The Beauties of Hijrah

Mashallah It is a big step for most of us to actually leave America, after all the time taken to
plan for it, supposedly save all this money for it, buy stuff to take that we think that they wont
have where you are going, talking about the idea, thinking about the idea, the possibilities,in
addition to the fears of what is to come, the fear of leaving what you know, the fear of what is
to come, leaving family and friends, etc...
There are SO many benefits to being in the land of the Muslims!, mashallah. Some are apparent
and you can expect and some you have to look "between the lines" or come by surprise! One of
the best ways to see the benefits is to look at the how your children or someone else’s children
that have made hijrah. My children’s lives have changed so much since I have been in the land
of the Muslims.

It is a majority modest place, where you do not see much skin. The girls see as examples,
covered women out in the street, in cars, in stores, in the masjids, working in different types
of professions. The boys see beards & thoubes, and men praying their prayers in the Masjids.
We hear the call to every prayer and do not have to look at clocks to know when to pray or
break fast. Men that wear their thobes to do almost any task! Women that wear their
abayas/jilbabs and even cover their face to do almost any task! And in America we feel it
hampers us physically. We are the majority so it is normal to look the way we look where ever
we go.
My daughter has become more modest at an earlier age without even talking to her or asking
her, or pleading with her and even checks me! Sometimes more than I would like~ On a hot
long day out,..."mommy your niqab, there is a man..." We can just go to stores and not search
or order by mail and buy a jilbab and khimar, thobe pants, thobes, kufis, etc. My sons are
gaining a ’gheerah’ that they should have over their mom and sister and other family.
We can go to the malls, furniture stores, baby stores, hospitals, clinics, even some large parks,
and fun fairs and there will be a masjid or prayer place there for you to pray. There are
masjids in every neighborhood.

Some things I have taken for granted, or I guess I can say gotten used to seeing so much. I
thought one day, My children can actually SEE the construction of a Masjid being built! What a
blessing it is inshallah to the one who decided to spend to build a house of Allah. Most of us
come from places where basically it is just one struggling masjid that we can go to.
We are so much more ’Free’ here than in the Land of the Free. There are women only places
and times, so it is the opposite of what the media and kuffar teach you that women are
oppressed!
You are free to cover correctly and as much as you like and not be embarrassed, ashamed, out
of place, stared at, remarks made. Womens parks, womens resorts, womens beaches, womens
pools, womens times for museums, womens branches and sections of banks, womens centers
for learning, womens fitness centers, womens days for outdoor fun fairs. Women only salons.
You can go to any salon and not have to schedule a special time or cover the windows or only
do it at home. There are certain areas of the city that you will find women walking for fitness.
If you step out on the curb to cross the street or even step your foot out into the road, cars or
trucks with slow down put on their hazard lights to allow you to cross, it is a sign of respect to
the fully covered woman.

It really touches my heart to listen to my children stand up and want to recite all the Quran
that they have learned mashallah. In America we had our children learning the Fatiha and
those short surahs in the back of the Quran (Juz Amma), here the effort is just so much easier
and easier to attain to them learning Quran. We have easy access to Hafith(memorization)
tapes for each Juz’(part) of the Quran. They sell small Juz’ booklets in alot of places to use to
read along. The radio has two stations that is just for Quran. They hear the Quran and take
Quran Everyday.
My children have learned so much of Juz Amma, and now they are on the first 25 ayat of Surah
Baqarah! in the first and second grades!. This is impressive to ME. They know more than me
now, and I learn from them just hearing them recite over and over again. When we first started
out, one of my children was shy to recite with their other sibling side by side because they
didn’t catch on as fast. Now they race! and compete in the car to recite! My younger children
that stay at home, are learning from their older siblings and are reciting as well. Even the baby
is reciting in his, what we can tell is his "Recitation Baby Talk". It is so "Cute" but really It
makes me want to tear up and cry mashallah. But I hold back most times and just make sure to
praise them so they will continue to want to keep doing those good things. You want this for
your children. When I put my children into free Quran classes given at a local masjid for one
month, I saw their self confidence RISE so much. Now the shy one will even ask others "can I
recite for you?"
We have struggles many a night with trying to complete Arabic homework or just translating
what the assignment is. (lol) I am proud of them, as they also deal with being some of the few
Americans and English as a first language speakers in the classes and at their ALL Arabic school
and they continue to have satisfactory and also high marks(grades).
Other moms here have encouraged me to keep them in Arabic school, they say "you’ll see..." In
the first semester I wondered how MUCH are they learning??? And on hard nights and slow
mornings I had second thoughts of keeping the gusto going, or letting them miss, but then when
the first long break came after the Eid, I saw the children playing and "having school" in Arabic.
They started to use Arabic terms with me and asking, "when can we go back to school?"
I would not see this potential where I in America. I would not have the option to send my
children to a fully operational school, a school run by Muslims for Muslims, with a complete
curriculum already set to teach Islam and the other subjects In the Arabic Language.

The children are easily encouraged to fast at a young age in Ramadhan because the lunchtime
is shortened and many children fast, so they want to as well. The children are easily
encouraged to pray at a young age because there is a musallah at the school.
I see a potential in my young sons capacity of his memory of Quran impresses me, and the way
he pronounces those Hard Arabic letters and words to the American tongue. Now I can imagine
him being a Hafiz maybe, or a student of Knowledge, a "sheik". It touches my heart that at first
grade level, I can now include my children in to Quran reading times, because They Can Read
Arabic! mashallah.
I guess I could go on and on, but this is what I wanted to point out.
The possibilities are endless for the Good that can come of this, IF we as the parents still
continue to keep them on the better path, sometimes the path of the minority, which we all
know Salafiyyah is, but the Haqq is the Haqq even if we are alone in it. And inshallah, Allaah
will grant us patience and ease in our situation, allow for hijrah, allow those of us to stay that
have made it, and for our children to be a benefit for the ummah ameen.
Wa alaikum salaam.
The sister and her family are currently in the UAE
www.salafisisters.org