New Year Greetings!

Dear sisters and brothers in humanity, let me wish you warm Salaam and sincere prayers for your success in the new year. As we negotiate the Islamic new year 1438 let us renew the pledge of being model Muslims; who offer prayers in humility, give zakah in sincerity for the good of those less fortunate than us, and keep our daily countenance reflecting the gratitude to Allah SWA for the limitless bounty He bestows on us in endless refrain even as we take all this for granted and go about our daily existence in heedlessness.

Truthfulness is the basis of success in our lives. Everything depends on it. It is the basis of connection with other human beings. It it is the basis of trust in each other and it is the one prime quality that exemplifies the character of our beloved Prophet Muhammad whom we all are called upon to emulate. That is why he was called “al-Ameen”. Truthfulness is next to godliness is a common phrase we all know. The opposite of this is the quality of deceit, and this is the prime character of the Shaitan and thus he is referred to as the “great deceiver”. We have to clean ourselves from the character of deceit if we are to succeed in this life and in the Hereafter.  And it is not too difficult to know when we are in the flow of this deceit if we can just be aware, because we can feel such behaviour taking us away from Allah. In line with the severe testing we are subject to in this world, all through our lives we are constantly tempted to move away from Allah’s path and with time, without this awareness, we don't even know this is happening, for Shaytan's ways are subtle. This is the trap we need to get out from and in this new year let us make the pledge to be vigilant and watchful of these feelings in us. Without our awareness working in consciousness, we have no chance of parrying the attempts of the Deceiver. He is extremely clever for he has eons of experience in making us humans slip from the path and it's our very conscious resolve that can keep us on Allah’s Path to Jannah.

Let this year be the beginning of our salvation!