Review: Fazpies for a Cause

If you have not tasted Faizah’s pies, then you are really missing out! They taste heavenly and are made fresh with lots of love, intentions and selawats. MasyaAllah.

Last weekend, Faizah was selling her mini pies to raise funds for the people and the traditional Islamic institutions of Tareem, which she will be visiting next month inshaa Allah. On Saturday, she sold her pies at two all-ladies events and they were sold out in less than 10 minutes. Alhamdulillah!

A few mothers and children helped Faizah over the weekend to make the pies. The Na’al piping on the pie that Little A was holding looked extra cute and we found out later that it was done by one of the girls. Just so heartwarming. Selawats and prayers of innocent children cannot be underestimated. 

We had ordered whole pies from Faizah for birthdays and other events and never been disappointed. MasyaAllah. My husband told me that we should seriously just consider ordering her pies to replace birthday cakes for future celebrations. And yes, that dark choc pie with rainbow Na’al tasted as beautiful as it looks. 

The pies come in these flavours - banoffee, choc cheese, mint choc, dark choc and banana choc. They will be sold at another all-ladies event on Saturday, 23rd November, inshaa Allah. Check out fazpies on IG if you want to get a whole pie for birthdays and other events!

Review: A Sip from the Beauty of Mawlid ad-Daiba’i

“When one stands before an immense sea of beauty and perfection, where does one begin in trying to describe it? In trying to experience it? In trying to encompass it?”

How true indeed. The text is taken from the back of the book and above it is a prayer upon the Prophet ‎ﷺ (peace and blessings be upon him) written in both Arabic and English. Together, the prayer upon the Prophet ‎ﷺ and the excerpt above forms the shape of the na’al, or the Prophetic sandal. MasyaAllah such beauty.

The book itself is a beautiful compilation of the Mawlid ad-Daiba’i by the team behind Be Loved by the Beloved ‎ﷺ. It includes the biography of the Imam ad-Daiba’i, intentions and merits of attending a mawlid, and 40 merits of sending salutations upon the Prophet ‎ﷺ. 

And amongst the merits listed are:

* Compliance with the Command of Allah ﷻ 

* The person who sends it once attains ten blessings from Allah ﷻ 

* Ten good deeds are written for the person who sends it

* Ten sins are erased for the person who sends it

* Du’a that is preceded with salutations will ascend to Allah ﷻ 

* The person who sends it attains the Prophet ‎ﷺ’s intercession

* The person who sends it obtains forgiveness from Allah ﷻ 

Following the introduction is the complete Mawlid ad-Daiba’i in Arabic text with English translation. What took my breath away was the commentary after each section of the mawlid and nasyid, complete with verses from the Holy Quran, Hadith, stories and lessons. 

One of the shorter commentaries is below, from Section 13 of the Mawlid:

Throughout Sayyidatina Amina’s pregnancy, many amazing signs occurred. Among them were:

* She did not feel the heaviness of pregnancy that other women would usually feel.

* She kept having dreams or visions telling her that she was carrying the Master of the nation.

* She kept having dreams or visions that what was in her womb was light. As she described: “I kept following that light with my eyes, but it kept advancing forward till it lit the East and the West of the Earth.”

Lesson: All of these were signs felt by Sayyidatina Amina from Allah ﷻ to indicate that the baby she held in her chaste womb was not a normal child. This beautiful baby would come unto Earth in total humbleness to his God, shining the Earth with the light of guidance. 

SubhanAllah

As I’ve said earlier, the book is a beautiful compilation and the love, longing and sincerity of the writers shine through in the closing prayer at the end of the book. MasyaAllah. And as we take a sip from the beauty of the Mawlid ad-Daiba’i, one cannot help but to long for a sip from the well of our Prophet Muhammad ‎ﷺ. 

“For even a sip of such greatness overwhelms. Even a sip of such purity cleanses and elevates. Even a sip of such love extinguishes the raging fire of Hell.”

 اَللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ 

To get a copy of the book, please place your order here or buy from Wardah Books.

The New Bottle

I remember looking at my bottle lying on my picnic mat and thinking how the colours and prints matched so perfectly. Yet I had not planned it at all. Neither had I bought both the mat and the bottle myself.

Before I received the bottle as a gift, I was using another bottle. It was made of glass. It was a tad heavy to carry around but I was happy with it. Previously, I had to throw away another glass bottle as a child had dropped it from a height and it had cracked. When I got the new bottle, not only was I happy that it was lighter, but I realised it could hold both hot and cold drinks for 6 hours. Alhamdulillah! So now I can bring cold water on a hot day out and drink it chilled, or bring my hot tea out and drink it later while it’s still warm. How wonderful! MasyaAllah.

And looking at that bottle, and how perfectly it looked on my mat, and how much I needed it without realising it before, reminded me about Life itself. Our life is perfect the way it is. We are exactly where we are supposed to be. What He gives us is better than anything we could have asked for ourselves. What we need is to have more trust in Him and His Plans for us. Allahu Akbar.

Muslim Homeschoolers’ Curriculum Fair

This is where we spent our Saturday morning - at the Muslim Homeschoolers’ Curriculum Fair at Al Qudwah Academy. We had a booth to showcase our curriculum on Al Ghazali Book of Knowledge for Kids, Hadith copywork based on Content of Character and Mukhtar al Hadith, and lapbooks for various subjects. I’m sad we couldn’t stay on to listen to the talks by fellow homeschooling parents and kids as we had to zoom off to my cousin’s wedding. I hope my sharing had been beneficial for those whom I had interacted with. I know I was blown away and benefitted a lot from the other ladies and their booths. Bismillahi MasyaAllah.

On Sunday night, while listing out the crazy things I had done during the week to figure out why I felt so tired, my husband quipped that that’s the kind of thing I should have shared at the Curriculum Fair, instead of glossing it over and telling only the good stuff. Haha! I told him if I were to do that, no one would want to homeschool. It’s a little bit like giving birth or raising kids. I’m sure you had wished at some point someone would have told you earlier that it would be so painful on many different levels. But still, you’ve survived it or still surviving. Alhamdulillah. Homeschooling is much the same. Just do it then learn to survive with lots of tawakkul.

Adventure Playground @ Jacob Ballas

I had wanted to go to Botanic Gardens but we ended up at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden instead. We love the new additions to the garden but this tree house is, as they say, an oldie but a goodie. We had the tree house all to ourselves. Alhamdulillah. With an overcast sky and the sounds of chirping birds and gushing water in the background, it felt kinda surreal, like we were in our own world. MasyaAllah.

When Ustazah Umm Muhammad was in town recently, she reminded us the importance of forest bathing and grounding for children. She couldn’t have been more right. It’s important for adults too. It’s what our teachers prescribe for healthy children inshaa Allah. I went home with so much joy and lightness in my well-being. Alhamdulillah. Allah ﷻ knew that I needed that quiet contemplation in nature.

We then went to the pond at Jacob Ballas and had the blessed opportunity of meeting a white-breasted water hen and a pair of terrapins. After observing them for quite a while, they came close to us as we kept really still and quiet. Thank you for coming up to meet us! Alhamdulillah!

After stopping at the tree house, nature playgarden, pond and waterfall, we stopped at a map to figure out where to go next (and to impart some map-reading skills to the girls). Big A said that she wanted to go to the flying fox which was at the other end of the garden. I supposed this was the new extension to the garden and we had not been there before.

We walked along a bridge from Jacob Ballas that brought us over the carpark at the entrance. Then we walked further and found an adventure playground tucked amidst the trees and it was totally empty! Little A had rushed ahead to follow her sister and so I hitched up my abaya (eternally grateful for pants) and followed along. At one point while crossing the swaying bridge, Little A said to me, “Mummy, you are too big for the bridge.” Thanks, Little A.

They tried everything there and found most delight in the flying fox. They squealed happily each time they hit the spring at the end of the line which would throw them high up into the air before they go zipping back down the line. MasyaAllah such pure joy. We will be back inshaa Allah!

Every Small Deed Counts

Just earlier in the day during our session of the Al Ghazali Kids’ Club, the children learnt the Hadith in which Rasulullah ‎ﷺ said: “The deeds most loved by Allah ﷻ (are those) done regularly, even if they are small. [Bukhari and Muslim]

I asked the children what small deeds they could do regularly. They said they could help to wash the dishes, sweep the floor, hold the lift door for others, smile more, and feed the stray cats.

Later that night, their intention to feed the stray cats was realised when they found Dino the Cat with an overturned water bowl. Dino was so thirty after his meal that he wanted to drink from their bottle! So they poured their water into Dino’s bowl and he lapped it up thirstily, much to the girls’ delight.

Thank you Allah ﷻ for giving the girls their wish. May they persevere in carrying out their small deeds to gain Your Pleasure. Aameen.

Dilemma of a Seeker

Truthfully, sometimes I feel guilty that in seeking knowledge, I don’t get to spend time with the children. Or they are with me but we are not doing more “fun” stuff like going to the beach or the zoo. But then again, it all comes down to intentions, doesn’t it? And when I asked Big A if she wanted to go with us for a 2-day workshop, studying parables in the Quran with Shaykh Ahmed Saad, she said yes! 

MasyaAllah she totally surprised me, sitting right in front with me and quietly drawing and colouring. It doesn’t mean that she wasn’t paying attention though. That’s just her style. Many times she had quoted things she had heard in class from different teachers while following me, when I thought she was just busy doodling in class. This style of learning most probably won’t be tolerated in a school setting.

Alhamdulillah Ihsan Institute has a branch now in Singapore for the teaching of traditional Islamic Knowledge. According to Shaykh Ahmed Saad, this is what Traditional Islam is versus what it is not:

- sitting with scholars for years to learn knowledge vs learning from YouTube and social media

- learning ideas that have gone through rigorous debates, discussions and verifications vs novice ideas with little or no testing

- ijazah and sanad vs degrees and certificates

- teacher-student relationship vs teacher-class commitment

- tolerant and inclusive vs too rigid or too liberal 

- specialisation up to the point of being encyclopedic vs superficial learning

May we see the true value of sitting with our teachers to seek knowledge. Truly it is a jihad fisabiLillah.

Fiqh Tahawwulat

For the longest time I had wished that I could sit with a teacher to learn this book in its entirety. I had learnt some of the knowledge through teachers like Ustazah Farhana in her classes. I was hoping the translator of the book, Shaykh Ahmed Saad, would be able to teach the book in SG as he had done elsewhere. Little did I expect Allah ﷻ would send another teacher for me to sit with. Alhamdulillah for the blessing!

Fiqh tahawwulat is such an important knowledge to have as we navigate our lives at the end of times. It affirms the beliefs that I have when it comes to raising children and reminds me that in fact, there are more to be added to the long list. That I’m not being overly strict for saying no to a lot of things for my children because I’m trying biidznilah to protect them from possible fitnah which is real, and not imaginary as some would say.

Just to share something that happened on the last day. On Friday morning during recitation of the Burdah, after we had completed learning the book the previous night, I realised that my water bottle had not been properly capped and it had emptied itself into my bag. Amongst the items that were drenched was my book, Al Nubdhah Al Sughrah. All my handwritten notes inside the book was smeared beyond comprehension. The first thing that came to mind was the lesson from the life of Imam Al Ghazali.  One day while travelling, his caravan was attacked by bandits. He begged the bandits not to take his notebooks as they contained precious knowledge. The chief bandit laughed at him and said, “What kind of knowledge is this if it can be so easily taken away by the likes of me?”

May the knowledge learnt not be mere words on papers and in books but knowledge that is kept in the hearts, to be practised and passed on from one to the other. Ameen.

Al ilmu fi sudur

La fi sutur