Time to be a leader

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. I tried this a couple of times, and it wasn't working. And my guess is that everybody's starting Facebook Lives at the top of the hour. So I said I'd wait 15 minutes and see what happens. So let's see how it goes. Now.

If Facebook fixed its problem or not, and it looks like it is fixed hamdulillah so that's good. And so I was correct. We'd 15 minutes, then try again. So say Sudan. Where are you from? We'll get started. Abdullah. It's nice to see you.

Samira, Annabelle Wa alaykum wa Salaam.

Who else?

Who else where you're from

who we will get started. When five people say Suriname and where they're from, or we hit a certain number and the number of people that are attending. We got

Kim Gallo in Leicester I think Mr. Lamb Nyla and Sheffield Nyla Do you like attend to every single thing that I do? Is like Allah Hi Anna and top Fan

Fan coaching Khadija in the Netherlands while

I like it femme coaching

who else

and the thing is today today I have a really amazing

talk for you guys. This is like the best talk that I've ever gotten ready? So it's like then now today Facebook decides Oh, there's too many people on Facebook and it's throttling things.

Say welcome Seder. Hope you're doing well. We got somebody from the Philippines

cola

I said Alec Messina

I shouldn't California like my Santa

curtilage Annika Salaam in Chicago Julie Zara.

Fuzzy hat from Trinidad like Mr. Ram, fuzzy.

That driving buses fuzzy Hmm.

So you Dalek Mr. Ram. Thank you. Hope you're doing well and the kids and your husband

and all of you in Sharla

Pfizer in Dallas, Honda in London

and Humaira in

Virginia.

Alright, let's begin.

Are you ready?

Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah Allah Allah subhanho wa Manuela and my bad As Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu.

Good Morning, Vietnam.

Today, Inshallah, tada. We're talking about leadership, we're talking about leadership. I want to start off with an interesting story. And it is a very small story, but it's telling so I was once in this restaurant, a buffet

dinner place in Mecca. And

and I was sitting a little far away from, you know, the other people where they're sitting, and then I

went to go get some, some more food. And then when I came back, I noticed that somebody had left their chair in the middle of, you know, the toddler in the middle of the walking path. And I was very upset by this. I said to myself, I'm like, Who is so inconsiderate? That they put their chair in the middle of the path and they know other people are going to come other views not just about them. Other people need to come other people need to walk.

So then I thought about it for a moment. You know, as I went around the chair, put the chair and then I realized that chair was my chair. I'm the one who did that when I got up to go get some more food. I'm the one who put the chair so I was so bad. And people like my

Self like I'm the one who did that.

So when it comes to leadership, Allah times, we're the ones making problems when everybody needs to step up and be part of the leadership solution. So it's not just about, you know, what we're in times where we're waiting for our leaders to stand up. It's not about that. It's about everybody in their own capacity needs to be embracing leadership, the prophets that a lot as Adam said, Kulu, Qumran will could look on his own and Anwar yet to hear, I'll translate that for a second. I'm sure many of you already know it. But I once did a class called Bring it. Some of you may have attended it many years ago. And I did a survey at the beginning of the class. And in that survey asked people

about, you know, there's different slices of their life, health, wealth, different things. But there were two slices in people's lives that people had problems with, like Muslims had problems accepting these slices of life, because there's like, serious misconceptions about them. Number one, is the slice of life called Fun. The slice of life called fun and that's not what I'm going to talk about here. But fun to understand how Muslims don't understand fun. Think of a Muslim wedding, a religious quote, unquote, Muslim wedding, and at the wedding, what happens? People give speeches, it's so dead. It's so like, there's no fun. It's like, we don't know how to have fun. And as soon when I

started doing a mushroom Institute classes, and we started having fun in the class, people were like, is that not better? To have fun and studying Islam. Like it's to that point. So we don't understand fun in context of our deen. But the other thing that what we are going to talk about here today is the concept of leadership, the concept of leadership. So the prophets have a lot of cinematic Misra lotic, misunderstood off from Spain, thank you to having the concept of leadership, the prophets have a lot as Adam said, Allah could look a moron, a very each one of you is a shepherd. Well, could look almost all on camera yet in every one of you will be

asked and responsible for your flock. So as Muslims, we think you know what, I'm not responsible for the leadership, somebody else is responsible for it. I don't want to take it. It's showing off, I shouldn't ask for leadership. I should be humble, I should step back. I should you know, if there's somebody needs to be someone needs to lead the prayer, it's not going to be me, let's all pretend we're super righteous and step to the back. If there's ever a call that help is needed, let's just make sure that nobody opens their mouth and raises their hand. This is the kind of misconception that we have about leadership. And yet the province of aligning centum said, every one of you is a

leader, and every one of you is responsible for their flock.

So let's take a take a moment now and really ask ourselves, each one of us. So it's not about you know, oh, this is the time for leadership. And oh, Muhammad Sharif, you know, should be the leader or somebody else should be the leader or some chef should be the leader. Every single one of us has to be a leader. So you have to ask yourself, Who is your flock? Who is your flock? You're right here who are you responsible for? And as the prophets of Allah has said and said, Well Morocco or ARIA few Beatty here or here must order to not align yet yeah. And the woman the Muslim woman is Araya on her on her the people of her family on at on her home at ha and she's going to be held accountable

in front of Allah subhanaw taala for her right here, what her flock and that's just as at a basic level as parents, you know that you're a leader? It might be brother and sister maybe you're the older brother or sister or you're maybe you're more learned than your brother or sister I'm talking about like blood brothers and sisters and you're going to be responsible. This is my family, who is it in the message in the community? Maybe you're from some ethnicity in a community you maybe Muslim or non Muslim doesn't matter but and and they look to you as a leader in that in that situation. And so on and so forth. You have to ask yourself, Who am I responsible for during this time and and how

can I fulfill that leadership for them? And so I'm going to give you some some tips in Sharla Teyonah on what to do. So you do want to embrace the leadership. It's not just about certain individuals being leaders, but we all have to be leaders during this time. And I want to deal with some

some misconceptions about leadership.

We write it down first.

Let me deal with

it.

Let me deal with what a leader is not. So sometimes people have.

They say, Well, I don't want to accept leadership. I don't want to be responsible for a flock because I'm like, I don't want to be the boss. So being a leader doesn't necessarily mean that you're the boss. Okay? Because if you look at the prophets of Allah, they sent him in his life. So Alana is Sanam, as I believe it was Ebola, the alarm said it I've never seen anyone who took Shura from his companions, more than the messenger of allah sallallahu sallam, there's nobody on earth that ever lived that needs to not ask Shura from other people, more than the prophets of Allah to send him he receives a why from Allah, He doesn't need to ask anybody for their feedback. And yet

the Prophet said, Alana Cena was the one who most asked people for the feedback, as Mr. Herrera Delana said, Nobody asked for feedback from his companions, more than the profits of a learning center. And he's the one who doesn't have to do that. And so being a leader doesn't mean you're the boss, do what I say. Or you're going to be in big trouble. It doesn't mean that being a leader might be taking a flock from point A to point B, taking your sheep to graze and come back, for example, but it doesn't mean that you are the boss, it this, there's the issue of shorter and there's more to it. The second thing is being a leader doesn't mean that that's showing off doesn't mean that that's

showing off, I think it kind of looks like it's showing off because as a community, so many people don't take leadership position. So the person who stands out is kind of like, like a sore thumb, like, here's all the poppies in the field. And this like one, one Poppy is I think the Australian quote goes, it's standing out. But what if everybody stood up, then nobody is showing off, because we're all leaders. So the issue isn't that it's an issue of showing up. It's just that you're doing something that a lot of people haven't gotten through their mind that they need to do as well. So it's not showing off, it's about I need to do this, and you need to do this and everybody needs to

do this. Everybody's responsible for their flock, let's all stand up at the same time. The third thing is

being a leader doesn't mean that you have to start your own thing. Being a leader doesn't mean that you have to start your own thing. So it's like people think like, well, if I'm a leader, I have to be unique, can't plagiarize, I can't do this and that no, inshallah Tada, when there's a good idea that's going around, and you see that, hey, somebody is doing a really great idea, I can be the branch of that here. I can do that with my family, I can do that in my community. So there is there are ways to work together. So leadership doesn't mean being a loner and doing things on your own. It means that whoever's under your care your leadership for them.

And you're responsible for that flock. Let me share with you have a beautiful story about

about product engineering.

And I'm going to tell you this story, and it actually brought me to tears. So product engineering, this is a product in in Japan.

If you've ever been to Japan, you've seen that they live on what are those vending machines, vending machines sell everything, they sell drinks, they sell cigarettes, they sell meals, they sell vending machines sell everything in Japan, and I was listening to a lecture from one of the vending machine

engineers and how they wanted to make human products made for humans. And this is what how they design the

this vending machine, the vending machine is on a train platform. And it is designed that if an earthquake hits, if an earthquake hits, the vending machine can sense that an earthquake is hit. And,

and the people who are on the train platform are going to be stranded there, maybe stranded there for a long hour, when the machine comprehends that an earthquake is hit, it automatically starts releasing its food and drink.

Like the food and drink automatically comes up. Nobody has to pay for it. It's distributed to everybody for free, which is something Subhanallah like it's the talk was about making human products. And I was thinking to myself, we need humans to act like that, too. Not just the product. But having said that, that was a human being who had this idea. Let's make products that are for the good of the people when people are in need. They're able to take care of it not just these type of people, but everybody can be taken care of during times of need. I thought that was amazing martial arts about

Abdullah,

the other thing that you want to do Okay, so these are some, some tips on what inshallah Tada some of the ideas of what leadership means during this time that we're living in.

Number one, is we say asking about people, yeah, asking about people, but not just being you know, there's a way to ask people, you might say to somebody, so how are you doing? Right? And the typical answer, people understand that you're not really asking them, how are you doing? Yeah, I'm good. You don't really want to know the truth. You can tell because they are a man. I'm just asking, how are you doing? I don't really care. So I would encourage you to ask some very intimate questions to people in your flock. Ask them if they have the supplies that they need during this time? Are they? Are they stocked up? Do they have food? I want you to ask them specifically about their finances, if

they're in need of some help financially, and you want to ask them about and this is a big one, ask them about their mental health. How are they doing? How are they keeping up? So asking people in your flock intimately and from your heart and giving them a chance to really speak it out? Ask them about their supplies? Do you have enough food? You have enough disinfectants? Or do you have enough toilet paper? Ask them about their finances? How are they doing in their finances? And number three is ask them about their mental health. How are they doing? We're all having our ups and downs. But we're not speaking out to people. And maybe they just need somebody who cares. And it speaks and

then that insha Allah Tala, I would say, I wish this kind of thing would spread amongst us, like leadership, like a leadership virus, if you will, a good leadership virus, like leadership passes through a whole community and human beings. And we start asking about people and caring, how are your supplies? How are your finances? And how are you doing with your mental health. The next thing that you want to be doing is reminding people of Allah subhanaw taala. So with your own actions of remember, from the beginning of these daily check ins that I did, I was telling you guys doing stuff 100 times a day, with your actions doing this to fun doing it in front of your children doing in

front of your family, do in front of your flock, your friends, asking Allah subhanaw taala for forgiveness publicly and reminding them not by telling them what to do. But by showing them with your own actions, what you're doing, reminding people of Allah subhanaw taala. And

that analogy of a shepherd, a shepherd takes a flock from point A to point B, Shepherd takes a flock from point A to point B. So if you're here

if you're here, and you are, and you've got a flock that you want to ask yourself, What am I aiming to get done and achieved, for example, in the next 100 days, for the next 100 days, make a plan, this is what I want to knock out. These are the things this is how I'm going to benefit from my time, this is what I want to do with that and you want to take your flock and you say hey, we're here in point a quarantine or at home or locked down, how do we get to point B? And let me help and be a guide towards that inshallah Tada.

And that's it. In conclusion, inshallah we've got, I want to remind you guys, if you guys didn't see that other Facebook Live that I did, we've got an amazing lineup for an event coming up very soon, called, time to thrive Summit, we were actually planning this, it's on mental health. We were planning this before the whole lockdown, And subhanAllah it coincided during this time, and we've decided to turn it all towards everything that you need mental health wise, with regards to the situation that we're currently in. So it's called the time to thrive summit and in sha Allah Tala, you can find it at discover you dot online, and shall see I told you is going to be a good lecture

today. Right? Yeah. Somebody said, did I start late? Yeah, Facebook, it wasn't working for me. I'll take some questions. I saw some questions rolling while I was talking. But if you had a question earlier, and you want to ask it again, you're welcome to do so.

Amanda says What if it's us, that are the ones needing that leadership? So

Amanda, you know what's really beautiful about the Japanese style the Japanese, they take care of each other. They don't focus on the individual. They join on the community. Something I love about the Japanese they have signs that I saw this sign it was in Osaka, Osaka, yeah, it was in Osaka. And it had a sign that said in case of earthquake, it said go and check on your neighbors Subhanallah go and check on your neighbors. If they need help. Go help them. This is like the

The advice that's been given publicly if you see the Japanese style of, anyways, I won't I won't talk too much about Java, I think Japanese would really thrive during times like this, because it's their nature to take care of one another. If you're in a community like that, Amanda, it's very easy, because everybody cares about the other end cares about the community, it's very easy to find the resources that you need and the help that you need when a community does that. But if a community is individual focused, which unfortunately a lot of us in the West that was our lifestyle, Inshallah, tada, hopefully, things will change. But it's, you know, everybody for themselves. Let me

buy, you know, 5050 boxes of toilet paper all for myself, and not care about anybody else. And then you'll find so many people in need during that time. Insha Allah Tala? Hopefully Amanda, and you know what you guys hear unpinning, Amanda's comment, if anybody would like to help him and message her and tell her Hey, what do you what do you need help with? We're here for you. And

so there you go.

Other questions?

Dina, great question.

Is it better to pretend to be okay in front of your kids? Or should you keep it real? Meaning should you share worries in a positive way?

To be honest, Dina, I gave I gave one of our, our daily check ins just a few days ago was about saying Allahu Allah, and I will practice that right now. And tell you Allah, Allah, Allah knows best. I don't think I'm qualified to answer that. And I think we got some, in our summit, the time to thrive Summit, there are some amazing counselors and

psychotherapists that can help with that Inshallah, tada, and I'm sure that they have great answers for that event, Allah, when we do that summit time to thrive, Inshallah, tada, it'll come up, and they will have better answers than something that I just make up from the top of my head will law.

Right missing is question.

If you're asking people what they need help with, should you also be prepared to provide them with what they say they need?

I mean, just I can't, it's cutting off the rest of the question.

Okay, here we go. Okay, great.

So if you're asking people about, you know, hey, do you need help with supplies? Do you need help with this job with that? I might, I need you to understand that we work in a community, it doesn't necessarily mean that. It's almost like if I asked the let's suppose I have five neighbors. There's 10 Sisters, or five neighbors, five sisters, and they all got children asking, Hey, do you need help with finances? Are you okay with finances? Are you okay with mental health UK with this? And then what if the person says I need a lot of help? I need a lot of help. And then you're like, Man, I don't know if I even can can offer that help? So a couple of things come to mind. One of them is

maybe they're not your flock. Right? Maybe they're not your flock? Maybe this is somebody that's outside of your circle outside of your flock, it would be great if you could lead in that regard. If not, then you know, Allah doesn't place a burden on somebody more than they can bear. I think a lot. And another thought that comes to mind is a lot of people have a problem saying no. So there's this fear. So I might ask somebody, Hey, do you need help with your finances? And it's not that they're gonna say, Yeah, I need $10,000 I'm like, okay, here, let me cut a check for you. $10,000. But I might have something else to offer that maybe some advice. Maybe some, you know, just listening,

like just telling a person I hear I hear what you're saying.

And a lot of times, people, they're not expecting you to pay their bills, but they've maybe they just, you know, they're sitting alone. They're thinking too much about, you know, they're circling around in their thoughts. And they just need somebody to say, I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying. Yeah, I was in a situation like that myself. I hear what you're saying. And just listening to them. Which is another thing and the and a third way that you could approach it is, yeah, if somebody needs help mental health, it's not like I know how to resolve those things. But I can help with resources or I can

I direct them to places where they can be helped inshallah Tada, where they can seek help.

And so on. Well, Lon, so I don't think it's just as simple as you know, somebody says, Oh, I got all these problems and then those problems become my problems. I don't think it's like that a lot. Alright folks, we are done for tonight. Is that cool? All right. Um,

somebody was asking, did we start late? And the answer is yes, Facebook kind of messed me up today. I don't know why the connection wasn't connecting. And but Hamdulillah I started 15 minutes after the hour and then it connected. So insha Allah Tala, we'll see about that. You know what I might try starting 15 minutes before the hour, maybe on the top of the hour so many people come on Facebook and started their Facebook lives because they have appointments and such. So we might start 15 minutes a little earlier just so we can bypass that rush of people coming in at the top of the hour. All right, does that go well Hainan? Take care as salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Check

it out. Check out the summit. It's called it's the link is discover you discover and then the letter u dot online, online.

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