Ready for a Celebration!

This is what our staircase looks like (yes, present tense) by the time Eid came. It still looks like this now, as I didn't bother taking everything down. I have a feeling they're going to stay up there until we have to move and I have to start packing.
It's a gallery of sorts, and I rather love the feeling of festivity. I have always loved putting up framed art in the home, but due to frugalness, I only put one piece up. As we homeschooled, I have taken to putting up the kids' masterpieces as wall decor.
Yesterday we attended one of the local masjid's Eid celebration for kids, big bouncy castles, slides, pony rides and carnival games. They used to have it at Masjid Omar, but this year's Masjid Al Noor hosted it. We went kind of late because we had gone out earlier in the morning for H's last soccer game for the season followed by grocery shopping, and library visits.

Eid Mubarak! (be it Friday or Saturday)

To those who drop by who are Muslims, we wish you

EID MUBARAK!

Taqabbal Allahu Minna wa minkum

May Allah accept it from us and from you, Ameen.

Way Behind

I'm way behind in posting our daily Ramadan activities, but our staircase now looks merry, ready for Eid.

Last Ramadan, I wasn't able to do anything with them due to incessant vomitting, so this year, I rebounded with the help of Allah, and made sure I make their Ramadan memorable. It's not that easy, with a nursing baby who wakes up at suhoor time.

After Fajr, I had to nurse him and put him back to sleep. Our morning routine goes like this:

1. Suhoor
2. Fajr
3. Individual reading of the Quran, timed
4. Sub'ee (review Juz Amma in a fun way)*
5. Ramadan Crossword Puzzle

We're usually done around 8-9 am, suhoor being at around 5 am.

* I figured that the kids would come to me with long faces were I to review the surahs in a normal way, so with a ball, we did 'Musical Ball' (without the music of course). I would close my eyes, and they would pass the ball around. Baby Z would usually be either nursing, or propped up on my lap watching them with keen interest. Whenever I felt like it I would say

"Stop!" and whoever has the ball would be asked to recite a surah of my choosing. I could usually hear who the ball goes to, so I would sometimes on purpose say "Stop!" when I know the ball is in a particular person's hand. (I think they know this too - smart kids mashaallah)

I started timing their reading of the Quran after realizing that I used to spend about an hour per person, just having them read one page. With the timer, they have motivation to do less dawdling. Alhamdulillah.

Usually, by the time we finish sub' ee, Baby Z would either be fussing, ready to sleep, or already asleep in my arms. When we pray Fajr, he would be up and kicking excitedly. Most times, by the time we're done with sub'ee I am usually tired and distracted by Baby Z's fussing, but so far, only once did I delegate the job of making sure they do the Ramadan Crossword Puzzle activity.

We have less than a week now inshaallah, and so far, I have stuck to my goals for Ramadan, where the Quran and kids are concerned alhamdulillah. May Allah give me strength and patience to continue doing so, for it's really a huge challenge every morning. This perked me up though:

"Ummi, you're nicer in Ramadan," said N.

Either it's because I'm too tired, or I'm free from the evil whispers of the Shaytaan.

Sawm - The Pillars of Islam

What is the Arabic term for 'fast'?

"Huh?"

"It starts with S?"

"Ramadan?"

"Nope. Recite the buniyyal Islam hadith and you'll find the answer, or the kutiba ayat," I said.

They recalled the hadith and a few moments later I heard,

"Oh! Sawm?"

"Is it sawm, ummi?"

I nodded and they filled in the puzzle.

For this day, we did the five pillars of Islam. I gave an analogy of a tent, the middle pole being Shahadah and the rest being salat, zakat, sawm and hajj.

"What if we're too poor that we cannot go to hajj?"

"Say the hadith again," I said.

"...manistatta'tu 'alaihi sabeela."

"It means, for whoever can afford to go."

"But the rest of the stuff we cannot leave, ever. "

"What does the shahadah mean?" I asked them. I wondered how much they retained.

"That we believe in Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," S replied. (SAW)

"That Allah is the only god worthy of worship. Because guess what, the kuffar at the time of the prophet SAW also believed in Allah."

I expounded on the concept of worship of one god and talked about how the Arabs during the time of the jahiliyyah believed in Allah, but also worshipped idols.

We also talked about how Abu Bakr declared war on the people who refused to pay zakat, implying that one who does not pay zakat is dangerously stepping outside the fold of Islam.

Battle of Badr

Today's crossword puzzle answer was Battle of _______. (Badr)

"H, get the History book in my room, and S, get Raheeq Makhtum from the shelf downstairs," I ordered.

I was not feeling too chirpy this morning. Probably due to lack of sleep or lack of food. Baby Z's been nursing a lot, a session could last to an hour. Hubby was worried about me fasting in Ramadan, but I insisted that I had done it three times before, so it should be okay. And Alhamdulillah, my milk supply (I feel) has actually increased rather than dwindling this Ramadan.

However, Baby Z also persisted nursing at the wrong times, (or maybe it's the best times, Allah knows best); during iftar, before I could eat a full meal, and sometimes during suhoor. I always end up feeding him for about half an hour to 45 minutes after praying salatul maghrib, and only after that do I get to eat my meal. It has been a pretty hectic Ramadan this year, but I feel a truly blessed one inshaallah.

I read from Raheeq Makhtum, after S gave up on trying to comprehend the writing style. I have to admit, the first few times I read the older version of Raheeq Makhtum, I had to force myself to concentrate to understand it. However, I did always manage to shed tears at the telling of the death of Hamzah Ibn Abdul Mutallib each time. H meanwhile, read Volume 1 of History of Islam. I had told him to look up battle of Badr in the Table of Contents, and while I read, he read. Several times he interrupted my reading with,

'The prophet SAW threw sand,"

and

"Ummi, Abdul Rahman bin Awf and Omayya were friends? How can they be? Omayya was Bilal's old master and Abdul Rahman bin Awf was Muslim."

I was having trouble concentrating despite my recent training in speed reading (I have several stacks of library books about homeschooling and Montessori in my living room, and I have been reading them while nursing Baby Z). Apparently, H is devouring the material more intently than I was. I had to tell him,

"Shh, let me read this first."

When I was done reading, I called them, and narrated the story of the Battle of Badr. As i got to the part where Ubaidullah was seriously injured in the one-on-one combat with the kuffar, H interjected,

"Yeah, I read that too."

All throughout my narration, H kept interjecting, which is a good thing, since it means that he can now read History of Islam while comprehending it by himself. It also surprised me that the names of the sahabah stuck with him immediately. I had trouble remembering who each was. Maybe the Quran memorization did expand his memorization capability. Subhanallah.

I am a Control Freak

I was groggy, and Baby Z needed nursing. Hubby was on FootyTube. I handed him the teaching job for the day.

"Tell Abi to teach you about it. He can google it," I said, when they came to me after trying to answer the day's puzzle. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

Call me a control freak, but I couldn't sleep, despite being so sleepy. Baby Z had already fallen asleep, so it was a very good time for me to get some rest, but I worried about hubbynot performing up to par.

I got out of bed. Hubby was perched on top of the stairs watching the kids try to spell Rayyan. My sleepiness vanished.

"Ok, go write something about it," said hubby.

"No...you have to teach us!" they exclaimed in unison.

I exclaimed my protest too. Ascertained. I was not going to get that sleep.

He went back to his FootyTube to google and I went back to bed, trying to put some trust in hubby. However, I couldn't help eavesdropping.

"Ahh! I have something to tell them," I said to myself, recalling what we learned in Rays of Faith about the doors of Jannah.

Again, I got out of bed.

"Oh kids, that door, Rayyan, only the people who fast a lot can go through them, no one else can. So it's special that way, because the other doors are not specialized like that. Why do you think so?"

"Because it's hard to fast," answered S.

"Some people can fast a lot, some people are better at something than others. Some can pray more, some can give charity more, and this door is only for those whose specialty is being able to fast a lot," I continued.

Done! I went back to bed, leaving hubby to tell them whatever it is he wanted to tell them. I had conveyed what I wanted to convey regarding that topic, which I know hubby didn't know.

As I lay down, Baby Z stirred and opened his eyes. Seeing me, he smiled. Great!

S heard him babbling, took him, and I tried to sleep, my mind at peace. As for hubby and the kids, they did 'the ten people who were guaranteed jannah'. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Lailatul Qadr

There is a special night in Ramadan called Lailatul ____.

Of course, the surah, the meaning of each ayat are talked about.

The knowledge of it being taken away by Allah.
The signs that it occurred - the dim sun.

"I saw a sun like that once, when I was in school," I told them.

They came up with :

Taqwa

Allah commanded us to fast so we can attain _______.

We read, well I read the ayah:

.

183:

Muhsin Khan: O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2). "Why did Allah tell us to fast?" "So we can feel how the hungry people feel," H answered. "Well, actually, that's not why we're told to fast," I began, and talked about taqwa, and what it is.

They came up with:

Iqra? Alaq?

For a while they struggled to figure out what the name of the surah is.

"Surah Iqra'!"

"No?"

"Oh! Alaq! Alaq!"

"Is it Alaq?"

I nodded.

"Ok, come here," I motioned for them to come sit around me. I was nursing Baby Z.

It seems that everybody wants to participate, yes, including the littlest one, at iftar and suhoor time.

"Bring me tafseer ibn Kathir from my room, on the table," I said.

We talked about:

the surah was the first surah to be revealed, but not all of it
Abu Jahl wanted to stomp on the prophet's saw neck when he was making sujud, but was chased away by the angel of torment
how the kuffar did all kinds of things just because the Muslims prayed

When I concluded, they exclaimed in unison,

"Oh, I want to do the fire one!"

"No, I want to do that!"

Well, I guess they all did that.

Day 10- Talhah Ibn Ubaidullah

He missed the Battle of Badr because he was spying on he Quraish's caravan.

Answer: Talhah

We covered:

What he did during the battle of Uhud
His right arm was paralyzed
His injuries brought him the name "The Living Martyr"
He missed the battle of Badr but it was as if he participated
He was one of the ten companions promised Jannah

H had a soccer game, so he only fasted for a quarter of the day. His skills had improved significantly from last year, much to hubby's pleasure and surprise. Even an unseasoned soccer spectator like me was able to discern the improvement.

The Sword of Allah

"Khaleed!"

The 'poison' gave it away. All excited they clambered onto my bed where Baby Z was stationed comfortably.

"Ooh! wait! wait! I wanna write the facts!"

I waited. They came back with notebooks each. Amazing! I didn't even tell them to write notes, but they're doing it on their own.

I waited as they comfortably seated themselves on my bed, Baby Z in the center, looking up around him at the faces of his 'sibs' (that's what they dub themselves to each other now).

I began by telling them of Khaleed's reputation as a warrior. Battle of Uhud followed naturally, and then we went on to how he became Muslim. I skimmed the battles he led and won and went straight to his death, and how he longed to be martyred.

By the end of my storytelling session, they each had a solemn look on their faces. I knew then that it was a succesful learning session, alhamdulillah!

"Look at my notes," said N, handing me her well written notes, neat, with drawings.

"Here's mine but it's not as neat as hers," offered H.

"I didn't write any. It was too fast," said S.

"Well, you know what. You don't have to take notes with writing. You can draw if you need to. As long as you understand your notes, that's enough," I said.

I had stumbled across a style of learning that allows the students to take notes with pictures. Traditional school systems require the traditional note taking, but the fact is, people learn differently, and what may seem as doodling to one person may actually be note taking to another. I saw an example. It was actually pretty ...cool.

As usual , I let them off to make their gallery entries while I tended to Baby Z who needed nursing.

Day 11- Uthman Ibn Affan

Even the angels are shy from him.

Answer: Uthman

It was Sunday and I didn't have enough sleep on Saturday because we had went to H's soccer game early in the morning, and I had stayed at the masjid from Zuhr till Asr, so they practically read about Uthman on their own from Uthman Bin Affan.

When I woke up, these were on the wall.

Later on I did rehash with them the event where the prophet SAW straightened himself up when Uthman knocked, which was when the prophet SAW said to Abu Bakr ,

"How can I not be shy from one whom even the angels are shy from?"

Day 12 - Abdullah Ibn Abbas

Abdullah Ibn ___ was very intelligent and wise. The prophet SAW made dua for him to be blessed with knowledge when he was young.

Answer: Abbas

I drew a rough family tree of the prophet SAW from Abdul Mutallib, his sons; Hamzah, Abi Talib, Abu Lahab, Abbas, Abdullah and then to his grandsons; Muhammad SAW, Abdullah, Ali, and Jaafar.

Then I made a family tree of them from hubby's dad, to his sons; hubby and Ammu I; and then to them; S, N, H, J, Z and we imagined that Ammu I had a son named Ahmad.

We talked about the relationship of Abdullah Ibn Abbas to Muhammad SAW and Abbas to Muhammad SAW, just like them and Ammu I and the imaginary Ahmad (hubby's brother and my siblings need to get married real soon, even if only to give our kids some cousins to call their own).

We also talked about how Hamzah, Muhammad SAW's uncle was the same age as his nephew. For that, we imagined hubby getting a baby brother at the same time that we had Baby Z. Naturally it seemed hilarious to them to have an uncle of the same age or even younger.

They read from Child Companion Around the Prophet SAW.

Iftar

This is the meal where Muslims break their fast.

"That's easy, Iftar!"

"We know that one!"

I was sleepy and was about to leave it at that, but called them from my room.

"You know how people make a wish upon a star, or throw money in a wishing well and make wishes?"

They nodded. How can they not know. That shirky knowledge is so rampant in today's world.

"Well, guess what. We have better 'wish' opportunities. When is our dua mostly accepted?

"When you're praying?"

"Suhoor?"

"After the azan?"

And the list went on, but they didn't know that iftar time was also on the list, so we talked about that. Thanks to Yasir Qadhi, I was also able to tell them how it is so: that people who make dua during that time deserve it.

They didn't do anything for this one, except that I hope they do in in action rather than on paper.

Hilal

What do we need to see in the sky to know that Ramadan will begin the next day?


I was too sleepy, but somehow, amidst nursing Baby Z on the bed, managed to google the phases of the moon on the laptop. I fell asleep while they scurried off to make their gallery entries.

We noted though, how the hilal in the beginning of the month is on the right side, curved to the right.



S seemed to pick up on the scientific terms pretty quickly (which she probably should at her grade level anyway).

As H followed hubby to the masjid for maghrib on the bike, he told us that he saw the moon each time.

"Is it getting bigger? I asked. I barely go out of the house anymore, especially after sundown.

He nodded.

However, as days went by I caught sight of the moon through the kitchen window by the sink, fortunately, and the girls managed to get glimpses of it too. It definitely is 'growing' bigger.

Bilal Ibn Rabah

Bilal Ibn _____was originally a slave and was tortured for being Muslim.

I picked some aspects about Bilal from Bilal Ibn Rabah. We covered:

how he was tortured
how he became Muslim
how he was freed
how he was honored to pronounce the adhan
how Abdullah Ibn Zaid and Umar had the dream
where Bilal was originally from
the Makkans' reactions to him after the Day of Conquest
the other muaddhin
how he killed Omayya, his former master

I noticed them reading the book later on in the course of the next few days.

"Why do they do this when they make azan?" H asked, putting his hand behind his ears.

"Hmm..I don't know. That's a good question. Ask Abi."

We did ask him later that day. Being him, he answered,

"Because of you do this, no one can hear the azan," putting his hands over his mouth.

Jokes aside, we came to the conclusion;

"Maybe it's so that it won't hurt their ears because it's loud."

"You were right, H!" I said. H had guessed it earlier.

Jinn

They are chained up in Ramadan.

Answer: supposed to be devils, but I had put in Jinn. I told the kids that we would talk about Jinn.

I went downstairs and took Volume 10 of Tafsir Ibn Kathir, and my Rays of Faith binder.

"I wanna hear jinn stories!" they begged. I shook my head and proceeded to tell them of something even more interesting...

Tales of shooting stars, stern guards in the sky, jinn being shot to death, and the fear of the inhabitants of earth.

Tales of nomads seeking refuge from the jinns in the desert.
Tales of jinns fleeing upon nomad habitation
Tales of jinns increasing in boldness
Iblees alive then and alive now
Iblees among the angels
The shape of Iblees
Jinn possession
Jinn's characteristics
The hadith of the man who killed the snake on his bed
Jinn transformation powers
Jinn's weaknesses

Since H memorized Surah jinn, we had a live Qari right there. They came up with:

"Why do people wish on shooting stars then?" H asked.

"That would make a good research question," I replied.

I have yet to find the answer, but in the course of researching, I stumbled across why Christians say "Bless you," when they hear people sneeze.

Day 9 - Musaylamah The Liar

Day after day we have been opening up the petals, each kid taking turns. Bit by bit our staircase is rapidly filling up beautifully. I predict that by Eid, it will be replete with their representations of what they learned from our daily crossword puzzle.

Day 1 we did the childhood of Jabir Ibn Abdullah.

Unfortunately I failed to dilligently keep track of what we did on a daily basis, but so far we have done:

• Taqwa
• Lailatul Qadr
• Iftar
• Hilal
• Jinns
• Sawm
• Bilal Ibn Rabah

I don't remember which day we did which, as I was usually groggy and exhausted every morning, but so far I have managed to do some short lessons with them on the above topics.

Today, Day 9, the question was:

He claimed to be a prophet after the death of Rasulullah SAW. He was killed by Wahshi. Remember Wahshi?

"You can find the answer in here," I said, handing S the first volume of History of Islam.

She flipped through it aimlessly.

"Where is it?"

"I'll give you a hint. It's after the death of the Prophet SAW, and during the time when Abu Bakr was khalifah."

H came downstairs, and together they sought the answer. S was still flipping through the pages when H took stock of the situation and exclaimed,

"Oh, I know! Where's the Table of Contents?" and went straight to the beginning of the book.

I left them and went upstairs to put Baby Z down.

After a while I heard hubby helping them.

"You should find it on that page," he said and left for the masjid.

"Oh! Musailamah! Musailamah!"

Excited steps running up the stairs.

"Oh, she's praying!"

Steps going back downstairs.

"Ummi, is it Musaylamah?"

After we prayed Fajr, I talked about

• how he claimed to be a prophet
• how there was also a woman who claimed to be a prophetess, who married Musaylamah
• how Musaylamah challengd Khaleed Ibn Waleed to drink poison
• how Khaleed drank it and didn't die
• how Al Baraa' was catapulted over the wall of the Garden of Death
• how he paved his way to the door, opened it from inside
• how Wahshi sought Musaylamah and killed him
• how Wahshi killed Hamzah and how the prophet SAW couldn't bear to look at him after that even after he became Muslim
• how 70 huffadh we martyred in the Battle of Yamamah
• how Zaid Ibn Thabit was assigned the task of leading the job of compiling the Quran

Day 1 - Jabir Ibn Abdullah

S opened the first petal.

Across: His father was martyred in the Battle of Uhud, and he had to take care of his seven sisters and mother.

They didn't know the answer. However, since the I was already there, they guessed Suhaib, and eventually came to Jabir. We read the first part of Jabir Ibn Abdullah's biography by Abdul Basit Ahmad.


They came up with these as a result. We displayed it on the wall. Our intention is to have a Ramadan gallery by the Eid inshaallah.

Ramadan Goals

This year, thanks to this, we made our Ramadan goals, me included (though I will not reveal them here).

S's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Yusuf
Finish memorising Surah Al Mulk
Finish reviewing memorized surah
Finish reviewing Juz 'Amma

N's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Al Qiyaamah
Finish memorising Juz 'Amma
Finish reviewing memorized surahs

H's Ramadan Goals:
Finish memorising Surah Maarij
Finish memorising Surah Al Haaqah
Finish memorising Surah Al Mulk
FInish reviewing memorized surahs in Juz Tabaarak