Sunday, March 30, 2008

April Fool in Islam

Assalamualaikum,

My kids told me that they used to do April Fool's Day in the school.
We always have to tell the kids do not lie.

We must beware of lying when playing with children, because that will be written down (in the record of deeds of) the one who that. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) warned against doing that.

May Allah always guide us in the right path. Ameen.

April Fool

The origins of April Fool’s Day are unknown, although various theories have been proposed. April Fool in Arabic is Kidhbat Neesaan or the lies of April. It is translated literally, the “trick of April”.

1st April is a day when:

  • people lie,
  • play jokes and mock in the name of entertainment,
  • newspapers and magazines participate in it by publishing false news and untrue stories.


The April Fool's day tradition contradicts the teachings and morals of Islam.
We don't want our kids to lie.

Lying is a characteristic of hypocrisy and Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) strictly forbade lying at all times.

There are some of statements that said "no lying" in Al Qur'an and in hadiths, as following:

In Al Qur'an


  • "It is only those who believe not in the Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allaah, who fabricate falsehood, and it is they who are liars"
    [al-Nahl 16:105]

    Ibn Katheer said:

    “Then Allaah tells us that His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is not a fabricator or a liar, because only the most evil of people who do not believe in the signs of Allaah, the kaafirs and heretics who are known amongst the people for telling lies, tell lies about Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was the most truthful of people, the most righteous, the most perfect in knowledge, action, faith and certain belief. He was known amongst his people for his truthfulness; none of them doubted that, to such an extent that he was known amongst them as ‘al-Ameen (the trustworthy) Muhammad.’ Hence when Heraclius, the ruler of Rome, asked Abu Sufyaan about the characteristics of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), one of the things he asked was, ‘Did you ever accuse him of lying before he said what he said?’ He said, ‘No.’ Heraclius said: ‘If he refrained from telling lies about people he would not go and tell lies about Allaah.’
    (Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 2/588)

  • "Say: ‘Verily, those who invent a lie against Allaah will never be successful'"
    [Yoonus 10:69]

  • ‘And of them are some who made a covenant with Allaah (saying): “If He bestowed on us of His Bounty, we will verily, give Sadaqah (Zakaah and voluntary charity in Allaah’s Cause) and will be certainly among those who are righteous.”

    Then when He gave them of His Bounty, they became niggardly [refused to pay the Sadaqah (Zakaah or voluntary charity)], and turned away, averse.

    So He punished them by putting hypocrisy into their hearts till the Day whereon they shall meet Him, because they broke that (covenant with Allaah) which they had promised to Him and because they used to tell lies
    [al-Tawbah 9:75-77].”

  • “O you who believe! Be afraid of Allaah, and be with those who are true (in words and deeds)”
    [al-Tawbah 9:119]

  • “And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against Allaah (i.e. attributed to Him sons, partners) their faces will be black”[al-Zumar 39:60]





In Hadiths


  • Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said:
    "Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good or be silent." [Saheeh al-Bukharee]
    Moreover, he (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) has specifically cursed the person who lies to make people laugh, he said:
    "Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him." [Abu Dawood]

  • Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) described the severe punishments for the liars and said: "I saw (in a dream), two men came to me. They said, 'The person, the one whose cheek you saw being torn away (from the mouth to the ear) was a liar and used to tell lies and the people would report those lies on his authority till they spread all over the world. So he will be punished like that till the Day of Resurrection.'" [Saheeh al-Bukharee (vol. 8, no: 118)]

  • It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted with something, he betrays that trust.”
    (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 33; Muslim, 59)

  • It was narrated that ‘Ali (may Allaah be pleased with him): “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Do not tell lies about me. Whoever tells lies about me, let him enter the Fire.’”
    (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 106).

  • It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever tells lies about me, let him take his place in Hell.”
    (narrated by al-Bukhaari, 110; Muslim, 3).

  • It was narrated from Abu Dharr (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are three to whom Allaah will not speak on the Day of Resurrection and He will not look at them or praise them, and they will have a painful torment.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) repeated this three times. Abu Dharr said: “May they be doomed and lost, who are they, O Messenger of Allaah?” He said, “The one who lets his garment hang below his ankles, the one who reminds others of his favours, and the one who disposes of his goods by swearing a false oath.”
    (Narrated by Muslim, 106)
  • It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: “They said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, you joke with us.’ He said, ‘But I only speak the truth.’”
    (narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1990)

  • ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Abi Laylaa said: the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that they were travelling with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). A man among them fell asleep and some of them went and took his arrows. When the man woke up, he got alarmed (because his arrows were missing) and the people laughed. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “What are you laughing at?” They said, “Nothing, except that we took the arrows and he got alarmed.” The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim.”
    (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 5004; Ahmad, 22555 – this version narrated by Ahmad).

  • It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Aamir (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “My mother called me one day when the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was sitting in our house. She said, ‘Come here, and I will give you (something).’ The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, ‘What do you want to give him?’ She said, ‘I will give him a date.’ The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘If you had not given him something, you would have been lying.’”

  • And it was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever says to a child, ‘Come here and take this,’ then does not give him something, this is counted as a lie.’”
    (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4991)

  • It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood said:
    “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Truthfulness is righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. A person will continue to tell the truth until he is written with Allaah as one who tells the truth. Lying is evildoing, and evildoing leads to Hell. A person will keep on telling lies until he is written as a liar.’”
    (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5743; Muslim, 2607)

  • It was narrated from Umm Kalthoom bint ‘Uqbah that she heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “He is not a liar who reconciles between people and narrates something good or says something good.”
    (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2546; Muslim, 2605)

  • It was narrated that Asmaa’ bint Yazeed said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘It is not permissible to tell lies except in three (cases): when a man speaks to his wife in a way to please her; lying in war; and lying in order to reconcile between people.’”
    (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1939)


Conclusion
In conclusion, we, as Muslim, do not:

  • lie about Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
  • lie about or to other people, such as lying in buying and selling.
  • lie about visions and dreams.
  • lie about everything that one hears.
  • lie in joking or in serius.
  • lie when playing with children.
  • lie to make people laugh.



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Activites and Worksheets for kids:

All the worksheets are only to learn about grammar and spelling words.

To hear video:

Sources:
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Friday, March 28, 2008

Earth Hour





Assalamualaikum,

On March 29, at 8 p.m. , Insha Allah, we'll be joining the (hopefully) millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off our lights for an hour. You can see Earth Hour.

Let's help to protect our earth.

In the Qur'an, Allah said that "He created nature in a balance, and that it is mankind's responsibility to maintain this fragile equilibrium."

The word "earth" is mentioned in the Qur'an 485 times.

Global Warming

Global warming is an indication that Allah's creation is harming.

We know that:


  • increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, are warming the Earth.
  • receding Glaciers
  • average temperatures in some big cities have risen over the last years,
  • there's an increase in the intensity of hurricanes,
  • deforestation, the trees are the very resource that absorb the carbon dioxide that we spew into the atmosphere by the mega ton.
  • the very human ecology is collapsing
  • burning fossil fuels, this very frequently conducted process is seriously threatening the Earth's climate.
  • accumulation of animal manure, which lets off methane—another greenhouse gas.


All of the above are causing the global warming in our earth.

We have to protect the earth by


  • helping to clean the ecology
  • limiting global-warming pollution
  • doing an annual cleanup of the rivers, roads, and parks
  • planting trees
  • encouraging a decrease in emissions and more clean energy
  • limiting carbon-dioxide pollution



Earth Hour

Lights out: Earth Hour goes global.

More than 20 cities around the world will switch off their lights in the climate change awareness event Earth Hour.

On 31 March 2007, more than 2 million Sydney businesses and households turned off their lights for one hour, Earth Hour, creating a powerful global message that it's possible to take action on climate change. Earth Hour inspired the world and in 2008, other major cities will be joining to take a stand.

Earth Hour is about more than one night. Its about inspiring you everyday to make changes that will help achieve Earth Hour's ultimate goal of reducing emissions by 5%.

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Activities and worksheets to learn about Earth for kids



To see the videos:



Sources:
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Monday, March 24, 2008

Home Education Resources - 4th week of March 2008

Islamic Studies

You can find other useful Links of Islamic Studies in Ikhlas Homeschool

Arabic


Arabic Qur'an


Math



Language Arts


Science


Virtual Field Trips


Islamic Activities:


Other
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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Calmness (Khushu') in Salah

"Doesn't the one who raises his head before the Imaam fear

that Allah turns his head into a donkey's head?"

(Muslim)
==================


Last week, my kids and I read together the above hadith after salah Maghrib.
I knew that some kids always want to play while we are doing salah. We have to try to explain the kids to calmness (khushu') in salah. By reading some of hadiths, the kids will learn why we have to calm or khushu' in salah.

Performing Salah is the second pillar of Islam, after saying Shahadah.

To performing salah, we need to learn:

  • Doing the wudu in the proper way
  • To do the salah in its time
  • To do it in congregation (jama'ah) - where the reward is 27 times than praying alone
  • To fulfill the six conditions of salah
  • To observe the proper manners (adab) of doing it such as submission and humility
  • To follow preferable actions (sunnah) in our salah

There are some of statements in Al Qur'an and Hadiths about Khushu' or calmness in salah.

In Al Qur'an


  • "And stand before Allah in a devout frame of mind." [2:238]

  • "Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their sholats with all solemnity and full submission." [23:1-2]

  • "And man is ever hasty" [17:11]

We should not in hurry when we are doing sholat.
If we are doing sholat in hurry, we are not going to have time to talk to Allah or to focus on what we are saying to Allah.
Sholat means being close to Allah. We should be calmness, peaceful, solemnity, and full submission when we offer the sholat. This is what it is called Khushu'.



In Hadith


  • The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam, said, "The worst of stealers are those who steal from their salahs." People asked: "O Messenger of Allah, how could one steal from his payer?" He said: "He would not bow down and prostrate completely" (Ahmad).

    How can a person stand before Allah in sholat and at the same time check the time in his/her cellphone or watch, straighten her cloth/scarft, look right and left?
    This is the way of the Saythan steals from his/her salah.


  • The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhe wasallam, said: "A man's salah is not correct until he straightens [makes level] his back during kneeling and prostration." (Abu Dawud).


  • The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam then said: "Do you see this man? Whoever dies while in this state [i.e. performing salah in this way], has died outside the creed of Muhammad. He performs his salah like a crow who pecks blood. Those who bow and prostrate as if they were pecking are like the hungry who eats but one or two dates, how can they satisfy his hunger?" (Ibn Khuzaymah) Huthayfah radhiallahu anhu saw a man hastening his bowing and prostration, he said: "You did not pray, and if you died, you would have died not on the innate nature that Allah has created Muhammad, sallallahu alayhe wasallam with." (al-Bukhari)



  • When the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam, was asked about leveling the earth during prostration, he said: "Do not smoothen while you are praying, but if you really have to, do it only once to level the pebbles." (Abu Dawud)


  • The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam, said, "Patience is from Allah and hastiness is from Shaytan." (al-Bayhaqi).


  • The Prophet sallallahu alayhe wasallam has strongly warned against it, saying: "Doesn't the one who raises his head before the imam fear that Allah turns his head into a donkey's head?" (Muslim).


  • Al-Baraa Ibnu 'Azib radhiallahu anhu narrated that they were praying behind the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhe wasallam, so when he raised his head from kneeling he [al-Baraa] would not see anybody bending his back [to prostrate] until the Messenger sallallahu alayhe wasallam put his forehead on the floor, then people would fall in prostration behind him." (Muslim)


  • When the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wasallam advanced in age, and his movements became slower, he notified the Muslims praying behind him, saying: "O people, I became heavier, so do not precede me in kneeling and prostrating." (al-Bayhiqi).


  • Abu Hurayrah radhiallahu anhu narrated: "The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhe wasallam used to say takbir in salah when he stood up for salah, then he says takbir when he bows down., then he says takbir when he falls [in prostration], then he says takbir when he raises his head, then he says takbir when he prostrates, then he says it when he raises his head, then he would do the same during the whole salah, until the end, and he says takbir when he gets up from the sitting position after the second rak'a."(al-Bukhari).



We should remember that Allah initially commanded us to pray fifty times a day and it was eventually reduced to five times (with the reward of fifty).
Some of the reasons are:

  • the prayer times are very reasonably spread out throughout the day
  • it can even help us to manage our time
  • it can help us to manage our affairs, allowing the Muslim community to meet during congregation and care for and help each other which will lead in turn to solidarity.


Thus, the sholat five times a day should not be seen as a burden as some Muslims might regard them today.

=========================================

Activities and Worksheets for kids to learn salah / praying:



  • Making the chart of salah.
  • Learn and practice salah five times a day.
  • Always try to do salah in time and in jama'ah/congregation at home or in masjid if it is possible.
  • Write about "What does Salah mean to me?"
  • Write about "The History of Isra' Mi'raj"
  • Write about "How to do Khushu' in Salah"


To watch videos:


Sources:

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Monday, March 17, 2008

Home Education Resources - 3rd week of March 2008

Assalamualaikum,

Home Education Resources for this week are as following:

Islamic Studies


Arabic


Math


Language Arts


Science


Geography


Social Studies


Virtual Field Trip
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Friday, March 14, 2008

Life of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) and Other Prophets

Assalamualaikum,

As Muslim kids, they have to learn about the stories of our prophets.

This is one of our beliefs in the pillar of Iman (Beliefs). It is to believe Prophets and Messengers of Allah.

Some of the links for the stories of Prophets and Companions are:



Insha Allah, our children will learn about the history of our religion and love all our prophets.


When they finish listening the stories, you can ask the kids to make the journal stories of what they have listened. This is part of their writing assignment.

You can make small Islamic Quiz about this.

Some of the links are:
(Please always advise your kids to do the Quiz that appropriate with their age and the right informations.)



May Allah increase us in knowledge. Ameen.

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Home Education Resources - 2nd week of March 2008

Assalamualaikum,

The Resources are as following:


Qur'an



Math



Language Arts



Science



Biology



Crafts Activities

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