1. As a Qur'aan teacher, how do you feel the challenges of past and present students differ?

MashaAllah I have come across those students who are still very eager and anxious to memorize, there are definitely more temptations to do all sorts of things with the modern technology and waste their time, but this same technology when used for good is helping the students to achieve their goal with much ease. My students benefit a lot through listening to different Huffadh with their IPods, mp3 players etc.  

2. What advise or learning resources would you offer/recommend to those currently memorizing Qur'aan?

My advise is first and foremost we turn to Allah for help, and do it for His pleasure with utmost Ikhlas, and then we need to commit ourselves just the way we commit for all the other things that we want to achieve in our lives and also make the most of all the resources that are available on an individual basis.

3. What advise would you present to those who have completed memorization of Qur'aan?

As we know this is a unique thing in itself, we need to make a life long commitment to review a portion of the Qur'aan regularly every single day----------that portion should be one seventh of the Quraan, I call it 'a seven day cycle', no matter where we are this shouldn't get disturbed, and besides that we should be able to recite a juz or so in our daily salats. These two things have really helped me and I do emphasize on these when I am asked for advice.
 

4. what are the different ways that can be used to motivate our sisters to memorize the Qur'an?

 First we need to fall in love with our Creator.. This can be achieved through realizing all the blessings He has bestowed on us, the greatest of which is Imaan -- the key to Jannah. He didn't just create us, He also gave us a beautiful manual through which we are guided and we can lead a safe, secure, and peaceful life in this world of corruption and confusion. When Allah's love becomes intense, it will be expressed through our connection with His Book. We will never have enough of it. We will recite it with love and reverence for this best possible gift for mankind, then we will also learn to focus on understanding it, we will then live our lives in accordance with its teachings. 

When we are constantly living with the Qur'an in our daily lives we have made a very strong connection with our Lord. We also know that this is the only book when we read one word of it there are ten hasanat for every letter, how is it then, that we will not want to recite it more and more, when this happens the next stage will follow -- we will have an urge to at least memorize some of it, that will inshaAllah lead us to memorizing all of it. We will do it because we want to and not because we have to. My advice to those who want to memorize but feel that they don't have the time, is to get started even if it is just two lines a day and be consistent with it. Allah will give them the barakah and they will be amazed on how much they are able to achieve just through being consistent with whatever little they are able to memorize. The key is doing with sincerity and consistency. Being on wudu (the believer's weapon against Satan) all the time is a tremendous blessing -- through this we have a special connection with Allah Most High, and we are not an easy target for Satan; and also we are able to reach out for the Qur'an whenever we have any free time -- this will inshaAllah speed up the process of memorization.

5. Please tell me more on your published work on 'Qur'anic language made easy'?

Alhamdulillah I was able to learn the Arabic language with the basic grammar to understand the Qur'an around the same time when I was memorizing the Qur'an. Later on I started teaching, I didn't have a text, I was teaching from the notes which I took from my teachers. Some of my students at the end of their course insisted that I should get my notes published so that others can also benefit from it. Alhamdulillah I hear MashaAllah more and more people are using it now. It is basically written for non Arabic speaking students. Those who want to learn the basic grammar on their own who are fluent with their recitation of the Qur'aan, this book inshaAllah will be a good start.

6. What makes one a Productive Muslimah? (traits/ character)

A productive muslimah is one who takes pride in being a muslimah, she is focused on preaching Islam through her own practice. She loves Allah, her focus in life is Allah's pleasure, and she loves to do things that bring her closer to her Creator and Sustainer. Her main concern is her success in the Akhirah (Hereafter), thus she makes the most of this world as a means to achieve that success. 

Her Imaan is reflected through her outward which is complete submission to Sharia (Divine law).  She lives a simple life taking care of her needs and not going after her wants. She has a heart free of love for this world, free of love of leadership, free of bad opinions about others, free of grudges, malice, rancor, greed, envy and all other evil traits. Her tongue is not engaged in haraam or vain talk, she thinks before she speaks, she controls her anger. She is a humble person, her goal is to be a better person every day of her life; she doesn't hesitate to admit when she is wrong and is quick in correcting her wrongs/faults when she sees them.  She is neither stingy nor a spendthrift, but she loves to spend generously for those things which will bring her closer to her Creator. 

Her heart is clean and pure, filled with love and reverence for her Creator; love, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness for the creation. She is full of gratitude for every single blessing, especially for the spiritual blessings, and she is always striving to progress spiritually. She has complete trust and reliance in Allah, when she goes through difficult/disliked situation she knows there is good in it for her -- both in this world and the next. She loves to be in the company of Saliheen  (righteous slaves of Allah). She strives to keep her promises and commitments. She is soft spoken but firm in her words and works. She always strives to be a part of solution and not a part of problem. She shows beautiful patience during difficult times, for she realizes things could have been worse, and that these are tests from Allah Who can be called upon and He will answer the duas, and she also has the certainty that 'with every difficulty there is relief' (94: 6). She is a living proof of what a muslimah should be, and all this with the utmost sincerity to please her Almighty Lord. 

7. Final words of advise to ProductiveMuslimah fans.

My advice to myself and to everyone is to rejoice in being a Muslim/Muslimah, that we be a true Muslim in deeds not just in words -- as we know the literal meaning of Muslim is 'one who submits to Allah's will and His commands.' We shouldn't take things for granted, We should take everything with gratitude, for Allah promises us increase for the things that we show gratitude for. We also need to reflect upon the meaning of gratitude which is to use Allah's blessings (which include our time, health, sight, hearing, speech, all the latest technology and all other countless blessings) only for the things He is pleased with. Our gratitude should be even more for the spiritual favors, the best way to show gratitude for them is to know that these are gifts from Allah Most High for which we have no words to express our thanks. We need to be focused on our goal which is our Akhirah, to achieve our goal we need to be in the company of those who have achieved this focus or are working for it -- as we know that the company one keeps has the greatest impact on a person's life.

Update: PART 2

Try saying that five times fast

The other day, a sister I’ll call Salma (just because it sounds good in a tongue twister) came to meet me, practically in tears.  “The stress,” she cried, “will completely ruin my entire life!  I am a failure as a mom, I am a failure at work.  I get no support from my husband.  You’d think he’d at least be sympathetic to my situation, but I know that he’s thinking that I’m a failure as a wife too!”

And in those few sentences, Salma effortlessly demonstrated for our dear readers precisely what’s wrong with her thinking patterns in relation to her stress.

Stress happens when something comes up that we aren’t sure that we’ll have what it takes to handle.  A sticky situation at work, a toddler who refuses to eat her vegetables, and what seems to be a never-ending balancing act between roles are ’some things’ that most women can relate to.  Salma has good company.  

We’ve discussed “don’t believe everything you think!” before and how it’s not enough to just replace negative thoughts with positive ones, so today let’s take it a step further by applying the lesson to stressful thinking patterns. 

Indeed, we can change how stress gets to us and takes away our ability to focus on what matters and on what can move us forward so as not to succumb to despair and self-loathing.

The first step is to recognize what ’stress thought’ trap we’re falling into. 

*****

Doomsday Thoughts

When Salma screamed that her ‘life was ruined,’ it may have been an exaggeration or an expression that she mindlessly brought out for effect, but the fact remains that there are those who do think in such ‘extreme outcome’ ways – and that is not a stress reducing way to think. 

She needs to ask the question: is my life really ruined?

Have you ever had a doomsday thought?  As a reference point, if it happens again, what question will you ask?

Quality Assurance or Bust Thoughts

This one is about us placing unrealistic standards of what we suppose we should be in order to measure up to whatever we want to measure up to.  So, for Salma, she had the notion that unless she could get her toddler to eat 5 servings of vegetables everyday, she would be a failure of a mother.

Of course when you put it to her that way, she’d laugh.  And that’s good, because it means that she’s realizing that she can question her definition of what ‘quality assurance’ means, and thus her ability to measure up.  And honestly, where would you find a toddler who eats all his vegetables everyday?

When you are able to loosen up on yourself within the context of your thoughts in this way, you’re able to loosen the hold that the stress has on you.

Ingrate Thoughts

In this kind of thought process, we focus on the negative side of a stressful situation and disregard any positives.  I spoke to Salma and after asking some simple questions learned that in fact she had a mother who lovingly looked after her son while she was at work and her husband was known to take him out  for some ‘daddy and me time’ most weekends.  When she began to count her blessings, she could clearly begin to see that looking at the glass half full was a way better place to be in when it comes to stressful thinking.

‘Little Miss Know it All” Thoughts

Spot Screaming Salma Stressing. 

Spot Screaming Salma Stressing. 

Spot Screaming Salma Stressing.   

Spot Screaming Salma Stressing.

May Allah SWT ease any and all stress you ever encounter

 Just like the trunk is the main foundation of a tree, a ProductiveMuslimah is the foundation of results and changes brought about in the society. She is the "main branch" or the 'foundation' of "productivity"! "Working in exchange for a change" the change here indicates a 'change' in the society. she works in exchange for a universal change

Sr. Haadia, Congratulations!

It was a close competition, and ProductiveMuslimah would like congratulate all the contestants. Each one was unique and simply brilliant.. May Allah (SWT) reward you all with the best, ameen.

Founder & CEO of
Anggun International
Shape Watchers Asia
Learning Discoveries
Manggis Gallery co-Founder

And we asked her:

1. Tell us about yourself and what do you do?

Firstly I would like to thank ProductiveMuslimah.com for this invitation for the interview.

Well, who am I? I am Allah’s servant planted on earth to play several roles in life…

As a mom of 2, a Nutritionist and an Entrepreneur.  I run several businesses in Kids Education, Wellness, Fashion, Entrepreneurship & Internet Training.

I love writing and public speaking especially on topics related to

Women’s Health, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Home based business for women, Positive Parenting and Personal Development.

I am very passionate about what I do especially in the world of entrepreneurship because I use Business as  a way to express my purpose in life, to bring forward a cause larger than Me so that I can create Wealth as a Legacy that will last for my community and beyond,  even when I am no more living. I wish to see that the seeds that I have sowed now will continue to benefit the generations to come… That is what makes this life worth living.

2. So how did you start? What was your first experience/ venture that influenced this choice?

From young I always wanted to be a teacher.  As I grew up, I graduated with my Degree in Nutrition and ended up teaching Nutrition in a Secondary school. Life is great as a teacher, everything is stable, the pay is good, all was well and fine Alhamdulillah.

However I knew something else was brewing inside me, I can’t really tell what it was, but it was some form of restlessness, a quiet voice from within prompting me to do something else in life…

One day I got an opportunity to speak to a large group of women on Nutrition & Weight Loss. That was the turning point for me as I realized I enjoyed doing public speaking more than just teaching in school.

Thus I quit my job and started my own business. I opened up a wellness training school. My first business venture failed. I closed down my shop and I was in $80,000 debts. It was an expensive “MBA” lesson for me from the University of Hard Knocks called Life…

But Alhamdulillah it was a blessing in disguise as I learnt a lot from it. One of the lessons I learnt was the reason for my failure. I failed for one reason, I did not have any education in business at all.

If I were to re-start again I would have at least attended some sort of business training to equip myself with the nuts and bolts of business.

That was exactly what I did after that. I soaked up business knowledge like a sponge and started learning (self study) by getting online and purchasing books, and participating in online courses on business and marketing.

Meanwhile to pay off my debts, I took on free lance jobs as a public speaker on Nutrition with the Health Promotion board.

I restarted my business again and the 2^nd time, it turned around a 7 figure sale in 2 years. I attracted 2000 clients each paying about $700 - $2000 each.

However I got distracted, and started investing my profits in all other sorts of businesses which was the reason for my 2^nd downfall. In my 2^nd business mistake, I lost close to half a million dollars.

What I learn from that?

I learn that it is important to learn how to make money – which I knew how to do…

But I missed out on the 2^nd part – How to Keep and Grow the money, ie. what I missed out was the knowledge and education on Investing money wisely. So right now, what I am targeting for this year is to learn how to keep  and grow my money wisely via proper investments vehicles.

Given all my ups and downs in my business I have also started teaching other aspiring entrepreneurs how to start and grow their business profitably so they don’t have to make the same kind of mistakes that I did.

3. You also wrote a book which is fantastic masha-Allah! How do you manage your workload?

Alhamdulillah, writing has always been something I love. It didn’t seem like an extra load for me because I have been writing since I was 8 years old. I started a journal and wrote every day in that journal. So writing has become like a habit for me.

My first published book was co-authored with Anthony Robbins and Dr Wayne Dryer.  I actually extracted a part of my journal entry to be included in that book.  The book is about how to live a life with abundance. I remembered writing about it in my diary so I extracted the contents from my diary, edited it and included that in the book.

I’m in the process of publishing another book on weight loss called the “One Second Weight Loss – Weight Loss at the Speed of Thought”, its about how to lose weight by loving ourselves and treating our body with great love and respect. It covers more topics on the inner game of weight loss and using the mind power to win the battle of weight loss. It is a topic close to my heart as in Singapore, my community, the Malay Muslims have the highest statistics in obesity and are at the highest risk for many chronic diet related diseases. My hope for this book is it will help transform the health of individuals reading it so they can lead a better quality life and be able to contribute to their families and their community as Health is an asset.

4. Have you ever been disappointed when setting out your goals? Did you ever want to give up?

Yes with a capital YES!

There are many moments in my life that I just wanted to give it all up. Disappointments come from many angles in my life, from the business failures, losing the money, from the challenges arising from running and managing the business, issues with managing staff, handling so many roles, balancing work and family, the pressures and stress of coping with everything at once.

It is indeed a struggle to raise an awareness in the community.

How did I stay motivated in those times?

At those moments I will always reflect upon how our prophet, Muhammad (P.B.U.H) struggled too in his early days as he was raising an awareness in his community.

Every great feat in life comes with its set of challenges. As I studied how our prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) faced the challenges, I learn there are many ways to handle crisis in life. The concept of Hijrah for example, a change of environment, a state of mind, patience, prayers, taking Massive actions despite any obstacles, persevering, handling failures even in battle fields.. All those were great lessons for any individuals on their path to success, especially when the mission is for the greater good of the community. Insha’allah help will come and success will be inevitable with Allah’s Grace.

5. What do you think are the ingredients of a Productive Muslimah who has hopes and aspirations to Lead and Teach?

These are, in my personal opinion the path to success:

Always start with Intention – with the end in mind and have crystal clear clarity on your purpose in life. 

One must be crystal clear of several main issues before starting on any venture

These questions may help to clear the path

-         Who am I? What am I here for?

I believe this is the most fundamental question one needs to be clear of before starting on the journey of leading and teaching others.

We must be clear that we are none other than agents of Allah, Allah’s khalifah who has been sent to earth for only one objective that is to serve Him, nothing else but to serve Him.  Understanding the concept of servitude, what it means,  is the essence of life.

My understanding of that is that I serve Allah by utilizing all the talents, skills and passion that He has planted in me, to bring all these out in a way that can help add value to another person’s life.

Serving myself first, by seeking knowledge to complement my skills, talents and passion. Then taking this knowledge to benefit my family then my community.

We need to sit down in quiet contemplation to write out the strengths within us.

Sometimes in a world where no one seems to be acknowledging us, where criticisms and negativities are rampant, we must stand back for a moment to reflect on the greatness that has been bestowed upon us.

I believe Allah Almighty has given us all a unique gift, a special talent, even bad experiences that we have gone through in life can actually be a blessing, if we see that positively.

The question is how do we bring out these gifts and valuable experiences to the world so that more people can be impacted from our gifts?

When we are clear on our strengths, our passion and our gifts to the world then we set an intention to utilize those gifts by creating programs, products, courses and workshops where we bring our talents, skills and passion to share invaluably with others.

For instance if your talent, skill and passion is in baking, then you can create courses teaching others how to bake so that by learning from you, they can then bake and sell and add extra income to their families through the new skills they learn from you.

Often people ask the ‘How to’ first, To me all the mechanics of ‘How to’ will come when we firstly know the ‘Why’. Why are we doing what we want to do.

90% of success is determining the why and for the How to, seek knowledge that will complement the skills needed to get things done.

For example, once you have determined what your passion is, what your skills and strengths are, you must learn how to package those into a program course or workshop and learn how to market them.

Marketing is a skill that can be learnt and developed.

Set aside some time to invest in self education, business & marketing education especially about Internet marketing because by doing so you will be able to reach out to more people and help more people.

These two keys: 1. Clarity of Purpose + 2. Investment in knowledge that can move you forward with to reach your goal insha’allah

These two will help set the frame for your success.

6. I myself am very interested in teaching and leading, any final words of advice to our ProductiveMuslim fans?

Alhamdulillah for that noble intention to start with.

My final words of advise for those who want to succeed greatly in this field of training – Leading and Teaching others, is to MODEL after SUCCESS & MASSIVE IMPERFECT ACTIONS

Anything that you have ever wanted to do, perhaps someone else has done it well before.

One of the fastest way to teach and lead is to model after successful people who have done well in the areas where you want to lead and teach.

Find out who are the people who are doing what you love to do and have done it well and then you mentor or model after their footsteps. It’s the fastest way to grow.

In fact it is how our prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) has taught us to do. Learn the Quran and follow the footsteps of the prophet.

So likewise, we seek knowledge on a particular field of interest and then we model after those who have succeeded before us in that area.

Example

If you have a passion in web designing and want to make it big in the area of web designing. Go model after someone who has a successful web design company.  Interview them, see how they market their products and services and then you can create a business blueprint that may even be better than theirs.

Finally after all gaining knowledge and learning all you can it’s then time to take Massive Imperfect Actions on all the knowledge learnt because no amount of analyzing will get things done. Some people like to get into the mode of analyzing till they paralyze.  There will never be a perfect moment, a perfect product  or  perfect solution. The only way to perfect something is to go out and do it and make tones of mistakes and improving upon them.

That is something we say daily in our Fatiha prayer, "Guide us in the straight path, the path of those to whom Thou art generous, not of those with whom Thou art angry nor of those who go astray,"

As we progress in life, we will make mistakes  and as we seek continuously seek prayers to keep us on the right path we shall learn to self correct and learn to make “better mistakes”  along the way towards perfection …

Action, Massive Imperfect Actions my brothers and sisters, on your knowledge learn will be the best ingredient for success… because knowledge when applied gives power.

With that I pray that Allah will grant you success in all your endeavor  in life. Amin

Join in my inspired journey towards building a better ummah at http://www.suriamohd.com

A unique day of online coaching presentations for sisters who are juggling the various roles and responsibilities that Allah has given them.

Webinar 1: Balancing The Books
Finding the funds to pay for your Islamic Education
Speaker: Sister Farzana

Webinar 2: Discovering You
Allah will not change the condition of a people, unless they are ready to change
Speaker: Sister Khafayah

Webinar 3: You can NEVER do "Time Management"
Learn the number 1 mindset shift to becoming productive
Speaker: Brother Nahyan

Register: www.themanyhijabsofamuslimah.com

Contact: themuslimcoach@gmail.com

In Time Management 101: Part 2, we spoke about the importance of identifying your roles. If you have not identified your roles, in all areas of your life, make sure you do.It might take up time, or might seem like you are going no where, but once a role is identified, and we start setting goals, we take steps towards enhancing all areas of our lives.
A.List your roles: (example below)
1.Mother
2.Wife
3.Student
4.Business Woman  etc.....

B: NOW set YOUR GOALS!

We all know the importance of goals! Goals keep us motivated, focused and driven to achieve what we want to achieve. Never underestimate the power of goals, they are dreams set in motion.
Below we show you how to take each role and write down your present important tasks and then write your short term and long term goals.
It takes time, but it is truly beneficial if you want to live a FULL Life,  in which all areas of your life are maximised.

Journal Work:

1)Take EACH ROLE and write down the following regarding this Role:
`                        1.1 Tasks for the week and month
                          1.2 Write down your short term goals
                          1.3 Write down your Long Term Goals
Example:

Role:   STUDENT

1.1 Tasks for the week/month:  ________________________________________

1.2 Short Term Goals:                _____________________________________________

1.3 Long Term Goals:                 _____________________________________________ 

Remember keep YOUR goals SMART!!
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

2)Once your tasks are identified and goals are set,  join us next week for learning how to schedule your tasks and goals on Time Management Part 4: Scheduling your tasks!


Email us on productivemuslimah@gmail.com for any queries, advice or help.

How does She do it?

When Mum feels overwhelmed, the entire family unit is disrupted. Sometimes, women might deal with pressure by complaining and nagging – but never coming up with real solutions. Other times, they think they will suffer in silence, but the pressure can erupt at the most inopportune times and the damage can be long lasting.

In this webinar, learn how to balance your priorities so that you won’t be overwhelmed. Learn how to get out of the "negative nagging" phase in order to come up with solutions. And learn why suffering in silence (or otherwise) doesn’t have to be your reality.

Get a plan for a balanced, happy, and progressive you!

Your entire family will thank you!

February 11, 2010 | 6:00 PM (EST – NY Time)/
11:00 PM (GMT – UK Time)

RSVP TODAY at www.mumlovesme.com

Don't miss out on this great opportunity!

productivemuslimah@gmail.com