Lesson 2: Why do we Pray?

Lesson 2: Why do we Pray?



I wanted to begin with this topic because it helps children visualize and understand the reasons behind why they are praying rather than just explaining to them how they do it. Elhamdulilah, I came across a great book in Arabic called 'limatha nusali' (why do we pray) and it had so many reasons all supported by the Quran and Sunnah showing the benefits as well as duties of prayer.

The hadith used in this picture is a very visual and nice one to do with your kids. Shake a branch and show the children the falling leaves. Explain to them that when they pray the five prayers their sins fall off just like those leaves. (see resource book link below)



I have chosen several of these that are the most important and easiest to communicate to kids. You can use as many as little or as many as you need but try to support them with some practical activities so that they stick in their minds :)


You can download the resource book here:

http://www.box.com/s/cd0eacc93eef9a33b393

Lesson 1: What is Prayer?

Lesson 1: What is Prayer?



Assalamo Alaikum,


This will be the first of a series of posts inshAllah that will go through all the steps of how to teach children to pray. I found that by focusing on one aspect of prayer a week, it becomes much more focused and manageable inshAllah.

The first topic is ‘What is Prayer?’


I found that a very simple manner of presenting the concept of prayer was done by
http://islaam4kids.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/the-prayer-part-1/ and we started by going through their first booklet, The Prayer part 1.

We talked about how we love Allah and that we talk to Him through prayer and duaa. We also talked about the importance of praying in the correct manner as taught to us by Prophet Mohammad SAWS. We discussed briefly that there are five prayers that must be performed at fixed times.

Seerah for Kids: Lesson 1

Seerah Lesson 1: Arab Society before the Prophet's Birth

In this lesson, we covered the Curriculum’s main point which is:

S.EC.00.01: discuss and list some aspects of the Arab society and the world before the Prophet’s birth.

We started off by reading the booklet Before Islam, and noting some of the characteristics of the Arab Society at that time. We discussed why this time was called ‘Ayamul Jahiliya’ or the Days of Ignorance. We discussed how they did magic, treated their slaves badly and prefered boys over girls.

Before Islam booklet ( http://www.prosyst3ms.co.uk/8965/index.html )

We also talked about tribes and what it meant to be a part of a tribe. We talked about the names of several tribes and that the main tribe in Makkah at the time was called Quraish.

Here's the fact sheet we used for Tribes.

http://www.box.com/s/c4a4921428b6c6fc269a

We used Um Maymoonah's worksheets and notes to go through the good and bad things of Arab Society at the time. Elhamdulilah they are beginning to understand how society at that time had a lot of faults and this will lead on nicely to the next lesson about the need for a Prophet and Prophet Mohammad Salla Allahu Allaihi Wassalam's birth.

http://ummmaimoonahrecords.blogspot.com/

Teaching Children to Pray

We’ve been working on integrating Salah gradually in our daily routine. As A is almost 6, it is very important for me to ensure that she is not only familiar with the athkar and actions of the prayers but also that she is trained to consistently do her prayers.

I found this method for training her to become regular in her prayers from the book The Child in Islam by Norma Tarazi, to be extremely useful. I have quoted the passage here:

 A simple workable method for initiating salat with a young child is the following. On his fifth birthday, ask him to begin regular prayer with the family once a day. This should be treated as a special event, a significant landmark on his road to growing up. The most suitable prayer to begin with is generally maghrib, when the whole family is at home and can pray together. Then, when the child reaches five and a half, initiate the second salah, any one out of the five you choose. On the sixth birthday, the third salah is added; at six and a half, the fourth; and by the seventh birthday, he has all five prayers regularized.

 As suggested, we have started doing Maghrib prayer together. However, please note that with any child who has not reached the age of seven, it must be entirely the child's choice. Some sheikhs have even suggested that if the child is ordered to pray before seven the may be entirely put off. Therefore if the child is eager and willing and wants to pray, encourage them, otherwise its best to leave it till they are seven.

I have started our formal prayer studies. Here is the list of the resources that I will be using InshAllah.

 Resources:

1.       Talibdeen Jr, step by stepSalah instruction
http://tjislamicstudies.blogspot.com/2010/10/step-by-step-salah-instruction.html

2.       Islaam for kids, Prayer
http://islaam4kids.wordpress.com/category/very-small-kids/

3.       Resource book, Why do we Pray
http://www.box.com/s/cd0eacc93eef9a33b393

Here are the prayer topics that I want to focus on initially:

What is prayer?

Why do we Pray

The Story of the Israa and Miraj

The Qiblah: Facing the Kaaba

Wudoo

Knows that wudhu is necessary before one can pray

Knows the steps of wudhu and can perform them

Knows what breaks ones wudhu

Knows that excessive water should not be used to make wudhu

Knows the duaa to say after wudhu is made

The Sutrah

Things that Break the Prayer

Takbeer

Opening Duaa

Rukoo

Sujood

Between the Sajdahs

Straightening from Rukoo

The Tashahhud

Salaat Upon the Prophet(salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam

Seeking Refuge from 4 Things

Supplication before Tasleem

Tasleem

After Prayer Thikr

What is a Rakaah?

Positions of the Salaat

The Five Prayers

Salatul Fajr

Salatul Dhuhr

Salatul Asr

Salatul Maghrib

Salatul Ishaa

Seerah for Kids

Our Seerah Study and Resources

Alhamdullah we have finally started our Seerah Studies and I hope that Allah will instill the love of His Prophet Mohammad SAWS in our children's hearts and that they learn to follow the Prophet’s Sunnah.  InshAllah I intend to supplement our Seerah study with hadith study so that they can begin to understand the reason behind studying the Seerah. I’m also trying to get them to think of how the Prophet SAWS would have acted in different situations especially when they find themselves in tough and angry situations. (Would the Prophet SAWS have shouted in that way to his friends, should you shout like that to your sister?) And you can imagine how many situations like this we encounter everyday J

I have also taught them how to pray upon the Prophet Mohammad SAWS, and I hope to get them to pray upon him at least ten times daily InshAllah. I’ve explained how every time someone prays upon the Prophet, he returns their Salam and A gets really excited and says, ‘Now Prophet Mohammad has said waAlaikum Assalam A!’

May Allah ingrain the love of His Prophet in our hearts and the hearts of our children InshAllah.

So here is the list of the resources, I will be using:

1.       The Seerah Curriculum (As created by Um Nu’man
http://www.box.com/shared/83gcervhhm

2.      The Life of Mohammad in twenty stories (Abdul Tawwab Yusuf)http://www.noorart.com/the_life_of_muhammad_sas_in_twenty_stories_english

3.       Free Seerah Stories
This is a fantastic resource with lesson plans and short books.
http://www.islamicstudiesresources.com/uploads/1/9/8/1/19819855/sow_unit_1seerah_prosyst3ms.pdf 

4.       The Sealed Nectar
General reading, but for me to brush up on my facts and to summarize as it is quite difficult for kids.
http://books.google.ae/books?id=r_80rJHIaOMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

5.       The Atlas of the Prophet’s Biography free from google books
This is great for detailed maps and pictures
http://books.google.ae/books?id=mZmBkoDa9fcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Atlas+of+the+Prophet%27s+biography&hl=en&ei=wyXaTqHXBs7nrAenxOHODQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Atlas%20of%20the%20Prophet's%20biography&f=false

6.    Quran and Seerah Stories
(Not a lot of Seerah content but some interesting chapters)
http://www.onlineislamicstore.com/b8293.html

7.      Sayyid Alkhalq (Arabic)

8.   Our Seerah Notebook

Connecting your child to Allah

The ultimate goal of parents should be to root the right Aqeedah and iman in the hearts of their children. Once that is done, the child will follow an internal reward system that will make the lives of parents much easier. The Muslim’s Aqeedah is belief in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Day of Judgment, and Fate whether good or bad. 

InshAllah today we will look at the first and most important part which is connecting the child to Allah.

Here are 10 practical thinks you can do to connect your child to Allah:

1.    Teach your child the Shahadah.

2.    Let them hear you talk about Allah, his blessings, etc..Recite the Quran aloud and make duaa in front of them.

3.    Show them the signs of Allah through His creation. Foster in them the habit of contemplation. Ask questions like ‘Who created the sun?’

4.    Teach the child to thank Allah for everything He gave us.

5.    Teach them the names of Allah and their meanings. Teach especially the names that reflect Allah’s mercy, and love for His creation. Teach them the names that show Allah’s great power and knowledge of everything.

6.    Teach your child that Allah can see everything we do, and that He knows every secret. Instill in them a sense of maraqaba.

7.    Teach them sincerity (ikhlas), that every action they do is only for Allah and for His pleasure.

8.    Teach your child that he must obey Allah and that this may sometimes go against his own desires and wants. Remind him of what Allah has promised those who are obedient to Him and His prophet and their reward in the hereafter.

9.    Teach your child to only ask Allah when he wants something and that Allah is the only one capable of giving him what he wants.

1.  Give them simple Aqeedah lessons. This is a good document called المبادئ المفيدة في التوحيد والفقه والعقيدة that has simple Questions and answers and can be used with kids. 

Teaching our kids the Quran: Strategies and Resources

One of the priorities of many Muslim Parents is to teach their children the Quran. We all recognise its importance, and many of us having not learnt it ourselves hope that it will be our kids that will raise our levels and dress us in the crown that parents of Quran learners wear.

Not all the kids are the same though, so the question that many parents keep asking each other, ‘how much has your kid learnt?’ when they are only three can sometimes be more of a pressure question than encouragement. Some kids have an amazing ability to grasp sounds and letters.

But most kids are not like that. They may not be able to even articulate words at 3 yet alone learn whole surahs. So what should our Quran learning strategy be for our kids?

The first strategy is to understand what kind of learner your child is and to teach him in that way. Children may learn best visually, by doing things with their hands (kinaesthetically), or by listening (auditory) or by a combination of many techniques. My own daughter is a very visual learner. She loves to see pictures, read stories and imagine things in her mind. Teaching her to learn surahs from the Quran meant that I chose Surahs that could be shown through pictures. Naturally we started with Surat Al Fil. 

I want to share with you this great site that is dedicated to illustrating ayat (verses) of the Holy Quran using lego.

The blogger uses lego to ’illustrate’ scenes and incidents narrated in the Quran. He then takes a photograph of these scenes with the relevant ayah (verse) added in. This may help children to associate the verses with their meanings InshAllah. Helping children to recreate similar images will make the Quran much more alive in their minds.

http://readwithmeaning.wordpress.com  

Another way is the traditional method of listening to a sheikh and repeating after him. This software is one I particularly like because you can select from a variety of reciters and verses and repeat them for children to learn.

http://www.houseofquran.com/qsys/quranteacher1.html

For those of you who have ipads/iphones this is an app that I bought for my daughter for $0.99 that has all the surahs for juz' amma with the voice of Mishary Rashed. It highlights the words as they are read and is very easy to use.

http://download.cnet.com/Memorize-Quran-for-Kids/3000-20415_4-75361021.html   

Finally don’t forget to make it fun! Track your kids progress through a fun chart, and offer incentives every time they learn a new surah.

Looking forward to seeing other methods and strategies that anyone else is using :)