Benefits of Qur'an Memorization for Moms

🍃🌸 Benefits of Qur’an Memorization 🌸🍃
Even and Especially if you are a Busy Mom...

Have you been stuck in Juz Amma for all your life? Why are we limiting ourselves to a few surahs everyday, every week, year after year... It wasn’t until I started Qur’an memorization that I tasted the beautiful freedom of getting out of Juz Amma. It was like I was let out of a cage that I didn’t even realize I was in! Why did no one tell me this before?? And why did I think it was impossible?? Let me share with you the benefits I discovered when I finally somehow bit my thousand fears and clicked that link and registered for a Quran class!

- fill your few minutes of free time here and there with something beneficial and pleasing to Allah
- have new ayahs to recite in prayer
- be able to lengthen your prayer
- more quality khushoo in your prayers
- use your kids by reciting to them (they know ma sha Allah much more Quran than us)
- understand our kids’ memorization struggles
- be a role model to our kids
- recite and practice new ayahs while cooking/cleaning/exercising helps those chores get done with happiness
- gets you really curious to learn Arabic, grammar, and tafseer as you come across ayahs that intrigue you
- excited to get up in the morning
- really look forward to praying tarawih in Ramadan especially when the shaykh is reciting surahs that you know and for the first time you can actually focus , it’s a joy you’ve never experienced before
- so much rewards and Barakah and blessings
- become from the people of the Quran the special people to Allah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it." (Al-Bukhari)
النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ خَيْرُكُمْ مَنْ تَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ وَعَلَّمَهُ ‏‏”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The one who recites the Qur’aan and learns it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes”(Al-Bukhari)
النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال: مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَهُوَ حَافِظٌ لَهُ مَعَ السَّفَرَةِ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَرَةِ وَمَثَلُ الَّذِي يَقْرَأُ وَهُوَ يَتَعَاهَدُهُ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ شَدِيدٌ فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ

Vision & Mission

Hifz and Homeschooling

Vision: to inspire parents to take back control over their children’s lives through shifting priority to Qur’anic studies in the hopes to raise a new generation of righteous leaders to be a force of goodness in the world.

Mission: To educate parents on the importance of Hifz and Qur’anic studies for children and how Homeschooling can give children the flexibility needed to make the Qur’an the top priority in their lives. To provide unique resources for Hifz and Qur’anic studies success.

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Sincerity in Salat, A Qur'an Plan

Sincerity in Salat...

You will be rewarded for your Salat if you are praying with a sincere intention. Sincerity means you are doing it because you want to do it. When you stand to pray, are you feeling that you want to pray, or you just want to get it over with?

In order to want to pray, you have to feel the sweetness of prayer. And you won't feel the sweetness unless you have a connection with the Qur'an. To make a connection with the Qur'an you need to study it. This is a possible plan to easily study the Qur'an that would only take a few minutes a day. This is advice that is first to myself.

* Daily reading: commit to reading at least 1 page a day with the translation. If you miss a day you make it up the next day. This is a practice from the sunnah to be trying to complete the reading of the entire Qur'an. Start your day with inspiration, reminders, empowering stories, and guidance which will give you the strength you need each and every day.

* Memorization: commit to memorizing at least 2 lines a week. Choose one day in the week to spend half hour memorizing. Then throughout the week use those Ayahs in your Salat. A nice way to start: look in the index of the Qur'an and choose a Surah that interests you, and start memorizing. Show off to God by showing him what you have memorized!

* Reading Tafseer. One day a week read a page from a tafseer book or watch tafseer video of the Surah you are currently memorizing or reading. The tafseer has the stories and background behind the Surahs and will help you understand the meaning better.

Our prayers are a way of spending time with God, and the more we spend time with God the closer you get to Him and the more He loves you. And then you will start to see this love everyday manifesting in different ways. And this will lead you to love to spend time in prayer in order to thank Him.

May Allah help us to attain sincerity in our prayers and a means to attaining the love of our Creator.

Pure Hearts Have...

Pure hearts have...
Radiating inner beauty,
Glowing faces,
Wide smiles,
Gleaming eyes,
A deep knowledge,
And are busy in helping others.

When you see them you remember Allah.
When you talk to them you feel inspired.
When you think about them you smile.

May Allah grant us pure hearts and friends with pure hearts and help us raise children with pure hearts

Vacation Week & Homeschooling Tips

Vacation is coming up... and I know we are dreading it yet looking forward to it at the same time. Your child is used to going to school and being engaged all day, so at home he will likely keep saying he is bored. You on the other hand, are used to doing things while the kids are in school, and now that they are home you can't seem to get anything done, and the messes keep piling up. Or maybe you are a homeschooler and need some ideas on how to manage with the kids home all day. With that in mind - how can we make this week fun and beneficial for the kids and still get the house work done and stay sane? All it takes is an hour or two on the weekend to make a plan, and save yourself hours of frustration throughout the week. Here are some ideas to cheer you up and possibly make it smoother.

* A fun schedule: divide the day into after Fajr, after breakfast, after lunch, after Duhr, after snack, after Asr, after Dinner, and after Maghrib. In each block, put one or two of these main activities: qur'an, chores, reading books (quiet time/nap time), outside play, free play, outing, story time, cooking, and craft/science experiment (for homeschoolers, add school time). 

* A fun theme for the week: to help you decide what your craft, books, outings, and story times will be, choose a theme. For example an ocean theme - trip to the beach or lake or river, playground with large sand play area, aquarium, pet store to see the fish, fish movie, fish craft, books about fish, science books about fish, fish play, fish for dinner, playdough shells and sand castles, swimming at YMCA, go fishing at a lake, eat swedish fish, make paintings of fish, show them the different types of fish in the supermarket and write the names, story of Prophet Yunus (AS) in the whale, story of Prophet Musa (AS) and the ship. Think of a few and maybe let the kids decide which one. This is similar to unit studies, where you choose a topic of interest and then explore the science, math, literature, history, islam, arabic, qur'an, and writing topics that link to that. When you have kids of various ages, all kids can benefit but older ones do more in-depth research and projects.

* Start the week with a trip to the library: take them to the non fiction section and have each child pick out books. In the mean time, you pick out the books you need for story time, craft/science, etc. 

* A fun menu: write a menu for the week that includes each child's favorite foods. Using that, write the grocery list. Then go to the grocery store and get all the items you will need for the week. 

* Pray together: it would be nice to try to pray together when you hear the athan (from computer or cell phone, etc.) This is a chance to be an example, and remind them that Allah gave them so much and they need to thank Him so they can be with you in Jannah in sha' Allah. Teach them to stay on their prayer mats after the prayer and do some tasbih. Then have a group dua with each one adding their own dua.

* Outing ideas: each day should have an outing. Monday should be library. Friday should be Jum'ah in the Masjid. So that leaves you with three days to fill in. A benefit of deciding this ahead of time is that you could call some friends and have them join you in one or two of your outings or arrange a visit to their house or yours. 

* Craft/Science time: based on the theme, choose a few relevant crafts and a few science experiments to do, one in each day. There are lots of ideas online. Print out one for each day and put in a folder.

* Chores: get out the spray bottles, rags, broom, vacuum etc. and assign a room or specific task for each child. Put the nasheed songs on and start cleaning. When everyone works together, the cleaning gets done faster, then everyone gets more time to play.

* Cooking: there are lots of things kids can do to help - measuring rice, measuring water, washing vegetables, peeling vegetables, pouring the oil, sautéing, mixing, adding spices, etc. And if you have chosen some of their favorite meals, they will enjoy learning how to make it. 

* Story time: end the day with an activity kids love, listening to stories. Have them all get ready for bed and gather in the living room. This is a good time to read stories of the Prophets and personal stories from your childhood - like a family halaqa. 

* For TV, I recommend you choose ahead of time which movies, shows, etc they will watch. Try to find educational series on youtube, Islamic and other. And limit it to just 1 hour a day. 

I know that it seems like a lot, and I know that not all can get done or be in the way it seems, and don't think that I do all that - but we have to make high goals for ourselves so that we can at least achieve a little of what we wanted to. Don't limit yourself. Don't underestimate yourself. Don't listen to any voice inside you that says you can't, or there's no use, or it's too much. You can if you think you can. And that's why planning your week is so important, because it puts the information in your mind and you can anticipate what needs to be done. 

I can't promise that your day and week will be smooth - the reality is that it cannot be perfect or even close to perfect, and it won't. But there's a difference between having a day with a few difficult times, and having a day that is a complete nightmare, let alone a whole week. You try your best and leave the rest to Allah. The key is to always start your day with Fajr, thikr, dua, and Qur'an. It sounds like a lot but it actually only takes 15 minutes. Our strength comes from Allah, because we are so flawed, weak, and forgetful on our own. I pray your week goes well in sha' Allah, and if it doesn't, make note of the difficulties and try to learn from it. If you just make a small effort, Allah will take care of the rest.

Reflection on Hijab: Let Your Inner Beauty Shine

Do you know why hijab is beautiful? Because it projects the beauty of your good character. We are covering up one kind of beauty in order to highlight another, more important higher form of beauty. But how can you wear hijab when everyone around you does not? It’s all about your perspective. What I do is say to myself- someone might see my hijab and be inspired. Just like one time I saw this woman with a long white hijab and it felt like I was looking at an angel. I had a moment of inexplicable peace inside me, longing to be beautiful like her.

So when I leave my house I ignore the ‘fear’ and I project ‘inspiration’ instead. Because if you feel strange, people will look at you strangely. If you feel like a terrorist, people will think of you like one. When you feel scared, you will start looking around for people who are looking at you. When you do that, people will automatically start eyeing you awkwardly because YOU are looking at them! What you feel is what others will choose to feel. It’s up to you. If you see the beauty in yourself, the beauty of faith, that’s what others will see.

Women who have worn hijab have talked about the advantages of wearing hijab. Some of the reasons you might understand, others you might not relate to or feel comfortable with. That’s because those reasons are from someone’s personal experience – a human. But what are the reasons mentioned in the Qur’an? Why does Allah ask believing women to wear hijab? Those are important to understand.

There are 2 simple reasons in Surat Al Ahzab 33:59.

1. “An ya’rafna – to be known” The hijab identifies you as a Muslim. The benefit of this is that when people see you wearing hijab and going about your life – this normalizes Islam to people. It’s not this strange religion with strange people. This woman is at the supermarket, at the park, at the post office, at the library, at the school – this is a normal person.

2. “fala yu’thayna – to not be annoyed, molested” The hijab is a neon sign for others to treat you with respect. You are obviously not ‘girlfriend’ or ‘prostitute’ material. The hijab attracts people who admire you for your strength and high morals. And detracts people with low morals and criminals.

{ يٰأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّبِيُّ قُل لأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَآءِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلاَبِيبِهِنَّ ذٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَن
يُعْرَفْنَ فَلاَ يُؤْذَيْنَ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً }

‘O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.’

So ladies, don’t wait to be ‘ready’- you will never be 100% ready, none of us are! Don’t worry about being an ambassador of Islam – you will never be 100% best da’eeya(female religious preacher), none of us are even close. Because that doesn’t matter. We don’t have to be the most knowledgeable or the most religious. We just have to take the first step, and Allah will take care of the rest. Let your true beauty shine.

Love for the Prophet

 محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم 

His honesty, his strength...
His calmness, his compassion...
His piety, his tears...
His concern, his contentment...
His righteousness, his flexibility...
His knowledge, his humility...
His wisdom, his perseverance...
His hope, his vision...
His prayers, his justice...
His leadership, his commitment...
His patience, his faith...
His trust, his forgiveness...
His generosity, his bravery...
His character, his manners...
His smile, his love.

Peace and blessings upon the Messenger: Prophet Muhammad