Assalamu'alaikum, |
I just got back from Michigan, where I co-facilitated a staff retreat for a charity organisation on how they could live their "why" with Barakah. |
During the session, they played with the Barakah Culture Cards, where each group had to pick one mindset, one value, and one ritual that would help them live their organisational purpose. |
 |
Participants playing with the Barakah Culture Cards as part of a breakout session |
|
One group picked up the card 'Tawbah and Constant Returning to Allah' and came up with a cool term #TawbahTuesdays; at first everyone laughed, but I told the group:"Imagine if every Tuesday, you took a moment in your workday to seek tawbah, asking Allah to forgive your shortcomings and promising to do better. How would that one moment of pause propel the rest of your week?" |
The point I was making was: how you do your work can matter more than what you do, or even why you do it. A team with #TawbahTuesdays baked into the way they work will be a more repentant, introspective, sincere group than one that pushes through the week with no reflection on their purpose at all. |
Last week, we also finished the Annual Hijri Reset program, helping Muslim professionals set their intentions and projects for 1448H. I realized afterwards that we pour everything into the why we do things (our intentions) and the what we do (our high-himmah projects), but we barely think about the how - not in terms of skills, but the values we bring to the table. |
I was talking to an orthopaedic surgeon, and he described his surgeries like a 'plumbing or carpentry' job. I felt really uncomfortable with the way he described what he does to his patients. So I asked him: ‘if you brought the name Ash-Shafi (The Healer) into your work, if you saw your surgeries as a way of bringing that Divine Name to life, would you still see it as plumbing and carpentry?’ |
In the Qur'an, Allah reminds us of the importance of the how: |
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تُبْطِلُوا۟ صَدَقَـٰتِكُم بِٱلْمَنِّ وَٱلْأَذَىٰ… |
| |
| O believers! Do not waste your charity with reminders ˹of your generosity˺ or hurtful words… (Quran 2:264) |
|
|
Even though you gave charity, Allah is reminding you to give it with humility and not with hurtful words because that could nullify the reward of your charity. |
Focusing on the how, as you fulfil your why and your what, is about bringing akhlaq (character and good manners) into our execution, and doing things beautifully, the way Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught us to do. |
So as you embark on your 1448 projects, goals, and high-himmah intentions, don't only ask what you'll do, ask how: |
How will you pray this year? Rushed, or with khushu? How will you read the Qur'an this year? with understanding, or without? How will you serve your parents? with love, or with annoyance? How will you speak to your spouse and children?..
|
At the end of 1448H, you can achieve a lot, but if you failed to do things with sincerity, ihsan, and adab, it might be a waste. |
So this week, ask yourself one question: |
How will I do things in 1448H - with adab, with akhlaq - to be the best 'abd of Allah? |
Sincerely, |
|
|
P.S. If you want to set your goals intentions for 1448H, you can get the recorded version of the Annual Hijri Reset program here. |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment