Ismail Kamdar

Ismail Kamdar is the Founder of Islamic Self Help and Izzah Academy, author of over a dozen books, and the operations manager of Yaqeen Institute.
Ismail Kamdar is the Founder of Islamic Self Help and Izzah Academy, author of over a dozen books, and the operations manager of Yaqeen Institute.
03
Dec
2024
Book Review: The Barakah Effect

Book Review: The Barakah Effect

The Barakah Effect: More With Less is the latest book from Productive Muslim leader Mohammed Faris. A follow-up to his recent book, The Productive Muslim, The Barakah Effect is a masterpiece and may be the best work written in this field. Combining practical guidelines with deep spiritual guidance, the Barakah Effect accomplishes what many other books in this field only wish to accomplish; it offers a practical in-depth look at how to live a blessed life that is pleasing to Allah and beneficial to humanity. In many ways, this may be the only productivity book you really need to read if you wish to live a blessed lifestyle.

I reviewed The Productive Muslim in the past, and stated that it was an excellent introduction to Islamic productivity, while also criticizing the order of chapters and overall flow of the book. I do not have such criticisms of the Barakah Effect. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book; its core themes, chapter order, art style, diagrams, practical guidelines, and especially its criticism of modern ideologies that negatively impact our work life.

Understanding Barakah

At Islamic Self Help, we have produced two separate books on Barakah, one on time management and another on barakah in wealth. The Barakah Effect combines both these concepts and more and focuses on how to have Barakah in one’s life. Barakah is often translated as blessings, and it is a type of miracle (karamat) in which a person experiences an unexplainable increase or abundance in anything. Whether it is being able to get more work done in an hour than others, influence more people with less effort, earn major profits with small honest dealings, or survive for long on a small amount of wealth, all of these are types of barakah that people can experience in life.

The first few chapters of the book lay the groundwork by explaining what is barakah, how we lost it, the differences between a barakah culture and modern hustle culture, and a framework on how to regain barakah into one’s life. The remaining chapters each focus on specific acts of worship and lifestyle changes that attract barakah into one’s life including starting any action with Bismillah (in the name of Allah), having pure intentions, living a God-centric lifestyle, being grateful, focusing on what is in one’s control, trusting God with what is outside one’s control, caring for one’s parents, praying to God for assistance and success, embracing mortality, and sending salawat (blessings) upon Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Overall, the book flows beautifully taking the reader on a journey from learning new concepts to unlearning modern ideologies to learning practical steps for increasing barakah in one’s life.

Why Barakah Matters

We write a lot about barakah at Islamic Self Help, and for good reason. It is a miracle that any believer can experience with small amounts of effort, yet its impact in one’s life cannot be measured. Barakah brings peace, purpose, contentment, happiness, and abundance to one’s life in ways that no worldly means ever could. Too many people chase happiness in the wrong places. We seek happiness and pleasure through amassing wealth (capitalism), buying many luxurious products (consumerism), and fulfilling desires (hedonism) yet none of these paths leads to real joy. Many people become trapped in a soulless cycle of work, entertainment, sleep and repeat, without their lives having any read purpose or value.

In the Barakah Effect, Mohammed Faris encourages us to abandon the hustle culture mindset and to adapt a barakah mindset instead. This means shifting our focus from worldly success to pleasing Allah and building our Afterlife. When life becomes focused on pleasing Allah, we attract great blessings into our lives. Our wealth, efforts, families, and projects experience a higher level of success than we can ever imagine. Sometimes a person may produce one small project sincerely for the sake of Allah and the barakah of that project has ripple effects across the world long after the founder has passed away. Anything that is blessed is going to be more impactful that that which is not.

How to Gain Barakah

One of the most beneficial sections of this amazing book is the appendix which lists over twenty sources of barakah, with practical tips on how to achieve them. I highly recommend taking time to study the appendix and to apply each step to one’s life gradually. This will lead to a gradual increase in barakah in one’s life with each new source of barakah that you introduce into your life.

This list is very comprehensive and includes the following acts of worship; reciting Quran, praying five times a day, praying extra prayers, maintaining family ties, charity, seeking beneficial knowledge, avoiding sins, waking up early, being honest and trustworthy in business, and earning halal income. These are all listed in the appendix with evidences from the Quran and Sunnah, as well as practical tips on how to introduce these practices into one’s life.

The appendix also includes a list of mindset changes that bring barakah into one’s life. I found this list especially beneficial. It includes many important mindset shifts such as: humility, contentment, gratitude, trusting God, optimism, consistency, intentionality, steadfastness, and abundance. In many ways, a mindset shift is just as important for bringing barakah into our lives as the actions we take. We need to develop a barakah mindset first, and then barakah-focused actions become easier to implement.

Book Review: 10 out of 10 – A Masterpiece

The Barakah Effect is the most important book written in the field of Islamic productivity. Nothing else comes close, and I say this as the author of many books in this field. None of my books are as comprehensive as this excellent work by Mohammad Faris. I highly recommend this book to every Muslim. It contains crucial guidance on how to fix our mindset, as well as practical tips on how to attract barakah into one’s life. The book is available in multiple formats here. May Allah bless the author, the publisher, and their team for this amazing and relevant book.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Books, Productivity, 0 comments
25
Nov
2024
New Book: 25 Keys to a Happy Life

New Book: 25 Keys to a Happy Life

Why the book is so short?

Our latest book, 25 Keys to a Happy Life, is now available for purchase. One of the first things you will notice is that this book is a lot shorter than the books I usually write. Compared to my previous book on ʿUmar bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz which was over 300 pages, this book is only about 70 pages.

It’s a very short book. Very easy to read, very simple to understand. That was deliberate and on purpose. The reasons why I made this book short are two. #1 I wanted this book to reach people who don’t usually read books. So, one of my goals behind becoming an author is to revive the culture of reading amongst Muslims. And for many people who have not read a book in many years, It’s a bit overwhelming to jump straight into a 300 or 400 page book. So can we produce books that are beneficial but also short?

If we just look at our history, the answer is yes! There have been many short books written throughout Islamic history that are extremely beneficial, and that have gone on to benefit people for hundreds of years. So I challenge myself to keep this book short. For every chapter, there was a lot more than I wanted to say but I forced myself to limit each chapter to 1, 000 to 2, 000 words. I wanted to keep it as short as possible and as simple as possible. So that even people who don’t usually read books would be motivated to read it. It is just 25 chapters. Each chapter is around three or four pages. It’s something that anybody can read and digest in small portions and that would make it beneficial to more people.

#2 I wanted it to serve as a textbook. I wanted it to be a book that could be explained in more details. Islamically, when we write books, our books are meant to be taught, not just read. When teaching a book, I think it’s better that the book is summarized and simple. It should be to the point the teacher should be able to expand upon it. I hope that this book would be something that people teach and explore in more details. I plan to do a full series explaining every chapter of this book in more detail, and I hope others would do so as well.

Why I wrote this book?

There are two reasons for writing this book, one is personal and the other communal. My personal reason is as follows.

Those of you who know me know that the past six years of my life have been very difficult. I’ve been through many trials, one after the other. Often going through many of them at the same time. In Ramadan 1444/2023, when I was writing this book, I was going through two of the most difficult trials in my life. Alhamdulillah, both these trials ended a week ago, one after the other.

Last Ramadan, I decided that I’m not going to write any book during Ramadan. Instead, I wanted to focus on my own soul and helping myself think better, helping myself think correctly and work through these difficult times. So I started writing some notes to myself on how to maintain a happy mindset, how to be more content, how to have inner peace during difficult times. By the 27th of Ramadan, I had written this book, Alhamdulillah.

Originally, it wasn’t meant to be written as a book. It started off in the first week of Ramadan as notes to myself on how to think better. But as I wrote every day for an hour, I found it developing more and more and I realized that this would make a good book. So I shifted how I wrote it and by the 27th of Ramadan the first draft of this book was ready. wrote this during the month of Ramadan to myself to help me get through some difficult times.

The Primary Themes of the Book

The other reason why I chose this topic, 25 Keys to a Happy Life, is that we are living in a time of unimaginable levels of sadness and depression with disturbing rates of suicidal tendencies. It is a time where a lot of people are not happy, particularly in the West. When I was growing up, back in the 90s and early 2000s, the West was very optimistic. It was a time of the pursuit of happiness. There was this idea that modernity is going to bring happiness and all of that failed in our lifetime.

We saw all of that fail and now in post modernity, nihilism has taken over. The younger generation are very pessimistic about life. They have this doom and gloom mindset about the future. Many people don’t have any motivation to live life or to work hard. Many people that I talk to have a very negative and pessimistic understanding of life and the world. They are purposeless and do not have hope for the future. Many don’t want to make anything of their lives and they’re just stuck in this negative mindset. How do we pull people out of this mindset? This book is an attempt at doing so.

My idea was to go back to that which made the early generations better. The early generations followed the Quran and Sunnah, they followed Islamic principles. Those civilizations that were built upon Islam were civilizations in which people, in general, were happier. This happiness comes from a very natural place, and there are principles we can follow to revive this our lives today.

There are very natural sources of happiness that modernity has cut us of from. They have separated us from the natural sources of happiness and tried to replace it with artificial happiness. These new artificial sources of happiness did not work. You can see this in almost every modern ideology. For example, liberalism gives us this idea that the more free you are, the happier you will be.

Yet we see in these lands where people have unrestricted freedoms, they also have the highest suicide rates. Islam is not against freedom, we just have a different understanding of freedom from liberalism. This liberal type of freedom, the freedom to pursue any sin that you like publicly, has not led to happiness. Likewise in capitalism, there is this mindset that the more money I have, the happier I will be.

It has been psychologically proven that’s only up to a certain level. Once you pass a certain level of wealth, more money does not bring more happiness. In fact, it often brings more problems. At what point do you become content? At what point do you say this is enough? This is one of the topics I explore in this book.

Two things that I emphasize a lot in this book are family and community. Living in the age of individualism, where everybody is all about themselves, and all they care about is themselves. People think happiness lies in selfish pursuits. They think that to be happy, they just need to focus on themselves.

I want people to realize that the natural path to happiness is in large families, in traditional families, in Islamic families. That is where you are going to find real happiness. Likewise, with community. To be part of the ummah, to be part of society, to play a role in the community. This brings about a deeper sense of happiness and fulfillment in life.

Life should not be just about work and entertainment. There is more to life than this. You will find more happiness, more genuine inner peace and contentment, if you work towards being part of a happy, united, loving family and playing an important role in your community. The modern world has tricked us into thinking that happiness comes through selfish pursuits but the reality is true happiness comes from being part of something bigger, being part of the ummah, being part of a family, being part of a community and having these loving relationships.

These are some of the themes that I explore in this book and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. The book is available here.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Books, Positive Thinking
22
Nov
2024
Work in Silence

Work in Silence

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Peace be upon the final messenger.

One of the disadvantages of the internet is that we are all connected too much and pushed to share too much. As a result, too many people spend a lot of time online talking about their plans, goals, and ideas without actually making time to work on them. It is easy to come up with an idea, post about it on social media, and enjoy the dopamine hit that comes with people liking and praising your idea.

The real challenge is to sit down, and work hard over a long period of time to turn that idea into a reality. Many people today do not have the commitment, patience, and mindset needed to do this. As a result, our ideas remain as nothing more than social media posts that generated a few likes. The real work begins when we break away from the internet and carve out time to work on our ideas.

Avoid Distraction

Being constantly connected is a distraction. It means that we are always consuming, always engaging, and that we are bombarded with an information overload. This also means that we do not have time or space to think deeply, work deeper, and produce better results. A simple tip for a more effective and productive life; spend less time online and more time alone with your thoughts and ideas. It is during these periods of intense focus that you will produce your best work. Away from the noise of the internet, you can think, strategize, produce, and be your best.

Think Long-Term

Besides being a distraction, the internet also tricks us into seeking the fastest path to success. We ignore the long-term and necessary work needed to build powerful businesses, develop powerful habits, and produce amazing products. Instead, we seek out the quickest product, the shortest route to a few extra dollars, and the fastest route to fame and admiration. The results are scams, shoddy work, and businesses that cannot last or generate profits long-term. Greed, impatience, and instant gratification will destroy any chances of success, if we allow them to dictate the speed and quality of our work. Do not allow the speed of online production to trick you into compromising on quality and long-term results. Take your time, be deliberate and be persistent. A business built over a decade will generate much better results than something you pushed too early and too quickly due to online pressure.

Work Deeper

To produce your best results, you must get used to working deeper. This means carving out blocks of high concentration time free from distraction and noise. During these periods, you focus intensely on your primary projects and channel all your energy into your work. It is during these periods of intense deep work that you will produce your best results. Make it a habit to carve out time daily for deep work. Figure out your peak concentration hours, schedule your most important work for that time, block out all the noise, and focus intensely. Do this daily, and you will produce amazing work constantly.

Stay Private

The world does not need to know about your ideas, goals, and dreams. In fact, most people do not want to know about these things, and many people are malicious and will react negatively to your ideas. They do not need to know what you are focused on or why you are focused on. Only inform the few that you trust, that support you, and that can assist you in achieving your goals. Beware of the false sense of accomplishment that comes from talking too much about goals and dreams. Focus instead on the real sense of accomplishment that comes from accomplishing your goals.

I recall when I was a teenager, I told my classmates that I want to be an author. One of my classmates, for whatever reason, reacted very negatively to this. He would mock me constantly about my dream and would always mockingly ask me “where is your book?” Once I broke away from that friend circle, I was able to sit in peace and product my first book in my early twenties. Nearly two decades since breaking away from this group, I have produced over twenty books, Alhamdulillah. I learned an important lesson from this, not everybody needs to know about your goals. Keep most of your goals private and work on them in silence. When the product is ready, then let people know about it. Until then, stay private and work in silence.

Let your work speak for itself

If you work hard in silence, every day, you will eventually produce amazing work that benefits many people. You do not need to self-promote if you feel it affects your intentions. You do not need to talk about yourself, your accomplishments, or your goals. You simply need to show up, produce great work, and let your work speak for itself. At the end of the day, once you produce something great, it will reach who it needs to reach, and its impact will spread through word-of-mouth. Therefore, taking the time to produce quality work is the best move long-term.

Life in the modern world has become too noisy and cluttered. Too many people lack the attention span and skills to focus on long-term projects. We are constantly distracted and tricked into chasing short-term results. We need to break away from any damaging habits that are destroying our productivity. This means learning to spend less time online, more time focused on work, and more time deep in thought. Spend less time on social media, focus on accomplishing your goals, instead of talking about them, and think long-term.

Work in silence and you will unlock more skills, stronger concentration, better ideas, stronger results, more valuable products, and better long-term results. Learn to work in silence, and you will benefit more than anyone else, and your results will speak for you.

Learn more with our November Specials below:

1) Shariah Law: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/islamiclaw/CN24

2) Marriage: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/marriage/CN24

3) Parenting: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/parenting/CN24

4) History of Islam: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/history1/CN24

5) Book Bundle: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/selfhelpbundle/CN24

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Business, Goal Setting, Life Hacks, Productivity
14
Nov
2024
Cyber November Deals 2024

Cyber November Deals 2024

We have exclusive discounts available this month for our premium courses.

Access any of the following courses for $9 or $10 at the links below:

1) Shariah Law: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/islamiclaw/CN24

2) Marriage: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/marriage/CN24

3) Parenting: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/parenting/CN24

4) History of Islam: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/history1/CN24

5) Book Bundle: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/selfhelpbundle/CN24

NOTE: This discount is for first-time buyers only and cannot be back-projected on past purchases.

NOTE: These prices are exclusive for the first 200 people to purchase these products during November 2024

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Books, Business
11
Nov
2024
Lessons Learned from the trials of life

Lessons Learned from the trials of life

I do not talk about the difficulties in my life publicly. Life is a test, and I am sure everyone reading this has their own trials and difficulties. The past five years, especially, have seen us all afflicted with global trials that have hit the world one after another, and sometimes multiple at the same time. While we all collectively deal with these trials, many of us have been dealing with personal trials as well. I will not mention specifically what I have been through over the past few years, but want to reflect on some important life lessons I learned through all this.

The period of 1440 to 1446 Hijri, (coinciding with 2019-2024 CE) has been a time of intense difficulty for me. There were times during this period in which I felt hopeless, fearful, depressed, cowardly, and even close to death. Living through the pandemic/lockdown, while dealing with the riots in South Africa in 2021, and the floods here over the next few years, as well as the deaths of multiple relatives, was difficult enough. But at the same time, I had to deal with two major personal trials that shaped and defined this period of my life.

Miraculously, one trial ended this past Friday and another on Saturday, like a season finale in which multiple long-term plots were resolved in almost miraculous fashion. Today is my first work day free from these trials, and I sit alone at 5am in peace and gratitude typing this and reflecting over this intense and difficult period of my life. The strange thing is that even though the past six years were extremely difficult and I prayed for ease many times, I am also grateful for this period of my life because it has shaped me and changed me positively in ways that would not have been possible otherwise.

Finding My Courage

Perhaps the one thing I am most grateful for during this period is finding my courage and evolving into a braver version of myself. In 2021, I faced a trial that required courage and I remember feeling a deep sense of fear and cowardice overwhelm me. I recall my neighbors arming themselves to defend our neighborhood, and I felt a deep sense of cowardice and did the bare minimum to keep my family safe. I felt terrible after that for years and determined to never allow fear or cowardice to hold me back from doing the right thing ever again. I spent a lot of time over the next few years working on building my courage and ability to face scary and difficult situations without fear.

In 2024, multiple scenarios forced me to level up. I did things this year that I did not know I was capable of. I found myself facing my trials head-on and even facing danger head-on. I realized a few weeks ago that I am no longer the same person who was so fearful just three years ago. As I stood guard over a van in a dangerous street giving a man my word that I will protect his workers while they were making a delivery there I felt alive, and I felt at peace that I had finally overcome my cowardice in the face of danger and evolved into a better version of myself.

Learning to Work Under Intense Pressure

I never complained publicly about my trials, as this is not the Islamic way. As Prophet Yaqub (AS) teaches us, “I complain of my anguish and sorrow only to Allah” (Qur’an 12:86) Despite my trials, I continued to focus on my work and during these past few years I was able to produce some of my most important work including the History of Islam online course, and 25 Keys to a Happy Life. I learned during this period that no matter what is going on in the world, I must remain focused on serving Allah, building my Afterlife, and producing work that benefits the ummah.

I recall a strange and terrifying afternoon during 2021. It was the middle of the covid lockdown, multiple relatives of mine had just passed away, and I could hear helicopters, gunshots and screaming as riots raged near my neighborhood. Unable to do anything about any of the above, I sat down to homeschool my children, teach my history classes, and write my books. It was in that moment I realized that no matter how crazy the world gets, life goes on and we must remain focused on what is in our control.

Channeling My Patience into Productivity

Ramadan 1444 (early 2023) was one of the most difficult periods of my life. I recall starting that Ramadan in survival mode, barely able to concentrate or think. I told myself this Ramadan I will just focus on personal worship and getting through my trials. Despite this, with Allah’s Help and Guidance, on the 27th of Ramadan 1444 I completed the first draft of 25 Keys to a Happy Life which I started writing on the first of Ramadan that year.

In 25 days I had completed writing one of the most important books I ever wrote to myself. This book started as notes to myself to fix my mindset and elevate my thinking during this difficult period of my life. Alhamdulillah, it is now available to the public and I pray that it will help others to experience happiness and inner peace no matter how difficult life gets. I learned to channel my resolve into productively producing works that benefit myself and the ummah, and I am grateful to Allah for the opportunity to do this.

Similarly, in early 1445, I realized that all I could do about my trials at that point was be patient and await the help of Allah. Instead of wasting my time in sorrow and self-pity, I channeled my patience into producing more work to benefit the ummah. It was during this period that I produced my online course on the Shariah which has benefited hundreds of students. Looking back, I am grateful to Allah for giving me this period of time to focus on these works, and guiding me to produce them. I ask Allah to make these beneficial for the ummah.

Bonding with my family

Perhaps the greatest blessing that came out of this trial is that it has been a source of bonding for my family. My relationships with my family members, both close and extended, are stronger than ever, Alhamdulillah. I realized that hardships come either tear families apart or bring them together, depending on how we face them and deal with them. I learned an important lesson in facing the trials of life as a united front and growing closer together through every trial.

During these past few years, a lot of my research has focused on reviving the Islamic family structure and helping others find strength, love, and unity in family too. During these years, I launched Izzah Academy, and through it a marriage and parenting course. My work in my community has become heavily focused on teaching people the importance of traditional living, having large united families, and developing a strong family culture.

The family is the primary power base and source of support of any individual. We must resist the modern trends of individualism in which family is disappearing and losing its value. Prophet Lut (AS) refers to families and tribes as strong supports, and wished to have one. “If only I had the strength ˹to resist you˺ or could rely on a strong support.” (Qur’an 11:80) As we face a new generation of the same evil he faced, we must protect ourselves through developing this strong support.

Realizing my true potential

Alhamdulillah, I am a very different person today than I was six years ago. Gone is the cowardice, self-doubt, fear, awkwardness, anxiety and self-consciousness. I may have lost my youth and gained some grey hairs during this period of life, but I also levelled up and am capable of a lot more today than I was a few years ago. Through these trials, I learned to face my fears, take action, trust Allah’s plan, be patient, resilient, strong, brave, and focused. I found my courage and let go of my fear of death. I am a different person today, I feel it in every aspect of my life, and I am grateful to Allah for everything that helped me grow into a better version of myself.

As Muslims, we should never pray for trials and hardship. We should ask Allah for ease and pray for good things. But trials are a necessary part of life and we all will face periods of trial, some more intense than others. The trials of life serve many purposes, one of the most important is to help us dig deep, discover our true potential, and grow into better versions of ourselves. We may struggle and make mistakes along the way, but as long as we remain focused on obeying Allah, doing the right things, and doing what is within our control, our trials will be a source of blessings for us in the long run.

We ask Allah to accept our efforts, utilize us to serve the religion, and to grant us the best of both worlds. Ameen.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace, Islam