Tag Archives: interactive

Mar16

My First Salah Book: Why and How we Pray by Learning Roots

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My First Salah Book: Why and How we Pray by Learning Roots

Over 91 pages this informative book tells “The Story of Salah” through the miraculous night journey, how to do wudu and its benefits, step by step how to make salah, and then a story style portion of “Life with Salah.” I do not have the digital “kitab” pen that allows readers to have the book read to them and activities made interactive without parental involvement, but even with out it, the book is a pretty solid resource.  The hardback binding, and full color pages are not crowded, they introduce nine characters at the beginning and feature them throughout the pages learning the steps, imagining witnessing the events, and putting the lessons into practice.  Some of the recent Learning Roots books have the characters watching or imagining themselves in story’s of the Sahabas and Prophets, that make me uncomfortable.  The first chapter of this book, is more limited as it illustrates a light in the sky as the Buraq being seen by some children, not the characters in the book, and a silhouetted tree as Sidrat al-Muntaha.  As I am not knowledgeable enough to know if it is “right” or “wrong” to have a child seeing the silhouetted tree and pointing to it, or who it is meant to be, I’ve included pictures for you to decide what is best for your family.  I particularly like that on the pages where Arabic is spoken it is found written in easy to read Arabic with English translation and transliteration.  Within the text there are attributions of hadith and after each chapter there is an activity and questions.  The book concludes with a glossary.

Whether as a tool to learn for the first time, or a book to revise with children already praying, the approach is gentle and easy, inviting children to engage with the pages.  The four chapters are packed full of information, but the illustrations, diagrams, and steps, also allow the book to be referenced, or read cover to cover.

The last chapter, “Life with Salah” shows the character group engaging with salah in a very idyllic way, but given the tone of the book, it works, and will allow readers to see salah as more than just an obligation, which is important.

I got my copy from crescent moon store, if you use my initials (ISL) at checkout you can save 10%.

Mar29

Letters from a Prophet by Zimarina Sarwar illustrated by Giorgio Bacchin

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Letters from a Prophet by Zimarina Sarwar illustrated by Giorgio Bacchin

I’m not a fan, as a general rule, of lift the flap books for toddlers (they just tear them), so imagine my delight when I was completely captivated with a lift the flap book for middle grade and up! And the flaps are not trivial, they reveal letters from Prophet Muhammad (saw), maps, interesting facts, and make an already impressive, beautiful non fiction picture book, feel interactive and somehow even more enticing.  The book gives context and information for four letters sent by RasulAllah to Emperor Heraclius, Al-Muqawqis, King Chosroes, and Al-Nijashi.  Each section has the story of the letter and then a two page spread that details lessons we can learn.  The book itself starts with an introduction, a section about the seal and where the ideas to send the letters came from.  It concludes with final thoughts and a bibliography.  I do wish the book was perhaps checked by a scholar, but at least it has sources at the end.  Truly, I learned so much from reading this book and discussing it with my kids, I’m even thinking I might need to gift my mom a copy for Eid. It works for adults and kids alike, a few pages at a time at bedtime, in a classroom setting, as a resource.  I hope books like this become the norm for teaching Islamic history to our children, it really has raised the bar, alhumdulillah.

The book starts with the cover, the large 55 page hardback book with raised images, really sets the tone that this is going to be an experience.  The introduction starts with the basics explaining the value of lettering writing in history, it then establishes where the idea came from to reach out to Byzantium, Egypt, Persia, and Abyssinia.

It gives a brief timeline of the life of Prophet Muhammad saw, tells about the value of seals and what the Prophet’s seal looked like before starting the letters.  Then the four sections begin, the first being to Heraclius the Emperor of Byzantium, then Al-Muqawaqis also known as the Ruler of Egypt: Jurayj ibn Mina-Kiolos, Leader of the Copts, then King Chrosroes also known as the Shah of Persia Khosrow al-Parvaiz II, and then finally Al-Najashi also known as King Negus of Abyssinia As’hama Ibn Abjar.

The Final Thoughts discuss the impact even though most did not convert and offer the reader different aspects to consider while looking at the bigger picture.

The book won the Muslim Book Awards 2023 Non Fiction category and is available for purchase here at Crescent Moon Store.