Promotions versus Arrogance
June 13, 2008 · Reading Time: 5min 14sec · Print This Article
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Promotions is the act of communicating value, and not deceit. The key phrase is “value communication”, and you do what you can to find ways and means so that the message can reach out to others who can then benefit. Your aim, is to help them, so that they can live their lives better.
However when that guiding fundamental principle of communicating value is lost, the compass then begins to spin. You now start designing and promoting so that others can get to know you rather than receive the benefit per se. In a nutshell, your purpose in promotions now is to feel with pride that others know who you are. The power then that you feel from the many eyes looking at you makes you feel “high”… somehow.
Especially for those in the fields of business and marketing; constantly remind yourselves of God’s words and guidelines when money and promotions is involved. Do not listen to the whispers that make you happy because others know who you are whenever that advertisement makes it to the papers. Do not feel that you’ve been brought to a higher station when you receive wealth and exposure and at moments when times are down, you feel disappointed. From my own experience, the whispers get louder as you do more. That’s the challenge. The phrase “This world is not fair” so commonly used should be no stranger to us Muslims, cause the we know for certain this world is THE TEST. We believe this world is a challenge, and it’s guised even in times of joy. That’s the reality, and certainly not the sad truth cause we know that something comes AFTER that. (This I feel is a good way to advise some of us who love to whine about how terrible life has been to wake up and smell the flowers of faith.)
Ultimately the challenge ends when you enter the gates of paradise:
“Adn (Eden) Paradise (everlasting Gardens), which they shall enter and (also) those who acted righteously from among their fathers, and their wives, and their offspring. And angels shall enter unto them from every gate (saying): (23) “Salâmun ‘Alaikum (peace be upon you) for that you persevered in patience! Excellent indeed is the final home!” (24)”
[13:23-24]
So as long as you are here on beautiful earth, keep that defence up as best as you can. If you’re a businessman, remember that your bottom line, your return on assets, your ultimate profit is not on your balance sheet on earth. Yes, positive cashflows is good. However keep your promotion efforts on earth and your eyes on the bigger prize…
A positive hereafter.
“As for man, when his Lord tries him by giving him honour and bounties, then he says (in): “My Lord has honoured me.” (15) But when He tries him, by straitening his means of life, he says: “My Lord has humiliated me!” (16) Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)! (17) And urge not one another on the feeding of AlMiskîn (the poor)! (18) And you devour inheritance all with greed, (19) And you love wealth with much love!”
[89:15-20]
“As for him who gives out and is godfearing and confirms the Good, We will pave his way to Ease,”
[92:5-7]
“The most godfearing will be far removed from it: those who give their wealth to purify themselves not to repay someone else for a favour done desiring only the Face of their Lord Most High. They will certainly be satisfied.”
[92:17-21]
“If you make your sadaqa public, that is good. But if you conceal it and give it to the poor, that is better for you, and We will erase some of your bad actions from you. Allah is aware of everything you do.”
[W2:270; H2:272]
The first person judged on Resurrection Day will be a man martyred in battle.
He will be brought forth, Allah will reacquaint him with His blessings upon him and the man will acknowledge them, whereupon Allah will say, “What have you done with them?” to which the man will respond, “I fought to the death for You.”
Allah will reply, “You lie. You fought in order to be called a hero, and it has already been said.” Then he will be sentenced and dragged away on his face and flung into the fire.
Then a man will be brought forward who learned Sacred Knowledge, taught it to others, and who recited the Qur’an. Allah will remind him of His gifts to him and the man will acknowledge them, and then Allah will say, “What have you done with them?” The man will answer, “I acquired Sacred Knowledge, taught it, and recited the Qur’an, for Your sake.”
Allah will say, “You lie. You learned so as to be called a scholar, and read the Qur’an so as to be called a reciter, and it has already been said.” Then the man will be sentenced and dragged away on his face to be flung into the fire.
Then a man will be brought forward whom Allah generously provided for, giving him various kinds of wealth, and Allah will recall to him the benefits given, and the man will acknowledge them, to which Allah will say, “And what have you done with them?” The man will answer, “I have not left a single kind of expenditure You love to see made, except that I have spent on it for Your sake.”
Allah will say, “You lie. You did it so as to be called generous, and it has already been said.” Then he will be sentenced and dragged away on his face to be flung into the fire.
[Sahih Muslim]
(I don’t really like to end articles feeling all serious and down, and when I re-read this article again, ending with that hadith, it kind of did feel gloomy. So here’s just alittle sharing yah. When I first learnt this surah and tafsiran from the Ustaz:
“As for man, when his Lord tries him by giving him honour and bounties, then he says (in): “My Lord has honoured me.” (15) But when He tries him, by straitening his means of life, he says: “My Lord has humiliated me!” (16) Nay! But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity (i.e. you neither treat them well, nor give them their exact right of inheritance)! (17) And urge not one another on the feeding of AlMiskîn (the poor)! (18) And you devour inheritance all with greed, (19) And you love wealth with much love!”
[89:15-20]
I honestly felt down and gloomy (yes, the gloomy word again). Cause the warning was so sharp and well, deep. However when we came to the very last verses of this surah, masyaAllah, it soothed my worries, and is one of the most beautiful verses in the Qur’an (if you can rank them at all that is, since they are all so special) I’ve ever experienced. The mukjizat of the Qur’an and its ability to communicate with the reader.
From the same surah (Al-Fajr), its last verses:
<In the form I read it in>
(Setelah menerangkan akibat orang-orang yang tidak menghiraukan akhirat, Tuhan menyatakan bahawa orang-orang yang beriman dan beramal soleh akan disambut dengan kata-kata): Wahai orang yang mempunyai jiwa yang sentiasa tenang tetap dengan kepercayaan dan bawaan baiknya! (27) Kembalilah kepada Tuhanmu dengan keadaan engkau berpuas hati (dengan segala nikmat yang diberikan) lagi diredhai (di sisi Tuhanmu)! (28) Serta masuklah engkau dalam kumpulan hamba-hambaku yang berbahagia (29) Dan masuklah ke dalam SyurgaKu! / (30)
[89: 27-30]
<In English>
(It will be said to the pious — believers of Islamic Monothesim): “O (you) the one in (complete) rest and satisfaction! (27) “Come back to your Lord, Well-pleased (yourself) and well-pleasing (unto Him)! (28) “Enter you, then, among My (honoured) slaves, (29) “And enter you My Paradise!” (30)
[89: 27-30]
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Salaam,
Good post. Almost everyone is affected by al-Quran in different lights. Thanks for sharing yours. =)