Tuesday 31 March 2020

Count Your Blessings

I was sitting at the beach with my parents last weekend. There were people by the beach who had set up their fishing rods and waiting for a catch. The tide was high but none of them caught anything. Even the fish were doing social distancing.


As we sat there, my father told us of his childhood moments, of catching fish, squids and crabs with his friends. I had heard a lot of his stories but I had not heard of his fishing adventures. Or maybe I had forgotten. He told us the different ways of catching different sea creatures, and where you would find them and when. MasyaAllah. I would need to do a lot of research to compile all that information but he got them all at his fingertips because he had lived them. 



When my father walked away and was taking with the fishing guy and my mother was accompanying the girls who were collecting seashells, I let my tears fall. My father had told us his stories as he was probably reminiscing his childhood and the freedom and experiences he used to have. It is a stark contrast to the fear and isolation that our children are made to go through now.

For the school-going kids, they still get to meet friends in school. But for the homeschoolers, it has been a hard blow. We socialise when we meet friends at playdates, co-ops, classes and outings but most have been put on hold, cancelled or moved online. So when people likened home-based learning to homeschooling and said it’s too hard and the kids get bored, please don’t. They are as vastly different as night and day. Homeschooling involves trips to the museum, and to the park and to the zoo, and involves gatherings, and parties and playdates. Homeschooling does not equate to online learning and staying home. Alhamdulillah for technology but we do it for now because we have to. Please do not confuse the two.

And if we all survive this and live long, healthy lives inshaa Allah, I wonder what my children would tell their grandchildren 60-70 years from now. I hope whatever memories they keep of this episode in their lives would only be happy ones - of times playing board games at home, helping mummy to cook and vacuum, pretending to sleep in a camp at the balcony, watching papa work from home and trying not to disturb him, and finally getting screen time at home.

As for me, I’m grateful that we have a roof over our heads, warm meals to eat, and the company of much loved ones. We have our religion, our Prophet ‎ﷺ and our faith. And that after 14 years of wishing, my husband will finally get to work from home inshaa Allah. When we strip away the frivolities of life, there is nothing much that we need to get by. So many others are in much more dire need than us. This dunya is an illusion and the trials in life will expose it for what it is.

Ya Allah ya Rabbi, You have taken away many blessings from our lives in such a short time, yet You have replaced them with many more. Ya Allah, allow us to see these blessings and be grateful for them. Because the only reason we can say Alhamdulillah is because you have allowed us to. So allow us to say it in abundance.

Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah 💚💙

Wednesday 25 March 2020

Seed of Faith

Of late, I’ve been receiving a lot of lessons from the Quran which are related to plants. MasyaAllah and I love it! Because we’ve been studying plants for quite a while and all these lessons from the Quran remind me that I need to connect everything that I teach my children to the Quran, to Rasulullah ‎ﷺ, to the Deen, and ultimately to Allah ﷻ. 

It started with a tafseer class with Ustazah Farhana which is currently on Surah Abasa. We covered these ayats:

Then let mankind look at his food. How We poured down water in torrents. Then We broke open the earth, splitting [it with sprouts]. And caused to grow within it grain. And grapes and herbs. And olives and [date] palm trees. And gardens of dense shrubbery. And fruits and fodder. [As] enjoyment for you and your grazing livestock. [80: 24-32]

As I sat there listening to Ustazah, my mind wandered to the time-lapse videos we had watched earlier in the week of seeds sprouting and breaking through the earth, plants growing taller with roots spreading deeper and further into the soil, and flowers blooming beautifully and dying gracefully. I had wanted to show them to the kids out of the blue. But I realised it wasn’t random, it was inspired, so that as I listen to these lessons, I can have visual images in my head that I could connect to. And I hope it would be the same for my kids inshaa Allah when I tell the lessons to them.

And what are these ayats from Surah Abasa actually referring to? The Quran is full of parables and this is one of them. The scholars said that the water is the blessings and goodness sent down from Allah to nourish the seeds of faith (iman) in our hearts. And as our faith sprouts and flourishes, it begins to nourish and sustain our souls. And as it blooms further, it becomes a cure for the diseases in our hearts. And as it grows more rooted and dense, its shade starts to benefit those around him. And even after the passing of a righteous person, his iman could benefit those generations after. And what we are enjoying now could very well be the fruits of labour of our past generations. Allahu’alam. 

SubhanAllah. I thought that was so beautiful. And I also thought of this time-lapse video of a dying plant that  was resurrected by water. It reminds me of a dying heart that is resurrected by the light of the Quran or the light of Rasulullah ‎ﷺ.

I remember when the pictures below were taken - more than a month ago. I was feeling a little sad because the mothers in the Science co-op had decided to stop our classes due to the outbreak. We didn’t want to risk the mothers and children who had to take long rides in public transport for the classes. 

As I walking and lamenting to myself at East Coast, I suddenly saw these beautiful flowers which I had not noticed before, although we are always at East Coast. And I remember thinking to myself then “Allah will not take something from me without replacing it with something better.” Because I realised then that Science is not just in classrooms and co-ops, but it’s everywhere around us and Allah ﷻ has provided all of nature as our classroom. Allah is indeed Al Kareem!

Ixora, periwinkle and hibiscus spotted at East Coast

I finally come to realise why we’ve been dwelling so long on the topic. It is because there are lessons still waiting for me. And the reminders from the Quran continue to come from teachers like Shaykh Mohamed Aslam and Habib Ali Zainal Abidin. May the seed of faith continue to flourish and take roots in our hearts so that we may nourish and shelter our children under our care, especially during these tumultuous times. Aameen.


Friday 13 March 2020

Rejab Sunrise

I think no beauty and grandeur in the natural world today could parallel that of the rising and setting of the sun. SubhanAllah. Alhamdulillah we had the opportunity to catch the sunrise for a week. Some days it was cloudy and we couldn’t even see where the sun was on the horizon. Some days it was clear and we were awed and humbled at the beauty and grandeur that we were witnessing. Subhanak ya Khaaliq! How perfect are You, O Creator!



Sunrise of 13th Rejab 1441H


Kids’ painting of the sunrise 

Just like the rising sun in the sky, the Truth may not always be clear to us. It may be more apparent to us on some days, and not so on other days. But it does not mean that the Truth has diminished. Because the only ones who are veiled are us. And that is why our Teachers will always ask us to recite this prayer. 

اَللّٰهُمَّ اَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهٗ وَ اَرِنَا الْبَاطِلَ بَاطِلًا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابَهٗ

O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it.

And the following beautiful morning invocation is part of the Wird Al Lateef. Reading it while watching the sun rise was an indescribable and moving experience for me. MasyaAllah. I copied the translation from the book The Gifts of Imam Al Haddad which you can get from Wardah Books. The book does not only give the Arabic text and its English translation but also quotes the hadith and ayat of the Quran for every line of the Wird Al Lateef. MasyaAllah. If you love to read the Wird Al Lateef and the Ratib Al Haddad and you wish to know more about them, it is a book that I highly recommend.


“We are present this morning facing the nature of Islam, with the true speech, and upon the religion of our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s blessings be upon him and his family, and grant them peace. And upon our forefather Ibrahim, who was true in faith and bowed his will to Allah (which is Islam) and he joined not gods with Allah.

O Lord, we are with You this morning, with You in the morning, with You when we live, with You when we die, only to You do we return, this morning we are present in the Kingdom of Allah, praise to Allah, Lord of the Universe.

O Lord, I seek from You blessing of good tidings in the beginning of this day its convenience, its shining light, its blessing and guidance.

O Lord, I seek from Your blessing of the good tidings that this day may offer and I seek Your protection from the negative events that is awaiting in this day that may befall upon me.

O Lord, the blessing that I received this morning from You or those received from all Your creations from You, can only be from the One and only You, and no partners have You, and praise and thanks to You and we are grateful to You.”


Tuesday 10 March 2020

Hold On Tight

One of the treasures we found at the beach was this group of clams that were clinging to the rusty blade of an old knife. I tried to imagine where the knife was from and how it landed in the sea, why the clams decided to make it their home and where the group of them might have been before the tide brought them to the beach. MasyaAllah it was too mind boggling but there they were for us to look up close and take a time-lapse video. 



Before we left, we discussed what we should do with the knife. Should we throw it away so that others wouldn’t accidentally step on it and get hurt? The Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said, “Every small bone of everyone has upon it a charitable act for every day upon which the sun rises. Bringing about justice between two is an act of charity. Helping a man get on his mount, lifting him onto it or helping him put his belongings onto it, is a charitable act. A good word is a charitable act. Every step you take toward the prayer is a charitable act. And removing a harmful thing from the path is a charitable act.”

In another hadith, the Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said, “ Faith is seventy or sixty-some odd branches. The most virtuous of them is the statement, ‘There is none worthy of worship but Allah.’ And the lowest of them is removing something harmful from the path. And modesty (hayaa) is part of faith.” 

But then the clams would die if they were out of the sea. So after considering, we decided to throw the knife back into the sea. But what do you know, the tide brought it back to the shore! We threw it back one more time and watched as the waves beat the knife this way and that way. But the clams stuck tight to the knife before the group of them finally disappeared under the water with the knife.

I thought to myself Subhanallah. We should be like the clams. No matter how the waves crash on us, no matter where the tide brings us to, hold on tight. Hold on tight to the Deen. Hold on tight to the Quran. Hold on tight to the Sunnah of Rasulullah ‎ﷺ. Hold on tight to Allah ﷻ. Till we finally reach our Destination inshaa Allah. And may it be a beautiful Destination 🌹

And the book below made a perfect accompaniment to our close encounters with the creatures at the beach.