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Over the last few days I’ve been thinking about the joys and dangers of water and how people manage their strengths and frailties around it. Firstly there’s the wonderful news of our Olympic successes as Team GB won several gold medals in the swimming events - young athletes who over the years have understood the challenges of how the human body and water work well together. But water can be cruel and this weekend in Scotland alone, six people were killed in water related incidents. Among them, at the popular beauty spot of Loch Lomond, Waris Ali lost his wife, friend and nine year old son in a tragic drowning accident when the family stopped for a break on their return from a holiday to the isle of Skye. `The water looked very safe’ said Mr Ali. But water deceives with its brutal serenity. And as the hot weather continues, and the shimmering waters of the lochs and lakes invite us to cool down, we should always be careful however gently the water moves. We need water to live – it is the driving force of all of nature - but our relationship with it must always be one of respect. If not, human mismanagement of our natural resources will only lead to more and more events such as the recent floods in Germany and Belgium which killed at least 170 people and destroyed so much infrastructure. The gradual and disruptive effects of climate change and our relative unwillingness to appreciate the sheer force and rhythm of the natural world will continue to overwhelm us. Water is a central theme in the Qur’an which says `through water we give life to everything- the grains, the fruits and the olives.’ It is a sign of divine mercy, God’s ultimate gift to us. And yet in many parts of the world, water continues to be scarce, leading to drought and famine, forcing families to walk huge distances daily simply to access water for drinking and washing. There’s a strong ethic in Islam that one of the best forms of charity is to provide clean water for your community because without water there is no life. Access to clean water should be a basic human right and where resources are scarce, the simple act of building a well together restores hope and brings communities back to life. Water can challenge us but also unify us because wherever we live, if we manage water well, we manage our lives well.