Graduation Card - My Lord! Increase me in knowledge - Silver Foil

Masjid Al Tawheed in Cambridge embodies its Arabic namesake as a spiritual oasis unifying traditional Islamic architecture with English materials and craftsmanship.

This mosque is also Europe’s first eco-mosque, and the natural elements used to create it, as well as the signature Islamic tessellations and designs evoked within me a deep sense of calm and connectedness to nature. From the moment I entered the prayer hall, with its timber columns or ‘trees’ that seemed to stretch up heavenward, to the spa-like feel of the ablution room, and the skylights above that bathed the entire space in a soft calming light, everywhere I walked felt simultaneously grounding and uplifting.

Abdal Hakim Murad, chairman of the Cambridge Mosque Trust has stated that “creating a new sacred space has been a challenge” of the mosque “to bring together something that’s very ancient and timeless with the very latest technologies.”

Today’s verse inscribed on the sketch in the same gilded Kufic script as on the real structure, promulgates the importance of this theme of advancement with knowledge, and is from Sura Taha verse 114 of the Holy Quran that reads:

رَّبِّ زِدْنِى عِلْمًا

“My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.”

May we use the opportunities God gives us, especially as custodians of this earth, to continue to find new ways of learning how to take better care of our planet and of each other.