Take Action — Your Striving Shall Soon be Seen
Chapter 17
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Read the Quran. You will notice that there is a very close link between having faith and doing good deeds “As to those who believe and work righteousness, Allah will pay them (in full) their reward; but Allah loves not those who do wrong.” (3:57)
It is a disgrace for the champions of truth to lead a life of enslavement. The people of truth shouldn’t sit lazily, waiting for events to run their course with no effort on their part. In such a case, they wouldn’t actually be representing the truth or be from its people.
Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه said “Do not be fooled by the one who recites the Qur’an for that is only words that we utter. Rather, look at the one who acts upon it.”
Discipline Gets Things Done
Specify exactly when where and how you will do something. Be specific and practical. Otherwise you’ll postpone desirable behaviors indefinitely.
Motivation alone won’t always cut it. People often have compelling reasons to do stuff. But without an executable plan that is scheduled — things FAIL.
Increase obstacles for undesirable behaviors whilst removing them for desirable ones
When faced with two options like gym or TV, it’s easier to decide TV. Planning ahead and increasing obstacles for watching the TV i.e. removing the batteries from the remote and reducing the inconvenience for going to the gym i.e. having your running shoes on standby will help. Furthermore, studies have shown that people who have coping plans that plan for roadblocks increased their follow through — so when or if this happens I’ll do this and you’re back on track instead of thinking yourself a failure and completely giving up.
Common Sense isn’t Common Practice
We may expect the Muslim world, whose population follows Islam as a religion, to be at the forefront of development and science, as they have at their disposal, a flawless system to regulate their affairs and drive them forward. But, part of the problem that besets the Muslim world is following a hollow, ritualistic shadow of Islām that only express an artificial expression of the religion.
If we merely go through motions of the outer acts of worship without imbibing their inner dynamics we will not change anything. We will be just like the cargo cult of the South Pacific islanders who had witnessed Japanese and Americans building airstrips and flying in cargoes of food and clothing and machines. These islanders built imitation airstrips and control towers and even aircraft thinking that by mimicking these outer appearances they would cause this wealth to arrive as if by ritualistic magic!
Many Muslims have a similar approach to the rituals of Islām. These outer rituals have an inner purpose. Islām needs to be lived inwardly and outwardly. A religion that has been distorted by people cannot lead to advancement. In fact a heavy warning is given in this regard “…Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.” (2:85)
The Prophet ﷺ said “When Allah wants good for His slave, He occupies him with work.” The Companions asked, “And how does He occupy him with work?” The Prophet ﷺ said, “He grants him the ability and opportunity to do righteous deeds before his death, then He takes his soul in that state.” (Ahmad)
Effective Muslims develop the confidence to take decisive action, a skill that makes them more productive in doing good deeds. “Whoever submits himself to God and excels in good deeds has indeed taken hold of a most firm support. With God rests the final outcome of all events.” (31:22)
Make high leverage decisions early, and profit from your ability to take advantage of commitments while others are still in limbo. Change happens the moment you make a decision in your life. A real decision whereby you burn your bridges and move forward — It might take you 10 years to get to that moment or 10 minutes, but happy are the ones that decide sooner.
Take stock of all the things you have achieved today and realise what you are capable of when you have your mind set. This process will help you to learn how to value and respect yourself.
People don’t care about what you say until they see what you do
Words keep getting cheaper, which makes action more valuable than ever. A lot of people talk about big things forever and never do anything practical. If you want your words to have a strong influence on the listener then live up to them yourself. Commit to working quietly and allow your success to do the talking. Sooner or later, your work speaks for itself.
Harun al-Rashid was the fifth Abbasid Caliph. His time was marked by scientific, cultural and religious prosperity. He established the legendary library Bayt al-Hikma (“House of Wisdom”) in Baghdad in present-day Iraq, and during his rule Baghdad began to flourish as a center of knowledge, culture and trade.
When the Byzantine empress Irene was deposed in 802, Nikephoros I became emperor and refused to pay tribute to Harun, saying that Irene should have been receiving the tribute the whole time.
News of this angered Harun, who wrote a message on the back of the Roman emperor’s letter and said “In the name of God the most merciful, From Amir al-Mu’minin Harun ar-Rashid, commander of the faithful, to Nikephoros, dog of the Romans. The answer is what you will see and not what you hear”. After campaigns in Asia Minor, Nikephoros was defeated and forced to conclude a treaty, with humiliating terms.
It is necessary for the energetic person to take matters into his own hand and act upon his energy. The energetic person turns away from just dreaming and finds the time to do things. While it’s one thing to have a great idea, it’s much more rare to be the kind of person who finds creative ways to execute.
A resourceful person finds a way to optimise what they have to work with and so they are able to do more with existing resources.
Effective people have the ability to consistently move themselves and others to action. In short, they set themselves apart from the few that do from the many that talk.
Allah says in the Quran “And those who strive for Us — We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.” (29:69) — If you start the struggle, Allah will inspire you to continue and show you the best ways to expend your life.
Get the Right Things Done
You can screw yourself by doing a lot of unimportant things all the time. It might give you a temporary illusion of progress. But at some point you’ll get the gut wrenching realisation that you haven’t achieved jack.
Direct your energy for that which really requires your involvement
Being effective is about taking meaningful action and doing the right things. This doesn’t necessarily mean big things, it means avoiding the trivial where possible and focusing on things that matter for our life in this world and the hereafter with the intention of pleasing Allah.
Take Action after Due Contemplation
The Messenger of Allah said “Action after due contemplation is from Allah, and doing things in haste is from Satan.” (Ibn Majah)
Indiscriminate action is reflective of too little thinking and planning, and that is lazy and that is one of the most destructive forms of laziness because it is socially reinforced and people will encourage you to do that. In other words they will say “just don’t stand there do something.”
If you’re constantly doing things that are not carefully thought through you will end up doing the opposite of the 80/20 principle and end up specializing in unimportant things.
Hard work needs to be applied to the right areas. Having a clear target and your sight and scope very well calibrated will help.
Research your options before committing to a course of action
Many are left with a desire to act. Yet, the gravity of the task can seem overwhelming — especially for those who do not work in the arena they desire to make an impact on. Without a clear roadmap of simple steps to take, inertia sets in.
But be aware that meticulous planning is often an impediment in uncertain times. You can plan forever and then circumstances change and render your strategy useless. Instead, try something small, see how it goes, and adapt accordingly.
“Then, when you have decided upon a course of action, place your trust in Allah: for, verily, Allah loves those who place their trust in Him.” (3:159)
Sometimes, change takes time to ferment, and if we rush it, we get nothing worth very much. Other times, we mistakenly believe that we’re building something that takes time, but what we’re actually doing is hiding. We stall and digress and cause distractions, not because the work needs us to, but because we’re afraid to take the leap and make a commitment. The exaggerated fear of failure could actually be a deception from shaytan to deter us from trying.
Set the vision and chart its course whilst maintaining the flexibility to anticipate and adapt to the unknown.
Lack of Action Set Them Back for Decades
Moses said to his people “My people, go into the holy land which God has ordained for you– do not turn back or you will be the losers.’ They said, ‘Moses, there is a fearsome people in this land. We will not go there until they leave. If they leave, then we will enter.’
Yet two men whom God had blessed among those who were afraid said, ‘Go in to them through the gate and when you go in you will overcome them. If you are true believers, put your trust in God.’
They said, ‘Moses, we will never enter while they are still there, so you and your Lord go in and fight, and we will stay here.’ He said, ‘Lord, I have authority over no one except myself and my brother: judge between the two of us and these disobedient people.’
God said, ‘The land is forbidden to them for forty years: they will wander the earth aimlessly. Do not grieve over those who disobey.’ (5:21–26)
Musa, Allah’s Messenger, ordered the Children of Israel to enter Jerusalem and fight their enemy, and he promised them victory and triumph over the mighty people if they did so.
Their excuse was this, in this very town you commanded us to enter and fight its people, there is a mighty, strong, vicious people who have tremendous physique and physical ability. We are unable to stand against these people or fight them. Therefore, they said, we are incapable of entering this city as long as they are still in it, but if they leave it, we will enter it. Otherwise, we cannot stand against them.
The Israelite nature appears here unmasked, without cosmetics. They were facing danger and, therefore, all attempts to put on a brave face were abandoned. Not even God’s promise to them to make this land theirs was sufficient to motivate them. They wanted an easier prize, without having to pay any price.
Thus they declined, rebelled and defied his order and were punished for forty years by being lost, wandering in the land uncertain of where they should go. This was their punishment for defying Allah’s command. He abandoned them to their aimless wandering. He forbade them the land He had assigned to them. The weightier view suggests that the land was forbidden to that particular generation of them, until a new generation came of age, aware of the lessons and strengthened by their upbringing in the desert.
As the Muslim nation is the heir and custodian to all Divine messages, it is necessary that it be made fully aware of the history of the Israelites with all its ups and downs.
This enabled the Muslim community to add the experience of the Jews to the total sum of its own experience and to benefit by it in future. It could, thus, be aware of consequences of failing to act, avoid the slips and deal effectively with deviation right at the start before it had a chance to develop.
When the companions of the Prophet ﷺ came face to face with difficulty and they were few in number confronting a mightier force of unbelievers in Badr, they said to their Prophet, Muĥammad ﷺ “We will not say to you, Messenger of God, what the Israelites said to their Prophet, ‘Go forth, then, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you. We shall stay here.’ But we will say to you: Go forth, then, you and your Lord, and fight; we will fight alongside you.”
Allah has, therefore, chosen to make available to the leaders of the Muslim community and its reformers in different generations, clear examples of what could befall nations so that they may be able to diagnose the disease of their particular generation and administer the proper cure.
Sometimes you have to push yourself, push others, talk about things nobody wants to talk about, and be “mean” in the eyes of those who haven’t seen what happens when you don’t do what’s required.
Plant a Seed, Even if the World is Coming to an End
The Prophet said “If the Final Hour comes while you have a sapling in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it.” (Musnad Ahmad)
This hadith inspires action no matter the circumstance. We should never allow the vastness of an issue overwhelm us into inaction and apathy. Plant a seed, even if the world is coming to an end and whilst knowing that the tree that will not bear fruit!
That is because one of Allah’s Names is Ash-Shakoor: He is Appreciative of what you do, no matter how small, and He rewards it abundantly.
True believers know to work hard even if they never see the fruits of their labor, because they know that every drop of sweat is recorded with as shakoor.
We as believers should not calculate the worth of our actions according to their outcomes in the material world. We should instead be satisfied in the success that comes merely from taking action, because our “…striving shall soon be seen” (53:40)
People often judge based on results while Allah is generous and appreciates the effort.
Even a cursory reading of Muslim eschatology paints an undoubtedly unpleasant picture of the future. But is this something that should be revelled in? Or is it perhaps instead a twisted way of abdicating ourselves out of the responsibility and challenge of carving out a dignified existence even in the midst of hardship?
There are many things that concern us that we can’t do anything about, for now. But there are also things we can do. It is our collective duty to work within our own spheres of influence (i.e. on the people and things we can reach), each according to their utmost ability. We can begin by embracing the fact that we get a whole day to make an impact. We can open doors, find new resources and create value. In spite of or because of the prevailing conditions.
Think Small
Concentrate your energy and will on the elements of the project that you have influence on, ignore external events that you can’t avoid or change. If we constantly worry or get upset by things we cannot change, that will take our attention away from what we can change. By keeping your focus on your sphere of influence, you actually extend its area.
When we truly internalize that Allah is al-Haseeb (One who is Sufficient) in every fibre of our being, we are able to shed whatever internal shackles we have that are holding us back. We are able to act because we know that everything is in His Hands, and not in the hands of people. Allah suffices those who trust in Him, and in order for our trust to be true, we need to work with the means that we have. And if we are truly without any means, knowing that Allah is al-Haseeb is not despairing.
Tap in to Your Networks
Many are left with a desire to act. Yet, the gravity of the crisis can seem overwhelming — especially for those who do not work in the arena of concern. Without a clear roadmap of simple steps to take, inertia sets in.
There are however many ways to take action. We often are not even aware of the value of the web of relationships that we keep. We all have a unique reach and can create a ripple effect across our spheres of influence. We all have our personal sphere (social and familial relationships), our community sphere (home city and local organizations), our workplace sphere (job environment or campus environment for students), our industry sphere (professional associations) and our global sphere (social media reach and global affiliations).
You just need to figure out what steps to take in order take to activate these networks and play a role in battling the greatest challenges of our time. If you recognise an challenge that is particularly significant to you but are not in a position of power to enact the necessary change, you may be connected to a decision-maker who is. Speak up and inspire action in others — you do not need to be the leader of a nation or a celebrity to influence the masses. Someone within your network may have the influence or power to effect change.
Do not resign yourself to the notion of living the rest of your life in a vacuum of regret, having spent time on this Earth never having done anything to have actually come alive.
Waiting for perfection is a cause for idleness. Travel to Allah after due contemplation with your imperfections — for only Allah is far above all defects and shortcomings.
Agree on some action items for yourself based on what’s working, what’s not and what’s next.
