By Amal Al-Sibai  

“The more you know Allah, the more you will love Him.” Imam Al-Ghazali 

As Muslim parents, our aim is to show the way for our children to worship Allah out of love and out of yearning for His boundless mercy and forgiveness. We will not be with our children at every moment of their lives to remind them to pray, to read Qur’an, to supplicate, and to stop them from falling into sin. However, the love of Allah, once it sparks in their hearts, will always be there and become their inner voice. No matter how far away they may stray from the path in their desire for independence from us, curiosity to experiment, and during the tumultuous developmental changes of adolescence, this faith in Allah and nearness to Him will bring them back, Insha Allah.

We need to give our children the opportunity to taste this sweetness of Iman. The first step towards loving Allah more is knowing more about Him, and one way to do that is by understanding Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes. 

In fact, Allah wants us to know Him and to know His Beautiful Names and Attributes. Allah’s Divine Names and Attributes appear again and again on virtually every page of the Holy Qur’an. In the opening chapter of the Qur’an, the surah we read 17 times a day in our five daily prayers, we are reminded that Allah is Ar-Rahman, Ar-Raheem. Have we really pondered the magnitude of Allah’s mercy upon us, both in this world and in the akhirah? 

Teaching children these Names and what they mean, may be the best we can do to ensure the health and vitality of our children’s spiritual hearts.  

And as any parent knows, teaching children in a fun and joyful environment is far more effective than having them rigidly sit down and listen to a long lecture. That is why we have developed matching cards, for a memory game of the Beautiful Names of Allah. The cards provide hours of family fun, while encouraging learning. Have a go at the memory game, but don’t be disappointed, your kids will undoubtedly win! They have an amazing ability to focus and memorize. Another alternative is to play trivia with all family members. Call out Allah’s Name in Arabic and ask players to identify the English meaning of Allah’s Name, and then vice versa. Some families have opted to use the cards to create a mural on the family room wall, so kids constantly see and soak in Allah’s Beautiful Names. There’s a whole lot of different ways to use these cards!  

Add your love, creativity, and a large bowl of popcorn, and you have just found the perfect activity for Friday family game night! Whether you homeschool your children or simply supplement Islamic education at home, your family will find our resources very useful inshaAllah. Be sure to take advantage of the free printables up on our website as well as online games and quizzes.  www.faithfulkids.net 

if you are like me, you struggle with salah.

Before I was married it was so different, I was pretty consistent and then marriage and 3 babies later – I find myself skipping salah or rushing them, and I wanted to fix it.

i had been making Zikr and dua and Alhamdolilah ended up taking this awesome course by @define360 in the module 1 br Wadud talked about

Mindful salah is important, but why is it important? And how to be mindful in salah? .

• While praying we face Qiblah – it is an emblem of being connected to the epicenter of Muslims – Kabbah!
• Do you know angels surround people when they are mindfully praying or remembering Allah and angels bring Sakeenah (peace) with them?
• And the best part and most amazing part is that while all the commands of worship like charity or fasting was sent down of Prophet Muhammad saw by angel Jibreel AS, Allah swt called Prophet Muhammad PBUH up on the Heavens, very close to him to Gift Him PBUH and us, Salah! .So while Prophet Muhammud PBUH got up to the heaven to meet Allah swt (Miraj) all of us Muslims can pray our Salah and be in Allah’s meeting hence salah is Momins Miraj!

Salah is the most important element of our faith, it is the discerning factor between Muslims and non Muslims! .

May Allah swt bless us enough to be able to guard our salah and pray mindfully Ameen!

How to be mindful about our Salah?

These are 6 points by Imam Ghazali as explained by brother Wadud (@define360 ) I n the Mindful salah Khutbah – he added “gratitude” to the list as well! So 7 points.

👑 doing a mindful Wudu believing that the water is washing away the sin. Taking time to clean yourself properly. Reciting the Duas (more on this later INSHA Allah)

👑 Having a firm intention, you don’t need specific words though, just intending to mindfully pray salah! And if your mind wanders in salah, REMEMBER every ALLAH O AKBAR. In salah is to redirect your focus back to salah.

👑 understanding what you are saying in salah is also one step to be mindful! We utter words out of habit in salah and often pray rushed salah because of that.

👑 know that you are standing in front of Allah, be attentive, have respect and awe of How Majestic Allah swt is – imagine going to the president/king and talking to them – now think you are talking to the King of all Kings Allah!

👑 While you are in the awe of Allah, keep the hope from Allah alive as well, keep the love of Allah as well.

👑 be grateful that Allah swt gave you the Tawfiq (chance) to stand in front of him and pray; Alhamdolilah .

. 👑 lastly, have some haya (shame) to be mindful! It’s Allah that you are standing in front of! And Allah is all seeing, all hearing!!! Allah KNOWS!!!

SubhanAllah they benefit me a lot, I’m slowly trying to built up my salah! And I hope these points help you all as well. .