Ruqaya's Bookshelf

July 22, 2025

How to Explain the Rights of Neighbours in Islam to Your Child

You might remind your children to be polite or to say salaam to the neighbours without much thought. But beneath those small habits is a bigger lesson: being a good neighbour is part of our deen....

Jannah Guide: Shift to God-Centred Homes

Placing Allah at the centre of our lives, not our children, is key to building a God-conscious Islamic family. This blog explores the Jannah Guide, reminding Muslim parents to realign priorities, strengthen their relationship with Allah, and raise children with faith at the heart of the home.

Nature in Islam: Signs of Allah

Explore how nature in Islam strengthens faith and emotional connection in Muslim parenting. Discover Islamic reflections that help reconnect families with Allah’s creation and raise children with mindfulness and iman.

Ramadan Tips: Worship Smart, Not Hard

Discover practical Ramadan 2025 tips for busy moms and working Muslims. Learn how to worship smart, not hard, by mastering intentions, simplifying worship, and making every action spiritually rewarding.

Guilty Muslim Mom: Silencing Self-Criticism

Feeling guilty for not doing “enough” as a parent—especially during Eid—is common, but Islam reminds us that sincere love, effort, and intention matter more than perfection. This reflection encourages moms to release comparisons, embrace their worth, and remember: you are already enough.

Purpose of Arabic Language Learning

Arabic language learning builds a deeper connection with the Quran, especially for children. Discover how one mother’s personal journey to teach her daughter Arabic turned into a lasting gift of faith, healing, and spiritual growth rooted in understanding Allah’s names.

Muslim Parenting Principles for Emotion Coaching

Learn how emotion coaching and Islamic parenting principles help raise emotionally strong Muslim children. Discover how mercy, empathy, and emotional intelligence are key to healthy child development in Islam.

Stop Being a Guilty Muslim Mom

Feeling like a guilty Muslim mum for taking care of yourself? Learn how Islam teaches balance between motherhood and self-care. Break free from mum guilt and parental expectations while nurturing your emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing.

Parenting Stress: Planting Seeds of Hope!

Parenting stress is real, but every small act of love is a seed. Learn how Islamic parenting teaches us to plant with patience, persevere through parenting challenges, and trust Allah with the outcomes.

Impact of Islamophobia on Children and How You Can Avoid it

How can we protect our kids from Islamophobia? Learn Muslim parenting strategies to raise confident children grounded in faith and identity.

How to Raise Practising Muslim Children: Lesson from the Tactics of Shaytan

Raising practising Muslim children isn’t easy. This reflection explores how Shaytan’s tactics teach us key parenting lessons — patience, persistence, and small steps. Rooted in Islamic wisdom and personal experience, it offers practical strategies to raise faithful, resilient kids in a challenging world.

How Quranic Parenting Helps Stop Comparison and Build Grateful Teens

Quranic parenting teaches us to raise grateful, mindful children by focusing on what we have—not what we lack. In a world full of comparison, Islam guides parents and teens alike to find joy through gratitude, emotional intelligence, and meaningful connection.

Parenting Stress: Just Follow your Instinct

Navigating parenting stress is tough, especially with conflicting advice everywhere. This heartfelt reflection explores how instinct, faith, and self-growth can guide Muslim parents through parenting challenges with resilience, love, and honesty.

Islamic Parenting Principles: Nurturing Youth with Purpose

Islam teaches us that youth is a time for growth, purpose, and worship. Discover how to raise Muslim youth with strong values, good companions, and a passion for learning—through parenting rooted in faith, wisdom, and the prophetic example.

Life of Maryam (as): A Reflection of True Strength

Discover the inspiring lessons from the life of Maryam (AS) in the Qur’an — a story of strength, struggle, and trust in Allah. Her example empowers Muslim women to persevere through pain and to act, even when the results seem beyond reach.

Understanding Ihsan in Islam: A True Story

Ihsan in Islam means doing every act with excellence and sincerity — as if you see Allah. This blog explores real-life examples of Ihsan, from prophetic traditions to small modern moments that reflect spiritual excellence in daily life.

Read Early to avoid Reluctant Readers

There is a prevalent theory in education that says one of the reasons children become reluctant readers as they grow older is that they might not h...

Inheriting the Love of Writing

Our author Sarah Musa has loved writing since she was a child. She would visit the library weekly to restock and read 300 page books cover-to-cover...

Not Everyone Gets to Go to School!

Back to school season is upon us!Most of us are lucky to be able to go to school. But did you know that in some places around the world, school isn’t so easily accessible?In Kenya, where our author Lela Goldsmith is from, school isn’t free and can be too expensive for some families. Lela’s own mother lived this reality.Lela’s latest book, calledNot Too Little to Make a Difference, is inspired by Lela’s mother, Sofia.

Writing for Gaza

Do you know that censorship and shadow-banning by major social media platforms limit the reach of most of the Palestinian content? Even content tha...

My Favourite Book is Stuck in the Middle!

Today we are chatting with one of our readers, ten-year-old Aisha. She is an aspiring writer and the second child of a family of five children (soon to be six). Her favourite book isStuck in the Middleby Sumayyah Hussein.

When Inspiration Comes from Reality!

Lela Goldsmith, author of Bibi’s Blessing and Not too Little to Make a Difference, grew up in Lamu an island off the coast of Kenya. The island is ...

Where do Book Ideas Come From?

Both kids and adults alike often ask me where my ideas for stories come from.Usually an idea goes through a lots of revisions in my own head befor...

Small but Powerful: Elephant's Makeover

Rukhsana Khan’s book, Elephant’s Makeover, is all about making friends, bullying, and accepting the way you were created! Elephant makes an unlikel...

Nobody is Perfect, and that's okay!

Writing books for children isn’t about portraying angel-like protagonists who never make mistakes. Not only would those characters be boring, but...

Books

Worship

January 24, 2023

Winter is Perfect Reading Time!

We are in the thick of winter, my least favourite season of the year! Being a parent of an outdoorsy child that's mostly stuck indoors means lots o...

Supporting Muslim Publishers!

Stories are powerful. I’ve know that since I was a little girl, consuming many chapter books in one day, and pulling all-nighters to finish those p...

Ramadan Activity: Good Deed Jar

Every year we are so happy to see Ramadan come in, and then sad to see Ramadan go! This month passes so quickly, and we always wish we had done mor...

Unapologetically Muslim: Writing our Own Stories

Many of us were voracious readers as children, and we devoured whatever fell into our hands. However, most of the stories we read were about charac...

When Stories are Difficult

As parents, we want the best for our children, and part of that is raising them to be citizens of the world. But sometimes we’re torn between makin...

What's in a Story?

Stories are powerful. Hollywood knows it; media moguls know it; book publishers know it. We know it too. It’s in our nature to be drawn to stories....

Say No to Gatekeeping

It’s never been clearer than at the present how systems of domination seek to shut down people who are deemed unimportant or who speak inconvenient...

Our Kids Got Talent!

Reading stories written by kids is always a lot of fun! This past October, we received over 1000 entries for our Islamic Heritage Month story compe...

Author Highlight: Robyn Thomas

It’s hard to believe that the sacred month of Ramadan is just around the corner! One of Ruqaya’s Bookshelf’s five titles that are centred around th...

5 Ways Muslim Children’s Books Shape a Child’s Identity

How important are Muslim children’s books in shaping our kids’ Islamic identity? Very! Many of us grew up reading stories about characters who bore...

New Book Alert!

Drumroll, please! The arrival of new books, fresh off the press, is hands-down the most rewarding (and most exciting!) part of publishing books for...

New Book: Dawud Helps

Sarah Musa’s Dawud Helps is one of our newest books available for pre-order. It tells the story of Dawud, whose Papa is struggling to make ends mee...

New Book: Growing Giddo’s Hair

Growing Giddo’s Hair by Sumayyah Hussein is the last of our five newest books available for pre-order. Nuh wants to give his grandpa something amaz...

Ramadan 2025: Everything You Need to Know

With Ramadan 2025 a little over two weeks away, some of us may be thinking about the approaching month with trepidation. There’s so much to think a...

DIY Ramadan Decoration Ideas

Many Muslims who live in non-Islamic countries and even those living in Islamic countries are enthusiastic towards Ramadan decorations. For many of...

How Sarah Musa Turned Her Pain for Gaza into a Powerful Story for Muslim Kids

Sarah Musa’sMy Garden Over Gazatransforms pain into purpose. Rooted in truth and resilience, it’s a powerful children’s story that nurtures hope, identity, and strength — written by a Muslim author reclaiming the narrative.

Why Talk About Hajj Rituals with Our Kids (Even When They’re Young)

How many times has your child asked why we fast in Ramadan, or why we pray five times a day? You know how curious they can be. Hajj rituals are no ...

Muharram 2025: Start the Year with Barakah

Some months carry more weight than others. And Muharram 2025 is one of them. It’s the first month of the Islamic calendar, but more importantly, it...

Raising Little Muslim Readers with Ruqaya’s Bookshelf

Have you ever noticed how quickly a child memorizes a story? Stories shape how our children see the world. More importantly, they shape how childre...

Being a Religious Parent Doesn’t Have to Be All or Nothing

Some nights, being a religious parent feels like struggling to pay attention to the Qur'an playing in the kitchen while packing lunch boxes and wip...

Gift Card

E-Book: A Temporary Gift

Snatched

Mr. Gamal's Gratitude Glasses

Blackout! (Chapter Book)

The Adventures of Malik and Ameerah (Activity Book)

Nusaiba and the 5th Grade Bullies

Alana's Bananas

One Hundred Flavours of Ice Cream

Zaid and the Gigantic Cloud

The Forever Tree

Yasmine’s Belly Button

Who Will Help Me Make Iftar?

A Temporary Gift

Bismillah Soup

Secret Recipe Box

Basirah the Basketballer says Insha'Allah

Bibi's Blessing

The Great Hair Exchange

Littering Stinks! (Chapter Book)

Bilal's Second Surprise

Rami the Ramadan Cat

A Place of Refuge

Stuck in the Middle (Chapter Book)

Ahmed and the Very Stuck Teapot

Spell it Like Samar

Pepperoni, Pitches (and Other Problems)

The Green Dinosaur Umbrella

Not Too Little To Make a Difference

Elephant's Makeover (Hardcover)

There was an Old Auntie who Swallowed a Samosa

Heaven is at Mama's Feet

The Ali Series

Amir's Blue Jacket

Made from the Same Dough

My Garden over Gaza

Mama Musoo's Dhikr Plants

Idrees and the New Old Shoes

Trouble at Taraweeh

The Enormous Apple

Dawud Helps

Growing Giddo's Hair

The Mismatched Finjan

Sido's Prayer Beads

Amar's Fajr Reward

Rahim, Wali, and the Wise King

Ayeyo's Blues

The Last Resort (Chapter Book)

If the Sea Was Ink

Pushed to the Back (Chapter Book)

Books

Readers In The Making

Readers In The Making

How to Explain the Rights of Neighbours in Islam to Your Child

Jannah Guide: Shift to God-Centred Homes

Nature in Islam: Signs of Allah

Ramadan Tips: Worship Smart, Not Hard

Guilty Muslim Mom: Silencing Self-Criticism

Purpose of Arabic Language Learning

Muslim Parenting Principles for Emotion Coaching

Stop Being a Guilty Muslim Mom

Parenting Stress: Planting Seeds of Hope!

Impact of Islamophobia on Children and How You Can Avoid it

How to Raise Practising Muslim Children: Lesson from the Tactics of Shaytan

How Quranic Parenting Helps Stop Comparison and Build Grateful Teens

Parenting Stress: Just Follow your Instinct

Islamic Parenting Principles: Nurturing Youth with Purpose

Life of Maryam (as): A Reflection of True Strength

Understanding Ihsan in Islam: A True Story

Read Early to avoid Reluctant Readers

Inheriting the Love of Writing

Not Everyone Gets to Go to School!

Writing for Gaza

My Favourite Book is Stuck in the Middle!

When Inspiration Comes from Reality!

Where do Book Ideas Come From?

Small but Powerful: Elephant's Makeover

Nobody is Perfect, and that's okay!

Winter is Perfect Reading Time!

Supporting Muslim Publishers!