The

Muslim Housewife

Have you ever had one of those days where you can’t pray or fast because a “friend” decided to visit?  Or it’s Ramadhan and you’re  not fasting because your nursing or expecting?  Most of us Muslimahs  have gone through such an experience.  It’s a time when one is very prone to getting the eman blues as I like to call it. I can recall a personal case. Last year I was blessed enough to experience Ramadhan in Alexandria, Egypt.  Although the spirit of Ramadhan constantly surrounded me, I had a hard time feeling like it was Ramadhan since I wasn’t fasting (I was expecting baby #2 Alhumdulilah!).  There were days I was down because I felt like I wasn’t reaping the full benefits of Ramadhan. I was feeling the case of the blues, the eman blues. There comes a moment in life for all of us Muslim women where we won’t be able to pray or fast for a period of time, whether it be that time of the month, being pregnant, nursing or those forty some days after having a baby.  It’s very important to do other things to keep your eman up at these times and preventing yourself from slipping into the eman blues.  Because once you slip into the blue zone it takes more effort to make your eman as strong as it might have been.

Here are a few tips on ways to keep your eman high and afloat during those times.

The three R’s :

*Righteous deeds. By increasing good deeds and obedience one nears himself/herself to Allah.

*Refrain from sinful acts. Stay away from sinful activities and people who encourage these things, doing so will prevent your heart from being destroyed.

*Remember and Reflect. Remember Allah, His names, His attributes, His majesty. Praise Him and Glorify Him constantly, for doing this brings peace to the heart and increases your eman. Ponder on the Quran by reading the English translation. Reflect about the things that surround you and how they have been provided by the All Mighty Allah. And lastly remember and reflect on the Hereafter, doing so will remind you the purpose of life.

Doing the three R’s all times of your life will always help increase your eman, but doing these in addition to making dua more when you are not able to pray or fast will ensure that your eman stays high above the danger zone!

Keep your eman high up to the sky!

We’ve all had a child fall and get hurt, sometimes it ends up being a big boo boo and sometimes a small one.  Whatever the case, Moms and Dads usually do anything to soothe the child and make them stop crying.  We may try different distraction techniques like give them a candy or show them their toys, or maybe even tell them we’ll take them outside.

In reality there is no better way of soothing a child than with the words of Allah.  Since coming to Egypt (Subhanallah its almost been 6 months, quite unbelievable!) Ahmed and I started something new with our daughter Isra.  We started reciting Surah Al-Fatiha upon the spot she would  get hurt.  Subhanallah the moment we would start reciting the surah she would immediately calm down.  This is anywhere from a small fall on the ground to really big boo boos.  About a month ago we went to Chilli’s for dinner.  There was a play area in the back where they had a moonwalk and a swing set.  Of course Isra wanted to sit on the swing so Ahmed took her to play for a little bit.  The swings were not really toddler proof so Ahmed had to stay with her and literally hold her on the swing, it was still quite enjoyable to her lol.  Anyways, Ahmed turned around for a split second and she ended up flipping onto the floor.  Her lip busted and her nose started bleeding profusely!  As you can imagine she was screaming on the top of her lungs not only from the pain but from the sight of the blood as well (my poor lil baby!)  As we tried to stop the bleeding I  put my finger on where she got hurt and started reciting Surah Al-Fatiha.  And within minutes Isra immediately calmed down and stopped crying-Subhanallah!

I think this is a great habit we can implement with ourselves and our families, after all Allah is the one who heals.  It’s really amazing how easily one can make things into habits with children.  As I said I started this about 6 months ago, about a month before Isra turned one, now whenever she gets hurt she waits for me to recite Surah Al-Fatiha or she say “Momma, Momma Allah o Akbar” meaning Momma recite!  Sometimes I’ve even caught her reciting upon herself when she gets hurt (she can’t recite the surah yet but her equivalent is to say “Allah o Akbar”)  and lastly when she sees Ahmed or I get hurt she quickly runs to us, puts her hand on our boo boo, says Allah o Akbar, blows on it, and gives it a kiss…May Allah protect her!

         Surah Al-Fatiha

I’ve been in South Carolina for the past two weeks.  I do have to admit on my flight to the south I was getting nervous about getting dirty looks towards my appearance as a Muslimah (hijab & abaya).  I think the last time I felt like that was when I started wearing hijab to High School where there were no Muslims.  It’s a kind of feeling where your stomach turns and you feel a butterfly sensation.

To my suprise since the day I landed here I have not received one dirty look, Alhumdulilah!  Instead I have received many smiles and nods of respect.  People here actually go out of their way to be nice, opening doors for you and  sincerely asking how you are doing.  There doesn’t seem to be many Muslims here, I bumped into one Muslimah at the mall.  She came up to me and introduced herself and told me that my face seemed new to her since she knew bascially all the Muslims in town!  There also isn’t any zabiha places to eat around here, which was a little hard to adjust to in the beginning.

Reflecting upon all of this makes me grateful for all the things I do have back home in Chicago.  The great Muslim community, the abundant Masajid and an assortment of zabiha restaurants you can choose from.  Alhumdulilah, it truly is a blessing.

On another note, I have been able to do some dawah while I have been here.  Every morning there is a breakfast reception in the hotel I am staying at.  Isra and I make our way down and get some breakfast every morning.  The employee who works there, Barbara, is a very friendly African American woman.  After a few days of seeing one another we started talking.  At first it was basic conversation about our backgrounds.  Just yesterday I thought it would be a good time to bring up religion.  The topic came about so smoothly, it wasn’t wierd or akward at all.  Alhumdulilah it was a very good conversation and I hope that Allah SWT will guide her to the truth.  She listened very intently and didn’t refute at all!

As Muslims we have to remember that it is part of our duty to spread the deen of Islam.  This has been a particularly new interest of mine and I have been trying to make the best of every oppotunity I get to do dawah.  Many of us think we are not capable of spreading our deen because we are not knowledgable enough.  The truth is we all know the basic beliefs of our religion and that is essentially what you need to convey.  You don’t have to be fancy with your words, you just need to speak from the heart and tell others what the religion of Islam is truly about.  There is a great CD set out there by Sh. Muhammad Alshareef called ”Fiqh Ad-Dawah: Guiding to Allah by the Book” definitely worth checking out.  Inshallah Allah will make this duty easy upon all of us.

All in all I would have to say the south has truly lived up to its “Southern Hospitality.”  Back to Chicago on Friday inshallah!