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Diah is here! Mom of three boys.

Teaching Kids About Hajj, Not Only Fun But Also Surprising!

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Hajj

Early in this September, my sons, Mr. Inventor and The Professor went on a hajj teaching ritual class. It is an annual class conducted by the regional teaching department. There were more than one thousand students from15 different elementary schools. It took place at the local square.

This year is special for us because male students had to wear ihram, a clothing of male hajj pilgrims. I was imagining it would be great as kids would learn almost the real hajj would like. The last year class didn't obligate male students to wear ihram, just white clothing.

Surprisingly, Mr. Inventor refused to attend the class.

"I will not go," he said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"I just don't want to."

Okay...it became a problem for me. I needed to find out what caused him not to. Mr. Inventor is 9-year-old now, so I think it is common for such a boy to feel uncomfortable about something new. Perhaps he wanted to look good with the ihram.

I persuaded him to go. I told him that there would be some fun learning the hajj ritual. After some tries, he didn't say anything about the idea of wearing ihram. I think he had already accepted the rule.

Buying Ihram, The Male Hajj Clothing


Other problems occurred. The first one was, where to find this ihram. I asked some friends about it and they told me to buy at the Hajj Store downtown. Such a difficult thing for me as I couldn't go anywhere to buy the ihram with the baby.

Alhamdulillah, there was another information telling me that the school sells the ihram on a budget. The fabric differed in quality from the one at Hajj Store. This one was more humble, made of unbleached cotton as the ihram at Hajj Store made from a towel. The price tells it all.


No problem. My kids seemed not to pay attention to that. All they need is just the ihram clothing were ready on time.

Learn How To Wear Ihram For Hajj


The school was really helpful, I think. The teachers sent the parents some pictures of how to wear ihram clothing via WhatsApp group. The students were also being taught at school. So, I guess they were ready for the day.

We also prepared for the logistic. For each kid, I put a pair of sunglasses, a disposable mask, 21 small rocks for throwing at the Jumrah, some snacks, water, and money. Sandals were also on the list.

The actual ihram clothing obligates the male hajj pilgrims to not wear anything but the ihram clothing. But, for the day, male students ought to wear rolled trousers under the ihram clothing. Just in case they lost control and behave extremely.

Underestimate Fitting The Ihram And The Impact

The second problem came in. At the D-day, I put the ihram clothing on my sons. Surprisingly, Mr. Inventor's ihram clothing was not fit!

What??

I regretted why I hadn't tried to put it on him before. I had, but, it was The Professor's who has a slimmer body than his big brother.

I tried and tried to make it fit by pulling the fabric as shown in the how-to, but, it still didn't' work. The clothing was not long enough to wrap my son's body. At the last try, I told Mr. Inventor that I would use some pins to make the fabric stay in that way.

I was worried he would complain and refused to go. I remembered how he first told me that he didn't want to go. Surprisingly, he agreed, alhamdulillah. So, I used one pin at the back and another one at the front close to the waist. I told him to be careful with the pins.

Hajj

Hajj Wannabe, Hajj To-Be Insha Allah

After that, we took them to the venue. There was a miniature of Kabah, some routes telling the Safa and Marwa, the Jamarat, the Arafah. There were crowded with students and teachers. I took some photos and back home, praying they would enjoy the event.

And these were what I got from the teachers. Students seemed to enjoy the activity and learned something from it. They even told me about the day.

Hajj
Credit: Classroom teacher

It took only about 4 hours to finish the Hajj ritual. When I saw the photos, I saw some Hajj pilgrims to-be there.

Alhamdulillah, another lesson from school. I really think this was a great activity of teaching kids about Hajj. What about in yours? Is there any Hajj ritual teaching for students as well?

Diah Dwi Arti
Diah Dwi Arti
Muslimah | Madiun, Indonesia | Mom of three | email: diah.d.arti [at] gmail.com

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