Professional
Excellence – Islamic view Point
1.Introdction
Islam is a practical religion and a way of life. Islam
gives a wide meaning of Ibadath (things liked by Allah). It includes not only
the duties to Allah like Prayer, Fasting, Zakath and Hajj , it also includes
acquiring knowledge for religious purposes or worldly matters, earning money
through Halal means, helping parents and others, respecting elders, showing
mercy to younger ones and so on. All that you do in life for the pleasure and
satisfaction of Allah is Ibadath.
According to Islamic poit of view if you want to excel
in anything you do :
·
It should be
for the satisfaction of Allah ie your Intention (Niyath) should be good
·
You should
have thorough knowledge(Ilm) about that
·
You should
sincerely work to achieve that (Professional Excellence)
Each of these we will elaborate inshaAllah to know how
you can achieve professional excellence in an Islamic perspective.
2.Intention
(Niyath)
The result or reward of any action depends on the
Niyath or Intention. Only if the intention of any deed is the pleasure or
satisfaction of Allah, we get reward or else you may get punishment
istead of reward for a goood deed. Rasool (SA) said ‘ your actions are judged
according to their intention and for every man is due that for which he
intended. (Bukhari & Muslim)
If the prayer or Salah is done carelessly or if it is
only to show others we get punishment instead of reward (107:4-6). Similarly if
you are giving Zakat (Compulsary Charity) or Sadka (Optional Charity) to get
fame or trouble those too whom you have given, Allah will not accept it ( ).
Also Allah will accept only pure things and so Zakat or Sadka only from Halal
earnings through permissible deeds will be accepted. Final success is only for
those who earn Halal money and spend it for good purposes for the pleasure of
Allah.
Rasool (SA) said ‘ Actions are but by intention and
every person will have that which he intended. Thus he who migrates for the
sake of Allah and His messenger, his migration will be for Allah and His
messenger, whereas he whose migration is for achieving worldly benefit or
to select some woman for marriage, his migration will be for that for which he
migrated. (Bukhari & Muslim)
Even a warrior, Scholar or philonthraphist will get
punishment, if the intention was not the pleasure of Allah but for getting
fame. Allah will not permit us to take a step forward in Mahashera (Day of
Judgement) unless we answer the following questions:
·
How did you
earn and how you spent it
·
How you
utilised your youth
·
What you have
done with the knowledge you acquired (Bukhari)
3.Ilm
(Knowledge)
Islam gives highest priority for acquiring useful and
good knowledge from available sources. The very first sura revealed to our
Rasool (SA) is “Read in the name of your Lord who has created you from a clot.
Read and your Lord is most gracious, who has taught by the pen and taught man
that which he knew not (96:1-5).
Through Quran Allah is asking Rasool (SA) to make the
Dua(Supplication) “ O Allah increase my knowledge”. (20:114) and Rasool (SA)
recommended us to make the following Dua: “ O Allah I seek from you useful
knowledge, pure food and make me deeds acceptable to You” (Ibn Maja).
Allah says in Quran, “We grants wisdom to whomsoever we
wills, and to whom wisdom is granted, is surely granted abandant good” (2:269).
Allah wants us to think about His creations – “Verily in the creation of
heavens and the earth and in the alteration of night and day, there are indeed
signs for men of understanding (3:190). Quran also quotes a prayer of Ibrahim
(AS) – “MY Lord bestow on me wisdom and join me with the righteous and grant me
an honourable mention by the coming generations and make me one of the
inheriters of Paradise (26:83-85).
Also Allah insists to do justice from the knowledge he
has – “O you who believe, stadout firmly for justice as witnesses to
Allah even it be against yourselves or your parents or your kin, be he
rich or poor. Allah is a better protector of both. So follow not the lust, lest
you may go away from justice and if you refrain Allah is well acquainted with
what you do (4:135). Allah mentions to Dawood (AS) – “Verily we have placed you
as a successor on the earth, so judge between men in truthand follow not your
desires for it will mislead you from the path of Allah (38:26).
Look at some of the sayings of Rasool (SA):
·
A believer
never stops seeking knowledge untill he enters paradise (Tirmudi)
·
A learned
person is as much above a worshipper as I am above the least of any of you
(Tirmudi)
·
He who treads
the path in search of knowledge, Allah would make the path easy, leading him to
paradise (Muslim)
·
Prior to the
last hour, there would be a time when knowledge will be taken away and
ignorance will take its place and there would be blood shed on a large scale
(Muslim)
·
Three things
which displeases Allah are too much talking, asking too much questions
and wasting your time and money (Muslim)
4.
Professional Excellence
Islam is the most practical religion and a way of life.
It not only explains when and how to do ibadath as a duty to Allah for His
satisfaction but also tells the best way to do worldly matters through Quran
and Hadees. Allah insists that whatever good you do , do it with excellence and
for the pleasre of Allah alone. To excel in anything you have to acquire the
relevant knowledge and technique, sincerely do hard work to achieve it having
full trust in Allah.
For able to do things in an exvellent manner, Allah is
asking muslims to pray to Him – “Guide us in right path, the path of
those upon whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who have earned Your
anger, nor of those who went astray (1:6,7)
The major reason why we are unable to excel now in our
deeds is because we have turned away from the religious teachings and became
ignorant of Its wisdom and laws and simply performing ibadath without Taqwa
(fear of Allah) and Iqlas (Sincereity). Immorality of character, falsehood,
hypocrasy, ill will and hatred has been spread resulting in disintegration. We
are now totally ignorant of what harms us and what benifits us. We have become
centered with the pleasures of this life eating, drinking and enjoying beyond
limit, loving this world and hating death. We also forget that Allah’s help
will not descend upon disbelievers and sinners.
Rasool (SA), Sahabas and our forefathers used to get
Allah’s miraculous help whenever required when they were leading a pious life.
We forget the teachings of Allah – “If Allah helps you none can overcome you”
(3:160) and “Do not become weak nor be sad and you will be superior, if you are
indeed believers” (3:1399).
The 2nd Khalifa Umar bin Khatab in his letter to the
commander Saed bin Ali Waqas wrote “ Ask Allah’s help assistance over your
ownselves to save you from crimes and sins, just as you ask Allah’s assistance
for the victory over your enimies”
Imam Ahamed recorded a Dua of Rasool (SA) as “O Allah
verily I seek refuge with you from weakness, laziness, senility of old age,
cowardliness, stinginess and the torment of the grave. O Allah give my soul its
good and purify it, for you are the best to purify it, you are its guardian and
master. O Allah I seek refuge with you from a heart that is not humble, a soul
that is not satisfied, knowledge that is not benificial and supplication that
is not answered “ (Ahamed, Muslim).
When we acquire wealth , health or knowledge , we
become proud and assume that it is our greatness, whereas Rasool (SA) says
“Modesty and faith exists together. When one disappears the other also
disappears” (Bayhaqi). “Ability to act in calm and composed manner is a
blessing from Allah, whereas acting in haste is following Satan” (Tirmudi) and
“ whoever fail to thank the people for their favours, fail to thank Allah”
(Tirmudi).
Now a days most of us do not bother about what is
Halal (Permissible) and what is Haram (Forbidden). Rasool (SA) has said “
Earning an honest living is a duty next to the principle duties of Eeman and
again no flush has a better claim to the hell fire than which is grown on
unlawful food” (Bayhaqi).
We alll become upset when facing problems or hardship.
But Allah says “Be sure we will test you with fear, hunger, loss of goods and
lives, but give glad tidings to those who patiently face it and supplicate to
Allah – ‘To Allah we belong and to Him we will return’ “(2:155,156).
Muslim quoted a hadees that Rasool (SA) said
“Verily Allah has prescribed proficiency or excellence in all matters,
thus if you kill, kill well and if you slaughter, slaughter well, Let each of
you sharpen his blade and let him spare the suffering of the animal he
slaughters”
Rasool (SA) advocates good behaviour through the
following sayings:
·
The dearest
and closest to me in the day of judgement will be those of you are well behaved
and most disliked and fartthest from me will be those who are pompous, boasful
and arrogant (Thirmudi)
·
Exchange
gifts with one another for gifts will remove ill will from the heart (Thirmudi)
·
Verily good
conduct, graceful appearance and moderations are one part of 25 parts of
prophethood (Ahamed)
·
The tie of
kinship is suspended to the throne of Allah and He says – One who unites me,
Allah will unite him and one who severe me Allah willl severe him (Muslim).
·
Whosoever
desires expansion in his sustenance and age should keep good relation with his
kith and kin (Bukhari)
·
The true
good qualities of a muslim are prolonged silence and good conduct (Bayhaqi)
Acquiring even halal money and not helping others is
cursed by Allah and Rasool (SA) said “ It is not poverty that I fear for you,
but what I really fear is that the earth with its worldly blessings will spread
for you as it was spread for those who were before you that you will covet it
as they coveted it and it will then distroy you as it distroyed them (Bukhari
& Muslim).
Islam gives importance to sincereity and hard work.
Wasting time is worst compared to death, because death seperates you from this
world whereas wasting time seperates you from Allah (Ibnu Qayom) and earning an
honest living is a duty next to the Principal duties of Eeman (Bayhaqi).
Whenever we fail to achieve anything we blame either
climate whereas it is from Allah or we blame others for our failure. Working
sincerely fully trusting Allah and realising that whatever happens it is from
Allah, we can get the help from Allah and will be successful.
5. Conclusion
Professional excellence can therefore be achieved when
you do good things by doing it for the pleasure of Allah, acquiring the
necessary knowledge and techniques and sincerely making earnest attempt for
achieving the goal. Allah insists that if you have more wealth give Zakath and
Sadka and help the needy, if you are healthy assist the weaker and if you have
good knowledge spread it to others. This is the WIN WIN policy in the
management study that is when you are winning make all closer to you also win.
May Allah make us understand the truth and help us to put our effort to excel
in all our good deeds and become successful in this world and hereafter
Aameen.
Dr. Mohamed Ali Essa
