Israa Wal Mi'raaj - Planting the Seeds of Rajab

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Rajab is a time for planting seeds, both literally and spiritually. This year in Istanbul, Rajab aligns beautifully with the season for planting seeds that can be transplanted on the first day of Spring—just as the last 10 days of Ramadan begin. Inspired by this parallel, my community planted over 1,000 seeds this week, insha’Allah, to bloom in our local historical masjid garden during Ramadan. These seeds included marigolds, zinnias, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, peppers, and many mor., Please pray that the seeds we plant, both in the soil and through our deeds, grow strong and bear beautiful flowers and delicious fruit. Ameeeen! I look forward to sharing our progress of our masjid garden with you.

Rajab is also the month of Isra wal Miraj, a story so rich in lessons and wonder. I’ve been excited to teach my children more about it but found very few resources tailored for them. To make it engaging, we created shadow puppets to tell the story. Using silhouettes allowed us to focus on the narrative without worrying about physical depictions. We made shadow puppets of Buraq, Masjid Al Aqsa, Sidratul Muntaha, a cloud representing the heavens, the Prophet (SAW's) heart, the Ka'ba, and more. The kids also colored and bound little books about Isra wal Miraj—a hands-on activity that gave them a sense of creating something meaningful from start to finish.

I’ve shared the PDF for the book with you in case you’d like to try this with your family or students and bind it as a mini-book. Bookbinding is one of the chapters in A Children's Study of Islamic Art, and it’s a wonderful way to connect children to both creativity and tradition.

As we prepare our hearts and homes for Ramadan, there are subhanAllah so many more resources out there to decorate our homes. I'm interested in finding more websites that feature products that are physically made by Muslims (and preferably not made in China), made with natural long-lasting materials (not plastic), and made for function as much as beauty (as Islamic art always has been.) I'm happy to say we have many products that fit this category such as our dastarkhan, our brass date holders, our art prints, and I hope to share more in the next few weeks iA! We also now have two exquisite jainamaaz (prayer rugs) available in wool and silk, handcrafted in Lahore. Alhamdulillah, the last two sold brought joy to their recipients, and we hope these will do the same.