aMuslima on the move.

Assallamu Alaikum –

working muslima put everything in one pot!

This is a mini snap shot of me. I am the gregarious working muslima.  Wife, mom, professional, maid, chef, cleaner and building aMuslima with my beloved sisters in Islam…

This is me.

I wake up before Fajr and pray Tahajjud (sometimes) or I tear downstairs bleary eyed and prepare breakfast and packed lunch for my beloved husband.  Ya Allah… I miss my warm bed!… but okay, I gotta do this… I pray and hope Allah hears me and that my husband is pleased with his meals and in turn pleased with me… Ya Allah I hope and wish you are pleased with me.  I quickly prepare breakfast which consist of toasty bread (not the sandwich stuff) I choose either my own round flat bread or in haste the square foccacia bread and I spread it with cheese and top it with Mortadella.  Hot Moroccan mint tea is cooking on the stove next to me, I can smell the mint in the air – its’ smell starts to pick my mood up! Done! One lunch down.  Husband leaves for work…I hasten my movements and take wudu’.  It’s now Fajr.  As I pray, my second team is heading down the stairs, ah… ok, what does this one want to eat for breakfast and pack for lunch? Let me think… oh wait!…that’s right… I am still praying…Astagfirullah!…I bow .. and insha Allah my prayer is accepted…

Alright. apparently the second one made his own lunch and breakfast … Masha Allah! Although lumbering along…he has already prepared himself for school…and is now hastening to make wudu and catch the last parts of Fajr… poor thing… May Allah bless him…Alright, so he is done…I grab my iPad and hunt for the last ayat I left of yesterday…ah, here it is… Bismillahirohmanirohim….oh…okay… getting up I send my second one (my eldest son) into the pitch black fajr for him to catch the bus at the corner of our street…ah… poor thing… he shrugs and says Sallam.. and off he goes…. Subhannallah!!! When did he grow up??? (*there was one day I pushed him out the door and thunder and lightening was clapping… what kind of mother am I?…but in defense, I would have been horrible driving him to school and he would have been late because his brother was still sound asleep…Allhamdullilah he arrived safely at school)…

ok…back to reading…20 minutes later … and really just around 20 ayats…okay.. I am a SLOW reader.. but I AM reading it in Arabic and I read the translations and take time to understand how it applies to what I am about to do for the rest of the day….I wonder if what I am doing is Baraqa…

Well..Bismillah… I still have 30 mins or so, so I turn on the exercise CD and sweat and pant for those 30 minutes… omg… you would think with all the running, cleaning, cooking I would be in shape.. nope. apparently not… ok… while still panting… I run upstairs to shower while shouting at the little one to WAKE UP!!! Ya’lah!! Wake up!!! … then.. I take my 1 minute shower and rummage my closet for something I do not need to iron. AH!.. here it is.. baggy pants and cotton dress shirt… grab my husband socks…and a hijab.. bang! Ready for work. Argh… the little one STILL sleeping…. so I shout some more.. and run down the stairs to prepare our breakfasts and lunches…..

….it’s now 7:10am and this little princess boy still hasn’t’ come down! OMG. Really? …come on! He just needs to wear shorts and a shirt — how complicated can that be?  shower? Omg… Americana boys no shower in the morning… — especially this one. Astagafirullah!  … ah.. here he is.. 7:15am… our breakfast and lunches are ready… and he mopes about fumbling around to put his lunch pack together…(It’s not that I am a lazy mom…I strongly believe in independence)… so, he’s sitting and chewing his food… bag packed and socks on… I am STILL running around the kitchen .. trying to make sure I don’t leave “presents” for my husband when he comes home.. (presents here = dirty dishes)…I had been doing that all last year… I swore I wouldn’t leave the WHOLE kitchen a mess when he got home…he didn’t complain.. but, I would be mad if he did that to me…Masha Allah he helps around the house.. vacumming, mowing the lawn, trash duty, mopping duty.. ..

It’s 7:45am. Let’s go!

I grab my bag …and shove whatever is left outside of it…grab out lunches, some water to-go..and the little one is trotting in front of me… we lock up the house and rush into the car… the little one telling me to hurry up so he can be the first one at the bus stop. Sheesh…But now I am seated comfortably in my car and drop the little one at the corner .. I wait till the bus comes and I pull away… I say hi to the other moms.. Ah.. he is on the bus.. and I am on my way to work.

Ok. I can’t listen to Quran in the morning because I am now thinking about dunia… so I turn on APM (AmericanPublicmedia) it’s talking in that natural radio voice giving updates about the running up Republicans and how they can’t seem to make up who will be the winner.. Romney vs Santorum… the Republican party is divided… then world news comes on… ah… relax comes over me.. as I weave in an out of traffic… 45  mins later .. I’m walking up the stairs to my dunia office… here we go again….

My 2 screen computer…. as I turn it on becomes alive… team members from around the world start talking to me …while I settle down and make some coffee (yeah..habitual coffee drinker)…ok… omg… there are 300+ emails and counting… I turn on my “command” central folders and up comes all of the different reporting systems that control data that flows in and out of this office seamlessly…..phone starts to ring… my colleagues file into the office saying good morning…..

…it’s noon… ah okay… hungry and brain is thumping… deals have been made, new strategies in place… it’s time to eat and pray Dhuhur… Allhamdullilah….soon time to go home… it’s 5pm… ah.. I gotta get out of here.. but West Coast is just coming back from lunch.. sigh… they are now starting to talk to me… phew…. ok… shutting down the computer.. I’m in my car speeding back home.. miss the boys….and did I take that chicken out of the freezer?… ah ok.. my mind is formulating something for dinner….

…1 hour later… I reach home… pray Ashr (yeah..Magrib here its around 7:30pm)…change my clothes.. and I am back in the kitchen…. making up some concoction..children doing homework .. screaming and talking.. ….wow…masha Allah….

7:30pm arrives and Allhamdullilah we get to pray Jemaah as a family…ah… nikmat.  Then quick dinner then wait for Isha while having small talk… (I don’t discuss work with my husband… I try to keep work at work)….Isha arrives.. we pray Jemaah again… and two more and one more rakaat.. the day is done…

oh wait.. that’s right.. my beloved sister asked me to edit an article.. and oh yes.. I need to follow up on some correspondence and don’t forget to get the tax rates for the shopping piece.. ….it’s now close to midnight. …. Allhamdullilah… I hope I have done good.  Allahu Alam…

my pillow greets me with a warm hug… my husband sound asleep… the house is still… wassallam…..

I am truly blessed and wouldn’t trade it for another kind of life.  My message here is to push yourself to do things that will enhance your hassanah and use your time very wisely… Allah accounts for everything!

 

 

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