Purchasing CDs

"I'm selling! Who's buying?" I shouted as I sat, sprawled on the carpet with a crate of IlmQuest CDs next to me, and a smattering of CDs I had taken out to display in front of me.

We had been keeping the CDs for a few days, and hubby was supposed to hand it to the brother who was in charge of the CDs.

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

The three kids responded, in equal fervor, and they flocked to me, and together we reenacted a typical scene in bazaars, me selling my wares and them looking them over with interest.

"I'll take this."

"I'll take this and this."

"Okay," I said.

"Can we really buy them?" H asked me.

I froze. I mean, I was just playacting. They don't really want to buy Islamic lecture CDs, do they? They were just playing along with me, weren't they? Can they really buy them?

"Err...hmm....yeah...hmm...you guys wanna buy them for real?" I asked back.

"Yeah!" they replied in unison.

I never expected that. They really want to buy the CDs? So do I let them use their money to buy those CDs they picked?

When hubby came home, I cornered him in the kitchen and asked if we should let them use their money to buy the CDs. He nodded.

Then it struck me: Duhhh!

I let them use their money to buy toys, why not Islamic CDs?

So, they bought their chosen CDs, and for those speakers whom they are not familiar with, we listened to a sample of their lectures, to see if they like their style of speaking. So when everything was set, these were what the kids bought:

S:
Stories From Hadith by Anwar Awlaki

N:
Angels and Jinns by Bilal Philips

H:
Are you a monkey? by Yassir Fazaqa
Weathering the Storm by Abdulbary Yahya
Description of the Prophet by Yasir Qadhi

S was looking for Muhammad Alshareef's CDs because she said she likes listening to his stories. We have been putting on his Tafseer Juz Amma Touched by an Angel in the van every time we go out, and the kids have been listening to them.

We never put on the radio in the van, and we had started listening to CDs in the van since the kids were young. Since they weren't able to understand much when they were younger, H would complain,

"I can't understand. They're so many 'shuhn'* words!"

*----tion - ending words*

That was back in 2005 when we drove to Madison, Wisconsin for the Malaysian Midwest Games and put on Abdulbary Yahya's Purification of the Heart CD set. Now, three years later, and three years wiser, I think H is better able to understand Islamic lectures through attending Jumu'ah khutbahs and various Islamic events with his father. All in all, alhamdulillah hubby and I had stripped ourselves of the habit of listening to music quite early, such that the kids were never exposed to it at a young age. The T.V. however, is a habit-removal-work still in progress, at least for one of us.

When I asked if they want to listen to the lectures at home, they all said no.

"In the van, because there's nothing to do in the van," reasoned H.

S had picked The Hereafter by Anwar Awlaki, but hubby bought it online instead, as AlBasheer had a good deal that includes three other sets we have been wanting to purchase. So now, while I nurse and put Baby Z down for his nap in my room, I listen to Anwar Awlaki's Ummar Ibn AlKhattab. That CD player hubby had bought for me, just for that purpose when I was pregnant with Baby J is really serving us well, alhamdulillah. For me, listening to these Islamic lectures are great iman boosters in my daily life, and they give me a lot of food for thought, and much needed reminders.

Inshaallah, may our lives be immersed in these daily reminders whether through audio lectures, daily Quran recitations and meanings, hadeeth readings, Islamic events, and halaqas. Ameen.