Special Ten Days Start Today!!!

The big holiday, Eid Ul Adha, is coming up on Sunday, November 6, insha'Allah.  This is the Eid of sacrifice, and it falls at the same time millions of people are performing Hajj in Makkah.  And by sacrifice, I mean it marks the braveness and piousness of Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, who was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail because that is what Allah ordered him to do.  In the end, Allah sent a ram to be sacrificed instead, and it is part of the Eid to sacrifice an animal and distribute its meat to those who need it, to friends, and to keep some for yourself.   The other Eid we have during the year is the one that follows Ramadan. 

What's really neat to me is that this Eid falls on the 10th day of the Islamic month called Dhul Hijjah, and that the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are the most blessed days of the year in the sight of Allah.  Not all days of the year are equal, and these days are a special time to dedicate to doing good deeds, increasing worship, and even fasting.  Just silently glrorifying the Creator while you work, asking for forgiveness, and asking for His guidance are ways to increase your worship.  The kids and I made a list where I asked them to think of examples of good deeds we could do during this time.  I was thinking of random acts of kindness, for example, if we're out somewhere like complimenting a check out clerk, smiling at someone, or paying for someone's coffee if I were to go to a coffee shop anymore...  One of the kids listed 'watching your tongue' and 'smiling'.  So to keep  up this good mood and feeling of joy for doing a good thing, I strung up our colorful Eid lights one of the archways downstairs and hope to get another one up tomorrow.  The string of lights blew a strip and 1/3 of them don't light up anymore.  Good thing all the Christmas decorations are out in full force; it's easy to find what I need!  We'll also plan what goodies we'll bake for Eid and what plans insha'Allah we can make. 

Please forgive me if I've offended any of you all, and I pray that my fellow Muslims have a great ten days and a great Eid.

Here's a link http://ummabdulbasir.wordpress.com/category/hajj-activities/ to a fun Lapbook you can make with your kids about Hajj.  It's for younger ones, I think (with the numbers, colors, and animals) but we just added a few things to make it a little more advanced for my 4th and 5th graders like making them write the Arabic names alongside the English ones hehehe.  This is the first lapbook I've ever attempted, and so far it's working out how I had hoped it would.  We're reading a book that talks about Hajj and doing this project for our Islamic Studies for two weeks leading up to Eid.  It's fun and I think the information is sinking in more than it has in the past.