Magda Pecsenye, of AskMoxie, Moxi Ville and Christmased!, shared the following link and had this to say about it: Today we have a Muslim perspective on celebrating Christmas. Egyptian-born Khaled ElSayed writes about what it’s like to celebrate Christmas in his intercultural family: The Brady Perspective (Ed. note: The first part of this two-part series written by the author’s wife, a Christmas-celebrating American, is here: “The Modern Hortons”.)

I’m so beyond proud it’s hard to put words to what I’m feeling.  I am thrilled that he was willing to share his point of view in such a public arena.  Khaled’s support is beyond measure.  I feel so blessed.

Enjoy! And then share your story.

I can’t tell you how many young Muslim boys I’ve seen while teaching that have no idea how to take care of themselves.  They can’t cook any food, do laundry or clean up after themselves.

I am so blessed that Naena didn’t raise her boys that way.  Khaled is fully capable and willing to do what needs to be done in our home to keep our family running, and he is teaching that work ethic to Mr. Fox as well as Kate and Pea.

AmericanMuslimMom .com

After opening My Islamic Life on Etsy, I populated the shop with prayer outfits.  Earlier this year I wanted to offer jewelry that could be customized to say exactly what you wanted.  Islamic Phrases, Arabic Names etc.  Every time I receive an order, I end up sharing the pictures on Facebook with my family and friends.  My Family and Friends immediately started asking for items that were not Islamically themed.  They are being asked about their jewelry by their family and friends.  I don’t want potential customers to be deterred by my shop name because they think that I only offer religious items.  So, VianneFere was created to meet the needs of non-Muslim customers who want custom, personalized pieces.

To be very clear, I will stamp any phrase or name you want, no matter what religion you practice or don’t.  :-)  I am also open to creating jewelry for same-sex couples.  If you aren’t sure if your idea can be made, just ask.  I just bet we can figure it out.

So, spread the word.  Share VianneFere with your friends!

This holiday has always been a lesser celebrated occasion in my family, I believe, because we don’t have extended family to feast with living nearby. At my last halaka, Aunt Fay explained that Arafat, and Eid ul Adha was the greater of the two holidays, and it was to be celebrated over four days.

In my family, we do not give gifts on Eid ul Adha but spend time hanging out together and eating at a restaurant. We usually pick an activity to do after Eid prayers, and if the day falls on a school day, Mr. Fox is excused from attending that day.

This was the first Eid in a few years (in my spotty memory) that Khaled was able to attend Eid prayers with us. It was neat to see the children teach him our holiday routine.

We were able to spend the entire day together and went exploring Greenfield Village on the grounds of the Henry Ford Museum. It was a beautiful day out and we were amazed at the things going on there that we never knew about.

So, why do I need a do-over after such a beautiful holiday? Well, on Wednesday when the ladies returned back to school, they promptly reported to us that Eid ul Adha is in fact a gift giving holiday. All of their friends got Eid gifts and they didn’t. Then they spent the next 3 days wrapping Halloween candy as gifts and putting ‘Happy Eid’ notes on them.

I feel like I have failed in fulfilling their holiday expectations, even though we celebrated this Eid much like every other year.

So, if I could just turn back the clock, say, a week or so, and somehow come up with a plan to make this Eid different from all the other holidays, and at the same time make it more celebratory in their eyes. I would. I have a year now to figure this out, because unlike Mr. Fox, the ladies have very specific ideas on what the Eid should look like.

There was a wonderful comment by Romana under the “Books for Eid ul Adha” post that gave a nice list of titles for us to look into. I plan on searching out some of the titles for gift giving occasions and to add to my own library.

One thing I’ve done in the past, is to gift Islamic, Arabic or Egyptian books to the classrooms in honor of my child’s birthday or one of the holidays. This is a great way to expand the resources of the classroom while making the information available to other children who are curious.

This post was sent to wordpress from my email. I’m not sure how well the formatting will work, so if it comes through wonky, I will fix it when time permits.

I immediately wanted to read the post.  I was hoping that it was not going to be another misinterpretation, but a well thought out approach.  I held my breath and dove in.

Afterwords, this is what I had to say:

Meredith,

I followed you back here after you posted a comment on my blog the other day.

I applaud your attempting to read The Quran. It is not an easy read, even with the help of the commentary and a teacher. I would offer these recommendations though.

1. Read not from The Cow to the back, but after The Fatihah, read from the last chapter to the front. The chapters are smaller, and they are more easily digested, and this is the way almost all Muslims learn. 

2. I would encourage you to read with the assistance of a commentary. I understand that you would like to form your own opinions, but each chapter does not discuss one topic. The topics jump around and this is the main reason why things are taken out of context and distorted. Sometimes the verse could be addressing a question, sometimes asking a question and sometimes addressing something historical.

This is a problem that I had when I made my first attempt at reading The Quran. It is not linear, there is no set formula to follow, and without the commentary (the rest of the story) it is often very confusing. The Quran is published exactly the way it was revealed to Mohammed, it has not been edited.

3. As a non-Muslim, my initial approach to learning about the religion was to take my Children’s Bible Stories and compare them with Quran Stories for Little Muslims. They talk of the same people. From there, I’ve compared the stories of all of the prophets, and the stories of the events around them. (Moses’s story with Egypt and the Pharaoh, Joseph and his Coat, David and the animals, Jesus’ birth and death.) If you try to find these stories in The Quran, they are not told in whole chapters, but in segments scattered all throughout the book.

And to answer your question: Non-Believers are people who do not believe in the existence of One God. Islam teaches that all of the messengers from Judaism and Christianity are to be revered as Prophets. Moses was teaching the same message that Jesus continued teaching, and Mohammed completed the message. They are all people ‘of the book.’

Please feel free to visit my blog, or send me email. I will be as helpful as I can with my limited, non-Muslim knowledge of Islam from the outside looking in.

Kristina