Ramadhan Story Book, Moon Phases

we read Fatima’s First Fast tonight: http://ad-duha.org/digital_library/Mini_Mumin/DS_FF_Flip/DS_FF_Flip.html

didn’t finish it, just read it halfway.

and explored the meaning of taqwa, from wiki(!):

According to Tafsir ibn Kathir, the root meaning of taqwa is to avoid what one dislikes. It was reported that Umar bin Khattab asked Ubay ibn Kaab about Taqwa. Ubay said, “Have you ever walked on a path that has thorns on it?” Umar said, “Yes.” Ubay asked, “What did you do then?” to which Umar replied, “I rolled up my sleeves and struggled.” Ubay said, “That is taqwa, to protect oneself from sin through life’s dangerous journey so that one can successfully complete the journey unscathed by sin.”

Ibn Abbas said about verse 2:5 in the Quran, “guidance for the Muttaqin”, that it means, “They are the believers who avoid shirk with Allah (swt) and who work in His obedience.” He also said that Al-Muttaqin means, “Those who fear Allah’s (swt) Punishment, which would result if they abandoned the true guidance that they recognize and know. They also hope in Allah’s (swt) Mercy by believing in what He revealed.”

and also looked at the moon (it’s 5th of Shaaban, 7th July) it’s a waxing crescent, but as I’m writing, it now says the moon has entered the first quarter and here’s is one of the best visual explanations of moon phases I’ve seen, unfortunately it’s not public domain, so no cut&pasting here

here’s a similar diagram:

from this page, with more explanations on seasons, eclipses,solstice,equinox etc.

and a moon calendar for one’s own locality.

Dinosaur Classification

http://www.txtwriter.com/backgrounders/Dinosaurs/DinoBGindex.html

Prophetic Timeline

http://www.prophetictimeline.com/Prophet/Timeline
Another cool, really beautiful timeline. A bit on Prophet Ibrahim (2000 BC) until 11 Hijrah (632 CE)

Great Lessons – Timelines

Creation of the Universe – now

http://eps.berkeley.edu/~saekow/chronozoom/launch/index.html

http://chronozoom.cloudapp.net/firstgeneration.aspx

Big History Timeline, one version is spread over a year:
http://www.bighistoryproject.com/Big-History/Timelines#

http://www.bighistoryproject.com/The-Latest-Word/BHP-TED-photo-gallery#

has an engaging talk by David Christian on the Big History, intro a bit boring for kids, history starts at ~4.20minutes on:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/david_christian_big_history.html
http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf
and the timelines can be downloaded here: http://www.bighistoryproject.com/The-Latest-Word/Download-Print-Big-History-Timelines
Here’s a nice simple timeline, with stargazer’s (astronomers) bio:

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/universe/itsawesome/cosmiccalendar/index.html

The creation of the Solar system/Earth – now

Interactive, chock packed with information:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/change/deeptime/index.html

Here’s a graphically excellent geologic timeline starting from the formation of Earth 4.5 billion years ago, except that it’s pro monkey to man evolution: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/prehistoric-time-line/

Anyway, Montessori’s own presented was a story, translated into English here: God Has No Hands

I’ve yet to work out how to do a series post. Anyway, I intend to edit the above link to be in line with Islam. So InshaAllah in a later post.

I saw something great about spotting galaxies in a Khan academy presentation, but have yet to locate it. Maybe later:

http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse

So, ain’t it all overwhelming? I’m looking for everything above laid out nicely a story in a book with magical illustrations, am I asking for too much? Here’s a poem from an overwhelmed poet anyway:

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
by Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

History of Writing

Arabic Script

A visually pleasing, easy to read history of arabic script and khat:

http://www.sakkal.com/ArtArabicCalligraphy.html

another shorter history of arabic script:

Arabic Script ala Montessori by Yemenlinks:
http://www.yemenlinks.com/contentdisplay/displaydoc.aspx?name=alphabet_mat1
Arabic sandpaper letters

becoming a callighaper (khattat)

Star Gazing in March

been a bit sick lately, but i’m slowly improving

did some browsing as usual..

astronomy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_brightest_stars

astrolabes & Miriam al-Ijli al-Astrulabi, and also arabic star names:
http://www.scienceinschool.org/print/171

a video on youtube with maryam al-astrulabi at about 8:00 minutes into it:

Arabic star names:
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=833

one of the arabic derived names, rigel from rijl (leg):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigel

some of the constellations we saw last night right overhead, before the clouds set in, more on that later:
http://burro.cwru.edu/Academics/Astr201/Winter/Winter.html

and i like the pic of canis major at the bottom of this page:
http://www.siriuswalker.com/

http://www.siriuswalker.com/CanisMajor.jpg

another famous muslim woman fatimah al-fihri, and her sister is maryam:-) :

http://theurbanmuslimwomen.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/fatima-al-fihri-founder-of-the-oldest-university-in-the-world/

and as i alluded to before, here’s a written version of our observation of the night sky…err..it has my handwriting and sketches of the constellations we saw on the 24th..well, it’s like a draft…a messy draft, so you might not care to browse if you hate messyness, I’ll just save you sanity by saying that we saw orion, gemini (the twin’s heads at least..ha..ha..) and definitely canis major (the dog) before the clouds set in..:-(

and i wish i could browse this book locally before deciding if it’s a good buy, i’ve wanted to expose my children to islamic arts..maybe we should visit the islamic arts museum first:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/071483176X/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_sims_3