Dreams of Knowledge &Scholarship
Islam & the Younger Generation
Publication of Dreams in Islam
Selected Islamic Correspondence
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'Islamic Archival Work' may be defined as 'a collection of personal papers [original work, letters written, letters received etc.] systematically filed and preserved so as to form a personal Archive of potential benefit to posterity'. This Archive would consist entirely of 'Islamic' ['relevant directly to concepts of the religion of Islam'] documents: anything not relevant to the religion would not form a part of such an archive. __________________________________________________________
I built up my own personal Archive from 1984-2003 [1] and I would like to reveal my 'secrets'. [2] Why should any ordinary person have an archive? It will: a] encourage the creation of original knowledge b] encourage the distribution of this knowledge [3] c] original knowledge will boost the quality of library stock d] this knowledge will be helpful to young Muslims [4] as well as teachers/academic staff in schools, colleges and Universities e] your Archive will be a significant personal success: an achievement of which you did not think you were capable f] you would be able to use your Archive to write your autobiography g] you would be able to use your Archive for publishing letters: selected and interesting specimens of your correspondence h] you would be able to display your original work and related documents on the Internet for browsers worldwide to use. [1] THE DR UMAR AZAM ARCHIVE is still ongoing. [2] According to the terms of our religion, I must do this. The Prophet Muhammed [PBUM] has said: 'None of you can truly be a believer unless he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself'. [MUSLIM] Also, the Prophet [PBUM] said said: 'When a person dies, the benefit of everything worldly finishes, except for two things: charity, for which the reward is ongoing, and pious children who pray for him.' [MUSLIM] Now if a person produces important Islamic work from which others derive benefit, this falls under the category of [religious] charity. So a personal Islamic Archive, whose documents are the product of such work, and an archive, too, which itself has the potential to be educationally valuable to posterity would be a definite means of religious and educational charity to others. If the readers of this paper can gain the know-how and inspiration to form their own [valuable] archives, they will get their reward from Allah Most High and so, too, will I - for revealing my specialist knowledge! [3] This paper contains information (addresses etc.) relevant to the United Kingdom. Please check the directory of your specific country for such addresses. However, the methods and strategies outlined herein are obviously applicable to the building of a Personal Islamic Archive in any country of the world. [4] The population of the younger generation of Muslims in the UK is, Masha'Allah, growing every year, so effective Islamic work will teach them knowledge of our religion. There is a need for this kind of work: Later generations of Muslims who don't know much about their religion could drift away from Islam and then their destination will be Hell. We have a huge responsibility to leave for them something of Eternal importance. There is a similar need for Islamic knowledge (especially now that the politics of Islamic countries and factions is so much in the news nowadays) in schools, colleges and Universities - for the information of RE staff, academic lecturers and (for research purposes) Professors. This specialist knowledge is also in demand from the media: television and radio, newspapers and magazines etc. Also, thousands of non-Muslims convert or 'revert' to Islam every year in the UK. Islamic work -especially the production of valuable, original Islamic publications written in a clear, easy-to-understand style, and then distributed or published on the Internet- will help them too. _________________________________________________________
In order to impress the reader with the Islamic effectiveness of working toward a Personal Archive, I'm first going to present my own results and then, in the second section, I'll explain the methods my readers can use to try to do the same for themselves. If you follow my methods to the letter, you -as an individual- could become as effective and efficient as an entire organisation (which doesn't get much done!). These methods, as far as I know, are original. However, it may be the case that similar stategies are carried out by individuals, organisations and institutions all over the world! Although the primary purpose is to encourage the creation of Islamic archives, this paper will also hopefully benefit non-muslim readers to build a personal Archive on any subject. Muslim organisations will have tremendously comprehensive archives if they preserve the three main ingredients: orinal work, outgoing letters and incoming letters; for the larger organisations, the number of such documents may well run into hundreds of thousands of documents. I would suggest that all organisations keep copies of their Archives in boxes in some kind of room resembling a library, or a Library itself, so that their visitors have the opportunity to consult such documents and perhaps find source material for research, original work etc. _______________________________________________________
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Notes [a] My documents begin with the year 1984; inexperienced for the first two years; distributing mainly THE BRITISH MUSLIMS [b] Distributing THE BRITISH MUSLIMS, PRAYERS IN ISLAM, SELECTED VERSES FROM THE QURAN [c] Low figures due to pressures of beginning of an arranged marriage [d] Distributing RUSHDIE'S SATANIC VERSES: AN ISLAMIC RESPONSE [e] Pressures of end of arranged marriage [f] Lack of funds because substantial funds already being expended on publication of 'DREAMS IN ISLAM'. [g] Writing to libraries and bookshops to sell published copies of DREAMS IN ISLAM; donating copies of this title. [h] Ill Health [i] Distributing THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISLAM; receiving comments on my appearances on radio stations [BBC Radio Lancashire, GMR, Derby]; writing to leading foodstuffs manufacturers [British Bakeries, Nestle, Walkers etc.] regarding vegetarian ingredients in products; writing political letters to British and US Governments, and British newspapers. [j] Relatively high figure because of replies from poetry magazines to whom poems were submitted for publication/assessment, and from THE INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF POETRY [k] With INTERNET facility; guestbook entries and e-mail messages [l] Relatively low figure because of production of new works: DREAMS OF REWARD IN PARADISE, ROMANTIC DREAMS, DREAMS OF STRENGTH AND POWER, A LETTER TO NON-MUSLIMS _______________________________________________________
Each figure is the total number of letters received for that month in that year ___________________________________________________
MAY 3 JUN 3 JUL 2 AUG 0 SEP 3 OCT 0 NOV 10 DEC 2 TOTAL 23 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 23 AV/YR 23.0 __________________________________________________
JAN 6 FEB 2 MAR 3 APR 0 MAY 1 JUN 0 JUL 5 AUG 15 SEP 11 OCT 11 NOV 2 DEC 0 TOTAL 56 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 79 AV/YR 39.5 ______________________________________________________
JAN 6 FEB 13 MAR 5 APR 18 MAY 47 JUN 39 JUL 23 AUG 13 SEP 20 OCT 22 NOV 13 DEC 9 TOTAL 228 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 307 AV./YR 102.3 ______________________________________________________
JAN 11 FEB 16 MAR 24 APR 17 MAY 12 JUN 7 JUL 9 AUG 3 SEP 3 OCT 9 NOV 3 DEC 1 TOTAL 115 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 422 AV./YR 105.5 _______________________________________________________
JAN 8 FEB 4 MAR 4 APR 7 MAY 5 JUN 1 JUL 4 AUG 2 SEP 0 OCT 5 NOV 2 DEC 2 TOTAL 44 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 466 AV./YR 93.2 ______________________________________________________
JAN 3 FEB 8 MAR 9 APR 6 MAY 16 JUN 10 JUL 7 AUG 3 SEP 11 OCT 16 NOV 5 DEC 4 TOTAL 98 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 564 AV./YR 94.0 _______________________________________________________
JAN 8 FEB 6 MAR 13 APR 18 MAY 40 JUN 21 JUL 11 AUG 6 SEP 12 OCT 12 NOV 19 DEC 21 TOTAL 178 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 742 AV./YR 106.0 _______________________________________________________
JAN 7 FEB 7 MAR 17 APR 4 MAY 17 JUN 9 JUL 2 AUG 8 SEP 5 OCT 2 NOV 3 DEC 8 TOTAL 89 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 831 AV./YR 103.9 _____________________________________________________
JAN 5 FEB 3 MAR 4 APR 5 MAY 6 JUN 5 JUL 5 AUG 1 SEP 3 OCT 2 NOV 5 DEC 8 TOTAL 52 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 883 AV./YR 98.1 ______________________________________________________
JAN 21 FEB 12 MAR 21 APR 18 MAY 23 JUN 21 JUL 20 AUG 12 SEP 18 OCT 11 NOV 28 DEC 30 TOTAL 236 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1119 AV./YR 111.9 ________________________________________________________
JAN 28 FEB 16 MAR 9 APR 12 MAY 7 JUN 11 JUL 24 AUG 18 SEP 18 OCT 6 NOV 7 DEC 3 TOTAL 159 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1278 AV./YR 116.2 _____________________________________________________
JAN 7 FEB 4 MAR 8 APR 6 MAY 31 JUN ? JUL ? AUG ? SEP ? OCT ? NOV ? DEC ? TOTAL 56 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1337 AV./YR 112.2 _______________________________________________________
JAN ? FEB ? MAR ? APR ? MAY ? JUN ? JUL ? AUG ? SEP ? OCT ? NOV 18 DEC 36 TOTAL 36 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1370 AV./YR 105.4 _____________________________________________________
JAN
31 FEB 17 MA TOTAL 269 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1639 AV./YR 117.1 ______________________________________________________ JAN 34 FEB 39 MAR 33 APR 24 MAY 27 JUN 31 JUL 41 AUG 28 SEP 21 OCT 21 NOV 27 DEC 15 TOTAL 341 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 1980 AV./YR 132.O ________________________________________________________
JAN 16 FEB 26 MAR 10 APR 19 MAY 14 JUN 12 JUL 22 AUG 14 SEP 17 OCT 15 NOV 23 DEC 26 TOTAL 216 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 2196AV./YR 137.3 ________________________________________________________________
JAN 16 FEB 29 MAR 17 APR 14 MAY 27 JUN ? JUL ? AUG ? SEP ? OCT ? NOV ? DEC 32 TOTAL 307 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 2503 AV/YR 147.2 _______________________________________________
JAN 19 FEB 23 MAR 35 APR 31 MAY 70 JUN 43 JUL 72 AUG 85 SEP 106 OCT 81 NOV 104 DEC 69 TOTAL 739 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 3242 AV/YR 180.1 ________________________________________________
JAN 75 FEB 51 MAR 39 APR 62 MAY 59 JUN 65 JUL 150 AUG 116 SEP 87 OCT 34 NOV 86 DEC 86 TOTAL 910 CUMULATIVE TOTAL 4152 AV./YR 218.5 _________________________________________________
JAN 48 FEB 37 MAR 43 *************** The Dr Umar Azam Archive LATEST STATISTICS (as of 30 March 2003) Letters written: 2 2 5 8 * Letters received: 4 2 6 9 No. of original works on Islam: 1 2 * I made the mistake of not filing letters I had written myself in the period 1984- c.1997, until a holy dream advised me to do so! I had always considered receiving a letter to be more important than writing one - since to receive one can't be guaranteed in the same way as to write one! ______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________ My records are based mainly on my following Islamic writings:PRAYERS IN ISLAM (1983-4) SELECTED VERSES FROM THE HOLY QURAN (1984) THE BRITISH MUSLIMS (1984) DREAMS IN ISLAM (TYPESCRIPT, 1986) RUSHDIE'S SATANIC VERSES: AN ISLAMIC RESPONSE (1990)DREAMS IN ISLAM (DORRANCE, PENNSYLVANIA, 1992) PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE (1995), VISION OF PARADISE [by ZAHEER AZAM] (SIRAJUDDIN & SONS, LAHORE, 1997), IN AWE OF GOD: A COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC POETRY (2000), DREAMS OF REWARD IN PARADISE (2003), ROMANTIC DREAMS (2003), DREAMS OF STRENGTH & POWER (2003), A LETTER TO NON-MUSLIMS (2003) and Comments/Correspondence re: THE DR UMAR AZAM WEBSITE (http://www.dr-umar-azam.com). I have also written letters on political themes to the British Government and newspapers in Britain and various other correspondence e.g. to libraries, periodicals and Universities worldwide. _______________________________________________________________________
I. RESOURCES/EQUIPMENT The following is a list of the various materials and equipment that I have found indispensable over the years: lever arch files; cardboard document wallets; a ream [500 sheets] of plain white paper; stapler and staples; hole punch; paper clips; clipboard; Parker, Schaeffer ballpoint and fountain pens; Osmiroid, Lamy fountain pens; bulldog clips, presentation files etc. etc. This is only a small sample of the diverse stationery equipment I have used over the years. The point is that you should not be afraid to spend money on stationery and facilities [e.g. investing in a computer, printer, subscribing to Internet firms etc.] because, obviously, your work will be the more effective the better equipped you are [if worthwhile use is made of such equipment and facilities].
_______________________________________________________________________ II. INDIVIDUAL OR COLLECTIVE WORK? Once you have produced your work, it is essential to work individually and be secretive if necessary: you don't want to get demoralised in the early stages! When I first began my organised Islamic work in 1983, I made the mistake of telling people that I was trying to write a book on Islam. Even friends became resentful, and I wondered if they were trying to block my success. Others were outwardly jealous and I remember one fellow Muslim urging me to 'burn it [your work], brother!' Also, try not to join Islamic groups/associations for meetings etc. to help your Islamic work. As well as the jealousy problem mentioned above, people are unreliable: meeting are cancelled, members turn up near the finish times, nothing gets done. Certain ideas and plans for action are adored by some members, but abhorred by others. You may be working at something which you might consider is not as important as another, more valuable task. Who makes the final decisions? Who gets the credit? Who gets the blame? What is the 'pecking order'? Or is everyone truly equal? If you work as an individual, there is absolutely no barrier to your progress, achievement and advancement. ____________________________________________________
III. PRODUCTION Although it is acceptable to distribute other people's work and then build your Archive, I would say that for the Archive to be truly your own, the letters should mostly be relating to your own work. So it follows that you must try to produce valuable written work in the first place; for it to be valuable, it must be original, not copied from work which already exists. Look for gaps in subject areas: for example, I have been writing research papers on 'dreams'; Islamic psychology is a rare field, unlike, for example, general themes in the history of Islam. You could write an essay, a collection of religious poetry, a book, an Islamic-religious research paper, a journalistic article or compile a significant collection of meaningful and educational or letters serving the purpose of an Islamic political campaign.* Because you are working independently and producing your own work, if you do not feel that such work is technically accurate [and the religion of Islam is too valuable to spread misinformation] or lack the experience of 'professional' [as opposed to academic writing i.e. at school, college or University], THEN HAVE THE WORK CHECKED by a few Islamic organisations, by academic staff of colleges and Universities [if you know any] or, in the last resort by myself (contact@dr-umar-azam.com, dr_umar_azam@yahoo.co.uk) You should always obtain the opinion of more than one source because one negative and malicious comment will be unfairly spiteful and may have the effect of making you throw away valuable work! When I was distributing PRACTICAL ISLAMIC ADVICE, a few of my readers were jealous of my independence and wrote cheeky comments such as, "Have you had this work checked?" As well as being an Honours Graduate from a leading University, I had done wide background reading of my subject and was, in fact, a published author and an authority on my particular speciality [(holy) dreams in Islam]. I therefore felt that such 'comments' were rather impertinent! Once your work is given approval by the majority of those organisations whose advice you sought, and after making the necessary recommended alterations and adjustments, you will be feeling confident that libraries and other recipients of your work will be receiving something of worth. Moreover, the corresponence you send out and receive in return whilst arranging for your work to be checked and approved will add extra documents to your Archive. * See my Website (www.dr-umar-azam.com) for examples: e.g. 'book' = 'DREAMS IN ISLAM'; essay = 'RUSHDIE'S SATANIC VERSES: AN ISLAMIC RESPONSE'; collection of meaninful letters = 'POLITICAL DOCUMENTS'; journalistic article = 'THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISLAM'; poetry = 'IN AWE OF GOD: A COLLECTION OF ISLAMIC POETRY'; Islamic-religious research paper = DREAMS OF REWARD IN PARADISE. ______________________________________________________ Working on the Internet I will assume that you have your own Web Site and more than one e-mail addresses. Log onto your e-mail addresses [e.g. 'Yahoo'] and click 'COMPOSE'. Type out your work for that day. Save it and label it: 'HARAM INGREDIENTS IN CONFECTIONERY C1', for example. C1 means, 'Copy No. 1' : that is to say, the first draft. 'SAVE' this draft. 'SEND' this draft to a different e-mail address of your own e.g. 'Hotmail'. The latter two steps will prevent accidental deletion of your hard work. If you accidentally press a wrong button and your work disappears from the screen, click the 'REFRESH' icon. The next time you COMPOSE a stage of your work, call the draft, 'HARAM INGREDIENTS IN CONFECTIONERY C2'. SAVE this draft and SEND to your other e-mail address, then DELETE the SAVED C1 and the SENT C1. Repeat these steps every time you do a stage of your work. After you have completed your work and added it onto your Website, join YAHOOGROUPS [ category: RELIGION subcategory: ISLAM] so that you can e-mail details of your Website and the actual work [a very important additional advantage of having prepared your work in e-mail format in the first place!] to hundreds and thousands of potential readers simultaneously. MSN COMMUNITIES may also be useful. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ IV. PRESERVATION Once you have produced your work, treat it like gold! You don't want to lose it. Keep all the rough drafts, photocopy the master copy, store a copy in the hard drive of a computer and another copy on a floppy disc. Then it will be impossible to lose! ________________________________________________________ V. DISTRIBUTION Next, send a copy to each of the following copyright libraries: THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND; THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES; THE LIBRARY OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. Also send a copy to THE BRITISH LIBRARY in London and another one to THE BRITISH LIBRARY DOCUMENT SUPPLY CENTRE, Wetherby, Yorkshire. If your work can be used by newspapers, or is useful for newspapers' information -for example, a paper on the Palestinian problems- then do send it to newspapers and relevant magazines e.g. THE ECONOMIST. [+] If your work is only a few sheets of paper, you need to bind it firmly to make it suitable for library use. [*] 1. Look for addresses of UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES in SAUR'S DIRECTORY OF WORLD LIBRARIES [This specialist book would be available at any University or public Central library, or through inter-library loans]. 2. Look for addresses of PUBLIC LIBRARIES in SAUR'S DIRECTORY OF WORLD LIBRARIES. 3. Look for the addresses of Islamic organisations/associations/charities/Mosques in the MUSLIM DIRECTORY [a link has been provided in the 'LINKS' section of this website]. _________________________________________________________ Letters Here is an example of an outgoing letter you can write: Dear Librarian, I have pleasure in sending you a copy of my research ......................... for addition to library stock. Yours sincerely, ................... [Signed] ____________________Name and any qualifications e.g. B.A. (Hons.) This letter should be addressed to 'The Acquisitions Librarian'. You should then, within two weeks get a reply like this: Dear .................. Thank you very much for sending us a copy of your research ......................... It will be added to stock in due course but for now I wish to convey our appreciation of your thinking of us. Yours sincerely, ............................. [Signed] ________________________ [Name] ______________________ [Position] If there is no response to the work you sent out within two weeks, write a polite letter reminding the librarian concerned that you are still awaiting a response: Dear Librarian, I would like to enquire whether you have received a copy of my research .........................which I posted to you on ......................... Please acknowledge receipt of the work, confirming that it will be added to stock. Yours sincerely, .......................... [Signed] .......................................[Name and Qualifications] You will then either get an acknowledgement, or your work back with a letter regretting that it cannot be added to stock for some reason or other. Don't get offended: even the letter rejecting your work is a letter and, so, a result: if you had done no work at all, then you wouldn't even have got this negative letter. Don't tear up the letter; file it in your Archive. When you are successful in the long run, such temporary setbacks will be insignificant! Overall, if your work is useful, you will find that far more libraries will accept your work than will reject it. [*] I recommend A4-size Rexel Project Files with clear face. Stationary Box, Partners, Office World, WH Smith and all the other leading stationers are bound to have this product, or an equivalent one, in stock. [+] Aim for quality. Junk mail gets a 4% response. If your work and letters sent out are excellent, you will get a response of approximately 70%, which is the aggreggate figure of the response to my letters between 1984-2002. So make sure v. high results justify your expenditure. _________________________________________________________ VI. RESULTS/FEEDBACK Don't be shy to solicit comments on your work which you will then file in your Archive. Soliciting, whilst asking respondents to be honest, is just a matter of getting people to comment - people who don't realise how important their feedback is, or who just need to be somewhat pressurised to give an opinion, otherwise not caring less! But if someone is wary and firmly refuses, there is no need for pressure - you'll always find fresh respondents! Some respondents will give a terrible comment just to be spiteful and obtrusive! Also, I've encountered college students who are very wary of filling a form in with their comment and then signing it. But they gave me their comments orally! So I filled in the forms on their behalf, labelling the forms 'ORAL COMMENT' and putting the letters 'PP' on them! What matters is that the comment was not fabricated by me; those were the genuine comments of the respondents, whether written or oral. ________________________________________________________ VII. BUILDING UP YOUR ARCHIVE In the early stages of your Islamic work, it is better to file original documents in plastic pockets in lever-arch files. Files should be as follows: 1. 'MANUSCRIPTS', containing all your rough work and notes. 2. 'LETTERS RECEIVED', containing all incoming correspondence. The following filing system is recommended: 5* 23* 222* or 5/23/222 '5' denotes the 5th letter of that month e.g. February. '23' denotes the 23rd letter of that particular year. '222' is the cumulative total of letters received since the very beginning of your Archive. When you have received many letters in a week, or on a day, the asterisks may be impractically cumbersome, so over the last two years or so, i have started using the slashes instead. 3. 'LETTERS WRITTEN', containing all the letters you are sending out. I use a very simple system for outgoing letters: I just give the reference, for example, L1757 i.e. its unique reference for its placing in the order of outgoing letters. There is no complex filing system here because it is far easier to find a letter which you have written yourself than to search for a letter received in the past. When you receive a letter, make a copy of it. Officially, it is illegal to photocopy a letter without the writer's permission [copyright], but I take the view that once the letter is sent to you, it becomes your own property and, moreover, if the original documents are donated as your personal Archive to a University or public library in the future, you need to keep copies for reference. But you are more than welcome to ask your correspondents if you can photocopy their lettters [I suspect it may lead to unnecessary suspicion on their part and a curious desire to inquire into your motives for wanting to build up an archive]! File the original in the LETTERS RECEIVED file and a copy [including copied sheets of any accompanying leaflets, circulars etc.] in a cardboard document wallet marked Copies of Letters Received. Similarly, when you write a letter, file it in the LETTERS WRITTEN file and a copy of it in Copies of Letters Written cardboard document wallet. ________________________________________________________ VIII. SELF-MOTIVATION You need to be serious about doing Islamic work. It should hurt if you get a bad letter, and you should feel genuinely pleased when you succeed. You need to be consistent, working a little every day, rather than doing a lot once in a while. Fit this work around your employment and family commitments. You need to be able to continue the effective work after illness, domestic problems, external problems etc. This ability to 'bounce back' is crucial. You need to have the strength of character to override everything: jealousy, criticism and snubs. You should be like a championship-winning football team that tries to defeat every team that it plays; it may not eventually defeat every team, but it does defeat most teams because of this initial ambition. You should make tables, charts and graphs of statistics to know how effective your work is. Sport is competitive. So you should draw analogies with, for example, football and cricket scores and draw such tables, charts and graphs for a period spanning many years (you can see my own statistics in this paper, as above). The Football Analogy Treat each letter received like a goal! If you are receiving many letters, you are scoring well, at or near the top of a league table. If, however, letters are few and far between, the converse is true: you are at, or near, the bottom of the table and in real trouble. How can you get relegated? When you are completely unsuccessful and receive no replies! In practise, this would not be the case, for if you put in the hard work of writing information and then posting letters, you must receive replies! Even if not everyone replies, you will still receive many replies: these will be your reward and something very productive than if you had not made any effort at all! Make a table for each week. Each week will be your match. Each day which passes will be a goal conceded. So you have to score more than seven to win. In the early years of my Islamic work [1984 and 1985], I frequently lost, as in the hypothetical example [from 1984] below: MON 4 MAY ..... 0 TUE 5 MAY ..... 1 WED 6 MAY ..... 2 THURS 7 MAY.....0 FRI 8 MAY .....1 SAT 9 MAY .....0 SUN 10 MAY ..... - [no post on Sunday] There were 6 days on which I could have received a letter. I received 4 letters that week, so Iost 4-6. Therefore the real score was 0-2, giving the result as the final difference between the figures. If it had been 6-6, then the score would have been 0-0. So you can make a table of scores over many weeks. For example, week ending: SAT 9 MAY 0-2 L (4) LETTERS RECEIVED SAT 16 MAY 0-1 L (5) SAT 23 MAY 0-4 L (2) SAT 30 MAY 0-0 D (6) SAT 6 JUN 1-0 W (7) The results will be shown as: P W D L F A PTS 5 1 1 3 24 30 4 Although your scores have not been too good, you still received twenty-four letters, which is 24 more than someone who was not using this footballing means of motivation and received none at all! Incidentally, friends have often been critical of my competitive nature but you should not feel guilty to be doing something very worthwhile individually and thereby beating fellow Muslims who don't strive in the same way. In the Holy Quran, Allah Most High urges us to be competitive: 'And vie one with another for a Garden whose width is that of the distance between the Heavens and the Earth'.[Proof] Just keep in mind that if people cannot keep up with you because of lack of willpower and ability, rather than admit defeat and give you due credit, they will try to demoralise you and haul you down to their sub-standard level! The Cricket Analogy Consider each day as a ball bowled and each week as an over completed. So every month has four overs in it. A year consists of 52 overs. In the above example, 24 letters were received in 5 weeks, so the run rate per over would be: 4.8, which is very good! Perhaps the cricket analogy will be a comfort if the footballing scores begin to demoralise you! At an approximate rate to this, you would receive 260 letters in the whole year, which is excellent! If you can reach the stage where the number of letters that you received has no parallel in cricket, e.g. 8 letters reeived on a certain day, whereas the maximum score off a bowl is 6, you will be exceeding reasonable targets (for individual work) by far! If you consider that the 260 runs have been scored, not by an entire team, but all by yourself, then this is an extremely impressive individual score! Treat each month as a wicket; when the month passes, the wicket has fallen. Because there are 12 months in a year, you have two months in hand, as in a cricket match 10 fallen wickets means that the team is all out: a fact that can boost morale at times of poor results. This luxury was a great comfort to me in those years during which my yearly score was running low: I felt glad that there weren't just ten months in the year, and felt glad of the extra 8 weeks. More often than not, at times of scarcity, I would count the period to October as the fall of the eighth wicket and then write an exceptional number of letters in November and December to receive more correspondence and to boost the totals of these months, as well as January of the next year (replies to letters can take a painstakingly long time to arrive)! Note that these two methods [the cricket and football analogies] are obviously not the only two methods of self-motivation which can be applied to enhance one's exertions. You may be able to adapt to an alternative system, to gain exceptional results, which best suits your enthusiasm- e.g. tennis scores, a system for which you would need to categorise results into games and sets! ____________________________________________________
The
thousands or hundreds of thousands, and collective millions, of
valuable documents which form archives of so many individuals and
organisations will be invaluable assets to society. Their
function in being a means of source material and inspiration for new
ideas, and to begin fresh work, will be invaluable. Such collections
will be a result of remarkable effort, organisation, determination
and ability, all combined to further the cause of our, Masha'Allah,
great religion - Islam. |
