Safari Notes

"Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month... month in which God has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to God) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time... It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased..." (Ibn Khuzaymah) Ramadhan is gone! And the Eid festivities are almost over. Now the difficult part: to adjust to sleeping longer at nights and eating during the day; the body and mind, take time accepting that. Another eleven lunar months to the next Ramadhan; so far away and yet so near!

"Islam is not an end in itself; and it is not doing good and right deeds and actions only, it is too - having right and pure thoughts ." My late Father.

"There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you. Nothing have we omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end" - The Holly Quran 6:38 “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” - Mahatma Gandhi “Animals are my friends, and I don't eat my friends” - George Bernard Shaw "When a man has pity on all living creatures then only is he noble " - Buddha "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals" - Immanuel Kant "I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me" Mark Twain "Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled" - Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Mankind's true moral tes

"God - give me: the courage to change the things I can change for the better; the stength to accept the things I can not change - however difficult and whatever the circumstances; and the wisdom to know the difference of the things I can change from those I can not - Amen"

"Knowing that I don't know much is knowledge in itself" A friend - Kulwant Garewal Singh (Kisumu) "The more I know and understand mankind and his doings, the more I like animals." A friend

" To a man who knows nothing - mountains are mountains, waters are waters and trees are trees. When he has studied and knows a little - mountains are no longer mountains, waters are no longer waters and trees are no longer trees. But when he has thoroughly understood - mountains are once again mountains, waters are waters and trees are trees " - Old saying by Chinese artist .

The relationship between human beings and the earth is increasingly complicated and urgent. Every day there are stories about pollution, global warming and animal species facing extinction. Religion is responding with views on the enviroment and our responsibility for it. Islamic belief about the environment Although human beings are seen as the most intelligent life form on earth, they are responsible for almost all the damage done to the planet. If we imagined the earth is aged 46, all the damage done has taken place in the last 60 seconds of the earth's life. The Qur’an says that Allah (God) is the Creator of the world. Human beings are on the world as trustees or ‘vice-regents’ - they are told to look after the world for Allah and for the future: The Earth is green and beautiful, and Allah has appointed you his stewards over it. The whole earth has been created a place of worship, pure and clean. Whoever plants a tree and diligently looks after it until it matures and bears f