Eid Dress

My daughter made me my Eid Dress from this pattern shown. I like it because its flowy and baby friendly too; the top is elasticized. Thanks honey! Check out her blog!

Once in a blue moon -ramadan art.

For our ramadan art project I got the kids to make crescent moon pillows. I bought the material and stuffing from FabricLand and got the idea from the book I mentioned previously. I picked this out because it gave the kids the chance to do some handsewing. Afterwards they decided to go over it with our little Barbie sewing machine. They also sewed thier initials into it.

Making a change

I don't know about your mosque but ours has no change table. Not only that but there is really no room for one in the washroom or anywhere. Our mosque doesn't have a nursery either. I suggested one but no one agreed with me. So whenever I go to the mosque I have to resort to changing the kids in the car. I mean you can't do it in the prayer area or the on the tables where people are eating can you? So I got an idea..I should invent a portable change table, lol. But as with all my great ideas, someone has already thought of it, made it and marketed it. So here it is! Great to be used for our travels too where there are bathrooms with no change tables or any other place we find ourselves. What family friendly features does your mosque have?

Ramadan dawah booth.

This is my second year to do a dawah booth during Ramadan. No I didn't do it at the mall or any huge public thoroughfare but in my front yard. I was a one woman show. Its a pretty simple affair; a big sign and a basket full of pamphlets and booklets and qurans. Lots of people passed by and some even waved but no one stopped except my daughter's little friend who took one pamphlet, alhumdullilah. No one but Allah knows the power of one little pamphet; who will see it, who will read it, how many times it will be passed on. Not to mention the number of people who saw my Happy Ramadan sign and realized that Ramadan was taking place. Last year when I did the booth one neighbour took a quran and one later told my son who is her paperboy that she wanted to stop but didn't have time so I made her a bundle of materials. Its a simple act and no one can complain that we disturbed them by knocking on their door.

My daughter's Aqiqah cake.

10 kids, first aqiqah

Although we've had 10 kids this is the first aqiqah we have ever done. The first 2 never had one because I wasn't even muslim then; we were all Christian. Then for the next 7 kids we just couldn't afford it. Its not fard anyway but I still kind of felt wistful. Then my granddaughter was born and her paternal grandparents took care of of her aqiqah right away. So this time we had the money and strangely my daughter was following in the footsteps of her neice. We didn't throw a party though because our house isn't that big. Instead we delivered some meat (goat) to different people and then hubby cooked the rest and we brought it to iftar which was very convenient and also added blessings to the occasion. I baked two cakes and decorated them;one with Aqiqah written on it and the other with a lamb (Wilton doesn't have goats, only lambs). We shaved her head too but have no where to weigh the hair; try finding a muslim jeweller in the boonies! But the price is usually around $10 so will be donating that amount to charity soon, insha Allah. Needless to say the other kids were not too impressed that they had missed out on this sunnah and we have promised to rectify it as long as funds are available.

Kinship Connections

Today after reviewing how much the kids learned from their prayer books, I got them to write letters to their relatives. Each one had to choose a relative (aunt, uncle, grandparent or cousin) and write a letter to them. This is not a big deal in most families but when you are a convert its huge. So I gave them the speech about keeping the ties of kinship in Islam. First they did a rough draft and then I made the corrections..not just grammatical but the content had to be checked too. Then they did the good copy and then addressed the envelope. My daughter decorated hers with stickers. Lastly they mailed their letters themselves by biking to the nearest mailbox.

Cultural Muslims -et tu convert?

We talk a lot about those people from over there who are cultural muslims but what about us? Let's look deep down inside. When we convert we bring with us a host of ideas that we are hard put to relinquish. A lifetime of western arrogance, come now let's admit it has a way of stopping us from truly submitting. Since childhood we have had it drilled into us that the west is best and white is right...oh its subtle most of the times but still a lot of the time its overt. I remember as a child people making fun of muslims for their backwardness...gasp they use water to clean themselves in the bathroom..gasp they have this left hand, right hand rule..ha, ha..aren' they stupid. And let's not even get into arranged marriage...how dumb is that? Even if its only for the parents to suggest someone...they can keep their thoughts to themselves...dating is the way to go...find the right one yourself...live together even. And then we grow up, find islam ourselves and convert and although we know we should follow all rules there is this lingering feeling, this arrogance. But we still think we are being arrogant towards another culture but really we are being arrogant towards our creator who has given us the guidance. Do we want to be like the Shaitan? Turning away from Allah gives us no benefit...do we really think we know better than Him? Time to eat some humble pie..halal of course and remember to say Bismillah.

Iftar invitations

Masha Allah the last two nights have been wonderful. Last night the whole community was invited to the masjid. Ok first of all my masjid is little strange when compared to others. Different families take turns giving iftar to the foreign, flown-in hafiz. Sometimes they also invite their friends too and sometimes families invite the whole community. I had a couple of convert friends that suddenly wanted to come over and since this was an open affair they came and joined me. It was so lovely to have someone to sit and talk with at the masjid. These women live an hour away and they came to see me just for the sake of Allah. This is true sisterhood. Also they got to see my new daughter and meet the rest of the family. Tonight my muslim neighbour invited us all over for iftar and that was awesome too. We only have two muslim neighbours so this is very special for us. Alhumdullilah for all these blessings this Ramadan. May Allah keep them in our lives and bless them. Amin.

To Jilbab or not to jilbab that is the question.

If truth be told its more of a statement than a question as it is mandatory in Islam. Although I've been a convert for a very long time I am still fighting with myself over this. I am very well covered but this one thing I just can't seem to do. Lately I've really wanted to embrace it and have been doing research. What kind of research? Well first of all what does a quranic jilbab really look like? Seems there are a few ideas out there. Secondly where to find some that are both nursing friendly and made from natural fabrics. Insha Allah this will be easy to do on both counts. But what really needs to be easy is the actual wearing of it. Can I handle it? Will this last step be too much for me? Anyone have any advice?

Life is Friends

Forget about facebook, IMs, email etc and concentrate on face to face interaction is what this book focuses on. I am in total agreement as you can see from my Fakebook post. This author though says we need to get back to the dinner party and cocktail parties. Ok the last one is a big no-no for muslims but maybe a smoothie party? Her basic idea is to open up your home and invite others over. Oh my she sounds like a muslim and didn't I just mention that muslims put too much emphasis on food? Well maybe there is a happy medium? I didn't really learn anything new in this book; its kind of common sense. I think this author though has never experienced what its like when you invite others over and everyone declines or they say yes and don't show. This has been my experience these past years. Another thing she talks about is white lying. In Islam there is no lying of any kind and of course not in Christianity or Judaism and she mentions that readers have taken her to task on this but feels it is necesary. I don't agree. I hate when people say they are busy and they are just making excuses. I'd rather people were upfront. And if you are not coming just say so or at least call and say you won't be coming. Don't leave the host waiting. She does tell guests to do this though. How about you, have you invited any iftar guests? How about guests for Eid? Is your door always open to guests? Is your house always full?

Ramadan Mubarak.

I was tempted to make a post about how unsatisfactory some things are but stopped myself . I was even further stopped by this quote from the HeartWheel Journal;Do you ever get frustrated or stressed? Is it because, perhaps, you are focused on yourself at the moment? Probably.
Focusing on oneself = stinginess = frustration = ingratitude to Allah. Instead of focusing on ourselves today, why don’t we
focus on others? How is their health? How long have ‘they’ been waiting in line? Maybe their perspective is something
valid that I haven’t considered before? Whatever it is, stress comes from focusing on ourselves. Happiness, on the other
hand, comes from upright righteous character.

I really need to work on this, this Ramadan. Insha Allah lets all focus on others needs even the people who drive us up the wall and down the other side :)