Think About IT
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This document contains a preface and 10 chapters written by Ali Mujahid exploring ideas related to self-development for Muslims. The preface discusses Ali Mujahid's experience in da'wa and his vision for an Islamic discourse that is compatible with today's world and encourages positive development. The chapters discuss topics such as the reason for existence, developing objectives and a belief system, the power of language, learning to see problems as opportunities, the importance of questioning, representing Islam through actions, the role of communication, becoming fearless, and the need for an education revolution.
Think About IT
- 1. A l i M u j a h i d
- 2. THINK ABOUT IT By Ali Mujahid e-book layout & design by: Paramount Publishing Enterprise K a r a c h i - L a h o r e - I s l a m a b a d
- 3. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Copyright holders. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. THINK ABOUT IT By Ali Mujahid e-book layout & design by: Paramount Publishing Enterprise 152/O, Block-2, P.E.C.H.S., Karachi-75400, Pakistan Tel: 4310030 Fax: 4553772 E-mail: paramount@cyber.net.pk Website: www.paramountbooks.com.pk
- 4. iii Preface ................................................................. v Author’s note ........................................................ vii Rules for discussion and disagreement ................ viii Instructions ........................................................... ix 1. The Reason of Existence ........................... 01 2. Objectives: What are they good for ............ 05 3. Developing a Belief System ....................... 09 4. Powerful Word ........................................... 12 5. How to Fall in Love with Problems ............. 16 6. A Civilization with no Questions ................ 20 7. Don’t tell the World we are Muslims; Show them that we are Muslims ................ 23 8. Communication is the Key ......................... 26 9. The Art of becoming Fearless .................... 30 10. An Education Revolution ............................ 33 Contents
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- 6. v Few are able to bring relevance and erudition to a subject at the same time. It is, of course, what separates the good from the great. Ali Mujahid is one of those people. At a time when the religious majority is unable to connect with the Muslim masses, Ali Mujahid’s discourse becomes invaluable in drawing younger generations back to faith. Combining over 15 years of Da’wa experience; backed with a sound education in business and Qur’anic studies, Mr. Mujahid has brought together a work whose birth I witnessed some 12 years ago. In the late nineties I was blessed to befriend, lead and serve Mr. Mujahid; his methods of da’wa revolutionized our efforts in America transforming a once sleepy community into an example for other student organizations to follow. His motto, “Allah is our Lord. Muhammad is our Prophet. We can do anything.” It was during those golden days that Ali began to talk of a book. Initially I paid it little attention, but over time I realized that, as was always the case, Ali’s words were painted into actions. The work before you represents the ode of a lover to his beloved. In Ali’s case, that is Islam. It is rare Preface
- 7. vi that one asks to write an introduction for another. But in this case, I, although suffocated with exams and work in Egypt, contacted him and said, “Let me write the intro.” Ali, as always, agreed and, as always, I pushed the deadline. But let me say that this work is the product of a vision that sees Islam compatible with today’s world, positive in its outlook and encouraging Muslims to invest in humanity and their countries. I applaud Ali for this effort and encourage all to read, study and live this important contribution to the contemporary Islamic discourse. I’m lucky because those who want to strengthen their hearts will read this text; when I want to, I remember my days with Mr. Mujahid. Hafidh Suhaib D. Webb al-Azhari Sunday, April 19, 2009 Cairo, Egypt
- 8. This booklet contains some short thought-provoking articles. My main objective for writing this book is basically for Muslims to start thinking and exploring new ideas of self development. Each article in this book is worth a discussion. You may agree or disagree with me; there is nothing wrong with it. vii Author’s Note
- 9. viii Rules for discussion and disagreement If you disagree with any of my topics or wish to improve them, then visit the following URL. http://muslimthinkers.wetpaint.com/ Here you would find the whole booklet available online. All you have to do is improve any article as you like, just make sure to use simple English so that everyone can benefit from it. So Inshallah if I ever get a chance to publish my second edition, then I will make sure to include my readers’ points of view.
- 10. ix Instructions As the author I would like my readers to get full value of this small booklet. So, for that please read the following instructions: 1. Sit with your friends or someone you are close to (cousins, parents, spouse, etc). 2. Each person should read a chapter on an individual basis. 3. After reading, you should all sit together and explore the topic. Generate new ideas, plus you should discuss how you can improve yourself.
- 12. If we look around us we find that everything in nature serves a purpose. The trees, mountains, rivers, lakes, insects are all interlinked to serve a purpose. If we look at the harmony in nature it seems that everything that exists knows it purpose. The only living thing not in harmony is the human being. Could this be the reason of such unrest within our society? That as human beings we don’t know why we exist, what is our purpose, do we even have a purpose? Personally these are age-old questions, which are answered by numerous philosophers from all time. But here I would like to use this aspect in person-to-person bases. Each and every individual on this planet is different; each one of us has a different mix of talents. What I would like my readers to do is to write down the reason of your existence on the piece of paper. This one statement can make the life of an individual more fruitful. Any individual with this statement written down would be more focused towards his/her goals and objectives. The person would develop excellent planning skills and implement them with a passion. If the individual has a strong belief about his/her reason of existence, then there is a likely 1 The Reason of Existence
- 13. 2 Why do I exist? Where do I fit in?
- 14. chance that this person would become a leader. In order to develop a good reason of existence there are basic two rules. Firstly it should not be too narrow and secondly it should not be too broad. Let’s take a simple example to say, “You exist only to fulfil your family requirements.” This statement is too narrow. What if, God forbids the family dies then there would be no reason for the individual’s existence. Similarly if the statement is too broad such as “I exist to perform good deeds in the society.” This statement is too broad and not much planning can go into it. The reason of existence should have a balance. The question might arise how we can strike a balance. It’s really simple; first evaluate your personality, and look for your strengths. If you cannot find it then ask your spouse, relative and close friends. Then look for the challenges in the society and find out how you can help to make it a better place. In simple words just remember the following formulae: - your strengths + society challenges = Reason of Existence Exercise • Write down your strengths _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 3
- 15. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ • List down social challenges _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ • Briefly in one sentence describe your reason of existence ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 4
- 16. Behind every successful human being is his/her thinking process. By thinking process I simply mean how quickly one can generate a new idea. Behind every thinking process there are objectives. Objectives play a very vital role in one’s life. Yet they are neglected by majority of us. In my personal opinion this is simply because we as human being have become quiet short cited. We are more concerned about today or most probably tomorrow but we hardly think about ten years down the line. The following are some advantages of laying down our objectives; Developing Strategies Objectives are targets we are trying to achieve. A strategy is the means to achieve that target. Planning sometimes backfires, therefore we try to look for alternatives. At the end a determined individual does not loose hope and always keep trying. This leads us to the second advantage, which is positive thinking. Positive Thinking If you are a particular individual who does not give up and always tries to make the best out of any Objectives: What are they good for 5
- 17. 6 ? How can I reach up there?
- 18. 7 situation, then there is a highly likely chance that you think in a positive manner. If we have objective we never give up. Within ourselves there is a small voice telling us to keep trying, it is not the end of the world’. We scan for alternative routes which lead us towards becoming more creative. Which in term leads us to the next advantage — to become more creative. Creativity Creativity is simply about doing ones action in a better way. Minimizing our input and maximizing our output. Creativity comes in place when we scan for alternative routes for achieving our objectives. Whenever we are looking for alternative, something amazing happens. We always discover something new and exciting. Conflict Resolution There are many types of conflicts but majority of the time conflicts occurs when the conflicting parties have different objectives. The mediator can resolve their issues simply by giving them a common objective. This is one of the reasons why in the time of crisis, two foes can become one because of a common enemy. Wisdom Wisdom is about seeing the big picture, having bird’s a eye view over every situation and issue. A person with objectives would remain focus on his/her objectives. He/she would not worry about small hindrances. In conclusion objectives help us in seeing the big picture.
- 19. 8 This helps us become wiser. Exercise • Briefly list five things which you would like to achieve after five years 1 ________________________________________ 2 ________________________________________ 3 _________________________________________ 4 _________________________________________ 5 _________________________________________
- 20. A belief system is the best motivator of any human being; the stronger the belief the stronger the motivation factor. The question arises how we can generate a strong belief system. The concept is very simple and anyone can achieve it. Human beings make decisions using two factors. These two factors are logic and emotions. So to make our life easy we can easily say that decisions are based on the mind and the heart. Whenever there is a decision to make our heart and mind set to work, these two factors are looking for some sort of justification. Sometimes the heart wins and sometimes the mind. The problem arises when these two factors are in a collision course. At that point no such decision can be made. This is also one of the reasons why our action are inconsistent. If we look at the other side of the picture, what if an issue comes up and the heart and mind both are set on the same task, then we see a belief system being formulated. You would witness consistencies in actions. In conclusion if you are inconsistent in your actions, that means you are not convinced of the task givento you. You have to make sure that you are satisfied Developing a Belief System 9
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- 22. 11 with this task emotionally and on the bases of logic. The more you are satisfied with it, the better your performance would turn out to be. Exercise • Produce three things that you believe in. List them down.
- 23. Language plays a very important role in the de- velopment of a civilization. It brings humanity on a single platform; from here we start to communicate. Can it be possible that a single word can bring about a change in a nation? Personally I would suggest that it can. If we start using one word more often and frequently, we can bring a change in the condition we are in. How can that be possible? Easy — the words that we use form an image in our mind. If we start using positive words then we would see positive mental images, as a result our perception would be positive. We could say the same for a negative word, which would lead to a negative image. Due to this reason leaders and managers of organizations should carefully use words, which would send out a positive image to the employees and to the nation at large. Let me give you a simple example, we love to use the word ‘problem’. There is nothing wrong with this word but it does scare us, hence we get a negative image that there is something wrong with the issue at hand. Instead of using the word ‘problem’ we should use the word ‘challenge’. With the word ‘challenge’ we get a different mental image and there is a highly likely chance that we would deal with this Powerful word 12
- 25. 14 issue in a different manner. For Example: The world is facing a lot of problems. The world is facing a lot of challenges. Similarly there is another word that we hardly use. If we start using this word more often we can surely become a positive nation and much better human beings. The word is ‘we’. I strongly believe in this word and I can assure you that if we use this word more often, it would help us to change our attitude towards life. The word itself sends a strong image at the receiver’s end. For Example: We should accomplish our target. We will help you. We will take care of this issue. The word ‘we’ unites people for a common cause, it sends out a very comfortable connotation that we are not alone. Although we should not forget that where there is light, there has to be darkness. The word can also give us a negative image. For Example: We would rob the bank. We would lie together. We would cheat everyone. The biggest weak point of the dark side is that it can be eliminated by a very small source of light. So how can we use this word to its full potential? The following is a good exercise in which we can try to use this word and explore the possibility of its effectiveness.
- 26. 15 1. Once in a week sit with your close friends or family members. 2. Then start raising questions ‘What can we do for Islam’, ‘What can we do for Muslims’, and so forth. All we are doing is exploring possibilities, and I can assure you that at one point in time, your group will add value to Islam. Each individual has a unique talent but as individuals we will not be able to contribute in an effective manner. However, as a group we would be able to bring a positive change in our lifestyles. Exercise Sit with your friends and make a list of things that you can do together to benefit the society.
- 27. Our education system is based on one thing — it teaches us how to react. We present information to our students and we see how they react. If their reaction is a according our expectation then we reward them, if not then we punish them. This is one of the reasons why we like answers rather than questions, especially when these answers are correct. Being reactive will always make us sit on the passenger seat, we would only receive, we would never be able to contribute to humanity and civilization as a whole. This is one of the biggest reasons why we hate problems in our lives because we really do not know how to react to it. We consider problems, as being a hindrance to our society’s development. This is something that I disagree with. Our fear of problems usually leads to a more destructive mode. We try to blame external sources for our problems. This leads further to two other issues. Firstly we take no responsibility of the issue, secondly we do not try to resolve the issue because of a simple excuse — It is not our problem. Due to this reason we cannot move forward. How to Fall in Love with Problems 16
- 28. 17 This is a big problem This is not a problem, it is a source of energy and fertilizer
- 29. 18 One of the biggest issues in the education field in the Islamic world is the lack of research. We usually blame faculty that they are not conducting research. But the main fault lies in the fact that we cannot face problems. Our approach is to either avoid it or blame others. So with this I think we as a nation have a lot to give, why, because we have a lot of problems. But honestly how can we really enjoy solving problem. That’s easy, all we need to do is change our vocabulary. I really believe in the following formulae: Problems = Opportunities Being reactive is easy. All we have to do is follow others footsteps. But being reactive usually destroys or rather kills creativity. Let us discuss a very simple example, a person opens a restaurant and it becomes a big hit. Immediately in a matter of few months we would find different restaurants opening within the same locality. This is the easiest thing we could do. Again this shows our fears of problem solving. Who wants to go through the pain of conducting market research or even trying to understand consumer needs? If someone is successful in one locality then we assume that every restaurant opened in the same locality would also be successful. If we follow a more proactive approach then we would become problem seekers. This is simply because we consider every problem to be an opportunity to grow; or even an opportunity to go into a financial venture. Remember that if we are facing a problem, there are others facing the same problem and if we can resolve it, then we can really benefit the society as a whole.
- 30. 19 Lastly I would like to state one thing. If the Muslim world is facing a lot of problems this in other words means we have a lot of opportunities, so we come to a conclusion and that the “Islamic world is the land of opportunities”. All we need to do is to change our attitude and temperament towards life. Exercise A. List down three problems that your society is facing. 1. _______________________________________ 2. _______________________________________ 3. _______________________________________ 4. _______________________________________ B. Rephrase them to appear as opportunities. 1. _______________________________________ 2. _______________________________________ 3. _______________________________________ 4. _______________________________________
- 31. 20 Questions are very important for the foundation of a developing civilization. One should always have an urge to ask questions. It does not make much of a difference whether we have the answer or not. We need to ask questions. Our questions are the best motivation we can get. The satisfaction of an answer is like an achievement of its own. From the answers we may want to draw another question and start to investigate. During this cycle a person’s personality starts to develop. We witness a renaissance emerging with in oneself. At the end we observe a birth of a philosophy. There are two types of questions. The first type is when we address it to someone; the second type is when we address it to ourselves. Most of the time the primary reason we address questions to others is that we have already asked this question once to ourselves and were not satisfied with the outcome. We ask others for an easier explanation. Unfortunately our education system is based on answers. We get grades only on correct answers. It does not matter how we got it. As long as it is correct and to the expectation of the instructor, we are all happy. A Civilization with no Questions
- 33. But there is a downside of an answer-based education system and that is that a person, throughout his/her life, has to have answers ready for everyone according to their expectation. If the answer is not according to expectation then that particular person would be considered as a failure. The answer-based society is most likely to be a hierarchical-based society, in which the superior are always asking questions while the subordinates have to answer them according to their expectations, so that they can become successful. What if we base our education system not on answers but on questions? Grades are given out on the quality of questions asked. How would this affect our society as a whole? The most obvious thing that comes is that development in the entire field would increase at an alarming rate. This society would base itself on research. It would not be a hierarchical-based society. If a supervisor has the right to ask a question to his subordinate, then the subordinate can also ask questions. There would be a check and balance in every department. Creativity and the concept of exper- imentation would evolve the society towards develop- ment. The last and the most important factor is that we would become better human beings by helping each other finding answers. 22
- 34. As Muslims do we really love our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? This is a very important question that every Muslim should ask oneself on a daily basis. But as individuals, we sometimes fail to understand the concept of love for the Prophet (PBUH). Before we discuss this topic, I would first like to explain what love is. To understand love we first have to understand sacrifice because love and sacrifice are two sides of a coin. If we love something that means we are willing to sacrifice our happiness for it. More love simply means more sacrifice. Now lets talk about the insult on our beloved Prophet (PBUH). This is regarding the cartoon representations of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); it is no doubt a tragedy. But there is also a bigger issue here. This incident has left me to evaluate myself and I would really like each and every Muslim to evaluate themselves. Do we really love our Prophet (PBUH)? Do we really respect his message, his sacrifices? Personally speaking I am observing that Muslims are insulting our Prophet more then any other non-Muslim; the question is how are we doing this? It’s simple by not following his ways. Honestly speaking as a nation do we really love our Prophet, well let us open our Don’t tell the World we are Muslims; show them that we are Muslims 23
- 36. 25 television and what do we see. We see everything that goes against our Prophet’s way. From fashion TV to music videos in which people are dancing shamelessly, from Bollywood to Hollywood, everything is there which is un-Islamic. If we step into the market we see Muslims cheating each other. Our family values are deteriorating at an alarming rate and if this is not enough, as Muslims we have literally declared war on Allah and His final Messenger; how? By allowing interest to creep into our economy (Quran 2-279). The question one might ask, is that why don’t we love our Prophet as we should. The answer is very simple; honestly speaking we really don’t know our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We have memorized his biography but we failed to look at the lessons to be learnt from his biography. These lessons include the concept of patience, tolerance, unity, humanity and the list goes on. One of the biggest reasons why Muslims of the world are in a mess is because we have failed to follow the teachings our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I would like to propose an exercise for all the Muslims, and that is to empathize with our Prophet. Whatever the situation, one must ask oneself what would my Prophet do in this situation. And if one does not have the answer then one must investigate. This is the best way to remember our Prophet (PBUH). If everyone would follow this path we can show the world that we are Muslims, and our Prophet did not look like that cartoon, but rather a person whom we are proud to follow as a role model.
- 37. 26 For some apparent reason communication is a subject that is ignored by majority of the Muslims. Communication is a very important skill. Any civilization or nation who has mastered this skill has ruled the world. Communication basically means to send a clear message which the receiver can understand. The misconception of communication is that people usually relate it to talking. But this is only one dimension of communication. Producing a movie, writing a book, reciting poetry, or even the way we dress, are all forms of communication. In each of the above cases the sender is sending a message to the world about how he/she is feeling, propagating their ideas. This skill is not something new. If we look at history you would see how nations and civilizations have used this tool to prosper and rule the world. Let us start from the Roman civilization. They developed huge networks of roads, which were used for communication. With communication new businesses prospered and the flow of ideas became a common concept. After the Romans came the Islamic civilization. They used Hajj to improve their communication skills. Islam was a huge empire from China to Spain. What happened was that each year people used to come for Hajj from all over the Communication is the Key
- 38. Do you want to make a movie on Islam? Did you watch the movie? YES. But first we should have knowledge of Islam. School of Communication 27 Islam is the best religion. Did you watch the movie? YEAH
- 39. 28 world and exchanged ideas and discoveries. So if something was discovered in Samarkand, within a year it would reach Andalusia. This was a great achievement. The other invention that flourished communication was the heavy use of paper by the Muslims. This invention was developed by the Chinese but was heavily used in the Islamic world. After the Islamic Civilization the British Empire came up and gave us the railway industry. This revolutionized communication. Now people were writing and traveling; the exchange of ideas was going back and forth. After the railway the telegraph and telephone were invented and with these inventions the US started to rise. And then ultimately Internet came into existence and basically changed everything. Besides this, the development of films and television also came into existence which further more enhanced the field of communication. With the help of movies and television we not only rely on voice or text but we can communicate ideas visually. Mass media played a very important role. First it was used only for entertainment and education purposes. But during the two World Wars it was used for propaganda purposes. It was then realized how effective mass communication was. Mass media literally changed the culture of the whole world. The impact was so high that our clothes, food, houses, even our religion was under the influence of the crew running the show. So by now you have realized how important this subject is and how much we have neglected it. It does
- 40. 29 not matter what profession you belong to or what profession you have chosen, we have to learn the art of communication. If we as Muslims wish to rise once more, then we have to develop new tools to communicate or become an expert with the current tools in use today.
- 41. 30 ‘Fear’ is a very powerful emotion. This particular emotion blinds a person and makes him/her perform actions that any sane person will not perform. In our time ‘fear’ has become a multimillion dollar industry. From movie studios to government policies everyone is using this emotion to earn profit. Even businesses like insurance companies’ are basically thriving on fear; fear of death, fear of accident, fear of losing one’s health and the list goes on. Governments have also used fear to blind their citizens. For example, in the US after the Second World War they were screaming that the communists are coming. A witch hunt was going on to find out citizens who had a little bit of sympathy or appreciated the idea of Karl Mark. Nowadays there is a new witch hunt that has begun and this time it is Islamic fundamentalism. Any one who even thinks in terms of an Islamic State, the whole world is fearful of him/her. So how can we become fearless? First we have to understand fear. This can be done by the following formula:- Fear = Lack of Knowledge The Art of becoming Fearless
- 43. 32 Not long ago people used to believe the Earth was flat. Due to this reason they did not travel in deep sea. This is simply because they believed that they will fall off. But with knowledge and time they realized this was not the case, their fear as a result vanished. Let me give another example. If I were to put you in your bedroom and turn off the light, you would not feel frighten because you are familiar with your bedroom. However if I put you in another room which is unknown to you and turn off the light, then it would be natural that you would not feel comfortable. Therefore in order to become fearless engage yourself in gaining knowledge. When you start getting knowledge you would realize that this whole universe has to be creation of someone. You would start getting closer to your Creator. Then the only fear you have to deal with is the fear of your Creator. This type of fear is a healthy fear. This fear would help you in becoming a better human being, plus this fear will not make you weak or allow you to be blackmailed by anyone.
- 44. 33 As we look at the rich history of the Islamic civilization, we find lots of Muslim scientists who worked to contribute in the area of biology, chemistry, sociology and so forth. Have you ever wondered what motivated these scientists to excels in there field? Was it fame or was it money or was it something much greater than money and fame? I sincerely believe that our Muslim scientists had only one objective and that was to come closer to their Creator. While doing that they were serving humanity as a whole. They were trying to get closer to their Creator by achieving knowledge. This is one of the reasons why these scientists did not use knowledge for distruction. If we observe our scientists of today, we notice that where they are working to make our lives easy, on the other had they are making weapons for mass distruction. Where splitting the atom can produce enormous energy, on the other hand it can cause distruction like no other weapon. We can say the same thing for biology and chemistry. Why are we getting knowledge, why are we getting our degrees? It’s simply because of one reason. In our mind we have the following formula: - An Education Revolution (Conclusion)
- 46. Degree = Money I am not saying earning a livelihood is bad. All I am saying is that we are getting education for the wrong reasons. The ideal situation would be to get knowledge to come closer to our Creator. If we are not willing to do that then I would recommend to get knowledge to improve humanity. Exercise Here is the challenge. How can we use our degrees to come closer to our Creator and help humanity? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 35