Tag Archives: Prophet Muhammad saw

Oct29

Here’s Our Religion by Jenny Molendyk Divleli illustrated by Dasril Iqbal Al Faruqi

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Here’s Our Religion by Jenny Molendyk Divleli illustrated by Dasril Iqbal Al Faruqi

This HUGE 14 page board book is such an engaging, teachable, and shareable book for toddler to early elementary aged children.  Similar to the author’s First Words in the Qur’an I can see this book being shared at story times and in classrooms regularly.  Each two page spread is literally a board book in and of itself.  With headings of: Ummah, Shahadah/Qur’an, Salah, Ramadan, Zaqat/Sadaqa, Hajj, and Prophet Muhammad (saw)/ Sunnah, kids will be able to deduce from the pictures and simple captions how the details relate to the theme, learn new information, review what they already know, and delight in the illustrations.

I don’t know that I would sit down with a toddler or preschooler and just read the book straight through very often, but when I was doing multiple story times a week, I had planned books for every theme highlighted in this book. I would have loved to be able to pull it out after a few stories had been read and used it as a review, where I could point to a picture and the kids could holler out what the illustration was teaching.  The large size would have saved me from having to make story board pieces, and the critical thinking would encourage comprehension and retention.  Example: learning about salah, and then opening to the salah spread, kids could see the vacuuming child and decode that we pray in clean places, that the picture of four people praying together is to learn/remind/teach that it is better to pray together.  

 

 

May11

The Prophet (salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)Described by Zaheer Khatri illustrated by Fatima Zahur, Elaine Limm and Jannah Haque

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The Prophet (salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam)Described by Zaheer Khatri illustrated by Fatima Zahur, Elaine Limm and Jannah Haque

prophet described

This 48 page rhyming prose filled picture book details our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw) in accordance with the Holy Qur’an and as stated by Hadith.  The repetitive refrain highlights the two-page spread’s thematic descriptions of Rasul Allah’s appearance, speech, mannerisms, walking style, etc., and the best part is, it is all sourced and referenced at the end.  It features the same two characters and the same layout, as The Prophet’s Pond, which this book even references, but notably, my copy of that book does not have faces in the illustrations of the boy and his mom, and this new book does.  I tried to see if you could find a faceless version and could not, perhaps, that option is forthcoming.  As I often remark to those around me, there are not that many books about Prophet Muhammad (saw) that are factual, but framed in a fictitious manner for children, or that are fun and playful, and this book helps fill that void in creating love and connection to the Prophet.  It is a bit text heavy and it is very thoughtful, but the repetition and rhyme along with the beautiful large horizontal illustrations, create a mood of reflection, appreciation, love, and admiration and will be suitable for ages five and up.

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Zayd and his mom are back and the book starts with Mummy telling Zayd that one day he will meet a special man inshaAllah, and Zayd asking her to give her details so that he can guess who it is. The first set of clues describe how gracious the most handsome man is, and how he will greet Zayd one day.

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The story then moves on to describe Prophet Muhammad’s fragrance, his hands, his words, his stature, his complexion, his hair, and so on.  As the details flow, Zayd and his Mummy journey through nature, standing near beaches, and forests, and rivers and waterfalls.  They cross a bridge on their way out of the city, and the full color pages move from night (or possibly really early morning) to day to night again.

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Zayd seems to know it is Prophet Muhammad (saw), but keeps begging to hear more details, before he proudly proclaims the only human whose beauty reaches so far is Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.  The book then says he will be waiting by a pond, but that is a story for another day, giving a shoutout to its companion book.

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There are questions recapping what is learned in the story before 10 pages of reference material.  It really is incredibly well done and is a great resource in addition to being a lovely story.  Thank you @crescentmoonstore for getting the book to me so quickly.

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