The essence of Deenway

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.

As we come to the end of the second week of the Autumn term, we also find ourselves at the end of the first week of the First Spring. That is to say, the blessed lunar month of Rabi' al-Awwal - the month of the luminous birth of our beloved, the beloved of Allah, Sayydina Muhammad Rasoolullah, peace and blessings be upon him. At the start of this blessed month we also warmly welcome new children, new families and new teachers into the Deenway community. Ahlan wa sahlan. You are welcome here.

Ours is a small community, among the wider community of believers and non-believers, with whom we share the blessings of Allah's Grace by being from the ummah of His beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Often we forget that the ummah of Rasoolullah, peace and blessings be upon him, is of two kinds: Those who accept his message and who bear witness to the two-fold testimony of the shahada (that there is nothing worthy of worship except God, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger), and those who have not yet heeded his call, peace and blessings be upon him. We also sometimes forget, that Allah Most High, describes our Prophet as a "Mercy to All Creation". And so in imitation of his sunnah, may Allah bless him with peace, our purpose in life is also to try to be a mercy to all creation.

In this week's Hadith lesson we began by sharing the Hadith of Mercy. This hadith has been transmitted musalsal through unbroken multiple chains of narrators by those that first heard it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, to their students who in turn transmitted it to their students, throughout the generations down to our very age. Just as the sahabi who originally heard these blessed words took them as the first direct teaching he received from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; he in turn made it the first prophetic teaching he transmitted to his students. When those students became teachers in their own right, they in turn made it the first teaching to transmit to their students. For this reason this precious hadith is known as musalsal bil-awaliyya i.e 'a hadith connected to the Messenger not only in transmission of the words but also in transmission of being the first hadith transmitted'. Allah Most High blessed me to hear this hadith musalal-bil-awaliyya from two different scholars-the first time in Spain, the second in Madina. And so at Deenway, when we begin the first hadith class of the year we also begin with this same hadith in the hope that our children will also be included among the blessed men and women who have preserved this teaching and passed it on to others. The text of the hadith is as follows:

From this hadith, transmitted as the very first hadith to students who later on hope to graduate as inheritors of the Prophetic Tradition, we learn the essence of our deen and the teaching of our beloved prophet peace and blessings be upon him. The essence and the teaching is rahma i.e. mercy. Not mercy shown to a select race, people, community or creed, but mercy to all those on the earth. This is the essence of the teaching of our deen and therefore the essence of the teaching of our Deenway School. We ask Allah Most High, to let it be so. To make us among these beautiful people-who show mercy to others, and are shown mercy by the Most Merciful Himself subahanu wa t'aala.

As we welcome new faces into our little Deenway community we invite you all to share with us the highest aspirations for our children and for ourselves: that we become those loved by Allah, Most High, by reason of our love for His beloved: the Chosen (mustafa), the Beloved (habibullah), the mercy to all the worlds (rahmatulil aalameen), sayyiduna Muhammad Rasoolullah sallalahu alaihi wa sallam.

wa ma tawfeeqi illa billah.

Munawar Karim

Headmaster