Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Al-Anfal (Spoils of War)
Chapter 8: Verse 46 (Partial)

Causes of Failure
Do not dispute with one another, lest you lose heart and your moral strength.

People fall into dispute when they have different authorities which they look to for leadership and guidance, or when desire is the ultimate factor that shapes people's views and ideas. When people obey only God and His Messenger, the main cause of dispute between them disappears, no matter how much their views differ over the question under discussion.

Having different views is never a cause of dispute and conflict. What causes conflict is desire, making everyone insist that his view is the one to follow, even when it appears to be wrong. Desire causes 'self' to be placed in opposition to 'right' and attaching more importance to self in the first place.

Source:
"In The Shade of The Quran" - Sayyid Qutb, Vol. 7, p. 158

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Strength in Silence

Someone once asked the Prophet, peace be upon him: "Which land is most beloved to Allah, and which land is most despised by Him?"

The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: "I do not know until I ask the angel Gabriel."

Thereafter, Gabriel informed him that the most beloved places are the mosques and the most disliked are the marketplaces. [Musnad Ahmad, Musnad Abî Ya`la, and Mustadrak al-Hâkim]

In stark contrast to the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Companions, and the eminent Islamic scholars throughout the ages, we find many laymen who are quite willing to speak with authority on every matter, great and small, regardless of how well informed they are. Many people speak hastily before giving the matter sufficient study. Had they only done their research, they would easily have seen how wrong they are. Alas, some people are just not prepared, mentally or emotionally, to deal with difficult issues and to research them with the required degree of thoroughness and rigour.

The media has emboldened the general public even further. Many people now regard it as a weakness when a scholar remains silent on an issue or admits he does not know the answer. They feel ashamed themselves not to have an opinion about everything, even if it is a singularly difficult question of Islamic Law or a tenet of religious belief. Every topic has become the same – politics, economics, ancient and modern history – and it makes no difference how much specialization is required to do justice to the matter.

Source:
"Allah Knows Best – The Value of Being Impartial" - Salman al-Oadah

Blindspot!

How Trust Works

Trust is one of the most powerful forms of motivation and inspiration. People want to be trusted. They respond to trust. They thrive on trust. Whatever our situation, we need to get good at establishing, extending, and restoring trust - not as a manipulative technique, but as the most effective way of relating to and working with others, and the most effective way of getting results.

Most of us tend to think about trust in terms of character - of being a good or sincere person or of having ethics or integrity. And character is absolutely foundational and essential. But, to think that trust is based on character only is a myth.

Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, your track record. And both are vital.

You might think a person is sincere, even honest, but you won't trust that person fully if he or she doesn't get results. And the opposite is true. A person might have great skills and talents and a good track record, but if he or she is not honest, you're not going to trust that person either. My wife, Jeri, recently had to have some surgery. We have a great relationship - she trusts me and I trust her. But when it came time to perform the surgery, she didn't ask me to do it. I'm not a doctor. I don't have the skills or the competence to do it. Even though she trusts me in most arenas, she knows I don't have the skills to perform surgery.

Once you become aware that both character and competence are vital to trust, you can see how the combination of these two dimensions is reflected in the approach of effective leaders and observers everywhere.

Source:
"The Speed of Trust" - Stephen M. R. Covey, pp. 29-31