Leech On 'n Turn

06 - Connections & Character

Yesterday was a new session. It was called “Relationship Managing and Character Building”.

What I’d learned:

Connections

• Increasing your leadership ability alone is not enough to lead, you have to be able to bring strong leaders in your direction.
  • Example: All the Al-Maghrib instructors were doing their own Islamic work in different ways, until Muhammad Alshareef decided to begin Al-Maghrib, and bring them in his direction with his vision, slowly allowing them to attach their hearts dearly to the institute. They were already (competent) leaders in their own ways, but Sh. Muhammad just leaned them under his leadership with Al-Maghrib.
• So, basically, it would be very difficult to allow your work (like the short film I’m going to be working on) to advertise and speak for itself. You have to establish connections and gain support even before production, so you can have a better chance at success (tie your camel and trust Allah).
• As you move up the ladder of leadership, you lose more rights, and gain more responsibilities. People think that as they get higher up in the workplace, they’ll have less to do, and they’ll have more power and perks. WRONG. (unless you’re in a failed system of hierarchy).

Character

• What was Muhammad (SAW) known for even before he was given revelation?
  • As-Saadiq (the Truthful)
  • Al-Ameen (the Trustworthy)
  • ^These two traits will establish your credibility and character, which will make it so much easier for you to work with people, and people to work with you.
• If you’re not always trying to improve in all areas of your life, then you will fail in all areas of your life.
• This kind of reminded me of a lecture I attended with Shaykh Mokhtar Maghraoui. He’d said that if your qalb (heart) was weak, then you’d be weak in every other area of your life, and you would eventually implode upon yourself with stress.
• Life includes your ‘Ibadah (worship), Family, Chastity (love life/lack of a love life, depending on your age), Business/Career, Finances, Social Life, Education, and Health.

Now, my assignment is to begin contacting some leaders in my community to gain support for my short film. Make du’a I’m able to achieve this and graduate from this internship with success InshaAllah.