The results of our annual Dhul Hijjah Arts and Crafts competition
Ahlan wa sahlan everyone! Eid mubarak to everyone. We are so glad to be back, this time, to introduce to you our little family at Arriqaaq!
Imam Bukhari records in his Sahih, The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“There are no days on which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.”
Dhul Hijjah, the month of excellence, the month which contains the best ten days of the entire year. It is also the time for Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah. This month tends to be exclusive to the elders as they indulge themselves in doing the best of deeds from Dhikr, fasting, charity and other good deeds. Much of the planning to bring the Dhul HIjjah spirit alive into our homes and teaching about hajj and the ten best days to our children, similar to how we do in Ramadan, remains absent at many homes. Hajj is the journey of a lifetime and a ritual every Muslim children should know about even if they do not understand the awe, emotions, and connection to Allah it inspires.
To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play. Children are divergent thinkers, capable of producing a range of ideas — freely, generously, and without an inner critic taking notes. So to encourage the young kids to learn about these ten blessed days and about Hajj, we hosted the Dhul Hijjah Arts and Crafts Competition to engage the young audience in creative arts and crafts activities.
Before we go any further and show you their awesomeness, please congratulate our little champions for their amazing submissions! Kudos to every single one of you for doing so well in this competition! And congratulations to every single parent who encouraged their kids to take part in this.
So dear readers, here we go. Embrace the brilliance being put forth!
1) Rania Badri (Age 13)
Rania built a silent book where she explained the different types of Hajj in a beautiful manner. There are three different types of Hajj,
- Hajj-ul-Ifrad
- Hajj-ul-Qiran
- Hajj-ul-Tamattu
Some of us may not be aware of this, but here is Rania teaching us about it :)
Tamattu’ means entering ihraam for ‘Umrah only during the months of Hajj. When the pilgrim reaches Makkah he performs tawaaf and saa’i for ‘Umrah, and shaves his head or cuts his hair, and exits ihraam. Then when the day of al-Tarwiyah, which is the 8th of Dhu’l-Hijjah, comes, he enters ihraam for Hajj only, and does all the actions of Hajj. So Tamattu’ involves a complete ‘Umrah and a complete Hajj.
Ifraad means entering ihraam for Hajj only. When the pilgrim reaches Makkah he performs tawaaf al-qudoom (tawaaf of arrival) and saa’i for Hajj, but he does not shave or cut his hair and does not exit ihraam, rather he remains in ihraam until he exits ihraam after stoning Jamarat al-‘Aqabah on the day of Eid. If he delays the saa’i of Hajj until after the tawaaf of Hajj, there is nothing wrong with that.
Qiraan means entering ihraam for ‘Umrah and Hajj both together. Or entering ihraam for ‘Umrah first then including Hajj in that before starting the tawaaf of Hajj. That is done by intending that his tawaaf and saa’i will be for both Hajj and ‘Umrah. The actions done in Qiraan are the same as those done in Ifraad, except that the pilgrim doing Qiraan has to offer a hadiy (sacrifice) whereas the pilgrim doing Ifraad does not.
2) Siddiqul Hasan (Age 8)
Little Siddiqul Hasan just reminded us all about the beautiful story of Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Ishmael (peace be upon them) through this mini flip book that he made. Prophet Ibrahim presented to Allah the best of sacrifices when he was ordered, and Prophet Ishmael was the prime example of an obedient son. Listen to Siddiqul Hasan explain it to you.
https://video.wixstatic.com/video/6d1a89_5fc1aa6fd3c44bebb4d281d30b9046c8/360p/mp4/file.mp4
3) Zayan (Age 7)
Have you ever wondered how Hajj is done? Or it seems very confusing? Don't worry! Little Zayan has a fantastic model to explain everything to you.
4) Ilan Ahmad (Age 13)
Little Ilan has drawn a very creative roadmap to show us how Hajj is done. The mina is so creative!
5) Abdullah bin Rashid (Age 12)
Abdullah has brought to us the real feel of Arafah with the mudd and stones!
6) Ibrahim (Age 3)
Checkout little ibrahim explain the story of Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Ishmael story in this short play! Can you imagine he is only 3?
7) Aisha (Age 6) and Aasiya (Age 3)
These two wonderful girls have really done art beyond their age! MashaAllah, now Hajj should be pretty clear for you :) Fancy a trip next year? InshaAllah!
8) Ayesha Ahmad (Age 14)
This image of Ayesha reminds us all of our dream, to sit in front of the Kaabah and just stare at it whilst making dua. She has depicted it so succinctly! Genius, mashaAllah.
9) Luqman Suhaib (Age 5)
Luqman has been so creative in this piece of art, and also by reminding us with the creative flags to highlight the importance of the good deeds to do in these ten days.
10) Azka Khateeb (Age 12)
This piece of art by Azka is just brilliant! The Tree of Imaan is so well done alhamdulillah.
11) Dania Omer (Age 4)
Dania is four and she has wished us all Eid mubarak in such a creative way, mashaAllah! What a creative genius in the making.
The Competition
Parents could educate the children on the following topics:
1) The Ka'ba - Brief history and its importance.
2) Hajj - The story of Ibrahim (alaihissalaam) and Ismail (alaihissalaam). The journey of Hajj explained in brief.
3) Takbeer, Tahmeed, Tahleel - Getting them in the habit to say it out loud with you.
4) Encourage them to do lots of good deeds - To teach them that even the smallest good deed they do, is most beloved to Allah in these ten days and that acts of goodness always strengthen their Imaan.
5) Repentance and Fasting - The benefits of repenting and how Allah loves those who hasten to seek forgiveness. And how we are encouraged to fast on the first nine days, if we are unable to, then we should at least fast on the 9th of Dhul Hijjah.
The kids are left to their own creativity to make anything that reminds them of the blessed days of Dhul Hijjah. Kids were encouraged to think freely and to be creative. Draw, paint, create a collage, make models, sadaqa jars or if one could write, we were readily accepting creative lines or articles.
Rules
▫️Open to kids up to 14 years of age.
▫️No faces are allowed in the drawings.
▫️Parents can assist their children.
▫️All entries to be submitted on or before the 9th of Dhul Hijjah.
▫️Entries will be judged based on creativity and relevance to the topic.
Prizes
Children need to be appreciated and valued with both tangible and intangible awards. This encourages them to learn more and at this age, memorization and inclination towards the religion are sought. A rewarded system encourages appropriate behavior, increased motivation, joyful students (yeah, kids can go buy their lego blocks with the prize money), boosted self-esteem, and prolonged learning and this is required at a young age.
The first prize was 2500 INR, the second was 1500 INR, and the third 1000 INR. And the next eight would get 500 INR. As the goal of our project is to encourage kids to learn, with reward being just a stimulus, we wanted to appreciate all the kids for any effort they made in contributing towards learning about this month of Dhul HIjjah.
Al-Haiyyah Competition For Kids
A few months back we conducted a memorisation and recitation competition based on the poem Al-Haiyyah (written by son of the great author of Sunan Abu Dawood, ibn Abee Dawood As Sijistani). Read more about it here.
https://www.arriqaaq.com/post/and-when-the-stars-shine
Future of the project
Children are the future of the world. They are the pillar of the nation, and our future leaders to build the next generation with all their knowledge and education to spread the message of Islam and present the world with its best values. It is important to inculcate the values and knowledge of our past generation (salaf us salih) into them for them to carry it forward. It will help break the social evils of the society and promote the right message of Islam. Hence it is important that every child is educated.
Our motive stands to create a community around these kids and the parents, to help them understand the religion and grow with time.
We aim to conduct more of these competitions periodically insha'Allah. Whilst following the scholars and researching books that are taught to kids at Islamic schools, we aim to conduct more such competitions for kids and people from all age groups.
Note:
This is going to be a recursive series of events, so for those who couldn't win this time, please do not feel disheartened! There are more competitions coming up soon, alhamdulillah. And stay tuned for a variety of competitions coming up in journaling, arts and crafts, science, and memorization!
Be a part of it
Join our journey and be part of our project. You can follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our website for more information on future competitions.
#Arriqaaq is an online creative space for authentic islamic articles, courses, competitions, arts and crafts, projects that inspire, as well as reflection around education, islam, lifestyle and technology. Check out our educational events on Tafseer, coding and more here.
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