Hamza Tzortzis – The Shepherd’s Way #05 – When You Become, You Overcome

			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Assalamu alaykum
Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh brothers and sisters and friends, and welcome to the fifth episode of our
loyal hedger series, the Shepards way. And the fifth, timeless leadership lesson is when you become
you overcome. What does this mean? It means Be courageous. Brothers and sisters and friends, this is
a neglected aspect of leadership. Because when you're leading, you have to be decisive. You have to
face adversity, you have to take risks, brothers or sisters, when you're leading, you're leading
from the front as well. And there's going to be obstacles in your path. You need to be courageous to
		

			overcome those obstacles and remember, you are the leader, you have to take responsibility. Now, the
question here is How do I become courageous? Well, the first thing to understand is do not focus on
the action. Do not focus on what you need to do, focus on who you must become. And this is very
important because once you become you overcome, think about your state of being, actions are derived
or manifested from your state of being. So how do you change your state of being in order to
overcome?
		

			The first thing you need to understand is, look at the bigger picture. Understand the bigger
picture, remind yourself, Why you doing this in the first place. It's not for your ego is for Allah
subhana wa ATOD.
		

			Secondly, remind yourself or think about what are the consequences of succumbing to your fear? What
are the consequences to succumbing to your fear? Remember, they are not desirable. The other thing
to focus on brothers and sisters is to be around courageous people shape your environment. If you
don't have courageous people around you at least read about them. Read the Sunnah of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because he was the most courageous. And remember, Courage gives birth to
courage, if you have people who are courageous around you, or you are inspired by courageous people,
in this context, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam that inshallah God willing, this will give
		

			rise to courage. Another way of changing your state of being brothers and sisters is to accept what
happens if you fail. Think about it. If you fail, and you were sincere, you get the reward.
		

			If you fail, and that failure meant your own demise, your death, you get the reward brothers and
sisters.
		

			What's the worst that can happen? You die? In the grand cosmic scheme of things? So what what does
that mean for the righteous believer? It means a meeting with the beloved Lord, the Most Merciful,
the Most Loving, it means eternal bliss in paradise. And what is paradise? What is the nature of
paradise? Paraphrasing the words of the Prophet sallallahu, ala who were Salam, he defined paradise
in the following way. So there is a person who suffered the most in the world. And they were, they
were destined for Paradise. And they were dipped in paradise for a split moment. And they were
asked, Did you ever suffer and they would say, By Allah, I have never suffered, this is genuine. So
		

			whatever happens in the dunya, and you're destined for Paradise, it's as if nothing happened at all.
So just accept what happens if you fail. If you fell, and you were sincere, you get the reward. If
you fail, and that means your demise, eternal bliss and Paradise. And remember, we can't run away
from death. It is an inevitability. So when you link everything to the orchestra, it gives you this
courage brothers and sisters. And by the way, if you tried your best, and you succeeded, then you
got the success. And if you were sincere, you get the reward as well. So it's all good for the
believer, as the famous Hadith tells us amazing is a situation of the believer. Amazing is the
		

			situation of the believer, when something good befalls him, he is grateful and that's good for him.
And if something of harm befalls him, he is patient, and that is good for him too. As always,
brothers and sisters and friends, we are inspired by the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam, and in
the context of courage, there are many stories we can refer to in order to gain that inspiration.
For example, in a hadith narrated by Bukhari Muslim
		

			Anis may Allah be pleased with him confirmed the bravery of the prophets of Allah who it who was
salam. Now, there was an incident that happened to the people of Medina one night, they were
terrified when they heard a loud noise. So they said out
		

			To know the cause of it, on the way they met the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who was riding
a horse carrying his sword, ready to defend the people against any intruders. He comforted the
people of Medina saying, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. What do we learn from this courage, he
was the first there was a loud noise, he was the first to go out there to take leadership, to be
courageous and to defend the people.
		

			We also have a very, very powerful story from the battle of her name brothers and sisters and
friends. And I'm going to read to you a passage from the silk nectar by several Rahman Al Mubarak
Puri, and it's a very powerful story that shows the immense bravery of the Prophet sallallahu ala he
was sending.
		

			At early dawn, the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam started mobilizing his army and
distributing posts and flags to people in the dark. And just before dawn, the Muslims move towards
an 18 Valley. They started descending into it, and aware of the presence of an enemy lurking for
them inside the valley. So at the moment, they were camping arrows began showering intensively at
them, whereas the enemy's battalion started a fierce attack against the Muslims who had to retreat
in disorder and utter confusion. It was such a shattering defeat. The Abu Sofia and even herb, who
had recently embraced Islam said that they retreat would not stop to the gut to the Red Sea. The
		

			messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa salam turned to the right and said, Come on people. I am the
messenger of Allah. I am Muhammad, the son of Abdullah. Those who stood forced by him were only a
few immigrants and some of his kinsmen. He went on and on in his attempts to make his mule stand
fast in the face of the disbelievers while seeing loudly I am the Prophet. I am the grandson of
Abdullah Talib. However, Abu Sufyan who was then holding the rain of the prophets, mule, and abbess,
who was holding his stirrup, were endeavoring to make a hole.
		

			So they're trying to hold back the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, even in that context with all the arrows coming towards them, and that they had to
be strategic inevitable retreat, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was still marching forward,
yet he was being held back by his companions. Such was the bravery of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
salam. So brothers and sisters, in the context of sharing Islam, academically, and intellectually
defending Islam, academically, and intellectually, it's important to stick to our principles. It's
important to transcend any adversity or obstacles and to take the necessary risks. Because at the
		

			end of the day, brothers and sisters,
		

			we will not succeed if we succumb to our fears, but we will succeed if we're courageous. And we face
adversity, intellectual adversity. And once we have reliant on Allah, and once we believe in Allah,
and once we understand that at the end of the day is all care, it's all good, then they should
motivate us to become more courageous. And remember,
		

			we need to change our state of being. And once we become we overcome, and the way to do that, and
the way to do that is to understand the bigger picture, understand the consequences of succumbing to
our fears, being around courageous people, and accepting what happens if we do fail, even though we
may have tried our best, and we were sincere in doing that, at the end of the day, is all good
brothers and sisters, and the worst that can happen is you dying, and for the righteous believer,
		

			that is actually a beautiful thing, because we meet our beloved Lord, and we have eternal bliss, in
Jannah in paradise. So brothers and sisters, this is the end of Episode Five. And just to remind you
again brothers and sisters, we are experiencing the blessed days of duel hedger. We're doing good
deeds during this blessed days is far more rewardable than doing good deeds during the days of
Ramadan. Support us brothers and sisters in trying to be courageous in sharing and defending Islam,
academically and intellectually. Please support us, go to the link below, or click on the button and
donate generously. Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh