Monthly Archives: May 2011

…boooks for schnoookkksss…

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…how time flies when having fun…and meeting so many exceptional Muslimeen and their amazingly creative energetic little ones…who inspired these ‘productions’…

…this is an ‘envelope filing system’ which remains ‘a work in progress’ as such, because additions are limited only by imagination…

…this example is based on the English alphabet, but can also be Arabic or based on colour recognition, (see alternative idea below) or any other topic children may be exploring and discovering…for example: Ahadith collections, stories of Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhum, Islamic manners, or the steps in Wudhu, or Salat…the ideas are numerous…

…the envelopes are hinged together with duct tape…one side being the capital letter, the other the lower case…with one extra envelope to hold all the cards yet to be filed…

…multiple ‘themes’ can be inserted…this one made short quirky sentences based on the specific letter using a light blue card connecting the theme…

…depending on the target age of the children, various learning activities can be enhanced…smaller flash cards can be made repeating the words already in the one sentence ‘story’…

…for example for the letter G, the sentence was The grumpy giraffe gave me a gift…so flash cards with ‘grumpy’ ‘giraffe’ ‘gave’ and ‘gift’ are made with the child then asked to match the individual word card with the word on the main story card…this can then be extended for them to create their own sentences with using some of the words, and/or making their own series of cards to be inserted in the envelopes…

…Insha’Allah encouraging all ages to ‘decorate’ their files in any manner they choose can also be an integral part of the learning system…as well as ‘tracing’ over and over the letters if they are young learners…

…cards of other colours, still using the letters of the alphabet, but with different themes can be added…for example green cards for Islamic words and names corresponding to each letter can be made…A for Allah, Ayesha, Adhan, B for Bilal, Badr, Belief, C for Creator, Caliph, Camel etc etc…

…this was another little fun idea…actually created as a ‘disciplinary’ activity…the wagging of a wooden spoon has been a tried and true early intervention method for correcting negative behavioural tendencies…

Meet the Spoonies who live in a (jelly bean*) box
There is a door but no one knocks
They’re all so happy
but never wear socks
There’s old grandpa with little hair
Dozing in his rocking chair
Until he spies something wrong
Then he WHACKS hard and strong
Grannie just knits and knits
But oh how she’s loved to bits

Baba is a caring man
Who drives a Halal ice cream van
Mama loves to dream
Of hot baked scones with a dob of cream
Bint makes dhikr with coloured beads
Aiming for Jannah with her deeds
Walad jumps to and fro
Energetic and on the go
Baby likes to coo and wriggle
All adore her smiles and giggle
They all pray five times a day
Which is the best Islamic way.

…* just because a saved jelly bean box happened to be among the various recycled things available…using recycled things is a must in this humble specks methodology…

…the ‘Spoonies’ with the story and some activity ideas attached to the inside of the lid of the box…

…Insha’Allah children can create little ‘puppet plays’ with the spoons…maybe sitting behind a table with the ‘performance’ being acted with the table top as the ‘stage’…topics can be based on issues that may arise from negative patterns with the spoons acting as characters to role play different resolutions to conflict scenarios…

…details of some of the accompanying cards that can be used to create other stories to explore different contexts…

…this is a ‘zip lock bag’ filing system…based on the theme of colours…

…take X number of bags and sew together to form a ‘book’…once again any theme can be adopted, depending on age of child/ren, learning needs, topics being covered…

…this one was for a toddler just beginning to recognize colours…so bright stickers covering a range of objects was the focus…

…cards can be of various shapes: circles, squares, rectangles, diamonds etc also reinforcing the learning of shapes…

…attach an extra sleeve for all the cards that have not been ‘filed’, or that are replaced there according to the progress being made, or the self-initiated play of the child/ren…

…there were many other things made over these past weeks, but time for photographing and documenting has been limited, with life being extremely busy meeting so many blessed to be in the Sacred Precincts, Masha’Allah…

JUMA’AH MUBARAK!

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…don’t knock on any random door like a beggar…

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Forget your life.

Say God is Great.

Get up.

You think you know what time it is.

It’s time to pray.

You’ve carved so many little figurines, too many.

Don’t knock on any random door like a beggar.

Reach your long hands out to another door,

beyond where you go on the street,

the street where everyone says, “How are you?”

and no one says How aren’t you?

Tomorrow you’ll see what you’ve broken and torn tonight, thrashing in the dark.

Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about.

He’s not interested in how things look different in moonlight.

If you are here unfaithfully with us, you’re causing terrible damage.

If you’ve opened your loving to God’s love,

you’re helping people you don’t know

and have never seen.

Is what I say true? Say yes quickly,
if you know, if you’ve known it
from before the beginning of the universe.

…resorting to Rumi’s wisdom because this speck is time poor while madly knocking on another door…Insha’Allah you too knock on the only door that opens upon all the answers to the myriad of conditions bestowed upon us… and Insha’Allah may all our knocking lead to Divine Openings…Ameen.

JUMA’AH MUBARAK!

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…bashing down…building up…

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…the rapidly transforming changes in Makkah Al-Mukkaramah are staggering…demolitions continue while the Masjid expansion and the major residential projects rise at an alarming rate…

…this is all that remains of the building that stood in front of the Abraj Al-Bait…(seen as an empty shell in this previous post)

…while this is the next victim, what was the five star Elaf Kinda…it’s fate having been in the wrong place in relation to the overall design of the Abraj Al-Bait complex…

…brick by brick it is being bashed down…

…the noise is deafening as rubble is sent down this flimsy chute…

…and the dust!!!

…opposite the demise of one of the older buildings…

…while around the corner, the main bus depot has been relegated to history…Ibrahim Al_Khalil streets separates this area and the Jabal Omar development…the street is named after Ibrahim Alaihis Salam, as history relates that this is the route he took when leaving and entering throughout his journeys to and from the Bakkan valley…and Allah Ta’ala knows best…

…with several nearby hotels gutted and being attacked by bulldozers…

…the dust flying from the bashing down mingles with the dust of the building up…here the Jabal Omar project creeps higher and higher…

…the board flashing the projected time of completion has vanished…

…across the courtyard is the awesome Haram expansion…

…where the vision is filled with cranes, cement, steel and the ‘celebratory labourers’…

…looking from the Haram expansion to the evolving Jabal Omar city…with the formation of the twin towers emerging in the background…

…and now to the Ajyad area behind the palace on the opposite side of the Abraj Al-Bait where excavations are in progress for a new hotel…this is the area where the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam was reported to have seen Jibreel Alaihis Salam and also where he gathered stones from when they were rebuilding the Ka’abah, SubhanAllah…how the heart trembles while gazing upon this exposed earth while knowing these facts…

…massive shoring of foundations…

…one of the adjoining hotel’s reception areas had to be temporarily closed…

…back to the CENTRE…time for reflection between prayer times…

…how much ‘bashing down’ of nafs, Shaytan and all that heeds us on our journey to Allah Ta’ala is collectively done by the Ummah?

…and how much collective ‘building up’ of all that draws us closer to our Rabb Subhanahu wa Ta’ala is accumulated in our accounts at the end of each day?

…and how much are we willing to demolish that which is not based on the Sunnah of our Blessed Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, and how much are we willing to construct our life around his noble teachings?

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…Juma’ah…without squeezing between two men…

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If a man performs Ghusl on Friday, applies oil, or uses any available perfume in his house, then goes out and, without squeezing between two men, prays what is prescribed for him, then remains silent when the Imam delivers the Khutba, his minor sins between one Juma’ah to the next will be forgiven. [Hadith to the effect from Sahih Bukhari, chapter on Juma’ah Prayer]

…SubhanAllah, the crowds make it impossible not to be squeezed, squashed, pushed, yelled at, sat on…

…Allah Ta’ala Ar-Raheem knows our condition and His Mercy is endless…

…the above before Juma’ah, the following after…

a BELATED JUMA’AH MUBARAK!

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…summoned…

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…with the most sublime of summons…Alhumdulillah…Labaik Allahumma Labaik…Insha’Allah all will be remembered at the Mubarak places around BaituLlah where Du’a is accepted…and I beg your forgiveness…

The one, who tries to reach Me, knows Me.

The one, who knows Me, wants Me.

The one, who wants Me, seeks Me.

The one, who seeks Me, finds Me

The one, who finds Me, serves Me.

The one, who serves Me, remembers Me.

The one, who remembers Me,

I remember him with My Mercy.

Be alone for My prayers.

Purify your deeds from showing off

Then I will make you wear the clothes of My love.

Turn towards Me and be ready for My remembrance,

I will remember you in front of My angels.

…click on photo for source and to view this stunning image in full screen…

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…guests…

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…as guests flow into this City of Radiance one ponders the deeper significance of ‘guest’…

…Ibn ‘Ata’Allah Al-Iskandari Rahmatullah alaihi in his Book of Illumination says:

Consider that you are a guest of God’s hospitality, since the world is the house of God and you are just staying in it temporarily under divine care. It is the right and duty of guests to not give a single thought to feeling or sustaining themselves in competition to the Lord of the house. Once, someone asked Shaykh Abu Madyan, “Sir, what should we make of the fact that we see other great Sufi masters getting involved in worldly means [to extract their livelihoods] but you don’t get involved in these means?” Abu Madyan answered, “My brother, I have considered the world to be the house of God, and we are only the Lord’s guest. Surely the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam has said, ‘The period of staying as a guest is three days. Therefore we have only three days’ period as guests of God. Surely Divine Speech says

A single day in regard to your Lord is like a thousand years as you count time. (22:47)

Therefore we have, in God’s regard, three thousand years as staying guests under the care of God. From this period is the short duration of our residence in this world. The remainder is in the next world, by divine bounty, and above and beyond this period [God gives us] eternal abiding.”

…Masha’Allah, guests’ faces are aglow from the light of the one SallAllahu alaihi wasallam they journey from across the globe to greet…these views are towards the south, Masjid Bilal in the foreground and the four minarets marking Masjid Quba in the distance to the left…

…Masha’Allah for the opportunity to benefit from our Beloved Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam Hadith: Every good deed of a Muslim is charity; and meeting your Muslim brother with a smiling face is one of the good deeds…

…Masha’Allah to peer down from a smudgy hotel window upon fragments of a script written before time was time…

…where guests extend the hand of hospitality to the local pigeons…

…which in turn benefits the sisters who sell the seed…

…and which is often combined with acts of Sadaqah for the sweepers who are never far away gathering the discarded plastic bags and sweeping up the excess seed…

…Masha’Allah, for the blessed short time given to share smiles, laughter, tears, stories, news and all Mubarak delights that abound here, even if as small as this patch of green…along with summer fruits now available in Madinatun Nabi…

…Masha’Allah for the gift of being invited and for the gifts inherent in our every breath…for the ability to fulfill the Sunnah of honouring and meeting our fellow guest…where the reward of being followed by seventy thousand angels is granted…and when we hold hands when offering Salam one hundred portions of grace are divided between us…ninety-nine of which are for being cordial to each other! And when we joyously greet each other, an angel from the Throne calls, ‘Return to this good action! Allah has forgiven you both of all your previous wrongdoing.’  SubhanAllah! What bliss there is in being a guest of the Lord Most High!

…and Masha’Allah for kindness and courtesy in our guest to guest interactions, just as is bestowed upon us by Allah Ta’ala…

…it is narrated from A-Habib Muhammad bin ‘Alawi Al-Aydarus’s Book of Intentions:

Two brothers in Allah met and one said to the other, “Where have you come from?” He replied, “I have made pilgrimage to the House of Allah and visited the grave of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. And you, where have you come from?”  He answered, “From visiting a brother, to greet him for the sake of Allah.” He said, “Will you give me the reward of your visit so I can give you the reward of my visit?” He lowered his head for a while, and then heard a hatif (Imam ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha’rani said a hatif is a disembodied voice which is either from an angel, or a wali, or from a righteous Jinn or it can be from Dhu’l Khidr) say, “Visiting a brother for Allah is better than one hundred pilgrimages, except the pilgrimage of Hajj.

…and Masha’Allah to revisit the ‘cardboard box home’, situated on the periphery of the open expanse of asphalt, that continues to evolve as a creative installation…is this a profound statement of submission, by one who is enduring the searing summer heat in the open, to the true concept of what being a guest is in this temporal abode?

…so how should we, as Allah Ta’ala’s guests be spending our three days?

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.

…soar…ascend…

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Know that you will not attain the degree of the righteous until six difficult things become possible for you.
The first: closing the door of ease and opening the door of hardship.
The second: closing the door of honour and opening the door of humiliation.
The third: closing the door of comfort and opening the door of effort.
The fourth: closing the door of sleep and opening the door of wakefulness.
The fifth: closing the door of wealth and opening the door of poverty.
The sixth: closing the door of expectations and opening the door of readiness for death.

Ibrahim ibn Adham Rahmatullahi alaihi

JUMA’AH MUBARAK!

…soar…ascend…close and open doors…

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.  May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen.