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!

Ramadan has surprised us once again with its quick and sudden arrival.  The day’s fast is a bit more grueling than before, peaking around 14 hours.  When one’s mouth becomes parched from thirst and one’s stomach twists and turns from hunger it makes you grateful for all that Allah has given you.  We quickly take for granted having food and water readily available to us.  We walk up to the sink and fill our glass with water to quench our thirst at anytime we want.  We have the ability to pick and choose what we want to eat and what we feel like eating.  Unfortunately there are many in the world who haven’t had a bite to eat for countless days, or haven’t had clean water to drink to quench their thirst.  Picking and choosing what to eat and drink is far from their concerns.

There are many things you can do this month and year around to show your gratefulness and help those less fortunate.

1. Before eating and drinking make sure you pause and take a second to be grateful for the food and drink that awaits you.  Make sure you recite the specific duas before and after eating.

2. Make a consistent donation (every month) towards feeding the hungry.

Places to donate:

Africa Food Crisis

Access to Water Project

3. Want a more creative way to help the hunger crisis? Check out the following…

 FreeRice-Really cool website!  Learn and help end world hunger at the same time by providing rice to hungry people for free

The Hunger Site-Click the icon to give free food.  When you click, sponsors pay to distribute food to those in need.

4. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.  This makes one aware that this is not just a global issue but a local one as well.  It’s also a great opportunity to do dawah.

 Click here to find a soup kitchen in your area.

5. Remember the most powerful thing you can do is remember the people in need in your duas, Allah is Most Powerful and inshallah will make things  easy for them.

A few months ago I received a video titled “Chicken a la Carte.” It won an award for being best short film (6 minutes) and tells a true story.  Its what brought tears to my eyes when I saw the children laughing and it is what motivated me to write this post.  Watch below.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

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