It was 5:27am on 26 January 2025 when I captured this amazing sunrise at South Broom and that’s when the penny dropped. In a turn of events from December 3, 2023 Allah planned that I relocate once again. This time not from one province to another but from one part of the coastline to another. Shelly Beach and the extension of it to other suburbs that is graced by the spectacular shoreline makes everyday feel like a holiday. While many save for ten months to enjoy the coast for ten days or more, Allah made it possible that the enjoyment can be an everyday occurrence. As I soaked in the sunrise after the cycle up to South Broom, the thoughts of new beginnings rushed in like waves onto the shore line.
The unrelenting waves make a new beginning for the distant waters beyond the horizon. Like that, each day is a new beginning and each relocation is a new start. The beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder. (Saint Michael’s Beach 9/03/2025)
YOU NOT ALONE…
In the midst of this all this magnificence it was impossible to forget the shoreline of Gaza. The new start of a new kind of life after the genocide is a case to really ponder about. Here I am lapping Allah’s grandeur whilst the brotherhood in Gaza soak in the grave test of life . Their resilience outshines the fiction we see animated in Marvel series and this, leaves me in state of awe. I drew parallels between the two coastlines and realised that in South Africa we embrace the beauty whilst in Gaza the ocean stares in wonderment on the courage of the people and questions itself as to who is more unrelenting in rising after every fall. What a thought? It leaves me mesmerised!
New beginnings for a people with a land making way for a people who claim Palestine was a land without people. The glory of Genghis Khan is only concretised by a lonely masonary turtle stone of his once vast kingdom. Alas! Is the same history being written for the Zionist colonisers?
The new job that I have at Port Shepstone Islamic School is a favour that I enjoy and with it comes the reminder that each of us will go through our own seasons of good times and bad times. So, the impressions of Gaza do not plague my mind rather it makes it so awake that I look at each day with a greater sense of urgency. Surely it is difficult to adapt to new communities therefore, the need to have a positive mindset is of crucial importance. Again, I juxtapose my life and the life of the people of Gaza and realise that I have so many advantages but, it is in the example of the people of Palestine that I draw resilience. In a further juxtaposition I reflected on this:
| Syrian transitional government | |
|---|---|
| Date formed | 8 December 2024 |
| People and organisations | |
| President | Ahmed al-Sharaa (since 29 January 2025) |
| Vice President | Vacant |
How this ties in with my new beginning is the fact that Allah is illustrating to me that everything has a season and it brings forth changes. What I mean here is best explained in the following way. When I did a reflective observation on my life from 2022 to 2024, my whole personal cycle was different including my prayers to Allah. It was a time that I worked on the book on the Al-Falaah College and completed it in the 2024. Today, the book is ready for print and the excitement is very different considering that I am Port Shepstone Islamic School and busy with understanding the school at all levels. Again I am drawn to question how do the people of Syria begin their new journey after more than a decade of war and oppression. It dawns on me that for them to persevere is the positive mindset they have and the will to transcend hopelessness.
A POSITIVE MINDSET
To begin this discussion indulge yourself this video:
The speaker is clear on how the ummah cannot be defeated because the ingrained positive mindset comes from belief. My journey from one province to another has opened my eyes to what makes me think differently. It is faith and the fact that I am part of the ummah of Nabi Muhammad (s.a.w) that gives me perspective on how to deal with change. Hence, ‘the only thing that stands between a person and what they want from life is often the will to try and the faith to believe it’s possible’. The intention one makes will determine the outcome. Therefore, on the point of a positive mindset one has to know the 4 As of power according to Wael Ebrahim, an author of note whose book, My Wheelchair, attained a number 1 status on Amazon. He mentions how he overcame his negative mindset with the 4 As. The 4 As are:
| 1. ACKNOWLEDGE (what your current situation and context is) |
| 2. ACCEPT (what is out of your control but, manage what is in your control) |
| 3. ARRANGE YOUR THOUGHTS (what must be done now to avoid confusion and despair) |
| 4. APPRECIATE (count your blessings in relation to to the world around you) |
T he one quote that got me thinking about establishing a positive mindset is that of Rainer Maria Rilke . He says:
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.
What this means is the reflective observation we need to do for ourselves. This is a struggle because many of us cannot be alone with ourselves. In fact, we are so drawn to our devices that we feel it gives us a sense of being because of the connectivity to the world with our borders but, we so misled in this way. My concrete experience of taking time out at least three times a week to write my thoughts led me to understand that I am still learning who I am and the successes in my life thus far were not accidental but, the failures speak about latent potentials I have yet to explore. This reflection observation and concrete experience is highly engaging because it gets me think and think again on what I can still achieve provided and conceptualise in words the future I see for myself. If you cannot imagine it, you will not pursue it! In the years gone by I recall the active experimentation i.e., all the times I tried things and how it failed, how I tried things and it worked and how I thought of somethings and did nothing about it. The former two can be evaluated and judged but the last one tells me I wasted opportunity. The regret is immense. That is why I write this article – please don’t refuse opportunities as they are dressed in garbs of all that does not please the senses.
You might wonder at the message and ask why the indulgence that may seem like a pitiful cry for help. It might be so but know that writing is an act of resurgence and resistance. This was said to me by someone at the GAIS 2024 conference in Malaysia. This pensive indulgence revives me and gets me to focus again and again on the present moment and to see the future in it. What this means is that the present moment is likened to the farmer planting the seed and how he imagines the bumper harvest but never loses sight of what must be done until the harvest. This harvest mindset or shall I say the garden metaphor is powerful enough to spur you into action. Think on it, try it and post a comment. Simply put, if you don’t believe the messenger you will not believe the message.
In this new venture I find myself in, I am yet to make a go of it. The message is that the written word will keep me accountable and it will call on me to evaluate. Its is out on the web hoping that someone will benefit from this and realise how we are all working hard to make our life worthy. I learnt in the above mentioned conference that you are your calendar therefore, its time to fill the void.
Angela Duckworth in her book, Grit says that ‘effort builds skill’ therefore, Talent X Effort = Skill; Skill X Effort = Achievement. She gives a Grit Score Card that looks like this where Passion and Perseverance are percentages worked out on scale of 1 – 5. So if you take your present state and score yourself you will see your GRIT level. This is how it looked for me i.e., 14 March 2025
| Passion % | Perseverance % | Grit score% |
| 30% | 45% | 75% |
If it can’t make you cry, it can’t make you work. – Yawar Baig
writing is an act of resurgence and resistance.
This reflection is enough to leave you deep in thought. We have all cried countless times, and if you take a moment for reflective observation, you will realize that those very tears marked the moments when your grit was strengthened. You lifted your head and embraced a new day. Tomorrow beckons—face it! Avoid carp and seek your binnacle among positive minds, for they embody esprit de corps.
I remain in awe of the ummah in Palestine, especially in Gaza, as they witness our lives and question why we fail to change—why, instead, we flood holiday destinations in pursuit of a new beginning steeped in luxury and consumerism. My new beginning, therefore, is to make every day a day of reflection on the genocide in Gaza, drawing a parallel to my own life. In doing so, I will find new meaning, and with each new meaning, a renewed beginning—one that lives with a consciousness of the oppressed and a deliberate distance from those who choose to ignore their suffering.
What is your new beginning?
– by Abdullah Sujee
