The Shepherd’s Way #06 – Relevance is Excellence

Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Al hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh who brothers and sisters and friends and welcome to the sixth episode of our voltages series The Shepherd's way. And the sixth timeless leadership lesson is relevance is excellence. In other words, Be wise be people have wisdom. And in a nutshell, brothers and sisters, wisdom is applying your knowledge and experience in a relevant way, as Professor John Varkey says, relevance realization, right, making your knowledge and your experience relevant. And this is echoed by the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala is making a distinction between wise judgment and knowledge and

is leaking that to virtue to people who are good. Allah says in chapter 20, verse 14, we gave him wisdom or technically wise judgment and knowledge. This is how we reward those who do good. So Allah is making a distinction between wise judgment and knowledge and is linking that to virtue.

So from this perspective, we understand that wisdom is making knowledge relevant and this also make us understand that knowledge is not enough. Knowledge is not enough brothers and sisters, and friends. And this is echoed in our pious scholastic tradition, brothers and sisters. For instance, a boon or aim reported, a man said to Alpha date, may Allah have mercy on him. The scholars are many in other words, that people have knowledge on many, and Al Fidel said, but those with wisdom are few. So you may be scholastic. And I'm not even talking from an Islamic perspective, you could be scholastic from a leadership perspective, you may think you have all the knowledge necessary to

lead,

but you may not lead effectively, because you can't make that knowledge relevant. You don't have the wisdom.

And this is why wisdom from this perspective is applying your knowledge and experience in a relevant way. You act in the right way at the right time, in the right context, as it will pay on Al Josias said, wisdom is to act as one should, in the manner that one should, in the time that one should. So how do you develop wisdom, brothers and sisters and friends? Well, let's look at the wise words of the prophets of Allah who it who was sending him, he said in a hadith narrated by telling me that this is a say authentic hadith, that there is no wisdom unless one has experience. Think about that. There is no wisdom, and this one has experience. Now there is a wisdom in this as well. Because when

you're experiencing things, you're experiencing the application of knowledge, and it's becoming real, it's becoming relevant, and you could absorb and internalize that, to apply knowledge in a relevant way for future similar experiences. Also, to motivate us to be people of wisdom, we must understand that there is a virtue in being wise. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said and this narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, there is no envy by in two cases, a man whom Allah has given wealth, and he spends it rightly, and a man whom Allah has given wisdom, and he judges and teachers with it. Another way to acquire wisdom brothers and sisters, is to be humble. And it's quite

interesting that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam connected wisdom with experience, because if you're sincere, and you truly understand those experiences, they should humble you, because experience should make you more humble. And it's very interesting that Ahmed even occurred. And it's very interesting that I'm worried about Raja Lucha and said that verily, if a seven humbles himself, for Allah Almighty, He will increase his wisdom. And there's another lesson we learn here from the words of the companion of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam. And what is this lesson?

That if you are a servant to Allah, if you're in a state of herb, udia servanthood, that you're humbling yourself before Allah subhanho wa Taala you engage in a bad you understand who you really are. And you understand the greatness of Allah subhana wa to Allah, you humble yourself. It's through this humility, that you gain wisdom. And this is echoed by the very words of the beloved Companion of the Prophet sallallahu ala he was sending them so in the context of sharing and defending Assam academically, and intellect

Surely, even in the context of your personal life, I think there are a bunch of questions we should ask in order to make our knowledge relevant brothers and sisters and this is the power of questioning

and listen to these questions. When you're addressing a matter or trying to judge a matter or trying to apply knowledge

on a particular matter, are trying to figure out what decisions you must make about a particular issue. Think about the following questions. What is the context?

What outcome is best? Who are you dealing with? Who are you addressing? What are the benefits? What is the Musleh? What are the harms? What what is the Masada? are you increasing the muscle haha? Are you decreasing the Masada? are you increasing the benefits? Are you decreasing the harms? have you consulted your and other people's experiences? have you consulted experts? Are you just reacting? pause and reflect?

Are you seeking the goodness in yourself and others? And remember, ask this question. What is most pleasing to Allah? What is most pleasing to Allah? If you ask yourself these questions, whatever experience you have, or knowledge you have about a particular matter, or knowledge that the people you are consulting have or experience of the people you are consulting have you be able to apply it in the most correct way brothers and sisters and we see wisdom in the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu ala he was salam in actual fact, Imam Shafi, the famous scholar of Islam,

the the famous scholar of Islam, he defined the Sunnah as hikma, from a point of view of exegesis. tafsir explain the Quran. When the Quran refers to hikma. It refers to the Prophetic teachings of the prophets of Allah who it he was suddenly. And when we see the Prophetic teachings, we see the knowledge of the Quran, we see them applied in the most relevant way, acting in the right way, in the right manner, in the right context, and in the right time. And there are many instances in the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu ala he was sending, if you remember the famous story of a young man coming to the Prophet sallallahu Ali, who was salam and saying, You don't allow me to commit Zina?

How did he respond? Did he just say this was haram? That's him. That's abstract knowledge. He could have said, Allah says It's haram. Allah says forbidden, but how did he address him? He addressed him in the right way in the right context. And we know what he said, essentially, he said, What if I allow you to do this? What about your mother and your sister, shall we allow for your mother and your sister?

And this wisdom, this way of being this ability to take in knowledge and apply in their most relevant way, touched the young man and he understood what was the right thing to do, and the right way to act. So brothers and sisters, make your knowledge relevant. Understand the context. Understand who you're engaging with, understand the situation. Make your knowledge relevant brothers and sisters be people have wisdom. And once you have personal wisdom, you're able to make the right decisions. If you're able to make the right decisions, you can solve problems. And a key part of leadership is solving problems. So you can execute your strategy in order for your vision to become

a reality. So this is the end of the sixth episode brothers and sisters and to remind you, we are experiencing the blessed days of the ledger with good deeds performed. During these days. I'm more rewardable than good deeds performed during the days of Ramadan. So please help us be people of wisdom. In actual fact, sapiens means wise, wisdom, insight, basura insight, deep, profound insight. So help us be people of Sapiens people have wisdom in order to defend and share some academically and intellectually and to develop others to do so the same. And the way to support us brothers and sisters, and to gain immense reward is by clicking the button or the link below and donating

generously to sokola here as Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh