July 2020 Monthly Wrap Up

This month has simultaneously been incredibly long and gone in the blink of an eye. I actually had a pretty good reading month and read some incredible books.

I also announced my next bookish box which is Muslim Shelf Space and you can find all the details on my instagram post over on @thetsundokuchroniclesetsy

Here are the books I read this month:

1 The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel – I listened to the audiobook and it was so great. So relatable in so many ways and I was totally rooting for them

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

2 A Dead djinn in Cairo by P. Djeli Clark – I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was an interesting story.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

3 Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran – I was so excited to read this unfortunately I was disappointed by this and I barely managed to finish it

⭐

Rating: 1 out of 5.

4 Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron – This was another anticipated read that I was disappointed by it was a really interesting concept but the characters fell flat for me.

⭐⭐

Rating: 2 out of 5.

5 No Shame by Anne Cassidy – This is a book that deals with the trauma of trying to get justice for being sexually assaulted. It’s such an important book to read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

6 Amazing Muslims who Changed the World by Burhana Islam – This is an incredible book full of wonderful Muslims that are so important for everyone to read. You can read my review here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

7 Seven Devils by Laura Lam & Elizabeth May – I enjoyed this book though I had issues with some of the pacing in the book but after that ending I am interested to know what will happen next.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

8 The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang – This book was incredible, it tore my heart to pieces but I cannot wait to read the sequel. You can read my review here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

9 Avatar The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1 by Gene Luen Yaang – It was interesting to see what happens after the end of the show though I would love another season. It’s safe to say I am obsessed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

10 Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey – I enjoyed the book as it dealt with a married couple trying to improve their marriage rather than a couple meeting for the first time.

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

11 Pride Prejudice and Other Flavours by Sonali Dev – I loved this retelling so much! It was so much fun and the second hand embarrassment killed me. I loved all the themes that were incorporated into the story too.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

12 Agent Zaiba Investigates – The Missing Diamonds by Annabelle Sami – This was such a fun MG story of a young Pakistani girl who wants to be a detective

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

13 Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – This book was incredible, the ending with all the plot twists blew me away!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

14 Diana and the Island of no Return by Aisha Saeed – I really loved this MG story about Wonder Woman before she became wonder woman. I also loved that her best friend is a Muslim Princess!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I also shared reviews for:

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandya Menon

I also shared some posts about some incredible women:

Khadijah – A phenomenal woman and my role model

Inspirational Women Throughout History – Lubna of Cordoba

And I also shared a list of recommendations for feel good books.

Inspirational Women throughout History – Lubna of Cordoba

There are so many amazing women that we never hear about unless we go looking and it is honestly so heart breaking that these women are not known to the majority of people. I hope that these posts inspire you to go look up more about them and find even more women who achieved amazing things.

Today I am going to share a little bit about Lubna of Cordoba who lived in Andalus in the 10^th Century. She was born a slave but rose to become the personal secretary to the Sultan Abdur Rahman and also his son Al-Hakim. As she was not nobility it showed how much faith and trust they had in her ability and knowledge. Not only was she the personal secretary to the Sultan but also a mathematician, a poet and library master and she excelled in all these areas. Her role was even more extradordinary because not only was she a woman who excelled in a male dominated court but she also rose to such great heights while being born a slave.

She oversaw the royal library which had over 500,000 books and she was also one of the first female solo travellers. She travelled all over the middle east to acquire books for her library and also went to places like Baghdad and Cairo. Her library was one of the most famous and important libraries of her time. Not only did she acquire books for her library but she also also transcribed and annotated many books that she had acquired and also translated many books including important historic Greek texts.

She was also known as one of the greatest mathematicians and even taught children maths and it was well known that she loved maths. She was a scholar and known for her knowledge and skill not only in math but also sciences and became one of the most influential people in the palace.  

She was a strong, independent woman whose intellect and determination allowed her to rise to achieve amazing things and left a lasting legacy. We don’t know much about her but what we do know shows that she was incredible woman who excelled in many fields.

A famous Andalusian scholar, Ibn Bashkuwal said, “She excelled in writing, grammar, and poetry. Her knowledge of mathematics was also immense and she was proficient in other sciences as well. There were none in the Umayyad palace as noble as her.” 

I also have blog posts on several other Muslim women in this series which you can find here

Inspirational Women Throughout History – Barakah (ra)

Barakah (ra) is one of the first people to become Muslim but we hardly ever discuss her and how amazing she was and I have wanted to share a post about her for a while now. With everything going on in the world at the moment, I thought this would be a great time to share her story.

She was an Abyssinian woman who has been with the Prophet (pbuh) from when he was born to when he died. She was the midwife to his mother so she was there when he was born and she was the first person to hold him as a baby. She outlived the Prophet (pbuh) too so she was there when he passed away.

She is the person who raised him after his mother died when he was a young boy and she was so dedicated to raising him that she refused to get married and only agreed after he was married to Khadijah (ra) and they convinced her that she should live her own life and that they are still nearby.

The Prophet (pbuh) said about her that she is his mother after his mother. When he would see her, he would say that this is the entirety of what is left of my family. He would always introduce her as his mother and would visit her every single day.

She said about him that she never left him and he never left her. They had a beautiful mother son relationship and were very close and they would always laugh and joke with each other.

When he was fighting in any battle she would be there on the sidelines to make sure he was safe she would go around the battle field while keeping her eyes on the Prophet (pbuh) and make sure he wasn’t hurt. She was so fiercely protective over him that in the battle of Uhud when it looked like he would be killed she picked up a sword and ran to defend him, herself. At the end of the battles she would care for the wounded.

As an elderly woman she migrated from Makkah to Medina and during the travel she feared that she would die of thirst as she couldn’t find any water. On her journey she experienced a miracle. She said that when the sun set she saw a bucket coming down from the heavens and she drank from the bucket and then she dumped the rest of the water on herself to cool herself off. After this time she would fast on the hottest of days and do tawaf under the sun and she never became thirsty again for the rest of her life. So acts of worship like fasting became the easiest of acts of worship for her.

The Prophet (pbuh) gave her the glad tidings of Jannah several times during her life.

She was the woman who raised the Prophet (pbuh). In so many ways she was the person closest to him and she was an Abyssinian woman who had been a slave and was freed by the Prophet (pbuh).

Tying this to what is happening in the world; how can you call yourself Muslim and don’t care about Black lives. Because of a Black woman who raised and protected the Prophet (pbuh) we were given Islam.

You can read my previous posts in this series here:

Aisha bint Abu Bakr (ra)

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (ra)

Nusaybah bint Ka’ab (ra)

Fatima al Fihri

Inspirational Women Throughout History – Aisha bint Abu Bakr

Today I am going to talk a little about Aisha bint Abu Bakr (ra). She is one of my favourite women to read about as I find her so inspiring and someone to look up to.

She was an incredible woman, she was a wife of the Prophet (saw) and we know through many narrations that he loved her most from everyone. And when I read about her life and the woman she was I can see why!

She was the most renowned scholar and a teacher and she taught all the companions of the Prophet (saw) especially after his death. If anyone needed clarification on any matters or needed an answer for something they would go to her. She was known to be the most knowledgeable person. She especially excelled in hadith, fiqh, poetry and medicine. She was the type of person who, if she didn’t know or understand something she would go and learn about it until she became confident in that area.

She was a very sharp and feisty woman who stood up for her beliefs and was confident and assertive when it came to correcting people so that misinformation wouldn’t spread. She was also very eloquent in her speech, a great speaker and was even known to be a better speaker than the first four caliphs, Abu Bakr (ra), Umar (ra), Uthman (ra) and Ali (ra) and these four were known to be some of the best of people and leaders. She was outspoken and voiced her opinions on many matters in Islam, even if the other scholars disagreed she would give her opinion and her evidences for her opinion and always be confident in speaking up.

She spoke up about so many things from women’s rights, to education and so much more.

Her assertiveness and confidence to speak up is even more important to note because she lived in a time when that wasn’t the norm for women to be so outspoken. This slowly changed as Islam spread but she was alive right at the beginning when things were slowly changing. So for her to be so unafraid to speak up against even the men and those in power was something amazing. She did this throughout her life and because of her we have so much information about Islam and the Prophet (saw) and about life at the time.

She narrated 2210 hadith (sayings of the Prophet ) which included things on worship and family and especially women’s health, for example what women can and can’t do on their periods in terms of worship etc. She always shared intimate moments about her life with the Prophet (saw). Things we otherwise would never have known, from how he was in the home, how he spoke to her, how much he joked and made her laugh, how much he expressed his love to her and so attentive to the point that he knew by her changing one word in how she spoke to him that she was mad at him. We would never know any of these things without her.

She preserved so much of Islamic beliefs and worship and so much more because she was one of the best teachers and leaders in education. Without her so much would have been lost to time.

Inspirational Women Throughout History – Fatima Al Fihri

This post is about Fatima al Fihri who built the world’s first university.

Fatima Al Fihri was born in Tunisia and then migrated with her family to Morocco. She came from a wealthy family and when her father passed away he left her a big fortune. Not much is known about her early life but her and her sister were well educated and deeply religious. She used the money her father left her to invest in and build a mosque and educational institute for her community.

Initially it was a smaller place of education with a courtyard, prayer hall, libraries and classrooms. At first the courses which were offered were religious studies and Quranic studies. When she thought about making a place for a higher level of learning she expanded on the institute. People would come from all over the world to study and it was expanded and built upon until it was made into a university.

The university was named the University of al-Qarawiyyin, named after Fatima’s birthplace, Qayrawan in Tunisia. It was established in 859 and was the first degree granting institute in the world. There was a wide range of areas of study available to study from, astronomy, maths to sciences, medicine, languages and more. Even Fatima studied there too. Notable scholars from all over the world studied there and it was considered a place of a major intellectual centre in the medieval times.

The university is still running now and there are also other places which are part of the university which you can visit too including the library which is one of the world’s oldest libraries! There are over 4000 manuscripts there and you can even see Fatima’s diploma on display there on a wooden board!

She has such an amazing lasting legacy that a woman was the first to build and establish a university where everyone was welcome to come and study at. As a result of her building this higher education institute it paved way for other places to be built including University of Oxford and helped advance opportunities for higher learning all over Europe.

You can read the previous posts in this series here:

Khadijah al Khuwaylid

Nusaybah bint Ka’ab