Selling Point...

Whilst at work, many a times, I have to deal with sales representatives who come at the office and try to sell us, the company, some of their products. At times, we can have like a few of these a week and it's always amazing to see the techniques and methods they use to sell their products.

Method One

Some sales representatives will sell you their product by continually praising it, and therefore, you will start considering the product and realising its true potential.

Method Two

Another method is to compare it to the product you are already using and making you realise why their product is far better than the one you are already using.

Method Three

Making the buyer realise how flexible and versatile their product is and how it is possible to complete more than one task with their product, thus replacing the need for more than one product, in other words, how complete their product is.

Method Four

This is one of their most essential selling techniques; they advertise their products by making sure they are using it themselves. If someone was to see a car salesman of Company A driving a car from Company B, he would automatically question, within his mind, that this person is selling me a product that he himself would not use. Therefore, to sell the item by making the buyer realise that the seller would not use anything but this product himself.

POINT

So how do we sell our religion? Well, as with any selling technique we first have to realise that we will always have competition, Shaytaan and our Nafs (Self Desire).

Shaytaan will try and sell his religion and we, in competition, have to sell our religion. The advantage is ours because our religion, without doubt, is better and complete, whereas Shaytaan has no religion and uses deception to sell what he does not have.

And the devil will say, after the judgment had been issued, "GOD has promised you the truthful promise, and I promised you, but I broke my promise. I had no power over you; I simply invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Therefore, do not blame me, and blame only yourselves. My complaining cannot help you, nor can your complaining help me..."

[Surah Ibrahim - 14:22]

Therefore, we have to think whether we are even using their basic selling points to make sure we are spreading our religion and not turning people away from it:

Method One...

Do we continually praise our religion and realise how valuable and perfect it is? Or do we complain when we want to do something and are told it is Haraam and forbidden in Islam?

Method Two...

Have we ever taken the effort to make people realise the differences between our religion and the people of other religion? Do we make an effort to make people realise which is the complete and true religion.

Method Three...

The misconception, many a times portrayed by us, is that religion is 'difficult' and very 'strict'. Do we think like this or have we made an effort to understand how flexible our religion is within its boundaries.

Method Four...

Are we promoting our religion whilst adopting methods which are far from it? Do we say we love Allah and His Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم whilst doing actions that totally displease them?

These are just a few basic points that we should bring into consideration.

If we are turning people against the religion of Islam, intentionally or unintentionally, then we will be question regarding that as every sales person. But the reality is that our religion is far more precious than any sales persons' product.

May Allah give us all an true understanding of our religion and make us realise the responsibility we have been placed with of spreading this true word. And may He save us all from being those who turn people away from His path and those who portray His way incorrectly. Aameen.

zain121

As Salaamu Alaykum,

Alhumdulillah, it has been a year since I began this new zain121 blog and since it has begun I have learnt many things from it. I pray that Allah has made it beneficial to all the readers also.

It doesn't seem like a year since I started this blog; time seems to have gone so fast. I can recall when I just posted to pass time and someone asked me to continue the blog.

Nevertheless, it has been a year and I would like to thank everyone that has helped me in making this blog successful in any way.

Over the past year, apart from my simplyislam blog I began two more blogs, drops of an ocean and News & Views.

However, I felt that it would be better to combine these blogs so that all the different contents can be found in once place. Therefore, I have decided to keep this blog and the simply Islam blog going but at the same time I will be incorporating my other blogs into my wordpress account, zain121.wordpress.com and additionally have a few other subject areas also.

In addition, I have managed to convince Sister Sajeda (Muslimah Ukhti) to contribute to the blog. Those who are aware of her works will appreciate all that she has to offer, and those who have not, Insha Allah will find out her depth of knowledge. May Allah increase her in her knowledge and reward her for her efforts and contributions. Aameen.

I pray to Allah that this blog proves to be beneficial and that it serves the purpose it is being published for. Aameen.

You may visit the new blog at zain121.wordpress.com

Wasalaam

Car Race

On my way back from Rugby today I witnessed two drivers having a race on the motorway. It reminded me of racing games and the actual concept of races.

Although I am sure everyone knows how a 'car race' actually works, it's important to just mention what occurs for us to realise the lesson behind it.

In a race two cars set a course as to how far they have to race and set a destination or target they have to reach. Thereafter, each car competes to get to that destined place first. Whoever reaches first is the winner.

The thing to remember is that the deciding factor is who reaches the destination first and crosses the line. However, within the race there will be many times where one car overtakes the other, this does not make the other driver give up but instead makes him work harder, for he knows that it's not over until they cross the line.

POINT

I realised from these people racing, that despite them overtaking one another several times, they never gave up to try and win the race.

Similarly, in our lives, we are having a race, a competition, with Shaytaan and our Desires. There will be times in our life where Shaytaan or our Desires will overtake us. However, we should never let this stop us from reaching our goal and winning the race; in fact we should make an extra effort to win back the first position and perform extra acts of worship and seek more forgiveness.

Furthermore, we should never drop our guard down for Shaytaan and our Desires will try and overtake us at a point when we cannot return from the defeat; this is at the time of our death, near the finish line. If at this point Shaytaan succeeds and wins the race then we have lost, no matter how many a times we overtook him during our lifetime and if at that time we beat Shaytaan and depart this world with the Kalimah and whilst having faith in Allah then we have surely won the race.

May Allah give us the understanding and strength to win this race and this battle; may He give us the courage to continue to overtake Shaytaan if ever he overtakes us. May He incline our hearts to seek forgiveness and may He shower His mercy by forgiving us. Aameen.

Glow in the dark

Yesterday, whilst I was sitting in my room, my attention went towards my watch on my wrist. It's not the first time I was looking at my watch and thinking of how the handles on the watch glow in the dark; to be honest, it fascinates me.

Sometimes I make the room totally dark just to see if the handles glow; and most of the times I find that they don't because during the day they haven't had enough light.

However, it struck me yesterday for the first time that this watch has a great message for us.

POINT

For the handles of the watch to be able to glow in the dark it is necessary that it receives enough light during the day.

Similarly, if we want to glow in the darkness of the grave, if we want to shine of the day of Judgement, if we want to guided by the light of Imaan then it is inevitable that we provide ourselves with this light during our lifetime. It is necessary to prepare for the darkness while there is still light.

Like the saying goes, do not start digging for a well when the fire has commenced. Meaning that it is hopeless and too late to start digging for a well when the fire has broken out; there is no time for that now. Similarly, it will be hopeless to start searching for the light in the grave if we have not prepared luminous acts beforehand.

May Allah Ta'ala give us all the inclination to prepare for tomorrow and to send forward those acts that will provide us with a glowing light in our graves and will guide us towards Jannah on the Day of Judgement. May He make those acts a guidance for us in this world towards His obedience, submission, happiness, guidance, love and towards the love and of our beloved Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam. Aameen

A Bad Penny

This Friday, at Rugby, after the prayers we were all sitting and whilst talking going through the contributions people had made towards the Masjid. The money was being counted and we were just looking to ensure that all the coins were 'real' and not tokens or foreign policy.

We found a couple of tokens last week and foreign money, and this week I thought there may be an odd coin that would turn up. However, this week we saw a penny that looked as though it had been everything someone could pit it through; the coin was worn our, eroded and shabby, the edges were not round but chunks were cut out from it and it was filthy and dirty.

One of the members sitting there picked up the coin and was amused, we could tell from the look on his face that he was trying to determine whether the coin was genuine or not and whether it would be accepted. Whilst he was doing this another member took the coin and said that the penny was a penny and the bank wouldn't really look at the apparent condition it was in and would accept it as it still held the value of a penny.

Point

Our beloved Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam has taught us this same lesson in regards to our Deen and religion. He states in a Hadith:

"Indeed Allah does not look towards your appearance nor your body, but instead he looks towards your heart and actions".

[Saheeh al-Bukhari]

The value of a believer is known through his heart and actions, no matter what his appearance is. Just as the bank would accept the penny coin so will Allah accept His servants through the value of their hearts.

It made me realise that no matter how a Muslim may look, no matter what his race or colour, regardless of his language or background, the true value of a believer is in his heart because he holds the Kalimah within, he holds the love of Allah and of His Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam.

After realising this, we should remember that we are brothers and sisters in Islam and that Allah has made us different so that we can recognise one another and appreciate one another. It is though His wisdom that He has made some people rich and some people poor, some people happy some people poor, some people educated and others uneducated; one reason is so that we can all aid one another, the poor will work for money while the rich will need them for their services. etc.

May Allah give us the ability to realise that the true value of a person is recognised from his actions and his heart, and that appearance is only for recognition. Aameen.