Over the years I have always heard others say ‘trust in Allah’.  Though I always knew it in theory I never really knew it is my heart.  I have recently come to know the true meaning of this statement.  It is not something that is to be said non-chalantly with a laxidasical attitude.  O, trust in Allah and then poof…no matter what you do…all is good in this world and the streets are lined with gold.  No, that is not it at all.  Trust in Allah is far more than that.  It means that you trust in Him with your entire being.  Your mind, your heart, your body, your soul.  When a thought comes into your head, you push it aside and make dhikr.  Allah(swt) tells us in several places through out the Qur’an, remember Me. The word remember is written as dhikr in arabic.  Rememberence.  Call on Him, no matter what for whatever.  Why is this so hard for us as human beings to do?  Yes, we say we trust in Allah…but do we really and truely?  We worry about things until we m
ake oursevles sick.  There IS nothing we, alone, can do.  Only through trusting in Allah(swt) can we acheive all things.  No matter how bad things seem, trust in Allah(swt) and know that as long as you are doing what He commands you to do (worship Him) then He will see you through.  He will provide for you.  He will keep His promise.  We often forget after we say trust in Allah to say alhamduillah.  Yes, He tests us.  He tests us because He loves us and wants for us to enter Jennah.  And being the sinners we are, maybe these tests are way for Him to cleanse us of our sins.  It is His way of saying, wake up…do what I tell you and I will provide for you!  So, no matter what happens to you or how depressed you are or how bad things seem…trust in Allah(swt) and no that He will carry you through IF you truely trust in Him and do as He commands…. Fi iman Allah!

As you know I have been filming a bunch of videos with Sister Rebecca.  I thought I would link them all here in a blog post, so that they are easier to get to. InshaAllah.

This series is based upon a book called The Prophet’s Ramadhan (saws)  It touches upon some of the things The Prophet (saws) would do before and during the month of Ramadhan. This is a wonderful book.  InshaAllah it helps you as much as it has helped me.

Playlist of all videos!

Asalam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatu

In Ramadan, our family breaks our fast with Lentil Soup.  It used to be just cheap old Chicken Noodle, but since a great friend of mine gave me her Lentil Soup recipe, we haven’t gone back.  I did try DedeMed’s Lentil Soup – and it was good, don’t get me wrong, but it just wasn’t “the soup” that our family likes.

So, I decided to share the recipe, with special thanks to Sarah for sharing with me in the first place!

Ramadan Lentil Soup

• 10 cups water
• 1 1/5 cups red lentils, rinsed
• 1/4  cup rice
• 1/4  cup olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• Parsley and lemon wedges for garnish

Asalam alaykum wa rahmatulahi wa barakatu

I’ve left what is probably the most important post in Ramadan prep for last.  The thing is, this is what *I* do to prep myself for Ramadan, which may be very different from what you do…and I don’t want to imply that if you do something differently, that you’re wrong…that’s not the case at all.  I want that to be abundantly clear.

I divide my “self prep” into 3 categories.  First is my physical self; I ensure that I have all my vitamins, medications, and any other problems in order.  This means that I’ll make that trip to the doctor’s, if need be…or perhaps get a few wisdom teeth yanked.  ;o)  I always try to be in good physical health, and this includes exercise.  Normally, I would continue with my exercise routine in Ramadan, but with the hours that I’ll be fasting where I live, I just don’t see how it will be probable this year.  Insha-Allah, I’ll get back into the swing of it after the end of the month.

The second category is my emotional self.  Is there something bothering me that I need to deal with before Ramadan starts?  I don’t want to head into Ramadan with anger, hurt or resentment festering away inside of me.  Sometimes this means that I may need to confront the issue and deal with it, other times it means I need to reassess my reactions to what’s going on.  In the end, I want to be able to be free from anything that will drag me down in the month.  This doesn’t always happen, but it is the ideal that I strive towards.

The final category is my Spiritual Self.  I try to think about what areas of my iman (faith) that I need to improve in.  I think about what I’m doing well, what I could improve on, and what areas need attention.  I always set myself a goal of reading the entire Quran in the month (I haven’t for the last few years due to school work…but this year, I’m school free!!)  I try to keep to the 1 juz (part) per day or even more if I can.  For information on where each juz starts and ends, you can click here.  I also highly recommend that new Muslims read their Qurans from back to front.  The suras (chapters) are smaller and a little easier to digest, plus it gives you such a feeling of accomplishment.  I’ve been a Muslim for 14 years, and I still read my Quran this way!

I hope that you have found these Ramadan Prep Posts helpful!  Let me know if there are any other areas you think I should touch on, or if you have some great advice, why not submit it as an article!

Peace and Love!

Asalam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakatu,

I touched on this yesterday while talking about my Christmas Ramadan Lights…but I’m going to go more into it now.

When I prepare for Ramadan it means that it’s a massive clear out of my house.  It’s amazing how much junk can just accumulate in our homes (and God knows, I seem to be a collector of useless, unneeded items!)  This means that boxes and bags are filled with stuff to take to the donation centers.  I get the kids to do the same with the toys that they no longer play with and I clean out my husband’s closet. (shhhh!  don’t tell him!!)

I then start on the good old “deep clean” of the house.  Floors, walls, carpets, furniture, shelves, nick-knacks — they all get cleaned/dusted/vacuumed/washed.  I somehow feel that having a cleaned, decluttered home somehow helps me spiritually.  I can’t really explain this clearly, but that’s about as good as I can do!  If you’re not a person who likes to clean (I certainly don’t!) there are websites and such that can help.  I like Flylady - she breaks everything down into nice, manageable portions.  You can start off with her “15 minute decluttering,” and then move on to her more detailed cleaning lists (these are my favorites…it’s my “deep clean” to-do list!)

So, you’ll see by now that I’m a list maker.  I live via lists.  This year, I found a great Ramadan Battle Plan – I downloaded it and printed off the pages that I felt were most useful to me (essentially just the 30 daily pages).  I’ve planned out my menus for the month ensuring that I have a good variety of foods (ie, a beef, lamb, fish, and chicken iftar each week).  I decided to leave my weekends unplanned for 2 reasons – first, we are often invited or inviting someone on the weekends – I think it’s nice to buy fresh food to prepare for guests, or to make a simple dish (like grape leaves) to bring if we are invited; second – if we’re not invited anywhere, we can eat left overs from the week.   It’s also very important (in my experience anyhow) to ensure that you can “go with the flow” – there are often last minute invitations, or an extra person or two (or more) at the table in Ramadan.  The joy of sharing is somehow magnified during Ramadan.

In my battle plan I have everything written out: the meal I plan on cooking, where to find the recipe, and approximate times to start cooking.  I also have reminders like “set the coffee pot” and “pull out meat from freezer for tomorrow” <— those are the things that I always forget to do!

The great thing about planning out your meals this way is that you can go through your recipes for the week and make yourself a nice little grocery list – don’t forget to include things like spices or other things that you can easily overlook.

In the end, I have a cleaned and organized home, a well-planned menu system, and 4 grocery lists for the entire month.

My next post will be about preparing myself for Ramadan, I’A.

Asalam alaykum was rahmatulahi wa barakatu,

I can hardly believe it but Ramadan is just around the corner!  What do you do to prepare your kids?

Our family doesn’t really have any “rituals” but I’ve been trying really hard to set some up.  This year, I’m decorating my house with Christmas Tree lights but we’ll just call them “Ramadan Lights” lol!  While I was in Mexico, I bought these lovely metal stars, which I think are for holding incense…anyhow, they’re gorgeous, so I’m going to hang those off of my ceiling along my entry way with some fish line or something. (can you tell this is obviously a work in progress??)

Then, I’m going to pull out the usual things.  I have to say, thank God for the internet and the talented ladies who post things up there, because if it weren’t for them, I’d be running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off!

For the last 2 Ramadans, I’ve been using these awesome Ramadan Calendars - they are so lovely and well made…and I need to buy another one now that Adam is big enough to really participate in our evening activities.  Anyhow, the first few years, I just filled them up with candy and the kids got to put a star on each night and eat a little candy.  However, last year, Adam ate them all – yes, ALL of the candies by the first week.  Smart little dude put the wrappers back into the pockets of the calendar so we didn’t know it until we started pulling empty candy!  lol  This year, however, I’ve decided that I will fill the pockets with tasks for the children to do; things like “recite surat Al-Nass” or “tell me the story of Noah” etc.  Some days I plan on having them do things that they will have to learn and study, other days may just be a coloring page, or making a card.  I think that this will work better for our long days.  They can look into the pocket for their daily Ramadan activity and work on it all day long.

A lot of the activities that I have planned for the kids I took from TJ Ramadan - she has such a wonderful plethora of activities, information, downloads and more!  I just love it!  Please take the time to search through her whole site, she has such great stuff and links to other websites – such a valuable resource!

At the end of Ramadan, my husband comes home from the mosque to announce the Eid day…we put up the banner (it’s the last picture on that post) that I got from the lovely Handmade Beginnings – her blog is filled with all kids of activities too, and she has an Etsy shop that seems empty now, but perhaps that may change.

My next post will be about how I prepare and plan my home and meals for Ramadan, I’A!

So now share with me – what do you do with your children during Ramadan?