All praise belongs to Allah, Who made me Muslim, made me love belief in Him, and made me hate disbelief in Him.

So much was going on that I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to blog about eid at the time. If you permit me, I would like to take a look back at that great day, which is probably my best eid ever.

The day began at fajr and then a cup of coffee, which in my opinion is the best of starts to any day. After that the morning was quite rushed. I showered, changed my clothes, ate a cookie, got the kids eid toys ready and then headed out the door for the eid salaah.

I was on my way to pray in the mosque but because I was running a bit late I decided to pray in the tent outside. I arrived at the tent early and sat in the front row after putting my shoes in in a little plastic bag and placing them out of the way. The air was cold and the breath of those making dhikr was visible all around. I took a moment to reflect. Allahu Akbar.

The khubah was a pleasure. The sheikh told the stories of Ibrahim, Ishmael and Hajar, their dedication to Islam and their contentment and sabr with the decree of the Almighty. May Allah’s mercy be upon them and all the Muslims.

I got back from eid salaah much later than expected and I didn’t bring my keys, which meant Zahira was no longer waiting for me and I was stuck outside for about 15mins. It was cold and I didn’t have a coat; good times.

After I finally got in the house, we got ready and went to visit my in-laws. We spent the rest of the day there. I drank coffee, ate cookies and other various eid treats, played with the kids and played xBox with my brother in-law. The conversation was light-hearted and everyone was amicable. It is what I would call near a perfect day.

Next eid I think it would be a good idea to take the kids somewhere. Perhaps we can get some of families together and let the kids have a day out playing as a group.

Here are some photographs from the day. I have some more, perhaps I’ll upload them another time.

Here are a couple of photos taken of Abu Bakr yesterday:

In his car seat:

Me holding him:

Him and his grandfather(nana):

back in his car seat:

These photos were taken in the first 10 days of Ramadan 1430:

Abu Bakr:

Dhuha:

Sabah:

Here are some photos of Sabah praying. We bought her a pink prayer rug yesterday, because  this Ramadan she has really taken to the salaah.  On most mornings, when she’s not sleeping over at her grandparents house, she wakes up and prays fajr along with Zahira or me.

This is a photo of Sabah and Dhuha in February 2008:

Sabah:

Dhuha:

Abu Bakr:

Abu Bakr and Mum:

Say hello to the newest member of my Islamic family, Abdurrahman:

He was born on July 8th 2009 at 8:20pm and weighed 7lbs 15.5 oz. All praise and thanks belong to Allah alone. We were at hospital for just over 17 hours, arriving at 8am and leaving at 1am the following morning.

It was a difficult day but it was also a day when duaas were answered. I would like to thank those Muslims that made duaa for my family yesterday and I pray Allah ta’ala grants you the best of this world and the next.

During this ordeal I thought a lot about how much my wife means to me and how much I appreciate what she does for her family on a daily basis and the pain and trails of pregnancy and child birth she bears to help our family grow. Brothers give a little thought for your mothers who suffered because of you and to your wives who suffer for your families. Every Muslim woman who endures pregnancy and child birth with patience for the sake of Allah deserves Jannah.

O Allah forgive the mothers of the Ummah of Muhammed and grant them paradise.

My wife likes to remind of a few days before Sabah was born, when we were lying in bed talking about it, full of excitement, and I tried to say that it was likely to be my last weekend not being a father. It came out, ‘you know this is probably the last weekend I’ll be fatherless’ to which my beloved wife said, ‘what is your father coming?’ and she began to laugh at me and still laughs at me when ever she thinks of it. After Abdurrahman was born she said, ‘you stopped being fatherless three times now’. She’s so sweet, isn’t she?

For those who don’t know Abdurrahman is a boy and while I guess I wanted a boy, since I already have two girls, I wasn’t and still not sure how I feel about it. Girls are just so wonderful, so sweet, so beautiful. If Allah had given me 10 girls without a son I would have been content.

One thing having a son does for me is the potential to carry on my family name, which I adopted when I accepted Islam. For those who will criticise me and say that it is Haraam to change your family’s name, I know the argument and I do not disagree, however, owing to my particular situation it is academic. Even if I desperately desired to change my name back, I wouldn’t be able.

It does bring me an enormous amount of pleasure thinking that my son will carry my name, my DNA, and have his own Islamic family and that my daughters will get married and give birth to pious Muslims, all by the Will of Allah. Knowing that my family and its Islamic future is secured. My father, an enemy of Islam, hoped that I would abandon Islam and that I would die on anything other than the deen of Allah. How he must feel knowing that there will be generations of Muslims descended from him. Men and women, who will love Allah and His prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and Allah will love them.

O Allah forgive me, forgive my family and forgive the Ummah of Muhammed for all its shortcomings and make us worthy of leading the world and establishing Your Shariah. O Allah make the women of this Ummah fertile and let the ranks of believing men and women swell until by sheer numbers we will be successful in making this world a place of worship exclusively for You.