Where are you going? How to develop your vision for campus & how to make it happen (2020-11-30) #

0:00:02 [Music]
0:00:09 [Music]
0:00:23 brothers
0:00:23 and sisters and friends and welcome
0:00:27 to this free online webinar
0:00:31 called where are you going how to
0:00:33 develop your vision for campus
0:00:36 and how to make it happen
0:00:39 i'm pleased to announce that we're going
0:00:41 to be joined or we are joined by
0:00:45 jafar ali and myself and this webinar
0:00:48 has been
0:00:49 organized by sapience institute and
0:00:53 king's college london islamic
0:00:56 society alhamdulillah
0:00:59 now the way we're going to proceed is
0:01:03 i'm going to talk about in summary what
0:01:06 we're going to be covering today
0:01:07 and then i'm going to hand over to the
0:01:09 chef and when
0:01:10 i'm going to be delivering my sections
0:01:12 he's going to hand over to me
0:01:14 and so on and so forth and we're going
0:01:16 to entertain some
0:01:17 questions now before i
0:01:21 continue with the webinar i just want to
0:01:23 introduce myself
0:01:25 and sheikh hisham just in case you don't
0:01:28 know who we are
0:01:30 my name is hamza andres sodis and i'm a
0:01:32 researcher and instructor for
0:01:34 sapience institute and i'm the author of
0:01:37 the divine
0:01:38 reality god islam and the mirage of
0:01:40 atheism
0:01:41 i have a postgraduate certificate and a
0:01:44 master's in philosophy and i'm
0:01:46 continuing post
0:01:47 graduate studies in the field so i'm a
0:01:50 student
0:01:50 at the university of london so
0:01:53 yes i'm probably much older than you but
0:01:56 alhamdulillah i'm a student
0:01:57 in actual fact we're students until we
0:02:00 die
0:02:06 is an engineer by profession and he's a
0:02:08 muslim chaplain at the university of
0:02:10 nottingham
0:02:11 he studied arabic and the islamic
0:02:13 sciences
0:02:14 in uae for a number of years where he
0:02:17 received the higher diploma in arabic
0:02:19 and islamic sciences and he was
0:02:21 appointed
0:02:22 as a khatib at the age of just 17
0:02:26 alhamdulillah so this is who you're
0:02:29 going to be engaging with today
0:02:31 he also he also manages
0:02:35 roots academy and i think many of you
0:02:37 have
0:02:38 engaged with his amazing material may
0:02:41 allah bless him and grant him the best
0:02:43 in this life
0:02:44 and the best in the life to come i mean
0:02:47 so
0:02:48 brothers and sisters let me just look at
0:02:52 the questions so far
0:02:54 okay good we're not going to be looking
0:02:57 at questions right now but usually i
0:02:58 look at
0:02:59 in the beginning just to check what's
0:03:02 going on why try to check what's going
0:03:04 on
0:03:05 and there is a question about is this is
0:03:07 is this going to be recorded yes it's
0:03:09 going to be recorded alhamdulillah and
0:03:10 it's going to be available
0:03:12 in the future on our youtube channel
0:03:14 inshallah
0:03:16 so let's proceed now in terms of what
0:03:20 we're going to be covering
0:03:20 now we're going to be covering what is
0:03:22 the vision and
0:03:23 within that we're going to talk about
0:03:26 why
0:03:27 having a vision is important the virtues
0:03:29 of having having a vision
0:03:30 linking it to the islamic discourse at
0:03:33 the same time
0:03:34 we're also going to be talking about how
0:03:37 to develop
0:03:37 your vision because this is very
0:03:39 important fine
0:03:40 you know you see a future and
0:03:44 you have a lofty goal but the question
0:03:47 is
0:03:49 is it doable is it achievable is it the
0:03:52 right thing to do
0:03:54 is it based on your values your passions
0:03:56 your drives your ethics
0:03:58 is it within the parameters of islam
0:04:01 what does islam say about
0:04:02 having a goal is it just based on the
0:04:06 dunya or the akhira or both
0:04:08 so we're going to be talking about these
0:04:09 concepts as well and how to develop your
0:04:11 vision
0:04:12 then we're going to talk about how to do
0:04:14 how to make your vision happen
0:04:16 from a collective perspective as a
0:04:18 muslim student association
0:04:20 as an islamic society as a student group
0:04:23 we're going to try and
0:04:24 help you and give you tools and
0:04:25 techniques and questions and ideas and
0:04:28 ethics and values
0:04:29 on how to ensure you come together in
0:04:32 order to develop your vision and at the
0:04:33 same time how to make it happen
0:04:35 which really is connected to this idea
0:04:38 of
0:04:39 developing your strategic focus because
0:04:41 your strategic focus
0:04:43 are like the top three areas of activity
0:04:46 or maybe even the top five areas of
0:04:48 activity that you believe
0:04:50 are necessary from a practical point of
0:04:52 view to
0:04:53 achieve your vision and once you
0:04:56 establish those after brainstorming and
0:04:58 so on and so forth
0:05:00 you'll be able to now allocate all your
0:05:02 resources your time your energy
0:05:04 you'll be focused and directed and
0:05:06 you'll be able to make the right
0:05:07 decisions
0:05:08 in order for you to make your vision
0:05:10 happen
0:05:12 now connected to all of this there are
0:05:13 some essential aspects in order for us
0:05:16 to be able to develop a vision to able
0:05:18 to make it happen and to come together
0:05:20 in order to develop our strategic focus
0:05:23 and those essential
0:05:24 aspects include leadership
0:05:27 what does leadership mean what are the
0:05:29 kind of essential elements of being a
0:05:31 good leader
0:05:33 what does the sunnah say about this what
0:05:34 does the quran say about this
0:05:36 what does experience say about this
0:05:40 right
0:05:40 so we're going to go through certain
0:05:42 elements of good leadership such as
0:05:44 being egoless understanding that ego is
0:05:47 the enemy having integrity
0:05:49 vision service compassion empathy
0:05:52 courage
0:05:53 and connected to this which is extremely
0:05:55 important we're going to talk about the
0:05:57 essential spiritual elements
0:05:59 in order to have barakah in our lives in
0:06:02 order to
0:06:02 develop a good vision in order to come
0:06:04 together and have a strategic focus
0:06:06 and in order to really be good leaders
0:06:08 you have to have ikhlas
0:06:10 we're going to discuss what is and how
0:06:12 to develop it
0:06:13 we have to engage with the spiritual
0:06:15 sciences of islam in line with the quran
0:06:17 and the sunnah
0:06:19 we have to understand the diseases of
0:06:20 the of the heart the spiritual diseases
0:06:22 of the heart
0:06:23 how to remove them because having those
0:06:25 diseases in our hearts
0:06:26 become a barrier to good collective work
0:06:28 they become a barrier
0:06:30 to having a focus in order for our
0:06:33 vision to happen
0:06:35 and we're going to talk about surah
0:06:37 consultation
0:06:38 what does that mean how do you do sure
0:06:40 how do you engage with it what is what
0:06:42 are its virtues
0:06:43 its importance from a sunnah point of
0:06:46 view from a quranic point of view
0:06:48 and connected to this we're going to be
0:06:49 talking about nasiha at dino masih the
0:06:52 deen the religion
0:06:53 is sincere advice and this is critical
0:06:56 when working as a group when we're
0:06:58 trying to empower and develop our
0:07:00 individual members of that group and
0:07:02 obviously we're going to be talking
0:07:03 about islamic knowledge
0:07:04 which is quite broad from a contemporary
0:07:06 point of view yes you have to know your
0:07:08 basic farahid
0:07:09 your fip you have to know your creed but
0:07:11 you also have to know contemporary
0:07:13 issues
0:07:13 how do you deal with atheism liberalism
0:07:16 all of these
0:07:16 isms or schisms that are now becoming
0:07:19 becoming a dominant force on campus
0:07:21 and within all of this we're going to
0:07:23 try and give you a daoist-centric focus
0:07:25 to be able to intellectually share
0:07:28 and and convey islam and defend islam
0:07:32 with our brothers and sisters in
0:07:34 humanity and to do that with hikmah to
0:07:36 do that with wisdom
0:07:37 and to deal with the rahmah to do that
0:07:38 with compassion and mercy
0:07:41 and before i hand over to sheikh hisham
0:07:44 to start the vision exercise and the
0:07:47 strategic focus
0:07:48 i really want to introduce very quickly
0:07:50 sapience institute
0:07:52 sapiens institute is really focused
0:07:56 on seeing a world so this is our vision
0:07:58 so this is going to maybe give you some
0:07:59 ideas on what we're going to be talking
0:08:01 about right now
0:08:02 so our vision as sapiens institute
0:08:06 is to see a world that receives the
0:08:09 message of islam
0:08:10 and where people can academically share
0:08:12 their faith so that's where we want to
0:08:14 see the world
0:08:15 how and in in what state we want to see
0:08:17 the world so a world that receives the
0:08:19 message of islam
0:08:20 and where people can academically share
0:08:22 the faith
0:08:23 our focus is to provide a compelling
0:08:26 convincing case for islam
0:08:28 and to empower educate and mentor others
0:08:31 to share their faith academically
0:08:33 and as you can see that's a that's a
0:08:34 strong focus so we're going to be
0:08:36 sharing islam in a compelling convincing
0:08:39 rational way
0:08:40 but also develop others to be able to do
0:08:41 so now that
0:08:43 is a strategic focus it helps with all
0:08:45 of our decisions and
0:08:47 there are so many activities and actions
0:08:49 that link
0:08:50 to those two pillars of our focus so for
0:08:52 example we know if someone approaches us
0:08:54 and says
0:08:55 right can sapiens institute clean up the
0:08:57 streets
0:08:58 we're going to be like sorry it's a
0:09:00 great work but go to another charity
0:09:02 or go to another organization we have a
0:09:04 particular focus because we believe
0:09:06 these two central pillars of our focus
0:09:08 are necessary from a practical point of
0:09:10 view to achieve our vision
0:09:13 so that's what sapiens institute is
0:09:15 about if you go to our website
0:09:17 sapienceinstitute.org you will see that
0:09:20 we have free books on atheism
0:09:22 on dehumanization authorization we
0:09:25 deliver free webinars academic webinars
0:09:29 on a range of issues atheism history
0:09:32 theology theo philosophy quran
0:09:35 revelation
0:09:36 prophetology christology and
0:09:39 and if you go to our website go to learn
0:09:42 and you'll be able to access
0:09:43 those webinars for free and we have
0:09:45 essays and articles and answers to
0:09:47 questions such as
0:09:49 you know does you threefold's dilemma
0:09:51 undermine god's commands
0:09:54 who created god that really seedy
0:09:56 question that's easily answered
0:09:58 and so on and so forth so we're gonna be
0:10:01 producing much more stuff in
0:10:03 sha allah so without further ado
0:10:06 we're going to now have by the way if
0:10:09 you have any questions just write them
0:10:10 down
0:10:11 and we're going to basically address
0:10:13 them at the end
0:10:14 i do see one right now it says do you
0:10:16 would you uh
0:10:17 did would you share the ppt slides in
0:10:20 other words
0:10:21 are you gonna share the slides yes we
0:10:22 will they'll be available in sha allah
0:10:26 okie dokie so let's now
0:10:29 hand over to our beloved sheikh then
0:10:31 after he'll hand over back to me when
0:10:33 i'm going to be talking about leadership
0:10:35 so i'm going to be speaking to you in in
0:10:37 some
0:10:38 in in a few moments in sha allah but for
0:10:41 now
0:10:42 please be sincere please give your time
0:10:44 and your attention and your focus and
0:10:46 have integrity something we're going to
0:10:47 be talking about
0:10:49 uh which is integrity concerning this is
0:10:51 you're going to give your full
0:10:53 focus to
0:10:56 allah so i'm just
0:11:00 making him a presenter and i'll speak to
0:11:01 you very soon inshallah
0:11:04 okay
0:11:09 everybody welcome all to this brilliant
0:11:11 and pertinent webinar
0:11:12 with sapience institute looking at
0:11:15 all the things that southampton
0:11:17 mentioned looking at initially
0:11:19 stepping back and looking at the bigger
0:11:20 picture looking at the vision the
0:11:22 strategic focus
0:11:23 and then narrowing things down and
0:11:24 looking at some things we can develop on
0:11:26 an individual level
0:11:28 in terms of leadership qualities and in
0:11:29 terms of essentials so
0:11:31 without further ado i'm going to get
0:11:33 started with these slides
0:11:36 so starting with the first slide the
0:11:38 first section
0:11:40 vision vision
0:11:43 you know the the big idea the big the
0:11:46 clarity of picture of what exactly as an
0:11:48 organization as an ice sock as a team
0:11:50 what exactly you are looking to achieve
0:11:52 what is the end goal
0:11:54 from all your efforts how do they all
0:11:56 relate and how do they tie together
0:11:57 the first question we ask ourselves is
0:11:59 what is a vision
0:12:00 a vision as you can see on the slide
0:12:03 it's how
0:12:04 and where you see yourself as an
0:12:05 organization how and where you see the
0:12:08 world that you're going to leave
0:12:09 inshallah when you
0:12:10 pass on your road to somebody else what
0:12:12 exactly is this is this organization
0:12:14 going to achieve
0:12:15 um quite often a lot of us in our
0:12:18 projects
0:12:19 in our teamwork in our isoc committees
0:12:22 we join
0:12:22 and a lot of for a lot of us we are
0:12:24 simply trying to implement what the
0:12:26 previous
0:12:27 president or committee did the same
0:12:29 events invite the same speakers run the
0:12:31 same workshops
0:12:32 and kind of there's a precedent there's
0:12:34 a bar and we just want to leave it at
0:12:35 the same bar
0:12:37 with this exercise we really want to
0:12:38 take a step back and really think
0:12:41 really reflect on this carefully forget
0:12:44 what the last year's president did
0:12:45 forget what the last 10 years
0:12:47 the last 10 years of committees did what
0:12:49 exactly do you see
0:12:51 as the the end goal if you were to paint
0:12:53 a picture for the university campus
0:12:55 five years from now three years from now
0:12:57 what would it look like what would the
0:12:58 muslims be doing what would then
0:12:59 you know how would the non-muslims be
0:13:01 perceiving the muslims
0:13:02 um what activities would the islam be
0:13:04 doing so this is kind of
0:13:06 the vision that we paint of the eye sock
0:13:09 and when we think about this
0:13:10 this this idea of a vision
0:13:14 what should this vision be motivated by
0:13:16 what feeds into
0:13:17 this kind of final clear picture that we
0:13:19 draw for ourselves
0:13:20 number one it should be fed by the
0:13:23 feeling the desire to
0:13:24 reach the pleasure of allah it should be
0:13:27 fed by the desire to
0:13:29 attain the reward from allah and to
0:13:32 remove ourselves from the fire meaning
0:13:34 the entire motive behind this behind
0:13:36 this picture that we draw
0:13:37 shouldn't be that you know in one year's
0:13:39 time i want to be the best ice
0:13:41 uh you know president ex-officio
0:13:44 treasurer that ever walked the face of
0:13:46 this
0:13:46 this company i want people to remember
0:13:47 my name now that remembering your name
0:13:50 is something you don't want to happen
0:13:54 [Music]
0:13:58 i wish that people were to learn
0:13:59 knowledge and not attribute any of my
0:14:02 books to me not attribute any of their
0:14:03 learning to me it doesn't matter who
0:14:05 said it
0:14:05 someone else said it meaning i don't
0:14:07 want my name to be on the book on the on
0:14:09 the front page on the cover
0:14:10 it doesn't i don't have to get all the
0:14:11 credit so this is an akira mindset
0:14:14 and in fact imam malik when he was
0:14:16 authoring his mother his collection his
0:14:18 book a collection of hadith
0:14:20 someone came to him and said there's so
0:14:21 many matas out there there's so many
0:14:22 books of hadith out there you're going
0:14:24 to just add another one to this entire
0:14:25 list
0:14:26 and he says something very profound we
0:14:27 should all pay attention to
0:14:30 whatever is done purely for allah's sake
0:14:32 is going to endure the test of time
0:14:34 there's so many ice hocks out there you
0:14:36 think why should i you know have a
0:14:38 vision why should i join this committee
0:14:39 what am i really going to achieve don't
0:14:41 think it in don't think about it in that
0:14:43 sense think about it in this way that
0:14:44 whatever you do for allah's sake
0:14:46 purely for allah's sake with the purity
0:14:48 and strength of sincerity
0:14:49 it will stand the test of time people 10
0:14:51 years from now will be thanking you
0:14:53 and appreciating the effort that you put
0:14:55 in so remember the the responsibility
0:14:57 that you have as a committee member
0:14:59 remember the capability and potential
0:15:00 the iso can actually achieve
0:15:02 and think you know we're going to come
0:15:03 to this as well to think big
0:15:05 and what should it not be motivated by
0:15:07 we mentioned ego
0:15:08 it should not be motivated by i want to
0:15:10 aggrandize myself it should not be
0:15:12 motivated by the attachment to a
0:15:14 position
0:15:14 to a title to a place you know this
0:15:17 person and this person is
0:15:19 a chaplain this this and that person is
0:15:20 president of the committee
0:15:22 we should feel personally that these
0:15:25 roles and titles
0:15:26 in terms of maybe it changes the way
0:15:28 people looks at us but it shouldn't
0:15:30 change the way we look at our
0:15:31 at ourselves um it shouldn't be
0:15:33 motivated by seeking allah subhanahu
0:15:35 ta'ala's displeasure
0:15:36 removing ourselves from allah's mercy
0:15:39 rather it should be entirely motivated
0:15:40 but you know
0:15:41 when you are trying to paint if i told
0:15:44 you
0:15:44 uh you know draw a picture of you know
0:15:47 the northern countryside
0:15:49 what you don't want to happen is while
0:15:51 you're drawing while you're painting
0:15:52 what you don't want to happen
0:15:53 is for your vision to become blurred or
0:15:56 for you suddenly not to be able to see
0:15:58 very clearly into the distance the thing
0:16:00 that you are supposed to draw clearly
0:16:02 and what is it that prevents you from
0:16:04 seeing things clearly in islam prevents
0:16:06 you from
0:16:06 having a piercing insight into what
0:16:08 exactly you want
0:16:10 it is sin it is distance from allah it
0:16:12 is distance from your own self you don't
0:16:14 even know what you want out of it this
0:16:15 is just something you fell into
0:16:17 you know out of some kind of need some
0:16:19 kind of desire some craving for
0:16:20 attention
0:16:21 and so when you do it with that when you
0:16:22 go through that route the vision you
0:16:24 can't actually draw the picture very
0:16:25 well
0:16:26 because it's blurry you're wearing uh
0:16:28 you know dark tinted sunglasses you
0:16:30 can't even see the light very clearly
0:16:32 so be careful take off all of these
0:16:34 other glasses all of the other things
0:16:35 that will blur your sight
0:16:37 and be able to write a clear vision for
0:16:39 yourself and that all depends on your
0:16:40 motivation it all depends
0:16:42 on your on your approach
0:16:45 now what is the importance of a vision
0:16:47 the vision
0:16:48 you know clearly defining what exactly
0:16:50 you're going to work towards
0:16:51 to as much detail as possible allows you
0:16:54 to have focus and direction
0:16:56 you know if you were to ask me today you
0:16:58 know you have to make a decision should
0:16:59 i take a left or should i take a right
0:17:01 should i invite sapiens or should i
0:17:02 invite roots academy which organization
0:17:04 should i bring to campus what kind of an
0:17:06 event should i run
0:17:07 there's a lot of decisions you have to
0:17:08 make as an ice sock so someone comes and
0:17:10 asks you should i go left or right
0:17:12 well my question will be well where is
0:17:14 it that you want to go
0:17:15 do you want to go to madina or do you
0:17:17 want to go to amritsar
0:17:18 depending on your destination i will
0:17:22 tell you the route
0:17:23 and so depending on the vision that you
0:17:24 have the crystal clear and specific
0:17:26 vision
0:17:26 of what you want isok to achieve your
0:17:28 route will differ
0:17:30 your decisions will differ and that's
0:17:31 really important to understand that it
0:17:33 gives you direction it gives you focus
0:17:34 you'll say you'll learn when to say no
0:17:36 because it goes against your vision it
0:17:38 doesn't align with what you are
0:17:39 approaching like similar to what
0:17:40 hamza said if someone says uh you know
0:17:42 could you come and
0:17:43 you know clean up the streets we'll say
0:17:45 well that's not our vision it's not our
0:17:47 focus
0:17:48 so the vision gives you clarity it it
0:17:51 allows you to understand
0:17:52 you know decisions are not as difficult
0:17:54 or as uh
0:17:56 blurry they are clear it's very simple
0:17:58 for you to then decipher and say
0:18:00 actually no hold on a second my focus is
0:18:01 this this and this
0:18:03 this is out of my scope of focus i'm not
0:18:05 going to pursue that we're not as an
0:18:06 eyeshack we're not going to delve into
0:18:07 that
0:18:08 they also give you added meaning think
0:18:10 about it every day
0:18:11 you wake up you know every day you wake
0:18:13 up inshallah you pray
0:18:14 you get ready to go to university but
0:18:17 sometimes
0:18:18 on the way in our three five seven years
0:18:20 of university depending on what you're
0:18:21 studying
0:18:22 we actually lose we actually forget what
0:18:24 we're doing there in the first place
0:18:26 you know you're in a factory every day
0:18:28 you go in you do the same chores every
0:18:30 day you go and you fix the same things
0:18:31 one day you forget why was i why did i
0:18:33 actually come here in the first place
0:18:35 when you get involved in the routine of
0:18:36 things you become divorced or slowly
0:18:39 detached from the original purpose for
0:18:41 which you came there
0:18:43 many of us one two three years into
0:18:44 university once we're used to the daily
0:18:46 routine of going to lectures
0:18:48 slowly but surely we start to feel hold
0:18:49 on a second why did i do this degree
0:18:51 again
0:18:51 what was the reasoning behind this why
0:18:53 am i here and so that vision
0:18:55 having a clear vision putting it up on
0:18:57 the wall writing it down
0:18:59 allows you to remind yourself whenever
0:19:00 you forget it reminds you
0:19:03 that the reason you're doing this is for
0:19:04 this the reason you're doing this is to
0:19:06 earn the pleasure of allah and the way
0:19:07 you'll earn the pleasure of allah is
0:19:08 through this specific thing that you are
0:19:10 trying to achieve
0:19:10 so it gives you meaning it imbues every
0:19:13 effort that you have
0:19:14 with the spirit with the strength the
0:19:15 other thing about invasion it removes
0:19:17 shubahat it removes doubt whenever you
0:19:18 feel unclear
0:19:20 not sure you know i'm doubtful is this
0:19:22 the right direction
0:19:23 that clarity of vision that you've
0:19:25 researched you've thought about you've
0:19:27 collectively as a team penned it down
0:19:29 you look at that and it suddenly gives
0:19:31 you certainty again
0:19:32 it also saves time you don't waste time
0:19:34 doing things that are outside the remit
0:19:35 that are ineffective towards reaching
0:19:37 your destination
0:19:38 if you need to go to london you you go
0:19:41 on the motorway you don't go through the
0:19:42 side roads and you don't go through the
0:19:43 countryside there's a specific
0:19:44 road you meant to take and so when you
0:19:46 have that clear destination in mind that
0:19:48 clear picture in mind of what i want to
0:19:49 reach
0:19:50 where i want to get to you know what
0:19:52 bricks to get what uh you know what
0:19:54 ingredients for your recipe because you
0:19:56 have a clear idea and it saves time you
0:19:58 allow you say no to things that are
0:19:59 you're not interested in
0:20:02 it we've already discussed motivation
0:20:03 how important it is to give you that
0:20:05 strength
0:20:05 every day you think about this is what i
0:20:07 want to eventually see
0:20:08 when i leave this earth this is what i
0:20:10 want to see the world i want to see on
0:20:12 my deathbed this is the
0:20:13 campus i want to see when i leave
0:20:14 university in three years time and every
0:20:16 day every time you kind of lose
0:20:17 motivation
0:20:18 you come across obstacles um you know
0:20:21 you come across difficulties with the su
0:20:23 people aren't attending your halakhas
0:20:25 every time you come across obstacles you
0:20:27 think about that angle and you think no
0:20:28 i'm going to keep pushing i'm going to
0:20:29 keep working
0:20:30 until i see that vision as reality
0:20:34 and lastly it helps you transcend petty
0:20:36 issues and life's obstacles the prophet
0:20:38 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:20:40 you know in the fifth year of hijri in
0:20:41 the fifth year of his mission
0:20:43 he loses the two most beloved people to
0:20:45 him he loses his wife
0:20:49 both of whom were very beloved to him
0:20:51 and great supporters of his cause
0:20:53 they are the ones who gave him the
0:20:54 strength the moral uh strength to go
0:20:56 keep going the emotional morale and the
0:20:58 support
0:20:59 when you lose the most beloved person to
0:21:01 you on this earth
0:21:02 and you would you know in the depths of
0:21:04 sorrow and sadness
0:21:06 you cannot see you know happiness
0:21:09 who say the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:21:11 didn't smile for nine months
0:21:12 he didn't smile he could not it was such
0:21:15 a deep sadness that he felt
0:21:17 and yet what kept him going what kept
0:21:19 him going was that vision that clear
0:21:21 vision that islam will reach
0:21:23 across the earth allah promises him in
0:21:25 the quran
0:21:30 indeed the promise of allah is true
0:21:32 every time he falls
0:21:33 allah's promise keeps him going the
0:21:35 vision of a world
0:21:36 united under peacefulness serenity
0:21:39 fairness
0:21:39 justice these values the heed the
0:21:41 worship of allah
0:21:43 this this vision keeps the prophet going
0:21:45 when he's migrating from makkah to
0:21:47 madinah
0:21:48 and surakar you know a man is pursuing
0:21:50 him on a horse and he's about to
0:21:51 attack him the prophet salallahu says to
0:21:54 him what do you think surakar about a
0:21:56 day
0:21:56 when you will be wearing the bangles of
0:21:58 the hostra of persia the emperor of
0:22:00 persia
0:22:00 he clearly sees a picture in which even
0:22:03 the persians have embraced islam
0:22:05 even though the prophet sallam and his
0:22:06 followers are 100 200 people they're
0:22:08 nothing
0:22:09 but he knows eventually this is what
0:22:11 he's working towards
0:22:12 islam is going to reach the corners of
0:22:13 the earth and so that conviction
0:22:16 in what he's going to achieve the
0:22:17 clarity of picture it motivates him
0:22:19 it motivates his enemies it motivates
0:22:21 his companions they keep working towards
0:22:23 that goal every time they fall
0:22:25 they keep getting back up
0:22:38 indeed mankind is lost by time indeed
0:22:40 mankind is a loss
0:22:41 except those who have believed and done
0:22:43 righteous deeds and advise each other to
0:22:45 trust
0:22:45 and advise each other to patients time
0:22:47 is running out
0:22:48 you do not have time in this world to
0:22:50 waste by pursuing
0:22:52 you know something that's going to end
0:22:54 you up in the wrong destination by by
0:22:56 by something that's not going to align
0:22:58 with your focus the prophet sallallahu
0:22:59 alaihi
0:23:00 his companions he gave each of them a
0:23:02 strategic focus and we'll come to that
0:23:03 in a moment
0:23:04 but right now the importance of the
0:23:05 vision and the benefits of vision
0:23:07 one of the most important things with
0:23:08 the vision is not to fall
0:23:10 short to aim high the prophet sallallahu
0:23:13 alaihi
0:23:13 is to say that
0:23:21 if you're going to make dua to allah and
0:23:23 ask him allah give me paradise
0:23:24 make sure you ask allah to give you the
0:23:26 highest station in paradise
0:23:28 don't ask for any piece of paradise
0:23:30 don't ask for any piece of real estate
0:23:31 make sure you aim high with that real
0:23:33 estate don't fall short why
0:23:35 because allah says
0:23:50 are the best people selected for mankind
0:23:52 you yes you you who's attending
0:23:54 allah subhanahu wa talas directed you to
0:23:56 be from the umma of the best prophet
0:23:59 and for the best of all speech to be
0:24:01 revealed unto that prophet
0:24:03 allah selected you to be amongst
0:24:06 uh the ummah who allah sent down the
0:24:09 revelation with the best of all angels
0:24:11 the best of all angels the best of all
0:24:12 prophets the best of all revelation and
0:24:14 he
0:24:14 asked allah chose you to be part of that
0:24:17 so why should we
0:24:18 you know sell ourselves short when the
0:24:19 prophet salallahu would aim he would aim
0:24:21 high
0:24:21 he would not he would never sell himself
0:24:24 regardless of whether he had no
0:24:25 resources
0:24:26 nobody you know to support him no wealth
0:24:29 nothing
0:24:29 he knew he had allah on his side and he
0:24:31 knew he had the promise of allah
0:24:32 subhanahu wa ta'ala and so he would
0:24:34 always aim high
0:24:36 um and and this is why the prophet
0:24:39 sallallahu alaihi wasallam actually
0:24:40 when he teaches us about envy about
0:24:42 jealousy about you know looking at
0:24:44 others and thinking oh look how amazing
0:24:45 this person is
0:24:46 it's generally a negative trait to be
0:24:48 envious to be jealous of others
0:24:50 except in two cases
0:24:56 a person allah has given wealth he
0:25:00 spends that wealth for allah's sake and
0:25:02 another person you're allowed to be
0:25:03 jealous or envious of
0:25:05 is a person allah gifted the quran
0:25:10 he recited all day and night why why is
0:25:13 it allowed for you to look at those
0:25:14 people and feel
0:25:15 like wow look at how much allah has
0:25:16 given this person because when you look
0:25:18 at them
0:25:19 you start to think higher you put the
0:25:21 bar higher look at this guy he's a
0:25:22 millionaire he spends all his money for
0:25:24 allah say look at this guy memorize the
0:25:25 quran despite being a medical student
0:25:27 despite having being married having two
0:25:29 kids i can do that too i can aspire to
0:25:31 that too and so it's allowed for you to
0:25:32 look at them
0:25:33 it's allowed for you to dwell on them
0:25:35 because those are the people that will
0:25:36 raise your bar
0:25:37 so always think high never ever sell
0:25:39 yourself short in fact as an islamic
0:25:41 society
0:25:42 we have to realize that the universe
0:25:44 university students university in
0:25:45 general is a period of time in which a
0:25:47 person
0:25:47 can possibly change their life a person
0:25:49 can possibly transition from being
0:25:51 someone who's in the clubs
0:25:52 to someone who is on the deen someone
0:25:54 who is conveying or
0:25:56 you know discussing islam and sharing
0:25:58 islam and the reason is because that is
0:26:00 the time of our lives when we are all
0:26:02 forming our ideas forming our opinions
0:26:04 choosing our friends
0:26:05 and so in your years of university you
0:26:07 may save be part of the reason why 10
0:26:10 people are saved from hellfire
0:26:13 you may be part of the reason why 10
0:26:14 people are guided to islam you may be
0:26:16 part of the reason but why 30 people in
0:26:18 the ice hock are actually praying salah
0:26:19 because you've created an environment or
0:26:21 you and your friends through allah and
0:26:22 his grace
0:26:23 you've created an environment where
0:26:24 people are excited to come to the
0:26:25 iceland they're excited to pray salah
0:26:27 and play football and
0:26:28 there's a community around them and so
0:26:30 subhanallah you don't realize
0:26:32 that the three years you spend at
0:26:34 university may be the reason allah
0:26:36 enters you to paradise
0:26:38 because in those three years so many
0:26:40 people were guided to islam
0:26:42 as a result of the the brilliance of the
0:26:44 work you were doing at the isoc
0:26:45 because of those three years of
0:26:47 excellence those who use the focus and
0:26:48 clarity and hard work and dedication
0:26:50 how many people converted perhaps to
0:26:52 islam or you put the seed in their heart
0:26:54 that eventually let this person convert
0:26:55 into islam so you do not realize how
0:26:58 much good you can do don't belittle
0:27:00 the fact that it's just an eyesore crawl
0:27:01 it's just a committee role i'm not
0:27:03 president of ira
0:27:04 i'm not don't worry about that
0:27:07 allah has given you a huge influence
0:27:09 allah has given put you in a position
0:27:10 where you can
0:27:11 influence hundreds of muslim students
0:27:14 who are much more capable and interested
0:27:16 in changing their lives
0:27:17 than the atheists down the road and
0:27:18 allah guide all of us
0:27:21 and you can even influence how people
0:27:22 think about islam so think you know
0:27:24 think big
0:27:25 the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:27:27 in his you know little house
0:27:29 in in you know a small house in makkah
0:27:32 sitting with a few of his companions
0:27:34 he would talk to them about the day
0:27:36 where islam would rule from east
0:27:38 to west and he did and it did that
0:27:41 because of the high aspirations of his
0:27:42 companions he built that in their dna
0:27:45 never sell yourself short when he would
0:27:47 send his companions to the greatest of
0:27:48 empires to persia to rome
0:27:50 you know this arab bedouin walks into
0:27:52 the persian emperor's
0:27:54 palace and he's not walking in with his
0:27:56 head bowed
0:27:57 he's not walking with an inferiority
0:27:58 complex he walks in with his head high
0:28:00 and he says to the palace of rustom of
0:28:02 rome
0:28:03 he says
0:28:07 he says we've come to free you from
0:28:09 slavery he's talking to the emperor
0:28:11 of a massive empire and look at the
0:28:13 confidence look at the strength
0:28:15 look at the conviction look at the
0:28:16 eloquence you know we've come to free
0:28:19 you from the slavery to god's creation
0:28:21 and release you in into the liberation
0:28:23 of slavery to god himself
0:28:25 and these guys are shocked who is this
0:28:27 bedouin you know how is he able to have
0:28:29 such confidence because they thought big
0:28:31 they had you know large goals had huge
0:28:33 visions they didn't stop short
0:28:35 that's really important to inculcate in
0:28:36 all of us how now it's come to the
0:28:38 practicality
0:28:39 how do you develop your vision a vision
0:28:42 your vision
0:28:42 is you think about it as three
0:28:44 overlapping circles
0:28:46 the first circle is your interests
0:28:49 your passions your uh you know what do
0:28:52 you think about all the time what do you
0:28:53 talk about most of the time
0:28:55 that's a good way to know what is your
0:28:56 passion you know what is your
0:28:59 interests you know some people are
0:29:00 interested in the quran allah has
0:29:01 created this person with a love and a
0:29:03 genuine passion for the quran
0:29:04 other people are very interested in
0:29:06 intellectually defending islam allah
0:29:08 created this person for this reason he's
0:29:10 so driven to read to understand to
0:29:12 reflect to you know
0:29:13 to debate to share islam to be you know
0:29:16 with other people around him
0:29:17 so figure out that number one what is
0:29:19 your interest what is your passion
0:29:22 and that requires self-awareness that
0:29:24 requires knowing yourself
0:29:25 that requires putting your phone away
0:29:26 and spending some time actually think
0:29:27 about me
0:29:29 who am i you know we are so distant from
0:29:31 our own self because of our mobile
0:29:33 phones we don't even know who we are
0:29:34 if i were to ask you perhaps what your
0:29:36 favorite food you might not even
0:29:37 remember
0:29:38 rarely do you actually think about
0:29:39 ourselves
0:29:48 don't be like those who forgot allah so
0:29:50 he made them forget
0:29:51 themselves they don't even know
0:29:52 themselves that's one of the greatest
0:29:54 signs we have forgotten allah yet he
0:29:56 makes us forget ourselves we don't know
0:29:58 i ask you you know what is your main
0:29:59 passion and focus in life
0:30:02 [Music]
0:30:05 we're not aware we're not in touch with
0:30:06 ourselves this is the first thing the
0:30:08 second circle is
0:30:09 what is the need of the people what are
0:30:12 their needs on campus every campus has
0:30:13 different needs
0:30:14 i'll give you an example university of
0:30:16 not team campus has a very small muslim
0:30:18 population in comparison to some other
0:30:20 campuses
0:30:20 but we have a very established masjid
0:30:22 very established mashallah in size in
0:30:24 numbers
0:30:25 but we have compared comparatively a
0:30:27 very large proportion of non-muslims
0:30:30 on campus we also have a large
0:30:31 proportion of international students on
0:30:33 campus
0:30:33 so our needs are different our isoc has
0:30:36 to do a lot of dawah a lot of interfaith
0:30:38 dialogue
0:30:38 a lot of you know acclimatizing these
0:30:41 muslims to actually go and interact with
0:30:43 the outside world
0:30:44 we have a lot of phd students who speak
0:30:45 arabic who speak malay who speak
0:30:48 you know nigeria and speak spikausa so
0:30:50 how do we cater to those people so we
0:30:51 have different needs
0:30:52 uh you know uh uh and i saw it in east
0:30:55 london perhaps may have a much more
0:30:56 populated
0:30:57 uh you know ice much more populated in
0:30:59 terms of muslims and
0:31:00 maybe the muslims literacy level is high
0:31:02 as well the iman level perhaps is the
0:31:04 highest level
0:31:05 they're much more knowledgeable about
0:31:06 their deen because perhaps you know the
0:31:08 nature of east london
0:31:09 and so your ice hock will have different
0:31:10 needs to the other eyeshot down the road
0:31:12 to the other ashok across the country so
0:31:13 what is the need that's the second thing
0:31:15 to think about the second circle
0:31:16 what are the needs the demands of
0:31:20 your campus of your eyesock and
0:31:23 the third thing is what are you good at
0:31:26 so number one is your passions and
0:31:28 interests number two is the needs of the
0:31:30 campus
0:31:31 and number three is what are you
0:31:32 actually good at because you may be
0:31:34 interested in something
0:31:35 i'm interested in the quran but when i
0:31:36 recite the quran
0:31:38 i get all of my pronunciation wrong i do
0:31:41 my hundreds with four harakas
0:31:43 i don't know how to understand the quran
0:31:45 so then maybe that's not that shouldn't
0:31:46 be a big part of my vision
0:31:48 that i should go and convey the quran's
0:31:50 meanings or recite it to other people
0:31:52 maybe it's something i can work to it
0:31:53 but it has to be that i'd be competent i
0:31:55 have to be strong
0:31:56 at something and every eye soc has its
0:31:58 strengths some ice folks are very good
0:31:59 at educational
0:32:01 programs at talks lectures workshops
0:32:02 other eye socks are very strong in the
0:32:04 social scene
0:32:05 you know they're able to attract a much
0:32:06 wider audience of freshers
0:32:08 non-practicing muslims people who are
0:32:10 not really interested in islam they're
0:32:11 able to attract and appeal to a much
0:32:12 wider audience
0:32:14 so find out where are your strengths you
0:32:16 know what have previous eyes uh
0:32:18 committees done what position has that
0:32:20 placed you in
0:32:21 where are your strengths so that's a
0:32:24 really important part
0:32:25 so now you have three things to think
0:32:27 about and once you think about those
0:32:28 three things
0:32:29 the thing the the overlap between them
0:32:31 something that is
0:32:32 a passion of yours it is a strength a
0:32:35 competency of your committee
0:32:36 of your the people at your service and
0:32:38 largely it's a demand it's a need for
0:32:40 the campus
0:32:41 when you have these three boxes ticked
0:32:43 that has to be your vision that has to
0:32:44 be part of your vision and the vision
0:32:46 is is kind of a big picture of where do
0:32:48 you want your compass to be and think
0:32:49 long term
0:32:50 don't just think about what should i do
0:32:52 uh you know what challenges do my campus
0:32:54 have now so one of the challenges would
0:32:55 be that young muslims have doubts about
0:32:57 their faith
0:32:58 we need to educate them on the
0:33:00 intellectual foundations of their faith
0:33:01 we need to articulate this faith to the
0:33:04 other you know people
0:33:05 have to understand we have to be
0:33:06 comfortable in our skin sharing who we
0:33:08 are with others
0:33:09 so this is really important point uh to
0:33:12 not just anticipate the current needs
0:33:13 but the needs in five years time the
0:33:15 world is changing
0:33:16 in five years time what are the muslims
0:33:17 on campus going to need we should start
0:33:19 planning for that now
0:33:20 start building up for that now the
0:33:22 momentum so that in five years time
0:33:24 we're able to consolidate and create
0:33:26 something really compelling so these are
0:33:27 the
0:33:27 the questions to ask to think about you
0:33:30 know what should you include in your
0:33:31 vision and what should you exclude
0:33:32 what you should you say no to what
0:33:34 should your focus be now
0:33:36 how should i make my vision happen this
0:33:38 is the second question so once you
0:33:39 thought about that end goal that
0:33:41 destination
0:33:42 that picture you know uh you know that
0:33:45 blueprint of what you want your house to
0:33:46 look like your eye sock your compass to
0:33:48 look like
0:33:49 now how am i going to get from here to
0:33:51 there
0:33:52 what is the route this is where google
0:33:54 maps does its route mapping
0:33:55 right you put in the destination it
0:33:57 calculates where you are and this is
0:33:59 when you start thinking about
0:34:00 what do i need to get there what
0:34:02 relationships do i need do i need a
0:34:03 relationship with the chancellor
0:34:04 with the chaplaincy with mental health
0:34:06 services you know welfare is a greater
0:34:08 greater challenge as the years come by
0:34:10 more and more muslims with panic attacks
0:34:12 struggling with
0:34:13 mental health struggling with emotional
0:34:15 difficulty how can we cater to them how
0:34:17 can we well maybe we need a relationship
0:34:19 with a mental health services maybe we
0:34:20 need relationship with a muslim
0:34:21 counselling service like sakura like in
0:34:23 spirited minds
0:34:24 so what do we need to do to to address
0:34:27 that okay a lot of muslims on campus
0:34:28 have doubts about faith okay sapient
0:34:30 institute
0:34:32 is the man you know what what kind of
0:34:33 relationship should we strike
0:34:35 you know what maybe we should even
0:34:36 suggest a sapient institute look we'd
0:34:38 like this maybe you can do this for us
0:34:39 etc etc
0:34:40 so what activities resources actions
0:34:43 should we do
0:34:44 to make that a reality and what the most
0:34:47 important thing to really think about is
0:34:49 focus you can't do 100 things you think
0:34:51 about light
0:34:54 you know a candle is also light and a
0:34:56 laser is also light they're made of the
0:34:57 same thing photons
0:34:59 i studied physics at university physics
0:35:01 and engineering so i know about photons
0:35:03 i know i think how to about photons
0:35:05 and so a laser and a candle are made of
0:35:07 the same thing
0:35:08 light photons but a laser is able to cut
0:35:12 through steel because it's focused light
0:35:14 whereas a candle melts away and it
0:35:17 barely lights up the room
0:35:18 because it is it goes in all directions
0:35:20 you want to be focused you want to cut
0:35:22 through steel
0:35:23 the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam he
0:35:26 he give terbia he gave he cultivated his
0:35:28 companions to focus on one thing
0:35:30 each everybody was not supposed to be a
0:35:32 jack of all trades
0:35:34 and so the prophet salallahu alaihi
0:35:35 wasallam he
0:35:37 for example khalid great military
0:35:39 strategist he didn't ask him to teach
0:35:40 people quran he said you do your
0:35:42 military strategy
0:35:43 allah you know he was called saiful
0:35:45 means the sword of allah
0:35:47 abu hurairah very inquisitive very
0:35:50 curious man
0:35:51 you know constantly memorizing okay this
0:35:53 is the man who's going to record the
0:35:54 reports
0:35:55 the statements of the prophet saw allah
0:35:58 a person who had a sweet voice but also
0:36:01 a person
0:36:01 who was able to speak to all sorts of
0:36:04 people the prophet
0:36:05 says you will be the caller to prayer
0:36:06 you will make the announcements for me
0:36:08 and you will be kind of the publicity
0:36:09 officer of the muslims
0:36:13 you know he accepted islam when he was
0:36:14 60 years old um you know so he's quite
0:36:17 elderly at this time
0:36:18 he may not have been the greatest worry
0:36:19 about one thing he did have going he was
0:36:21 a brilliant poet
0:36:23 and so hasan and with that becomes the
0:36:24 poet of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:36:26 wasallam
0:36:26 we have so many lines of poetry from him
0:36:28 defending the prophet
0:36:29 at you know he was like the pr service
0:36:31 of prasad he would attack the
0:36:33 the opposition defend the prophet sallam
0:36:35 in form of in the form of poetry which
0:36:36 was the currency the media of the time
0:36:38 so he was kind of the media outlet for
0:36:40 the muslims so everybody has to take
0:36:42 their position
0:36:43 in terms of reviving the ummah everybody
0:36:45 in the iso committee
0:36:46 you know has to take that you have to
0:36:47 focus what exactly is your eyesore going
0:36:49 to focus on
0:36:50 depending on your challenges your
0:36:52 interests and the needs the needs of the
0:36:54 the needs of the compass around you and
0:36:56 think about what is absolutely necessary
0:36:58 to achieve your outcome don't do
0:36:59 anything and everything because the
0:37:01 previous committee did question
0:37:02 your approach question uh you know your
0:37:05 your plan
0:37:07 and last we've already discussed focus
0:37:08 why is it important to focus
0:37:12 and we notice even allah subhanahu wa
0:37:13 tala gave every prophet of islam a
0:37:15 specific focus a specific skill that
0:37:17 you know he didn't give the same to the
0:37:19 other prophets
0:37:22 peace and blessings on all of them was
0:37:25 able to melt steel he had a physical
0:37:27 strength
0:37:28 right also was very wise when it came to
0:37:30 judgment in dealing with conflict
0:37:32 dealing with people
0:37:33 but suriman alayhi his own son had a
0:37:36 completely different skill set
0:37:37 different focus you know allah gave him
0:37:40 the ability to
0:37:41 interact and command nature the wind
0:37:43 animals et cetera et cetera
0:37:45 and ibrahim alaihi salam each prophet
0:37:48 has a particular
0:37:50 focus has a particular skill set which
0:37:52 they used for allah subhanahu wa
0:37:53 ta'ala's sake
0:37:54 and so choose from all the things that
0:37:57 you said you wanted to achieve
0:37:58 to achieve your vision choose the top
0:38:00 three or the top five things that you're
0:38:02 going to actually really double down and
0:38:03 focus on
0:38:04 to let your vision become a reality why
0:38:07 is it important to focus
0:38:08 it makes your decisions a lot easier you
0:38:10 know someone comes to you or what about
0:38:11 believe and do good or you know why
0:38:12 don't you
0:38:13 approach our organization oh you know
0:38:15 why don't you share this link with your
0:38:17 students you say actually hold on we
0:38:18 don't actually need this
0:38:20 we'd rather do three things properly
0:38:22 than 20 things not really properly we'd
0:38:24 rather not spread ourselves thin
0:38:26 and also it gives you unity when
0:38:27 everybody is agreed upon three things to
0:38:29 focus on everybody
0:38:31 knows what to work towards you know that
0:38:33 focus
0:38:34 it perpetuates down the entire ice
0:38:37 volunteer membership the entire
0:38:39 committee the extended committees the
0:38:41 subcommittees
0:38:42 everybody knows we need to achieve one
0:38:44 two three it's crystal clear
0:38:46 and so they're all working towards that
0:38:47 common goal they know it's very clear
0:38:49 what they need to do
0:38:50 and they use their resources wisely
0:38:52 budgets you know we all have limited
0:38:53 budgets as i saw we're not all rich
0:38:55 we're not all
0:38:56 you know funded by uh you know by by
0:38:58 wealthy donors and so we need to
0:39:00 budget wisely and so we need to budget
0:39:02 more of our budget towards our focuses
0:39:04 and less towards things that are not our
0:39:06 focus um
0:39:08 and and and more than anything else your
0:39:11 focus has to be on the things you think
0:39:12 will make the most impact
0:39:15 you know for example if you had to
0:39:16 choose between you know taking the
0:39:18 students
0:39:19 of your isoc to visit a a homeless
0:39:22 shelter
0:39:23 you know in contrast with teaching them
0:39:25 the basics of their deen
0:39:26 you need to think first of all does it
0:39:28 have to be either or can they do both
0:39:30 can they do one thing another time of
0:39:31 the year and this
0:39:32 this time of year can one thing be
0:39:33 regular and the other thing be
0:39:34 occasional
0:39:35 which one am i going to focus on right
0:39:38 and lastly your focus is what eventually
0:39:41 allows you to achieve your vision it
0:39:42 allows it keeps you on track it's the
0:39:44 break it's the
0:39:45 navigation you know when you go off
0:39:47 track on google maps uh kt from google
0:39:49 maps always tells you
0:39:50 you know you know this has added six
0:39:52 minutes to your
0:39:54 to your journey this you know you have
0:39:55 to go take a few turns in order to come
0:39:57 back to your destination
0:39:58 and so that focus will allow you to keep
0:40:00 course correcting every time you go
0:40:01 slightly off
0:40:02 of course the entire iso committee says
0:40:04 actually hold on we're not we're losing
0:40:06 focus here let's come back to the main
0:40:08 focus
0:40:08 and so that's the importance of choosing
0:40:10 a strategic focus now here's an example
0:40:12 on a screen
0:40:12 of what a vision could look like if you
0:40:15 were to write out a vision
0:40:16 and we're going to look at two different
0:40:18 ice socks you know how would they
0:40:20 write divisions differently and what
0:40:21 does that result in in terms of their
0:40:23 activities and are practically on the
0:40:24 ground
0:40:25 so one icebox says oh our priority our
0:40:28 vision to create a muslim community on
0:40:29 campus
0:40:30 that cultivates a strong foundation of
0:40:32 iman and shares their faith with the
0:40:34 wider community
0:40:36 right and so their strategic focus
0:40:38 becomes like three things number one
0:40:39 developing the iman or the membership
0:40:41 removing their doubts giving them
0:40:42 learning spiritual development etc
0:40:44 number two okay part of uh part of iman
0:40:47 is developing their ability and
0:40:50 engagement with the quran
0:40:51 making them understand and explore the
0:40:53 meanings of the quran reflection etc
0:40:55 and lastly we want to share our faith
0:40:56 with those around us we need to be
0:40:57 confident in that so training
0:40:59 vice sapiens institute for training
0:41:01 learn how to do interfaith dialogue
0:41:02 understand the contemporary ideo
0:41:04 ideology around us et cetera et cetera
0:41:05 so
0:41:06 this is what the focuses are the events
0:41:08 the planning
0:41:09 will follow now there's another eye sock
0:41:12 another eye sock
0:41:13 their objective is we want to develop a
0:41:15 muslim community who are future leaders
0:41:17 in their respective communities
0:41:18 they're experts in their respective
0:41:20 fields and they're confident in sharing
0:41:22 their faith
0:41:23 so now their strategic focuses are
0:41:25 different number one their focus is on
0:41:27 leadership skills
0:41:28 so maybe they need to have retreats
0:41:30 leadership training
0:41:31 etc etc also have a focus on career
0:41:35 development we want our muslims to be in
0:41:36 the best careers we want them to be in
0:41:38 the best positions and the best jobs
0:41:40 so we are going to give them mentorships
0:41:41 cv workshops muslim call muslims in to
0:41:43 come and talk about entrepreneurship
0:41:46 and lastly you know their third focus is
0:41:48 dawa is in sharing their faith in
0:41:50 training et cetera et cetera so now you
0:41:51 have
0:41:52 because of the vision and because of the
0:41:54 strategic focuses
0:41:55 you have two very different eye socks is
0:41:58 one and i sock two
0:41:59 they have two very different sets of
0:42:01 events two
0:42:02 uh you know very different forms that
0:42:04 the iso take two very different flavors
0:42:06 of the isoc
0:42:07 and that's fine and this is very
0:42:09 important we don't always have to be
0:42:11 uniform
0:42:12 or we have to be united unity is not
0:42:15 uniformity
0:42:16 the sahaba the companions of the prophet
0:42:18 salallahu had different focuses
0:42:20 and when the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:42:22 wasallam passes away he sends before
0:42:24 that he sends them to be
0:42:26 you know the governors of different
0:42:27 lands so damascus is very different from
0:42:29 yemen
0:42:31 you know and yemen is very different
0:42:33 from uh you know
0:42:34 parts of hashem parts of the roman
0:42:36 empire the roman empire were
0:42:37 ex-christian
0:42:38 uh yemen were you know more bedouin arab
0:42:41 origins
0:42:42 you have the persians who are more
0:42:43 zoroastrian sun worshipers so each one
0:42:45 is going to have his focus because he
0:42:46 has his own geographical needs
0:42:48 his own challenges to attend to and so
0:42:50 it's fine for the ice to be slightly
0:42:52 different but know why you are different
0:42:54 why are you focusing on what you're
0:42:55 focusing question that as a committee
0:42:57 and come to a conclusion
0:42:59 and lastly the last thing very important
0:43:01 to uh reflect on is
0:43:03 the vision is not about achieving vanity
0:43:06 metrics
0:43:07 how many people attend my event 2000.
0:43:09 how many people are on this webinar 68
0:43:11 oh 68 that's such a small number
0:43:13 this is not the criteria to judge the
0:43:16 success that you are achieving
0:43:18 the the focus should be on the people
0:43:20 the isoc is about people it's about a
0:43:22 number of people who are coming together
0:43:24 so how can we develop these people the
0:43:25 prophet salallahu he had a small amount
0:43:28 of people
0:43:29 you know a small amount of people around
0:43:30 him
0:43:34 you know just you know small group but
0:43:35 this small group were the movers and
0:43:37 shakers of the world
0:43:43 these small group of people were the
0:43:44 movers and shakers of the world so it
0:43:46 doesn't matter if they're small
0:43:47 you know in hadith the prophet informs
0:43:49 us
0:43:53 prophets will come on the day of
0:43:54 judgment with zero followers
0:43:57 no followers allah sent this person with
0:44:00 revelation he gave him revelation allah
0:44:02 sent this person with the truth sent him
0:44:04 to a group of people and not a single
0:44:05 person followed him
0:44:06 we
0:44:11 [Music]
0:44:19 and he remained calling them for 950
0:44:21 years
0:44:26 allah flooded the entirety all of them
0:44:29 and they were oppressors
0:44:30 does this mean nu hadesam failed because
0:44:32 he didn't get the numbers because he had
0:44:34 the majority of people on his boat were
0:44:36 animals perhaps more than the number of
0:44:37 human beings
0:44:38 because his own son drowned he wasn't
0:44:40 able to even guide
0:44:41 his son because guidance is in the power
0:44:43 of allah so don't worry about the
0:44:45 numbers
0:44:47 rather think about how you can develop
0:44:49 the people around you think about the
0:44:50 quality think about the experiences that
0:44:51 people have
0:44:52 the the sun the love the affection that
0:44:55 people feel when they look at you as a
0:44:56 leader as a committee member
0:44:58 the welcoming field they get from you
0:44:59 that's more important than how many
0:45:00 people walk into the room
0:45:03 and so the prophet saw as one last
0:45:05 example before i hand over to sadhamza
0:45:07 when he sent musa ibn
0:45:10 to madinah to yatrib at the time you
0:45:13 know
0:45:13 a group of a small tribe from what not
0:45:15 today is known as madinah
0:45:16 they come to the prophet sallam they
0:45:18 interested in islam they ask him
0:45:19 questions they embrace islam
0:45:22 he sends with them one man one year
0:45:24 later this man converts the entire city
0:45:26 of yatrip to islam
0:45:28 how did one man do that
0:45:35 it's about the quality of that man even
0:45:37 though the prophet only had
0:45:38 a few people around him those people
0:45:40 were were
0:45:42 amazing people that me and you would not
0:45:43 be worth a fingernail on their skin on
0:45:45 their hands
0:45:46 and so you know focus on the quality of
0:45:49 the experiences that you are having with
0:45:50 other people
0:45:51 on the brotherhood the sisterhood that
0:45:52 you are developing don't worry about the
0:45:54 numbers about the metrics about the
0:45:55 footfall
0:45:56 these things allah subhanahu if he
0:45:58 blesses you he will give you and if he
0:45:59 blesses you in other ways you may not
0:46:01 have it
0:46:02 that's a very important point for all of
0:46:03 us to reflect on and
0:46:05 last thing is a note on a personal
0:46:06 vision it's not enough for us to do all
0:46:08 of this for the eye sock and then
0:46:09 ourselves in our personal lives we have
0:46:11 no vision
0:46:11 so do the same exercise for yourself
0:46:13 think about your own vision what do you
0:46:15 want to achieve
0:46:16 in five years 10 years 20 years time
0:46:18 what impact you want to have on your
0:46:20 akhira
0:46:20 and then divide that vision into a
0:46:22 number of streams into now this is your
0:46:24 mission how am i going to get there
0:46:25 you know if i want to you know if i have
0:46:28 this vision then what does that mean for
0:46:29 my worship for my lifestyle for my
0:46:31 family for my career for my dawah
0:46:32 and take them slowly give yourself time
0:46:34 to build things up slowly but surely
0:46:36 over time and make things practical and
0:46:39 make that
0:46:40 make that vision something that you know
0:46:42 you stick up on the wall every morning
0:46:43 you get up you look at it and it
0:46:44 motivates your decisions
0:46:45 motivates your actions now here's some
0:46:47 homework for all of you to go away
0:46:49 to think about what we've shared for you
0:46:51 we shared with you here about visioning
0:46:53 about deciding on strategic focus draft
0:46:56 a plan for your academic year
0:46:57 i know your academic year is already
0:46:59 perhaps halfway done and you'll be
0:47:00 handing over to your committees
0:47:01 but even think about a three-year plan a
0:47:04 vision that you can actually hand over
0:47:06 to the next committee and say look can
0:47:07 we've done 20
0:47:09 can you achieve the next 20 percent you
0:47:12 know we've done 30 can you achieve the
0:47:13 next 30 percent
0:47:15 think about something that you know
0:47:16 following committees can actually
0:47:17 continue they're building on what you're
0:47:19 doing rather than everything starts all
0:47:20 over again from scratch
0:47:22 so think about that think about
0:47:25 developing this vision
0:47:26 brainstorm as a team your strategic
0:47:28 focus draft a plan for a year and email
0:47:30 uh this to info sapiensinstitute.org and
0:47:33 inshallah tala will help you now
0:47:35 i will with no further ado pass it on to
0:47:37 south hamza
0:47:38 to take over and discuss leadership
0:47:41 within
0:47:43 and i'm just going to pass it over to
0:47:46 him
0:48:01 and i'm looking forward to hearing more
0:48:04 in a few minutes when you're going to be
0:48:05 covering
0:48:06 the essential aspects the essential
0:48:09 elements
0:48:10 concerning your class and purifying the
0:48:14 heart
0:48:14 etc etc so now it's my turn i'm going to
0:48:17 be talking about
0:48:18 leadership now
0:48:22 having a vision is all about leadership
0:48:24 because what
0:48:25 leaders really do is they try to enable
0:48:28 that vision to manifest itself in
0:48:31 reality
0:48:33 if you study leadership generally
0:48:36 speaking
0:48:37 every single leader had a vision
0:48:41 if it was not just for themselves in the
0:48:43 communities
0:48:44 it was for the world so if you study for
0:48:47 example
0:48:48 nelson mandela if you study for example
0:48:52 martin luther king if you study for
0:48:54 example malcolm x if you study
0:48:57 the greatest leader to have walked this
0:48:58 planet the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:49:01 you would see they had a vision and
0:49:04 usually their vision was greater than
0:49:08 themselves
0:49:09 from the point of view that their vision
0:49:12 would be for something like
0:49:13 50 to 100 to even maybe a thousand years
0:49:17 ahead it was a lofty goal
0:49:20 but what they tried to do was to
0:49:22 establish the necessary strategies
0:49:26 communities other leaders actions
0:49:29 activities etc in order for that vision
0:49:33 to become a reality at some point in the
0:49:36 future
0:49:37 and it usually transcended their death
0:49:41 now it depends how lofty your vision is
0:49:43 generally speaking we have a very lofty
0:49:45 vision like the
0:49:46 vision of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:49:48 wasallam which
0:49:50 essentially is a islam will enter every
0:49:52 home
0:49:54 now when he died sallallahu alaihi
0:49:57 islam didn't enter every home
0:50:00 however he put the essential things in
0:50:04 place in order for that to happen
0:50:06 namely he developed empowered
0:50:09 and created the future leaders which
0:50:11 were the sahaba
0:50:12 and the sahaba is the same with the
0:50:14 tabi'een and it continues to us
0:50:16 today and we see
0:50:19 over a billion people are muslim now
0:50:22 people
0:50:22 are sharing islam on a grassroots level
0:50:25 they're sharing islam intellectually
0:50:27 with hikmah with rahma and obviously
0:50:30 there's much more work to do
0:50:31 but islam now is across the world
0:50:36 and you're seeing now the vision of the
0:50:38 prophet sallallahu alaihi wasa manifest
0:50:41 itself
0:50:42 if you have a really lofty goal it's
0:50:44 going to transcend your life but you're
0:50:46 going to do what is necessary in your
0:50:48 life in order for it to happen
0:50:51 now so from this point of view
0:50:53 leadership is about making that vision a
0:50:55 reality
0:50:57 but there's a few things that we have to
0:50:59 consider some
0:51:00 essential elements of leadership now
0:51:02 just as a caveat
0:51:04 you have to be aware that i'm not going
0:51:07 to mention
0:51:08 all the essential elements of leadership
0:51:10 there are so many things we have to have
0:51:12 in place
0:51:13 in order for us to become good leaders
0:51:15 for
0:51:16 our vision to manifest itself
0:51:19 but i'm going to talk about certain
0:51:21 things that would enable you
0:51:23 to progress further and enable you to
0:51:26 to continue your leadership journey
0:51:30 now leadership journey what does that
0:51:32 mean it doesn't mean
0:51:33 everyone is going to lead from the front
0:51:36 it also means that people
0:51:38 you're going to lead from the back and
0:51:40 it also means
0:51:41 that you're not necessarily going to
0:51:43 have a position of power
0:51:45 because leadership is not a position
0:51:48 it's a state of being i repeat
0:51:52 leadership is not just a position it's a
0:51:55 state
0:51:55 of being you could really run an entire
0:51:59 organization
0:52:00 and not be the ceo because your state
0:52:04 of being the way you relate to yourself
0:52:06 the way you relate to others and the way
0:52:08 you relate to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
0:52:10 is such
0:52:11 that people are influenced by you
0:52:15 and that's what's very important to
0:52:16 understand that it's not about chasing
0:52:18 the titles
0:52:20 but doing what is right and using your
0:52:23 influence in such a way
0:52:24 in order for the right thing to happen
0:52:26 in order for your vision to manifest
0:52:28 itself and become a reality
0:52:30 so i want to talk about a few things
0:52:32 with regards to leadership
0:52:34 and just to give you a little bit about
0:52:36 my background
0:52:38 i was the chief executive officer for
0:52:42 iera for three years
0:52:45 i think it was from 2016 to 2019
0:52:52 actually no it was 2017 to 2020
0:52:56 this year but i left in january february
0:53:00 and alhamdulillah it was an amazing
0:53:01 experience and i learned a lot
0:53:04 and it taught me a lot about leadership
0:53:07 and alhamdulillah
0:53:08 all praise be to allah we increased the
0:53:11 organization's finance
0:53:12 finances by 500 percent and we
0:53:16 increased global operations by a
0:53:18 thousand percent
0:53:20 and it wasn't easy late nights grafting
0:53:24 and the type of leadership style that i
0:53:27 adopted
0:53:28 was one that was based on extreme
0:53:31 ownership that you own people's mistakes
0:53:36 and you see people as yourself they are
0:53:39 mirrors of you similarly to what the
0:53:43 prophet sallallahu alaihi who
0:53:45 said when he said the believer
0:53:48 is a mirror of another believer so when
0:53:51 you see a blemish in the mirror
0:53:53 you don't wipe the mirror you wipe
0:53:55 yourself because it's really you
0:53:57 so for example if someone was failing or
0:53:59 they didn't have the right skills
0:54:01 the approach that i would take was well
0:54:04 how do we get them to be a best version
0:54:05 of themselves
0:54:07 rather than firing them and getting rid
0:54:10 of them and replacing them because i
0:54:11 could have done that a few times
0:54:13 but i decided not to because
0:54:17 people are involved in the dao they have
0:54:18 a hell of a lot of passion and a love
0:54:20 and sincerity
0:54:21 and those soft skills those behaviors if
0:54:24 you like
0:54:25 are priceless skills you can learn
0:54:28 yes you may have to work a little bit
0:54:30 harder in trying to empower and develop
0:54:32 that person and get to see the person
0:54:34 get the person to see themselves what
0:54:36 you see in them and that takes
0:54:38 that's tough that takes a lot of
0:54:40 grafting and hours and energy
0:54:41 but it's worth it in the long term so
0:54:44 that was my kind of approach
0:54:45 alhamdulillah it worked
0:54:47 from the point of view that the results
0:54:51 and this is all due to the mercy and
0:54:54 will of allah subhanallah ta'ala so
0:54:55 there's a few things i want to talk
0:54:56 about with regards to leadership
0:54:58 finding the balance being egoless
0:55:02 understanding the ego is the enemy this
0:55:05 is the greatest
0:55:06 disease for any leader the importance of
0:55:10 integrity
0:55:11 the importance of service you need to
0:55:14 see
0:55:15 yourself as a person of service
0:55:18 even if it means cleaning the office
0:55:21 floor
0:55:22 even if it means you leading by example
0:55:25 and serving your eye sock even if you're
0:55:28 the iso
0:55:29 head and hoovering the masala the prayer
0:55:33 space
0:55:33 or the prayer hall or the masjid you
0:55:36 ensuring that everyone eats in ramadan
0:55:40 and you know that you need to be at
0:55:42 service to people that you're serving
0:55:44 the food and that you know that
0:55:45 leaders eat lost
0:55:49 you need to have compassion and mercy i
0:55:52 need to be courageous
0:55:53 and i'm gonna explain what these mean so
0:55:55 let's first talk about
0:55:58 the five so let's first talk about the
0:56:01 first three
0:56:02 passages that were revealed
0:56:06 in the quran okay so
0:56:11 just bear with me there's a little bit
0:56:12 of a glitch
0:56:14 there you go so the first one
0:56:17 was read in the name of your lord and
0:56:20 this relates to knowledge
0:56:22 the second one was stand and warn arise
0:56:24 and warn
0:56:25 which relates to activism and dour
0:56:28 and the third one is about praying at
0:56:30 night even if a little
0:56:33 in these respective surahs that you can
0:56:34 see on the presentation slide
0:56:37 now this is very important because
0:56:41 this is really articulating what the
0:56:43 three pillars of leadership
0:56:44 are because these
0:56:48 verses were directly for the prophet
0:56:50 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:56:52 and he had the whole universe on his
0:56:54 shoulders
0:56:55 from the point of view that he came as a
0:56:58 final messenger of allah as a final
0:57:02 messenger of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
0:57:04 and the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:57:06 wasallam had to convey
0:57:09 the message of tawheed that there is no
0:57:11 deity worthy of worship that human
0:57:13 beings
0:57:14 exist for the purpose of worship which
0:57:17 is to know
0:57:18 allah which is to love allah which is to
0:57:20 obey allah
0:57:22 and to direct all acts of worship to
0:57:24 allah alone the internal acts of worship
0:57:26 and the external acts of worship and he
0:57:28 was a messenger for the whole of the
0:57:31 world
0:57:32 and that was his mission for every human
0:57:35 being
0:57:36 to hear about allah subhanahu wa
0:57:39 and the fact that he is worthy of
0:57:41 worship and they need to
0:57:43 they need to prioritize their whole life
0:57:45 and revolve their whole life around
0:57:47 the this purpose in their life which is
0:57:49 a divinely revealed purpose
0:57:54 allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is really
0:57:58 giving the prophet sallam the pillars of
0:58:02 becoming a great leader
0:58:04 so the first pillar was about knowledge
0:58:08 read recites in the name of allah
0:58:11 subhanawat and in the name of your lord
0:58:15 and the other passage was about when i
0:58:17 need to arise and warn
0:58:19 you need to be brave you need to be
0:58:21 courageous you need to have integrity to
0:58:23 the message
0:58:24 to to your specific purpose you need
0:58:27 to arise and warn you need to convey
0:58:30 islam
0:58:32 at every level to all people in the best
0:58:35 manner
0:58:36 possible with ahsan with excellence with
0:58:38 hikma
0:58:39 with rahma
0:58:42 and you need to pray at night even if a
0:58:44 little
0:58:45 which talks about worship being
0:58:47 connected
0:58:49 to allah being connected to the one
0:58:53 who controls everything being connected
0:58:55 to the one
0:58:56 that you love and that you adore being
0:58:58 connected to the one
0:58:59 that has mandated
0:59:03 that you share this message with the
0:59:04 world and
0:59:06 ibada is so central to becoming a good
0:59:09 leader
0:59:10 and you will realize leadership is
0:59:13 a huge responsibility you should never
0:59:15 seek leadership the general rule in
0:59:17 islam
0:59:18 is that you shouldn't seek leadership
0:59:21 and those who seek leadership they
0:59:23 usually have a spiritual disease in
0:59:24 their heart
0:59:25 unless of course that they know that
0:59:28 they have to
0:59:29 you know stand up and they have to
0:59:33 take the reins of leadership for the
0:59:35 sake of allah because no one else is
0:59:37 doing it
0:59:38 or because they're the only one who have
0:59:39 the ability that's a different scenario
0:59:41 in different context
0:59:42 however generally speaking you don't
0:59:44 seek leadership you're given leadership
0:59:48 and to be a good leader you have to be
0:59:51 connected to allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
0:59:52 because you're going to be
0:59:53 true you're going to have tests you have
0:59:55 to be patient you have to be relying on
0:59:57 lots of paranoia
0:59:58 you have to be brave and bravery can
1:00:01 only come with reliance
1:00:03 on allah and
1:00:06 you need to make good decisions and that
1:00:09 requires you to be just
1:00:10 and fair you need to be egoless
1:00:14 and ego is a barrier to making good
1:00:16 decisions because you always want to be
1:00:17 right you never want to be wrong
1:00:19 you always want to look good you don't
1:00:20 want to look bad you want to impose you
1:00:22 don't want to be imposed upon
1:00:24 so what abadda does it basically removes
1:00:26 that spiritual disease in your heart in
1:00:27 order for you to become a good leader
1:00:31 and ibadah helps you actually
1:00:34 creating new leaders because a true
1:00:36 leader creates
1:00:38 other leaders in actual fact true
1:00:41 leadership
1:00:42 you should intend not to be a leader
1:00:44 that's what true leadership is
1:00:47 because your whole goal is to make the
1:00:50 vision happen
1:00:51 if the vision happens you don't have to
1:00:53 be a leader in order for
1:00:55 to make the vision happen anymore so
1:00:57 really you should be sincere in making
1:00:59 yourself redundant
1:01:01 right and especially if
1:01:04 you understand that true leadership is
1:01:06 creating more leaders because you're not
1:01:08 going to live forever
1:01:09 and if your goal is lofty enough right
1:01:12 it's big enough then you know you have
1:01:15 to create new leaders just like the
1:01:17 prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he
1:01:18 created leaders in the sahaba
1:01:20 so it's extremely important to have
1:01:22 knowledge it's extremely important to
1:01:26 share that knowledge and be active and
1:01:28 to connect with allah which facilitates
1:01:31 all of the above
1:01:34 and we're going to talk more about
1:01:35 spirituality in ibadah
1:01:37 chef is going to be talking about the
1:01:39 central elements concerning purifying
1:01:41 your heart
1:01:42 having a class and so on and so forth
1:01:44 and he's also going to mention about
1:01:46 knowledge too but this is very important
1:01:47 to understand in the beginning these are
1:01:49 the three pillars of leadership
1:01:52 so an essential aspect of leadership is
1:01:55 to be egoless we have to understand ego
1:01:57 is the enemy because what is the nufs
1:01:58 what does the ego
1:01:59 say the ego basically says i want to be
1:02:02 right i never want to be wrong
1:02:04 i want to look good i never want to look
1:02:07 bad i want to impose i don't want to be
1:02:09 imposed upon
1:02:10 to the extent by the way that you reject
1:02:12 the truth and you reject what's right
1:02:14 because as a leader you must follow the
1:02:16 truth and you must do the right thing
1:02:18 even if it goes against your opinion
1:02:20 even if it makes you look bad
1:02:22 and even if it means that other people
1:02:24 are imposing on you
1:02:26 remember it's not about vanity it's not
1:02:28 about vanity management
1:02:29 metrics it's not about pleasing yourself
1:02:31 it's about pleasing allah subhanahu wa
1:02:33 tala because your vision in the first
1:02:35 place
1:02:35 should be focused should be about the
1:02:38 pleasure of allah
1:02:40 ultimately an ego is
1:02:43 the enemy i've seen this in
1:02:46 organizations i've seen this in groups
1:02:50 having a leader that is arrogant or
1:02:53 egocentric or egotistical
1:02:55 is extremely damaging and even if they
1:02:58 achieve some results
1:03:00 in the long term it's detrimental
1:03:05 and it usually removes and sucks away
1:03:07 all of the barakah
1:03:09 from their work and also
1:03:13 from the people that are
1:03:16 supporting the leader in order to make
1:03:18 the vision a reality
1:03:20 so we need to understand that ego is the
1:03:23 enemy
1:03:25 because it essentially makes you reject
1:03:27 the truth
1:03:28 and stops you from doing the right thing
1:03:31 and this is why we have to reflect
1:03:33 on the quran chapter 38 verses 75
1:03:36 and 76 which is about iblis
1:03:40 shaitaan allah ta'ala
1:03:45 is basically saying to iblees you know
1:03:47 what prevented you from prostrating to
1:03:48 that which i created with my hands
1:03:52 were you arrogant then or were you
1:03:54 already among the hoti
1:03:56 and iblee said i am better than him you
1:03:58 created me from fire
1:03:59 and i created him from clay so from this
1:04:02 perspective shaytaan becomes our teacher
1:04:05 he teaches us how not to be because
1:04:08 shaytan's
1:04:10 kuffar his disbelief his rejection of
1:04:12 islam in his essence
1:04:15 was as a result of him being
1:04:18 him having arrogance and ego
1:04:24 and you could see that shaytan didn't
1:04:26 want to bow down so he didn't want to be
1:04:28 imposed he wanted to impulse
1:04:32 he was basically saying i'm not
1:04:35 being imposed upon i'm not buying down
1:04:38 i'm better than him so he wanted to look
1:04:39 good he didn't want to look bad
1:04:42 he was challenging allah the ultimate
1:04:44 authority when allah tells him to bow
1:04:46 and shaytan knows that allah
1:04:50 has the totality of wisdom and knowledge
1:04:54 and him to reject that command is
1:04:56 basically saying to allah you're wrong
1:04:58 and that shaitaan is right
1:05:01 so this is this is the aspect of the ego
1:05:04 and arrogance
1:05:05 i want to be right i never want to be
1:05:07 wrong i want to look good i never want
1:05:09 to look bad i want to impose i don't
1:05:11 want to be imposed upon to the extent
1:05:13 that you reject the huck you reject the
1:05:15 truth and what is right
1:05:18 and that's why having an ego prevents
1:05:20 unity
1:05:22 it prevents achieving the best results
1:05:24 it prevents doing what is right
1:05:25 it prevents achieving your vision it
1:05:28 makes people not trust you
1:05:30 and it shows that you don't have any
1:05:32 integrity to the vision itself
1:05:35 because someone because remember to be a
1:05:37 good leader you have to internalize
1:05:39 the vision to the degree that what you
1:05:42 do and what you say and how you act
1:05:44 is all about achieving that vision and
1:05:46 that you you love that vision so much
1:05:48 that you want other people to be part of
1:05:50 that process
1:05:51 ego stops that because it makes it about
1:05:54 you it makes it about you
1:05:55 it makes it about you looking good it
1:05:57 makes it makes it about
1:05:59 you not wanting to look bad it makes it
1:06:02 about you wanting to improv
1:06:03 impose it makes us about you not not
1:06:05 wanting to be imposed upon it makes it
1:06:07 about you wanting to be right not to be
1:06:09 not want to be wrong you have to
1:06:12 remember brothers and sisters
1:06:14 leadership generally speaking should be
1:06:18 that you get all the blame and you get
1:06:21 no credit
1:06:23 because even if you're successful you
1:06:25 should
1:06:26 give credit to allah because it's all
1:06:29 because of him
1:06:30 and give credit to your team who enabled
1:06:32 it to happen
1:06:34 and if anything goes wrong you should
1:06:36 take all the blame because
1:06:37 you're responsible you're the leader
1:06:40 have extreme ownership
1:06:41 if someone is failing you need to ask
1:06:43 the question how do i get the best out
1:06:45 of that person
1:06:46 i need to be committed to their
1:06:48 well-being which means i want good for
1:06:50 them and guidance for them
1:06:51 how do i achieve that how do i see in
1:06:53 them something great that they can't see
1:06:55 in themselves and how do i take them on
1:06:57 that journey
1:06:57 that's true leadership it's not hiring
1:07:00 and sacking and whatever the case may be
1:07:03 and you know using people as some kind
1:07:05 of a
1:07:06 a tool some kind of a dispensable object
1:07:09 no this is not how we treat human beings
1:07:13 this is not how we develop people we
1:07:15 need to remember where we came from
1:07:17 we learned from our mistakes we had good
1:07:18 mentors around us people allowed us to
1:07:20 grow
1:07:22 we need to give back in the same way so
1:07:25 ego is the enemy and sheikh hisham is
1:07:27 going to be talking about purification
1:07:28 of the heart and how to deal with that
1:07:29 further insha allah
1:07:34 integrity this is so important integrity
1:07:37 here i'm using as a broad
1:07:39 meaning in in the broad sense it
1:07:42 basically means that you keep your word
1:07:43 your word
1:07:44 that you are your word that your word
1:07:47 becomes your identity
1:07:48 now what you say is what you do that you
1:07:51 are trustworthy that you are sincere to
1:07:53 the vision sincere to your
1:07:55 to your flock to your people you're
1:07:57 sincere to your team and you're sincere
1:07:58 to allah
1:08:00 that you now are a mirror you understand
1:08:03 that i need to have integrity to my
1:08:05 leadership and to the vision and to
1:08:07 allah i need to be
1:08:10 compassionate i need to have passion i
1:08:12 need to have certainty and courage
1:08:15 because you realize that certainty gives
1:08:17 rise to certainty
1:08:18 compassion gives rise to compassion
1:08:20 passion gives rise to passion
1:08:23 leadership gives rise to leadership
1:08:25 truth gives
1:08:26 rise to truth being at service to people
1:08:29 gives you give rise to being at service
1:08:30 to people
1:08:31 so you need to lead by example from that
1:08:34 from that perspective
1:08:36 like the prophet salallahu he wanted the
1:08:38 sahaba to shave their heads at one in
1:08:40 one context
1:08:41 that they didn't really follow his wife
1:08:44 told the prophet will you do and they'll
1:08:47 follow you and he did it and they
1:08:48 followed him
1:08:49 lead by example understand that you need
1:08:53 to be that which you want others to be
1:08:55 you can't just tell people what to do
1:08:58 remember
1:08:59 people and this is very true for
1:09:00 children but in people in general as
1:09:02 well
1:09:03 people listen with the eyes not with the
1:09:05 ears let me repeat people listen with
1:09:07 the eyes
1:09:08 not with the ears and what i mean by
1:09:10 listening here is that they listen to
1:09:11 the degree that
1:09:12 affects their own action so integrity
1:09:16 here is very important as allah says in
1:09:17 the quran in chapter 61 verse 3
1:09:20 and there are many verses and a hadith
1:09:21 relating to this topic
1:09:23 how despicable is it in the sight of
1:09:25 allah that you say
1:09:27 what you do not do so it's very
1:09:30 important that if we're going to say for
1:09:32 example
1:09:34 i'm going to meet you at 9 30 and we're
1:09:36 going to have a team meeting that you're
1:09:37 there at 9 25 and you're consistent with
1:09:40 that
1:09:40 if you're going to say for example that
1:09:42 you're committed to the well-being of
1:09:44 people
1:09:45 that you follow what you say and that
1:09:47 you act and you be
1:09:48 in accordance to that and that you're
1:09:50 committed to the well-being of your team
1:09:53 and you're consistent with that
1:09:56 when you say for example that you have a
1:09:59 particular policy
1:10:00 and the policy is for for example that
1:10:04 we don't shame people publicly but we're
1:10:06 given a say here in private
1:10:09 and that's a policy for your eye sock
1:10:12 and you don't break that at all
1:10:13 you keep your word and you become your
1:10:17 word
1:10:17 you need to realize that your word is
1:10:19 your identity because people can't see
1:10:21 what's in your heart
1:10:22 people see your actions and what you say
1:10:25 the heart matters are
1:10:26 up to uh uh in the realm of allah's
1:10:29 knowledge everything is
1:10:31 in the realm of allah's knowledge but
1:10:32 from our perspective we can't access
1:10:34 what's in your heart
1:10:35 so you need to actually realize that
1:10:37 people identify you with what you say
1:10:40 and what you do and and that
1:10:43 what you do is in line with what you say
1:10:45 that's your identity for people
1:10:50 and especially as a leader you need to
1:10:53 ensure that your actions and your state
1:10:55 of being how you relate with others is
1:10:57 in line with what you say and who you
1:10:59 and who you claim to be
1:11:00 and your ethics and values as a leader
1:11:05 you know integrity from that point of
1:11:07 view is if you say fridge
1:11:09 then a fridge actually really comes out
1:11:11 of your mouth i know that sounds really
1:11:12 funny but
1:11:13 i'm trying to show to you that your
1:11:15 words actually become material
1:11:18 and this links to the fact that you are
1:11:19 trustworthy
1:11:21 with people's secrets with private
1:11:24 matter that you understand that if two
1:11:26 people were talking privately
1:11:28 and even if the brother or the sister
1:11:29 said even if they didn't say
1:11:32 you know don't tell anyone that you
1:11:34 still consider it as
1:11:36 extremely private you don't tell anyone
1:11:41 that you are trustworthy from the
1:11:43 perspective if
1:11:44 someone gives you and trusts you with
1:11:46 something
1:11:47 that you would use any means necessary
1:11:51 in order to fulfill that trust
1:11:54 and integrity also means that you're
1:11:55 sincere you're sincere to allah which
1:11:58 you're going to learn later about how to
1:11:59 develop sincerity and what
1:12:00 class really is but sincerity from the
1:12:03 point of view that you're sincere
1:12:04 to allah subhanallah tahalah that you
1:12:07 understand that
1:12:08 leadership is an act of ibadah it's an
1:12:10 act of worship
1:12:12 and you're not doing it for ego for
1:12:13 praise for vanity but you're doing it to
1:12:15 please him
1:12:16 you're doing it to get his reward you're
1:12:18 doing it because he's worthy of
1:12:20 acts of worship is the only deity worthy
1:12:22 of worship
1:12:23 and you're doing it too prevent yourself
1:12:24 from going into the fire
1:12:26 that's what sincerity means and you're
1:12:28 sincere to others from the point of view
1:12:30 that you want best for them
1:12:32 you want them to be better than you you
1:12:34 make duan sajdah that you pray that they
1:12:36 become better leaders than you
1:12:39 and that you you are part of that
1:12:40 process in order for the vision
1:12:42 to manifest itself
1:12:46 and that you are sincere to them from
1:12:48 the point of view that you want to get
1:12:49 the best out of them you want to see in
1:12:50 them what they can't see in themselves
1:12:53 you're not just going to use them for
1:12:54 you to look good but rather you're going
1:12:56 to empower them
1:12:57 touch move and inspire them in order for
1:12:59 them to be part of this amazing process
1:13:03 this is extremely important
1:13:10 service you need to be someone who
1:13:13 is at service to others
1:13:16 leadership is all about service that you
1:13:19 serve others you lead from the back and
1:13:21 the front
1:13:22 many times if you are doing a great job
1:13:24 you don't have to take that leadership
1:13:26 that's already being fulfilled
1:13:27 lead from the back support them if
1:13:29 people are doing great work and they're
1:13:31 taking lead in certain aspects
1:13:33 don't try and say oh i'm the leader let
1:13:34 me do it no they're doing the great work
1:13:37 they filled the gap they're achieving
1:13:39 their objective
1:13:40 support them now ask them do you want
1:13:41 some tea brother you're on a back
1:13:43 massage you you know you've been working
1:13:45 hard all day
1:13:46 brother do you want to get you some
1:13:47 lunch brother there's anything that you
1:13:49 want that i can do for you
1:13:50 you know even if it means that you get a
1:13:52 tissue out and say the brother is going
1:13:54 to be like
1:13:55 you know a spokesperson for the ice sock
1:13:57 and he's taking the lead you don't have
1:13:58 to do it and he's dressed up as a in a
1:14:01 suit maybe he's got some media work or
1:14:03 he's introducing a lecture whatever the
1:14:04 case may be or an interfaith
1:14:06 and he's got some dirt on his shoe he
1:14:08 hasn't noticed it
1:14:10 you get tissue from your pocket you get
1:14:11 on your knees and you wipe his shoe
1:14:13 this is service you're serving
1:14:17 others in order for your vision to
1:14:19 manifest itself
1:14:21 and that could mean serving from the
1:14:22 back from behind
1:14:25 it could be like someone's doing some
1:14:27 great work and you know they got some
1:14:29 admin work to do they don't have any
1:14:30 time is you know what let me take that
1:14:31 off you
1:14:32 you're doing a great job you're moving
1:14:34 forward with this let me just make it a
1:14:35 little bit easier for you
1:14:37 just because you're the leader it
1:14:38 doesn't mean you're not going to do any
1:14:40 grafting
1:14:43 and it and it also means leading from
1:14:45 the front that you have to lead from the
1:14:47 front many times especially when it
1:14:48 comes to being courageous
1:14:49 and when it and when it comes to
1:14:51 actually leading and moving people
1:14:54 towards your vision you have to take
1:14:57 that leadership from the front to
1:14:58 inspire touch and motivate other people
1:15:01 when necessary manage by exception you
1:15:03 don't always have to lead in the front
1:15:05 all the time
1:15:06 especially when your team are doing good
1:15:07 work make them realize that they can
1:15:09 lead themselves which is a sign of good
1:15:11 leadership
1:15:12 a sign of good leadership is that your
1:15:14 leadership is not needed
1:15:15 unless necessary so have a management by
1:15:19 exceptions any gaps
1:15:20 in in in in this in terms of
1:15:24 you needing to take the lead then take
1:15:26 the lead if you don't
1:15:28 then then you don't have to that's just
1:15:29 ego because they're doing a great job
1:15:31 themselves
1:15:35 the other very important which i've
1:15:37 mentioned earlier earlier which is about
1:15:38 having integrity to people is about
1:15:40 being dedicated to the well-being of
1:15:41 others and this links to service
1:15:44 now what does dedicate to the well-being
1:15:46 of others mean well firstly let's
1:15:48 reflect on the hadith that can be found
1:15:49 in the arab
1:15:50 and now
1:15:55 you won't truly believe unless you love
1:15:57 for your brother you are
1:15:58 what you love for yourself now
1:16:01 especially and now he's basically
1:16:03 mentioning that this means wanting good
1:16:04 for people and guidance for people
1:16:06 and this includes non-muslims too
1:16:08 especially according to anawi and the
1:16:10 maliki scholar
1:16:12 also there's another hadith that is
1:16:14 authentic that is narrated by al-bukhari
1:16:16 but it's in tariq
1:16:18 the wording is slightly different it
1:16:20 doesn't mention it says love for
1:16:23 lin-ness love for humanity the people
1:16:25 what you love for yourself
1:16:27 and what these hadith generally mean is
1:16:29 that we must be dedicated to the
1:16:30 well-being of others
1:16:31 we must want good for others and
1:16:33 guidance for other people
1:16:35 and this must be applied to your team as
1:16:38 well
1:16:39 you look into that person you're like
1:16:41 what can i see in that person they can't
1:16:43 see in themselves
1:16:44 what blind spots do they have how do i
1:16:46 unveil those blind spots in order for
1:16:48 them to be inspired
1:16:49 touch moved and inspired
1:16:53 and you need to do this and they would
1:16:55 and once they see that they'll work very
1:16:57 hard for the vision and they'll
1:16:59 achieve great results i remember when i
1:17:02 became ceo
1:17:04 isa khan he was supporting the
1:17:07 fundraising manager
1:17:08 before i became ceo and he was doing
1:17:11 some kind of fundraising admin work and
1:17:12 he had some great ideas about
1:17:14 our fundraising strategy he said look
1:17:16 you know we should go on social media
1:17:18 we should work with the algorithm and we
1:17:20 should do videos and stuff like that
1:17:22 and i really i really believed in what
1:17:25 he was saying
1:17:25 and i said let's follow the data and the
1:17:27 data was pushing that
1:17:28 so i asked the board for him to go and
1:17:31 get some specialist training on this in
1:17:32 canada
1:17:35 they agreed and you know i said to him
1:17:38 you can do this
1:17:39 i said to him no you're not going to
1:17:41 just raise that much you're going to
1:17:43 raise
1:17:43 loads bro and you can do this i try to
1:17:46 encourage him and i said you have the
1:17:47 ability
1:17:48 anyway to cut a long story short you
1:17:51 know him
1:17:52 by the way of allah you know made us
1:17:56 become an organization that increases
1:17:58 finances by 500 percent
1:18:01 because of his change in strategy
1:18:02 because of trusting him empowering him
1:18:04 getting him to do
1:18:05 the training and seeing in him what he
1:18:07 couldn't see himself at that time and
1:18:08 he's mentioned this to me myself
1:18:11 and it's inspiring when that happens you
1:18:13 see things in other people that they
1:18:14 can't see themselves
1:18:16 and they develop to a degree which is
1:18:18 like far beyond your expectations
1:18:22 and that's why you should be committed
1:18:24 to empower develop and inspire people
1:18:26 you know people have amazing abilities
1:18:28 you'd be so surprised what people could
1:18:30 do with just a little bit of
1:18:31 encouragement
1:18:32 we have this kind of discouraging
1:18:34 leadership mindset sometimes especially
1:18:35 in the muslim community sometimes
1:18:37 but just encourage people human beings
1:18:41 have so much potential they just need a
1:18:43 little bit of encouragement
1:18:45 a little bit of empowerment and
1:18:46 inspiration even if it means you working
1:18:48 a bit hard
1:18:49 spending more hours just sitting with
1:18:51 them you know showing them how something
1:18:53 is done
1:18:54 and then after cutting the umbilical
1:18:56 cord if you like and getting them to
1:18:57 proceed
1:18:58 themselves yes that's it's hard work
1:19:01 it's grafting you may have to do some
1:19:03 things for them in the beginning but so
1:19:05 what
1:19:06 where's your integrity where's your
1:19:08 sincerity aren't you committed to the
1:19:09 well-being of others don't you want your
1:19:11 vision to manifest itself
1:19:13 you think people are just going to be
1:19:14 perfect that they were catapulted from
1:19:16 the mother's womb
1:19:17 with professional skills and abilities
1:19:19 no you need to you need to mentor and
1:19:22 and
1:19:22 and stand by people and support them and
1:19:25 encourage them
1:19:26 and if they hit the floor just to bring
1:19:27 them back up
1:19:29 and i'm telling you from my experience
1:19:31 when you do this you get people
1:19:33 that are just phenomenal they will give
1:19:35 you their life
1:19:37 honestly and they would work so hard for
1:19:41 the vision to become a reality
1:19:45 another important thing about being at
1:19:48 service to others is actually you become
1:19:49 what you want others to be
1:19:51 so if you want people to be passionate
1:19:53 if you want people to love the vision
1:19:55 to work for the vision to work hard then
1:19:58 you need to work hard you need to be
1:20:00 passionate
1:20:03 and you need to encourage that in others
1:20:04 through your state of being through your
1:20:06 behavior
1:20:10 and this thing's too various a hadith
1:20:12 i've mentioned some already for example
1:20:14 hadith in sahih muslim
1:20:15 allah would be at the assistant of his
1:20:17 slave so as lo
1:20:18 as such a person is at the assistance of
1:20:20 his brother well
1:20:22 from a leadership perspective this is so
1:20:24 true
1:20:26 in all perspectives of course but
1:20:28 especially my experience when you're
1:20:29 assisting other brothers
1:20:31 when you're helping them when you're
1:20:32 empowering them you're touching moving
1:20:34 and inspiring them
1:20:35 you're getting them to see themselves
1:20:36 what they couldn't see before
1:20:38 you're assisting them in that way allah
1:20:40 will make it easy for you
1:20:48 compassion just because you're a leader
1:20:51 it gives you no
1:20:52 excuse to abuse your power
1:20:56 no excuse look at the best leader to
1:20:58 have worked this planet the prophet
1:21:00 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
1:21:02 in the quran chapter 3 verse 159 allah
1:21:05 says
1:21:05 it is out of allah's mercy that you o
1:21:08 prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
1:21:10 have been lenient with them had you been
1:21:12 cruel or hard-hearted they would have
1:21:14 certainly abandoned you the sahaba would
1:21:16 have moved away from him
1:21:20 so we need to be self-hearted now suffer
1:21:22 it doesn't always mean
1:21:23 being soft it also could mean that
1:21:26 you're
1:21:27 compassionately assertive
1:21:31 so compassion from this point of view is
1:21:33 that yes you're kind and soft
1:21:36 you empathize you imaginatively
1:21:39 try to feel what they're feeling you're
1:21:41 feeling with them
1:21:43 you understand their social moral and
1:21:45 spiritual context and professional
1:21:47 context
1:21:48 you give them the benefit the doubt you
1:21:50 you are positive and always
1:21:51 assume the best about people
1:21:56 and
1:21:59 you always take the merciful position
1:22:01 because
1:22:02 here is a principle in islam it is
1:22:05 better
1:22:06 to er in mercy than to er in harshness
1:22:09 let me repeat it is always better
1:22:13 to er in mercy than to er in harshness
1:22:18 this is an islamic principle
1:22:22 and this is true leadership it's easy to
1:22:25 get rid of people it's
1:22:26 easy to tell people off people often get
1:22:28 frustrated
1:22:29 sometimes you have to do it i appreciate
1:22:31 that but it's very hard
1:22:33 to be kind and soft-hearted and
1:22:34 compassionate and empathize and
1:22:36 understand and give benefit of doubt and
1:22:37 be positive and assume the best
1:22:42 it's very difficult to do that
1:22:44 consistently
1:22:45 all the time especially when someone's
1:22:48 being difficult
1:22:49 especially when you want to get the best
1:22:50 out of them especially when your job
1:22:53 is to touch move and inspire them in
1:22:55 order to get the job done
1:22:59 people are not just abstract tools that
1:23:01 you use they're human beings
1:23:03 not just human doings they're human
1:23:04 beings
1:23:06 so you need to treat them that way i
1:23:08 need to see them
1:23:09 for who they can be and get them on that
1:23:13 journey
1:23:14 and that requires a lot of compassion a
1:23:16 lot of empathy
1:23:17 a lot of understanding the context
1:23:19 giving the benefit the doubt and being
1:23:20 extremely positive
1:23:24 and for me this is summed up in a very
1:23:26 very beautiful tradition
1:23:27 where the prophet had his tooth broken
1:23:29 his face cut during one of the battles
1:23:32 and that's when he was defending muslims
1:23:34 and non-muslims under his protection and
1:23:35 leadership
1:23:37 his companions asked him to curse the
1:23:39 aggressors
1:23:40 however what did the prophet salallahu
1:23:42 alaikum say
1:23:43 he said i was not sent to curse i was
1:23:47 sent as a summoner and as a mercy oh
1:23:49 allah
1:23:50 guide my feel for they do not know now
1:23:53 this is so beautiful let's unpack some
1:23:54 of the context here
1:23:56 he's at war he's defending
1:23:59 his people against the aggressors he's
1:24:02 injured
1:24:03 people died his beloved companions died
1:24:06 and even in that context he was saying i
1:24:09 was sent out of mercy i'm not cursing
1:24:10 i'm here to guide they don't know
1:24:12 they're ignorant subhanallah this is the
1:24:14 epitome of compassion
1:24:17 look i know this new age spirituality
1:24:19 you could be on a mountain and there
1:24:21 could be like
1:24:22 waterfalls and birds singing and you're
1:24:24 like oh
1:24:25 thou must be compassionate that's an
1:24:27 easy context
1:24:29 true compassion is when you have
1:24:31 everything against you
1:24:33 when your context dictates that you
1:24:35 should not be compassionate yet you're
1:24:37 still compassionate
1:24:38 and this was our beloved prophet
1:24:40 sallallahu alaihi
1:24:45 courage you are assertive
1:24:49 and strong in the face of adversity
1:24:51 challenges and obstacles
1:24:54 you need to take courage and take risks
1:24:56 as a leader
1:24:58 this is a key aspect of leadership you
1:25:01 need to actually
1:25:02 lead the way when things become
1:25:04 difficult when you have a vision there's
1:25:06 some obstacles
1:25:07 you need to have tawakkul allah
1:25:08 subhanahu wa ta'ala and say it can be
1:25:10 done
1:25:12 it can be done
1:25:15 if allah is with us then no one could
1:25:17 set us back
1:25:19 let's connect to allah let's have two we
1:25:22 always say
1:25:24 there is no true power apart from the
1:25:26 power of allah that is true then act in
1:25:28 accordance to that
1:25:29 this is true tawhid don't say oh we got
1:25:32 this obstacle in that obstacle no
1:25:35 you are assertive and strong and
1:25:38 courageous
1:25:40 and you're facing these abs obstacles
1:25:42 with positivity and say no
1:25:43 i believe in my vision i believe in
1:25:45 allah allah is with us
1:25:47 we're going to connect to him we're
1:25:48 going to have tawakkad we can get this
1:25:49 done
1:25:51 and i'm telling you when you have the
1:25:52 attitude things happen
1:25:55 things happen things get done
1:25:59 you achieve the impossible because
1:26:02 impossible here is really
1:26:04 i'm possible and i'm possible
1:26:07 because i'm connected to the one who
1:26:10 makes everything possible
1:26:12 and this is just some kind of leadership
1:26:13 cliche this is experience
1:26:18 this is experience this is seeing things
1:26:20 happen
1:26:22 this is as a result of believing in your
1:26:24 vision believing in your team
1:26:26 inspiring your team believing in allah
1:26:28 believing
1:26:29 in what allah has dictated
1:26:33 and commanded and the divine instructive
1:26:36 and you believe
1:26:38 that islam is going to be successful you
1:26:40 believe when allah says that
1:26:42 he loves the people who rely upon him
1:26:44 you believe in allah when he says
1:26:46 allah is with the patient allah is with
1:26:48 the believers successful
1:26:50 the believers that those who are
1:26:53 successful those who
1:26:55 command the good forbid the evil and so
1:26:58 on and so forth you believe in those
1:26:59 things
1:27:01 because you know they come from the
1:27:02 divine who has the totality of wisdom
1:27:04 and knowledge
1:27:05 and you move forward in that way
1:27:09 the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
1:27:11 battle when
1:27:13 they were the the enemy were throwing
1:27:15 all of these arrows
1:27:16 he was still marching forward and he
1:27:18 said i am not a liar i am the messenger
1:27:20 of allah
1:27:22 and also as narrative by behind muslim
1:27:26 there is a story where
1:27:30 that anas may allah be pleased with him
1:27:32 narrated well he was confirming the
1:27:33 bravery of the
1:27:34 son with an incident that happened to
1:27:36 the people of medina
1:27:38 now one night they were terrified when
1:27:39 they heard a loud noise so they set out
1:27:41 to know the cause of it
1:27:42 and on their way they met the process of
1:27:44 sallam who's riding a horse
1:27:46 carrying his sword ready to defend the
1:27:48 people against any intruders and he
1:27:50 comforted the people of media saying
1:27:52 don't be afraid don't be afraid
1:27:55 he inspired courage in other people he
1:27:57 inspired
1:27:58 certainty in other people he took
1:28:00 leadership with that courage
1:28:01 to defend his flock to protect his
1:28:03 people to take
1:28:05 to be ready with the next move
1:28:09 and at the same time consoling everybody
1:28:15 so you see this when people are like oh
1:28:19 we can't do we don't have enough money
1:28:20 or we don't have the resources
1:28:22 this is not the attitude of a leader
1:28:24 you're like okay these are obstacles
1:28:26 these are challenges but let's overcome
1:28:29 them
1:28:30 right we need to get more money and to
1:28:32 get more resources
1:28:34 let's think how to get that done don't
1:28:36 allow these obstacles and challenges and
1:28:39 and the so-called risks affect
1:28:43 you progressing in making your vision a
1:28:46 reality
1:28:47 use these challenges as questions
1:28:50 positive questions for example
1:28:52 you may have financial challenges public
1:28:54 relation challenges
1:28:55 and resource challenges no problem this
1:28:57 is life
1:28:58 all we need to say is right we don't
1:29:01 have enough money
1:29:02 okay so let's change the question
1:29:05 what can we do to get more money that's
1:29:07 positive now you're acting
1:29:09 okay fundraising team speak to private
1:29:11 donors
1:29:12 make a video about your vision and your
1:29:14 isoc and how
1:29:16 amazing it is get people to buy into
1:29:18 your vision do some fundraising that way
1:29:20 okay beautiful
1:29:21 then the other the other issue is oh
1:29:24 we've got bad pr with the student union
1:29:26 and with the wider university okay so
1:29:29 ask a positive question how do we
1:29:31 improve our pr
1:29:33 brainstorm right ask expertise ask
1:29:35 specialists
1:29:36 ask people that know talk to other
1:29:40 groups in ice hocks
1:29:41 look at bright spotting meaning other
1:29:43 people who have succeeded in this way
1:29:44 what have they done how can we use that
1:29:46 too and so on and so forth
1:29:48 and then get people on those actions to
1:29:50 start improving your pr
1:29:53 that could include a press release it
1:29:54 could include some positive work on
1:29:56 campus it could include having
1:29:58 one-to-one meetings building
1:30:00 relationships these things can be done
1:30:02 you just have to ask the right questions
1:30:04 and actually
1:30:05 be assertive and courageous and believe
1:30:07 in your vision and have to work on allah
1:30:09 and believe
1:30:10 that these are just obstacles that are
1:30:13 there to ensure that you become more
1:30:17 sincere
1:30:18 and more active and more passionate
1:30:19 about your your cause
1:30:23 so you could change these challenges
1:30:24 into something positive and overcome
1:30:26 them
1:30:26 don't start by saying oh we can't
1:30:28 there's no such thing as we can't
1:30:30 do you know that you can't do you know
1:30:32 the future allah knows the future
1:30:35 right do you know allah's will and power
1:30:37 how it's going to manifest itself no so
1:30:39 why are you making a claim about
1:30:40 something that you have no access to
1:30:46 so true belief in tawheed and believing
1:30:49 that allah is the source of all power
1:30:51 is to act that way these are those empty
1:30:54 tools that allah uses to manifest his
1:30:56 irrada his will and his kudra
1:30:58 so connect to him lack of resources no
1:31:02 money bad pr
1:31:03 are just obstacles empty things that
1:31:05 allah uses to manifest his will and
1:31:07 power
1:31:09 so don't give them intrinsic power
1:31:11 because that's like a
1:31:13 like almost like a form of shirk connect
1:31:15 to allah
1:31:17 and once you do so and you have tawakkal
1:31:18 and you ask the right questions
1:31:20 and you move forward and you're positive
1:31:23 then allah will make it happen inshallah
1:31:27 so this ends the leadership section
1:31:31 alhamdulillah i'm going to get shaq now
1:31:33 to
1:31:34 continue with the final section and then
1:31:35 we're going to have
1:31:37 we're going to have some questions and
1:31:39 answers in sha allah so really
1:31:41 i hope you really benefited from a
1:31:43 leadership point of view there is so
1:31:45 much more to say by the way concerning
1:31:46 leadership but i thought
1:31:47 this is enough to plant the seeds in
1:31:49 your heart and mind
1:31:50 to continue your journey your leadership
1:31:52 journey uh may allah subhanahu wa bless
1:31:54 you all and i'll speak to you during the
1:31:56 q a session
1:31:57 in sha allah let me just get
1:32:02 assalamu alaikum
1:32:08 for that lovely
1:32:13 for that lovely uh in discussion on
1:32:15 leadership and
1:32:16 in charlotte now we'll finish off
1:32:18 hopefully round off this discussion with
1:32:20 the essential elements i'm just going to
1:32:23 quickly see if there's any
1:32:25 questions or any uh anything i need to
1:32:28 look at before we begin
1:32:32 okay
1:32:36 right so can everybody first of all see
1:32:38 the slides okay
1:32:39 just to double check before i begin yes
1:32:42 okay
1:32:44 okay so looking at the essential
1:32:46 elements the essential elements are
1:32:48 as it says on the tin it's what is
1:32:51 absolutely essential to
1:32:52 for a successful execution of all of
1:32:54 this and why is it essential
1:32:57 is because these elements really they go
1:32:58 back to the individual now
1:33:00 the the qualities the islamic
1:33:03 model of leadership the islamic model of
1:33:05 the leader the spiritual qualities of
1:33:08 the leader so we're going to
1:33:09 go through some of these and discuss
1:33:10 them and the
1:33:12 starting with the class sincerity and
1:33:14 then heart therapy looking at your
1:33:15 spirituality
1:33:16 and then some important qualities of the
1:33:17 prophets that taught us such as
1:33:20 sorry such as shura such as a mutual
1:33:23 consultation
1:33:24 advice sincere advice and islamic
1:33:27 knowledge uh
1:33:28 you know developing one's knowledge so
1:33:33 what is ichlas what is sincerity
1:33:35 sincerity is to single out
1:33:37 any action that you are doing for the
1:33:39 sake of allah because he is worthy of
1:33:41 the
1:33:41 the action that you are doing and you
1:33:43 love allah
1:33:45 you're doing it to obtain his reward and
1:33:46 to remove yourself from the fire
1:34:02 each of us is here for a reason each of
1:34:04 us uh we have a motive behind
1:34:07 why we joined the isoc maybe it was
1:34:10 popularity
1:34:10 maybe it was um you know uh we wanted to
1:34:13 do something good for the world we want
1:34:15 to do something good for the sake of
1:34:16 allah
1:34:17 but what most important is to then dig
1:34:19 deep into your motivation and think
1:34:21 why did i do it what was the reason
1:34:23 behind me
1:34:24 doing this what i'm doing it's important
1:34:26 to constantly keep that in check
1:34:28 because if we don't have a class if we
1:34:30 don't have sincerity if we don't do
1:34:31 something for the sake of allah
1:34:32 allah subhanahu ta'ala informs us
1:34:40 he says i am the most kind of free of
1:34:42 need
1:34:43 of having any partners whoever
1:34:46 associates any equal to me in whatever
1:34:48 they do
1:34:48 i will leave you to that associate to
1:34:50 whoever or
1:34:51 you know whoever you were trying to
1:34:53 please you can have them but you will
1:34:54 not have my reward
1:34:56 and we know the famous hadith about the
1:34:59 first three people to be thrown in hell
1:35:00 fire
1:35:01 the aquarii of the quran the mujahid
1:35:05 the scholar the islam because what they
1:35:08 did what they did
1:35:09 not for the sake of allah but for it to
1:35:11 be said that oh look that's a scholar oh
1:35:12 look that's a reciter
1:35:14 and we really need to keep that in check
1:35:16 and we're going to find our intention
1:35:17 going up and down sometimes we are
1:35:19 swayed by
1:35:20 being in the spotlight know that in the
1:35:22 iso as part of the iso committee you
1:35:24 will be in the spotlight
1:35:25 but remember what you are doing is what
1:35:28 you're doing is an act of worship it's
1:35:29 just like salah
1:35:30 it's just like fasting you are doing
1:35:32 this regardless of whether people are
1:35:34 watching you or not watching you you are
1:35:35 doing this for the sake of allah
1:35:37 and this is this is the concept of it
1:35:40 comes from
1:35:41 to make something free empty pure
1:35:45 and and class is the first condition for
1:35:48 the acceptance of any action
1:35:51 so the next question is how can we
1:35:55 achieve a class
1:35:56 there's a number of things on the on the
1:35:58 slide here for us to think about
1:36:00 but the main thing is for us to uh when
1:36:03 it comes to a class
1:36:06 the main thing is to realize that is
1:36:08 strengthened by private deeds
1:36:11 why is about sincerity it's about
1:36:14 connecting what you are doing to your
1:36:15 relationship with allah
1:36:18 to know that what you are doing is
1:36:19 important because allah is watching you
1:36:21 because allah is appreciating what
1:36:23 you're doing the moment there are
1:36:25 four more eyes on you 10 more listeners
1:36:28 30 more suddenly we start to appreciate
1:36:31 their view of what we are doing
1:36:32 we start to appreciate their attention
1:36:34 to what we are doing and so when there
1:36:36 are number of eyes on you it's important
1:36:38 for us to then redirect our inner
1:36:40 compass
1:36:41 to allah subhana wa tala sight of us
1:36:43 allah
1:36:45 who sees us all the time and who knows
1:36:48 every movement every slight change of
1:36:49 motive in our heart
1:37:05 [Music]
1:37:10 knows what your heart hides and what you
1:37:12 make apparent allah knows it if you have
1:37:14 a secret motive there
1:37:15 to please people for fame for xyz
1:37:18 allah knows it and that should embarrass
1:37:21 us how can i stand in front of allah and
1:37:23 allah knows that i am a
1:37:24 i am a charlatan i am fake i'm not doing
1:37:27 this for him
1:37:28 we should use this to kind of shame
1:37:30 ourselves into remembering
1:37:32 who's the one who created us who is one
1:37:34 who sustains us how can we do anything
1:37:36 for anybody
1:37:36 other than him subhanallah one of the
1:37:39 advices that my teacher
1:37:41 used to give me is that whenever you
1:37:43 find this feeling of showing off or
1:37:44 feeling of
1:37:45 doing this for other people's sake
1:37:47 creeping into your heart
1:37:48 you know discipline yourself by saying a
1:37:51 hundred times in the morning at the
1:37:52 evening
1:37:54 when you say keep this in mind
1:37:58 close your eyes there's none worthy of
1:38:01 worship
1:38:02 none worth my attention none worth
1:38:04 nobody worth anything for me
1:38:06 illallah except allah no one's going to
1:38:09 reward me the afterlife
1:38:10 no one's going to be responsible for my
1:38:11 deeds except allah
1:38:14 clean your heart when you say clean your
1:38:15 heart of everything
1:38:17 every attachment in this world and then
1:38:19 you say illallah and you purify that
1:38:21 link with allah subhana wa
1:38:23 you say that a hundred times with your
1:38:24 eyes closed feeling that in your heart
1:38:27 and allah subhanahu will grant you a
1:38:28 special power of ikhlas of sincerity
1:38:30 which will power you through all of your
1:38:32 actions and your chores and your
1:38:33 responsibility
1:38:35 understand the benefits of your class
1:38:37 what is the number one benefit of your
1:38:38 class
1:38:38 that adds to the weight of your deed
1:38:41 i'll repeat that
1:38:42 what is the number one benefit of the
1:38:43 class of sincerity sincerity makes your
1:38:46 deed weighty on the scales of
1:38:47 the day of judgment on the in the on the
1:38:48 day of judgement allah subhanahu wa
1:38:50 will not look at the quantity of deeds
1:38:51 that we did rather he will look at the
1:38:53 weight of those deeds
1:39:02 he doesn't talk about quantity allah
1:39:04 talks about weight in the quran
1:39:05 so how can you make a small deed very
1:39:07 weighty one
1:39:08 one pound in charity perhaps that one
1:39:11 pound in charity
1:39:12 the weight of that deed is is more heavy
1:39:14 than the amount of
1:39:15 or perhaps you know your entire year of
1:39:17 ice hoc work and the next year of isaac
1:39:19 work and your forces work
1:39:20 means nothing on the day of judgement
1:39:22 it's dust allah says in the quran
1:39:29 [Music]
1:39:33 whatever they did whatever acts they
1:39:34 accomplished we made it dust on the day
1:39:36 of judgment it meant nothing
1:39:38 why did it mean nothing because those
1:39:40 acts were not done for his sake
1:39:42 so that's the main benefit of the class
1:39:45 to add weight to your deeds something
1:39:46 small you never know allah may
1:39:49 multiply the effect of that deed and the
1:39:50 weight you know one of the greatest
1:39:52 examples
1:39:52 is
1:40:09 i heard your footsteps in paradise
1:40:10 before me
1:40:12 what what what special thing are you
1:40:13 doing to give you that rank
1:40:16 one who says i don't know i don't do
1:40:18 anything special except that every time
1:40:20 i do wudu
1:40:21 i pray two raka's for the sake of allah
1:40:23 every time i do although i make it a
1:40:24 practice to pray
1:40:25 two units of prayer and the prophet
1:40:27 sallallahu alaihi wasallam said
1:40:29 this small deed that you thought was
1:40:31 nothing because of your sincerity
1:40:33 and your genuineness behind doing it
1:40:35 allah has given you such a high status
1:40:37 in paradise look at that
1:40:39 somebody bilal who the pagan arabs
1:40:41 considered was
1:40:42 scum of the earth an ethiopian slave
1:40:45 black slave worth nothing
1:40:46 allah the prophet saws here's his steps
1:40:48 in jannah before the prophet
1:40:50 because of two rakaas two units of
1:40:51 prayer so which two units of prayer are
1:40:54 you and i going to pray that we'll
1:40:55 raise our ranks in jannah and save us
1:40:57 from jannah because of the sincerity in
1:40:58 that act
1:40:59 not the quality not the number of
1:41:01 viewers of the act the only viewer that
1:41:02 matters is the one one viewer
1:41:04 is the view of allah and this is the
1:41:06 power of understand the consequences of
1:41:09 not having a class
1:41:10 if you do not have sincerity simply put
1:41:13 allah subhanahu will invalidate all our
1:41:15 deeds
1:41:15 allah says in the quran
1:41:18 [Music]
1:41:34 you know purely inclining towards him so
1:41:38 if you have no class none of our actions
1:41:40 will be counted on the day of judgment
1:41:41 may allah protect us all and forgive our
1:41:43 sins
1:41:44 then purify our heart part of the reason
1:41:47 that we
1:41:48 start having other motives other
1:41:50 intentions uh
1:41:51 when we do our actions when we do acts
1:41:54 of worship
1:41:54 is because we our hearts incline we like
1:41:59 the attention of others
1:42:00 we enjoy their praise we enjoy having a
1:42:03 following
1:42:04 we enjoy having the spotlight on us you
1:42:06 know
1:42:07 or for some reason or the other and so
1:42:10 the purification of the soul is the
1:42:13 long-term solution
1:42:14 to akhilas to creating a solid
1:42:16 repertoire of having
1:42:18 sincerity every time you do a deed now
1:42:22 understand that your actions are
1:42:23 meaningless without a clasp you've
1:42:24 covered this know why allah is worthy of
1:42:26 worship and this is one of the most
1:42:27 important points
1:42:28 that the core reason that we have
1:42:31 sincerity
1:42:32 is that we realize that this act
1:42:36 is an act of worship it's an act that we
1:42:38 are doing
1:42:39 after devotion to allah subhanahu wa
1:42:40 it's not an act we're doing for
1:42:41 ourselves
1:42:43 and so we have to first ask the question
1:42:44 why does allah deserve worship
1:42:46 why is allah worthy of worship why
1:42:47 should i even do this for him why
1:42:49 shouldn't i do this for my own reasons
1:42:51 why shouldn't i self-serve why shouldn't
1:42:52 i be selfish through these actions
1:42:56 and lastly uh one of the practical ways
1:42:59 to achieve a class
1:43:00 is a dua of abu bakr allah the prophet's
1:43:04 companion was always in the spotlight
1:43:05 always in the public eye
1:43:08 one of the things that he would do is
1:43:12 when people would praise him or say good
1:43:13 things about him or he was appreciated
1:43:15 and he was in the
1:43:16 spotlight he would say allah
1:43:26 do not take me to account for their
1:43:27 praise and forgive me for all the things
1:43:29 they don't know about me
1:43:30 and make me better than what they think
1:43:32 memorize this to her because you will
1:43:33 repeat it frequently
1:43:35 when you are in your position of service
1:43:38 and the greatest way to achieve a class
1:43:41 and i remember more than one of my
1:43:43 teachers mama who i would ask how do i
1:43:45 how do i battle myself
1:43:46 how do i get rid of these these desires
1:43:48 this craving to be in the spotlight how
1:43:50 do i do this
1:43:51 number one advice i would always get is
1:43:55 do private acts of worship secret acts
1:43:57 of worship allah subhanahu
1:44:11 [Music]
1:44:17 with humility and secrecy and without a
1:44:21 loud voice
1:44:22 and do not be from the ignorant
1:44:25 so this is the most important practical
1:44:28 way to achieve classes have a secret
1:44:29 deed secret charity
1:44:31 secret uh prayer at night quran routine
1:44:33 thing that nobody knows about
1:44:34 but that gives you you don't want to
1:44:37 become like a candle that lights the way
1:44:39 for others but you're melting away
1:44:40 you're missing your salawat you're
1:44:42 not have no relationship with the quran
1:44:44 we need to build up that
1:44:45 private worship with allah and if that's
1:44:47 suffering it's a sign that we are not
1:44:49 doing something right
1:44:50 our intention may be wrong or our
1:44:52 approach may be wrong or we may need a
1:44:53 break from the leadership
1:44:54 if the leadership is making us distant
1:44:56 from allah because the leadership was
1:44:58 just a means to an end it's an act of
1:45:00 worship
1:45:00 if it's making us distance from allah we
1:45:02 need to rethink our approach
1:45:06 heart therapy one moment just seeing a
1:45:10 question
1:45:11 how do you balance between avoiding ego
1:45:13 and showing the right things done
1:45:14 inshallah we'll come to the questions at
1:45:15 the end
1:45:15 heart therapy this is the second
1:45:17 important thing for any leader is to be
1:45:19 in touch with your heart
1:45:20 allah subhana wa says
1:45:24 the one of the greatest leaders of all
1:45:25 time ibrahim alaihissalam allah mentions
1:45:27 one of his
1:45:28 one of his sincere supplications to
1:45:29 allah what does he say
1:45:34 [Music]
1:45:36 don't humiliate me on the day of
1:45:40 [Music]
1:45:42 judgment
1:45:52 except one who comes to allah with a
1:45:54 sound heart with a clean heart
1:45:56 that's the only thing that would benefit
1:45:57 me on the day of judgment so how do you
1:45:59 achieve
1:46:00 this sound heart this clean heart
1:46:03 this is what will be the greatest impact
1:46:05 on your vision
1:46:07 because whoever has a clear clean
1:46:09 intention and a clean heart
1:46:11 allah will multiply their efforts and
1:46:13 they will just see the effects
1:46:14 their plan one seed and a forest will
1:46:16 grow in five years time and they won't
1:46:17 even do much of it
1:46:19 that is a sign of barakah blessing if
1:46:21 you do not have a right intention and a
1:46:23 clean heart allah will remove the
1:46:24 blessing in your word you will see
1:46:25 obstacle after obstacle
1:46:27 difficulty after difficulty people will
1:46:28 not turn up to your events people will
1:46:30 not find
1:46:31 this there's something missing something
1:46:33 intangible
1:46:34 and that is the barakah the blessing
1:46:35 that allah subhanahu places in somebody
1:46:38 who has
1:46:38 the right intention and a clean heart
1:46:40 and a good approach to allah
1:46:41 how to achieve a santa number one know
1:46:44 yourself when you go to the hospital
1:46:45 when you go to the doctors when you call
1:46:46 1-1-1
1:46:47 the first thing the nhs does is they ask
1:46:49 about your symptoms
1:46:50 what is wrong with you you and i we need
1:46:52 to know what is spiritually wrong with
1:46:53 me
1:46:54 what is spiritually wrong with me am i
1:46:56 envious do i frequently gossip
1:46:58 do i am i lacked on my salawat or my
1:47:00 salah do i have no relationship with the
1:47:01 quran
1:47:02 why do i lose my temper what are my
1:47:05 weaknesses my spiritual weaknesses
1:47:08 do i admire myself sometimes i look and
1:47:10 i think you know what this guy
1:47:12 you know chaplin sheikh masha allah
1:47:14 teacher
1:47:15 president of the iso blah blah you know
1:47:17 what i actually am quite you know i'm
1:47:19 actually quite cool
1:47:21 start admiring myself do i
1:47:24 have a tongue that is constantly
1:47:27 speaking about others destroying their
1:47:28 dignity behind the back am i
1:47:30 do i lack integrity etc etc so the first
1:47:34 question is do you know yourself what is
1:47:35 it that
1:47:36 we lack in terms of spirituality number
1:47:38 two
1:47:39 once one one one has decided what your
1:47:41 symptoms are
1:47:43 they then send you the doctor you get
1:47:44 your medication you meditate if you're
1:47:46 jealous about someone you medicate that
1:47:48 jealousy by making dua for that person
1:47:51 by speaking well about them in a
1:47:52 gathering your likes with salah
1:47:54 you read about the punishments of those
1:47:56 who believe this allah
1:47:58 you try to join in a congregation in a
1:48:01 group of people who are on it with the
1:48:02 salah
1:48:04 you read about the inner dimensions how
1:48:05 can i bring my son out to life so work
1:48:07 on your spiritual illnesses
1:48:09 and lastly nourish the soul once you've
1:48:12 medicated
1:48:13 most important part of our therapy is
1:48:15 actually having a healthy diet like the
1:48:16 actual physical heart
1:48:18 it's not just about medicine and about
1:48:19 going to the doctor but it's also about
1:48:21 generally having good nourishment good
1:48:23 healthy eating you know in terms of the
1:48:25 physical heart same way with a spiritual
1:48:26 heart
1:48:27 what's the best medication allah says
1:48:49 and it only increases the oppressors in
1:48:51 misguidance for the believers it's a
1:48:53 source of guidance
1:48:54 it's a cure it's something that just
1:48:57 melts your chest allah describes this
1:48:59 feature in the quran
1:49:02 that those who believe when they hear
1:49:03 the quran they shiver
1:49:05 in in awe of the quran they melt away
1:49:08 their hearts are purified by it
1:49:10 and so this is the greatest and why is
1:49:12 the quran why does it have the effect
1:49:14 because the quran is a form of zika it's
1:49:16 a form of remembrance recalling allah
1:49:18 reminding ourselves who he is who we are
1:49:20 why are we here
1:49:22 and so you need to have a routine of
1:49:23 every morning every evening
1:49:25 after every salah words of remembrance
1:49:27 that the prophet saw would say
1:49:28 subhanallah 33 times it's nothing it
1:49:31 takes you three minutes with
1:49:32 you know quickly on your tongue but feel
1:49:33 it remind yourself
1:49:35 fasting mondays and thursdays so find
1:49:37 your your
1:49:38 diet or very bad of acts of worship that
1:49:40 will keep that heart alive because what
1:49:42 did the prophet saw
1:49:43 tell us
1:49:50 the difference between a person who is
1:49:51 dead and alive spiritually
1:49:53 is the ethical of allah the remembrance
1:49:55 of allah this is what keeps the heart
1:49:57 alive
1:49:58 and if you think your lacks in your
1:50:00 salah your distance from allah
1:50:01 you find no iman in your heart the
1:50:03 secret is thicker how much do you
1:50:05 remember allah in a day
1:50:06 do you see it yourself turn your phone
1:50:08 on airplane mode and for 30 minutes sit
1:50:09 down
1:50:10 subhanallah
1:50:14 allah is greater than everything allah's
1:50:16 beauty than myself allah is greater than
1:50:17 my efforts allah is greater than my
1:50:19 parents
1:50:21 subhanallah for the creation of the lake
1:50:23 subhanallah for the creation of the
1:50:24 under sky
1:50:25 subhanallah for the creation of the
1:50:26 universe subhanallah
1:50:28 for the animals on this earth and the
1:50:30 way they move and the way they think
1:50:31 subhanallah for the plants and the
1:50:33 different colors thinking every time you
1:50:35 remember allah think of a creation of
1:50:36 his think of a blessing of his
1:50:38 and that way your thicker is alive it
1:50:39 keeps your heart alive and when you stop
1:50:41 your heart dies immediately and allah
1:50:43 describes discusses this in detail in
1:50:45 the quran
1:50:46 the hardness of the heart such that the
1:50:48 quran cannot penetrate your heart you
1:50:50 feel nothing it's dead it's numb
1:50:52 and this is something that is the
1:50:53 greatest disease that we have to avoid
1:50:54 in leadership now
1:50:55 another important pillar is islamic
1:50:57 knowledge and in the contemporary times
1:50:59 it's not just about learning about
1:51:01 what how can you praise allah one of the
1:51:03 pillars of iman and islam but it's also
1:51:06 living in our contemporary environment
1:51:08 how can we deal with the contemporary
1:51:10 doubts that we
1:51:11 have to deal with with liberalism with
1:51:13 secularism with atheism with all the
1:51:15 isms and
1:51:16 schisms in the world today this is our
1:51:18 challenge
1:51:19 this is the knowledge that we need as
1:51:21 opposed to the knowledge that was
1:51:22 required in the you know 14 centuries
1:51:24 ago
1:51:25 we have an added requirement which is we
1:51:26 have to understand the world around us
1:51:28 the prophet
1:51:30 allah in the quran allah responds to the
1:51:33 common beliefs of the time
1:51:35 but capitalism wasn't existing marxism
1:51:37 didn't exist atheism didn't
1:51:39 exist you know that's why the quran
1:51:41 doesn't actually discuss god's existence
1:51:42 in too much detail
1:51:44 directly it doesn't directly discuss
1:51:47 allah's existence
1:51:48 or try to prove it it takes it as a
1:51:50 given majority of the quran deals with
1:51:52 the the idea of worshiping one creator
1:51:54 not establishing
1:51:55 the existence of creator though there
1:51:56 are many uh evidences in the quran
1:51:58 pointing allah's creation
1:52:00 the majority of the quran deals with
1:52:02 worshiping the creator not
1:52:04 is there a creator and so we need to
1:52:06 understand the logical basis for these
1:52:08 beliefs
1:52:08 understand what are the common
1:52:09 misconceptions that might bring us away
1:52:11 from islam
1:52:12 person may remember allah day and night
1:52:13 but if they have a doubt in their heart
1:52:14 that that will not let them worship
1:52:16 allah
1:52:16 it will be festering in their mind so we
1:52:18 need to learn
1:52:20 and for learn to learn we have to find
1:52:23 the right trustworthy sources for
1:52:24 learning sapience institute recognize
1:52:26 organizations teachers
1:52:28 who are credible and the most important
1:52:30 best way to learn is to find a teacher
1:52:32 this religion was passed down from
1:52:34 person to person not from book or
1:52:36 website to website
1:52:37 the prophet said this
1:52:43 you are hearing me today my companions
1:52:45 one day people will listen from you
1:52:46 and one day those people who listen from
1:52:48 them this idea of isn't a chain
1:52:51 you know when you receive in snad you
1:52:53 part of an ijaza part of it is not part
1:52:55 of a chain of people who learned
1:52:57 from another person from another person
1:52:58 who learned from the prophet sallallahu
1:53:00 alaihi who said
1:53:00 me to me face to face and you didn't
1:53:03 just take
1:53:04 pieces of information but you took their
1:53:06 character how they sipped their tea
1:53:07 how they dealt with people how they were
1:53:09 gentle with their students this is what
1:53:10 you take from your teacher not just or
1:53:12 islam has five pillars
1:53:14 if it was that simple we would all know
1:53:15 islam has five pillars but a teacher
1:53:17 transforms you
1:53:19 so part of his knowledge is to find the
1:53:20 right teacher
1:53:22 and then an important principle for the
1:53:23 isoc is to establish surah a
1:53:25 consultation
1:53:26 as part of every decision to decide as a
1:53:28 group not to let any one person decide
1:53:30 but to as much as we can discuss as a
1:53:32 group the prophet saw sallam as
1:53:34 allah who said that
1:53:43 he said nobody was more consultative
1:53:45 than the prophet even imagined this man
1:53:48 he received revelation from allah god
1:53:50 telling him what to do and what not to
1:53:52 do why does he need
1:53:53 people to tell him and to consult them
1:53:55 he values their opinion
1:53:56 he robes them into the decision allah
1:53:59 says in the quran
1:54:08 when he describes the believers he says
1:54:10 they they matter their affairs
1:54:11 are sure are they consultative they
1:54:13 discuss with each other and then they
1:54:14 come to a final decision but
1:54:16 surah does not mean that everyone has to
1:54:17 decide one person has to take the final
1:54:20 decision there has to be a hacking a
1:54:22 final
1:54:22 decider the executive decision needs to
1:54:25 be made
1:54:26 everyone's perspective is different we
1:54:29 know that in the battle of khandak the
1:54:30 battle of the trench the prophet saw
1:54:31 allah
1:54:32 confront consulted his companions and
1:54:34 salman al-fatiha
1:54:35 suggested why don't we dig a trench why
1:54:37 don't we dig a really really deep hole
1:54:40 just in this part of madinah and
1:54:41 nobody's going to come near us they
1:54:42 can't attack us they'll have to lay
1:54:44 siege to us
1:54:45 and so he took his companions advice he
1:54:48 took his companions
1:54:49 consultation and so at every step the
1:54:51 prophet sallallaahu before the battle of
1:54:52 badr he stopped at the fira he asked his
1:54:54 companions what should we do should we
1:54:55 go back should we stay should we attack
1:54:57 what should we do
1:54:58 and he would consult his leaders not
1:54:59 just any tom dick and harry not just any
1:55:01 of his sahaba
1:55:02 but those who are known for wisdom and
1:55:04 knowledge for strategic insight and they
1:55:05 would give him advice
1:55:07 how to do surah um the way to do surah
1:55:10 is in your meeting agenda or when you
1:55:12 need to make a
1:55:12 sudden decision into whatsapp groups or
1:55:14 etc etc
1:55:16 to make sure that you discuss with
1:55:17 anybody who is required for that
1:55:19 discussion
1:55:20 so for example if i'm if i need to make
1:55:22 a decision about marketing how do i is
1:55:24 this poster good or not good
1:55:25 i don't have to ask the entire committee
1:55:27 but there's two or three people
1:55:28 perhaps in the publicity sub team or you
1:55:31 know who relevant people who have a good
1:55:32 eye for design
1:55:33 i'll do sure with them and that's
1:55:35 something that the president or the
1:55:36 committee decides like you don't have
1:55:38 every decision doesn't have to be
1:55:39 discussed by everyone because then we'll
1:55:41 be sitting here all day
1:55:42 discussing things certain things you
1:55:44 have to be trusted to do
1:55:45 or you have two or three people you who
1:55:47 you review with or you consult
1:55:49 the benefits of shula is that it removes
1:55:51 the risk from your decision
1:55:52 it de-risks it removes the possibility
1:55:54 of you doing something thinking oh i'm
1:55:56 right but you speak to two people it's
1:55:58 actually no
1:55:59 we have more experience than you one of
1:56:01 the important things forms of surah
1:56:03 of consultation on an islamic society
1:56:05 committee is to have an ex-officio
1:56:07 somebody who's been there and done that
1:56:09 one year or two years ago
1:56:10 who remains in your every meeting
1:56:12 advises you actually last year the iso
1:56:13 did this and it failed
1:56:15 uh two years ago three four years ago we
1:56:16 did it and it failed another important
1:56:18 way for sure is to connect with previous
1:56:20 alumni
1:56:21 five previous presidents put them in one
1:56:22 whatsapp group you know
1:56:24 brothers you know this is the challenge
1:56:25 we're facing how do we do it so you know
1:56:27 what actually this happened five years
1:56:28 ago it's you know it's not new
1:56:30 we've seen it you should do this and so
1:56:32 consultation can take various ways and
1:56:34 various
1:56:35 traps and the uh the last thing uh you
1:56:37 know the last quality we should develop
1:56:39 in the ice hockey is
1:56:40 nasiha
1:56:43 to do with sincerity to do genuineness
1:56:46 but specifically in islamic
1:56:47 terminology is to uh give sincere advice
1:56:52 noiselock is going to be perfect you're
1:56:53 not going to be able to follow all of
1:56:55 these things as individuals or as a
1:56:56 collective
1:56:58 what happens when you see your vp uh not
1:57:00 turning up for salah for six days in a
1:57:01 row
1:57:02 steeping through his fajala what happens
1:57:04 when you see your
1:57:06 you know sister's vp perhaps struggling
1:57:08 with the workload of the eye sock
1:57:10 not being on time to meetings what do
1:57:11 you do do you just watch them and think
1:57:13 ha
1:57:13 this person didn't really follow what
1:57:14 hamza sadhamsa said or what sapience
1:57:17 institute advised
1:57:18 this person is a waste man this person
1:57:19 you know you know i'm better than look
1:57:21 at me i'm on top of things
1:57:23 no that's not how we do as a muslims you
1:57:25 take them aside brother allah honestly i
1:57:27 love you for sake of allah i love you
1:57:29 like i love my own siblings and i would
1:57:32 want good for you just as i want good
1:57:33 for myself
1:57:34 it seems like you're struggling to you
1:57:36 know wake up for fajr let me help let me
1:57:38 call you at 4am bro let me wake you up
1:57:39 at 45 am
1:57:41 you know sister it seems like you know
1:57:43 sometimes in the heat of the meeting you
1:57:44 you get a little bit
1:57:45 angry you know upset if your opinion is
1:57:48 not taken
1:57:49 um you know i know it's difficult i go
1:57:50 through so similarly i get really upset
1:57:52 sometimes
1:57:53 some people can be dismissive on the
1:57:54 committee but you know what
1:57:56 it sometimes destroys the flow of the
1:57:57 meeting makes it difficult for us to
1:57:58 discuss
1:57:59 so um you know it's something that i i
1:58:02 advise you to work on
1:58:04 and if there's anything you see it mean
1:58:05 please advise me as well this has to be
1:58:07 mutual
1:58:08 it has to be a culture and it's not
1:58:10 something you do in public you don't
1:58:11 beat someone down in public rather than
1:58:12 you privately advise them
1:58:13 the prophet salallahu this religion is
1:58:17 about sincerity
1:58:18 sincere advice so that advice needs to
1:58:20 be private it needs to be confidential
1:58:22 it needs to be sincere it needs to be
1:58:24 given
1:58:25 in a way where you're not preaching or
1:58:26 talking down to the person but you're
1:58:28 trying to build them up and pick them up
1:58:30 and lastly it needs to be constructive
1:58:32 you're not trying to berate
1:58:34 them for being a horrible person for
1:58:35 failing etcetera you're trying to build
1:58:36 them up one of the greatest
1:58:37 uh examples of advice the prophet
1:58:39 sallallahu alaihi he's asked about
1:58:41 abdullah abdullah the son of
1:58:42 al-qaeda he says
1:58:51 very good guy brilliant man if only he
1:58:54 prayed at night
1:58:56 rather than saying this guy doesn't even
1:58:59 pray at night what kind of a worshiper
1:59:00 is he
1:59:01 he says what an excellent person so many
1:59:03 good qualities one thing he could do
1:59:05 if he prays at night that would be
1:59:06 excellent addition to his skill set
1:59:08 excellent addition to his worshipfulness
1:59:11 similarly when the prophet salallahu
1:59:13 advises
1:59:14 people sometimes he doesn't advise
1:59:15 specific people he makes a general
1:59:17 reminder
1:59:18 he stands up in the member he says
1:59:21 what's wrong with certain people when
1:59:22 they do this and this he means a
1:59:24 specific person
1:59:25 but he doesn't point them out or name or
1:59:26 shame me in general remind everybody
1:59:28 let's
1:59:29 you know maybe we should do this it
1:59:30 doesn't you know single out anybody
1:59:33 so these are different ways of giving
1:59:35 advice advice should be part of the
1:59:37 isoc uh culture and we should never feel
1:59:39 offended when someone gives us advice
1:59:41 for the sake of allah
1:59:43 they have no personal you know gain in
1:59:45 this they're doing it for us to become
1:59:47 better believers
1:59:48 better so committee members for us to
1:59:49 achieve our vision and if we're taking
1:59:51 each other down
1:59:52 or we're ignoring each other's faults
1:59:54 and flaws we're not pulling helping each
1:59:55 other
1:59:56 you know realize our patterns our
1:59:58 mistakes our habits
1:59:59 we're not pulling each other up the ice
2:00:01 hock will sink
2:00:03 remember a ship it's like a ship if one
2:00:04 person digs a hole the entire ship sinks
2:00:07 you see someone digging a hole need to
2:00:08 come tell them hey brother that hole is
2:00:10 going to make a sink you can't do that
2:00:11 here
2:00:12 we need to fill that hole we need to
2:00:13 plug that all together
2:00:16 uh isoqua means islamic society
2:00:19 so islamic society is an organization
2:00:22 within universities
2:00:23 so that is the the last um
2:00:28 and now looking at the homework so what
2:00:30 can all of you do now
2:00:32 for this part the essential part is pick
2:00:34 two smart spiritual actions
2:00:36 and implement them in your daily life so
2:00:39 what does it mean by smart we mean
2:00:41 specific measurable achievable realistic
2:00:44 timely for example i say
2:00:46 from today onwards i'm going to read one
2:00:48 page of the quran with its translation
2:00:50 every single day it's realistic it's
2:00:52 timely
2:00:54 it's specific it's measurable and it's
2:00:56 achievable and i say i'll do this every
2:00:57 day after fajr
2:00:59 every day in my lunch break i've
2:01:01 specified a time
2:01:02 put in my calendar and i ask someone to
2:01:04 take me to account for it
2:01:05 so hamza if i message me at lunchtime if
2:01:08 i've not read my page of quran
2:01:10 no tell me off so um
2:01:14 all of you and for myself for sadhansa
2:01:16 homework
2:01:17 two smart spiritual actions that we can
2:01:20 all go away with and
2:01:22 that is all i have to say about the
2:01:23 essentials how to build up yourself and
2:01:26 this is the core of the ice sock this is
2:01:27 the center
2:01:28 if the ice hockey is doing lots of
2:01:30 events active good facebook page
2:01:32 but the people's hearts are corrupted
2:01:33 and empty allah will not put any
2:01:35 blessing in your
2:01:36 work the islamic society the masjid the
2:01:38 organization
2:01:39 will not taste success in its work if if
2:01:42 we don't have get this core
2:01:43 piece right and the president leads from
2:01:45 the front
2:01:48 the leader the amir the organization
2:01:51 lead the ceo leads from the front
2:01:53 if he himself is not bettering himself
2:01:54 for herself the rest of the organization
2:01:57 are not inspired they're not motivated
2:01:59 and so that's
2:02:00 very important for whoever is being
2:02:01 looked up to that there's double
2:02:03 scrutiny on all of you
2:02:04 and that not just scrutiny from people
2:02:06 but scrutiny from allah subhanahu wa
2:02:08 tala because you have more weight on
2:02:09 your shoulders
2:02:10 may allah grant us all uh ability and
2:02:12 tawfiq to implement we learn today
2:02:14 may allah forgive our sins may allah
2:02:16 make us of those who are mindful
2:02:18 conscious leaders who are able to deal
2:02:21 with our contemporary challenges in the
2:02:22 21st century
2:02:23 may allah allow our campuses our
2:02:26 university campuses our student
2:02:27 organizations our other organizations to
2:02:29 succeed
2:02:30 with the essentials with sound prophetic
2:02:32 leadership and with taqwa with god
2:02:34 consciousness as its center jazakum
2:02:36 all of you for the opportunity and i
2:02:39 think
2:02:40 i'll leave it just alhamdulillah to take
2:02:42 the lead on the
2:02:44 questions i will just tell if he's ready
2:02:47 pass him the baton
2:02:52 okay great alhamdulillah
2:02:58 rasulullah
2:03:00 excellent i'm really happy that we were
2:03:03 given the opportunity by allah to
2:03:05 deliver a webinar
2:03:07 i think it's very important for all of
2:03:09 the muslim student groups and the isoks
2:03:12 and the msas
2:03:13 to start implementing some of the stuff
2:03:15 that we spoke about
2:03:17 and please remember that part of our
2:03:20 strategy as
2:03:21 sapience institute is to
2:03:24 ensure that you are empowered
2:03:28 and inspired and developed to the degree
2:03:31 where you can now start
2:03:33 sharing islam intellection academically
2:03:36 and
2:03:36 we hope that you learning about
2:03:39 what you need to do to create a vision
2:03:42 how to implement the vision how to
2:03:45 have a strategic focus to ensure the
2:03:47 vision manifests itself
2:03:49 how to be a great leader how to
2:03:52 implement the
2:03:52 essential elements of leadership such as
2:03:54 ikhlas
2:03:56 purifying your heart worshiping allah
2:03:59 subhanahu wa
2:04:00 and so on and so forth that these things
2:04:02 have inspired you to ensure that part of
2:04:04 your vision is to call people to allah
2:04:07 is to share this beautiful message of
2:04:09 islam to the wider community as well
2:04:12 so without further ado let's take some
2:04:14 questions i do appreciate is quite late
2:04:16 and alhamdulillah most of you have
2:04:18 actually stayed with us which is great
2:04:22 which is great alhamdulillah so
2:04:26 let me go to the questions
2:04:30 okay there's a very good question that
2:04:32 says how do you balance between avoiding
2:04:35 ego
2:04:35 and ensuring the right thing is done
2:04:37 even if the idea is from you as a leader
2:04:40 that's a very good question
2:04:44 that's a very good question well you
2:04:46 know it's a combination of things
2:04:48 as we discussed today if you engage in
2:04:53 the spiritual sciences from the point of
2:04:54 view that you're trying to purify the
2:04:56 blemishes the spiritual blemishes of the
2:04:57 heart
2:04:58 you focus on connecting to allah
2:05:02 an important thing is also to have good
2:05:05 people around you and i don't think we
2:05:06 mentioned it enough today
2:05:07 but it's especially important when it
2:05:09 comes to the heart and the ego
2:05:12 if you have sincere really good people
2:05:14 around you in a good and friendly
2:05:16 environment
2:05:17 that can facilitate solving this problem
2:05:20 for example the importance of
2:05:24 friendship is and good companions is
2:05:26 well known in the sunnah and in the
2:05:27 quran but
2:05:29 there is a specific verse in the quran
2:05:31 when allah talks about
2:05:33 the people of the cave and that he saved
2:05:35 the people of the cave and
2:05:37 also the dog that was with them ibn
2:05:39 kether the
2:05:40 exegete of islam the execute of the
2:05:43 quran rather
2:05:44 he basically questioned this and
2:05:46 answered it
2:05:47 and he said that allah saved the dog
2:05:50 because the dog happened to be with the
2:05:51 pious people
2:05:53 so by greater reason
2:05:56 what does it mean about what allah would
2:05:59 do to us
2:06:00 if we happen to be with pious people
2:06:02 subhanallah
2:06:04 and actually they talk about
2:06:08 the spiritual diseases of the heart and
2:06:10 one way of dealing with them is having
2:06:11 good people around you people of piety
2:06:14 people are committed to your spiritual
2:06:16 well-being
2:06:17 people are committed to your well-being
2:06:18 in general so if you have good people
2:06:20 around you you could do sure you could
2:06:21 consult you could do private
2:06:23 consultations
2:06:24 and you could say look you know i really
2:06:25 believe this is the right thing to do
2:06:27 what do you think you know try and
2:06:30 inspire other people to give
2:06:31 give the answer as well um and that's
2:06:35 very important
2:06:37 and you know do do istikhara you know
2:06:40 it's very important
2:06:41 with your leadership decisions make sure
2:06:44 you do your surah
2:06:46 make sure you're listening with the
2:06:48 intention to understand
2:06:50 make sure you're truly outweighing your
2:06:52 pros and cons
2:06:53 and it's not about you being right or
2:06:55 looking good
2:06:57 and inshallah if you put things these
2:06:58 things into place then inshallah you'll
2:07:00 be able to establish the balance
2:07:02 but remember this what does sincerity
2:07:05 really mean
2:07:06 making the right decision is is is an
2:07:09 act of worship
2:07:12 now if you really believe sincerely that
2:07:15 after doing the surah after putting all
2:07:18 the protective mechanisms in place
2:07:20 after trying to listen with the
2:07:21 intention to understand
2:07:23 after all these things that we've spoken
2:07:25 about in this webinar are established
2:07:27 and you still believe your decision is
2:07:29 the right thing to do then not to do
2:07:31 that
2:07:32 could be blameworthy it means
2:07:36 it's a trick of shaytan because it means
2:07:39 you're not
2:07:40 implementing your decision because you
2:07:41 want to come across as humble
2:07:43 you want others to see that you're a
2:07:46 really good leader and you listen to
2:07:48 others and you don't listen to yourself
2:07:50 and so on and so forth but that'll be
2:07:53 really bad because again
2:07:54 you're not sincere to allah you're
2:07:56 actually doing it for yourself to look
2:07:58 good and that's the nature of the tricky
2:08:00 ego
2:08:01 right we pretend to be pious to look
2:08:04 pious
2:08:04 in order for other people to say that
2:08:06 we're pious so this
2:08:08 you need to be really really careful
2:08:09 about this and that's why it's very
2:08:12 important
2:08:12 to follow what the quran says and allah
2:08:15 says once you've made a decision
2:08:16 then you know have to wake up in allah
2:08:19 as long as you're sincere
2:08:21 then inshallah okay
2:08:24 there's a good question everything is
2:08:26 online now so it's harder to show islam
2:08:28 on campus to isoc
2:08:29 we remember what i said about challenges
2:08:32 reverse the question when i said okay
2:08:35 everything is online now so it's harder
2:08:36 good
2:08:37 that's a that's a an obstacle for sure
2:08:41 now make this into something positive
2:08:44 let's now say right
2:08:45 everything's online how can we
2:08:48 make the dao experience and share islam
2:08:51 on campus
2:08:52 through our isoc online so that question
2:08:55 opens out
2:08:57 almost a new realm of possibility that
2:08:59 you're now able to stand in the
2:09:00 possibility that you can
2:09:02 do effective dao and share islam online
2:09:05 through campus
2:09:06 it could mean that now you guys just
2:09:07 focus on making videos
2:09:09 it could mean that you guys do your own
2:09:11 webinars why don't you do webinars
2:09:13 right do webinars for
2:09:17 your campus for non-muslims
2:09:20 and sharing social media stuck on campus
2:09:23 you know how can we get closer to god
2:09:26 through covert 19.
2:09:27 what does kobe 19 teach us about
2:09:30 religion
2:09:30 and purpose of life or whatever the case
2:09:32 may be there's so many things you can do
2:09:34 you know just make sure that these
2:09:38 obstacles you don't believe them to have
2:09:39 any intrinsic power
2:09:41 that allah puts these obstacles
2:09:44 because the as a result of his irrada
2:09:46 his will and his quadra and his power
2:09:49 and you need to follow the sunnah and
2:09:50 the quran being positive and
2:09:52 and connecting to allah and having
2:09:53 tawakkal and taking true leadership
2:09:55 and you just say right how do we now
2:09:58 take this
2:09:59 obstacle and challenge and make it
2:10:00 positive so you ask the right question
2:10:02 right
2:10:03 how do we give down online so many
2:10:05 things brainstorm
2:10:06 do videos dial videos do webinars for
2:10:09 non-muslims on campus
2:10:10 advertising for a couple of weeks on
2:10:12 social media and so on and so forth
2:10:14 so yeah may allah make it easy and
2:10:16 successful for you guys
2:10:19 there's a question at the bottom of
2:10:20 while you're looking um
2:10:22 how to deal with a leader who is
2:10:23 dismissive of your suggestions
2:10:26 um
2:10:34 you see someone on the committee who's
2:10:36 dismissive was rude was abrupt etc etc
2:10:38 best thing to do is to take them aside
2:10:42 share them share with them that
2:10:43 sometimes they come across as dismissive
2:10:45 maybe they don't intend it
2:10:46 but you know if they respond in such a
2:10:49 way or in such a way then
2:10:50 you know they could be it would it would
2:10:53 kind of benefit the
2:10:54 the committee as a whole and benefit the
2:10:55 decision making
2:10:57 there's no other way for this person to
2:10:58 know it could be a blind spot
2:11:00 it could be not deliberate it could be
2:11:02 uh you know they could be mistaken they
2:11:04 don't even realize they're doing it so
2:11:06 nasty has someone advising them
2:11:07 personally someone who loves and cares
2:11:09 for them someone they trust
2:11:11 is perhaps one of the primary ways to
2:11:13 deal with this
2:11:15 another way is you know in terms of
2:11:17 somebody dismissive of your suggestions
2:11:19 uh to be as convincing as possible to
2:11:21 try your best to
2:11:22 explain to try your best to get rally
2:11:24 with the entire committee
2:11:26 on your opinion and to try and uh push
2:11:28 something through
2:11:29 and uh kind of like kind of convince
2:11:31 them but if it's something that's a
2:11:32 negative quality that you see
2:11:33 consistently
2:11:34 you'll see how advice is the best
2:11:37 yes that's a very beautiful chef and
2:11:40 don't forget when someone's in a
2:11:41 position of leadership
2:11:42 there is also an ethic in the islamic
2:11:44 tradition on
2:11:46 you know adhering and supporting
2:11:50 and being at service to your leaders as
2:11:54 well
2:11:55 and you know when you have a structure
2:11:56 like that when you all agree that you
2:11:58 have
2:11:58 say for for example an emir of the isak
2:12:02 you understand that following the emir
2:12:04 is an act of worship as well
2:12:06 yes it's not like you know total
2:12:08 submission because you submitting to
2:12:10 allah but you
2:12:11 you try and get the best out of your
2:12:13 leaders because you know what i said in
2:12:14 the beginning
2:12:15 true leadership is not just a position
2:12:16 it's just a way of being
2:12:19 you can have a leader that only that
2:12:21 might be great in some aspects and not
2:12:22 great in other aspects so your job is
2:12:24 not like oh he's such a bad leader or
2:12:27 he's annoying me or no you now need to
2:12:30 change that
2:12:30 challenge and make into a really good
2:12:32 question and say right how do i get him
2:12:33 to be the best leader that he can be
2:12:35 that's really powerful leadership you
2:12:38 know
2:12:38 you're a leader not in position but in
2:12:41 the way that you are
2:12:42 so you ask the question how do i make my
2:12:45 leaders the best possible leaders they
2:12:47 can be
2:12:49 and even by starting with that question
2:12:50 inshallah it will turn into something
2:12:52 very positive
2:12:53 okay another question for the sheikh he
2:12:55 says
2:12:56 in order to develop a clear vision and
2:12:59 speaking about
2:13:00 having many interests from a
2:13:02 professional perspective to be precise
2:13:05 how can we actually choose i'm
2:13:07 struggling with choosing a specific
2:13:09 professional path because i have so many
2:13:11 things i want to do
2:13:12 so many research projects i want to
2:13:14 address for example
2:13:15 all within my ultimate goal of helping
2:13:17 to make this world a better place
2:13:19 however so many things i want to do and
2:13:21 not being able to
2:13:23 choose makes me literally stuck and not
2:13:25 doing anything
2:13:26 especially i offer i often i think she
2:13:30 means often here end up procrastinating
2:13:31 the choice by fear of making the wrong
2:13:33 choice
2:13:34 thanks for answering me and thank you
2:13:36 very much for this interesting webinar
2:13:38 would you
2:13:42 say
2:13:45 i think i think uh sister is afflicted
2:13:47 with uh
2:13:48 something called analysis paralysis uh
2:13:51 you know i'll give you an example
2:13:53 you know did you know from the day from
2:13:55 his the age of 20
2:13:56 that allah created him to you know
2:13:58 articulate islam
2:14:00 it was through something he had to just
2:14:02 he did
2:14:03 he experimented maybe you know he shared
2:14:05 islam with a few people and you realize
2:14:06 actually you know what this is something
2:14:07 i enjoy it's something that allah gave
2:14:09 me a gift of
2:14:10 speaking so i should pursue this further
2:14:12 in the end
2:14:13 allah sometimes creates allah always
2:14:15 creates muslims who are multi-talented
2:14:19 and sometimes it is difficult to choose
2:14:20 between these things but the important
2:14:22 thing that we should do is
2:14:23 another never fear of making the wrong
2:14:25 choice because we can never make the
2:14:27 perfect choice
2:14:28 excellent is not the same as
2:14:30 perfectionism they're two very different
2:14:32 things
2:14:32 allah commands us to have a son which is
2:14:34 to do our best at the prophet saws
2:14:39 whatever i commanded you to do do the
2:14:41 best you can
2:14:42 so with the knowledge you have of
2:14:44 yourself with the options that you have
2:14:45 in front of you
2:14:47 do the best you can choose something
2:14:49 because like you said choosing something
2:14:51 is better than
2:14:52 doing nothing and being paralyzed
2:14:53 between all the different options
2:14:55 um so choose what you think is 70 right
2:14:57 60
2:14:58 right in the end of the day you're going
2:14:59 to take something of a leap a leap of
2:15:01 faith
2:15:02 and this is why allah says
2:15:05 once you have firm decision now you rely
2:15:07 upon allah now don't go back unless
2:15:09 something changes
2:15:10 and another thing is that part of your
2:15:12 choice really depends on your
2:15:12 opportunities
2:15:14 you know part of what you choose depends
2:15:15 on your opportunities if southampton
2:15:17 wasn't in london
2:15:18 if you hadn't come across ira if he was
2:15:19 in you know a village in
2:15:21 south india you know allah islam would
2:15:23 he even have the opportunity to
2:15:25 share islam with non-muslims and
2:15:27 articulate islam you know
2:15:28 so for yourself you know whatever it is
2:15:31 your research is your professional
2:15:32 interests are
2:15:33 look at the opportunities in front of
2:15:34 you and apply for certain opportunities
2:15:36 and allah will guide your decision by
2:15:39 the way of you being rejected from
2:15:40 opportunities and accepted into some by
2:15:42 some networks helping you out and some
2:15:44 networks
2:15:45 are not being very useful and so you
2:15:46 will notice the hand of allah the
2:15:48 guidance of allah
2:15:50 in in your decision but the most
2:15:52 important thing is not to be in
2:15:53 paralysis to act
2:15:55 not to lead beyond you know one of the
2:15:57 prophets companions
2:15:59 actually committed you know a sin and a
2:16:02 big mistake because of procrastination
2:16:06 his famous story when the prophet went
2:16:08 to tabuk for a great battle with the
2:16:10 romans thirty thousand muslims went
2:16:12 this companion who had gone to badr or
2:16:14 heard been with the prophet through
2:16:15 thick and thin
2:16:16 every time he said every time i went to
2:16:18 you know get ready for battle
2:16:20 i would be like i'll do it later and
2:16:22 he'd come home and he would accomplish
2:16:23 nothing
2:16:24 this happened every day he was a capable
2:16:26 fighter capable marksman
2:16:28 uh you know very use very strong man
2:16:30 masha'allah a man
2:16:31 a man of companionship yet everyone went
2:16:33 to battle and he never went with them
2:16:35 because
2:16:36 he kind of was paralyzed he kind of
2:16:37 ended up not acting
2:16:39 and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tested him
2:16:41 when the prophet came back the process
2:16:43 didn't let him go for 40 days nobody in
2:16:46 medina was allowed to speak to
2:16:47 this companion of the prophet saws
2:16:49 because it's very serious when allah has
2:16:51 given you ability
2:16:52 and there is there is a post that you
2:16:55 need to be at in order to help the ummah
2:16:57 we can't just be inactive we can't like
2:16:59 just sit idle and say one day i'll
2:17:00 eventually decide
2:17:02 because as we do that uh you know
2:17:04 opportunities are being lost so
2:17:06 decide insha'allah give yourself the
2:17:07 time to make the decision and then just
2:17:08 go for it and
2:17:10 at one point you just have to trust
2:17:11 allah that if this is the wrong decision
2:17:13 and don't forget this
2:17:17 we say allah if you think this is right
2:17:18 if you believe this is right for me if
2:17:19 this is right in your view
2:17:21 then make it easy for me and if it's not
2:17:23 right for you you will find lots of
2:17:24 obstacles and difficulties and you will
2:17:26 see that you know this doesn't seem to
2:17:27 be the right one for me
2:17:28 uh that that's advice i would give you
2:17:30 just you know go for something
2:17:32 don't be um don't get paralyzed don't
2:17:35 don't let yourself get inactive and
2:17:37 trust allah at the end of the day you're
2:17:38 gonna have to make a leap of faith with
2:17:40 the information you have at hand
2:17:41 and you can't be perfect um that's my
2:17:44 advice
2:17:47 yeah that's a very beautiful answer
2:17:50 so and we're going to end it here we've
2:17:53 overran study by 24 minutes but
2:17:54 alhamdulillah i think was very
2:17:56 beneficial
2:17:57 if you have any other further questions
2:17:58 that you want to ask the sheikh or
2:18:00 myself
2:18:01 then you can um contact us on info
2:18:04 sapience institute.org you can also
2:18:07 contact
2:18:08 shakesham directly also please try and
2:18:11 do the homework
2:18:12 if you are from an islamic society or
2:18:14 muslim student group
2:18:16 try and do the homework try and get your
2:18:18 vision together with the team
2:18:19 your strategy and we're here to help
2:18:22 inshallah we're committed to your
2:18:23 well-being
2:18:24 and committed to that longer
2:18:26 relationship i'd like to thank
2:18:28 sheikh hasham for delivering this
2:18:30 webinar and i bless him
2:18:32 and like to thank king's college london
2:18:35 islamic society for facilitating this
2:18:38 event as well and i'm really
2:18:40 pleased that you know we're establishing
2:18:42 a relationship with them so we could
2:18:43 continue this great work and we helped
2:18:45 you that with others too
2:18:47 and may not bless you all and don't
2:18:49 forget to
2:18:50 keep in touch with sheikh hisham's
2:18:52 workers also doing some great work with
2:18:54 ice socks all around the country
2:18:56 and anything that was wrong or a mistake
2:19:00 has come from ourselves shaytaan
2:19:03 anything good has come from allah wa
2:19:05 ta'ala
2:19:06 so may god bless you all take care of
2:19:08 yourselves and we'll speak to each other
2:19:09 very soon please be in touch please do
2:19:11 the homework
2:19:12 let's now work towards an amazing vision
2:19:15 assalamualaikum warahmatullahi
2:19:22 [Music]
2:19:29 [Music]