Something I found…

NO…

I do not listen to music.
I do not celebrate Christmas.
I do not celebrate Valentines Day.
I do not celebrate any other holiday apart from the islamic ones.
I do not eat pork, or any non-halal meat.
I do not mingle with men.
I do not go out on a travel without agreeing with my husband.
I do not fast volunteer without his agreement.
I do not work unless it is according to Islamic rules.
I do not celebrate birthdays for my kids either, no Mothers Day either.
I do not watch porn movies or movies with sexuality in them, or nudity.
I do not talk provocative or flirt with other men.
I do not leave my house uncovered.
I do not follow fashion.
I do not disclose our secrets as a couple.
I do not take abuse.
I do not obtain a divorce for minor reasons.
I do not inherit as much as my brother.

But, on the other hand, YES…

I do listen to nasheeds.
I do celebrate Eid. Twice a year actually.
I do get presents from my husband on other days, just because I am.
I do eat lots of other foods, and lamb is not so bad either.
I do mingle with a lot of nice sisters, and thats all I need.
I travel, because he wants me to.
I do fast volunteer, because my husband encourages me to.
I do work, and best part is, I can if I want to, keep all the money for myself.
I do watch some movies, and some Tvshows, if I want to.
I do flirt. With my husband. He is the only one I love.
I do wear my beloved hijab and abaya.
I do follow the fashion of Allah.
I do talk about the things that interest me with my friends.
I do have every right to leave if abused.
I do have every right to divorce if I have reasons for it!
I do have the right to spend my inheritance as I wish, unlike my brother, who must support me.

But most of all, and most importantly, I have Allah in my life. No, I don’t look down on those who do the things I don’t do, but yes, I do feel sorry for them, if they are Muslims. Because I love my sisters, and I want whats best for them, in this life and the next. My life is complete, I need nothing more. Because I have Allah.

Busy busy busy bee…

Salaam aleikum

I know its been a while since I blogged. I have been so busy lately. Got a new job, and then to top it all, I started teaching in the masjid. That is such a blessing, mashaAllah, words can not describe it all.

At first we had oh, around 30 children on the list. Then, the first day we sat with around 50 kids. This was in the beginning of december, and since then, every weekend, the number of kids increased. We reached 120 registrated kids now, but not all come at all times though. Some might feel that two days a week is too much, some might live far from the masjid, I dont know their reasons, but I do know that we have a waiting-list of kids who want to join the school. It is sad that we had to say stop at some point, but since we already started teaching the kids, it could create difficulties if other kids came and knew nothing, and we would have to repeat ourselves again.

We are doing this by the “error and learn”-method. Thats all we know how to. We must try, then fail or succeed, and then learn by our mistakes or learn by our successes. Nobody of the teachers, apart from a couple of them, have much teaching experience. But most of us got kids, and all of us got the will to do this Fisabilillah, for the sake of Allah. All we earn is Ajr, experience and the childrens respect and love.

I am responsible for the smallest kids. Those who are 5 and 6 years old. MashaAllah they are so cute. They are at different levels of understanding, different levels of memorizing Quran, diffferent levels of knowledge, and just simply very different. They have short attentionspans, they have short memory I think, and they are a challenge in so many ways, but yet so nice kids. They behave sometimes, sometimes they do not behave at all. The trick is to let them learn, in a positive way, about islam, and to memorize the Quran too. Make it fun, make it nice, and try to grab their attention when they give it to you! Together with me, I have a palestinian brother who is mashaAllah great with children. He used to teach kids Quran in his homeland, so he got experience, more than the rest of us. And then also a Swedish brother too, he do his best to keep the kids calm, mashaAllah.

Also, as a mother, I must say I am so happy about this school. My kids have bloomed in this school. Their islamic knowledge have increased, and they learned more Quran and more general knowledge about islam. One day I made a speech about my way to islam, and how I came to be a muslim, and still the kids are talking about it hehe. It moved them in a way. But it was also a little sad, because my son started thinking about what will happen to my parents, and my husbands parents, after they die… It was a lot to take in for a little boy, but inshaAllah he moved past it allright. I think a sort of grieving is natural for kids of blended families.

Jeg vet det er en stund siden sist nå. Jeg har vært så opptatt Alhamdulillah. Fikk ny jobb, og så for å toppe det hele, begynte jeg som lærer i moskeen i tillegg. Det er en fantastisk jobb, ingen ord kan beskrive det egentlig!

Til å begynne med hadde vi tja, rundt 30 barn på lista. Den første helgen hadde vi vel rundt 50 barn. Det var første helgen I desember, og siden da, hver eneste helg, har tallet på barn økt. Vi nådde 120 registrerte barn nå, men ikke alle kommer til alle tider da. Noen føler kanskje at to dager er for mye, mens andre kanskje bor langt fra moskeen, eller hva det nå måtte være. Jeg vet ikke hvordan det skjedde, men nå har vi faktisk venteliste på barn som vil starte på skolen. Det er trist at vi må si stopp nå, men siden vi allerede har begynt undervisningen, så kan det skape vanskeligheter om andre barn kom og ikke kunne noen ting, og at vi måtte gjenta oss selv igjen.

Vi jobber etter “lære og feile”-metoden. Det er alt vi kan. Vi må forsøke, og så enten går det galt eller vi lykkes, og så må vi lære av våre feil, eller lære av våre suksesser. Ingen av oss lærere, bortsett fra ett par av oss, har noe særlig erfaring. Men de fleste av oss har barn, og alle sammen har viljen til å gjøre dette Fisabilillah, for Allahs skyld. Alt vi tjener er Ajr, erfaring, og barnas respekt og kjærlighet.

Jeg er ansvarlig for de minste barna nå. De som er fem og seks år gamle. MashaAllah, de er så søte barn. De har ulike nivå for forståelse, ulike nivåer på hva de kan av Quran, og ulike nivåer for kunnskap, og de er bare generelt veldig ulike. De har kort oppmerksomhets-tid, og de har kort hukommelse, de er en utfordring på så mange måter, men samtidig, mashaAllah, så flotte barn. Noen ganger oppfører de seg ordentlig, andre ganger ikke. Trikset er å la dem lære, på en positiv og kreativ måte om islam og å lære seg Quran utenat. Gjøre det morsomt, gjøre det fint, og forsøke å ta deres oppmerksomhet når de gir oss den. Sammen med meg har jeg en palestinsk bror, som er MashaAllah så flink med barn. Han har lært barn Quran I sitt hjemland tidligere, og har erfaring med det. Og så har jeg en svensk bror med på laget, som holder orden I rekkene og får barna til å følge med!

Også som mor må jeg si at jeg er utrolig glad for denne skolen. Barna mine har blomstret opp… Deres islamske kunnskaper har økt, og de har lært mer Quran og fått mer genrell kunnskap om islam. En dag snakket jeg om min vei til islam med de eldste barna, de fra syv år og opp, og om hvordan jeg ble muslim og sånn. De snakker enda om det hehe, og vil enda spørre meg om mye mer. Det var litt trist også, fordi den dagen begynte gutten min å tenke mer på hva som egentlig vil skje etter døden med mine foreldre, og min manns foreldre. Det var for mye å ta inn for en liten gutt egentlig, men InshaAllah har han kommet videre. Jeg tror en slags sorg-prosess er normalt for barn I blanda familier, egentlig.