🌿Assalamu Alaikum, Dallas!

It’s Halloween weekend, and the community has plenty of great alternatives lined up. Tonight the IANT Sisters Committee is hosting a session on the history of Halloween and how to navigate it as Muslims, and EPIC has a youth-led fireside chat on mentorship and the ideas worth building. Tomorrow, Roots Community Space is throwing a Fall Fest in Carrollton with inflatables, carnival games, a community souq, and food vendors. Don’t forget to turn your clocks back this Sunday, and if you want help making the most of that extra hour, IAA Allen has a Barakah & Brunch workshop on building healthier sleep and worship routines tomorrow, led by Ustadh Mohammed Faris. We’re also on Week 4 of our Sunnah Habits series, and this week it’s all about the Sunnah of the home: simple practices that fill your living space with remembrance and barakah. On the food front, Urban Tandoori Pizza has brought a Desi-Italian fusion to Richardson, with Zabiha Halal toppings on brick-oven Neapolitan pizzas. Let’s get into it! 🌿

We’ve looked at how the Prophet ﷺ started his mornings, ended his nights, and sat at his table. This week we’re walking through the front door. Our homes are where we spend most of our lives, where our children learn what faith looks like, and where we are most ourselves. The Prophet ﷺ gave us simple practices that turn a house into a home filled with remembrance, peace, and protection.

1. Mention Allah when you enter.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “When a man enters his house and mentions Allah upon entering and while eating, Shaytan says: ‘You have no lodging and no dinner here.’” (Muslim) A few words at the doorway change the spiritual atmosphere of the whole house.

2. Give salaam to your family.
Anas (R.A.) reported that the Prophet ﷺ told him: “O my son, when you enter upon your family, greet them with salaam. It will be a blessing upon you and upon the people of your household.” (Tirmidhi) We say salaam to strangers at the masjid, but how often do we say it to the people who matter most?

3. Start with the miswak.
Aisha (R.A.) was asked what the Prophet ﷺ did first when he entered his home. She said: “He would start with the miswak.” (Muslim) He walked in fresh and ready to be present with his family.

4. Recite Surah Al-Baqarah in your home.
“Do not make your houses graves. Shaytan flees from a house in which Surah Al-Baqarah is recited.” (Muslim) You don’t have to finish it in a night. Even a portion, or just playing the recitation in the background, fills the house with the Quran.

5. Pray some of your voluntary prayers at home.
“The best prayer of a person is in his house, except the obligatory prayer.” (Bukhari & Muslim) When your children see you praying in your living room, they learn that prayer is part of everyday life, not just something we do at the masjid.

6. Keep your home alive with dhikr.
“The example of the house in which Allah is remembered and the house in which Allah is not remembered is like that of the living and the dead.” (Bukhari) Two houses can look identical from the outside, and the difference is whether Allah is remembered inside.

7. Say the du’a when you leave.
“Bismillah, tawakkaltu ‘ala Allah, wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah” (In the name of Allah, I place my trust in Allah, and there is no power or might except with Allah). The Prophet ﷺ said that Shaytan then says: “You are guided, defended, and protected.” (Abu Dawood & Tirmidhi) The door is where the home meets the world, and this du’a seals it with trust in Allah.

None of this requires extra time, money, or space, only a bit of intention. A family that greets each other with salaam, hears Quran in the house, prays at home, and begins and ends their comings and goings with Allah’s name is building a home that carries barakah.

This week’s action items:

🌿 Action 1: Say Bismillah and give salaam every time you enter your home this week. Say it out loud, even if you’re alone, and teach your children to do the same. By the end of the week it will feel strange to walk in without it.

🌿 Action 2: Bring the Quran into your home daily. Recite a few verses of Surah Al-Baqarah, or play the recitation while you cook or tidy up, and make it part of your evening routine. A few minutes a day is enough to start.

Next week we continue the series with the Sunnah of visiting the sick and caring for others, small acts that carry enormous reward and strengthen the bonds of our community.

❝ “Whoever visits a sick person or a brother in faith, a caller calls out: ‘May you be happy, may your walking be blessed, and may you take a dwelling in Jannah.’” (Tirmidhi) 🌿

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