Let’s Not Shake On It

I was reading a post by another muslim lady about the awkward situation of being expected to shake hands with men, especially at work. Once I got going on my reply, I realized I’d considerably outwritten the original question, as so often happens, so I decided to post my tips on their own. Maybe it will help someone else as well . If you have thoughts to add, please do by all means!

Although (like anything) it can’t be said to be universal, most muslims avoid unnecessary touching between men and women of the opposite sex, who are not close relatives (or married). Shaking hands can be quite problematic in this area, since it can be downright insulting not to do so, and it’s expected in certain circumstances.  People regularly evaluate others on the “quality” of their handshake, as well (I’ve always been cautioned to avoid the “limp noodle”). Avoiding shaking hands is also an area where I’ve struggled a lot, especially at job interviews. So, I thought I would share some tips in handling it. It CAN be done, but it can be harder than it seems. (More fun types of handshakes… we’re shooting for the last one, but less sad )

Increasingly unpleasant handshakes to avoid

Noor Kids Giveaway – Enter To Win A FREE “Noor Kids: A Light For Little Muslims” Book!

Update: The deadline to enter this giveaway was Thursday, April 4th, 11:59pm PST. The contest is now closed!  Thank you all so much for your participation. 

The brilliant team at Noor Kids has generously offered to do a giveaway in cahoots with me I am really excited about this giveaway as the Noor Kids series is an AMAZING Islamic activity book/comic book series for “little muslims.” Everybody should have it! If you have never heard of Noor Kids, please read my review (I’m a subscriber on behalf of my son) and/or check out their website NoorKids.com.

On to the free stuff!  To enter to win a FREE Noor Kids book sent to you directly from Noor Kids, all you have to do is post a comment below. Mention something you like or think you will like about the Noor Kids books  :).

The winners will be chosen at random!

You can (optionally) get additional entries to improve your odds of winning by doing any or all of the following. (Note: you do NOT have to do any of the following extra options to enter, all you have to do is comment on this post. But if you also do any of the things below I’ll count those as additional entries for you).

“Noor Kids: A Light For Little Muslims” Activity Book / Children’s Comic Book Series Review

“Mommy! Mommy! Noor Kids! Noor Kids!” There is not much else that generates the squealing, literally jumping-up-and-down excitement of a new Noor Kids book in my four-year-old son! He is absolutely in love with this series of books, which you might describe as a kid’s magazine or as it says on their site “activity book,” but I generally think of as a comic book.

This is not a bad thing. I love comic books. And judging from my son’s interest in my own assortment of Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Tintin, ElfQuest, and of course numerous newspaper comics such as Calvin & Hobbes and Cul De Sac, he also loves comic books. Which I find not at all surprising. From my own childhood, comic books seemed like the perfect bridge into full-scale reading… bright, colorful, and adventurous, with bite-sized amounts of text. I remember skipping some larger blocks of text when I was reading Tintin at a young age, because giant blocks of text can be daunting to an early reader, and with a comic book, you can get by because the pictures also tell the story. In fact you can follow what is going on in a perfectly enjoyable manner even if you can’t read at all (albeit on a different level that just evolves as you grow and re-read the book over and over). Comic books are probably my favorite type of book to re-read… the pictures, the ongoing series (with or without continuity, there’s comfort in your favorite characters appearing again and again), and probably the nostalgia factor since I read them growing up.

Who Are These Noor Kids?

Noor Kids, however, is a different type of comic which fills a gap that I have really not found to be filled by any other book or series! It is specifically geared towards American Muslim Kids between the ages of 3 and 8. Coincidentally, I have one of those . As such, I have not seen any other material that comes close.

Poll Without Hook

My son’s current favorite toy is called “Pole with Hook.” We got it in the bargain bin at Ikea for about 3 dollars. It is a clear plastic pole about 3 feet long with a grey hook on the end, and it came with a sticker with that description on it (“Pole with Hook, Grey,” but we drop the “Grey” part at home since it’s the only one). It is unclear what the original purpose of the pole was, though it has proved to have many uses. My son’s initial justification for getting it was that we could use it to poke bad monsters.

On a related note, here’s a poll without a hook. Help direct the craziness (aka QAziness)