Let's Learn Some Tajweed..

Let's us talk about Makharij!

Makharij means the place in your mouth from which sounds of letters come from.
You have to be very careful when saying letters which sound the same. For example, the letter ث  and the letter ذ  have a similar articulation point. In order to achieve the correct sound of letters you will need to know where the letter should come from and this may require fidgeting with your tongue slightly.

Below I have put together letters which have similar articulation points.

1) Throat Letters

So, there are 3 parts to the throat
خ and غ come from the uppermost part of the throat.
ح and ع come from the middle point of the throat.
هـ and ء come from the lowest part of the throat.

Basically, these letters are said from the throat without the use of the tongue, i.e. the tongue sits patiently at the bottom of the mouth. (if that makes sense). 

I have, yet, to find the real equivalent for the letters غ ,خ ع هـ (maybe, french or spanish has the corresponding sounds for these letters..hmm)

• خ (kha) = can sound similar to a water gurgling sound or maybe a light snoring sound (im not sure if im allowed to refer to an arabic letter to the sound of snoring ) okay, we know (from lesson 1) this is a heavy letter, so dont forget, when you are attempting the 'gurgles' or 'snores' to make it heavy.
• غ (gha) = no english word begins with the sound of this letter, unfortunately, so i guess you will have to work your throat  fun, fun, fun! p.s. this is also a heavy letter...
• ع ('ayn) = may need to put pressure with thumb on vocal cords - its a very difficult letter, I must say. maybe tighten the throat?...  if you've ever heard Arabs speaking and wondered what that peculiar sound was, well it's the notorious 'ayn! 
• ح (ha) = ahh finally, an easy one, err..kinda.. it sounds like the first letter in the word 'hungry' BUT with more air flowing out. 
• هـ = 'hello' BUT the 'h' is deep.. said in a manly tone. 

It's a Wrap!

I advice you go and have a 'hear' on YouTube as it will definitely be of benefit... i will be back to continue with the remaining letters soon, inshaAllah..

Love and Letters,

Glorious Colour...

As-salaamu 'alaikum!

How are my dear blogsters? I'm so sorry for being away from my blog but I've been so busy conjuring up a new 'dish of dresses' -yum yum and im too excited  It involves a lot of satin, silks, chiffons and splashes of COLOUR. We know that matching is a big NO no... So, the more mismatching an outfit the more fashionable it looks. Green hijaab, blue dress, mustard leggings, fuscia heels and red lips = getting carried away, definitely for a muslimah. 

Below two colours were combined together to create the perfect colourful dress! As this dress ends a few inches above the ankles you could wear a pair of blue leggings under it or even black if you wish to tone it down a bit.

InshaAllah, I will be finishing my colourful project soon, but in the meantime if you guys have some colour combinations that you would like to share then please do so.

Love and Colour

Raising Money And Having Fun

My idea of fun in winter is spending time in front of the fire place. Eating lots of chocolate. Watching my favourite show - the Middle (I am so addicted that I can watch it over and over again!) in my fluffy dressing gown. So, when I was asked by a friend to attend a 'Fun Day' taking place on Saturday, the first thing that came into my mind was, brrr!
I know a lot of people who go out, love activities, make snowmen, have snow fights, some even go for walks just so they can feel the cold air hitting their face - seriously!
But, this fun day is a little different. It's a fun day which will not ONLY put a smile on our children's faces when they are jumping on the bouncy castle or when they are eating fresh creamy cupcakes or when they are happily running around after having their faces painted, BUT it will help raise money for those who have suffered so much in the last few months- OUR children of Gaza.
Will I be given up my fluffy dressing gown to put a smile on my brothers and sisters in Gaza? Hell yeah!

Love and Smiles all round!

An Almond A Day... Keeps The Brain Awake!

The truth is, I totally forgot that I had embarked on this blog journey! haha how funny and forgetful of me. apologies. But surely, I'm not the only one who has fallen under the forgetful spell.
Anyway, I would like to share some fruity beneficial knowledge I came across this morning.

Fruit for Breakfast, Five Benefits

1. Between the hours of 7-11am the body is doing the heaviest detoxification, so eating fruits, specifically at this time, ensures healing energy is used for detoxification rather than wasted on digesting heavy fatty foods. 

2. Fruit for breakfast is the perfect way to break the overnight fast as it gently wakes the digestive system and metabolism up from a semi slumber, all without the harsh adrenal jolt of a coffee or fatty meal.

 
3. Fruit for breakfast promotes nice fluffy fruity floaters, in other words - large satisfying bowel movements! The fruit fibre cleans the colon like a broom, leaving you feeling light, refreshed and ready to go. 

4. If you eat enough fruit for breakfast you will not require a coffee as the natural fruit sugars keep the brain sharp and energised. 

5. People who eat fruit only for breakfast have been shown to be leaner, healthier and more productive during their day.

Love, fruit and almonds ;)

Tajweed

I will be making these tajweed lessons as simple as possible, inshaaAllah. I know how difficult and confusing learning tajweed can get. All the articulation points, vowels, lengthening, rules etc. that we have take in to our already busy brains can cause one to go into hiding and avoid learning it altogether.
Although, you may learn a vast amount from my teachings (inshaaAllah) it is still quite important that you seek a teacher whom you are able to hear saying the letters with their correct makhaarij (pronunciation).

The definition of tajweed is: articulating every letter from its articulation point and giving the letter its rights and dues of characteristics. In much simpler words, saying the letters of the Quran correctly and applying the rules that come with them. 

There are 28 Arabic letters - we refer to the hamza and alif as one letter.

Vowels in Arabic 

In the Arabic language we use symbols for vowels. 

(Some asian people refer to fatha as zubr, kasra as zeer and dhammah as peesh, but I think we will efface them out of our minds and start using the Arabic terminology - agree?  )

Fatha

When saying a 'fatha' letter you make an 'upward' sound, you have a sort of narrow smile on your face. Like this:  NOT like this:  

The Arabic alphabet

Above I explained that 'fatha' letters are said with a narrow smile, well, there is an exception (bet you're thinking, 'now is the time to run' - LOL)...

Some Arabic letters are known as heavy letters. There are 8 heavy letters:

These letters are said by narrowing your mouth and making an oval shape, something like this: . Be aware,  even though the shape of your mouth has altered slightly, that doesn't mean that the 'upwaard' fatha sound is changed. (I hope im making sense)

As you may have noticed - if you're paying attention, that is (beware I have a danda (stick) beside me) the letter 'ra' has the vowels 'fatha' and 'dhammah' on it. That is because the letter 'ra' is not always read with a heavy tone. If it has a kasra under it, it will be read lightly, and THAT is something we will discuss later...
Okay, now off you go in front of a mirror and start practising these letters, remember some are 'smiley' and some are 'angry' letters. I would also advice that you go onto YouTube and listen to the pronunciation of these heavy and light letters but please just stick with the vowel 'fatha' until you feel you're ready to move onto the other vowels.

(Gosh this was harder than I comprehended... )

Love and learn.

W-I-D-T

                                                           

                     
    If you are my Facebook friend then im sure you're familiar with WiDt. WiDt - what I did today- is something that I randomly type about: what i loved, found weird or did on that particular day. On here, I shall dedicate WiDt to Thursdays and WE can all share lists of things that we are loving this week...

I'll start off...

• Praying to Allah
• Memorising the first 10 ayahs of Surah Khaf
• Eating cupcakes whilst thinking of losing weight
• Applying make up
• Shoes
• Jewels 
• Relishing chicken at nandos
• Receiving a new collection of dresses (will be uploaded soon)
• Dreaming, reading, laughing   

Love and jewels

 

Winter...clothing

Winter is not for me and coats are not for me! LOL I guess its not only children who feel uncomfortable in a coat, which can limit upper body movement and one can feel very robotic in it. This winter, I have embarked on a 'no coat but still warm' journey, in order to create fashionable clothing that will keep women warm on these cold wintry days.. watch this space..

                                                                                                                                                                    

P.S  WINTER =

Love and marshmallows