07.14.09
Ramadan is Coming!
I don’t know where the time goes. Just yesterday I was pregnant with Ibraheem. Man, Ramadan is so close. It’s already the end of Rajab. Next thing you know we’re in Sha’baan, when we’re freaking out that we’re not prepared for Ramadan, then wham! It’s Ramadan. And then we scramble to finish all of the things we wanted to finish in Ramadan – like reading the entire Qur’aan and praying more Sunnah prayers. And just when we feel like we almost have the hang of it…. It’s gone.
Which is why we (and by “we”, I mean “I”) should prepare. I should prepare from now. What with the visitor throwing off Qur’aan readings, the kids causing acute exhaustion, and trying to make something nice every day for iftaar, ibaadat are often left on hold.
This Sha’baan, I want to try hard to get a few simple things into my schedule before Ramadan starts. Allah subhaana wa ta’aala loves the consistent deeds, even if they are small.
On my list are:
- every day Qur’aan readings with the kids, 1 page minimum
- Reviewing long surahs I have memorized – at least 4 ayahs
- Listening to the CD of that surah at least 10 minutes a day
- attending Jum’ah
- picking up on sunnah prayers that have been neglected
- restarting listening to lectures
It looks like really small things, but if I can keep up with it – Alhamdulillah! I’m sure that I’m not the only mother overwhelmed with all that goes on in Ramadan. I need to write it out some where so there’s one less thing in my too-crammed head 
What I usually do is print out all of my goals on a table, put them up some where that I know I’ll see them often and then I check them off throughout the day. May Allah make us all prepared for Ramadan this year so that it may be the most fruitful Ramadan yet!
Oh – I just realized I cannot list all of the Islamic months off the top of my head. How sad is that?
So I looked them up in case anyone else is as ignorant as I 
and here they are: Muharram, Safar, Rabi ul Awwal, Rabi al Thaani, Jummadi al Awwal, Jummadi al Thaani, Rajab, Sha’baan, Ramadaan, Dhul Qada, and Dhul Hijja.
07.12.09
Dancing within Women
Dancing is so common within women that some people might even find it ridiculous that I’m talking about this. I probably would’ve found it ridiculous a few years ago. I mean, sure, I always get uncomfortable when a woman belly dances at a party for everyone. I’ll sit there in the corner and avert my eyes, wondering if it’ll seem strange if I just stood up and went to the kitchen. I always seemed to be the only one who felt that way. It just never made sense to me - why should everyone just sit and watch as one woman performed this very provacative dance?
Forget about belly dancing – what about just women dancing all together? And we’re obviously not talking folklore or ballroom dancing here; we’re talking hip hop, belly shaking, shoulder shimmying dancing. It is clearly haraam in front of men – but what about within women?
I tried to look up dancing in hadith, etc, but I came up dry. My guess is perhaps that dancing is a rather new phenomenom. This topic did crop up in the Fiqh of Love class Read the rest of this entry »
06.27.09
Ishaaq, Ya’qoob and Yusuf
This is just a small intro to their stories. I’ve actually had this transcribed for like a month now. My son broke the next CD 
So I’m kind of stuck. InshaAllah the replacement will come in soon
Ishaaq, Ya’qoob and Yusuf
Allah has given Ibraheem the glad tidings of Ishaaq and Ya’qoob.
Allah says about Ishaaq: “And We gave him the glad tidings of Ishaque (Isaac) a Prophet from the righteous.” (37:112) And Allah says that He gave him glad tidings of a knowledgeable child – ghulaamin ‘aleem. (see 51:28) Allah has described Ishaaq as intelligent, righteous and He said that Ishaaq was a prophet.
Ishaaq had a child, and his name was Ya’qoob. Ya’qoob has another name also, and that is Israa`eel. Allah mentions the name Israa`eel in the Qur’aan. The mufassireen say that the world Israa`eel means ‘Abdullah – the servant of Allah.
When we say “Bani Israa`eel”, we are talking about the sons of Ya’qoob. And when we talk about the 12 tribes, we are talking about the tribes that are the descendants of the 12 sons of Ya’qoob.
Ya’qoob has 12 sons, the best of them is Yusuf. Yusuf is a nabiy of Allah. Some scholars tend to believe that the other 11 brothers are also ambiya. As evidence to support that, they use the fact that Allah says: “Say (O Muslims), ‘We believe in Allah and that which has been sent down to us and that which has been sent down to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma’il (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), Ya’qub (Jacob), and to Al-Asbat [the twelve sons of Ya’qub (Jacob)], and that which has been given to Musa (Moses) and ‘Eesa (Jesus), and that which has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam).’” (2:136) They say that asbaat is talking about the 12 sons of Ya’qoob.
Other scholars say that asbaat means the twelve tribes, and not the 12 sons; Allah included them to include all of the prophets of Bani Israel. We know that many prophet came to Bani Israel. Ibn Kathir supports this opinion because he says that the things that were done by Yusuf’s brothers were not supportive of that which a nabiy does. Yusuf is the only one out of them who is specifically mentioned in the Qur’aan as a nabiy.
06.13.09
CA Academy of Sciences & GG Bridge
We went to the California Academy of Sciences as well. They had an aquarium and planetarium. We really wanted to go see the aquarium for Ibraheem. He reaaly enjoyed it. And I really loved the planetarium, which is apparently the biggest in the world.
Indoor Rain Forest
This was really cool to go into and see. Probably worth the 20 minute wait, had I not had a fear of heights. Khadeejah was also squirming in my lap and attempting to jump over the railing. Can you blame a mom?
Roof of Rain Forest
The Golden Gate Bridge
It was windy as heck by the bridge. The view was gorgeous, but man was it windy! Ibraheem panicked so much that I took him back to the van.
California!
I recently went to CA to visit family, and maaan, I realized just how ugly Texas is. California is gorgeous mashaAllah! And the weather there is awesome.
The view from the backseat
Just the drives were so pretty. California is so green mashaAllah! There were flowers, trees, bushes all over the place. My mom would’ve loved it
At the San Francisco Zoo
I’ve been bugging the hubby to go to the zoo since we got married. What can I say? I’m a kid at heart
Pebble Beach
This place was very pretty. The pebbles look nice, but when you have to actually climb over them (and in my case, bare foot), it’s not as pleasant. it’s especially scary with little kids. But mashaAllah it was beautiful and I’m so glad we got to see it.
Bird Rock, 17 mile Drive
Then there was the 17 mile drive – it’s a very scenic drive and there are a lot of different places where you can stop and check out stuff, take pictures, etc. This is one of the places we stopped – Bird Rock. Not really sure why, but a lot of birds sit on this rock. And see how it’s all white? That’s not the actual color of the rock…that’s birdy doo
Another Scenic Spot, 17 mile drive
05.10.09
Qur’an Reflections: Coolness of the Eye
This one is bought to you by my hubby
We all know the very beautiful du’aa`:
“Our Lord! Grant unto us wives and offspring who will be the coolness of our eyes.” (25:74)
Have you ever thought what ‘coolness of the eye’ means? People translate it in a lot of ways… somebody told me it was the equivalent of ‘Apple of the Eye’.
In the Arabic text though, it has a very different and beautiful meaning. The Arabs of that time used the expression in several instances that show the beauty of the Aayah. They used it to indicate tears of joy, i.e. they would use the expression to talk about something that brought tears of joy to their eyes. So, in the dua’ we are asking Allah subhaana wa ta’aala to make our families a reason for us to have tears of joy in our eyes.
Moreover, and this is the most beautiful: in the desert, when there is a sandstorm, they would wrap their turban around their nose etc. leaving only the eyes exposed. This obviously caused a lot of distress to the eyes. It is like the eyes were exposed to all the harm that the sandstorm brought. And when they reached a safe place, where they could open their turban back up and not have to cover their face and no longer needed to squint their eyes, they would say that their eyes have found coolness. Beautiful, isn’t it?
So by making this dua we are asking Allah swt to make our families (our spouses and our children) a safe haven from the chaos in the outside world, i.e. we come home from the outside world of chaos and we look at our families, it fills our eyes with tears of joy and we feel like we have finally come to a place where we can rest and relax.
Additionally, the construct of the sentence implies that we are asking Allah swt to provide us a safe haven especially at home (indicating how important it is that we find that safe haven). It is such a beautiful du’aa` subhaanAllah!
05.06.09
Eternity
It is the amount of time a mother spends on her children 
The physical stress of children I had expected. I had expected sleepless nights, tired limbs, mountains of laundry…. And perhaps, because I did it regularly on a much lesser scale, I thought I would be able to handle motherhood.
SubhaanAllah, now that I think of it, looking at just how much some mothers have to do – how patient they have to be - it’s a miracle that they survive the day. Read the rest of this entry »
04.18.09
The Qur’an: Revelation and Preservation
I started a small piece to do for a halaqa (which was unseccessful) - on the Compilation and Preservation of the Qur’aan. I’m using this book by Yasir Qadhi as my main source. Two of my very good friends actually did a halaqa on it in my pre-marriage days. I just used their halaqa as an outline (of course I have notes!) and I added on to it. May Allah give them reward as well
Sciences of the Qur’aan
The Word “Qur’aan”
There are several opinions on what the word “Qur’aan” means, but the most popular and the strongest opinion is that held by At-Tabaree:
The word Qur’aan is derived from the word “qaraa’a” which means “to read, to recite.” So the word Qur’aan is the verbal noun of qaraa’a, and thus it translates as “the recitation” or “the reading.”
Stages of Revelation
1st stage
It was written in Lauh al-Mahfood (the Preserved Tablet) which is with Allah.
2nd stage
From Lauh al-Mahfoodh, Allah revealed it to the lower heavens to Bayt al-‘Izza* (the House of Honor) in Ramadan, on Layla tul-Qadr.
3rd stage
Finally, the Qur’aan came down to earth by Jibreel ‘alayhis salaam. This was done piece by piece, i.e it didn’t come all at once. It was revealed over 23 years: 13 years in Makkah, 10 years in Madinah.
(if you want to know why, see pages 81 – 87)
Wahy
Wahy means to inspire or the communicate in a manner that is not obvious or apparent to anyone else in a swift manner.
The word has been used in a number of places in the Qur’aan. Read the rest of this entry »
04.03.09
What Your Husband Isn’t Telling You
First, this is kind of different from what I usually post. It’s a very eye-opening article about marital relationships after having children. So if you are embarassed easily, please don’t read or you’ll turn 20 shades of red
After kids, marriage is on the rocks for awhile. At least, from what I’ve noticed from friends and heard in general I thought this article was really interesting. It was written by a sex therapist and he discusses how the men feel. You’d be surprised.
Original link and here’s the article in case that link goes dead…
What Your Husband Isn’t Telling You
by Ian Kerner
Men talk to me all the time about sex, which is only natural, since I’m a sex therapist and I make my living talking to people about their sex lives. But it’s funny how many guys like to talk to me when I’m not working, when I’m pushing my sons in their double stroller or watching them at the playground.
Neighbors know what I do, and it seems to draw the men to me — and they open up about certain things that the guys who actually come to see me with their wives just don’t. Every time this happens, I end up saying the same thing: Read the rest of this entry »
03.24.09
Allah’s Names: Ar-Raheem and Al-Ghafoor
I mentioned earlier about Allah’s (subhaana wa ta ‘aala) beautiful Names Ghafoor and Ar-Raheem. Now I’ll mention another amazing gem that ustaadh shared with us about Allah’s beautiful Names …
Allah’s most beautiful Name ﺍﻟﺭﺣﻴﻢ (Ar-Raheem) means that He is Merciful. Alhamdulillah. Because of the ﻱ in the middle, it means that He is Merciful at all times or that He is forever Merciful.
The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that Allah divided Mercy into one-hundred parts. He kept its ninety-nine parts with Him for the Day of Judgment (with which He shall be Merciful to His creation). He sent down one part sto earth, and because of that one single part, His creation is Merciful to one another. Even the mare lifting up her hoof away from her baby, lest she trample it, is considered in that one part of mercy. [See Bukhaari, 8/73/29 and Muslim 37/6630]. Imagine that – even the mercy of the Prophets would be considered in that one part; the mercy of all the mothers for their children since the beginning of time!
The Name ﺍﻟﻐﻔﻮﺭ (Al-ghafoor), however, does not mean that He is always/forever forgiving. If that were so, then there would be no hell. Because of the ﻮ Allah is exceedingly forgiving. Allah forgives beyond what any of us could expect.
Allah is also ﺍﻟﻐﻔﺎﺭ which means that He is repeatedly forgiving.
SubhaanAllah, such subtleties in the difference of meaning with the change of just one letter!
