Welcoming in Blessed Rajab Happy New Year 2025

So in my concluding newsletter  for December 2024, I didn't mention the word for 2025. Each year I adopt a new word and new way of embracing the coming days.

It is no mean coincidence that this new year coincides with the arrival of the Blessed month of Rajab, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar, it is the month which beckons one of the most miraculous feats a human could have endured, time travel, space travel and the most beautiful divine appointment, a meeting with God. Such a meeting that came after one of the most challenging times in the life of Prophet Muhammad, (pbuh) his year of sorrow, the year of intense hardship and grief losing his beloved wife Khadijah (RA), the attack in Taif, and his entire tribe, his family  abandoning and ridiculing him (pbuh). Amidst this, one night  he was in the house of Umm Hani when the roof opened and Jibreel ( pbuh) descended to  prepare him for this miraculous event. Significantly, he was transported via the winged  horse Buraq to Al Aqsa, where of course the ascent begins through the cosmos and beyond. 

It is also in Rajab that Salahuddin the great emancipator liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders.

Rajab is also the messenger bearing news of Ramadan coming upon us. It is advised to plant the seeds in Rajab, water the plant in Shaban, the following month and reap the rewards in Ramadan, two months away.

It is in this light with so much at stake for humanity that I feel 'Hope" is the right word for the coming months. And so please join me in adopting hope as the word for 2025.

Wishing you all a Blessed Year and Beyond.