A Child's Prayer

At sunset muslims perform the 4th of the 5 daily prayers. We always try to all pray together, but mostly Bilaal and his dad pray together. Gradually over time he has learned most of the recitations in that he now is able to 'lead' the prayer. The part he still needs to learn though is the prayer at the end which is harder because it is more 'impromptu' as it is the prayer that wraps up your thanks and requests to your creator. Tonight, Yaasier was not home for this prayer so Bilaal decided to perform the prayer on his own. I was just finished putting Sumayah to sleep when I saw him sitting on the prayer mat with his hands held high in preparation to make this final prayer... but he was stuck... 'mommy please help me I'm stuck'...

So I told him not to worry, that if he didn't know how to pray in Arabic he could make his prayer in English. I told him to think about what he would like to thank God for and if there was anything he would like to ask for... and this is what he prayed...

"Oh Allah... thank you... for this wonderful life... that I have. Um, thank you for... my wonderful sister and family... and... Allah... help all the poor children... um... help me to give the um poor children... to give them things they don't have..."

A long pause followed and after my heart finished melting I recollected myself and told him that if that was all he wanted to say then that was fine.

Where paradise lies...

Last night just before bedtime, Bilaal remarked, "I wish Mother's Day could be every Sunday!" I don't know why he was so impressed with this day (which some cynics term a commercial day), we didn't go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary beside the lovely brekkie I posted about in my previous post.

So of course Yaasier told him, but you know Mother's Day is everyday, which took him aback. Yaasier explained to him that everyday we should love and honour and respect our mommies by being on our best behaviour and telling them everyday that we love them and that we think they are beautiful. Now I must say, while Bilaal may not be on his best behaviour at all times (and I don't expect him to be), for some reason lately he has been back to his habits of younger years of telling me every single day, "mommy I love you", "mommy you so beautiful".

Yaasier then started telling Bilaal that in Islam we are taught that Janaah (paradise) lies at the feet of thy mother. According to belief, a man once asked the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who he should honour first, and the answer was - your mother. So the man asked, and who should we honour next, and the answer was - your mother. The man asked a third time, and who should we honour next, and again the answer was - your mother. As muslims we should honour our mothers 3 times above any other because...

         "Paradise lies at the feet of thy mother"