in English, but is more of amodesty and appropriateness. Allah is not shy/does not hesitate to give an example of something considered so insignifcant like a mosquito. There are some words you would feel shy to say in front of your parents but among your friends the words are acceptable. And Allah is not shy to present such an example because it’s the truth. Lesson for us: if we have the truth, do not be shy to say it, but it has to be done
- in the correct manner,
- based on knowledge,
- out of sincere intention to please Allah and not to show off
- be the truth
ba’oodhah refers to mosquito, it’s the singular of ba’oodh (mosquitoes). Ba’dh (the root) means some of part of. Why is a mosquito called something from the root that means ‘part of’? Because a mosquito is so tiny that it seems like it’s part of something else.
fawqaha, meaning above it can mean 2 things:
- any other creature that is more insignificant than it
- a creature that is literally on top of a mosquito, a parasite, which moder science has recently discovered.
The believers they know this example if the truth from their Lord, so they accept and it guides them further. But those who only want to find faults with the Quran will be left astray and will not be guided from this example.
They consider the mosquito to be so insignificant but even though it’s small, it can kill a population. 
King Nimrod died when a mosquito went inside his nose. Populations have been wiped out due to diseases spread by mosquitoes.
We looked at the phases and life cycle of a mosquito here.
And a Powerpoint presentation on facts about mosquitoes.
Fasiqeen, root is fa seen qaf, fisq, fusuq means to cross the boundaries. Visual examples given:
- dates when they are ripe they burst out of their skin
- flower buds when they grow they burst out from their enclosed buds
- popcorns they pop out of their kernels
Fasiqeen can be of two types:
- one who completely disobeys Allah – > kufr
- one who believes but sometimes disobeyes Allah – minor fisq
When the metaphors about the hypocrites were revealed, the disbelievers said Allah is too high to give metaphors like that, so this ayah was revealed.
N has been having a fever for 2.5 days now so hubs brought her to the doctor because I had to cook a tray of meat for the MSA fast-a-thon today. Going out really depletes my energy. I can’t afford to go out today and have to cook that much food.
When I came downstairs this morning, the kids were working with streamers H and I had bought yesterday, taping them to the walls, forming scallops. I guess our Eid decor this year is colorful streamers and Eid balloons. Festive indeed. WHyt his early? I guess because we have alot going on around Eid time, what with them having to get their projects rwady for the State Fair, and baked gods entries. We’ve been talking about what they’re going to enter to the fair for the baked goods and we have been scouring recipes. As for me, I might enter my Pandan Chiffon and Rosy Beranbaum’s Cordon Rose Banana cake, inshaallah, if I feel like it.
May We all benefit immensely from these last 10 days of the blessed month. Ameen.
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