Rab.I  20, 1446 / September 23, 2023

 Assalamu alaykum dear Sakinah families, 

Insha’Allah you are well and your school year has started smoothly.

Learning begins with questions. When our children ask us questions, do we have answers?

How did the world begin? Where did I come from? How can caterpillars turn into butterflies? Why do birds migrate? How do bees know how to start making their homes? Why does ice float? What difference does that make? What is matter? What is time? Did time ever have a beginning? How did everything start? What does the Qur’an say about beginnings?

Our Sakinah theme this year connects to everything. Let us begin with the beginning. Bismillah.

Unpacking the poster                       

What is the one important word?

Do you recognize places, things, or symbols?

What layers do you see in the poster?

What patterns do you see?

What gives a sense of time?

How does the word “Kun” relate to everything you see in the poster? 

This is what we tried to incorporate into the design of the poster:

With one word, everything is. “Be”, and it begins; it becomes; it belongs. This is the wonder of creation, the work of the all-Knowing Creator.  

The diacritic dot of the letter “nun” represents the centre of tawhid, the heart of all matter, the place of beginning and end of everything. Surely from Him we originate and to Him we return.

The sajdah silhouette appears in two places. This is our most humble posture, the closest to Allah SWT. The sajdah in the crescent moon reminds us of the beginnings of the lunar month.

Sunrise marks the beginning of each day. The morning light reveals to our eyes that which was hidden in the darkness of the night. It is a place of arising, unfolding, opening, witnessing.

The sun and the moon mark our time; they show us the beginnings of the day and night, the lunar month, and the solar year. The world is filled with cycles, patterns, and recurring beginnings.

Civilization afloat in the safina is the story of humankind. It has a beginning and end. Every person has a beginning and end. Every person’s story adds to the human story.

Like the beginning of the caravan, as sequential time plods along, step by step, every first step is a beginning, it leads to the end of the traveler’s journey.

On the poster, look for:

·         Kaaba in Makkah, Masjid ul Nabi in Madinah, Dome of the Rock at al Aqsa in Jerusalem

·         Ulugh Beg Madrassah in Samarqand, Blue Mosque of Istanbul, Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Mosque of Cordoba in Andalucía, The Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali

·         evidence of the intellectual and scientific tradition in Islamic civilization, such as astronomical instruments like the astrolabe

·         dates, fig, pomegranate, olives, palm trees, iris, honeybee, camels, coffee

·         our five critical attributes in Sakinah Circle

Please find a place at home to put up the poster where it can keep reminding us all to connect to our beginnings.

From the beginning to the end of this school year, may we as a Sakinah family – at school and at home – strive to be khalifa. May we see things as they really are. May we regard all our children as an amanah, remembering so many other children who cannot be in school, so many children whose breath has been taken away, so many children whose parents have been martyred.  May we bring reflection to our daily experience. May we work with purpose and excellence. May we become fully intentional in our learning and teaching, alhamdullilah.

Wassalam

Elma Harder