Back to School Post Eid
September 24, 2009 at 3:14 pm | In Books, Eid, Family, Homeschooling | Leave a CommentI took 1-2 days to recover from the exhaustion of cooking for Eid and having people over, but now we’re ready to get back into gear for this quarter. I was working on lesson plans for studying the Great Depression and had gotten some books from the library during Ramadan. Surprisingly I saw the kids taking to the books too. It is surprising becuase they used (especially S) to abhor history when we were with OHVA.
I had planned to start the unit next week, but on a whim, I started it yesterday. An idea came to me,
“Can you guys create a board game? What do you guys think about making a board game of the Great Depression?”
It’s always about making what we learn interesting and fun. Teaching them things in a direct way would be much easier, but I’m not sure if it will be effective.
So yesterday, I took a huge paper and wrote Great Depression in the middle, in a circle. They all sat around the paper which we placed on our coffee table, each with a pen/marker.
“Ok, go ahead and write down what you know about the Great Depression.”
I left them and went to check on Baby Z who was working with his developmental therapist in the sunroom.
When I came back, they had created a web, which was what I was after. next step: learning about the 1920s. The Roaring Twenties.
I had stumbled upon this website when I was googling the Roaring Twenties, and with supervision, I told them to play the game. They were also to read the book 1920s by Gail B Stewart. They took turns reading the book and playing the game and hopefully they learned some things about life in the 1920s in North America.
Then H signed up for BrainPop free trial and they watched the movies on Great Depression. I printed out the quizzes and graphic organizers and had them do them. We talked about supply and demand. I was about to explain to them about buying on credit but thought it’d be better for hubs to explain it to them since that is his area. But as of today, he hasn’t yet explained it. Let me just say that a person holding a doctorate doesn’t necessarily know how to teach children. College students yes, but not elementary aged children.
We also started learning about Khalid Ibn Waleed. I had asked them in Ramadan who they want to learn about, Zayd Ibn Thabit or Khalid Ibn Waleed and the votes was two to one. So I read to them and put in my own words also, from Commanders of the Muslim Army and Heroes of Islam. I have to say that I feel strongly inclined to offer editing help though. if only we can have easy access to shuyukh so elaborate biographies can be written about the sahaba, and written in a language children can enjoy as well as understand. Definitely we need more professionals in the writing field. Ahh…inshaallah, inshaallah later. Right now, I have two very important things to focus on. Oh Allah, help me.
Eid Mubarak 1430
September 22, 2009 at 10:19 pm | In Community, Eid, Family, Kids, New Mexico | 4 CommentsWe always used to have an open house on Eid, specially for the sisters and brothers who don’t have plans on Eid. This year seemed to be no different as hubs is always inclined towards the younger brothers, so when I asked him if we’re having people over on Eid this year, he said yes.
I started planning on Tuesday or Wednesday. I started cooking on Friday, continued on Saturday and by Eid day I was ready but quite tired. Sunday we had people over. Alhamdulillah it was great. We used to have people over in our 2 bedroom apartment in C-bus so this year, the amount of extra space available really made a difference. Alhamdulillah. I only wish my C-bus sistahs were here to enjoy that extra space.
Eid prayer this year was different than what we’ve had in C-bus. First of all, we didn’t have to bring our sejadah to the prayer place. Even before Eid I was somewhat lamenting on who would be the imam. I wanted the brother who led the taraweeh to lead because of his beautiful recitation, but hubs said that the imaamah and khaatib are two different departments. he’s only involved in the imaamah, not the khutbahs. They had asked him to give Friday khutbahs but he had responded,
“I’d rather be the janitor.”
Fitnah-inducing role that is, the khatib, in this community at least.
Also, we didn’t really have to rush to the prayer, as we’ve had to do every Eid in C-bus, as the masjid was just about 4-5 minutes away (if we get all green lights). We even let Baby Z sleep more (as he was wailing most of the night before because the kids wanted to sleep in their own beds so they would wake up in their own beds on Eid day, so the sleeping arrangements were abruptly changed for Baby Z, who doesn’t want to sleep with anyone other than S, so I couldn’t do anything much) before waking him up.
But, just like in C-bus, as soon as the imam gave salam and started the khutbah, the women got up and showered each other with Eid wishes, rendering the room too noisy for the rest of us to hear the khutbah. What bristled me was the fact that S got up too to find her friends. I told N to find her and get her back. In my mind I was thinking,
Did this girl forget all those years in C-bus when we would remain sitting after the salam to listen to the khutbah?
So she sat next to me and remained sitting until the khutbah was over, even though in the midst of it, she turned to me and said,
“I can’t hear anything.”
I couldn’t either, but that gave us no license to just get up and join in the noisemaking.
Alhamdulillah though some sisters shushed and for a while we were able to listen to the khutbah. After it was all over, it was eating time. I rushed out to the van to get the gifts for the older girls as hubs had instructed me to do right before we went into the masjid that morning. Baby Z was playing with my keys and as I went out the door, I heard a car’s alarm going off. When I got out there, I saw hubs by the van and it turned out it was our van. I guess when Baby Z was fiddling with the keys, he set off the alarm all the way from the women’s side!
As soon as hubs unloaded the van with the gifts and gathered them in a corner of the masjid on the men’s side, kids swarmed him. I laughed as I saw him attempt to fend the kids off all the time people were eating.
The kids all got their gifts and the mothers loved the eco gift wrapping, but by the time we were about to go home, we found out that baby Z didn’t get his gift. Somehow, somewhere the kids had probably just snatched baby Z’s gift bag and took off with it despite me writing on the card attached that it was for Baby Z. H looked for it but couldn’t find it. Hubs was also saying that the kids were just grabbing the gifts despite the guarding. Oh well, alhamdulillah ‘alaa kulli 7haal. It was not meant to be for Baby Z then, I guess. Alhamdulillah he is still to young to realize he had no gift.
The rest of the day was spent having company over all the way till Maghrib. Baby Z slept on the way home and slept all the way till Zuhr, alhamdulillah. The kids hung their pinata which they had stuffed with candies the night before, but they didn’t bat it. They only did so the next day, but instead of batting it, they threw it to each other to break it. And now we have a housefull of candies. We did give some out to the kids who came, but we still have a lot.
I’m still not used to eating much after Ramadan, and I sure hope this habit remains inshaallah. In all, we had a pretty nice Eid, alhamdulillah. The kids did complain about not having their friends over though. I really do think, that were my C-bus sisters here, they probably wouldn’t miss their friends on Eid. Ahh…different place, different crowd, different demography. Bit by bit I think I’m getting used and being more accepting of the changes here, though that doesn’t mean I no longer miss my sisters in C-bus or being in C-bus. I think about C-bus most of the time still, but time does something to you, it somewhat heals. Alhamdulillah.
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.
 |
| 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.
Eid Cookie-ing Begins…
September 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm | In Baking, Eid, Kitchen, New Mexico, Ramadan, Siblings, State Fair | Leave a Comment
Meringue Bubbles
S made her Meringue Bubbles yesterday. This week, the kids are to practice baking what they’re going to enter in the fair for Baked Goods. S’ baking day was yesterday, and today it’s H’s. As I type, he’s hard at work making Pecan Shortbread Melts. Tomorrow is N’s turn. A two-in-one solution for a mom who is not making Eid cookies this year. Alhamdulillah. Practice and experience for them AND Eid cookies!
For S, she practically made the Meringue Bubbles on her own yesterday, only asking me for clarification (since she followed the recipe written in my handwriting years ago on one of my 4×6 recipe index cards, and I do rewrite recipes in my own notetaking style) for cutting out the cookie dough part and piping the meringue. I had suggested this cookie for her to make. I have made it for Eid cookies in the past, but those were the years when we had no digital camera and I wasn’t really into taking photos of my baked goods, well, at least not as much as I am now. So unfortunately I don’t have any photos of these cookies to show her. So what I conjure in my head as I told her of this cookie is completely different from what she created yesterday. They still looked pretty good, but it could be better.
“So do you want to make this for the fair, you think?” I asked her yesterday as she was finishing up.
“It’s hard,” she said.
“Ok, you can try something else then.”
As for H, today, I showed him to finely chop pecans with a knife on the chopping board. One skill learned. The rest of the recipe, he’s following with ease by himself alhamdulillah.
I guess, all this while, they have helped each other when baking, most of the time that when it comes time to do it individually, they’re a little lost. That’s one reason why I assigned this week for their individual baking practice, because the fair requires that it be an individual entry. Like yesterday, S had to separated the eggs. Usually, they help each other with it. But she has to do it on her own if she is to bake meringues, or anything that requires egg whites only for the fair. N I think has never baked anything on her own. So tomorrow we’ll see how she does.
H dredging the Pecan Shortbread in sugar before baking
All in all, this is great baking experience for them all. Alhamdulillah for these opportunities. Alhamdulillah.
Eid Gift-ing
September 16, 2009 at 1:48 pm | In Art, Community, Eid, Family, Kids, Projects, Ramadan | Leave a Comment
Wrapped in one of the scarfs
This year, somehow, we’re caught in the whirlwind of buying children’s eid gift for the masjid. I didn’t plan for this, and I had hoped to avoid shopping in Ramadan especially the last 10 days, but I got sucked into it. But I’m done with it as of yesterday alhamdulillah. I consider it part of our general ibadah inshaallah, so may Allah accept it from us. Ameen.
Our closet under the staircase is filled with toys and gifts for the kids at the masjid. Our next challenge now is to figure out how to present these gifts. There are about 50 kids. Yesterday, after coming home from the doctor’s (s and N are sick) I went to Dollar Tree to look for an economical solution to this. Hubby is against it completely. He said,
“Just write their names on their toys like they did last year.”
But I’m thinking ‘ihsaan’. When you want to present a gift to someone, you don’t just give it ‘raw’, do you? So I came home with no solution unfortunately yesterday.
But after voicing out my empty idea bank, S came up with some ideas. Use fabric. Our scraps of fabric that have been stashed forever. I also googled alternative gift wrapping, and came up with a wealth of information and ideas!
I particularly am taken by Furoshiki. Reminds me Oshin and Kaoru during my childhood. Malaysian may know what I’m talking about if you’re reading this. *smile*
10 Ideas for Pretty Alternative Wrapping by Mighty Girl, I just came across today, but she has a lot of great cute ideas too!
This cereal boxes idea is great too, though for our purpose and scope (which is 50 gifts to wrap!) this won’t do.
And I just LOVE this. Thanks EnviroMOM! This is what we started doing yesterday, and the girls LOVE it! S wraps the gifts, cuts fabric strips into ribbons, and N makes the name cards,
N making the name cards
tied with a yarn to the wrapped gifts. When hubs came back, we told him, and he told us to come up with color coding for the different age groups.
So by Isha, S came up with the color coding by the ribbons. Rainbow is for ages 1, 2, 3. Checkered is for ages 4, 5, 6. Green is for ages 7,8,9. Yellow stripes is for ages 10,11, 12 and above. Pretty good mashaallah. We decided to wrap the girls’ gifts with cloth and the boys, just with ribbons, since, (quoting S)
“They don’t really care anyway.”
Ay (our friend from Columbus who recently moved here) gave us a bag of beautiful scarfs and hijabs, and we actually utilized this yesterday in our gift wrapping activity. Especially for the bigger girls. Two-in-one kind of thing! Alhamdulillah!
I love this going green thing! So do the kids, apparently, as they started resuming the wrapping activity right after they are done with our Ramadan lesson for today.
Some gifts bagged in cut and sewed bolster cases - courtesy of S
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 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.
Peace and Quiet
December 15, 2008 at 12:33 am | In Baby Sign Language, Books, Eid, Family, Kids, Mothering | 2 CommentsThe 10th of Zulhijjah and 3 days of tashreek. We’re still Eiding walhamdulillah. Our eid this year was pretty toned down. Usually, we would take the kids to Chuck E. Cheeses, but this year, hubby went back to his office to finish up work and I slept my morning off.
Alhamdulillah for the sisters of Tarbiyyah School who reserved the skating rink at WOW for sisters on the first day of Tashreek. Rh and Fr offered to pick the kids up. The kids were excited, so excited that when Rh and Fr didn’t get here by 12 pm (the afore-promised time), S came to me and muttered,
“Maybe they forgot.”
“No, they’ll be here. They’re just a little late I think. Why don’t you call them?”
I made sure I prepped them up before they left.
“Don’t ask them to buy you anything. Take the juice with you. If you’re thirsty, drink that, don’t buy anything. Save the money you have, make sure you don’t use up Z’s 5 dollars.”
And of course, I made sure they ate a satisfying meal before they left.
When the kids told hubby about the skating event, they told me that he had said,
“That would need money.”
I told them they could use their Eid money, a 20 dollar bill split up between the four of them. Alhamdulillah, renting the rollerblades cost only 1 dollar, and since they could also use their own rollerblades, that saved even more. The only thing they couldn’t control was the entrance fee.
Armed with a bottle of orange juice, a few paper cups, their roller blades, and a 20 dollar bill, off they went with Rh and Fr to the skating rink, leaving Baby Z and me with some much needed peace and quiet. I know. Not complete peace, but Baby Z alhamdulillah is a pretty easy toddler to care for, except for the allergies that is. He’s quite mild in temperament and doesn’t really demand much, and he can occupy himself by sitting quietly and flipping through the pages of a book, or several books for that matter. If not that, then the computer, where he would peck on the keyboard with his chubby fingers, eyes afixed to the screen, noting every little effect his pecking is producing.
I spent the morning feeding him three small bowls of his food, and several sips of rice milk. I have to say, these past few weeks, I realized that taking care of three bigger kids and one lil one is not easier than taking care of three young children about 15/16 months apart. When they’re all about the same age, you can easily herd them together like a flock of sheep, but when you have several age groups, (in my case two) it gets a bit trickier. I really am amazed at how mothers of more than 4 children handle it, and my recent interview responses really gave me some wonderful insights.
I realize that with Baby Z, a lot is done for him, especially at mealtimes. I still have to get a handle on how to separate his food and our food. The dining table is a dangerous place, since the older kids use it. There would be a plate with bread crumbs on it, a spread knife with remnants of peanut butter, and bottles and glasses of milk, all detrimental to Baby Z. N had broken Baby Z’s meal tray, so we couldn’t put him on his seat with the tray on, thus I gave up letting him eat by himself. We’re still feeding him to this day whereas my three older kids were already eating by themselves at this age. Same with drinking. My heart skips beats when I see cups with white liquid in it. If Baby Z were to take it and attempt to drink it, if it was milk, he’d most probably have a reaction. We designate a special cup for him, his plastic bright green cup, though he still reaches for other cups. Once, he happened to swipe the table which was scattered with bread crumbs with his hands, and then scratched his neck, and immediately hives appeared. I can deal with hives. It’s the wheezing that I can’t take. It scares me to death. And I keep forgetting to ask his doctor about him having an epipen, just in case.
I asked a mom of 5 who has one multiple allergic son how she manages, and she said, there were times when her allergic son sneaked some cookies and broke out in hives and rashes. And today his egg allergies is worse somewhat, and she said it could probably be due to all those cookies he managed to sneak in.
Recently, I declared myself to be on strike with regards to cooking; that I would only cook for myself and Baby Z. I think I felt the accumulated stress of cooking two, sometimes three different meals each time. With the three older kids, I usually just cook one meal and everybody ate it. With Baby Z, I have to cook his food, and ours, and sometimes, his, mine and theirs. There were a lot of times where I end up hungry because there was nothing to eat (because I have to cook them, which is a boon actually, as readily available food are usually not that healthy, except for fruits of course), and then there was my milk supply, which is now decreasing at an alarming rate. There were nights when Baby Z would wake up, crying for my milk, and I had almost nothing to give him. When he realized I wasn’t going to give him any milk, he lay down quietly and gulped down his own saliva, which we could clearly hear. One night, hubby had to take him downstairs and give him some water to drink because I couldn’t give him any milk. Subhanallah…the fact that his allergies make me more responsible for his source of milk and liquid can be quite taxing. Four more months that I am responsible for this, inshaallah. I just have to hold out until then.
I do try to give him more rice milk though, while I struggled to increase my milk supply. Those difficult nights are behind us alhamdulillah, for now. Now he doesn’t wake up at night anymore (provided he went to bed with a full tummy).My milk supply is back up, alhamdulillah, though I have to vigilantly keep up my eating, drinking, and stress level, and of course sleep.
It’s amusing to see how children love routines and order. Everytime we give him his drink, he would go to the paper towel held in place by the paper towel holder on the wall and point to it, refusing to drink without a wad of paper towel under his chin. By now, he knows that when he drinks, there should be a wad of tissue held underneath his chin, to catch all those drips (which he sometimes does on purpose).
When the kids left with Rh and Fr to the skating place, Baby Z and I surrounded ourselves with books, his with his and me with mine. I lay on the bed reading my book, and he took his books, brought them to the bed, and looked through them while making signs and saying “uh, uh”. His face would light up when I joined him, and we looked at the pictures together.
He wouldn’t really let me read to him, as he would too quickly turn the page before I could finish reading a sentence, so I would just talk about the pictures, and make the signs, to which he would pay attention. When I added sound effects, it seemed to particularly tickle him and he would giggle.
I spent the morning feeding him three small bowls of his food, back to back, while he opened up a book I was planning to read (yes, while feeding him. I’ve been doing a lot of multitasking with regards to reading lately, and still am). The book, Curried Favors, has food photos, to which he would point, and I would mention the name, and while I thought he was absorbed in the book while I fed him, every time his food was almost gone, he would make the ‘more’ sign, sending me to the kitchen to refill his bowl. It maybe took about half an hour or more just feeding him his food. That didn’t include giving him his rice milk and water. But I loved that one on one time with him.
It felt like just as I was getting comfortable on the bed, reading, while also looking at the pictures in his book and making chug a chug a choo choo sounds, we heard a knock on the front door. I couldn’t believe it. Time had flown just like that, my peace and quiet was broken just like that. The older kiddoes were back.
“Already?” I remarked, as I opened the door.
“It was long, Ummi…” S said.
And in they all trooped.
Oh well, at least I did get some peace and quiet. Beggars can’t be choosers.
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