BACK TO THE FUTURE
We often trivialise. It’s just a little white lie. My boss won’t know. Say, I’m not here. It’s not that bad. Everyone does it, and a million other variations.
The truth is that our actions, according to the Quran, manifest themselves in the future: “They will never seek for death, on account of the (sins) which their hands have sent on before them and Allah is well-acquainted with the wrong-doers” [2:95].
Not only that, but the influence of our deeds resonates in the world before we are even aware of their consequences. Furthermore, they have observer status and will testify against us when we catch up with its fruits in the future.
So, to arrive at a brighter and more secure future, better send out sound deeds today.
UNWARRANTED PROFESSORSHIPS
We live in an age where saying I don’t know is a rarity, which results in people commenting and offering viewpoints on subjects they are ignorant of.
Teaching is a noble profession. That’s because knowledge is sacred.
Thus, it is sacrilege for those without understanding to dispense what they purport to know.
The Prophet (s) taught us that learning precedes teaching: “Acquire knowledge and teach it to the people, learn the obligatory duties and teach them to the people, learn the Qur’an and teach it to the people” [Mishkat al-Masabih 279].
In the South, those who align their calendars with the solar cycle relish its final march to completion.
December brings sunshine and vacation time, but unfortunately, not everyone can enjoy their time in the sun. That’s true for many living on the Cape Flats. For them, it remains hell. Yet escaping from the raging infernos engulfing their everyday lives to Cape Town’s plethora of paradisal beaches may be a stretch too far. It is a painful reality and also an unacceptable one.
Creating happy year-end memories has become exclusive, sadly to the exclusion of many on the Cape Flats living a miserable existence. It’s so exclusive that many children living on the Cape Flats have never been to the sea, even though Cape Town boasts quick and easy access to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
The unattainability of the two oceans for many living on the Cape Flats is an indictment of the wide-ranging disparity of Cape Town’s society and, by extension, South Africa’s, and proof that an underclass exists.
Thankfully, the Boxing Day beach rush inspires even the most downtrodden to fight for their right in the sun. Even if just for one day of the year, thousands, through communal organisation and planning, flock to feel the warm golden sand beneath their feet.
But their endeavour is not always appreciated by those whose everyday landscape the eager beachgoers dot. We live in a free, open and democratic South Africa, where freedom of movement and the use of public spaces is a right for all. Regrettably, not everyone from amongst the privileged class welcomes their presence. Their prejudice makes them view the annual single-day beach sun-chasers as intruders not ‘erudite’ or ‘cultured’ enough to occupy the same spaces with them unless it is a ‘master and servant’ paradigm.
They embarrass us.
And I’m ashamed to admit that many from amongst the previously disenfranchised are embarrassed, too.
These sentiments speak to the lack of empathy and grandiose entitlement pervading our society and are alien to the spirit of ubuntu—I am because we are.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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