Muhammad Iqbal
Mahammad Iqbal (1877 – 1938) was a poet, philosopher, barrister and is the national poet of Pakistan. He was strongly influenced by the poetry and ideas of Rumi, who we make across an few weeks ago and like Rumi believed strongly in submitting to the will of Allah. Muhammad Iqbal has been called the ‘Spiritual Father of Pakistan’. He inspired generations of Muslims to unite in building the country on the foundations of their faith, and continues to do so.
Music: ‘Yaad-E-Nabi Ka Gulshan Mehka’ by the great Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
David Attenborough
Sir David Attenborough (1926 -), naturalist and national treasure has been teaching us about the beauty, importance and fragility of the natural world for 55 years. While making his documentaries David Attenborough has seen the changes caused by global warming and this has encouraged him to make even more programmes to show people the amazing world we could lose if we don’t change our ways.
Music: This is specially for Mrs. Devaney, ‘Song for Athene’ by British composer John Taverner.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) or St. John the Great as he is known by many since his canonisation, was pope for 27 years, from 1978 until his death in 2005. Karol Józef Wojtyła was the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century. As pope, he spoke out against apartheid, the mafia, the Gulf war and the Iraq war. Wherever he saw injustice, he stood against it. Pope John Paul II also helped to bring down communism in Eastern Europe and worked tirelessly to build bridges with Islam, Judaism and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Music:‘Wisło moja, Wisło szara’ (My Vistula, grey Vistula) by Polish composer Henryk Gorecki about the Vistula River which runs through Poland .
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) was a politician and philanthropist from Yorkshire, in the north of England. He was the leader of the movement to ban the slave trade. As a young politician, he went on a tour of Europe and became depressed at the pointless selfishness of his life. This led him to Christianity and he decided to devote his life to doing God’s work. It took him over 40 years to beat the power and greed of Britain’s businessmen but he proved that perseverance and democracy could work.
Music: The theme to ‘The Mission’ by Ennio Morricone
Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese poet, writer and artist. Although he moved to America when he was a teenager, he never lost touch with his Lebanese roots and his books were written in Arabic. His book ‘The Prophet’ published in 1923 is one of the biggest-selling books of all time. When he died, Gibran left all the money from his books to his village Bsharri in Lebanon, where he is buried.
Music: ‘Clair de Lune’ by Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy (1961 – ) is an Indian writer and activist. She became famous for her 1997 novel The God of Small Things. These days, Arundhati Roy is very active both in India and around the world campaigning to protect human rights and the environment.
St. Teresa of Calcutta
St. Teresa of Calcutta ( 1910-1997) or Mother Teresa, as she is also known, was a Catholic nun and missionary from Albania, who lived most of her life in India. In 1946, St. Teresa received what she described as ‘the call within the call‘. She had already been called by God to give her life to his service, now she was being called again to leave her convent and to live among the poor, helping those most in need. St. Teresa founded an organisation called the Missionaries of Charity, which now has over 4500 members and works in 133 countries.
C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) was a Christian writer best known for the Narnia stories. He became a Christian after reading one of Chesterton‘s books and after many conversations with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien, (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) who was Catholic. Together they were part of a writer’s club called the Inklings. For over 16 years they regularly met up, read each other their writings, and swapped comments and ideas. They encouraged each other a lot, so without Tolkien, we might never have had Lewis and without Lewis we might never have had Tolkien.
Music: ‘Jupiter – The Bringer of Jollity’ from ‘The Planets’ by Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) doesn’t need any introduction but here are a few reminders. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years by the government of South Africa for his revolutionary anti-apartheid ideas. Apartheid was a racist way of running the country which separated races and made sure only white people had power. Once freed from prison, Nelson Mandela went on to become president of South Africa.
Nelson Mandela led an extraordinary life full of very difficult life lessons. Luckily for us, he thought about them a great deal and wrote about what those lessons taught him. This means we can share in his wisdom and hopefully learn from him.
Music: ‘Pachelbel’s Canon’ by Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) tweaked a bit by American blues pianist George Winston
G K Chesterton
G K Chesterton (1875 – 1936) was a writer, poet and philosopher. Chesterton was a great thinker and a genius at seeing what was true and what was not. Whenever he saw something that was wrong, he spoke out against it. For example, he was one of the first to understand how evil and dangerous Hitler was. Chesterton became a Catholic in 1922. He had a very big influence on C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien.
Music: These are for our Perez – ‘Why Wait?’ and ‘Guaglione’ by the king of Cuban Mambo, Perez Prado
Music: ‘Nimrod’ by Edward Elgar, England’s most famous composer.
Confucius
Confucius – (551BC – 479BC) or Kǒng Qiū / 孔子 was a Chinese philosopher, politician and teacher and an incredibly important figure in world history. His ideas have shaped the way billions of people live today. Today’s quote is about trust. He suggests that it is better to trust our friends and risk being betrayed than to doubt our friends. He says that if we don’t trust our friends then it is like betraying them.
Music: Seckou Keita from Senegal playing the Kora and Catrin Finch from Wales playing the harp.
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai (1997 – )is an education activist from Pakistan. When Malala was 11 years old, she began writing a blog for the BBC about what her life was like under the Taliban. As a result, she became famous around the world and the Taliban felt threatened by this. In 2012, the Taliban tried to kill her, but she survived a gun-shot wound and was flown to Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Birmingham, where she made a full recovery. In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was just 17 years old and the youngest person to win it.
Music: ‘Yad e Nabi Ka Gulshan’ by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948 – 1997) -some of the most beautiful and exuberant worship music on the planet.
Maya Angelou Warsan Shire
Today’s quotes come from two poets. The first, we’ve heard from before: Maya Angelou. The new one is Warsan Shire (1988 – ). She is a British poet who was born in Kenya but her parents are from Somalia so she knows all about having more than one country. She has won several major awards for her poetry and in 2018 she became a fellow of the Royal Society for Literature. Her poems have been used by Beyoncé in her songs.
Music: ‘Kothbiro’ by Ayub Ogada from Kenya
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931 – ) has been a fearless and uncompromising activist for human rights for nearly half a century. Like Pope Francis he has never been quiet on important issues. In the 1980s he became famous around the world for his fight against apartheid. Archbishop Desmond Tutu played a very important role in Nelson Mandela‘s government and helped to build a new South Africa without segregation.
Music: ‘Air on G’ by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) (If I remember correctly, this is Abigail‘s favourite?)