Today I am thankful it is Friday and I am able to have a sleepover with my babies. Today I am thankful for the rain because it makes the neighborhood in which I live lush and green. Today I am thankful that I am healthy. Today I am thankful I am in love. Today I am thankful my babies are alive. Today I am thankful for my home. Today I am thankful for the blessings that God has given us.... Read more
Last night, Khaled and I attended a lecture at The New Mosque about relationships between husband and wife. When we arrived, Khaled joined the men in the Imam’s office, and a young woman came into the lecture room with a pashmina hijab haphazardly wrapped around her head. At first I thought she was like me, then the Imam’s wife took this young lady under her wing and rearranged her hijab. When she was finished, the lady’s hijab was wrapped in... Read more
A little over two weeks ago, I attended a panel discussion entitled ‘Beyond Reactionary: Imagining and Cultivating Liberation.” Normally, I wouldn’t have ever known about this event. I’m not on any mailing lists, I don’t usually find out about stuff that is happening in the community until the day of the event, or after it is done. But recently I’ve come in contact with some very dynamic Muslim women, and I was invited to attend this discussion. I felt honored... Read more
“Prophet Muhammad was seen as a feminist.” Read more
I finally figured out why I couldn’t post this video yesterday. So, Voila! Here it is: This video is great. Sooper accessible, easy to understand and 13 minutes long. The only criticism is the last bit he says about Egypt. I think he meant to say that “Egypt, birthplace to one of the longest, continuous cultures the world has ever known is now the largest Islamic Country in the world.” Not Arab. Egyptians are very clear on this, they are not... Read more
I have seen two videos this week that I am thrilled to pass along to you. The first is an illustrated part of a lecture on Surah Al Ikhlas, explaining the word Ahad. Remember when viewing this video, the word Allah = God. Allah is the Arabic word for God. The second, well…I can’t get the link to work right now. I’ll try again tomorrow. Enjoy! Read more
Earlier this week, I posted Spiritually Religious, a blog post wherein I talked about my difficulty in finding a place where I felt comfortable to worship. This morning, this question was posted in the comments. These comments particularly interest me because I’d always thought you were a devout Christian who felt dedicated to furthering your husband’s faith and who had made a promise to raise your children predominantly Muslim. I have only read you for the past year or two... Read more
I am at the part of my religious journey where I no longer feel comfortable praying in any established environment. I cannot pray in church, because I cannot pray to Jesus. I pray to God. I cannot pray in a mosque, because I cannot pray the way Muslims pray. It feels wrong. So, I pray when I’m driving. I pray when I’m doing yard work. I pray when I’m cooking. I pray while I’m sewing or making jewelry. I pray in... Read more
I was cruising around on Twitter the other day, reading random tweets, and I came across an app called ‘Arabic Word of the Day.’ Out comes the phone. App Store Search: ‘Arabic word of the day’ FREE Sweet! I DL it. Then I get Pea and Kate’s devices. Not available on Fox’s kindle. :-/ Repeat. Day 1: Bitter; mour. Day 2: Big; kabeer. Day 2.5: Little; sarir. (Who can learn big without little?) Day 3: Some guy’s name.... Read more
Last week I subbed in a pre-kindergarten room at the Islamic School. Like most pre-kindergarten programs, at about 1:00, it was time for nap. We also refer to it as down time, quiet time or resting. The usual protocol in the classroom during rest time is to play Quran for the hour. I usually use Quran Explorer since this is the website I’m most familiar with. So, last week while I was sitting at the desk doing paperwork and listening to The... Read more
My Islamic Life
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