I give these links to useful islamic sites..

but why don't I read them myself??! I am generally more inclined as regards my kids education as 'learning through living' and this seems to apply to myself, but I must try to make more effort to read(and remember!!) about things even if they're not relevant at that particular point so I'm not in a fluster when something happens.

This follows on from the last post about being confused of the ruling re vomiting and fasting. Now today I was confused about whether I'd eaten past Fajr or not. I knew I was allowed to eat what was left in my hand but was not sure if it went over the time of the athan as we did not have it on. Worry worry, have I spoilt another fast?

So here's something I cut and paste from Islam q and a

Ignorance of the ruling, such as if a person vomits deliberately but he is not aware that vomiting breaks the fast. In this case he does not have to make up the fast because he is ignorant. The evidence that the one who is ignorant of the ruling does not break his fast is the report that is proven in al-Saheehayn from the hadeeth of ‘Adiyy ibn Haatim (may Allaah be pleased with him), who said that he put two ropes – one black and one white – beneath his pillow. These were ropes of the type used to hobble camels. He started looking at them, and when he could distinguish between the white rope and the black one, he stopped eating and drinking. The next day he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and told him about that. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him: “Your pillow must be very wide, if the white thread and the black thread are beneath your pillow. Rather that is the blackness of the night and the whiteness of the day” But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not tell him to make that day up, because he had been unaware of the meaning of the verse. (This is where I have to enhance my memory, as this was on UmmRashid's blog)

Ignorance of the time. For example, if a person thinks that dawn has not yet broken, then he finds out that it had broken. He does not have to make up that day. Similarly if a person breaks the fast at the end of the day thinking that the sun has set, then he finds out that it had not set, he does not have to make up that day either. The evidence for that is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari from Asma’ bint Abi Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with her) who said: We broke our fast on a cloudy day at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), then the sun came out. The point here is that if the fast was invalidated, it would have been obligatory to make it up, and if it had been obligatory to make it up, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have commanded them to do that. If he had ordered them to make it up, this would have reached us because it is part of preserving sharee’ah. As there is no report that says that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told them to do that, and as he did not tell them to do that, it is known that the fast was not invalidated, so it does not have to be made up in this case. But as soon as a person realizes what the situation is, he must stop eating and drinking, so that even if there is a morsel in his mouth, he has to spit it out. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (19/116).

,and from Bilal Philips website:

When the athaan of Fajr is sounded, this signals the beginning of the fast and one should not
begin to eat anything at this point. If one has in his hand food or drink when the athaan is called, he should finish eating what he wants from it before putting it down. Aboo Hurayrah reported that Allaahs Messenger (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, ;If one of you hears the athaan and a vessel remains in his hand, he should not put it down until he has had what he desires from it.”[11

It sounds like rule rules rules, for Ramadhan, but I spose in wanting to obey our Creator and worrying of disobedience this is part of the more'spiritual' side of Ramadhan, gaining taqwa? Doing everything for His Sake and not worrying what others may think (I was asked at work years ago why I don't just sneak a Snickers bar?!)
These ahadith are also showing the flexibility of the rules, and compassion Allahahs for us. (Could Swedish bureacracy take heed of the former ?). I must not forget we have to have the combination of Love fear and hope for Allah(swt), that He will inshaAllah pass over our mistakes, as we all will make them at some point.

A little bit of Fiqh

So much for staying off the computer :)
Don’t read this if you’re having a meal, but otherwise, I had a practical experience that meant I needed to get clarification on the ruling as pertains to vomiting and fasting.
I was walking along with the kids, with Biryani wedged against my tummy in my in my improvised handbag sling and I felt some vomit come up in my throat. So I quickly swallowed it, not wanting to appear uncouth in my leafy suburb by throwing up on the pavement. Then I thought, oops! Doesn’t vomiting break the fast?
So now I’ve checked, and it does break if you vomit deliberately , or if not deliberate vomiting but you deliberately swallow it.
So now I’m not sure, as I did deliberately swallow it, but was not fully aware of the ruling. So I’m still fasting this day but will try to make it up later, and hope if it wasn’t necessary, I’ll get rewarded anyway InshaAllah.
As for Wudhu, vomiting doesn’t invalidate this.

Check the selective mutism blog for latest

Blog link

Let's see if this works

this was a huge snail H and I spotted on the way to his 4 year check with the health visitor.
Picture courtesy of my mobile, I have done some technology thingy, blog on the go, wow that's an achievement for me. (Not sure how much it cost me though!!)

Sheikh Yusuf Estes is coming to Sweden

with his daughter, yippee! 30th September. To be able to listen to some islamic lectures in my mother tongue. I do hesistate about attending those in Swedish as if I misunderstand one word it could give me the completely wrong end of the stick. So I'm often found asking the sisters many questions at the end.
The Sheikh has a great website for Dawah (islamtomorrow.com) and one for Ramadan just now has some useful stuff on it here

Should be writing something deep and meaningful

, something inspiring and uplifting, to suit this blessed month. But I have a bad tummy ache and I'll let the pictures do the talking for now...

Biryani, really taking after her bro' s:



Plate as inspired by UmmRashid, done by M, new moon cut out my moi. Pic is of the sun and planets, by M but copied from S , who was trying to show his theory as to why the moon has its phases.


The tomato experiment, inshaAllah to be described later (involves Marmite)


Tomato beginning to ripen (B4 Denmark trip)

And while the cat's away..

Life is an adventure

Last week was one of adventures. Firstly to the hospital’s casualty department, which I thought was the domain of young boys. Biryani wondered into the living room while was clearing up the supper, and the boys were on their screens of various types. Then S called me to find her on her back crying but with no sound coming out and blood streaming from her eye. Reminiscent of H’s lip accident, both in location and time of day, I hardly hesitated to call the ambulance, esp. as it was her eye. To cut a long story short we were seen to relatively efficiently and although thankfully no damage done to the eyeball her lids would need stitches, under general anaesthetic. There was no anaesthetist available that time so we came back the next morning. The other doctor decided that in fact there was no need for an operation and Biryani’s sedative (which actually appeared to make no difference to her, she’s from the ‘who needs to sleep’ camp I think. It turned H into a different child when he had one) and you should have seen me in the disposable boiler suit thingy I had to wear in the theatre, which somehow managed to contain my jilbab!
So she’s had a swollen eye for a week or so but now doesn’t look so much like a rugby player.
The difference between this time and H’s injury, was my own relative sense of calm, it wasn’t like it was the first time (M had an accident with a hurled drinks can and his eyes rolled wildly with the shock and that really worried me seeing that for the fist time) and I knew that this was Qadr, and Biryani’s health was in Allah’s hands.

And so, as I once nearly had a truck crash into me on my way to an Islamic camp, and somehow Allah saved me from disaster, the previous emergency did not manage to get in our way of our little adventure to Denmark.
We missed the ferry by 10 minutes to the island we were staying at, so had to find somewhere else to stay, which turned out to be another near island, also requiring a small ferry ride. We had supper in the only restaurant on the island, where the friendly (slightly tipsy) Danish owner cooked for us as if we were her guests. S was in fact v uncomfortable being around people drinking mashaAllah, even if they were the other side of the restaurant, but it was that or buying chocolate from the campsite’s tuck shop I think. The following morning, we mad e it on the ferry by the skin of our teeth to get back to the docks to catch the original ferry. S asked how ferries could float, and Alhamdulillah my DH could give an answer involving Archimedes principle (?!)
At the port, we met our travelling companions (both for this journey and the journey of Islam). Were we like buses?, no headscarf-bearing Muslims to be seen, and then two come at once!
Nervous? A little, but that soon passed as the commonalities of our lives were reality. How is it best to do Islam? How can we nurture our children best? The island was very beautiful and the company a treat, the time passed so quickly.
During the trip I felt reassured about my skills as a mother, reminded of Allah’s creation (the stars seen from a non- light polluted sky were jaw-dropping).
I realised my GCSE in German was of little use in trying to communicate with neighbours. The certificates we can accumulate almost worthless. Swedish, I have no papers for but can get by because sometimes I need to.
We spent a pleasant morning fishing for , well whatever they could catch with their nets in the sea. This turned out to be mostly stones and shells, although S said he'd caught a crab but somebody knocked him and he lost it. I suspect it was a shrimp by the description.
To finish off the adventure we realised that I’d left the portable DVD player on the ferry on the way over. I wasn’t so keen on getting them in the first place and wondered if this was a sign, but when DH enquired it turned out they’d saved them at the island’s docks so would bring them back on the last ferry. So we had a couple of hours to kill, and managed to find a v nice fish restaurant and had my first proper smorgasbord since I’ve been in Scandinavia (we don’t go out for meals with the kids unless it’s to the Muslim restaurants (they understand the accompanying raucous more). It was the first time in a long time I ate my fill, normally I don’t have much of an appetite. I was trying to remember the hadith of leaving a third for water, a third for air, and hope there was some space leftover. The Danes around did seem less uptight about noisy kids than in Sweden and the addition of there being a huge fish tank for them to peer into helped. Outside, waiting for various members of the family to use the bathroom, S decided to ask me about nuclear bombs, and how they work, and whether one could destroy the whole of our city? I tried to calmly answer his queries, and silently hoping his enthusiasm for the subject would die down, as nearby Danish citizens could overhear us!
Then managed to zoom back to port, collect afore-mentioned DVD players and head off into the thick of the Danish traffic. Tired, but very happy and hoping for another time like this, but one that doesn’t pass so quickly inshaAllah.

So much to blog, so little time (so here are some photos instead)

Hoping I can overcome the mountain of mayhem that is my flat sometime soon inshaAllah, meanwhile here's a glimpse of a beautiful weekend in Denmark:

Skip this 1st one if you're not engineeringly-inclined ;)...


Looks familiar, oh but it costs about ten times as much to cross as Dartford bridge, Scandinavian prices I s'pose

S took this in a restaurant on the first island we stayed at. He likes candles, fires etc (Which boy doesn't)

The cabins on the camp-site, and our German neighbours.(Plus dog for Biryani amusement)

Windswept trees, framing the fjord's waves.

Shells collected by all 3 boys, arranged by M.

A similar view to my cabin's kitchen window.


Elderberries, one among many of the blessings from Ar-Razaq this autumn-time. The hazelnuts were also quite tasty, growing behind the cabin.

Some recent observations of life in Sweden.

A family of 2 parents, 2 young children eating their lunch in a café. The father reading the paper throughout the meal, the mother meanwhile, texting her friends, while children silently pick at their food. (I am also guilty of spending too much time sms-ing, my son asks ‘Why don’t you just phone them?’ Well maybe I would if there was a chance of having a full conversation, between the screams and shouts of our respective children, plus almost all my friends have only mobiles and it’s a lot cheaper and sometimes free. Also a phone-call is hard to restrict to less than 15 mins the way I jabber on).
Supermarket today *groan* :Baby food next to cat and dog food. More variety in the pet’s meals?
There is also a 'Dog playground' found near the beach.
Saw three baby bike-trailers within the space of a minute, one named ‘chariot’ I noticed. Then later saw a bike with a big box basically on the front, obviously for easy child transportation (to day care I assume). We hired a tandem and trailer several years ago in the Peak District. It was great fun and seeing these trailers made me want to be 3 years old to have a ride.
Again have been asked when Biryani’s to start day care/ nursery. I’m not really sure but not going to think about it till she’s 3 ish I think. She does seem to have a personality a bit like M, who used to ask to go to nursery at the weekend too. Again it’s the issue of learning Swedish, although obviously an early start for H didn’t help as expected. Anyhow, you just never know what’ll be the situation in a couple of year’s time….