Phonics reader for Muslim children!

I've been wanting to make some non-fiction reading books for the children for a long time. My 6 year old is still developing her early reading skills, and so to give her an alternative to the typical phonics story books, I've quickly put together this Islamic reader as a little experiment!
If successful I'd like to make more inshaAllah!

The long vowel sounds used are all coloured red to help recognition and develop reading confidence!

Please do have a look and let me know what you think bi'ithnillah, your feedback and comments would be hugely appreciated!

The Sun and Moon letters printable worksheet

A simple worksheet to help children learn to identify and understand the difference between the sun and moon letters, in Arabic called  الْحُرُوفُ الشَّمْسِيَّة and اَلْحُرُوفُ الْقَمَرِيَّةُ.

To print, just click on the high-lighted text below:

{Printable Sun and Moon Letters worksheet}

The (hadith) tale of the leper, the bald man and the blind man e-book for kids!

This is the hadith collected in Sahih al-Bukhari, in the Book of the stories of the Prophets #3464, presented in a "story" format for children to enjoy as an e-book.

It has been broken down into smaller readable chunks to help kids read and comprehend the tale inshaAllah.

The text remains in its original translated meaning with the exception of a few minor modifications which simply changed the pronouns used to the name of whom was speaking, to make it easier for children to follow.

You can view it over on Scribd which is great if you have any tablet device - just download their free app! I believe if you have a kindle-fire you can also download the scribd app to view.

To view on Scribd, click through the high-lighted text below.
{The tale of three Israelites, a leper, a bald man and a blind man e-book}

 However, if you prefer to have something more tangible, then you can also download it from google docs to print inshaAllah, just click on the high lighted text below.

{The tale of three Israelites, a leper, a bald man and a blind man pdf}

Interacting with non-Muslim Parents (free) e-book

Many of us have family who are not Muslim, or family who are upon deviated paths to the true teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf-us-salih.

I see many of us in this situation, often giving up hope that our family members will ever accept Islam in truth; and this is something incorrect. Rather we should continue to put our trust in Allah, and know that it is Allah alone Who guides.

We are living in a time where Muslims are in the millions subhanAllah, and its easy to forget that the early Muslims indeed had non-Muslim relatives, including the Noble Prophet ﷺ himself. And from them all is a great example for us to look to.

Allah commands us to be dutiful to our parents - regardless of whether they are Muslim or not, and to obey them in all matters except if they order us with disobedience to Allah.

This short e-book is only 10 pages long, but provides a good lesson for us to benefit from bi'ithnnillah.

It is available to read as a PDF file from Abdurrahman.org as well as on Scribd.
(if you have a tablet device, I really recommend you head on over to Scribd and download the Scribd app, because it is a free e-reader similar to Kindle, allowing you to easily read e-books such as this easily Alhamdulillah.)

Interacting with non-Muslim Parents PDF file
Interacting with non-Muslim Parents Scribd (readable on PC as well as mobile devices)

Tell me about Islam, Iman and Ihsan; (free) childrens e-book!

Good reading material for our children is hard to come by! I have always enjoyed reading ahadith, and I want to encourage my children towards reading them too inshaAllah.

However, for younger readers, the ahadith are written in a much more formal language style than what they are typically accustomed to reading.

To help them comprehend a little better, I have broken down the translated meaning of the hadith of Jibreel into smaller readable chunks in the form of a short children's book, with some quiz questions at the end.

You can preview in the embedment below (to print click on download right at the bottom), or head on over to Scribd (its a free e-reader) where you can read it on any tablet or phone (including your pc) as an e-book and save your printer ink inshaAllah, just click on the high-lighted text below!

{Islam, Iman and Ihsan; The Hadith of Jibreel}

*If you don't have a scribd account to download, the Hadeeth of Jibreel PDF file can also be downloaded from google docs inshaAllah { here }

As a side note -available online via youtube are recordings of a series of audio lessons on the explanation of Imaam an-Nawawi's Forty Hadeeth, from the Works of Shaikh Muhammad al-'Uthaymeen & Shaikh Saalih Aal ash-Shaikh, translated By Abu 'Iyaad Amjad Rafiq.
Lesson 3 of these audios is the explanation of this particular hadith.

There is also an English translation of the book authored by Shaykh 'Abdul-Muhsin Ibn Hamad al-'Abbaad "Explanation of the hadith of Jibril"

The Conditions, Pillars and Requirements of Salaah craft poster

We've taken inspiration from the family over at Growing in the Deen who produce some lovely presentation work, to produce this poster based upon the conditions, pillars and requirements of Salaah.

I've had to use my phone to take the pictures for this post instead of the digital camera so they haven't come out all that clear.
(just to note: the digital camera is only used for capturing non-animate subjects!)

We are currently using the book An explanation of the conditions, pillars and requirements of prayer to study together the details of salaah.
It is an excellent book which includes the original text in Arabic and its English translation, as well as explanations from both Shiekh Muhammad Amaan bin 'Alee al-Jaamee and Shiekh 'Abdul-Muhsin bin Hamad al-'Abbaad.

Its the same book we used a couple of years ago to produce the Sharoot of Salaah dodecahedron.

We used various craft papers to produce this poster of 3 flowers, with each flower naming each of the conditions, pillars and requirements on their leaves.

The conditions of the salaah are 9; and these must be present before the salaah beings.

1. Islam
2. Sanity
3. Reaching the age of Maturity (at-Tameez)
4. uplifting ritual impurity
5. Removal of filth (from 3 things: body, clothes and place of prayer)
6. Covering the 'Awrah
7. Arrival of the proper time
8. Facing the Qiblah
9. Intention

The pillars of the salaah are 14; and if any of these are left out whether it be intentionally or due to forgetfulness, then the prayer is not valid.

1. Standing, if one has the ability to do so.#
2. The Opening Takbir
3. Reciting Surah al-Faatihah
4. Bowing (ruku)
5. Rising from bowing.
6. Prostrating on all seven limbs (The forehead which includes the nose, both hands, knees and tip-toes of both feet.)
7. Erecting oneself from it.
8. Sitting between the two prostrations
9. Remaining tranquil (not rushing) during all of these pillars
10. Maintaining the sequential order.
11. The final Tashahhud.
12. Sitting for it.
13. Sending salaat of the Prophet.
14. The final two Tasleems.

 The Requirements of the salaah are 8; if any of the requirements are left out intentionally, then the prayer is invalid due to being abandoned, however if they are missed due to forgetfulness then the prayer is still valid but one must perform the extra prostrations for forgetfulness at the end of the prayer.

1. All of the takbeers except the Opening Takbir
2. Saying "Subhanna Rabee al-'Adheem" (Perfect is my Lord, the Most Great) while bowing.
3. Saying "Sami'a Allahu liman hamidahu" )Allah hears the one who praises Him) - this applies to the one leading the prayer and the one praying alone.
4. Saying "Rabbanaa wa lakal-hamd" (Our Lord to You belongs the Praise) - this applies to everyone.
5. Saying "Subhaana Rabbee al-A'alaa" (Perfect is my Lord, the Most High) while prostrating.
6. Saying "Rabb ighfir lee" (My Lord, forgive me) while sitting in between prostrations.
7. The final Tashahhud
8. Sitting for it.



15 tips for learning the Arabic language with your family

Learning the Arabic language is something which many of us dabble in....often on and off for a long time... with out a great deal of progress!

However, there are some who can and do learn very quickly Alhamdulillah....so what is different between them and us?

Is it that some people just naturally take to learning a new language more easily than others? Perhaps.
Or is there more to it?

After doing a little online research in an attempt to improve my own learning ability along with my children inshaAllah, I found there is a wealth of advice to learning new languages.
As I ploughed through website after website, many of the hints and tips were repeated, so here is a brief summary of what I found....

All the advises I mention below are general to learning any language, other than the first which is specific to Arabic.

Whats going on?

The blog has been deactivated for the past couple of days whilst we underwent some much needed blog maintenance and tidy-up! Alhamdulillah its back up and running now with a few little changes.

Firstly, if you take a look at the post labels, you'll see that the posts have been divided into categories to make it easier to browse and find things you are looking for bi'ithnillah.

Secondly, about a third of the blog posts have been removed, either because they are irrelevant, a poor quality (from blogging in the early days!) or having other issues warranting their removal.

A while ago a new blog (www.learningarabicisfun.com) was set up for all new Arabic posts, however, maintaining the blogs is difficult due to time constraints (hence my such infrequent blogging). Therefore, that blog will be shutting down and any new content moved back over here inshaAllah.

I've seen there are a lot of comments awaiting publishing - I will get to them as soon as I can and reply inshaAllah. Your comments and feedback is always appreciated.

Ibn Qayyim's advice on raising children...

Raising children is no easy task....its a learn on the job role for many of us! With hundreds if not thousands of phycology books available; each promising to teach hopeful parents the hidden secrets to raising successful kids!

While we may find some benefit to reading such books, we can find answers within the Qur'an and Sunnah; including further explanations from the Scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wa Jammat following the understanding of the Salaf as Salih.

Here is a link to an online posting of an advise from the Imam, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah regarding the raising of children. {Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah Advice on raising children}
(please note: I don't know this website - but it is where I found this advise recorded)

Making, counting and expanding teen numbers - heart matching activity!

Its been a while since I have been regularly blogging.....to be honest time is short subhanAllah! The older the children become, the more I want to "fit in" both theirs and my own schedule bi'ithnillah, and there always seems to be more to do than what we really have time for! (you all know what I am talking about!)

I've been really trying to keep away from computer generated activities and printables, and instead encouraging the children to do more creative work of their own; thus saving me preparation time creating printables and also, allowing them to develop their own presentation techniques inshaAllah.

But if you are familiar with this blog....you know I can't totally keep away from the computer printables....its like an addiction I can't help it!

Currently I am working on teen numbers and place value with my 6 year old. To help her to understand the tens and ones principle, I quickly put together a heart puzzle to stick in her interactive maths notebook.

A series of hearts which are cut up into 3 different pieces, each piece showing how the number is "made" with tens and ones, the number in its standard form and its expanded form.

The hearts are cut up ahead of the activity and mixed up.

 

I asked my 6 year old to choose the picture piece first, and make it using the tens and ones beads.

 

Then she matched up the expanded and standard forms of the number before sticking into her note book.

 

To download and print just click on the high-lighted text link below inshaAllah!

(Its a black and white file - so you can print onto any coloured paper you like or just do white!)

{making, counting and expanding teen numbers

interactive maths activity}