Asalaamu Alaikum Dear Parents,
The month of Ramadan as you all know is a month full of great blessings and a time to grow spiritually. As mentioned in the Quran in Surah al-Baqarah (183-185):
“O you who believe! fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may (learn) self-restraint…Allah intends your well-being and does not want to put you to hardship. He wants you to complete the prescribed period so that you should glorify His Greatness and render thanks to Him for giving you guidance.”
I would like to highlight three areas from the above verses which I hope will be some useful points for our Ramadan this year:
- Self-restraint: For 11 months of the year, we do not have the same restrictions placed upon us. For just one month, if we have it within us to restrain ourselves from what is normally permissible, then we certainly do have what it takes to restrain ourselves from what is not permissible.
So…what could be a focus for this Ramadan? Perhaps being particular about what we say? What we listen to? Where we go? Managing our emotions/anger, etc? Each one of us will have things we want to improve on.
- Well-being: Allah has not set Ramadan upon us to make our lives difficult – He intends well-being for us. This is a great time to get ourselves organised and stop complicating our lives – it is not Allah who makes our life difficult, it is ourselves.
The College’s decision has been to continue with our normal school timings throughout Ramadan, similar to the last few years.
We are an Australian school in the Islamic Tradition. This means that learning continues uninterrupted just like any other Australian school. In support of the Islamic Tradition, we will be encouraging the students to be spending their break times in reflection and Quran reading instead of soccer and other games. Your support in this message will go a long way in promoting good values and a healthy mindset in our children.
- Being grateful to Allah (swt): After having an empty belly for only a short while of just over 11 hours, we can give thanks to Allah for all the good that He has given us. Think about not just the less fortunate around the world, but those Muslims on the other side of the world, where in some places the fast will be for about 20 hours!
The system of Allah is that He gives an increase in provisions to those who show gratitude, and a decrease for those who complain. Let’s be particular about what we say and do especially around our children, so that they can grow up to be more positive and resilient. Let’s avoid negative mindsets as they are of no benefit. After all, we have the luxury of being able to live with a sense of security, travel in relative comfort, enjoy shorter fasts and cooler weather, have a delicious meal and a roof to come home to. Which of Allah’s favours can we deny?
Please remember each other in your dua’s and have a most blessed month ahead.
Wasalam