Sunaa’ al-Hayah

- Life Makers -

Episode 1 – Introduction Part 1

In the name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Ever- Merciful.  Peace and blessings be upon the most noble of Prophets– Prophet Muhammad (SAWS[1]) – and upon the members of his family and his companions. 

Months have passed since our program ‘Wa Nalqa al-Ahebba’ (Meet the Beloved) ended, which mainly related the stories of the beloved companions of the Prophet (SAWS).   In that program, we described in detail their lives and their work.   Now the time has come for us too to have our stories told and recited, to achieve feats deserving of remembrance.

When I say ‘we’, I mean ‘you’ and ‘me.’   What I’ll present you with is not just another television program, but a project that will revive our countries and save our youth. This program is a practical project not a preaching one.   It is based on the words of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, in addition to the sayings of the Prophet’s companions.   Its main aim is; let us make the lives of our countries.

Field research has been done, in the streets and among the youth, to familiarise ourselves with their dreams, hopes and aspirations.  We are going to engage in these issues, separately, during our weekly program, in a logical way, and we will discuss them together.  In this episode and the next two, I will explain the main topics and we will talk about them together.

These topics are:

1. What are the objectives of this program?
2. What are the desired results for this program?
3. Why have we called it ‘Sunaa’ al-Hayah’ (Life Makers)?
4. What type of ‘life making’ is it going to be?
5. Why did we choose to present this program at this particular time?
6. What is the difference between this program and Wa Nalqa al-Ahebba (Meet the Beloved)?
7. What types of models will we choose for you?
8. How long will this project take to be completed?
9. Which categories of people will it address?
10. How did the model work with others?
11. The model presented by the Prophet (SAWS)
12. How can we ‘make life’, and what are the stages of the project?

Our motto will be, “Together we will make Life.”

One cannot ‘make life’ alone - we must join hands.  Together we will first examine the points mentioned above.

1. What are the objectives of this program?

A.     To encourage our men and women, both young and old, to have effective and beneficial roles in serving our countries.  Their roles must be productive, useful and influential.   

2. What are the desired results for this program?

I expect one of the results to be a drastic drop in unemployment rates amongst the youth as a result of their effective participation.  In general, success has particular requirements, which we can meet as follows:

1.      Method: a Divine method that can never be associated with falsity from any direction whatsoever.

2.      History: a history that inspires trust and self-respect.

3.      Financial abilities.

4.      Youthful aptitude: the Arab world has the largest percentage of youth in the whole world.

What else do we need to turn these factors into success and excellence? Two things are missing:

1.      The willpower and determination that leads to success. 

2.      Reprogramming our brains to select the precious material to focus on, while setting aside the useless things that occupy our time.

Success starts with a dream, which becomes an idea, which then takes over the mind and compels it to achieve this idea.  If we take a look at some of the examples of those who succeeded throughout the years, we will find that most of them were driven to the road of ‘life-making,’ either for their own sakes or for the sakes of others.  However, all of them started with a simple yet novel idea.

Muhammad the conqueror:

He started with a small dream that inspired him from the age of ten.  Muhammad’s tutor planted in him an aspiration at a tender, young age.  His tutor inspired him to be the one the Prophet (SAWS) meant when foretelling, “Constantinople shall be conquered; its commander shall be the best commander in the history of mankind and his army shall be the best army the world shall ever see.”

His tutor used to tell him, “Why can’t this person be you Muhammad?” The commander, hence, started preparing himself for this mission.  He used to ride his horse, venturing into the sea until the water would almost reach the bridle of the horse.  Little by little, he used to come closer to the fortified walls of Constantinople and yell at the top of his lungs, as if addressing the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS), “I shall be that person.”

He then began to learn the art of management, the art of governing and the art of war.  He mastered six languages, continuously increasing his experience.  His target was clear in front of his eyes.  Then, when he was twenty-one years old, he conquered Constantinople. 

Dr.  Ahmad Zuweil:

Do you know the secret behind his success? Do you know who urged him towards success? It was, in fact, his mother who placed a sign on his door when he was young, stating, “This is the room of Dr. Ahmad Zuweil.”  Because of this, he grew up with an idea from his earliest youth.  It filled his heart and mind, stirring his willpower in its direction.  Consequently, he succeeded in his aims.

Imam al-Bukhari:

When he was only twelve years old, he saw a vision.  He saw himself walking behind the Prophet (SAWS), and every time the Prophet (SAWS) would place his foot on the ground, the Imam would hurry and put his own foot on the very same spot.  He woke up from that dream bewildered, and went to his tutor.  There, he heard his tutor saying, “If only one of you could collect the Hadith Sahih (authentic Prophetic narrations) and separate them from every ‘Hadith Daeif’ (weak Hadith) and ‘Hadith Maudu’ (invented Hadith), it would be like we were following the steps of our beloved Prophet.”

He understood the vision instantly, and Imam al-Bukhari became the most thorough collector of all the Prophetic narrations. 

He established sciences like Ilm ar-Rijal (Study of Narrators)[2], Manhaj al-Jarh wal-Taadeel (Method of invalidating and validating Narrators)[3], and established the rules for certifying authentic narrations. 

He collected more than 7,000 Ahadith based on that scientific method.  The overall distance that he covered in his trips throughout the world to seek these authentic narrations is estimated to be twice the circumference of the globe. During his trips, he visited more than four thousand scientists known to be narrators of authentic Hadith.

He once visited Baghdad where all the scientists gathered to try to test his ability in memorizing the Hadith by reciting more than one hundred authentic Ahadith with erroneous narrators.  He heard each Hadith and kept saying, “I don’t recognize this one, I don’t recognize that one.” When they finished reciting, they said, “See! He didn’t recognize any of the Ahadith we told him.”

He then started, to their amazement, reciting each and every Hadith they had said and giving it its right narrator, until he had finished all the Ahadiths they had recited for him.  Thus, he managed to show his wealth of knowledge and prove his unsurpassed ingenuity. 

Thomas Edison:

Thomas Edison is famously known as the inventor of the electric lamp; however he also registered more than 1,093 invention patents over a time span of fifteen years.  The question we must ask is why haven’t we seen a Muslim like him?

When this great man was asked about the secret of his ingenuity, he answered, “I’ve never been a genius; I have 1% intelligence and 99% sweat and will power.”  Why don’t we envy that successful, non-Muslim man?

Asmaa’ Bint Abu-Bakr:

She was seven months pregnant when she carried food to the Prophet (SAWS) and her father (Abu-Bakr (RA), the Prophet’s companion) daily from Makkah, all the way to the Ghar Thur (Thur Cave) and back again.  

Abu-Jahl once slapped her so hard that her earrings were knocked off and her face bled.  Who could bear what she went through? She was the one who gave birth to Abdullah, who later became one of Islam’s heroes. 

Umaya Joha:

She won the title of ‘Best Caricaturist’ in the whole Arab world.  Umaya Joha won this title despite all of the problems that could have hindered her, such as the death of her husband and having to raise her children alone. 

Yusuf Ibn-Tashfeen:

This model individual will show us that this program is addressed to both the young and the elderly.  Who is Yusuf Ibn-Tashfeen?

Yusuf Ibn-Tashfeen was a great hero.  He takes credit for prolonging the Muslim reign over Andalusia for three centuries.  This hero took action when he was ninety years old.  He found Andalusia torn between the reigns of the petty kingdoms, after five centuries of Muslim reign.  At that time, European armies were gathering to conquer the Muslim lands of Andalusia.  This hero did not stand there watching.  He got on his horse, at his very old age, and set up a plan to protect Andalusia.  He led the armies and crushed the enemies in a crucial battle called the Battle of Zalaqa.  Hence, he re-established the Muslim reign over Andalusia for three more centuries.  A ninety-year-old man managed to do all this.  He proved that his life was not over.

We too, have to follow these same paths to prove that we can make life…

Sinan the architect:

Sinan was an architect during the Ottoman Empire who did not start designing until after the age of fifty.  He died at the age of eighty-five.  This architect left a heritage of 364 pieces of architecture, and all the artists of the Italian Renaissance learned from him.  In World War II, the Germans did not bomb Istanbul for fear of destroying his fine artistry. 

When he was dying he said, “Allah, I hold Thee witness that all I did was only for Your sake.  O Allah, I beseech Thee to let me into Your Paradise for all the things that I did for Your sake.”  This man did not worship Allah (SWT) non-stop, yet, he affected a whole nation with his work. 

This program aims to change the potential within us into positive work that our societies will benefit from, instead of wasting this power on useless things. 

The Arab youth are like a sad young man, feeling depressed, and sitting in a cramped, depressing room, with cobwebs covering the walls.  A prayer mat is draped carelessly on a sofa very close by, and on his desk there is a copy of the Holy Qur’an, covered with dust.  Outside this room it is sunny and bright.  We asked him, “Why don’t you come out of the room, into the light?”  He answered, “There’s no way I can come out.”  We then said, “But it is possible.”  His body started twitching in an attempt to move, but he could not manage.  He felt that his body was shackled to the ground.  A shackle was binding his left arm.  On it was written the word ‘passivity.’  A shackle was binding his right arm.  On it was written the word ‘laziness.’  A shackle was binding his neck.  On it was written the word ‘ignorance.’  Shackles bound his feet.  On them was written ‘no aim in life.’  We told him, “In order for you to get up you must unshackle yourself first.  We will help you to achieve that.”  Step by step, he started to learn.  He started to learn how to build his will power, how to identify his target and how to develop his knowledge.  He started putting it all into practice, and he kept practicing, until one day, we came and opened the door of the room.  He tried to get up, and he managed to get up smoothly.  As he finally left the room, he held onto two things:  he had the Holy Qur’an in his right hand, and the key to life making in his left hand.

B.     The second target for this program is to inspire the youth with hope.  We have had enough despair and frustration.

Allah (SWT) set out an important rule in His Qur’an which can be translated as, “…Certainly We shall not allow the reward of anyone who does his (righteous) deeds in the most perfect manner to be lost.” (TMQ, 18:30)[4].

This means that if a person lives for an idea and toils hard, giving all his best efforts for this idea, then he will definitely achieve it.  This is exactly what we aspire to reach. 

C.     The third target is to reinforce our increased devoutness by steering away from sin. 

If your soul, embedded deep inside you, is not engaged in good deeds, it may lead you to bad deeds.  We all know that spare time is the deadliest enemy of integrity, the closest companion of failure, and that both spare time and failure lead to falling into sin. 

3. Why have we called it ‘Sunaa’ al-Hayah’ (Life Makers)?

Allah (SWT), the Almighty, says in His Qur’an (talking about Musa (AS) (Moses)), what can be translated as, “...in order that you may be made (brought up) under My Eye.” (TMQ, 20:39).   He also says what can be translated as, “And I have made you (created you) for Myself.” (TMQ, 20:41).

We should remake ourselves for Allah.  I want to remake myself for Allah (SWT), the Almighty.  We are religious people.  We want to be like Musa (AS), about whom the above two ayahs (verses) were revealed.

Why is the program called ‘Life Makers’ and not ‘Life Making’?

The former means that we will make our own lives, whereas the latter means that someone else might make our lives for us. 

4. What do we mean by ‘Life Makers’?

We mean:

• Selfless people who are concerned about the welfare of their countries. 

• People empowered by the word ‘us’, not the word ‘I.’

• People searching for ways to serve their countries. 

• People toiling, not for their own good, but for Allah (SWT) and their religion. 

A bad example of this is the Turkish football team that won the bronze medal during the last World Cup.  We had thought they succeeded for the sake of Allah (SWT), but when we saw them copying the Westerners during their celebrations, we realized that their success was only for themselves.

Now we come to the question that has a very painful answer:  Why this particular program at this particular time?

The reply is very painful; frankly, we will not change unless we wake up from this indefinite coma that we live in.  We have reached rock bottom in all the domains of life.  I cannot imagine that we can go anywhere beneath the level we have reached, simply because it is rock bottom. 

I will now present you with some facts, published by the United Nations Development Program about the Arab world, showing in precise figures that it is time for us to make our lives:

Illiteracy index in 1995:

• Arab countries: 45%
• Other under-developed countries: 30%
• Europe: 2%
• Canada has even eliminated illiteracy completely, in the domain of computers.

Average yearly income per citizen:

• Bangladesh: $170
• Somalia: $190
• Afghanistan: $210
• Pakistan: $300
• Britain, for instance: more than $12,000 per year

Registered patents:

• Egypt: 77
• Saudi Arabia: 171
• Israel: 7,652

Number of engineers working in research and development:

• Arab countries: about 300 for each million citizens
• US: about 4000 for each million citizens

Number of the sick to the number of doctors:

• Indonesia: about 10,000 sick for each doctor
• Spain: about 500 sick for each doctor

Number of daily newspapers for each 1000 citizens:

• All Arab countries combined: 53 newspapers (most of the news they report is frivolous)
• Developed countries: 285 newspapers

Number of translated / published books:

• The Arab Word holds about 1.1% of the overall world share, though we constitute about 20% of the total world population. 
• In 1995, all the Arab countries combined published a total of 1348 books, whereas Israel alone published about 3284 books. 

Computers:

• In the Arab World, there are 50 PC’s for every 1,000 citizens, and the Internet is used by 20 of each 1,000 citizens.  Note that most of the Internet users in the Arab world use it only to access illicit websites. 
• The same statistics state that only 15% of the citizens of Western countries use the Internet for viewing illicit websites, but they do that only during the weekends because they work the rest of the week. 

To sum up these statistics:

·        We do not want to lead a life like those living in the West.  They have immense problems and the material lives they are leading have taken the best out of them.  The best model is the Muslim model, if it is put into practice properly. 

·        We Muslims constitute a large part of the total world population; we are about one fifth of the world’s population. 

·        Our problem is that we have got used to taking without ever giving. 

·        In other words, we are living as parasites on the rest of the world

Our beloved Prophet (SAWS) says, “Those who give out charity are better than those who lead a needy life.”

We have accepted being called ‘begging nations.’  The other nations tell us, “Isn’t it enough that we’re putting up with you? Why should we listen to your opinion about us?” How can we accept such humiliation and insults? We have to refuse to lead such needy lives.  We should say, “I have to succeed.  I have to give.  I have to add to life.”

The famous writer Mustafa Sadek al-Refa’ie once said, “If you don’t add something to life, you are an eyesore to life.”

We have a better method to abide by: the Holy Qur’an.

There are ayahs in the Qur’an in which Allah (SWT) says what can be translated as, “to be for your service,” “so walk in its paths thereof,” “do they not then consider?” “Do they not then observe?”  All the others have taken full benefit from these words, yet we are still saying that we don’t know how to do it.  

Allah (SWT) chooses our fate based on what we want in life.  Allah (SWT) wants us to be a good nation, the best of nations.  It is true that our reality is painful, but we have to change it. 

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