The Best of All Creations

One of the most beautiful things to witness is true and positive human change. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) yesterday I had the opportunity to witness this again and it has left me humbled and in awe of how amazing Allah has created human beings. Indeed, it is the truth that humans are the Best of All Creations.

As I sat and listened to a group of Muslim Sisters share their experiences of growth and change I was reminded of the vast human potential that Allah has given us. It reminded me that we do not have to allow circumstances to shape us and neither do we need to remain stuck in a state of negativity. We have the ability to change and grow and become human beings who can contribute to others lives in a meaningful way.

It also allowed me to contemplate on what true empowerment really is and I’ve come to the conclusion that empowerment is not about getting what you want despite everyone else. It’s not about comparing yourself with anyone else and then deciding that you need to be equal. True empowerment according to my understanding is being so happy and content with yourself that you do not need to compare yourself with anyone, nor do you need to demand any rights. A truly empowered person understands that she is not more important than anyone else, that if she puts others before herself and if she gives to others then she will gain more than they do. A truly empowered person is the person who has the ability to admit to her mistakes, to understand her weaknesses, to accept the circumstances that she cannot change and to remain positive even in the worst situations of negativity. This may sound impossible, but Alhamdullillah yesterday once again reaffirmed to me that this is in fact not impossible at all.

I thank Allah Almighty for giving me the chance to witness the beauty of human beings becoming better people, this gives me a feeling I cannot properly explain, but it mostly it makes me understand the magnificence of the Ultimate Creator. Allah Almighty has made us the best of creations, we need to make sure we live up to that! 

The changes within me

I just finished reading a book that I studied in College many years ago. Back then I loved the book and named it as one of my favourites, understandably then, I was eager to re-read this book after all this time, excited to once again re-experience the love I had once developed for this work.  I read the book, and then I found myself wondering why I had loved it so much in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a beautifully written book, I can still connect to its messages, messages of destructive colonial power, of bonds of family and love being shaken, of choices and betrayal. These messages are still profound, but the awe I remember experiencing so long ago has somehow been lost.

Perhaps it’s the continuous discussions of the very same topics that has allowed the initial passion to wane, perhaps it’s the fact that I have been exposed to so many more things over these years. More importantly though, I think it’s because I have changed so much, without even realizing the extent of my inner changes and what I have become.

I look back at myself as an eager student, ready and willing to soak up the knowledge that a University has to offer you, excitedly perusing course booklets for options of what to study. Learning seemed like an adventure, an eye opener to so much that there is out there. And now, I can’t help but feel cynical and the very institution I once saw as a gateway to knowledge has in a way come to represent a sort of stifling for me.

How do I explain this in an understandable manner? It just somehow feels like there’s so much out there, way too much for us to be directed to think in a certain way. The books we have been assigned to read, the knowledge we have been taught, and information we have been given, is only a small fraction of what is out there, and who has chosen what we should read, learn and study? How has it been determined what’s important and what’s not? On what basis do some theories, thoughts or books become the foundation of learning? I have come to question the things I once thought was the cornerstone of knowledge. I have been forced to open my eyes and search my own mind to make choices that are important, not because someone else says they are. My conclusion is that Thought shouldn’t be limited to what is popular, sometimes the “worst-seller” makes the best read.  Sometimes the theories they don’t teach you are the ones that are the most useful and applicable. Sometimes the way of thinking that is regarded as “backward”, “irrelevant” or even “obsolete” are the ones that hold the answers you seek.

I also find myself facing a dilemma, which has become more real each day. For me, reading or learning about the wrongs in the world is not enough. It seems like inactivity or even cowardice, to read or even write about all the wrongs, and yet there is no action. Speaking isn’t good enough, discussions, conferences, debates, what does all this really achieve? People are still suffering, we don’t have to go far to see the suffering. So much is said and done in the name of freedom, and yet freedom remains elusive to so many.

Wars are continuing to rage on, in so many parts of the world. Children are still growing up parentless, women are still being left to fend for themselves. The injustice in the world still persists. Reading about it may make us wiser, but I’m wondering what is the point of wisdom without any action?

After reading the book I mentioned, I couldn’t help but feel like people have been speaking and writing about the injustice in the world for years and years, and still so many eyes remain closed, still so many people insist in mimicking their very oppressors, still so many people give up themselves and their cultures to become something that they are not.

Perhaps the change needs to begin with each of us individually. Perhaps injustice and oppression will only be fought when we change the way we think, and then turn that into real action. Perhaps we need to go out there and help the poor in a more productive manner, or teach children and adults who do not have the luxury of knowledge, it doesn’t matter what we do; even a small action will make a difference. I’m not sure what my course of action will be, but I am quite certain that I am tired of reading about the same things over and over, and not doing much about it.

Image from here 

Our Youth can make a difference

The 16 June is a public holiday in South Africa. I’d like to think that it’s a very important public holiday; because June 16^th, is celebrated here as “Youth Day”. Of course like many good things, this public holiday goes back to a tragic day, 36 years ago. It was June 16, 1976 , during the horrendous Apartheid era in South Africa when innocent school children were shot and killed in Soweto for protesting against the implementation of Afrikaans as the language medium in schools where people did not speak Afrikaans as a first, or even second language. Those children who were killed deserve to be remembered, their sacrifice needs to be celebrated, so this is one of the few public holidays that I actually don’t mind celebrating.

 But while we’ve become a nation who seems to be over consumed with celebrating, we have in the process forgotten that celebrations cannot take place without any reason. All we have to do is look at our youth today, and we will realise that something has gone terribly wrong. Let us go back 36 years and look at the passion, the interest, the concern about important issues that were displayed by the youth of the time, and compare them to the youth of today.

 It’s sad to say that most of the youth of today are self-consumed and couldn’t be bothered about anything that happens around them, unless of course what’s happening around them has something to do with their favourite celebrities, TV shows, PS games and so on. Today’s youth can easily be seen walking around with their faces glued to their cellular phones and their fingers typing away incessantly. The youth of today could not be bothered about politics or what happens in society, and as far as social change is concerned, the youth of today wouldn’t know where to begin.

But let me not be too harsh and let me not generalise. This of course does not apply to all the youth of today, there are a few of them who have their heads screwed on the right way, so I’ll give them their due.

The thing is that real change can only come about through the youth. They are young and have fresh ideas and they speak the language of today. Youth are able to get through to people in a way that other people can’t. This is why we can still remember June 16 , 1976 with pangs in our hearts, even though we were not born at the time. It’s because of the innocence and the brightness of youth. It just seems that youth has so much to offer and so much to give to society.

I know I kind of sound like an old lady here, but I really think that the youth of today do not know their true worth. They have been sucked into an abyss where they are taught to be self-centred and materialistic. Their lives revolve around the latest cell phone technology and they have been led to believe that the only form of communication is through facebook, BBM, twitter and so on. They do not know that they are the ones who hold the keys to the future. The youth are the ones who are able to be the most productive members of society, and yet they have somehow become the least productive. Instead of working with parents and other adults, they have been brainwashed into believing that they need to be out there, having fun, trying new things (which most of the time are not good new things). They have been convinced that parents are the enemies and they only wish to stifle freedom.

Yes, the only idea of freedom that most of our youth have is about freedom to go out at night and meet their friends and have “fun”. Talk to them about freedom of oppressed people, or freedom to dress the way you want to, or freedom to work and so on, and they will laugh at you.

SO let’s go back to the youth of 1976, those innocent youth who lived in oppression and poverty but were willing to fight for their freedom to be taught in a language that they could understand. Those youth gave their lives protesting for an education, when our youth find education boring and basically throw it away. Those youth understood what our youth cannot even begin to understand.  Those youth should be celebrated; will people be able to say that about our youth 30 years from now?

I sometimes think that when life is made easy for us then we become complacent and lazy. When we are given freedom, then we cannot understand that there are people who need to fight for their freedom. When we are given rights, then we do not look around and realise that there are people whose rights are taken away from them. When we have ease and comfort, then we forget that there are others who are suffering and going through hardship. Alhamdullillah for our ease, and May Allah never give us hardship, but the thing is that through all our ease, we must not forget that we have a duty towards others and a role to play in society, even if the role we play is small.

Yes, youth should be celebrated, but our youth should be reminded of their worth every single day, so that they can stand up and be the people that they are able to be, and maybe one day, people will look back and remember the youth of today with fondness and admiration.  

May Allah guide us all, Inshaa-Allah for we cannot achieve a single thing without the will of the Almighty Allah.

Image from here

I guess change is inevitable

Depending on how we choose to see things, change can be either a positive or negative thing. Recently I have had to go through some changes in my life which I was not very willing to embrace at first. I have become comfortable with my life the way it is and the idea of things changing didn’t go down well at first. I made all types of excuses initially, but then at some point I realized that there was not much point in making excuses anymore, because we have to deal with change at some point, whether we like to or not.

The more I think of it, the more it seems that life is only about change. In fact, we may even describe life as a series of changes. We are born, and we spend the first few precious years of our lives being protected and nurtured by our parents and then that has to change when we go off to school. Going to school can be a scary and sad experience (my youngest sister will attest to this as she just hated school initially). But this is a change that we have to deal with. Then when we become comfortable in Primary School, when we finally feel happy and secure in our friendships, it’s time for another change and we have to go off to high school, or perhaps another primary school or maybe even another Town, or country.

After school more changes await us. We go off to University or to work, some of us get married. Whatever path we take, we have to go through changes in life. As we get older and progress through life, we will find that change is inevitable. There’s no getting away from it. Things cannot stay the same because without change there is no progression in life, and without progression in life we remain stagnant, and what is the point then, really, if we’re not learning and growing as we go through the wonderful journey of life?

I have found that the times we really don’t look forward to change are the times when we learn the most from the changes that we encounter. I read a quote somewhere; it said that “CHANGE BRINGS LIFE”. I always remember this, especially when I am not looking forward to change.

So truly I guess change is inevitable, but no matter what the change is, it has to be good for us in terms of growing to become stronger and better people. So perhaps the better thing to do would be to embrace change instead of run away from it, accept and appreciate change instead of moan about it and regard change as an opportunity to grow and a means to become a better person.

At this point I am recalling a verse from the Holy Qur’aan in which Allah (swt) states that no soul will be given a burden which he is unable to bear. SubhanAllah, Allah is indeed the Most Merciful and this assures us that no matter what the changes are that we have to go through in life, if we rely on Allah Almighty then certainly we will be able to bear all the changes that come our way. Inshaa Allah Ameen!

Image 1 from: http://selfpersonal.com/blog/2009/11/change-quotes-ignore-change-experience-decay/
Image 2 from: http://www.beliefquotes.com/graphics/change/
Image 3 from: http://cmm111-teng.blogspot.com/2011/02/motivational-quotes.html