Hafsa has posted a sweet idea, that we should all get in on, inshallah:
Subhanallah, we feel so helpless seeing our mothers suffer with pain because of some physical illness or the other. Sometimes the pain is so bad, the medicine doesn’t work. I suggest, if you all are up for it, to wake up for tahajjud this Thursday and Friday, and make special duas for our mothers with utmost sincerity.
A beautiful post on home schooling.
I was actually getting my daughters out of the van and she noticed the baby. She was asking how old she was, etc. and although I did not know her – I walked over to her – showed her the baby and started a conversation with her. Can you believe what happened next? She actually told me – “you homeschool, don’t you?” I’m not kidding!
And you know what else? I love Allah more than you. And that’s all that matters. So please give me back the key to my heart. You won’t know how to unlock it anymore. Won’t be able to see any of this letter, or my feelings anymore. It’s my heart…..so GIVE ME BACK THE KEY!!!
Thank you.
Now hand me the matches.
Love, Your 1st wife.
Via Helen Latifi, Danish Muslima Blogger
Umm Maymoonah shares some wonderful advice on how to educate our children, about the nature of Allah:
The most effective method by which children acquire new skills and information is by exploring, seeing, touching and feeling. Therefore, it is not wise to tell a small child to sit down for an hour or two while you explain to them the different categories of Tawheed from a big text book. Forget children this method of learning sometimes puts adults off!!
A better approach would be to take them out to the zoo or park and inform them that Allah has created the animals and He is the creator of everything. Therefore, he is known as Al-Khaaliq. You could point to a tree and say “did you know that even when a leaf falls from that tree, Allah knows about it.”
We should make teaching fun so that they are learning about Allah as well as having fun. We should constantly mention the name of Allah so that the child grows up loving Allah (SWT).
The Imam’s Daughter describes the events leading up to the operation on her baby to correct his heart defect. I chose this story for I J T E M A, as i believe it will help us to realize the true nature of tawakkul, to appreciate the trials of parents (especially our own), and to also be grateful for the wonderful medical advances that Allah has allowed His creation to benefit from.
Before surgery, i held the baby and spoke to him. I told him how much we love him and how strong and brave he is. I read prayers over him and held him close. When they came to take him they let me kiss him and then they wheeled him to the OR. He was sleeping so peacefully he had no idea where he was going or what was going to be done to him. That made it easier on me to let him go.
We never know how Allah is going to use us or our children.  Parenting involves more than just loving and raising a child. As Muslims, parenting has to be fisabil Allah–in service to Allah–if we are going to be able to come up with the correct responses to the events that may take place in the lives of our children. We never know when Allah will call on us to be the parent of a child whose life will become an example to others. We never know when Allah will call or in what way Allah will call one of us to be an example to our children. Yet the combination of undergoing great difficulty and learning to be of service to others as a result of that difficulty may, if Allah chooses, bring us closer to Him in this life and in the hereafter.
Read the full article, written by Umm Umar of Muslim Writings.
The aim of Ijtema.net is to bring you the best of the Muslim blogosphere, by the Will of Allah. In my humble opinion, one of the best blogs out there is Muslim Womanhood…Muslim Motherhood, run by Umm Yusuf.
Why do I hold it in such high regard? Not only is she a gifted writer, and generally all round wonderful Muslimah, mashallah, she constantly amazes me with the imagination and dedication that she uses to raise her kids the Islamic way, Alhamdulillah.
Her blog covers many different subjects, both personal and general, but it is the ‘tips & tricks’ entries on educating children that always bring me back for more (and i don’t even have any children!).
Here are a selection of four recent entries on this topic, but please check out her archives for more suggestions:
Making peace between warring toddlers!