Nine chapters, from faith and purpose to body changes, feelings, haya, online life, school and role models
Author
Maryam Sakeenah
A writer and longtime teacher who mentors young Muslims through the turbulent teen years, with faith as their guide.
The book
Coming of Age: A Handbook for Muslim Teenagers, Book 1 for Boys
‘Coming of Age’ has been a labour of love.
Having worked with teenagers for decades trying to enable them to connect to their faith at a deeper level, Maryam Sakeenah sees the struggles of teenagers growing up in the Muslim faith. The book has been written from a place of deep concern, sincerity and understanding, and tries to help young people navigate life and the world during the turbulent teen years as their bodies, minds, thoughts and feelings transition through adolescence. It addresses physical and psychological changes that teenagers go through as well as issues like peer pressure, exam stress, online safety etc. It provides authentic references through the Quran and the words of the Prophet PBUH to provide motivation, inspiration and guidance to young people.
This book is the first of two parts, addressing issues more familiar to early teenagers below 16. Part 2 is addressed to late teenagers approaching 20, and discusses some more mature and complex themes. The entire series comprises of four books: Books 1 and 2 for girls as well as Books 1 and 2 for boys.
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Turn through the pages.
A few pages from the book, so you can see how it reads before you buy.
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The themes
What this book is about .
Guidance drawn from the Quran and the words of the Prophet (PBUH)
Prompts to reflect on and activities at the end of every chapter
Duas to lift you up, guide you and protect you
An Under-16 to-do list, and an index to find any topic
Behind The Book
About the Author
Maryam Sakeenah is a mother of two pre-teens and an internationally published writer of several articles and research papers on Islam, society and politics, as well as a book debunking the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ thesis. She majored in English Literature and International Politics with honours and has been a high school teacher of Islamic Studies, English, History, Sociology and Global Perspectives. She is also a consultant trainer at Cambridge International Education.
Maryam leads ‘Bookworm Buddies / KitabDost’, a weekly children’s reading club at her residence in Lahore to cultivate a love of reading among young people and also works voluntarily with children lacking socioeconomic privilege.
This is her second book, written especially for young people whose struggles she tries to understand as a mentor with deep empathy.
Maryam Sakeenah is a pen name the writer uses for most of her publications.
Excerpts
Read a little of the book.
Just know that who you are is from Allah, and Allah is All Wise and the best Shaper of Forms. You are His work, and He has left His signature — beauty — all over you. You are perfect just the way you are. You are beautiful because you are made by Allah, who loves beauty. You bear His signature.
So if school or college gives you a failing grade, it is not a label on who you are. You are much more than what grades can reflect. You are a full person and grades are a very small snapshot of your grand story.
Young people like you need to set high standards for themselves. They need to have dreams, goals, targets and aims to work hard for. It does not matter whether these are achieved eventually or not, but just having these goals gives you a purpose and direction.
But then it needs hard work to achieve a goal. Hard work can sometimes get really tough. In such a situation, it helps immensely to have someone to look up to: someone who has gone through it all and pulled it off well; someone who has made a difference and can inspire those who are still on their journey.
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