Meet the Characters
This blog is about celebrating who we are as Muslim women. How we juggle from one role to another each and every day. Our modern lives are filled with new age chores to complete and no matter what, Islam still takes precedence in the lifestyle we lead.
We are excited to introduce to you our Muslim characters that we believe portray a bit of ourselves in each of them. Do we not juggle different aspects in our lives that make us who we are? We are natural learners and survivors whether we are in the house or in the workforce.
So follow each character as she explores and celebrates her life. We hope that you can identify with them and learn a few things along the way. Please share your thoughts and ideas with us….we will be happy to hear from you!
Introducing the Characters of JannahSteps…
BUSY BABY MAMA
Typically on the phone at all times, while multi tasking everything else in the house; she will barely miss burning her pot while checking emails, sorting her bills and planning play dates with her best friends’ kids. Her to-do list is as long as her hall way carpet.
She is the typical Muslim mom.
Carrying her little baby in one hand and guiding her toddler to the potty or reorganizing her schedule to include the latest extra-curricular activity for her older child- this mom is always on the run. She juggles raising children, making express gourmet meals, planning fun family activities, heading her children’s school PTO, and being a conscious citizen by volunteering at the local soup kitchen. She is also an expert on family finance and knows how to live on a dime.
Although she is consumed with her domestic duties, she finds time to sustain her other interests that include reading, decorating her home, gardening, crafts, and as if her life isn’t challenging enough she’ll take on the daily newspaper crossword puzzle!
Her husband is always the obstacles course as he throws different tasks at her already busy schedule. And somehow in the midst of all this chaos she is able to read the Quran and make her Salah for some spiritual recharge!
Busy Baby Mama is the parenting voice of Jannahsteps.
UMM PROFESSIONAL
Meet our Suze Orman of the Muslim world. She somehow has everything organized; her schedules are not always neat but are up to date. She is a confident and hard working Muslim business woman.
Placed on her desk are her never ending piles of folders, computer, the latest business report and a little alarm clock that goes off at Dhuhr time. On the phone or in a meeting, her voice is structured with a level of sophistication and humor.
Her day starts at dawn as she prepares for the rustle and bustle ahead. She whips up her children to a Muslim day care and Islamic school, and is off to work. She has watchful eyes on her children’s issues and tries very hard to keep on top of it all. She knows how a parent should deal with educators and school administrators. She keeps in touch with them via her blackberry as she helps them prepare for their annual fundraiser.
During the day, she jumps from one conference meeting to another, and takes her lunch break at Dhuhr time so she can fulfill her Islamic obligations. When she gets a moment, she turns to quranexplorer.com to catch up on some quiet Quran reading.
She’s an expert on time management and delegating tasks. She interacts with other creative women professionals and she works twice as hard to create clever business project plans to please her clients. She reads a lot to keep on top of the latest business news and is currently working on a secret project for Jannahsteps.
Umm Professional is the business voice for the Jannahsteps.
ARTSY UMMI
Eccentric, witty, eco-friendly and full of bright ideas is how we can best describe Artsy Ummi.
Walking into her house, you’d think you’ve gotten lost in an art gallery. It is filled with collected art and unfinished projects she herself is still working on. Each room boasts a unique theme and creative style….her friends are left mesmerized and are in awe of how wonderfully talented this young mom is. Often they would call her to decorate their newborn’s room or help with the lay out of their out dated living room.
From watercolors to artist clay, her oversized closet boasts of every art supply you can find at the art store. But it doesn’t stop there, because she is an expert recycler and will jump at every opportunity to create something new out of something old. She can turn a plastic bottle into an ipod purse or show up at Sunday school and help the kids make mini mosques out of cereal boxes.
She often involves her children when she is working on something; they’ll kneed the play dough while she shapes her Mexican influenced clay pot, or they’ll practice their strokes while she adds the finishing touches to her big canvas that she will donate for a masjid fundraiser or charity.
She encourages her children to find meaning in the art that they produce while thanking Allah for their talents. Together they reflect on how perfect an artist Allah is as they draw inspiration from this magnificent world that He has created with so many beautiful colors and ideas.
Her smiling and bubbly disposition often attracts her friends and their kids to her house to take part in art and craft activity parties she organizes for Eid or play dates. She works hard to create themed parties that put a big smile on all the kids’ faces. She’ll create a sewn or hand crafted toy for their Eid gift, or find something equally unique as she has tons of never ending ideas!
Artsy Ummi is the creative voice of Jannahsteps.
SISTER REMINDER
When Busy Baby Mama, Um Professional, Artsy Ummi, Globe Girl, and Sr. Alif have a question about Islam or need some good naseeha, they all know who to turn to. Someone they trust immensely, and that is Sister Reminder. She regards Islam to be a comprehensive, balanced way of life and the only true religion of Allah. She would rather pass the henna party for the halaqas. She is conscious about living a halal lifestyle and always strictly checking everything according to the Quran and Sunnah.
She volunteers her time to various activities that she deems gratifying. Whether it is at the masjid doing a simple act of collecting charity at the sisters’ section after Jummah, walking for autism, or painting signs for important rallies. She is always willing to offer her help and service to others.
She has taken it upon herself to be an ambassador of Islam. She’ll be the first to sign up at her children’s school or library to discuss Ramadan or Eid with her bag full of picture books and Islamic crafts. Or then, the first to represent the Muslims in interfaith dialogues at the local community center.
Sister Reminder makes sure all acts of hers and her family’s pleases Allah in every way. It doesn’t come easy to her; she works very hard at it! She believes in having a disciplined and balanced lifestyle. She devotes her time reading and completing her homework for the Seerah course she’s enrolled in, she holds weekly Quran study groups that are very dear to her, and she really enjoys spending time with people who remind her of Allah.
She’ll kick off her shoes to relax with her family on a weekend and perhaps play board games or catch a flick on the telly with her kids. She’s got a great sense of humor and has a wonderful inviting personality that makes even the most stubborn person melt in her company.
Sister Reminder is the voice of Islamic consciousness as a reminder for Jannahsteps.
GLOBE GIRL
Our Global info communicator seems to know a lot about this world. She’s learned a few fascinating facts on her travels with her husband that she loves to write about when she gets back home.
Experiencing different cultures and people give her a high. She makes friends easily as she bumps into them wherever she goes. She is a no fuss kind of girl. She can live out of her backpack if she has to, carrying with her only the bare essentials.
When she had accepted Islam three years ago, she had been to Mecca multiple times to performUmrah. Now, she’s really keen on doing Hajj and has been praying and doing a lot of research about it in the hope that it will happen soon. InshAllah.
She carries her prayer rug at all times and enjoys praying in the open fields of Ireland or in the busy streets of Egypt or wherever her travels take her to. When she’s on the move, she turns to her ipod to listen to the soothing voice of Sheikh Jibril reciting the Quran. With the help of her ipod and the Sheikh, she memorized the last Juz entirely on the road.
She keeps herself in check with some discipline and health tricks. She is a serious health and fitness freak – who is extremely interested in the organic lifestyle around the world, whether it is acupuncture, yoga or tai-chi. She doesn’t leave home without her herbal first aid kit.
And if she’s not jet setting on a plane to the capital of Morocco or trekking on Mount Sinai for some spiritual connect, she’s surfing the internet from the comfort of her own living room…planning her next adventure!
Globe Girl is the voice of international lifestyle for Jannahsteps.
SR. ALIF
Teaching had always been a passion for Sr. Alif. She was 5 years old when she knew what she was going to do with her life. Growing up in a family of professors and principals, she knew she had it in her blood!
When she was accepted as the Kindergarten teacher in a popular private school, she couldn’t help but believe that she was going to be really good at it! Taking classes by night and teaching by day, she worked her way up. She was without a doubt, the best in town and had offers pouring in from everywhere. In the span of 15 years, she taught every single elementary grade there was to teach. Until, she decided to settle in third grade. Third grade was by far the best class she had ever taught.
When news came that she was expecting her first child, she very happily and willingly (much to the disappointment of her students) decided to take time away from school so she could enjoy and raise her own. She home-schooled all her children with an A plus. Patience was her middle name!
Now that her children are much older, she uses her free time to help different schools, advice administrators and principals, lead programs there, head the Sunday school at the local masjid, and conduct teacher training workshops in Islamic schools. She finds life as an educational consultant very gratifying- being able to help so many and all at one time.
Her resources and contacts in the educational world are endless. Often you will find her researching the latest type of teaching method or the best wholesale website to buy your school supplies from.
Sr. Alif is the educator voice of Jannahsteps.