Some services I’d really like to see Masjids offer

Tattoo removal (for brothers and sisters)

Electric breast pumps for new mothers

Contacts for Muslim midwives

Training for sisters to become a certified midwife and/or birth attendant

Training in how to prepare a deceased sister/brother for burial

Contacts for sisters and brothers who know how to prepare the deceased for burial

A place for preparing the deceased for burial

Training in how to properly slaughter meat animals

Some all-covering prayer outfits in the sister’s shoe room for anyone to use if they need to.

Some kufis in the brother’s shoe room for anyone to use if they need to. (Perhaps local sisters who can knit or crochet could donate these so a brother could keep the kufi he used.)

I’d  like to see the wealthier masjids who do offer some of these services already help masjids in low income neighborhoods with volunteers and space.

I realize there are websites and such for some of these things, but frankly nothing beats hands-on, in-person training.

Allah and the World

Redoing my knitting

I finally got around to re-knitting the sleeves on this cardigan I knit for myself so long ago I don’t want to think about it. The sleeves were too short and too snug, so i pulled them out and put bigger ones on.  Had yarn left over so I made some pockets.

Still had yarn left over so I made a hat!

And I STILL have a little of the pink left. Don’t know what to do with it yet. : )

The original inspiration for the cardigan came from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Tomten Coat. I made the hood big, like a burnoose hood, so it makes a nice hijab. The buttons are crochet, and I used the crochet needle to attach the knitted pockets. The whole thing is worsted weight cotton so it goes in the washing machine (cold water) without complaint.

Good Morning!

Ok, I know it’s Monday, I know you have to get to work, and I know the snowplow just dumped a bunch of slush across the head of the driveway.

But just take a moment and look at it. It’s pretty too.

I’ve been assured this du’a can be made when it snows too.

Assalaamu Alaikum

Why I make salat at home…

Sounds like a title for a 5th grade essay…. I digress. Yes, I always made my prayer at home. And no, it’s not because my husband keeps me chained to a ring on the kitchen wall! : ) And it’s not because I think women should be banned from the masjid either. Since I live and practise Islam in the United States I’m free to make this decision for myself, and here are some reasons why:

1. I prefer to make salat in a quiet atmosphere. My experience with masjids is that the women’s area is usually anything but.

2. I prefer to avoid listening to yet another lecture from a niqaab hater. This is the way I choose to dress in public. Please respect that, as I respect your choice to dress differently.

2a. While what a sister wears outside the masjid is, I feel, strictly between her and Allah, inside the masjid it’s a bit different. The masjid is a place for worship. It is not a social gathering hall, or the local coffee shop. Jeans and a loose shirt, or a track suit, are not appropriate clothing for Allah’s house. Unfortunately I’ve encountered this kind of clothing one time too often in the masjid. I prefer to avoid it. Perhaps the masjids should take a step towards preventing this by having a selection of those nice prayer outfits available in the shoe room for sisters to put on before coming into the prayer area.

3. I’m Hannafi, so my time for Asr salat is a bit later than the local masjid’s time.  No problem, we’re all sisters in Islam! : ) It’s just easier for me to stay home and pray, especially in the winter when the day’s are so short.

4. I like to pray slowly, and spend some time reading Qu’ran when I’m finished.  That doesn’t mean I’m always able to, it can get pretty hairy at home too sometimes! But at least I’ve got the option.  My experience with masjids has been small, hot, crowded rooms that need to be prayed in and then left as quickly as is decent so I  don’t accidentally inconvenience anyone.

Kids

Nothing quite like the look of horrified fascination on my 7 year old son’s face when I mixed some vinegar and baking soda together for him for a science experiment. : )

More About the Hooded Shawl

This is another view of that garment, I think you can see the relationship between the knitting and the weaving a little better. You can also see how I croched the lower edge. The straight edge is the front, it reaches to about my elbow bend, and the point hangs down the back. I made this to be mostly an indoor garment, to be worn in the winter when I have to keep the heat turned down for economy! I wanted my arms free for knitting or weaving or whatever.

Hooded Shawl

This is made from a piece of fabric my mom wove for me, and then I knitted on the hood as a seamless tube. I used a crochet hook to put a row of slip stitches on the edge of the woven part, and then just slipped a cicular knitting kneedle under them and knit until the tube was long enough, that is until I got tired of knitting it! The whole thing is made from LanaLoft sport weight wool.

It’s been really windy today…

It’s been really windy today, so I was thinking of this dua quite a bit, especially when a large something or other would knock on the roof or the wall. (No damage, just tree bits flying around.) Got me to thinking about wind, and that it seems everyone has a wind story of one kind or another. My Mom told me once about, when she was a teenager, having to make her horse lie down in a ditch, and then having to sit on the mare’s head to hold her down, while a tornado roared over them. Needless to say Mom is still uneasy about wind, though she’ll come outside and watch the clouds with me sometimes now.                           Here’s an old pic of Mom’s mare Kate. (I love the crabby mare-face.)

Another vivid story came from a gentleman I met who had been in the construction buisness all his life. He remembered seeing a tornado rip the roof off a barn and suck all the chickens out. He told me the sound those chickens made was the most unearthly, and horrible, thing he’d ever heard. He also told me that about 15 minutes after the tornado passed dead chickens rained down all over the place.

Wind is funny stuff. You hear it, and feel it, and sometimes see the damage it does, but you can’t see the wind itself. Thinking about it can get kind of creepy. There’s a silent movie starring Lillian Gish, I think the title is “The Wind”, which is about just that, the strangeness of wind, and what that strangeness can do to a person.

Reminds me of a hadith that states that Rasullala (salalahu alaihi wa salam) would go to the masjid and make salat when there was a wind storm.

On fasting