One of our newest books available for pre-order is Sido’s Prayer Beads by Sumayyah Hussein. It tells the story of Musa, who is grappling with his grandfather’s memory loss.

When Sido began losing his memory two years ago, he made his very own masbaha—so he could remember to make dhikr and plant his trees in Jannah. Each bead carries a story, and Musa loves to hear them again and again. But as time passes, Sido’s stories are slipping away. When the masbaha tears and the beads scatter everywhere, Musa must come to terms with all that’s changing with Sido.

Sumayyah wrote the story after witnessing Alzheimer’s disease in her own family. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia, the loss of cognitive functioning that affects more than 55 million people worldwide.

“If it’s so hard for adults to cope with dementia, what about kids? It must be even harder for them to understand why grandma or grandpa is forgetting the simplest things or behaving strangely.”

She hopes Sido’s Prayer Beads will open up discussions within Muslim families about this condition and help Muslim children cope with the changes they see in grandparents or older relatives.

“Memory is at the very essence of who a person is, and seeing that slowly disappear in someone you love is very difficult. It’s like losing that person bit by bit, day after day.”

While writing this book, Sumayyah struggled to find strong picture books about memory loss, but even the best ones had something missing.

“As Muslims, we know that this life is temporary, and that tests are a purification for the believer. I can learn to accept an illness, but if it doesn’t come from a place of belief—like trusting in Allah’s plan, like knowing Allah will reward me for my struggle—then it’s just like sticking a band-aid on a deep wound. That pain is never going to really heal.”

Sumayyah also feels there is so much to discuss with children about aging and illness because they are signs of Allah’s perfection. “Allah is the only One who doesn’t forget, who doesn’t age, who doesn’t sleep, who doesn’t perish.”

Click here to pre-order Sido’s Prayer Beads in North America, and click here to pre-order it everywhere else!