Comments for Grow Mama Grow http://growmama.com A Community for Muslim Mothers Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:15:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2 Comment on Keeping Marriage Meaningful by shaheen http://growmama.com/motherhood/keeping-marriage-meaningful/#comment-3306 shaheen Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:15:05 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3363#comment-3306 beautiful article tahnx learnt a lot i will try my best insha Allah beautiful article tahnx learnt a lot i will try my best insha Allah

]]> Comment on Keeping Marriage Meaningful by S khan http://growmama.com/motherhood/keeping-marriage-meaningful/#comment-3305 S khan Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:18:48 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3363#comment-3305 Assalamualaikum and Jazak Allah Khair for your article. I really enjoyed it but I was even more touched by your description. May Allah Swt bless you in abundance and may He reunite your family with your little girl in jannat at firdaus. Ameen. Assalamualaikum and Jazak Allah Khair for your article.

I really enjoyed it but I was even more touched by your description.

May Allah Swt bless you in abundance and may He reunite your family with your little girl in jannat at firdaus. Ameen.

]]> Comment on Center Stage by Linda http://growmama.com/motherhood/center-stage/#comment-3303 Linda Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:06:08 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3654#comment-3303 Mashallah, beautiful entry, I love the practices you've instilled in your daily activities with your daughter. Jazakallahu khair. Mashallah, beautiful entry, I love the practices you’ve instilled in your daily activities with your daughter. Jazakallahu khair.

]]> Comment on GrowMama Roundup: Asked By a Child by Sara http://growmama.com/motherhood/growmama-roundup-asked-by-a-child/#comment-3302 Sara Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:06:40 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3726#comment-3302 oh my goodness, Hanan you are an amazing writer, I just copied and pasted this into a doc so that I can send it to my mom - can you write a book?? :-) oh my goodness, Hanan you are an amazing writer, I just copied and pasted this into a doc so that I can send it to my mom – can you write a book?? :-)

]]> Comment on Growmama Picks for January 2012 by Sara http://growmama.com/motherhood/growmama-picks-for-january-2012/#comment-3301 Sara Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:46:02 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3317#comment-3301 I found Nouman Ali Khan's article interesting but I very much disagree with him painting all Islamic Studies in secular universities with the same brush. Certainly some departments are as he described (basically still riding the old orientalist train), but where I do my MA in Islamic Studies (SOAS in London) it is not like this at all - pretty much everything we study is deconstructing the old orientalist stuff and refuting it. About half of us in the program are Muslims, and I we are not having problems with our faith as a result of our studies - if anything, it fills us in on more of the history and nuance of wide swath of Islamic humanities that once constituted the pinnacle of intellectual culture from Spain all the way to China. And then we have an accredited MA so that we can teach this stuff to anybody, Muslim or non-Muslim. I think it is worthwhile... but Allah knows best. I found Nouman Ali Khan’s article interesting but I very much disagree with him painting all Islamic Studies in secular universities with the same brush. Certainly some departments are as he described (basically still riding the old orientalist train), but where I do my MA in Islamic Studies (SOAS in London) it is not like this at all – pretty much everything we study is deconstructing the old orientalist stuff and refuting it. About half of us in the program are Muslims, and I we are not having problems with our faith as a result of our studies – if anything, it fills us in on more of the history and nuance of wide swath of Islamic humanities that once constituted the pinnacle of intellectual culture from Spain all the way to China. And then we have an accredited MA so that we can teach this stuff to anybody, Muslim or non-Muslim. I think it is worthwhile… but Allah knows best.

]]> Comment on Touched Once Again by Fatima http://growmama.com/motherhood/touched-once-again/#comment-3299 Fatima Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:46:35 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3555#comment-3299 Wow Hanan. That left my heart beating. What a wonderful lesson. Wow Hanan. That left my heart beating. What a wonderful lesson.

]]> Comment on Touched Once Again by Hanan http://growmama.com/motherhood/touched-once-again/#comment-3297 Hanan Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:15:04 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3555#comment-3297 SubhanAllah...this story reminds me of a night many years ago when I was a young mother and in the world almost by myself. I had taken my first job as a registered nurse in large hospital 50 miles from my small town home. I had recently embraced Islam and had started wearing hijab on the same day that I started the new job. My 5 year old daughter and I were living alone in a small apartment in a BIG apartment complex in an even bigger city. My parents were both ill and could not travel very often to see us. We thought we were quite stubbornly self sufficient and were embracing our new neighborhood although we knew not one person yet. I am sure we were quite obvious to our neighbors as complete rookies stumbling through a whole new life. One afternoon, we had done our weekly grocery shopping and had hauled all the bags up to the second floor apartment with much dragging and giggling. Much later after my daughter had been asleep for hours and I was just dozing off, there was a knock on the door. I could not imagine who would be knocking on my door at such a late hour. I had no friends in my new area and my parents were not able to travel and certainly not in the middle of the night without a phone call. I peeked out the peep hole and saw a young dark skinned male face with a knit cap pulled low over his forehead. My heart beat in my chest and the initial mystery turned into the salty sting of fear and uncertainty and homesickness. I very quietly said 'yes?'. In a newly deep and very streetwise voice he said...'your keys are in the door.' With that statement he stepped back from the door and melted away into the night. I realized in that one crystal moment that this young man had gifted me and my daughter with a little bit of salvation. Had he been anything but a decent human being, he could have stolen my car or entered my apartment. At best he could have left it up to the next passing stranger to decide the outcome of 'keys left in the door'. I learned to look long into the faces of the young men in our broken culture. I always see the hero. May God continue to inspire his people to these acts of unapologetic care and kindness so beautifully unfettered with self interest. May the natural high that comes with this kind of love be more addicting than all the evils of this world. Hanan SubhanAllah…this story reminds me of a night many years ago when I was a young mother and in the world almost by myself. I had taken my first job as a registered nurse in large hospital 50 miles from my small town home. I had recently embraced Islam and had started wearing hijab on the same day that I started the new job. My 5 year old daughter and I were living alone in a small apartment in a BIG apartment complex in an even bigger city. My parents were both ill and could not travel very often to see us. We thought we were quite stubbornly self sufficient and were embracing our new neighborhood although we knew not one person yet. I am sure we were quite obvious to our neighbors as complete rookies stumbling through a whole new life. One afternoon, we had done our weekly grocery shopping and had hauled all the bags up to the second floor apartment with much dragging and giggling. Much later after my daughter had been asleep for hours and I was just dozing off, there was a knock on the door. I could not imagine who would be knocking on my door at such a late hour. I had no friends in my new area and my parents were not able to travel and certainly not in the middle of the night without a phone call. I peeked out the peep hole and saw a young dark skinned male face with a knit cap pulled low over his forehead. My heart beat in my chest and the initial mystery turned into the salty sting of fear and uncertainty and homesickness. I very quietly said ‘yes?’. In a newly deep and very streetwise voice he said…’your keys are in the door.’ With that statement he stepped back from the door and melted away into the night. I realized in that one crystal moment that this young man had gifted me and my daughter with a little bit of salvation. Had he been anything but a decent human being, he could have stolen my car or entered my apartment. At best he could have left it up to the next passing stranger to decide the outcome of ‘keys left in the door’. I learned to look long into the faces of the young men in our broken culture. I always see the hero.

May God continue to inspire his people to these acts of unapologetic care and kindness so beautifully unfettered with self interest. May the natural high that comes with this kind of love be more addicting than all the evils of this world.

Hanan

]]> Comment on GrowMama Roundup: Asked By a Child by Hanan http://growmama.com/motherhood/growmama-roundup-asked-by-a-child/#comment-3296 Hanan Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:25:12 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3726#comment-3296 Have no doubt, the memories of your home will linger well into adulthood. You may never know how deep the roots go nor what fruit those memories will produce. It is the way of the young mind. The first tastes are forever. I can still hear the early morning slap-slap sound as Dalia's mother made tortillas by hand while the rest of us were still well under the covers. I understand the power that a woman wields because I was there to witness it as a young girl. The sharp, exotic fragrance of curry that greeted me at the door of my friend Swati's home are as familiar to me as if it was yesterday. I will always be fascinated by any billowing, flowing and brightly colored length of cloth like a hummingbird to a flower because of the women in her family. I can still feel that early magnetic pull toward belief that was born during many Sunday morning services with Sonya and her 2 little sisters. I remember feeling the crowd of worshipers sway and become lost in their experience of God. I loved to hear her mother call to her nephew Joseph by the strange and beautiful other name...Yusuf. In truth, I probably spent very little clock time in the domestic realms of my childhood friends but the emotional and sensory impact with me yet. Each experience seemed like a lucky passage into a separate and sacred world where I was a stranger. I was allowed in as an afterthought and almost without being noticed.I didn't speak the languages nor understand the invisible rhythms that were so different than those of my own family. I don't remember knowing that Dalia was Mexican, or that Swati was Indian or Sonya Lebanese. I was young enough to embrace the unfamiliar without judgement and allow it to become part of me. I knew in my bones what they had was something warm and good. I stood in it as often as I could... like a cat in a patch of sunlight. The weight of being a mere traveler in the world will always be with me because that is how I began and I am so grateful. I know why Islam was so recognizable to me, why I could step onto the path with both feet. I was prepared in the houses of my girlhood by the mysterious barakah of God that knows no cultural boundaries or religious limitations. The fruit has been sweet,timely and it keeps coming. May God bless your home for your young visitors as he did for me so many years ago. Have no doubt, the memories of your home will linger well into adulthood. You may never know how deep the roots go nor what fruit those memories will produce. It is the way of the young mind. The first tastes are forever. I can still hear the early morning slap-slap sound as Dalia’s mother made tortillas by hand while the rest of us were still well under the covers. I understand the power that a woman wields because I was there to witness it as a young girl. The sharp, exotic fragrance of curry that greeted me at the door of my friend Swati’s home are as familiar to me as if it was yesterday. I will always be fascinated by any billowing, flowing and brightly colored length of cloth like a hummingbird to a flower because of the women in her family. I can still feel that early magnetic pull toward belief that was born during many Sunday morning services with Sonya and her 2 little sisters. I remember feeling the crowd of worshipers sway and become lost in their experience of God. I loved to hear her mother call to her nephew Joseph by the strange and beautiful other name…Yusuf.
In truth, I probably spent very little clock time in the domestic realms of my childhood friends but the emotional and sensory impact with me yet. Each experience seemed like a lucky passage into a separate and sacred world where I was a stranger. I was allowed in as an afterthought and almost without being noticed.I didn’t speak the languages nor understand the invisible rhythms that were so different than those of my own family. I don’t remember knowing that Dalia was Mexican, or that Swati was Indian or Sonya Lebanese. I was young enough to embrace the unfamiliar without judgement and allow it to become part of me. I knew in my bones what they had was something warm and good. I stood in it as often as I could… like a cat in a patch of sunlight.

The weight of being a mere traveler in the world will always be with me because that is how I began and I am so grateful. I know why Islam was so recognizable to me, why I could step onto the path with both feet. I was prepared in the houses of my girlhood by the mysterious barakah of God that knows no cultural boundaries or religious limitations. The fruit has been sweet,timely and it keeps coming. May God bless your home for your young visitors as he did for me so many years ago.

]]> Comment on GrowMama Roundup: Asked By a Child by Iman http://growmama.com/motherhood/growmama-roundup-asked-by-a-child/#comment-3295 Iman Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:31:58 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3726#comment-3295 I volunteer a lot at my kids' public school (kindergarten and second grade). Surprisingly, the other kids love moms coming in and I seem to always get that question. I just give them a simple response that I cover my head the same way everyone covers their body. Sometimes if they continue to ask why then I say that I consider it a private part. They're usually convinced by then :) I volunteer a lot at my kids’ public school (kindergarten and second grade). Surprisingly, the other kids love moms coming in and I seem to always get that question. I just give them a simple response that I cover my head the same way everyone covers their body. Sometimes if they continue to ask why then I say that I consider it a private part. They’re usually convinced by then :)

]]> Comment on Touched Once Again by fatima http://growmama.com/motherhood/touched-once-again/#comment-3282 fatima Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:48 +0000 http://growmama.com/?p=3555#comment-3282 Awww, that's beautiful, Asiya! Ameen, May Allah give him Jannah. Awww, that’s beautiful, Asiya! Ameen, May Allah give him Jannah.

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