Naima B. Robert – Let it Go book talk @muftimenkofficial
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Everyone.
Just gonna wait for you all to come
on live because
I'm here to talk to you about
the new book, Let It Go.
We dropped all the information about it this
week.
Let me know in the comments if you
guys have already got this book or if
you have ordered this book. Masha'Allah.
I am hoping inshallah that my co author,
my brother from Zimbabwe
Mufti Mank will be joining me on this
live. I went on to his live and
I requested to join
but he did not see it because everyone
was throwing hearts and throwing hands and throwing
Masha'Allah.
So he didn't get to see my request.
So I hope Insha'Allah he will be able
to come on here,
as Fedash sent me a request, I promise
that I will accept his request. But we
did agree that today we're going to come
together to just talk a little bit about,
this book and how it came about. So
if you guys have seen it, that's the
title. Let it go,
learning the lesson of forgiveness.
And subhanAllah,
the the Let me just tell you a
little bit about the background of this book.
So
I You guys know I write, books for
children. I've written many, many books for children.
And,
you know, those books just like this one
are available
worldwide,
you know, through Q Publishing, through Darussalam,
through their distributors and their stockists, and of
course, on Amazon.
So, the
I I have a firm belief that
children's literature makes a difference to children's lives,
and it really it it really affects the
adults that they become.
So,
I I have a big thing about
really making sure that the books that we
give our children are
good quality and have amazing lessons for them
to learn, that they are,
you know, exactly
as interesting, as absorbing, as engaging as they
can be
because children are impacted by those early messages
that they receive.
So,
I have a belief that
for any one of us that has a
oh, thank you. I have a a child
development
expert here who is telling me that I
am correct. So alhamdulillah for that. But the
point for me is,
I feel like every single person who is
out here in the world trying to make
a difference,
trying to impact, you know, the people around
them,
I believe that most of us have something
very important to say to the next generation.
Okay? Yes. Mufti is in the house. And
I promise, if he sends me a request
to join, then I will say yes. I
will let him come on the call. So
because I have this belief,
he has something to offer the world, and
if you have something and the message that
is important, something that should be heard
out there in the world, then I believe
there is, and there could be, and there
should be a way to get that message
to the next generation through children's books.
Okay. Such is the power of children's books.
And so when I had this idea and
I thought to myself, you know, let me
let you know, I think that we
speaking to some of the people in our
community who are currently
who are currently, you know, working with adults,
working
with.
How are you?
How are you, sister? You well?
Alhamdulillah. I'm very well. I was just telling
everybody that I came on to your live.
I sent a request to join, but I
think everybody was going too crazy, and the
chat was going too crazy. I don't think
you saw my request,
Okay. So I can just quickly let you
know that I work a little bit differently.
I don't see any requests because there are
too many. So you have to comment to
say, please, can I join? When I see
your name and your comment, I will click
on you, and I will then request you
to join. So that's how mine will simply
because it's so difficult to Yeah. To look,
you know, to multitask. They say women can
do it. Men cannot do it that well.
So that's why you're here on my live,
and I wasn't available on your live.
May Allah bless you. May Allah bless you.
Yeah. So I'm just telling everybody, you know,
the the how this whole thing came about.
And, I was saying that I believe that
there are so many people in the world
right now who are making a difference, masha'Allah,
who can who have a message for children,
who have a message for the next generation.
And so, you know, I I was you
know, I want to tell them the story
of how, you know, this book came about.
Have you got your copy with you?
Yay.
Screenshot that. Yes.
So there's
just so much, to say about this. But
what happened, Wufdi, when I came to you
and I said, look. You've got all this
content. You
know, there's a book, the motivational
moment motivational moments with. Isn't it? And all
the tweets and all the quotes and everything.
How about I
work with those quotes, work with, you know,
your teachings if you like, and create something
for the next generation so that we can
translate
your message to the next generation. What did
you think when I first asked you that?
Do you think I was crazy, or what
what came to your mind?
Not at all. I knew if anyone can
do it, it would be you because,
I've known you for years on end and,
subhanallah, you produced some really marvelous work for
those who are slightly older. And this being
the first one for children, I knew it
would be good. And what I liked about
it is I felt, may Allah bless all
of us. I felt the genuineness,
to serve our children because,
if you recall, the little discussion we had
was also about, and we can share it
with the brothers and sisters,
how at a very early age, our children
are being bombarded with so much, but it's
not necessarily
the right thing. So in order for us
to be able to catch them at the
right time, telling them, look. These things are
gonna happen. But in a sweet way, to
let them know how do I process this
type of,
thing that happens in my life. So,
I I didn't think you were crazy at
all, but I was just making dua that
it comes out, you know, better than we
expect and so on. And you know what?
The day it actually did,
I was so, so thankful to Allah that
we even, you know, embarked on the whole,
idea of getting the book done and
look look what Allah's done.
And, guys, I just wanna let you know,
you know, obviously,
those of you who know, I always call
Mufti my my homeboy because we're from the
same country. We're from Zimbabwe.
And, and, you know, you've been a supporter
of of of my work for for many,
many years,
family, friends, and, you know,
I'm I'm grateful to you for trusting me
with But it's your words, you know, because
it's it's not a small thing.
And, obviously, when I started writing, I didn't
know I didn't know how I was going
to do it. So for those of you
who want to know how it came about,
I read, Mufdi Menck's book, the motivational moments,
moments, and I read through all the quotes.
And I took the ones that I thought
this could work for children because some of
them, of course, are too complicated and, you
know, they're not relevant for children. But I
took all the quotes that I could find
that I thought would be relevant,
and then I I kind of split them
up so there was quote on forgiveness,
quote on sincerity, kindness. The next book's coming
inshallah.
But, I I I got the quotes, and
then I I read the quotes and I
sat with them.
And I and I sat with them and
I tried to think, well, you know, how
would a child process this? You know, what
is it that a child, for example,
needs to forgive people for? You know, because
children's worlds are complicated in themselves. You know,
they they have this whole complex life of
their own. And I've never intended to write
a story,
and I never intended to make it rhyme.
But when I actually after reading the work
and sitting with it, I sat down,
and literally the story just came by itself.
A lot a lot of work work.
I did very little work on it. It
literally was
I the first part. Can you can you
read the first part for for the, for
the people who made this one here?
Here it goes.
Where it says,
life isn't always easy even when you're small.
You may feel angry or hurt or sad.
We're only human after all. So that's the
first paragraph. Masha'allah. Look at how it rhymes.
And like you said, you know, the first
thing that happens is we're trying to tell
the child that we're just human beings. Funny,
today in Jumuah, I was telling people not
to be too hard on themselves. You're just
human beings. You know? As much as you
want to do so much in the 1st
10 days of the hijack, you're just a
human. Do your best.
So then
then if I can read on. Yes.
But if you can be just like a
tree, firmly rooted in your faith,
and always turn to the almighty
with every trial you face.
There goes. So you find the faith, the
face,
The tree and the almighty.
There, it rhymed again. And, the meaning is
still quite you know, it's very solid.
You will go through life with a hopeful
heart,
aware of all you do to be forgiving,
patient,
sincere, and kind, that's my dua for you.
So it's it already gives you the gist
of of what's going to be in the
book. Yeah. And then what what is to
follow is the practicals.
You know, this is just
the the the theme encapsulated
in a in in the first message. Yeah.
And then, basically, guys, if you've seen the
book, you'll see that there's a little boy
who, you know, he starts off his day
really happy. We won't read it here because
we're we're planning to do a video,
but you'll see he starts his day really,
really happy. He's looking forward to everything that
the day brings.
But in each interaction he has,
something happens. Something happens upsetting. In the in
the first case, you know, his sister eats
the last piece of toast, for example, you
know, and then when he's at school, you
know, the kids leave him out. And and,
of course, you know, then the the other
boy ruins his ball by throwing it in
the streets and then the car drives
over it. So really
simple things that children face
that, you know, that are are very big
in their world. You know? And,
I I really like, you know, when I
was reading through your quotes,
you have, masha'Allah, a very calming
way. It's a very soothing way of giving
dua in the sense that it's like, it's
okay. You know? It's it's okay.
You'll get through it. Like, let it go.
You know? Like, don't don't be so hard.
You know, that kind of thing. I for
me, that for me, Mufti, that of that
is the deen,
and that's certainly, like, your way of of
being. Of course, every all of us have
a different way, but that's really your way
of being. And, you know, the little boy,
obviously, he doesn't let it go. And he's
he's angry, and he's holding on to it.
And I just I love the,
you see this here.
Did you
notice the this this bag that he's carrying
around?
Did you notice that it keeps getting bigger
and bigger as he gets more and more
angry and he's holding all these grudges, and
he's holding on to all this anger that
he has.
Those of you who read the book, please
look through and see what happens to that
red bag because the artist, she just killed
it. I love it. What did you think
of the of the the rest of the
story, Mufti?
Well, it's amazing because it gives you
the the the alternatives. There are 2 things
that he can do, and he keeps doing
the wrong thing. And he he faces
the the the result or the the outcome
of his own choice.
And, yes, you might not be able to
control what someone else did, but you can
always control how you perceive it. And that
was the method that came across loud and
clear. And and then what I also like
is at the bottom, you know, either a
parent or a teacher or even a child
who can understand is asked a question to
say, how do you feel when you get
left out? For example, there's a question. That
question can be interactive for, for example, a
kindergarten
or other children, and they can ask we
ask the question, and you can actually spend
20 minutes on that
with different children, each one spending 2, 3
minutes telling you what they feel.
And, it's very good to let them speak
out what's affecting them because, obviously, these
are just examples.
It's not exactly what's gonna happen to everyone,
but they can be given the opportunity to
speak about what has bothered them as well,
which is absolutely
amazing.
Yeah. Yeah. And another thing as well I
think you'll see at the end of the
book is, you know, that it's so important.
Even as adults,
some of us
are not in touch with our emotions.
So we may feel bad, but we don't
understand. What is this? Is this sadness? Is
this bitterness? Is this disappointment? Is it frustration?
You know? Am I am I hurt right
now? So I I was excited about the
the the opportunity to teach children
how to even name their emotions. Because once
you name something this is all psychology, guys.
This is, like, all, you know, pedagogy and
child psychology and everything is thrown in there.
But
if you're a parent, you must you probably,
you know, have seen how
children can become so emotional and not know
how to process the emotions.
So I, you know, I was I was
yeah. I'm really, really, I'm happy with that
that we are able to open up these
conversations. Yeah?
I think one one important factor that I
mentioned a little bit earlier on my live
when I told everyone to come this side
was that, you know, these are the a
b c. These are the problems that a
lot of children face.
I do know and you do know and
we all do know that there will be
some who will face issues that are
not so common, but,
very important for us to address as well.
If if there has been abuse of a
certain level, we're not saying just let it
go. You know? No. It depends. Yes. It
depends what it is. You you will tell
from the examples
that this is a general piece of advice
addressing the bulk of the issues that are
there, and there will be specialized advice at
a certain point for those who who have
gone through
something or who may go through something that
is absolutely
unacceptable,
you know, if it comes to abuse and
various other things. So that's a quick point
of clarification
to say, nobody must think that we're just
teaching to let everything go. All we're doing
is to try and guide the children
to actually,
filter through what's happening to them in the
correct way. Channel it. That's all. Yeah. And
I think I think I agree with you.
And I think that there's there's so much,
scope really for for more books like this
where we can empower our children
to be mindful of Allah, you know, to
choose to be the better version of themselves,
you know, to choose to forgive, to choose
to be the change they want to see
in the world, to be able to set
boundaries even as you're saying to boundaries even
as you're saying to do with, you know,
abuse and things like that. So I I
that's one of the reasons why I'm just
saying children's books are so so so powerful.
Because through a story, through a rhyme, through
something that seems so
Because through a story, through a rhyme, through
something that seems so simple, but as you
guys can see as we're breaking it down,
there's a lot of thought that goes on
behind it. It may read like a simple
story, but, actually, there's a lot. And
our children will get the benefit from that.
In fact, I believe that adults will benefit
from this too. And the reason I say
this is I gave it to a friend
of mine to look through, and he said,
wow. It's helped me
process things and look at this. And I'm
thinking,
sometimes adults too need this message. We have
too much baggage. Ask yourself, is it necessary
or unnecessary?
And take you from what you've said here,
Yeah. Exactly. And, if parents are buying the
book to read with their children, I pray
that it's a source
of solace and comfort for you as well
and maybe a
reminder, that you will benefit from in your
own life as an adult. So so far,
the response has been that parents are loving
the book
They're enjoying reading it with their kids. The
kids are asking for it every
night, and this is by the mercy of
Allah.
You know, I don't take any credit at
all because it's Allah who inspires. You know?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I also think that if we can,
those who have the book,
if we read it for our children,
regularly, regularly meaning, say, once in a few
months or so, with the idea of engaging
them with the questions that are there, we
would have them
take off their chest and or get off
their chest a lot. So
children find it difficult sometimes to say things
because they don't know how it will be
processed by the adults. Yeah. You know, I
have people who confide in me, and they
haven't confided in their own parents. And that
goes to show that perhaps they don't know
how the parent might react. So if the
parent is actually asking them that, you know,
what would you do if something like this
happened to you and you just get them
to talk? Wallahi is very, very empowering for
them. Many people blame the Muslims. They blame
the scholars and the religious people to say
you guys don't really deal with these things.
Well, here we are. We've actually dealt with
it, and we're dealing with it. And thanks
so much
to you and,
you know, to the team that actually put
this together. And gratitude
goes to Allah, firstly. But at the same
time, we must be thankful to those who
made it happen.
Yeah. Definitely. Really good to Yeah. No. Definitely,
the, the team at Cube Publishers, they, you
know, they they believed in us. They believed
in our idea. You know, they they they
were on board, and they've got a lovely
illustrator to come on board and, you know,
take it away. So, guys, you know, this
is, this is our first collaboration, our first
official collaboration, be it.
May Allah allow us to continue to always
work together purely for his sake,
and to be a source of
in the Ummah. This this Ummah is is
so special and so blessed.
And personally, I feel so blessed to know
people like you and so many others
that, you know, we we work together for
the sake of Allah, you know, to benefit
the Muslim, benefit the next generation. And as
long as people are prepared to do that,
we'll be okay,
You know?
Yeah. You know, a very interesting point that
I thought of now is, what you were
saying earlier that you have a soft approach.
And I believe that everyone
serving the dean has has
their own character, their own conduct, their own
method of speaking to people, and each one
has a different nature.
So we need to cherish the nature of
the people. People tell me, why don't you
why why don't you talk about this and
about that? You know? I am not I
I'm not sort of,
what can I say?
I'm not aggressive
by nature.
I'm I'm I'm a passive person in the
sense that I like to speak to people
with a lot of respect even if they
have disrespected me. It's just me. I like
to reach out to people with a softer
message. I'm not saying a harder message is
wrong. Yeah. But I'm saying it's an approach
that would that would also be needed in
the dawah. It would have an effect and
an impact on a different crowd of people.
So,
you know, people sometimes don't let me go.
They say you haven't done this. And then
I say, relax, man. It's just not me.
So we need to I let it go
and say, I let it
go. Yeah. You're not I'm not to say.
Let it go. I just you know, I
hope that you guys will all get the
book.
It's, obviously, obviously, we're so grateful. It's doing
it's the number one bestseller since yesterday on
Amazon.
Do follow the link in our bios,
on the on Mufti's bio, on my bio.
Please, everyone, I think, Mufti, you asked people
on your live, and I will ask people
here as well to please leave reviews
on Amazon. We want this book available in
all the languages, guys. All the languages. In
Arabic. Inshallah. Perfect. Let's take what do we
want? We want Arabic, inshallah. Let's speak in
Arabic,
Malay,
French. What else?
Russian, Turkish.
Yes. Spanish.
Yes.
French. Yeah.
Spanish. Yes. It
it will happen. It will happen. Inshallah.
So I'm gonna talk to you about
in in a day or 2, perhaps if
you can join me on on on my
Instagram, it would also be beneficial in a
day or 2. And, also, just a quick
word, when you're saving this Instagram has changed
a little bit. When you're saving this piece,
can you save the video? And when you're
uploading it, make sure that as you're as
you're uploading it onto your IGTV, it says
there,
show the preview, and you must click yes
for the preview. If you don't click yes
for the preview, it should be on your
page.
Yeah. Yeah. No, I always do that. I
know that you are the social media
shaykh, yeah,
who's teaching us all these things. But these
guys Have a blessed day. If you're not
sure where to get the book from, just
ask your local Islamic bookseller. Inshallah, they will
order it. They know where to get it
from. It's by Cube Publishing.
Anywhere you go, if Dar es Salaam, Cube,
all is it they have it it's all
available all over the world. Please, if you
are looking for it, just ask your normal
Islamic bookshop and tell them about the book
and just tell them, you know, to order
it and to bring it to wherever you
are in the world. We are here. We're
at your service, Inshallah. But
for your time, I appreciate
you. And, we'll see you on the next
one.