Islamic Studies

Funny Moments in Parenting: Supplications in the Night

Asalamu alaykum,

While many of your are enjoying the breath of summer, I’m still suffocating under exams. I hope and pray that you will keep me in your prayers during these days and remember this miskin in your sujoods.

I have been trying to get one of my little ones to start making some of the more important supplications before bedtime and man has it been like pulling teeth. Last week Allah blessed me to come up with an idea that, so far, has been quite effective:

Shatan Shields!

One of my little ones is really into superheros, so one night I was trying to think of anyway, short of candy, to get him to read the last three Surahs three times each, blow in his hands and ahhh you parents know. Finally, I said, “Look! This is your Shaytan Shield! It protects you from Shaytan!” Mashallah, since then, things have been going smoothly.

Let’s hear some of your stories for getting your little one’s to love worship and draw nearer to Allah! It could be your kids, brothers or some experience you may have has as a child. I have a lot more, but you have to wait for the soft cover version!

Yours,

Suhaib

About the author

Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb

Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.

From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.

Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.

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  • Ustadh, are you in Cairo, your email wasn’t working – wanted to see you quickly while I was here for a short while. Email me to let me know, if you are here and have the time.

    Ruh

  • Our son has realised that reciting ‘La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah’ makes him feel empowered if he is scared or worried – alhamdulillah! He says it out loud when going into a dark room, or doing anything he’s nervous about. It started off when I told him it would send away the nightmares, as nothing on earth can harm you if you say those words. So a variation on the Shatan shield idea!

    Today he (6 years old) was upset because he lost some football catds and wanted new ones, which I didn’t want to get him (our suffer too much materialism already, and I save treats for Fridays)… He was very wound up and tearful over breakfast, then when he had cheered up after a few activities, I told him that Allah had turned his day into a good one because he had accepted His will. The little guy liked that a lot, and said: ‘if we’re pleased with Him, does he give us something better than what we lost?’ Alhamdulillah, it was nice to see him make that connection…

  • MashaAllah, my 3 children are seeing the fruits of reciting durood on the beloved Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him). Reciting the durood helps them in their day. Today one of my kids was telling her cousin to do the same because….’i lost my game and looked and looked and then i started to read Allah humma sayyidina……and i found my game’ her cousin was pleasently surprised and said he would try it next time he loses something or is in need.

    We recite it together every day! MashaAllah. Please remember my family in your duas! we need them desperately!

  • Alhamdulillah, I worked at an Islamic summer camp last year with 9-12 year olds.

    Initially we had a bit of whining going on, so I was looking for ways to nip it in the bud. I decided to make our next Islamic studies session about patience. After reading a few ayat in the Qur’an about the rewards of Sabr we enacted a “No Complaining” rule – every time you wanted to complain you had to say “Alhamdulillah”, and you had to try to catch someone else complaining. If they did, everyone would stop what they were doing and say “Are you complaining?!” and the person would quickly say “I mean Alhamdulillah!!”

    It was really funny, at one point they would anticipate the complaint coming on and someone else would yell “Alhamdulillah!” before I could call the other out for complaining. Alhamdulillah, it was awesome, there was a lot of positivity in our group after that day!

  • subhanallah i like all the comments above about how to install awareness & reliance on Allah swt right from a young age. i pray that insha’allah if Allah gives me a chance to be a mother one day that i too can teach my kids about islam & be a good mother.

  • Little un:Mum, where is Allah?
    Me: He’s in a special place far away.
    Little un: Can Allah see us?
    Me: Yes He can see us. (you can guess whats coming next….)
    Little un: Then why cant we see Him?
    Me: when you are in class, does everyone behave themselves in front of the teacher? Do little boys and girls do anything bad in front of the teacher?

    Little un: no.

    Me: lets say that the teacher leaves the room – and there is no teachers in the classroom. What happens then? Do some people start to do bad things?

    Little un: Yeah!!!! I dont it…….. those boys do!!!

    Me: when the teacher comes back in to the room – what’ll happen? Everyone will act good again. The teacher will never know who has been good and who has been bad.

    Little un: (silence)

    Me: lets say that we could all see Allah – everyone would be good!!! How will Allah know who is being really good and who is bad? Even though we can’t see Him, doesn’t mean that Allah isn’t watching what we are doing. So if you are doing bad Allah will know, and if you do good He will know.

    Little un: (still silence)

    : )

  • ^ Mashallah that’s a wonderful simple way to explain it to children. I’ll have to keep that one in mind for Sunday school. 🙂

  • Asalam Aleikum

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFIeDQ6hyg

    I had this video saved on my desktop. when my nieces and nephew come to visit. I decided to share it with them. At that time, they had not yet started any Quran classes. They were so happy to hear it and they kept asking me to replay.

    Couple of months later it was my turn to go visit them. manshallah they all started talking about their weekend Quran classes. I was surprised to find out that they still remembered the video. They each kept telling me how many surahs they have memorized so far and what surprised me most is that they actually remembered which surah’s the young boy recited since one of them told me “I can recite all surah’s that kid recited ”. And the other said “ooh I cant recite the last one ie al-masadd but I can recite all the other 4 before that one … .( I dint even remember how many surah’s the young boy recited yet they remembered them very well).

    Manshallah.

  • I hope you all do not mind me mentioning this here. Judaism being based on the true prophecy of Masa, alehi salam, still has elements of it that are nuggets of truth. When something bad occurs, or things are not quite the way we like them we say “gam zoo l’tovah” instead of complaining. “Gam zoo l’tovah” mean “this is also for the good”. It is a recognition that nothing in our world is bad. Allah has a reason for everything occurring in our lives. Some of them SEEM bad to us but they are essentially for our own good. A young child may not enjoy taking a bath when they are dirty but we all know as parents that it is for their good. The same applies to things that happen in our daily lives. Things may occur in our lives that are meant to teach us a lesson or as punishments for a misdeed, or the like. We do not perceive the good in what happened but Allah perceives all.

    I do not know if there is an similar phrase in Arabic but I have always found that gam zoo l’tovah works for me when things are not going well.

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