Autumn Creativity

  
  
The last weeks and these days we are taking benefit of the beauty of autumn and nature’s incredible changing, subhanallah:
we are gathering a berry, weeds and fruits, collecting leafs and stones and crafting some autumnal things to beautify our home and to bring in the colours of this wonderful season.

  

I made some new adventure bags out of old trousers for the kids, so they can take cars, sketchbooks and other useful stuff with them and keep their outside-treasures in it.

We recently did also some potato printing on old sheets and paper and so I am having beautiful fabric at home that waits now for a new purpose.
We are off to some more astonishment over Allah amazing creature… masalama friends!
 

Gratitude for the Mundane

  

I didn’t finish reading the whole Qur’an during Ramadan, so I am still reading every day after my morning prayer some verses. These days I was totally thrilled by the following ayat:
“Then tell me about the water you drink. Is it you who cause it from the rain-clouds to come, or are We the Causer from it to come down? If We willed, We verily could make it salt and undrinkable. Why then do you not give thanks (to Allah)?” (Al Waqi’â 56, 68-70)
That is so simple, yet so clear and true: Why don’t we think about and thank more for all the mundane blessings around us and why do we always take them as granted?
Why do we complain so much about things and always wish them to be better or different?
I felt ashamed and it nearly made me crying to realise all the things that actually ARE good around here every single day…
so here is my actual list of gratitude, alhamdulillah:

- I am thankful for all my God-given abilities, my body and my brain,
- I am so happy about all the comfort and the wealth of material we are blessed with,
- I am thankful for the rainbow we saw yesterday and for all the water God sent as a blessing for the plants but without destroying houses or things,
- I am full of gratitude for the fruits, tastes and goods September brings,
- I am feeling a deep thankfulness for having kids, a husband, family and good friends,  
- I am feeling so lucky about being able to read and write (so many women around here are illiterate);
- I am thankful for the health and power Allah provides me with to go through my days to fulfil my duties;
- I am so happy to live in peace and personal freedom, masha’allah what a blessing!
- I am thankful that I have been in Germany the night my sister died, and I am thankful that I am finally able to let out the grief these days now when she would have turned 29;
- I feel very gifted to have been guided to Islam by Allah, subhanallah oua tâ’ala, and I could continue this list endlessly…

What are you thankful for?
Blessed Monday, friends. 

  
  
 

‘Id ul fitr 1430/2009

  

The days before ‘Id were a lot about baking and making, about preparing and decorating, and then the actual feast day on Monday was enjoying, praying, praising, being together and eating a lot…

”Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, la illaha illAllah; Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, wa lillahil-hamd! – Allahumma taquabil minni oua minkoum.”
(Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, here is no God but Allah; Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest, and all praises are for Allah)

Happy blessed Friday dear friends!

  
  
 

A Break

 
Bismillah a Rachman a Rachim and Salamou alaikoum out there,

Sorry to all visitors who have tried to see my blog over the last days and thank you so much for the nice mails you wrote me, saying you missed this place – I had to close it for a while; I had to re-centre myself, to think about its purpose and to ask Allah for guidance.
During the 27^th night of Ramadan, which maybe was “The night of Power” (Allahu aalem), I realized that I have to change things, I felt that this blog needs to take a new direction, cause I felt as if I have lost a true meaning over the last few months.
I made Istikhara (prayer for divine guidance) because I wasn’t sure whether to continue blogging or not, so I questioned all of it.

I realized that I do not want to play the main part on that little place here; I do not want to put myself nor my family in front; I do not want to show off; I do not want to provoke envy, jealousy, the evil eye or negative feelings in others. And I do not want to worship the readers, nor myself. Astafirghullah.

I want to worship God Almighty alone and I want to blog for His sake only. I want to make my whole writing and living a witness of my faith in Allah’s great religion – And to gain His pleasure is my biggest aim, inchaallah.

So things changed and will change around here and I call this place now “my living faith”, because that’s what it is: the journal of a life in faith, with all its beauty and struggles.

Maybe I will not post as often as before because time became very precious with three kids and I do not want to let the blog come over my life, it is so easy to get distracted by it.
And maybe the posts will become less personal, but I hope by being more focused on the beauty of Islam, I will be able to pay gratitude to the mercy and the blessings of God’s creation and to inspire others.
I will still enjoy your visits and comments here, although they will not be my intention to write. It is a great honour for me to count you as my readers and I hope the changes here will be beneficial for you as well, inchaallah.

’Id moubarak to all my Muslims brothers and sisters and may Allah accept your good deeds. Ameen.
Peace to you all,

yours itto

Ramadan Snapshots

  
  

Assalamou alaikoum dear friends,

These days I am a bit poor in words and not really in a blogging mood.
I want to use these last sacred days for additional acts of worship to increase my faith, inchaallah.
So with these evening-snapshots I wish you a blessed last week of Ramadan!

And if you are interested to read more about our Ramadan, look here at last year’s sacred month.

Summer Bliss #3 – Remembering Summer

  

“It is He who shows you the lightning as a fear for travellers and as a hope for those who wait for rain. And it is He who brings up the clouds, heavy with water…”  (Ar-Rad 13,12)

It feels like summer is gone since last weekend:
the air is fresh, the skies are blue, the fields are yellow, first snow lies on the mountains and the berries are ripe….
Subhanallah, it was a nice summer we’ve had over here and the last warm days we spent a lot outside on our new build terrace, in the little pool, enjoying the shadow and the kind of holiday feeling that came along.

Right now it is raining outside, alhamdulillah, the nature needed water and Allah sent His mercy in big grey clouds.
I think we are ready to welcome autumn and all the bliss within….

Focusing on Spirituality

  

May peace be with you!

Instead of long house-cleaning-sessions, I want to purify my soul.

Instead of preparing big meals and spending long time in the kitchen, I want to taste the sweetness of Islam by reading the holy book.

Instead of blaming myself, I want to be thankful for my God-given abilities.

Instead feeling overwhelmed, tired and burnt-out, I want to fight against the devil and his awful whispers (audhu billahi).

Instead of getting upset with too much to-dos, I want to strive for a higher spiritual level while doing things.

Instead of waiting for better days to come, I want to live the moment.

Instead of longing for more me-time, I want to cherish the gift of having children.

Instead of criticizing the kids, I want to show them the beauty of our deen (Islamic way of life).

Instead of complaining about things, I want to try to make every single deed, every chore and duty a spiritual act:

Praising Allah while hanging the laundry, fully being there while changing nappies, reciting the Holy Book while chopping the vegetables, being grateful for the life we live while sweeping the floor, cherishing the gift of having kids while spending time with them, fulfilling all these duties consciously and trying to give my best while making every single act a witness of my faith.

There is so much reward in trying to give your best in daily life, so much good in providing healthy food and a nice home for your family, in playing with children and being consciously there for them.
There is even no need to be sad about not fasting this year because the Prophet (sws) said in an authentic hadith: “He who gives food for a fasting person to break his fast, he will receive the same reward as him. And nothing will be subtracted from the fasting person’s reward.” (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, and others)

Allahu akbar, God’s mercy is really to be found everywhere. Every deed we do as best as we are able to do is accepted as an act of worship. It is our personal attitude that makes the difference and changes the daily living and every mundane act into a prayer for Him; to gain His pleasure and to make all our living worship to Him.  

These are my intentions for the second half of Ramadan, inchaallah.
And with these thoughts I wish you a blessed weekend!

Blissful Reading

  
  

Always a blissful Ramadan reading: the new Sisters issue, alhamdulillah.

Happy Week to you!