During a recent staff meeting at work, an important issue came up.  More and more girls were not adhering to the dress code by rolling up sleeves, unbuttoning buttons, unpinning hijabs, and wearing makeup.  Us teachers were asked to put our heads together and figure out a way to make all these girls stop breaking the rules.  One or more teachers suggested calling parents and reminding them of the contract they signed at the start of the year, while other teachers thought it would be best to use their class-mates against them, and have their peers remind them not to break the dress code.

As this discussion went on, one of the male staff members raised his hand quietly and simply asked, “Why can’t they wear makeup?”  Immediately an administrator answered it was the school policy.  But he asked again, “But why not?” There was silence.  I thought to myself, What do you mean why not? They shouldn’t wear makeup.  The administrator explained to him all the Islamic values the school was trying to preserve while enforcing the dress code– modesty, not being shallow and vain or competitive, etc.  He then responded with, “Do they know that’s why?  Or do we just tell them, ‘You can’t wear makeup!’?”

Since that time in the staff meeting, the wheels in my head have been turning.  In our school, do we ever explain to the students the reasons for our rules?  Or do we just enforce them and tell them they have to do it?  Do we label our rules as school rules?  Or do we say they are Islamic rules?

I’ve noticed over the course of 9 weeks that the students treat our rules as school rules.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Our rules about cheating, lying, stealing, swearing, dress code, etc, are only restrictions placed on them between 8:30 and 3:30 between our four walls.  So when the bell rings, and school is out… so are the rules.

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This past weekend Saqib and I hopped in our car, and headed down 94 East towards Michigan to visit my parents for the weekend.  Most of our drive was completed while there was still daylight.  And in the sunlight, I really got a chance to see all the beautiful colors of fall.  The trees on the sides of the road were gorgeous!  They were still in the process of changing colors, and the leaves were still on the trees.  Through the green there were bright splashes of red, yellow and my personal favorite, orange.  Man.. do I love the fall in Michigan.  You don’t get a scene like this everywhere in America.

Whenever I see all those colors together, I always think of something my abbu pointed out to me once a road trip.  There are so many different colors, different shades, different tints of green, red, yellow, orange and brown, yet they all look so beautiful together.  Truly, Allah creates everything perfectly.

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Allah fashioned the human, as well as every type of creature, to naturally interact with similar creatures. The closer these two creatures are, the more they will interact and become similar to each other in their manners and characteristics, to the point that one would be unable to distinguish between them except in terms of their physical appearance. –ibn Taymiyyah

Consider my interaction with high school girls.  Now on a regular basis we have a very, “I’m the teacher, you’re the student” kind of relationship.  I give them homework, they do it, turn it in to me, I grade it and turn it back to them, we rinse and repeat if desired.  That’s our daily routine.  But every once in a while, I’m given the opportunity to hang out with the girls, away from the instruction, and be with them when they aren’t students, but just… girls.

Yesterday at work we had our Eid celebration which included the girls going bowling and then to Old Country Barf-fest.  When we first got to the bowling alley, I was pretty calm and chill, sitting with the other teachers and acting “my age.”  After a while I got kinda… I don’t want to say bored, but I guess fidgety.  So I hopped up off my seat to go mingle with my students.  I figured now was the perfect time to get to know them, outside of the classroom, away from all the homeworulerk, quizzes, tests and disciplining.

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A few weeks ago I was talking to my husband about Eid in Illinois.  I was a little nervous about how it would be for me, as it was the first time I would be celebrating Eid without my parents in a different state.  I innocently asked him, “What exactly do you do here?”  He grinned and said, “Nothing.”  Apparently Eid in Illinois consists of going for prayer and then eating Biryani followed by hanging around your own house.  There’s nothing wrong with that, of course:  to each his own.  But for me, I need a little something extra.

So I sat down and thought about what we do in Michigan, and figured,  if I couldn’t go to Michigan for Eid, I’d have to bring a Michigan Eid to Illinois.  I called up some friends and invited them over for an open house… Michigan style.  That meant tables of food and people coming in and out all day long.  Below are some food pictures from the event.

Pasta salad with chicken, carrots, corn, black olives, and mozzarella cheese

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