Eid Mubarak! May Allah accept from us and you

August 10, 2019August 10, 2019

From all of us, Eid Mubarak!

We pray that it is a day of happiness and full of blessing for you.

As we prepare for the day of Eid, below are the 6 Sunnahs of our beloved Prophet ﷺ for Eid.

1. Take a bath (ghusl) before going to prayer. ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to have a bath on the day of Fitr’. [Ibn Majah]

2. Eating after the prayer on Eid al-Adha.

On Eid al-Adha it is mustahabb not to eat anything until one comes back from the prayer, so he should eat from the udhiyah if he has offered a sacrifice. If he is not going to offer a sacrifice there is nothing wrong with eating before the prayer.

3. Dress your best showing modesty.

4. Proclaim Takbir

الله اكبر الله اكبر لا اله الا الله الله اكبر الله اكبر ولله الحمد

“Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, La ilaha illAllah; Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, walillahi al-hamd” while traveling to the Masjid.

[Al-Zuhri]

5. Congratulate one another by saying “May Allah accept from us and you”.

It was narrated by Jubayr ibn Nufayr (ra), that the Sahabahs (ra) used to greet each other on the day of Eid with the following greeting: ‘Taqabbal Allaahu Minnaa Wa Minka’ which means ‘May Allah accept (the fast and worship) from us and from you.’ [Fathul-Bari]

6. Return home by a different path from which you went to the Masjid

Narrated by Jabir bin Abdullah (ra): ‘On the Day of Eid the Prophet ﷺ used to return after offering the Eid prayer through a way different from that by which he went’ [Bukhari].

The reasoning behind this is so that on The Day of Judgement the two paths will testify that you attended this salah.

Movie Night : Kuro ga Ita Natsu (クロがいた夏)

August 8, 2019August 30, 2019Leave a comment

Summer holidays has started! Hope all mommies here keep stay strong and sane within this long school break. This year we decided to join the board membership of Parent and Teacher Association of the elementary school. Actually we could join this club since last year but we did not because of busy schedule of our family (remember that we went to Aussie for a full three months, right?). This time, I would like to share about one of many scheduled events during the school holidays, i.e. movie night for kids and parents.

This time they chose a movie entitled : Kuro ga Ita Natsu [クロがいた夏], means summer with Kuro. This movie tells the story of a family living in Hiroshima near the end of the war: a father, a mother, and two children, an elementary school student Nobuko and her younger brother Makoto. Kuro is the name of a black kitten which Nobuko brought home to keep as a pet. The story goes to the tragedy of the war ending on August 6, 1945. Watching this movie leads us to think about the misery of the war and the importance of peace.

I myself learnt something about Japanese culture. In the elementary school, there was a small building called ho-an-den which housed a family portrait of the Japan Emperor. All students were required to show high salutation to this small shrine every morning at school. They regarded them as god.

Arabic term for associating others with Allah in worship is called shirk. If someone associates anyone or anything with his Creator in worship, he becomes a mushrik. The opposite of shirk is Tawheed, the most important belief in Islam. It means that God is One, Supreme and there is nothing like Him (review Surah Al-Ikhlas can be seen in our previous post here). He was not born, and He has no father or mother. He is not in need of children to live after Him or help Him. He has no wife. He is One and without a partner. The people with this belief will be admitted into Paradise because Tawheed is the key to it. Therefore, we should not worship and also teach our children and surrounding people to not worship any of the following because it is shirk to do so.
1) Any created being such as men, angels, animals, or the dead in their graves
2) Any created objects such as mountains, stones, trees, rivers, statues, idols or pictures
3) Human-made gods and goddesses

[Movie night for kids and parents in log house near our apartment]

[Two teachers also came as a voluntary work, they provide all necessary equipment for this event]

Learning Basic Japanese with NIFA

July 16, 2019July 17, 2019Leave a comment

Is now the time to dust off the Minna No Nihongo textbook? I should have done it earlier, but it’s never too late now to learn and improve my Japanese language skills.

In Japan, the government usually provide Japanese language classes for foreigners living and working in almost all cities. As we live in Nomi city, the information about Japanese classes can be found in the Nomi city website. The Japanese classes are conducted in a such a friendly environment and we could have our tutor or teacher in a small group of students. We can also become a member of the Nomi International Friendship Association (NIFA) and join their various kind of fun activities including making mochi, yukata trial (summer only), even field trips or tours around the city.

Anyway this month’s Nomi city news letter is somewhat “special” because I have been featured as a cover model while learning Japanese in the Community Center. Full version of the magazine can be found on this link.