Blessed Days

Among the special seasons of worship are the first ten days of Dhu’l-Hijjah, which Allaah has preferred over all the other days of the year. Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allaah than these ten days.”  – Source

Today is the 2nd day of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month in the Islamic lunar calendar, marking the 2nd day of hajj for 2 million pilgrims who have travelled to Mecca.

How do we take part in this if we aren’t in Hajj, and in our homeschool? Honestly, I’ve been asking myself that also. As a convert, all of this is still pretty new to me, and since my husband is a convert also, we don’t have a wealth of information already stored in our minds from childhood. Plus, most of the fun activities I can find online are really geared towards 4-10 year olds. What to do with Care Bear at 12, and Little Miss at 2?

This link has been helpful bringing up ideas, so here’s what I have so far. InshaAllah we can start this tomorrow, since Care Bear is gone for the day.

• Read the section in Malcolm X’s autobiography about hajj. Hajj was such a life changing experience for Malcolm X, I want Care Bear to inshaAllah recognize what a powerful experience hajj really is.
• Watch Adam’s World: Take Me to the Kaba with Little Miss. Little Miss may not gather much from it at this age, but then we can all watch it together.
• Watch National Geographic’s Inside Mecca DVD. I’ve watched this before, and it is a great look at three people from different parts of the world going on hajj!
• Encourage fasting during the first 9 days of Dhul Hijja for my husband and Care Bear.
• I’m still looking for a hajj map I like where we can look at the map and point out where the pilgrims are each day. I’ll post it on Facebook if I find something useful. Check me out there!

What are your plans to get your family involved in hajj from home? Do you know anyone going on hajj this year?