Chapter 0: intro

 “In the name of Allah, the entirely merciful, the especially merciful. Indeed all praise is due to Allah, we seek his assistance and we seek his forgiveness, we seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from our bad deeds, whoever Allah guides there is none that can lead him astray and whoever is led astray there is no guide for him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, he is alone without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is his slave and his messenger.“

That is the creed that we live by. Our whole life we’ve been taught the world through the understanding that Allah is our creator. He is our master. Our King. Our Protector and Provider. All things come from Allah and all things return to him. He is the Lord of all that exists and he knows of all things. He is the judge who will appear at the final hour to judge all of mankind and Jinn for all that they put forth in this world.

For years these words rang through the halls of the Academy so much that now they ring through my heart as naturally as I breathe. All so that they can raise the generations of believers to go into the world with a strong Iman.

Our Iman is our strength, it is our power, our belief. It is the core of our souls that pushes us on the path to Allah.

Here at Barzakh Academy from Nursery up until our senior year in high school we are taught the words of Allah that were revealed to his last and final prophet through messages from Allah’s angel Jibreel. We are taught how to use these words in our daily lives and though it has been over 1400 years since the time of the prophet the words of Allah are still relevant and effective in the development of a person’s soul.

So every year along with our regular classes such as math, science, english, and history; we also take classes such as Arabic, Quranic studies, with added Quranic influence being taught to enforce our understanding of our regular subjects.

Barzakh is all I know, my parents and my grandparents on my mom's side are actively involved with the administration of the school making me and my siblings legacies. We aren’t the only kids who are considered legacies. Many of the students are dubbed with that title due to the role and contribution their parents bring to keeping the institution running.

It’s my fifth grade year, school starts in 2 days which also happens to be the day after my birthday. What a great way to celebrate your birthday every year, “Yay, you’re going to school.” I don’t think those words ever made anyone happy. Maybe for some parents it’s music to their ears but for us kids it’s just noise. To make it worse for me my mom works at my school in the elementary wing, she teaches second grade. So whenever I get in trouble I get sent to my mom before they send me to the principal. I know right, what a life I live. I hate going to school with a passion. I wish I was home schooled at least then I could stay home, get up when I want, I’d be living the life. 

"Only 8 more years then I graduate, only 8 more years then I graduate, only 8 more years then I graduate."