إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ
Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.
The concept of two creations
Everything is created twice. The first creation determines how the second creation would be. For example when you construct a house, you do not right away jump into physical construction and start with bricks, cement and other required material. You make a mental model first. A blueprint that envelopes each and every detail of the house that IS TO BE constructed.
The width and length of rooms, the the overall design, the paints, the woodwork and everything else is planned before you start the physical construction. Its planning is the first creation, while the physical construction is the second. One has to “begin with end in mind” (first creation) before proceeding to the actual work. What I am trying to stress is that first creation holds the utmost importance.
The concept of two creations is present in our everyday life too. It effects our behavior, the reactions we show, the choices we make, our priorities, etcetera. First creation is always there; consciously or unconsciously. In order to be the creator yourself, you need to begin with the end in mind.
What kind of individual you be want to be?
- Kind hearted?
- Helping?
- Soft spoken?
- Intelligent?
- Hard worker?
- Spiritual?
- Rich?
What kind of organization do you want your organization to be?
- Customer centered?
- That keeps the environment clean?
- That retain employees?
- The produces quality products?
- That runs in minimum budget?
You have to DETERMINE YOUR TYPE.
The type you choose today, determines the choices you make to fulfil the requirements for that type. The type you choose today, determines the output. For you to control the output, you need to choose your type consciously, a conscious first creation. If you do not choose consciously, the environment, the people, the society, the culture, friends and family will choose for you. The first creation is always there but in that case, you will not be able to control it.
Some of you might think that efficient and required output is related to the management style. Such people are never able to come out of this management paradigm. To understand it as a whole, consider a wood processing company that cut trees from jungle and process them for further use. The responsibility of the management would envelope tasks like monitoring rate of trees being cut, targets being met, appraisals and necessary actions to keep the work going. While all of that is going on, one wise employee of the company climbs a tree and when he reaches the top he realizes that they are in the wrong jungle. They are cutting the wrong type of trees.
He tells the management that its the wrong jungle but the management don’t pay heed as they are caught within the management paradigm where everything is going just fine. The management is not concerned with the type of trees, they are just interested to keep the numbers going. The wise man shows some leadership but is actually ignored.
Management is doing the things right while leadership is doing the right things. Management is climbing up the stairs while leadership determines whether it is right staircase. Without leadership qualities, without determining the necessary direction, one cannot be one’s own first creator.
Begin with end in mind and Islam
These principles have been deduced by Islamic teachings of the concept of Hereafter. Quran tells us that all our deeds are being recorded in a book that would be given to us to read on the day of judgment (17:14, 69:19, 69:25 and various other places) according to which the human beings will be blessed in Jannah or will be punished in Hell fire. Islam teaches us to be proactive of our deeds throughout the Makan Quran and keep watch on what we send forward with our hands. That is the reason why earlier Muslim societies climbed the highest mountains of success in this world and became the most educated and modern societies of that time.
Our deeds are our first creation, on which our destination will be determined. If we want to control the output, we need to make appropriate choices today.
The underlying values are far more important then mere management of your affairs with regards to anything and they cannot be grasped without proactivity. If you want to control the output, simply recript yourself. Make your decision right away and you’ll find doors to success whereever you may be.
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The writer majors in Software Engineering and is an amateur blogger and photographer. He may be contacted at zakiimtiaz1@gmail.com.
Z.Imtiaz 