Muslim Parenting

The Boston area is filled with colleges and universities. This video focuses on the activities of the Muslim American Society Boston geared for university students and young professionals. The video looks at the experiences of two youths (one female and one male) who took advantage of these programs. Their journeys are ones I hope my children can take, insha’Allah as well.

MAS Boston also has programs (scouting, sports, game nights, etc.) for children and teenagers. The chapter even trains youth workers. There seems to be a lot going on at this chapter. I won’t be able to describe it all. You can find out more on their website or by contacting them.

Muslim American Society Boston

10 Garfield Avenue
Somerville MA 02145
Phone:(617) 623-3004
E-mail: info@masboston.org

The Muslim American Society Youth Center in Raleigh, North Carolina lists its priorities for its work with Muslim youth as follows:

1- Islamic Education (Comprehensive, practical and authentic)

2- Spiritual Development (Uplifting, sunnah based, and life changing)

3- Outreach / Dawah (Engaging, Integrating, and Implementing Islam)

To those ends, they host regular youth group activities, such as sports and field trips, youth halaqahs and itikafs and provide many other forms of youth outreach.

Click here to view photos of their activities.

You can contact the center, insha’Allah, through its website.

Meccacentric.com, which sells audio and video of lectures by prominent Muslim scholars such as Hamza Yusuf, Siraj Wahaj, Abdullah Hakim Quick and others, has decided to stop offering audio tapes.

So, they’ve put all of the audio tapes on 50% off clearance. There are a number of interesting titles available (a bunch of stuff on Muslim families and youth, for instance), but since they are discontinuing the line, once something is gone (in audio tape) it’s gone.

To check out the list of on sale audio tapes click through and then click on the red bordered Audio Tape Closeout Sale 50% Off box on the upper right.

They ship globally.

Meccacentric.com produces and sells Islamic audio and video lectures from such leading lights as Siraj Wahaj, Hamza Yusuf, Khalid Blankinship and others.

There are a ton of titles, on all sorts of topics from a Muslim perspective (there are a large number of titles devoted to youth, family issues and marriage).

They ship globally.

Anyway, you can get 10% off your Meccacentric purchase by entering the code “WEB” after you checkout.

The following is a promo video for The Muslim American Society’s programs in Tampa, Florida. The video highlights their youth programs and youth center.

Click here for photos of the youth program in action.

Muslim American Society Tampa

12226 56th Street
Tampa, FL 33617
Phone: 813-899-2267

I Have Two Hands

I have two hands

To grasp and throw

My bouncy ball to you

We play together happily

And Allah I must thank you.

The above are the first few lines of a poem created by Sumayyah Umm Sadiqah wa Asma to teach her daughters about their bodies and how they were created by God. You can read the full poem here on Umm Sadiqah’s blog, Educating the Muslim Child.

MashAllah! There are so many other wonderful entries on Educating the Muslim Child. Umm Sadiqah has done an excellent job of thinking about and planning lessons and then kindly shared them with the rest of us.

The following is a lecture that Sheikh Hamza Yusuf gave at the 2000 ISNA conference on the influences of non-Muslim (”Western”) culture on Muslim children and youth and ways in which parents and youth themselves can encourage good Islamic character.

Sheikh Hamza touches on consumerism, advertising’s influence on children, television-viewing and guarding eyes and ears from the haram.

Here is what I took away from the talk:

• Don’t allow children to watch television. Sheikh Hamza feels very strongly that it is a negative both in terms of form and content. He also criticizes movies and actors - though I know from reading materials on Sheikh Hamza’s Zaytuna website that he is okay with allowing older children to watch carefully chosen (informative) videos.
• Educate children about advertising and consumerism so that insha’Allah they can be better armed against them.
• Encourage children to use their (limited) time to study Islam and also to develop other useful skills and talents.
• Encourage children to be active in community and family life rather than waste their time with video games, TV and movies.

Umm Nour shared a wonderful lesson idea, built on what Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had to say about tasting the sweetness of faith, with the rest of us this week.

RasoolAllah used expressive language to get the idea of the benefit of holding fast to one’s faith across and by using his hadith Umm Nour insha’Allah has developed a lesson that will help children to see this as well as to learn to use metaphor and integrate abstractions (relating “food with something we cannot touch”) into their thoughts.

She used the lesson with her school students, but it seems as if it would work well with home learners, also. You can check out her post on the lesson here.

Umm Nour is an experienced homeschooling mother of three and a Language Arts teacher at an Islamic school. You can read her blog posts at Loving Allah and Raising My Kids. 

English Translation of the Qur’an read by JD Hall

My rating: ****

JD Hall is an African-American actor, known as “The Voice” because of his extensive voice work. He is also a practicing Muslim and Imam. Here he has turned his attention and skills to reading an English translation of the Qur’an and the result is brilliant.

His voice is deep and resonant and unlike some translations I have listened to is used to great effect- expressing the emphasis and emotion for which the Qur’an calls.

I’m not sure which translation was used for this reading. However, it is a translation that uses modern, accessible language (no thous or thees here).

The translation is divided into 30 juz (a traditional division for Qur’an). This is my only issue with the translation since one surah comes pretty quickly after the next and it can be hard to figure out just which surah translation is being read. I find it easier listening when a translation or recitation is divided surah by surah - that way I don’t get lost. But maybe this way, insha’Allah, I’m forced to pay very close attention to what is being said.

I have not seen this translation for sale - but instead only for download on the Internet. You can find it at Aswat al Islam and at Islamicity.

JD Hall has also released a CD ‘Tawheed - The Oneness of God (Monotheistic Praise Songs Drawn from the Islamic, Jewish and Christian Tradition‘).

I found the message of the songs (lyrics) to be pretty squarely Islamic. The CD is heavy on percussion and synthesizer (I know that there are differing fatwa about whether this kind of audio is permissable) and features JD singing praises to God, describing Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his mission, tauheed, etc. The sound is a kind of folksy-bluesy rock.

The CD was not really to my personal taste, but I think it’s a commendable effort. I especially liked “R.U.A Believer” and “It Grieves My Soul.”

All of the CDs tracks can be previewed and it is available for sale at CDBaby.com.

First posted on July 25, 2006.

The following ayat (in translation) truly encapsulates how God wants us to treat our parents:

‘Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents.
Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt,nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor.

And out of kindness, lower them the wing of humility and say:
‘My Lord! bestow on them Your Mercy as they cherished me in childhood.’

Qur’an 17:23-24

First posted on July 26, 2006