Salam Maulidulrasul

“And peace on him on the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he is raised to life"

Holy Quran 19:15

Today is the 12th of Rabi’ul Awal 1431. Muslims worldwide commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)*, by remembering his life, teachings and character.

“Allahuma salli ala saidina Muhammadin wa Ala ali Muhammad”
O God! Shower thy blessings on Muhammad and the descendents of Muhammad

The Prophet (SAW) lived among his people and taught them about the belief in one God, ethics in everyday life and the importance of education in leading an exemplary life. Some of his famous sayings includes "Seek knowledge even unto China", "Acquire knowledge, for he who acquires it performs an act of piety; he who speaks of knowledge, praises God: he who seeks it, adores God." He also declared: "The ink of the scholar is more precious than the blood of the martyr."

In a spirit of friendship and love, members of the Warwick University Islamic Society stood at strategic points handing out stalks of roses to passer-bys. Attached to the roses are cards with words of wisdom from the Prophet (SAW).  A lot of people were caught by surprise and I think this was a very good gesture and demonstrated a different side of Islam. Well done.

Salam Maulidurrasul to all and may Allah bless us always.

*SAW (in Arabic) or PBUH is a contraction of the term "Peace be Upon Him" which all Muslims offer as a sign of respect when the names of the prophets are mentioned.

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I had been a very busy bee this week.  On Tuesday was Jane’s retirement party and we went overboard with the preparations. What do you give to someone who had been working for the past 33 years? No more alarm clocks, no more waiting for the bus and no more answering to the boss for Jane.

The girls came early in the morning and decorated her table with ribbons, banners and stickers. She was shocked to see what they’d done when she arrived. I was surprised myself.

We also (over) decorated the party room with more ribbons, banners and balloons. A lot of people contributed food and bubblies for the party. The tables were groaning with scrumptious food. I provided the vegetarian spring rolls and Thai prawn crackers which disappeared quickly.

We went through a lot of speeches, laughters and tears. It was a time to celebrate accomplishments of a long-standing employee. Past retirees were also present. All wanted to give her a good send-off. The heavens opened and it was snowing when she left the building. Bonne chance et au revoir Jane.

Later, that evening I went for a sushi workshop at the Chaplaincy. I love sushi and have made it several times. This workshop was conducted by a Japanese cuisine cooking instructor and she meant business :-).

The room was packed but she went around to everyone to see that we did it right. As usual a lot of us tend to pack a lot on the nori which made it difficult to roll. It was quite daunting to have her stand beside me and watched what I am doing. Thankfully, she was happy with my efforts. And of course we got to eat what we made.

On Wednesday, I took the afternoon off to attend a bird surveying workshop at Brandon Marsh. The main purpose of the workshop was to help the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust survey birds for local projects. We learnt more about the ecology and behaviour of birds.

It also involved an outdoor session to help us with our recording techniques using the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) survey methods. I do find it strange because in order to do this survey properly we must have a basic knowledge of common bird songs which the participants, including moi, have none.

I have not volunteered my name on any of the reserves because I feel that I lacked the knowledge above. Otherwise, it was a very interesting afternoon. Babe was somewhere in the reserve and he got loads of fantastic photographs of the natives. I’m turning green…

Yesterday I had another session with the Official Publications and European Documentation Centre Collections. The subject librarian was conducting a training session for the library advisors and help-desk assistants and asked me to attend as I am the cataloguer for the collection. I could see the bewildered look from those attending and I couldn’t blame them. I guess if you are lost, just ASK.

Any plans this weekend? We are suppose to have snow again this Sunday so we planned to be out and about tomorrow to take advantage of whatever sunshine we can get. Have a lovely weekend.