Of Lightening and Thunderstorms…

While we were coming home yesterday, both of my Betas in the car along with me, we were caught by a sudden downpour. It began raining fast and we were only halfway back home.

The weather in Karachi had been so hot last month that we were more than glad to see such a pleasant change in the weather, both kids beaming and chattering in full excitement, watching huge amounts of water that had collected on the roads now and making discussions of what activity to indulge in as soon as they reached home. The activity they were planning was no other than that of playing out in the lawn in the rain!

Eid Mubarak

Eid mubarak to everyone of you who is reading this!

I cannot believe Ramadhan is over and that we have already celebrated eid.. it seems like yesterday I wrote the blog post to welcome the blessed month... Oh how time flies!!! Here we are, meeting and greeting friends and family members a very happy eid, the kids are enjoying, all ready in their new shalwar kurta suits and devouring a bit of sheer khurma and a bit of chocolate cake every now and then.

Welcome Ramadhan 2015!

So Ramadhan is here once again Masha’Allah and all of us have finally reached this month, thanks to Allah Subhan Ahu Wa Ta’ala. We are all alive and breathing and making an effort every now and then to remember Him and please Him.

Let’s Help: Hope Nursery E-Book

Many sisters have done a joint effort to raise funds for the Hope Nursery in Turkey. Based on the Turkish-Syrian border, this nursery caters for 70 children and is in dire need of support to keep the  facility open. They have collectively worked hard upon it and have now successfully launched their 125 page e-book packed full of:

Goals list

Daily checklist

Daily recipe

Action of the day

Facts on Sunnah foods

Personal development essays

Make Your Kids Ready For Ramadhan!

The gates of Heaven are opened during this month, the Shaytaan is chained up 🙂 and the gates of Hell are closed! This is one important reminder for kids to make them understand the importance of this month. The gates of Heaven from where abound unlimited Mercy and Forgiveness, Love and Peace are open to all by Allah SubhanahuWaTa’ala, He wants us all to seek His Pleasure during this month and grab for ourselves His bounties in unlimited amounts. 

The first week of Shaba’an has gone by already and Ramadhan will be here in no time at all. You have read my article about how to prepare yourself for Ramadhan, now here is another one how to actually motivate your kids for the upcoming days so they may also be in a similar state of thought and well being.

10 Ways To Prepare Yourself For Ramadhan

So the month of Ramadhan is up next, Insha’Allah. With this last month to go, before we all begin to fast and pray Taraveeh prayers after Ishan Salah, all of us are busy preparing ourselves mentally and physically for the arrival of this great month!

So how must you prepare yourself for Ramadhan? What are the ways you can actually welcome this month with much fervour and respect and fulfill all your Islamic obligations as laid out by Allah Subhan Ahu Wa Ta’ala, the Quran and the Sunnah.

Here are 10 ways how you can prepare yourselves, these are few of my own ways, don’t forget to add in some of your own!

Be Jealous Of None!!

jealousy is when you count others blessings

So you don’t want anyone to be better or superior than you in terms of strength or fame or power or beauty? You can’t imagine anyone with far more riches and wealth than you have? You think your kids are the best in town and there is no one else who can defeat them? If you hear about someone who has exceeded in popularity, do you start talking bad about that person?

This is jealousy when you envy someone for his/her victories, wealth, high status, handsome salary, beauty or other such worldly benefits.

Happiness Is…

That moment when you realize that whatever you are indulged in currently may bring you much success and ease in near future… its so soothing to the mind, you feel relaxed and ultimately start day dreaming about achieving it all!!

You know Allah is with you all the time to guide you and support you and deep down in your heart, you pray silently to Him to keep providing you with utmost guidance and support to fulfill all your endeavors.

Think Before You Leap

There is a very famous story that I have read in the book “Enjoy Your Life”… the entire book is full of small excerpts and short stories, but a very small one I would like to share with you.. its small but it has a powerful message, yet again about how our choice of words affect the interpretation of their meaning.

It goes on something like this….

What About A Good Word?

No words can describe the beauty of the above Verse (Chapter 14, Verse 24) in the Quran. The Verses 25 and 26 follow, illustrating the comparison in further detail,

“Have you not considered how Allah presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches [high] in the sky? It produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And Allah presents examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded. And the example of a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, not having any stability.”

This Verse has a powerful message to the whole of humanity.

Is your child doing Quran Hifdh?

This post is for all parents whose children are currently doing Quran Hifdh or have finished off with it. It has a few tips and ways that you can follow to ensure your child remains motivated always for reading and learning the Quran.

I wrote it in the beginning and I am sure most of you must have missed it. here it is again.

Random Bytes From Life

If your child, either boy or girl has completed Quran Hifdh, or is still on its way to completion, then this is a must read for you! here are a few tips that you should follow to maintain a healthy environment positive to learning and encouragement.

The process of Quran Hifdh is a journey in itself that continues not for an year or two, but for the whole life time. As a parent, you have the ultimate responsibility to take care of your child and do the following:

Be patient. As said earlier, the process  of Quran Hifdh continues for ever so you must seek patience from Allah Almighty and wait.

View original post 794 more words

Colors Of The Sky

All of us know that there are seven skies, one on top of the other and the throne of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala lies on the topmost sky. But many of us do not know the the names and colors of those skies. I was going through something and I got to read about them which I am stating here:

Beginning with Images

I have just started working upon images (creating my own and editing some form the net) and this is my very first attempt in making a new one from scratch!

Till now, I had dealt with writing stuff down, create web content, perform research work, write product reviews and so on but now I hope to further improve upon my skills and learn graphic designing as a formal course, Insha’ Allah to take on more freelancing jobs as they develop.

The Beginning of the Adhan

Working on my child’s Islamiat assignment, I came across one very interesting story. For those of you who would like to know the origins of the Adhan and its beginning, must read it along with their kids (if any). My children just loved it, they could exactly imagine in their little minds what happened in Medina hundreds of years ago.

Also, looking for a bedtime story for kids? An Islamic themed bed time story? Then read this aloud to your kids at bedtime….

The streets of Medina were full of people. Men buying and selling goods in the market, women busy in household chores, little boys playing outside their homes, wayfarers trotting along the path… activities were being carried out as they are in streets everywhere. There was noise and mayhem and people were totally engrossed in their tasks and discussions.

The Beauty of The Adhan

Whenever I hear the Adhan, I always think of my family members and friends in Western countries where Adhan is not called out aloud via loudspeakers and no body in the neighborhood can actually hear it taking place…. The Adhan is a call to prayer, a reminder that began in the times of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H), in fact, he was the one who had felt the need for it as Muslim population of Medina was on the rise and Muslims were busy than before in trade and agriculture. What happens if we have an appointment with our boss at work? What do we do? We wake up on time, wear our best clothes and reach the office on time, earlier than our usual time.. after all, we have to impress him and in doing so appropriately, we expect some kind of a promotion in our current position, a substantial increase in benefits from him and an elevated view of ourselves in his eyes. The same ruling applies to students who want to impress their teachers, they want extra marks for their overall conduct and behavior, points for meeting the deadlines and so on….