Generous helpings

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said,
"Let him who believes in God and the Last Day (of Judgment) speak good, or keep silent;
And let him who believes in God and the Last Day be generous to his neighbour;
and let him who believes in God and the Last Day be generous to his guest."

It's been a month since I last posted anything on this blog, and suddenly... here I am, contemplating whether this might be the very last entry I write from the UAE.

Since the high concentration of cathartic posts that preceded this one, time has maintained its awesome momentum, bounding on at frightening speed such that in my mind I catch myself and spin around to find only fragments of the last few weeks remain for my pleasure and reflection.
I wrote at the beginning of the blog that its purpose was to preserve the thoughts and feelings I have in the present; since I am all too aware that ones memory seduces its master into believing an experience, and all its richness of senses, to be timeless, only to renege on its promise at some future time. Thus those who doubt it record the present, and those who trust it forget.

From what I do remember, I revive the varied feelings I have enjoyed and endured this year. Frustration and inner turmoil lie at one extreme, and are tied up with my experiences of society, education system and (inevitably) the project I have been a part of, my own involvement and performance level, and the honest and helpless confusion about whether all of this might still be better than returning to roots back in the UK.
At the other extreme, the salient uplifting experience - which has been generously layered across the whole year - has been the great peace that comes with surrounding oneself with others who recognise and worship God and who love, care for, and meet each other for His sake alone, seeking only His pleasure for their kindnesses to each other. Truly amongst the people who have made their home here, and especially in the brothers who have flown here for similar reasons to myself, I have been blessed by the noble company of many wonderful new friends.

I have mentioned elsewhere my reservations about this country on a macro level; about the trials her wealth has brought, and about her future if she continues to sell her foundations for facades... but still something remains at the heart, and it is a good heart that is shared by so many of the people of this area.

Something inside me cries out to qualify such a statement; yes, deep down the people are good, but... but...

...but isn't this the case with people everywhere? Can't each society, and each individual, be broken down until we are left with a division of acts, beliefs and tendencies, which we can then bifurcate into good and bad (according to our own values, of course) and, regardless of the disequilibrium, conclude that there is good in everyone even if they don't always show it?
Don't we believe, in Islam, that everyone is born with the predisposed inclination towards worship of God?

Today I said goodbye to the teachers I have been working with, for whom today was their last day until the new academic year. One had made me a flask of Arabic coffee (to be offset by the sweetness of the fresh dates she also provided). Another two bought gifts for my wife, my son and myself. A general murmur bemoaned my departure and one or two enquired as to the reason, smiling knowingly when I declined the opportunity to answer in full.
One teacher cried, and I felt bad that I had not done more for her, and spent too much time running away from difficult situations.

Suddenly, in a flash, the end of a year inside those walls.
I struggled to survive for eleven months. I dreaded modelling lessons and felt elated when they had finished (more so if they'd gone well, which they occasionally did); I looked away whilst explaining company vision and practice, or looked them in the eye and told them I agreed with their resistance to it; I sat in planning sessions and enthused teachers with genuinely good (I think) ideas of Western origin, and then wondered who would have the true understanding (not them) or the guts (not me) to teach them in the classroom.

Then there we all were, they smiling and I wishing I'd taken longer to appreciate the simple efforts of, and interactions with, good and well-meaning people. Then I tried not to attach any flaws to them when I wished that, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us to speak good or keep silent.
And I thought that, in large part, that's exactly what they've been doing all year.

Imagine you're a teacher, and you're English, and you're teaching in England. Suddenly someone comes along and tells you to teach all core subjects to your English students through Arabic. You don't even speak the language, except what you picked up from the telly. Not only that, forget about the professional and pedagogical style you've been using since you got your qualification. Here's a new one! See that you implement it inside, ooooooh, the next 2 years?

How would you cope with that?! By accepting it quietly?

On reflection, I can't begin to conceive of how much self-control and persistence it must take to keep turning up each morning when the world as you know it is being turned upside down. Much less keep a brave face and - speaking for most of the staff - try to be positive even when you neither see nor understand the vision that's supposed to be behind it all.

I thought of the quiet dignity of the ladies with whom I have worked this year and returned it with quiet admiration. Here are a group of people who may not have spoken good 100% of the time, but I would estimate they have come a lot closer to it than I would have managed in their situation.

It was only when I thought of looking for this saying of the Prophet (pbuh), to ensure I had remembered it correctly, that I discovered there was more to it and I had realised.

"...and let him who believes in God and the Last Day be generous to his guest."

The significance in the context of this post?
Well...
This must be the first place I have ever worked where I have most definitely not needed to bring a packed lunch or money to work!
Such is the generosity of the teachers at my school that my teeth have begun to rot from the never omitted sugar in the tea, served up every day under their coercion if necessary, and accompanied by all kinds of local dishes and tasty snacks.
More poignantly, their generosity extends to kind words and good wishes at the end of a year of confusion and frustration; the giving of compliments to one not worthy of receiving them; and even the offering of tears at the departure of a guest they have welcomed as one of their own.

How often do I offer the same small kindnesses?