Grow Seeds In Your Mosque - #EcoIslam Lesson On Planting

Before Ramadan began our Eco Mosque students were given a workshop in planting their own seeds.

I had planned to grow flowers with them but lack of space postponed it for another time insha-Allah. Spring is the best season to grow summer flowers like poppies, sunflowers, hot red pokers, chrysanthemums and roses.

When we host workshops and lessons about EcoIslam at our mosque we replace the expected Qur'an session with practical guidance. It's not meant to override the Qur'an studies but it fills the students hearts with a truer meaning of what Allah says in His final revelation.

In a typical Qur'an Madrassah class students memorise chapters or are only encouraged to read it front to back. After finishing the Qur'an at a young age many students simply leave their Islam based studies. This is what I intended to change alongside my sister (who teaches an `Alima style course).

At our Eco Mosque classes we learn the Tafsir (exegesis) of Allah's revelations in the Qur'an so that we understand the translation, its message and how to use it in our lives. So it's not 'just Qur'an'. It's Organic Qur'an.

Grow Seeds In Your Mosque
1. After manking notes on and studying the Tafsir of Qur'an verse 6:99, we divided our class into groups of 4 and planted our seeds following displayed instructions.

We used packet seeds of cress and mustard. You can choose anything available from garden centres to grow in the spring season for summer or harvest your own seeds. As we're nearing Autumn now, check the packet instructions for the best time to plant spring flowers.

2. We also used seed trays, envelope labels, good quality compost soil. We used newspaper for drainage because our trays sit in our classroom.

3. We ensured our trays were kindly watered every 2/3 days and after 6 days (not even a week!) the cress shot up followed by mustard. Within 2 weeks we had a mini-field of lovely tall plants.

**Our plants look smushed because we let them grow too tall - once picked from the stem, they taste smashing in sandwiches and salads.