December 25th is the biggest holiday in the West for non-Muslims. It is a consumerism frenzy and shirk at its greatest and unfortunately many Muslim parents don't know how to use Christmas to their advantage! What? Did I just say to their advantage? Let me explain, during this time of the year, non-Muslim parents go out of their way to violate numerous moral principles and they usually do it against the ones that are defenseless, helpless, and trusting... yes, their own children. Most non-Muslim parents that are Christian have forgotten how hurt, shocked, and betrayed they felt when they found ..read more

Why my family and I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. When I began my search for the truth, I was a 16 year old who attended Christian school my entire life but I had my doubts. As I began to study the Bible more, I noticed how pagan holidays were simply replaced or absorbed by the Church in order to increase its following. I knew that whatever my search led me to, it had to be free of these things and stand on its own. Studying the life of Malcolm X, I ended up sifting through elements like the Nation of Islam (Min. Farrakhan and/or Elijah Muhammad) until I finally came upon information about the ..read more

Establishing family traditions starting with an easy one There is something special about a family that works and acts as a team. Each individual is part of a unit and contributes and benefits from the whole. It warms my heart to see people that work together as a cohesive unit who were basically chosen by Allah to be family. When I was growing up as the eldest of six children, both my mother and father were present up until I was about 12 years old. Of course the dynamic was different as I was raised as a Christian albeit my family wasn’t that religious, however they did enroll me in a Christ ..read more

I just wanted to share a short video with you that some Muslim youth made about saying “I Love You” to their parents and I think you should see the reactions and the emotions from both the parents and the children. Just take a few minutes to watch it because it will drive home the importance of those three words and the effect is has on our children’s hearts (and ours too). After you watch the video, let your child(ren) know how much you love them and make a special dua for them. Our courses and trainings are about building love and influence based on Islam and nothing will work until you as ..read more

bismillah arRahmaan arRaheem as salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, (If you have not read Part One, click here) In Stage Three (Teenagers) is when we begin to reap the harvest of our action or inaction. During the early teen years as our children’s bodies develop and they go through puberty is when there tends to be a lot of emotional uncertainty due to hormonal changes as they transition through the process. We must be that much more strategic in our praise by reminding them of successes they’ve had and lessons they’ve learned from things they may have failed at. In the Coach role, we build them ..read more

Bismilah Ar Rahmaan Ar Raheem As salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah, How would you answer the question, who are you? Some people say I’m a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher while some say I’m an Arab, Desi, American, a housewife, I’m only a mother, or any number of things. How people describe themselves many times is a reflection of how they feel about themselves and in the case of our children, we want them to radiate high self esteem and feel incredible about who they are! The challenge is how to help craft an identity and strong personality in our children which isn’t as difficult as it sounds if you ..read more

By Tunde Brazlik Being a parent is truly a blessing, but it comes with a great deal of responsibility as well. When Allah blesses you with that little bundle of joy, you as a parent have so much hope for them. You plan their whole life before they are even born. You pick their schools, their careers, and you are even able to imagine how your grandkids will be running around you while visiting with you. It is beautiful to imagine as they grow older, get wiser and become more responsible. This dream can be shattered when one has a special needs child. Regardless of the disability, or I would rat ..read more

(If you missed Part II click here or Part I click here) Staring out of the window and hearing the continual pleas of his mother to tell her what’s wrong, Zayd finally cracked. Though he was only silent for a few minutes in the car, it seemed like a lifetime. His voice cracked as he told his mother that something bad just happened. He said that he was hanging with his friend Jason, the one she didn’t like, and Jason told him about a situation that was going on with another guy who runs a street gang. Long story short, the leader of the gang was recently robbed and they think they know who did i ..read more

(If you haven't read Part I, click here) Part II: I remember reading some troubling statistics in the “Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, Vol. 2” which reads “in the 1500 hours of television U.S. children watch each year, they see primarily a violent face. The average child will see 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. By the time that same person reaches high school graduation, he or she will have seen 18,000 murders and more than 250,000 acts of violence. The violence is “sanitized” – clean, neat, and tidy with no pain and suffering.” Unf ..read more

bismillah arRahmaan arRaheem I remember being at an iftaar and seeing this little baby crawling on the floor and biting his toys until he would be sent to his mother to nurse and take a nap. His name was Zayd (changed) and he was the son of an Arab brother I know and his wife who is a white American convert. As time passed, we enjoyed many more eid gatherings, iftaars that were more crowded because of more babies being born, and lots of family outings in the park where we played sports, talked politics, ate good Arab food, and had fun.  I was asked parenting questions because my daughters ..read more