How Parents Push their Children Away from Islam

"And that is the question every parent (myself included) must ask themselves: “Can my child see the beauty of Islam in me?” Too often, children are left to think, “What do I need Islam for? It hasn’t done much for daddy.” Because they see how mean he is. They see how he treats mommy. They see how he lies, and they see all of that before the prayer and recitation, before the dhikr beads and beards. There is no amount of Muslim pomp and circumstance that can cover a closed heart. Goodness isn’t the only thing that shines. In its own way, darkness shines too, and it casts shadows on things that should be clear."

A short but very powerful reminder for us as parents.  

Click here.

Toy Drive

Have I mentioned Im so happy were back in Canada? ;)

MashaAllah there are such awesome initiatives going on in our community, makes me so proud alhamdulillah!

Yesterday National Zakat Foundation and MYRec came together to do a Toy Drive.  Each child brought in a toy, wrapped it, and made a card.  There was then an awesome story time and presentation for kids and parents who participated.

May Allah swt accept all the hard work from the many volunteers who made this event happen! Ameen!

Story Time

Making cards

Sticker packages for cards

Wrapping gifts

Food Baskets

Unfortunately there is a strong misconception that it is better for us to send out zakat money to those abroad because people living in Canada cant be that poor.  However there are many families in our community who struggle to feed their kids on a daily basis.  Mashallah National Zakat Foundation is working to break that misconception and encourage people to distribute zakat money locally to support those who are silently struggling.  

The other day, we got together with a few Homeschooling families to assemble food baskets.  MashaAllah all items were donated by local families.  One of the homeschooling mothers had opened her house so that all the items could be collected, and then assembled into baskets.  Each child got a list and had to go around the living room collecting the items.  We then packed everything into cars and dropped it off with NZF and they will inshaAllah deliver to the deserving families.  

May Allah swt accept each and every donation from those who gave and feed them and their families from the food of Jannah, Ameen.

Please check out the National Zakat Foundation website and consider giving your zakat through them!

Mesjid Mosaics

We made mesjid mosaics but printing out mesjid silhouttes (from a google search), placing them face down on clear contact paper, and then placing small pieces of coloured tissue paper around it.  Alhamdulillah it was a fun project for the kids and brightened up our kitchen a bit :)

Eid Packages for Refugee Children

A friend of mine is working with a relief organization who is helping refugees in Yemen and Somalia.  Yesterday we hosted an iftar for friends and got all the kids to make Eid cards and then we made packages with candies, stickers and a balloon.  InshaAllah these packages will be delivered and were hoping the brother who is delivering them will be able to send us pictures of when the kids receive them!

May Allah swt accept it from us, and help those children to have a slightly happier Eid because of these packages, and instil empathy and kindness is our children's hearts for all of humanity, Ameen.

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Assembling the loot bags

Some of the cards

Packed loot bags

Fire Station

Another idea we got from the 30 Days of Ramadan Goodness blog was to visit a Fire Station and thank the Firefighters for the hard work they do in keeping out community safe.  We got a tour of the fire truck and gave them a card and Tim Horton's donuts.  

Giving firefighters donuts and a card

Sitting in the driver seat

Sitting in the back seat