Working
Together

Now we know that sometimes it's easier to do things together,

and sometimes we can't do things any other way.

And sometimes,

like cooking a meal

it is easier to do the same thing for lots of people at the same time,

rather than everyone doing their own thing for themselves.

And sometimes

it is just because by working together we can save time

by learning from each other's mistakes,

and so avoid making the same mistakes ourselves.

Learning from each other is an important part of why humans like to work together.

In fact, we are all made different from each other

so that we all see and understand the world in different ways.

Because the world that we live in is much more complicated than any one of us can understand,

and no matter how much we know we can always be sure

that there is someone who knows something that we don't.

For this reason muslims have always studied together.

Mosques also served as schools,

and used to teach more than just reading the Qur'an.

And muslims had universities

long before Oxford and Cambridge and St. Andrews,

where they could go to study with people who knew more than them,

and do their best to understand the world.

And to get to know the world better we need to get to know each other,

and the Qur'an tells us that God made us all different colours

and speaking different languages,

so that we may know one another.

We learn from what makes us different in the ways that we see the world.

And in that way we can learn about the world God made

and the reason why we are here.

But this way of living doesn't just apply to followers of Muhammad.

This way of life, in which we can trust each other

to be truthful and tolerant and patient and generous,

is the way of life that was shown to the first man and woman, Adam and Eve,

when God showed them the perfect way for mankind to live and work together,

which was taught by all God's Messengers,

a life of truthfulness and tolerance

and patience and generosity,

the Fitrah,

the natural way of Islam,