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I never liked a red pen. Why? Firstly, a red pen used by a school teacher signifies that your work is wrong; whilst I want my mistakes pointed out to me, does it have to be so harsh?

Also, a red pen used by your accountant signifies that you are in debt! Red flames indicate the fire of hell; the flames of an angry dragon are always red - linking red with anger, so red is not a pretty colour to me in these aspects.

A blue ribbon signifies success and winning. Yeah, I would rather use lilac or purple in my markings to indicate to students that the work handed in is not exactly right, but highlighted in a soothing subtle colour means we can work on improving it ... we can reach our goal of blue, representing success. "We" being the operative word.

A glaring red is not needed. Why? From my prospective this is the reason why - because it's ugly and means a blatant reminder of failure. Who likes to be reminded of failing?

A kinder approach can be taken. Success needs to be nurtured and cultivated, and it is not attained by ridicule and blatant ugliness. The Bible speaks of achieving what you will by speaking soft words and showing actions of patience and kindness -15:1. "A right cause will be better pleaded with meekness than with passion. Nothing stirs up anger like grievous words. 2. He that has knowledge, is to use it aright, for the good of others." The Quran also speaks on harshness: "So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult with them. It was by the mercy of Allah that you were easygoing with them (O Muhammad), for if thou hadst been stern and fierce of heart they would have dispersed from round about thee." Indeed harshness is a turn off and does not achieve success - in fact it is counter-productive to success.

Success is worked on over time with patience and endurance. We are given the keys to success with 'keys' being multiple. Success is not achieved all at once; we use different keys one by one to open each door leading to our ultimate goal of success.

Students with the support of their parents, family and teachers are encouraged to achieve success. As we get older, our family, our friends, our co-workers coach us on to achieving the success we desire. At this time as graduations are held all over Bermuda, from the wee tots to the Bermuda College graduates, we see for ourselves success in motion. Success that stems from a collaboration of encouragement on the part of the student, the teacher, the family, and the community - it is indeed a team effort.

Living successfully

However, parents and teachers hold the brunt of their children's success in their hands, and may I add, hearts. If we want our children to succeed, we indeed must be gentle, encouraging and always supportive of their endeavours.

We have spoken on academic success, but there is another success, more important than academia - it is living successfully. What do I mean? As Muslims, real success or the greatest success in life is to do what Allah (swt) wants us to do by obeying His commands. A Muslim submits to the total will of Allah at all times. God's way should be ingrained in the way we live our fundamental daily lives; this is the greatest success. We are called upon as Muslims to be honest, just, fair and kind no matter what. We are expected to promote justice, no matter what the cost and no matter how difficult a position it might put us in. We must stand up for justice.

Value of prayer

How do we do this? We are called upon more than anything as Muslims to be men and women of prayer. With prayer comes real success - the calling of the iqamah reminds us "come to prayer, come to success". In our praying we must implore upon our Lord to help us in the purification of our hearts and our souls - "Blessed is he who is preoccupied with his defects rather than those of people." - as related by Bazzar (Bulugh Al-Maram). Let's put away the red pen.

People respect honesty and integrity. They look up to people who are wise and they emulate people who are kind.

We can safely conclude that the attainment of success is a lifetime challenge. It may, and will mean struggling every day of our lives to be better and more faithful to what Allah has called us to be. The most successful of us are those whom possess the qualities of Allah in compassion and mercy.

Let's continue to pray that we can all strive for success in the manner of which Allah has asked. Let's come to success, let's come to prayer.

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