Thin About It

8/13/2019 Thin About It

1/43

A l i M u j a h i d


2/43

THINK ABOUT IT

By

Ali Mujahid

:

Vmuslims PublicationISBN: 978-969-9288-00-5


3/43

THINK ABOUT ITBy

Ali Mujahid

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior permission of the Copyright holders.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of

trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated

without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover

other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition

including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

e-book layout & design by:

Paramount Publishing Enterprise152/O, Block-2, P.E.C.H.S., Karachi-75400, Pakistan Tel:

4310030 Fax: 4553772 E-mail: [email protected]: www.paramountbooks.com.pk


4/43

Contents

About Ali Mujahid..............................................................v

Authors note...................................................................vii

Instructions.......................................................................ix

1. Objectives: What are they good for.................. 05

2. Developing a Belief System.............................. 09

3. Powerful Word.................................................... 12

4. How to Fall in Love with Problems................... 16

5. A Civilization with no Questions....................... 20

6. Dont tell the World we are Muslims;

Show them that we are Muslims......................23

7. Communication is the Key................................ 26

8. The Art of becoming Fearless........................... 30

9. An Education Revolution.................................. 33

iii


5/43

Why Do I

Exist?


6/43

About Ali Mujahid

Few are able to bring relevance and erudition to asubject at the same time. It is, of course, what

separates the good from the great. Ali Mujahid is one of

those people. At a time when the religious majority is

unable to connect with the Muslim masses, Ali

Mujahids discourse becomes invaluable in drawing

younger generations back to faith. Combining over 15

years of Dawa experience; backed with a soundeducation in business and Quranic studies, Mr.

Mujahid has brought together a work whose birth I

witnessed some 12 years ago.

In the late nineties I was blessed to befriend, lead

and serve Mr. Mujahid; his methods of dawa

revolutionized our efforts in America transforming a

once sleepy community into an example for other

student organizations to follow. His motto, Allah is our

Lord. Muhammad is our Prophet. We can do anything.

It was during those golden days that Ali began to talk of

a book. Initially I paid it little attention, but over time I

realized that, as was always the case,Alis words were painted into actions.

The work before you represents the ode of a lover

to his beloved. In Alis case, that is Islam. It is rare

v


7/43

that one asks to write an introduction for another. But in

this case, I, although suffocated with exams and work

in Egypt, contacted him and said, Let me write the

intro. Ali, as always, agreed and, as always, I pushed

the deadline. But let me say that this work is the

product of a vision that sees Islam compatible with

todays world, positive in its outlook and encouraging

Muslims to invest in humanity and their countries. I

applaud Ali for this effort and encourage all to read,

study and live this important contribution to thecontemporary Islamic discourse. Im lucky because

those who want to strengthen their hearts will read this

text; when I want to, I remember my days with Mr.

Mujahid.

Hafidh Suhaib D. Webb al-Azhari

Sunday, April 19, 2009Cairo, Egypt

vi


8/43

AuthorsNote

This booklet contains some short thought-provokingarticles. My main objective for writing this book is

basically for Muslims to start thinking and exploring

new ideas of self development. Each article in this book

is worth a discussion. You may agree or disagree with

me; there is nothing wrong with it.

vii


9/43

__

_____________

Notes


10/43

Instructions

As the author I would like my readers to get full value ofthis small booklet. So, for that please read the following

instructions:

1. Sit with your friends or someone you are close to

(cousins, parents, spouse, etc).

2. Each person should read a chapter on an

individual basis.

3. After reading, you should all sit together and

explore the topic. Generate new ideas, plus you

should discuss how you can improve yourself.

ix


11/43

Where do I Fit in?


12/43

Objectives:What are they good for

Behind every successful human being is his/herthinking process. By thinking process I simply mean

how quickly one can generate a new idea. Behind

every thinking process there are objectives.

Objectives play a very vital role in ones life. Yet they

are neglected by majority of us. In my personal opinion

this is simply because we as human being have become

quiet short cited. We are more concerned about today or

most probably tomorrow but we hardly think about ten

years down the line. The following are some advantages

of laying down our objectives;

Developing StrategiesObjectives are targets we are trying to achieve. A

strategy is the means to achieve that target. Planning

sometimes backfires, therefore we try to look for

alternatives. At the end a determined individual does

not loose hope and always keep trying. This leads us to

the second advantage, which is positive thinking.

Positive Thinking

If you are a particular individual who does not give

up and always tries to make the best out of any

5


13/43

?

How can I

reach up there?

6


14/43

situation, then there is a highly likely chance that you

think in a positive manner. If we have objective we

never give up. Within ourselves there is a small voice

telling us to keep trying, it is not the end of the world.

We scan for alternative routes which lead us towards

becoming more creative. Which in term leads us to the

next advantage to become more creative.

Creativity

Creativity is simply about doing ones action in a

better way. Minimizing our input and maximizing our

output. Creativity comes in place when we scan for

alternative routes for achieving our objectives.

Whenever we are looking for alternative, something

amazing happens. We always discover something new

and exciting.

Conflict Resolution

There are many types of conflicts but majority of

the time conflicts occurs when the conflicting parties

have different objectives. The mediator can resolve

their issues simply by giving them a common objective.This is one of the reasons why in the time of crisis, two

foes can become one because of a common enemy.

Wisdom

Wisdom is about seeing the big picture, having birdsa eye view over every situation and issue. A person with

objectives would remain focus on his/her objectives.

He/she would not worry about small hindrances. In

conclusion objectives help us in seeing the big picture.

7


15/43

This helps us become wiser.

Exercise

Briefly list five things which you would like to

achieve after five years

1 ________________________________________

2 ________________________________________

3 _________________________________________

4 _________________________________________

5 _________________________________________

8


16/43

Developing

a Belief System

A belief system is the best motivator of any humanbeing; the stronger the belief the stronger the motivation

factor. The question arises how we can generate a strong

belief system. The concept is very simple and anyone can

achieve it. Human beings make decisions using two

factors. These two factors are logic and emotions. So to

make our life easy we can easily say that decisions are

based on the mind and the heart.

Whenever there is a decision to make our heart

and mind set to work, these two factors are looking for

some sort of justification. Sometimes the heart wins

and sometimes the mind. The problem arises when

these two factors are in a collision course. At that point

no such decision can be made. This is also one of the

reasons why our action are inconsistent.

If we look at the other side of the picture, what if an

issue comes up and the heart and mind both are set on

the same task, then we see a belief system being

formulated. You would witness consistencies in actions.

In conclusion if you are inconsistent in your actions,

that means you are not convinced of the task givento you.

You have to make sure that you are satisfied

9


17/43

10


18/43

with this task emotionally and on the bases of logic.

The more you are satisfied with it, the better your

performance would turn out to be.

Exercise

Produce three things that you believe in.

List them down.

11


19/43

Powerfulword

Language plays a very important role in the de-velopment of a civilization. It brings humanity on a

single platform; from here we start to communicate.

Can it be possible that a single word can bring about a

change in a nation? Personally I would suggest that it

can. If we start using one word more often and

frequently, we can bring a change in the condition we

are in. How can that be possible? Easy the wordsthat we use form an image in our mind. If we start using

positive words then we would see positive mental

images, as a result our perception would be positive.

We could say the same for a negative word, which

would lead to a negative image.

Due to this reason leaders and managers of

organizations should carefully use words, which would

send out a positive image to the employees and to the

nation at large. Let me give you a simple example, we

love to use the word problem. There is nothing wrong

with this word but it does scare us, hence we get a

negative image that there is something wrong with theissue at hand. Instead of using the word problem we

should use the word challenge. With the word

challenge we get a different mental image and there is

a highly likely chance that we would deal with this

12


20/43

Why

cant we?

Howcan we? We should

13


21/43

issue in a different manner.

For Example:

The world is facing a lot of problems.

The world is facing a lot of challenges.

Similarly there is another word that we hardly use.

If we start using this word more often we can surely

become a positive nation and much better human

beings. The word is we. I strongly believe in this word

and I can assure you that if we use this word moreoften, it would help us to change our attitude towards

life. The word itself sends a strong image at the

receivers end.

For Example:

We should accomplish our target.

We will help you.

We will take care of this issue.

The word we unites people for a common cause,

it sends out a very comfortable connotation that we are

not alone. Although we should not forget that where

there is light, there has to be darkness. The word can

also give us a negative image.

For Example:

We would rob the bank. We

would lie together. We

would cheat everyone.

The biggest weak point of the dark side is that it

can be eliminated by a very small source of light. Sohow can we use this word to its full potential? The

following is a good exercise in which we can try to use

this word and explore the possibility of its effectiveness.

14


22/43

1. Once in a week sit with your close friends or

family members.

2. Then start raising questions What can we do for

Islam, What can we do for Muslims, and so forth.

All we are doing is exploring possibilities, and I can

assure you that at one point in time, your group will add

value to Islam. Each individual has a unique talent but

as individuals we will not be able to contribute in an

effective manner. However, as a group we would be

able to bring a positive change in our lifestyles.

Exercise

Sit with your friends and make a list of things that

you can do together to benefit the society.

15


23/43

How to Fall in Lovewith Problems

Our education system is based on one thing itteaches us how to react. We present information to our

students and we see how they react. If their reaction is

a according our expectation then we reward them, if

not then we punish them. This is one of the reasons

why we like answers rather than questions, especially

when these answers are correct.

Being reactive will always make us sit on the

passenger seat, we would only receive, we would

never be able to contribute to humanity and civilization

as a whole. This is one of the biggest reasons why we

hate problems in our lives because we really do not

know how to react to it. We consider problems, as

being a hindrance to our societys development. This is

something that I disagree with.

Our fear of problems usually leads to a more

destructive mode. We try to blame external sources for

our problems. This leads further to two other issues.

Firstly we take no responsibility of the issue, secondlywe do not try to resolve the issue because of a simple

excuse It is not our problem. Due to this reason we

cannot move forward.

16


24/43

This is a This is not abig problem problem, it is

a source ofenergy and

fertilizer

17


25/43

One of the biggest issues in the education field in

the Islamic world is the lack of research. We usually

blame faculty that they are not conducting research.

But the main fault lies in the fact that we cannot face

problems. Our approach is to either avoid it or blame

others. So with this I think we as a nation have a lot to

give, why, because we have a lot of problems.

But honestly how can we really enjoy solving

problem. Thats easy, all we need to do is change ourvocabulary. I really believe in the following formulae:

Problems = Opportunities

Being reactive is easy. All we have to do is follow

others footsteps. But being reactive usually destroys or

rather kills creativity. Let us discuss a very simpleexample, a person opens a restaurant and it becomes a

big hit. Immediately in a matter of few months we would

find different restaurants opening within the same locality.

This is the easiest thing we could do. Again this shows

our fears of problem solving. Who wants to go through the

pain of conducting market research or even trying to

understand consumer needs? If someone is successful in

one locality then we assume that every restaurant opened

in the same locality would also be successful.

If we follow a more proactive approach then we

would become problem seekers. This is simply because

we consider every problem to be an opportunity to grow;or even an opportunity to go into a financial venture.

Remember that if we are facing a problem, there are

others facing the same problem and if we can resolve it,

then we can really benefit the society as a whole.

18


26/43

Lastly I would like to state one thing. If the Muslim

world is facing a lot of problems this in other words

means we have a lot of opportunities, so we come to a

conclusion and that the Islamic world is the land of

opportunities. All we need to do is to change our

attitude and temperament towards life.

Exercise

A. List down three problems that your society is

facing.

1. _______________________________________

2. _______________________________________

3. _______________________________________

4. _______________________________________

B. Rephrase them to appear as opportunities.

1. _______________________________________

2. _______________________________________

3. _______________________________________

4. _______________________________________

19


27/43

A Civilization with

no Questions

Questions are very important for the foundation ofa developing civilization. One should always have an

urge to ask questions. It does not make much of a

difference whether we have the answer or not. We

need to ask questions. Our questions are the best

motivation we can get. The satisfaction of an answer is

like an achievement of its own. From the answers we

may want to draw another question and start toinvestigate. During this cycle a persons personality

starts to develop. We witness a renaissance emerging

with in oneself. At the end we observe a birth of a

philosophy.

There are two types of questions. The first type is

when we address it to someone; the second type is

when we address it to ourselves. Most of the time the

primary reason we address questions to others is that

we have already asked this question once to ourselves

and were not satisfied with the outcome. We ask others

for an easier explanation.

Unfortunately our education system is based on

answers. We get grades only on correct answers. It does

not matter how we got it. As long as it is correct and to the

expectation of the instructor, we are all happy.

20


28/43

21

Mercury Venus Earth

Mars Jupiter Saturn

Uranus Neptune Pluto

Why are all theplanets round?

Stop asking

Questions

Why is the

world round?


29/43

But there is a downside of an answer-based education

system and that is that a person, throughout his/her

life, has to have answers ready for everyone according

to their expectation. If the answer is not according to

expectation then that particular person would be

considered as a failure. The answer-based society is

most likely to be a hierarchical-based society, in which

the superior are always asking questions while the

subordinates have to answer them according to their

expectations, so that they can become successful.

What if we base our education system not on

answers but on questions? Grades are given out on

the quality of questions asked. How would this affect

our society as a whole? The most obvious thing that

comes is that development in the entire field would

increase at an alarming rate. This society would base

itself on research. It would not be a hierarchical-based

society. If a supervisor has the right to ask a question

to his subordinate, then the subordinate can also ask

questions. There would be a check and balance in

every department. Creativity and the concept of exper-

imentation would evolve the society towards develop-ment. The last and the most important factor is that we

would become better human beings by helping each

other finding answers.

22


30/43

Dont tell the World

we are Muslims; showthem that we are Muslims

As Muslims do we really love our beloved ProphetMuhammad (PBUH)? This is a very important question

that every Muslim should ask oneself on a daily basis.

But as individuals, we sometimes fail to understand the

concept of love for the Prophet (PBUH). Before we

discuss this topic, I would first like to explain what love

is. To understand love we first have to understand

sacrifice because love and sacrifice are two sides of acoin. If we love something that means we are willing to

sacrifice our happiness for it. More love simply means

more sacrifice.

Now lets talk about the insult on our beloved Prophet

(PBUH). This is regarding the cartoon representations of

our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); it is no doubt a

tragedy. But there is also a bigger issue here.

This incident has left me to evaluate myself and I would

really like each and every Muslim to evaluate

themselves. Do we really love our Prophet (PBUH)? Do

we really respect his message, his sacrifices?

Personally speaking I am observing that Muslims areinsulting our Prophet more then any other non-Muslim;

the question is how are we doing this? Its simple by

not following his ways. Honestly speaking as a nation

do we really love our Prophet, well let us open our

23


31/43

24

Zionist

Conspiracy

Its United

States Fault


32/43

television and what do we see. We see everything that

goes against our Prophets way. From fashion TV to

music videos in which people are dancing shamelessly,

from Bollywood to Hollywood, everything is there which is

un-Islamic. If we step into the market we see Muslims

cheating each other. Our family values are deteriorating

at an alarming rate and if this is not enough, as Muslims

we have literally declared war on Allah and His final

Messenger; how? By allowing interest to creep into our

economy (Quran 2-279).

The question one might ask, is that why dont we

love our Prophet as we should. The answer is very

simple; honestly speaking we really dont know our

beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We have

memorized his biography but we failed to look at the

lessons to be learnt from his biography. These lessonsinclude the concept of patience, tolerance, unity,

humanity and the list goes on. One of the biggest

reasons why Muslims of the world are in a mess is

because we have failed to follow the teachings our

beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

I would like to propose an exercise for all the

Muslims, and that is to empathize with our Prophet.

Whatever the situation, one must ask oneself what

would my Prophet do in this situation. And if one does

not have the answer then one must investigate. This is

the best way to remember our Prophet (PBUH).

If everyone would follow this path we can show the

world that we are Muslims, and our Prophet did not

look like that cartoon, but rather a person whom we are

proud to follow as a role model.

25


33/43

Communication

is the Key

For some apparent reason communication is asubject that is ignored by majority of the Muslims.

Communication is a very important skill. Any civilization

or nation who has mastered this skill has ruled the

world. Communication basically means to send a clear

message which the receiver can understand. The

misconception of communication is that people usually

relate it to talking. But this is only one dimension ofcommunication. Producing a movie, writing a book,

reciting poetry, or even the way we dress, are all forms

of communication. In each of the above cases the

sender is sending a message to the world about how

he/she is feeling, propagating their ideas.

This skill is not something new. If we look at history

you would see how nations and civilizations have used

this tool to prosper and rule the world. Let us start from

the Roman civilization. They developed huge networks

of roads, which were used for communication. With

communication new businesses prospered and the flow

of ideas became a common concept. After the Romanscame the Islamic civilization. They used Hajj to improve

their communication skills. Islam was a huge empire

from China to Spain. What happened was that each

year people used to come for Hajj from all over the

26


34/43

Did youYEAHwatch the

movie?

School of Communication

Do youwant to make

a movie onIslam?

Did youYES. Butwatch the

first we shouldmovie? have knowledge

of Islam.

27

ISLAM IS THE

BEST DEEN!!

Brothers

please listen.Dont waste

your time


35/43

world and exchanged ideas and discoveries. So if

something was discovered in Samarkand, within a year

it would reach Andalusia. This was a great

achievement. The other invention that flourished

communication was the heavy use of paper by the

Muslims. This invention was developed by the Chinese

but was heavily used in the Islamic world.

After the Islamic Civilization the British Empire

came up and gave us the railway industry. Thisrevolutionized communication. Now people were

writing and traveling; the exchange of ideas was going

back and forth. After the railway the telegraph and

telephone were invented and with these inventions the

US started to rise. And then ultimately Internet came

into existence and basically changed everything.

Besides this, the development of films and televisionalso came into existence which further more enhanced

the field of communication. With the help of movies and

television we not only rely on voice or text but we can

communicate ideas visually.

Mass media played a very important role. First it

was used only for entertainment and education

purposes. But during the two World Wars it was used

for propaganda purposes. It was then realized how

effective mass communication was. Mass media

literally changed the culture of the whole world. The

impact was so high that our clothes, food, houses,

even our religion was under the influence of the crewrunning the show.

So by now you have realized how important this

subject is and how much we have neglected it. It does

28


36/43

not matter what profession you belong to or what

profession you have chosen, we have to learn the art of

communication. If we as Muslims wish to rise once

more, then we have to develop new tools to

communicate or become an expert with the current

tools in use today.

29


37/43

The Art of becoming

Fearless

Fear is a very powerful emotion. This particularemotion blinds a person and makes him/her perform

actions that any sane person will not perform. In our

time fearhas become a multimillion dollar industry.

From movie studios to government policies everyone is

using this emotion to earn profit. Even businesses like

insurance companies are basically thriving on fear;

fear of death, fear of accident, fear of losing oneshealth and the list goes on.

Governments have also used fear to blind their

citizens. For example, in the US after the Second World

War they were screaming that the communists are

coming. A witch hunt was going on to find out citizens

who had a little bit of sympathy or appreciated the idea

of Karl Mark. Nowadays there is a new witch hunt that

has begun and this time it is Islamic fundamentalism.

Any one who even thinks in terms of an Islamic State,

the whole world is fearful of him/her.

So how can we become fearless? First we have to

understand fear. This can be done by the followingformula:-

Fear = Lack of Knowledge

30


38/43

31

Knowledge

Fear


39/43

Not long ago people used to believe the Earth was

flat. Due to this reason they did not travel in deep sea.

This is simply because they believed that they will fall off.

But with knowledge and time they realized this was

not the case, their fear as a result vanished. Let me

give another example. If I were to put you in your

bedroom and turn off the light, you would not feel

frighten because you are familiar with your bedroom.

However if I put you in another room which is unknownto you and turn off the light, then it would be natural

that you would not feel comfortable.

Therefore in order to become fearless engage

yourself in gaining knowledge. When you start getting

knowledge you would realize that this whole universe

has to be creation of someone. You would start gettingcloser to your Creator. Then the only fear you have to

deal with is the fear of your Creator. This type of fear is

a healthy fear. This fear would help you in becoming a

better human being, plus this fear will not make you

weak or allow you to be blackmailed by anyone.

32


40/43

An Education

Revolution(Conclusion)

As we look at the rich history of the Islamiccivilization, we find lots of Muslim scientists who

worked to contribute in the area of biology, chemistry,

sociology and so forth. Have you ever wondered what

motivated these scientists to excels in there field? Was

it fame or was it money or was it something much

greater than money and fame?

I sincerely believe that our Muslim scientists had only

one objective and that was to come closer to their

Creator. While doing that they were serving humanity as a

whole. They were trying to get closer to their Creator by

achieving knowledge. This is one of the reasons why

these scientists did not use knowledge for distruction. If

we observe our scientists of today, we notice that where

they are working to make our lives easy, on the other had

they are making weapons for mass distruction. Where

splitting the atom can produce enormous energy, on the

other hand it can cause distruction like no other weapon.

We can say the same thing for biology and chemistry.

Why are we getting knowledge, why are we getting

our degrees? Its simply because of one reason. In our

mind we have the following formula: -

33


41/43

Become greedy, earn money,

become powerful, become famous

34

UNIVERSITY

Share knowledge, help

society, help humanity

Why

Education


42/43

Degree = Money

I am not saying earning a livelihood is bad. All I am

saying is that we are getting education for the wrong

reasons. The ideal situation would be to get knowledge

to come closer to our Creator. If we are not willing to do

that then I would recommend to get knowledge to

improve humanity.

Exercise

Here is the challenge. How can we use our degrees

to come closer to our Creator and help humanity?

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

34


43/43

Thin About It

Documents

Transcript of Thin About It