Author: nhpureandsimple

My name is Nahla. I am a wife and mother of three children. I have been living in the UK for so many years. My first degree is in English Language. I also earned two Master’s degrees; one in Religious Studies and one in Creative Writing. I started blogging because I love reading and writing; both are more than hobbies for me. I read to learn, to understand, and to improve myself. I write to tell stories, to express my views, and to share my thoughts. I hope you enjoy my blog, and thank you for visiting.
Just writing

Eid is coming

nhpureandsimple


In the last week of the month of Ramadn, Muslim houses have more chores to do than usual.

Let’s clean the house, bake Eid cookies, buy new clothes and shoes, and do not forget to pay zakat alfitr (which is a small amount of money given to the poor to help them getting ready to celebrate Eid)

But have you ever think what little kids might be thinking about Eid ?
My daughter is happy to know that in Eid, we get new stuff, we eat yummy food and have nice family time together. She has also learned about the month of Ramadan and insisted on waiting till Iftar time, to join us, though she’s got her dinner and dessert earlier. But these days, she started asking me; what’s after the month of Ramadn? and I told her; we will celebrate Eid.

Then my little daughter asked me; Why do we celebrate Eid?

For the first time, I realised that , even for children, celebrations might have not only material significance but a spiritual one.

I simply explained to her that God has gifted us with two Eids. Eid alfitr is the first celebration.  We celebrate Eid because we’ve been fasting for thirty days from early morning to early evening. While being fasting, we do our regular work, go to schools, do all house chores and cook those delicious yummy food without tasting it until Iftar (break fast). We see food and water and even when it is too hot, we do not think about tasting them. We read quran more, pray more and do our best to be good. Why do you think we do all these things?

All these things we do because we believe in God and love Him. This shows our obedience to God as we can abstain from all these life pleasures for certain hours everyday for the sake of being committed to our religion. This is why we celebrate Eid, we celebrate our commitment to be good Muslims. Hence; the first thing we do in our Eid celebrations is to pray at the mosque to ask God to accept our fasting, thank Him for the gift of Eid and to share our happiness with everyone else.

My daughter was happy and I think she’s got the answer she was looking for.

Why not we too ask ourselves; why do we celebrate Eid? do we celebrate our obedience to the Creator and our strength against our ego? Do we celebrate our ability to purify our soul and simplify our life? What changes do we celebrate this Eid that can take us forward to an elevated life? May be if we think about these questions, we can enjoy the best Eid ever!

Still have time, three or may be four more days for Eid.
Wishing you all Eid mubarak

 

Just writing

Wonderful Peace

nhpureandsimple

peace

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,

Flowing down from the father above,

Sweep over my spirit forever I pray,

In fathomless billows of love

W.D.CORNELL

 

 

 

In these days, when we cannot escape terror and war news everywhere I decided to read a random book from my bookshelf.   I was deeply concentrating while reading Peace, peace, wonderful peace. Then my five years old daughter asked me to play Minecraft (a video game) together.

When we started the game, I asked her; ‘would you like to play survival or creative?’

She said, ‘creative.’

Actually, she always chose creative. ‘ In creative we can do wonderful things and there will be no greedy bad zombies to destroy what we create,’ she said.

I was surprised by this intuitive pure soul of children who can understand and choose peace.

With the word peace in my mind, the creative mode on the screen in front of me, and the terror news in the background , I thought of this sarcastic story.

 

Hello and welcome

This is Mrs Entertainer and welcome to our guest Mr Truth in our popular Peace programme

‘It’s lovely to talk about Peace especially these days, isn’t it?’ Mrs Entertainer said after some brief greetings and introduction.

‘Yes; PEACE is what we really need. The world needs peaceful plans that encourage peaceful co-existence, collaboration, and creativity?’ Said Mr Truth.

‘Fantastic; that’s really interesting but sorry will continue after the news.’ Said Mrs E

‘Welcome to the recent news,’ greeted the news reporter.

‘ It seems that wars are spreading everywhere, East and west. North and south. Oh, but wasn’t that the same news yesterday. Let’s move on,’ said the reporter and laughed.

‘So what else in the new? Oh finally, some cheerful sparkly faces. That’s the best season fashion. Such a great festival. Lovely, event indeed,’ commented the reporter with a big smile.

‘ They said there is one more piece of news this evening. The world is witnessing a big deal ….a great WEAPON DEAL No further details. Thanks for watching.’

‘Sorry for the interruption. Let’s continue our talk about peace. Have you seen what was on the news Mr Truth? The big billion weapon deal. That’s a great investment! Isn’t it Mr Truth?

‘But, What is exactly that deal for?’ asked Mr T

’But of course to spread peace and safety in a the region?’ explained Mrs E

‘Weapons, peace and Safety. What a nice combination for good life.’ commented Mr T with a snort.

’It’s a weapon deal for peaceful goals, Mr Truth.‘

‘ Yes, yes, but there’s no thing to add to this great piece of news. Shall we pray Mrs E.’

‘Oh that’s wonderful Mr Truth. Let’s end our talk with praying for the success of this deal.’

‘Oh God, you’re the greatest, the most merciful, the most gracious. Make our prayers more powerful than any weapon deals. Let us have this pure innocent soul of children who love and forgive. Let our youth be creative, caring and sharing hope and peace. Let us be creative. Build and never destroy. Oh God grant us a peaceful life and grant our children a better life in a peaceful world. Amen.’

Mrs Entertainer was silent and Mr Truth left.

End of the Programme

 

Just writing

The story of the two brothers

nhpureandsimple

IMG_0487

The story of Adam’s two sons; Cain and Abel, or
as we call them in Arabic Qabil and Habil is magnificent.

Two brothers to the same father and mother but had completely different natures.

Habiln had a kind and gentle soul shown in his words and deeds. Actually, for those who know the story, they can not deny that he represented a faithful image of a strong believer.

On the opposite, Cain was a restless soul, violent in his responses and harsh in his words. He envied and hated Habil’s overflowing kindness and goodness because he was full of evil and violence. One can imagine him as a dull distant person whom we would do our best to avoid and to never look at.

I wondered if evil is taught in psychology?
Is it considered a mental problem that need medical consultation?
Actually, I don’t know the answer?
And I also don’t know why evil is spreading like weeds in a sick garden? But, there are still healthy souls in the world. Didn’t we, many of us at least, learn and teach our children the story of Cain and Habil?

Don’t ever be evil like Cain who killed his brother? Cain was a loser
Abel was the winner.

That’s the moral lesson. Or did we forget it?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla