“Necessity is the mother of invention,” as the proverb goes. In my case, I was quite literally a mother in search of a solution. When my first child was born in 2006, finding Islamic children’s books in Spanish was nearly impossible.

“O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer. Surely, Allah is with those who are patient.”

(Quran 2:153):

September 11, 2001, is permanently etched into the American consciousness.

For those old enough to remember, it brings back images of where they were when the news broke. For those born later,it is not a personal memory. Yet they grew up in a country shaped by what followed.

When the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred on September 11, 2001, I was only twenty-one years old. I was still a single college student living with my parents, but I had taken a gap year to work at a doctor’s office.

Honoring Our Parents by Remembering the People They Loved

There are some acts of kindness toward our parents that seem obvious.

We call them.

We visit them.

We make sure they have what they need.

When I began practicing Islam in my early twenties, I found myself searching for a sense of community and connection. It was during this transformative period that I met Celina¹, one of the first Latina Muslims I encountered.

Friends are valuable and a good friend lasts a lifetime. A friend protects, guards and enhances our Iman, is trustworthy, honestly critical and discerning of our shortcomings and helps us to be better people overall. These qualities remind us of the character of the sahabah of the Seerah.