I am available to do another tour in the late spring,  anywhere in the world!  One could inquire at maryistanbul@gmail.com

For now, following this link http://cdbaby.com/cd/mehdedmaryamsinclair2 will take you to the Bowing of the Stars order page, where you can hear a sample from each track and order a download! And clicking on   http://cdbaby.com/cd/mehdedmaryamsinclair will take you the the page featuring A Mercy to the Worlds.

My new book, When Wings Expand, is in its final stages of revision now and will be published early next year by Kube Publishing UK. I am fortunate to be working with a brilliant and very patient editor, Yosef Smythe, and fortunate too that my mentors Pattie Gauch and Kim Griswald, with whom I worked in two amazing Highlights Foundation Founders Workshops, have read generous parts of the manuscript and have made their considerable experience and expertise available to me, alhamdulillah.

Here’s an excerpt from When Wings Expand, the journal of a 12-year old Muslim girl living in Toronto:

Monday July 14, 2008

I walked through the house this morning before everyone got up and the silence really scared me. Mehmed woke up next, calling out for Mama. When I went into his room he just turned away from me and stuck his head under the covers. I felt so hurt, especially after last night. I ran back to my room and threw myself onto my settee. My throat was aching and I just started to cry and cry like I would never be able to stop. I didn’t know how to be different, to be strong. It was all just a bunch of words, Buraq. I was remembering the butterfly on the sunflower, and the feeling that Mama was soaring away somewhere, and that I had wings beginning to grow, but none of that was real! It was just all my imagination!  Why couldn’t she just have beautiful wings in this life here with me? Why did she need to die?? When I saw the butterfly fly away, I saw my mother and her beauty and her grace flying away from me. I wanted her here with me! I cried harder and harder and harder but I began to see that no amount of crying would change anything, and finally I felt Baba sit on the floor beside the settee. “I’m here, Nur. I love you.”  Buraq, it was amazing. He didn’t have to say anything…I just felt the pressure leave me slowly, and I actually started to feel almost like peace come into my heart. Mehmed came in and crawled onto my bed, and we all just stayed there together, me and Mehmed on my bed, Baba on the floor, for a long time.

Then suddenly Baba jumped up. “Right!” he said. Grab the grapefruits and let’s go!”

“Where?” Mehmed asked.

“To the waterfall!”

It really helps to be in the woods, you know, Buraq?

The waterfall crashes
deafening.
And yet within the roar
There is silence.
This is what
Takes me into itself
And I go, leaving behind the sadness
That roars in me.
Then I remember
What Mama always said to me,
Wait. You will see. Allah is cherishing you...

How does Baba know that bringing us to the waterfall is the best possible medicine? Even Mehmed was smiling sometimes by the time we got into the car to come back. In the afternoon Baba took us back to the cemetery. We lay down together on the grass near Mama’s grave and Baba asked Allah to reach into our hearts and heal the wound that her dying is for us.

Eid mubarak!

May these last ten days of Ramadan bring you deep intimacy with Allah and His grace in every aspect of your lives.

For now, following this link http://cdbaby.com/cd/mehdedmaryamsinclair2 will take you to the Bowing of the Stars order page, where you can hear a sample from each track and order a download! And clicking on   http://cdbaby.com/cd/mehdedmaryamsinclair will take you the the page featuring A Mercy to the Worlds.

My new book, When Wings Expand, is in its final stages of revision now and will be published early next year by Kube Publishing UK. I am fortunate to be working with a brilliant and very patient editor, Yosef Smythe, and fortunate too that my mentors Pattie Gauch and Kim Griswald, with whom I worked in two amazing Highlights Foundation Founders Workshops, have read generous parts of the manuscript and have made their considerable experience and expertise available to me, alhamdulillah.

Here’s an excerpt from When Wings Expand, the journal of a 12-year old Muslim girl living in Toronto:

Monday July 14, 2008

I walked through the house this morning before everyone got up and the silence really scared me. Mehmed woke up next, calling out for Mama. When I went into his room he just turned away from me and stuck his head under the covers. I felt so hurt, especially after last night. I ran back to my room and threw myself onto my settee. My throat was aching and I just started to cry and cry like I would never be able to stop. I didn’t know how to be different, to be strong. It was all just a bunch of words, Buraq. I was remembering the butterfly on the sunflower, and the feeling that Mama was soaring away somewhere, and that I had wings beginning to grow, but none of that was real! It was just all my imagination!  Why couldn’t she just have beautiful wings in this life here with me? Why did she need to die?? When I saw the butterfly fly away, I saw my mother and her beauty and her grace flying away from me. I wanted her here with me! I cried harder and harder and harder but I began to see that no amount of crying would change anything, and finally I felt Baba sit on the floor beside the settee. “I’m here, Nur. I love you.”  Buraq, it was amazing. He didn’t have to say anything…I just felt the pressure leave me slowly, and I actually started to feel almost like peace come into my heart. Mehmed came in and crawled onto my bed, and we all just stayed there together, me and Mehmed on my bed, Baba on the floor, for a long time.

Then suddenly Baba jumped up. “Right!” he said. Grab the grapefruits and let’s go!”

“Where?” Mehmed asked.

“To the waterfall!”

It really helps to be in the woods, you know, Buraq?

The waterfall crashes
deafening.
And yet within the roar
There is silence.
This is what
Takes me into itself
And I go, leaving behind the sadness
That roars in me.
Then I remember
What Mama always said to me,
Wait. You will see. Allah is cherishing you...

How does Baba know that bringing us to the waterfall is the best possible medicine? Even Mehmed was smiling sometimes by the time we got into the car to come back. In the afternoon Baba took us back to the cemetery. We lay down together on the grass near Mama’s grave and Baba asked Allah to reach into our hearts and heal the wound that her dying is for us.

A Mercy to the Worlds - the Coming of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and give him peace $10 US

Through light-hearted and gentle storytelling that inspires love and longing for Allah and His Messenger, Ms. Sinclair introduces children to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and give him peace. She verifies for them, in a way appropriate to their needs, that Islam is the culmination of the Message of Allah, a message that opened with Adam, peace upon him, and was sealed with Muhammad, may Allah bless him and give him peace, renewed through time and purified from human alteration by the prophets in between,  peace upon them one and all.

Sheikh Nuh al-Qudat, former Mufti of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

My daughter can now act out entire scenes from A Mercy to the Worlds. She loves it so much, it’s the only CD we’re allowed to play in our car! I even feel her English has improved because she now uses words like ‘surely’ and ‘alas.’

Rohi Padela, New Jersey

Give a listen!

Also available:

Moments form the Life of the Prophet Yusuf, peace upon him $13US

My 6-year-old granddaughter Halima spent several weeks listening daily to The Bowing of the Stars. Then she put it aside. Two days ago she was revisiting it for the first time in a couple of months. When she came to the scene with Yusuf, peace upon him, in the bottom of the well, she ran into my kitchen.  Grandma! I just remembered something! I fell down in the garden, like this. She threw herself on the floor. And when I was laying there on the stones I remembered Prophet Yusuf in the bottom of the well, how he was making dua, and I made dua! Halima bint Ibrahim

YES!!!!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE her stories – ‘when I grow up’ I want to tell stories like her too. In fact, she has inspired me to try a little more with my own storytelling to children, but her CD’s never fail to give even me goosebumps as the story unfolds and carries you to a time and place as if you were to almost witness it. I could rave a long time masha’Allah. We have the Bowing of the Stars and the Year of the Elephant. The Qur’an recital is superb masha’Allah too. I forget who recites, but it’s beautiful. From Mothering Magazine Forums

My four-year old son Dawoud and I were spellbound by this telling, dazzled by the grandeur of the story. For the first time I felt the beautiful reality of the Prophet Yusuf, the magnificence of his personality. The next day, Dawoud retold all of the part we had heard to his father. He still wants to listen again and again and his understanding grows each time. Heba Salem, Jordan

and

Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant $10US

I’ve been playing Miraculous Happenings for a few days straight and noticed that my daughter has actually memorized parts of the story,  and she is only 18 months old!! I was doubtful at first so I’ve kept  playing it every day so I could pay attention.  I can tell she has memorized parts of the story because her actions usually precede the sound effects/dialogue that she seems to be imitating rather than afterwards. Muna, Kuwait

Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant book $15US

A Trust of Treasures book $15

A Trust of Treasures can be ordered by writing to maryistanbul@gmail.com  $15

Look at what’s  possible with materials from Nur al Qasas:
There was a gathering of three families, and there were 7 children there, ranging in age from 3 to 13. The youngest four were girls, the oldest three were boys. Since the oldest girl, 7, was sister to the boys, they were all together. They had been harmoniously busy together for an hour or so; I walked into the room where they were, and found them

sitting together around the oldest boy, who held a copy of  Miraculous Happenings so that the other children clustered around him could see the illustrations. The Miraculous Happenings CD was playing, and some of the children were speaking along with the CD as it played, and the boy was pointing to illustrations as they listened.

It struck me that

*they had come to this activity entirely on their own,

*they were involved enough in the text to want to speak its words while listening,

and, most important,

*they were vitally involved with matters of Qur’an. It wasn’t just something you were supposed to learn about; it was fun, and engaging, and something to share and delight in, which is the work of childhood.

How different from the scenario a Toronto friend once told me, “I had a huge group of eleven-year-olds and not one of them had ever had anyone tell them the story behind the Qur’anic Chapter of the Elephant.

I also spoke on the telephone to a mother who was reading the Miraculous book to her two boys ages 2 1/2 and 4. This doesn’t seem particularly interesting unless you know that the text of the book is quite difficult, not an easy one for small children to enter, certainly not written for toddlers and young children. But it was possible for her because those boys have been listening to the CD for the past two years. Her oldest boy went through a time when he insisted on listening every day…the sound effects, the drums, the voice were enough to keep his attention even though he surely could not have understood the story. But all that previous listening serves now as a magnet, and now they are able to stay absorbed while their mother reads it to them. I am certain there must still be things they cannot understand but their willingness to listen shows that their understanding is growing. They are actively involved with difficult language…it has pulled them in.

On another occasion I listened from another room as my two granddaughters, almost 4 and 6, play-acted a huge piece of Miraculous Happenings, even producing phrases and vocabulary they had heard on the CD. No one had ever suggested that to them, they came to it on their own, and children do when they are not preoccupied with television and electronics.

I am writing these out to you in hopes that you might share them with folks you know,  that they might come to understand the potential for capturing their children’s imaginations with the Real, for giving them materials that will directly improve their children’s language capacity, and for supporting social activity among their children that is beneficial and meaningful.

Here’s an audio sample:

To order the book or CD, write to maryistanbul@gmail.com

A mother on a homeschooling list I belong to asked if anyone had a skit dealing with the story of Hajar, may Allah be pleased with her, and Zam Zam. That put me in mind of the very happy memories I have from being in the classroom these past years and doing activities with children to develop a love and yearning in them for the truths of their tradition.

A skit has its difficulties sometimes…it seems that children are not to be allowed to play the parts of the Prophets, or the Companions, which is always a little hard, because playing roles is how young children learn best. I pray that someday I might have the opportunity to talk in depth with a fiqh master about these subjects. Perhaps, since there is a big difference between a classroom or household of small children trying to grow and learn and a “theater company” of adults portraying roles for show rather than for play, there could be a different ruling…only a gingerly asking, since I am not a scholar of fiqh.

For the meantime there are always several ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes. One of those ways is replacing a skit with a group storytelling. Then each child is memorizing small parts of the story, as well as hearing the other parts over and over again as the performance is rehearsed. And for those skittish about having their kids “perform” I say that nothing else really drives stories and images home to the heart like challenging oneself to get them ready to communicate with an audience. It is really hard work and a great occasion for children to rely on Allah and ask Him to perfect their intentions.

So for anyone looking for material for using with children, whether simply to read to them or organize a special event at school or at home, here is a script for a group storytelling. It is in three parts; if it seems long, you can just use part 3 especially for the hajj season. You can divide up the lines however you like depending on the ages of your children and how many there are. You can practice all together sitting in a circle, and when the children have learned their lines you can arange them however you like in the space you are using, sitting or kneeling or standing still, ar even sometimes walking.

Or you could just usethe script for reading aloud to them.

In any case, working out a rhythmic chant for the refrain, and finding a tune for the little song might give lots of enjoyment. I have my own tune, but can’t sing to you over the net, so unless you are a sister and you call me, you are on your own!

I’d be so happy to know if it was of benefit for you, so please write and let me know!

SAYYIDINA IBRAHIM, THE FRIEND OF ALLAH

Ya Allah, teach us the truth of his life, that we may learn to please You and be pleasing to You.

Part 1

(Refrain, sung or chanted, repeated the same way each time:)

La illaha ilAllah Ibrahim, Khalil Allah

“Whoever enters the Station of Sayyidina Ibrahim will find security.” (Qur’an 3:97)

Ya Sayyidina Ibrahim! Peace upon you! Allah gave you wisdom when you were just a child, like me.

We want to tell your story, so that its meanings and lessons will grow in us.

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

As a boy, Sayyidina Ibrahim hated the statues of wood and stone.

He went to his father in his workshop.

“What are these statues  you are carving, Father?” you asked. “Do they benefit you?”

“Our fathers worshipped them,” the old man said proudly.

“Nay, Father! Worship Allah who is Lord of the heavens and the earth.”

Sayyidina Ibrahim hated moon and star worship.

He tried to teach his people. “The moon sets. I love not that which sets. The stars set. I love not that which sets. The sun sets. I love not that which sets.”

He stood up to King Nimrod.

“Allah gives life and causes death.”

But the said, “No! I give life and cause death!”

“Then,” Sayyidina Ibrahim said, “Make the sun rise in the west!”

The king was angry! “Who is this man? Throw him out!”

Sayyidina Ibrahim smashed the idols, so they threw him in the fire. Allah said, “Oh fire! Be cool!” And it was. It was like a garden inside.

Jibreel came to help. “May I bring you something? May I do anything?”

“I rely on Allah alone,” Sayyidina Ibrahim said. And Allah was pleased. May He be pleased with us!”

A man said, “What a big fire!”

A woman said, “It’s burning!”

A girl said, “We can’t get near it!”

A grandfather said, “It’s white hot!”

A grandmother said, “Ow! My face is burning!”

A little boy said, “Look! It’s a garden inside!”

The people were surprised.

Then, Sayyidina Ibrahim stepped out of the fire. “I love my father, but I love Allah more. I will leave him. I will leave my homeland for the sake of Allah.”

Sometimes Allah wants something from us, and we can’t understand why. But Sayyidina Ibrahim said, “Yes!” He said, “Yes!” He said, “Yes!” He said, “Yes!” And Allah was pleased with him. May He be pleased with us. May we learn to say, “Yes!”

La illaha illAllah, Ibrahim, Khalil Allah.

PART 2

La illah illAllah Ibrahim, Khalil Allah

When Sayyidina Ibrahim was very old, he loved his wife Hajar and his son, Ismail.

They were very happy. But Allah wanted something and he said, “YES!”

Allah wanted him to leave Hajar and Ismail at a holy place in the desert.

La illaha ilAllah Ibrahim Khalil Allah

Sayyidina Ibrahim, you took them to the desert. When you started to go away, Hajar said,

“Sayyidina Ibrahim, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going? Sayyidina Ibrahim, has Allah asked you to do this?”

“Yes,” he answered.

And Hajar said, “Then we will rely on Him.”

Sayyidina Ibrahim prayed and prayed for them. “O Allah. Give them fruits! Send them people who will love them!”

Hajar ran back and forth between Safa and Marwa seven times. She was frightened. The baby was crying. She was praying.

Then she saw the Angel Jibreel. He kicked the sand and the waters of Zam Zam gushed out!

Hajar ran to the water. She drank some. She gave some to her baby. She washed her face, and her baby’s face. She made a deep place in the sand for the water to make a pool.

Birds came to share the water. “Caw, caw, caw,” they sang.

Far far away, people saw the birds. One man said, “Look! Birds! There must be water!”

His friend said, “Let’s go and see!”

They went across the wide sands to the well and saw Hajar and Ismail. Allah made them want to help them.

From miles around other people came to the well of Zam Zam. They began building the city of Mecca.

Ismail and Hajar were the beginnings of the city of Mecca!

Sayyidina Ibrahim, you didn’t want to leave your family in the desert, but you wanted what Allah wanted, and so you said, “Yes” to Allah. And Allah gave so much in return!

It’s always that way. We take one step towards Allah, He takes ten steps towards us!

Sometimes Allah wants something from us, and we can’t understand why. But Sayyidina Ibrahim said, “Yes!”

He said, “Yes!” He said, “Yes!” He said, “Yes!”

And Allah was pleased with him. May He be pleased with us. May we learn to say, “Yes!”

Mecca is a city of peace, alhamdulillah.

Mecca is a city of peace, alhamdulillah.

Mecca is a city of peace, alhamdulillah.

Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.

(It isn’t difficult to make up a tune for these lines, that everyone will sing together.)

PART 3

La illah illAllah Ibrahim, Khalil Allah

One day years later, Allah asked Sayyidina Ibrahim for something else, something much harder. He asked him to sacrifice his only son Ismail.

He went to see Ismail. The boy was working with a hammer and a chisel.

He said, “As salamualaykum ya Ismail.”

“Wa alaykum as salam, Father.”

“Ismail, I have something…..I have…..I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, Father?”

“I have seen in a vision….”

“Father, what is it?”

“I have seen in a vision that I am to sacrifice you, Ismail.”

Ismail was silent. He didn’t move, not even an eyelash. Sayyidina Ibrahim stood near him and put his hand on his back. After a moment, he asked,  “What do you say, Ismail?”

Ismail felt Allah making his heart very strong. He stood up straight and tall and took a deep breath.

He said, “Do what Allah wills, Father. InshaAllah you will find me one of the patient ones.”

They went out together to a large, flat rock. Sayyidina Ibrahim sharpened his best knife. Sayyidina Ismail lay on the ground with his head on the rock. They both  prayed and prayed.

But they say that when Sayyidina Ibrahim brought the knife to his boy’s neck, it wouldn’t cut! He threw the knife. It clattered to the stone. It cut the stone, just like cheese!

Then they heard a voice. “We reward you! Sacrifice this ram instead, and may peace be on you both!”

Allah sent a fat black ram with big horns. They cut it and gave meat to the poor.

Sayyidina Ibrahim, Allah gave you and your sons and your grandsons the gift of prophethood. Many prophets came from you!

For five thousand years, people have praised you, and remembered you,

and tried to be like you,

and named their sons after you.

and this is ‘Eid al Adha. Alhamdulillah!

La illah illAllah Ibrahim, Khalil Allah.

Here’s the link for the brand-new Sunni Path Downloads site:

Click on “For Kids” (though we know it’s not just for kids!) for a full listing of what’s available now: the three CD’s–the brand-new not-yet-even-pressed-yet Mercy to the Worlds, Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant, and The Bowing of the Stars, along with three shorts—From Torture to Triumph, Two Prophets in the Endless Sea of Allah’s Knowledge, and Walnut Remedy.

Visit today! Hear the samples! Order the downloads!

To order the books:  A Trust of Treasures and Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant and CD’s Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant, The Bowing of the Stars, and A Mercy to the Worlds,

write to maryistanbul@gmail.com

A Trust of Treasures is available from Amazon in Japan!

Available now from the Islamic Foundation Markfield website, and soon from bookstores in the US and the UK, and before long, inshaAllah from my new site, Stories of Light.com

OTHER NEWS

The Grand Mufti of Jordan Sheikh Nuh Ali Salman has heard parts of A Mercy to the Worlds-the Coming of Muhammad, May Allah bless him and give him peace, that were translated into Arabic for him. He said, “This is beautiful. It will surely inspire love for Allah and His Messenger. The Arabs need it too…please make an Arabic version.”   A preliminary translation was then made of the whole piece, and another mufti in his office both listened to the English recording and read the Arabic script and declared that it was sound, alhamdulillah.

We requested that the Grand Mufti make an official endorsement which can go on the CD cover. This will mean a lot, since one of the most remarkable qualities of Islam is authenticity. Every aspect of Islam has been painstakingly preserved and recorded, so instead of making up the traditions, as is necessary for the other religions since so much has been lost, there is meticulous scholarship and remarkable preservation of information. We received his page-long statement yesterday, and are very grateful for his generous assistance and support.  This means that the production and release of the CD are now imminent alhamdulillah! InshaAllah it will also be made available for purchase as an mp3 on the SunniPath site and later on my website Stories of Light.com. When you hear, you’ll see, inshaAllah.

The Nur al Qasas website, Stories of Light, is finally in the hands of a brilliant website-smith and inshaAllah will be operating within a couple of months. I know I have been known to say this before, but this time, God-willing, it will be accurate. From this website folks will inshaAllah be able to purchase mp3 downloads of the CD’s, along with several other shorter stories, some of which are accompanied by early-reader booklets so that kids and indeed any students of English can read and listen at the same time. These stories include From Torture to Triumph, the Story of Bilal ibn Rabah; Two Prophets in the Endless Sea of Allah’s Knowledge, the Story of Musa and Khadr, peace upon them; Ali Cogia and His Jar of Olives, from the cycle of Arabian Nights, along with several more too many to mention here. From this website inshaAllah it will also be possible to order the books Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant and  A Trust of Treasures, and the CD’s Miraculous Happenings, The Bowing of the Stars, and A Mercy to the Worlds.

A publisher in the UK has shown interest in The Bowing of the Stars as an illustrated book, and a brilliant young Jordanian artist has begun work on the illustrations. Please make dua for this endeavor. And consider this anecdote as you do so: my 5-year-old granddaughter Halima spent several weeks listening daily to The Bowing of the Stars. Then she put it aside. Two days ago she was revisiting it for the first time in a couple of months. When she came to the scene with Yusuf, peace upon him, in the bottom of the well, she ran into my kitchen. “Grandma! I just remembered something! I fell down in the garden, like this.”  She threw herself on the floor.  “And when I was laying there on the stones I remembered Prophet Yusuf in the bottom of the well, how he was making dua, and I made dua!”

May the Ummah be protected and kept in the arms of Infinite Mercy.

I ask for your duas for these miniscule endeavors, may they benefit the Believers, and may the ranks of the Believers swell and cover the earth.

To place an order, write to me at maryistanbul@gmail.com.

Other news: Sunni Path will be offering The Bowing of the Stars, Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant, A Mercy to the Worlds, and a few of the shorter stories as mp3 downloads for purchase on their site in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out. When you hear, you’ll see!