Saturday, September 12, 2009

Oh Joy - Here's a Bright Idea - Family I'tikaaf Night

I received this in my inbox:

From: Muhammad Alshareef info@discoverulife.com
Subject: Idea: Family I'tikaaf night ...
To: "Safiyyah"
Jihadlevine@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, September 12, 2009, 5:01 AM

Safiyyah, Idea: Family I'tikaaf night!

Why not head out to the Masjid tonight as a family and spend the whole night worshipping Allah?

If you have younger family members, just make sure they are by your side and not disturbing anyone and you should be alright.

In sha Allah, it'll be an unforgettable family experience, and may be so enjoyable that everyone may wish to do it again and again!

With best wishes to see you succeed at the highest level!
- Muhammad Alshareef
http://www.postramadan.com/AlMaghrib Institute, 1 stafford Rd, Ottawa, ON K2H 1B9, Canada

Now - Brother Muhammad: I love you dearly for the sake of Allah (swt) and enjoy your emails in my inbox. And may Allah (swt) reward you for publishing what you deem to be a great suggestion/Ameen. But -

THIS IDEA IS INSANE!

If Jumuah and Eid prayer are indicators that sisters will keep their children by their sides so that they do not disturb others while they are trying to worship ... well, joy, I'll bet we all look forward to being tortured by these kids the whole night while trying to worship in the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan.

And don't anyone try to claim that they will fall asleep!

And how is it a "family" i'tikaaf night when the little darlings will not be with BOTH mommy and daddy, as a family, but will in fact probably be in the women's section? And if the darlings do run around and end up in the men's section, they will probably be chased back to the women's section.

Jeez - it used to be that even sisters didn't go to the masjid to do i'tikaaf. We used to bring food to the men while they were there.

I know. I know. I'm a Ramadan Grinch!

Okay, Brooke - tag, you're it!!! loool.

11 comments:

Ikram Hadi said...

It is not a good idea. I am glad you object to it.

Br00ke said...

If you weren't my big sissy, I would call you a punk. ;P

Br00ke said...

Did it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, can we get a report on how this event went? I'm serious, one of the things we struggle with around here is the constant reinventing the wheel instead of looking towards copying successful models or improving less successful ones. Please ask Muhammed how it went and let us know--I hope the co-coordinator actually showed up!
~Br00ke

American Muslima Writer said...

LOL i had to laugh so hard.

I love going to the masjid but i have two little ones one 5 one 2. Can you imagine how I cannot CONSINTRATE on praying when running after them and hushing them and giving them stern lectures to behave in the masjid all the while trying to avoid glares from the kidless women and winces from the women with well behaved kids. My kids are far from masjid tyrants but if a tyrant appears they are OFF!!! Goodness I finally got to ONE Taraweeh prayer but it was barilly heartwarming because of the aforementioned difficulties. The second attempt wasn't much better.

That said it IS nice if the masjid is kid friendly, weither having a kid room or a room for sisters witjhout kids to pray by themselves.
In Lebanon I was able to have a beautiful layat al-Qadar with my baby girl. But that was ONE KID who didn't walk and was easily consoled. Since then forget it.

I'm hoping to go to a Sister's house who has lots of kids and her kids will help keep track of mine so us older women can pray peacefully...we'll see if i get the chance though, otherwise my Layat Al-Qader wont be very organized at home trying to run after the kids and getting distracted by home life.

Perhaps so many brothers find this a good idea because they DON"T have to watch the kids, the women do. They get home and their kids are passed out from the rush of being awake all night. Their wife is passed out too. They feel satisfied they gave their family a good time...LOL.

That said I've seen good kids being just fine in the masjids and it is beautiful to have Family Itikaf but there are rules to follow and to remind everyone that you are there for worship not gossiping and anytime your children are disturbing epople you should take them aside and warn them and if that doesn't work, just go home...subhanAllah.

But it's a miserqable feeling feeling kicked out of the masjid because of your kids...


whoa what rant this turned into :p thanks for the posting space ;)

Happy Muslim Mama said...

Assalam-alaikam Sis,
I read the first part of the post and thought "what a nice idea - for other people"

I wouldn't think of going with my three little ones, especially with the youngest loud-mouth who likes to sing "Ya Tayyibah" at the top of his lungs and climb on people when they make sujood.

The only time a mother can really concentrate in her worship are when her children are asleep in bed.

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Safiyyah said...

Why have all the wackos found this post?

Jeez :(

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