The Techie

"When can I be the imam?" S asked me when we were about to pray Maghrib.

"When you pray with N you can be the imam," I replied.

"The one who knows the most is supposed to be the one who becomes the imam," I continued.

"But sometimes you forget your surahs," she said.

"But I still know more than you right now," I said.

It's true. I'm so bad about my some surahs that while we were praying, S had had to clad her left hand to indicate that i was making a mistake.

Last night, I chose to recite a surah I knew I have problems with. Of course, I fumbled with my recitation. S clapped. I repeated my recitation. I failed. I repeated it again. I failed.

"Ok, now you recite it to me," I said as soon as we gave salam.

"I can," said N.

"Ok, go ahead." I said.

She recited the surah. When she reached the point where I fumbled, I exclaimed,

"I DID say that. S, why did you keep on clapping?"

"No. You missed a letter," she insisted.

She was sitting at the computer, and began to type on the keyboard.

"Maybe you can check on reciter.org," I said, as she began typing.

"That's what I was going to do," she replied.

She's beginning to sound like a teenager, I thought.

Reciter.org apparently failed to do her bidding, and I took over. It took quite a while for me to get it working, such that the kids were already in bed. I was still trying to load it. Suddenly H asked,

"Are you using Internet Explorer?"

"No. Firefox," I replied, thinking no more of his question while trying to load reciter.org

Then it suddenly came to me that he might have a point. They were all waiting for reciter.org, and all eyes were afixed on the glaring screen. It has been a while since I played reciter.org for them at bedtime.

"Oh yeah! Maybe I should try Internet Explorer!"

The mouse clicked rapidly and before long, reciter.org was ready to recite.

"Masyaallah! You're good, H!"

I didn't know what expression took over his face, but all was quiet when I expressed amazement at his astute observation and suggestion.

"What surah do you guys want to hear?"

"A long one!"

"The longest one!"

"Ok, I'll give you guys this one."

"Is it Al Baqarah?"

"No, it's Ar-Rahman. It's not that long but it has its own rhythm."

"Is Al Baqarah the longest one?"

"Yes."

"My teacher in high school made us memorize this surah when he was teaching us science," I said.

I closed the door, and left them listening to

"Fabi ayyi Aala irabbikumaa tukazzibaan?"

Internet Explorer vs Firefox. I guess at times we still have to take the older ones over the newest innovations. Fancy having a six year old as my techie consultant. Fancy having an eight year old correct my recitation.