Being In Ihram by IBAP (10 yrs)

When we go to Makkah to perform Hajj or Umrah we put on our Ihram.

 

Before putting on Ihram a pilgrim must do Ghusl and make his niyyah.

In ihram the pilgrim wears two pieces of cloth and sandals or shoes that do not cover the top of his foot. He can not use perfume or cover his head. He can not cut hair or his nails while he is in Ihram. (A pilgrim can cut his hair and nails and wear perfume before putting on his Ihram). He must not fight or argue or hunt. He can not get married until he is out of ihram. Men must cut or shave their hair to remove their Ihram

Women in ihram can wear anything that covers them properly and they do not cover their faces.  Women do not have shave their hair they only cut a little hair.    

At Hajj a pilgrim must make his sacrifice before removing his Ihram.       

Marium Appa’s Quran Class as narrated by SBAP (3yrs) & HBAP (6yrs)

I sit next to Isa and play next to Isa and then I did something good! I jumped up with my pencil and then all the teacher came back,. Then they came back to listen to our Quran.

All people come back from their home to read the Quran.

- SBAP

I take off my shoes and put them on the rack, then I sit in the first gali near the garden because all the rooms are filled and are hot so my teacher makes us sit in the gali.

My teacher’s name is Sumairah Aunty, she makes us read and she makes letters on the board and we read it. We also have a test and we also play games and we also read from the Quaida, para. And Sir Ibrahim comes and makes us do Arabic. And Aunty gives us stars and chocolate if we read nice, and I got 5 stars for finding a big letter.

- HBAP

Qayam-ul-lail @ the Piranis

Ramadan is a special for us all, and as our numbers have increased and the children aged, our Ramadan structure has changed according. This Ramadan all four of the elder Pirani boys fasted, but due to changes in the weather, not all could fast through out the month.Alhumdulillah Shawwal gave the elder two the opportunity to complete the Ramadan fasts and Alhumdulillah all three older boys were able to keep the six of Shawwal. This year even little HBAP (6 yrs) fasted a full day Masha'Allah.

On ABAP's suggestion, we held a Qayyam gathering, on the 27th night, for seven of the boy's friends. They arrived before Iftar (spring rolls and custard), followed by  a pizza dinner and later Isha at the nearby Masjid. Masha'Allah all the boys helped clear up after meals. The rest of the night was spent in prayer (the boys taking turns to lead their friend's jamaat), chill time, playing cricket, watching a documentary about Muslim Inventions and trying out their friends' 'chara' guns.

 After a suhoor of left over pizza, cereal and keema, the boys finally went to sleep after praying Salaat Fajr. Alhumdulillah it went well and all the kids enjoyed themselves, even SBAP (3 yrs) delved into the fun whereas ZBAP (1yr) wtched cautiously from the side lines. Insha'Allah we look forward to hosting a Qayyam night for the boys next year as well..

Recycling Paper

This week's science topic (from Classical Science courtesy the Lab of Mr. Q) is the Three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. IBAP's and MBAP's activity for the week was to recycle newspaper; this involved soaking bits of newspaper, blending it into a pulp with a mixture of cornflour and water, then straining and spreading the mass onto a sieve.

After leaving it to dry for two days, we were able to peel off our home recycled paper from the sieve.

 

Not bad for a first attempt. We hope to try this again sometime Insha'Allah. We also read up about the history of paper making from  http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/literature/paper.htm 

Wedding Showers

Bridal Suite

Karachi has been experiencing very heavy rain the last few days, Alhumdulillah the wedding in the family went through smoothly even though. The elder boys helped guide the guests to the correct rooms (the was a separate hall for each gender) and watch over the waiters. The children also met distant relatives they had never seen and HBAP was in awe to see how a polio afflicted relative moved out of a wheel chair and on to a sofa unaided.
Prior to the wedding HBAP also watched how the ladies of the house transformed the young balechlor's room into a bridal suite with flowers, chocolates, gold coloured gauze, gold paint and shimmering glitter.She marvelled as a beautiacian arrived to give the ladies a hair cut and later all had mehindi applied on their hands...all on the day before the nikah!

But the days of the nikah and those after the Valima saw rain and flooded streets causing schools to stay closed and offices to remain empty. Alhumdulillah at the Pirani's it was studies as usual with science, math, grammar books and pakoras, as well as a viewing 2 cartoons to show how colour comes from light (rainbows) and what is a thunderstorm.

Indoors the kids ran excitedly the balcony to monitor the rain and get wet too. Outdoors things were not as cheery. Here are some pics of the after effects of rain our friends have shared:

outside friend's house in Defence

 

another pic from same friend

PECHS area near Dolmen Mall

At this time we all make dua:

"OAllaah, let the rain fall around us and not upon us, O Allaah, (let it fall) on the pasture, hills, valleys and roots of trees.’

"It Rained So Fast" as narrated by SBAP age 3

It rained so fast and it fell on our head, and we went in the rain. I tell HJay Mamu it rained so fast and IBAP said its raining, it full of drops on me. I watched the rain on the bike  and I took HBAP’s bike in (out of the rain water) HJay Mamu , QBAP and IBAP and MBAP and ABAP they played cricket in the balcony it was still rain. They didn’t let me play. I made a cricket ball ABAP did not let me throw it. The ball hit HJay Mamu when QBAP hit the ball!

LectureShop with Abu Aminah Bilal Philips:

By ABAP (age 13)

'What is a lectureshop?' is the question most people ask. Basically, a lectureshop is a workshop where there is more lecture and less work. In the one that I went to, the lecture was given by Dr. Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, on the topic of 'Ramadan: Scriptural -vs-Cultural'.

The whole event started at 9:45 am with the qirat of Surah Qadr by Osama Furqaan, followed with English translation by Abdullah Bin Azeem Pirani. Then Mr. Sharukh Hussain came up and started off by asking the similarity between a glass and a human being. The answer being that they both have to be filled, one with liquid, and one with knowledge. He then did a small activity in which everyone took a POST IT and wrote the reason they were here and then "posted it" on one of three sheets stuck to the walls around the room. He got one or two pretty sarcastic answers like "why are you here" or just "??" (literally someone wrote that!), although most people wrote " to gain knowledge". Some wrote "my mother/wife told me to/ is here", some "to see what Bilal Philips has to say" etc. Next he gave each table one long sheet of paper. Every table then had to choose a "writer". Mr Sharukh then asked a couple of questions from which the "writer" would then have to ask the rest of the table their answers and write them down. the questions were like: What does Islam mean to you?, What does the word Ramadan mean to you? etc. the answers were written and the sheets put up on the wall. Mr Sharukh took a round and read some of them out. The the main lecture by Abu Ameena Bilal Philips on Ramadan Scriptural vs Cultural started. Here are the main points of the lecture and Q&A session together:

• Have a light suhoor and a light iftar.
• Fast for Allah, not the people.
• Delay suhoor, hasten for iftar.
• If the fajr adhan is happening and you are eating or drinking, you  can quickly finish it ( DO NOT TAKE MORE).
• Praying 8 rakah of tarawih is the sunnah, don't make it a must to pray 20 rakah.
• The times given on charts for suhoor and iftar are just approximates to alert you that the adhan will happen around this time. People who don't wait for the adhan and just start or break their fasts because the time is written are doing a bid'ah.
• Always wait for the adhan.
• Ehtekaf has to be done at the masjid only, even for ladies as the Prophet Muhammad SAW's wives used to do it at the masjid.

After this he was asked to give us a briefing on The Islamic Online University which he did. He then signed off, and then we (audience) were all given a feedback form, and a paper on which we had to write a letter to ourselves on what we will achive this Ramadhan.This finished we went for Zuhr in the masjid downstairs.

 

Alhamdulillah, from this session I learnt a lot about the mistakes most of the people in our society make. I hope that later Insha Allah they have another session like this.

The Lab of Mr. Q

"If it stinks, its chemistry,
if it's slimy, its biology,
and if it doesn't work, it's physics!"
Explains Mr. Q, a long time 8th grade science teacher who has a passion for his work and enjoys working with homeschooling families as well. His website ( http://www.eequalsmcq.com/ ) and his blog offer science insights and teaching tips but the most loved link is a free copy of his elementary science book (for ages 6 to 9 ). This download-able eBook is accompanied with a parents' guide which outlines a three day curriculum for each chapter and includes worksheets and activities in addition to those already present in the student's textbook copy. The books can be downloaded as a whole or as separate units.

The books have an informal and humorous style yet introduce big words like "environment", "biotic factors" and "population" with simplified definitions and easy to relate examples. The activities are fun and require easily acquired materials.

We are using this book for MBAP (8yrs) and IBAP (10 yrs), both boys like to read the text out loud and enjoy the activities as well.

Eid-ul-Fitr of the Piranis (from The Pirani Chronicle, vol.2 issue1)By our correspondent Isa (10yrs)

We went to Gulistan-e-Anis for Eid Namaz. We reached there a little late so we prayed outside at the entrance. Then we met Hafidh Mamu and Abbi’s friends.

Nani, Nana and Hafidh Mamu came to our house after Namaz and we waited for Zia Khalu, Yusuf and Khala. When they arrived we waited for Haitham Mamu.Yusuf gave us sweets and cocomo. 

While we were eating, it started to rain. Yusuf, Muadh and I finished eating and then we played in the rain. It started to rain hard. We got wet.

 

Haitham Mamu and his family could not come because Ayesha was ill.

Ummi roasted 2 whole chickens for dinner but I fell asleep so I couldn’t eat it then. I will eat it tonight.

Qasim, Muadh, Sulaiman, Zakariyya and I wore thobes.

Eid Breakfast at the Pirani's (as narrated) by HBAP (6 yrs)

We had chips walla eggs and Yusuf gave us an Eid gifts : 'cocomok' and mints;  lemon and orange for me. Nana gave us Eidi gift money and Nani gave us an Eidi gift money, and Khala gave the big people “gaz”  (Iranian sweets) and Zia Khalu didn’t want any. And Abbi didn’t want any because it was so sticky.

Khala said Zia Khalu should go in the rain because he likes it, but he asked Qasim, and Qasim said it was very fast then he said it didn't matter he did not want to go.

Then we were playing with Yusuf, then we had our breakfast, after the breakfast we were playing. Then Yusuf went home. Then Nani, Nana and Hafidh Mamu were here and then they went home. Then Isa and Muadh went in the room to play alone.