I have to remember that each child is different and responds both to Ramadan and Corona differently. Sometimes when we don’t talk to people much and we don’t change our scenery, we get depressed and/or cranky.
My eight year old loves soccer, prodigy and the color red. He is competitive. He is a people person. He wants to connect with friends all of the time. He is rarely shy when meeting new people. He is outgoing and friendly. Joy, anger, sorrow and excitement are all in abundance. I can usually get him to try new foods, projects or ways of doing things. He also needs lots of movement during the day. He unfortunately seems to push the envelope way past everyone’s comfort zones. When he is feeling stressed, he bothers and annoys people. When A is sleepy, the annoying behaviors escalate to astronomic proportions.
My four-year-old is more serious and quiet. Certainly, he can get the giggles, like most children. It just takes him longer to warm up. He is shyer when he meets others. When we are alone, he is a happy little guy. He will be five years old quite soon. When we are alone, he will often draw, or play with toys while singing one of his favorite selections. He does not like to try new things and can be a bit clingier. When he gets sleepy, he either becomes whiny or slap happy.
During Ramadan, I feel like I have less control than I have throughout the rest of the year. It is more difficult to remain healthy. My husband (and subsequently my children) refuse to wear a mask. I can’t make them keep on their masks when we are out. But, I have set my boundaries on this subject. If they decide not to wear a mask, I will not accompany them outdoors. My husband has asked the community to bring over food. He misses his Pakistani faves. So, I am not cooking and we eat whatever is brought. While I appreciate what has been made and dropped off at our house, it certainly is not healthy. I am not trying to foster an attitude of ungratefulness or dissatisfaction. Sometimes a couple of different choices are brought and it feels more like we are eating from an extensive buffet instead of family dinner. It isn’t anyone’s fault. I am grateful for the community who wants to help. I feel torn between wanting to be more healthy and moderating what I am eating and like a guilty glutton. I feel like we are taking more than our share of the resources, yet if I waste them, I feel ungrateful and impractical. So, I am gaining weight, not getting out much, making everyone stay inside even on the nice days. That is making us all grumpy.
We all need some waves of positivity. I have decided to do this with music. This helps A get his energy out and it helps Z find a quiet place to hum and sing. I do both. I exercise with A. I let him make up my routines and let him know how much of a task master he is becoming. I hum with Z and these songs stay in my head for a long time. It is strange that these positive selections give each of us what we need, yet what we need is so very different. I admit to secretly fearing that the innocent positivity of my children will rapidly decrease with age increase. This makes me sad and I know that I am grasping for these positive moments to last.
Ilyas Mao starts us off with a medium paced snapping fingers song that reminds us of all of our wonderful blessings. Of course, his song is called Blessed.
Wonders by Ilyas Mao is a pop sounding song that talks about Allah’s creation.
My four-year-old will sing this song without even thinking about it. It always puts him in a good mood. The song is Good Day by Maher Zain
My children’s new favorite artist this year is Harris J. They love the song Asalamu laikum. But his song Good life is their second favorite.
Rae’f has many that my children and I play for a pick me up. One is called So Real.
The second Raef song is one that my child likes and I find a bit annoying. I know that it is just my trigger. I am annoyed at songs that talk about Freedom, especially when the songs feel a bit smug. This is one of those songs. But, my children love it. It is called freedom ain’t free.
I can’t believe we have gone almost three weeks into Ramadan and we have not talked about the messenger and Prophet, Muhammad (PBUH). This seems unfathomable, I know. So, let’s delve into it.
Most of my childhood was spent in a residential state run facility. Many blind people during the 1970’s and 1980’s attended state run schools for the blind. There was, most often, a separation of church and state. Certainly, at the school, there were religious services, if one wanted to attend. There was a short prayerful silence before eating, if someone was so inclined to pray. We recited the updated version of the pledge every day and every assembly had an avocation where God was mentioned. However, my parents were barely cultural Christians. Besides going to a Seventh Day Adventist camp for one week in the summer just for blind people and occasionally being dropped off at Sunday school as if it were a free babysitter, I did not have regular contact with religion.
In 1997, I was raising small children as a single parent. I tried conservative religion for about eight to ten years before becoming so disillusioned and frustrated with the hypocrisy, that I social distanced without corona. When I had questions about racism, social justice issues and things that seemed to be contradictory, I was told that God knows more than I do and sometimes we just had to accept those things that we did not understand. When asking questions about the trinity, I was told that God could do anything. I felt guilty continuing to ask questions… guilty and stupid. Surely, those older than me understood more than me. I yielded.
When learning about Islam, I never had qualms about the Prophet, Isa (Jesus) as the Muslims believed him to be. In my mind, Muslims made much more sense. Their depiction of Jesus was much more plausible, to me. Okay, the exception is when he spoke as an infant in the cradle. But, miracles are miracles, after all. If I believed the depiction of Jesus as it appeared in the Quran, I didn’t have to contend with Jesus being white, born in a snowy landscape or rack my brain trying to understand the trinity. Some Muslims that I encountered thought that this alone should qualify me as Muslim. They wrongly assumed that my conversion would be easy. After all, they would not even have to convince me that Jesus wasn’t God or that Worshipping any other than Allah/God was shirk (an unforgiveable sin). How disappointed they were when I would not be a white convert trophy. They had reduced Islam down to the identity of Jesus. My conversion had very little to do with who Jesus was. For various reasons, Muslims and Christians might both gasp and shudder at this statement. It had more to do with who the prophet (pbuh) was. Who Jesus *IS* or *IS NOT* is not the only difference between Christians and Muslims.
I embarked on a journey to read what I could about Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). There are Muslims that seem to worship the Prophet (Peace be upon him) like Christians do Jesus… and have the nerve to say that they aren’t associating partners. There are Christians that portray Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) as a seventh century blood thirsty misogynist. I had to try to find the truth.
I was looking for objective sources. Of course, I did not want to find books by conservative Christians, but I did not want to find books by Muslims who might want to gloss over events or sayings that they found troubling.
Many of the most interesting books have been written by Karen Armstrong. She is quite the religious historian. Many of her books talk about Islam and a couple talk about the Prophet specifically. She wrote a biography of the Prophet.
And this one called Muhammad: a prophet for our time.
The next book that I read was by Martin Lings. It is called Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources.
Both books are on Book Share (for any print impaired individual) and both authors wrote interesting and seemingly objective accounts of the Prophet (PBUH). You can find reviews on both Amazon and Good reads. Both books have been written quite some time ago and both are revered for their objectivity, research and astute observations by those regardless of religion. You can find both on Amazon and at almost any book store. Armstrong’s can even be found on Audible.
There are a few stories that I really enjoy that have been recounted about the Prophet (PBUH). Of course, those that I like best embody the characteristics that I try to emulate. I like the stories that canvas his humanity and wisdom.
I do like Seeker’s hub. But, if we are specifically talking about the prophet, I found the Re-sight Islam podcast quite entertaining and the hosts make it relatable. Okay, they are gamers and reference pop culture a bit too much. I am not that knowledgeable about pop culture and gaming. Yet, I found the podcast thoroughly engaging despite my lack of knowledge. And, bonus points, they have translated the words of Tala Al Badru Alayna into roman Arabic letters so that I can write them down and try to sing the song.
I do want to say that we actively celebrate both Jesus’ and Muhammad’s birthdays (peace be upon them both). Many poems have been written about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and sung at gatherings to honor him (Mawlids).
When looking for songs that either talked about or praised Prophet Muhammad, I found tons. But, I found less that were in English. I have already previewed some of them on this blog. All of the Tala Al Badru Alayna songs, for example, were about the Prophet entering Mecca. I have also profiled at least two songs that talk about wishing peace and blessings on the Prophet. Here are some more songs about the Prophet (PBUH). By the Way, if you are yearning for more English selections about the Prophet (pbuh), it would be worth your time to check out Islamic cartoons. Almost every Islamic cartoon talks about the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and has at least one song to illustrate their point.
Don’t talk to me about Muhammad is a song about one of the Prophet’s (PBUH) encounters. He sees a woman on the road who needs help carrying a heavy load. He helps her and her only request is that during their long journey, he not talk to her about Muhammad. She blames Muhammad for her hardships and does not like him at all. After she arrives at her destination, she finds out that the very same man who she thought was causing strife among people was the man who carried her load, even when she said horrible things about him. This is by the story teller, himself, Dawud Wharnsby.
Another selection by Dawud Wharnsby is simply called the Prophet’s Nasheed. This song talks about the Prophet’s (pbuh) anxiety over the fate of future Muslims.
Harris J talks about all of the characteristics that make up Muhammad (PBUH) and why he tries to emulate the prophet in the song My Hero.
Harris J also has a pop style, upbeat song called Rasool’Allah, which means messenger of Allah.
Maher Zain sings about Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) destiny as The Chosen One. Of course, I chose the vocal version to profile on my blog.
Zain Bhikha and Native Deen come together to sing Zamilooni which talks about his first revelation. His wife Khadijah comforted him and believed him. This song is as much about his vision, as much as about her belief in her husband.
The Prophet (PBUH) was also known as the trustworthy one. Pagans, Christians, Jews and Muslims knew that they could entrust him with their things. He was honest and truthful with them. His reputation was one that could be trusted with people’s business and livelihood. Even as a child, he was called Al Amin, which is the name of this next tribute by Irfan Maki.
The song Al Mu-Allim also refers to the Prophet (PBUH). Sami Yusuf talks about him being a great teacher.
There are many songs simply called Muhammed. This one is sung by Saif Adam. This is a rockabilly tune with a flute at the beginning.
Apparently, the Ghazali College Choir is accompanying Hussein Kalla on this piece. Al Ghazali was a Muslim mystic and philosopher born in 1050 in Iran.
Here is the song by Hussein Kalla and the college choir.
Khalid Belrhouzi has a song in Arabiccalled Allah’s Messenger. I like Khalid’s voice, so was getting a bit excited. I hoped that it would be in English since the title was in English. I was wrong. Yet, it is a melodic piece. So, I added it here.
Since I did not know about Belrhhouzi’s version of Tala Al Badru Alayna, thus, did not include it in my post about the moon, I am adding it here. It is slow and melodic. Maybe if I write the words in a kind of Roman Arabic script, I can sing along. It is sung in both English and Arabic.
This is day #10 of Ramadan. In some ways, it feels so long. Yet, it feels like I am not taking each and every opportunity to practice good habits and teach them to my children. Ramadan in covid-19 should be more peaceful. It should be more family oriented. It just isn’t, somehow. Just thinking about it summons the disappointment, guilt and frustration. There is no enthusiasm to make Ramadan decorations, no desire to give Zakat and no slipping strips of paper into kind jars. There is more praying, more practicing of suras, but less laughter.
When I moved to a state where Marijuana was recreationally legal, I found it a bit odd, at first, for people to be so open about their activities and the dispensary that they frequented most. I understood that many people would use it to self medicate. And, before I get all judgmental about that, I had to admit that I, too, can self medicate in a different way.
At the risk of summoning the haram police because I am admitting that music is being used to manipulate my mood, I’ll confess it, right now. I realize that I need to create my own “music dispensary” for the times when I need a bit of assistance with our emotional regulatory practices, especially in Covid-19 lockdown. Our house could use a bit of reflection and euphoria.
I remember last year, I was still on a high about the start of Ramadan, far less, this year. It doesn’t actually have to do with the direct effects of social distancing. There are actually many things that I don’t miss about Ramadan, being excluded is certainly one of them. The indirect effects, however, are playing out in our house. One angry day turns into two frustrated days, three exasperated days, four guilty days and then five depressive days. Joy comes in small whisps nestled in between boredom, fighting, lethargy, power struggles, complaining, stubborn refusals and food addictions.
Last year, at this time, my youngest was asking me to play Ramadan music at least ten times a day. I happily obliged. He loves the Ramadan selections. We would walk to the bus stop, get on a train and eventually find our way to the Mosque. The exercise improved our mood. Even though going to the mosque made a very late night and I did not feel at home within its walls, my children’s enthusiasm was infectious. And, this was despite the shenanigans of the nameless family members who are abroad this Ramadan. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe something else. But, last year, I found myself getting up more in the early morning to read Quran. I found somewhere to experience occasional peace. Maybe the upcoming warmer Ramadan mornings will give me the opportunity to do this.
Our household is not filled with energy and excitement, but it is not filled with reflective peace and calm, either. I thought that I could use some of this music to change this snowballing funk that has enveloped the entire household. .
My husband is the youngest old man that I know. He does not like noise… … or messes … … or board games… … or unbridled enthusiasm… or … … … Anyway, it is hard to play the music when he has such a dislike for it. Besides, he does work during the day. So, loud fast music is not appropriate background noise.
Yet, we need energy and not because some of us in this house are fasting; not because of Covid-19. But, just **BECAUSE** we need it. So, here are some energetic songs to hopefully keep your Ramadan upbeat. I have tried not to duplicate any songs, so if my list is small, check out my previous posts for more uplifting music.
One of the most energetic Ramadan songs comes from Deen Squad. My children love this song. It is called Madina. It is a cover or remake of Havana.
Showcasing Deen Squad’s versatility, this Justin Beber cover is a hit with my children. The song is called Ramadan.
The previous song is not to be confused with Ramadan Kareem, also performed by Deen Squad.
I know that you are saying, “Are you on Deen Squad’s payroll? ” Fair enough! Let’s continue with Native Deen’s Ramadan is Here.
Not only because it is a great song, but … … Who doesn’t love a little turkey bacon during Sohoor? Sure, I am trying to eat healthier, which obviously does not include salty processed meat. Yet, I love that they admitted that they eat Turkey bacon during Sohoor. That is so deliberately American at a time when people are encouraged to change their culture (food, dress, norms, etc.) as they practice the non-dominant religion. Yes, arabizing converts is definitely a thing. And, I have to respect that they are being so openly progressive in at least two areas: their decision to make Muslim Music and their eating of turkey bacon. !
The last verse is my favorite.
Saif Adam’s Candle is just an upbeat positive song that is in my regular rotation of energetic music.
Irfan Maki sings a celebratory song that could be used for birthdays or Eid, but I am posting it here, because it gets us going. There is an Arabic and English version of this song. Loosely translated, Mabrook means congratulations. Here is the English version.
Harris J gets my children singing every time with Salam Alaikum. I think that they believe that they will look like him when they grow up. It is strange. But, apparently, they feel like he is relatable.
* Whenever it is just too difficult and we need a laugh. Mark the Shark has a Ramadan song that is a bit annoying, lame and silly, all at once. It gets kids laughing and out of their grumpy mood. I have even heard my husband doing the “doot doo doo doo doo,” part.
The melodious journey through Ramadan: 