Eidul Adha reminders, by www.ProductiveMuslim.

com THE CALL (Part 1) When Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) completed the structure of the Kabah, Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) commanded him to call the people to Hajj. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) got confused he said, O Allah! How shall my voice reach all of those people? Allah (Subhanahu wa taala) told him that his duty was only to give the call and it was up to Allah to make it reach the people. Here we have a beautiful productivity lesson; dont worry about the results/outcome of your effort, rather worry about making the effort and ensuring you do the task to the best of your ability. If Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) saw that the expected outcome of his task is impossible, he would have given up and there would have been no Hajj. But, he relied upon Allah & did his best; he climbed Mount Arafat and called out in his loudest voice, O People! Verily Allah has prescribed upon you Hajj, so perform Hajj.

Every human being on earth at that time heard that call and Hajj began since that day. Allah (Subhanahu wa taala) revealed in the Quran: And proclaim the Hajj among mankind. They will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways (Surat Al-Hajj, Ayat 28).

We should never stop ourselves from making the necessary effort to achieve something just because we think the results are impossible to achieve. Do your part and leave the rest upon Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala).

THE CALL (Part 2) There are 2 important ingredients for Ibrahims success in this task: 1. He took all necessary means to complete his task; he went to the highest mountain at that time, mount Arafat, and called with his loudest voice.

2. He was sincere! He sincerely believed that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) will deliver his call to all mankind. These 2 ingredients: Sincerity & hard work are the ingredients for true success in dunya and akhira. One of the most respected scholars I know of our time gave me this advice and Ill never forget it; he told me: have good intentions and work hard. Ive carried this message wherever Ive gone and its a formula of success I try to live by. Write this message down, place it somewhere on your desk and remind yourself daily to have good intentions and work hard in whatever you do and see how Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) will open the doors of success for you inshaAllah!

BUILDING THE KABAH (Part 1) Ive always been in awe at the verse that talks about Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) and Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) building the house of Allah, the verse says: And remember Abraham and Ismail raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing. (Surat Al-Baqarah, Verse 127) Notice how although they were doing the most noble task on earth at that moment, they werent arrogant about it and asked Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) to accept it from them.

When youre being productive, always be humble about it and dont boast. Remember, it is Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) who gave you the means to be productive at that time, so be thankful and always ask Him to accept from you your hard work.

BUILDING THE KABAH (Part 2) Were still with the story of Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) and Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) building the Kabah. Allah says in the Quran: And remember Abraham

and Ismail raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing. (Surat Al-Baqarah, Verse 127)

Notice how their prayer ended with For Thou art the All-Hearing, the Allknowing, imagine if in all our work we remember that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) is watching us and knows what were doing; how will our work be? What sort of tasks will we choose to do? What would happen to our level of productivity? How far would we go to ensure that the task is done perfectly or in an excellent manner?

Heres a practical homework exercise for you: pick a task you need to do, perhaps something youve been procrastinating upon for a long time, and ask yourself if I was to do this task sincerely for Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) knowing that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) is watching me do it, how should I go about it and get it done? The answer may surprise you.

BUILDING THE KABAH (Part 3) For the past 2 days, weve spoken about the story of Ibraheem (Peace be upon him) and Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) building the Kaaba and so far weve derived 2 lessons from it:

1. When youre being productive, be humble and dont boast, but thank Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) and ask Him to accept from you.

2. Whenever you approach a new task, you should remember that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) is watching you and you should try your best to do the task sincerely for Him.

A final lesson that we can draw from the story is the following; notice how Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) and Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) were working

together to build the Kaba. Good companionship (whether related or unrelated) is a true helper in making you productive. Sometimes being along or doing something alone can be discouraging and you might easily give up, but if you work with people and work within a team, itll force you to be productive.

Try your best when you undertake a task, project, or good deed that you do it with other people whether its with your spouse, children, co-workers, friends, or even random people who passionately belief in your task. Working with someone, or within a team, will immensely help you keep up the productivity and work hard to get the work done inshaAllah.

THE MIRACLE OF ZAMZAM (Part 1) Today we move to a different Hajj story; the story of Hajar (May Allah be pleased with her) and her son Ismaeel (Peace be upon him).

Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) woke up one day and asked Hajar to prepare herself and baby Ismail for a long travel. Ibrahim and Hajar kept walking, crossed a fertile land followed by barren mountains till they arrived at the Arabian desert. Ibrahim brought Hajar to a high hill called al-Marwa, made her and her baby sit under a tree, placed a bag of dates and some water near her, and simply walked away. You can imagine Hajars reaction at this, she ran after him and said: Are you going to leave us in this desert where there is no one to keep us company? She repeated this many times but he would not look back at her. Finally she asked: Has Allah ordered you to do so? He said yes. She replied, Then He will not neglect us.

This story teaches us a very beautiful lesson: When Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) is testing you, you need to have this belief that Allah will not forsake you. Youre a Muslim, you believe in Him, Hell not forsake you. Do your best in all your endeavors regardless of the trials youll face, and Allah will not forsake you.

This feeling of certainty in Allahs help will boost your productivity when you feel like giving up.

THE MIRACLE OF ZAMZAM (Part 2) Yesterday, we introduced the story of Hajar (May Allah be pleased with her) and her son Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) and stopped where Hajar was left in the barren land with little food and water. Lets continue the story

Hajar went on nursing Ismaeel and drinking from the water until it was all used up. She became very thirsty and the child was crying. She left him on the alMarwa hill and hurried to the nearest hill, as-Safa. She stood there and started looking at the valley keenly so that she might see somebody, but she could not see anybody. She descended from as-Safa, crossed the valley running and reached al-Marwa hill. She stood and started looking but could see anybody. She kept running between as-Safa and al-Marwa seven times. When she reached alMarwa for the last time, she was exhausted, and there the miracle happened! Angel Jibreel, dug the earth until water flowed underneath Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) & Zamzam was born!

I always ask this question to my students; Why did Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) make Hajar (May Allah be pleased with her) run 7 times before this miracle happened? If He (Subhanahu Wa Taala) wanted, he could have provided her with Zamzam without her even lifting a finger, but theres a lesson here for all mankind: you need to work hard for miracles to happen!

The sky does NOT rain gold, you have to be proactive, do your best and push yourself and Allah will provide from where you didnt expect!

This is a message to the Ummah of Islam: Sitting down and doing nothing for the Ummah and hoping that our Ummahs situation will change does not grant us victory.

We need active societies, people who care more about those around them than their own comforts. Each one of us needs to be productive in an area of our lives, and boost those around us to be productive as well and this is how well rise as an Ummah, inshaAllah.

THE GREAT SACRIFICE (Part 1) The story of Ibrahims (Peace be upon him) sacrifice of Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) is probably the most famous story of Hajj and one that we all memorize. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) saw a vision of himself slaughtering his son, knowing that its a command from Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala), he spoke to his son Ismaeel (Peace be upon him) about his vision and the obedient son dutifully agreed. As Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) was taking his son to the slaughter location, shaytaan appeared 3 times in 3 different locations advising Ibrahim to abandon his task and go back home with his son. Angel Jibreel came down and told Ibrahim that this is shaytaan trying to tempt him from obeying Allah, he should throw 7 pebbles at him and hell disappear.

When they reached the designated spot, Ibrahim placed his son Ismaeel face down on the ground, reached for his sons neck with the knife and pulled it! Nothing happened. He did it again, nothing happened. He tried a third time but still, nothing happened and the miracle occurred. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) says in the Quran: So when they had both submitted their wills (to Allah, and he had laid him prostrate on his forehead (for sacrifice), We called out to him O Abraham!. Thou hast already fulfilled the vision! thus indeed do We reward those who do right. For this was obviously a trial- And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice: And We left (this blessing) for him among generations (to come) What in later times lessons can (Al-Saffat, we learn Verses from this 103-108). story?

productivity

I wont tell you today, I want you to think about it ;) Hit reply and tell me your thoughts and Ill reveal a couple of lessons tomorrow inshaAllah.

THE GREAT SACRIFICE (Part 2) MashaAllah! I got some really awesome replies to yesterdays question: What lesson of productivity can we learn from the story of Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) sacrificing his son Ismaeel (Peace be upon him)?

Heres the productivity lesson I wanted to share with you: remember the part when Shaytaan was coming to advise Ibrahim not to obey Allah? This is the sort of advice that we mostly fall for each day that makes us unproductive! Shaytaan each day turns up and tells you no need to work on that project..its too hard, leave it today, you seem tired.. OR you cant do that, youre too young/old/stupid/busy to work on this project, someone else will do it. Day in and day out he comes to us and distracts us, acting as our trusted advisor to stay away from good deeds an keep us lazy and unproductive. Today, I want you to pelt shaytaan with stones of knowledge, hard work, sincerity and perservance whenever you hear such advice from him!

P.S. Dont forget its the day of Arafat today! Make the most of it and if you can, fast it as well. Please dont forget the ProductiveMuslim team in your duas!