Gift of Giving

Mirza Yawar Baig

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Channel: Mirza Yawar Baig

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This evening ladies and gentlemen, we have to tell you that we've got someone very important like we said in the beginning at our gathering this evening, and in fact, this is why we are gathered here to hear from this international speaker and author, a life coach, a corporate consultant. He specializes in leadership development, helping technical specialists transition into management and leadership roles. He believes that we need to learn to take charge of our own destinies, and not wait for others to decide how we should live pretty much what a layman aspires to do. He draws an extensive career of over 28 years in consulting with multinational corporations, government and

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business entrepreneurs on three continents where he's taught more than 200,000, managers, administrators, teachers, technologists, and clergy. He combines Eastern values with Western systems to transcend cultural boundaries. Check our baked tile reflects openness, commitment to quality and value based professionalism. He speaks five languages he writes blogs books, focusing on applying learning to create models of excellence. This evening, or sorry, this morning check visited our Lehman schools and interacted with the students very closely sharing wisdom and answering their questions. He also conducted a full day workshop for educators and a public lecture on teaching

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children in the 21st century, which according to me, is one of the biggest challenges for all parents and teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, we are absolutely honored, privileged and excited to have in our company should miss our bag and it is my pleasure to invite him up on stage to listen to his beautiful words of wisdom.

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in Amarillo, salatu salam Allah, Colombia Muhammad sallallahu

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alayhi wa sallam aloha mahalo but the topic that I was given is gift of giving. The thought that came into my mind was a

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gift for home

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and blessing for home.

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For the giver of all the receiver

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there is a

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sometimes a misconception in the minds of people that when we give

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to somebody, whether it's somebody in need or somebody who is doing some work, which must be supported,

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that we are the ones who are doing a favor to that person or to that organization.

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I submit to you that

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Allah subhanho wa Taala

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taught us to look at that differently.

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When Allah subhanaw taala said to us,

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our we live in a shaytani r rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim

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Allah Vina Armando and Pico Mimara sakana whom Morocco Morocco min Cabrini

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Bianchi

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all capital now masala on the eyes before eyes will kursi in Surah Baqarah Allah said oh believe spend from what we have given you.

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Spend from what we have given you before that day comes when there will be no friendship and there will be no trade and there will be no intercession and those who rebel are the ones who are oppressed oppressors and Solomon.

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Allah subhanaw taala did not say give to those who need Allah subhanaw taala said you spend because you need it.

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The fact that there is somebody who is there to receive

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is a favor for the one who wants to give

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because if there was nobody who was there to receive then you would not be able to give

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Allah subhanaw taala also said

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that you will not attain

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the level of bill the level of piety

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until you spend in the bath of Allah subhanho wa Taala that which you love the most

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lanton aloevera tune FICO mi moto hipbone walmartone FICO machine for inilah Javi. Aleem, Allah said you will not reach that level of Bill

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until you spend in the path of Allah subhanho wa Taala that which you love the most. So on the one hand, Allah subhanaw taala saying spend in the path of Allah, give to those in need, give to just causes deserving

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And on the other hand, and I say do that for yourself, because the day will come when if you have not done that, you will regret it. And if you have done that, then you will be very happy that you did it.

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And at the same time Allah subhanaw taala is defining,

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what must be given.

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And what must be given, Allah did not say give that which is surplus, give that which you can do without,

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give that which you have got tired of and now you want to get rid of it so great, so give it away, no, Allah is saying give that which will hurt.

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Give that which you will feel the pain of parting with it. Give that which you love the most. And Allah made this conditional and said you cannot reach me,

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you cannot reach the level of the level of the buyer of Allah subhanho wa Taala unless you do this conditional love

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until you do.

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So on the one hand, Islam encourages giving.

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And on the other hand, Islam says give that which you love the most. Please notice Allah did not say give money only.

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For some people, it is easy to give money, they don't love money,

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they may have enough money to give the amount, they may not even have a lot of wealth. But money is not important to them, it's easy for them to give. But to give time is very difficult for them.

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To give talent is very difficult for them to take the trouble and go and sit with somebody and help them that is difficult for them.

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So when Allah subhanaw taala said London Aloe Vera, Hata don't muck are a boon Allah did not restrict the meaning of that only to money.

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Give that which you love the most.

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You love money, the most give money, you love time, the most take time out of your life,

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you will have something else the most give that

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today, if you look at the world.

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And if you ask me

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in my role as a consultant in leadership development, with a Alhamdulillah a global practice. And if you tell me define the issue, the primary fundamental problem of this world in one line,

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I will say that is disparity of income between people.

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Not disparity by itself.

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But disparity the way it is in the world today,

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where there is this massive concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people.

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We are given various figures by World Bank and by other financial global financial institutions. And I'm sure all of you have seen those figures at some place or the other,

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or how 1% of the world owns 6070 80% of global resources. We are talking about disparity of that level. And I would say that that is a fundamental issue that faces us as people, not just Muslims, as people as humanity.

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And why is that an issue? What is wrong if few people have a lot of wealth,

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in itself, nothing wrong.

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But it is wrong because of what we see happening, which is that those few people who have that wealth, want to stick to that wealth like leeches.

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They don't want to part with that wealth. They don't want to share that wealth. They don't want to give that wealth in order to bring up the standard of living in order to bring up the economic well being of other people.

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I'm not for a moment, suggesting here that everyone must have an exact amount of wealth and we should all be equal that is neither practical nor will it ever happen and not neither is a desirable.

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We need aspirational targets for wealth as well. Anything else so nothing wrong. If some people have more wealth than others, Allah subhanaw taala himself said bada bada bada bada

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The issue is the attitude of those who have towards those who do not have

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in the adage

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Abdullah Omar Abdullah Omar reported from Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam

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who said that the meaning of which is the most beloved people to Allah subhanho wa Taala are those who

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most beneficial to the people please notice did not say most beneficial to Muslims, most beneficial to people who are the most beloved to Allah subhanaw taala those who are the most beneficial to the people.

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The most beloved deed in the sight of Allah subhanaw taala is to make a person happy, or to remove one of his troubles, or to forgive his debts, or to feed his anger

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that I work with my brother regarding a need is more beloved to me than that I seclude myself in this mosque in Medina, for a month. Whoever swallows his anger, Allah will conceal his faults. Whoever suppresses his rage, even though he could fulfill his anger, if he wished, that Allah subhanho wa Taala will secure his heart on the Day of Judgment. Whoever works with his brother regarding a need until he secures it for him. Allah will make his footing firm across the bridge on the day when the footing is shaken.

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Java Rolando reported from Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam who said, the believer is kind and gracious, for there is no goodness in one who is neither kind, nor gracious. And the best of people

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are those who are most beneficial to the people. This is a unique feature of Islam, that Islam has made benefit to all of humanity, a defining factor of Muslims. Allah subhanho wa Taala said come from Cairo, Martin,

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leanness, you are the best of people, not because of your race, not because of your tribe. Not even because of your religion. You are the best of people, you have been extracted for the people because you benefit people who reject linas Allah did not say oh project meanness. And what is this benefit to the people that are more una bill Murphy was and how 911 curry were to Muna villa. You enjoin and promote everything which is good.

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Mr. Will Morrow is not restricted only to the outcome of halal and haram. you promote and you support and you enjoy and you order everything which is beneficial, which is good in society.

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What are how 911 can you stand up against a new private and you do not allow it to happen and you do not support everything which is harmful to society.

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What do we know Nabila and you have a man on lots of Hannah danijela delallo.

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I submit to my brothers and sisters that to understand the essence of these I had these and these is of course

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it is first and foremost necessary to understand and recognize and be thankful and grateful to Allah subhanho wa Taala.

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To know who is Allah,

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I'm not saying know about Allah, to know Allah, to have a relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala

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to be able to talk to Allah subhana wa Tada.

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So who is Allah?

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Nobody can introduce Allah subhanho wa Taala better than Allah subhanho wa Taala introduced himself.

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Allah subhanho wa Taala introduced his glory and majesty in the Quran

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where he said our will even a shaitan rajim Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Allah Allah Allah

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Hi, you

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know, the home of his

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mama.

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Man.

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Joe will be

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it him one on one I hate on I wish a mini resume he

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was he a guru See?

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What I owe him is oma wah wah Lee allow the

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Allah subhanaw taala mentioned his son and his blessing and his generosity on us.

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And he said our rock man

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No

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one

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was

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bothering me is

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they wanna talk to you roomies,

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ba ba

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ba ba a

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coma.

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Allah subhanaw taala not i'm not translating all these either because all of these Quran is familiar to you and you know the meanings of all these if

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Allah subhanaw taala mentioned his Asana, that his blessings in another place in Poland and Allah subhanaw taala said arama jolly la me

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while Jeeva the world call upon como

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la la la de

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La Nina Boba komazawa Chica

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question and give us an example

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of what must happen when we listen to his calendar.

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And when we ask and understand his introduction

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slo

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mo.

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Hashimoto sub Diem in CATIA till

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till columns

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in Sila seilala omiya

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la colocado, sala

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de

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la ma,

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ma,

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ma, ma,

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ma ma, ma ma,

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is all hockey.

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My brothers and sisters, I invite you, and I remind myself to reflect on these I have the courage to reflect on the color of Allah subhanaw taala to understand it, and to reflect on it. And then to ask ourselves, what is it that Allah Subhana Allah wants from me and then to live our lives, fulfilling that which Allah subhanaw taala wants from us, that is the meaning of Nevada, about which he said jelajah Allahu Allah tala g novoline xylella Yamato.

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Therefore, in the context of giving,

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what must we do?

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In my view,

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charity is seen as in two different ways.

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One is charity is seen as somebody needs something and I give them that thing.

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This is charity. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not a bad thing. But the downside of that is that it creates and perpetuates dependency.

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It does not build capacity,

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it creates and perpetuates dependency.

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The person giving is giving you only for the server, you only for the good deeds purely for the hassanal that he expects to get from Allah, Allah May Allah give you what Allah, Allah promised to give

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the person who's receiving has a need the need is fulfilled for the time

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next day he has the same need.

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So, what does he do? He comes back and asks

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we create a culture of dependency.

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In my view, therefore, there are three

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critical requirements

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for effective giving.

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The first one is to arrange for collective administration of charity.

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By all means, do your individual efforts.

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Nothing wrong with that, you might say well, you know, I have members of my own family who are in need, so I need to give it to them, whatever I have, I will give to them. There may be some people who are close to me who I know. So I will give to them, I will give to this school or their mothers out that dark room or this Masjid or so on and this hospital No problem, but reserves some part of your wealth

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to contribute to a collective fund which the significant people the elders of the community must create.

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Create a form for central collection and administration of charity, whether it is regard whether it is lilla, whether it is saga, whatever the form of the charities, reserves, some of your wealth, to contribute to that through a vital mile, for example.

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And then in that

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fund,

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direct that charity to where it is needed the most.

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Today we find, for example, that some people are good at fundraising. So they make there is one then they spend it for themselves. And Angela, I'm not suggesting that they are Miss misappropriating or misusing them, but they're using it for their own institution. There is another institution which is starved for funds, which is equally dedicated, which is God put people in it, but they just don't know how to raise funds and they are starving.

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There's no need for that.

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If there is a system for collective

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collection and administration of funds, then the funds will be directed to where they are needed the most. number one number two,

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we need to move away from our donation model.

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Our annual donation model we are coming into Ramadan. And in Ramadan, this becomes very marked where people roam the world, professional collectors from different institutions. They're all over the world. And they come to people like you and they ask for money, and you give them money. Today it has become a professional thing where even up to 60 to 70% of the money collected is kept by the collector and only 30% or 40% goes to the institution to which you have given the money.

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The big problem with that I'm not even talking about the potential for misappropriation and misuse forget that. The big problem with this annual donation model is that every year you have no clue about the funding that you are going to receive that year.

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So it becomes impossible for any strategic planning, it becomes impossible for budgeting, it becomes impossible to do any long term planning with any developmental projects that you might have for a simple reason that I don't know what is my income for this year.

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So for example, take a school like Alomar or any school like that, which says we must have good teachers, which must be paid well. So this is our budget. Now, next year, you don't raise the money now what happens to the teacher salaries. You can't tell the teacher you know, fasting is good for you go on a long term class for six months instead of one month.

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The biggest problem with that now what is the solution? The solution to that is to create endowment funds.

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collect the money, put it into a fun, run your work, social works, social projects, as you

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on projects, public health projects, whatever projects you're running, run them from the income of those endowment funds.

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To benefits, first big benefit is you are sure of what revenue you are going to get each year. And therefore you can do strategic planning, you can do budgeting, and so on. And so the second one is, you don't go back to people again and again, and again, to keep asking for money year after year after year, there's no need, you ask them one time, take it invested.

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I don't have to say in halaal things, obviously, that's understood.

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And then the income from that use it to run your projects. So collective collection and administration of funds, directing those funds to where they are needed the most, and setting up of endowment funds, so that you have ongoing funding for all the good work that you are doing. And you are not on this very ridiculous model of, you know, begging every year for money. Second one is choose the right causes for charity, which includes and must include capacity building.

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If somebody doesn't have a job, don't give them a stipend. If somebody doesn't have work, don't give them food, teach them how to work, teach skills. I am absolutely total believer in the in the importance of entrepreneurship development, and skill building and entrepreneurship, development, vocational skills, and entrepreneurship development, teach them a skill. Today, our education system is the most attic utterly ridiculous system in the world. By and large, we have a system where a child goes to school for 15 or 16 years and at the end of that 16 years when that child graduates, top of the class, you are this child what life skills? do you have? Nothing zero? Can you earn a

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living? No, I cannot earn a living? Can you stand on your own feet? No, I cannot stand on my own feet, the parents have spent in 1516 years of schooling close to 3 million, or maybe a 4 million maybe in the in school fees, and so on and so forth. At the end of 15 years of schooling, the child is completely and utterly incapable of doing anything for himself or herself. And we and we have the temerity to call that education. That is absolute garbage. But this is what education has become in the world. My submission to you is yes, you need to change all of that you need to frankly, trash it, bury it, give it a good funeral and start a new system. But before you do all that introduce

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vocational skill training into your schools, teach them a trade, teach them to work with their hands, teach them to do something which is capitalizable which is which which can be made into a functioning business, which they can run on their own. Even if they never do that it doesn't matter that itself is training in itself. So charity must go towards capacity building instead of only handouts. Third, and most important, I want to end with that, which is absolutely totally critically important. Ensure the best quality in what you do.

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One of the hallmarks of our charitable institutions. Again, I'm generalizing. Obviously, there are exceptions, but one of the hallmarks of our charitable institutions is very poor quality work.

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across the world, Muslim charitable institutions, most of them very poor quality work. Yes, they have a lot of enthusiasm. Yes, they have a lot of good feeling. Yes, they want to do a lot of good things. But if you go and look at that place will be untidy, it will be dirty, people won't come on time the walk what happened, somebody comes somebody goes, this is not acceptable. So in your charitable Institute and people the issues they give it all you see we have volunteers, we are not paying anybody anything. You're volunteering for the pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala so do do bad work. In my view, if you're wanting for the pleasure, pleasure of Allah subhanaw taala you must do

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much better work than someone who's working for a salary. Otherwise your volunteer ism is itself questionable. What are you really doing this was a call if you think that Allah subhanaw taala will accept trash he will not.

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So therefore, we have to understand that we must ensure the best quality in what we do total transparency in terms of the administration of funds, they must all be accounted books of accounts was represented. There's no there's no need for any secrecy in that. Second thing is absolute. People who are involved must be professionally qualified to do that work. And to CRM is not a substitute for skill or education and to CRM is required, but it cannot be a substitute for skill and education.

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Therefore skill and education is critical hire people like that. And finally, and most importantly, donors must take an active interest in the causes to which they donate money.

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Today a very big problem and cause of poor quality is that donors donate money, and then they don't turn back and look at where the money has gone. their point of view I have given in the path of Allah Allah give me SOP, yes, Allah give you some Alhamdulillah. May Allah give you as much as you want, but it is your duty. I submit to you most respectfully, it is your duty to make sure that if you have donated money somewhere, if you have donated time somewhere, also go there, see what they are doing. If it's a school, see what they are teaching, spend time with the children, you donated money, that is not sufficient. Go and spend time with the children. Let them sit with you let them

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get your sahabat let them get your therapy, let them benefit from your life experience. You when you go there, you see what is going on, you might then end up giving more or helping them more. This is the purpose behind the ways that God is supposed to be given in Islam. The way to give Zakat in Islam is for you to personally go and hand over that money to people who are deserving of that Zakat, you don't have to go into the pocket money, but go and give it personally why because when you go and give that personally, you see the actual circumstances of those people. And then you may say to yourself, you know, I have to give this two and a half percent. But here this two and a half

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percent is not enough, these people need much more than that. Alhamdulillah Allah has given me more I am going to help these people in a way which is meaningful to them and which makes which which makes a difference in their lives. And that is the reason why this beautiful way of bringing together physical integration, physical contact between the wealthy and the people who are poor in Islam is not just writing checks. It's not just giving money, it's also doing it personally. So my submission to you as donors is that wherever you are donating, whether it is Alabama, whether it is wherever any Majid mothers are known jamiat whoever, take active interest in that place, go and

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spend time there, talk to people that give your share your experience, share your knowledge and skills and inshallah Allah subhanho wa Taala will put a lot of Baraka in what you are doing

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out there and for inviting me to Aguilar, Karen, for all these people who said wonderful things about me, don't believe them. That is their host and has done about me and this is Allah subhanho wa Taala covering over me which ask Allah subhanaw taala to maintain and keep, I asked Allah Subhana Allah to bless you. And I'm greatly honored to be invited here. silica is like my second home I love coming here. I know all the lepers by name and Yalla and will part two and so on. So so I'm going to meet them to origin. So therefore, I thank you very much. May Allah bless you may Allah bless the school, absolutely wonderful place have spent two days there. I'm very encouraged by what I'm seeing

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there. And I hope that they will get the support that they need and they and they deserve from all of you and from all across the world that we can replicate this model in different parts of the world as well. Just like Milan Cairo, Santa Monica warahmatullah wabarakatuh