Sajid Ahmed Umar – Vision And Leadership
AI: Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of having a vision to achieve success and avoid wasting time in life. They stress the need for individuals to have a vision to see the vision in life and set goals for their children. The speakers also describe the journey of a person riding a horse and a cow, imagine a hippo walking around the tree, and describe their dream of a magical experience. They stress the importance of finding a local hippo to teach children about their accomplishments and the limitations of carrying a certain amount of weight.
AI: Summary ©
Although de la mina shavon alloggi me
Bismillah.
Me?
Doesn't this feel so down after the last session, we felt so often, doesn't it? Because the podium is not here. What they told me is that it's this is tea time without tea. So they told me make sure you don't try pouring that. Anything from that thing because nothing's gonna come out but a
lot going on. I mean, I've been battling Well, I've been thinking what can I discuss with you off?
They said it has to be something that's funny.
So they said you got to think of something funny or something that's inspirational, something that's personal. I said, you know what the problem with me is I forget very quickly. So something personal happens in class. It's forgotten unless you asked me specifically. And I can remember it, and I can speak about it. But let's go with the general norm. Because what I have received over the course of yesterday, and today is many, many messages
about rehab, and about john with Lima. And
because I don't think you've interacted with the person who studied in jam with him before. It's a university that's not really open to too many foreigners. So a lot of questions came in. So I thought panel life I sit and answer all these questions. I came on a 15 hour journey, landed in Heathrow in the morning
was picked up by brother idol,
who you all know, and he brought me here and he chatted so much that I couldn't sleep.
He made sure that he kept me up and then I told him I said ice cream. I think the speed limit is slightly higher than what you're doing. And he goes No, no, I normally Drive faster than the speed limits. But I just want to utilize the time.
He's hiding somewhere. So I didn't sleep and then we went to Leicester and we did Juma and I got back and a couple of hours later we came here so I thought if I sit in answer those emails, then I won't sleep the entire night. So let's talk about reality.
Has anybody visited from here?
Anybody? Mashallah, we have one person, his strange person, since it's a couple of people. So and has anybody visited jam with Lima? Germany ma'am Mashallah studied there?
I can't hear I can't hear you.
Oh, Mashallah. Mashallah, you didn't visit me, by the way. So.
And Has anyone visited Saudi Arabia?
Okay, Masha Allah. So you have visited Saudi Arabia. So you know a lot about what I might say and what am I not say?
A lot of people asked about, you know, going to study and these kinds of things. But let me tell you something, what we need to understand is, it's very important that we as human beings have a vision. as Muslims, especially, it's very important that we have a vision. And many of our young people, our younger audience, they go through life without having a vision. And many people have high aspirations and when you ask them that, okay, so what are you going to do next? You have high aspirations, what are you going to do? They say, we're going to go study in Medina.
That's it.
The buck stops here, we're going to Medina, we have to go to Medina. Because it's cool, because it helps us achieve our vision. But in reality doesn't not everybody needs to go to Medina to study to achieve the vision. You can be a diary without going to Medina, but you obviously you invite to that which you know, isn't it? Because today we find we have so many people in society. We have four types of people. We have a group that knows and knows that they know. And we have a group that doesn't know and knows that they don't know. And we have a group that doesn't know but they think that they know. And we have a group that knows but they don't know that they know.
Is anyone going to repeat that for me?
And when we have a group that makes things happen,
and we have a group that watches things happen,
and we have a group that says what happened,
isn't it? So we all need to have a vision. But today unfortunately,
people don't have vision. They have television
isn't it? So what
vision we find that we waste time, we find that
we don't make decisions spontaneously, or our decisions are difficult to reach. Because we don't know where we're heading in life. A vision helps us to get from A to Zed in one direct line. But without a vision, you go from A to B to C to D to E, and you waste another five years and 10 years here and trophies here. And at the end of it, you end up exactly where you're supposed to be. But because you didn't have a vision, you didn't get there. So you're a person who doesn't know. But the question is, or you're a person who doesn't know and knows that he doesn't know. Or you're a person who doesn't know, but you think that, you know, that's the question.
Because the travesty is that sometimes we have people who don't know, but they think that they know, and these are people that are dangerous in society, the people that we need to stay away from,
because there are people who cannot be taught anything, they think they know everything already, you're not going to teach a person who thinks that he knows anything. Right? So this person is really a person who is experiencing the punishment of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Because he's a person that has closed the door to learning because they think that they know, but what we need in society are those who know and know that they know they have a vision in life. They know what they need to achieve that vision. They have perspective, and they become model citizens. Right. And that's what we want in society. We want people who are worthy citizens of every community that they live in, we
want people who are
contributors to every society that they live in. And this is the reality of a believer. So Subhanallah, Luca was taking the talk, I had no direction when I started, no vision, but we're getting there. So what are we saying is that the title is
Muslims in the West and how to flourish and thrive and succeed. And in reality, if you're a Muslim, then by default, you're a person who flourishes, thrives and succeeds. Because you're a person of vision, you know, why you are created, and you know who you are, and you know, what is expected of you and from you. And you have Allah subhanho wa Taala, I saw on the menu, there was the food menu, the top menu, there was a
title, which was entitled The Muslim identity or the identity crisis. And Muslims shouldn't be having an identity crisis, we should be making others feel as if they in a crisis when they look at a believer, right, because Islam should be seen in the Muslims. And unfortunately, today, we only read about Islam in the books. We only hear about Islam via lectures, but we're not seeing Islam in the Muslim. So this is a travesty of servants of Allah, this is something we need to address as, as a community as a people. And the other problem that we have is that we tend to globalize issues instead of localizing them. So we see a problem, and we globalize it and by globalizing it, it
becomes impossible for us to find the solution to that problem. Right? So it's just like the famous story. I can't remember who some very rich man, he was walking on the beach, and he saw a young boy taking all the starfish and throwing it into the water. He was taking the starfish and throwing it into the water.
So you walked up to this boy and said, What are you doing? He's saying, I'm throwing the starfish into the water, because if they stay on the beach, they'll burn they'll die. They'll become hot because of the sun. So he told him, young boy, how many starfish do you think are lying on the beaches of all the oceans in the world?
This is what he told this young boy.
So this boy, looked at him,
looked at a starfish, picked up the starfish, threw it in the water,
and said, Go and ask that starfish.
Right. What he was trying to say to this man is stop globalizing the problem. At least I've saved that one, right. And that's what we need to understand that in society, even in our homes, we need to localize issues, so that we take baby steps in finding the solutions to them. So when our homes become in order, right, the good positive effects of our home moves on to the neighbor's home, and then the entire neighborhood becomes positive and productive. And then the next neighborhood and the next neighborhood and the next neighborhood until the entire city becomes productive. And then it goes on to the next city and the next city until the entire country becomes productive. And then it
starts spreading over countries and countries until an entire continent becomes productive. You see what I'm saying here. If you take baby steps, we need to localize issues. So what we need to understand is that we need people who know and know that they know we need people or vision. People who have goals in life, right and it's very important because
If you don't have a vision, you will fall under somebody else's vision. And that's the reality. If you don't have a vision in life, somebody has a vision for you. If you're not a leader, you will be led, and a Muslim should be a leader. That's what we want. And that's why I've mentioned to you these types of people that we have people who say what happened, a person who says what happened is in the leader, a person who makes things happen is a leader. A person who knows and knows that they know is a leader. And we want from each and every one of you, leaders, visionaries, right? And it doesn't mean that if you're a visionary, that you have to achieve that vision before you pass away,
it doesn't mean that know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a visionary, right? When they were digging the trench and 100.
And they came across this big boulder. And he took one strike at it and this light came out, it's in the same not telling you a fairytale, authentic hadith, this light came out and he said, Praise be to Allah. Rome is yours. And then he struck it again and another light came out and he said, Praise be to Allah. Persia is yours. Did that happen in the lifetime of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Roman, did it happen happened after? So he had a vision. Right? But it doesn't mean that he had to be alive for that vision to be achieved because he had a vision. He had 50 year goals, 25 year goals, 20 year goals, 15 year goals, five year goals that all led to that vision. And because
you set yourself in these baby steps, he had Abubakar he had aroma Ravi Allahumma or smiley, etc.
And they were nurtured to continue pursuing this vision and the vision of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was achieved because you and I are sitting here, as those that have declared the oneness of Allah subhanho wa Taala and declared the prophecy of Muhammad. Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is that not so? Was the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam not crying on his bed on Matthew amati, telling Allah subhanho wa Taala about his people, isn't it? He was speaking about Salah of Salah, because he knew that it is success for the Ummah, isn't it, he had a vision. And he knew that to achieve that vision, we need goals. And from those goals is the Salah, for example, because this
is the means of us achieving this greater good. So this is why we need to have visions of servants of Allah. And we also need to have visions for our wives for our children. It's important you as a father, or a mother should have a vision for the child, it's very important that you sit down and you understand what do I want for my child? Do I want him to be a half are the best half if it's important, because with the vision comes the goals. And if the vision changes, the goals change. So for example, if a person says that I want my child to be a half if
that's his vision for his child, then for him it is enough to find a local madrasa to put his child into learn the Quran. If a person says that I want my child to be the best half. So immediately his goals become finding a madrasah in Egypt, you understand how it changes for this father, his goal is to find the madrasa in Egypt because his vision for his child is to be the best half. So now, everything changes, isn't it.
For example, a father says I want my child to be a visionary. So if you want your child to be a visionary, in part of your goals that you set for your child, you have to include traveling to various Muslim civilizations of old to teach them what the Muslims achieved there like Spain and Turkey, etc, isn't it, it becomes part of the goal. So when you have direction in your life, you are able to set direction for your children, and you are able to make them utilize their time. And we're lucky.
Our children have literally trusted us. They have said Oh my dear father, oh, my dear mother, here I am. I don't know. You know, I've put everything in your hands. Make me great. do right by me. Right. This is what our children are literally saying do right by me. And for us to do right by them. We need to have a vision for them. We need to have a book and it's jotted down. And we need to know that by so many years, I need to have achieved this by so many years, I need to have achieved that. These are the sacrifices I have to make in my life. But in order for my child to achieve his vision, for example, it might include moving country, it might include changing your job for example. Right?
And this is what a person who knows and knows that he knows and a person who makes things happen. This is how he operates. This is how they roll as the you'd say, how do they roll this is how they roll. They roll with direction with their foot on the pedal and the pedal pedal is is revving at 9000 revs per minute full throttle, they know where they're going, and how to get there and what they want in life. So this is what we want because we are people of how many minutes to have left.
For we have people have amazing capacity or law. He will
We are.
And even though we are people have amazing capacity, we find that we have certain limitations, we can only carry a certain amount, we can only
hear a certain wavelength of sound, we can only see a certain distance, isn't it? But we are so amazing that
a joke just comes to mind. Should we should we say it? Okay, let's, let's describe it in a fun way. We are so amazing that we have
an ability to describe anything or imagined anything Subhana, Allah subhanaw taala. I mean, a person can be sitting here right now. And he can feel free to imagine that he's sitting in Hawaii, who's going to stop him. Right? A person can have one wife. And imagine he has four wives who's going to stop him. So your imagination can do what you want, isn't it? So to understand it, understand it like this, imagine three people walking in the jungle. In the forest. I come from Africa, we have jungles there in England, your forests. So imagine the person walking in the forest, three people that together, they intend the journey, they've packed enough provisions for this journey. And they
ended up getting lost. And because they became lost, they used more days. And because they use more days, their provisions came to an end except for a bowl of milk.
So they sat down and they said people
we need to have a meeting. emergency meeting, what's the emergency? We only have one bowl of milk. So what's the problem? We three people? How are we going to share this bowl of milk between us? Right? So they would say okay, let's take this bowl of milk, put it up on the high tree over there.
And let's go to sleep.
And whoever has the best dream gets the bowl of milk.
Right? So they say that's a very good idea. Let's do that. So they climb, they put it on the high tree. So no animal can, can can drink this milk, and they go to sleep. So let's see how they imagine now. So they wake up the next day. And
it's judging time.
What did you dream about? They would ask the first person so the first person will say, you know what, I had the most amazing dream. Now obviously, he didn't dream about anything. But he's teaching us how amazing his ability to imagine is how many books he read in his life. So he starts describing something from a Harry Potter movie. He says I was on the third heaven.
Can you beat that third heaven. And I saw, I had a palace made out of gold and silver and diamonds and pearls. And I had a horse and it was this color and it had wings and it would fly. And I did this and that and is going on and on. And it's amazing. And the other two are sitting and thinking La ilaha illAllah There goes the breakfast. So they ask the next person, What did you dream about? So obviously he needs to get his mind engaged, get the imagination going, get the description going. So he says you know what?
That's a good dream, my brother for I I was on the fifth heaven.
And you know, the fifth Heaven is better than the third heaven.
So how many heavens are a
seven? So he says I was on the fifth heaven and he starts describing something even more beautiful than what the first guy said in the first guy his head is going lower and lower and lower and he's thinking so Pamela philosophy goes the look I should have gone last.
So then they turned to the third guy and they say What did you dream about? So he will say
that no i can tell you about my dream. I'm too ashamed to tell you about my dream.
Why What do you mean you too ashamed to tell us about your dream Tell us about your dream It's a deal we hungry The milk is getting is evaporating the on the tree. We need to you know consume the milk before the sun consumes it. What did you dream about? Because I'm shy. You jumped on the third heaven you dream from the fifth heaven. I'm shy. They say just tell us your dream is okay. I dreamt that I was.
He says no, no, hold on, hold on.
I was sleeping last night. In a deep sleep. I listened to description and imagination. I was in a deep sleep. The sleep you have when you rub Vicks on your sinus.
Go into deep sleep. And once I was sleeping this armored soldier on a Black Knights horse rode up to me like how the Queen's horses ride with the knees coming up very posh rode up to me. And he pulled out his spear. And he poked me. So they said What happened? He goes I got poked. I woke up. I woke up and I got I got a shock. I looked at this amazing
picture in front of me. And I said what do you want?
He said get up. I said, I'm awake. He said stand up. So I stood up, said yes. What do you want?
Okay, that's not part of the story by the way.
So
we don't have to evacuate. Okay? It's like salvia. Sorry, the University alarm goes and we also think and learning.
It's ringing and the teachers carrying on Mashallah. So, he says, I got up
and he told me, I said, What do you want me to do? He says, Listen to me very carefully, young man. climb that tree and bring the bowl of milk down.
So what could I do? I said, No, I can't. I've got an agreement with these two guys over here. I can't we have an agreement or Muslim owner and a surety is a Mufti. Now. He said, the Muslims are upon what they agree I can't. He said, Go up the tree. Bring them a bowl of milk down. Are you in trouble? I was scared. I climbed the tree. I brought the bowl of milk down and I brought it very slowly thinking you guys would wake up. So they said, What did you do? He says I gave it to him.
So they said What happened? He said, when I gave it to him, he says, No, no, no, no.
You drink the bowl of milk.
So they said, What do you mean? He said, You drink the ball. He goes, Well, like the guy said, drink the bowl of merch or you're a dead man. So I had to drink the bowl of milk. So there's no bowl of milk. So they said just like that? He goes, No, no, I was drinking it very slowly, nice and slow. I was tasting it. Because I thought in the interim, you'd wake up and I'd be able to pass the ball to you. But you didn't wake up. So I drank every last drop. So one of them caught up and said
Why didn't you shout and shout we could have woken up and helped you against this person on the horse.
So he said, I shouted and shouted, but you are in the third heaven and you on the fifth heaven you couldn't hear me.
So hon Allah can you see this mind how it can describe an imagine Subhan Allah anyway, even though this mind can describe and imagine and describe and imagine and describe and imagine knowing understand that you can never describe to imagine Allah subhanho wa Taala How great is Allah subhanho wa Taala Subhana Allah. So I'll leave you with that thought, or with a couple of thoughts. Number one, become a visionary. Number two,
be a leader.
And number three, know that you have an uncanny ability to imagine and describe but Allah Subhana Allah,
Allah subhanho wa Taala is greater than everything. And number four, don't put your bowl of milk on top of a tree. Does that
mean a shade
Bismillah