Jamatkhana and Institutional Updates

"The spiritual roots of tolerance include, it seems to me, a respect for individual conscience -- seen as a Gift of God -- as well as a posture of religious humility before the Divine. It is by accepting our human limits that we can come to see The Other as a fellow seeker of truth -- and to find common ground in our common quest."

Mawlana Hazar Imam,
Upon receiving the "Tolerance" award at the Tutzing Evangelical Academy

Guidance from National Council
The National Council and Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for the United Kingdom Jurisdiction have published this information in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic. These are community updates, resources to cope with changes in lifestyle and health updates. Some of these are summaries of recommendations by the United Kingdom Jurisdiction Governments, but many of these are available to the Jamat to provide advice, updates and support during this time.

World Health Day
Today is World Health Day. Having a varied diet is important for your health. Staying at home may tempt you to snack often due to the close proximity of the kitchen. Try to stick to healthy meals and limit snacking on foods with high sugar and fat content. Think of your diet as the petrol you may put into your car -- the cleaner the petrol, the better your car runs; the healthier your diet, the better your body works! A healthy diet does not have to be a boring one. The Eatwell Guide has a number of recommendations on how to manage a balanced diet. Here are some of our top tips on how to eat better:

Have a piece of fruit with your lunch or dinner instead of dessert.
Maintain variety in your proteins: Instead of fish and eggs, why not try beans and pulses.
Stay hydrated! Aim for 6-8 glasses of water each day.
Limit your caffeine intake to 1 cup of tea or coffee each day.

Save Water and Save Money
Being at home full-time results in an increase in the amount of water you use and impacts your bills. There are ways to save money and the environment. Most water providers will offer you options where you can manage your water consumption including tap aerators, water saving shower heads and bag type water-savers for your cistern. Using these tools can save you more than 1/3 off your monthly water bills. Watch how you use water and see if there are small things you can do to save on regular usage. Discuss it with your families and make sure they are prudent with their usage helping both the monthly bills and contributing to taking care of the environment. Visit here for more information.

Recognising Fake News
It is important that we are able to recognise and prevent fake news, unverified information and disinformation. We should therefore always be careful and:

Share content only from outlets and sites that we trust or are familiar with. Before sharing, check that content is current and not recycled;
Compare content with similar content produced by established and factual news outlets and websites. Check for quotes and quality of the content including consistency, spelling and formatting of content;
Before resharing, make sure you know and trust the person that shared the content with you.

We need to ensure that we are only sharing factual news and information. When we circulate fake news or unconfirmed personal information, we are perpetuating behaviour that leads to the growth of the virus, or we may be spreading false information that can deeply hurt those involved. BBC has put together a video on the dangers of fake news here, for more from the.ismaili see here.

Guided Breathwork for Relaxation
Many of us may be struggling to switch off from the constant flow of new and worrisome information. Particularly at the end of the day, when it is time to unwind, recharge and gain a restful night’s sleep. This unique time is also an opportunity. An opportunity to deepen connection with ourselves, slow down and re-establish health and vitality within the body.

Click here for the Aga Khan Health Board and Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board Guided Breathwork for Relaxation recording - allowing you to unplug from the external world into the inner landscape of your being. Use it daily before bed and grow in your connection to yourself and the wider ummah, as we listen together.

ITREB Thought of the Day: #TuesdayTales
The famous 11th century Persian scholar Ibn Sina (also referred to as Avicenna) is considered the father of modern medicine. He wrote the Canon of Medicine, a five-volume work encompassing all known medical knowledge of the time, known as "the most famous medical textbook ever written," and studied by European medics until the 18th century. Through his research, Ibn Sina found that viruses caused infectious diseases; a hypothesis confirmed by Louis Pasteur 800 years later. Ibn Sina developed the approach of quarantining a person with illness to prevent the spread of contamination. It is reported that he decided to isolate people for forty days, and called this method al-Arba’inya (the forty). Traders from Venice took this approach back to contemporary Italy, and called it qurantena (“the forty” in Italian). This is where the word quarantine comes from, and as we are witnessing, is still the method used to fight pandemics today.