Тhe Call

When Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) completed the structure of the Ka’bah, Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) commanded him to call the people to Hajj. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) got confused he said, “O Allah! How shall my voice reach all of those people?” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) told him that his duty was only to give the call and it was up to Allah to make it reach the people.

Here we have a beautiful productivity lesson; don’t worry about the results/outcome of your effort, rather worry about making the effort and ensuring you do the task to the best of your ability. If Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) saw that the expected outcome of his task is impossible, he would have given up and there would have been no Hajj. But, he relied upon Allah & did his best, he climbed Mount Arafat and called out in his loudest voice, “O People! Verily Allah has prescribed upon you Hajj, so perform Hajj.”

Every human being on earth at that time heard that call and Hajj began since that day. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) revealed in the Qur’an: “And proclaim the Hajj among mankind. They will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways” (Surat Al-Hajj, Ayat 28).

We should never stop ourselves from making the necessary effort to achieve something just because we think the results are impossible to achieve.

There are 2 important ingredients for Ibrahim’s success in this task:

1. He took all necessary means to complete his task; he went to the highest mountain at that time, mount Arafat, and called with his loudest voice.

2. He was sincere! He sincerely believed that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) will deliver his call to all mankind.

These 2 ingredients: Sincerity & hard work are the ingredients for true success in dunya and akhira.

One of the most respected scholars I know of our time gave me this advice and I’ll never forget it; he told me: “have good intentions and work hard”. I’ve carried this message wherever I’ve gone and it’s a formula of success I try to live by.

Write this message down, place it somewhere on your desk and remind yourself daily to have good intentions and work hard in whatever you do and see how Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) will open the doors of success for you inshaAllah!

Do your part and leave the rest upon Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala).