Articles tagged with compassion
By a future that looks dark, promising a dawn very bright, By our values, our compassion, our courage, by Islam, By those who lift us when we fall and fight for us when we can’t, By knowing You, loving You, thanking You and worshipping only You, We know You O! Allahﷻ by Your Bounties, uncounted.
He conquered his enemies not by killing them but by killing enmity. That is the biggest lesson for all humanity today which is mired in misery and suffering thanks to mutual hatred. Forgive and start afresh, a society based on mutual respect and acceptance. That is the message of Prophet Muhammad (May he be blessed). A message as valid today as it was then.
The Hope Forum is a place that the injured from Twitter, Facebook and other social media can come, to detox and cure themselves from the negativity of the world. There’s much good happening in the world that gets no lift. Bad news sells. So we’ll give each other good news for free. And you’ll be automatically chucked out if you post anything negative. The rule for this forum will be that only productive and positive things can be shared. Nothing negative. No criticism of anyone or anything. No praising yourself. Praise others and let others praise you. No pontificating, no proselytizing. No promoting of any particular religion, ideology, politics, shop, product, service or yourself. Only appreciating what others are doing. Let others speak about your work while you do it quietly and sincerely because you believe in it and in yourself. The Hope Forum is something that seeks to change the whole culture of social networking which is simply another name for self-promotion and one-upmanship. We have nothing against any religion, ideology, politics, shop, product, service or you. Just that if you want to promote any of this go somewhere else. This is not the place for it.
The first thing to learn therefore is to listen to some hard talk without flinching. In the ring, the one who wins is not the one who can hit hardest but the one who can take a hard hit and remain standing. That is life. The race doesn’t end when you fall but when you fail to get up. Resilience is to get up after every fall.
Keep confidence. What’s between you two must remain between the two of you only. Nobody else. She’s your Best Friend and you are hers. Respect that relationship and your marriage will be a source of great blessing. Let anyone else into that relationship, mother, father, sibling, anyone, and it’s doomed. It’s as simple as that. And it’s in your control.
Ideology defines the goal and the path that leads to it. Skill is necessary to do what it takes to reach the goal. Leaders must always keep the purpose in mind and not allow their ego, personal likes and dislikes, affiliations, or anything else to get in the way of choosing the right people. Nobody can succeed on their own. Right people are critical to success. No matter how talented, skilled, or learned the leader may be, without competent supporters he will fail. Let’s ask how we hire, especially if the person who is fit for the position is someone, we may have a difference of opinion with or don’t really like very much. The ability to work with diverse people and be able to relate to them depending on the situation defines successful leadership. Please see my book, “Hiring Winners”.
It was many years later that I read the saying of Martin Luther King, Jr. which immediately made sense to me. He said: “Cowardice asks the question – is it safe? Expediency asks the question – is it politic? Vanity asks the question – is it popular? But conscience asks the question – is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.” This is how I have always tried to live my own life. And any time I failed to do this, the folly immediately became clear to me and I repented. It is far more painful to succumb to oppression than to stand up against it. And to imagine that it is not oppression if it is not happening to you is the biggest mistake. Injustice to anyone is injustice to everyone. When you fail to stand up to it, something dies inside you.
The 80’s sound like ancient history today in 2019 going on the magic number 2020. What do we have today? Hatred. We hate each other and that sells, that gets you elected, that gets you followers, it is chic, it is fashionable, and it works. That is the only thing that counts. So, our world has shrunk. We meet people like ourselves, who talk like we do, eat what we eat, like what we like and dislike what we dislike. We hate the same people and in each other’s rhetoric, we find solace. We live in our echo chamber and that has become our world. There are those among us who were born in this echo chamber. They don’t know anything else. But there are those who were born and lived in a world that was very different from this one. A world where there were no echo chambers, like there were no mobile phones, laptops, social media and even television. A world that was real. Today in our echo chamber, we sometimes ask ourselves this question, “What happened to that world?” Then we correct ourselves and ask, “What did we do to it?”
They say that reading biographies is perhaps the best way to learn real life lessons. That is because a biography is a record of practice. Of what worked and what didn’t. The life of Muhammadﷺ is perhaps one of the most well documented in human history. Here was someone who in a period of 23 years, took his people from being the weakest, most despised and oppressed in their community to being the leaders and role models in the same community. And he did all that without lies, cheating, corruption, violence or bloodshed. My question is, ‘Would you like to know how to do that? Would you like to know how to bring about not incremental but transformational change in your society? Then read the life of Muhammadﷺ.’
Negative people look for things to complain about and find them. Positive people look for things to be grateful for and find them. Make your choice I’m sure you’ve heard this before that every day we wake up, we have a choice. We can choose to see the day as positive or negative. And guess […]
Add value first. Entitlement will follow. Entitlement goes with the territory. Contribution defines the territory Because entitlement is directly proportional to contribution. Entitlement is the result of contribution. If you want more ‘entitlement’, contribute more. Only those who contribute greatly are entitled to great rewards. What do I mean? We live in a world of […]
Money measures nothing except greed. When money becomes the objective, misery is the return. Service is the goal, the result of which is prosperity. Money is an effect, a result. What do I mean? Well, you see, we live in a world of cause and effect. The fundamental rule here is, ‘If you want an […]