Here are some resources to help mark the life of Bibi Zainab:
A puppet show on her birth:
A poem about Bibi Zainab:
Children’s Hour special on Bibi Zainab@
A visual look on her life:
An animation on her role in Kerbala:
A short clip on Bibi Zainab by a Catholic priest:
A book on Bibi Zainab (suitable for older children) can be downloaded here.
Here is a craft idea – this was done after discussing her qualities:
Here is another craft idea based on her timeline as sent in by a mum:
“My 6 year old daughter created this art on canvas showing Bibi Zainab (as) on Siratul Mustaqeem guiding us, through the lessons we learn from her life, all the way to Jannah!
She is holding an alam, and on her superheroine cape are written her titles, ‘Sharikatul Husayn – …Imam Husayn’s partner in his mission to save Islam’ and ‘Aalima Ghayr Mu’allima – One who knows without being taught’ (title given by Imam Zainul Abideen, as Bibi used to conduct Islamic classes for the women of Madina and Kufa and was revered for her knowledge and wisdom).
She also included Bibi’s famous, powerful and most profound words, summing up her life’s philosophy of placing Allah’s (swt) pleasure at the centre of all she did and thought: ‘I see nothing but beauty’ – ‘Ma ra’aitu illa jameela’ when asked by Ibne Ziyad at his court how she found the events of Karbala.
She drew and captioned pictures to create a simple timeline of her life, from her blessed birth to her death at 57 years.
Timeline:
Born on 5/5/5 – 5th Jamadil Awwal 5AH
At 7 years – Bibi Fatema (as), her mother, and Rasulullah (saw), her grandfather, pass away
At 12 years – she got married to Abdullah bin Jaffar e Tayyar and they had 6 kids including Awn and Muhammad
At 32 years, Imam Ali (as) became the khalifa and they moved to Kufa with him
At 35 years, the martyrdom of Imam Ali (as) takes place
Bibi then moved back to Madina to support Imam Hassan (as) in his imamat
At 45 years, Imam Hassan (as) is poisoned and passes away
At 55 years, she witnesses the tragedy of Karbala, Kufa, Shaam, back to Karbala on Arbaeen – Bibi established the institution of Majlis Al Husayn, Allah’s University! – and then return to Madina
At 57 years, she passed away – most say in Sham but there are also reports that she’s buried in Cairo, Egypt or Madina”
One mum said: ‘We spoke about Bibi Zainab’s line “I saw nothing but beauty” and we should see beauty in everything because everything was created by Allah. We then made these binoculars using cardboard tubes, coloured paper and ribbon.’
One mum said: ‘We held a small family majlis at home and talked about Bibi Zainab’s role in telling the people what happened to her brother, Imam Husayn. We did a little experiment to demonstrate how she established the concept of a majlis with the following simple story using a pack of Skittles, a plate and some warm water:
“After Bibi Zainab returned home, she gathered a group of people” (Put a handful of skittles on a plate) “She told them to sit around her” (Get kids to help arrange the skittles in a circle around the plate) “Bibi Zainab told them about what happened in Karbala. This made people sad and they began to cry” (Slowly pour warm water in the middle of the plate so it covers the whole plate and skittles) “And as they cried, their love for the Ahlulbayt became even stronger and the message of Islam was spread” (watch as the colours from the skittles spread through the water to make a beautiful pattern)’
We have previously done celebrating his birthday with a week of emulating his life here and here.
One mum did something similar, but in such an amazingly creative way! Check it out…
“Count down to the Holy Prophet’s khushali:
To make my kids learn and look forward to the Prophet’s birthday we made an advent calendar with 7 days of different activities.
We put together 7 tissue rolls and covered them with a coloured tissue. Each day had a learning activity about how the Prophet lived and how we could incorporate them in our daily lives. So in each tissue roll I put in a note of what they had to think about do.
Here’s what we did on each day:
1. We talked about the story of the Prophet and the sour grapes. How the poor man had brought the Prophet grapes and the Prophet ate them all himself and when the companions asked why he didn’t share he said they weren’t sweet and he didn’t want the poor man to feel sad if at all the companions made a face.
We learnt that we should share only what we like 🙂. I put in one tube of smarties for all to share!
2. We listed a few things that the prophet ate, eg. Dates, grapes, figs, honey,pomegranate, olive oil, etc. I put in some khajoor pak as a treat (because I didn’t have enough khajoor!)
3. Discussed how the prophet ate. I gave them a napkin each and asked them to write down how he ate so they can keep it with them at the table.
I got the kids small emoji pillows and wrapped them up and kept them in their beds. On a piece of cloth I wrote down simple things that they can do before/when sleeping to remind them of the prophet. They then stitched the cloth on to the back of the pillow and keep it with them in bed! They made small tasbeehs at madressa which fit on perfectly with the pillow so it all stays together.
5. After getting all these little pressies and being excited, it was only fair to remember the sick and less fortunate. So today’s task was to do something to make someone else happy!
6. Cleanliness. The prophet was always smart and clean..
For this, I got the kids some small things to remember what the prophet carried with him to be clean at all times. I got a small towel, perfume, hairbrush with mirror and a toothbrush (in place of miswak) I didn’t put in the toothpick and scissors for safety reasons.
7. On the last day I cut up some stars and asked the kids to write down what they had learnt over the past week and then put the stars up on our tree (Shajaratul Tayyibah) :). We also hung up the ornaments from Buzz Ideazz for the Prophet and Imam Jaffer Sadiq (as)’s birthday after decorating them!”
Alhamd have seen some really great interactive ideas for madressa/classes which I thought I’d share…
Take this one for example! Velcro detachable cards were made and the children took turns to stick them on. Was a great talking point for the Ahlul Kisa. Can be adapted for older children with more info, etc.
Here is another way to depict the family visually – through a family tree:
One mum held an Eid party for her sons and friends! They sang ‘Eid Mubarak To You’ while cutting the cake, and had the usual fun stuff of a bouncy castle and toys to make it extra special for the children.
Check out the Eid cake!
And I love these unique Eid cookie jars with moon cutter as a party favour!
Here are some Eid party games played at a Babble&Chat (Islamic Mother and Toddler session): – Pass the parcel with questions about the Holy Qur’an – Pin the crescent on the masjid – ‘Shaban, shaban, ramadhan’ (our version of ‘duck duck goose’) – Treasure hunt
I love the idea of using little bags and decorating them:
Here, each window has space for the children to write the Asma they learn that day:
This one has a good deed box as well for the children to pick a deed and do it every day:
This is a cute little basket with card envelopes to be opened each day:
This calendar has an Asma and an act of kindness to do daily:
The beautiful drawers for each day have a worksheet on the Quran and a sadqa coin for each child:
Another example of pretty little bags hung up:
And these drawers have even highlighted the important days with a little message:
Last but definitely not least, how about this one which was actually set up in the children’s section of a mosque! This is what they said: “After a short speech, a child is picked to choose something. It is either read dua, salaat or sometimes says each child gets a treat!”
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