As stewards of the Earth we must review our practices

This weekend at Hamilton Fairmont Hotel, both Muslim and non-Muslim women were treated to the wisdom and piety of Sister Ieasha Prime of New Orleans.  Sister Ieasha conducted a conference entitled ‘Women of Virtue’.

The conference focused on the four pious women of the Quran, namely; Maryum (Mary) — blessed mother of Isa (Jesus); Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and considered ‘the mother of the believers’; Fatimah (one of the daughters of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) considered an exemplar for both men and women.

Fatimah remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh; Asiyah — the wife of Pharaoh — raised Prophet Moses from an infant having rescued him from the river, during the time of Pharaoh’s order to kill all Hebrew boy children. 

After a while, Asiyah became a convert to Islam and upheld the conviction of the faith, even after being tortured by her husband Pharaoh because of it.

During the height of her tortures, Asiyah called on Allah for deliverance from the iniquities of her hus- band — "Lord build me a house with Thee in Paradise and deliver me from Pharaoh and his doings, and deliver me from the unjust people" (lxvi, 11). Needless to say, Allah answers the prayers of His servants. Supan’llah, I devoured so much knowledge over the weekend from Sister Ieasha. May the mercy and blessings of Allah (swa) be forever on Sister Ieasha and the organizers of this blessed event, Sisters Anisah, Aqeelah and Halimah. Bermuda enjoyed, yet again the mercy and blessings of Allah, in allowing us to enjoy the marathon and the parade whilst receiving much-needed showers of blessings.

Though the weather was threatening to literally ‘rain on our parade’ the rains subsided enough to allow us to enjoy the day’s festivities — blessed Bermuda! 

I often wonder if we Bermudians reflect on God’s mercy and do not take for granted His blessings on this tiny little island in the middle of the Atlantic with, in comparison to the rest of the world, a rather small population.

During the conference, Sister Ieasha touched on an issue that to me, might be the reason why we are so blessed here in Bermuda. As we are aware, Allah has commanded mankind to be the vicegerents of the earth.

That’s a pretty heavy duty eh? As vicegerents we have been appointed by Allah (swa) the Ruler and Lord of the Worlds, to act as administrative deputies on the affairs of the Earth.

When God wanted to create Adam, he informed his angels that he would appoint him as vicegerent on the Earth, to assume responsibility of knowledge, choice and direction, and carry out His mission of populating and civilizing the Earth.

Hence, mankind has been placed with the onerous task of running things according to God’s perfect will! 

I would dare say that the people of Bermuda for the most part, are God-fearing people and place reliance on God; so far, this has carried us well, however, going into the future though, we must sharpen up on our devotion and obedience to God if we are to continue to be blessed by our Lord. 

The theme for the Bermuda Day Parade was “Green: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.  The intent of the theme is to send a strong message of awareness to the community to consider and adhere to green environment practices. 

Certainly, we must be mindful for our future existence of the way we handle the Earth; we must not be wasteful or careless.

Just as we are mindful of how we handle and put into the physical earth, we must be even more mindful of how we handle and put into the Earth via our spirituality.

We must stop such ugly behaviours as gossip, back- biting, greed, envy, murder, rape; all ungodly acts that we dispense amongst each other and vibrate into the Earth. 

We must not only think about green practices to sustain us in our earthly life, but we must think of the pure practices of our hearts to sustain us in this life and into the next. 

We must Bermuda, strive hard to be virtuous and fulfil our duties as vicegerents of the earth, as Allah has commanded, in doing so, Allah, the Compassionate will continue to bestow upon us His sustainable blessings of mercy and compassion.

Surah 9:71 “The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another: they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is evil: they observe regular prayers, practice regular charity, and obey Allah and His Apostle.  On them will Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is Exalted in power, Wise.”

And surely Allah speaks the truth. Ameen.