2021 Challenges & Solutions #02

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu salam ala MV mursaleen Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa seldom at the Sleeman Kaziranga, Sierra Nevada, my dear brother sisters, welcome to the part two of our lecture series for jumah, which is 2021 challenges and solutions.

Last week, I spoke to you about the first of those challenges, which was toxic politics, and we looked at the importance of teaching and working with and learning citizenship.

Today, I want to talk to you about the second of those crisis that we have to face and that is, poverty and income disparity.

Think about this. If I asked you to create an economic system in which the combined wealth of eight people, just eight people, the combined wealth of eight men, incidentally, would exceed the combined wealth of 50% of the world's population, that is three and a half billion people, you would say that it was an impossible task cannot be done can never happen. But guess what? You and I are living it right now. And no matter how wealthy you feel, or think that you are, believe me,

you are not one of those eight men

in the text of this code, but you will get the links and the sources from which I have my information. It's a study that draws from Forbes, annual list of billionaires and Credit Suisse, his Global Wealth data book. It's been four years since the World Economic Forum, identified rising economic inequality as a major threat to social stability. But Oxfam said that the problem is not only not improving, it's actually getting worse.

The nation the United States, 644 billionaires have enjoyed a staggering rise in wealth, since the pandemic shut down the economy, and did whatever it did since March 2020.

With this group of 644 billionaires, gaining almost 1 trillion in total net worth.

So you can see that the pandemic was not bad for everybody. In India, incidentally the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns made the rich richer, said this Oxfam report, it is called very appropriately the inequality virus.

They said that the wealth of the countries of India's billionaires increased by an estimated 35% more than one third during the London while 84% of households suffered varying degrees of income loss.

And 170,000 people lost their jobs every hour

in April 2020 alone, not in the whole but every hour 170,000 Indians were losing their jobs in April 2020 alone.

The report also says that income increases for India's top 100 billionaires since March 2020,

when the lockdown was enforced, was enough to give each of the 138 million poorest people a check for 100,000 rupees each. In the US, the top 1% could give a check of $3,000 to every American and still have more money than they had before the pandemic. But did they do that?

Did you get a check for $3,000.

Despite world leaders signing up to a global goal to reduce inequality, the gap between the rich and the rest has widened. Says the Oxfam report. Far from trickling down. income and wealth are being sucked up at an alarming rate.

Incidentally, there's also a very big gender disparity of the 1810 1810

Dollar billionaires around the world. 89% are men

89% are men.

global poverty is one of the very worst problems that the world faces today. The poorest in the world are often hungry, have much less access to education, regularly have no light at night, and suffer from much poorer health to make progress against poverty is therefore one of the most important global goals. Incidentally, GDP and per capita income are the worst and least accurate measures to measure prosperity of any society.

You will find these figures touted and quoted all over the place, they are the worst way to measure prosperity. Poverty is not a factor of GDP, but of income distribution, and the amount of actual disposable income resulting in discretionary spending. income disparity is the key factor, not GDP.

The inequality between countries is not the only aspect that needs to be considered inequalities within countries and societies. The regional differences, racial differences, gender differences, and inequalities across other dimensions can also be large, and are all beyond any individual's own control. That is why Islam places such a huge value on charity.

Where it's an article of faith, it's a pillar of Islam.

Poverty is not only about not having nice toys, it's about hunger and sickness and lack of access to education and insecurity for the poor and their children. Why should you be concerned? Why must you be concerned with all this? Why am I talking to you, because people who are poor, undernourished, fearful and under educated, are more susceptible to manipulation, educated or not poor or not, in democracies, they vote. When income disparities are high, the majority tends to be comprised of those who are deprived come elections, that can make a huge impact.

The strongest societies are those with the least income disparities, we will never have total equality and that is not even the goal. But disparity must be reduced with certain critical needs being fulfilled equally for everyone, irrespective of their economic status. Those critical needs our food security, basic education, health care, and shelter. Nobody must be homeless, or hungry or sick, and without access to good education until at least high school level. Contrary to what some people like to believe, that does not take away the entrepreneurial spirit, but gives it impetus. Because the energy of the person is not being drained in mere survival.

It's only when survival is assured that a person can think of development beyond that. The solution to this is entrepreneurship. COVID came as a blessing in this context, because it enforced entrepreneurship. people lost their jobs, and so had to seek other ways of supporting themselves. Companies downsized and outsourced more functions. Amazon prime is a prime example of this, where they outsourced their deliveries totally. Entrepreneurship is also the solution, because it makes people more self reliant and confident. And contributors. Instead of merely being consumers. Entrepreneurs create jobs.

Entrepreneurship is all about spirits. It's about recognizing that you did not come into this world, either randomly or by accident, or even by your own choice. Your parents did not choose for you to be born. I believe that we were sent with a purpose. When we discover that purpose. We enter a state of grace. A fish out of water is the most clumsy, awkward creature in the world. You can't move it fluffs desperately. It gasps for breath. But the same fish when you put it back into the lake, disappears like a flash the epitome of grace

speed and beauty. When we are in our appointed task, we are like a fish in the water. The world conspires to help us to succeed. But first, we must recognize our purpose. And then we need to consciously accept it. That is a scary part. But that is the threshold that must be crossed to demonstrate that we are in and not out.

without crossing the threshold of owning responsibility for our own lives, we cannot expect anything to happen.

As somebody says, everyone has two birthdays, the day he was born, and the day he discovers why, sadly, some of us don't have the second birthday ever.

choices are not always easy. As a matter of fact, all the important ones are difficult. The most difficult thing is to choose between two apparently good alternatives. But the choice must be made. Everything else depends on that. We sometimes mistake success for ease, and complain about difficulty. We forget that difficulties come to test us so that the prize can be given. Once we surmount the difficulty, success goes to those who can overcome difficulties. every difficulty resets the bar and creates a new definition of excellence, without which we would have been lulled into a false sense of security, which hides fatal flaws. Only winners get metals. Remember that

those who fail are relegated to the garbage pile of the detritus of history.

a vibrant middle class is essential to survival in any economy. The bigger the middle class, the bigger the market for goods and services. And more money flows into the economy and is available for public services like health care, education, transportation. So contrary to the myth of trickle down, money doesn't flow down from the super rich, or from global multinational corporations into local economies. The super rich do not use local services. They mostly live in Ivory Tower isolation, and are generally unaffected by local conditions as they are surrounded by gardens of insulation. multinational corporations are answerable to their shareholders who do not even live in

Soweto so to speak, they don't live where you and I live, they don't live in the slums. They don't live in the poorer districts. They don't live in city centers. And so they don't care what happens in local economies. Many don't even employ local people except in menial jobs. Because locals may not have the education and skills that they need.

In the world of entrepreneurship and startups, which I inhabit and have some claim to. We say that you cannot succeed in your startup until you make you make a significant personal commitment. most successful entrepreneurs deliberately have no plan B because of two core beliefs, the unshakable belief that they will succeed and their belief that our second option blunts the edge. It takes the edge of desperation,

of hunger, and it is detrimental to the result. So they like to remain hungry, remain desperate, and they succeed where everybody else thought they would have failed. They use others derision and naysaying to spur them on to do even more, and they prove their detractors wrong.

Excellence is measured in many ways, one of the most important of which is your confidence and ability to stay on your chosen path. You will find when you do that, that other people will often fear your high ideals and goals.

To remain on the path and not be discouraged by their lack of confidence is a measure of excellence. I have always measured the strength of my goals from the number of people who they scare the daylights out of. To me it means that I am on the right path. You see the only path that doesn't scare sheep is the path to the pen. I personally have never had a liking to being penned. Especially since every sheep pen has only two doors, one towards the pasture and the other towards the abattoir

dangerous, both exciting as well as mostly imaginary. But when we embark on lofty goals, which are rooted in integrity and truthfulness, and the desire to do something worthwhile in the world, what we know of it as well as what is unseen conspires to make us succeed.

Angels walk with you though you cannot see them. Doors open for you where you would not have imagined people come out of the woodwork to help you not because you ask them to, you didn't even know that they were there. But because they were sent the resources that you need to accomplish your goal will flow in your direction.

Very simple principle of physics. Water flows down a slope, not a bit. So when you are climbing a hill, and rain falls, water will flow in your direction. If you are running away, and going downhill, water will flow away from you. Your position on the hill doesn't matter. No matter how far from the peak you are, it is your direction which makes a world of difference. And quite simply spells the difference between reaching the peak or not.

If you want to succeed, you must face your fear and stare into its eyes until it looks away. Not turn your back on it. Especially because what is behind your back becomes even more scary. Let's see what Islam says about entrepreneurship and business.

Allah subhanaw taala said one or two so far ha Amala como la de la la Hola, como pa man work zoom fi ha work. Suma kulula home como la ma rufa Allah subhanaw taala said uncertainness and do not give too foolish people your property which Allah has made a means of support for you, but feed and clothe them with it and speak to them words of kindness and justice. Allah say just don't give up. And this is a huge lesson in terms of succession planning, in family businesses.

People will give the whole business to their son usually boys

who is unfit and has no training and has no capability of managing that. Something of that magnitude. The Quran is saying specifically do not do that. Feed them, clothe them, train them, be good to them, be nice to them, talk nicely to them, but do not do not hand over resources until they are capable of dealing with them and handling them responsibly.

Then Allah subhanaw taala said yeah, you Allah Vina Amaro la kulu Amala combina con Ville Bilbao thuli illa Hakuna Tara, Tara, the minco wa Cthulhu and fusa come in the la cara de Kumara, Hema, and Allah said, Oh, believe, do not eat up your property among yourselves and justly

accept that it be a trade among you. by mutual consent. Don't deceive, don't grab properties. By all means, do decent, honest business and do not kill yourself or do not kill one another. Surely Allah subhanaw taala is most merciful to you.

So lies are seldom said and honest, truthful. And trust a businessman

or businesswoman is together with the obeah the Cydia pain and the Shahada. And this is in tirmidhi. Not a business person will be with the profits with the city field consider the truthful people and with the Shahada matters. Then he said salatu salam, every oma has a fitrah which is a means of testing. The fitna of my oma is wealth.

And that's also in

the record and has been Malika delanco surah Sallam said, if the son of Adam alayhis salam, if Adam son had a variable of gold, he would like to have two valleys, for nothing fills his mouth, except for dust. And Allah forgives him who repents to him.

And then this is in Buhari and then had these in our without tirmidhi and unnecessary, unnecessary words and vows are uttered in trade shaitan and sins intervene, purify your trade with sadaqa. people, when they are selling, they exaggerate the goods when they are buying people try to talk down and needlessly criticized rasulillah Salam privated both of these behaviors and then let me sell some set. Merchants will be fast six, they will be sinners on the Day of Judgment except those who acted honestly. So it is a it's not a being truthful and honest in trade is about the greatest of good deeds at this intermediate. even imagine. Now what was we Muslim individuals and

organizations What must we do three things one, make vocational skill, educated

compulsory in all schools. Let every child learn a trade something to do with the hands. This will instill the work ethic and teach a multitude of essential skills and attitudes, which all of us need number to teach entrepreneurship in all schools through practical opportunities.

Help them to experience entrepreneurship, and learn how to build teams take responsibility, communicate, customer service, budgeting, financial planning, social responsibility, and leadership. Number three, set up a venture capital rolling fund to encourage startups, teach them how to make a business plan, how to pitch for funding, how to deal with failure and recover, how to make high powered business presentations to VCs and so on and so forth. Muslims must become job creators, not people standing with their hat in their hand in a line looking for a job. The world of today and tomorrow is the world of the entrepreneur. It is they who will create the new power structures that

are needed to challenge the toxic hegemony of predatory capitalism. Entrepreneurship will change the world. They must be Muslims. That is critical. ask Allah Subhana Allah Allah Allah, Allah to be pleased with you and never to be displeased, asked Allah subhanho wa Taala to help us to do that which is pleasing to Him. ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to him to be pleased with us and to help us in ways that protect us from all evil, or Salalah harana will carry while Ali usap is made erotica for me, while hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato