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.”

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.

The Etiquette of Friendship

Recently, one of our friends’ father-in-law passed away. Our teacher advised us to attend the jenazah prayer and said that it’s a good time to teach our children on the rights of friends. Just like how our parents, spouse, children, teachers and neighbours have rights over us, so too do our friends. And so I thought it’s a good time to look up my book, The Beginning of Guidance, by Imam Al Ghazali. 

In the last part of the book, on The Etiquette of Companionship with The Creator and with Creation, there’s a section on the etiquette with friends and brothers and the etiquette of friendship. And below I summarised the section:

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Before entering into such a relationship, you must do two things:

The First Duty

To check for the presence of the requisite qualities of companionship and friendship; for you should not take as a brother one who is not fit for brotherhood.

The Messenger of Allah ‎ﷺ said, “A person’s religious life is only as good as that of his friend, so let each one of you consider well whom he befriends.”

If you seek a companion to be your partner in learning and your friend in the matters of your religious life and your worldly life, look for five qualities in him:

1. Intellect

There is no good in friendship with a foolish person, for such friendship will only end in estrangement and breaking off relations. This person may even harm you while intending to bring you benefit. 

2. Good character

Do not be friends with a person of bad character - that is, someone who cannot restrain his anger or control his desire.

3. Uprightness

Do not befriend a wrongdoer who persists in committing a major transgression, because someone who fears Allah ﷻ would not persist in committing major transgressions.

4. Absence of greed

Do not befriend a person who is greedy for this temporal world. Friendship with someone who is greedy for this world is a lethal poison, for human nature is designed to imitate and follow.

5. Honesty

Do not befriend a liar, for you will always face deception from him.

[Please refer to the book for more on the five qualities]

You may not find all these five qualities existing together in a person so you have one of two choices: either opt for isolation and solitude, in which you will find peace and safety, or keep your interaction with your friends proportionate to the level of these qualities within them. 

This is accomplished by realising that brethren are of three types:

• A brother for the sake of your Hereafter

• A brother for the sake of your worldly life

• A brother who is simply agreeable company 

There are three kinds of people:

• The first is like nourishment: one cannot exist without it

• The second is like medicine: one needs it from time to time

• The third is like an illness: it is never needed at all, yet the servant may be afflicted by it. Such people provide neither benefit nor agreeable company

The Second Duty

To respect and fulfill the rights of companionship. Once friendship is established between you and your companion, you are responsible for fulfilling the duties demanded by that bond of friendship. 

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The likeness of two brothers is that of two hands: one washes the other.” He once entered a thick grove of trees and picked up two toothsticks, one bent and the other straight. The Prophet ﷺ gave the straight twig to his companion and kept the bent one for himself. The companion said, “O Messenger of Allah, you are more deserving of the straight stick than I!” So he ﷺ said, “No one spends time in the company of a friend, even for a short time in the day, without being questioned [later] about his companionship - regarding whether he has fulfilled the right of Allah Most High in it, or neglected to do so.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also said, “No two friends share each other’s company, except that the kinder and more caring of the two toward the other is more beloved to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.”

The etiquette of friendship are:
• to give your friend preference in your wealth, or, if you cannot do this, to give freely out of your surplus wealth when he is in need
• to provide swift assistance when he is in need, in person and without his having to request it
• to keep his secrets
• to conceal his faults 
• not to pass on other people’s criticism of him that would upset him
• to pass on people’s praise of him that would please him
• to pay full attention when he speaks
• not to pick apart his words in argumentation 
• to call him by names he likes most
• to praise him for what you know of his praiseworthy traits
• to thank him for the favours he does for you 
• to defend him in his absence from all infringements upon his honour as you would defend yourself 
• to give him advice with gentleness and by subtle hints if he needs it
• to pardon his slips and errors, and not to censure him
• to pray for him in the ritual prayer, during his life and after his death
• to remain loyal to his family and relatives after his death
• to choose to make things easy for him by not burdening him with any of your own needs, so as to keep his heart free from your concerns
• to express joy at all the happy occasions in his life and sadness at all calamities that afflict him
• to be in your innermost heart just as you appear outwardly, so that you are truly sincere in your love for him
• to be the one who initiated the greeting of peace when you meet him
• to make room for him to sit in a gathering
• to come out of the house to welcome him
• to see him off when he leaves
• to keep quiet while he is talking until he finished, and to refrain from interrupting him

In short you should treat your friend exactly as you would like to be treated. For truly, the brotherhood of a person who does not love for his brother what he loves for himself is mere hypocrisy and will have evil consequences for him both in this world and the Hereafter.

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MasyaAllah. Have I given my friends their due rights? And we have not even gone on to the rights of our teachers, parents, spouse and so on. May Allah ﷻ help us and grant us taufeeq! And if I’ve not given you your rights as my friend, please forgive me 😢

After this long section, Imam Al Ghazali went on to an equally long section on acquaintances, which I guess describes most of our friends and followers on social media. And what he wrote in that section was rather chilling and it made me further decide that I should stay away more and divulge less of my personal life on social media. Below, I’ll include a short introduction to the section on acquaintances.

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The third category is that of acquaintances. Be cautious of them, because you will not encounter antagonism except from people you are acquainted with. A true friend will help you, and someone you do not know at all will not trouble you. All the animosity you encounter, then, will come from your acquaintances, who express their friendship only with their tongues. You should therefore limit your acquaintances as much as possible. 

Dahlia Dreams

I’ve been wanting to go to the Flower Dome for a few weeks but hubby said that it wasn’t the wisest thing to do. Since the outbreak of Covid 19, more people have been staying home and away from places of interest. And so I thought - the more I should visit those places! Just as I had guessed, the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest were relatively empty. We were probably the few Singaporeans around! There were still some tourists but totally unlike the usual crowd. I didn’t have to jostle for space to get decent pictures! 

So finally, we got our chance to see the flowers and displays at Dahlia Dreams. Looking at the gorgeous blooms was a reminder for me as to how Perfect and Magnificent our Lord is. If not, how could He have created and designed such beautiful flowers with perfectly-ordered petals? SubhanAllah. 

One of my Teachers said, “Observe the creation of Allah ﷻ. The mushaf is the Quran that speaks to us (to be read regularly). Rasulullah ‎ﷺ is the walking/living Quran (learn from his mannerism, guidance etc). Nature is the silent Quran (look at nature and read it). Nature resonates with the knowledge of Allah ﷻ.”

القرآن قرآن ناطق
الرسول ﷺ قرآن ماش
العالم قرآن صامت

Since the crowd was manageable, I thought we might as well head to Cloud Forest. It’s been ages! When we entered, we were greeted by the really cool air in the observatory, plus the waterfall! For a few minutes, we had the waterfall to ourselves and that has never happened since the opening of Cloud Forest. Goes to show how much emptier the place was. 

We entered at the exact time when the mist started throughout Cloud Forest and it was surreal. I was enthralled by the fairy-tale feeling of the place while the girls were just excited to wet their hands with the mist. 

We loved everything and I would have taken more pictures if I had remembered to fully charge my phone before heading to Gardens by the Bay. But I had not so I could only take a few. That just meant that we would have to go there again soon inshaa Allah. 

For urbanites like me, running to a man-made forest or artificial garden is a little respite from the urban jungle that we live in. Never mind that it’s an unnatural environment. But it’s essence, the very plants that grow there, are natural. And being amongst them brings joy to my soul, as it reminds me of times when we had hiked through real forests filled with ferns or giant redwoods that were thousands of years old. Or the times we had stood in actual fields filled with flowers or stood by rivers filled with gushing waters. 

The soul always remembers such beauty of nature, because it reminds the soul of the time when it was in the presence of The Owner of Beauty, Allah ﷻ. And till the time comes again, the soul will continuously be missing and searching, and wayfaring its way back to its Lord, the Lord of the Worlds. 

And may our return to Him be a beautiful one. Aameen.

Sun, Sand, Sea and Seerah

Alhamdulillah the CNY school holiday was spent with the sun, sand, sea, and seerah, where Ustazah Farhana told the story of the Battle of Khandaq, or known as the Battle of the Trench, to the children.

News had broken out to the Prophet ﷺ that the Meccan forces were aligning with Jewish and Arab tribes of the area in their fight against Islam. Soon after, news spread that another battle against Islam was on its way. Quickly, the Prophet ﷺ held a meeting with his closest companions to discuss ways to save their city. It was obvious that they were outnumbered, and although it worked for them before, they still had to think of a new strategy to keep the Muslims safe. It became obvious that this battle was no longer a battle of manpower but rather a battle of wits. One of the Prophet’s ﷺ  companions was Sayyidina Salman al Farsi. Sayyidina Salman al Farsi was the first Persian to convert to Islam during the time. He grew up in Syria and Palestine and was raised a Christian. However, he converted to Islam after hearing about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ  and sought out to the Arabian Penisula. 

Sayyidina Salman al Farsi was a very intelligent man who was well-versed in tactical strategies in warfare. He knew both Persian and Roman warfare tactics used in battle. It was there that he suggested to dig a large trench encapsulating the city of Medina. The plan, although unheard of at the time (a completely new strategy that had never been used in battle before), was ingenious. The reason was that Medina was surrounded by mountains, trees and the fortress of the Jews. The entrance to Medina was the only gap that needed to be filled. That was where the men and the Prophet ﷺ  started to dig the trenches, which took 6 days to complete, and just in time.

The forces of the Meccan army had no way into the city, and therefore, no way of attacking. Abu Sufyan was infuriated and decided to block off all exits from Medina, causing a siege on the city, in hopes that this would make the Muslims surrender. However, little did they know that the Muslims would prevail.

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After the storytelling, the children got on to work to build the city of Medina in the sand. There was the mosque in the middle and some houses, surrounded by the mountains, fortress of the Jews, and the fields and forests. Then at the entrance, the children had dug a trench.

اَللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ 💚

Muslim Homeschoolers’ CNY Event

Sing nien kwai ler 🧧
Fu ler an kang 🏮
Wan shih ru yee 🍊🍊

Translated as:
Happy new year 🧧
Blessings, happiness, peace and good health 🏮
Thousands of things going smoothly as willed 🍊🍊

May Allah ﷻ reward Umm Mikail for coming up with the ideas for the CNY event earlier this week for the homeschoolers plus teaching us the wishes above and their translation. Sounds like a beautiful du’a to make for one another! 

We started the event with a zodiac animal craft plus story-telling and race. Then the children learnt the common Chinese practices during CNY through storytelling. It was so lovely to have a Chinese mother sharing the practices with her own knowledge and experience, while translating Chinese books to English for the children! She also shared some Islamic red banners and red packets which she had gotten from China. The one shown below has the words BarakAllahu feekum on it. MasyaAllah it was truly a feat considering Umm Mikail had her 4 children with her too.

Then they tried their hand at a little lion dance with percussions at the side. The 3 brothers immediately took up the offer for the lion dance with cardboards and kain batik. Too cute! We wrapped up with another storytelling of a reunion dinner with sampling of CNY goodies of cookies and love letters.

And here’s a song to sing to your kids, sung to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down, from the book Rhyming Round Asia - Festivals and Customs:

Putting on my new red dress 
New red dress, new red dress
So that I can look my best
For the New Year 

Welcome, welcome honoured guests
Honoured guests, honoured guests
Bringing luck with mandarins 
Gongxi, gongxi!

Have some tarts and red date tea
Red date tea, red date tea
Grandma’s special recipe
Please enjoy them

For your hongbao, xiexie ni
Xiexie ni, xiexie ni
For your hongbao, xiexie ni
Happy New Year! 🎊

During the event, looking at mothers with big bags and children in tow, I thought to myself that MasyaAllah only homeschooling mothers would do such things because school-going kids would celebrate and learn about CNY in school. That very night, I opened a letter from MOE regarding the upcoming P3 home visit by an MOE officer and the documents and pictures to send prior to the visit. And I thought to myself again that Alhamdulillah for such events by the homeschooling mothers so that I could include them in my report.

Swim Club

The girls had not attended swimming classes before. Somehow we had not found something which fitted our schedule. Or maybe we didn’t look hard enough because it didn’t feel right. Alhamdulillah the older one sort of learnt to swim a little and gained water confidence from her father and cousins.

So when a group of mothers decided to engage a swimming coach for the kids, I thought “Hey, why not? She could finally learn with some friends!” I didn’t know who the coach would be. I just knew it would be a man and I was hoping he wouldn’t turn up in swimming trunks.

On the first day, when I saw from far that he was in a full wetsuit, I heaved a sigh of relief and said Alhamdulillah. But the icing on the cake was the fact that Coach Syed was a fit, grandfatherly man in his 60s and all the kids loved his gentle demeanour, jokes and games immediately. MasyaAllah. What more could I ask for?

A lesson for me to trust that everything happens in due time. Have trust in His Plans for us. In the mean time, just enjoy the ride. 🎢🎡

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.