BaKhabar, May 2010, Page-5

better light a candle than curse the darkness

Islam in a nutshell Allah

- Sabiran Khatoon (sabirankhatoon@yahoo.in)

Beginning in the name of Allah, The most beneficent & the most Merciful

ISLAM has an abbreviation to understand easily as ut infra.

   I …………………          I
   S …………………         Shall
   L …………………        Love
   A ………………..          All
   M ……………….          Mankind

Islam, as such, hates no body but loveth and loveth only. It is the message of peace sent by the first and ultimate supreme power, “the ALLAH”, and spread over by “Hazrat Muhammad” Sal-lallaho-Alaihe-Wassallam. What Islam gave to this universe is beyond imagination. You can go to mosque and see how they are performing their prayer (Namaz). Whether he is a prime minister or his guard both are perform prayer side by side without hesitation. Every body can go to mosque with pious view and will find how much peace there is! It is said that the mosque is a house of Allah, and so surely you will find peace and whatever you want.

Islam is present since the beginning of universe. The supreme power, Allah, sent his messages through several messengers in different eras and Mohammad (SAW) was His last prophet. Mohammad (SAW) was a noble person and so he is selected by the God to spread His messages over the entire universe. Allah created all the things, viz matters, plants, living and non livings, for the use of human beings in the right way.

To understand Islam one should keep eye on the following five things, called fundamentals of Islam.

1. Kalma (The firm stand): There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet (messenger). This gives you an insight to understand the existence of God.

2. Namaz (Salah)-Five times Namaz is essential to all of us. (To pray and directly interact with God)

3. Roza (Fasting of Ramzan)- Thirty days of fasting in the ninth month of Islamic calendar i.e Ramzan.( To purify your whole body eternally, physically and orally which is also to help you to understand the importance of things that Allah has provided us like water, food stuffs,etc ant to teach us to control our desires).

4. Haj (A pilgrimage to Mucca and Madina)- This is for those ,who are capable of performing this with their own righteous income.

5. Zakat (Income tax)-Islam has made it mandatory to contribute a part of his income for the needy so that they can also basic needs are also fulfilled. It has been framed by a very clear cut formula to distribute your tax as per your income to all the needy, right from your relatives or neighbors to anyone else,without any selfish objectives.

If you obeyed all the above, you may have your understandings integrated to acquire others things too.
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(This is part-1 of a series of articles, on the topic, and insha- allah, will elaborate further, in its next phases.)

The 11 Keys to Success

Mohammad C. Jamali, Email: mjamali@eim.ae
Observing people in the workplace has yielded 11 keys to success. Time and again, it is apparent that those individuals who exhibit these 11 keys and use them most productively are consistently the most successful and most apprecited individuals overall. The good news is that most people are born with atleast some of these keys or they learn them at a very young age. All of these keys can be developed or learned later in life.
No matter which category you fit in, unless you are able to demonstrate and master a specific set of skills and traits, you will find it difficult to find the work you want.

These are the 11 keys to success:

1. Confidence: an unshakable belief in oneself based on a realistic understanding of one's circumstances; a trait that most people admire in others and strive to acquire themselves.

2. Curiosity: being eager to know and learn; always showing interest and giving special attention to the less obvious; always being the person who says, "I want to know more about . . . ."

3. Decisiveness: arriving at a final conclusion or making a choice and taking action; making decisions with determination even when you don't have all the information you think you need.

4. Empathy: demonstrating care and understanding of someone else's situation, feelings and motives; always thinking about what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes.

5. Flexibility: being capable of change; responding positively to change; being pliable, adaptable, nonrigid and able to deal with ambiguity.

6. Humor: viewing yourself and the world with enjoyment; not taking life or yourself too seriously; being amusing, amused and, at times, even comical.

7. Intelligence: thinking and working smartly and cleverly; being sharp in your dealings; "not reinventing the wheel"; planning before acting; working efficiently and focusing on quality over quantity. (Important note: This is different from IQ, the common abbreviation for intelligence quotient.)

8. Optimism: expecting the best possible outcome and dwelling on the most hopeful or positive aspects of a situation; believing that the glass is half full rather than half empty.

9. Perseverance: having passion, energy, focus and the desire to get results. Motivation, persistence and hard work are all aspects of perseverance.

10. Respect: remembering that it is just as easy to be nice; protecting another person's self-esteem; treating others in a considerate and courteous manner.

11. Self-awareness: a sophisticated form of consciousness that enables you to regulate yourself by monitoring yourself, observing yourself and changing your thought processes and behaviours.

Which of these keys are among your strengths? Which of the 11 are among your weaknesses? Self-awareness, the 11th key, is really the foundation for understanding yourself. If you are not sure how self-aware you are, ask several people whom you trust which of these 11 keys they believe are your strengths and which are not.
Again, while one person may not possess all of these keys in equal amounts, each of them can be developed and improved.

Email: bakhabar@biharanjuman.org 5