The Light

GrowMama’s Ramadan Spirit Contest

A True Story for Mothers Who Are Unable to Attend Taraweeh Prayers

It was the first night of Ramadan; six year old Mariam was impatiently waiting for taraweeh prayer. It was not only that she loved to pray but also she was going to put on her Fulla prayer hijab set and use her Fulla rug that she got from her parents for memorizing juz’ Tabarak. It was a tradition in her house that whenever someone memorized a juz’ they received a gift. She had waited the whole summer for a Fulla prayer set while working hard on her Qur’an. She really didn’t know which part of it she liked the most. Was it the bright pink prayer rug? Or the soft cotton hijab set with white flowers? Or was it the salah bag perfectly made for packing her rug and hijab after salah or just carrying it to her Qur’an classes in the evenings?

Today was the day she was going to try them on for the first time and in a new prayer called Taraweeh. But wait a minute, what is taraweeh anyway? Well, she had little to no idea what taraweeh was, all she knew was that taraweeh was after the night prayer and it was long. As Isha approached, she bugged her mother to hurry up. Her mother reminded her again that it’s a long prayer but she didn’t seem to have much of a concern.

Her mom put the little ones to bed and got ready for salah and they finally began. As her mom took her time reading the long pages from the Qur’an during her taraweeh, Mariam stood by her patiently gazing at the place of Sajdah. They took a short break in the middle. Mariam took the opportunity and asked her mother, “Mommy were you crying during your prayers?”

Her Mom nodded her head.

“Why?” she didn’t understand.

“Mariam, when you feel Allah is close to your heart, you cry.” That was the best and simplest explanation she had for a young mind. She waited for her daughter to ask for more of an explanation but to her surprise Mariam said, “Yes, I felt that too! I saw the light right in front of me,” and she pointed at the floor.

Her mom couldn’t believe what she had heard and it made her hair stand on end. However, she remembered that some children do see angels on occasions and the angels are made out of light. “Mommy, Allah came down to us,” Mariam continued.

She smiled and said, “Mariam that was not Allah, they were angels. Allah doesn’t come down to us. Remember I told you that when you mention Allah and worship Him angels surround you.”

Later Mariam told her mom that she saw that light in the same room many times and that the light was transparent and it looked like raindrops sometimes.

So, sisters accustom your children to salah from the beginning. You will be surprised how they will run to get their hijabs and join you when you stand for salah. Nothing is more pleasurable then having your children all lined up and you standing in the middle leading them in prayers. We are approaching the last ten days of Ramadan, the best of all. Therefore, we need to work harder and harder to gain more good deeds as each and every good deed is multiplied by many. There are many reasons why sisters with smaller children can’t attend the taraweeh and qiyam prayers in the masjad. Nevertheless, there is one thing they can do which is to pray at home to set a good example to their children and to have the angels surround their houses and bring the mercy and blessings of Allah along with them.

Hawwa Hamza

Hawwa Hamza is a dedicated mother of her 3 girls and is currently living in United Arab Emirates with her husband.