At homeDari arkib
Ramadhan stories in a child's hand
Nurin planned a journal with a reflection for every month. She filled only some of the pages, and that is fine. Here is that journal, and a Malay mini book she made herself.
Our second child, Nurin, liked to plan books. This exercise book was meant to be a journal through the year, with a reflection each month. She wrote headings for the pages ahead: Ramadhan, Sahur, Fasting, Laylatul Qadr, A gift, Eid Mubarak.
Some of those pages she filled, and some she left blank. We are showing it anyway. A child makes a plan, follows it part of the way, and it is still good work. What we look at is the thinking that did reach the page, and the small, regular ways it links back to the Quran and Sunnah.
The journal
The first story is called "Ramadhan". One stormy Friday night a boy called Umar looks out of the window and sees "a yellow light loving moon". His mother, Umm Insyirah, tells him Ramadhan is tomorrow. When she explains that it means sahur before Subuh and fasting from Fajar till night, Umar cries, "We will die!" His mother tells him it is all right if he does not fast tomorrow, because he is only three. Umar says: "I'll give it a try."
Other pages are just for fun. In "A dadd's life", a father who has never made his own tea has to choose between two bottles that both start with "S". He picks salt. The tea is "very, VERY VERY VERY salty", and he concludes: "so I guess why they call it ‘salt’ because its salty." There is also a story about a family of mice who name their babies using the alphabet, and a cookie recipe in numbered steps.
Ummi
Ramadhan / One Friday night, umar looked out of the window, seeing the wind blew wild and the rain came down faster than it usually did. As the lightning flashed and the thunder when "boom!" Up in the sky, so blue, so true. Umar saw a yellow light loving moon. It looked so beautyful! It shined through the night. "Ummi!" cried umar. "there's a really beautyful moon!" Up came his mother, Umm Inyirah. "Masyallah" UmmInsyirah exclaimed. "Ramadhan is tommorrow!" She explained.
"Ramadhan?" umar said "What is a Ramadhan?" Umm Insyirah explained. "Ramadhan is the month of fasting" " " said Umar. Fasting is broken English "Not that Umar, this is different, it's when we sahur before Subuh and fast Fajar till night" Umar's eyes looked like it was really going to pop out. "we will die!" said umar. "No, we won't" said his father Abi Ahmad. "it's ok If you dont fast tommorow," you're only three years old" said Umm Insyirah. "Ill give it a try" umar said
Sahur
Fasting
Laylatul Qadr
A gift / Eid Mubarak
A dadd's life / It was 6:00am in the morning. I would be late for work. So I'll better get going. first, my tummy needs some energy. So I went to the kitchen. I wanted to make some tea, but I didnt know how. My wife always make it for me. I know the ingridients and how to do it, but I just havent tried it. I knew what we need, we need a White small cube thing, a teapot, the tea and hot water So I took the teapot and added hot water and tea and finaly came the white thingie to make it sweet. I searched for it, and I fount two bottles labling:
Salt and the other bottle says Sugar. I looked carefully, they both start with "S". Then I thaught for awhile and took salt, it was a wild guess, but I'm sure it's correct. After I aded the salt, I stirred it well and tasted it, it made me spit it out. It tasted horrible and very, VERY VERY VERY salty. so I guess why they call it "sarlt" because its salty. The next day......
Once upoun a time lived a very happy mouse husband and a very happy wife mouse. Who had the name as Mr. soloman and Janet. One lovely morning, Mr. soloman went to a visit to see his most favourite neighbour, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown was very old but yet he was still healthy and fit. "morning Mr. Brown!" cried Mr. soloman "shhh" said Mr. Brown. "What's up?" said mr. soloman. "the cat might see us" oh yes thaught mr. soloman, how can he forget about that. The giants keep a pet cat name Tina. Tina ate up Mr. Brown's wife when they just got married. Suddenly mr. soloman heard a scream from above. "That sounds like Janet, I'd better be going!" "what's wrong" Mr. soloman asked Janet. Mr. Soloman took one look at Janet's stomach. "Janet my dear, have you been eating a lot lately" He asked. "Leave me alone" said Janet giggling. "What's wrong" asked Mr. soloman.
"you're going to be a dad soon" she grinned. "you meant we are about to have a baby?" Mr Soloman asked. "Babies!" she said. Mr. soloman ran to tell his great neigbour the big news. "Mr. Brown!" He said "you can't belive what's happening!" "I'm going to be a dad!" He announced excitedly "for the first time!" The old mouse replied "good for you" "mybe you shold try the alphabet method." said Mr. Brown "What's that soppose to be?" asked Mr. Solomon. "well When I was young my mom named my brothers and sisters from "A" to "Z" orderly. I'm the second oldest B" "interesting....." said mr. Solomon. "try it on your babies, it would be perfect" Said Mr. Brown "I will!" said mr. solomon "I will, right this minuete" he said waving goodbye.
"How many did you got?" asked mr. solomon. "guess" said Janet, and he did "5" "no" said Janet "8" "no" Janet said. "I give up" "the number of letters you said was the answer." Janet said. "7 of them!" replied mr. solomon "See for your selves!" and he was right. "what shall we call'em?" he said "you choose!" so he did. He know his children were going to be very intelligent, so he need to give them intellegent names. Alice, Beauty, Causturd, David, Elezbeth, Francis, Geronimo. Out of all 7 of them, Francis was the most adventures. A month later, when they were abit more older, Francis went exploring. Then he saw a basket. There was something black and furry. Just then 2 things happened, the furry thing meowed wild and went out of the basket. The furry thing was Tina, the giant's pet cat.
Francis never seen a cat before, until now. The cat was about to smack Francis with it's claws but somebody saved him. "Watch out!" said a voice, as it cup Francis into it's hand and ran into the hole. Francis was saved. "Hello" said Mr. brown. "are you one of Mr. Solomon's sons?" "yes indeed" Francis says proudly "you must be Uncle Brown." "How did you know that?" Mr. Brown said. "my dad told me lot about you!" Francis said "is that so?" Mr. Brown said. Francis noded. "Bye uncle Brown! Nice talking to you!" Francis said as he wave Mr. Brown goodbye. When Francis reached home he was so excited to tell Mr. solomon that he ran faster than before. "Whats the hurry" asked Mr. solomon. "Dad! I met Uncle Brown, he was so nice!!" Francis said. "why sound so happy, isn't that normal?" Mr. Solomon asked.
"He saved my life" but he didn't stop there. "From a nasty cat named Tina" Mr. Solomon smiled. He know his life is a looong way to go, and uncle brown dosen't. That made Francis ask a very interesting quistion. "Dad, does people die when they're old? I'm lucky I still have a loong life to go." "not really" said Mr. Solomon "what do you mean?" Francis asked. "You know even at the age of 5 you can die. "like how!" he asked. "Like when you get eaten by a cat and...." Just then They heard a scream. "Was that mama screaming" said Francis frighten. "that sure is" Francis mouth drop open. "I never know a lady can shout that loud! Why do you think she's shouting?" He asked. And sure enough when they reached there, there was.
bowl / 1. 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) 3/4 cup sugar stir together till white n fluffy / 2. add one egg 1/4 tsp. vanilla stir. / 3. another bowl → 2 cups of flour. / 4. 1/4 tsp baking powder / 5. pinch of salt / 6. stir / 7. add slep 3-9 to / 9. use your hands to put it in a bowl / 10. remaning dough add red gel food colouring and mix / 11. roll it into like a roli poli. / 12. put in transparent plastic thingie / 13. put in fridge for an hour. / 14. Take other half of dough and repeat. / 14 but add green gel / 15. start roling / 16. roll white on red roli poli / 17. roll green over white roli poli / 18. put in fridge until 2h / 19. put choco chip.
Nurin puasa, nanti nak raya!
The second book is in Malay, and it is tiny. Nurin made it herself from lined notepaper, stapled along one end. The middle pages were too big, so she cut them down to fit. Most likely the paper came out of our recycling bin. Making a book this way cost nothing and was creative and kind to the earth at the same time.
In the story, Nurin is fasting and Ibu is sewing baju raya. Later, at home doing her homework, Nurin sees Ibu eating and sings a teasing little song about who will get to celebrate Raya. When Ibu asks where she learned that, Nurin answers: "cikgu la, siapa lagi".
Nurin puasa.. nanti nak raya!
Nurin sedang berpuasa. Ibu sedang menjahit baju raya.
Nurin sedang buat HW. Sekali itu dia ternampak ibu makan "Ayo Ibu makan, Ayo Ibu makan Ibu batal puasa" kata Nurin "Apa saja budak ni" kata ibu "Ibu spacial. Takpaya puasa", "Haha, Saya Puasa awak batalkan nanti nurin seorang boleh Raya!" nyanyi Nurin "Dimanakah awak belajar itu" Ibu marahi oleh Nurin "cikgu la, siapa lagi" Jawap nurin
What these books show
Both books follow the 4-I without saying so. They begin with something that inspires her, a moon in the sky or a month of fasting. They end with sharing: a story written down for someone else to read. Impart can be written like this, or spoken, and later on it can mean helping to run programmes and giving talks.
