Little Journey to Jannah

03/04/2024

On this special night, remember to pray for your children. Not just their present, but their future as well! For those of us who want to pray but might find it hard to find the words, I'm sharing a really comprehensive dua that was forwarded to me by own mother yesterday ❤️ (Original author unknown):

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙮 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚 '𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙙', 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙈𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙊 𝙢𝙮 𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙍𝙖𝙗𝙗, 𝙢𝙮 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙎𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧, 𝙙𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙁𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧, 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙝𝙨𝙖𝙖𝙣, 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣...

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼'𝙛𝙞𝙮𝙖𝙝 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪 ....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨...𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝘼'𝙛𝙞𝙮𝙖𝙝, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣, 𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙗 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨....

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮, 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨, 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧𝙨. 𝙊 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 .....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙆𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙'𝙨.....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙩.....

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨.....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙋𝙪𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙝𝙞 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙢...

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙋𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨. 𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣...

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙞 𝙆𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙮𝙖 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙖𝙠𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙖....

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙂𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙈𝙖𝙦𝙖𝙖𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙨......

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝! 𝙀𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙨......

𝙔𝙖𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩. 𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪. 𝙉𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛. 𝙔𝙖 𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨.

𝙔𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙮𝙪 𝙮𝙖 𝙦𝙖𝙮𝙮𝙪𝙢 𝙗𝙞 𝙧𝙖𝙝𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞 𝙠𝙖 𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝.

‎آمین یا ربالعالمین
𝘼𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙣, 𝙔𝙖 𝙍𝙖𝙗𝙗 𝙖𝙡 𝙖'𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙣!

15/03/2024

Ramadan Mubarak everyone! I hope the start of the month has been filled with blessings and barakah for everyone! ❤️

A lot of us parents are no doubt be debating whether to do ibadah alone, without interruptions, for better concentration and spiritual connection - or to do ibadah with children to act as a role model and to instill the Ramadan spirit in our children. The ideal answer is, of course, to do both but we know that isn't always possible!

I wanted to share a helpful tip for those of us who choose to involve children in our ibadah, like I did yesterday.

I was reading the Quran before iftar and asked my son Ibrahim to join me with his qaida. He said no because he wanted to play. I sat down to read where he could see me. After a few minutes, he came to ask me a question. I said I was busy reading "Allah book" and couldn't talk right now. Asked him to join me and we could talk later; he went away.

He came back after a few minutes, asked me a question. This time I told him I couldn't talk to him because I was busy talking to Allah jee. He got interested. Sat down next to me. He asked how I was talking to Allah. I told him that the Quran was like a phone call from Allah, and the words on the page were Allah's words to me during the call. When I read them aloud, it's similar to listening to a call on speaker. Ibrahim said he was too tired to read his qaida but wanted to listen to my reading. He sat down next to me on the prayer mat and listened while I read aloud. YES! Mission successful! 😍

We have to remember that this generation is all about the technology! Engaging them meaningfully probably means using/referring to gadgets at some point as well! In the past I have used a similar analogy and told ibrahim that when I read Quran, I am reading Allah's emails to me- and when I pray, I am sending my own email. He understood and liked that too. Next time, I will tell him that I can't be disturbed because I have an online meeting with Allah- as a COVID child, he will understand that as well! 😂

Remember to be creative when interacting with young children. Above all, be patient! Scold them about anything else but never ever scold them about ibadah! It will do more harm than good.

29/09/2023

Our children should hear us praising them in front of family and friends, not complaining about them. They are listening to every word, I promise you!

15/05/2023

I got my son a science experiment kit on his 4th birthday. I'm a big geek myself, and wanted to introduce him to the magic of science at an early age.

He has been asking to do the experiments since I gave him the kit but ironically, I've been the one putting it off. I finally took out the box today and lo and behold, the crystals had disappeared. We needed them for the experiment and the whole bag just vanished. I spent a few minutes looking for them but we were creeping closer to ibrahim's bedtime and I didn't want to risk any delays / tantrums.

And so I decided to try my own experiment- highly recommended for anyone wanting to do a basic activity with their kids!

➡️ put some water in a test tube/ see through glass
➡️ add a few drops of cooking oil. Point out how the oil forms little bubbles!
➡️ use a long stick/ spoon to mix them up. Point out how the oil rises back to the top as soon as you stop stirring
➡️ add a few drops of food dye to each test tube. Ideally yellow, red and blue to allow colour experimentation. If you don't have food dye, add a coloured juice. Mix with the spoon. Point out how the oil eventually rises back to the top, without taking on the colour that we added.
➡️ use a syringe/ spoon to mix the colours and form new colours: mix the yellow and blue to make green and so forth. Encourage your child to keep adding colours and experimenting to get different shades.

We played around and explored how the oil doesn't dissolve into the water, and how the different colours mix together. Before each step, I would ask ibrahim to guess/hypothesise what he thought would happen. If he gave a sensible/plausible answer, I would say something silly to keep the activity fun for him (eg, I think mixing the blue and yellow will make the test tube explode!).

Try this easy experiment with your kid to get them interested in science! Remember to keep them smiling ❤️

11/05/2023

I was doing this activity sheet with my son. When I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up, he said he wanted to be an underground tube driver (the yellow lines represent an underground map) 😂

Thought I'd use this as a teaching moment. For my own sheet, I drew a smiley face and told him that I wanted to be happy when I grow up (read this somewhere else and loved the idea!). Really want to instil the idea in him that happiness isn't dependent on our career or finances, it's part of who we are!

I also said that I wanted to be Allah's friend when I grow up. He said I can't draw Allah, I said that was true. So I drew a picture of him and his friend holding hands, said I wanted friendship with Allah like he has with his school friend. He liked the idea and said he also wanted to be Allah's friend.

Remember to use small moments in every day lives to instil values and reminders like these. 5 minutes of discussion while doing fun activities together is better than an hour set aside! It will stay with them much, much longer!

̇slam

14/04/2023

This makes so much sense- it's based on the principle of positive association!

Sadly, we usually do the opposite.. we tell off our children from the prayer mat, because they made noise or ran around or kept calling us while we were praying. So this is a great reminder for all of us, to show love to our children when sitting on the prayer mat ❤️

25/03/2023

Yesterday my mother went to distribute iftar boxes to needy people. She took my 4 year old son with her, saying he should see and be involved in the process. He came back after an hour, bursting with energy. He told me that he saw so many people crowding the car, that they were hungry because they were poor, and that they didn't make a queue to get the iftar boxes even though my mother kept asking them. I've spoken to him often about helping people and giving food, but this was his first experience actually seeing something like this. I rewarded his "efforts" by ordering a happy meal for dinner- but pretended I didn't know who had ordered it when it arrived. He concluded that it must have come from Allah, who sent him a happy meal because he gave food boxes to other people 😂

A few hours later, I was reading Taraweeh in my room while he played in the background with his imaginary friends (he calls them his "pretend helpers"; they fluctuate from his cousins to his friends to dinosaurs to cats).

Randomly, I heard him saying "line banao, line banao" (form a queue, form a queue). Now, my son unfortunately doesn't speak much urdu, so I was VERY intrigued to hear this unexpected line during solo play.

I asked him what he was doing. He said he was serving food to his pretend helpers, because some of them are poor people that he met earlier in the day. He went on to say that Allah will give him another reward for serving them.

I was mindblown. I know that our children see us and learn from us, but I was surprised to see that he changed his imaginary play after witnessing just ONE iftar distribution. That's literally all it takes to influence their thinking and personalities. In this case, the influence was positive. Sadly in a lot of other cases, the influence will be negative.

So parents, please PLEASE remember that every interaction shapes your child. And ALWAYS involve them in your good deeds this Ramadan, so that they will go on to repeat them as adults.

Examples of small ways I've tried to involve Ibrahim in charity this Ramadan:

➡️ I was making cash gift envelopes. Told him to count the cash (after i'd already counted it) and hand me the envelopes

➡️ I was buying a few lawn suits to give away. Took him to the shop with me to choose colours. (This kind of backfired, as he liked some horribly gawdy colours and got upset when I didn't buy those 😂)

➡️ I told him to look inside the Ramadan food parcels we had delivered to the house. I also told him to count and see how many families we could help.

➡️ I gave him money to go to the shop and buy crisps/ chocolates for all the domestic helpers.

I will be trying my best to keep up his charity involvement during Ramadan. Please do share any other easy ideas you may have tried with your own kids!

25/03/2023

These workshops seem great, very useful! I've signed up for the first one tomorrow, thought I'd share with other parents! ❤️

I know Ramadan is a time when we are focused on ibadah instead of parenting, so this doesn't seem like the best time to attend workshops. However, this is a time when our patience often runs thin with our children because we are trying to do so many extra things- seems like a good time to pick up some extra parenting tips! BEST OF LUCK either way! 👍🏻🥰

(Their prices start from $4 / PKR 400, which is a very minimal price just to ensure attendance.)

✨✨✨✨(almost) F R E E ✨✨✨✨✨

🌙🌙🌙 RAMADAN WORKSHOPS🌙🌙🌙

Register here: https://www.teepep.com/Ramadanworkshops

IF YOU HAVE A QUERY- please DM Saman Saeed instead of me for a faster response.

FAQ: Why are these workshops not 100% free?
Answer: Because when we’ve offered them free in past years- people register and don’t show up but Zoom only allows a fixed number of registrations so we’d have many “empty” seats with other people unable to attend because the seats have been blocked (registered for).

We hope that even paying a small amount encourages people to remember to show up or cancel their registration so the spots open up💕

05/06/2022

AOA everyone, I have a bit of an odd request today. My toddler keeps asking me to play "his favourite" Ramadan song but I have no idea which one it is! 😱🤣

I've tried searching "Ramadan songs for children" on YouTube and playing the results that come up, but none of them have the tune or lyrics he's singing for me. I do remember listening to the tune so I know he's not making it up... I'm guessing the song probably came from autoplay 😩😩

As a last resort, I thought I'd ask on Facebook in case other parents know it. I can't sing the song for you, obviously 😂 but the chorus lyrics go like this:

Ramadan is here now,
Everybody's happy,
Ra-ma-daaaaaan

That's it. That's all I have to go on in my song hunt 😛. Please help a tired mama out and let me know if you have any idea which song it could be! Thank you!

14/04/2022

So beautifully put! May Allah give us all the wisdom and patience to raise our kids with this kind of attitude ❤️

I have a part time helper who helps me with the kids and my mom (my mom has Alzheimer’s).

The helper (baji) is lovely and tells my kids stories about her own kids- especially this 2yo in the picture (let’s call her Zainab).

The twins often make drawings for Zainab and send with baji to give her. They had never met her until yesterday but for 6 months they’ve been hearing stories about her. They’ve also asked me to buy presents for her.

For a while now they’ve been begging baji to bring her and yesterday she did.

They were so excited to see her… as if they’d been friends with her forever. They willingly and joyfully shared their toys and snacks with her. (which you all know is definitely not the norm for kids).

Obviously, this is all because Baji loves her daughter and talks about her with so much love. Because she’s told the boys fun and interesting stories about her daughter. What she does. What she likes etc.

Imagine what would’ve happened if Baji did the opposite. That every time the boys made a mistake, she said,

“Oh- Zainab doesn’t like that!!”
“Zainab only likes boys who do xyz.”
“Zainab gets angry when you do xyz.”
“I’m gonna tell Zainab what you did and she’ll be very sad.”
“Tsk tsk… what will Zainab think?”

How do you think they’ll feel then about her? Would they be excited to meet her one day or be afraid… even ashamed and self-conscious…?

When children are little, they start asking questions about Allah. They’re curious about Him. Their little brain isn’t able to comprehend the complex concept of a Divine Creator but one day it will. Until that day… it’s crucial how we speak to them about their Rab.

It’s not ok to say to kids,
“Allah doesn’t like kids who do xyz.”
“Allah naraaz hotay hain.” (Allah will be upset with you)
“Allah gets angry when you do xyz.”
“Allah is watching (and judging).”

First of all- all these statements are false. Allah Az wa Jal’s Merciful Being has no accountability for children. He only has love for them… even when they screw up.. because He has created them and know their brain development is not appropriate for those kinds of expectations.

Secondly, it’s an injustice to the relationship our kids will have with their Rab once they come of age if we keep portraying a false and scary picture of their Rab. It’s an injustice to The Most Merciful to be portrayed this way to innocent beings that HE wants to be known to as just love and mercy. He wants us to be honest with how He feels about children- They’re innocent and on the fitrah.

Here are some things I tell my kids about Allah,
“Allah loves children and thinks they can do no wrong!”
“Allah has created you like angels… perfect and pure.”
“Allah forgives everything you do!”
“Allah thinks you’re amazing!”

Now I know what some of you are gonna say… ”but then how will they learn about right and wrong and about sins”

By watching you have taqwa and tawakul. (Piety and righteousness)

By watching you working hard to please your Rab and avoiding things that displease Him.

By reading and learning the Quran themselves when they’re of age.

More than anything else, I aim to show my children that I love doing things that please my Rab. That I’m honored to be His servant.

The rest I leave to Allah. He is enough. His words are enough. My job is to take my children to teen hood with Allah’s love in their heart and the rest they’ll do themselves.

Maryam Munir

31/03/2022

Just a few days left until Ramadan, inshAllah! Which means, just a few days left until we all get a 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗵'𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆 🥰

To help my 3 year old son fully experience the spirit of Ramadan, I've created a '𝟯𝟬 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀' 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁 for him; one task will be given to him every day. I've chosen a range of 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹, 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗼𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 to maximise his learning in this blessed month.

I'm sharing the chart below for parents who may want to use this with their own children (you may need to be adapt the tasks to suit your child's age & development). For younger children, i'd advise giving a small treat each day upon completion of the task, for 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. For older children, I'd advise parents to encourage the tasks without treats, to help them learn about 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Good luck! Parents that come up with their own tasks, do share in comments below so that others can take inspiration from you 😍