UMMAH

AUSTRALIA 15 - 16 Zelenskyy: A role model for leadership

Kazi Haq

“The captain goes down with the ship” is a naval tradition; he will save those on board in an emergency or die with the sinking ship. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy followed the naval tradition. He refused the US proposal to rescue him soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, knowing well that it would be the end of his life.

Having the world’s state of art class think tanks and advisers, even the United States was afraid that Russia would occupy the capital Kyiv within a week of the invasion on 24 February 2022.

As Zelenskyy is the “prime target for Russian aggression”, the United States proposed to rescue him, but heroically he refused to run away. Instead, he asked Western leaders to help him with arms and ammunition to resist the advancing Russian columns of tanks towards Kyiv.

A novice comedian turned politician set a standard for world leaders on how to defend the motherland against a superpower. He chose to stay with his fellow citizens and embrace the dire consequences. He deserves credit for his patriotic leadership.

Zelenskyy, along with his fellow citizens, dared to stand up to protect his motherland against mighty Russian forces. Zelenskyy, a babe in the woods, showed audacity against an authoritarian and war veteran, President Putin! That is how he proved himself to be a leader of people.

The world feared seeing a 40-mile-long Russian military convoy, composed of tanks, armored vehicles, and towed artillery, advancing towards Kyiv in the first week of March.

The Ukrainians are also supposed to dread seeing such a vast armada coming to attack. However, the Ukrainian soldiers successfully intercepted the convoy and shattered Putin’s plan to seize Kyiv.

Most think tanks, including Western leaders, criticized Zelenskyy for pushing its people to the Russian Cannons’ fodder, thus leaving the country devastated by the Russian military.

However, the support of Ukrainians gave him the moral courage to protect the country rather than run away. He did not follow the path of other cowardly leaders like in Afghanistan, who fled as Taliban forces started to advance towards Kabul.

His leadership has been further tested through his courageous actions. He kept appearing on TV and social media; he continued tweeting to encourage his men and soldiers fighting on the war front. Even during heavy Russian bombardments, he came out of his bunker and started visiting battlefields and war-torn areas.

Ukrainian soldiers knew how tiny they were in front of the mighty Russian Army, even though they kept fighting with bravery and feared not embracing death for their beloved country. It was only possible when they knew their leader would not leave them and was ready to die with them.

US President Joe Biden said no American soldiers would go to Ukraine to fight against Russia. Knowing this, Zelenskyy requested the West to send him to help with arms and ammunition only, and the leadership said Ukrainian soldiers were ready to give their lives.

Needless to mention that after Zelenskyy’s request to the Australian Parliament on 31 March 2022, Australia sent military equipment to Ukraine that included Bushmasters, armoured vehicles, demining equipment, etc. In support of Ukrainian leadership, Australian PM Anthony Albanese also visited the cities of Bucha, Irpin, and Kyiv in the first week of July 2022.

Zelenskyy became president in 2019 with a vast margin of win in the election to fulfill the people’s mandate. His election agenda was to join the EU and NATO, which Putin did not like; as such, he invaded a sovereign country.

Whatever may be the geopolitical history, it is an unfortunate fate of a weak nation not to make an independent decision to fulfill people’s mandate because its big brother did not like it. Although these are the trends of today’s realpolitik and ground reality, however, Zelenskyy wanted to challenge that trend.

Even after seven months of the Russian invasion, the war of defending Ukraine has continued with vigour under the leadership of Zelenskyy. It is not a question of whether he wins or loses; President Zelenskyy has shown how a dedicated politician sets an example of high-quality leadership to be displayed in times of need.

With a remarkably short period of a political career, he proved himself to be a leader in crisis, which most veteran leaders would fail in the present day.

Zelenskyy was not a born leader. He was a popular comedian and actor, born to a Jewish family in Ukraine. He should be judged for his patriotic actions without prejudice against religious faith, caste & creed.

Weak and small country’s leaders have many great things to learn from his leadership and how he led the people to defend his country. He should be a role model for future leaders who want to do good for the world.

Kazi Haq is a retired Commodore from Bangladesh Navy and an electrical engineer. He served as Director in Prime Minister’s Office, National Parliament, and Managing Director of a dockyard. Kazi is the founding member of BIMRAD(Bangladesh Institute of Maritime Research and Development). He is now based in Sydney.

Celebrating unity in diversity in NZ

Farid Ahmed

After the 15 March 2019 massacre in two Christchurch Masjids, New Zealanders came together unitedly to support Muslims, and the world followed with their support as well.

People from all walks of life felt for their fellow humans without asking about their faith, ethnicity, culture, language, or color. A tragedy brought human feelings together, united them as a “Human family,” and brought them into the common ground of peace and harmony.

A group in Christchurch believes that rare unity should be celebrated with the remembrance of the tragedy, to encourage people to stay united on common grounds.

To celebrate the unity in diversity that 15 March tragedy brought, there was a Unity in Diversity event held in Christchurch on Saturday 10 September 2022 attended by 300 guests from diverse backgrounds participated over dinner to celebrate, to acknowledge and to encourage one another to continue working on the unity among humans for the peace and prosperity.

The event started with a prayer from Muslim children and ended by a Dua by the Imam of Masjid An-Nur.

The main speakers were included Farid Ahmed, Mayors of Christchurch and Palmerston North, Ministers of Housing and Ethnic Communities, Ambassador of Netherlands and the Cultural Attaché from US Embassy.

A timely tribute was paid to the late Queen Elizabeth II at the occasion.

Why do humans feel the pain of other humans? It is due to human love that the Creator has placed in human hearts, as He brought out all humans from the same parents Adam (a), and Eve (a).

When human hearts are obsessed with nationality, culture, extreme faith, and selfish desires, then they divide one another with hate, and enmity.

Does God (Allah) guide people to fight, kill, hate, and destroy other people? Not at all. Allah guides humans towards righteousness, human rights, fairness, kindness, and mercy towards one another.

Allah sent His last Messenger as mercy for the worlds (Rahmatullil A’alameen). Allah reminds it to the mankind in brief:

“O Mankind! WE have created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another (not that you hate each other.) Surely, the most honourable of you, in the Sight of Allah is (One who is) the most righteous of you.” [Quran 49:13]

How do I balance between my faith, and the human unity. Does it mean I have to compromise my faith? The answer is my faith will remain the same, and my actions will be righteous, but my human dealings will be with love, kindness, fairness, righteousness and with respect.

Other people shall not force their faith on me, and I will not force on my faith on them. I shall remain Allah’s servant with high confidence, with peaceful co-existence, and working towards harmony, peace, and progress.

That is called unity in diversity.

Farid Ahmed is a survivor of Christchurch attack on 15 May 2019, a peace advocate, author of HUSNA’S Story and Quran teacher in Christchurch.

Farid Ahmed on screen, Hon Mayor of Christchurch Lianne Dalziel as speaker, and Ayesha Corner MC

Finding Jesus among Muslims: unifying faith in the one God

Dr Annette Tzavaras

There are many social issues that are imminent for our Australian nation. My concerns are not for myself but for our descendants, yours and mine. Unifying faith in the one God in Australia is crucial because of our nations cultural and religious diversity.

How will our Nation look in the next 10 or 20 years? Who can we trust? Who will be our leaders? What implications will cross-cultural or cross-religious unions create?

Cross cultural Research

Jordan Denari Duffner an American Catholic has studied in Jordon and declared, “finding Jesus among Muslims made me a better Catholic”. What does she mean by this statement?

I have witnessed Inter-religious Christian programs to date, offering portrayals of Islam. But I doubt a Christian or a Roman Catholic can advise their congregations about being a Muslim in Australia.

My academic research was a qualitative first-hand study of the culture of Afghan Muslim women who came to Australia as Women at Risk (Visa 204). While I was in Afghanistan doing preliminary field work, I witnessed a young religious student of Islam as he looked upwards, towards Allah, and began to sing.

With no understanding of the words, my heart was moved by the voice of a melodious angel, singing A cappella. Words are important but, listening paves the way to hear all the ways God or Allah speaks into the space of brothers and sisters. Unfamiliar as I was with followers of Islam, my lived experience recognised a common ecclesiastic advocate.

In a poverty-stricken country it occurred to me how war doesn’t merely kill thousands of men, women and children but, cultural and political conflict killed off something in the fabric of the Afghanistan nation that can never be brough back. Years of warfare characterised Afghan peoples to be viewed as the products of a backward nation, of unenlightened people whose religion promotes violence.

Despite all the counselling and cautions put forth about the dangers one might face in Afghanistan, without interaction with Afghan people it would seem a correct statement. There is no doubt that the country is deficient in many ways, in comparison to Australia.

Nonetheless, the Afghan people showed there was no difference at any level of personal intellectual interaction as they maintained their Islamic faith and accepted me as a Catholic woman. I believe I found Jesus among the Afghan people.

Research findings

Duffner cited 800 articles about Islam in Catholic media outlets, claiming that Catholics who read content from Catholic media have a negative view of Muslims. We all know that is racial vilification. Yet, Catholic media articles that mention the Roman Catholic leader, Pope Francis have a positive effect towards achieving Christian-Muslim solidarity.

Thankfully, Pope Francis finds Jesus amongst Muslims. Pope Francis believes in a unified monolithic God. If I can find Jesus amongst Muslims, maybe you can find Jesus among Christians and together we can contribute towards a world of fraternity and peace urgently needed for our Australian Nation and the world.

Dr Annette Tzavaras, holds a Master’s in creative arts (Research)from the University of Wollongong. and a PhD from Western Sydney for her thesis on Intersectionality in the lives of Afghan women in Australia. She is a creative Sociologist with a focus on cross-cultural unity within the diverse cultures and ethnicities of Australian contemporary society.

Tribute to savior of humanity and mercy for whole mankind

Qasim Abbas

On 12th day Rabiul Awwal each year, (corresponding to 8-9 October this year) more than 1.8 billion Muslims of the world celebrate birth anniversary of Islam’s last Prophet and Messenger Muhammad (s).

To these Muslims, irrespective of their sectarian, cultural geographical and political differences, Prophet Muhammad (s) is regarded as Allah’s greatest creation, noblest personality, savior of humanity and mercy for whole mankind.

These Muslims do not require any survey, research, credentials or certificates to arrive at this conclusion. It is a non-negotiable article of faith, firm and absolute belief that Muhammad (s) is the greatest and noblest personality among all humans.

This is the firm and absolute belief of Muslims. What about non-Muslims?

It is fact that over the centuries ago, many eminent and renowned non-Muslim writers, historians, philosophers, intellectuals and political leaders have rated Muhammad (s) most highly personality and given him due recognition to his greatness and his noblest character.

Michael H Hart, a Christian American lawyer and scientist, after extensive research, has published a biography of 100 most influential personalities of all time. He has ranked with explanations describing the careers of religious and political leaders, inven- tors, writers, historians, philosophers, scientists, artists etc.

From this research, which included most influential personalities such as Jesus Christ, Moses, Caesar, Wright brothers, Napoleon, Shakespeare, Columbus etc., this author Michael H. Hart has rated Muhammad (s) as Number One.

Michael H. Hart, in his book “The 100 – A ranking of the most influential persons in history”, gives his reason of choosing Muhammad (s) as Number One in these words on page 33: “It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence, which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history. My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history, who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels

Almighty Allah, in the Holy Quarn, has given greatest tribute to Islam’s Last Messenger, as under:

“And We have not sent you, (O Messenger), but as a mercy for all the mankind.” (21:107)

“And verily, you (O Muhammad) are on an exalted standard of character.” (68:4)

“Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah, an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the judgment day and remembers Allah much.” (33:21)

Prophet Muhammad (s) had delivered Khutba-tul-Widah (Last Sermon) on 9 Zilhajj 10 Hijra at Mount Arafat in Mecca. Khutbatul-Widah, even today, is considered as a document of basic human rights.

Some important quotations from Khutabatul-Widah:

“Regard the lives and property of all amongst you as sacred.”

“You are each others’ brothers and are all equal. An Arab has no supremacy over a non-Arab. A non-Arab has no supremacy over a n Arab. A white man has no supremacy over a black man. A black man has n o supremacy over a white man.” “Follow Quran and my tradition, and you will never go astray.”

Qasim Abbas is Chartered Accountant, Cost Management Accountant, Arabic Scholar, multi languages writer and writing newspapers columns based on Quranic Verses.

Making intentions for the sake of Allah

Dr Misbah Khan

We make intentions for our good deeds to be accepted and rewarded from Allah. Intention must be correct and from heart. Motives of sound intentions are seeking Allah’s pleasure, obeying Him and complying with His commands.

Allah says:

“Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds”. [Quran 6: 162]

Prophet Mohammad (s) said: “Actions are but by intentions and each person will have but that which he intended.” (al-Bukhari, 1 and Muslim, 1907).

Our intentions for any deeds should be sincerely for Allah. Intention should not be changed; nor diverted to something other than Allah, i.e., associate anything else or for worldly gains. his good deeds: (https://tinyurl.com/yckyykpb): • try to avoid others’ seeing or hearing; • should not focus too much on people’s praise or criticism; • cover one’s good deeds and keeping them secret; • avoid situations to be famous, unless that serves a shariah interest; • should not show-off; • always think of falling short, should not attribute any good deeds to oneself; • realise that all blessings come from Allah; • pray for forgiveness after doing a deed because of falling short; and • rejoice when Allah enables him to do righteous deeds.

Living in Australia:

As we live in Australia, we must make intentions for gaining Islamic knowledge and disseminating Allah’s messages to all. Muslims should be united here as Brothers. We should try to follow the Prophet’s footsteps, and we aim to reveal good examples for others.

Intention for the Permissible Things:

It is preferable to make intention in permissible things for reward, hence, they would be acts of worship, such as eating, drinking and sleeping with the intention of strengthening oneself for worship. Making good intentions help getting rewards.

Prophet Mohammad said: “You will never spend anything that you spend for the sake of Allah, but you will be rewarded for it, even the morsel of food that you put in your wife’s mouth.” (al-Bukhari, 56).

Mu’adh (r) said: “I sleep and I get up (to pray at night), and I seek reward for my sleep as I seek reward for my getting up.” (al-Bukhari, 4088).

Things to be Considered for a Good Intention:

An intention is for Allah to please Him. Prophet (s) said: “Allah does not accept any deed except that which is done only for Him and to seek His Countenance.” (al-Nasaa’i, 3140; al-Silsilah al-Sahih, 52).

One can consider the followings in doing

Finally, we must remind ourselves that worship can only be acceptable to Allah if it meets two conditions: i) it is done sincerely for Allah alone, and ii) it follows the Sunnah of Prophet (s) and is in accordance with shariah. No good intention is accepted if it goes against shariah and there is bidah in worshipping Allah.

Dr Misbah Khan is a Civil Engineer and is based in Sydney, Australia

Personal financial guide for money savings and budgeting

Linda Hynes

Personal Finance includes multiple categories and overarching themes such as. Money Management, Money Savings and Investing. Taking a closer look, personal finance includes budgeting, banking, insurance, investments, mortgages, loans, retirement, taxes, estate planning, and more.

Your finances are entirely yours and depend on your income, expenses, achievement of short-term and long-term financial goals, and lifestyle budget. Remember follow your favourite brands on the coupon sites first to get the deals and discount codes.

Bookmark Revounts for almost all of the brands, whether it is food, entertainment, technology, fashion etc., you will find more than a thousand brands with the best possible price through coupons and discount codes which tend to help saving a huge amount of money.

Here are some more budgeting tips you can use to save yourself more

It’s Time To Know Where Your Money Goes, Learn To Budget!

After reading a few personal finance books, you’ll understand the importance of two rules that every personal financial advisor repeats repeatedly. First, don’t let your expenses exceed your income and continuously monitor where your money goes. The best way to do this is to create a budget and a personal spending plan to track money coming in and going out.

Do Not Rely On Advice From Random People

Instead of relying on random advice from unqualified people, take responsibility for your financial future and read some basic personal finance books. But, then, don’t let it get you down, whether it’s a significant another sucking up your bank account or a friend who wants to burn a ton of cash each weekend. on fixed monthly expenses such as car insurance or cell phone contracts. Other ideas for keeping your everyday costs in check include:

Find free activities; Find free or low-cost entertainment using resources such as community event listings.

Check recurring billing; Cancel unused subscriptions and memberships (especially if they auto-renew). Compare the cost of eating out and cooking at home.

Plan to make the most of your meals at home, and check out local restaurant deals on the nights you want to treat yourself.

Find Ways To Cut Spending

If you’re not saving as much as you’d like, it might be time to cut back on your spending. Identify unnecessary things you can spend less on, such as entertainment and eating out. Also, look for ways to save

Please Wait Before Buying

If you are tempted to make unnecessary purchases, wait a few days. Then, you may find that you wanted an item instead of needing it – and you can make a plan to save for it.

Manage Your Taxes

Before you get your first paycheck, it’s essential to understand how income taxes work. If your company offers you a starting salary, you need to calculate whether that salary is enough to pay you after taxes. You can also reach your savings and retirement goals with intelligent planning.

Finally, take the time to learn how to handle taxes yourself. If you don’t have a complicated financial situation, it’s not that difficult, and you don’t have to pay an accountant. Tax software makes it much easier to produce your taxes than ever before. The software also allows you to file your declaration online.

Save Automatically

Almost all banks offer automatic transfers between checking and savings accounts. You can choose when, how much, and where you want to send money, or even split direct deposits to send a portion of every paycheck directly to your savings account.

Wrap up

Review your budget and progress monthly. Not only can you protect your personal savings plan, but you can also quickly identify and solve problems. Understanding above tips to save money can also help you reach your goals faster.

Linda Hynes is a professional blogger. She loves to write on multiple niche topics such as: fashion, technology and business with many years of research, expertise and experience.

Digital transformation of SMEs: Business process automation as a starting point

Maria Nordenswan

In Australia, there are over 2.5 million trading businesses, according to 2022 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Most of the businesses are small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).

The ABS defines a small business as one that employs 0-19 people. Medium-sized enterprises are those that have 20-199 employees. Whether an SME employs a few or tens, or more staff, it’s natural that business owners would want to run their businesses more efficiently.

Miqdad Hassan is one business owner who is active in seeking better ways to run his businesses. For him, business process automation is key. Mr Hassan runs two companies, CareerDC Internships and Techyworks. He has applied business process automation in both organisations.

He says, “having an Engineering background, it’s natural for me to think of automation as a business asset. I look at the processes we have in place and analyse how we could tweak them and achieve the same or even better results faster and with less manual input. In my mind, business process automation frees our time as individuals and as a team. We can use that time in other, more productive activities.”

According to a global survey done by McKinsey in October 2021, a majority of the businesses that have engaged in business process automation have gained positive outcomes. These include reduced expenses, improvements in quality control, better employee experience and greater customer satisfaction.

These are improvements Mr Hassan has experienced in his businesses too. He says, “we have automated many of our processes. In some cases, we changed an existing method and learned to use our existing tools better. In other cases, we adopted new tools to get rid of duplication and made our processes faster with less manual input.”

Areas where a business can automate processes, include client relations management, invoicing, and lead tracking, just to name a few. When done well, automation can transform the business’s daily activities and make them faster, more transparent and error-free.

According to Mr Hassan, he now has more time for strategy work and business development. His team members have more opportunities to build relationships with customers and use their unique talents and experience at work. It all, Mr Hassan believes, keeps the team motivated and better able to contribute to the business.

“I’m convinced with the benefits of process automation,” says Mr Hassan, “which is why I founded Techyworks. Techyworks supports SMEs through digital transformation, including business process automation.”

For more information visit www.techyworks.com.au.

Maria Nordenswan is a Content and Web Copy Writer based in Sydney, Australia.

SOCIAL 23

#SOCIAL Social Spotlights

The American Muslims

@TheAmericansMuslims

The 16-year-old girl “Kylie”, from Canada, announced her conversion to Islam, with the encouragement of her non-Muslim father and mother who welcomed her desire and conviction to enter Islam.

May Allah bless you

Auburn Gallipoli Mosque

@gallipolimosque

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of hosting a Citizenship Ceremony with the Hon Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.

The ceremony was made even more special with a Welcome to Country by Dharug Elder Uncle Colin Locke.

The ceremony also saw a speech by Ibrahim Taha – 2019 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Youth Medal recipient.

We would like to congratulate those who were sworn in as citizens of our great country during the ceremony.

Special thanks to Ms Sneha Chatterjee - Regional Director NSW/ACT, Department of Home Affairs and her team for organising such a fantastic event.

Jihad Dib MP

@JihadDibLakemba

Did you know that the first Afghans who migrated to Australia arrived mid the 19th century as cameleers. Afghan Australians have contributed to our Australian story over centuries. Maree Mosque, the first mosque in Australia was built by Afghan Cameleers, who’s job it was to help navigate and map central Australia. I think about this enduring connection we have to Afghanistan a lot now that our relationship is so different and the challenges Afghanistan is experiencing.

On Friday, I joined Senator Fatima Payman, at the Afghanistan in Turbulent Transition event held at Parliament of NSW House. Even during the darkest times in Afghanistan, it is great to see the community come together to celebrate their culture. My friend Craig Foster, also in attendance, made an important reminder that we cannot let the world forget the humanitarian crisis affecting tens of millions in Afghanistan.

educAid Au

@isra.org.au

Head of Community, Tareq Ahmed, wrapped up facilitating the Standard Mental Health First Aid course yesterday afternoon with @linkedandconnect_cs There are now 9 new mental health first aiders in the organisation and in the local community Well done! My favourite part was being able to interact and have open, honest and respectful discussions with the group around difficult topics. It’s a testament to the work culture that the staff were engaged and immersed in the content constantly wanting to learn more.

Australian International Islamic College @aiicqld

AIIC Students Arrive in Makkah!

ALHAMDULILAH! After a long journey our students have arrived in Makkah and are preparing for the first round of the competition, in the compound of the Haram Shareef, and will be reciting today!

We request everyone’s Duas.

Supported By AMUST

A U S T R A L A SIAN M U SLIM TIM E S AUSTRALIA 15 - 16 LIMITED SPOTS