by Amani Iqbal
As a new full-time mum with a seven-month-old baby, I found it difficult to find free time for ibadah like I did before. I found that by the time I was done with household duties and baby care my day was over! However, I gradually found a few ways to incorporate ibadah into my daily activities. I thought that perhaps other mums and mums-to-be might find it useful.
1. Keep in Mind That Every Deed the Muslim Woman Does for her Family is Rewarded by ALLAH
The duties of the Muslim woman– i.e the house and children— have been specified in the following hadith:
Each of you is a shepherd, and each is responsible for those under his care. A ruler is a shepherd; a man is the shepherd of his family; a woman is the shepherd of her husband’s house and children. For each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for those under his care. [Bukhari and Muslim]
The importance of looking after our husbands– whether it be cooking their meals, keeping them happy by maintaining a clean home or looking after the children well– has been further emphasized in this authentic hadith:
A woman came to ask the Prophet (saw) about some matter, and when he had dealt with it, he asked her, “Do you have a husband?” She said, “Yes.” He asked her, “How are you with him?” She said, “I never fall short in my duties, except for that which is beyond me.” He said, “Pay attention to how you treat him, for he is your Paradise and your Hell.” [Reported by Ahmad and al-Nisa’i with jayyid isnads, and by al-Hakim, who said that its isnad was sahih. See al-Mundhiri, Al-Targhib wa’l-Tarhib, 3/52, Kitab al-nikah.]
When we have such solid evidences and words of encouragement showing us the great rewards we earn for looking after our husbands, houses and children, there is really no need for us to tire in our efforts to fulfill these duties! Keeping these hadith in mind, we should try to start our day with the niyyah that “every good deed we do for our home and family is for the sake of Allah and to earn his pleasure”. This will help us carry out our household and family responsibilities with joy as we know that they are all counted as ibadah!
2. Make Dhikr, Lectures, and Quran your Companions During Chores
A great way to keep yourself alert and active while performing household responsibilities is to listen to lectures or Quran or to do dhikr! It takes away the boredom of repetitive household duties and is a great way to earn ajr from Allah on a daily basis.
3. Take Advantage of Infant Feeding Times
The hardest time for me to stay awake was during the nightly nursing sessions with my son. After trying various other methods, I found that a brilliant way to keep myself awake was by reading Quran, hadith, or any useful Islamic article on my Smartphone! Not only did my tiredness disappear, I also looked forward to waking up at night so I could have some me time with Allah!
These times at night are also great times to ask dua, for we all know the hadith which states:
The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and He says, ‘Who will call Me that I might answer him, who will ask of Me that I might give him, who will ask My forgiveness, that I might forgive him?’” [narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-Tawheed, 6940; Muslim, Salaat al-Musaafireen, 1262]
It can be difficult at times to concentrate on dua during these night hours, but with regular practise it becomes quite easy and a perfect quiet time to make your most sincere dua!
4. Read Your Children Stories of the Prophets and Teach Them Quran
Sometimes it’s only when we feel the need to teach our kids that we realize our own need to learn the sunnah and the Quran! Even though I’m still just playing Quran or nasheeds to my baby, I believe as he grows older reading to him stories of the Sahabah or the Prophet (saw) would be a great way to earn ajr as well as instil love for Islam and the Sahabah in our kids. This in itself is a blessing from Allah and a good way of bringing the family closer together too.
5. Make the Most of Technology
Though there is much fitna in Facebook, YouTube, and mobile phones, I strongly believe using them for good can be a fabulous way of keeping ourselves connected with Islam 24/7! My favourite gadget is my Smartphone which I use to:
- Subscribe to useful YouTube channels to receive the latest Islamic lectures right on my phone which I can listen to anytime.
- Join Islamic Facebook groups from which I receive daily notes of inspiration based on hadith and Quran and links to useful videos too.
- Download Quran and hadith apps so you can read on the go.
- Store pdf and mp3 files to learn Arabic and Quran without the need of a laptop.
I hope these little sources of learning and earning ajr prove to be useful to the millions of mums out there. More suggestions and sources would be gladly welcomed by commenting on this blog post! Remember, the main goal is to share and spread the deen among the Ummah as effectively and quickly as possible!
Amani Iqbal is a full-time mother living in the United Kingdom.
That was really needed. may Allah reward you immensely. 🙂
Thank you, that was very motivating! I did need to look up some vocab as my Arabic isn’t great just yet, so this also helped me learn a few new words too! As for reading stories to your children, could anyone recommend some, and where to buy them online? I have really been wanting to do this for my son but it is hard to find material here. I live in the U.S and would love story books geared for English speakers with pictures if possible. My son is 7 years old so something for that age range would be most appreciated.
Sister Tracy/Aiya,
I would recommend looking for an islamic private school rather than public school for the kids here.
There is also option of homeschooling through the superchargehomeschooling.com by Zohra Sarwari.
I bought the packages for my 3 and 5 yr old and alhamdulillah am waiting for her future plan of building online homeschooling site from PreK to 12.
Finally, the http://www.noorarts.com has islamic books.
For gaining high eemaan, and love of and for Allah http://www.Islamiconlineuniversity.com can help anyone to earn a free BA degree at home in 3-8yrs as per your pace.
Hope it helps sister Tracy/Aiya.
Jazak Allah Khairun Sister Amina for your excellent ideas on being close to Allah while doing the daily duties of mother!!!
May Allah make it easy for all the Mumin Muslim Mothers and across the globe to be high in eemaan and grant patience and success in raising mumin righteous God loving/fearing children and grant us Jannah. Amin.
Thank you so much for your help!!
Assalaamu Alaikum,
You asked where to buy good Islamic story books for children in the United States. I always order from noorart.com They have beautiful Islamic children’s books as well as really nice Islamic curriculum textbooks and workbooks with CDs to use at home with out children, such as the I Love Islam series and the weekend series. The Eeman series are graded readers to teach reading, and are also Islamic theme and pictures.
Great piece Amani! Thanks for sharing!
I also wanted to mention there's no age too early to start reading to your little one.. I started reading to Zayd when he was I believe 6 months! MashaAllah not only did it make him alert it also instilled the love for reading in him! MashaAllah although he can't read yet, he has his favorite books memorized and so nights when in exhausted, I have him "read" to me! 🙂
Jazakallah khairun for the lovely words of encouragement sisters 🙂 Inshallah I hope to write more…
Sister Tracy/Aiya – here are two links of islamic books websites I was able to find where you could inshallah get some stuff for your son.
http://www.islamicbookstore.com/children.html
http://www.darussalam.com/index.php?currency=USD&cPath=92&osCsid=114e07c32d16c90eb465ca212060f3ca
Hope it helps 🙂
Thank you! It is overwhelming to have so much help on this. I am ever so grateful!!!!!!!
Subhana'Allah….very beneficial articles….jazakallah khair…..May Allah bless this web….ameen.
thanks a lot our muslim sister! may allah bless you!
I would say you have given words to my thoughts and way of practice
Islam in my busy schedule .I also enjoy my nights as I'm more close
To Allah .
Thank you dear for sharing it .jazak Allah khair
God bless you my sister for your wonderful advise to muslim women.
Very enlightening piece, may Allah reward your efforts. Amin.
Subhan Allah…nice article..jazak Allah Kher.
Great way of teaching good islamic values. jazakallah sister
I like articles like that, a real eemaan-booster coupled with practical pieces of advice to deal with the chaos that new motherhood sometimes bring.
Besides, I believe it also increases sisterhood between us mothers throughout the world to know that in each home, we are all striving for the same goal (being good muslimahs and mothers) and sometimes struggle to live up to our own expectations.
May Allah reward your work. Ameen.
Pls dont consider the above comment as it happened by mistake due to technical error.. network fluctuations.. im very upset about it.. sorry for the trouble caused..
assalamualaikum dear sister,
your article is very inspiring and motivating for every women and mother as we get so busy with our household duties ,children and husband that we cant find time for Ibaadah..
But you’ve given words to my thoughts and useful piece of advice too…
May Allah reward y ou immensely… Aameen..!
i realy like your advices i have 3 kid and hardly get time for myself this internet is very useful if we use it in agood way , jazakalahokhairan
a very nice websites for kids are hamaray bachchay.com. and kids land .com ,very useful for you and your kids
Love it Amani :)! Many of the points you applied regarding technology is the best I have found in my life to strengthen my iman and keeping away from latest bollywood songs. Jazakallah
mashaallah ts a very interesting article may the blessings of Allah tabarak wataala be upon you.
JazakALLAH and may ALLAH help you in your work.
But I do not find Facebook a good medium to learn as just imagine that we are now having verses of the ah Holy Quran on the screen and at the same time pictures of almost naked woman at the corner of the screen or all sorts of Shaitaanic posts. I do not believe Facebook is good to learn Dean as while reading dean you might get tempted to go in other wrong articles. Please do t associate the holy Quraan with these Shaitaanic inventions.
If you find Internet rather a good medium to learn, please do create a similar blog but which is restricted to Dean and does not allow any picture of human.
May ALLAH guide us in the right tan and increase our knowledge.
Excuse me if I have offended any Brother or Sister.
Salaam
Assalamu alaykum wr wb friend.
Yes, what you are saying is true, and it grieves us also, but if Muslims don’t have a presence on the internet, how can the message spread? We look forward to a time when bit by bit these Shaytaanic images will become a thing of the past.
Why not sign up and join us at the new social network, http://www.ummaland.com? There you’ll find your daily prayer times for your city, as well as daily hadiths and Quran readings. And no bad images!
May Allah (swt) richly bless your efforts to learn and spread the message of the Quran.
Jazaka Allah khayran
Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied. [from Quran, 3:79]