Blessings and Bounties of Ramadan Lecture

Sunnipath is offering a free lecture on Sunday August 15th called Blessings and Bounties of Ramadan. Sign up now!

Ramadan Interactive Notebook

Something for your school aged kids. Great for homeschooling. Click here for the Ramadan interactive notebook.

Ramadan Fun

Please check out my daughter's Ramadan Colouring Book and fun activities on her blog for your kids. This year again she is also selling Ramadan and Eid handmade calendars, banners etc. Please click on her shop on her blog for examples.

Lampost Productions -Free Webinars for Ramadan

Lampost Productions is offering free webinars for Ramadan on Aug 14th and 15th. Just sign up with your email to join.

Ameena's Ramadan Diary Ramadan Day 1

I started to read this book and realized you are supposed to start getting ready for Ramadan along with the author 6 weeks in advance! Ok so I'm totally behind but I did do one thing or more from her list on my own without knowing this. 5 things you want to accomplish..well I did a post on that recently; dawah booth, learn ayat al kursi and reading the Quran everyday. I would like to add to that charity and breaking someone's fast insha Allah. Also she includes listening to motivational lectures. Well I just listened to "When Wolves Become Shepherds" and I highly recommend it. Hmm..connecting with family and friends. Well my family isn't muslim so can't get together with them to remind them about ramadan. As for friends...hmm... Also she recommends reading about the plight of those less fortunate. I also did this. Just finished reading The Boy From Baby House 10. Its the true story about an orphan from Russia. I highly recommend it. Its apalling what's taking place in thier orphanages.

So for her first day she says it really felt like Ramadan because of iftar and taraweeh. I've only ever prayed taraweeh once in my life. There is no nursery in my masjid so what would you do with the kids so one time I got dh to watch them years ago and went for it. This author seems to be single with no kids so its a peice of cake for her to do so much. Have you printed out the Ramadan Daily checklist? I haven't but I should.

My Amazon Order is here!

I'm good to go for the next 4 months book club! I'm going to start on Ameena's Ramadan Diary tomorrow. We'll go day by day to make it interesting insha Allah. The cake book at the bottom was ordered so that I could get free shipping. This will make a great idea book for Eid cakes and its for kids so they can jump right in and make something themselves.

How Our Garden Grows

This year we actually planted a fairly decent garden. Its a little small though but it is producing right now tomatoes,cucumbers (boston and english), beans, watermelons and peppers. I haven't seen any peas or canteloupes yet though. DS2 is the one who waters it every night plus my hanging plants and my irises from my neighbour as well as the flowers I planted in the front which have not produced even one flower yet.

St. Jacob's revisited.

Last time we visited St.Jacob's we came too late to see the Farmer's Market which is the main attraction. I was happy to see lots of muslims this time and some muslim food booths. We ate from Al-Madina and bought the cutest puzzle from a muslim selling from this company learnfrompuzzles. I loved the puzzle we bought because each picture corresponds to a letter in the alphabet. Also these puzzles are handmade from wood and vegetables dyes. We checked out the Mennonite furniture..expensive! The building was so packed that housed so many indoor stores with stuff you can find just about anywhere but also baked items from the Mennonite women and fruits and vegetables too. Outside there are many booths as well mostly selling fruits and vegetables but also clothes and toys.

Perfect Play House part 3

The playhouse is really coming along. The roof and doors and windows need to be added as well as shingles.

Ramadan is.....tomorrow.

Our community has declared Ramadan to be tomorrow as no moon was sighted last night. I know my readers who follow calculations and Saudi are rolling their eyes now but this is the way it is every year. I still remember one year we went to London and they said Eid Mubarak to us and we said we are fasting still and they said haram, haram, you can't fast on Eid. So every year there is this argument about when Ramadan and Eid start. This year I will not be fasting again as I am still nursing so it won't really feel much like Ramadan to me besides the iftar potlucks on Saturdays. I still can't read the Quran either so that is another bummer but what can you do? I 'll read it in English like usual. Gonna try to do my dawah booth again this year too.Also keep learning ayat al kursi. Kind of sad to be still here all alone in the boonies. One 'uncle' has not forgotten us as every year he gives us dates to break our fast, God bless him. Anyone else out there having Ramadan starting tomorrow?

Friday Nasihah - Dua

Cool Concepts!
Three Kinds of Dua

Prayer or supplication (Dua) is the essence of worship or servanthood to God. What rises to God from the whole creations is prayer. It has kinds and degrees:
1. The first kind is the prayer of all organisms, plant, animal and human, through the natural disposition of their bodies and their functioning in line with their duties in creation. This kind of prayer is always accepted.
2. The second kind is that which is uttered by all organisms, plant, animal, and human, in the tongue of vital needs. God meets these needs just on time, with the exception that plants, and the animals relatively weaker and less intelligent (as compared to others, such as wolves and foxes), are nourished more easily than the others. The more powerful and intelligent and more self-subsisting a creature is, the greater hardship it suffers to get nourishment.
3. The third kind of prayer is that which is done by human beings. This falls into two categories:

i. The first category is the active prayer. It means complying with the laws that God has set for life. For example, a farmer's ploughing the soil is knocking on the door of Divine providence. A patient's going to the doctor is appealing to God for cure. This kind of prayer is usually accepted.
ii. The second category is the verbal prayer that we do. This kind of prayer is also answered. But answering is different from accepting. God answers all the prayers done sincerely. However, He answers sometimes by giving whatever is asked for, sometimes by giving what is better, sometimes by postponing giving to the afterlife, and sometimes by not giving at all, since it will not turn out in favour of the one who prays. The way that God answers prayer depends on His wisdom.

Compiled From:
The Words, "The 23rd Word" - Said Nursi, pp. 333-334

London Mosque -little (now big) mosque on the hill.

Now you can read the story and see the photos and view the video of the newly renovated and extended London Mosque. Its taken 3 yrs but its finally going to open. This mosque will always have a special place in my heart. They treat converts like gold. If only this were my mosque. Do drop in!