A hijab-loving mom in London decides to send her eldest daughter to a

madrasah. It also has school curriculum and requires a huge fee. A reader
comments:

Kudos to the 'limah, Congrats to

her mom
Congrats to the mom of the would-be scholar!
Kudos to the would-be 'limah herself!
From a sinner and aimless wanderer from a bigot Christians school who
wouldnt let the students go for Jum'ah Salh, to the historic precincts of
Drul 'Uloom, Deoband, where the mountain ranges bow down, where the
hurricanes come to an abrupt halt. Its the poor hamlet before which royal
palaces prostrate!



we have to conduct ourselves even more carefully as parents of someone engaged in
this kind of study brought tears to my sinful eyes! The high opinion you nonscholars have of scholars! The love and admiration you have for these 'Ulam and the
faith you people show in their words, I know for sure, would take you to much higher
levels of Paradise than many of us. May Allh gather us all there, the sinners among us
and the virtuous!

To the would-be 'limah,

Welcome to the beneficial knowledge, far removed from the useless Macaulayish
knowledge (sin theta, cos theta)! Welcome to a life in the blessed shade of the Qurn and
Hadth! Welcome to the companionship of Sahbah and Tbi'n, to the courts of Imm
Ab Hanfah and Imm Mlik, to the assemblies of Ibn Taimiyyah and Shah Waliullh!
Welcome to the learnings Imm Bukhr lost and regained his eye-sight for! Welcome to
the knowledge Imm Ahmad suffered executioners lashes for, till he fell unconscious!
Welcome to the Hadth 'Umar ibn 'Abdul Azz taught from the throne of the greatest
empire of the day! Welcome to the Fiqh Sarakhs taught from the depth of the well where
he had been imprisoned!

You will be spending this part of your life strolling in the holy fields of Badr and Uhud.
In the streets of Madnah, you will see your little sisters singing The full moon

rises
up
over
us
from
the
valley
of
Wad'.
In
the
Masjid
of
Madnah
you
will

find an aunt tying a rope between pillars to recline against and get some rest when tired
of standing during her long Tahajjud prayers. You would also get to see her who
complains to the Prophet against her husband. Down below, the Prophet decides against
her. Up above, Allh decides in favor of her. The Supreme Lord from above the seven
high skies overrules His own beloved Prophet


for Khaulahs sake!
Till now you have seen the love of just one mother. Now on you will have eleven
mothers fasting in the day, praying in the night, for herself and for you, the daughter,
fourteen centuries and four thousand miles away! You will find them, the wives of the
Chief of Humanity, living a life of poverty and hardship under him, and when given the
choice of divorce, the option of a better and more luxurious life, declining without
hesitation, without consultation: Shall I seek others advice regarding you, Allhs
Prophet? Never ever!!
Perhaps, you would get to see the rich, charming beauty deciding to marry the poor and
ugly Julaibb going against her parents because the Prophet had suggested. The parents
had other opinions, but the soft yet firm voice from behind the sacred veil disagrees, Are
you thinking of rejecting Allhs Prophets suggestion? If he has decided Julaibb for me,
I will be with him. True, it was a mere suggestion, not a command, but whose
suggestion it was: his, whose every syllable was ratified by Allah!? No doubt, there
would be no sin in going against this, but could she go against the Prophet, for whose
sake millions of souls may be sacrificed! When you meet this Ansr lady, do convey to
her our Salm the greetings of this invaluable Ummah!
As the red carpet gives way to the feathers of infallible angels beneath your blessed feet,
you will thank your parents for cutting back expenses everywhere else they could. On
your holiday visits to river-banks and lake-sides, when the fish say Salm to you, and
seek Allhs forgiveness for you, your hijb-loving mom would feel proud. The earth that
shakes and quakes to swallow the mighty mountains, the sky that pounds rain and hail to
destroy the prosperity of sinners, the ocean that gambols and dances to drown the
alcoholics in Titanic, the high impregnable hills that become the graveyards of modern
super-powers: when these very same ones start praying for you, how honored would you
feel!?
Muslims love Prophet


and his words. They perform Salh and recite the
formulas. They read the Book of Allh whose eloquence outshines the despicable
Shakespeares and the mediocre Tolstoys far more than the sun outshines the stars. You
too must have done and must be doing each of this. How will it feel when these very
words sweet but obscure become alive all of a sudden.
The Prophet is talking privately to his wife and you are listening and understanding:
I know when you are pleased with me and when you are in a different mood.
How exactly, Allhs Prophet!

When you are pleased, you say, Of course, by Muhammads Lord. When you are
annoyed, your conversation is on the lines of Of course, by Ibrhms Lord!
True, by Allh, Allhs Prophet! I discard nothing but just your name. Even then, he
and his being, his teaching and his preaching remain dearer to Mom 'ishah than her own
heart and soul.
At Ji'irrnah, the Prophet


is talking to the Ansr privately. He has already
ensured that no one else is present in the assembly. There has been a talk among some
young Ansr that when it comes to battle-field, we are sent to the frontline, when it
comes to distribution of Ghanmah, we are relegated to the rear. The speakers loyalty has
been questioned. Ten years back, Abul Haitham Ansr had asked in the Makkan valley
of 'Aqabah, Will it be, Allhs Prophet, that when Islm becomes powerful, you will
abandon us and return to Makkah? The truest lips that ever spoke on earth had smiled,
Your blood is my blood. You are mine, I am yours! This commitment was in doubt.
As the Prophet recounts the never-seen-before and never-to-happen-again blessings the
Ansr had enjoyed because of him, the Ansrs beards get wet with tears. Dont you feel
favored that other people are returning home with goats and sheep, with gold and silver,
(with pound and dollar); and you with the Prophet of Allh!? Makkah whose Masjid
Harm gives you the reward of a hundred thousand Salhs wont get the Prophet, you
will. But shh.. Its a top-secret, confidential conversation. Outsiders are not allowed.
You are privy to it, the very sweet and lovely words, the moving and stirring words, the
words originating from the heart, impacting upon the heart.
As you get liberated from Darwins superstition to the Qurns information, as you get
freed from the blinkered approach of what-we-see-is-what-exists to the certain
knowledge of what Allh has kept in store for you, as you spend some of your nights
imitating 'Abdullh ibn 'Amr, completing the Qurn in three days, crying where the
Sahbah cried, enjoying where the Prophet felt delighted, you will know what you have
gained; what void you started from, what summit you have landed upon!
=================
In response to happymuslimah:

Little Lady and Big School:

Reasons for Choosing Islamic
Scholarship
I have been worrying and praying about Little Ladys secondary education for the
last few years. As she was my firstborn I had no experience of how the system
worked or whether the local school or an Islamic school would be best for her.

There is massive competition for the one local grammar school and she did not
get in, following the secondary school application process she got a place in the
local state school that I had attended.
We had tried to find a place in an Islamic school a year earlier, but all of those
that offered an Islamic education that included the Alimah (Islamic scholars)
programme were full and sent out applications to include her in their waiting list.
We decided to let her start in the local school as there didnt seem to be any other
options. The local state school has come a long way from when I studied there. At
that time it had a bad reputation and not the best results for GCSE. I remember
that being good at your studies was not something to be proud of amongst
students but something to be masked, with even teachers occasionally joining in
at making fun of the bright children.
I was one of the smallest kids in my year and had to learn to make up for this by
being extra loud, rude and by swearing a lot. I made it to the end of high school
with good grades and to the end of sixth form with reasonable grades but
knowing I could have done a lot better. It left me with a legacy of for many years
thinking how much better I could have done as an adult if I had better schooling
as a child and with a foul mouth, both of which took many years to overcome.
So you can imagine I had my worries when that was the only option for us. A visit
to the school and talking to friends and neighbours who had children studying
there assuaged some of my worries. The school has a new strict head teacher and
has had millions of pounds of investment in new buildings and equipment. It has
expanded to a primary and nursery school and the sixth formers look like they
are dressed for the office.
Little Lady loved it there and made friends straight away. She became a school
council representative and volunteered for everything. Best of all they had a
massive library full of every book she had ever been looking for.
I still had my worries. For instance probably over half of the children in the
school are Muslim and many of the girls wear hijab. This doesnt stop them from
listening to music, swearing and generally assuming a very cocky attitude. This
just isnt part of the beautiful character I want to develop for my children and I
feared that Little Lady would pick up bad habits. As she is so strong willed I could
also imagine a situation in a few years where we would not be able to rein her in
and discourage bad habits.
It was hard to explain my reservations to my husband, but once he was picking
and dropping her from school for a few weeks he could see the behaviour of some
children for himself giving adults dirty looks, swearing, shouting, chatting or
fighting with people of the opposite sex - all things normal teenagers do, but
things that I dont believe are part of the correct upbringing of a Muslim teenager

who we hope one day becomes a good Muslim.

One option I was considering was putting her in one of the after school alimah
courses that have started locally recently which would cover her Quran studies
also. This would have been tough with picking her up from school and then
dropping and picking her up from a second place whilst juggling the boys school
run and Quran studies also, especially as I dont drive. It seemed to be our only
option.
As the first few weeks of term progressed, my husband got more concerned about
the way students at LLs school behaved and the influence this would have on her.
So one day on the way to look for a new double pram for Darling and Baby, he
suggested we pick up forms for the two nearest girls Islamic schools. One had no
spaces and did not offer the alimah course but did provide a very positive
environment and is run by a masjid that my husband has strong links with. The
other school was attended by a cousin of mine and a few of my friends daughters
and I have heard mixed reviews of. We filled the form for this one and submitted
straight away and LL was called back for a test the following week. She did well
on the test and was called back for an interview. The head teacher listened to her
recitation of Quran and asked her about why she was interested in the school.
They offered her a place for the following Monday and also allowed her to join the
alimah programme (they have three strands: Islamic studies, alimah course and
hifz programme where the whole Quran is memorised).
We were over the moon but I was also worried about how the transition would
affect her. She would have to leave behind the friends she made and the hours are
longer with a 7:30am start due to alimah studies in the morning,
Following her first half term there she has settled in well and is catching up
quickly with what she missed (Memrise has really helped with Arabic and
French). Her Quran teacher was brilliant and supplemented Quran studies with
Islamic knowledge and memorising prayers and reading Islamic books, so this
meant that much of what was covered in the first half term that she missed she
already knew. Her Dad had also been helping her learn Urdu which has the same
script as Arabic and this helped her with learning Arabic too.
There are some things she misses: having the latest IT equipment, swimming
pools and a greater emphasis on sport, the library she loved so much, switching
from Spanish (which she loved) to French (which I like) and also missing out on
certain lessons (such as Drama) to accommodate for others (Arabic). I have
agreed that we can work on subject areas which she liked that are not covered in
her current curriculum and she sees the value of the Islamic environment and
studies Alhamdulillah.
The cost of her education means that we will have to cut back everywhere else
that we can and it will also mean that we have to conduct ourselves even more
carefully as the parents of someone engaged in this kind of study it has

certainly made me think about what kind of qualities should be present in the
mother of a scholar and has made me face up to where I lack in these.
Some might question why we would only put one child in private education and
possibly not the rest. As my oldest child I believe that she will have a significant
influence on the others, particularly on my two youngest girls who will be of an
age to benefit from what she learns by the time she finishes high school and sixth
form (the alimah course is seven years and the girls are 9 and 11 years younger
than her). I also believe that I was still learning to parent with my oldest children,
I made all of my mistakes with them and now that they are older those mistakes
(shouting, screaming, being very impatient etc) are staring me in the face in the
shape of their behaviour. I feel like Allah (SWT) has given me the chance to do
things better with my younger children, but that doesnt excuse the fact that I feel
as if I messed up with my older children and I would do anything I can to put that
right. So rather than worry and feel miserable, I want to give them a positive
environment and keep trying to put right the things I could have done better in
any way that I can.
I am so very grateful to Allah (SWT) for this opportunity for my daughter, after 34 years or worrying and two years solid of praying for her education and correct
upbringing (tarbiyah) in every salah, I feel as if my prayer has been answered
inshAllah. Now its Little Mans turn. I have left it a little late for training for the
eleven plus exam that has to be passed for entry into the local boys grammar
school. The exam isnt until next September, but the competition is intense. So
we will start planning and thinking for him, but in the meantime I am going to
have to resort to the only measure I can really rely on and which has gotten me
results: praying for him in every sujood until Allah (SWT) creates the best path
for him and trusting that Allah (SWT) always does what is best for us at the right
time.
Huzaifa (RA) said that, whenever the Prophet (Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam)
happened to face any difficulty, he would at once resort to salat. (Ahmad, Abu
Dawud)
Anas ibn Malik (RA) narrated that Allah's Messenger (Sallallahu `alaihi
wasallam) said: One who goes out to search for knowledge is (devoted) to the
cause of Allah till he returns. (Tirmidhi 220)
Abdullah ibn Abbas (RA) narrated that Allah's Messenger (Sallallahu `alaihi
wasallam) said, Acquiring knowledge in company for an hour in the night is
better than spending the whole night in prayer. (Tirmidhi 256)
Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that... the Prophet (Sallallahu `alaihi wasallam)
said, ... He who treads the path in search of knowledge, Allah will make that
path easy, leading to Paradise for him and those persons who assemble in one
of the houses of Allah (mosques), recite the Book of Allah and learn and teach
the Quran (among themselves). There will descend upon them tranquillity,

mercy will cover them, the angels will surround them and Allah will mention
them in the presence of those near Him. (Muslim 6518)
The superiority of the learned man over the devout is like that of the moon, on
the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the
Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor dirham, leaving only
knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion. (Abu Daud 3634)