I know we all have our favorite places online, some blogs, an amazing forum, a “pirate” site with the latest (and oldest) links for shows and movies or just a website on one of our favorite subjects, hobby or passion.
Well, we have also all seen how either a blog we get updates or feeds from or even one we occasionally check in on has the first page starting with the usual “I know i haven’t written in a long time” and of course, you see i’m unfortunately no different from that HOWEVER, as you see, i didn’t start out that way, ha! I would like to apologise but again, that’s what’s expected and everyone else does and (while i am sorry) i will just say: refer to the first sentence. That’s what has caused my absence and what I have been doing all this time instead of posting. Just kidding. I really have been busy I’m just sure yall are tired of hearing that from the other blogs you’ve read and i feel bad for still saying it. I’m almost positive i said it a few posts ago which may have been a year ago, i hope not!
TO PROCEED on the subject of my post: I found an amazing book online that seriously fills a void in me i had since a child wondering about the past and those great Prophets from the Bible almost everyone knew about and WHERE they lived and came from. As a smart child, i knew all History we learned and were taught could not be 100% accurate with many holes, gaps and theories so these events, dates and people that interested me were still so mysterious because of so many unanswered questions i had. Where did they live? How do we know? When did they live? Why did certain events happen? What kind of people were they?
Of course, in relation to mankind and its intentions and actions and much of ancient History most of my questions were answered when at age twenty, i read the Quran but that was later, almost the culmination of my quest of unanswered questions from childhood. Between age ten and twenty-five more questions I had in my mind about History were answered by my Dad, other adults, my elders, and reading about it myself than any school I attended. The questions I had about History and the past were resolved by living, learning and talking to people and gave me more satisfaction than any high school or college class.
I have always wanted to read or learn about History in chronological order, as it happened. To me, it just made sense. Even as a child, I always wanted to learn about History from a balanced, unbiased perspective. I doubted America, the domination of the world who sets the tone for the globe and spends years teaching its students our mere 200+ years of History when compared to global History is less than 5% on the timeline, would teach me History fairly. When even in this “modern” time of freedom and civil and racial “equality” some states are trying to remove American slavery from the History textbooks? Even when I was eight I knew our textbooks were not fair and glorified our way of life and “freedom and democracy” as the only way of life and superior to all other cultures.
It also bothered me that even when delving into learning about other countries, religions and cultures I had no idea what was going on in other parts of the world at the same time. I had no idea what was going on in China when Columbus supposedly discovered America. Or what was going on in Turkey, Russia or even South America when the light bulb was invented. There was no cohesion, no connection, no real comprehension when i didn’t study History chronologically and look at what the people in all different parts of the globe were all doing at the same time period.
I have always wanted to learn History from the beginning, in order, and develop a thorough understanding. I did find someone who accomplished close to this and it’s not translated to English yet and i will come back to that later when i edit the post. Originally I wanted to make a quick post on this book as I have been putting it off, but you see how i got off in a tangent.
TO PROCEED: (boy it would’ve been easier to scan down to THIS one, lol) The book is called “Atlas of the Quran” recently published in English. It has no other counterpart in English that I know of, and I’ve read as well is in a class by itself. Here is a statement from the publishers about it: “ An Authentic Collection of the Qur’anic Information with Maps, Tables and Pictures. This Atlas is new in its subject, a subject that has not been touched before. It helps whoever recites the Quran or studies it to specify the locations mentioned by the Noble Verses, and to mark those places of ancient people mentioned in the Qur’an. This is besides locating areas where the incidents of the prophetic Seerah occurred” Dar-us-Salam publications. Ok, that’s a little drier than i remember it. I guess I was really excited when I found it. I was even happier when i did a search and found it in a few places online, available to read or download. Here is one place : http://www.kalamullah.com/atlas-of-the-quran.html i think i also saw it on Wiziq as well as scribd.
AND last week i also found out all this time i have been saying wiziq when it is pronounced WIZ I.Q. quite embarrassing when a sister pointed that out, especially when you actually look at the name icon it’s obvious. I almost blurted out my own “IQ” to prove i had all my lightbulbs on upstairs. Who even SAYS that anymore? Oh, yeah just another reminder that i’m getting old and sounding more and more like my father everyday,,,”I remember when a McDonald’s hamburger was five cents…” lol
So, there you go, there’s the link. It is an amazing book, check it out. I hate spending money in fact, i always thought it was a virtue but discovered, no saving money and THINGS is actually closer to an obsession and part of my OCD. I didn’t learn about that either till a sister gently pointed out I look it up online and myLord, I see a picture of someone’s bookcase with OCD and the books were all symmetrical with the tallest on the sides down to the shortest in the middle and arranged by subject. I thought everyone did that it just looks better. I never considered OCD because im not a clean freak or germaphobic and not always clean because i’m thrifty…..i save things. Well, i realized i WOULD be into perfection and have an orderly, spotless house if i didn’t have KIDS and i was messy not spotless because i am a ….hoarder. uhg, i said it. I guess the positive thing about it, having OCD, i am an organized hoarder. I always called my dad a “packrat” and everyone did also wow, ding! After seeing that A&E show i realized, no he was a hoarder.
Growing up, we always had many books and magazines (don’t get me started on my dad’s mags). I have never thrown any book out and the only ones I no longer have were loaned out or lost. So i have over a hundred books al hamdulilah, organized and straight. Wait, lemme go check…
I forgot about the ones strewn about the house we’re currently reading or referencing. I have been getting a lot of cheap(or free) bookmarks lately because i find myself and kids using many books at once and don’t wanna continue the spread eagle way of laying them down to mark the place. What does everyone else use? Sometimes I leave a pencil laying inside to mark my place because its handy usually i have it to lightly mark a word I want to look up or important point. Of course, i lose my place as soon as DH or DD needs a pencil and can’t find one. I yell, “Go look in my book laying on my bathroom counter!” lol
Soo a bit embarrassing mentioning my ….interesting quirks but i don’t feel too bad or worried because I know im not crazy. You know Ellen? Ellen DeGeneres? I don’t agree with her on everything (of course) but she writes books exactly the way she talks. And, having read a couple of her books I see I write and seem to have the same thought process/tangent thinking she does. Perhaps she spends hours on her standup or dialogue for her show and days writing her books, i dunno. Gosh, now i was convinced if my thought process was like Ellen’s and SHES not crazy that i shouldnt worry if anyone thinks I AM. Boy, i just blew that. If she spends hours preparing her funny, witty, diagram like spealls then it’s not in the moment and i am NOT like her…who is normal, not crazy. lol.
From what i just said I seriously need to go back to that beginning course in Logic book. It’s not that Logic thrills me, thou i feel it has a place in Classical Education and learning comprehensive, rational thought but i was, what i call, de-shirking the manual, making it safe and friendly for my kids:) I need to go back and finish it. The pencil is gone now so if i can only find my place…
I SHALL BE BACK …..
P.S. I forgot to say i was so impressed with the book and purely fascinated by its scope I bought it. Getting it in the mail for my kids and i was like getting a present, how awesome they love that not ‘real’ presents.
Anyway, I have been supplementing Atlas of the Quran and Ibn Kathir’s The Prophets with the state of Georgia’s k12 History course. It substitutes and compliments it wonderfully and we are to Prophet Sulaiman now. The k12 History curriculum starts off with ’beginning’ man and the Fertile Crescent, Babylon, Sumeria and Egypt and tells the some of the stories of the Biblical prophets as well. So far, it is NEARLY chronological and where in conflict, i made adjustments. I am pleasantly surprised how well The Atlas of the Quran works with Ibn Kathir’s the Prophets. I will write more later on the specifics of how I taught DS History, moved things around and what was supplemented or substituted, inshaAllah. He is really enjoying the online History and the time we as a family, learn the Prophets and people in Ancient History. Lately, we play a game who can recall and list the Prophets alahi salam in order and DS is actually winning over DD and I. Yes, i may be teaching it, but I grew up reading the Bible, some of the Quranic Prophets are not in the Bible. Allah subhanna wa ta’ala says in his book that He sent a Prophet to every nation. We don’t know about them all. Does anyone know about how many? Someone told me once it’s like one hundred thousand?
Of course they all came with the same message: Allah is One, and without partner. Tawheed. La ilaha il’Allah . And the final messenger, the seal of all Prophets, Muhammad, salla lahu alahi wa salam. There is no God worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.
In chapter eighteen, verse one hundred ten of the Qur’aan:
“Say (O Muhammad ): I am only a man like you, it has been inspired to me that your Ilah (God) is One Ilah (God, –i.e. Allah). So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord.”
The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” And they say,
“We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination.” (2: 285)
Say, ‘We have believed in Allah and in what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Descendants, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are muslims [submitting] to Him.’ ” (3: 84)
Thank you for your patience, we have been really busy since Dd age 12 now, decided to “quit school” She wanted to homeschool and All praise is due to Allah alone. She said they weren’t mean to her or anything (she is the only hijaabi at her school though there are many Muslim children there al hamdulilah) but that she didn’t like how they behaved and they were cruel to each other. I used to say to her I knew she wasn’t ready for middle school because the children become very cruel then and everything is about clothes, popularity and whether you have a boyfriend. There is also a lot of bullying and now, drugs. So I am glad she came to this decision. Georgia Cyber Academy, the school her brother is in is full and not taking students till next year so for now we will begin once again with all the books I own and loosely following the Well Trained Mind, inshAllah. I also ordered her k12 Math and Latin and we should get it on Tuesday. We are so excited and she said when UPS comes SHE will get the package and SHE will unpack it and store it in her room, NOT me! Getting mail and packages at our house is like Christmas. Lol, so to speak. AstagfurAllah :p 
when many of them haven’t read the Quran only believing the media and what THEIR preachers say about Islam.
