 عود بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم السلط والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء وسيد المرسلين حبيبنا وشفيع نفوسنا أبل قاس محمد المستفى صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم وعلى آله الطيبين الطاهرين الغر الميامين المظلومين ولعنة الله على أعدائهم أجمعين سلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته مرحبا بكم في مرسلنا أبل وآله والسيطان الرحمن الرحمن الرحيم نراكمنا مرحبا بكم في نمام حسين تيو بي وهذا هي تي 3 تتوك ونفرق إن شاء الله كما always I am your host علي البرجي معنا لا أحد، ولكن سيد شبير كرماني السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته وعليكم السلام عليكم وبركاته وعليكم وبركاته الحمدلله رب العمين هاف ويثيرا وفشل وفي شهر رمضان الحمدلله رب أخذت بي أشعر بخباره وخباره بشيء جيد لني كيف أخذت بي الحمدلله أخذت بي أشعر ببسي لكي يتفاق بي ولكن فكرة لن ننسى في شهر رمضان لا أريد أن نكون بخباره في هذا السهل أحسنتم مع ذلك، سأقول إن شاء الله يجب أن تبدأ نحن كما يجب أن نعرف أن الوقت الوقت يساعد نفسنا يجب أن نقوم بإمكاننا أن نستخدم الإسلام لكي نستخدم أو نقوم بإمكاننا to use or engage in لإمكاننا to go into business نقوم بإمكاننا to discuss about wealth و whether wealth was the best form of aid for faith و نقوم بإمكاننا to come to a very beautiful conclusion that indeed wealth subject to one's intention can be the best weapon in order to build and from there on improve upon and have a very good positive effect on our community and the world as a whole now insha'Allah we would like to start by discussing a businessman if we took a businessman in its raw shape and form and the question we want to pose a pony is what traits must a businessman have in order to be successful بسم الله بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم when we look at what type of traits a successful businessman or a businesswoman should have for that matter our first point of reference should be أهل البيت عليهم السلام what types of traits did Rasool Allah have himself what types of traits did lady khadija has what type of traits did she have what did she bring to the business table what type of ethics and traits did she bring and when we look at that and when we analyze that some traits come forward for us so for example as we mentioned with respect to Rasool Allah you noticed he was صادق and I mean honest and trustworthy he was very honest whenever he was doing a dealing with anyone you knew that he was not going to cheat you he's not going to lie cheat or steal and the same with his trustworthiness that people would keep their trust with him their امان and they would put they would say we trust you even though they were not Muslims many a times they were people from Makkah they said we don't know anyone more reliable than you more honest trustworthy than you and they would give him that so these are some very clear things I'm quite certain that lady khadija brought similar traits to the table that is that she had this ability to be honest sincere trustworthy as well and her loyalty to Rasool Allah during her life that was exemplified through her marriage with Rasool Allah and how she stuck by Rasool Allah side by side throughout and so I think she also understood as Rasool Allah understood that business is ultimately about relationships treat people the same way you would want to be treated and give honest be honest fair and equitable and also create win-win scenarios and you will succeed and thrive in business over time this is the place where I live I just want to be a devil's applicant and I want to say that a lot of people may come to you and say I disagree and the world we live in it's the survival of the fittest it's like the law of the jungle the strongest will eat on the weak and they may come and give you examples or look at this entrepreneur look at this businessman look at that they're all successful they're billionaires billionaires for example and they're ruthless now someone may argue as well that yes being good to people secret in healthy businesses relationships and building bridges a lot of people put on their poker face smile teach you like a prince tell you whatever you want to hear but at your back they'll back by you they'll stab you as soon as they get their first chance how can we debate this in a way to prove that listen you can be successful in this world in any field without adapting the traits of these people stick to the أخلاق and the doctrines of أحل البيت and the Holy Prophet and you can be successful how can I put this into a debate and convince people well it's a good question because that way if one wants to approach business in an unethical way you can still be successful from a worldly perspective yes it's possible you can lie, cheat, steal you may make a good income and there's many examples of this in the world that people have chose to do it that way the question is can you sleep at night can you put your head on your pillow and actually like sleep with yourself and even further than that some people go to the level and the depth of evil that they can even justify to themselves what they're doing although it's wrong they'll justify it to be able to do that there's a tradition that we're told or a story that we're told that أميل مومين asked a man to look after his saddle when he went to the masjid and this man when أميل مومين came back he was gone and he went أميل مومين is going in the bazaar in the market and he sees his saddle for sale and so he says wow I mean I had intended and he said ask the price from the shopkeeper and he said that I had intended to give this man a wage or some salary or some income for his service but he chose to make his income in a deceitful way in the wrong way the income that was written from الله سبحانه وتعالى from God Almighty was written for him but he chose which way he wanted to achieve it righteously or wrongfully and the same is true for us every single day we have the risk or the sustenance that is written for us by Allah سبحانه وتعالى now the question is do we want to achieve it the right way or the wrong way and this is what's really important so now coming back to البيت عليم السلام and the traits for what makes somebody successful in business day in and day out I'm very convinced that one of the traits that you must have to be successful at a high level and I believe البيت عليم السلام was to think big think at a very high level what do you mean and what I mean by that is that doesn't mean that just think that you know I want to just open this one cafe and I want it to be successful although that's a very good profession it's a very noble profession I'm not saying that at all what I'm saying is you're why must be very compelling why you're doing what you're doing must be very compelling meaning that I want to start a business and I just want to make some money for myself one way of thinking about it another way of thinking about it I want to start a business to employ others in my community help establish them to help give charity locally and abroad I want to strengthen my community at a global level and I want to earn big because my projects are big my goals are big the way you say it how I see it is that think big meaning have bigger goals you must have ambition very true you must have big goals you must have high degree of ambition and this is very important sometimes in our communities people lack ambition meaning that you know الحمد لله I'm good I have my income paid contentment is different than ambition what I mean by that is and we discussed this in previous episodes that if I think that الحمد لله I have my bills paid from myself and my immediate family and I don't have any obligation to other Muslims then I'm thinking small I need to think bigger to the point that I should be giving a million dollars in charity inshallah we all get to that point but the notion is what am I going to do with my wealth the wealth is a vehicle it is the cause that can drive us towards it having a big cause so a big goal is extremely important a big cause is very important something that you're striving towards there's a saying that you know shoot for the moon even if you miss you'll land amongst the stars and it gets to this notion that many times we may set very high goals and we may miss them a little bit but if you set a very short goal then you're not striving for much right and sometimes you miss that you need to have an audacious goal that for example I want to end water shortages in the world for example or on a whole continent this is a really good ambitious goal this is how this is how you need to start thinking same with رسول الله's vision was to change the world as if it was a divine mission but Lady خديجة was part of that mission as well that she says very well this is a very ambitious project we want to change Arabia that whole atmosphere of the world ultimately well it's going to require a lot of income for example so Lady خديجة put her income on the line the same comes with business I and this individual should have big dreams and big goals and once we have those big goals number one number two you must have confidence to execute on them you must have conviction now for a Muslim where do you get confidence and conviction from it comes from يهل البيت علي it comes from Allah ultimately that I know that if I put my hard work and my soul into this task that Allah having trust in Allah at the highest level He will provide for me because my goal is not about me anymore sometimes when my goal is just about me maybe Allah will not give because Allah knows for you as an individual having too much wealth is not good because this could be your downfall because you may become material you may begin to party you may begin to become loose in your ethics for you it's not good but if you broaden the objective for the benefit of others as well then it's one more reason a greater reason for Allah to bring you that very good exactly so number one think big number two have confidence in your achieving the goal have conviction don't doubt yourself have absolute trust in yourself and Allah because your trust in yourself is tied to Allah as a believer in Salah throughout your life that I am doing this Ya Allah assist me in this process because I want to do good for the world I want to do good for humanity and see the blessings come insha'Allah it may take time it does take patience there's no I'm not talking about getting rich overnight I'm not talking about becoming wealthy overnight and although Allah there's no Allah can do this but success requires hard work we need to accept that it's not something that happens in even a year or two sometimes it takes several years sometimes it takes 10 years it could be less it could be more but hard work and striving these are very important components of it the other is the ability to manage myself and my emotions and my thoughts and my feelings to be more positive you know I was reading a study that entrepreneurs successful entrepreneurs they have to be optimistic that most successful entrepreneurs they're a bit more optimistic than the general public and you kind of need that because it can be a very daunting journey it can be a very difficult journey the journey of entrepreneurship and business because everything the whole line it's not a straight line that you follow you have to tread a path and sometimes you're making circles around there you know somebody asked Elon Musk Elon Musk a very famous entrepreneur in our world he's well known he's attract a lot of attention with the SpaceX programs and Tesla cars exactly he started with PayPal he was one of the founders of PayPal really and yes Andy Him and Peter Thiel and some others he was one of the founders of PayPal and then he started Tesla and SpaceX and Solar City he's the chairman of Solar City as well and he was somebody and many other entrepreneurs as well but Elon Musk once said that you know entrepreneurship is like staring into space and chewing glass as in it's such a difficult thing and Steve Jobs said something similar that you know you have to love what you do as an entrepreneur otherwise any rational sane person would give up you need to be a little like you need to be a little obsessed with the process and the process is about doing good for humanity that's why I said at the beginning you're why needs to be very important very compelling why you're doing everything am I doing this to help the mission of أهل البيت علي مسلم am I doing this to help Muslims am I doing this to end poverty am I doing this for big reasons if you don't have a strong why you'll give up over time that's the big thing that's why I'm saying that's why I mentioned why is some of successful entrepreneurs I said it's very hard it's not easy but if your why is strong enough and you believe that this is your mission in life then you will go through whatever obstacle and your success in life and that's really the essence of it confidence in yourself first of all dreaming big dreaming we need to encourage it number two we need to encourage confidence in oneself and control over one's mindset that I have the control over my mentality and all success starts from here from the brain and number four very interesting we should encourage failure failure is actually a very strong trait of a successful entrepreneur a true entrepreneur understands that failure is just part of the journey to success you need to fail and we need to encourage people to fail big but once you fail don't give up keep going the reason that people don't succeed after that first or second failure is because they give up in reality we learn extremely valuable lessons from our failures that we don't necessarily learn from our successes many times in life if you're very successful you become complacent oh I succeeded in there for example you want a soccer match or a basketball match or some sporting event and you're like we did great so you become euphoric you become very happy which is good no problem but at the same time when you lost that game or that match you keep thinking to yourself why did we lose what did I do wrong what was wrong with my strategy how can we play better next time for example maybe I didn't defend so well maybe our team didn't defend so well or for example maybe we didn't we didn't bring our energy to the level we should have brought our energy or whatever reason it was maybe their strategy was better maybe they were better at defense for example whatever when you fail you learn very valuable lessons at life and it makes you ponder on them we sometimes see someone do not do so well in business or maybe fail the first time we think oh it's not meant for them no it could very well but the reality of the matter is that this is part of the journey to success and this is what happens I mean you know and it's not just number five I would say is execution execution is extremely important in fact it is what makes business business it is what makes entrepreneurship entrepreneurship execution and what I mean by that is a great idea is a dime a dozen great ideas come and go but who executes ideas Uber many people have heard of Uber most people of the viewers probably used it at some point in time there's a company a few years before Uber called Magic Taxi I don't think anyone knows about Magic Taxi it was the same concept same idea same everything why aren't they here sometimes it requires a bit of timing sometimes it requires execution better execution there's different facets but really truly what makes a successful business is proper execution and not giving up persistence and tenacity would be number six persistence and tenacity that I'm not going to give up until and unless this is done that's a vital trait if you're going to give up you're going to struggle as an entrepreneur you need to be persistent I was listening to an interview from one of the best salespeople in the world and he said he told me he was talking about his technique of hiring a salesman which is very interesting Timmy he said he has a few minutes of an interview with each individual and he said I would line up maybe 50 people in an hour a block or something like that a short he said that I have all these people lined up for meetings in the next few minutes and within the next hour why should I hire you why are you the best and then he said I would proceed to tell them you're not the best salesman and he said many people would tell me that you know oh maybe you're right okay thanks bye and he said the ones that I would always hire are the ones that are saying well maybe you need to listen more closely for example he said that you know he said one time I remember I hired a guy I said to him you know I'm not hearing a successful salesman from you and he said he responded to me well maybe you're deaf he said I've raised sales in every company I've worked with an ethical honorable and straightforward way my strails and he was fighting back and forth with me he said that's what I was looking for that's the type of persistence I was looking for that's the type of conviction I was looking for that's the type of energy I was looking for that they're not going to give up until they create a win-win scenario for both sides you know true people who have a high level of vision and business they are adamant about these things about being driven towards success working very hard and not giving up and being honest and trustworthy I'm not saying that people who are deceitful and lie and lie cheat and steal they don't get something many people do lie cheat and steal and they end up getting something but sooner or later they do become exposed people do find out about it and then their graph starts to fall if you want to play the long game and you want to do things right I think the honest and integrity aspect is the most important which would come to point number 7 which is integrity is extremely important I remember I was reading Made in America Sam Walton with Walmart and he said that what I look for in my management staff the number one thing is integrity they must have the highest level of integrity and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has replicated that as well in terms of his model he built his company Amazon on this principle of Sam Walton that you must have integrity in business in order to succeed over the long run it's a very important complication that's very good my question now is how do I train myself to keep that momentum in order to reach the goal I want to reach even though I may get battered failed and keep going how do I train myself or what qualities do I need to attain in order for me to have that constant energy and that constant remembrance of the goal and be motivated and never stop and never give up and keep going would that find out for you very good now I've been using and I will use some names of entrepreneurs that doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything they say right I'm just giving a principle within that let's just leave it to what they're saying at that moment in time but with respect to Ahlu al-Bayt عليمو سلام because that's our reference point at every point in time Ahlu al-Bayt عليمو سلام would encourage us to strive for success in this world and use this world as a means for the آخر which requires persistence meaning when I want to be a good Muslim I need persistence for example I don't want to read صلاة I'm very tired فجر صلاة for example I don't want to get up I don't want to do this but I need to have that discipline in my life that I will get up pray when I have to pray or sometimes there's difficulties in terms of fasting maybe someone says the hours of fasting are very long and London for example I don't want to fast well you need to have that discipline this is why in the first episode when we began we said رمضان is a beautiful time for us to remind ourselves about that conviction and belief and strengthening our why and disciplining ourselves but I remember a quote I believe was from Mark Cuban that every no in sales for example every no gets me closer to a yes which this quote resonated with me the reason was when you for example are cold calling or you're in a business for example you have to become accustomed to rejection you have to get accustomed to people saying no but if you look at it rather than this is not just a no that maybe every 10 if I call 10 people one of them is going to be a yes but when I get a no no no I'm just getting closer to that yes which will happen on the 9th or 10th time so this is very important to note persistence comes from there persistence also comes that belief الله سبحانه وتعالى has told me that I should endeavor and strive in business and that's what I should do we have traditions that tell us that business commerce to do تجارة is actually part of the dignity of the belief of the believer our 6th Imam علي مسلم has attributed to have said he saw a man who was running late for work he was he had a job maybe in the market he said he said go towards your dignity why are you delaying yourself from your dignity imagine we may think I'm sitting in the bazaar and I'm trying to sell something humble maybe dates do not forget I made them at Samar or some of the companions and he's selling something humble no the أهلبيت said this is your dignity to work hard and honest and strive in business and we should admire that and take that on board in our lives that أهلبيت علي مسلم said no do not think that if you go and work in the bazaar this is undignified this is your honor work hard strive hard and leave the rest الله سبحانه وتعالى he will take care أحسنتم إن شاء الله we'll pause for a short while and we'll be right back with you dear brothers and sisters so stay tuned see you in a bit السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته welcome back my dear brothers and sisters respected viewers إن شاء الله just before we continue we'd like to let you know that now our lines are open for any of you who'd like to call and join our discussion or even ask or say the question by all means I urge you to do so the landline number is 0203 515019 I repeat 0203 515019 and you should have WhatsApp available for you if you don't want to call you can text the question and the number should be available at the bottom of your screens with that being said I would like to with regards to today's topic regarding which industries are recommended or encouraged by Islam for us to engage in sure so there's a number of different industries that Islam has highly encouraged for us to pursue and of course these are all with ethics and all those prerequisites that we had discussed in previous episodes أميل محمين and he has said that before they endeavor in business they should strive and they should try their best in order to become acquainted with the jurisprudence of business meaning that they should know the rules and regulations of Islam with respect to business before they endeavor and this is very important because they don't want to have negligence or they don't want to say that I made this mistake Islamically but I didn't know so you should become acquainted with this however given all that there are certain fields that are highly recommended for example agriculture farming and the likes have been highly recommended by Islam and one should endeavor in that we are told that أميل محمين himself when he was younger during his during the 25 year period for example where his ride was taken during that time he was once seen taken a sack on his back towards the forest if you will or towards you know and when he was going a man asked him yeah Ali what is it that you have where you're taking on your back he says date palms insha'Allah and at that point of course it was not date palms because date palms would be huge you know he was actually carrying seeds and he planted those seeds and he created orchards from which he derived date palms and he began to do business over time so he started from scratch literally أميل المؤمنين علي السلام but over time he became so wealthy that he freed as we mentioned in أسول كافي you have traditions that say that أميل مؤمنين with his own money he freed over a thousand slaves الله مسل على محمد ولمحمد أميل المؤمنين who was living one of the most humble lives now where did that come from his own father was a very good businessman أبو طالب may Allah bless him he saw that in his life he saw his cousin رسول الله himself doing business these were tradesmen businessman and that really had a big impact in encouraging his success أميل مؤمنين and that confidence that he had of course these are all lessons for us أهل البيت علي مسلام are divine representatives but agriculture is highly recommended another field that is highly recommended by Islam is actually real estate which many people would be like wow real estate and this relates to farming and agriculture but even further than this numerous traditions of the أهل البيت علي مسلام have been found that make a distinguishment between silent property and for example active property or real property and silent property is the أهل البيت علي مسلام we are actually not in support of having money just lying around cash or just wealth just lying around أهل البيت علي مسلام encouraged us to use our wealth actively to develop our society our community to the best ability possible that we should not just be keeping money and hoarding wealth if you follow what I'm saying that I should not just accumulate and accumulate and accumulate and become a millionaire and sit on my piles of money no I should use that wealth and invest in property and I should help build and develop society we are told there's a tradition that we are told that is attributed to the sixth إمام علي مسلام that a man came to him and he said I have a property that I live and I have a property and people have made big offers to me they've made many offers to me to buy this property what should I do يبنى رسول الله you know sometimes when the offer start getting really good you're like I want to stay here but then the offer start climbing you're like well maybe I should reconsider he goes to the mama علي مسلام says that the one who trades مد and cement or mud and water actually who trades mud and water not for mud and water has made a mistake mud and water referring to property meaning the cement and bricks that you make a property with one who trades it for maybe wealth instead of actually buying another property has made a mistake he says but يبنى رسول الله what if I take this property and the income that comes from it and buy a bigger better property then the Imam I have said that this is good this is something that there is no objection and this is a good thing to do meaning that someone from اهل البيت علي مسلام who is a follower of the اهل البيت علي مسلام you should retain property and only use that or only sell that property if you plan and intend on buying a bigger better property this is very important to know why property because مسلام have also further said again the sixth Imam that when someone is attributed have said when someone buys a property they have something that they can use for example God forbid they pass away their dependents their family who remains they still have something that they can liquidate they can sell it and use that property or they still have something where they can rent out some portion of the house they still have ultimately some other way of making income or I would think maybe as well control of land exactly so eventually when a community would grow they would owe the land that you live in as well yes and then we see it through the imams if you think about it the imams even for example أب عبد الله الحسين علي السلام he went and he bought the land of قرب علي which he was marted so the imams even the location where they are buried they bought the land it's not like a random location so that makes a lot of sense how important it is absolutely he bought أب عبد الله السلام he bought the land and he gifts it back to the people imagine what generosity أهل البيت عليم السلام where did that income come from أب عبد الله who worked very hard and strived very hard himself to the extent that we even know his mother that she would manage the affairs of فدق from a management standpoint she didn't necessarily go there but the bookkeeping and things and the affairs of فدق she kept those in line and control meaning that the أهل البيت عليم السلام they had this heritage of enterprising of for example strategy of for example business real estate agriculture all of these things were very important to the أهل البيت عليم السلام and as you mentioned very correctly that أب عبد الله himself bought that property or numerous times أهل البيت عليم السلام would encourage one to buy property to subscribe in property as much as possible there was a tradition we're told for example a man had a very very big house أهل البيت a member of the أهل البيت passed by and said this is a very big property and people began to think that you know this is negative that you know why is it that someone has such a huge house and maybe there's a few people it's a fair question right you're someone who's one or two people living in house and this is a huge mansion أهل البيت عليم السلام said this same house or this same mansion can be turned into a place of God how by making it of use to the Muslims or the members of the community for example well open up some of the rooms you know now Mashallah today people use Airbnb they use this app so they can rent out some maybe one or two rooms within their house they have a big house so maybe you can help other people out but maybe not renting it's so high it's a decent margin you make some income and they have a place to live as well so Islam is very practical and pragmatic in this regard and there's traditions found in this respect Islam is very forward thinking religion that highlights these components so agriculture highly recommended real estate highly recommended numerous others trust keeping is also recommended we're told for example a man came and he was he wanted to come he came to the sixth Imam he says that I have people who are giving their trust to me they have money they have money that they've kept with me and they want to for example they want to there's too much money and I feel a responsibility and I feel anxiety to keep it you see Ibn Asrullah I want to give them back their money and I want to just forsake this world this dunya he said do you want to he sent his son to send this message when his son sent this message Imam Ali Muslim is attributed to have said do you want to wage war on your own nafs do you want to wage war on yourself he said he must not do this he must continue to strive in this regard get income and he must help his dependents and the Muslim community now question with regards to trust keeping because when you said trust keeping first thing that came to my mind is banking and obviously when I think of banking for XYZ reasons the first thing I think of is usurpee riba now trust keeping question if you can enlighten me by all means how could someone profit from trust keeping sure so typically you're correct we want to stay away from usury we want to stay away from riba which is exorbitant amounts of interest this is not acceptable loan sharking things like this Islam does not accept for example but however in banks or in other places for example you find what are called safe keeping locations so you pay a fee and you keep we have this in America it's very common and they basically give you a safe and it's something that you're able to keep your valuables there and charge your fee there's no objection Islamically that I'm aware of from this respect because you're providing a service at the end at the end of the day so for example somebody can keep and sometimes somebody would say maybe this is storage like for example you may see many storage locations where for a monthly fee you're able to keep your belongings there because you may have more belongings than you're able to for example that's not a problem or if you have a safe for example or for example there's other people who are hired services to keep or transport people's income for example all of these things can perhaps protect you and prevent you from delving and dealing with Yusri or Reba Insha'Allah and keep everything Halal and proper and ethical and within the bounds of Islam Insha'Allah now going back to success for someone how important or what role does the environment play in that mindset of success it's a brilliant question you've asked that how important is your environment in order to lead to success or the mindset of success and the answer is it's very important your environment has a big big role we talked about some quotes for example if you surround yourself with five millionaires you'll be the sixth and if you surround yourself with five negative people you'll be the sixth but I want to mention that if somebody who's listening one of our viewers who feels like they're not in the best place in the world right now economically maybe they're not in the best neighborhood maybe they're not surrounded by the best people I don't want you to lose hope I don't want that viewer to lose hope and what I say what I mean by that is proximity is of two kinds proximity is physical proximity to be next to someone close physically or mental proximity which is very important and mental proximity is actually sharing thoughts with successful people and I'll I'll refer to the Quran or the Islam with respect to this where Nabi Ibrahim we are told that he says إني محاجر إلى ربي that I am I am someone who is journeying towards my lord I am someone who is migrating towards my lord yeah Ibrahim where is your lord not that you are migrating towards him that Allah SWT is everywhere where are you going the reality is he is intellectually migrating or he's telling us to intellectually through our minds migrate towards Allah SWT that it's not physical proximity Allah is everywhere the same way when we talk about our proximity we talk about mental proximity so for example I can read books of successful people throughout history I can start by reading the books of Ahlulbayt I can read how they live their lives for example they may not physically be next to me however through proximity and intellectual mindset I am able to make myself closer to the Ahlulbayt number one number two I read the biographies of successful businessmen and businesswomen throughout history who have done it ethnically and properly and done things the right way I read the biographies of for example inventors and people who have ingenuity last episode or sometime we mentioned مولا تسلا right a man who worked very hard for example or an inventor an innovator and what I'm saying is you can still be in maybe not the best physical environment maybe you don't have the best house not the best car maybe materially you don't have the best but you can still control your ethics the way you carry yourself your professionalism and your mindset you can sit in maybe the worst of places but still have the mentality of the most successful people you can have the mentality of the house you can have the mentality of the people who have flourished and thrived in this world provided we go out and seek that through reading through increasing our knowledge and our intellect Warren Buffett and others people Charlie Munger who's the right hand man of Warren Buffett who's one of the wealthiest men in the world he says that I have not found a single person in my life who is successful who does not read I have not found a single person Bill Gates has said by the way Bill Gates and Warren Buffett both say the most intelligent person they've met is Charlie Munger and this man is saying that I haven't found a single person in my life who has been successful at a very high level and that they didn't read they all read they all were adamant and people who read very frequently books on increasing your knowledge and your intellect and your intelligence doesn't it and you sharpen up your skills as well you sharpen up your intellect you broaden up your how can I word it maybe your your thinking yes to broaden your thinking yes how to think outside the box how they say yes absolutely I was speaking to some Shabab here who who highlighted this notion to me that you know sometimes we have a challenge of thinking about what something like somebody may say and the root cause of this is we need to raise our level of thinking this is what happens you ask Elon Musk he's known that if you ask him hey Elon he's daising off into the sky the owner of the founder of Tesla and PayPal and SpaceX and you ask him at dinner Elon what are you thinking about and he's saying I'm thinking how people would live on Mars what would their daily schedule be like what would dinner be like for them what would this is what the thoughts that he is encountering himself and this is how one should be thinking forward thinking the future you know what very successful people have in life they're able to see a vision into the future then they're able to see where we are today and they're able to see the gap between the two and how we can get from one to the other and then they execute on it I have just condensed the formula for success in a few words but it's a lot of hard work executioners where the success lies vision big vision for the future understand the status quo where we stand today how do we get there and execute on it that's it that's how you succeed and that's how you get further in life that's quite interesting you know I'm trying to word it for someone in order to excel and be successful that means he needs to be the best at what he does is that correct sorry I'll stop you there I'll stop you there we've got a call on the line السلام عليكم السلام عليكم how are you brother أحسنتم okay if you could repeat the question please because we had this small just a second if brothers in the group could fix it because I think say it you can't hear it can you I can't hear it yeah if you can fix it just one second okay what I'll do is you can repeat the question and I'll just ask the say it on your behalf how do I be the best at what I do yeah improve my business and self morale okay okay thank you brother إن شاء الله say it so basically it's kind of connected to what we started discussing about so the brother was asking how can I be the best at what I do in having a successful business and self morale very good so how can you be the best so the answer to the question is do you have to be the best in the world to succeed in every aspect and the answer is no what you have to be able to do is you have to be able to identify what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are in an honest and sincere way where you're honest to yourself first and foremost you have to understand and identify what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are and if you can help get people to help you on your journey who compliment you meaning what your weakness is is their strength for example and you work together in partnership you can get very far now the question comes is how do I identify what my strengths are and what my weaknesses are that's a beautiful question so one way that I often recommend people is to take what's called the Myers-Briggs test which helps it's a personality test one amongst many other personality tests but it's one that's very popular and famous the Myers-Briggs personality test Myers-Briggs Myers-Briggs personality test many people in the US for example take this in their high school years but sometimes it's very valuable to take this throughout your life and take it numerous times because who we are actually changes over time at some level as well and or for example maybe our answers because what you put in is what you get out of that test so it's about 60 questions or so that asks you about your personality to help you understand more about yourself and what you lie on and so it will give you a combination of four letters for example E or I are you extroverted or introverted for example and you go through that whole line and it will give you some more or for example say are you intuitive or sensing are you thinking or judging or perceiving and things like this but that's the thing certain questions because I remember I've tried some quizzes and certain questions I find it very difficult to answer because I may not know exactly what I do you know but sometimes I think that a third person might be more qualified or capable to identify my weaknesses and my strengths yes maybe to an extent I can identify my weakness but certain questions like a couple of you mentioned I would sit and think okay do I know do I know maybe others observe it because they listen to me I may do something unconsciously or becomes like a second nature very good question this is very important so this is why I recommend people take it once take it multiple times and over time so do it a few times this year then a few times next year and then you will be absolutely certain the other thing is these are designed these tests are designed by Ph.D. psychologists and doctors of psychology and they're designed to weed out bias they're designed to take out the bias so for example they'll ask you some questions that seem similar and they'll see how do you respond over time on them you're definitely one or the other sometimes people are on the fence on a particular trait so for example somebody may not be 100% extroverted they may not be 100% introverted they may be some combination of the two and this is where it comes in this is where the test will help you over time I remember myself when I took it younger there was a couple ones that would flip flop in terms of my personality but when I kept doing it over time and I even asked other people this is where it's very helpful you can ask other people for example like one trait is their feedback that's very important ask feedback like am I for example you can ask them am I somebody who's always on time or am I someone who's a little bit late tell me the truth and your friends will tell you're absolutely on the dot every single time or they'll say you know what you're the last person to get to the show or to the party or to the gathering and then that will help you make a decision if you're truly not sure about something tell me the truth don't beat around the bush and then once you realize what that is then you'll certain patterns because on the internet and on other online surveys and you can find a whole wealth of answers that will tell you about your personality and will tell you what your strengths are it may be that you're somebody who's caring maybe this is a good field for you maybe you're a very analytical intelligent maybe science and mathematics and being a scientist is for you and those tests will help you get a better understanding of those so I would encourage people to use those to help understand your strength but now do not confuse something that's easy for your strength I noticed many times I speak to Shabab they want when they go to university for example they speak oh I like this subject and they'll pick something that's very easy for example and they're not saying that really that I like this subject they're just saying it's easy for example do not cheat yourself and lie to yourself or be honest with yourself if you like a very very very difficult subject and that's what you feel like is that is your subject even if it's rocket science pursue it and you will succeed Insha'Allah by the grace of the Ahl al-Bayt and Allah SWT Insha'Allah Ahsantim Masmerizing Sayyidina Allah bless you unfortunately once again we've run out of time I'd like to thank you all for being with us I hope this show has been as beneficial to you as it has been to us Sayyidina thank you once again for being with us and thank you all to the staff and the crew that makes this happen brothers and sisters respected viewers Insha'Allah we'll be with you tomorrow 6.30 until then remember us in your du'as and always pray for the hastening of the reappearance of Imam al-Hujj and I wish you all a blessed and joyful iftar with family and friends Insha'Allah until then سلام عليكم