Asalaamu Alaykum! This week’s  video review features four Islamic posters from Smart Ark that can be used to decorate different rooms in the house, especially a child’s room for study. The subjects of the four posters are:

1. The Arabic Alphabet
2. Arabic Numbers
3. 5 Pillars of Islam
4. Hajj- A Very Special Journey

Check out the video review below:

We hope you like the review. Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts or questions about these posters from Smart Ark!

Video Review: Islamic Posters is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

Bismillah.

The comments of sister Debbie & Diana on my opening audio announcing my journey to our Sacred Kabaah, caused me to write this quick post.

Sister Debbie Al-Harbi commented:

Salaam Alaikum, Dear Sister Ponn. I want to know the feelings of praying at the Kabaah. Tell us your emotions as you go through your journey Hajj. All my love, Sister Debbie.

Wa-alaykum asalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu dear Sister Debbie. There are no words to fully express what it was like praying at the Kabaah, subhanallah, Glory is to Allah. The only true feeling I had when I was in sujood at every single prayer in the Masjid al-Haram was ‘I just wanted to die and return to our Lord & Creator.’

I felt an immense amount of happiness, fulfillment, peace, safety, security, and pleasure. It’s an undescribable feeling, to be SO happy that anyone would want to die; but as I tried to explain to my girls in a non-depressing way–I just felt that everything is good, right, nothing-is-wrong, and so IF my sins are forgiven for making this Hajj, and I am granted a Hajj Mabror (accepted & completed Hajj) by Our Lord, than please Oh Allah, take me now–pure and innocent as a baby.

However, once I sat up from that first sujood, I returned for the next sujood and begged that I’d return to my girls; so together my husband and I can come back with them for Umrah. I wanted to impart all that I learned, all that I gained, and all that I experienced with my girls.

Alhumdulilah, Praise be to Allah, Half my du’a was answered, in that I returned to my girls; and inshaAllah, we are working our way back to our most Sacred House. Ya Rabb. Ameen.

The next comment was from Diana Grant. She said:

This is a very heart warming message from you Ponn… I admire you for your good deeds and hope for your success in your journey.

MashaAllah, mashaAllah, mashaAllah, God has willed, all that I am; and all that I pray to be as His true servant. My actions and words come from Him alone, so please dear Diana, come praise Him and Only Him as I do, beg for His forgiveness and stay true to His straight path. Ya Rabb Ameen.

Please be a part of the discussion by leaving a comment below. JazakAllahu Khayr.

photo credit: Tab59

Feelings While Praying at the Kabaah is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

•  “Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk”– “Here I am at Your Service, Oh Allah.  Here I am at Your service.” People from all over the globe are gathering for the completion of one common goal–Hajj Mabrook.
• Allah doesn’t burden a soul more than it can bear– We must realize that God knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows best what we are capable of.
• Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alayhi wa sallam)– He completed the Hajj in the best way possible, and every Muslim should strive to do the same. That means no complaining or whining and no anxiety or aggravation.
• Each difficulty comes with an experience– Things happen to us for a reason. Therefore, we must learn from mistakes and hardships. No one said Hajj was easy, so any difficulty faced has a beneficial factor to help us become wiser human beings.

Insha’Allah you’ve all enjoyed this audio. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and share this post with your friends and family.

Audio Post: Salam From Jeddah– En Route to Hajj is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

Bismillah.

As revealed in our previous audio post, Ponn has been traveling to the most sacred lands in Islam–Mecca, Medina, and Palestine. Outside Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, there are umbrella-like canopies–nearly 200 of them! This video shows them opening:

Canopies fully open.

These next few images were taken after Fajr while awaiting shurook (daybreak). SubhanAllah, what an experience it must have been taking a picture of something so beautiful that we have only seen in photographs taken by others on the internet. Realizing its reality–seeing it in person. Stepping on the land that the beloved Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam himself stepped on when Islam itself was born and established.

Masha’Allah, with much patience and fortitude, SubhanAllah, Ponn was one of 50 women in her group of 150 Americans, and was blessed enough to pray in the Nobel Rawdah, which is the area between the Prophet Muhammad’s  salallahu alayhi wasalam minbar (where he lead prayer) and the room that contains his grave.

The Prophet Muhammad’s  salallahu alayhi wasalam was reported to have said,

“The area between my house and my Minbar is a garden from the gardens of Paradise and my Minbar is upon my Pond.” (Sahih Bukhari & Muslim.)

May Allah accept a completed Hajj (Hajj Mabror) and the du’a (supplications) made in the Noble Rawdah. Ameen.

Share with us your experiences of Hajj and Umrah, or what you look forward to most on your planned future pilgrimage, Insha’Allah.

The Medina Experience is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

A Secret Revealed

Asalaamu Alaykum! As you may have realized Ponn has been missing from American Muslim Mom for the past couple months. Listening to her debut audio linked above, as well as reading the title of this post, will explain that she has been traveling to the 3 Most Sacred Lands for all Muslims–Mecca, Medina, and Palestine.

I’ve been overseeing American Muslim Mom, at Ponn’s direction, and I’ve been anticipating her  motivational stories and lessons learned from her journey. I’m glad that I can finally share this news that’s been a secret for the past few months–that Ponn’s one and only dream of going to Hajj before she dies came true, Alhumdulilah.

Ponn has served as my mentor and adviser in business for many months now. I’ve summarized the knowledge I’ve gained working alongside her in this post from July. I’ve also contributed various posts that Ponn has helped me edit which you can read here. Specifically in my end-of-summer internship post, Ponn not only serves as my mentor and adviser, but also one of my inspirations and friends. I wasn’t sure if we would be working again after the summer, but in the middle of the semester (around October), I received an email and later, a follow-up phone call. As Ponn shared her most incredible good news about Hajj, I was actually faced with a decision to oversee her American Muslim Mom blog network, as well other online businesses–a very daunting task and responsibility. I felt I could take on the challenge and began to scribble down detailed notes of what needed to be done to run the sites. However, I cannot say honestly I was confident about it everyday, because I did run into problems, and on a couple rare occassions, I felt I couldn’t handle it. But, Alhumdulillah, everything worked out, and now I can say that I’m truly blessed to have gained this professional experience and continue to do so.

The fact that Ponn even asked me to do this was flattering, because it displayed her confidence in my abilities–abilities sometimes I forgot I had. I felt only like a business partner for a very short period of time. Instead, our relationship has progressed more towards a sisterhood, with her as my Khalto (Auntie) is Islam.

While it’s easier to just read a post, I recommend everyone to listen to this audio, and if you can’t right now, download it so you can listen later. Ponn’s message from her overseas journey is so extremely heartfelt, genuine, and moving.

American Muslim Mom’s Journey to Our Sacred Lands – Audio Notes

• A full shift to the Islamic calendar
• Hajj, a life-long goal achieved Insha’Allah
• Praying as if it’s our last prayer
• Stay in Gaza writing the How to Perform Hajj book
• The importance of the Arabic language
• Doing everything for the sake of Allah

InshaAllah, God willing, Ponn will pray in the third of the most sacred masajid, Masjid Al-Aqsa in Al-Quds, Jerusalem while on this journey. May all Mu’minyn (true believers) pray in the Sacred Houses of Allah. Ameen.

 Please comment below with what you’d like to hear about the holy pilgrimage, Insha’Allah. JazakAllahu Khayr, wa salaamu alaykum.

Audio Post: From Mecca to Medina to Palestine is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

Bismillah ar Rahman ar Raheem (In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful)

First, I want to thank Sisters Aisha and Naseem for sharing their opinions, “…that purchasing eid decorations are copying the commercialization of holidays as done by the kuffar; and also a great waste of money…” and thought it’s critical that I write an article detailing all of the points they mentioned, in which decorating our homes for Eid and Ramadan are not prohibited under the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam (Peace and blessings be upon him).

Please note, that I, nor my family, friends, colleagues, and scholar (who we consulted), are not offended by these sisters’ comments. Rather, I am grateful for their input, alhumdulilah, Praise be to God, because it caused me to reflect and assure that my family and I are on the straight path to jennah (heaven), inshaAllah (God willing); and not misguiding others to go astray through my actions.

Aisha Umm Abdurahman Hasan I honestly feel – without offending anyone – that purchasing eid decorations are copying the commercialization of holidays as done by the kuffar; and also a great waste of money. Instead of spending money on completly unbeneficial decorations, you’ll receive much more reward giving the money to an Islamic charity, or spending on your own child. We can make our own decorations out of household items while sharing that time making memories with our kids. i’m hoping this year to finally experience making eid cookies.

Naseem Yusuf I agree with sister Aisha

Fatwas about Decorations and Giving Incentives or Rewards

The article below is written from a combination of the following fatwas with Qur’an and Sunnah to support them:

• Fatwa regarding celebrating and decorating one’s return from Hajj,
• Fatwa on decorating for Eid rather than Christmas (please refer to the middle of the fatwa where the scholars mention that Jennah is especially decorated during the month of Ramadan) [I have not yet found the hadith that speaks specifically to this point, but our local scholar insists that Eid and Ramadan decorations are good ways to spend on our families as a celebratory reward and festive pride. Khair, inshaAllah],
• Another fatwa, which I can not find right now, that allows Muslims to offer incentives to our brothers and sisters, not just our children to make an necessary ibadah (act of worship) as a routine, and a good habit in one’s life. For example, offering to reward to one’s father so he will grow a beard for the intention of gaining reward from Allah first and not the gift itself. So, rewarding our children for developing new skills, especially ibadah (acts of worship) is permissible and encouraged. NOTE: My husband and I do not, nor recommend, giving monetary incentives to our girls for fulfilling any of the five pillars. Yet, we reward their pure completed actions with surprises after the fact. And, we do not reward them all the time, so they don’t expect to gain anything else but the love and happiness of Allah subhanallah wa Tala, and
• I consulted a local scholars in Islam to confirm the below statements.

Eid and Ramadan Decorations Are Permissible

1. Pure intentions - Decorations are permissible, if parents have pure intentions to celebrate their family’s completion of a good deed, especially one of the pillars, such as Hajj or Fasting during the month of Ramadan. A parent’s pure intentions to provide rewards to celebrate the fasts of their family members, especially children, may be counted as charity as well.  “If a man provides for his family hoping for the reward, it will be counted as charity for him.” (Bukhari & Muslim).
2. Decorate in Moderation and Not Extravagance - It is recommended and encouraged that we reuse, re-purpose, and recycle household items as a family activity to make decorations. This is the first year that we drew attention to Eid decorations made available online for sale. Based on our review, the prices of all the online stores are highly economical and not extravagant. Since the announcement of  Ranoon’s unique products prompted this discussion, we believe that their classy, unique products are not expensive, and do not resemble holiday lights or decorations of other faiths. “If a woman spends from the wealth of her house without causing harm (to her family), she will get the reward of what she spend and her husband also gets a reward because he earned it. (Moreover) the one who is entrusted with money gets the same reward (of spending it), without any of them (the wife and the entrusted) decreasing the rewards of the others.” (Bukhari)
3. The action of decorating does not become an act of worship, bidah - We cannot make habits that are expected by ourselves or our families,  or induce feelings that something is incomplete because the action is not completed. For example, the family feels like that it’s not “Eid” because one doesn’t have special Eid decorations. Again, we must check our intentions (point #1). We cannot worship the decorations or the act of decorating in any way.
4. The only times to decorate are for Ramadan and our 2 Eids – Not copying other religions or faiths - We should not copy the act of placing lights outside our houses like Christians during Christmas time. Our decorations should remain inside, or should be taken down after the 3 days of Eid al-Fitr, or 4 days of Eid al-Adha are completed. We should not keep them up and “hold on to the good times”, otherwise our intentions are not solely to celebrate the good deeds of the completed two pillars.
5. The act of Hajj & Ramadan are not private acts of worship, so celebrating one’s completion is allowed - We are allowed to celebrate, reward and draw attention to one’s completion of these fardh (obligatory) actions. Again, we cannot be so extravagant (point #2) that we are perceived as a showing off. Hence remaining moderate (point #2) and keeping all decorations inside (point #4) is protecting our pure intentions (point #1) once again. Hajj and fasting is different than giving charity in secret or in public. Charity in secret is more rewarded than giving in public.
6. Ramadan and Eid Decorations acting as a form of dawah (introduction to Islam) – Subhanallah, Glory be to God, my non-Muslim friend was curious what’s the latest project or contest on AmericanMuslimMom.com after visiting Ranoon.com, she asked what’s the significance of the moon and star, and the difference between Ramadan and Eid. Alhumdulilah, Praise be to God, because she thinks one particularly product was beautiful, she said she’s going to purchase it,and  hang it up as a house decoration. She thanked my girls and I because now she has an explanation for its significance when people ask her about this new wall hanging
7. Ramadan activities should be emphasized over Eid celebrations - Eid is solely the days of celebration, our feast and festival. Since  Ramadan is our month of fast, and our good deeds are multiplied by an amount only known by Allah, we should always emphasize doing good deeds, actions, celebrations, feasts during Ramadan and especially iftar (the meal breaking our fasts).  Our rewards are multiplied during Ramadan. Encouraging our children to participate in programs like the Ramadan Qur’an-a-thon Sadaqah Drive and striving to learn all the names of Allah are worthy activities during Ramadan, inshaAllah.

Ramadan Gifts are Giving-Gifts; while Eid Gifts are Celebrating-Gifts

We emphasize giving during Ramadan rather than Eid, to protect our pure intentions (point #1), and to gain more rewards for Allah, ishaAllah (God willing). Also, we believe it protects us, inshaAllah, from mimicking the holidays of other faiths, and possible commercialization of our feasts.  More specifically,

• We stress that “Eid” = Food/Feast, Family, Friends, and Fun. We do not call it a “holiday”, as to not assimilate, or be associated with celebrating a “holi/holy-day”. We have a different kind of pride and honor that is associated with our Eid, and we should celebrate and decorate accordingly and appropriately.
• “Giving-Gifts” means that our Gifts that keep Giving. We give any kind of gift (money, food, smile, etc.), and Allah gives back, inshaAllah (God willing): furdos (the highest Heaven). We give during in Ramadan purely and innocently; not to gain anything in return, expect Allah’s pleasure and acceptance. This is why we stress the importance of knowing when and how to give Zakat al-Fitr.
• “Celebrating Gifts” are Gifts given to help Celebrate with others. We give gifts purely to share the great accomplishment of completing our month of fast and/or Hajj. Therefore, again; we do not expect any gifts or rewards in return, except from Allah. We want to spread happiness, cheer and the love of Allah as He commissioned us with these 2 wonderful days of Eid. By giving Celebrating-Gifts, we also protect ourselves from commercialization and assimilation because
  • We are not intending to “exchange gifts on a specific day” like birthdays and holidays, which is prohibited.
  • We do not have hopes of receiving gifts equal or greater value to what we give and to who we give too. After all, if we’re sharing our celebration, gifts should be given freely, openly and to any of our brothers and sisters; not just immediate family and friends. If you can afford to give gifts to any and all kids and the needy in your masjid during Eid, and anonymously (since it’s charity), do it! Celebrate!
  • We do not have a goal of receiving any special gifts on the days of Eid. For example, making “Eid wish lists” like “Santa’s wish list”, which is definitely assimilating which is prohibited, and can be commercializing the days. Time to check our intentions, yet again.
  • Here are tips for Creative, Cost-Cutting Eid Gifts.(Includes baking, arts & crafts).

If I offend or lead anyone astray by this article, the fault is mine and mine alone and I seek forgiveness by Our Creator, for He is Perfect and does not lead astray. If you agree with the above, please enter to win your own free Eid decorations by Ranoon.

Since Eid is quickly approaching, we must make sure we have the correct intentions. So, please continue the dialogue. We’d love to hear your thoughts, concerns and support.

Eid Decorations are Allowed is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

This short animated video is a great summary of the story of  zamzam for young and new learners. [And, us oldies too. ]  It’s an important Islamic story for all Muslims to know, especially because it’s one of the actions we perform during Hajj.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzHX8SlJkoM

We’d love to see what you think of this movie. So, please share your experiences with us in the comments section below. As always, if you have an Islamic movie video or nasheed you’d like to share, please let us know about it by clicking here.

Muslim Kids Video – The Story of ZamZam is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog

The popular Muhammad Nabeena nasheed which is played in shops in Makkah and Madina plays in our home and the girls’ cell phones throughout most of our blessed days. I believe all Muslim kids should embrace and memorize this beautiful nasheed. Alhumdulilah, this brother took pictures from Umrah and Hajj, made a gorgeous slideshow with English translation. In the right info. bar at youtube, he even writes the transliteration of the Arabic of the full nasheed.

May Allah bless you dearly in this dunya (life) and the akhira (Hereafter). Ameen.

InshaAllah (God willing), we will introduce new Muslim Kids Weekly Videos every Sunday, and keep them nicely categorized for you under the “Nasheeds” category.

Muslim Kids Weekly Video – Muhammad Nabina (My Prophet Muhammad) is a post from: American Muslim Mom Blog