By Nesima Aberra

Muslim Voice

It’s a Tuesday evening and a group of around twenty Muslim girls are huddled in the funerary room at the Islamic Community Center in Tempe as Veneranda Sanchez, a teacher at the PMIS School, demonstrates how to wash and prepare a dead body for services using a plastic doll. She covers the doll’s body with towels before washing in order to cover her awrah, following set Islamic guidelines.

"You don’t know when you’re going to die, so always be prepared," she says.

The girls look on and ask question during the process, even participating by spraying water with the nozzle and smelling the kafoor and cedar oil used to clean the body. Most people would be uneasy about learning the rituals of handling a dead body, but it is something every Muslim will undoubtedly have to experience. These kinds of common sense skills are part of what these Muslim girls want to learn more about.

Precious Jewels, the name of the Muslim girls’ group, started last year in order to provide a fun way to learn about Islam and maintain a bond of sisterhood. Every Tuesday, the girls gather at ICC to have discussions, go on outings, learn dua’s and listen to guest speakers—all to increase their Islamic knowledge and appreciation. According to member Dalal Jawad, the name’s significance relates to Muslim girls being precious and their modesty being a jewel.

Rawa Awad, one of the founding members, said she and a few other girls found a void in the community for a group for high school to post-graduate women and decided to start the club after several months of planning.

"We thought a lot about what our goals for the club were going to be at a spiritual, social and active level before we leaked the word about."

The schedule for the meetings is created in advance and organized into various themes and topics. In the past, the Precious Jewels have learned about the 99 names of Allah, staying healthy in Ramadan and even had fiqh questions answered by the masjid’s sheikh and his wife. This month’s focus was on practical issues, hence the lesson on preparing the body for burial. For leisure activities, the girls have gone out for frozen yogurt, rock climbing and are planning to have a self-defense lesson.

Their meetings typically begin with a riddle posted in the first five minutes and then taken down, in order to encourage punctuality. Gift cards and candy are given out to the winners. The frequency of the meetings is no doubt a challenge to keep up with for many of the members balancing school and work, but Awad said despite changing schedules, she finds a consistent group of twenty girls attend each time. The impact of the club on member Samira Asad’s life motivates her to continue going to the meetings.

"Precious Jewels is more than a halaqa. It’s a time for us college age girls to get together to learn something new and have fun doing it. I’ve been going to PJs for over a year now and I’ve loved every minute of it. If I miss a week because of homework or other commitments, I really feel like something is missing; my week just isn’t the same. It’s a way for us to stay connected even with all of our crazy, hectic schedules. I am so blessed to be a part of it."

For valley Muslim girls interested in joining the group, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to get on the Precious Jewels email list.