Eid Joy!

Reading the Quran

Reading the Quran in Arabic a Juz a day is recommended. Reading the Quran in your first language so that you clearly understand the meaning is wonderful. My favorite Quran with English translation is The Gracious Quran by Ahmed Zaki Hammad.

Ramadan Books

There are many classic Ramadan stories we love to read out loud every year. Eid Kareem Ameer Saab! is a classic tale of a man who learns to not be miserly similar to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.

Ramadan Decorations

Ramadan Mubarak!

We are excited about Ramadan this year as we are every year. Our move to Michigan will make Ramadan very different for us. Ramadan has always been a community event where we would eat iftar at the Masjid a good 80-90% of the time. This year we will have iftars at home 80-90% of the time. The long days will give us more time to reflect on the Quran and other Islamic topics, but we will also spend more time resting. With the new changes, we will learn to adapt to still try to gain the most benefit from this blessed month. ♥

Decorations
We kept our Decorations simple this year utilizing our shelves and wall space.

Eid al Fitr 2015

The Masjid, Makkah Learning Center (MLC) that we usually go to for everything: homeschool classes, gardening, Foundations in Islamic Studies, etc. has a wonderful Imam, mashaAllah who lead the prayer and did a beneficial talk. After the prayer, they served a Pakistani style breakfast with nana and beans. Many were dressed very beautiful in their very best. Then that is the end . . . no jumpers, bounce house, petting zoo, barbeque like we are used to in other communities.

MLC' s President, bless him, tried to do something for the children who were still at MLC after the prayer was done. He put all the children in his pick up truck and drove them around the property, they had fun which made me happy. Then he gave out, which seem an unlimited amount of candy.

Turkey in America

The grand and beautiful mosque that was recently built has brought a little bit of Turkey to America, well maybe a whole lot bit! The Mosque is exquisite, mashaAllah and for those of us who have never visited the Muslim world, this is the next best thing.

A Visit with Shaykh Tosun

This Ramadan we were able to spend a long July 4th weekend with the Turkish Shaykh: Tosun Bayrak al Jerrahi author of The Name and the Named. This book is the inspiration of my 99 Names of Allah cards {Free Download}, so I was super excited to meet Baba (Shaykh Tosun). Baba's beautiful community in New York is on a couple of acres with a Masjid in the center surrounded by houses that community members own. They had chickens and a beautiful garden with play area for the children to play in. Every night at Iftar the grounds became this beautiful lit magical oasis filled with Thikr (Remembrance of God) and delicious food.

Ramadan Notebook- {updated 2015}

Originally Published July 1, 2014 has now been updated with Ramadan 2015/1436 covers.

I have been color coding my children for a long time before Lil A was even born. My oldest son's color was orange, Big A is still pink, S Man is blue, Z Man is green, and Lil A is purple.

Counting the Days to Ramadan with the 99 Names of Allah

We are very excited that the month of Ramadan will be here in less than 100 days! So we are counting down the days of Ramadan while learning the 99 Names of Allah. Are you doing this also? It is not too late to join us. We are only on day 6- al-Mumin: The Inspirer of Faith.

I wanted my Beloveds to have a way to track down the days, so I created this little printable with all the 99 Names of Allah.

Ramadan Banner

I love all the Ramadan Banners that are available for download. Ramadan decorations have come along way since I became Muslim 15 years ago. So many wonderful ideas and creative people, mashaAllah.

Ramadan Moon.

We went to our beloved Makkah Learning Center, the home of our Makkah Community Garden and where we take our Fard Ayn Classes with our beloved Imam Mikaeel Smith to look for the Ramadan Moon.  Yes, we are in love with this place. The Imam, the Space, the Community. And we are so excited to bring back the Sunnah of trying to sight the Ramadan moon.

Ramadan Calendar Inserts

Do you have a Ramadan Tradition? Ramadan Calendars were our main tradition that we held for many years.

Lately our Ramadan Calendars have not been used as much because of our travels during Ramadan. However, this year we decided that if we are to travel, we are going to bring our Ramadan Calendars with us. Hey, Traditions are important!

Ramadan 2013~ a change for the better

It is only the 2nd day of Ramadan and it has already started out great. The days are long, the fast is hard, it's really hot and humid here in Maryland, but I feel wonderful. Yes physically I am suffering, but my spirit is great and isn't that what Ramadan is all about. Actually, Ramadan hasn't always uplifted my spiritual being like it should, in fact I had alot of stubborness and attitude when it came to Ramadan and Islam in general. I made a choice to become Muslim, but I wanted my Islam to fit all my preconceived notions about how things should go. I wanted to fast with water, because I thought it was backwards to fast without water, we need to be hydrated right? I wanted Ramadan on my terms: so what if I ate something 10 minutes after Suhur ended, I was fasting all the rest of the 9 hours and 26 minutes. I wanted to pick and choose what part of Islam I wanted to follow and I sure did not want to follow it as it was prescribed in the Quran and Hadith. I didn't care that people had been doing the same thing with excellent results for hundreds of years, I was ignorant, I was brain washed, and I was spoiled.

Ramadan for Children

As long as women have been fasting in more industrialized areas, I am sure the question of what do with our little ones have existed. A healthy child should be full of boundless energy and a well fed healthy child should have that much more energy. While her fasting mother, will be even more tired than she normally is, at least this fasting mother was. As I mentioned in my blog post "Ramadan for Intelligent People", although the younger children are not expected to fast from food and water. They are to watch what comes out of their mouth and what comes into their ears and mind in general, just as adults should. We already have a rule of no movies and Wii on the weekdays, so it wasn't that hard for my children to give up Movies and Wii for the whole month of Ramadan. I say this, just to say I didn't have television as an option to babysit my children during Ramadan.

I'm Fasting

One of my favorite blogs: A Crafty Arab was selling "I'm Fasting" buttons during Ramadan. I thought wouldn't it be great to make t-shirts that say "I'm Fasting". Michael's was having a sale on t-shirts 2 for $5, so it was on!

Gingerbread Masjid

Every Ramadan we fill the air with smell of Gingerbread. The funny thing is I never made Gingerbread houses in my home as a Christian. Although, I love going to hotels and seeing all the Gingerbread displays at Christmas, it was never a family tradition in my home until I became Muslim.

Ramadan for Intelligent People

Noor Janan's  Ramadan 2012 post begins with Preparation for Ramadan

I don't really like the title of those "for Dummies" books, yes I may be lacking in the sense of humor department. But I don't think being inquisitive is being dumb. So I have decided to name this post, Ramadan for Intelligent People because if you are here, reading my blog, you have to be intelligent :-)

Preparation for Ramadhan

A very dear Brother called Humble Dad, a few days before we were to leave for our Summer Road trip to tell us that Shaykh Salek Bin Siddina was to do a talk on Time Management, especially during Ramadhan in Pittsburgh. I have a hundred and one things going on (maybe exaggerating, maybe underestimating) and the Road Trip is on my mind, but my mind was resolute on being in Pittsburgh on July 13th. My husband told me about an Aqiqah, celebration of the birth of a Muslim child, that would be the same weekend and our local Masjid was having their annual Summer Fest with rides, food, and more fun. But still I was determined, Pittsburgh July 13th.