FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

‘Blessed water’ in this verse means fresh water. This is purified water that comes down as rain, giving vital nourishment to all forms of life on the earth. Purified water means desalinated water. The original source of this water is the salt water stored in the seas and oceans that are spread over three-fourths of the earth’s surface. It is nature that initiates a global process of desalination through the formation of clouds. It is this blessed water, or desalinated water, that descends and fulfils the needs of humans, plants and animals. It is a demonstration by nature of how we can purify ourselves. By following this natural pattern, we have to process events and things around us through contemplation, and then make this to serve as a tool for the purification of the soul. We should learn the art of purification. We must learn to extract spiritual lessons from material events. How does this help in our goal towards sustainable living, you may ask? A purified person is a spiritual person; one who contributes constructively to the world. He not only refrains from harming the environment but actually contributes towards its improvement. He maintains the beauty which God created and granted to humankind to use beneficially. There are many teachings of the Prophet of Islam regarding sustainable living: • Simplicity is a part of faith. • God is pure and loves purity and cleanliness. • Whoever cultivates wasteland, for him is reward therein. • There are heavenly rewards for any act of kindness to animals. • It is considered as charity on the part of the believer if he plants a tree or sows a field and, man and birds or beasts eat from them. Global Warming It is of great importance that we understand the seriousness of the issue of Global warming in order to be more sensitive towards practicing sustainable living. Nature is silently calling upon man to mend his ways before he finds that he has no further opportunity to do so.