The Hafiz Mindset for Career and Hijrah

Asalam allayikum. Hello everyone and welcome to yet another episode of Blueprint. This is the podcast where we talk about how we can build the optimal Muslim in today's day and age. It's everything that is about balancing im and focus, balancing dean and dunya, uh mastering Quran, anything that you need for your toolkit to become the most successful Muslim and to build success that is truly lasting. I'm your host, Ibrahim Sharif. Uh, and I am very, very grateful and happy to share with you yet another episode of the Baraka Blueprint. Thank you so much for tuning in and I really appreciate all the questions that keep flooding. Even though we just left a Q&A session, uh, that doesn't mean that you're that you should stop with your questions. I'm very happy that you're still doing it. Keep it up. And, uh, yes, I'm I would be more than happy to hear if you have any suggestions of any specific topics you would like me to touch on. uh let's say if there is anything in particular that is important to you in your journey in your hijra uh like like today's topic for example today's topic was a very popular topic that was requested by a few followers and it was about building the skill set building your skill set to become an attractive profile so that you can move out and uh do hijra this has everything to do with acquiring skills for you to be on a more freelancing entrepreneurial side or if you want to land a position at at your own com at a company that you're working for or just uh in an open position because in both cases alhamdulillah I was able to do the same. What I want to do today is I want to share the blueprint with you. I want to show you exactly what I did step by step so that you can do the same. And we ask Allahh to help us in acquiring that skill set and acquiring that success because ultimately anything that is done for his sake is something that has baraka. Anything anything that is done for the sake of Allah subhana wa ta'ala be it directly or indirectly is something that will give you blessing. So without any further ado let's get on this particular episode in barak style. Just like we mentioned before, hij is not just relocating physically and just buying your t buying your plane ticket and doing the conventional practical stuff. There's a lot of preparation that is done before. So especially and again I'm assuming I'm assuming that you who are listening to you who are listening to this I'm assuming that you would like to have a certain career profile and work in a certain industry or build a skill set so that this particular journey gets easier for you because especially if you're moving to a particular set of countries they are going to value a specific skill set. So uh there are two things that I'm going to be talking about today. I'm going to talk about the mindset that you need to continue to acquire such a skill set. um potentially I'm going to touch on what skills you would need in today's day and age or in today's um uh outlook in let's say golf countries or similar so that you can be the most successful in your in your journey in your career path and at the same time and this is I think the most important part which is how to connect that or how that is connected directly with being successful in Quran. Yes, you heard that right. Being successful in your Quran memorization, your reflection, your relationship with the Quran. Being successful in that is directly connected without the shadow of a doubt. It is directly connected to how successful you'll be in dunya. Why? And we're going to talk about that very very soon. But first, let's talk about these skills. Okay, let me talk about the skills that I have experience with specifically. uh it's in my 9 to5 in my main everyday work that I'm doing is project management uh that connected to technical skill set in terms of uh well reading some uh invoicing language and whatnot but also uh something that I have a bit of a background in is graphic design something that I have done since I was in Sweden I believe since 2017 2018 I started a single person entity or a single person company where I was delivering uh web design and UIUX design other branding identity services for clients within the Swedish uh market. And in both cases what I have done is I started from zero. I actually I didn't go through any institutional education as in like any particular university or college or anything of that sort. All I did was I just used resources that were accessible online to everybody. Be it YouTube, be it LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare, anything that I could put put my hands on. Udemy, for example, Udemy is a perfect example of the skills that I was able to acquire. This is both from a graphic design point of view, but also from project management. Project management is something I learned a bit from Udemy and LinkedIn. And later I started to take preparatory courses for certifications like the PMP certification. Now let's start with graphic design. Now graphic design the whole reason why I started learning graphic design very very simply is because I needed some quick money. a friend of mine hired a graphic designer for a specific role or a specific job and that designer quit or bailed on him or I don't know there was something that happened and I was going to photograph the products for my friend for uh a smaller sum because I do have some experience in photography and specifically in product photography and the there because there was a risk for the deal to be off because there was no graphic designer hence the project would be heavily delayed. So what I end up what what I ended up doing is I said well give me g give me the task for the graphic design and I'll take care of this and what I did basically was that I just went through course after course and taught myself. Uh I went through LinkedIn courses I went through YouTube courses I watched YouTube tutorials and I was like learning as I was doing and ultimately alhamdulillah it led to me doing much more than this. I started to deliver larger projects uh build uh bigger brand identities and even today and this a project that I'm working on today alhamdulillah and I can I can come out with it and say this uh because it's been such a long time since I did graphic design work in Sweden. One thing that I alhamdulillah I set my mind to is I wanted to start a brand here. I want to start a company here in Dubai. And but this time the difference is I want to show you my dear listener and viewer how you can do the exact same thing literally from scratch. Uh I'm I'm I I'm recording and I'm I am I'm still doing this as of today. I'm recording a stepbystep process how I start from scratch to building the building the agency that I want to launch inshallah and all of it just using the resources that I have be it the internet uh AI chat GPT whatever and I want you to copy this and literally do the same and you'll see how this is working alhamdulillah and the same thing goes with project management because what I did alhamdulillah is I I got my foot in the uh company that I'm working with. Uh it started off with a uh smaller different position, a position that was purely consultational and purely technical or more technical I would say but purely consultational and when I saw the need for project management within the organization together with my aspiration to learn this uh I took it on myself to take courses and to just grow grow my career profile and finally When the timing was right, I presented myself and pitched myself basically to my manager and to the company and alhamdulillah they shared my vision and suddenly I started working as a project manager. Now and the both together both graphic design and project management together even shapes and helps shape my profile to become better in both roles. A project manager with an eye for detail and an eye for visual identity is going to view their work very differently and is going to stand out from other project managers. And similarly, a graphic designer or a uh branding agent or a web designer, web developer, whatever. Uh that person together with project management because in project management we learn processes, we learn structure, we learn accountability, resource allocation, task assignment. So all of these things mastering mastering that will help make you a much better graphic designer than you are. Now why am I saying all of this? The the common denominator between acquiring both skill sets at the end of the day uh it starts from the will to learn. If you're willing to learn, if you're willing to grow as a person, and if you're willing to spend a little bit more time to um expand your arsenal and expand your toolkit, this is ultimately what will lead you inshallah to get that higher paying job or end up in a situation in life where you live a bit more comfortably. For example, in Arabic we have a saying where we say the person who strives will find and the person who plants will be able to yield. They they will yield their fruits or whatever and the person who would like to have some fruits they should start by climbing the tree. I think it's a very beautiful saying actually and it is very very true. Let's say if you want to be I mean if you want to grow your free freelancing entrepreneurial spirit or if you want to I don't know become better at your job or land a higher uh paying role in your current company. It does take some time. It does take some effort. But my advice to you directly is whenever you're applying for that role let's start let's let's stick to that first. Whenever you're applying for another role within your organization or or at another organization, check the skills. Check what skills they need and those skills, work on sharpening them using free resources, you know, uh it can be YouTube or it it can even be paid courses at a lower paying uh situation. In this case, I recommend Udemy. You don't have to spend as much, but you'll get a lot of value. But in the beginning, you can definitely take YouTube because there's a lot of free material out there. Learn that and then in your pitch when you're selling yourself or when you're pitching yourself, let that be on the cover. Let that be the first thing they see that this you are mastering these skills and you can talk about these skills or you can talk about these solutions or ERP systems or whatever you have mastered these uh in in this time period. So working on this and sharpening your skill set is ultimately the key both to landing a better role where you are but at the same time this is what can enable you to make that jump hijra wise and will also help it will also ease a lot of challenges for you. What I mean with this is you while you still need to start from like sub or similar to scratch, you're still going to be at an advantageous point. Having a a better skill set or a better toolkit will much easier help you acquire uh a role or land a role that you otherwise wouldn't land. Okay, to the main juicy part of this episode. Why did I compare this to Quran? Why am I comparing all of this to Quran? Why? Because to learn and to memorize and to stabilize your connection with Quran requires the very same thing. Discipline. It requires you to be disciplined throughout the entire journey. Right? Uh to learn new skills, you need to spend time to make your to make your revision and to keep the Quran protected in your in your memory. You'll need the same thing revision, repetition. The same thing um when you I mean reflecting your skills or like presenting your skills that you have learned you do the same thing with Quran at the end of the day you lead the prayer uh you uh you you present your to whomever is holding you accountable yourh even like maybe a family member a friend whatever it is right there are very similar frameworks there's just there's one difference though the important link here that I'm trying to touch on is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made memorizing the Quran and reflecting on the Quran easier. Why? Because Allah subhana t promised to protect his book. He promised to protect his words. Automatically, it means that if you're connecting yourself to that book, you're also going to be protected. Protected in terms of Allah subhana wa tala will give you the best thing there is because you've already gotten the Quran. The Quran is the best thing there is. So, if you establish a connect connection with the Quran, you've already established a con connection with this blueprint. The Quran is the answer to everything. He says we did not leave anything outside of this Quran. So everything is there directly or indirectly. So if you master this book, believe you me, if you master the Quran, one thing you can definitely count on is that you will be able to take on life much easier. So I I can't promise you that you're going to be a millionaire. I can't promise you that you're going to be rich. But I can promise you that in life you will perform much better while having a stronger connection with the Quran than if you weren't. For example, the Quran is wisdom. Okay? Allah subhana t says inah he gives wisdom to whomever he wills. And the the person who got wisdom has gotten a lot of a lot of good. All right? So already having the Quran which is the ultimate wisdom. Why am I saying it's the ultimate wisdom? because it's the words of God and God has maximal wisdom. Therefore, his words are ultimate wisdom. Deductively speaking, this is what makes sense. So, if you have access to this knowledge, that means you have access to ultimate wisdom. I'm not saying that you will possess ultimate wisdom because only God has that. But you will have access to that ultimate wisdom and that will put you at an unfair advantage compared to everyone else. And if you apply the Quranic blueprint to everything, you'll you'll be set. You'll be set in your career. You'll be set in your entrepreneurial journey. Because in the Quran, we are taught that we ought to be producers. We have to produce. And what we produce is good. What we produce has to be fruitful and beneficial not only for us, but also leave a net positive impact on society and on the people around us. So what you're encouraged to do as a Muslim is you're encouraged to be the kind of person that affects people around you positively. The person that acquires skills, the person that brings more value. For example, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that the believer who is strong is more favorable to God Almighty than the believer who is weak. All right? And while there is goodness in both meaning that your belief and your strength in your belief while it will be sufficient for you and for the society you always want to be the person that provides even more value. You want to be a high value individual and a high value person. You want to be a high value professional because ultimately the high value professional is going to be the person that is that will be most favored in the the company. Similarly, the high value Muslim skill set wise, financially, power, strength, everything. This is going to be the person that has the potential to get the most. This is going to be the person that has the most potential to get the highest benefit in. Why? Because the more value you are able to offer for the sake of God and you're able to sacrifice for the sake of God, the higher your reward is going to be. For example, a person who has the mental capacity to memorize the entire Quran, to memorize a hadith and to lecture and to spread Islamic knowledge to societies and generations, okay? is going to be more favorable and automatically will gain more reward than the person who is not capable of memorizing and the one that has concentration deficiency. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with having concentration deficiency. That is completely fine. But under the assumption that both people have a pure intention, the the former being the knowledgeable person and the person who's able to concentrate and acquire knowledge to teach it to other people, that person is going to be more favored to God. Of course, because that person brought a more positive or a more net positive impact to their society and to the um therefore be the kind of Muslim, be the kind of person that acquires skills. Be the kind of Muslim that keeps improving himself. Be the kind of Muslim that keeps acquiring better weaponry to their arsenal. It's exactly like a game character, right? So the game character that does the objectives and that does the tasks, that game character is going to be the one with the maximum experience points and is going to be the one that will be able to be upgraded the most and it's going to be easier to upgrade that character and then that character is going to get cooler and cooler. Right? Similarly, you have the point system in the Quran and God has the much better God has the ultimate example. What I'm what I'm doing is is this is a very stupid example. Uh, but what I'm trying to say with this is that this life is a game and you are a character. You're you're a playable character in that game. You can either follow the rules of the game and the game makers criteria and then you'll have the maximal powerups and you'll be the coolest character among the people around you or you're going to be near an NPC. Now, why am I saying all of this and sorry, why am I this fever thing is not working well for me. Why am I saying all of this and especially why am I gifying it? Well, because if you want to make hijra, you need to consider what is going to be the most sustainable move for you. Okay? Because it's not just as simple as packing your bags and going. I'll give you an example. Okay? I am from Sweden. All right? Uh in Sweden, you can be a citizen or a permanent resident. So, you can stay in the country. Some countries have some benefits, let's say unemployment benefits and whatnot. I I'm not that I'm saying that people should uh aim to get those. That's not what I'm saying. And I'm also not saying not to, right? Again, I'm just noting something. So, just note this. Okay? There are certain safety nets, okay? In certain societies and other societies don't have those safety nets. What I'm trying to say is the majority of Muslim countries especially those countries that even non-Muslims are trying to move to like the Gulf countries for example those safety nets at least from what I have seen they don't exist. You're on your own. If you're not able to provide for provide for yourself then well your stay in that place is not really going to be very convenient. You're not going to like it as much. So what I'm trying to say very very simply is if you want your hijra to be sustainable, you need to be skillful. You need to have a valuable skill set with you. There needs to be a sort of added value to have you in a team. Okay? Or that you bring to the market. Suppose that you're an entrepreneur. You need to have this idea that stands out from the crowd in a more saturated market. like the being unique and be and having added value is something that is universal regardless of what you're doing. Of course, in different scales and in different levels, but it's still the same denominator. It's the common denominator. Furthermore, the more skilled you are as a Muslim, the stronger your dawa is going to be. Let me think about it this way. The Muslim that has a technical upper hand is going to provide more for the um at the end of the day and also will be able to think differently. And please understand me correctly here. By thinking differently, I mean the more skills you acquire, especially in particular fields, you will suddenly develop new abilities within your thinking and you'll be able to come up with solutions that you otherwise wouldn't come up with. You'll be able to resolve problems in a different way. And with that being said, you'll also be able to call to the path of Allah subhana wa tala in a much more efficient way in a much more convincing way even not that we need to convince people about Islam. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is there will suddenly be a much cooler way for you to acquire and to acquire blessings and benefits from God. For example, there is a big difference between quoting verses from the Quran to a non-Muslim, for example, right? Compare that to somebody who has a rhetorical skill set. Compare that to someone who trained, practiced, observed, and finally learned how to present an idea in a unique way. how to present something in an extraordinary way. Now this for example you learn from well many areas partly project management but rhetorics and rhetorical skill set is something you can actually check out online. There are many channels and videos over there that you can start consuming to better your presentational skill set. It's not something that people are naturally born with. Some people have unfair advantages. Yes, but this is something that you can easily train. Uh I highly recommend the book peak by Andesh Ericson is a fantastic book. Uh it completely neutralizes this idea of naturalb born talents. It completely neutralizes that idea and it shows you that if you put qualitative hours to learn, develop a skill set, you can be a master, a professional at that skill set. And the author took several examples in his study. H it's it's much more a science book than a pseudo self-help book. I mean not that I'm against self-help books, but I mean some people are growing tired of them. So if you are one of those people that see them as gimmicks, Peak is not one of those books. I can guarantee you that much. What else do we learn from the Quran? We learn that life is not so much about consistent sorry not about in intensity but it is about consistency. It's about being consistent in the benefit and the positives and the the blessings and the good that you impact society with. It's about consistency. For example, there is there is an advantage to be to giving and it's different from being So charity means you're g that one instance of giving charity. A person that is mut is a person that is charitable meaning that you frequently give for charity. And it could very well be that one instance of charity and continuous charity add up to the exact same monetary amount. For example, giving $100 for charity in one instance is not the same as giving $10 in 10 consecutive weeks. The latter will not only get the benefits of a total acquired $100 of charity that they've given, but they will also get the reward of being charitable. Do you do you see the difference? So, with that being said, the Quran teaches us consistency. And just like we're taught to be consistent with our positive actions and good actions, even if that is small, the same thing should be applied to learning and acquiring new skills goes without saying. This is a rule of thumb. Meaning that if you want to learn graphic design, for example, it's not about binge watching five hours of videos to learn Adobe Illustrator, Inesign, Photoshop, uh, and color and typography rules. Has nothing to do with that. But it has everything to do has everything to do with the fact that you take this step by step consistently and consistently apply the skills that you've learned until you later master the skill and that is how you continue to grow. You grow consistently. You don't grow that one instance. So my challenge to you would be this. Whether wherever you are in life, if you want to learn a new skill, let's say you want to become a copywriter, a digital marketer, a social media content creator, a marketing expert, a graphic designer, web developer, programmer, whatever it is, because literally you can do it. You don't need to enroll in an institution. Believe you me, you don't need to enroll in a in a programmable institution. You can just pick up whatever you find from online resources and learn the very same skill. I I want to give you a challenge. challenge I have is pick a skill, any skill, and apply this Quranic mindset of consistency. While you do that, continue to be consistent with Quran as well because maybe you've tried the former and it didn't work. What I'm trying to say is do that. Keep your uh like choose the skill, be consistent in learning like what one video a day, one video every other day has to be consistent. Okay? preferably in a in a near frequency like something daily or bi- doesn't have to be much but daily or bi- you do that for three months and at the same time you build a relationship with the Quran during that time you read Quran every day can be a verse can be two verses can be a page half a page two pages whatever it is whatever you can that doesn't whatever you can do that doesn't strain you do that all right you do that and believe you me, especially with the right pure intention. Watch how you're going to master that skill. It didn't take me long to learn graphic design. I believe you me, it didn't take me long. Yes, after I've learned it and after I've landed my clients, I mean, I continued to grow in the role and I continued to sharpen my tools and bettering the armory, but it doesn't mean that I had to take a very long time to learn it. like you you can learn 80% of the value in 20% of the time and suddenly you're going to be ready to deploy your uh skill set. You don't need to take too long of a time to learn a skill, especially in today's fast-paced society, in today's fast-paced uh times because look, honestly, many people are waiting for this grand opening, this this uh this opening of blessing from Allahhanaa. And of course, Allah subhana wa ta'ala grants you risk however he pleases and everything is written for you. But we're also not taught to be passive. This is very very important. We're not taught to be passive individuals. We're taught to be active. We're taught to be aware. We're taught to hunt and hunt for skills and hunt for knowledge. Just like we're taught for like acquiring and gathering knowledge. We're also taught the same for acquiring and gathering skills and hunt for skills. So instead of waiting for this baraka to come as in instead of having a passive mindset, maybe this baraka is on the other side of a skill that you should be learning. Literally ask yourself what is it that you want to do? If you if you're an artistic person, maybe graphic design is for you. If you're a problem solver, maybe programming or coding or other forms of development are for you. uh if I don't know uh if if you have other skills or other uh fancies and hobbies then maybe digital marketing or social media marketing is for you. Whatever skill set there is there is a path there is a learning path for you to apply. So what if this bodaka that can unlock something amazing in your life? What is this? What what if it is on the other side of the door and the door is a skill that you have to learn. So what I'm trying to say and this is the final takeaway I want to give you. Apply a continuous learning mindset for three months for a skill of your choice. And again the most important part connect that with Quran. Just connect it with Quran. So daily or by daily skill Quran skill Quran and then watch. Subhan Allah. Believe you me. Watch how Allahh is going to make your life easier for you. Now that being said, thank you so much for tuning in to the Balaka Blueprint podcast. If you like what you've heard, give me a subscription. Give this video a like. Uh, make sure to turn on the notification so that you don't miss uh, the future Baraka Blueprint podcast as well as the challenge that I'm going to be raising for myself where you will follow step by step how I build my agency and how I am building my business uh, so that you can apply the very same and do it yourself. This podcast is on Spotify, we're on YouTube, as you can see, we're on Apple podcast. We're everywhere. So, give me a subscription. give this podcast a review so that I know what I'm doing that is good or what I can do to further improve the delivery of this important message. And keep your questions coming to me. I'm on Instagram. I'm on Tik Tok. You're going to find the highlights there. You're going to find the reals. Um if for some reason you're not patient enough to listen to the whole episode. You can follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok. I put out some short clips and reels for you to check out. But until then, stay focused, stay grounded, keep and hold on to this relationship with the Quran and watch how Allah subhana t opens the door the doors of success to you in style. Take care of yourselves. Take a bat.