Nuh

In the name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful; peace be upon the Messenger of Allah (SAWS[1]). We are pleased to communicate with you through Sunaa’ al-Hayah and we feel happy and hopeful.

In the previous episode, we have talked about ‘preserving resources,’ and we also talked about collecting clothes. We spent the whole episode talking about how to push that project forward. As a matter of fact, I usually start each episode by announcing the results; telling you what happened and what we have accomplished. This time, I won't say anything because the results are bigger than words. I do not need to tell you about them because you have already seen them and lived them yourselves. May Allah (SWT) reward you amply and accept your deeds and ours. I am very happy with the tremendous effects we are able to achieve together.

The phase of clothes collection will continue for another week, so I will not talk about the results now. However, before we reach next week, I want to strongly urge anyone of you who has large storage places to help the individuals and charitable societies in finding places to store the clothes. All the places we have are already filled and we are running into problems with storage. The amount of clothes was so huge that it exceeded the capacity of the limited storage areas available. Please logon to the website and write down any available storage areas that you might have.

I would like to explain the process of the program, as some people are wondering about the clothes and how to distribute them. I would like to tell them that the phase of collecting clothes will continue until May 31st. This is to allow everybody who would like to contribute, either by going directly to the places described on the website or by phoning the program, to figure out the addresses. The whole month of June will be for sorting the clothes out and preparing them according to age. In July, the first week of July to be exact, we will start the distribution phase, Allah (SWT) willing. In fact, we were thinking of how to deliver these clothes, and who is more eligible. Are the orphans, university students, or individuals in poor areas, villages and clusters more eligible? We have so many places we want to cover. I therefore request from you, and specially the charitable societies, if anyone of you or the dear viewers have any ideas of how to take care of the distribution, please send them to us via the website or by telephone, so that we can collect all the ideas and participate with you.

I also ask those who have already collected the clothes to not distribute them now, but to wait until the beginning of July by the will of Allah (SWT), so we can have a big event. The purpose is not merely distribution; the purpose is to be more merciful and loving in our society, to give the poor and the needy a pat on the shoulders and to feel like we are one society! We all love our countries so we all want to contribute in planting smiles all over the faces of our fellow citizens! This will be achieved in the first week of July, Allah (SWT) willing, after agreeing on the best ways for distribution. This way we’ll continue from one success to another, and move from one phase to the next.

Speaking of phases, I want to talk about our position in this program. Please, brothers and sisters, this program is not about telling stories, or that I just come to say an idea and then leave. No! This program consists of phases. When we finish one phase, we thank Allah (SWT) and move to the next. We are now still in the first phase but we have almost finished.

We were saying that we had ten chains, and we managed to break seven of them already. As we are coming to the end of the first phase we have achieved a success that went beyond our expectations, as regards to:

As you might have noticed, we made a zero value resource turn into a 100 % value resource! We also have huge amounts of clothes to the point where charitable societies are not able to fit them all in their limited storage areas! We started succeeding even while still in the first phase. You and the dear viewers must have noticed how hope is born in both you and me, and how it keeps increasing from one episode to the next, as we are getting rid of one chain after another. I am very happy to be able to say this while we are still only nearing the end of the first stage.

Sometimes we say we still have 100 years to go, but I tell you, sisters and brothers, we are still in the first phase and yet we have achieved success beyond all expectations! There is still a topic left for the first phase to finish, then we will seek another to achieve! In the very first episode of the program, I said that we will succeed, but in all truth, I never imagined that we will be so successful, or that the youth (boys and girls) as well as the ladies will participate as they did in the projects of resources, smoking, and drugs. What happened was beyond expectations, beyond imagination! Therefore I bring you the glad tidings that we are about to finish the first phase, with only one or two topics left, and we will have finished it successfully!

What is the process of the program then? Since the beginning we have explained the idea of the program through a film we imagined together. I asked you to imagine that film with me. A sad young man sitting alone in a dark room filled with cobwebs. There may be a prayer mat, as he may be praying, or there may be playing cards, games or some other worthless things. Anyway, he is a sad young man sitting alone in his room. We came to him and asked him why he was sitting alone in a dark room, we gestured him towards the light and convinced him to get out with us, to venture into life, to be successful and help us in ‘Making Life.’ This was actually what the first three introductory episodes were about. When the young man tried to get up, he could not. He found that his hands were chained by negativeness and lack of responsibility. His feet were chained by carelessness, and there was a very heavy chain around his neck, it was the lack of a goal in life! We told him that he would not be able to get up unless he frees himself from all these chains and shackles! We started the first phase, the current one, which is freeing ourselves from the chains. The chains started to break. He got up and freed his hands and found himself moving, and he wanted to get out of his room, but we stopped him, and that is the second phase. How will he succeed in life, gain self confidence and discover his talents? He sprang ahead filled with hope, determination and a sense of success. He even tore down the door instead of merely opening it. He found a world full of light, a country that needs to be built. He was pleased with himself, but he was alone. Suddenly he found many young men and women, just like him, coming out from their dark rooms, and they all joined him in ‘Making Life.’ We told them to coexist like one team, and succeed together. This will be the third phase, and this is how we will make life.

This is what this program is all about, exactly the way this film director, who is one of the life makers, has designed it. We will watch it now but first let us express our thanks to Mr. Hany Bayoumi (the one who made this cartoon film), and I will let him speak for himself.

Mr. Hany Bayoumi speaks: In the name of Allah (SWT), the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. The idea, of course, was defined by Mr. Amr Khaled. I just wanted to symbolize it by depicting that chained person; I used colors to indicate his character. When the other person entered, the fog started clearing and there was light, but the emergence of the other person was not enough to bring in the light. There had to be a strong resolve to break away from the chains. The young man succeeded in freeing himself of one chain after another. Then, the colors started to change as you will see in the film. He has a strong resolve now and he comes out to the world! Unfortunately there are many people like this young man in our societies. Once he sees everyone, he is encouraged, and we start to see factory buildings that used to be rubbles before. It was an integral work and not an individual one. I thank Mr. Amr Khaled, may Allah (SWT) reward him amply.

Mr. Amr Khaled resumes: Our goal is to achieve success in our countries, to prove our devotion. Now, let us talk about today's project and the chain we want to be freed of. We are left with only two chains! The chain of today is ‘not having a goal in life.’ The project we will work on this week and the next is how to have a goal in life. The whole episode of today will be to serve that project and to convince you about it. This project is appropriate for the period of exams. Sitting at home defining your goal in life will help you study more and understand more in order to achieve your goal! Let us then live for the goals and talk about them. I will start by asking you, what is your goal?

Actually this should have been the topic of the first episodes, but we found it to be a heavy and difficult topic; asking what your goal in life is. We wanted first that people move, feel hopeful and find that they are already starting to succeed. Then, at that moment we can ask them to write down their goals.

Do you know why this should have been done in the first episode? If you had a goal in life, it would have pushed you to be a perfectionist in your job, and give you a sense of responsibility. That is what we said in all the previous episodes. If you have a goal, you will be serious and will save you time. That is why we decided to start the other way around; by encouraging people until we reach the end of the first phase, and then set goals. Did you write your goal yet or not? I ask you brothers and sisters again, what is your goal? Everything is clear in front of us. Let us talk in more details.

I swear by Allah (SWT), that we are not meant to live without a goal, and you cannot let life lead you. There are, as you know, thousands, no, millions of Muslims who come to this life only to eat, drink, marry, have children and die! You could not have been created for only that. I swear by Allah (SWT), I wish I can shout it out to every person, regardless of anything else; you have to have a goal. You are a human being. Do you know the definition of a human being? Do you know the difference between you and other creatures? Other creatures live for their day, they live only to eat, drink and reproduce! The main difference between you, a human being, and other creatures is that you have a dimension because you have a brain and you can develop a plan for your future. Please prove your humanity by having a goal! Brothers and sisters, I am using very polite words when I say ‘other creatures.’ What distinguishes you from anything else is that you have a goal that you want to achieve, while other creatures live for their day only. Never live in this world just to eat, drink, marry, have children and then die. With only that, the life story of a human being ends!

I will tell you the life story of a very young man who went to school because his parents asked him to. He continued until he reached the final year in the secondary stage. His parents told him to study hard and to get high grades so that he can enroll into a proper college. He studied very hard, finished secondary school, and the results came out. They told him that his scores qualify him for a certain college. He applied and enrolled in that college until the final year. They told him then that he should try to graduate with high honors in order to be able to work in a decent company. He did his best in studying and then he graduated. They told him that his scores allowed him to work for a certain company, so he joined it. Later, he said he wanted to get married. When they asked him who he wanted to marry, he replied, “Just a good wife whom I would like.” He married and then had children. He continued to work to get enough money for his children. Then he died. End of the story! Is not that the story of so many people? He came and went and that was that. What did he add to life? What did he do? What was his role? What were his goals? What did he plan?

I want the person with no goal, to imagine something. Let us assume that you died now, and that people are carrying your coffin, and that four of your friends are talking about you while you are in your coffin. They are talking about your achievements, and what you did in this world. What would they say? Can you hear what they are saying? “He didn't do anything!” Has anyone thought of this before? You will go to your grave with your achievements, but your money and your children will not. Only your contributions to this life will go with you. What were your goals? What did you do? Do you get what I mean?

You are not meant to live in this world without adding to it, without having your imprint, or would you just simply say that you would live life as it comes, and let life move you on. “Let me go to school then college, and when I graduate I will work in a company, marry, have children, and bring them money.” Are you moving the world, or is the world moving you? Why did Allah (SWT) give you a brain? To be different from the rest of the creatures!

Unfortunately, if we went out to the street and asked the people about what their goals in life were? What would they say? Some would stutter, others would be confused and would not know what to reply. As long as this chain is around our neck, and we do not free ourselves from it, we will not succeed! It is just not possible, but if people, men and women, our dear viewers, had goals and those goals were for the benefit of our countries and for the benefit of our Islam, then, and only then we will succeed. Without that, there will be no point for anything. We must then free our necks from this chain. What will happen then? This is what will happen:

Do you know how children in the West are brought up? From the age of 9 to 12, at that small age (in our countries we consider them mere children), they have a weekly class called ‘What is your goal in life?’ Do you realize that we have people who are 35 years old and yet they do not know how to answer that question? Do you now know why they succeed in the West? The child goes to school; they ask him about his goal in life. The teacher and the other students will sit around him, but he will not know the answer. In the class after that, he will feel that he has to give an answer, so he just says anything to get out of the uncomfortable situation. When he says something, they will ask him about his likes and what his are skills are. They move him in the right direction. If he says that he wants to be the best painter, they would try to look at how he paints. If he says that he wants to be an engineer, they will try to get him to work on a computer to see his skills. They keep feeding that goal until the summer when the school year ends. Then the school administration will send his parents a memo notifying them about the goal he chose so that they would develop that goal in him during the summer. When he goes back to school the following year, he will have a follow-up memo from his parents that he was trained. They make human beings, and I swear by Allah (SWT) that making human beings is much more difficult than constructing tall buildings, factories or dams. It is difficult to make a human being who has a mission and a goal. The child comes back the following year wanting to do specific things. When he is 12 years old, he has a clear goal, “I want to be the best computer engineer in the country, or I want to be the best novelist.” This will grow with him, year after year, and the dream grows with him. Childhood dreams will turn into realities, and the child will find himself having a goal in life!

Fathers and mothers, if our schools do not do that, please do it yourselves with your children. Let us set a goal in life! Is your goal, although you are 40 or 45 years old, still unwritten or unclear in front of your eyes? Please save the coming generation, find out your son's skills from now, what he is good at, instill in him that he has to have a goal, and start to build up upon that idea. Believe me, people, it hurts me to say this, but Muslims whose religion and Qur’an gave them clear goals, to finally get close to Allah (SWT) and enter paradise, are now living aimlessly in life, and life is moving them around!

The Prophet (SAWS) described these individuals to be, “like flood scum.” Why did the Prophet (SAWS) use the word ‘scum’ specifically? This is because scum has no aim; it is present on the face of water and it moves with it and then disappears. Life moves the person who has no goal to reach.

In children’s books, there is a story, which you all might know, the story of ‘Alice in the Wonder Land.’ Among the events, while Alice was walking; she meets with her friend, the rabbit. At a cross road she asks the rabbit (notice that this story is taught to children), “What road should I follow?” The rabbit asks her where she wants to go. She replies that she doesn’t know. The rabbit then says, “If you do not know where you’re going then follow any road, it won’t make a difference. You must know where you want to go, Alice.” This talk is said to children in cartoons and in stories so that when they grow up, they’d have goals!

Once again, I will repeat the same question to you and to the viewers, and I hope you will not be irritated, did you write your goal? Do you know what you want? The young man who is hearing me, what is your goal? Is it written on a paper? Is it hanging on the wall of your room? Did you write your plan of action for achieving it? Do you have a time schedule? I understand a human being and humanity as such; do you understand it that way too?

This is not for children or schools only. No, any company in the world must have a mission and a goal to be established. It must be written in the first line. Let us say that we have money now, and we want to establish a company for mobile phones. We have the money and enough technology to establish such a company, but we must do something first. We have to set the mission of the company, the goal. People aiming to make money, must do that. Can you imagine then, how a human being who has a body, a mind and soul will face Allah (SWT) on the Day of Judgment without a goal!

I was very moved once when I was in Abu Dhabi. I found a company whose mission was hanged in lifts, in the staircases, and inside each office. The mission is in front of each employee, working for the company, and you, a human being still don't know your goal?

A global company like 'Sony', established more than 25 years ago, has written its mission. Do you know what it was? It was that the Japanese product will become the number one product in the United States market! They wrote their mission and hanged it on the walls. When the boards of directors meet, and any employee offers a proposal to do something or other, the president of the board will look at the mission hanging on the wall, and will ask that employee, how is the proposal you offered relevant to the mission? People succeed like that, and not by drifting along.

Who will you marry? “Oh, one who is pretty and it would be even better if she had green eyes and blond hair. I wish that I can marry someone like that.” Young girl, who do you want to marry? “Grooms are scarce! I will marry anyone I find, you know how marriages are nowadays!” Instead listen to this, “No, I know what I want, and I want to achieve my goal, so my husband should have certain qualities and know that I want to achieve my goal,” or this, “The woman I want to marry should have certain qualities, so we can build our lives together, and I can reach my goal which will lead me to pleasing Allah and entering paradise.”

What about you? What is your goal? Does your life evolve around it? Do you strive to reach for that goal?

In this episode, we want to tell you that you must have a goal in life, and that you must have a clear plan to make you achieve it. I want to bring you closer to the picture; I am trying to convince you that the issue of having a goal is very important. Let us get even closer for you to write your goal, you must answer a question first, do you know what it is?

If you know why you were created, you will know how to answer the other question. Please, people, pay attention! Why were you created? If you asked people why they were created, you will get unclear answers. People would not understand. They would ask us what we meant by ‘why we were created.’ Is that a question to ask? Some would say, “To accomplish a great mission in life.” When asked what that mission is, the answer is, “I don't know!”

In the course of history, scientists kept asking that same question over and over again, "Why were we created?" Actually, there is no source to a clear cut answer for this question except in Islam. In the coming few lines we will present some scientists' attempts to answer that question:

Many people have this sense of disorientation. We just live to die. We may pray or so but we just live for the sake of living and nothing more. Why were you created? If you know the answer, you will figure out how to define your goal. The best and most specified answer for this question is found in the Holy Qur'an where Allah says what can be translated as, “And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” (TMQ, 51:56). This does not mean that Allah's worshippers must do nothing except pray and fast. This is surely not the meaning of the ayah. The ayah means that you should live normally, but your intentions and ultimate goals must be directed towards pleasing Allah (SWT).

Do you want to have children? You can have children as you wish but why do you wish to have those children? To play with them! No, you have the right to have children and be happy but you have to direct your intention towards the right end and bring those children up for the sake of Allah (SWT). This little seed (Fatima, Ali, Salah or Muhammad) will strengthen and defend Islam one day.

Why do you want to have a great deal of money? Just for happiness? Is that all? “No, I want to use this money in useful projects for my country, successes for Muslims, eliminate unemployment, and spend it for the sake of Allah.” In this way you would have fulfilled what Allah (SWT) ordains in the ayah which can be translated as, “And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” (TMQ, 51:56).

Why do you want to be the head of a big company? Why do you want to be a valedictorian in your college? Do whatever you want, but direct your intentions towards pleasing Allah (SWT) and to worshipping Him. A great point about Islam is that it comprises all worldly fields of life. Islam comprises knowledge, marriage, having children, having money. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) narrated a Hadith concerning each of these worldly pleasures and their relation to Islam:

What I really want to say here is that you must define your goal, but you must also direct this goal towards pleasing Allah (SWT) at the end, because you are created for that reason.

In the beginning, we said that we must have a goal, because this is a quality of the human race that differentiates it from other inhuman creatures that have no goal in life. Anything can achieve success in this way; companies, children in the western world as they are trained on this. We, as Muslims, are more eligible to do this, because the Holy Qur'an is clear and specific concerning this issue. Then, why were we created by Allah (SWT)? What should we do now?

3. This goal must not be a worldly self-centered goal; that you have for example a fortune of money and that is it, but, you should have money for the sake of Allah (SWT), Islam and your country. Finally, you should continue to define your goals in this way.

Before talking about the details of how to write a goal and agree about them, I want to tell you about a certain conception first. It is the conception of the aimless person. He is a motionless person standing in one place, while life is actively moving around him. He does not exert any effort or have any goal; thus, does not plan or move. He is nailed to the ground. The whole universe around us is in everlasting movement as Allah says in the Noble Qur’an and which can be translated as, “And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term appointed.” (TMQ, 36:38). Everything in the universe knows where it is going, everything in the universe moves and you are in standstill. Moreover, the outer universe moves too, you are even undergoing certain changes inside you. Everyday, thousands of the cells on your lips are replaced with new ones, your liver and skin cells are also replaced constantly. What I really want to say is that the whole universe is moving and changing around you and even you are changing daily from inside, but you, yourself, are in a standstill. Do you know what the result will be after a while? You will be in self-exile; a stranger in this universe. Is not that so? After a while you will suffer from depression, because you are in a standstill. This is the case of Muslims now. The whole world is moving and developing, and we are still lacking goals. That is why we have become strangers in this universe, because we do not have a goal to move to.

Our case now resembles the case of a student in a classroom where the teacher says, “I want you all to read this book so that we can discuss it next week.” Next class, all the students come having read the book, except for you. Do you know what will happen to you? All the students will be discussing the book, and you will be sitting there not understanding anything. After a while, you will feel lonely and isolated, you will want to leave. Then, when the discussion starts to heat up, everybody participates except for you. You are sitting with your hands on your cheeks saying, “I want to leave, this is not my place.” After that, you will suffer from depression, failure and desperation! Is not that true? This is exactly the case of Muslims now as a whole and as individuals. Who will be determined to win the Wimbledon's championship after five years? Who will decide to invent so and so? Who will decide to start up the best company in the so-and-so field? Who will decide to win the Noble Prize like Professor Ahmed Zuwail in so-and-so? Who will decide to be the best novelist?

Where are the goals? We have thousands of graduates in various faculties every year. They are just happy to graduate, thinking that they have earned the final certificate and that is it. You will only be distinguished with your goals and your ambitions to do great things. In fact, I tried an idea on my website. I asked the youth who visit the website to write his or her goal in life. Then, I gathered those comments and brought you a sample of what they said. Some said beautiful things, and some had other views:

· A young man wrote, “I'm lost; I swear I'm 100% lost.” This was written in the space reserved for writing his goal in life.

· Another young man wrote, “In brief, my goal is to have the biggest company specialized in cinema production directed to children.”

· Another wrote, “My goal is to study psychology and sociology, because I think that the aspects of education, psychology and sociology are weak and neglected in our countries. Thus, I want to excel in these specializations.” See how people differ in what they think and say!

· Another wrote, “I'm 48 years old now, could anyone start a new life and have a goal at this age?” To this man I say that Prophet Muhammad's companions started their lives during their fifties and they succeeded. They became the finest followers and died martyrs.

· A thirteen year old girl wrote, "My first goal is to be the valedictorian at high school in al-Bahrain after almost three years and my second goal is to memorize the Holy Qur'an, and this will take another year after high school, inshallah (if Allah (SWT) permits).” See the difference!

· Another wrote, “Your subject this time about our goal in life pushed me to stand in front of the mirror and see my true self. I was shocked, frustrated and despaired. I actually have no goal in life.”

· Another wrote, “My goal is to build a village for the mentally retarded or those with ‘special needs.’”

· Another young lady wrote, “My goal now is to memorize the Holy Qur'an in order to help as many people as I can to memorize it. I started by memorizing a page per day.”

· Another wrote, “My goal is to serve Muslims.” This is too general, what does he mean?

· A young lady wrote, "I'm a nurse, and I believe that nursing is an Islamic duty that reminds me of Lady Rufayda; my goal is to be the best nurse and win the best prize for being the best nurse in the world.”

Do you get what I want to tell you? These are just a few samples. What about the youth with us in the studio? What are your goals?

What I want to highlight here, is that there are people who have clear goals, people who have confused ideas or people who have nothing in mind at all. We want you all; youth, kids, old men and women, to write your goals. You cannot be a Muslim without a goal. Moreover, this goal must be clear in your mind as well as how you can achieve it. We will now present samples of individuals who have goals. I swear that Allah (SWT) will surely help you the moment you define a clear goal, move towards it, exert efforts to achieve is; and you will achieve it. Remember the motto which we repeat in every episode, “Anyone with an idea or goal, lives for it and is determined on achieving it, exert effort for its sake, will finally achieve it.”

The ayah is clear in which Allah says what can be translated as, “And whoever desires a reward in (this) world, We shall give him of it; and whoever desires a reward in the Hereafter, We shall give him thereof.” (TMQ, 3:145). The essence of the idea is the desire or will. Allah (SWT) does not say whoever ‘wishes.’ There is a big difference between willing and wishing. The word ‘desire’ comes from willfulness and exerting effort. Allah (SWT) promises to help those who have a goal and exert efforts to achieve it. If you take out the words ‘world’ and ‘hereafter,’ the ayah will say, “Whoever desires…We shall give him.”

Hey, people where are your goals? It does not matter whether ‘Al-Hajeb al-Mansour’ was kind or not, what really matters is the idea itself. He had a goal and he made every effort to achieve it.

We reached the last part of our episode today, in which we will need to have a pen and paper with us, why? We will move from theoretical talk to practical procedures. There are some important conditions for any goal:

1. The goal should be clear, specific and measurable, not vague or uncertain. An example: if your goal is to serve Muslims, this is not a clear or a measurable goal. This concept is derived from scientific books. Everything we said was just for moral motivation, and now the time has come to decide on real goals in life. Like what we heard before, “I want to build a village for the mentally retarded.” This is a clear and specific statement, while, “I want to serve Muslims” is not specific enough.

2. The goal should comprise two elements: being ambitious and realistic at the same time. An example: if a student says, “My goal is to pass my high school exams,” it is not a goal; because it is normal that everybody should want to pass? Your goal should be, “I want to achieve so and so, I want to be a valedictorian, to win the Noble Prize, to obtain a PHD.” A goal should be ambitious and realistic at the same time. It should not be a fancy, for example if a student while still in secondary school says, “I want to have my own TV channel by next year.”

3. The goal should not be a selfish self-centered one, but it should be directed towards serving the society, the country and all Muslims. The self-centered goal is a short term goal. An example: a person saying, “My goal is to bring up my children.” That is nice, but you should be aware, when those children grow up and marry and have children themselves, they will leave you. You will feel that you’ve done the most that could be done and suffer from depression. Old people feel that when their children grow up, marry, have children, travel and succeed. However, where is the rest of your goal? A person might want to have a great company for himself and so the company was built, but what is next? Actually, nothing, he will retire at the end. That is why your goal should be directed to the benefit of society, country and all Muslims. In that case, your life will end but your goals will not. This is the great aspiration and the ultimate goal. The more your goals are directed towards pleasing Allah (SWT) and your country's success, the greater your goals will be.

4. To believe in your goal so strongly and constantly with all your senses and abilities. Your belief in your goal should be like Prophet Muhammad's (SAWS) when he told his uncle, “I swear, uncle, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand for me to leave the message of Islam, I will not until Allah upholds it or I die for its sake.” See how believing in goals should be!

These were the four important qualifications for goals. The next point is the aspects that you need in order to achieve your goal, I mean the psychological qualities you need to achieve your goal:

1. Hope and optimism: in Islam there is always the word bushra (glad tidings) in Holy Qur'an. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was always optimistic and always had hope.

2. Patience, patience, patience. You must be patient, and never lose hope or rush. Once, Sydna Khbab Ibnul-Ark came creeping to Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and said, “Could you pray for us, we are desperate, tired and fed up with disbelievers torturing us.” Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) got angry, and his face turned red and said, “The people before you, some were sawed and never let go of their religion, I swear that Allah will end this anyway, but you are rushing.” Be patient, and you will finally achieve what you want. The problem is that youth try once or twice and when he or she fails they despair and say, “There is no use, I tried many times and I failed.” Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) tried with Arab tribes for twelve years, before he succeeded and went to live in Madinah. He tried 26 times.

3. Exerting great efforts and abnormal efforts, instead of sleeping and dreaming. Listen to this:

4. An ability to imagine the details of progress towards that goal. Dream about your goal and say I will do so and so. You will enjoy the dream while you imagine the details of the goal. “I will be first winner of the championship, then I will prostrate myself before Allah (SWT) to thank Him, I will pray for Him and be a model of good manners and will do so and so in that shot after building up the company, I will begin to employ people.” You should have details for your goal; and this is a very important point for achieving it.

5. Trust in Allah. This is a moral ability, because the whole thing is under Allah's control after all; He is in control of everything.

The last and most important point is how to achieve your goal? Please concentrate. Prepare a pen and paper, and go to a serene place. Write all your dreams that you want to achieve, write and write. Never say that it cannot happen; not now, discard the obstacles at this stage. Open your mind, think as you wish and write all your aspirations, dreams and wishes. Now I will tell you how to define your goal. On another paper, honestly write your strengths and weaknesses. This method is used in scientific analysis, for example:

Do you understand what I am telling you? Your weaknesses and strengths on one hand and your dreams on the other hand, start connecting between them. Define your goal from your weaknesses and strengths considering the dreams you want to accomplish. This can take two hours, two weeks or even two months; there is no rush. The important thing is that you reach an idea. Take that paper and go to some wise person who loves you and in whose ability and experience you trust. Ask him about his opinion in what you wrote, to benefit from his experience. Tell him about your goals. This is the way it should be. You can even visit our website if you wish and we will help you write your goals; we will also help you to achieve them.

So far so good; after this, comes an important point. Divide this goal into gradual goals. Here are some examples:

· First goal: I am not good in English, so I must learn English. This goal will take one year.

· Second goal: I will attend courses and travel to a foreign country for two years. This is the second phase, and I will do so and so. Do you understand?

· Goal one: is to win the championship in my own town. This is my goal for the coming year. Then, I will join a training camp.

My goal is to be the best teacher of Qur'an in the world thus I will learn Qur'an from Sheikh so and so, etc.

The idea turns into a timed plan with sub-goals that leads to a perfect final plan. This is true planning, and this will be your goal in life. Our project this weak is to do what we have said; you must define your goal. Youth in exams, you should define your goals; you must succeed this year because this is a major part of your goals. Please study hard, because a life maker can never be a failure and we want to make life. If you want to watch this program, go and study hard to make life.

[1] Sala-llahu Alahi Wa Salam = All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him.

[2] TMQ=Translation of the Meaning of the Qur'an. This translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the stated (Surah:Ayah) of the Qur'an. Reading the translated meaning of the Qur'an can never replace reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed.

AmrKhaled.net © جميع حقوق النشر محفوظة
This Article may be published and duplicated freely for private purposes, as long as the original source is mentioned. For all other purposes you need to obtain the prior written approval of the website administration. For info: dar_altarjama@amrkhaled.net