The last time I had this feeling of dread, Dhuha took her faeces and spread them on her bedroom wall. After I cleaned her and her bedroom, I left her to play. Then she did it again, but this time in her sister’s room. It took ages to get it off the walls because of the textured wallpaper. My arm pained for two days. I hate textured wallpaper.

Last night, Dhuha snuck upstairs, while I was seeing to her brother. When I realised it had gone quiet, I rushed upstairs and found her and her wall covered with her faeces once again. The putrid but familiar smell was everywhere.

I put her in the bath, while I cleaned the walls. She loves the bath, so I allowed her to play. I went downstairs and started reading. About 10 to 15 minutes later, I heard a drip drip coming from the ceiling. I rushed upstairs and found Dhuha dumping large amounts of water onto the floor.

I stopped her and drained the water. Went downstairs and put a bowl underneath the drip. Went backup stairs and got Dhuha dressed. Came back down stairs to prevent the boy from playing with the bowl of water. Noticed that the ceiling was bowing where the drip was. I touched it gently and was shocked at how soft it was.

Dhuha came down and I prevented her from playing with the bowl of water. She went back up stairs. The ceiling bowed even more and finally came down. Abdurrahman was gasping at the dramatic scene and saying “Oh my God!”.

I cleaned the ceiling off the floor. It took a while. The hole is surprisingly large. When I went back upstairs to check on Dhuha and found that she had destroyed her nappy. I put her in the bathroom, while I cleaned up the new mess.

Finally, I gave her another bath. I didn’t let her play this time. Dried her off, dressed her. Went back downstairs and sat on the sofa and tried to contemplate what had happened over the last couple of hours.

Less than five minutes later there was a knock at the door, Zahira was home.

I get quizzed in this fashion often and I assume you do as well. It may be a natural tendency or a learned behaviour after centuries of division, however, we seem to seek out our differences before we seek what unites us.

If the answers are not exactly to the expectations of the questioner, he distances himself, refuses to collaborate and even fails to behave in an amicable way towards the unfortunate misguided respondent.

Not every division is so significant that it requires you to treat a Muslim as an outcast with leprosy. Neither is every difference so small that it can be safely ignored. It takes wisdom to know the difference.

I asked my son, ‘Do you love daddy?’. He replied, ‘No, I don’t’. Then smiled and ran away.

Most of the time, I fail to see that any of her behaviour is abnormal, even if that behaviour is disruptive. However, there are times when I think, “Man, that is autistic!”.

Reminders of Autism

Dhuha comes down for breakfast. I give her a bowl of cereal. Suddenly, she jumps up, runs and puts the slightly out-of-place sugar container back to its perfect position. She then runs back to her seat and eats her food.

Abdurrahman is playing a game with one of the doors. He wants it closed. Dhuha dislikes the door being closed and forces it open. Abdurrahman is shouting at her to stop it and she is screaming at him. He hits her. She holds the door open.

As soon as Dhuha woke up, I changed her nappy. After a half an hour, Zahira changes her nappy again. Ten minutes later, it looks like she needs to be changed again. Zahira checks her and discovers that she doesn’t need changed, she’s stuffed four toy cars down her pants.

The joys of autism.

Allah says in His Quran (5:5):

Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibat. The food of the people of the Scripture is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them.

It is clear from the above ayah that their food, including meats, cheeses, vegetables, fruit, etc. are halaal. They remain halaal so long as they do not violate other dietary rules.

Allah says in His Quran (5:3):

Forbidden to you (for food) are: Al-Maytah (the dead animals), blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah, and that which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by the goring of horns ـand that which has been (partly) eaten by a wild animal ـunless you are able to slaughter it (before its death) – and that which is sacrificed (slaughtered) on An-Nusub (stone altars). .

It is very clear what is haraam. Included in maytah are modern day practices, such as electrocution. A Christian killing an animal in the name of Jesus would fall into that which has been slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than Allah.

A Word of Caution

There are some Muslims, who use this general rule as a blank check to eat any meat killed in nominally Christian countries, like America or Britain. There is a very real danger of falling into haraam by failing to scrutinise the source of our meat.

In many countries, haraam methods and inhumane practices of slaughter can cause the meat to fall into the category of maytah or become a violation of the animal’s rights.

Allah says in His Quran (21:107):

And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

Moreover, in many Western countries, it is more likely a non-Christian or non-Jew slaughters the animal. If you’re not sure a Christian, Jew or Muslim killed the animal, can we consider such meat lawful?

Take Away

In my opinion, if there is a Muslim slaughtered option take that first. If not, buy kosher or get your meat from Amish communities and their like. It is a stretch to apply the permissibility of the meat of Ahle Kitab to the industrial killings in America or Britain.

There are no better days than the Days of Eid. We Muslims are honoured above all others. Our days of celebration have been legislated by God.

Eid Mubarak!

Today is the Day of Arafat, when the pilgrims will be standing on Mount Arafat seeking forgiveness from their Lord, with wet eyes.

Allah ta’ala swore by this day in Surah Al-Buruj [85:3],

وَشَاهِدٍۢ وَمَشْهُودٍۢ

(I took this photo from The Meaning of Islam, without permission.)

It is recommend for those of us, who could not be present, to fast today. We all know that right? We’ve heard the lectures and read the blog posts.

Yet when my wife asked me yesterday evening if I was going to fast, I replied that I didn’t know. Even as I went to sleep last night, I wasn’t sure. When the alarm went off in the morning, I had forgotten all about it.

I had been fighting a battle. On one side, there was me, weak and pathetic. On the other Shaytan, who had been successfully beating me with a stick of stupidity.

Within a minute of my wife going downstairs to prepare her suhoor, with the loud clangs and bangs that disturb the night’s silence on these types of occasions, I was determined to fast as well.

My wife only asked me one time about fasting. She didn’t even mention it to me when she woke up or when I did eventually come down stairs, after making sure the boy was still asleep. There was no need, her action of getting out of bed was far more inspiring than any lecture or article that I’ve read.