Islam and the Modern Management Sciences

(In the Name of Allah (SWT), Most Gracious, Most Merciful, all praise and thanks are due to Allah, Lord of the Realms and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger (SAWS) and upon all his family and companions)
Quran is the complete code of life; it is the guidance towards darkness to light.  If we give ourselves a thought process and learn Quran (one can learn Quran online as well), we will get to know the truth and reality.  Islam is the religion which understands the needs of the human beings, if we compare the modern management theories with Islam, we will get to know that Islam fulfills all of them at best.

The first managerial problem is called "Soldiering", soldiering is something when people underperform at their work place. This underperforming is always deliberate; people do work of 3 hours in 4 hours just because of soldiering. When it comes to Islam the soldiering comes from the Satan and Allah (SWT) is the One Who comes up with the solution.


The Satan insists people not to work hard for their rewards, he is the one who makes people lazy, and this is a perfect example of soldiering. Now the modern management says that the solution for soldiering is motivation. If the organization sets high rewards for the employee, he /she would stop underperforming. Similarly Allah Ta'ala gives more and more rewards to the people who are the victim of soldiering. there is a Hadith that says Allah Ta'ala loves that person the most who stands before Him in Salah when everyone else is tired enough to stand.
Motivation is an inner drive and makes people do wonders. Allah (SWT) has an excellent reward and motivational policy for His mankind. Allah says in Quran, in Surah Waqia:

"(They will be) on Thrones encrusted (with gold and precious stones), Reclining on them, facing each other, Round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness), With goblets, (shining) beakers, and cups (filled) out of clear-flowing fountains, No after-ache will they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer intoxication, And with fruits, any that they may select, And the flesh of fowls, any that they may desire".

The above mentioned verses of Surah Waqia show how strong the reward policy is of Allah (SWT). The question is that if Allah (SWT) has such strong reward policy then why people get tempted towards evil. Actually it has to do with the "instant reward policy", if someone gets an instant reward for something he/she would be more pleased with it, but Allah (SAW) does that very rarely. He will give rewards and punishments hereafter. The brighter side of the picture is that Allah (SAW) doesn't give punishments as well, and the modern management suggests firing if a person is incompetent.  May Allah have mercy on all of us and let us be successful.


(All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Realms; and Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions)

The Importance of Time Management

I still remember when I was eight years old and my mother said that I should write down my wonderful moments, as I would not remember each detail when I was older. To me, that sounded absurd: the memory was so fresh! Why and how could it ever fade?

And here I am now several years later, wondering what that particular memory was, and where the time went. How many years passed by, with my constant worry about my education, my career and where I‘d end up in life. The thought of paying attention to how to become a better Muslim, how to better myself to please my Creator slipped through the folds of my everlasting thoughts of wanting to do well in this world. Where were the thoughts of the Hereafter?

Time is an amazing factor in life. Time; a moment that you may have loved, a moment that you may regret losing, and a future that is inevitable. Yet, every one of us has to go through our own journey.

As I sit here, I wonder what I did in the past fifteen minutes. Just think - fifteen minutes;one quarter of an hour; 900 seconds.  A lot of time, isn’t it? But, what did I do with it? Did I think about being thankful? Did I ever bother asking for forgiveness from my Creator who has blessed me with so much?

As mentioned in Surah Al-Asr:

وَالْعَصْرِ-1

إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ-2

إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ -3

“By the time. Indeed, mankind is in loss. Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.”
[Al-Qur'an-Surah Al-Asr (The Declining Day) 103: 1-3]

Time: a treasure chest of seconds, minutes and hours… if only we knew how to use it and what to do with it. Often, we find ourselves with plenty of time, and wondering what can be done. Have we ever realized that it is a blessing from Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)? We as humans are at a loss if we don’t use our time wisely.

Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has blessed us with 24 hours every day. Yes, if we sleep for an average of 8, we have 16 hours left. We should think about the entire day: where does it all go? Many of us are mothers, sisters, workers, and we have jobs, but have we ever really taken out and put aside time for Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)? How many of us take out time to pray the moment we hear the call of prayer? Instead, we pray at the last minute, like chickens asthey peck at their food, rushing into sujood, so we can get back to our worldly matters as quickly as possible. Little do we know that the time in this world is so short, and that theHereafter is more important to work on.

As an individual, I am not perfect. I know I have spent days just wondering what to do with my time, drinking tea, and enjoying not having to study. But yet, I wonder. 

Time is such a blessing. It should really be utilized – each and every moment to do what can serve as a means of bettering our Akhira:

I plan to … Insha’Allah do the following to make better use of my time:

• To overcome my worldly desires and get on that prayer mat and really pray to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)… and on occasions where I cannot pray, then to do lots of dhikr - as that is one thing that will keep me remembering Allah (سبحانه و تعالى).
• To sleep early at night, so I can wake up early for Fajr; maybe even try to praytahajjud (night prayer), and be closer to my Lord.
• To remember to read the Qur’an and to understand it…
• To make sure I make time for prayer, as my day progresses. To make sure I incorporate my schedule around prayer, and not try to fit prayer into my schedule as a last minute item on the agenda.

I am not perfect, but from past experience, I know how much barakah (blessing) my day has when I wake up at dawn to pray Fajr, and use that time wisely: studying my Qur’an, and then studying what I have to do for the rest of the day. That itself will make us realize how wonderful it is to use our time wisely.

وَاذْكُر رَّبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ تَضَرُّعاً وَخِيفَةً وَدُونَ الْجَهْرِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالآصَالِ وَلاَ تَكُن مِّنَ الْغَافِلِينَ- 7:205

“And remember your Lord within yourself in humility and in fear without being apparent in speech - in the mornings and the evenings. And do not be among the heedless.”
[Al-Qur'an - Surah Al-A'raaf (The Heights) - 7:205]