Muhammad Alshareef was born in 1975 and raised in Canada. In his youth, he memorized the Quran and later graduated with an Islamic Law degree from the Islamic University of Madinah, class of 1999. He is the founder of AlMaghrib Institute through which he teaches university-level seminars on Islam. AlMaghrib Institute seminars have been conducted across the USA and Canada, as well as in Australia. Muhammad Alshareef has also founded EmanRush Audio, Khutbah.com, and DiscoverU.com. He actively keeps in touch with the online community at the AlMaghrib Forums and on his Facebook fan page.

You know the feeling when you’ve been doing lots and lots of good deeds, when you have been avoiding sins, and basically feeling closer to Allah.. you feel ‘clean’ and ‘pure’ inside because your heart, mind and soul is clean and obedient to Allah (I’m not saying that you have a false sense of security as a result; one should never feel confident that his/her good deeds are enough for him/her but should always strive to do more). Compare this with the opposite feeling that comes when you have been disobedient, committing sins that you know you shouldn’t; you feel guilty, impure, and basically feel dirty inwardly even though you might be clean outwardly.

These 2 feelings, or rather accurately may be described as ‘spiritual states’ have an immense effect on your productivity.  My contention here is that when you’re in a state of spiritual cleanliness you will be much more productive, why? Because you’ll be focused on what’s important, you’ll be in tune with your true fitrah (natural disposition) and purpose of life, and Allah will make things easy for you. When you are spiritually unclean however, you will be distracted with sins, guilt and consciousness would disturb you that you can’t focus on being productive, and you simply lose track.

It’s hard to maintain a state of spiritual cleanliness perpetually and Emaan (faith) goes up and down, however, we need to be conscious of our changing state and the reasons behind it. There are days when I feel lazy, unproductive, and just not myself, those days I question myself: What’s wrong? Why am I like this today? Is it an inward thing (a sin, a thought, an emotion) or an outward thing (body is fatigued, illness..etc). Only if you constantly analyse yourself will you be able to understand your inwards better and with Allah (SWT)  mercy upon you, He’ll bless you to understand how to deal with it too inshaAllah.

One of the beautiful Duas that Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) taught us connecting spirituality and cleanliess, is the dua:

اللهم باعد بيني وبين خطاياي كما باعدت بين المشرق والمغرب. اللهم نقني من ذنوبي وخطاياي كما ينقى الثوب الأبيض من الدنس. اللهم اغسلني من خطاياي بالماء والثلج والبرد.

 ‘O Allah, distance me from my sins just as You have distanced The East from The West. O Allah, purify me of my sins as a white robe is purified of filth. O Allah, cleanse me of my sins with snow, water, and ice.’

Notice the imagery connecting sins with dirt, and asking Allah to puritfy you from this dirt and wash it away from you.

Do you know what the worse punishment Allah can put you through in this life? Making you not feel the weight of your sins, nor enjoy the sweetness of His obedience. SubhanaAllah, can you imagine that?! In other words, He makes you completely heedless to your purpose in life, and you simply live an unproductive life tilll you die with no preparation for what’s to come. Islam becomes a shell in your life with no meaning, nothing matters to you except superficials, and you simply live with no purpose. May Allah protect us from such a state.

None of us want to be in that state, so let’s be spritiually clean by actively understanding our spiritual state and actively trying to clean ourselves with any of the followings tools: Tawbah, Istighfar, Avoidance of Sins, Remembering Allah, Reading Quran, Salah, Fasting, Charity and other good deeds.

This is a call to all my brothers and sisters to clean ourselves inwardly & outwardly so that we can fulfill our productive missions in life. May Allah (SWT) bless you with a clean and productive life, may you live pure and die in a state of purity. Ameen.

"Clean yourself, for Islam is cleanliness." (Reported by Ibn Hayyan.)

He (Peace be upon him) also said: 

“Cleanliness invites toward faith, and faith leads its possessor to the Garden”. (Reported by al-Tabarani).

I cannot go to all the hadeeths here about personal hygiene, but I strongly encourage you to look up good Fiqh books that would give you good breakdown on the Islamic guidance on personal hygiene. Trust me, you follow these simple guidelines, and not only will you feel clean, but refreshed and productive!

That’s a question that came across my mind when I noticed a heightened productivity right after making wudhu, having a shower, or generally being tidy/clean.

In this series, we'll explore the physical cause-effect relationship and spiritual cause-effect relationship between cleanliness and productivity, let's start of with wudhu today inshaAllah:

Allah says in the Quran  “Truly, Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean." (Al Baqarah 2:222) He also says: “In it (mosque) are men who love to clean and to purify themselves. And Allah loves those who make themselves clean and pure.” (9:108) 

Just those 2 verses alone are enough incentive for us to being constantly clean and in a state of purity and it explains why Islam has taken great care of this topic to the extent that even a dead person is honoured with a bath before he/she is buried! 

Without us diverging into the deep intricacies of Purity and Cleanliness in Islam (which interestingly is ALWAYS the first chapter in any Fiqh book) I want us to focus on Wudhu (ablution) and its effect on Productivity. 

Wudu is one of the most beautiful rituals we Muslims have been blessed with. It keeps us pure and clean, both physically and spiritually and connects us to our Khaliq (Creator). It keeps our mind consciously aware of  Him and prepares us to meet Him, that’s why we’re encouraged to be in a state of Wudu at all times, as Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: “… and no one preservers their wudu except a Believer.” [Ibn Maajah, Saheeh]

In my quest to understand the effect of wudu on productivity, I was trying to understand why Wudhu was a prerequisite to Salah; one interesting explanation I came across (and there are many other explanations) is that wudu helps you “focus” on Salah and “puts you in the mood” for Salah. I tried to dig deeper and guess why this is so, and it occurred to me that wudhu is the physical action of an intention, i.e. you physically get up and pour water on yourself to proclaim the intention that you’re going to pray. 

Think what this means in terms of productivity: you plan to do some work you have been intending to do for a long time, so you get up and make wudhu first, this puts you in the mood and “focus” zone for your work because you’ve taken physical action to affirm that intention, makes sense? Also, the beauty of taking wudu before any task is that it ensures that your intention for this task is pure and clean. (It’s hard to find somebody who’ll be taking wudu before a doubtful transaction?!)

Islam teaches us that wudu doesn’t just affect your outward, but it was an inward effect too. This is confirmed with the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), which he said: 

“When a Muslim or a believer washes his face (in course of ablution), every sin he contemplated with his eyes, will be washed away from his face along with water, or with the last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin they wrought will be effaced from his hands with the water, or with the last drop of water; and when he washes his feet, every sin towards which his feet have walked will be washed away with the water or with the last drop of water with the result that he comes out pure from all sins”.  [Sahih Muslim : Book 2, Number 0475].

And isn’t sin the reason for our lack of productivity?

An interesting quote I came across recently said “Ablution protects the believer from four enemies of the soul: the lower self or ego (nafs), worldly desires (hubbul dunya), lust (hawa), and Satan.” (Voices of islam - Vincent, J. Cornell). These four enemies are not only the enemies of the soul, they are the enemies of productivity! The lower-self makes you want to be lazy and sleep all the time, worldly desires are the biggest distraction from your true purpose in life, following hawa (lust) can turn any productive person to super unproductive (and fall into Haram), and Satan needs no introductions! So imagine, with one beautiful purifying action, you can  protect yourself from these unproductive forces!

Do me a favour? Next time you sit to work on your computer, make wudu first and tell me how it feels. Try it. SubhanaAllah, I use this at work when I can’t get myself to focus on my work, it’s amazing how you change and become much more focussed and productive.

I hope this gave you just one insight into how wudu makes you productive. May Allah (SWT) help us live the life of purity and die pure and clean. Ameen.

In our current state of affairs, we have come to know that failure is the opposite of success. One of the reasons Muslims fail, well one of the major reasons cited in the Glorious Qur'an al Kareem is `disputation amongst one another', which leads to failure. Also, one of the signs of the latter days, isthe amazement in ones own opinion (self opinionated people). 

The essence of failure is summed up in the Qur'an as:

Disobeying Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala,
- Disobeying His Messenger sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam, and,
- Disputation amongst each other.

For our current situation to be reversed, there are many methods, and ways to go about things. Obviously holding firmly to the Qur'an and the Sunnah is the first. But, there are elements that we need to implement in our lives that will bring to life the Islam that was lived not so long ago by our predecessors, InshaAllah.

Ten Qualities That Lead to Success:

1. Every successful person has a strong sense of purpose. What greater sense of purpose than to know that your goal is Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala.

2. Seek out role models or mentors. These mentors instill in them a sense of possibility. What better role model than Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa
sallam?

3. Strength of visualizing the goal. Rasulullah sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam had the strongest visualization of any human. We are people of `success' and this Deen is not a Religion of `failure', but a Religion of SUCCESS!

Michael Hart, the historian who wrote the 100 most influencial personalities in history, placed Muhammad sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam as number 1. The greatest witness is what your own enemies show witness to. Our example is the best example, for verily Rasulullah sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam was
`Uswatun Hasanah', the Best example; he is the model and mentor of success for all of mankind.

4. Positive sensory orientation. That you dwell on your successes, not dwelling on your failures. Remember your past successes when you were weak, and Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala will give you victory, look at Badr.

5. Self assurance. They know that they can succeed. `La tahinuu, wa laa tahzanuu wa antum la'nawla in kuntum mu'mineen' – `Do not be weak, and do not grieve, and you are the uppermost, if you are Believers'.
Our afflictions are expiations for us. Remember at `Uhud, Rasulullah sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam said: `Your dead are in the Hell fire, our dead are in
Jannah'.

6. They plan and organize. They know how to prioritize. Look at the most important things and take that. We have people now that argue over where you put your hands in the prayer, where your feet should be, etc.
These things are known in the books of Fiqh, we don't need to argue over them. You ask any scholar of any worth and they tell you very clearly. There's different ways to do it, because we're not supposed to get caught up in the trivial matters, because this is the Talmudic (Jewish) mind that asks `what kind of cow, what color cow' etc. All triviality.

Even in the West, they say that the `devil's in the details' (proverb). What's important is to ask `where's your heart?' Where is your heart in the Salaat?
People watching others pray during Salaat, finding mistakes with the Imaam etc. Where is our heart in the Salaat?
We plan to corrupt each other, organizations are successful, because they plan and organize each other. We are good planners when it comes to Walimah's. For instance, how many sheep will we have, how many belly dancers etc. Allahu Akbar, Takbeer, what type of takbeer? Takbeer of Salatul Janaazah, 4 of them!

7. The ability to acquire the necessary skills to succeed. We need to produce male and female scholars. Why don't we want to be from those people? The people of knowledge? Make your children people of Akhirah, not Dunya! 

8. Patience. Be patient and enjoin others to patience. We have two lessons that Muslims have to learn, most of our tribulations are coming from: o Kibr, and, o Lack of patience.

Saying La ilaha Illallah does not make us special, because a Munafiq says La ilaha illallah, and yet they are lower than the Kaafir.
And remember that if you feel safe from Nifaaq, then according to Hasan al Basri rahimahullah, you are a Munafiq! The only one who feels safe from nifaaq is the munafiq.
`Umar ibn Khattaab radi'Allahu anhu went to Huthaifah ibn Yaman and asked him `Do you see in me what you see in them? Tell me by Allah, I want to know if `Umar is a Munafiq?' Huthaifah radi'Allahu anhu replied, `I don't see in you what I see in them'.

The qualities of a Munafiq (some of them include):
- They oscillate
- They remember Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala little,
- They say on their tongues what's not in their hearts,
- They pray lazily, etc and so forth.

9. Perseverance. Be persevering. No one will have except that what he endeavors for'.

10. To love what one is doing. Radi'Allahu `anhum wa Radu `anh' – `They love Allah, and Allah is pleased with them'.

Loving Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala and His Messenger! Spending what we love and giving from it freely. You don't reach righteousness (Birr) until you give out that which you love.
"When perfection is reached then it has to diminish, So once something is called perfect, expect it to perish."

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani is a researcher and teacher of the Islamic sciences, specializing in Islamic Law. He is the Educational Director of SeekersGuidance, and a partner and legal advisor with StraightWay Ethical Advisory.  He has two published books: Sufism & Good Character and Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) 

Without further ado, ProductiveMuslim.com presents....

Master the art of effective decision making. The moment you lose grip with this art, others and circumstances will make decisions for you. I know that making a decision isn’t the most easy thing to do, especially that you’ll be responsible for the consequences of your decision. I know that it’s too comfortable not to make any decision and is actually very convenient to let others decide for you (after all, you can always blame others if things go wrong!). But is this how a Muslim should be? Is this why Allah (SWT) created your brain, your heart, and created logic, emotions and reason for you?

If you’re still not sure, here’s a 5 simple step method for making effective decisions:

1. Think!
You’ll be surprised how many people don’t think before they decide! And by thinking, I don’t mean spending few minutes staring at the ceiling waiting for a revelation to come! Thinking means brainstorming, analysing, drawing from your experience of how best to go about a certain course of action and really taking the time to measure the implications of your decision.

2. Research/consult
You’d done the thinking part, now you’ve tens of questions.... no problem, do your research! Look around, ask around, and consult others, bounce ideas from family/friends and really exhaust every possible means of understanding the implications of your decision.

3. Istikhara
SubhanaAllah, Allah is so merciful to us, He knew that it would be hard for us to make decisions easily, so he opened a special lines of communication for us to Him when it comes to decisions.. it’s called Istikhara prayer! Just read this hadeeth carefully and understand its meaning..

On the authority of Jaabir Ibn ‘Abdullah he said: The Prophet (S) would instruct us to pray for guidance in all of our concerns, just as he would teach us a chapter from the Qur’an. He (S) would say ‘if any of you intends to undertake a mater then let him pray two supererogatory units (two rak’ah naafilah) of prayer and after which he should supplicate:

‘O Allaah, I seek Your counsel by Your knowledge and by Your power I seek strength and I ask You from Your immense favour, for verily You are able while I am not and verily You know while I do not and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allaah, if You know this affair -and here he mentions his need- to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life, and end, then decree and facilitate it for me, and bless me with it, and if You know this affair to be ill for me towards my religion, my life, and end, then remove it from me and remove me from it , and decree for me what is good wherever it be and make me satisfied with such.’

You’re asking Allah...the One who knows everything about what’s best for you... if you’ve true yaqeen (certainty) in your dua, do you think Allah will make you take a “bad” decision? Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said, the one does istikhara will not regret! Imagine someone saying to you, I’ll give you a formula, if you follow it, you’ll never ever ever regret any decision you make! Will you take up the offer?!

4. Decide/Action
You’ve thought about it, asked others, and most importantly asked Allah for guidance (SWT) via an Istikhara prayer, now what?.... ummm.. DECIDE! Take action! And jump into your decision full force taking every conceivable first step you can make, so that you can’t reverse your decision! You wanted to open a business, and taken the above steps, NOW open it and invest your money! You wanted to propose to a particular person and you’ve done the above, pick up the phone and call her waly now! Make the decision and act upon it quickly before shaytaan comes to whisper in your mind and puts doubt.

5. Dua/Tawakkal
You’ve made the decision, taken some actions.... it’s not over yet. Make dua and have trust in Allah. You may have made the right decision, but to follow through a decision correctly needs lots of dua, and trust in Allah (SWT) so don’t give up! And don’t regret decisions you’ve made after doing all the above, you only have 2 possible scenarios: either you’ve made good decisions and things are working great, or you’ve made a decision that challenged you which you can either learn from or you’ve learnt to overcome!

Yes, making decisions isn’t easy, but instead of dodging them and suffering the consequences in this life and hereafter, develop your decision making muscle by making decisions daily using the above steps - whether for small decisions or big  decisions - just make a decision!

Finally, I leave you with this quote from Anthony Robbins:

Life is like a river for many people, they just jump in the river of life with out ever deciding where they want to end up, so they quickly get caught up in the current, current events, current challenges, current fears. And then they come to the forks in the rivers, they don't consciously decide which way to go, they just go with the flow of the river (the flow of the majority instead of being directed by their own values and goals) and as a result the feel out of control but continue to drift down stream until one day the sound of the raging water wakes them up and they realize they are 5 feet from the falls and they are in a boat with no ores and then they say "Oh shoot", but its to late. They are going to take a fall, it may be a financial set back or the break up of a relationship or maybe even a health problem, in almost all of the cases the fall could have been prevented by making better decisions up stream. (The Niagara Syndrome - by Anthony Robbins)

   1. Welcome to ProductiveMuslim.com, tell us about yourself.

Oh, I hate this question – what do I tell that will be beneficial and inspire others, and what do I say that is just to massage my ego and pride! Well, let me attempt to be honest and sincere in describing myself in a way that others can benefit.

The most important thing about a person is where they are from. I feel that says a lot about the foundation of a person and explains, to some extent, any success a person may have achieved. I am from Newcastle, a small town in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province in South Africa. I grew up there, the 2nd eldest of 9 kids, 7 boys and 2 girls – though my youngest sister was only born when I left home around 10 years ago. I went to University in Durban and graduated with a honours degree in accounting and finance. I then went on to become a Chartered Accountant. In between, before and after I did various other things – some of which I see I will have to touch on later…

   2. Most of us have some big ideas. But we don't know where to start. Tell us about your beginning. How did you get started?

I had many beginnings, so don’t know where to start with this questionJ I left school mid-way through high school and memorised the Holy Quran in two years. That was the beginning for me. After that, everything I embarked on fell into place with grace of the Almighty, and even though things got hard at times, sincere prayer and faith doubtlessly made it much easier. While doing my memorisation, I met interesting students of religion who introduced me to the world of finance and the global economy. This was the seed that got me interested in banking and economics – I completed my final 3 years of high school in 1 year and then headed to University.

I always say that if anyone leaves University with only a degree, they probably wasted loads of time. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by really good brothers and sisters on campus, and became heavily involved in the Muslim Students Association. MSA work took up most of my time and studies seemed to go well with it – that is also where I began writing. We first used to produce simple newsletters for the MSA, but after a few years this grew into a national magazine.

   3. A Chartered Accountant, Community Manager, Journalist and Comedian. Masha Allah, that's for sure, a jack of all trades. Did you plan to be all these, or they just fell in place?

I don’t think I planned a single one of these (or any others for that matter), but in each label/title/opportunity, I can identify something that I had always wanted to achieve.

Chartered Accountant – I wanted to get into the field of finance and economics so that I could attempt to make changes that could benefit mankind. I feel that Muslims have loads to offer the world, in the form of solutions to the problems out there, but we need to be experts in the field and be innovative, creative and constantly faithful to the essence of Islam in attempting to do so.

Community Manager – besides holding the position of Community Manager for the SalamBC network, I am a co-founder of the Muslim Professionals Network. This grew out of an initiative to inform and educate Muslims to achieve the solutions I touched on above.

Journalist – From my days on campus, I enjoyed using words to encourage people to good thoughts and action. The push to become a journalist came when I was working at one of the world’s financial capitals, London, at the time the recent financial crisis was just beginning. I felt that there was a shortage of reporting on the crisis by people with experience and knowledge in the field. Thereafter I enrolled at journalism school and majored in economic journalism. I have recently secured a job as Business Journalist with Al Jazeera in Qatar and will inshaAllah be heading there for this exciting opportunity.

Comedian – This definitely came about with no planning. I was assisting a relief organisation with the hosting of a fundraising comedy show with local comic genius Dr. Riaad Moosa and the American group Allah Made Me Funny. Somehow during their tour, I found myself on stage making jokes, and as they say, the rest is history! But I feel that Halal Bilal (www.facebook.com/HalalBilal) serves an important purpose – most comedians do Muslim jokes all the time, and these often further the stereotypes that exist about Islam and Muslims. Being a Muslim comedian gives me the opportunity to make people laugh, but at the same time use the comedy to educate them and break the stereotypes and myths.

   4. What's your secret to time management? (Please mention tools you use/ methodology/ process/ procedure)

I honestly have little advice to share on this. I struggle to keep up with all my commitments and activities, but find that when my life has structure and discipline, then things fall into place easier. The day I sleep too late, don’t eat healthily, neglect the punctuality of my prayers or anything else – then I notice things fall apart and commitments start piling up. I try to keep a to do list and prioritise the tasks I have – at different times, different things take priority, but the important thing is to be clear on what is important.

   5. What keeps you going? Others might get tired and overwhelmed - or just give in after a major success, saying "this is enough for a lifetime". How  do you continue to aim higher everyday?

I don’t really look at anything as solely a personal achievement – what successes I have been blessed with along the way are all just small steps towards a bigger goal. Anything that I do/have done, that does not contribute to the bigger goal of improving the lives of all on earth and establishing the principles of Islam – those things are not successes, but merely illusions.

   6. What do you think are the ingredients of a Productive Muslim? (attitude or character traits)
Hmm, sincerity, commitment, perseverance, patience, and all the others one can think off. Fun, humour, excitement and an appetite for adventure are key as well. I think sometimes Muslims forget that we also believe in life BEFORE death!

   7. What is your upcoming venture/ Intiative/ business idea?
Hmm, the most current project I’m working on is a social business called Moral-a-T. During my days on the MSA, we used to make cool t-shirts with Islamic/Moral messages that we sold to raise funds for MSA activities. That is now going to be run from this business that we hope to take national and online. Proceeds will be used to support community organisations, and new, funky designs will be sought to make a products that the youth will find cool and that will promote good moral messages.

   8. Final words of advise to our ProductiveMuslim fans? (our main audience is 18-24 youth - mostly across UK, US and Canada)
Be proud and humble, committed and driven, focused and wild – the future is your hands and Allah is on your side, if you are always on the side of the righteous.

All was not lost though...  :D

Realising the stumbling of the book club, we tried different ways to energise the club and make it more interactive, these efforts did encourage some of our members to do a number of book reviews (which will be released over the next few weeks inshaAllah).

So now when the dust has settled, we’ve gone back to the drawing board to see how we can re-introduce a much more dynamic and fruitful book club... The result: a new and stronger ProductiveMuslim Book club – (inshaAllah!)

Introducing the new book club!(We even got a logo this time! lol)

So how will this book club be different from the old one? 

• The book club will be open for ALL members interested in joining it. It won’t be an exclusive book club with exclusive members anymore.

• It’ll run entirely on the interactive facebook page and not as a dull Google Group. This ensures a dynamic platform for people to share their favourite productivity, Islamic and other books, what they like/hate about them, and any favourite quotes. Moreover, the facebook page will be run by our very own Book Club manager and his team!

• No homework! Unlike the first book club where we requested members to submit reviews - we’re taking a laissez faire approach for this one. So you don’t HAVE to send any reviews! - Just join the discussion, discuss your book with your friends, learn about other books, and if you really really really like a particular book which you want to see featured on ProductiveMuslim.com - send us a simple review! 

That’s it. Nice, fun and easy. No complications, just pure interaction and hopefully lots of cool discussions.  Join the new book club by becoming a fan on the ProductiveMuslim Book club facebook page!

(P.S. Oh one more thing...once we hit 1000 members for the new Book club, we’ll have another suprise for you :D stay tuned!)

Introducing: The Masjid Makeover Challenge!

The Masjid Makeover project is 1000GoodDeeds.com inaugural challenge. 

The goal of the 1000Gooddeeds.com project is to transform Deeds in to Actions by giving daily doses of good deeds one can do with practical actions.

The state of the masjids are a reflection of the community surround it.  It is the first impression non muslims have about islam. It is a place of dawah,  inviting others to islam. It is a place of congregation five times daily and the heart of the muslim community. 

The aim and intention of the masjid makeover project is to beautify and clean up our masjids. To promote team work. Develop project management and negotiation skills. Encourage going green and earth friendly behavior. The most important of all is to learn to do deeds selflessly for the pleasure of Allah. 

All participants have to submit before and after pictures or video of the masjid makeover  as well as action plans on how it was done and a maintenance plan on how the masjid will stay clean. 

 

For more information visit

http://1000gooddeeds.com/2010/02/08/challenge-feb-2010-masjid-makeover/

Join 1000 Good Deeds - Masjid Makeover Project for your daily task instructions. 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=300873456951

Success Planner is an easy to use, easy to navigate, and interactive calandar/ scheduler/ Salah reminder - an "all in one" Islamic diary. It can used for both professional (meetings, reminders, etc) and religious needs (salah reminder, adhan, daily hadith and verse of the Quran, etc).

Some of the features Success Planner includes are:

• Daily Reminders from Qur'an and Hadith: Everyday as you open the Success Planner, you will see new Verse from Qur'an and Hadith.

• Reminders about Islamic Events in a year: Success Planner not only reminds you of the event, but also gives you some suggestions for doing the good deeds for that day or duration

• Gregorian and Hijri Calendar: Success Planner gives the Dual Calendar.

• Five Times Azaan Reminder: If you are in a meeting, one can “snooze” the reminder. Success Planner will remind you again about the upcoming Salah. This is my favorite feature! Click "lock" and within a second, you are locked out on your computer. This is excellent like me, who's always tempted to finish that train of thought. And ends up delaying salah. This one click of "Lock" makes me get to my salah right that instance.

• Calendar features: Daily calendar view with a hourly breakdown. You can set appointments, reminders to these appointments and entering Salah points, reviewing the appointments

• Appointments creation & reminders: Success planner will make sure that, the user is aware of Prayer times while setting appointments

• Prayer Points Calculations: Success Planner provides a prayer points calculation function. You enter your points - based on how you prayed– with Jamaat (27 points), without Jamaat (1 point). It's a multiple choice option. I'm not too sure about this feature. How about the sisters - who might not have an oppurtunity to pray in Jam'ah? They always get a "1" point? An area of improvement for sure, insha Allah

• Habits from Qur'an: Successful habits are selected from Surah Mominun (verses 1-10) and Surah Al-Imran (verse 104)

• Success Planner helps you set targets on how to achieve 7 habits – the targets can be set for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Success Planner then provides regular reminders and close follow-ups, helps you adopt these 7 habits.

• Roles in Life: A person to be successful in this life and the next, needs to perform various roles in life. The essential ones are list in Success Planner. One can set targets in each role for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly

• Target's follow-up: categorize them as Not Started, Started, In progress, Completed, Overdue targets or can be grouped on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis

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The key to spiritual and material success for Muslims

"Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" - a famous maxim coined by the American scientist, writer and inventor, Benjamin Franklin.  And he was not alone in these beliefs.  The writer Samuel Johnson also warned that "nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good".

This is not just opinion but proven scientific fact.  A study by researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo in the American state of Utah found that:

"students who habitually go to bed late and sleep late the next day have lower grade point averages (GPAs) than students with early-to-bed and early-to-rise sleeping habits.  The later students slept in the morning, the lower their grades tended to be.  Out of all the factors studied, weekday and weekend wakeup times had the strongest association with students' GPAs. Each hour over the average that students slept in on weekdays was associated with a 0.13-point drop on the GPA (0.0-4.0 scale)."
Source: Journal of American College Health 2000; 49: 125-130

 Of course, we Muslims are well used to getting up not just at the crack of dawn but actually half an hour before it to begin the day with the ritual worship of fajr salat (and even earlier in Ramadan before starting the day's fast).

 Spiritual Success

 What are the spiritual blessings of fajr salat?

According to a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim, prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) stated that the action which is dearest to God is salat at its proper times.  On another occasion prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also said to his companions:

"The five set prayers may be compared to a stream of fresh water, flowing in front of your house, into which you plunge five times each day. Do you think that would leave any dirt on your body?' When they replied: 'None at all!' Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said: 'Indeed the five prayers remove sins, just as water removes dirt."  (Bukhari, Muslim)

And once while standing beside a tree in autumn, he stated:

"When a Muslim observes his salat with due attention and devotion, he sheds his sins just like this tree is shedding its leaves." (Ahmad)

Moreover, in the Quran we are told that prostrating (in salat) brings us closer to God (96:1).

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also tells us that fajr salat along with isha is particularly rich in blessings:

"If people only knew what blessings are in the fajr and isha prayers, they would come to them, even if they had to crawl." (Bukhari and Muslim)

And according to Utham, (RA), prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"To perform the dawn prayer, [fajr], in congregation is like keeping vigil throughout the night." (Muslim).

Material Success

In Surah 23, ayats 1-2 of the Quran we learn that:

"Certainly the believers have succeeded, those who offer salat with devotion."

Spiritual success certainly.  But as Muslims we are also called upon not just to earn spiritual blessings for the next world but also to be materially successful in this one.  Despite the obvious call to work hard and make the most of our abilities demonstrated in the parable of the talents, the Christian West has often had an ambiguous attitude towards wealth, sometimes glorifying poverty and misinterpreting Jesus's gospel statement that "love of money is the root of all evil" to mean that money itself is the root of all evil.  As a Muslim, I am more inclined to agree with the playwright George Bernard Shaw who is reported to have said that "lack of money is the root of all evil".

[Shaw was an admirer of prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) and in the 1936 book The Genuine Islam referred to him as "the wonderful man" and "the saviour of humanity".]

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) himself stated:

"There will dawn a time over people when the destruction of a man will be at the hands of his wife, parents, and children. They will humiliate him because of his poverty and will make such demands which will induce him to engage in such activities (to gain more money) which will finally destroy his religion." - Baihaqi. Narrated by Ibn Mas'ood (RA) and Abu Hurairah (RA)

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is:

"How excellent is the wealth of the Muslim". - Sahih Bukhari hadith 4.95 Narrated by Abu Said Al Khudri (RA)

It is wealth which enables us to take care of our families, keep on the straight path and avoid doing wrong in order to make ends meet.  It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to pay Zakat.  It is wealth which enables us to help others and contribute to Dawah through additional charity.  It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to go on Hajj.

It was wealthy Muslim traders who peacefully spread Islam throughout West Africa and the areas we now know as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.  And if we look at the first generation of Muslims, we find the shining example of Abdur-Rahman Ibn Awl.  The eighth person to embrace Islam, he migrated twice to Abyssinia.  Abdur-Rahman distinguished himself in both the battles of Badr and Uhud, suffering more than twenty wounds at the latter.  Then starting with nothing, he went on to achieve tremendous success as a merchant, becoming the richest of the companions.  From his great wealth, Abdur-Rahman financed the Muslim armies, contributed to the upkeep of the family of Mohammed (Peace be upon him) after the prophet's death and was universally renowned for his fabulous generosity.

So how can we turn getting up for Fajr to our material advantage?  Certainly not by slinking back into bed again and snuggling up for another few hours.  As prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"The most excellent jihad is that for the conquest of self." (Bukhari)

In the context of fajr, what this means is, once up, stay up!  Stay up and do something useful.  Work on your goals.  If you don't have any, set some.  Decide what you want to achieve in life.  Devise a plan to make those goals a reality then take action.  You will be amazed at what you can get done in those few quiet hours when most of the rest of the world is still asleep.  You can organise your day, learn a language, work on your degree course or get fit by going jogging in the coolness of the morning.

You can also turn staying up after fajr to your career advantage by driving into work earlier, beating the traffic then packing so much productive work into the next hour without interruption because no one is there to pop into your office and the phone hasn't started ringing yet.

A further fajr advantage is that along the way you can listen on cassette to the wisdom and inspiration of motivational and business speakers.  We spend hundreds of ours commuting in our cars every year, by some estimates the equivalent to two full terms of university tuition.  Put this time to good use, especially first thing in the morning when you are relaxed and driving on a virtually empty road, when you are bright and fresh and can best take it all in.  Turn your car into a university on wheels.

Each of our lives is different, but you know how to apply these ideas to your own situation.

Take action now!

"Ah, that's too hard", I hear you say.  Well God assures us in the Quran that:

"We do not lay a burden on anyone beyond his capacity." (Quran: 23:62)

It is possible to turn these early hours to great advantage.  It's desirable and it's beneficial.  We are obliged to get up for fajr anyway.  From this we derive a spiritual advantage.  Let's stay up and get to work.  Why have just one type of advantage when we can have two - spiritual and material.  As Muslims we are uniquely placed.  The next fajr is less than 24 hours from now.  First thing tomorrow morning make sure that you take advantage of your fajr double advantage.

[Author's footnote: After working on other tasks, I started this article at 6 am and have just finished it at 8.20.  Now for a day's work!]

Share your thoughts with us below!

Sister Faiza

I began on Saturday, the 24th of January. Out of the 21 tasks that I had to set for 7 days, to my utter disappointment, I was able to complete only 9.

These tasks were my academic assignments, studying for exams and some work related stuff. I found out that those tasks that I was able to complete were the ones which had reached their deadlines and were due the next day. I was able to concentrate better while doing these tasks and I think I was mostly focused until 45 minutes to over an hour after I'd begun working on them. 

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with my performance on the rest of the tasks. I was easily distracted and I would lose focus in the first 30 minutes itself and keep trying to get back after almost every 10 minutes thereafter. So needless to say, I wasn't able to complete them in the time blocked for them but sometimes, I did overtime which I didn't like very much.

But yeah, I'm gonna use the Taskinator for a long time to come! I may not have completed many of my tasks but by blocking time for them, I at least started work on them!

Sister Sana’a,

At the end of 6 days with the Time Tracking Experiment, here are the lessons I’ve learnt.

Before I mention how my experiment went, here are the approximate Salah timings in my area, so that it’s easier to comprehend the hours I’m discussing inshaAllah.

Fajr: 5:05 am   Dhuhr: 11:55 am   Asr: 3:00 pm   Maghrib: 5:20 pm   Isha: 6:50 pm

1. Work started with a duaa and Bismillah is more productive inshaAllah. And we should seek the pleasure of Allah in whatever it is we are working on.
2. When making a To-Do list, it’s not sufficient to just list the tasks that need to be accomplished. Time slots need to blocked out so that one doesn’t plan to do more than can be handled in 24 hours.
3. Besides the major tasks that need to be done, a little list of alternative tasks should also be kept handy to be turned to in the event of any disruptions -- computers may break down, there may be some minor incident around the home/workplace that doesn’t permit the task at hand to be carried out completely.
4. Certain time slots should be left empty, as standby, so that we’re not in too much of a mess if something unexpected turns up - phone call, guests, family emergency etc. That way socializing and interacting with people who matter doesn’t turn into a pain, it’s sad when people start to feel that family and friends are a hindrance to work. A productive muslim is one who balances his/her personal tasks with the huqooq-ul-ibaad.
5. If we know we’re going to have a tough day out, then it’s better to keep not-so-tough tasks to deal with in the evening at home. BAD idea to try to get something HUGE done as soon as you get back home. We might think we’ll be able to handle it and maybe we will be, but to actually be tired is quite different from imagining it! I missed doing an entire task because I slept off in the afternoon and had expected to be fresh enough to handle it!
6. Certain “interesting” tasks should be kept for being done in the mornings, after Fajr, to avoid the temptation of going back to sleep -- this one is for people on holiday or those who work/study from home.
7. The time after Fajr is great for getting things done, primarily because there are so many hours until the next Salah -- atleast in my part of the world! J -- so things that take up more time might be taken care of during these hours, inshaAllah.
8. These morning hours are better suited to tasks that require mental exertion, once you get the hang of it.
9. Tasks after Dhuhr tend to get interrupted, thanks to lunch, so time should be blocked out accordingly.
10. BAD idea to try to fit in a huge task between two Salah times that follow each other quickly. It’s easy to think that we would get part of it done after say, Maghrib, and the rest after Isha (1.5 hour between the two). But what actually happens is one could get so engrossed in the task that Isha gets delayed!
11. The time after Isha is again great for getting things done but it should be previously decided when bed time is going to be, else waking up for Fajr becomes a major task in itself!
12. Having meals BEFORE a Salah helps to be able to work uninterrupted after Salah.
13. Having lots of time before the deadline was probably one of the causes why I wasn’t able to complete some tasks. So if I put these down to be done a slightly later date I could handle some lighter tasks now, like reading, crafting etc.
14. It seems to be a good idea to block out some slots for hobbies because if we have a heavy work schedule, then these other talents become latent since we don’t ever seem to find any time for them.
15. Doing tasks after Salah might not be a suitable option for those who have too many people around who need attention. Unless of course all these people are aware that the time after Salah is your personal time and you will not be available for them. Such people would be more comfortable working when others are otherwise occupied; kids are asleep, family members are out etc.

Sister Yumna

I am a stay at home mum. We just recently moved to  Saudi Arabia. I spend most of my time in front of the pc. Things would get done in the house. but I always got side tracked, and ended up in front of the pc. I lacked focus.

My assignment was to schedule tasks for after salaah. I used to rush through salaah so I could do things, which inevitably led me to the pc, to check a message or FB… anything to keep me from doing my tasks. Since I started this experiment, I am more aware of my time, and how I use it. How little of my time I actually dedicated to Allah Ta’ala and my family.

I gave myself time limits to do tasks, and masha-allah I finished way before the time elapsed. I spent less time idling around.

Fajr time: I used to rush through salaah so I could help the kids get ready for school.
Now, I plan my time, and sort most of the kids stuff at night, so mornings are more free, less stressful and also I can read some Quraan.

Duhur: This is my time that I dedicated to Allah Ta’ala.I could read more dhikr, and more quraan

Asr: Kids are home, so this time was dedicated to spending time with them.

Magrib: I have to work more on this time, but I want to eventually free up more time so I can read nafl salaah and also read some quraan

Esha: This time is dedicated to cleaning up after supper. Also spend more time with my kids bedtime.

Well, that's all folks. Five great participants with five great results. A lot for us to think over, and a lot for us to learn from. If you were doing the experiment, how would you do it differently? What obstacles would you face? And how would you overcome them? Let us know in the comments section below and let's really learn from each other.