Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, who brothers, and sisters and friends and welcome to today's webinar is all about the visionaries. Yes, indeed, the visionaries and every Muslim must be a visionary. And this is really about successful dower for the 21st century brothers and sisters. Now when we say the 21st century, we mean applying the Quran, the Sunnah, the sublime universal values, from the Quran, and the Sunnah, in the way of our classical scholarship, the way of our pious masters, spiritual masters, if you like the scholars, the pious predecessors, and we want to take them methodology,

take the timeless principles and apply it in the 21st century brothers and sisters, because it is without a doubt, if we move away from the book of Allah subhanaw taala. We move away from the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, we move away from normative Islam from these timeless values, we're not going to have true success,

we are not going to have true success, we're not going to optimize our work, and the Dow is not going to be optimized. And not just that we're not going to have Baraka, what's Baraka brothers and sisters. It's one plus one is equal to five, right? You put two naturalistic things, two naturalistic things together, and you're going to get two of those things. But Allah put something in there, it is baraka and it's increased. So do we want Baraka in our brothers and sisters? Do we want true success? Because the definition of success is very important. It's not just vanity metrics. Yes, of course, numbers are very important what many people do become Muslim, but we have

to have a vision and insight into the future to see if that's going to sustain itself. And we also have to have impact which doesn't necessarily link to numbers, but there are other metrics or other principles that we have to implement. So if we want true success, true, optimal data, we want to follow the principles, the timeless principles and that's where the success in the baraka lies, the principles from the Quran and Sunnah. If we are following these things, and inshallah we're going to achieve our vision, and this is in the hands of Allah. Anyway, we're going to explore this a little bit, you're going to understand that true success comes from Allah, success is in the hands of Allah

subhanho wa taala. We just have to do our bit. Remember our tradition from a moral, ethical and values perspective? We're not, you know, we're not secular, utilitarian, utilitarian ISTS. Right. We're not a utility. We're not follow utilitarian philosophy, meaning, here's an action, and I'm going to see the consequences of this particular action. Right? We don't have really have that perspective. We're not ego ethicist, or, you know, ethical egoists, right? Meaning that I want to focus on how it benefits me, and whatnot, utilitarian from the point of view that I want to maximize, you know, wellbeing for everybody. I want to maximize well being from a collective point

of view. And I want to basically minimize any harm and suffering from a secular perspective, because we're not doing it just from Okay, look, I'm getting all of these results who must be fantastic? No, because in Islam, that method is also very important to we're not Machiavellian, right, we believe things have intrinsic value, we believe things have more value, because they are manifested via the commands of Allah subhanho wa taala. So you could be successful from a utilitarian point of view, meaning you achieve something great in the shower, maybe you raise millions of pounds, maybe you have millions of shahada, or whatever the case may be. But if you followed a method and approach the

principles that were not in line with Islam, and they were a way of the obedience of Allah subhanho wa Taala was disobedience, then I truly believe, I truly believe you will not have Baraka, not only what you have Baraka but that that success is only going to be very short term, maybe after your lifetime because you didn't do it because you're a bit Allah. Maybe the next generation is going to fail because you didn't do the right thing. You didn't obey Allah in it for the right time. That's principles. And it could it could also mean that you may not get much of the road or you reward is diminished, right? So it's very important to understand that the success is from Allah, we have to

follow the right thing. And once we do that, we'll find in the short term, the medium term, medium term and the long term, Baraka entered our sec.

Access in our data, and it's very important. So when we talk about the visionaries, brothers and sisters, we essentially want you to understand that you have to have a vision for your life, you have to have a strategy, which is the domain of actions or the necessary actions that link to the success of your vision, meaning that these actions when you've consulted people, and you've done your analysis, when you looked into the Quran and the Sunnah you look, you don't show that and so on and so forth, you know that these actions are likely going to lead to the success and the fulfillment of your vision. And we have to follow principles and qualities in order for us to

execute that strategy in order for us to have Baraka in the dour and success and for our vision to fulfill it for it to be fulfilled. And these principles and qualities are derived from the Quran and the Sunnah. And we have to follow these principles and qualities because our deen is a dean of surrendering, we surrender our ego, we surrender our perspective even we surrender ourselves to whom to Allah subhanaw taala, who is an ally in Al Hakim, he is the knowing the wise Allah has the picture, we just have a pixelated understanding of reality. Allah knows the consequences. Allah has the full picture, we just have a pixel if that and Allah tells us to obey the messenger sallallahu

alayhi wa sallam, so we are successful, and that we receive mercy as well. Part of this obedience is to emulate him. And Allah subhanho wa Taala talks about the law while he was selling them was a perfect noble human being, he had the highest moral character, and so we should emulate him. And so when you look into his life, you look into the principles, you look into the Quran, you could derive some very key profound principles and qualities and once you internalize them, once you become them, not that you know them intellectually, but you intend to internalize them in your way of being, it changes your heart, it changes your tongue, it changes how you relate to yourself, how you relate to

others, and how you relate to this panel or to Allah, once you internalize them in this way, I truly believe you will not fail. And you will see the results in the orchestra and insha Allah in the dunya. So this is what we're going to be talking about in summary, of course. And also this webinar, brothers and sisters, is a way to introduce what on earth the visionaries is about. Now obviously, I've spoken about a few things passionately, for sure, because this is a very passionate topic for me. And maybe now's the time just to explain a little bit what this retreat is because when we talk about the visionaries we're talking about, successful dolphins 21st century is a retreat that

hopefully we want to replicate every year. And the first retreat is going to happen in Turkey in sub Pangea. On the 21st of October to the 25th of October, at a five star resort is called the Kabir deluxe hotel. So Punja and if you say in proper Turkish because it's a C A C in Tokyo, Osaka is the Jabir Deluxe hotels, the Punja. And it's a five star resort. And we have a few days together in order to get our vision right, our strategy right and to understand 14 principles and qualities we have to internalize it has to become part of our spiritual physical DNA, in order for our strategy to be executed first have baraka for us to have success and for us to fulfill our vision, a vision

that is Allah centric in line with the pleasure of Allah subhanho wa taala. And this, the whole retreat is going to do a kind of

an analysis from a guidance perspective. What do I mean by this? When you look at a lot of visionary exercises, Vision retreats or vision, educational, I don't know books or webinars, whatever the case may be, and people talking about strategy. Usually it's in a kind of capitalist framework, or usually it's in a kind of secular framework. And you have to remember, we shouldn't be naive about this. We have to understand that every domain of knowledge, every domain of knowledge has its own epistemological, metaphysical, philosophical assumptions. But because we see things working with sounds really nice what we do, we dive into the epistemological metaphysical and philosophical

lizard hole, and we think is the cave of Hira, right? We need to be aware that that's not the case. Given the fact that every domain of knowledge has its own worldview, assumptions, principles, epistemology and metaphysics. Then sometimes, we have to step back and understand is this truly what Allah wants from me? Is this truly grounded in our tradition? Yes, don't get me wrong. There's overlaps for sure. I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater for sure. But there are overlaps but you have to understand if you're sincere to the message of Allah, you sincere to to the Ummah right and you want success in the dour, true success. Then you have to ask the question and step

back is

is the right way? Is this how you develop a vision? Is this how you develop a strategy? What kind of principles and approaches must we have? Because what happens usually unfortunately brothers and sisters that we read a nice book and we sprinkle some ads and Hadith and Quran on it, which give a bit of a sprinkling, right? It's like, you know, many forms of Islamic finance this day. It's basically capitalism with the Topi. Yeah, or capitalism with the beard. So the point is, we we don't do a sincere reading. We don't develop ground up. What does it mean to have a vision from a Quranic point of view? What does it mean to have a strategy from a Quranic point of view? What does it mean

to be a leader in the Dow to be someone in the Dow to be successful in the Dow for the sake of Allah? What does that mean? What kind of principles must I internalize and adopt? And what kind of qualities Yes, don't get me wrong, there's going to be overlaps with great things that's working in the in the world. But we have to start from the ground up, meaning we have to go back to the Quran and the Sunnah, the way of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and truly understand what is the Quranic perspective of vision, what's the Islamic concept of success, and so on, and so forth. And this is exactly what the retreat is going to be doing brothers and sisters in sha Allah. Now,

there's a few things I want to say as an introduction to their cheat, then we'll go into kind of the main content of the webinar, and we're going to be answering your questions as well, inshallah. So the first thing I want you to just really think about this question is, look, Allah gave you gifts.

Allah gave you gifts, where you live, your parents, your health, your wealth, your potential, you're aware of the potential you're not aware of. Allah has given you certain gifts. So the question I have for you is, are you just going to throw them away? We all have unique talents and skills and, and so many possibilities. In actual fact, we have possibilities we're not aware of why because sometimes we frame who we are from the limitations of our own ideas and the past, right. But we have to understand that these are just, these are just forced lenses in order to understand ourselves, because we're fixated and were imprisoned by the past. And by that drama, if you'd like our negative

experiences are limited ideas, and so on and so forth. And that becomes a lens to understand ourselves, our present and the future. And this is problematic, but that's another topic. But the point is, there are possibilities we're not even aware of. So what is the best way of showing gratitude for these gifts, brothers and sisters? Right? What is the best way? Isn't it to do something meaningful that's in line with Allah's pleasure? And what could be better than calling to Allah subhanho wa Taala calling to Allah calling people to happiness in this world contentment in this life and eternal happiness in the Hereafter.

And Allah makes it very clear about the status of these type of people. And Allah says in surah facilite, verse 33, and who is better in speech? Allah is not asking question Allah is making kind of emphatic ploy here is an emphatic strategy to say the one who calls to Allah, the One who calls to tell him the fact that Allah is worthy of worship. He's worthy of our utmost love, of unconditional obedience, Allah is worthy of utmost gratitude of our extensive praise. Allah is worthy of us directing all acts of worship to Him along the internal acts of worship and external acts of worship. Allah is saying, and who is putting speech in the one who calls to Allah does

righteous deeds and says I am one of the Muslims. This is the status of someone who's calling to Allah subhanaw taala to add, but there is a holistic strategy here brothers and sisters are going to focus on this iron is breaking down. Allah says who is better in speech, okay, there's an elevation of status here, there is a form of praise. There's a form of emphasis to show that there's something very, very special about those who call to Allah, do righteous deeds and say, I'm one of the Muslims, okay, let's break this down. Let's have a holistic understanding of the data. So Allah says, you make the code one who calls to Allah. And then as Allah says, Those who are righteous,

they have righteous actions, meaning you don't just talk the talk, but you walk the walk, you internalize, and you adopt and you become the principles and the quality is founded upon the sooner that necessary way of being on how to lead, how to manage people, and so on and so forth. And these principles include what includes love, service, generosity, courage, hikma, wisdom, humility, egolessness, integrity, mentorship, gratitude, growth, learning, unity, being time conscious thinking, having a sound organism, intellect, resilience, being visionary, and there's so much to unpack here but once we take these from the Quran and Sunnah we internalize them, then this is also

include doing good deeds, so we do the good deeds. And then what? And then Allah says, and they say I am one of the Muslims now there's interest

Think about interesting pondering you can do here with regards to this verse, you can actually think about, well, this is about me being humble, right? I'm no one special See, Allah praises. This is an emphatic form of praise because it's like a rhetorical question, who is better in speech? This thing special about these people than Allah says, Those people who are special are those who call to Allah do righteous deeds, and they say, I'm one of the Muslims. I'm nothing special. This is all because of Allah subhanho wa taala. I'm not going to have a sense of our job, a sense of self amazement, that for some reason is something special about me. I have the intrinsic ability. No, no, no. This

is one of the key spiritual diseases of the heart brothers and sisters, as immune pion says that the four major spiritual diseases include a job hazard, Rhea and kibble, arrogance, blameworthy jealousy, ostentation and self amazement, and all the other spiritual diseases manifest from this right they are derived from these spiritual diseases. So you know, we we don't have this sense of our job. We're saying I'm just one of the Muslims that it could mean that and you could also mean from a particular point of view, that you link your righteous actions to the fact that you submit to Allah subhana, Allah to Allah. So the sense of submitting the sense of surrendering, surrendering,

surrendering to Allah is so important, because this is the whole lean brothers and sisters to be a more slim and Muslim is not some kind of ethnic identity, right? This is not it's not identity politics here. Let's get real. Being a Muslim is a way of being it's not just a hat that you wear, or a tool that you put on your arm or something that you sign. Being a Muslim is someone who is surrendering to Allah subhanho wa taala, peaceful surrender to Allah subhanho wa taala. Because you know his reality, you understand by virtue of his realities, names and attributes, that he is worthy of this surrender. And it's just a natural manifestation of who we are anyway, because part of our

innate normative disposition, the fitrah. Anyway, the point is, it's about surrendering. So that gives you an idea that when you're doing good deeds, and in the context of Dalit leadership in the context of being a die in the context of activism, the need to keep on remembering, reminding yourself, I am just one on the Muslims, I'm surrendering to Allah, when I adopt principles and strategies when I adopt qualities and principles, when I adopt a vision and a strategic focus. This has to be a manifestation and expression of my surrender to Allah subhanaw taala. And once you do that, they'll be brought up and they'll be success inshallah. So one of the best ways of showing

this gift to Allah Subhana Allah to Allah is actually brothers and sisters, doing something meaningful, what better way than calling people to Allah. So there are a few things that maybe you're these people the following people, you may lack clarity, right and direction on how to serve the data, and how to best optimize yourself and reach your potential. And this means we may leave you confused and stuck and demotivated right? Now, even if your vision is clear, so you may be another person, you may be a person who maybe you have a clear vision, but you may be frustrated, and helpless, because you don't know the correct strategy to bring it to life. You may be a person

who just feels disillusioned and disempowered by the current state of the dollar, yes, we need to improve it. That's why we've done this retreat as well. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information and confused on who to refer to with regards to how you're going to start yet our journey. And obviously, this causes a kind of gap inside you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, a gap with regards to you feeling disconnected and and maybe you lack trust, you may not trust the data sector, maybe you think you're not gonna get support.

Now, you may be a professional with great skills and you're a transition into the tower. But you're at risk you scared, right? You have fear, you feel uncertain, you're vulnerable, you're anxious, because you're leaving something that you've known and that you're good at, and something that you love into something brand new, that has its own dynamic. Or, alternatively, you may already be making some great progress you made making some great impact as a Dalit leader of an organization of a data team.

Whatever the case may be, but you doubt that your vision is big enough, maybe thinking well, I got success, but maybe I could do more maybe I don't have a lofty goal. I'm not thinking big enough or long enough, right? In terms of long term. And you also feel that you're not sure if your your strategic focus is in line with your vision. Or you may think that maybe your vision is not in line with your day to day work. And this makes you feel inadequate as a leader and you wonder even if you have the right qualifications to make an impact. Alternatively, you may be someone who struggles to articulate your vision. Maybe you don't have clarity or maybe you don't have the right clarity to

convey to your team

What this division is about, and you can't align them together, right? And you can't have them united and this, maybe demotivates them and demotivates you.

And maybe you feel deeply concerned about all of this confusion, right? And you might think, you know, I may have a good vision, but don't have the right strategy, and you're confused and you thinking, and maybe I'm letting my team down. Maybe I'm letting humanity down. And worse, maybe you're letting ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada that you may feel that your vision is fine, your strategy is fine. But there seems to be a sense of a lack of barca, you feel like you're swimming in treacle, from the from London all the way to New York. But you're thinking why is it so hard? What's going on here? Yes, you're gonna get tests and trials, actually, having tests and trials is, is actually a

sign of success, right? But you're feeling something, you have a hunch, something's not going right. You know, people are coming and going, I've got problem with retention, I got problem with, you know, following following exactly what Allah wants from me, I may be doing well in this particular focused area of my work and data, but in the grand cosmic scheme of things, and maybe pushing the boundaries in the wrong way. You know, and you have this sense of, you know, I feel something is wrong. And you feel that your approach and your principles are not designed to be grounded. Maybe you have team meetings, and there's no reminders of Allah subhanho wa taala. Maybe you have

volunteer meetings alone reminds you about Allah, there's a spiritual vacuum, there's a void. You know, maybe you have arguments, maybe it's all about ego, I'm the boss, listen to me. Maybe people don't get along. Maybe there's too much backbiting, whatever the case may be. If that happens, then even if your vision is finding a strategy, that's fine, you're seeing so called success, I'm telling you don't pat yourself on the back. Because if you don't follow the right qualities and principles from the Quran, and Sunnah, then you the great, the great success that you could have had, is not manifesting itself, even though you think you have a perceived form of success, because you're

lacking in some important issues, some important things to do for yourself and for others within the team, which is to internalize the timeless principles and qualities as derived from the Quran and Sunnah.

So we're not gonna do this in this webinar. But I just want to summarize to you what these 14 principles and qualities are that we're going to have at this retreat, which is one of the three key objectives. So let me just remind you, in this retreat, the visionaries, successful data 21st century, we are going to have three things right, that we want you to walk away with, and it's all timed and dedicated for you to achieve this as an individual and as an organization. And by the way, we have people from Australia, coming from America, from Europe, from if, yes, even Africa, I believe, all around the world. And what about high quality people, and I was like, overwhelmed like

Subhanallah, you know, I was feeling like, huge, I'm still feeling a huge burden, we have moved these Imams, Messiah, Tao leaders, people who are managing many teams or a team. And I've just been overwhelmed. And these people came from different kinds of theological backgrounds as well. So there's an interesting sense of unity here, people want to understand, what is the vision or strategy and what are these principles? How must I be as a leader as a day? How must I relate to people? What are the key qualities and pretty much have to optimize my doubt? Yes, I may have a certain level of success. But how can I take even further for the sake of Allah had the right

vision, have the right strategy and internalize the timeless principles and qualities? So what this time is so yeah, so what I do apologize is passion here, right? So there's three objectives, you're gonna have a vision, personally, your team is going to have a vision, you're going to have a strategy to fulfill your personal vision, your team and your organization is gonna have a strategy to fulfill your the organization's vision, and you're going to understand the 14 principles and qualities that are required in order to execute your strategy and fulfill your vision. These are the three objectives. We want every single one of you that attend this retreat to come away with three

things to repeat, personally, yourself and your team or organization to have a vision.

Personally, you and your team and organization have a strategic focus, a strategy to fulfill your personal vision and your organizational vision. And you personally and as a leader, or as someone engaged in public work in the dollar as an activist, you're going to understand the 14 key principles and qualities from the Quran and the Sunnah that you require in order to effectively execute your strategy and fulfill your vision.

One of these things, as I said, it's going to be the 14 principles and qualities and we've named them as follows number one, and leader loved is the leader followed. So it's love. What does that mean? What was to examine definition of love? What do we mean by love in the context of dharma and activism? Number two, the servant leads the master concedes in other words, be at service to people

Don't concede to your ego you're haughtiness. I'm the boss. I'm not worthy of this activity. I'm too high. No, the true leader is the one who's at service and he's generous and we'll unpack that inshallah. Number three, when you become you overcome, be courageous one of the neglected leadership qualities in the Ummah at the moment, unfortunately, when you become you overcome meaning you need to be in a state of being that allows you to be courageous. How do I develop that? What's courage with regards to the Sunnah, right? What is courage with with regards to the Islamic perspective? How do I develop courage? How do I become the right person in order to be courageous? Number four,

relevance is excellence. Be a person of wisdom of hikma, hikma, again, is a neglected way of being we think is all about abstract and just narrations. Just this and that. No, Allah makes it clear that there is a distinction between him and him. In actual fact, wise judgment is the application of a right so applying element when you're in, in activism in the data, you have to be able to apply it as it will pay on said it basically is to say the right thing in the right way at the right time to do the right thing in the right way at the right time. What are the principles and the key questions we have to ask ourselves concerning becoming a person of wisdom? What are the benefits of hikma?

What are the virtues from the Sunnah, and the Quran, and so on and so forth. Number six, so number five, the enemy is the enemy. In other words, have community brothers and sisters, we know that the greatest enemy is shaytaan shaytaan. He thought he he had this this cable, this greatest form of arrogance that made him leave the fold of Islam. And shaitan is our greatest teacher with that regard. He teaches us how not to be not to have this ego and Kibber what is the nature of the ego and Assam? How do you back to the ego? Why is the ego an impediment to success and baraka and all of these things, this is going to be impacting the retreat insha Allah number seven, how you relate is

what you create, in other words, mentorship, how you communicate to your body language, through your utterances with people is you're going to create people, you're gonna create the optimized version from them, they may not even see you could unveil their blind spots, getting them to become someone very successful for the organization for the sake of Allah for the sake of Allah in order to fulfill the vision. And just by relating to them in particular way. So you're and this is known in the Sunnah, the way the person relate to God beep The way the person relate to on philon The way the President relate to the Sahaba he got the optimal versions of them by the way he related with his

body language and with utterances, and he mentored them. Number eight achievements are divine gifts we're going to teach you what does gratitude actually truly mean? You know in the Dow Jones would like to pat ourselves on the back. When you have success in the Dow, you have to increase your stock fall, you have to increase your sugar to Allah subhanaw taala your gratitude to Allah, you have to understand it, wasn't you it was Allah, you have to understand that you being involved in this is just an immense favor and a gift. If Allah says I think in chapter 14 Verse seven or 17, that responding to the Arabs when they said Imam is a favorite process on them. And Allah says no say to

them, Iman is a favor to us from Allah. So if Eman itself is a gift, what about calling people to Iman, Allahu Akbar, these are all gifts. And all of these successes have nothing to do with us. We can't have this sense of urgency, that was me I have the intrinsic inability. Now Allah created you, Allah allowed this to happen. Everything happens because the winner Mercy of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah. So how should you respond to successes and that is extremely important, especially in the context of having Baraka in doubt. Number nine, you're yearning for learning, meaning growth, intellectual growth, Islamic growth. What does knowledge actually mean? Is there a difference

between knowing and knowing? Yes, there is a difference between knowing and knowing meaning from a secular perspective, I'm getting all of this information. But true religion is knowledge that actually changes your way of being increases your taqwa, it increases your humility, it actually changes who you are as a person. And that's why some of there is a gap between knowledge and an abstract sense and true knowing meaning becoming. And this is very important, especially for leaders and people involved in activism because sometimes we like to throw a hadith here and there, but we don't become that hadith. We may know all of the ayat on Rama on compassion. What are the Hadith and

compassion all of the hadith of Dawa, have hikma endow, and so on and so forth. But we may never be people of hikma endow, we may never be people of Rama, because we just know in an abstract sense, how do we bridge that gap between knowing and truly knowing? Number 10 and the tea not enmity? In other words, Unity What does unity actually mean? Does it mean everyone conforms? No. What is unity mean in the context of the Tao? How do we establish the Unity how do we deal with valid actigraph and even you

Even differences that are not valid. What approach should we take this is extremely important in a dark context number 11 based on the Quran by time man is a state of loss. Okay? This is about being time conscious. How do you be time conscious? What is the importance of time and so on so forth in an activism and our context number 12 For those who use their minds Yeah, yeah, Blue's Clues using your apple, your intellect, people of the Alabama those people have insight, you know, yet karoun People who reflect get the balloon those who ponder the saline, those who ask questions.

This is all about thinking, how can you think properly? Are you just going to rely on yourself? A part of thinking is having good people around you to unveil those intellectual blind spots for you? Right? That also requires you to be humble you to understand what thinking actually means. What is the true Quranic and prophetic way of thinking? How do you think from a holistic global vision perspective? In the context of the doubt? Are you do you just have shadow organizational thinking? No, because you remember the true day the one who has vision and wants success for the Dow for the sake of Allah. He understands organizations that don't have primacy, their vehicles for particular

vision, the vision is supreme. Its vision supremacy, not organizational primacy. And this is very important. And we'll we'll unpack many other aspects can cause any thinking, number 13 tenacity, not timidity. In other words, don't be timid, Be tenacious, be resilient, there's going to be obstacles, there's going to be fitna there's going to be humiliation, there's going to be all of these things from an internal, external, spiritual, physical point of view, intellectual point of view, how are you going to deal with this? What are the principles and the spiritual tools in the Quran and Sunnah to actually become resilient brothers and sisters, this is extremely important. And number in the

last 114 a quality to have is to be visionary, Allahu Akbar, Allah is great, and what does that mean, truly, in the context of having a vision, so we're going to unpack all of these things provinces, Inshallah, do believe has been going on for too long. But here's something important.

Let's now start with the concept of success. So we're not gonna give you all of the content, it's impossible, because like four days worth of content and stuff. But by the way, before I get into that is to remember, the retreat is going to be an amazing portrait experience. So we'll be away from our five in the morning, going to bed like 10 3011, at night, five in the morning is to hedge your time pmla. And then after we're going to have Fajr, then we're going to have Quran circles, then we're going to have some sports, then we're going to have brotherhood exercises, team building exercises, then we're going to have the sessions. And a lot of the sessions are going to be

predominantly getting you to understand certain key principles and concepts about vision successful or angsana perspective, and the principles of coatings on how to be how to ensure the success of your data. And we're going to get a lot of that, in practice, meaning we're going to get you to spend like one to three hours just focusing on a particular point, like your vision, and then coming back and presenting it to the team and everyone together is going to get the best out of you. It's going to be phenomenal. Insha Allah Yeah, so the three objectives that we're seeing is going to happen in sha Allah, you're gonna have a vision personally and organizationally, a strategy

personally and organizationally, and you're gonna understand the principles of what it is that you have to imbibe, internalize in order to be successful in sha Allah. So, success. So in the retreat, we're going to be talking about success, right? And we have to understand and frame having a vision and a strategy frame the whole dollar, in the context of the Islamic definition of success. Now, obviously, we can't go too in depth into this. But generally speaking, as you know, success can be summarized by chapter three, verse one, a five in the Quran, when Allah subhanaw taala says, Every soul is going to taste death, and you will be paid in full on the Day of Resurrection, whoever is

kept away from the fire and admitted to the garden would have triumphed, would have been would have been successful. The present world is only an illusory pleasure. Also, Allah says in the Quran Chapter 23 Verse one or two, those whose good deeds were heavy will be successful. And the famous Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is Sahih Muslim. The President is making a distinction between success and material blessings, because true success is the one who goes to join and win over this this famous Hadith and it's been Malik Rajala and reported that the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the one amongst the denizens of Jahannam, who had a life

of ease and plenty amongst the people of the world will be made to dip in fire only once on the Day of Resurrection, then it will be said to him, Oh, son of Adam, did you find any comfort and listen to this? Did you happen to get any material blessing? And he would say well Allah He by Allah and oh my god, right. So

But what this says to us isn't very clear, having physical manifestations of success is not true success. true success is one who enters Jannah is enveloped by the mercy of Allah subhanho wa taala. And there are some things that make us eligible for this success. Yes, it's only because of the Mercy of Allah. But there are some indicators. And that is following surrendering to Allah, following the right vision in line with the Quranic approach, following the right strategy in line with this approach of the Sunnah, following the right principles and having the right qualities to emulate the process Salam, because that's a manifestation of our obedience to Allah. And we

understand he is the greatest character, the greatest leader the greatest day, so we should emulate him in order to have true success. So if you want that success, which is Jana, we want gentlemen, for those the highest form of Jannah, then there are some things that we have to do. It's not just, Hey, I got all these numbers, I've ordered this stuff. No, it's far as shallow. This form is far more than that. It's the approach you take is the principles you apply. It's the intention that you have. And it's actually the method of developing a business strategy, and creating the right personnel, the right character for yourself based on the principles and qualities from the Quran and

the Sunnah, that inshallah will give us success. So since we have a kind of brief understanding of success, and this is obviously the summary form, let's not talk about a vision, what is the vision Now generally speaking, brothers and sisters, there is no one agreed upon definition of a vision, a vision is an articulation of a powerful, achievable and motivating stretch goal. So one

expert in the field, one academic, he actually defines it in that way, an articulation of a powerful, achievable, motivating stretch goal, other say that it's not a just cause. Other say, it's where you want to see the world, but from a Quranic point of view, is really based on answering three questions. Number one, what is your state in the orchestra? What is your state in this world? Like? Who are you? What's your personal vision? Because sometimes in a kind of capitalist secular context, you think about where is the organization, and we forget that an organization is based on individuals, if individuals don't have their own personal vision? Yes, they may have the

organizational vision. But if it's not tied to the personal vision, you're not going to get to success, or you won't be optimized. So what is your state personal state in the world? And what is the state of the world? So three questions? What is your state in the orchestra? What is the state of the world? And what is your state in the world? In other words, when am I going to be an orchestra?

Where do I want to see the world? Where do I want to see myself in where I want to see the world? And there's a Quranic example by that we're going to unpack this much further in the retreat born Quranic example is quite powerful. Chapter 13, verses 35.

This is from Sulaiman Alehissalaam. He said, My Lord, forgive me, and give me a kingdom the likes of which will never be granted to anyone after me. True to you ever giving. Allahu Akbar. just unpack the multiday depth of just this verse. So the first question was, what is your state in the ocra? But what is what is Selena alayhi salam saying she wants Jana? My Arab my Lord forgive me. Forgiveness is a means to Allah's Mercy is a means to gender. So that's his vision he wants to be in, in Jannah. What is the state of the world? Look at this vision, give me a kingdom, like which never been granted to anyone. Before After me, right? It's never been granted to anyone out anyone

off to me. So he was the greatest kingdom? What does this mean as an as a prophet overseas is going to be based on Islam on how he is going to have the most optimal kingdom? Right? So look at that vision, give me a kingdom, the best ever Kingdom alone before after me is ever going to achieve.

So what is the state of the world a great pious kingdom? Third question, what is your state in the world? And we know that is implied by virtue of the fact that he's a prophet by virtue of the fact that he was a king, by virtue of the fact of who he was, he was a righteous king. So look at that vision, it answers those three main questions from a Quranic visual point of view. What is your state in the author? What is your state in the world? And what is the state of the world? Where are you going to be in the orchestra? Where do you want the world to be? And where do you want to be in achieving where you want the world to be? These are very key questions from the point of view of

trying to formulate your vision. So this is Britain's up again, where do you want yourself in the UK? So of course, I want to be in Ghana, right. And this, by the way is the link between the Islamic

Instead of success and having a vision, I want to be in jungle. Where do you want the world? What do you want the world to look like? For example, you may say, I want to see a world led by Islam. Where do you see yourself in order to achieve that above, I want to be led by Islam and to be able to lead with Islamic principles. So now we're starting to formulate a phenomenal vision here, right?

So these are the very three important questions grounded in the Quran in order to develop your vision.

Now, there are three key pillars of a vision brothers and sisters love, certainty and values, it should be done for the sake of Allah, anything not done for the sake of Allah is meaningless and is ephemeral, okay, and you should seek the best in this life and the best life to come. It should be based on certainty on your pain, it should be based on cool Islamic principles and that unwavering belief in Allah, His Messenger, and that with Allah's help, anything is possible, in other words, to what could or should be based on values. We're not Machiavellian, we're not you. utilitarian, Ephesus, we're not focused on a utilitarian ethical philosophy that's just about, you know, our

perceived understanding of well being is success for the greatest number of people. No, there are some things that even if he may have some perceived success, it's the wrong thing to do. And it will diminish your baraka and you won't optimize the data in this lifetime, or in the lifetimes after you because a true vision is supposed to outlive your life, right. And that's why it's linked to the accurate as well. So it has to be based on values. In other words, the principles and the qualities that we've been talking about. Now there are nine benefits of a vision brothers and sisters, number one, it provides focus and direction, because you know where you're going, you know where you're

going. Number two, it gives you clarity, because because you decide to get there, you have decided that you want to focus on your vision now. So it gives you a sense of clarity. It gives you life because hopefully, it's linked to Islam to the values that we just mentioned to the three pillars of vision that we just mentioned, is linked to the aka to the pleasure of Allah. And what does Allah say, Allah says, respond to the call of Allah and His messenger to that which gives you ye come life, right life, real life, a sense of greater purpose than just being just a normal human being, just fulfilling the beast to instincts, you respond to the call of Allah and His messenger to that

which gives you life, it gives you a sense of greater meaning in life. It removes doubt, because your vision is based on certainty. And interestingly, it will claim said, those who are affected by Shewhart, those who are affected by disruptive doubts are those who don't have a vision for their lives.

The fifth point, it saves time and resources because it everything is centered around your vision. And when you have a strategic focus, it's even more easier. Because you know exactly what you need to do, and what you need to focus on in order to fulfill your vision, and all these other things, you know exactly what to say no to and exactly what to say yes to number six, it shapes your environment, because you see the end goal, I want to go to this destination, right? This is my end goal. This is my vision. And I have a personal vision that is linked to this vision as well, especially if we're talking in an organizational context. So I'm going to shape my environment in

order to facilitate that. Why would I have people around me and things around me, that's going to be obstacles to my vision?

It number seven provides motivation because you see the end goal, you are motivated brothers and sisters, and every time you remind yourself of the vision, generally, a different dose reminds us of a world led by Islam, you being led by Islamic principles, and, and and so on and so forth. That gives you a sense of motivation, because it's linked to the aka is linked to something meaningful, and also is linked to the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala. Number eight, it prioritizes your life because your vision is bigger, right? It's the biggest the bigger picture, you're not putting anymore. You because You always ask the question. If you have a true vision and a good strategy,

you're going to ask the question, what does Allah want for me? In this particular context, you ask that question every day, you won't be putting anymore. Now he said this about me. So I have to defend myself. No, there are bigger things to do. If you have a great big vision, these things become unnecessary. They become deprioritized. You forgiven, overlooked very easily. I'm telling you, it shapes your whole life, it prioritizes the things of higher value, and D prioritizes. Things of lesser value. Number nine, it gives you a framework for decision making. Because if your life and your organization and your work is aligned around your vision, then it's a framework for decision

making. Especially if you have a specific strategy that links necessarily to fulfilling that vision that you know exactly what to say yes to and to and on what to say no to.

And what we're going to be talking about in the retreat brothers and sisters is Allahu Akbar, Allah is greater think big, aim high. Aim high because your prophet is the best human beings on this planet. Aim high because it's the best Amma for mankind. Aim high because the best Dean chosen by Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and aim high because Allah linked to lofty goals with a success.

for ArchiCAD, I remember what successes, the architect Jana, and the vision has to be tied to the success. So we have to have lofty goals if we don't, we won't achieve that success, as Allah says in the Quran in chapter two verses 221. Those are there are those among mankind who say our Lord give us of this world, and they have no potion in the hereafter. In other words, they're not going to be successful. And there are those who say, Our Lord give us good of this world and of the Hereafter, and it's those people, brothers and sisters that are going to have success. And think about it. This is part of the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a hadith narrated by

Imagine, and I've met, I believe the person said, if you're going to ask for Jana asked him specifically for the highest form of Jannah. In other words, alpha dose, the person said, Ask for alpha, those four is the highest level of parodies. And we're going to do the retreat is unpack the prophetic vision because people don't really realize they think, yeah, the person the person had the vision, the vision was Islam in every home. Yes, that's true. But you know, he had a personal vision for himself as well. Are you aware of the personal vision? This is very interesting. And this is going to unpack and that's why you need to formulate from the ground up. vision and strategy is not

as good adopting kind of secular models and sprinkling some Islam on it. Don't get me wrong, there are overlaps in our universities, for sure. But it's very, I'm raising this question to motivate you to to seek more. And for you, obviously, to come to the retreat, I'm not going to hide that I'm going to be authentic with you. I'm not going to have undeclared intentions here. So that's a summary of a vision. What about strategy? In other words, necessity achieves? When you think about a strategy, you have to think about what are the necessary actions or domains of action or domains of work, that will necessarily lead to my vision becoming a reality? And how am I ever going to know

them? This is very important sometimes, sometimes we secularize how we secularize our strategies, because we think, Well, I know a is going to be to be, because I see that in the dunya. But there are some things that we have to understand that the things that we have to understand is, there are other metaphysical and spiritual dimensions that we're not even aware of.

Right.

And we know this is the proof in the summer, you know, what did we say was supposed to in the mornings, in the evenings, about our health, right, about our conviction, because he I could be convinced because I see people when they read more about, you know, theological aspects, and they're convinced of certain, you know, abstract facts, they get convinced one plus was equal to two, no, but we know that there's a different dynamic going on here. We know the color, the color waivers, and the function of the color is the icon, and the icon, the intellect may be functioning well, but if it's in the context of the pulp, and the color is diseased, has arrogance, and so on, and so

forth, the Ackermann function properly. So it's not just abstract intellectual thinking. So even when we think if we just look at the dunya, right, just from an empirical perspective, yeah, if you want to have knowledge and be convinced about something, you just observe it or you do one plus one is you could you do some kind of deductive or logical, you do some kind of rational inference, no problem. But it doesn't work that way. Because there are other dynamics and realities behind all of this, that will actually lead to certain certain things that we want to achieve and when it comes to conviction, the Prophet sallallahu I even told us do ask to make to be content with Allah as a

religion with with the dean or to be content with the D to be content with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as the final prophet. You know, there's a dua that we make Raji to Villa he wrote that when we Islami Dean and will be Mohamed Salah why Lagos I'm an opinion, what do you think that Dubai is, is is is some kind of, I don't know, empirical strategy though this is this has to do with the heart this was begging Allah because you know, God, everything is the winner of Allah subhanho wa taala. And you're utterly dependent on him. Now, one, I mentioned this, I mentioned this, because when we develop strategies, we miss out the Islamic element, we miss out the necessary spiritual and

necessary metaphysical aspects. Don't get me wrong, yes, Allah has shown signs in the empirical world that we can follow. There are patterns, of course, but if you want to optimize your data, there's other things to do as well. And this is very, very important. So how are we going to know what the right strategy is? isn't just basically saying, yeah, so this happened and this happened. Therefore, we're going to be successful. This is a shallow approach is not based on a ground up analysis from the Quran and the Sunnah. So this we're going to be unpacking in the retreat inshallah. So, in nutshell, a strategy is the key actions or domains of action that you follow that

you know that unnecessarily gonna lead to your vision becoming a reality. So you have to ask yourself a question, what the actions, the activities, the resources, the relationships, the way of being that you need in order to achieve your vision in order for the vision to become a reality. And we always talk about this do shoulder concern, brainstorm, look for best practice, look for patterns in the dunya as well in the empirical world for sure, but bring that all together. Look into the Quran and the Sunnah with regards to certain strategies.

There are so that we're not Machiavellian, we don't believe the ends justify the means there are certain things that we have to follow in order to have bought or cannot maybe in this life and in the life to come. So there's all these components that we have to unpack. And that will be done in the retreat. Now, what's the benefits of a strategy, but instances, the benefits are quite simple focus, you could use your resources wisely and place them at the surface of your vision. You make decisions, decisions are made easier, because you know that you now know what needs to be done. If I want a world reconnected to Allah. And my strategic focus on developing the art to go out there in

the world, develop teams have managed to Dow and do the Dow themselves, in order for the world to be reconnected to Allah. If someone comes to me and says, Here's a million pounds, and can you please

build wells, I'm already going to say no, I will only accept it if I believe I can use that money for that lesser strategy, if you'd like. I don't mean less than that. It's not worthy, but less in the context of my vision, if it's going to be essential to achieving my vision, because sometimes you may have to do stuff like that, to actually remove certain barriers in order for your main strategy to actually manifest itself. And so it's deeper than that. But the point here that's very important, is that it makes decisions easier, like, you know, devoid of any context, I would say, No, I'm not going to accept that money. Because that's not part of our work. What I'll try and do

now is convinced that person, why they should adopt our vision, and for them to be in love with our vision, and in love with the strategy that we've adopted, so he could change or she could change her mind, in giving us money for something that we believe that is very close to our hearts, and that's going to achieve true success and Nakara. Right, it helps you plan because you know, you now know exactly what needs to be done. Also, the most important thing about the benefits of a strategy, it achieves your vision, by the way, there's no instance here, you have to sometimes revise your strategy, context changes, and so on and so forth. The world changes. So sometimes you have to

revise your strategy is not written in stone.

And there's other things that we'll talk about, concerning you know, Allah is in control, linking it to the belief in Allah subhana, Allah to Allah and so on and so forth. And we're gonna go to the prophetic example to give you examples, what the prophetic strategy was, was the only one strategy some people say, you know, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his focus was on empowering the Sahaba and also giving doubt to influentials. Because they would have the greatest impact. Yes, one could argue that's the case. But are there any other strategies? If there are, what are they? If they're not, why aren't they? These questions we have to answer if we're really, truly committed to

this work, brothers and sisters, we have to develop a vision and a strategy from the ground up, and that hikma that divine guidance inshallah would, would manifest itself. So we already spoke about the principles brothers and sisters, and the reason you should follow the principles and qualities we've already mentioned it, but you know, this focus on the two Ayat chapter 16, verse four, telling the process Salam, you are truly a man of outstanding character, the best character, the best leader, so emulate him, what are what are his principles and qualities, you know, also in the Quran, Allah says in chapter 24, verse 52, whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger stands in all of Allah and

keeps his duty to Him will be triumphant will be successful. So obeying the person salaam, understanding that he's the best character and leader should be enough to meet to understand if I want optimized our true quality, true success in this life in the hereafter. For the short term, medium and long term, I need to apply these principles because I'm following the best character, the best leaders have Allahu Allahu wa salam, and I'm obeying Him and OBEYING Him is a key to being successful as per Quran 24, verse 52. And we're going to unpack these brothers and sisters. And I'm going to be a word because sometimes we have a false sense of success, maybe thinking I'm doing all

of these great success from an organizational perspective. But we forget that the organization is part of the wider dollar. And there's so many things, problems that are happening or, or, or people that we're losing in the dean, and we forget that we'll have you know, maybe what I'm doing here. I may be successful, my organizational perspective, but from a global perspective, I'm actually not doing much in the global grand scheme of things. And we have very now narrow focus and we tap ourselves on the back, because we have a capital capitalist understanding of what success really means. And this is why we have to be very careful that we have to have vision supremacy here. It's

about Africa. It's about Allah, right? Like I managed Sapiens Institute if I was convinced that Sapiens Institute had to stop in order for the dollar, holistically and global globally to be more successful in sha Allah, I would stop Sapiens Institute, if, and so many other things. So we have to realize that it's about vision, supremacy, not organizational supremacy. And there's so much more to unpack. So brothers and sisters, you got to come like if you don't come

The second one with you. And by the way, people think, oh, you know, you guys are making money from this and no, we're not actually. So he's being very authentic and transparent with you go to the website, find out how much it is to have a double check it out. The price margin is very minimal. We this is cost price. What do you mean by cost price, it's not only the room is full board. And it's also all the other reasons that we spend in order for this to happen. And we have to pay for other volunteers to come and pay for their flights, and so on and so forth, and printing of of stuff and all of the other things that are necessary in order for a retreat to happen. And I'm telling you,

this is the one you won't find anything cheaper at this level. Norway, Norway, I actually got a call yesterday from a Mufti. I can't mention names, but he from America. He mentioned this guy who's half of Quran very practicing who works for prestigious university, and he's into vision and strategy and so on and so forth. They, for people to you, by the way, top companies, the blue chip companies to use that professor, they pay like $300,000 to the university. Yeah, I truly believe what we have is, is probably the best thing on the market. Now, I'm not hoping not saying that of arrogance. I'm saying this from the point of view that while we give you something that we don't think is the best,

that will be very interesting and silly thing to do. Don't get me wrong, definitely may have to improve it in the future and so on and so forth. For sure I stand in that possibility. But I really believe that we're going to offer to you from the ground up development from the Quran and Sunnah principles, qualities from the Quran and Sunnah, that development of your vision and strategy and who you must become, that is such a holistic strategy that I truly believe it's going to be successful for the dollar in sha Allah. So brothers and sisters, I spent an hour Subhan Allah. Right. Talk to me questions. Questions about the retreat?

I not going to answer questions about Dallow or anything like that. Unfortunately, it's very focused on the retreat right now. But as a sister, so I know there's a lot of questions here. We are going to have a sapience live in the near future. So you could ask questions. The lighthouse live is going to be happening hopefully every week was supposed to happen today. But it's going to happen next week in sha Allah. With brother use of ponder. So you could ask specific questions there. But for now, it's about the retreat.

question we have here is it just for brothers? Yes. For the time being this first retreat is just for brothers.

That's it. That's the answer. Right. Any other questions?

Okay, same similar question. You say it's for brothers. But isn't just for brother. The brother is just for brother, isn't it? Yes. But it's not relevant. Just two brothers is relevant for everybody who's involved in the Dow and sisters are involved in the Dow. And there'll be future retreats that would accommodate everybody in sha Allah

will you record the sessions? No, we're not going to we will record the sessions. But for marketing purposes, we're not going to record the sessions because we're going to create this principle or we're going to have an environment of brotherhood of Inshallah, humility of egolessness. We're going to surrender our egos in sha Allah, and we're going to be authentic with each other, we're not going to have undeclared intentions. And we're going to engage with some positivity, and we're going to be talking about their personal vision and organizational vision. And that is not for the whole public. Yeah, especially when it's in the process of development. So you know, we're not going to film these

vulnerabilities for you guys, right? Because it's not the right it's not either, it's not the right thing to do. But we will film it for marketing purposes to do a trailer for inshallah the next year, so hopefully that helps.

Okay

can you be accessible with online payment? Yes, it can we just go to the visionaries you see there's a scrolling thing at the bottom, the visionaries, Dakota UK, you can pay for a shared room or room for yourself. Obviously, the prices are going to be different and is accessible with an online payment. You can pay online insha Allah

very good question. Abdulkadir to fxg I think he's Turkish.

Also, people who don't have the skills do have don't have read a lot of Islamic knowledge outside of books and courses and lectures, I'm assuming is it applicable for them? Absolutely. Every Muslim has to have a vision for life because we're gonna have a concept in we're going to convey a concept in the course called micro visions, what is the concept of a micro vision and micro targets or targets from an Islamic perspective? That for example, the exercise that we're going to be doing is we're gonna go from rail to solid again, to get micro target some provisions. We're gonna go by the way, we're gonna go through through the whole plan, obviously, as a group, so it was going to have a

juice. We're going to go through the whole plan.

and derive vision from that Jews. Allahu Akbar, where has this happened before? Maybe it has if it has told me, I could calculate them or support them, I'll promote them. If you know me well enough on my social media, I promote good stuff for free. Yeah, no strings attached. Right. The point is, where will you find this? This is one of the most amazing things about this retreat is from the ground up from the Quran and Sunnah principles up to develop effective visions and strategies and the principles and quarters that is needed to elevate the doubt.

Yes, Mr. Tanaka is making a great point. It's super easy to book and it takes less than five minutes. Absolutely. Does ocular Hebrew is not going to hurt. And brother Tarik curd is a key part of the Sapiens team hamdulillah is a volunteer spends a lot of time and effort and his own money for the hour. And he's actually booked this himself to come as well. May Allah bless him. And when he booked he said, I'm at your service. This is the kind of people that we meet need to throw dust in his face just for encouragement. Because his an amazing brother, may Allah preserve him, I mean.

Okay.

Any other questions? Brothers and sisters?

Okay, there's a question about well, it's not related. So I'm gonna answer it this we're gonna need to stay focused, because we can't, you know, make this too long.

Let's take more questions about the retreat brothers and sisters. Is that a retreat? Look at this guy. Look at this guy. But Tasneem in the house, he's one of the instructors coming along, is their gym retreat and immutable kind of gym is going to be my brother. As you know, it's going to be a gym of tarbiyah waking up at five in the morning doing to hydrate with the brothers doing the boot of the Quran reciting the Quran and Quran circles doing some sports. Yes, it's going to be intense with regards to vision strategy, principles, spiritually, brotherhood exercises, team building exercises, it's going to be from five in the morning to running 11 at night. But yes, there is a gym. So

there's going to be a middle session maybe an hour an hour and a half when we go to the gym and mean you should go to the gym inshallah I

look forward to seeing you Brahma Allah bless you. I know you've been working very hard for Sapiens in America, sapiens all around the world. You're coming to Turkey in a few days, because you're going to be doing courses and hamdulillah and actually Todd Farhad as a Tim, bro, I need you for all of the retreat because you can only attend one day because the ticket was originally for him filming some courses for our learning platform. Very powerful courses. Yeah.

And I said, please extend it. And what did he do? He extends it. And he's staying for the retreat at home did not an easy thing for the retreat. He's staying for the four days after three days after with some Imams and leaders from Australia. They want more specific help with regards to their strategy and organizational structure for the Dow for the sake of Allah, he's even coming to that as well. So I'm not trying to throw us in his face just to show much Allah this is quite a slim in the house, my lab Listen, right, you know the questions.

Questions about the retreat.

So you can tell by my energy, I'm like, I really truly believe in this well, like, you know,

because, you know, for us to have successful data, we need to have a vision grounded in Islam and an effective strategy. And importantly, we have to have principles and qualities in line with the Clemson in order for the Dow to have baraka and what I mean by that was not just ourselves individually in our YouTube channel, or our organization, I'm talking about the Dow realistically, because this is how Muslims are. This is an automatic thing. This is a global thing. This is Allah's pleasure, right? You can't have a reductionist approach to this, as I said, Vision supremacy not organizational supremacy and that's one of the feelings in the doubt at the moment as well

unfortunate but anyway,

we need

that's why I'm really passionate about this and that this passion makes me sometimes overemphasize repeat and sometimes articulate myself in bizarre ways. So do you really apologize but hopefully that's going to come across in a positive way

writes

in other questions on the retreat itself, brothers and sisters

any questions on regard to the retreat

now look,

but I qualified for answering I will try and come in sha Allah may Allah bless you, bro. mela facilitate for you and I'll make it whose success for you? And may Allah subhanaw taala make it the best retreat ever. And I think one of the beautiful things about this retreat is there is going to be a really strong dedication to being authentic and not having undeclared intentions because sometimes, you know, say I'm going to give a speech. Fine. One of my intentions is I'm doing this for the sake of Allah inshallah. And I want it to be an effective speech for the sake of Allah for it to have an impact. But there are other undeclared intentions there is a sense of inauthenticity

about me, I'd be like, I want to look good. You know, I want to sound good. I want to articulate myself.

eloquently because I want to look at, right? I want to be right. So I'm going to make sure that I'm saying the right things all the time. If I step up, I'm going to get frustrated.

I want to please the Mashgiach in the front row, we want to try and because this really is the most important thing in a way, because it's the psychology of of surrendering, that ego was undecayed intentions in order for all of the principles and the transformative experience to be embedded in your heart to changes your holdout. And so we want to really frame it. So the first session is going to be really dedicated on that Friday, dedicated to having the right mindset, the right heart set in order for us to

Yanni to be authentic, and I think it's so important, you know, because there's so many people coming I'm so surprised I was to the point that I would even argue I was overwhelmed to be to be honest, and I'll speak to share Haytham about this and he was trying to like, you know, reassure me but like, it's a massive responsibility. Obviously, everyone knows this, but I was slightly overwhelmed and maybe a bit emotional past few days, I was thinking you got people running organizations coming people doing great success for now, people who are far more knowledge more knowledgeable than me know, much more Quran and definitely much better to read than me. And people

who

have, you know, well known would argue greater relative success than me, people who

have more the more grounded in Islamic tradition than me, people who have had great successes in leadership and our I'm thinking, wow, this is amazing. This is Allah putting things together with lights. Amazing, you know? And so, yeah, Queen one was gonna say earlier, I'm getting confused now is we want to facilitate event where we get the best out of you, and make you realize that you already had it inside you anyway. So we're not really teaching you anything from that perspective. We're just facilitating a way of being and giving you certain principles in order to understand a vision and strategy and qualities and principles from the Quran and Sunnah. But a lot of it is

facilitating an event in order to get the best out of you. So we're going to be facilitators, we're not necessarily like enemy instructors, not because this is a transformative retreat. We want people to come out with a personal vision, organizational vision, personal strategy, organizational strategy, and to understand the principles and qualities they need in order to be successful for these things. That requires a transformation. It's a different kettle of fish. It's not just seen in a lecture, just reading some facts who would respect you could do that online. It's totally different and the whole retreat is structured that we brothers and sisters in Chicago

you looks like tired Yeah, I'm tired actually. Well, I'm not tired at the moment are quite full, quite energetic, but in general, it's been a it was a crazy September. And it's going to be crazy October Hamdulillah. As Bilal Tanya Lu who is working very hard for Sapiens in the background with the filming and the courses and also, you know, organizing this retreat, he mentioned something on the WhatsApp group he said,

working on doesn't rust, something like that. So if you you know, keep on you're not gonna get rusty, you need to keep the momentum, you know, and this echoes a statement of Imam Shafi when he says about you know, running being like running a running stream, you know, you've know a running stream doesn't get stagnant any actually produces vegetation and stuff. It gives life from that perspective, which echoes Bruce Lee statements. Yeah, it'd be like water my friend, right. But Imam Shafi and Allah, based on him said it ages ago, way before.

Okay, so where are we?

Okay, what time does it start the first day, the registration, if I remember correctly, is going to be around 2pm. Right. But that information is gonna be available on the website shortly. And that's on the Friday. The first session is going to be towards the evening. So the ladies you can be the is I would say afternoon, maybe late afternoon, but that those details are going to be forthcoming on the website.

And, yeah, so yes, excellent. So

certainly, sustainability in the village says, it starts at 8pm, Friday, the 21st of October. So registration from 2pm to 6pm. She knows because she's been part of the branding team. Phenomenal. I mean, I've been praising lots of others now. And I don't praise people for dust in the face. But her company is probably the best marketing branding company I've ever dealt with is like a full on blown psychoanalysis of the people that we want to attract. And I have not experienced this before. I think my PhD proposal was much more difficult was much easier. Yeah. And the way they manifested everything on the website is I wouldn't change anything really is fantastic. And the branding and

the narratives, I'm telling you and professionalism.

There's no conflict here, by the way. You know that they're a company that was working for this and I'm telling you Unbeliev

unbelievable company so check them out please I think the could salaam media. Alright, so any other questions brothers and sisters

I'll give you 10 more minutes and we'll close inshallah

so just to remind everyone, before you start formulating your questions that this retreat is going to have three main objectives we want you to from the ground up from the Quran, sunnah. And the pious predecessors, classical normative assigned methodology, based on these timeless values, that from the ground up, you're gonna develop a vision and a strategy, you're gonna develop a vision for your personal life for your organization, your data team, you're going to have a strategy that necessarily linked to the performance of that vision, your personal vision, and your organizational vision, and they're going to be linked as well. And you're going to understand 14 key principles and

coding is from the premise and in order to lead effectively in the data, and who you must become, in order to have the power to connect success and to optimize the Tao brothers and sisters. And this is very much needed. Okay, so this, these are the main objectives. So if you're, you know, there is a group of imams in, in America, I had a call them yesterday, they were like, you know, when to refine our vision, we need to refine our strategy, you know, do you suggest that we come to this and that's the objective of the event that you will end the event with a vision and a strategy, at least a workable vision and a strategy in order for you to be successful in the dollar, right? And we're

going to unpack so many other things behind all of that, you know, some things that we just summarized in this webinar, you know, the key questions we have to ask the key sources that we have to go to Shura brainstorming Quran, sunnah, principles, values, asking the right questions, thinking outside the box, having a vision supremacy perspective, not just a organizational supremacy, and so on and so forth. And it's gonna be, it's gonna be a lot of conversations and there's gonna be friction, but positive friction, friction, whereas I don't agree with that. What do you mean by that? Then we go into the cinema, we go into the Quran, we have these discussions, we get the best

out of each other in order to make the right decisions for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala.

Okay.

Anything else? Any other questions? Brothers and sisters? There's one question here, no chance to participate online? No, because like with many things is a transformative experience. And transformative experience is it has to be face to face and it has to be in that environment. Right.

And, you know, for example, I could describe to you, Michael, Angelo's painting, I think isn't a chap or something. And I could describe to you how the painting looks and how amazing it is, or how should a key is whatever, right?

And but my descriptions are not going to be enough, you have to be that you have to visit that right? Likewise, you know, I could describe to you my mother's cooking, you know, she makes a great dish could have added the Buddha coat, which is one of the best kind of Greek

sweet dishes. Amazing. I'm gonna have 10 of them. Yeah. Easy. I'll be regretful back. And I can I can have them right. Now I can tell you exactly how she makes it. But it's not gonna be the same. You have to come to my mom's house and test it. There's a different dynamic, like, so by greater reason is the same with these kinds of transformative things. And we see this in the doll. It's actually a really good question it what

we deal with Lighthouse mentoring service, dealing with Shadow heart and mentoring, to art to have an optimal version of themselves to make an impact in the Galleria. And it's a free service. Obviously, we do one to one development, and answering questions and dealing with people's doubts and people who have left Islam and so on and so forth. Now I've come to the conclusion based on hours and hours and years and years of experience on this that we have most of the answers online is true. But why do people have the same Shabbat? Why do we have the same doubts? Why do we have the same concerns even though great answers online? I'm coming to the conclusion that there is a certain

phase that we think because everything is online and everything is going to be solved? No. It's about it's about you need different means. If it was just about abstract writing things online that Allah would have sent the Quran and that's it. The Quran would have been enough. But Allah subhana wa Tada sent down the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So he's a human manifestation of the Quran. He's a walking Quran. He he related to people, right? He didn't say to them, I wanted to talk to you just read this book now. He was the manifestation of the Quran. He was someone that people could relate to and

And there is a transformational psychology when you deal with people on a one to one basis, and this is the same when it comes to LM, and that's one of our crises of knowledge at the moment, we think, yeah, I'm going to be in an auditorium, I'm going to write notes, I'm going to go online, listen to a lecture, it's going to change my life, it may do, but you won't have the impact.

qualitatively and quantitatively as much as we want. Why? Because it's like an unwritten spiritual law. It's a Sunnah of Allah, that you have to have an interaction. The scholar of the Prophet Hassan was Gibreel alayhis. Salam, the scholar of the Sahaba was a processor, the scholar of the Tibetan word, the Sahaba, and so on, and so forth. So you need to have that interactive experience, to have those transformational changes. And we know that when we see someone who's really humble, it transformed us to be really humble. But if you read all is on humility in the Quran, it might not be enough. Because you haven't understood it probably haven't internalized it in the right way. You

don't have that part of you.

But just experiencing some with humility, you might just become humble. And that's a transformative effect of being around people. And that's why online would be a disaster. It'd be impossible almost impossible to do this.

So that was a long answer to them.

Okay, brother says Can are children allowed 14 year old units Emo, the visionaries at sapience. Institute. org with specific questions like that. So they're visionaries at Sapiens institute.org?

Would you expect the average age to be the absolute absolute? Muhammad, he says the average age is going to vary. I know an 18 year old is coming. And I think I know and 78 year old is coming. And we had a question for an 84 year old. Right? So all ages, all experiences, okay. And the quality of the people coming up, so phenomenal. And if you come you don't have a background, but you think you have transferable skills and you want a personal vision for your life. And maybe in the future and organizational for the doubt, you want to get more than the doubt this is the place to be because you're going to have great networking, you're going to have senior people there with great skills

and way of being and o'clock and other than and, and it's going to be transformative experience. Remember, you are the product of the people around you. Put yourself in great environments. Yeah, the scholars have the skill to innovate, they talk about if you want to change your way of being, change your heart be around people, good people, you know, look at the the dog that's mentioned in the Quran, the dog was saved, right? And the people with the cave. Why is the dog say even cattle raises this question. And he answers it. And what's the answer? Well, if Allah could save kind of a lowly animal,

because it happened to you with pious people, then what would Allah do to your life? If you happen to be with pious people to change your life transform it? So yeah, be come be around great people.

All right, what else?

Are we done?

Any other questions, brothers and sisters? If not, I'm going to wrap up in a few moments.

Actually, let me scroll down because there may be questions here that I haven't seen that relate to the retreat QFC most of these

that's it. There's no other real questions really concerned. Because I'm always retreat. So brothers, this is a summarize.

News.

It's actually really cheap. It's

cheap for this type of event.

As I said, most likely, we're not going to get our money back on this. Because that cost price which includes other hidden costs. And we didn't do this to make money. We did this to make an impact. And then hamdulillah with the amount of people that are coming, and who are coming, the type of quality of work that they're doing. And for them to attend this. It's just overwhelming and it's humbling.

And the visionaries retreat successful for 21st century brothers and sisters is really a transformative territory. That's based on tarbiyah pmla Quran to download of the Quran, going through a lot of soldering and picking up microbials and targets from there. We're going to be going through the whole of the Quran, everyone having a tooth each to tumble into to pick the idea of vision and so on and so forth. We're gonna have sessions and vision and strategy and principles and qualities, and all of these amazing things. And we want you to end up with three main things. Number one, you're going to have a vision for your personal life that's in line with the Islamic concept of

success that's in line with those three main questions.

I mentioned earlier Quranic questions that we give the examples to them. And at least to them, you're gonna have a personal vision and organizational vision for the data and those two are going to be linked, you're going to have a strategic focus that you know will necessarily link to your personal vision becoming a reality and the organizational data vision to become a reality. And you're going to understand and be aware of the 14 key principles and qualities from the Quran and the Sunnah. In order to understand who you must become in order for this to be successful. If you really sustain the doubt, even if you think you're doing great having great success, believe me, if

you go through this process, you'll have greater success. Because sometimes we tap ourselves in the bank thinking on the back thinking, Yeah, I'm doing quite well. But you we as Muslims, we have to not do that. We have to think, what am I not doing?

That is that is stopping me getting even better results in greater results. So that's very important to frame as well, to frame it that way as well. Brothers and sisters. So anyway, what can we say?

I'm excited.

What we'll do is,

is Oh, yeah, what we'll do is much more by saying that, okay, maybe it's time to add some images. And with this, I am committed to your wellbeing in sha Allah. What does that mean? From a prophetic perspective, from a sunnah perspective, this means wanting goodness and guidance. So I want you to understand the commitment that we're making is that we're going to be committed to your well being. And what we mean by well being in this context is that we're going to come with to you with an authentic version of ourselves, no, there's gonna be no undeclared intentions, we're going to be hopefully as humble as possible, as natural as possible, authentic as possible. And we're going to

relate to you in the most optimal way through our behavior and through our utterances to get the best out of you and us and the whole situation. Yeah. And, you know, hopefully, just for my own kind of work in the past, maybe six or seven years, there was actually me and with the story.

Many, many years ago, when I was with AI era, and this before was the CEO of AI era. And before we see managing Sapiens, I was traveling around the world, it was a hectic period, you know, I had a relatively large following for the standards of that time on social media. I was going to America, I was traveling to I think Malaysia, I was traveling the world doing this than the other. And I remember in Chicago, this is one brother, I remember his name. But he returned to me. He was like, What are you doing this for? What's going on? So show is so drama is so showing off? So you know. And he related to the Jahannam as well. He related to like being very, very serious about this

issue. Because it's a grave issue. It's a serious weighty issue. So this is Shafi just going around the world like a superstar or whatever, you know, you know, showing off he was saying stuff like that. The way he communicated to me really effectively. Yeah. So I remember coming back to the IRA office, I spoke to the operations manager at that time was Muhammad Arshad who does some great work, by the way, he does go to his website, Muslim seo.com. He does stuff on leadership and speaker training, and so on and so forth. Yeah. And he basically, I sat with him in exchange for having in Chicago and I broke down crying. And that was a very transformative

event for me, because that I made the decision after that to focus on developing and empowering others because I knew that I'm not gonna last forever, I'm going to be irrelevant one day, or I'm not going to be young forever. I'm not going to be around forever, I need to have a long term vision for myself, I need to develop others, to be able to share some to optimize them and for them to be better than me. I'll be making dua in such that saying Allah, I want them to be better than me. And we're about to give this course make them better than me yet Allah, which is an easy thing to do, right? But you get the point. The point is that commitment to other people because I know you know,

my life is what you know, 42 years old now. God knows how long it's gonna happen on his left. It's about that long term success vision for for generated Fritos was happening the generation after me the generation after. So we have to focus on process on approach and principles and vision and strategy on people.

sincere people with tunnel beer, this is the important thing. That's how the bottom because that's where the puck is going to be. And I want to make this clear, Allah will not change the situation of a people until the change was within themselves. The tafsir of this is you want the owner or the people won't change from a good state to that state unless they've changed something within themselves. They've lost their connection. They maybe removed themselves on principles and the right colleagues. They're not having a true vision that's sincere and so on and so forth. They just become a utilitarian. They're not focusing on the right thing to do. They're not focusing on Allah's

pleasure.

So that was a transformative and that opened the daughter what we started doing courses for eight years, we started doing educational, more educational content, that ternal challenge the mirage of atheism course and then that became the basis of my book. Well Allah He is amazing.

And that book has been translated to over 10 languages. And then after I became COI era, and by the will of Allah subhanaw taala, we increased operations by over 1,000% funds by over 500%. Then after just under three years, we moved on to Sapiens, there was a strategy change. The point is, this is all from Allah, but I'm trying to show to you that I want to share these experiences with you. And I'm not saying this to blow my trumpet, I'm saying to you that I do have the experience. And I have, you know, developed organizations and improve them from a policy operation strategy, visual point of view and stuff like that. However, I want you to understand that there's a hell of a lot of mistakes

made grave mistakes, there was humiliation, there was lack of Yes, sincerity. There was lack of connection with Allah, I want you to learn from the mistakes that I've made. And there's nothing more transformative than me being authentic with you, in that retreat to show you these are my mistakes, this is how you learn this is this these are the successes, this is how you learn from them and even continue further and be inspired by them. And this will want to give to you. And it's very rare that people from a down organizational point of view have this type of professional endow experience can actually offer that to you. So that's what we're offering very cheap price brothers

and sisters. And may Allah subhanaw taala plus every single one of you, if you can't make it, share this video when it comes up. And inshallah

Yeah, take care yourselves. Anything that I've said that's wrong or inaccurate is obviously from shaitana menos. Any scripts from Allah subhanaw taala. Take care of yourselves brothers and sisters, As Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh