Praise and Glory be to Allah Most High and peace and blessings upon the Chosen One, Muhammad al-Mustafa, sallalahu alaihi wa sallam, whom God sent as a Mercy to all the Worlds.
Our lives, like the lives of all creatures, are affected by the natural order of heaven and earth. Regardless of how much we may wish to resist the affect of weather patterns, the changing seasons, the alternation of night and day and the cataclysmic forces of geological phenomena when they suddenly seem to erupt without warning; our lives are profoundly shaped by forces over which we have no control. We may see ourselves, especially in the West, as modern, technologically-advanced people who have tamed the unpredictable forces of nature that less-advanced folk remain subjected to; but the truth of the matter is that no matter how much we strive to sever our dependency on nature, the natural world is a part of us. And our souls yearn to reconnect with the earth. This should not come as a surprise to us as Believers, because Allah subahanahu wa t'aala has already told us in the Qur'an that He placed us on the earth as khulafa'. In fact, as we all know, our Creator told the very angels in the heavens, before He created us, that He was placing us as a khalifa on the earth. And our Lord, Allah Most High, has told us in the Qur'an and on the blessed tongue of His beloved, the Messenger of Allah, sallalahu alaihi wa sallam, that our very creation is from 'clay' and 'water' - in other words we are, in a very real sense, made from the earth itself. And, of course, when we die we shall return to whence we came.
Even as we recess for the Summer Half-term the air now reflects a summer light: the days now are brighter, the weather feels warmer, and parks and playgrounds resonate with the laughter and play of children. These changes of season, these alternations of mood, these changes of state - like geological phenomena, like calm blue skies, like terrifying storms and malevolent maelstroms, like happy times and sad times, like autumn and winter, like spring and summer, like our very hearts and souls; are part of the magnificence of our Lord's creation and His unfathomable wondrous works. It is the Creating of Allah. In all these states of weather, of emotion, of heart and mind, of health and fortune, of poverty and striving, of hard-work and rest - in all these states there is nothing better we can do except to say Alhamdulillah: "Praise and thanks are Allah's alone." So as we part ways for a moment to enjoy the summer half-term: when spending time with your children and with your families, when facing a moment of sadness or a sense of joy, when hearing the laughter of your children or when seeing them cry, in happiness and sadness, in obedience and even in forgetfulness; let us always be mindful that seasons change, that winds blow differently from day to day, that fortunes wax and wane, but in all of these variations our hearts must remain attached to our beloved-the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and our Lord Most High, the Compassionate, the Most Loving.
Truly in the creation of the heavens and earth; And alternation of night and day; And ships that course the sea bearing benefit to man; And in what Allah has sent down of wondrous plentiful water from the sky, and revived the earth with it after it had died, and dispersed far and wide in it of every creature; And in changing the shifting winds; And in clouds meekly humbled between sky and earth: Are a multitude of mighty signs for people who comprehend. (Qur'an 2:164)
wa ma tawfeeqi illa billah.
Munawar Karim, Headmaster