Information for Muslim Parents

Jul 04 2007

Blog Dispatches: I Have Two Hands

Published by admin under Early Learning, Religious Instruction, Blog Dispatches, Homeschooling, Learning

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.

One response so far

Jun 30 2007

Book Review: My Mum is a Wonder

Published by admin under Early Learning, Book Reviews, Muslim Parenting in the West, Babies and Toddlers, Activities and Media, Learning

My rating ****/****

Although I’m not it’s target audience - I’d say that this picture book’s intended demographic is toddlers (as a read-aloud book) to 6 year olds - I really enjoyed “My Mum is a Wonder” by Michele Messaoudi.

The story follows a young boy through a typical day with his mother; the wonderful Mum of the title. The tale is told in perky rhyme.

What I liked…

- Islam is seamlessly integrated into the boy’s day. There is no awkward exposition during which the author through the boy explains that the characters are Muslim. We see Islam in the mother’s modest dress, the fact that when the boy greets her in the morning she is reading Qur’an and I think,the author intends, through her kindness to her son and to the others around her. As such the book would make a good subtle introduction to Islam for a non-Muslim child.

- Mum and son are not the Western stereotype of Muslims. I’m generally on the look-out for books with brown and black characters, but in this case I found the way in which the family was portrayed (they are both fair - the boy has red hair), refreshing. By making this choice, without being too specific (we don’t know whether Mum is an English revert, Bosnian, Aydge, etc.) the author is letting the world and our kids know that Muslims come in all sorts of packages.

-The real appreciation that the little boy shows for his mother. The whole book is an ode to Mum. Insha’Allah the book can reinforce respect for parents in little readers and encourage them to appreciate what their parents do for them. Again, refreshing, given the sometimes subtle, sometimes not way in which so much of what is out there for children’s consumption undermines these values.

Finally, “My Mum is a Wonder” is well-written, fun to read and it’s illustrations are clear and cute. One for the library.

I’ll keep an eye out for other books by the same author.

**Note - “My Mum is a Wonder” is put out by The Islamic Foundation - UK, and as such uses British spelling and phrasings. As an American, I didn’t find this to be a problem at all - just letting you know.

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Jun 18 2007

Songs/Rhymes to Teach Islam to Little Children

Published by admin under Toys and Games, Early Learning, Homeschooling, Babies and Toddlers, Learning

These come from Kristie Karima Burn’s Islamic Waldorf School Online website and use the tunes to popular nursery rhymes to teach the basics of Islam - alhamdullilah!:

THE FIVE PRAYERS by Karima Burns

(sung to the tune of ‘Five Little Ducks’)

Five Muslim Prayers I’ll pray today.