Join a female scholar, certified birth doula, and childbirth educator for this full-day Saturday workshop to learn Islamic insights on the spirituality and fiqh of pregnancy, labor, and after birth.
No matter where you plan to give birth—at home, a birth center, or a hospital—, this mini-course is an invaluable tool for helping you connect with your Creator through the unique and empowering experience of carrying and birthing your beautiful baby.
This course is open to all women 16 years+, pregnant, or those who just want to learn more about this incredible journey of pregnancy and beyond.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. PST (prayer & lunch break in between) | Sunday, June 30 | $45/in-person & $35/online ($12 lunch option)| In-person or virtually (highly recommended to attend in person) | Women & Teens Ages 16+ only | Register at mcceastbay.org/blessed
All sisters who register online will receive a private live stream link to view the event virtually if they cannot attend in person. The unlisted link will be retained indefinitely for later viewing.
It is highly recommended that you attend the workshop in person. If you’re local, you don’t want to miss the in-person class!
Please note that no babysitting is provided.
We will take a break for Dhur and lunch at 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided to those who pre-purchase their lunch. Please bring your own water bottles and comfortable pillows/props if needed!
Ustadha Shamira Chothia Ahmed, MA, CBD, CLEC, is a certified birth doula, certified lactation counselor, childbirth educator, midwifery student, and mother of five.
The class will cover:
- Islamic birth model based on the Quran: to empower you in your own birth journey
- Brief Overview of Labor and Birth: Become knowledgeable about your body and the birth process to increase your confidence that your body was created for birth!
- Labor Relaxation/Breathing Techniques & Exercises: Including a powerful dhikr tool to connect with your Lord ﷻ and make your birth an elevated, spiritually empowering experience
- Hanafi Fiqh Rulings: Pregnancy, Labor, and Post-Partum, including intimacy rulings and practical applications
- Sunnahs of the newborn: what to do immediately in the postpartum and as your baby grows
- Best gift to baby: Love languages
- And more!
You can do it. Your body can do it. It is sacred. It is birth.
“The instructor was great mA! Very helpful and enthusiastic, also very inspirational. I’ve never studied birth like this!” -Blessed Birthings’ Attendee
Get ready to learn, share, be inspired, and have fun!
MCC has a standing policy that financial need should not hold a person from attaining spiritual knowledge offered at the community center. For a financial waiver, please complete this form: http://mcceastbay.org/scholarship
Sponsored by The Rahmah Foundation & MCC East Bay
Questions? events@mcceastbay.org
- – More sessions for Muslimahs: http://mcceastbay.org/women
- – More talks in conjunction with The Rahmah Foundation: http://mcceastbay.org/rahmah-foundation
About the Teacher:
Ustadha Shamira Chothia Ahmed
Born and raised in California’s Central Valley, Ustadha Shamira is passionate about educating and empowering Muslim women to reach their highest spiritual potential through acquiring sacred knowledge. Having graduated as valedictorian from a large public high school, her studies led her — following a brief soul-searching stint at Georgetown University — to seek sacred knowledge from scholars on three continents — Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Ustadha Shamira began her journey in seeking sacred knowledge at the women’s Dar-ul-Uloom Mu’eenal Islam seminary in South Africa, and completed the five-year intensive ‘alima program at Ja’mia Al-Imam Muhammad Zakariyya, one of Britain’s first and most renowned Islamic universities for women. Thereafter, she continued her Arabic and Qur’anic studies in Damascus, Syria, where she obtained an ijāzah in Tajwīd of the Ḥafṣ recitation from the late eminent Syrian scholar Shaykh Ḥasan al-Kurdī.
In 2005, Ustadha Shamira taught Hanafi fiqh for women at the Zaytuna Institute in California and has since taught various Islamic sciences in venues across North America. In 2008, she earned a Master’s Degree in Demographics and Social Analysis from the University of California at Irvine, focusing on the identity formation of the Muslim-American population.
In 2013, Ustadha Shamira specialized in the detailed rulings of menstruation, lochia, and abnormal discharge under the direction of Mufti Abdur Rahman Ibn Yusuf Mangera and assisted in compiling Imam Abu Hanifa’s Al-Fiqh al-Akbar Explained.
As a wife and mother of five children, Ustadha Shamira has a passion to empower women in their child bearing years to gain closeness to their Lord. As a certified birth doula and lactation educator, she infuses her classes with Islamic spirituality and offers birth consultations and virtual doula services to Muslim women.
Ustadha Shamira is a co-founder of the Rahmah Foundation and currently teaches for Nur al-Iman, a full-time girls’ shariah program with Ustadha Mona Elzankaly based in the Bay Area.
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Testimonials
This was such an amazing class and I am grateful Allah SWT guided me toward it… I have left this class feeling so inspired.. this course gave me so much hope and reminded me of how compassionate and merciful Allah SWT is. I pray others benefit from this course as much as I did. -FS
I am a doula and childbirth educator and mother of three. I have appreciated sister Shamira’s class a lot, she has embedded this beautiful topic very well into our Islamic beliefs, with professional knowledge and skillful presentation, Mashallah. JazakAllahu khairan -Livia
“This [class] is a MUST for every Muslim woman…”
From Masjid Al Huda:
Exceptional Women in our Tradition
Join us for an enlightening program reviving female scholarship in the company of Ustadha Shamira Chothia Ahmed.
Starting off with a short explanation connecting the first Divine revelation “Iqra -read” to “Draw near and prostrate”, Ustadha Shamira will discuss the relevance and significance of the heart-to-heart spiritual connection of learning from female teachers in our contemporary times.
Gain inspiration on your own journey of seeking sacred knowledge, regardless of your personal circumstances: Single, married, divorced, widowed and across a wide spectrum of ages, life stages and everything in between.
Let’s work together to revive female scholarship and raise the Ummah to the most deserving of ranks!
Saturday June 29, 2024 from 3 pm to 4:30 pm PST at Masjid Al Huda – 3880 Smith St, Union City.
RSVP Now 
https://tinyurl.com/duacs4kv
This is a sisters’ only event.
Can’t make it ? Join us virtuallyhttps://tinyurl.com/46aydtmx