Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers" (2022-11-21)

## Description

Shaykh Mirza Yawar Baig talks about the importance of tazkiya (purification of the heart) in dawah and leadership and how focusing on numbers takes us away from our main purpose. Bringing examples from the life of the Prophet ﷺ and his companions, Shaykh mentiones that in order to achieve real success, we are ought to forget the numbers in the first place.

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Summary of Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers"

This summary is AI generated - there may be inaccuracies. *

00:00:00 [01:00:00

Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of dawah and the need for support from Muslims in order to achieve success. He talks about the example of the sahaba and how their support helped rasulullah achieve his goals. Baig urges people to focus on their hearts and the Quran, and to forget about vanity and external appearances.

00:00:00 Discusses the importance of dawah and the need for support from Muslims. He talks about the example of the sahaba (the companions of Prophet Muhammad) and how their support helped rasulullah achieve his goals.

00:05:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of sincere and total support from the sahaba (companions of Muhammad) for Muhammad's dawa ( preaching). Baig feels that this is a key element in Muhammad's success. However, he notes that today many of Muhammad's followers do not receive the support they need to achieve success.
00:10:00 Discusses how using Christian-based motivational speakers to teach Islam can lead to negative outcomes, such as a lack of success with crop growth. suggests that Muslims take heed to principles such as keeping the seed safe, preparing the soil correctly, and watering it correctly in order to maximize results.
00:15:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of remembrance of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad, stressing that the Quran is only concerned with proper voice training. He goes on to say that people have forgotten how to do dawa and focus on their outward appearances instead. Baig encourages people to focus on their hearts, and reminds listeners of the story of Ibrahim alaihissalam, who knew his son was sacrificing himself to Allah because he saw him in a dream. Baig concludes by urging people to focus on the Quran and proper voice training, and to forget about vanity and external appearances.
00:20:00 Discusses the problems with Islam being turned into a product, and how some organizations try to make money by charging different prices for front and back seats in a venue. He also mentions a situation where a female speaker was given a screen to speak from behind, in order to make her less of a spectacle.
00:25:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of knowing one's goal and not being blinded by success. He goes on to discuss how to achieve success, stressing the importance of righteousness. He finishes with a question for organizations and individuals: what should be done to ensure success.
00:30:00 Discusses the idea that people should focus on memorizing the Quran rather than focusing on numbers, and how this can lead to a loss of focus. He says that he has never heard of an incident where someone became enlightened after memorizing the Quran.
00:35:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of success in terms of both intrinsic and extrinsic metrics. He emphasizes the importance of having a Muslim goal, being focused on Allah's pleasure, and maximizing one's success in the pursuit of Allah's desires.
00:40:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of having a lofty goal and how it motivates us to achieve success. He also mentions the need to focus on our task, rather than focusing on the numbers, in order to achieve success.
00:45:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of having a lofty goal, and how it can inspire people to work harder. He explains that the prophet saws often worked on projects together, and that without a lofty goal, it is impossible to achieve great things.
00:50:00 provides a brief overview of weight-lifting techniques, and how they can be used to develop a leader's weighing skills. then discusses two fundamental truths about weight-lifting – that it takes time and effort to achieve success, and that the balance will eventually tip in the favor of the person working hard. encourages listeners to work hard, but remind them that Allah is always watching and that He will reward those who do His will.
00:55:00 Discusses the importance of having a foundation in order to build something durable and beautiful, and how Muhammad was willing to die for the sake of his religion. He points out that, just like Muhammad, today's preachers and scholars have to remember that they are standing on the shoulders of giants, and that if they don't have the support of the people, their work will ultimately be in vain.

01:00:00 [01:40:00

Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of having the right values and process in order to achieve success. He talks about the story of Fodala IBN, who became Muslim despite wanting to kill the Prophet Muhammad. Baig concludes that it is important to have patience and to have a clear vision in order to relate to people in the right way in order to get the best results from them.

01:00:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig tells a story of a man who traveled a long distance to listen to him, but was disappointed when his speech was over. He explained that because the man had been with him for so long, he ought to have learned something. Baig said that even with the same content, one person can be delivered with great passion while another person may not understand.

01:05:00 Discusses how forgetting the numbers to get the numbers can lead to success. He explains that in Islam, the goal and the path are both important, and there is no concept of the end.
01:10:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of having a team with the right values and process in order to achieve success. He talks about the story of Fodala IBN, who became Muslim despite wanting to kill the Prophet Muhammad. Baig concludes that it is important to have patience and to have a clear vision in order to relate to people in the right way in order to get the best results from them.
01:15:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of courage in Dawah, and how it is necessary for anyone pursuing knowledge or doing something new. He gives the example of a warrior, and notes that without courage, one is not likely to persist in the face of obstacles or criticism.
01:20:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of courage and how it can be developed by focusing on Allah. He also provides advice for leaders in similar positions, emphasizing the importance of following process and having a clear vision.
01:25:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig advises that in order for someone to be successful in their work, they should forget about the goals they have set for themselves and instead focus on the task at hand. He also advises that people should sharpen their saws (communication skills) and take feedback and correction.
01:30:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses how to achieve success, emphasizing the importance of having a primary concern for Allah and making sure to avoid making mistakes. He tells a story of a black slave who was able to overcome great odds and achieve great things despite his difficult circumstances.
01:35:00 tells a story of two scholars who were in Makkah during a drought. One man, Abdullah, said he saw a black African boy raise his hands and say "Allah" and nothing happened. The other man, Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig, said that he saw a cloud come and it rained after he made Dua. Abdullah then bought the boy and they continued on their way. The boy, who was carrying something, stopped and told Abdullah that he saw something. Abdullah asked what it was, and the boy told him that it was Allah. Abdullah then took him home.
01:40:00 Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig discusses the importance of storytelling and how it can be used to help people learn and grow. He requests that viewers check back for his next video, as there is much more to unpack. He also shares insights from a strategic management perspective, which could be valuable to audiences.

Full transcript with timestamps: CLICK TO EXPAND

0:00:01 foreign 0:00:04 [Music]0:00:15 voices where we give platform to voices 0:00:20 of wisdom and we facilitate discussion 0:00:23 in order for wisdom and reason sound 0:00:26 reason to Prevail with me I have our 0:00:29 beloved chef 0:00:31 and I'm going to introduce him before 0:00:33 bringing him on board 0:00:35 is the founder and president of York 0:00:39 bake and Associates he's an advisor 0:00:41 author life coach and corporate 0:00:43 consultant 0:00:45 he is alumni of Hyderabad public school 0:00:47 nizam college and the Indian Institute 0:00:50 of Management in Ahmedabad he drove on 0:00:53 his extensive experience of over 35 0:00:55 years in Consulting with multi-national 0:00:58 corporations government and business 0:01:01 entrepreneurs on three continents he 0:01:04 specializes in leadership development 0:01:06 and family business Consulting he's on 0:01:09 the Consulting faculty of GE corporate 0:01:12 University curtainville AMA 0:01:15 International and SVP National Police 0:01:17 Academy Hyderabad India Mr Chef Mr Mirza 0:01:22 big is the resident scholar at the 0:01:26 Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts 0:01:28 and Hampshire's mosque and Hampshire 0:01:30 mosque and the Muslim chaplain at 0:01:33 Springfield College and Westford state 0:01:34 university 0:01:35 has a keen interest in education and 0:01:38 believes that primary and secondary 0:01:40 school education is the foundation for 0:01:42 societal change to create a society 0:01:44 based on passion he is advisor to Jimmy 0:01:48 Council of Muslim theologians South 0:01:51 Africa and Sri Lanka and the association 0:01:53 association of Muslim schools South 0:01:56 Africa he founded the mahabub Habib 0:01:59 Masjid and Islamic Center in Hyderabad 0:02:01 in 2009 and was its Iman in Imam into 0:02:05 2019 when he moved to the United States 0:02:08 Shakira has written fifth sorry has 0:02:11 written 40 books including three 0:02:13 audiobooks and five books of 52 July 0:02:16 each and speaks five languages one of my 0:02:20 favorite books of is Leadership Lessons 0:02:23 of the life of rasool Allah 0:02:25 and you can find him at your what a 0:02:29 big.com 0:02:39 no the pleasure is all mine the pleasure 0:02:42 is all mine and after this podcast I 0:02:44 think the pleasure will be all theirs 0:02:46 those who are listening inshallah so I'm 0:02:48 just going to go straight into it Chef I 0:02:50 want to ask you one important question 0:02:52 which in the context of dawah sharing 0:02:56 Islam as you know sapiens Institute 0:02:57 wants to share Islam academically and 0:02:59 intellectually and develop others and 0:03:01 Empower others to do to do so the same 0:03:03 so in the context of Doubt what is the 0:03:06 number one missing ingredient that is a 0:03:10 very difficult question because 0:03:14 um I can I can probably answer it for 0:03:16 myself 0:03:18 uh and I would like to answer it for 0:03:20 myself not for everybody else but I 0:03:22 think maybe people can look at that 0:03:26 for me 0:03:29 I think it is 0:03:31 to deal with the 0:03:34 disappointment that you do not get the 0:03:37 kind of support that you want from 0:03:40 Muslims 0:03:42 for the work of dawah 0:03:46 um 0:03:47 I know that everything that we do 0:03:51 we remind ourselves that you are doing 0:03:53 it only and only for the 0:03:56 pleasure of Allah alone and for no other 0:04:00 reason 0:04:01 but it would be nice if 0:04:05 we got the kind of support that 0:04:09 would really make things happen and 0:04:13 produce results 0:04:14 now once again you know the issue of 0:04:16 saying all of these things in Islamic 0:04:18 context is that somebody will say well 0:04:20 you know results are in the hands of 0:04:22 Allah of course they are but Allah said 0:04:27 so therefore 0:04:30 um we need to make the effort and in 0:04:32 that effort if we have support 0:04:35 the example that I always think to 0:04:37 myself is 0:04:39 the entire community and Brotherhood of 0:04:43 the sahaba with rasulullah 0:04:47 now from as a as a Muslim and from a 0:04:52 position of Akita I will not say 0:04:54 rasulullah sallam could not have or 0:04:57 would not have been able to achieve his 0:04:59 results without them but if I look at it 0:05:03 from a purely objective way 0:05:06 uh as a leadership consultant then I 0:05:10 must say that 0:05:13 the role of the sahaba and the kind of 0:05:17 support they gave him 0:05:19 which was completely unstinting 0:05:21 completely sincere and total and 0:05:25 wholehearted 0:05:26 this was a huge element in the success 0:05:30 of his dawa salallah 0:05:34 and I feel that this is a this is the 0:05:37 sad thing because 0:05:39 um as I said I'm speaking for myself for 0:05:42 those 0:05:43 for whom this is a different reality all 0:05:45 part of you 0:05:46 but you do not get the support that you 0:05:49 would really like to have and so uh you 0:05:53 have to keep consoling Yourself by 0:05:54 saying that um 0:05:57 Allah only sent me to convey and I am 0:06:02 conveying 0:06:03 uh but I would be lying if I told you 0:06:07 that results were not important to me 0:06:11 uh I would be lying if I told you that I 0:06:14 am just satisfied with conveying and it 0:06:16 doesn't matter whether anyone accepts it 0:06:18 or not 0:06:20 it does matter 0:06:23 um and it is uh it makes the task much 0:06:26 more difficult uh when you do not get 0:06:29 the support of your own people and you 0:06:32 uh and your own people disappoint you in 0:06:35 that 0:06:36 so uh you know and it's not a it's not 0:06:39 an either all thing it's not that nobody 0:06:41 supports of course of course A lot of 0:06:42 people do support and so on and 0:06:44 that's uh also partially what keeps you 0:06:48 going of course it is also the you know 0:06:50 the the uh whatever the class we think 0:06:53 we have with regard to Allah but 0:06:56 definitely it is also support of people 0:06:58 but one would at the end of the day you 0:07:01 would say 0:07:02 um if only this had been more 0:07:07 Okay so 0:07:10 let's unpack that a little bit chef 0:07:12 so in terms of support 0:07:15 give me some examples what do you mean 0:07:17 because I think your experiences they 0:07:20 may be a microcosm but I think they will 0:07:22 represent a macrocosm I give an example 0:07:25 we had a Leadership Retreat just a week 0:07:30 ago I believe called The Visionaries 0:07:31 Witham and others and it was in 0:07:34 collaboration with sabil 0:07:36 and one key aspect of that Retreat which 0:07:39 by the way we referenced your material 0:07:41 may Allah bless you and in fact when was 0:07:46 delivering a session and he I think 0:07:48 quoted one of your quotes from your book 0:07:50 I think if if I remember correctly he 0:07:53 thought it was very powerful and he was 0:07:54 moved so may Allah bless you 0:07:57 and when we're delivering that Retreat 0:07:59 and mentioned something about having a 0:08:01 World Vision how you see the world and 0:08:03 your personal and organizational Vision 0:08:05 should be in some way subservient to the 0:08:08 global vision 0:08:09 and what happens unfortunately in the 0:08:11 Tao today we conflate the two we think 0:08:13 the organ organizational vision is 0:08:15 somewhat the same as the global vision 0:08:18 yes it wants to achieve that global 0:08:20 vision but then what happens is they 0:08:22 think the organization is 0:08:24 is the only vehicle for that global 0:08:27 vision which is never never the case 0:08:28 because you don't have all the in all 0:08:30 the resources at your disposal and then 0:08:32 what happens subconsciously at least 0:08:34 from a collective perspective you have 0:08:36 organizational Primacy over 0:08:39 the the Primacy of Allah because your 0:08:43 global vision must be Allah Centric and 0:08:45 akhara-centric and when we have that 0:08:47 misalignment of Visions if you like what 0:08:50 happens is we stop helping each other we 0:08:53 think I can do it myself or we have this 0:08:54 kind of collective malaise the 0:08:56 collective ego that I can do this myself 0:08:58 and it's about me and my organization 0:09:00 and we forget the bigger picture and 0:09:03 this really I already had this in mind 0:09:05 but this awakened to me the importance 0:09:07 and the Primacy of the fact that we have 0:09:09 to support everybody involved in the 0:09:11 sector because your success is My 0:09:13 Success their success is My Success it's 0:09:16 similar to the Hadith 0:09:19 the believer is a mirror of another 0:09:21 believer and you could just expand this 0:09:23 from a macro project so in that context 0:09:26 here and even your bird is agreeing with 0:09:29 us I think yeah 0:09:30 blue jay outside 0:09:32 mashallah see even even the creation of 0:09:36 Allah is affirming of what we're saying 0:09:39 the point here is give me some examples 0:09:42 let's unpack this a little bit more 0:09:43 would you mean by support and what are 0:09:46 the reasons why you think the support is 0:09:48 is not there 0:09:50 you know 0:09:52 um I think I think you'll put your 0:09:54 finger on it and I think that 0:09:58 part of the reason and I'm not talking 0:10:01 about 0:10:02 dhava organizations 0:10:04 uh part of the reason is that Dharma 0:10:08 organizations have taken their 0:10:09 methodology 0:10:11 from two sources one is Christian 0:10:14 Evangelical uh Evangelical preachers 0:10:18 and second is from the corporate 0:10:21 training work 0:10:24 uh motivational speakers Tom Peters and 0:10:26 and so on so and so on you know so 0:10:28 training now the corporate training 0:10:31 world is my world 0:10:33 so I know what what happens I know how 0:10:35 it works and and what are the foci and 0:10:37 and so on so on 0:10:40 the issue is that when you take a tool 0:10:42 the culture of the tool comes with it 0:10:46 right technology is uh not value neutral 0:10:50 and technology is not culture neutral 0:10:52 technology brings with it the ideology 0:10:55 behind that technology 0:10:57 for example if you're using artificial 0:11:00 intelligence AI for uh one of the 0:11:03 primary for uh you know powers of AI is 0:11:07 it enables a massive data searches and 0:11:11 very 0:11:12 um you know intuitive kind of uh results 0:11:16 and answers 0:11:17 it automatically brings in a thinking 0:11:21 and a ideology of the supremacy of 0:11:25 Technology 0:11:27 uh it brings in this belief that 0:11:29 technology can solve all problems 0:11:31 uh the power of technology and if you 0:11:35 are not careful then this is 0:11:38 juxtaposed against the power of Allah 0:11:40 and Allah and what Allah can do and 0:11:44 Technology becomes more powerful in our 0:11:47 minds and our understanding than the 0:11:49 father of Allah 0:11:52 so this is something to do to keep in 0:11:54 mind now what has happened I think uh 0:11:56 with the Davao organizations is that 0:11:59 they have used the Christian Christian 0:12:02 uh Evangelical preachers methodology and 0:12:06 the methodology of uh people like Tom 0:12:10 Peters uh you know and and so on uh 0:12:13 Stephen Stephen Covey and all that so 0:12:16 they are presenting Islam like 0:12:20 uh motivational courses 0:12:23 now 0:12:25 Islam As We Know 0:12:27 Allah 0:12:29 sent him with a 0:12:32 four-step process right 0:12:40 so 0:12:42 inform them teach them recite for them 0:12:45 what you what you received then prepare 0:12:48 them to receive it themselves 0:12:51 foreign 0:12:53 [Music]0:12:56 now which means that if you simply hear 0:12:58 it without being uh your without your uh 0:13:03 heart being uh ready to receive it uh 0:13:08 it's not good it's not going anywhere 0:13:11 uh so that preparation has to be done 0:13:13 and the third one is 0:13:17 so teach teach it to them 0:13:20 and the fourth one is demonstrate how it 0:13:23 is to be practiced which is 0:13:25 the wisdom of it 0:13:27 now the example I always give 0:13:29 is that of a farmer that the farmer has 0:13:33 this absolutely fabulous seed which is 0:13:36 the most powerful seed which can give 0:13:38 him the best possible Harvest 0:13:40 but if the farmer takes the seed and 0:13:43 simply scatters it on the ground 0:13:45 the seed will will die 0:13:47 you know it's not going to give any 0:13:49 results 0:13:50 any intelligent family knows anything 0:13:52 about farming 0:13:54 we'll first he'll keep the seed safely 0:13:56 and then he will prepare the soil right 0:13:59 he will take away he will he will he 0:14:03 will plow it he will winnow it he will 0:14:06 do all the stuff with it uh he'll check 0:14:09 the pH value acidity alkalinity uh he 0:14:13 will look at pathogen soil pathogens he 0:14:16 will work on that any personal disease 0:14:19 all of this he will do he will dig 0:14:22 irrigation channels so that water can 0:14:24 get to the seed and so on then he will 0:14:26 plant the seed and that seed also he 0:14:29 will plant it in the way that specific 0:14:31 seed should be planted some seeds have 0:14:35 to be scattered some seeds have to be 0:14:38 planted deep and so on 0:14:39 right 0:14:41 um and after that he watered the seed 0:14:44 this whole process if the farmer misses 0:14:47 any of these Steps either the seed will 0:14:50 die or even if it germinates uh it will 0:14:53 wither and he will not get a crop he 0:14:57 wouldn't get a harvest 0:14:58 the issue with our Dao work is that we 0:15:03 do two things and and dawa as well as I 0:15:05 I will even include the way we teach 0:15:08 Islam uh including in the madaras and 0:15:11 the darulums if somebody has a mother's 0:15:15 system which does not uh is which is not 0:15:19 like what I am saying or I'm going to 0:15:21 say then all part you uh keep on the 0:15:24 good work 0:15:26 we we do out of the four things we do 0:15:29 too and we wish to 0:15:30 yet 0:15:32 we focus of the Quran 0:15:37 we focus on the different styles of 0:15:39 recitation and so on and so on and so on 0:15:43 preparation we have forgotten we don't 0:15:46 even know how to do that anymore 0:15:48 we do not even have teachers to know 0:15:51 what to do about it anymore 0:15:52 how do you prove how do you purify my 0:15:55 heart 0:15:57 right I come to you I say my heart is 0:15:59 impure 0:16:00 does anyone even know what to do about 0:16:02 that if somebody says to you look in 0:16:04 your heart 0:16:07 what do you see 0:16:09 do we understand this do you understand 0:16:11 the statement is it just words look in 0:16:13 the heart means what means look in the 0:16:15 pocket 0:16:17 and remember this is the statement that 0:16:19 Ibrahim alaihissalam who was at the age 0:16:22 of maybe 80 plus 90 0:16:24 said to his little son Ismail 0:16:27 about whom Allah said when he was ready 0:16:30 to walk 0:16:32 what age is that 0:16:34 we're not talking about that he's not 0:16:36 talking saying that to a 20 year old or 0:16:39 even a 15 year old we're looking at a 0:16:41 little boy 0:16:43 what did he say to him he said 0:16:47 foreign look what you see 0:16:51 after telling him that I have seen you I 0:16:54 have seen myself 0:16:56 sacrificing you to Allah in my dream 0:17:00 then he says to him 0:17:04 look what do you see 0:17:08 and the sun response straight away the 0:17:12 sun the sun doesn't say what look where 0:17:16 what kind of conversation is this 0:17:19 I have no clue what you're saying my 0:17:20 father no he knows exactly what his 0:17:23 father is saying 0:17:24 because he's connected with his heart he 0:17:27 knows what is the meaning of look at 0:17:28 your heart 0:17:31 so he tells his father he says insha 0:17:33 Allah and you will find me among the go 0:17:36 do he says do what you have in order to 0:17:39 do 0:17:40 if tomorrow 0:17:44 and you will find me among thee insha 0:17:46 Allah because he 0:17:47 again see that see this is the awareness 0:17:49 he's not saying I will have suffer he 0:17:51 does not know I mean when was the last 0:17:53 time his throat was lit so he doesn't 0:17:54 know he will have summer 0:17:56 he doesn't know that he's an insha Allah 0:18:00 so this doesn't 0:18:02 we have forgotten we focus on the 0:18:04 recitation he even hips of the Quran 0:18:07 in the big majority part of the world 0:18:10 hofas do not know what they are reciting 0:18:16 can I tell you a funny story about that 0:18:18 later on uh true story but funny story 0:18:20 anyway 0:18:21 so they memorize 0:18:24 they reside they learn how to do that 0:18:26 well beautifully and so on and so on and 0:18:28 so on 0:18:29 people sit and they 0:18:32 admire the recitation 0:18:35 oh this is 0:18:39 the question to ask is what are you 0:18:42 admiring 0:18:43 the tune 0:18:46 then how's that different 0:18:48 from admiring Bob Marley 0:18:52 that's also too 0:18:56 is that what the Quran came for to 0:18:59 admire the tube because you don't 0:19:01 understand what you're saying 0:19:04 you are just looking at the link in The 0:19:06 Voice 0:19:09 you know I remember the first time I saw 0:19:11 you in that uh leadership program in uh 0:19:15 in London what was that place 0:19:17 yeah I think it was um 0:19:19 either it was Milton Keynes it was High 0:19:21 Wycombe one of those two places right 0:19:26 and you walked into the Hall when I was 0:19:28 reciting something 0:19:31 and you pointed at me and you said that 0:19:33 is a trained voice 0:19:37 and you said I know that because I have 0:19:40 a trained voice 0:19:43 right but my point is is the recitation 0:19:45 of the Quran only about voice training 0:19:49 but that's what we have done so 0:19:52 we focus user came zero work 0:19:57 then we look at your name 0:20:01 so we focus on starting from calligraphy 0:20:05 beautifully Illustrated beautifully 0:20:07 illuminated uh then we go into teaching 0:20:12 it the tafsir the tarjuma the 0:20:15 translation the tafsir the uh the you 0:20:18 know the all of that uh and then we 0:20:21 argue about that and we have all kinds 0:20:23 of debates and we have all kinds of 0:20:25 symposia and everything you do with the 0:20:28 talim of the Quran 0:20:31 without the skin 0:20:34 and the last part which is actual 0:20:37 practice 0:20:38 again zero 0:20:42 that is our problem 0:20:45 so now the other organizations also have 0:20:47 taken Islam as a product 0:20:51 and they sell it out there as a product 0:20:54 and they see another Davao organization 0:20:56 in the same way that coke sees Pepsi 0:21:00 as competition 0:21:02 which should be destroyed 0:21:04 and we must grab market share 0:21:09 right 0:21:13 that is the problem 0:21:16 when Ibrahim al-islam was there there 0:21:19 was Luther who was his they say he was 0:21:22 his nephew 0:21:23 but he was in the same time 0:21:26 when the Malaika came to Ibrahim and 0:21:30 they said that we are on the way to 0:21:33 destroy the people of Luth 0:21:38 that's what we want 0:21:41 there was a competition fantastic 0:21:43 brilliant 0:21:46 here tears in his eyes he said what 0:21:49 about Luke 0:21:55 right now this is the this is our 0:21:57 problem 0:21:58 Islam is not a product I say to people 0:22:01 Islam 0:22:03 you got it free 0:22:04 keep it free 0:22:08 we have changed Islam into a product 0:22:10 so we run courses we sell those courses 0:22:16 and some other stuff I mean you know 0:22:17 this stuff but some of the stuff I've 0:22:19 seen it is so ultimately so bad it's not 0:22:23 funny 0:22:25 I was in Malaysia there was one Davao 0:22:28 organization Malaysia seems to have 0:22:29 become the center of uh you know all 0:22:32 these double organizations 0:22:33 so I don't know whether all of that 0:22:34 stuff is not shifting to Turkey or what 0:22:37 but um 0:22:39 there was one Java organization which 0:22:41 was which announced a weekend course 0:22:44 on Surat Yusuf 0:22:47 so another Java organization immediately 0:22:50 publishes 0:22:52 their entire text course material answer 0:22:57 Yusuf on the internet free 0:23:01 until that time it was not free until 0:23:04 that time it was not published 0:23:07 but the moment this type of organization 0:23:09 announces the course 0:23:11 they publish all that information free 0:23:14 so it is to say you don't need to go to 0:23:16 that course here it is free 0:23:19 now what is that 0:23:21 another job organization I was in I was 0:23:23 invited I was speaking beautiful big 0:23:26 Hall absolutely perfect Acoustics 0:23:29 everything 0:23:32 then they said to me they gave me the 0:23:34 name of a female a lady uh 0:23:40 uh Alima 0:23:42 whose session was the next day 0:23:47 and somebody came to me they showed me 0:23:49 the uh promotional sheet and they said 0:23:53 please notice uh in the same Hall the 0:23:57 front seats 0:23:59 are more costly than the seats at the 0:24:02 back 0:24:05 so I said why 0:24:07 they said 0:24:11 because she's a lady 0:24:15 huh 0:24:17 so I said tell the lady to put a screen 0:24:21 in front of her so speak from behind the 0:24:23 screen like like all my family and uh 0:24:25 they were able to do 0:24:28 then we'll see the fun 0:24:32 I mean what is this this is this Islam 0:24:35 this is this is money making 0:24:37 right 0:24:39 so if you want to do dhawat or Islam 0:24:43 I would say stick to the methodology 0:24:46 so four things yes 0:24:53 it must come through practice it must 0:24:55 come through the sky it must come 0:24:57 through actually physically uh you know 0:25:00 demonstrating it and not demonstrating 0:25:02 the show but devastating in our own life 0:25:04 so which people can see and learn from 0:25:07 this is and therefore the point that you 0:25:10 made which is there is no competition 0:25:12 with another dawa organization 0:25:15 that other job organization is they are 0:25:18 my brothers they are the people we are 0:25:20 both in the same work 0:25:22 so in the same area now if there are 50 0:25:25 organizations 0:25:27 we want another 50.0:25:31 we don't say okay this is our no no this 0:25:35 fighting for Turf is is really very 0:25:38 highly undignified and disgusting 0:25:41 I mean I do I do um empathize and 0:25:45 understand what you're saying you know 0:25:46 I've been around in this sector for 0:25:48 maybe I think over 15 years now and I 0:25:52 have seen some of the things that you've 0:25:53 mentioned but there are also very good 0:25:55 Bright Stars individually and 0:25:59 organizationally that are doing some 0:26:01 very good work 0:26:02 and one thing I want to zoom in on which 0:26:05 I think I agree with mostly is the 0:26:08 aspect of 0:26:11 it is the case from my experience at 0:26:14 least where people have a fear and it 0:26:17 may be a sincere fear that if they over 0:26:20 emphasize on the kind of aspects of 0:26:23 tesquite enoughs then the focus of the 0:26:26 organization will move away from the 0:26:28 important work of doing the action and 0:26:31 doing the dawa and it will be focused on 0:26:34 let's just focus on ourselves yes one 0:26:37 would argue you could do in parallel but 0:26:39 I do kind of see their concern and their 0:26:42 fear 0:26:43 however moving on in my age now I'm 0:26:45 maybe getting a little bit more 0:26:47 experienced and actually seeing the Dao 0:26:49 in a different way and managing the art 0:26:51 I actually feel that 0:26:53 your point about the Tesco to nafs is 0:26:56 probably the most important point in our 0:26:58 dawa 0:27:08 does righteous Deeds is righteous and 0:27:10 says I am one of the Muslims 0:27:13 now sometimes we forget the second and 0:27:16 the third piece of advice here we just 0:27:18 do the Corning but we forget the 0:27:19 righteousness 0:27:21 and not only that sometimes we get 0:27:23 blinded by our own successes and we 0:27:25 don't think 0:27:26 hold on a second what if I was more 0:27:29 connected to Allah what if I did the 0:27:31 right thing internally and externally 0:27:33 maybe I would have had greater success 0:27:36 so I shouldn't Pat myself on the back 0:27:38 and this is why you know what we teach 0:27:40 sometimes is when you have success 0:27:43 you should not pat yourself from the 0:27:45 back you shouldn't have this sense of 0:27:46 self-amazement but rather what you 0:27:48 should have is you should praise Allah 0:27:51 you should do is you should repent to 0:27:54 Allah you should turn back to him just 0:27:57 like what Allah advises the prophet 0:27:59 sallallahu alaihi wasallam when he says 0:28:01 about you know when the people are going 0:28:03 to enter the religion in crowds and 0:28:06 Allah tells him how to respond to this 0:28:08 success right 0:28:14 and I think we miss that in the Tao 0:28:17 because of our lack of connection and we 0:28:19 tap ourselves on the back we've got all 0:28:20 of this success but why we never I never 0:28:23 hear people say this I'm an honesty chef 0:28:25 and it really it hurts in a way we never 0:28:28 ask what if what did I do wrong not 0:28:32 withstanding My Success notwithstanding 0:28:34 My Success what did I do wrong or not 0:28:38 totally correct internally and 0:28:41 externally that prevented me from 0:28:43 getting even better results 0:28:45 and not even not even standing in the 0:28:49 possibility that that is a valid 0:28:50 question I think that is a sign of our 0:28:51 kind of malaise so okay what should 0:28:54 people do what should do out to do and 0:28:56 organizations do to implement this 0:28:59 essential methodology of the Prophet 0:29:00 Salam which is about 0:29:03 what should they do in order to ensure 0:29:05 that the Dow is successful 0:29:09 I've got a beautiful question 0:29:12 what they should do 0:29:14 is divine success 0:29:17 what do you mean by success 0:29:20 today we are defining success in the 0:29:23 same way as Coca-Cola and Pepsi 0:29:25 headcounter 0:29:27 how many people came to my course how 0:29:29 many people came to my conference 0:29:32 how many people came to my class 0:29:35 this is not success 0:29:38 so we have to redefine success what is 0:29:41 the meaning of success 0:29:43 then everything will fall into place 0:29:48 I'll give you an example we are say for 0:29:51 example you are teaching Quran 0:29:54 hips for example right what is what is 0:29:57 your goal 0:29:58 you say my goal is this kid must 0:30:01 memorize the Quran 0:30:03 you say okay so remember the Quran 0:30:06 um how about understanding what he's 0:30:08 deciding that's not my goal 0:30:11 does it make sense 0:30:12 no person will say that but that's what 0:30:14 they're doing 0:30:16 I was in a mother in Hyderabad once 0:30:20 and I went into the dharat office the 0:30:23 hibs program 0:30:25 and you started he told me please come 0:30:27 and sit and listen to these uh these 0:30:29 boys I said so I went and sat down uh 0:30:32 one of the boys came inside in front of 0:30:33 me so I said okay so recite something 0:30:36 he started reciting suratanka both and 0:30:40 he came to the Ayah 0:30:42 kulsiro fill out of the funds Hulk 0:30:47 Allah said go and tour the Earth travel 0:30:51 in the earth and see how I have created 0:30:53 creatures 0:30:56 so I told him to stop he stopped now 0:30:59 where we were sitting 0:31:01 over to the right 0:31:03 through the door we could see into the 0:31:05 yard of the mother son 0:31:07 and they were there was a bunch of uh 0:31:10 chickens grazing in the yard 0:31:13 so I said to the boy I said look at the 0:31:16 chickens what do you understand 0:31:19 about the Ayah you just recited 0:31:21 by looking at the chickens 0:31:25 now that poor kid I mean he he was like 0:31:27 thinking you know what is the man he's 0:31:29 mad or something but of course they all 0:31:31 have others so they don't they don't 0:31:32 tell you you're crazy but you know 0:31:35 he had looked at me like I'm crazy 0:31:38 so I told him I said do you understand 0:31:40 what you decided he said you know he 0:31:42 said no 0:31:44 so I explained to you I said this is 0:31:45 what the Ayah means 0:31:47 he said okay I said now you understand 0:31:49 what you mean he said yes I said now 0:31:51 look at the chickens what do you 0:31:52 understand again zero 0:31:56 so I asked him I said tell me something 0:31:58 what is that chicken eating 0:32:00 he said insects and you know seeds and 0:32:04 grass 0:32:05 I said what about if there's a little 0:32:08 gecko a little lizard 0:32:11 what will the chicken will eat it 0:32:14 I said what happens if you eat it if you 0:32:17 eat the lizard he said I will die 0:32:18 because they are poisonous 0:32:21 I said what will happen if the chicken 0:32:24 eats the lizard 0:32:26 and then two hours later next day or 0:32:29 whatever 0:32:30 you catch the chicken you Slaughter the 0:32:33 chicken you cook the chicken and you eat 0:32:35 this chicken 0:32:36 what will happen to you which are 0:32:38 nothing 0:32:41 so either something that is poisonous 0:32:43 you which will kill you if you eat it 0:32:45 the chicken eats it 0:32:48 does not die and you eat the chicken 0:32:51 and you don't die either 0:32:54 he said now I told him now 0:32:56 look at the Ayah 0:33:00 and look at the chickens and tell me 0:33:02 what you think 0:33:03 now his eyes opened wide his jaw dropped 0:33:07 I never thought of it like that I said 0:33:10 of course not nobody teaches you like 0:33:11 this 0:33:15 this is the problem 0:33:17 Allah 0:33:30 [Music]0:33:33 Allah said only those are the Believers 0:33:36 who when the world of Allah in the name 0:33:39 of Allah when Allah is mentioned before 0:33:41 them their hearts shiver with the glory 0:33:44 and Majesty of Allah 0:33:46 and when the ayat of Allah 0:33:49 are recited before them 0:33:52 their Iman increases and they have 0:33:54 tawakul on Allah they have trust on 0:33:57 Allah 0:33:57 now tell me and you can ask this 0:34:00 question to people 0:34:01 when was the last time 0:34:04 that as a child is sitting with his 0:34:08 ustad memorizing Quran or learning touch 0:34:11 with 0:34:13 that the Stars stopped him 0:34:15 and said you just recited this what is 0:34:20 the state of your heart 0:34:23 did it have any effect on you 0:34:29 does this happen 0:34:31 I don't know a single incident 0:34:34 that this happens 0:34:36 this is the problem with us again 0:34:41 now 0:34:42 you asked me you said if they focus they 0:34:45 are afraid that they focus too much on 0:34:46 taskia then they will lose the enough 0:34:49 units and numbers but this is what I 0:34:50 said lose the numbers of this one 0:34:52 think about it like this 0:34:54 say for example instead of running the 0:34:57 Java organization you are running a dojo 0:35:02 a Karate Dojo or an Aikido Dojo 0:35:06 right now people are students are coming 0:35:08 and they are uh learning from you 0:35:11 and you also have 0:35:13 your assistance 0:35:16 now tell me will you and your assistants 0:35:20 do your regular workout every day before 0:35:25 the students come or not 0:35:28 or will you say it's okay I know the 0:35:30 theory I can tell them this is how to do 0:35:33 use the katana and this is how this is 0:35:35 how the you know one one blow and desire 0:35:37 you block it and whatnot it doesn't 0:35:39 matter if I don't know how to do it 0:35:43 your own expertise your own ability your 0:35:47 own power with the knowledge reflect in 0:35:51 your teaching 0:35:54 and that's what is happening right now 0:35:55 that's the reason why we have these 0:35:57 numbers but if you if you look at the 0:36:00 general condition 0:36:02 it is a reflection of us that's why I 0:36:05 tell people Islam is the name of a 0:36:08 practice 0:36:09 it is not the name of a theory 0:36:12 a non-practicing Muslim is not a Muslim 0:36:16 who is a Muslim the one who practices 0:36:19 Islam not the one who knows about Islam 0:36:22 who is emotionally the one who prays not 0:36:26 the one who knows about Salah who is the 0:36:28 same the one who fasts not the one who 0:36:32 knows about fasting 0:36:34 who is the the one who did Hajj 0:36:37 not the one who knows all the arkana 0:36:42 so how does it change when we say who is 0:36:43 a Muslim 0:36:46 a Muslim is the one who practices Islam 0:36:52 so this is where the importance of 0:37:02 till the last breath in our body we have 0:37:06 to keep on doing that's the reason why 0:37:08 it is so important to have a Muslim 0:37:12 is to have somebody who you go to for 0:37:14 your own collection 0:37:17 you know our teacher uh 0:37:23 he used to say 0:37:28 foreign 0:37:49 then that person is sitting in the lap 0:37:51 of shaytan 0:37:56 yes chef 0:37:59 I Echo your views however 0:38:03 we 0:38:04 bringing back to the idea of success 0:38:07 because you mentioned in the beginning 0:38:09 you know we want people to accept our 0:38:11 efforts we want people to listen we want 0:38:14 in a way it is a sign of a class that 0:38:17 you want the numbers that you want the 0:38:19 success 0:38:20 and then you spoke about okay we need to 0:38:22 redefine success and you said it's not 0:38:24 just the numbers 0:38:26 it's about you know what we want people 0:38:29 to become like you know there's no you 0:38:31 know we want people to become Muslim for 0:38:33 example but we want them to become good 0:38:35 Muslims and not only that we want to 0:38:37 please Allah in the process and we want 0:38:40 to do it for the sake of Allah so what 0:38:42 I'm gathering from you here is 0:38:45 a sign of success is the numbers but 0:38:50 it's not necessarily the fact that just 0:38:52 because you have numbers you have 0:38:53 success because success is the greatest 0:38:57 Triumph and as Allah says in the Quran 0:38:59 the greatest Triumph is entering Jannah 0:39:01 and that means you have been enveloped 0:39:03 by the boundless mercy of Allah 0:39:05 and you did it for the sake of Allah 0:39:08 whatever you did you did it for Allah 0:39:09 it's not the amount of Deeds is the 0:39:11 weight of the Deeds Allah weighs your 0:39:13 Deeds he doesn't count them necessarily 0:39:15 so I don't want people to be confused 0:39:18 here so I I do it I don't know if I'm 0:39:20 summarizing what you're saying 0:39:21 accurately so the numbers are important 0:39:24 from the point of view that you want 0:39:25 people to accept Islam or you want 0:39:27 people to be transformed for sure but 0:39:30 Success is Not only intrinsically in 0:39:33 these vanity metrics but rather you have 0:39:36 to understand where are you in that 0:39:39 process did you do it for the sake of 0:39:40 Allah and are you having an Allah 0:39:43 Centric goal meaning do you want Allah's 0:39:46 pleasure do you want to go to paradise 0:39:47 and are you doing it in the right way 0:39:49 and are you doing it for his pleasure 0:39:51 and are you maximizing your success from 0:39:54 the point of view that you you don't 0:39:56 only want for example 10 000 people 0:39:58 memorizing the Quran but you want ten 0:40:01 thousand people not only to memorize the 0:40:03 Quran but to become the Quran as you 0:40:06 mentioned very uh very eloquently you 0:40:09 know someone who who who fasts for 0:40:12 example is is you know if you know about 0:40:15 fasting it doesn't mean you're someone 0:40:17 who fasts it's like being a more slim 0:40:20 you're in a state of surrender you're in 0:40:22 a state of peaceful surrender to Allah 0:40:24 it's a way of being not just a way of 0:40:28 knowing 0:40:29 and yes you have to have knowledge to be 0:40:31 but being is greater than knowing 0:40:34 because you can have abstract knowledge 0:40:36 and not do anything with it you can know 0:40:38 all of the ayatan vikr but never become 0:40:40 a personal vicar so am I summarizing 0:40:44 holistically what you said from 0:40:45 beginning to end so far 0:40:47 yes you are let me clarify a little bit 0:40:50 by saying that I don't see this as 0:40:53 numbers versus no okay I am saying you 0:40:56 need taskia to get the numbers 0:40:59 this is the method 0:41:02 you will you think you have numbers but 0:41:04 if you do the skia and if your heart is 0:41:07 pure those numbers will be 10 000 and 0:41:09 more Allah 0:41:12 that is the point that is the link 0:41:14 that's the way to get it 0:41:16 Allah not this or that Allah 0:41:20 right that is the point okay check so 0:41:23 the next question I have in the context 0:41:27 of the Taoist sector the Dao sphere can 0:41:29 I interrupt you of course you can yeah 0:41:32 um 0:41:33 so therefore to get the numbers you have 0:41:36 to forget about the numbers 0:41:38 and focus on the task here 0:41:41 okay 0:41:42 right 0:41:44 this is where we are saying forget the 0:41:46 numbers we're gonna say forget the 0:41:47 numbers what no we need the numbers 0:41:50 but if you really want the numbers 0:41:53 you got to focus on yourself 0:41:57 good only then will you get the numbers 0:42:00 so forget the numbers to get the numbers 0:42:07 and one would argue practically and even 0:42:09 from an Islamic perspective you should 0:42:11 do both in parallel you should do the 0:42:13 action 0:42:14 and keep on refining the action because 0:42:16 only through the action you get a class 0:42:17 you don't just give it up but at the 0:42:19 same time you have to work on 0:42:21 internalizing the dean being an 0:42:23 embodiment of Islam and just trying your 0:42:26 best and getting closer to Allah will 0:42:28 tell them freeing yourself from the 0:42:29 spiritual diseases which can prevent 0:42:31 your success and the organizational 0:42:34 success and the entire almost success 0:42:37 so would you agree that it's a parallel 0:42:40 thing it's not one or the other no not 0:42:42 even parallel 0:42:43 the numbers are the result 0:42:47 leave the result 0:42:50 the result is because of something you 0:42:52 are doing 0:42:54 so focus on that something 0:42:56 and that something is your taskia it is 0:42:59 the acquisition of knowledge it's the 0:43:01 preparation of the heart and how to 0:43:03 receive that knowledge it is our 0:43:05 Behavior it is our clock 0:43:07 all of this will result in the numbers 0:43:10 so forget the numbers 0:43:12 okay 0:43:13 so let me Define what I said I agree 0:43:15 with that what I'm saying is when you're 0:43:18 working on something you're working on 0:43:19 yourself but from a dial context you're 0:43:21 also working on the action of giving 0:43:23 dawa so I agree the numbers will come 0:43:27 Aslam says indeed My Success is only 0:43:30 from Allah alone success is from Allah 0:43:33 so what we're saying here is we're not 0:43:35 making a false dichotomy of focus on the 0:43:38 internal then do the action the dawa 0:43:41 we're saying doing those things at the 0:43:43 same time 0:43:44 and then the numbers will come 0:43:47 yeah yeah obviously action of that I'm 0:43:50 speaking is part of the part of the 0:43:51 working on yourself but the reason is 0:43:53 important because there are some people 0:43:54 I think sometimes maybe they say just 0:43:56 focus inside and do the action later by 0:43:59 alhamdulillah okay that's clear so in 0:44:01 the context of the Dallas sector my 0:44:04 beloved 0:44:05 you write in your book about the need or 0:44:08 the necessity of the importance of 0:44:10 having an extraordinary lofty goal okay 0:44:14 what were you trying to convey and why 0:44:18 is it important 0:44:20 you know uh again we go to this 0:44:23 motivational speaker's uh issue 0:44:27 think about this 0:44:29 somebody is standing at the base camp 0:44:34 at the bottom of Mount Everest 0:44:36 does he need a motivational speech 0:44:44 right there's no way 0:44:46 he doesn't need it why because the 0:44:48 mountain motivates him 0:44:51 even to get to the base camp requires an 0:44:54 enormous level of physical fitness 0:44:58 you can't just you don't go there by 0:44:59 helicopter you you are you track up 0:45:02 so somebody who went to the base camp is 0:45:05 someone who's already spent a couple of 0:45:08 years if not more preparing himself 0:45:11 getting the level of physical fitness 0:45:13 then all the equipment and whatnot he 0:45:15 needs and now he's standing at the base 0:45:17 camp you know you're talking about 0:45:19 motivation the mountain motivates him 0:45:22 but if you take the same thing Mount 0:45:25 Everest is eight kilometers long eight 0:45:28 kilometers tall right see why is it 0:45:31 usually I'm gonna go out of my house out 0:45:34 of my gate and I will walk 10 kilometers 0:45:37 so you must give me a medal and I'm 0:45:40 equal to Edmond Hillary who climbed 0:45:42 Mount Everest because he only walked 0:45:44 eight kilometers on Earth 0:45:46 he wasn't flying right 0:45:49 eight kilometers on Earth but I walk 10 0:45:53 kilometers also on Earth 0:45:57 but I'll be the same 0:45:59 no we're not not by long shot why 0:46:02 because it is not the Earth 0:46:05 it is the gradient it is the angle of 0:46:07 the earth which counts 0:46:10 so that is the that is the the thing why 0:46:13 an extraordinary goal because the goal 0:46:15 itself motivates 0:46:18 it's the nature of extraordinary goals 0:46:20 to inspire extraordinary effort 0:46:26 nobody Rises to low expectations 0:46:29 people rise to high expectations 0:46:33 so that's the uh that's the reason 0:46:36 that was actually very important you 0:46:38 know as a as a leadership trainer now 0:46:40 I've been doing this thing now for 0:46:42 almost 40 years 0:46:44 the most difficult thing absolutely 0:46:47 without parallel the most difficult 0:46:50 thing is to get people to change their 0:46:52 beliefs 0:46:54 you can get people to change attitude 0:46:56 you can get people to change Behavior 0:46:59 very easily 0:47:00 I have a book called hiring winners 0:47:05 it's a book on on behavioral 0:47:07 interviewing and so on so it's a book on 0:47:09 hiring 0:47:10 the thing I say there is 0:47:12 higher values 0:47:15 trained skills 0:47:19 never try to train values you won't 0:47:21 succeed 0:47:23 if you want people of high integrity 0:47:25 higher people of high integrity 0:47:27 don't hire Boris Johnson and expect him 0:47:29 to give you high integrity it's not 0:47:31 going to happen 0:47:32 right the British people learn that to 0:47:35 that to their cost the the point I'm 0:47:38 saying here is that uh 0:47:40 the most difficult thing is to change 0:47:43 people's values and to change people's 0:47:45 beliefs 0:47:46 that was the goal of rasura 0:47:50 he was not focused on Behavior Behavior 0:47:52 was a result of that the Salah was 0:47:55 Behavior 0:47:56 as a result of changing who you worship 0:48:01 so he didn't call people and say look 0:48:02 I'm going to trade you in Salah you know 0:48:04 if nothing it'll at least improve your 0:48:05 flexibility and it will give you better 0:48:07 digestion no 0:48:11 so the goal is so almost impossible if 0:48:15 you think about this what on Earth I 0:48:18 mean couldn't you think of something 0:48:19 easier 0:48:21 no 0:48:24 the goal inspires the bigger the goal 0:48:26 the bigger the inspiration 0:48:33 and this is uh interesting because the 0:48:35 prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam he 0:48:37 told us in Hadith if you're going to ask 0:48:39 for Jannah then ask for those right the 0:48:41 highest level of gender also Allah says 0:48:44 in the Quran you know those who just you 0:48:46 know those who ask for the for the Dunya 0:48:49 and the this is where the the acceptance 0:48:53 of the success lies right so this is 0:48:55 very important because the Quran and the 0:48:57 Sunnah they they Advocate and they 0:48:58 promote and they Inspire having this 0:49:00 lofty goal alhamdulillah well at Queen 0:49:03 what you said in the beginning shift 0:49:04 that you know people need support people 0:49:06 need Community Support they need a team 0:49:08 they need people around them to be 0:49:10 successful and you said that was one of 0:49:11 the kind of personal issues that you're 0:49:13 facing so link to this having a lofty 0:49:16 goal 0:49:17 we we know it can't be achieved Alone 0:49:19 look at the best person who worked on 0:49:21 this planet the prophet saws from a 0:49:24 practical point of view he didn't do it 0:49:26 alone he had his sahaba and the sahaba 0:49:28 had the tabian and so on and so forth so 0:49:30 from the and and we know you know 80 0:49:32 years after the greatest Calamity that 0:49:35 hit this ummah and the greatest Calamity 0:49:37 to have hit this ummah is not the Mongol 0:49:39 invasion it's not the ransacking of 0:49:41 Baghdad it was the death of our beloved 0:49:42 prophet 0:49:44 and 80 years after his death 0:49:47 in Pakistan or in Spain 0:49:51 so the achievements were happening after 0:49:53 the death of Solomon because the lofty 0:49:55 goal you know a lofty Vision transcends 0:49:58 your lifetime 0:49:59 so 0:50:00 obviously such an optical cannot be 0:50:02 achieved alone whatever lofty goal that 0:50:04 we we select and obviously the lofty 0:50:06 goal has to be Allah Centric and 0:50:08 akhara-centric meaning you should want 0:50:10 the pleasure of Allah and we should have 0:50:12 Allah in mind from the point of view 0:50:13 that we're doing it for his sake so in 0:50:15 this context 0:50:16 how does a leader who has who has who 0:50:19 has this lofty goal develop and motivate 0:50:22 a team in order for such a goal to be 0:50:25 achieved 0:50:26 okay 0:50:28 two things two words if you forget just 0:50:30 remind me one is weighing scale and two 0:50:33 is foundation stones 0:50:35 okay weighing skills okay yep 0:50:41 I'm linking it back also to what I said 0:50:43 with regard to you know you said what's 0:50:45 the disappointment I said getting 0:50:48 you know sufficient support from our own 0:50:50 people now 0:50:53 I don't know if you've seen this but uh 0:50:56 any of our 0:50:58 you know the viewers and listeners 0:51:00 especially in uh the Indian 0:51:03 subcontinents India Pakistan Bangladesh 0:51:05 and probably the same thing applies uh 0:51:07 in Africa as in and Middle East 0:51:10 if you go to a shop to buy food drinks 0:51:14 you know rice wheat 0:51:16 barley Maize Walnut corn 0:51:20 so say you get you go to the shop and 0:51:23 you tell the guy I want uh 20 kilograms 0:51:26 of rice 0:51:27 so you we have these uh weighing scales 0:51:30 you know the the typical scale like two 0:51:33 two pans and and a pivot in the middle 0:51:36 so what this guy does is he takes a 20 0:51:38 kilogram weight and he puts it in one 0:51:40 pan so now this pan is sitting on the 0:51:42 countertop the other pan is up in the 0:51:44 air 0:51:46 then he takes a scoop and he takes the 0:51:50 grain out of the sack and he pours it 0:51:53 into the pan on the top 0:51:55 so this pan is here he's pouring gray 0:51:57 into the drum 0:51:58 so now you ask for 20 kilograms this is 0:52:00 a 20 kilogram weight here and he's 0:52:02 pouring it 0:52:03 now imagine the scene and I would 0:52:06 suggest to people just go and do this 0:52:08 physically see it for yourself 0:52:10 this guy is now put in five kilograms 0:52:14 do you see any change I mean this this 0:52:16 pan is sitting on the on the on the 0:52:18 countertop this the bodies are do you 0:52:21 see any change no 0:52:23 he keeps pouring he's maybe put into 10 0:52:25 kilograms 15 kilograms 0:52:28 is there any change no they're still 0:52:31 sitting on the on the on the countertop 0:52:33 they're still up in the air 0:52:34 now has it ever happened to you that 0:52:37 this guy says to you he says yes you 0:52:40 know what this is not working 0:52:42 right this cannot work why don't you go 0:52:44 to some other shop 0:52:46 there's no way that 20 kilograms is 0:52:48 going to happen 0:52:49 will you do that he'll never do that 0:52:52 if you send it to me we'll laugh 0:52:55 what does he do he continues to put in 0:52:58 that voice 0:52:59 until he comes to 19 maybe 19 and a half 0:53:04 kilograms now at 19 and a half kilograms 0:53:07 you see there is some movement this pan 0:53:10 which was sitting on the countertop is 0:53:13 starting to go up and the other one is 0:53:14 starting to come down the guy now 0:53:16 instead of using a scope he uses his 0:53:19 hand he takes the Grain in his hand and 0:53:22 he releases it a little bit at a time 0:53:24 like this 0:53:27 until the pans are level and then he's a 0:53:30 smart guy so he puts in a little more so 0:53:32 you are happy 0:53:33 and he gives you your 20 kilograms of 0:53:35 grain 0:53:36 now what do you learn from this what did 0:53:38 I learn from this I learned two 0:53:40 inalienable 0:53:43 fundamental truths 0:53:46 first truth 0:53:48 until 19 and a half kilograms nothing 0:53:51 will happen 0:53:53 if second fundamental truth 0:53:57 20 kilograms the balance will tip 0:54:01 both are equally true 0:54:03 so if you're doing the work of dawa and 0:54:05 you say well I am working so hard and so 0:54:07 on and so on like I said you know I wish 0:54:09 I was I wish there was more support yes 0:54:11 I agree I wish it was more support but 0:54:13 have I stopped working because of that 0:54:14 no 0:54:16 because I am I know that I am still not 0:54:19 at 19 and a half 0:54:21 will I get to 19 and a half before I die 0:54:23 I don't know 0:54:25 maybe I will maybe I won't 0:54:28 it doesn't matter because Allah is 0:54:30 watching 0:54:31 so we work with patients and we say if 0:54:34 nothing is happening guess what nothing 0:54:36 is supposed to happen 0:54:38 that is how it's supposed to be 0:54:43 but 0:54:44 the other truth is equally true when you 0:54:47 get to 20 0:54:49 actually a little bit before 20. the 0:54:51 balance will tip no doubt about that 0:54:56 by second door Foundation stones 0:55:00 supposing you are a rock 0:55:04 now the somebody who's building this 0:55:08 iconic absolutely fabulous structure 0:55:10 call it what you are you can call it a 0:55:12 budget call it what you want but some 0:55:14 beautiful fantastic structure and part 0:55:16 of the design is that this structure the 0:55:19 front of it is going to be sheathed in 0:55:23 uh in in this marble or granite or 0:55:26 something 0:55:27 now you are this block of granite 0:55:30 and I am another block of granite and 0:55:32 we've got a whole bunch of blocks of 0:55:34 granite 0:55:35 and we say you know what I want to be on 0:55:38 that front 0:55:40 I want to be on the I want to be 0:55:42 polished and I want to be on the front 0:55:43 of this building 0:55:45 the world must see me 0:55:48 so somebody says to you look 0:55:51 before that building get to that stage 0:55:53 where they start shielding the front 0:55:55 with with the with granite 0:56:00 there has to be a foundation 0:56:02 you gotta dig in the ground 0:56:04 and people like you granites like you 0:56:06 have to go in there 0:56:08 to be buried never to be seen again 0:56:15 and unless that happens 0:56:17 there is no building 0:56:19 there will be no structure 0:56:21 there can be no structure 0:56:25 are you willing to go into the 0:56:27 foundation 0:56:28 to be buried never to be seen again so 0:56:32 that that structure can stand on your 0:56:35 shoulders 0:56:37 nobody will know you're there 0:56:39 except 0:56:40 The Constructor except the contractor 0:56:43 who built it 0:56:48 but because you are there 0:56:50 that structure stands 0:56:57 at the end of our very short life 0:57:00 foreign 0:57:03 what success did you see 0:57:05 sure some people accepted Islam at his 0:57:07 hands but 0:57:09 within courts success and spread of 0:57:11 Islam and so on and so forth 0:57:14 when Hawaii 0:57:17 was being chopped up into pieces 0:57:22 and they asked him 0:57:26 what does Muhammad mean to you they 0:57:29 didn't actually asking that question but 0:57:30 I'm not leading to that for some another 0:57:32 thing incidentally this Bible 0:57:37 they asked him how would you like 0:57:39 Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam to 0:57:42 be in your place 0:57:43 and you go free 0:57:46 what did he say 0:57:49 he said 0:57:50 I would not want even a thorn to prick 0:57:55 Muhammad and I would and I am free and 0:57:59 and happy with my family I would not 0:58:01 even want that he said if my life goes 0:58:03 to prevent a fawn from pricking his foot 0:58:06 my life is well spent 0:58:10 so as they chopped him up 0:58:12 he looked over at the heavens and he 0:58:14 said hola 0:58:16 sent by Salaam 0:58:18 to Muhammad rasulullah 0:58:22 hey 0:58:25 this is not about standing and seeing 0:58:26 Nasheed and saying no 0:58:32 these are the rocks 0:58:35 these are the rocks on which 0:58:39 the structure stands 0:58:42 and there are so many of them 0:58:47 what success did she see 0:58:49 she said and she was killed 0:58:52 her husband 0:58:58 what success did he see 0:59:02 there's so many of them 0:59:05 but if they had not 0:59:07 agreed to be buried in the earth never 0:59:10 to be seen again 0:59:12 there would be no Islam 0:59:15 there would be no structure to stand on 0:59:17 them 0:59:19 so today we have all these shiny faces 0:59:23 but the reality is there 0:59:36 this is um very uh pertinent because 0:59:42 I think 0:59:44 many of our Dua many of the preachers 0:59:47 many of the scholars are out there in 0:59:49 the world they have to realize that 0:59:50 they're standing on the shoulders of 0:59:51 giants 0:59:52 and not only that the standing on the 0:59:54 shoulders of people that they don't even 0:59:56 know 0:59:57 and we're starting on these Foundation 1:00:00 stones 1:00:01 that only Allah knows and we don't even 1:00:04 really know 1:00:06 and I think this is extremely important 1:00:09 especially in our context because 1:00:10 sometimes 1:00:12 it's about the speaker it's about the 1:00:14 leader it's about the one in the front 1:00:17 and forget that in actual fact for all 1:00:19 of this even to be possible 1:00:21 fundamentally is because of Allah but he 1:00:23 has placed certain Foundation stones in 1:00:27 order for the structure and the building 1:00:28 of dower to be erected and to stay 1:00:31 upright and stable and strong Allah has 1:00:35 placed certain Foundation stones and 1:00:36 only Allah knows about them and we don't 1:00:39 and sometimes we Chase being you know we 1:00:42 want to be the windows and we want to be 1:00:44 the you know the what people could see 1:00:49 but fundamentally one would argue that 1:00:52 the foundation Stones get the most 1:00:54 reward right because they had a class or 1:00:57 at least because they're not known 1:01:00 and they were willing to be buried and 1:01:02 rotten they were willing to be buried 1:01:04 and forgotten in order for the tower to 1:01:06 be successful 1:01:11 in India 1:01:19 the argument from God 1:01:22 yes yes yes 1:01:31 um 1:01:32 no 1:01:34 one of his sons 1:01:36 I can't remember exactly if it was one 1:01:39 of the others all of them are great 1:01:41 Scholars and great mothers 1:01:44 so he had a lecture in the JAMA Masjid 1:01:50 the Boggle mosque the big Shahi mask in 1:01:54 Delhi 1:01:55 and obviously thousands of people 1:01:57 because you know it was very well known 1:01:59 and there's a thousands of people huge 1:02:02 crowd 1:02:03 and obviously those days there were no 1:02:05 mics and so on so they used to have 1:02:06 people who communicated so they would 1:02:08 listen to him and they would repeat 1:02:11 and this happened 1:02:13 so this was after Isha so by the time 1:02:15 the whole 1:02:17 lecture finished maybe hour and a half 1:02:19 uh it was late in the night 1:02:25 so he finished the lecture he 1:02:27 came inside 1:02:29 in one of the rooms of the Masjid and as 1:02:32 he was sitting there and some of his 1:02:35 special murids they were with him 1:02:38 a man came 1:02:40 now this man was a villager from some 1:02:44 Village in in central India 1:02:47 uh maybe a farmer or something some poor 1:02:50 man 1:02:52 foreign how unfortunate I am she said 1:02:56 what happened he said you know I came 1:02:58 from my Village to listen to you 1:03:01 but I my Village is far away and you 1:03:04 know transportation and all kind of 1:03:05 stuff and I got delayed and now when I 1:03:07 get here I find that your lecture is 1:03:09 over 1:03:10 your speech is over now what do I do I 1:03:12 he said I'm so sorry I'm so sorry for 1:03:15 myself that you know I took all this 1:03:16 trouble I came all this way and now I've 1:03:18 lost everything 1:03:20 no 1:03:27 foreign 1:03:34 and he delivered his entire lecture of 1:03:38 that same one and a half hours to that 1:03:40 one villager 1:03:43 right same passion same everything 1:03:49 that man was absolutely delighted and he 1:03:52 you know he kissed his hand he said and 1:03:55 he blessed him and he gave a lot of Dua 1:03:58 and so on and so on and they left 1:04:00 after the man went his muridine 1:04:04 his disciples they said to him they said 1:04:07 she had a very strange thing 1:04:09 uh how is it possible that you know you 1:04:11 gave this lecture to 10 000 people and 1:04:15 with all this passion and and you know 1:04:18 all the the evidence and the Quran and 1:04:22 the Hadith and so on and then this one 1:04:24 guy who is this one we don't even know 1:04:26 who is this guy some poor related from 1:04:28 someone it's not as if he's the governor 1:04:30 or the King was another thing is no we 1:04:32 don't know who is we'd probably never 1:04:34 see him again 1:04:36 and you give the same lecture to that 1:04:39 one guy with the same quality 1:04:41 just one how is it possible 1:04:46 he said to them he said you know you 1:04:49 have been with me for so many years and 1:04:51 you've wasted your time 1:04:54 he said looks like you learned nothing 1:04:57 why do you say that 1:04:59 he said because when I was speaking to 1:05:02 10 000 people 1:05:03 I was trying to please why 1:05:08 and when I am speaking to that one man I 1:05:10 was trying to please the same one 1:05:13 what difference does it make to be 1:05:15 whether there are 10 000 or 10 million 1:05:18 or one or nobody 1:05:20 but difference doesn't matter 1:05:24 that is what I meant by forget the 1:05:27 numbers to get the numbers 1:05:29 he got his ten thousand he got his ten 1:05:31 thousand because he didn't care about 1:05:33 the ten thousand he cared about Allah 1:05:40 you know I was many years ago about 1:05:42 almost 20 25 years ago I was in a 1:05:47 in Los Angeles 1:05:50 so there I met this jamaat which came 1:05:54 from 1:05:55 turned out to be a little village 1:05:57 between the Afghanistan Pakistan border 1:06:01 they are what they call the sarath 1:06:03 these people could barely speak English 1:06:06 so we were sitting and you know drinking 1:06:08 some tea and chatting with them so ask 1:06:09 them I said where are you from and you 1:06:12 know which is it a big city and this is 1:06:14 a lot of jamaats go from here so I said 1:06:17 you know it's a big place they said no 1:06:19 no this is a one small village 1:06:21 so I said then how come all of this 1:06:24 they said it's a strange story 1:06:27 they said that one of our Village guys 1:06:33 he went in how many people came an event 1:06:36 with them he went spent four months or 1:06:38 whatever he's been 1:06:40 he came back 1:06:41 and when he came back he did what w 1:06:44 people usually do which is Thursday 1:06:46 evening or Wednesday evening he said 1:06:47 after he stood up and said after Salah 1:06:51 after the Sunnah uh we will speak about 1:06:54 the manager 1:06:56 foreign 1:07:07 [Music]1:07:11 so there's nobody there 1:07:13 he said this man however did a funny 1:07:15 thing 1:07:16 he said what he did was 1:07:18 you know in our massage in uh in the 1:07:20 subordinate we have 1:07:22 caps 1:07:24 so usually these caps are made of straw 1:07:26 or something they're all stuck up so 1:07:28 anyone comes to pray who doesn't have a 1:07:31 cap he will wear this cap because very 1:07:33 very 1:07:34 particular about this praying with the 1:07:36 with your head cover 1:07:37 so there was this stack of caps what 1:07:40 this man did was 1:07:41 he went and he took a bunch of caps 1:07:45 he arranged those caps in a semicircle 1:07:47 on the on the carpet of the Masjid the 1:07:51 floor of the Masjid in front of him 1:07:53 he stood up and he delivered his Bayan 1:07:57 his lecture to those caps 1:08:02 put them back foreign 1:08:16 they said that this man not only did 1:08:18 that one time he said he continued to do 1:08:21 that week after week after week after 1:08:25 week 1:08:27 so they said a month pass two months 1:08:29 past three months passed six months 1:08:30 passed 1:08:31 he said then 1:08:33 drugs started in our village 1:08:36 and people said to one another they said 1:08:37 why are we doing this to him he is our 1:08:40 brother 1:08:41 he's from our village he's related to us 1:08:43 all the money is saying is come and 1:08:45 don't listen to the greatness of Allah I 1:08:48 say what's our problem why why don't we 1:08:50 go and listen 1:08:52 and they said to each other you know 1:08:54 this is very bad we are we are we are at 1:08:56 fault we cannot treat our brother like 1:08:58 this we are insulting him for what 1:09:01 he has not asked us for anything 1:09:04 he said people started sitting 1:09:07 and that the rest is history 1:09:11 we focus on the process 1:09:15 not on the result that's the reason why 1:09:17 Allah taught us to ask for the process 1:09:25 Allah guide me to the path 1:09:28 it is no guide me to the path the 1:09:32 benefit of focusing on the process is if 1:09:35 you get the process right 1:09:37 the destination the goal is automatic 1:09:41 and it is automatic in the right way 1:09:47 now Islam in Islam with Allah both the 1:09:51 destination and the path both the goal 1:09:53 and the process are important the means 1:09:55 and the ends 1:09:57 in Islam there's no concept of the end 1:10:00 at any means or any Orion means right 1:10:05 and is not important no 1:10:07 numbers are important but getting the 1:10:10 numbers in the right way is equally 1:10:12 important if you focus only on the 1:10:14 numbers it is possible that you get the 1:10:16 wear on 1:10:18 that you end up getting numbers through 1:10:20 means which may be you know wrong in in 1:10:24 several ways 1:10:25 but if you focus on the means you focus 1:10:28 on the parents 1:10:30 on the sirat 1:10:31 then the numbers will automatically come 1:10:33 the gold will automatically come and 1:10:34 they will come in the right way 1:10:36 and you will please Allah that's the 1:10:39 most important thing absolutely because 1:10:41 as we said success is the greatest the 1:10:44 greatest triumph which is going to 1:10:47 Jannah attaining the pledge of Allah 1:10:50 redefine success how do we define 1:10:52 success 1:10:57 or Pepsi does it yeah sure and our 1:11:00 vision must be connected to the Islamic 1:11:02 definition of success now coming back to 1:11:04 the question which there it I know you 1:11:06 went off in a different direction but I 1:11:08 think it's quite connected about how do 1:11:11 you develop a team in order to achieve 1:11:13 that lovely goals one Gathering from 1:11:15 what you've said so far it's we need a 1:11:18 team that have the right values that 1:11:20 follow the correct process in order to 1:11:22 achieve that lofty goal 1:11:25 yeah absolutely it is it is you you have 1:11:27 to get the right people 1:11:29 you recruit the right people it happens 1:11:31 it happens slowly it happens over time 1:11:34 but one of the most important things is 1:11:37 to focus on what each person brings to 1:11:40 the team 1:11:42 and don't and where there may be a 1:11:44 possibility in some cases that uh you 1:11:47 may not even like somebody or it may be 1:11:49 some ego issue or some personality 1:11:51 problem one must not allow that to come 1:11:54 in the way 1:11:55 of getting that person on board 1:11:58 again back to Sarah take somebody like 1:12:03 uh 1:12:05 Abu sufyan right 1:12:10 there's not necessarily the nicest of 1:12:12 people they're not necessarily people 1:12:13 that rasulullah love from day one 1:12:16 these people what is what is what is 1:12:18 what is after his blood I mean they were 1:12:19 people who were trying to kill him I 1:12:21 mean the only reason they didn't succeed 1:12:22 is because Allah did not allow them to 1:12:24 succeed 1:12:26 but when it came to recruiting them on 1:12:29 the team rasulullah treated them like 1:12:32 his dearest and closer friends 1:12:36 because he saw the value of what Khalid 1:12:39 could bring to his team and you know as 1:12:43 I say the rest is history 1:12:45 and and they became his closest 1:12:47 companions they begin exactly yeah did 1:12:49 it because I mean they did become and 1:12:51 that's the result that is the reason of 1:12:54 the way he treated them 1:12:55 yes because he related and related to 1:12:58 them in a way that optimized them and 1:13:01 this is very it reminds me of the story 1:13:03 of fodala IBN now was someone who 1:13:07 nominally became Muslim but wanted to 1:13:10 kill the prophet sallallahu alaihi 1:13:12 wasallam and he was circumambilating the 1:13:14 Kaaba and I think he was saying 1:13:16 something to himself 1:13:19 noticed this and he asked him you know 1:13:21 what are you saying to yourself 1:13:23 [Music]1:13:24 basically I think just dismissed it and 1:13:27 then the person put his hand on for his 1:13:30 heart or chest 1:13:31 and said ask Allah to forgive you now 1:13:35 after he said after this point no one 1:13:37 was more beloved to me than the prophet 1:13:39 sallallahu alaihi wasallam so this is 1:13:41 someone who wanted to kill the person 1:13:42 but look at how the prophet saws related 1:13:45 with his behavior with his way of being 1:13:47 with his words he related to people in 1:13:51 the right context in the right way to 1:13:52 optimize them to get the best version of 1:13:55 them and I call this how you relate is 1:13:58 what you create right how you relate 1:14:00 with what you create just like for 1:14:02 example chef the president had held him 1:14:05 he had a lot of forbearance in the 1:14:06 famous story of the Jewish man he came 1:14:07 up to him and pulled him by the collar 1:14:09 or by the cloth and he left the Mark I 1:14:11 believe and once sahabi was angry and 1:14:13 the person responded with halim with 1:14:16 forbearance just like what he says in 1:14:18 sort of verse 34 good and even are not 1:14:21 the same repel by that which is better 1:14:23 and between two people there's only 1:14:24 enmity who would turn to intimate 1:14:26 friendship and this is difficult except 1:14:27 for the patient and this Jewish man he 1:14:29 became Muslim because he was waiting for 1:14:31 one more sign of prophethood he saw two 1:14:33 signs he needed one more and that sign 1:14:36 was with not repelling by that which is 1:14:39 better essentially and we know that 1:14:41 early must say repelling by that which 1:14:42 is better is repelling by that which is 1:14:44 more virtuous and by that which is more 1:14:46 beautiful 1:14:47 so this is this this is very important 1:14:50 so what you're basically saying is the 1:14:52 process in his relation to the sahaba 1:14:54 optimize them but at the same time he 1:14:57 selected the right people for the right 1:14:58 job irrespective of anything else right 1:15:01 and in in our context when we want to 1:15:04 hire people we shouldn't do it because 1:15:06 oh I like him more or he plays chess 1:15:08 with me on Sundays or he likes the same 1:15:10 coffee as me or whatever the case may be 1:15:12 but it's because I truly believe that 1:15:15 this person has what it takes internally 1:15:17 and externally in order to achieve the 1:15:20 results and my Affinity towards him my 1:15:24 relation towards him should be 1:15:26 irrelevant as much as possible so this 1:15:28 is a very very good point so check 1:15:30 following on from this 1:15:33 now this is interesting now you 1:15:37 mentioned in your book putting putting 1:15:39 oneself on the line in other words 1:15:41 courage right and I would argue a lot of 1:15:45 academics and intellectuals and even the 1:15:47 art they lack what I would call a sense 1:15:50 of 1:15:51 courage from that perspective why is 1:15:55 courage so important in the dawah what 1:15:58 does it mean when you put yourself on 1:15:59 the line 1:16:05 I want to sort of Define or broaden the 1:16:08 definition it's not only uh or rather 1:16:10 maybe in in a modern dawa context it 1:16:14 might not be related to any physical 1:16:16 danger at all in the first place right 1:16:18 sure 1:16:20 being irrespective of consequences right 1:16:23 or saying the right thing exactly and 1:16:26 also courage as in uh you know 1:16:29 developing any physical consequences but 1:16:31 it's the question of doing something and 1:16:33 you're not getting not getting success 1:16:35 and would you still continue to 1:16:37 persevere and so on so all of this takes 1:16:39 a lot of courage 1:16:41 um 1:16:43 so this courage is if I take it and put 1:16:47 it in another context which is 1:16:48 entrepreneurial 1:16:49 uh one of the very important things that 1:16:53 we 1:16:53 look for 1:16:56 um and and say for example as Venture 1:16:58 capitalists uh if somebody is making a 1:17:01 pitch to you and asking you to invest 1:17:03 one of the most important thing they see 1:17:06 is what is the level of your own 1:17:09 investment in your in your startup 1:17:12 because the reality is that only 1:17:14 startups in which the promoter 1:17:18 has significant investment 1:17:22 can go to success 1:17:24 so unless you have put your neck on the 1:17:27 on the line 1:17:28 I'm not going to fund you because this 1:17:31 is your baby and if you are not 1:17:33 interested enough uh to literally put 1:17:36 your neck on the line I'm not interested 1:17:40 right I'm not sure that my money is in 1:17:42 the right place because then you are 1:17:43 going to be playing again with the money 1:17:45 I don't want that right I want to return 1:17:47 and my return will come only if your 1:17:49 life depends on this thing 1:17:52 so that is the meaning of God which is 1:17:54 that what is the level of your 1:17:55 investment 1:17:57 um the the example you gave of uh of 1:18:00 Warriors and and people of knowledge 1:18:02 again it's the the whole issue comes to 1:18:05 that it is not just you know uh 1:18:09 uh blind uh being combative and so on 1:18:11 which we see quite a lot I mean you see 1:18:13 people uh in the name of dawa for 1:18:16 example uh being so uh 1:18:19 combative uh without any concern for 1:18:23 people you know literature are costing 1:18:25 people in the street and and uh and 1:18:27 talking to them in ways which are uh 1:18:30 frankly between humans are quite 1:18:31 offensive I mean if somebody had talked 1:18:34 to me like that I'd be I would be 1:18:35 offended before anything else 1:18:36 uh but that's the reason because there 1:18:39 is no there is no you know investment in 1:18:41 in your own learning 1:18:43 so I think that's courage is very very 1:18:46 important and courage encouraged means 1:18:49 uh to continue despite 1:18:53 a despite a lack of visible results 1:18:58 by all means look at your method maybe 1:19:00 the reason for lack of visible results 1:19:02 is because the method is not working but 1:19:06 you don't give up you you which you can 1:19:08 you can change the method make it more 1:19:10 compatible and more more uh you know 1:19:13 effective but uh you continue the effort 1:19:17 and that takes a lot of Courage 1:19:19 and would you say courage would be 1:19:21 continuing the effort irrespective of 1:19:25 Praise or this praise and irrespective 1:19:29 of maybe the foreseeable unforeseeable 1:19:33 uh obstacles or Consequences right 1:19:38 um now obviously there is an element of 1:19:41 not being foolhadi and using hikmah 1:19:44 doing the right thing in the right way 1:19:46 saying the right thing in the right way 1:19:48 at the right time but irrespective of 1:19:51 those and considering those things 1:19:53 courage would be saying what you have to 1:19:55 say and doing what you have to do 1:19:57 irrespective of foreseeable 1:19:58 unforeseeable obstacles or Consequences 1:20:00 correct 1:20:01 absolutely she's saying what happens 1:20:04 how do we develop so so critical yes 1:20:09 um a lot of times people don't say what 1:20:11 needs to be said because they're looking 1:20:12 at the audience 1:20:14 you know you might be the Masjid and you 1:20:17 got a bunch of people who are uh who got 1:20:20 businesses dealing in Haram uh but you 1:20:23 don't want to say anything about that 1:20:24 because they are the guys paying your 1:20:26 salary 1:20:27 you know some of their some of them are 1:20:29 committee members and board members and 1:20:30 whatnot so you don't want to say that 1:20:32 interest-based earnings are Haram uh 1:20:35 selling cigarettes and uh you know uh 1:20:39 beer and and whatnot lottery tickets and 1:20:42 and pornographic vaccines uh in your 1:20:45 7-Eleven or in your convenience store uh 1:20:49 all of this is Haram 1:20:50 uh you know you you don't want to say 1:20:52 that because you don't want to offend 1:20:54 them 1:20:55 that takes courage there's no physical 1:20:57 nobody's going to beat you 1:21:00 you probably will not even lose your job 1:21:01 Frankly Speaking that there's more of 1:21:03 fear than than anything else but okay so 1:21:05 you lose your job but then who is your 1:21:07 razak 1:21:09 is it Allah or is it these people 1:21:14 so if that takes courage that that is 1:21:16 very important to do that that's why I 1:21:18 sometimes tell people I mean when I 1:21:20 teach uh when I do courses on doing the 1:21:22 jummah khudba which you know we you know 1:21:25 do that I say to people very clearly if 1:21:27 you are afraid to speak the truth on the 1:21:30 member 1:21:32 don't climb the member 1:21:34 do not stand with me that member is the 1:21:37 member of rasulullah it's not yours 1:21:41 when you are standing on the member you 1:21:43 are standing in the possession in the 1:21:44 position of rasulullah 1:21:49 so don't violate that position don't 1:21:51 violate the uh uh the the the sanctity 1:21:55 of that position 1:21:56 I can understand that there may be a 1:21:59 reason why you cannot say what needs to 1:22:01 be said because you fear physical danger 1:22:04 and so on and so forth if you say what 1:22:06 needs to be said maybe you'll be all up 1:22:08 to jail or something don't say it 1:22:10 I'm I'm not suggesting to you that you 1:22:12 know you must say no don't say it 1:22:14 praying 1:22:16 is not fun 1:22:18 so don't do that 1:22:23 but if you are standing on the member 1:22:26 then say what needs to be said 1:22:30 that is the that's the my definition of 1:22:32 courage how do we develop courage 1:22:37 by focusing 1:22:38 Allah by focusing on Allah we say Allah 1:22:42 what does it mean 1:22:45 the simplest answer to that is that 1:22:47 focus on Allah 1:22:50 I am going to meet Allah 1:22:53 no matter what 1:22:55 the greatest cover 1:22:57 and the most courageous person 1:23:00 are both going to meet Allah 1:23:06 no one can benefit and no one can harm 1:23:08 except Allah 1:23:10 then what what are we afraid of 1:23:14 it yeah that is the key the key is is 1:23:17 that in the heart all of these are words 1:23:20 very easy 1:23:22 foreign 1:23:36 okay so I was the higher CEO for just 1:23:40 under three years alhamdulillah you know 1:23:43 we increased uh International operations 1:23:45 operations by I think over a thousand 1:23:48 percent and the funds by over 500 then I 1:23:51 moved over to over to sapiens which our 1:23:54 vision is a world that receives The 1:23:56 Message of Islam and where Muslims can 1:23:58 share and defend the faith academically 1:24:00 intellectually and our strategic focus 1:24:02 is that we are focused on doing the 1:24:05 tower in other words in our remit which 1:24:07 is sharing and defending Islam 1:24:08 academically and intellectually and 1:24:10 empowering others to do so as well 1:24:12 in the context of this leadership 1:24:14 position I have 1:24:17 and I'm asking this question for General 1:24:19 answer and a specific answer because I I 1:24:21 don't want you to think that you're just 1:24:22 talking to me that you're talking to 1:24:23 everybody 1:24:24 in this context what would be key pieces 1:24:28 of advice 1:24:29 that someone like myself 1:24:33 and 1:24:34 or in similar positions need to take 1:24:38 very seriously 1:24:40 in order for us to have success in the 1:24:42 doubt yes you've mentioned many things 1:24:44 already about Tesco turnoffs you've 1:24:46 mentioned about following the process 1:24:47 you mentioned about having a lot in mind 1:24:49 you mentioned about you know not chasing 1:24:51 the numbers but you know actually doing 1:24:53 the right thing and focusing on Law and 1:24:55 the numbers will come and so on and so 1:24:57 forth 1:24:59 but from a from from adding to that what 1:25:03 would you advise someone like myself 1:25:07 and I'm actually asking the question 1:25:08 quite seriously because I I wanna I I 1:25:11 need advice I do need advice I tell you 1:25:14 something Chad 1:25:16 um a few days ago I went through 1:25:19 very I don't know if I don't know what 1:25:22 to call it kind of painful experience 1:25:25 like maybe it was like I had a tornado 1:25:28 in my mind and a mountain on my back 1:25:32 and um 1:25:35 that's a tough experience to have 1:25:38 and I think you know in leadership 1:25:41 positions or these type of positions 1:25:44 if someone's not in that type of pain 1:25:46 and I think maybe something is wrong 1:25:48 because it is quite heavy 1:25:52 um and I didn't know how to deal with it 1:25:55 from the perspective of how do I unpack 1:25:58 all of these internal emotions and and 1:26:00 this weight 1:26:01 and I remember prior to that or during 1:26:04 that process a person who is a very very 1:26:08 good brother 1:26:09 he was driving and I was basically 1:26:12 exclaiming I was like saying oh I was 1:26:15 like really perturbed and worried about 1:26:17 the state of the tower sector I was 1:26:20 really worried about maybe things like 1:26:22 conflicts of interest or too much egoism 1:26:24 and individualism and so on and so forth 1:26:26 and I was lost in that 1:26:28 now usually I'm quite a you know mature 1:26:31 stable guy generally speaking but there 1:26:32 is a lot of emotions behind the scenes 1:26:34 and as I was expressing this he 1:26:36 mentioned something very profound he 1:26:38 basically said 1:26:41 you've got yourself to worry about and 1:26:43 he doesn't know very good English right 1:26:44 he said you've got your side you've got 1:26:46 yourself to worry about 1:26:49 and that just really reframed everything 1:26:51 he made me realize that in reality you 1:26:54 are your greatest enemy the enemy is the 1:26:57 greatest enemy from the point of view of 1:26:58 your ego 1:27:00 and you know you just need to do the 1:27:02 right thing have a class focus on your 1:27:05 sins 1:27:06 because everything that we see around us 1:27:08 could be just a manifestation of our 1:27:10 disconnection with with Allah 1:27:13 now that was my state 1:27:16 for good or bad reasons everything is 1:27:19 higher and you know that happens 1:27:21 sometimes and I think that's a natural 1:27:22 consequence of being in certain 1:27:24 positions 1:27:25 advise me 1:27:27 talk to me talk to the ummah 1:27:30 yeah 1:27:32 let me give you a very simple uh way of 1:27:34 looking at this and it probably applies 1:27:36 to not just our sector or the dawat but 1:27:40 to practically everyone and that is the 1:27:43 the oral statement 1:27:46 sharpen your ax or sharpen your saw 1:27:49 right 1:27:51 um 1:27:52 remember the person sharpening the saw 1:27:55 or sharpening the ax 1:27:57 that is not his goal 1:28:00 if you ask him 1:28:02 what's your goal he won't say to sharpen 1:28:04 the song 1:28:06 but unless he sharpens the saw 1:28:09 his goal will never be achieved 1:28:14 right so he has to forget the goal 1:28:17 and spend time sharpening the zone 1:28:20 and then when he gets on with now sawing 1:28:22 the word or cutting those uh I hate to 1:28:24 use terms like cutting trees and so on 1:28:26 because you know from a different angle 1:28:28 but purely as an example I'm saying 1:28:30 unless the Japanese saw 1:28:34 and you can take this and apply it to 1:28:36 practically anything else in the world 1:28:38 and say that unless you focus on that 1:28:41 thing 1:28:42 the ultimate goal won't be achieved but 1:28:45 if you ask the person is this your goal 1:28:46 no it's not my goal 1:28:48 and which person is going to say my goal 1:28:50 is to sharpen the doors 1:28:51 my goal is to saw that wood 1:28:55 but it I know that it is not going to 1:28:57 happen unless I sharpen the saw 1:29:02 so my goal is to communicate Islam in a 1:29:05 powerful persuasive way to the other 1:29:09 person 1:29:10 how is that going to happen when I focus 1:29:12 on myself 1:29:14 I focus on my myself internally I also 1:29:18 focus on my communication skills I focus 1:29:21 on how I present something 1:29:24 I take feedback I take this I I take a 1:29:27 slow I take correction 1:29:29 and I continuously improve my way of 1:29:33 doing things 1:29:36 right so if you say is your goal to uh 1:29:41 do all of this but no my goal is to 1:29:43 convince people 1:29:45 but I know that unless I present I do 1:29:48 all of this stuff 1:29:50 that goal will not be achieved 1:29:53 foreign 1:29:57 foreign 1:30:05 but unless you do that unless you charge 1:30:07 your 1:30:08 phone 1:30:09 you can't talk 1:30:11 it's gonna the battery will die 1:30:18 so that's the way to differentiate it 1:30:19 now if you if you are charging the phone 1:30:21 if you are sharpening the accent doesn't 1:30:23 mean you forgot about your goal no no I 1:30:24 haven't I'm really focused on my goal 1:30:26 that's why I'm doing this 1:30:28 so basically I'm going to bring it 1:30:31 personal to myself the kind of situation 1:30:33 that I found myself in maybe a day or a 1:30:35 couple of days ago the key advice here 1:30:38 would be 1:30:40 sharpen your spiritual Acts connect with 1:30:44 Allah find out what your shortcomings 1:30:46 are find out what your sins are find out 1:30:49 how you're relating and behaving fix 1:30:51 your frame of reference your mindset are 1:30:54 you seeking Allah's help before you seek 1:30:56 other people's help do you really have 1:30:58 tawakan are you enrolling people in your 1:31:01 behavior are you being that which you 1:31:03 want other people to become 1:31:05 is that what you're trying to say chef 1:31:07 yeah 1:31:08 you know in one in one small piece 1:31:12 at the end of the longest ayat in the 1:31:15 Quran 1:31:20 at the bottom of that page 15th line 1:31:23 Allah said 1:31:28 he said of Allah and Allah will teach 1:31:31 you 1:31:33 Savannah 1:31:35 this is what I need to deliver in myself 1:31:38 which is am I concerned about Allah's 1:31:42 pleasure 1:31:46 is fear of the displeasure of Allah fear 1:31:51 of displeasing the one I love the most 1:31:54 because Allah said who are the Believers 1:31:57 he isn't the Believers are those who 1:31:59 love Allah 1:32:03 they'll not only love Allah they love 1:32:06 Allah more than anything and anyone else 1:32:08 so I 1:32:11 am concerned and my one and only and 1:32:15 fundamental concern is is Allah please 1:32:16 with me 1:32:18 analyzing if you keep that concern then 1:32:21 Allah will teach you 1:32:23 Allah will teach you what you need to 1:32:25 say Allah will teach you what you have 1:32:26 to do 1:32:29 and that's the reason why you know Allah 1:32:31 said to somebody one day allegorically 1:32:34 speaking as well I I agree with him and 1:32:36 I'm sure you have some experiences like 1:32:38 this he said why is it difficult to 1:32:41 believe in wahi 1:32:43 he said even I get it 1:32:46 no he's not claiming to be a prophet 1:32:48 he's not saying I'm waiting as in gibral 1:32:50 talking to me but he's saying that there 1:32:53 are times in my life when I know that I 1:32:55 am saying something that I had never 1:32:57 thought about before hmm 1:32:59 it happened to me 1:33:01 several instances several instances in 1:33:04 my life where literally I felt uh like 1:33:07 an out of body experience I am watching 1:33:09 myself saying things and I I know I 1:33:12 don't know this 1:33:13 I never thought of this how am I saying 1:33:16 this where did it come from this is 1:33:19 ilham this is ilham 1:33:21 I mean or for example 1:33:24 I want to I'm writing a hotba or I want 1:33:27 to write a hotba and that morning I 1:33:30 opened my email and there is this person 1:33:33 not even a Muslim who literally sent me 1:33:36 practically 1:33:39 yeah he's talking about whatever I want 1:33:41 to talk about he's putting in no this is 1:33:48 but the important thing I don't want to 1:33:50 give the impression here that I'm a 1:33:51 great therefore it's happening to me no 1:33:53 it's just please I mean I always tell 1:33:56 myself may Allah protect me from myself 1:33:58 I mean we really must think and say that 1:34:02 you know we do things and we must do 1:34:04 things in a way 1:34:05 we have that primary concern is Allah 1:34:07 pleased with this 1:34:09 and when we despite all this we make 1:34:11 mistakes make a step one 1:34:14 yes 1:34:15 if you make mistakes we should seek 1:34:17 repent to Allah and turn back to Allah 1:34:20 okay that is that's reassuring it's it's 1:34:23 reaffirming as well so 1:34:27 tell me a story there's a story you told 1:34:29 me once and I almost I think I forgot 1:34:32 about it it was about this slave this 1:34:34 black slave I think 1:34:37 and I want you to tell me this story 1:34:38 this is one of the most amazing Stories 1:34:40 I have heard from you and I think people 1:34:42 who don't know this story should know 1:34:44 this story it is an awesome story and I 1:34:47 think it's summarizes everything that 1:34:49 we've said today in some in some way 1:34:51 so Chef um 1:34:54 praying for him that one yes yes that 1:34:57 one oh okay this is a true story of 1:34:59 Abdullah in Mubarak uh 1:35:03 he said that he was in Makkah it was a 1:35:06 it was a very very dry drought and you 1:35:08 know terrible 1:35:10 sort of situation without water and in 1:35:14 the Haram they prayed uh 1:35:19 and Abdullah said I also prayed there 1:35:23 and nothing happened 1:35:25 then everyone disappeared dispersed uh 1:35:29 Abdullah said I was just sitting there 1:35:32 with my back to you know one of The 1:35:34 Columns of the wall 1:35:40 young man a black African guy in a very 1:35:46 sort of tattered clothes 1:35:48 uh standing near the wall 1:35:50 and he raised his hands and he didn't 1:35:52 know Abdullah was watching him so he 1:35:54 raised his hands and he said yeah Allah 1:35:58 people are suffering 1:36:00 they made Dua nothing happened 1:36:07 he said Center in because I am asking 1:36:10 right 1:36:12 and Abdullah says that 1:36:15 Cloud came and it rained 1:36:18 now this boy left 1:36:21 and Abdullah said I followed him and I 1:36:24 marked the house that he entered 1:36:27 that house was the house of a slave 1:36:29 trader 1:36:31 so Abdullah said next day I went to the 1:36:34 house and uh knocked on the door the man 1:36:37 opened the door and he saw him was a 1:36:39 very famous 1:36:40 they all knew him so he was very happy 1:36:43 he said you came to my house and so on 1:36:52 these are two great Scholars they were 1:36:54 in together Makkah so Abdullah says that 1:36:57 I said to the man I am I need a servant 1:37:01 so which I got you see him called the 1:37:06 people and and a whole long line of 1:37:09 you know of slaves he lined them up and 1:37:12 he said you know take your pick whoever 1:37:13 you want 1:37:18 somebody else 1:37:21 he said no he said no no you have this 1:37:22 somebody else 1:37:24 the man said there is one boy who is 1:37:26 kind of sickly and weak and he's no good 1:37:29 he can't really work out work hard he's 1:37:31 of news to you uh 1:37:33 he said I want to see that one 1:37:36 so they called him 1:37:38 and it was the same guy 1:37:41 so Abdullah said this is the one I want 1:37:45 and a slave trader said no please you 1:37:47 know this guy is good for me he's Baraka 1:37:48 in my house said no no I I want this guy 1:37:52 so now the slave trader could not refuse 1:37:54 him because there's this great Sheikh 1:37:56 and uh so he said okay 1:38:00 bought this boy 1:38:02 and now they are walking on the way 1:38:06 to his house 1:38:09 as they were going this boy was carrying 1:38:12 something it slipped from his hand and 1:38:14 fell down and Abdullah 1:38:17 you know so literally sort of he ran for 1:38:20 this thing and he picked it up and he 1:38:21 gave it 1:38:22 this voice said to him my master this is 1:38:25 very inappropriate I am your slave 1:38:28 uh you are picking up my things 1:38:31 said to him you are not my slave I have 1:38:35 freed you 1:38:36 uh I am your Hadith 1:38:39 he said I 1:38:41 took you from there not because I want 1:38:44 you to serve me but because I want to 1:38:46 serve you 1:38:49 this boy stopped 1:38:51 and he said what did you see 1:38:59 you saw something 1:39:03 you saw something that's why you're 1:39:04 saying this what did you see 1:39:06 you have to tell me what did you see 1:39:10 so when he pushed him and pushed him 1:39:12 he said to him this is what happened 1:39:15 yesterday we were in the Haram and so on 1:39:18 and I saw you standing there and I saw 1:39:20 you making Dua and I saw Allah 1:39:22 and I'm taking you because I were going 1:39:25 to my house 1:39:26 and you know you want your company 1:39:30 that's it you're not there for a servant 1:39:34 as a servant you're not there to serve 1:39:36 us we I want to serve you you are my 1:39:38 master I am not your master 1:39:41 this boy kept silent they continued to 1:39:44 walk 1:39:45 and then they came to a place where 1:39:47 there was a small Masjid by the side of 1:39:49 the road 1:39:51 this boy said to him 1:39:52 he said my master can you permit me to 1:39:55 pray 1:39:58 she said yes of course please go 1:40:01 subscribe 1:40:05 foreign 1:40:38 uh make me more than a storyteller 1:40:42 you know we tell these stories well 1:40:45 may Allah make me the one that the story 1:40:47 does not become against me inshallah 1:40:51 for the story is exactly for your 1:40:53 insights now I would like to request 1:40:55 that you come again in the near future 1:40:57 because there's so much more to unpack 1:40:59 and we could zoom in on specific topics 1:41:02 like Vision strategy organizational 1:41:05 structure you have 1:41:06 a wealth of Knowledge from a kind of 1:41:09 operational Strategic Management point 1:41:11 of view and all of these insights would 1:41:13 be very valuable at least in some form 1:41:16 for audiences that they could be touch 1:41:18 moved and inspired so they could 1:41:20 actually get the best out of themselves 1:41:22 and best out of the organizations and 1:41:23 their work so and I I really really want 1:41:26 you back on on these issues insha Allah 1:41:29 and you know 1:41:31 it's always a pleasure to meet you yeah 1:41:34 and every time 1:41:35 it's been too long I mean I mean every 1:41:38 time we speak there's always emotions 1:41:40 and tears so check for me this is for 1:41:43 coming to you Sapient voices and we're 1:41:44 definitely going to see you again and um 1:41:47 I just want to say may Allah Grant you 1:41:50 and your loved ones and your family the 1:41:53 best in this life and the best in the 1:41:55 and may Allah 1:41:57 you and your loved ones with his 1:42:00 boundless love and mercy okay and I mean 1:42:03 that from the bottom of my heart 1:42:03 melodies 1:42:11 foreign 1:42:16 [Music]

Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers" (2022-11-21) ​

Summary of Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers" ​

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Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers" (2022-11-21)

Summary of Sapient Voices #4: Sh. Mirza Yawar Baig - "Forget The Numbers To Get The Numbers"

00:00:00 [01:00:00

01:00:00 [01:40:00