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]]>Note: The standard openings and closings of a Khutba are not included, assuming that Khateebs are familiar with these elements.
Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an:
“God decrees that there are twelve months—ordained in God’s Book on the Day when He created the heavens and earth—four months of which are sacred: this is the correct calculation. Do not wrong your souls in these months- though you may fight the idolaters at any time, if they first fight you—remember that God is with those who are mindful of Him.”
(9:36)
Reconnecting ourselves with the Islamic calendar can be a way of also reconnecting ourselves to Allah and following the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ).
Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an:
“He is the One Who made the sun a radiant source and the moon a reflected light, with precisely ordained phases, so that you may know the number of years and calculation ˹of time˺. Allah did not create all this except for a purpose (haqq). He makes the signs clear for people of knowledge”.
(10:5)
Expounding on ḥaqq, al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH) states: “Allah did not intend to create the moon except with wisdom and accuracy, as a means to display His creation and wisdom, as evidence for His will and knowledge, and to reward all those who follow it.” Ibn ʿAṭīyah (d. 541 AH) defined al-dīn al-qayyim as “the law of God and following it.” Thus, the scholars did not view use of the Islamic calendar merely as a tool to measure time, but also as a form of worship1.
Of the characteristics of those who are misguided are:
“Those who prefer the life of this world over the life to come, who turn others from God’s way, trying to make it crooked: such people have gone far astray.”
(14:3)
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said:
“Know that whoever revives a tradition from my Sunnah if it has died out after me, he will have a reward like those who act upon it without diminishing any of their rewards. Whoever innovates a misguided heresy not pleasing to Allah and His messenger, he will have a sin like those who act upon it without diminishing any of the people’s burdens.”
Sahih Muslim
You can follow Omar’s work at http://ibnabeeomar.substack.com. To invite him to conduct Khateeb and public speaking training in your community please visit https://www.ibnabeeomar.com/speaking.
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]]>Normally, you’d use the classic Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks according to their importance and urgency. Anything important and urgent, you’ll try to get done first and then you’ll focus on important but not urgent before getting to the urgent but not important.
While the above tool is useful – however, it has two shortfalls:
In our busy schedule, when do we have time to prioritize activities beyond the urgent and immediately important? When do we have time to prioritize tasks that align with our deepest intentions or have an impact beyond ourselves?
The intention-impact matrix is a conceptual tool we’ve developed at The Productive Muslim Company to help individuals align their tasks and actions with long-term impact and underlying intention. This is particularly aligned with our Barakah Culture approach to productivity.
This tool encourages us to reflect on the deeper reasons for undertaking tasks and their potential impact instead of reacting simply to what’s urgent and important at the moment.
It’s a 2×2 matrix with intentions on the y-axis and impact on the x-axis.
Here’s a brief explanation of the four quadrants in your Intentions/Impact Matrix:
Take stock of all your projects, tasks, and activities you have in life, and ask yourself where they fit in the above matrix.
You’ll need to ask two important questions about each activity you are engaged in:
Compare the above to the Eisenhower matrix which focuses on just urgent/important and you’d realize that the Intention-Impact matrix adds a layer of spirituality and long-term thinking, leading to more Barakah in one’s life.
No! Low impact does NOT mean low value. It means that its circle of impact is much smaller than the high-impact activities.
Moreover, you NEED some of the ‘low impact’ activities to recharge your spiritual, physical, and mental energy to handle high-impact work.
For example, a low-impact activity may be praying, fasting, or exercising… they are essential activities, and we need to do them. However, we should not use them as ‘excuses’ for not doing the high-impact work.
What’s important with low-impact activities is to keep the intentions for them for Allah’s sake and not let our intentions slide to low ego-centered intentions.
The short answer is yes. We discussed this in detail with Dr. Abdallah Rothman in the video below. We talked about how making coffee or doing doing the laundry can be a high-intention activity. Check it out below (starting around the 30-mins mark):
Sometimes, you go through a season of life where you need to take care of young children or an elderly parent, or you’re going through a tough physical/financial time in your life.
You might feel that you’re ‘missing out’ on doing the high-intention/high-impact work, especially if you’re active in social work.
This is where you need to reframe the situation: You need to reframe your responsibility as your high-intention/high-impact activity during this season of life; so reframe taking care of kids, or your elderly parent, or the health/financial challenge as a spiritual quest that you know if you fulfill with sincerity and Ihsaan, you’ll be getting the reward for doing high impact work.
Remember, the story of the young man who wanted to fight in the cause of Allah with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the Prophet (peace be upon him) advised him to serve his parents because his parents needed him at that time.
I hope you find this tool useful and impactful. I’d love to hear your feedback on this matrix and what decisions it helped you make.
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]]>The post Istikharah Notepad: A Practical Tool to Decide With Barakah appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
]]>It is inspired by the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He taught his companions to seek istikharah (goodness) from Allah SWT and istisharah (counsel) from people whenever they have a decision to make.
The Barakah of making decisions with istikharah & istisharah is the knowledge that despite all the unknowns and potential outcomes of your decision, you can proceed without feeling regret because you did all you could at the time of making a decision following Prophetic guidance.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: ‘From (the signs of) the son of Adam’s prosperity, is his satisfaction with what Allah decreed for him, and from the son of Adam’s misery is his avoiding to request guidance from Allah, and from the son of Adam’s misery is his anger with what Allah decreed for him.”
A-Tirmidhi
In this article, we’ll explain why making decisions is hard, the process to make decision making easier, and how each question in the Istikharah Notepad is designed to help you follow this process.
Making decisions is challenging for two reasons:
Allah SWT says in the Quran:
قُل لَّآ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِى نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ ٱلْغَيْبَ لَٱسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ ٱلسُّوٓءُ ۚ إِنْ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ وَبَشِيرٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ
“Say [Prophet], ‘I have no control over benefit or harm, [even] to myself, except as God may please: if I had knowledge of what is hidden, I would have abundant good things, and no harm could touch me. I am no more than a bearer of warning and good news to those who believe.“
Quran 7:188
If you need to make a decision on a job offer, a business proposition, or a marriage proposal, you don’t have perfect and complete knowledge of the impact of this decision on your life. Moreover, once you decide, you forgo other opportunities that may or may not be better for you.
The indecision we go through because we’re not sure what’s good for us and the opportunity cost of our decisions can be paralyzing, especially when we have a lot of good choices in front of us.
We think that having more choices in life is better; however, as Dr.Barry Schwartz explained in his TED Talk, the more options you have, the more complex a decision can be, and the more regret you’ll feel after making a decision because you think you could have made better choices:
This abundance of choice and the accompanying indecision is exasperated in the modern era compared to previous generations. In the past, finding a job or spouse was limited to where you lived and whom you knew. Nowadays, with a click of a button, you can search for endless options for jobs and potential spouses globally.
So, how do we make decision making less stressful? How do we not get paralyzed with the abundance of choices and the challenges of analyzing all our options? Below is a four-step process to help in this regard.
The Istikharah Notepad helps you systematically go through the above process by completing one sheet of paper per decision.
The first few questions in the Istikharah Notepad are designed to help you clearly think through the decisions. Here’s a breakdown of each question and how it can help you:
It’s incredible how asking a simple question can help resolve a lot of indecision around a topic.
What is it exactly that you’re deciding on? Be specific. For example, let’s say you’re considering starting a business. What decision are you making? Is it whether or not to get into the business? Or what type of business do you need to get into? Or the business model you should explore?
Being clear on the decision you need to make is the first step towards making effective decisions and reducing the uncertainty around a decision.
Use this space in the Istikharah Notepad to write a clear statement on the decision you’re making.
Once you understand what decision you need to make. Take a pause, and ask yourself why are you making this decision? What’s the intention behind it?
For example, you might realize that the reason you’re considering a job offer even though you already have a good job is that you’re bored and are looking for new exciting job opportunities. Or the reason for choosing a specific college degree is because it’ll look good on your CV even though you’re not interested in studying that topic.
Intentions are subtle, and they start from the heart. Our challenge is to purify the intentions behind every decision and make them for Allah SWT (we cover this topic extensively in our How to Use Barakah Journal webinar and in the introductory section of the Barakah Journal).
Understanding our intentions and trying to purify them so that they are for the sake of Allah SWT is a powerful step to get clarity on decisions and ensure that you make spiritually-intelligent decisions. Therefore, in this section of the Istikharah Notepad, write down what your niyyah (intention) is and assess your intention:
These reflective questions are essential as they’ll help remove some of the layers of indecision surrounding the decision. You might get clarity on what your decision should be simply by thinking about your intentions.
The most stressful part about making a decision isn’t the decision-making process; it’s being stuck in the period before making the decision. We call this The Stress of Indecision. That’s why adding a deadline is vital to help you decide by a specific date and not give yourself the option to procrastinate on the decision-making process.
Some decisions have clear deadlines – e.g., you need to accept a job offer within 2 weeks, for example. Other decisions don’t have a clear deadline, and this is where we recommend that you put a deadline and stick to it.
As part of our #GoHijri campaign – we recommend that you put a Hijri date first before a Gregorian date. Perhaps there’s a subtle spiritual significance to a specific date that would inspire you to make a decision on that day, e.g., you might decide on an important project on the Day of Arafat.
Every decision you make will impact multiple areas of your life. The question is: which area will be affected the most?
For example, if you want to start a business, you might realize that the most affected area is your finances since it’ll take time for the startup to get off the ground, and you won’t have the security of a monthly paycheck. Knowing this, you’d need to make financial arrangements to ensure that you have a 6-12 months runway to cover your expenses while you work on your business and a backup plan in case your business fails.
Or you might realize that accepting that next promotion will affect your health and family life since it requires constant traveling and lots of late-night meetings.
Understanding which areas of your life will be affected by a decision helps you think through ways to mitigate the impact of a decision and/or have relevant conversations with those who’ll be affected so you can better agree on how best to manage the impact of a decision.
This is perhaps the most challenging question to ask yourself in the notepad because it requires deep introspection and self-accountability.
Before I share how to answer this question, a quick preview of what we mean by nafs (self) here from an Islamic psycho-spiritual perspective so you can understand how to answer this question.
Your nafs is a subtle substance that comes into existence when our souls and bodies meet in this world. It is the part of us that has desires, likes and dislikes, and particular inclinations based on pleasure and pain. As Dr. Abdallah Rothman outlines in this article, while the nafs is not bad in and of itself, it has the tendency to lead us away from Allah SWT because it tends to be attached to this world. Our challenge – as spiritual beings – is to train and discipline the nafs to turn towards Allah and not be connected to this temporal world so that it can be successful in the hereafter.
Disciplining our nafs can be difficult, especially since our nafs is like a child. If it wants something, it wants it now (instant gratification) regardless of the consequences, and if it doesn’t want something, it’ll resist and throw ‘tantrums’ if you try to force it to do something that it doesn’t like.
Therefore, when it comes to decision-making, we need to be careful. Sometimes we make decisions that our nafs is inclined towards even though it might harm us spiritually and lead us away from Allah SWT. For example, let’s say you’re a hiring manager at a company and you have to decide between two candidates. Objectively, candidate A is better than candidate B, and your team thinks that candidate A is the best overall choice. However, your nafs is attached to candidate B because they come from the same background as you, or they are more attractive (this is sometimes referred to as implicit bias).
We need to be wary of making decisions that appeal to our nafs instead of what’s best for us (or the organization) in the long run.
So think deeply and introspectively about what part of a decision is your nafs attached to and why. Perhaps, for example, you’re attached to an idea/project because it was your idea, and even though objectively the idea may not work, your nafs doesn’t want to let go because it was your idea. Hence, you pursue the idea anyway at high costs.
Again, the purpose of this question is not to ‘judge’ what your nafs likes or dislikes, but simply to reflect and understand what your nafs is attached to so you can make better spiritually-intelligent decisions.
This is a quick ‘gut’ reaction check about a decision. How do you feel about the decision? Don’t overthink this section and choose from the available options. You can select as many feelings as you like.
Labeling the emotions surrounding a decision is a way to understand what your intuition is telling you about a decision.
You might think that you ‘fear’ a decision, but realize that it’s an excitement coupled with a sense of vulnerability. This is helpful information as you think through the decision and how best to proceed.
The purpose of this question is to prompt you to think of potential opportunities and challenges you’ll face as a result of following through with a decision in this world and the next.
For example, you might consider a marriage proposal from someone wealthy but is not religious. From a Dunya perspective, the decision opens up the opportunity for you to move up the socio-economic ladder, afford more things, and generally be well-off. Moreover, from an Akhirah perspective, you now have access to wealth that you can use to give to charity, support your family, and fund community projects.
However, the challenges of this decision from a Dunya perspective could be social pressure to keep up with people from a higher class, being worried that family and friends may try to take advantage of you, being invited to lots of parties that waste your time etc. And from an Akhirah perspective, having to deal with family members who may be averse to any form of religiosity because they feel Islam is backward and not compatible with the modern world. Also, all this new material wealth may impact your spiritual and character development; you may start being arrogant and treating people with contempt, etc.
Every decision opens up opportunities and challenges for us in this world and the next. This section of the Istikharah Notepad helps you think through these opportunities and challenges and perform a cost-benefit analysis that is not just worldly but also considers the hereafter impact.
In Islam, we are encouraged to seek counsel or ‘shura’ from people concerning decisions we need to make.
Even if we think we’re smart and have good judgment, seeking counsel is encouraged. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) sought advice and counsel from his companions, including before the battles of Badr and Uhud. Sometimes the advice was successful as in the battle of Badr, and sometimes it wasn’t as successful like in the battle of Uhud, but that did not deter the Prophet to seek counsel from the companions, as Allah SWT asked him to do:
فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلْقَلْبِ لَٱنفَضُّوا۟ مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَٱعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
“By an act of mercy from God, you [Prophet] were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you- so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him.”
Quran 3:159
Allah says in the Quran – describing the believers:
وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَجَابُوا۟ لِرَبِّهِمْ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأَمْرُهُمْ شُورَىٰ بَيْنَهُمْ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ
“And those who respond to their Lord; keep up the prayer; conduct their affairs by mutual consultation; give to others out of what We have provided for them”
Quran 42:38
The Barakah of istisharah is that you’re often led to the correct and most beneficial decision (not always, but often).
When Umar Bin Al-Khattab was considering entering a town with a plague, he sought advice from the companions who told him that it was best not to enter. Later he learned that there was a hadith by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) explicitly discouraging people from entering a town with a plague (a concept we now know as quarantine).
When seeking istisharah from people, you need to seek istisharah from people who have knowledge/experience and can give you practical advice to act on. The person should be known for their honesty and trustworthiness and set their personal feelings aside to provide you with objective and straightforward advice.
This section of the Istikharah Notepad ensures that you a) seek shura from at least three people in your circle (feel free to seek istisharah from more people if you want) and b) capture their shura, so you have a log of what advice they gave you.
The istikharah prayer is a special prayer taught by Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) when we have a decision to make. It’s a powerful way to seek goodness and Barakah from Allah SWT on any decision you’re making.
Here’s how to pray istikharah prayer:
Step 1: Perform two rak’ah of optional prayer
Step 2: After the prayer, make the following supplication:
اللهم إني أستخيرك بعلمك، وأستقدرك بقدرتك، وأسألك من فضلك العظيم؛ فإنك تقدر ولا أقدر وتعلم ولا أعلم، وأنت علام الغيوب. اللهم إن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر خير لي في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمري” أو قال: ”عاجل أمري وآجله ، فاقدره لي ويسره لي، ثم بارك لي فيه، وإن كنت تعلم أن هذا الأمر شر لي في ديني ومعاشي وعاقبة أمري” أو قال: ”عاجل أمري وآجله، فاصرفه عني ، واصرفني عنه، واقدر لي الخير حيث كان، ثم ارضني به” قال: ويسمي حاجته. (البخاري)
Transliteration: “Allahumma inni astakhiruka bi ‘ilmika, wa astaqdiruka bi qudratika, wa as-‘aluka min fadlikal-‘azim. Fainnaka taqdiru wa la aqdiru, wa ta’lamu wa la a’lamu, wa Anta ‘allamul- ghuyub. Allahumma in kunta ta’lamu anna hadhal-‘amra (and name what you want to do) khairun li fi dini wa ma’ashi wa ‘aqibati amri, (or he said) ‘ajili amri ajilihi, faqdurhu li wa yassirhu li, thumma barik li fihi. Wa in kunta ta’lamu anna hadhal ‘amra (and name what you want to do) sharrun li fi dini wa ma’ashi wa ‘aqibati amri, (or he said) wa ‘ajili amri wa ajilihi, fasrifhu ‘anni, wasrifni ‘anhu, waqdur liyal- khaira haithu kana, thumma ardini bihi.”
Translation: “O Allah, I consult You through Your Knowledge, and I seek strength through Your Power, and ask of Your Great Bounty; for You are Capable whereas I am not and, You know, and I do not, and You are the Knower of hidden things. O Allah, if You know that this matter (and name it) is good for me in respect of my Deen, my livelihood and the consequences of my affairs, (or he said), the sooner or, the later of my affairs then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and bless it for me. But if You know this matter (and name it) to be bad for my Deen, my livelihood or the consequences of my affairs, (or he said) the sooner or the later of my affairs then turn it away from me, and turn me away from it, and grant me power to do good whatever it may be, and cause me to be contented with it). And let the supplicant specify the object.” [Al-Bukhari]
After you pray your istikharah prayer, see what your heart is inclined towards and write it down in the Istikharah notepad.
Although you can pray istikharah only once, there’s no harm in repeating your istikharah prayer 2-3 times, especially if new information/insight comes to you.
There are a few signs:
Many people are confused about istikharah prayer and not sure how “it works.”
The purpose of the istikharah prayer is that we are seeking Allah’s guidance and giving over our affair to Allah (tafweedh). Therefore, after taking all the above steps and praying istikharah, the next step is to take action in the direction our heart is inclined towards and have complete trust that Allah SWT will take care of the rest (even if things don’t go our way).
In his book A Journey to God, Dr. Jasser Auda captures this understanding in the following example: “If you are running a business trying to make a profit, there is a possibility that you may lose your investment. But if you pray istikharah and lose, think deeply about it. You might find that you lost some of your investment now, but that larger profits will follow in a different business in the future after you learned from the lessons of your loss. It is also possible that God made you lose so that you will reconsider many things, people, and plans in your life, which you examine in an effort to find out why you lost. You may continue to lose, but win a close friend who helped you during the time of your troubles. Therefore, your real success in the end may be from making a profit in another deal, reconsidering your plans, or even winning a friend. God knows whereas you do not know (Quran 2:216).” 3
Once you write down the next steps, say bismillah and take action!
Congratulations, you’ve made a decision in line with prophetic guidance, and insha’Allah you’ll have no regrets regardless of the outcome.
I hope this article gave you a clear step-by-step guide to filling the Istikharah Notepad and how to make the most out of it. If you have further questions, please send us an email or ask us on Twitter and we’ll be happy to respond.
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]]>The post How Inferiority Complex Is Hurting You and the Ummah (and How We Can Fix This) appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
]]>But we don’t see this level of leadership in the Muslim world today, instead we’re seeing a rapid decay of world impact. We’re witnessing a serious inferiority complex growing in our Ummah; As individuals, we feel inferior to non-Muslims. As businesses and organizations, we feel inferior to mainstream corporations. As an Ummah, we feel inferior to other Nations.
Why is this happening and what can we do about it? Read on…
To know your weaknesses in comparison to others is to be insightful and humble but to harbour a lingering sense of inferiority as a result of this awareness is dangerous. For example, knowing that your colleague is great at public speaking is not the same as feeling that your public speaking skills are worthless and will never improve in time regardless of how hard you try.
In today’s world, we’re immersed in a culture whereby looks, wealth, status and all things materialistic are used as the metric for success. Deep down we know that our spiritual values guide us away from idolising or chasing the material world but at the same time we’re saturated on the outside by people seemingly living exciting, glamorous and beautiful lives. It can be all too tempting to compare our own lives with the façade of today’s hyper-airbrushed world and this constant comparison quickly erodes away at our confidence and spirituality.
Post-colonialism seeded the idea that our western counterparts are somehow better. Although this may not be a conscious thought, it can manifest in our thinking and action in many ways. We can look at the lives and success of our western peers and so easily be drawn into the fantasy that they have the upper edge in this dunya. Sadly, left unattended this feeling can develop into an inferiority complex not just on an individual level, but an Ummah level as well.
Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi describes the decline of Muslim leadership and causes in his book Islam And The World (pg 173):
Dazzled by the power and progress of Western nations, Muslims began to imitate Western social and economic institutions regardless of the consequences, although they were much inferior to their own and consisted of little more than the ardent pursuit of material success. The prestige of religon was diminished. The teachings of the Prophet ﷺ were forgotten. All those ideals of life, which truthfully displayed within themselves both the spiritual and the temporal aspects of life and did not subordinate the former to the latter, ceased to impress the minds of the great mass of Muslim society. Their place was taken by ideals far inferior to them. Life was filled with frivolous desires and occupations to a degree that it had to eschew religious and spiritual craving and activities. If one were to compare the daily occupations of present-day Muslims with those of the aforementioned specimens of the old Islamic civilization, one would find it hard to believe that both professed the same ideology or that only a few generations separated one from the other.
Along with the distractions of this dunya constantly tugging at the soul, we’re also subject to the whisperings of Satan, who’s sole mission is to make us unappreciative beings.
[Satan] said, “For leaving me to stray I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path. I will approach them from their front, their back, their right, their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.” (7:16-17)
If we’re not mindful of his influence and don’t take precautions to fortify our heart and mind with God-consciousness, we become even more vulnerable to his evil ploys. One of the ways he tries to enter the heart is by weakening the mind.
An inferiority complex is a feeling of inadequacy that’s not based on any rational judgements. It’s an emotionally-led feeling that holds us captive to constant comparisons which may drive us to wanting to be and act like others, and have what they have in order to feel good enough.
This feeling turns us into thirsty travelers on a desert land, constantly chasing the ‘mirage’ of what others have but never quenching our thirst with the water bottle that’s around our neck.
We can see examples in our Islamic history of people who rather than holding esteem in their faith, turned towards external factors to find a sense of self worth.
When Musa (as) and the children of Israel were saved from the tyrannical grip of Firoun (Pharoah), they witnessed first hand the Divine help of Allah SWT. They were freed from oppression and could live in peace under the prophetic leadership of Musa (as). But not long after the miraculous passage across the Red Sea, they came across a group of people who had taken up idolatry worship and the ignorant amongst them turned to Musa (as) and asked him to “make for us a God just as they have Gods.”
They forgot Allah and fell prey to the insidious idea that the faith they possessed was inadequate in comparison to what they perceived the people they encountered had in terms of faith and provisions. The seeds of inferiority had taken root within them.
“We brought the Children of Israel across the sea and they came upon a people devoted to idols. They demanded, “O Moses! Make for us a god like their gods.” He replied, “Indeed, you are a people acting ignorantly!” (7:138)
In the tafsir of Ibn Kathir (r) he said:
“It appears that the Children of Israel probably asked these people why they worshipped these idols, and they most likely told them that whenever they seek help from them they help them, and that they seek their provision from them. The ignorant ones among them may have been tempted to believe it, and so they asked Musa (as) to make a similar god for them as well.”
This is an example of how in the absence of God-consciousness we can falsely conclude that happiness and success lies in the superficial platforms promoted in a Godless society.
We can see parallels of how the inferiority complex is playing out in individuals, organizations and in Muslim society at large today. Let’s take a closer look at each of these levels.
Have you ever stepped into work with feelings of trepidation? Feeling very conscious that you’re different; acutely aware that the sound of your name is different, the colour of your skin is different and that you have a set of rules and a value system that is not aligned with your workplace peers.
If we bring sharp focus to this, what can it stir inside a person?
For my client, Aisha, it made her feel like she didn’t belong at her workplace. She was a teacher working in an affluent neighborhood surrounded by a predominantly white upper class community. Rather than seeing herself as the intelligent, capable person that she was, she subconsciously felt second-rate to her colleagues and so therefore always felt inferior. This inferiority complex rooted itself in her words and behavior; she would always aim to be agreeable even if she held a different opinion and felt the need to prove her self-worth in everything she did.
“Never think that you’re not good enough. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning.”
Anthony Trollope
As this quote suggests, we teach people how to treat us. If we see ourselves as inferior, it makes it more likely that we will be seen in this way by others too.
Moreover, the state of the believer is to know that there is khayr (good) in every situation as related in the following hadith:
“Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affairs are good and this is not for no one except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him he is patient and that is good for him” (Muslim)
Staying mindful of this helps us to elevate our thinking by the mere act of seeking the khayr in all situations, creating awareness in the heart of the blessings and opportunities present in the moment as opposed to dwelling on the negatives and how we’re perceived.
With this in mind, Aisha and I discussed an alternative perspective; perhaps Allah had given her an opportunity to be a role model and dispel myths surrounding the Muslim stereotype, that she showed great courage by the sheer fact that she goes in to work every day and upholds her values concerning manners and dress code. Immediately, this fresh perspective gave her more confidence in her true identity and strengthened her connection to Allah. The inner critic that would constantly compare her to others started to wane and she no longer felt the compulsion to fit in.
This feeling of not fitting in is all too familiar for the Muslim professional working in a predominantly western environment. The term “cultural cringe” is defined as an internalized inferiority complex that causes people to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries. Inadvertently, we may feel the “cultural cringe” factor with our religious orientation too. In not wanting to feel alienated from social groups or hindered from potential work opportunities, a person might dismiss some of their spiritual practices and strive to adapt to the more commonplace practices of their environment in order to fit in and feel on par with their colleagues.
Regularly missing prayers, not requesting time out for Jumu’ah, feeling awkward about wearing a hijab or growing a beard, dropping inhibitions and placing oneself in inappropriate environments may be some of the casualties of such sentiment. In reality, this can create an internal conflict between one’s spiritual values and the desire to be like others, resulting in anxiety, stress and internal worry. Social anxiety: the fear of being rejected by others, can be one of the biggest triggers for the inferiority complex.
With these emotions brewing inside, the inferiority complex can feature front and center. Feeling that no matter what you do, you just can’t hit the mark or won’t be seen as worthy by others. Even high achievers can feel like failures and imposters. The constant second guessing and feelings of being a second-rate worker hinders performance levels. Confidence dwindles and this can branch off in two ways.
1. Shying away from opportunities out of fear of being “caught out” and not speaking up with authentic thoughts
2. Overcompensating behavior such as bragging to mask the feelings of insecurity.
Both these positions invite the ego to lead the way and we’re then left with ego-led behavior.
The Messenger of Allah (saw), said, “The strong are not those who defeat people. Rather, the strong are those who defeat their own ego.”
Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār 1645
A sense of inferiority is not a cognitive thing, it’s an emotional sense that is carried around privately and painfully. The emotions that can arise range from hopelessness and helplessness to anger, resentment, envy and defensiveness.
A person can feel completely incompetent at her job even though objectively they’re great at it but that’s the nature of the beast – there’s no rational thinking. You can be completely disconnected from the objective perceptions others may have of you to the extent that there is an outright refusal to see any evidence to the contrary of your beliefs, placing one squarely in the victim-mindset.
Muslims look to the west and see successful companies: The Googles, Apples, and Teslas of the world Often these companies adopt practices that are foreign to our traditional ways and sometimes these practices are against Islam – yet as mentioned previously, the generalized feeling of inferiority stemming from the idea that we are inadequate and that our ways of doing things are not good enough, can make us blindly follow in the footsteps of these companies as a result. And in the pursuit of success, we may become negligent of our spiritual obligations.
For example, we’re seeing a burgeoning growth in the Muslim entrepreneurial space. There are now Muslim companies competing in the Fortune 500 arena and the Muslim spend is now worth trillions of dollars and is a recognized sector on the world business platform. Although there is this growth, we can also see symptoms of the inferiority complex growing alongside this trend.
In today’s world, we see Muslim organizations and companies:
What if, instead, Muslim companies adopted sunnah practices with yaqeen (certainty) that Ar-Razzaq (The Provider) will deliver barakah-filled results? A few examples of such practices are:
The above ideas may seem ‘crazy’ in our modern corporate world, and may feel “unprofessional” – but what if thinking of the above as ‘crazy’ or ‘unprofessional’ is actually your inferiority complex talking to you? Yes, maybe not all of the above ideas are practical on a day to day level – but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be encouraged to explore and experiment with ways to grow our business with Barakah!
My point is this: Instead of feeling like the success formulas of corporate America and the like were the only valid ways to create successful companies, what would happen if Muslim organizations placed more faith in aligning the structure of their company and workday with faith-based practices such as the ones mentioned above? With the doors of barakah opened, imagine how this could yield even greater results.
In the same way that the children of Israel began to develop a sense of inferiority and feeling “second-rate” to the community of pagans they encountered, we can see parallels in our modern day society with the Muslims of today experiencing similar emotions. The media surrounding our religion is awash with labels such as Muslim terrorists and extremism. Muslims are under constant scrutiny, and this has made us sensitive and defensive. As a nation what impact might this have on our mindset and how are we responding as a result?
Here’s a few ways in which the inferiority complex has taken root in our ummah today. We may find ourselves:
Very often the inferiority complex is on a subconscious level, so most people are not even cognizant to it. However, we need to take a very conscious look at our intentions, choices and actions in order to determine whether we have mindlessly adopted some of these frames of thinking.
Islam is the last Divine Message to Mankind. We have the blueprint to live a life that is the most balanced, wholesome, and decent. Yet as a nation, we may have drifted away from this way of life because we have fundamentally forgotten who we are, where we came from and our ultimate purpose in this world.
And in this lies the antidote.
An inferiority complex is fueled by the desire to attain the same levels of power, status and success as those perceived to be in superior positions. In order to shatter this complex, we need to bring our hearts and awareness to the ultimate source of power and honour.
“Whosoever desires honour, power and glory then to Allah belong all honour, power and glory…”?!
[ 35:10]
For the sincere believer, it is known that only in obeying Allah can one find honour, power and glory in this world but more importantly in the next. Holding tight to this reality, secures the heart of the believer from ever feeling inferior to any other culture or creed. It removes the temptation to yearn for what others have in the worldly sense as faith in Allah is what brings a level of contentment that far outweighs the love for anything else this world has to offer.
We are the children of Adam.
We are from the ummah of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
We can call ourselves Muslims because of the greats in our history; the noble prophets, the companions of the prophet and the generations to follow who sacrificed their lives so that we can practice today.
We have been given tawfeeq (direct guidance) to believe in the Oneness of Allah whose guidance and Help we know is always with us.
With this identity deeply embodied in the very fabric of our soul, we can stand confidently in any environment holding tight to our values and be fearless of worldly judgement. We can navigate any workspace or social gathering with firmness in our Muslim identity. Our hearts will steer away from feeling any form of inferiority complex or victim-mindset or FOMO (fear of missing out) because there is peace and contentment found in the promise of Allah:
“So do not become weak, nor be sad, and you will be victorious if you are indeed true believers.”
[ 3:139]
Alongside this understanding, it’s essential to create time for muhasabah (self-evaluation) in order to become more self aware, to be aligned to your fitra and increase in confidence that is rooted in Allah.
And it is for this reason that I developed the Confidence Masterclass – a transformational 6-week journey that combines Islamic spiritual practices with modern psychology to help Muslim professionals develop spiritually-centered confidence and remove any feelings of insecurity and inferiority.
During this masterclass, you will be guided through the Belief Model framework – a systematic process designed to help you strengthen in all aspects of life pertaining to spiritually rooted confidence.
For example, Imran decided to join the masterclass to work on his spiritual confidence using the Belief model framework. Prior to this training and despite having a good job, family and comfortable lifestyle, most days he would wake up feeling uneasy and unsettled. He was feeling the pressure of constant comparisons and spiritually weakened by the busyness of life. However, after he completed this training, he described feeling more internal peace as a result of developing a stronger reliance upon Allah and how increased self-awareness gave him more control, emotional grounding and confidence in himself and life choices.
Let’s take a deeper look at Imran’s outlook before the training and how he felt at the end of the masterclass training…
After working his way through the Belief model, Imran is a more confident, healthy, balanced individual who is still ambitiously working towards his life goals but with an active focus of how his work in this world can connect to the next. He’s no longer as concerned with external judgment or trying to fit in; his heart, mind and soul have found contentment in his deen and his feelings of self worth are rooted internally by his connection to Allah.
“Verily, Allah does not look at your physical features nor your wealth, but Allah looks at your hearts and actions.” (Muslim)
When we keep our sight firmly fixed on Allah, the fear of others dissipates. The inferiority complex disappears and what’s left is an energy, focus and determination to create meaningful lives with the hope that the reward will come in this life and extend to the next.
The post How Inferiority Complex Is Hurting You and the Ummah (and How We Can Fix This) appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
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]]>“You are destined for greatness. Believe in yourself and go for it.”
This should be an inspirational and empowering belief. That’s why you’ll see it plastered around the internet as a motivational quote.
Go for it. Not only can you do it, but you are meant to do it.
At face value, it sounds healthy, but it can be a recipe for hustle culture. It is true that we are often our own worst enemies. We let negative self-talk become a barrier to moving forward. It is energizing then, to find something reinforcing the idea we most definitely will succeed.
Instead of overcoming self-limiting beliefs, believing you are destined for greatness may be the most self-limiting belief you can have.
What is our potential? What does that success look like? These are important questions that are not answered, so we are left to create our own definitions. Perhaps I feel that I have the potential to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and I won’t rest until I achieve it.
Maybe I have a friend, who I think is less talented than me, that started a multi-million dollar business. In my head, this means I have the potential to do better, and now will not rest until I do better.
Feeling destined for greatness becomes just another way of thinking that you deserve this image of success you have painted in your head. We tell ourselves that our hard work must pay off, and we will get to where we want to go.
This forms the foundation for hustle culture. It doesn’t stop there though.
If I believe I am destined for greatness, I will act accordingly. When presented with an ethical gray area, I may be more tempted to act slightly unethically in order to attain that success I wanted. It becomes easier to self-rationalize playing politics to get ahead and hurting others in the process. It makes it easier to justify sacrificing time with family to spend more time on work emails every night. In other words, it makes someone selfish.
Ryan Holiday offers up this definition of ego,
“It’s not confidence—which is properly defined as evidence of our strengths and abilities. Ego is something different, something less earned, a kind of unhealthy belief in our own importance. … It’s the voice whispering in our ear that we’re better than other people, that our needs matter more, that the rules don’t apply to someone as exceptional as we are. It’s the sense that we are special and therefore need this success or that piece of recognition to prove it (or rather, we deserve it because well, because). It’s the belief that everyone else is watching us, that we’re destined for greatness.”
In Islamic literature, we are familiar with the idea of jihad-al-nafs, which is defined by Abu Aaliyah Surkheel as,
“… the personal struggle against one’s nafs; the lower self or ego, wherein a person strives to overcome temptations, carnal desires and the devil’s whisperings; striving also to internalize the Islamic teachings through acts of worship and devotion: like prayer, fasting, dhikr and almsgiving.”
Abu Aaliyah further continues, commenting on the concept of the nafs al-ammārah bi’l-sū’ (soul that constantly incites to evil),
“This unweaned soul is the abode of a multitude of incessant cravings and desires: be it for wealth, fame, power, physical gratification, exploitation of others – in short, anything that deflects one away from Allah and towards the lower, bestial possibilities of the human condition.”
We are adept at spotting this in others. In many cases, particularly when it comes to money or business/career status, we can spot the undue sense of entitlement from a mile away. We are not as good at diagnosing it in ourselves. One way our soul incites us to these same evils is by masking the undue entitlement with softer, more positive feelings such as deserving something or earning it through merit.
Believing we are destined for greatness fosters an unhealthy belief in our own importance and cultivates self-centered ambition.
In a professional environment, this manifests itself in a number of ways. A person will
It is easy to read this list and immediately think of someone we know that fits this description. It is difficult to realize we might be doing the same things under the positive facade of working hard to be successful.
To combat the ego means reframing our ideas of success. From a mindset point of view, it means focusing more on the akhirah aspect of success. Practically, it means shifting to a focus on process instead of outcomes. In doing so, we move away from the ego’s obsession with personal glory and embrace a more profound understanding of ego death, which allows us to grow and find fulfillment beyond mere material accomplishments.
Thinking in terms of “what can I do today to get better” shapes your actions drastically differently from thinking in terms of “how do I achieve X”. Focusing on finding purpose in your work goes much farther than only wanting to do what you are passionate about.
At the root, you have to deprogram the idea of deserving something.
If any human were to have the right of saying they deserved something, we might say it is the Prophet (s) deserving to go to Jannah. And yet, we find him saying this instead:
“Follow the right course, be devoted, and give glad tidings. Verily, none of you will enter Paradise by his deeds alone.” They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet said, “Not even me, unless Allah grants me His mercy. Know that the most beloved deed to Allah is that which is done regularly, even if it is small”
(Bukhari and Muslim)
The last two statements of this hadith offer a profoundly simple solution to the complex battle against our egos.
The first is to acknowledge our station in front of Allah (swt). He provides and sustains, but he does not owe us anything.
The second is to stay process-focused on your work. To make it into Jannah is a gargantuan achievement. In Silicon Valley speak, entering paradise would be the ultimate BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) – a reward worth infinitely more than all the riches of this world combined. And yet, the prescription for it is a reminder that the most beloved deeds to Allah are those that are small and consistent.
It shifts our mindset from being outcome-focused to being process-focused. It takes us from a hustle culture mindset to a barakah culture mindset.
Recalling the earlier example of a professional environment, this would look like
Breaking free from the idea that we are destined to achieve something is liberating. The moment I forget about the outcome, the less I worry and stress about it. It frees us from the shackles of unrealistic expectations, allows us to focus on doing the work we need to do to get better, and relegates the results of that work to Allah (swt).
The barakah, of course, is that those results Allah (swt) gives us are often far more than we hoped for or deserved.
I’m excited to partner with The Productive Muslim Company to launch the Careers Masterclass. A 5-week masterclass to learn practical tools and guidance to get ahead in your career without sacrificing your deen. Learn more at https://productivemuslim.com/careers/
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]]>If you’re not sure, what the metaverse is, check out the video below:
After getting over the initial excitement and novelty about the experience, I had three questions at the back of my mind:
I’m still thinking about this, but below are my initial thoughts:
Will metaverse meetups replace Zoom video calls?
WIll people work, play, and meet in the metaverse as comfortable as we meet over video calls?
Do I see myself teaching Productive Muslim courses in the metaverse?
The answer is: it depends.
It depends on the adoption rate of such technology.
Just like how we adopted smartphones and they became ‘essential’ tools for our modern lives, I can see it becoming a ‘norm’ to have meetups in the metaverse if a large number of people adopt the technology and tools.
After a couple of hours in the metaverse, we decided to hop back into a zoom video call.
Although the meeting didn’t feel as immersive (as if I’m sitting right across from my friends), seeing a real human face in flesh and bone was definitely a more authentic experience – than seeing a cartoon character of the person I’m meeting.
So, no, I don’t think the metaverse would replace video calls.
Just like video calls won’t replace real-life meetups, but they can be the next best thing if you can’t meet someone in real life.
This will be the big question that I feel we all need to ask ourselves.
The first thought that crosses your mind when you take off your headset and you’re back to ‘real’ life is how ‘boring’ real life looks like. It’s not as colorful and bright as the metaverse. And that’s a scary thought. There’s a sense of your nafs wanting to go back to the metaverse utopia and escape this world.
This feeling reminded me of a powerful khutba that Sh. Omar Suleiman gave it a couple of weeks ago. He reminded us of the power of the Dajjal at the end of times to manipulate reality and make what’s not real feel better and be more exciting than the real world!
So how do I feel this will affect spirituality and wellbeing?
Well, we’ve seen how social media can be a double-edged sword. Yes, some good can come out of it, but it can also lead to all sorts of challenges including, anxiety, and in some cases breakdown of families and society. So we need to be cautious as we’re entering the next chapter of the internet. We need to ask ourselves:
It’s too early to answer these questions. But here are my recommendations if you’re planning to explore the VR/metaverse world:
I hope you found these thoughts useful and beneficial. I’ll keep you posted if my thoughts develop over time in this space… in the meantime, feel free to subscribe to our newsletter below and receive more insights on productivity experiments that my team and I explore every now and then.
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]]>The post When Souls Meet: How to fuse Barakah into your meetings? appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
]]>Although there are lots of books and resources that discuss how to run successful meetings, in this article, I’ll explore how we can approach meetings from a spiritual perspective and the impact our spirituality has on the quality of our meetings.
I’ll also try to answer the question: how can our meetings be conduits of Barakah (Divine Goodness) for ourselves and organizations and even a means of personal and team-wide spiritual development?
This article will be useful for team leaders, managers, and really anyone who wants to see more Barakah in their work meetings insha’Allah.
The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, “…souls are like recruited soldiers, those that recognize one another unite in harmony and those that do not recognize one another are at an aversion”.
[Muslim]
To understand the above hadeeth, we need to understand that the beginning journey of our soul is not the moment we entered this world. Instead, the origin of all souls was when they were created by Allah SWT, and made us witness His Divine Existence. Allah SWT says in the Quran:
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَـٰذَا غَـٰفِلِينَ
And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we have testified.” [This] – lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.”
Quran 7:172
So in that pre-existence world, some souls met each other while some did not. That connection carried into this realm which explains how sometimes you may walk into a meeting and ‘click’ with someone even though you never met them before, or, the opposite happens – you try hard to work with someone and even though they are a nice person, you feel some kind of unexplained aversion to them.
To be clear, this is not an excuse to avoid working with some people because you don’t like them or create in-groups and cliques with people because you enjoy working with them. Instead, we should understand this hadeeth from two perspectives:
Dr. Abdallah Rothman, in his article “What Islam Offers to Modern Self-Help: An Islamic Paradigm of Psychology,” shares the following structure of the soul:
He argues that unlike popular conceptions within modern psychology, an Islamic perspective of the soul includes multiple aspects, namely: body, mind (Aql), spiritual heart (Qalb), spirit (ruh), and self (nafs). These aspects integrate together to form the spiritual being we know as a human being.
Therefore, when a soul attends a meeting – they bring these different aspects of their soul to the meeting. Moreover, each of these aspects can be impacted by the interactions that happen during the meeting. Below are examples of how each aspect of a soul can be affected during a meeting:
Suppose we accept that meetings are spaces where souls meet and that each soul has different aspects which can be affected in various ways during a meeting. In that case, we need to design our meetings as conducive environments where we bring the best aspects of our soul to a meeting and reduce the triggers that may bring out the negative aspects of our soul.
Moreover, let’s not forget that in addition to managing our souls, we have an archenemy that wants to negatively influence us, whom we need to be aware of – and that is Satan (Read the article: How Satan Impacts Workplace Productivity).
If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you’ll know that we advocate for individuals and organizations to adopt Barakah Culture instead of Hustle Culture.
Barakah Culture is God-centered, hereafter focused, and purpose and impact-driven. Whereas Hustle Culture is ego-centered, worldly-focused, and material results-driven.
If we want to fuse our meetings with Barakah – we first need to adopt the Barakah Culture worldview as a team and then design our meetings as opportunities for whole soul development.
Below are ideas for designing such meetings that we brainstormed with our community members during our weekly calls (a meeting that was in itself full of Barakah!).
We collected ideas on what to do before, during, and after the meeting to maximize Barakah – whether we meet in-person or virtually. I summarize the key points from our discussion below:
وعنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: ”ما جلس قوم مجلساً لم يذكروا الله تعالى فيه، ولم يصلوا على نبيهم فيه، إلا كان عليهم ترة؛ فإن شاء عذبهم، وإن شاء غفر لهم” ((رَوَاهُ التِّرمِذِيُّ وَقَالَ: “حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ”)).
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Whenever a group of people sit in a gathering in which they do not remember Allah the Exalted, nor supplicate to elevate the rank of their Prophet, such a gathering will be a cause of grief to them. If Allah wills, He will punish them, and if He wills He will forgive them.”
Al-Tirmidhi
فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْ ۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلْقَلْبِ لَٱنفَضُّوا۟ مِنْ حَوْلِكَ ۖ فَٱعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِ ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
By an act of mercy from God, you [Prophet] were gentle in your dealings with them- had you been harsh or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you- so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him.
Abdul Haleem 3:159
وعن أبى هريرة رضى الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم “من جلس في مجلس، فكثر فيه لغطه فقال قبل أن يقوم من مجلسه ذلك: سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك، أشهد أن لا إله إلا أنت، أستغفرك وأتوب إليك، إلا غفر له ما كان في مجلسه ذلك” ((رَوَاهُ التِّرمِذِيُّ وَقَالَ حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صحيح)).
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Whoever sits in a gathering and indulges in useless talk and before getting up supplicates: ‘Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ash-had an la ilaha illa Anta, astaghfirullah wa atubu ilaika (O Allah, You are free from every imperfection; praise be to You. I testify that there is no true god except You; I ask Your Pardon and turn to You in repentance),’ he will be forgiven for (the sins he may have intentionally or unintentionally committed) in that assembly.”
At-Tirmidhi
The above is not an exhaustive list of things you can do to attract Barakah to a meeting. However, I hope it’ll inspire you and your team to start thinking of meetings not as dreaded time-wasters but as opportunities to cultivate Barakah for yourself and organizations, insha’Allah.
If you’re interested in cultivating Barakah Culture for your organization, get in touch with us to learn more about our faith-based productivity and leadership training for teams.
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]]>Amina was hesitant to approach management as she was worried about losing her job or creating a commotion at work. What I found most interesting was the fact that although she was describing all the physical symptoms she was experiencing as a result of work stress, managing her health was nowhere on her radar. Our time together involved examining her life purpose and what the best version of herself looked like. As she explored, she began to appreciate the link between her health and spirituality. She no longer was willing to fulfil the demands of her workplace at the expense of not fulfilling the rights of her body.
Along with shifting her outlook, she reconnected with her life’s purpose and built on her Tawakkul. This helped her generate a deeper level of courage; one that was driven by her trust in Allah. Amina realised that Rizq (sustenance) is from Allah and was no longer willing to compromise her physical or spiritual health.
Armed with this newfound courage, she rose above any concerns of compromising her career path at work and took action.
I’m pleased to say, she approached management, discussed and agreed on new work boundaries but when work kept pressing and demanding, she had the courage to walk away and is now busy setting up a new business, one that is close to her heart. Even though this process has not been easy, Amina says her life has much more meaning and this gives her a much greater sense of inner peace and fulfilment Alhamdulilah.
Many of us hesitate in life, just like Amina did, and step back from taking action because we get so caught up in our fears and worries. Perhaps we wanted to share our point of view but felt too uncomfortable or nervous to say what’s on our mind. Or we received negative feedback and responded in a defensive manner that we later regretted. Or we saw someone treated unfairly and turned a blind eye because we didn’t have the confidence to speak up.
If any of the above sound familiar, it is my hope that this article inspires you to follow in the footsteps of our prophets (peace be upon them) and take the path of courageous action when faced with challenging situations. This is the path that I’ll be teaching in my upcoming 6 week – Confidence masterclass (learn more here) designed to help you:
We tend to think of courage from a modern day perspective to mean believing in oneself, taking purposeful action regardless of any personal risks, to drive forward with confidence during times of fear and uncertainty.
But what if there’s a deeper level of courage that we need to tap into…a level of courage that can be learnt from prophets which could yield even greater results.
The courage of our Anbiyah (peace be upon them) was rooted in their Yaqeen (certainty in Allah). This created the highest levels of courage within them because it influenced how they saw themselves, situations and what they believed could be achieved. They knew that along with their efforts, they had the Help of Allah. They knew their vision was limited but with Allah’s support, they could create unimaginable outcomes.
Their hearts and actions were aligned with this ayah:
As a Confidence coach, I have spent the last 6 years researching, studying and coaching people on how to develop spiritually centered confidence (Article: What is Spiritually-Centered Confidence?). This experience combined with my research led me to create a framework called the Belief Model designed to help others generate those higher levels of spiritually rooted confidence.
Here are few Prophetic examples which illustrate courage using the Belief Model:
We can see from the above examples that developing this level of courage enables you to tap into deeper levels of your potential, helps you stay connected to your true self and see past other people’s judgement. With modern day understanding of courage, we are still limited by our self belief but with this spiritual framework of courage, the possibilities are far more expansive.
With Prophetic courage, we could walk the intentional path knowing in our hearts that even micro actions can achieve macro results – the Barakah Effect! We could find comfort in the knowledge that there is an infinite powerful source supporting our own efforts. Too often we get distracted with seeking self-serving dunya results. However, having a mindset that relies entirely upon Allah would help extend our goal line to seek outcomes beyond our self and to serve our Hereafter too.
For example, if you approached your manager at work requesting space to perform your compulsory prayers, exercising that spiritually fortified courage could result in a designated prayer room used by generations of Muslims to come!
But what happens if they say no?
Even if management declines your request, this courage will allow you to continue to fight for your right to pray despite any career or social impact. Your priorities and actions will be driven by a more meaningful purpose and any concerns will be washed away by a deep sense of trust that Allah will take care of you and reward your efforts.
Armed with this courage, your conduct and interactions with others could also change the way all Muslims are perceived and treated in your work environment. Speaking up against an unjust practice that’s been in the family for generations, could pave the way for an entire culture to be changed.
The blessing in this model of confidence is that the less self-centric we become, the more our real confidence can grow.
Our Islamic history is rich with inspirational examples of courageous people who embodied bold spiritually rooted confidence in the face of the most unthinkable situations. When they relied upon Allah, their courage took on an even greater form, which enabled them to take on bigger tasks. Their actions reverberated for centuries afterwards, affecting generations of people and their faith. Their courage was nourished and nurtured by their love, reliance, and Yaqeen in Allah and that gave them superhuman-like strength to stand firm in the face of huge tests.
For example, Nusaybah Bint Ka’ab (radiyallahu anha) was the first female warrior in Islam. During the battle of Uhud, Muslims started to flee the scene as they faced impending defeat. Upon seeing this, Nusaybah ran in the opposite direction straight into battle to shield the Prophet (saw). She fought so bravely to protect him, that he made duaa for her and her family on the battlefield itself.
SubhanAllah, these acts of heroism were not just as a result of their belief in their own ability, it was fuelled by a higher purpose and their total reliance, conviction and trust in Allah.
How can these stories relate to us today? These examples show us the power of faith. If we only rely on ourselves, we’re limited to what we think we’re capable of in the moment. But with Tawakkul, a whole ocean of possibilities opens up as we believe wholeheartedly that there is no limit on Allah and what He can do for us. This creates another level of courage, resourcefulness and solution-focused determination.
Have you ever wanted to share your point of view but felt too uncomfortable or nervous to say what’s on your mind?
Practical tip: Shift the focus from how you might look or sound to the potential value they could gain from your point of view. How can they benefit from what you have to say?
Have you ever received negative feedback and responded in a defensive manner you later regretted?
Practical tip: Take a few mindful breaths. Bring your attention to seeking understanding of the other person’s actions through the lens of compassion and visualise the greater good that can be achieved if you choose a more forgiving response.
Have you ever seen someone treated unfairly and turned a blind eye because you didn’t have the confidence to speak up?
Practical tip: Focus on what Allah would want from you in that moment and think about how you could intervene with that in mind. Perhaps you could also approach the person being treated unfairly with empathy and help them explore their options.
I invite you to reflect on areas in your life where you could show up more courageously.
How could the Prophetic examples of courage help you do that?
If you’d like to hear more about this, listen to the recording of my recent webinar on “Prophetic Model of Confidence” where I explored examples of Prophetic confidence and how we can apply it to modern day scenarios.
What you could achieve with more Prophetic courage will also be covered in the upcoming Confidence Masterclass, where I’ll be guiding you through a 6-week programme teaching you how to develop spiritually centered confidence using the Belief Model. You can learn more about it at barakahacademy.com/confidence/.
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]]>The post How The Productive Muslim Company Went Hijri-First & How Your Company Can Do So Too appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
]]>Alhamdulillah, the Productive Muslim Company, spent the last 12 months making internal and external modifications to adopt the Hijri-first lifestyle. Here are some of the changes we made:
The above changes may seem subtle, but they significantly impacted our internal team culture, and they resonated with our readers. Here’s what a board member of an Islamic school wrote to me and said:
“I want to thank you for displaying the Hijri date so prominently and forcing us to look at the regular date in parenthesis. This is such a small, subtle change, but I think this shows leadership and may soon be followed by other masjids in their communications. It will eventually change our culture and help us focus on the Hijri dates. This has motivated me to start using Hijri dates on our communication from our Islamic school now.” Abu Sabiq, Board Member, Montessori School of Excellence
I have to admit that initially, the above changes took some adjustment. Team members had initial frustrations figuring out the Hijri date and communicating in Hijri-first, even in quick internal messages. However, being a small company, we could quickly make these changes and iron out any issues that popped up during the switch.
Moreover, after a few months of adopting a Hijri-first lifestyle, we noticed the benefits of making the switch, including:
If you are a company/organization that serves the Muslim community, it makes sense to adopt a Hijri-first lifestyle. However, making your team switch to Hijri first can be challenging since it’s more practical and efficient to stick to the Gregorian calendar.
Here are 4 steps to help your team make the switch:
I hope this encourages your team and company to adopt a Hijri first lifestyle. If you need more help to understand the concept of going Hijri, watch this webinar, where I go in-depth on how you can adopt a Hijri-first lifestyle:
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]]>The post The #GoHijri Adoption Framework: A practical tool to living a Hijri-first lifestyle appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.
]]>If you’re more of a visual/auditory learner, check out the webinar below, where we’ll go in-depth on how to use this framework to live a Hijri first lifestyle:
For fifteen centuries, the Islamic calendar was the primary calendar for Muslims globally. Unfortunately, it lost its status in the last 100 years and became a secondary calendar for many of us, only referring to it for Ramadan, Eid, and Hajj.
Last year, The Productive Muslim Company launched the #GoHijri campaign to save the Islamic calendar from being a forgotten relic of the past. In an article titled “Why the Islamic Calendar Matters More Than You Think,” I made the argument that we stand to lose much when we neglect this powerful calendar, including:
A year after launching the #GoHijri campaign, I reached out to #GoHijri enthusiasts to ask about their experiences going Hijri-first (a term we coined to mean that you prioritize using the Hijri calendar in your life more than other calendar systems). Below is a sample of their responses:
“I sincerely tried to base my life on the Hijri calendar. It just didn’t work very well, because of my work calendar and days off being on the Gregorian calendar…I did put the Hijri calendar on my wall over my desk at home, though, so I was much more aware of the Hijri calendar. So I guess in some ways it worked, but I wasn’t able to follow the Hijri calendar as closely as I wanted.”
– Meg Siegel
“while going Hijri is not easy when the world you operate in works with Gregorian calendar, at least personally I am aware of the Hijri months and their significance and making an effort to align my goals and intentions with the Hijri Calendar as opposed to the Gregorian one. Jan 1st doesn’t really signify the New Year to me anymore ..”
– Samia Ali
“The GoHijri idea is something that has stayed with me from the time I read about it…It has boosted my sense of self as a Muslim, has made me even more proud of my Muslim identity, recalibrated my entire thought process actually. Also, the obvious spiritual benefits like being more aware of the sacred month, planning the ayyam al beed (white day) fasts, hijama dates, etc. All in all, this has been hugely successful in my life.”
– Isra Kaleem
The above feedback showcases the different stages people go through when trying to live a Hijri-first lifestyle. It starts with awareness, then alignment, and finally adoption. The critical thing to remember is that going Hijri-first is not all-or-nothing; i.e. either I fully adopt the Hijri calendar or never use it again. There are stages and levels in between, which we capture in the #GoHijri adoption framework below.
Shifting our lives from being Gregorian-first to Hijri-first, can be challenging. However, we can make this shift in stages.
Below is the #GoHijri Adoption Framework that we developed at The Productive Muslim Company to help individuals shift from being aware of the Hijri calendar to fully adopting it. Enter your name and email below to download it.
The #GoHijri Adoption Framework is divided into three levels:
The awareness level is when a person becomes consciously aware of the Hijri calendar and its changing seasons. Below are five indicators that you’re at the aware level:
The alignment level is when you proactively align your personal and professional life to the Hijri calendar. The five indicators that you’re at the alignment level are:
Level 3 is when you start living the Hijri first lifestyle. You think, plan, and organize your life around the Hijri calendar. Below are five indicators that you’ve adopted the Hijri calendar:
The #GoHijri adoption framework is a valuable tool to help you assess where you are in your journey of living a Hijri-first lifestyle and where you need to be.
At the beginning of each Islamic year (or any time you’re ready to #GoHijri), assess yourself against the above framework. This would give you a benchmark to measure yourself and work towards a higher adoption level by the next Islamic year.
Living a Hijri-first lifestyle requires conscious effort in the first few weeks, however, after a while you’ll be surprised how you naturally gravitate towards a Hijri-first life and prefer it even to the Gregorian calendar.
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