Mirza Yawar Baig – Akhlaaq of the Ummati #44
AI: Summary ©
The shepherding process is essential for herennials, who are responsible for her guests and work. The shepherding process is important for personal relationships and creating a strong vision. The shepherd must be patient and compassionate, be mindful of their behavior, and be flexible and compassionate in dealing with new threats. The shepherd is crucial for personal relationships and creating a strong vision, and learning to connect with the environment and avoid feeling threatened by animals is essential.
AI: Summary ©
Ramallah Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salam O Allah Shafi Lambie even mousseline, Muhammad Rasulullah sallallahu it he right he was having to sell this live on Kaziranga Sierra Nevada. Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, we have been talking about in the in our class on lessons from the stories of the MBA mussalam. We've been talking about the story of Musa alayhis salaam. And the last lesson I mentioned to you how Musashi Salaam worked for srivalli salaam in Madhya for 10 years. And his job was herding sheep, he was a shepherd of sheep.
Now, interestingly, as I mentioned,
shepherding of sheep
is something that
said that, you know, most of the obeah of Allah subhanaw taala, most of the profits are lost.
They were shepherds of sheep.
musala salam was the shepherd of sheep. He said a Salam was a shepherd of sheep. He said, I said, I'm use the simile of the shepherd, when he spoke of, he called use the term shepherds of men.
I also thought of himself was a shepherd of sheep.
As a child, he when he was growing up with Vanessa, he was there. later on as well. They were, you know, many of the MBA musella who were shepherds of sheep.
Now, what's special about being shepherds of sheep, as I mentioned in that class of
lessons from the Gambia, and today, I thought, let me talk about this from a
purely that context, in our class here on a flock of the Almighty. And because this is something that we need to we need to learn, one of the things that I recommend to schools is to give children this experience of being shepherds of sheep. And by being shepherds of sheep, I don't mean just about like 10 Min, 10 minutes walking behind a flock, I mean, going and camping out spend as much time as you can at least overnight. I mean, you know, if not, ideally, I would say go spend a week, but we have become weak over overtime. And unfortunately we have we are lobby lacking patience, we are weak, we are all kinds of things. So anyway, to make a long story short,
if we become shepherds of sheep, it's a huge, very valuable lesson in terms of leadership of people.
Now, therefore, what is to be learned, I have tried to condense this into seven leadership lessons from the shepherding of sheep. The first and foremost of those leadership lessons is responsibility and accountability. Russell's seldom mentioned this specifically about and use the term Shepherd is a cool logo, Ryan, is are all of you are shepherds, and you will have to answer for those in your care. So every one of us, whichever position we might be in, we are shepherds. And we have we will be questioned about the sheep, which are in our care. So responsibility and accountability is the first and foremost lesson that
the shepherd learns. Because the shepherd has to report to a higher authority, the shepherd is not the owner of the sheep, the shepherd is working for the owner of the sheep. And so he is responsible for the sheep to the owner of the sheep. So he has to respond. He has to report to a higher authority.
The shepherd is responsible and he cannot blame the sheep for getting lost or getting hurt, right? He can't say well, you know, what can I do? My sheep are stupid. No matter whether the sheep are stupid or clever, the shepherd is responsible. Now, if you will see how this shepherding is done in most places.
I've seen it both in India as well as in, in Saudi Arabia.
shepherds literally live with their sheep. Because especially if the frog is large, they can't there's no the Java doesn't have lander Shepherd does not have land. He doesn't have, you know, grass, which he owns. So he's grazing the sheep in public lands or in the forest
and grass over a period of time. The grass is always in that area. So he has to move. So the shepherd moves from one area to another area with his flock of sheep. So he lives there. He can't he can't go home every night. Right?
You can't take a sip of every night, obviously, you can't enter the town with, you know, 200 sheep or 2000 sheep. And also, he can leave the sheep to their own devices in the night and go off home.
You know, to his family so he's the shepherd literally, is responsible for the sheep like, as if they are his family as if they are his children. And he literally lives with them. They are
I've seen shepherds, we call them Tiger in, in Hyderabad area,
they put a little they they lead a little fire in the night in the for the cold. And they many of them they were they magari, a
sheepskin, blanket,
sheep, sheep wool blanket, very rough, almost black in color. And, of course, smells of sheep. They usually tie a turban on their head, and they say it's just just a long cloth and double. And they have a staff, they have a nice big, thick stick. In the night, they cover themselves with this thing. And they're sitting there and many times they
see them in the distance in the lights of your car or a trash light or something, you can very easily mistake that Shepherd for a bear, because that's what it looks like with this covered up with. I'm talking about India covered up with that black blanket. The
giveaway, of course, is the flock of sheep around me she wouldn't be sitting around a bear. But if you just if you just see the shepherd by himself, he looks like a bear in the night is sitting there, the staff is you know, he holds it, he
sometimes he will knock down some leaves for the tree for the sheep, sheep. sheep are grazers. They're not a browser, so they don't eat, you know too much of leaves. But sometimes oxen oxen down, the staff is also you can't hit the sheep with that with the sheep with that stop there, she was dead, but it's there as a deterrent. So it runs here and there. You know, it knocks on the ground with the shirt with the staff, the staff also his support for him. So he stands there, he leans on the staff. The turban on the head is not a status symbol for the shepherd, that's another aid for him. What they do is they sit on the ground on their,
on their bottom, they draw up their knees, and they take this cloth and they tie it around the body be between from the lower back around the knees and the knotted. So now he is he's tied himself like this. He is secure, he won't topple here and there is like a, like a bobble chair for him, gives him back support. So he doesn't have a you know, it doesn't have a pain in the back. And he sits there with this thing wrapped around his around his knees and his back. And at the same time, he's not tied himself if he wants to get up here get up very quickly, because he just has to, you know, stand up, that's it, and then the, the loop will fall, fall off. So everything has its has its uses except
the shepherd. Now the first and foremost lesson, therefore is responsibility. These are my sheep is nobody else here. Sometimes the shepherd will have a dog and the dog also helps him to shepherd the sheep. But other than that, there's no one there he can't call somebody you know, he's not in a town he if the sheep get into trouble, he has to look after them, sheep gets hurt, he has to know enough first aid and he must have something whatever it needs medicine and so on to apply.
How you know solve. Sol won the world of the sheep, if it got hurt, whatever is has to be done with the sheep, the shepherd is responsible for that.
Second, very important lesson is patience, and mercy and compassion. So this is a very important lesson that the shepherd of sheep learns, because sheep have some qualities that other animals do not have.
Sheba are very peculiar when they have you know, first and foremost sheep
week.
Secondly, they have they take their time, right, the sheep are never in a hurry.
They are slow, they run around, they get easily distracted. They're grazing somewhere, they just go off somewhere else.
They are weak and they need much more protection than other animals. That's also how you will have a whole lot of sheep and you know one dog is enough to to guard them, direct them and to shepherd them.
They are obviously far more susceptible to threats, then cattle or camels or horses or cattle. For example, if you take a herd of buffaloes, I wish buffaloes as well. If you have a herd of buffaloes
The buffalos actually take care of the shepherd. I mean, there have been cases where
there has been a leopard or a tiger, which tried to attack but the buffaloes ganged up on it and chased it away. But we're not, you know, the shepherd is safe with those buffalos, I was in covered National Park once and there was an elephant there. There was a they were you know, forest departments, elephant is take us on
for safaris to see animals. In the evening, I saw
the elephant. It is a female big cow, and the elephant
rider, the elephant driver, the Mahabharat, his son who must have been maybe about 10 or 12 years old.
He climbed up on top of the elephant and he is lying down flat on his face lying down like this on the back of the elephant and the elephant has gone into the forest. Because they leave them in a you know, in the evening to graze, to find their own fodder. And then the later on in the night, the urban come back or sometime in the morning, come back. So as the elephant is walking off into the forest, I asked the warden the Mohammed was there the father of the boy, I said, you know, I'm too afraid of this, this forest, the Tigers, leopards bears all kinds of things. So I said I'm not concerned about your son. He said he
had any degla jusco.
He says he's wearing with a with a with a cowboy hat and he had these highs of male and female. So usually he's gone with a female elephant which she'll take care of it. I know that there's nothing in the forest that can
that can attack him.
With that elephant as the as the caretaker right now he wouldn't say that if the buyer was grazing sheep. So the different animals
also observed the the herders of camels are arrogant by nature, they become arrogant, because the camel is an arrogant animal. The camel is a is a big animal, it is a you know, a camel is more than capable of killing you. If it weren't, sometimes they do they go crazy. So some of the male camels in rut, they go crazy. And then they bite and they kick and you know, they can be very easily kill a man.
But not but not sheep, that people who ride horses, as Jim said that they become they become arrogant. The horse gives you a sort of status, you're high up in the air and so on. And it's the horses are very dignified animal.
So, cattle, as I told you, cattle can look after themselves, they will they will support each other, they come together if you see how buffalo behave, for example, when they are facing a pride of lions, you know, whole pride Alliance all God knows is the pride they may be 2025 lions, all of them together, most of the time cannot get add a calf, in the buffalo herd or cannot get at one buffalo because they all stick together, but not see people run people go everywhere, they have no concept of unity, they do not come together to protect the young or the flock. So this is a very you know, sheep have these these qualities. Also, they cannot be punished too harshly because they cannot
withstand severe punishment. Sometimes you see camel herders, you know, they beat the gavel, you must see how violently they beat the camera, they were stricken with full force, the man will slam the camera, because the camera is so big. And you know it has a thick skin. It won't register. I mean, you can't just do that to the game makes no difference to gamma you it has to be really hammered to know that something is happening. But do that to a sheep and the sheep is dead,
had one whack with a stick. And that's it. That's another sheep, especially if you waited somewhere on the head or the neck or something. That's it. So the sheep, sheep cannot withstand severe or harsh punishment. So the shepherd has to be the shepherd must be patient and merciful and compassionate otherwise,
his sheep will die. As I mentioned, two cameras are arrogant. And so you must meet.
You need to meet the arrogance with strength. And so the shepherds of camels are determined to be tough and rude, because that's how they keep their camels in control. This is how the professional also affects the individual. You know, he would have seen many doctors they their handwriting is very bad. Not all I know some doctors who have beautiful handwriting but most of the time my father was a doctor and you couldn't for the life of you read his handwriting
But his pharmacist could do it because he was used to that handwriting. So because doctors cannot, they tend to scribble because they like the right those prescriptions and so on.
Teachers, for example, become extremely scholarly and pedantic. So for a teacher, anytime the details speaking maybe about something completely, you know, even inane, or like a joke, but the teacher will tell that joke as if he's giving a hoot about something, you know, it's like it's very lecturing kind of attitude, very preachy, preachy style of communication,
mechanics, for example, they their language, the way they deal with things, their personality is very different from farmers, for example, who deal with plants and the earth, right? Similarly, engineers, politicians, lawyers, police, they all have different personalities. And this is how the profession affects the personality of the person. And that's why the profession is very important to consider, and,
and sometimes the effect of the profession, may not always be very beneficial on the person. But and it's very subtle,
that effect, so you tend to change without being aware of it, but people around you will, will see and sense that change.
The shepherd, therefore, must be very patient.
And bear with, with the sheep, and so therefore, people who are shepherds who have been shepherds, they learn to be patient and to bear with people, no matter what they do. That was that I said, I was a shovel for 10 years. So he had a lot of training to lead the people of bunnies, right. And so were many other
ambia of Allah subhanaw taala.
The
issue of of putting up with, you know, be people being irritating, and people being just plain stupid, and so on, so forth. You know, this is a reality in our lives, where we have people who do all of these things. But if you want to be a leader, you cannot afford to become impatient, you cannot afford to be I know, it's very difficult, it's not easy for me to say it. Many times, I have a lot of difficulty trying to remain patient. But what is right is right, I mean, whether I can do it, or I can't do it is not is not a criteria. So patience, and summary is extremely, extremely important if you want to be a leader.
Third quality that a shepherd must have is courage, because the shepherd is the only protection for the flock. As I told you, with buffaloes with cattle, the flock, the herd protects itself and will also protect the shepherd. Right? We're not sheep, the sheep cannot protect themselves. And obviously, they can't protect the shepherd.
So the shepherd has to be courageous has to be very brave. There are many threats,
to worship,
all of which the shepherd must be aware of, and he was know what to do about them. Right, so is that sometimes the threats are from poisonous things, sheep, who just eat anything, they will drink anything. So the shepherd has to be aware of what is what they're eating, where they're eating, the kind of water they're going to is it pure, not pure contaminated. Also, obviously, shepherds, I mean, sheep have
threats of wild animals,
predators, and so on, also threat from you know, somebody trying to steal sheep or something. So different kinds of threats, then a shepherd must be prepared to put himself in danger, to save his flock, because sheep cannot defend themselves, let alone defending the shepherd, that doesn't even arise. But therefore, the shepherd has to be ready to put himself between him between the sheep and whatever is threatening the sheep.
since not all threats are the same, the shepherd was also anticipate threats and be prepared for them. So he must be creative to think of solutions for new emerging threats before they become a source of grief. For his sheep, a flock of sheep is notoriously difficult to keep in control, because sheep tend to stray, you know, they go here and there. So the shepherd has to be alert all the time. And he must know his sheep intimately so that he knows when one is missing. And this is an amazing thing to see. And I've seen this multiple times, and how a shepherd knows literally every sheep in his
In his flock, and if one is missing, he knows is missing because he knows all of them, they don't, they do not even have to count. And again, they try counting a flock of sheep, I mean, that's one way of driving yourself crazy, right?
Because they don't stand still use 123 this one's got their and whatnot. So, they don't even need to cut because they know literally they know the sheep they call the sheep the sheep come to them and so on, so forth. So, this is something which is
very, very important, which is courage,
then we come to point number four, which is concern and compassion, shape must be fed,
they will not go and look for food on their own, if food is not provided, they will simply sit and die. Now this is true also in especially in,
in the West, in the UK, and America and so on, on sheep farms, where in winter, you have to go and put the feed there no matter how I have friends of mine in, in Northumberland, in, in on the border of Scotland who have sheep who have farm and they have sheep. And I know these people, I mean it no matter how bad the weather is, and it can be miserable, it can be extremely wet and dark and,
and very,
you know, really horrible weather. Despite that these people, they go out, and they make sure the sheep are all there, they take hay, they go boy, they put all that hay there to make sure the sheep have food, otherwise, they will just die this you Oh, this morning in the sheep is the sheep are gone.
So it takes a lot of effort to be Shepherd of sheep,
then the shepherd must ensure that he takes them to the right grazing ground, or that he has an alternate source of food. So sometimes, you know, in winter, and so on, there's no getting around. So you
put some bales of hay or something there. And also water
raising the sheep have to be really nurtured and taken care of otherwise they attend to you know,
for the ship to die is nothing, it just happened like that. Now, therefore, the shepherd has to think of the nutrition of a sheep before he thinks of his own. He can't be thinking of you know, his own food and doing his own cooking or whatnot, and then
the leaves a sheep or to their own devices. And there is a lot of problem after that. So concern and compassion for the flock must be uppermost in the mind of the shepherd.
When she gets sick, it is a shepherd who must sit up in the night and nurse them.
How many times have you seen them I've seen this many times. Small, cheap, you know, my
kids,
which is really the young of sheep by the these are a shepherd will sometimes carry one on his shoulders, right? One or two on his shoulders.
Like this, for like the highlights.
Because the thing is, is to
to try to walk right, the mother will just walk away
mother of the good.
I mean, obviously she can do a lift in other words you want to but the shepherd will will carry this little one
to help them over difficulties and so on carrying them across, um
newborn kids as well as you know, maybe sometimes older but because maybe they're going along a distance so the kid tends to get tired. So the shepherd now has to carry this kid on its shoulders. Sometimes I ask people how many kids do you have? To they tell me three so I said this is the reason why there's no tarbiyah because
kids are the young of sheep and goats you know human beings have children. Now we need to raise children. So now we're looking now at these qualities of the of the that the shepherd needs, then number five is vision.
A Shepherd needs to have vision.
Now by vision I don't mean you know, long term carrier futures I mean, a shepherd needs to be able to see beyond the immediate
because see bar are close to the ground. And if you look at it, sheep always have the head also down You're the aggressor, so their head is down. They're looking at the grass at the grass, and so they can't look far. First of all, they're not very tall so they can't look far ahead. If you see the for example, the
orientation of the head
for a camel for a horse for, you know a cow or a bull or a buffalo, and for sheep, there is a marked difference, huge difference, you know, camel, camels have an extremely arrogant way of holding their head, not only do they hold it up, they hold it like this, you know, this way, right? This Chin up kind of
orientation of the head is a sign of internal arrogance of the human being, you will find this also in some people, right? You will see the photographs of people, you find some people, a lot of them politician, for example, who who talk like this, no, you know, so literally the term in English are looking down your nose comes from this, because your head is up like this, and people are down here. So you're looking down your nose at the people, which is a sign of arrogance. Now camels hold their heads like that sort of horses horse also head is up like this, you know, very proud
cattle buffaloes. not to that extent, but still, they are the head is up, but she always had is done, they're looking down, they are not able to look further up to see any danger. Shepard of course has a vantage point because the shepherd is obviously much much taller. So he can become aware of any potential danger long before the sheep come to it. And then he can warn them or he can, you know, take action to guard them against that danger. So this vision is very important.
In the case of the Gambia, Allah Salaam, the prophets foresee the results of deeds which the doers of the deeds don't see. This is like the Hadees of Islam. He said that if you knew what I know, then you would cry more and you would laugh less. He's talking about the author is talking about the trials and tribulations of the day of judgment or the cover and so on. To the MBA was come to warn us. Omarosa laka Illa Bashi Romana zira and last round that I said, we have not sent you except as somebody to give glad tidings and to one people. So who can warn you you don't need to want somebody who already knows what's what the problem is you want some people who don't know. So you're telling
them look, if you continue like this, this is going to end in a in a bad situation. Today in in COVID time you tell people if you are not going to wear a mask if you are not going to maintain distance if you're not going to wash your hands on so what it is likely that you would get COVID and you might also give it to other people so keep Be careful. Now, when a shepherd is hurting his flock, he's the only one who knows what direction to take. Because the and what what the
and the destination that he wants the sheep to reach the Shiva no sheep have no clue. The sheeple will go wherever the shepherd wants them to go, including to the abattoir in some cases, the shepherd is not the shepherd is a butcher in disguise. He looks like a shepherd but is actually the butcher. And this is what Saturn does, right? In a human being for human being the shatta and tries to act like the shepherd, the shepherd is an OB and the butcher is the shutdown. But the shutdown comes to you pretending to be the shepherd. And then he says come Come with me you know, I let me guide you Where Where is the guide who will guide you to the abattoir for you to get slaughtered. So
the sheep will go in any direction that the shepherd sets, even if it is harmful. When was the last time you saw sheep rebelling
and not going to the abattoir running away or ganging up on the shepherd and trying to attack him because they realized that this man does not have our best interests at heart. So that's why it's very essential for the shepherd to be clear about the direction in the first place. And that's why vision is very critical.
Without vision the shepherd doesn't know what
where to go and obviously you cannot get the sheep why number six leadership quality number six that you learn from being a shepherd of sheep is simplicity.
I don't do shepherds live out in the bush they live out in the on the grazing land.
So if you want a five star life that is not going to happen because
there's no one that you are alone and you have to your house, literally within quotes is you're carrying it so many jabbers
especially in India and Zara said they don't even have a tent. Right they just live out in the open the skies there, their roof and the grass is there is their bedding. They just have this covered
This number is called a gumball which is a blanket, a very thick sheepskin blanket and it's pretty big. So there's one part of it they lie down on the other part they cover themselves with
some people might have a
bat
usually it's made of grass so grass mat, which is the roll up, roll it up and they keep it under their arm or something to carry. But that's it. I mean, there is no not even a heart not even a tent because first of all, they're moving from place to place so they will where is the time to build a heart and secondly, anything you you can have a you know, you will have a palace but you have to carry the paddles on your back it's literally like that. So the more luggage you have, the more problematic it is, compared to this again to herds herdsmen of buffaloes herdsmen of horses.
There, they have the scope for more luxury within courts, right, because the animal will carry it for them.
So they will you know, whatever they want to have, they put them into saddlebags in their put their saddle bags on the horse or the back of the buffalo or something. And the animal quite happily carries it because the the animal is big. So also, they can ride the animal.
Right when I was young, we used to ride buffaloes into a lake. And then the buffaloes would swim and they'd wallow in the water and we would jump off and, and swim. And when we wanted to get back, we just hold the buffalo stale and the buffalo swims and brings you to the short, quite happily because it is big, powerful animal. You can ride on the back, it makes no difference. But you can't ride on the back of a sheep. So the shepherd has to walk the whole time. He's getting his stuff. So he has to be simple and Shepherd lands. Therefore shepherds learn to live,
learns, they learn austerity, and they learn to live without luxuries. shepherds have to carry their own possession, possessions because sheep will not carry them.
And so the shepherd has to be light and mobile. The shepherd also has to be physically tough, as I told you, it must take hardship in his stride. He sleeves early, he wakes often in the night to check on his flock. And then he wakes early as the day breaks, and the flock begins to stir. Because if he sleeps too long, the sheep will leave him and go away in all directions. And then of course, obviously the shepherd will be in trouble because he's the one who's responsible. So simplicity comes very easy. Second thing is even food for example.
And you know, what does the Shabbat have to eat? At the most manager pods will milk some sheep and during the milk
you can of course kill the sheep and the sheep was just part of your, you know, your your that your that's what you're taking care of. So even his food, he has very simple for many of them have food which is like dry food. And one time at the most one time in the day. When they are settling in for the night he like a fire, he'll cook himself some simple meal. And that's it. I mean, maybe next month, he just bring some milk or something. So they eat less. They sleep early, they wake early, they live a life of simplicity, there is no luxury in it, they become physically tough, and strong and alert. They they don't sleep, deep sort of sleep of the dead day, even their sleep is very alert
and so on. So these are all wonderful qualities to develop. last and final one is closeness to nature, that cross region, shepherds naturally live close to the grace of Allah subhanaw taala because in most places,
as I told you, the shepherds camp out with their sheep moving from grazing, grazing, and sometimes they do not return home for weeks or months.
They're the only company is sheep.
And you can talk to the sheep but the sheep don't talk back to you. So you have to love solitude is another beautiful thing that you learn being a shepherd of sheep is that there is no company there is no human company. They no human company. Even in today's day and age, I think some places where the shepherds graze sheep, there is not even any phone signal. So you got your take your phone and say I will talk to my friend all day. No, I'm the shepherd we are we're talking about we're not talking about people who had muscle is not carrying a mobile phone. So the Yeah, and most of the shepherds who
even in today's world, they are poor people, they're there, you know, maybe they are maybe there is a phone but they really don't carry those phones and stuff. So they're becoming used to
solitude knowing how to keep yourself engaged, not going crazy with being alone. Now, these are
All
these are all qualities to be learned, beautiful time to execute of Allah subhanho wa Taala beautiful time to pray, a beautiful time to contemplate beautiful time to write beautiful time to reflect on the glory and magnificence of Allah subhanaw taala. Because one of the beauties of camping out in the night is you get to see the night sky. And the places where shepherds graze sheep are usually far away from cities. So there's no there's no ambient light and dark and the sky comes alive when you can, you can see the stars, I mean amazing millions and millions of millimeters no count to the number of stars that you can see in the sky. And honestly, that is the fringe benefit
of being a shepherd of sheep.
There's plenty of time there is no to reflect, there's no urgency to go from place to place, and there is the opportunity to get to know yourself very well. If you are a thoughtful person, you
are able to
you know really get to know yourself very well. Among the joys of me grosser nature as I told you was to be able to see the stars in the night and also to drink and eat natural things you know, drink from inshallah, you are in a place where you can safely drink from streams. And you eat simple food, and then you sleep on the ground. All of these are
beautiful opportunities to connect with the earth and to connect with others, well, then, also the opportunity of what I call to hear the silence, and to hear silence as very, very important.
It is something which is people who come from, especially from cities, they get so used to the noise, especially in India, the cities are very, very noisy. Even anywhere else. I mean, even if you go to New York, for example, or Boston or something, and if you are walking on the street, there is a lot of sound, right? There's a direct sound in that sound.
Sound of cars, vehicles, maybe somebody's radio playing or something. So you there is but when you go out with your sheep into the bush, there is no sound in absolute silence, and then your ears for a while the Echo, there's a kind of buzzing in the ears, as if there is something in your head. But that is actually the The Hangover of the sounds of the city that you came from. But if you are patient with yourself, you'll find suddenly that all of that goes away and there is absolute silence. Then you start hearing the sound of the place. You will hear cicadas you will hear you will hear crickets, you will hear small birds you will hear the rustle of
of your sheep or something animals walking you will hear you will literally hear all the things I'm doing or I've heard you literally hear a leaf drop from a tree. That in in the summer if you are in a desert rose forest, you can actually hear a leaf fall from a tree onto the
onto the carpet of dead and dry leaves that is on the ground. It's so so beautiful. You hear these things you also learn to recognize sounds you and you say well you know what is what is that call? Is it a part of a bird is it a call of a sound or something which is harmful potentially to me and my sheep or is it something which is which is good. Some cause for example some birds will call before it starts to read. So when you hear those words there's no color looks like it's going to read Allah subhanaw taala gives his knowledge of these birds will call before the rain so we know that know a little bit make some protection for myself, my sheep and so on. So you hear sounds which
are local which are at that time it is so beautiful, unbelievably good time through thing to experience.
You also become comfortable with darkness and you do not feel threatened. Because all the time to have a fire first of all is not practical. Secondly, if you are sitting in front of a fire and looking into it your your night vision goes blank. And that is actually dangerous because then when you turn you are completely blind. You can't see anything so you will use a fire for whatever it you need it like you will cook your food or something but after I put it out and you sit in darkness that is darkness is friendly. It is why it is overlapping. It is something which you are used to you don't feel threatened by drones, you don't. You're not afraid. And then in the morning you see the
sunrise, right? You see the sunset in the evening you see the sunrise in the morning and believe me This is why this is such a sign of Allah. Allah mentioned this. Yeah, Allah said when you recognize signs of Allah in the alternation of the day and the night, so we recognize the signs Allah subhanho wa Taala in that and then you are you have this opportunity to build your connection with the world.
to home, you will answer one day.
These are all the benefits of herding sheep. And even if you don't do that, literally today, it's important to ask how many of these qualities are within us and what we can do to develop them, as I mentioned before, is a very eminently useful thing to introduce in schools for children, take them out camping, let them let them give them a set of sheep, you know, five sheep 10 cheapy child and say, Go now look after the sheep, come back after two days, obviously monitor them, don't get them children and get lost together, but at the same time, do it in a way where they get to learn these lessons from the herding of sheep. These are so valuable that Allah subhanaw taala made his ambia do
this work and masala Salam did that for 10 years, or sudarsan did that throughout his throughout his childhood? A well it was used.
You had a Sally salaamu did it and so on and so forth. And many other of the vrms ask Allah Subhana Allah to be to help us to learn always continuously, as Seneca said, as long as you live, learn how to live and that's very important for us to remember, was Allah Allah Allah Allah, Allah Karim? Allah Allah He was named after Dr. Maura Hamid al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.