How I brought my children up with Arabic as one of their languages - despite not being an Arab.

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Arabic is not my first language. I grew up reading the Qur'an & not understanding it until I was 16 and went to Egypt to learn Classical Arabic. So how did my kids learn Arabic?

#RaisingBelievers Children have the propensity to learn languages like a native until they are around 12 years old, when their brains change modes and certain types of language acquisition and pronunciation become harder. Children learn languages through osmosis - essentially immersion.

@GoldingBF Secondary schools and doctors in UK literally give underage girls access to contraception and the pill without informing their parents. This young lady has been saved. @GoldingBF Young and elderly English people are embracing Islam.

https://twitter.com/lewishammosque/status/1703091308544328113

Girls in the West are groomed away from the protection of their fathers and menfolk. They have to fend for themselves as soon as they mature. When a man shows a modicum of protective jealousy or sets standards, he is shamed. This opens girls up to abuse. “Are you saying all men are predators?”

No. But good men have to protect women from the predatory men. When a society tells men that women don’t need them, they don’t need their protection or guardianship…the wolves in that society have a banquet.

My kid came home anxious about what humans are apparently doing to cause ‘climate change’.

How to have the ‘climate’ conversation with Muslim kids who are anxious:
🧵 1. Explain to them that Allah is in control of the world, the weather, the ‘climate’, the universe. Nothing good or bad happens without his permission. So always ask for good from Allah and expect good.

Imagine a scene in the park where the sun shines brightly and the air is filled with the laughter of children. In this idyllic setting, I found myself engaged in a deeply moving conversation with a young mother. Fatigue was etched upon her face and her weary eyes spoke volumes about the sleepless nights she had endured while caring for her two little ones.

Every Muslim should make a plan to learn Arabic as a language- the language of the Qur’an.

People ask how they can learn if they are not native Arabic speakers? Here are 7 resources or methods for learning Classical Arabic (fus-ha) that I and my family have used and liked:
🧵 1. An Arabic tutor from Egypt:
Qortoba Institute @qortobainstitut @QIAS_qortoba and
Bakkah Institute: @BakkahInstitute
have great online tutors that have levels or bespoke classes for your needs!
(Mention me and they’ll give you a discount 🙌🏻)

10 books from my bookshelf that I think all (Muslim) parents in the West would benefit from:

#raisingbelievers

1. amzn.to/3tCXhRh 2. amzn.to/3Gqgygk

Hold your head high as a Muslim. Never feel unsophisticated or look down on yourself. You never know what simple quality in you is impacting people.

In my interviews with converts some of them said that the simplest things ignited their desire to become a Muslim.

Like what? 💡one lady admired the quiet confidence and dignity she saw in Muslim girls at school when she was a teen
💡the order her Muslim classmates had in their lives around prayer times
💡one lady found respectful Muslim men impressive in her interactions with them

One of the findings of my research has been that female converts whose husbands are not Muslim at the time of their Shahadah, are often not supported through the process sufficiently & neither are their husbands/families invited into the Muslim community to even look into Islam. Where husbands are welcomed by Mosques there has been a positive response from husbands, considering embracing Islam.
Classically, husbands are given up to three months to consider embracing Islam. If they do also convert within that time, their marriages can remain intact.

Ibn Umar reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The most beloved people to Allah are those who:
💡are most beneficial to people.
The most beloved deed to Allah is:
💡to make a Muslim happy, or
💡to remove one of his troubles, or
💡to forgive his debt… or
💡to feed his hunger.
💡That I walk with a brother regarding a need is more beloved to me than that I seclude myself in this mosque in Medina for a month.
💡Whoever swallows his anger, then Allah will conceal his faults.
💡Whoever suppresses his rage…

How to say #SORRY properly: an adequate apology…

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✔️ my checklist: 1/Take a moment to empathise and walk in that person’s shoes.

Aisha (RA) book is coming soooooon and I’m so excited! إن شاء الله

At age 40, what I would advise the 20 year-old me about #LIFE?

18 LIFE LESSONS:

🧵 1. Love:

Don’t lean in to feelings of attraction that you have towards people you can’t/shouldn’t be with. Certain types of love are like a madness that comes over you.

It can’t end well.

🌙 My #Ramadan Preparation Tips

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1: Keep Ramadan real simple.
Clear unnecessary things off your calendar. Have a number of core Ibadat & ease yourself into the rhythm of Ramadan in the 1st week. What went well last year & what didn’t? How could you manage better this time? 2: Set up automated Sadaqah!
This is one of the easiest things you can do to have peace of mind that your reward is secured insha Allah for Lailatul Qadr and all of the days of Ramadan, when rewards are multiplied: Go to launchgood.com/teamramadan to set up automated giving

Someone really should write a letter to the Queen inviting her to Islam before the inevitable happens. That’s what the Prophet ﷺ would do if he were here.

To Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth I, monarch of the United Kingdom.
Peace be upon the followers of guidance…. Now I’ve thought of it, I’ll have to do it

10 things I’ve learned about PRODUCTIVITY as a Muslim
🧵 1. Mortality Motivation
You only have a finite number of years on earth. Choose the pain of discipline over the pain of regret. Pray to God to guide your way, say Bismillah and get started…

Ideas for .@DouglasKMurray and pals to win back Europe from the Muslims🧕🏼they fear so much and prevent its demise:

1. Start going Church and kickstart mass revival of Christianity, moving ppl away from atheism & meaningless ideologies. (Whaddya mean you don’t want to go Church?) 2. Encourage a mass baby boom amongst non-Muslims consistently for multiple generations (encourage women to settle down younger, have more babies, revive marriage even. It means discouraging alternative lifestyles and materialistic concerns about having big families).

I think I should write a book: 12 Rules for Da’wah, an antidote to idiocy Rule #1: Learn from the knowledge and Adab of a scholar and murabbi.

(Through spending long periods of time with elder scholars (not young da’ees) you learn wisdom, discretion, patience, good character etc)

Children do not lose their Iman overnight. Parents please be vigilant. Don’t allow your teens to become strangers in their own homes. When you see your child or household culture going down a slippery slope - it’s time for renewal and intervention. Sooner rather than later.
🧵 1. Connection with Allah
Do they talk to Allah? Do they know Allah? Do you pray and make du’a together? Are you establishing prayers in the house? At least some prayers in jama’ah? Salah protects from shamelessness and sin.

Do sisters writing about the Emma Barnett female Imams debacle, referring to their fight against ‘patriarchy’ realise that they are saying worse than anything Barnett did. They are literally parroting leftist/feminist/orientalist labelling of Islam as patriarchal? We submit to the Divine, yes. The Divine is neither male nor female.

However the highest authority in our deen was the Prophet Muhammad S. who was a MAN. The eponyms of our foremost legal schools were MEN. The head of the family is the man. Are you fighting against that?

One of the striking things about Aisha (RA) was that although not a biological mother herself, she considered children & the next generation so important that she decided to raise orphans in her home and prioritised them as her students. Some of them were her nephews and nieces.. Talha ibn Ubaydillah and az-Zubair bin al-'Awwam were her brothers-in-law and were killed around the time of the Incident of the Camel. Muhammad bin Abi Bakr -her brother- was killed in Egypt by the Umayyad governor. They left behind children who Aisha (RA) took under her wing...