Wednesday 23 July 2014

Science Behind Eid in the Western World


Muslims in America and the Western World all know the scent of Christmas. As they walk through the malls, streets and stores each December, the scent of gingerbread, pine needles and cinnamon waft through the air. Even Muslims who don't live in America probably gaze at the news coverage and wonder - why is everyone so excited? And as Muslims we wonder - how can I get my children to be that excited about Eid? Christmas is a "hard act to follow". However, Muslims can create an atmosphere of Eid that will capture the hearts and joy of the children - even in the midst of Christmas trees and Santa's sleigh. It's all a matter of science.

Christmas Decoration in Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
Aidilfitri Decoration in Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
Studies show that using all our senses is the best way to absorb information and become completely involved in an event. A holiday must embrace all the senses of a person - heart, imagination, soul, sight, hearing, taste, the sense of smell and the sense of touch. Children are conditioned to find joy and excitement every Christmas because they are conditioned to love the holiday with all their senses.
They sing Christmas songs with their voices, they listen to stories of Santa with their imagination, they pray with their hearts, they taste cookies with their mouths, they hear carols with their ears, they feel pine needles with their hands and they smell gingerbread and cinnamon with their noses and they see houses decorated with lights on every street corner. Using science you can create that same feeling in your children during Eid.
The sense of smell is the most important sense to consider when celebrating. There is a very strong connection between smell and memory. Aroma processing is wired directly into the limbic system where memory is stored and emotion resides. In fact the sense of smell is so powerful that it is being employed to speed learning in some schools (Aoyama p. 2). Looking back in history, we can see the sense of smell being used in almost every culture and in different religions as well.
The Greek Orthodox Church has a philosophy of incorporating all five senses into their service. Incense is burned to appeal to the sense of smell. In Judaism, a spice box is used in the Havdalah service, which is held at the end of the Sabbath, to start the new week afresh. Pungent and pleasant spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom are usually used (Ayoma, p. 3).
The Boston Globe reported that within the same culture, people of different generations experience nostalgic feelings triggered by different odors. Those people born in the 1920's, 30's, and 40's have these feelings when smelling flowers, sea air, cut grass and burning leaves, but those born in the 50's, 60's and 70's became nostalgic when smelling Play-Doh, window cleaner, hair spray, suntan lotion and felt-tip pens (Klein, 1995). In the same way, Muslims want their children to feel more nostalgic about the smells of Eid than they do about the smells of Christmas or other Western holidays.
One thing that already smells wonderful during Eid is the Eid Breakfast. However, when creating a strong event oriented memory one needs to create a regular sensation of smell related to that event. For this reason Muslims should try to prepare very savory and pungent dishes during Eid which use a variety of aromatic spices such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, curry or cumin.
The smells of cooking should also be supplemented with pleasant smells in the atmosphere. One can chose to use essential oils or incense, but the smell should be special and associated with Eid time. A person can use essential oils typically used in spiritual celebrations of the Muslim world such as rose oil or sandalwood. Alternatively, one can mix a personal oil combination to create a personal perfume for Eid time or to create a special room scent for the Eid Holiday.
Raya Meals Served in a Malaysian Household
One such combination could be that of sandalwood, neroli and patchouli. Another idea is to combine geranium and rose or to combine rose and ylang ylang. Bergamot with a touch of lemon or tangerine is perfect to create a celebratory mood. These scent combinations could be used as incense or as perfume.
Of course the sense of smell often goes hand in hand with the sense of taste. In fact, the sense of taste is one that the Eid Breakfast is famous for. However, taste buds wear out every week to ten days and we replace them, although not as frequently over the age of forty-five. Our sense of taste is not as sharp as we get older (USOE, p. 3). So most of the memories of taste will probably still be retained in the sense of smell category. However, one can still capitalize on this sensation by creating some special "Eid Dishes" such as Eid cookies or Eid cakes.
The sense of sight is another important sense. Seventy percent of the body's sense receptors cluster in the eyes, and it is mainly through seeing the world that we appraise and understand it (USOE, p.1). Seeing everyone dressed in new clothes is a pleasure for the sight. However, as Muslims living in the casually-dressed West the community sometimes downplays the significance of fancy Eid clothes and buy the kids some new jeans for Eid or a new T-shirt. Instead, Western Muslims should buy their children something rich and colorful and joyful to look and not something casual.
The sense of hearing is one that is taken for granted in many Middle Eastern countries but is often forgotten in Europe and America. In Egypt, as well as other Arabophone countries the streets are filled with drums, dancing and radios blasting during Eid. However, in the West, where loud music is condemned, Muslims often forsake the sounds of Eid. Muslims who do not already have a musical tradition for Eid, should create one now. Of course the first "music" to consider is the music of the Qur'an.
However, since we hear the Qur'an every day, one should chose certain verses to be recited every Eid. One can also chose from the growing market of Islamic music available for children as well as adults from companies like Astrolabe, Sound Vision and Iqra. There are many beautiful CD's by Youssef Islam such as "A is for Allah" that make wonderful holiday music.
Muslims should encourage their children to enjoy the music by giving them drums, whistles, maracas or tambourines. They can even make their own tambourines from two plates glued together with beans in the middle, which is a much quieter option for people who live in an apartment.
The sense of touch is a hard one to capture. However, it is perhaps the second most important after the sense of smell. This is because the skin is the largest organ of the body and weighs about six to ten pounds. Furthermore, studies have shown that touch plays a crucial role in child development. Touch is the key to our survival and perhaps the survival of Eid in the west.
(Akerman) Muslims can encourage their children to experience the sense of touch during Eid by buying them Eid clothes made of soft velvet or silky material or Eid gifts they can hug such as a stuffed animal or soft doll. Children should be given extra hugs on Eid and encouraged to enjoy the sensation of the soft prayer mats as they pray and the carpet on the floor of the mosque. Creating Eid traditions can encourage other memories of touch. A "Celebration Table" for Eid can be made by setting selected objects on a table covered with silk or cloth.
Included on the table can be cool and metallic coins, soft plush animals, crispy rice, and cottony tufts of "snow" or crackly bits of fall leaves according to which season Eid has fallen in. Children should be encouraged to feel the objects they have chosen and add as many objects as they wish to the table.
Last, but not least are the senses of the heart and the sense of imagination. Children should be told many stories during Eid. Stories about what Eid was like for their parents or what Eid is like in other countries can be part of their Eid day.
There are some storybooks about Eid, however, the best stories will be created on an individual basis. Stories can come in the form of puppet shows, felt-board stories, plays, songs or tales about Eid. Children should be told Eid stories every night and encouraged to create plays and puppet shows about Eid during the day.
This is an article by Karima Burns from onIslam.net

Friday 9 May 2014

Little Scientists Online Treasure Hunt


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Have you ever tried ONLINE TREASURE HUNT??

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Thursday 13 March 2014

How Prophet Muhammad Reprimanded Children


“Go away!”

“Stop it, you nuisance!”

Is it not considered ‘normal’ in most societal circles today for adults to address minor children in such a tone, and with derogatory words?

Parents, teachers, and other caregivers can lose their patience with the naughty mischiefs of children very quickly, especially if these children are extremely intelligent, curious, energetic, bold, self-confident and spirited.

Children are a big blessing of God. Having children and raising them righteously lays the foundation of a stable extended family structure.

Whilst most of us are well-aware of and regularly exhort the great rights of parents in Islam, we tend to overlook the fact that little children are also born with certain Islamic rights that we have to fulfill as an obligation. Even the unseen, unheard fetus in the womb has rights, which can delay the distribution of inheritance, as well as affect the rulings regarding divorce in Islam.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) handled many situations involving the antics and natural tendencies of infants and minor children with exemplary patience and good-naturedness.

As God has commanded us in the Quran to emulate Prophet Muhammad as a ticket to earning His ultimate pleasure with us in the Hereafter, we should see how the Prophet corrected or reprimanded small children whenever they did something that could, in the modern world, severely test the patience and tolerance of most stressed-out, quick-to-snap adults.


Tolerance for Infant Messes


Babies under the age of one are cuddly, chubby and adorable; bundles of joy that everyone loves to hold, kiss, hug, coo over and carry around.

That is, until they do something smelly and leaky in their diaper.

As soon as that happens, the hitherto adoring adult (especially a male one) who is holding them, immediately scrunches up their nose in disgust and hands them over to the mother or nanny for clean-up.

However, this was not what the Prophet did in such a situation. He would often take infants in his lap, even though in that era there were no leak-proof diapers!

Narrated Aisha:

"A boy was brought to the Prophet to do tahnik for him, but the boy urinated on him, whereupon the Prophet had water poured on the place of urine.” (Al-Bukhari)

Prophet Muhammad refrained from expressing disgust or immediately denying a newborn baby his lap even when the baby urinated on his clothes! This indicates his exemplarily high level of tolerance for babies’ natural phases, as it is normal for newborns to urinate often.

The lesson for us in this habit of Prophet Muhammad is to not get irritated at the natural, physical messes that babies tend to make (such as nose emissions, excreta, or regurgitated milk), even if the mess gets on our clothes. We should also help clean up the mess without considering it beneath our social dignity to do so.


Tolerating Natural Toddler Antics


Babies grow older to become active and energetic toddlers (known nowadays as ‘preschoolers’), who love climbing on to the laps and backs of adults and playing “rough house”.

It is well known that the Prophet not just allowed children in this age-range inside his masjid during obligatory congregational prayers, but also patiently tolerated their antics during prayers, even if these antics caused noise or disturbance.

Reported by Abdullah ibn Shaddad from his father:

“The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came out to lead us in either maghrib or ‘isha’ one night, and he was carrying Hassan or Husain. The Messenger of Allah came forward and put (the child) down, then he said takbir and started to pray. During the prayer, he prostrated and made his prostration long.

My father said: “I raised my head and I saw the child on the back of the Messenger of Allah whilst he was prostrating, so I returned to my prostration.”

When the Messenger of Allah finished praying, the people said:

“O Messenger of Allah, during your prayer you prostrated for so long that we thought something had happened or that you were receiving Revelation.”

He said:

Nothing at all happened, but my son was riding on my back and I did not want to disturb him until he had had enough. (An-Nisa’i)

This hadith is another great example of how tolerant the Prophet was regarding children’s naughtiness. Imagine a small child in the age-range 2-4 (who can be carried easily) climbing on to the back of a masjid’s imam during prostration nowadays. What do you think his reaction would be?

Yet, Prophet Muhammad lengthened his prostration just to let the child continue his enjoyment and innocent play, hereby causing some concern and undoubtedly a bit of chagrin to the worshippers praying behind him in the congregation.


Using His Hands Gently to Reprimand


Children love physical displays of affection, and like being touched in a positive manner. Instead of subjecting them to long monologues and lectures to correct their mistakes, physically removing them from harm is more effective.

Narrated Abu Hurairah:

“Dates used to be brought to Allah's Messenger immediately after being plucked. Different persons would bring their dates till a big heap collected (in front of the Prophet). Once Al-Hassan and Al-Husain were playing with these dates, one of them took a date and put it in his mouth. Allah's Messenger looked at him and took it out from his mouth and said: “Don't you know that Muhammad's offspring do not eat what is given in charity?” (Al-Bukhari)

The Prophet taking the date out of his grandson’s mouth himself whilst giving him a short explanation of the reason, deployed the most effective strategy of quickly resolving the situation. Which small child would willingly spit a tasty, sweet date out from their mouth themselves?

Most parents today, however, keep shouting at a small child to not touch an object or to stay away from a dangerous area, all the while being ignored by the child. They then snap and give the child a harsh scolding in front of everyone for not listening to them.

The lesson from this hadith about the correct thing to do in such a situation is for an adult to get up quickly and physically remove the small child from harm, warning them about the reason in brief words.

The hadith below also corroborates this strategy:

Anas said:

“Allah’s messenger was one of the best of men in character. One day, he sent me to do something, and I said: “I swear by Allah that I will not go”. But in my heart I felt that I should go to do what the Prophet of Allah had commanded me. So I went out and came upon some boys who were playing in the street. All of a sudden Allah’s Messenger, who had come up behind, caught me by the back of the neck, and when I looked at him, he was laughing. He said: “Go where I ordered you, little Anas”. I replied: “Yes, I am going, messenger of Allah!” (Abu Dawud)

Prophet Muhammad used a combination of physical touch and gentle reprimanding words to make little Anas realize his forgetfulness. The Prophet knew that it is natural for a little boy to get distracted from an errand by other children’s street games.

This hadith also indicates that when a child passes the toddler stage, it is permissible to train them to do light, easy tasks for adults, but to remember that it is normal for him or her to resist immediate obedience and to get distracted by other children’s play.


Explaining Concisely for Correction


When a child becomes older i.e. beyond the age of 6-7, he or she reaches the age of mentally understanding what is right and what is wrong. When he encountered such a child doing something the wrong way, the Prophet would gently and concisely correct them and explain to them how to do it right, without scolding harshly or making them feel humiliated in front of others.

Umar ibn Abu Salamah reported:

“I was a boy under the care of the Messenger of Allah, and as my hand used to wander around in the dish, he said to me once:

"Mention Allah's Name (i.e., say Bismillah), eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you."  (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Little children have short attention spans, high energy levels, and an extremely curious nature due to which they want to explore everything in the world, most of which is still very new to them. However, we can misinterpret their natural actions and reactions to situations in a negative manner, unless we proactively practice patience with their behavior without belittling, rebuking or reprimanding them harshly and unjustly.

Because little children are a sacred trust from God, we should remind ourselves not to be harsh with them. God is not even writing their “sins” yet, even if they deliberately break a precious piece of crockery, or touch anything in our cupboards or drawers that we have kept strictly off limits.

As parents, if we lose patience with our children and treat them wrong, we should immediately and sincerely repent for it before Allah. Parents who do not regret nor repent for the wrongs they committed towards their children when the latter were young, weak and dependent upon them, end up being faced with resentful and aloof offspring in their old age, because their little ones grew up with disturbing childhood memories that morphed into a deep grudge over the years.

By regularly reading and studying the Prophet’s loving and mild behavior with children, we can prevent ourselves from treating children in a manner that could displease God and detriment our relationship with them in the long term.

This is an article by Sadaf Farooqi from onIslam.net

Friday 17 January 2014

The Maulid (birthday of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH) - What the children can learn from it?

Assalamualaikum wbt..

Hopefully all of you are in a good condition. The Maulidur Rasul just passed by and it is actually a great opportunity to introduce Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) life, as messenger of Allah to our children. Besides celebrating the day of Maulidur Rasul with dzikir and others related activities, we could incorporate some aspect of each activity daily. Whatever method we choose, these are small ways to instill a love for the blessed Prophet Muhammad while showing what a critical role his example plays in everybody's life. Here is SEVEN ACTIVITIES we can continuously do concerning the life of the Prophet.

1. Power of Play


The Prophet Muhammad PBUH understood the importance of fun and games. He would race with his wife Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who used to beat him most of the time. He would swim and wrestle with his companions and joke with them. He played with and loved children too.









2. Travel with The Prophet


Encourage the children to trace the map of Saudi Arabia. Note down the different places the Prophet Muhammad PBUH traveled to from Mekkah or Madinah. 















3. Organize Bedtime Islamic Storytelling


The first step of loving and learning from the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and his life is to know about him and what made him great. Choose the best Islamic storytelling before going to sleep.









4. Sleep like Him


Follow the sunnah of Rasulullah SAW while sleeping. Encourage the children to practice this sunnah in their daily life. Prophet Muhammad PBUH also made his ablution before going to bed. 






5. Wake up with The Prophet


Get the whole family to get up in 1/3 midnight to perform Tahajjud and other special prayer during weekend. Encourage them to the best of their ability to stay awake to worship Allah as Prophet Muhammad did.












6. Eat like Him


Teach your children to wash our hands before eating, recite dua and begin to eat with our right hand.







7. Pray like The Prophet


Do the jemaah prayer. Have a different person lead the prayers each day and do correct their mistakes if they make any.














All of the above is collective idea what the children learn from The Maulid. It is a good practice in our daily life as we follow the suunah of our Prophet Muhammad PBUH. 

-Dina-
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