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.
20
Jan
2017

Surah Yasin: 3 Powerful Lessons that will boost your faith

Surah Yasin

Surah Yasin

Surah Yasin: A Chapter About Faith

Known as the heart of the Quran to many, Surah Yasin is one of the most beloved Surahs in the Quran. All around the world, millions of Muslims memorize and recite this Surah.

Yet, how many of us have studied its Tafseer or reflected on its lessons?

Here is a brief summary of Surah Yasin taken from my book Themes Of The Quran:

This is a famous Makkan Surah, although most of the virtues attributed to it are based on weak or fabricated Hadiths. The theme of the Surah is Tawheed, but in this Surah there are three different methods used to show the Oneness of Allah. (Themes Of The Quran, P. 66)

It is a Surah about the Oneness of Allah, and we should reflect on that whenever we recite this Surah.

In this short article, I want to reflect on three powerful lessons I learned when studying Surah Yasin:

1. The Crowd isn’t always right

The main story in this Surah is about a city to which three prophets were sent. The Quran does not mention the names of the Prophets or the city. This information is not important, as Allah wants us to reflect on the lessons from this story instead.

In this story, the entire city rejects the prophets, except for one man. He believes and openly calls his people towards the truth. For his courage, he is killed by his people. Allah enters him into Paradise as a reward for his sacrifice.

The lesson here is clear: the truth isn’t always with the majority. And we must stand clearly for the truth, even if we are the only people doing so.

In this era, when so many Muslims are changing Islam to suit liberal values, we must stand firm on our principles even if nobody else is doing so.

2. We may only find success in the Afterlife

Many modern Self Help programs pitch the idea that you are the captain of your own fate. They claim that you can change your future and get whatever you want in this world. As Muslims, we must reject this idea.

Yes, we aim high, work hard and strive for noble goals. But we know that success comes from Allah. He is in charge of our faith. Allah controls our destiny, and all victory comes from Him.

In this story, the people rejected the prophets. Only one person believed the prophets. The people killed this man too. No amount of Self Help advice could change that. It was their destiny to face these challenges.

In return, they did not see much in terms of worldly victories. Instead, they attained Paradise which is the ultimate victory!

Sometimes we lose sight of what really matters. Paradise should be our real goal. As we continue to strive and work hard in this world, we should also be happy with whatever destiny Allah chooses for us. Knowing that our real success lies in the Afterlife.

3. Allah’s Signs Are All Around Us

The bulk of Surah Yasin focuses on the signs of Allah in this universe. We live in an era of Atheism and Agnosticism. Part of the reason for this is that we have surrounded ourselves with man-made inventions and forget to reflect on the miraculous creations of Allah that surround us.

Take some time out of your busy life to spend time in nature. Soak in the beauty of Allah’s Creations all around us. Gaze at the stars and study the universe. The more you reflect, the stronger your faith in Allah will grow.

The proof of the design exists in the beautiful design of everything around us. We just have to stop to look and we will see it everywhere!

You can learn more Tafseer with our exclusive eBook:

Buy Now

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Inner Peace
19
Jan
2017

7 Types of friends to avoid

7 Types Of Friends To Avoid7 Types of friends to avoid

Friends! We all need them but sometimes we end up with the wrong ones that just mess thing up! These are the friends who lead us down dark paths, get in our way or simply hold us back from being the best we can be. Here are 7 Types of friends to avoid:

1. The Caller To Sin

That friend who keeps asking you to just ‘give it a try’. The friend who wants you to have the same sinful habits he has. Let him go before he drags you down!

Its true that no friend is perfect or sinless, and neither are you. But there is a difference between a friend who struggles against personal weaknesses, and a friend who wants you to walk down the path of darkness with him.

Help the former, avoid the latter!

2. The Snob

He is always boasting about what he has, how much he earns, where he travels to, or what a good person he is. Snobs can affect you in two ways: they can either make you just like them or they can make you immune to arrogance.

Arrogance is major sin, and a cause of a lot of the world’s problems. In order to fight it within ourselves we need to surround ourselves with humble people. There is simply no place for snobby bratty friends in the life of someone who is trying to live a better life.

3. The Evil Eye Giver

Do you feel afraid to share good news with your friend? Does he get jealous easily?

You may want to avoid a friend who is always getting jealous of you. True friends want you to succeed, just like you want them to succeed.

Avoid jealousy and jealous people, surround yourself with people who want whats best for you. (You’ll also save yourself from a lot of evil eye like this too!)

4. The One With A Loose Tongue

Gossip, tale-carrying, slander, hoax Whats App messages about your death!

Yeah, that friend! We all know one.

Newsflash: If he gossips to you, he probably gossips about you too!

Remember that gossip is a two way sin: both the speaker and passive listener are sinful. Because gossip cannot take place without an audience.

Avoid gossipers. Befriend people who talk about ideas, not people!

5. The Overgrown Child

He is thirty years old and doesn’t know how to pay a bill yet. And he can’t hold down a job. He still needs his mummy to take care of him. Simply put, he just won’t grow up!

NOTE: Sisters, don’t marry this guy either!

Childish friends are intimidated by mature people. So they either try to bring you down to their level or they sabotage your plans.

If you want to move forward in life, befriend mature people, not big babies.

6. The Super Lazy One

Laziness is contagious! That’s all you need to know.

Make friends with doers, not loafers.

7. The Dream Crusher

As you are a regular reader of Islamic Self Help, I gather that you have dreams and goals. I’m sure you have high aspirations and are making great plans to achieve them. After all, that is what Islamic Self Help is all about.

Well then, you do NOT want friends that get in the way of that!

Avoid dream crushers like a plague! They will put down your ideas, tell you its impossible, and maybe even insult you for dreaming about it!

You need to be friends with people who are optimistic, goal orientated and supportive. Because you WILL need their support to achieve your goals.

Cutting Ties?

I’m not asking you to cut ties with your fellow Muslim and abandon them. Remain acquaintances, and maintain a friendly distance. Just don’t allow such people to become the kind of friend that influences you. Surround yourself with good influences, not bad company.

I’ll conclude with a Hadith:

“Every man follows the religion of his closest friend. So beware whom you take as a close friend.” (Abu Dawud 4833)

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Positive Thinking
18
Jan
2017

3 Self Confidence tips you can apply today

3 Self Confidence tips you can apply today3 Self Confidence tips you can apply today!

Self Confidence is crucial for attaining goals and progressing through life. Many of us know that we need self confidence in order to grow, but we are not sure where to start. There are many articles about self confidence tips online, but most require long term effort.

Today, I want to show you 3 tips you can implement right now!

These 3 self confidence tips will help you get started, and experience an immediate boost in confidence:

1. Make a list of your successes

Sit down and write everything you have ever accomplished. This doesn’t have to be just the big stuff. Every small victory should be written too.

Think about every time you learned something new, started something new, or accomplished something.

Even if you can’t think of big things, you learned to read, right? (Otherwise, how are you reading this article)

You learned to drive? Didn’t learn a foreign language at some point in your life? Graduate high school?

Don’t sell yourself short! Your whole life has been accomplishing things that are new and scary. You HAVE done it many times in the past, so you CAN do it again today and in the future!

Writing such a list should give you an immediate boost to your confidence.

2. Try something new

Stepping out of your comfort zone is something many people fear. It requires a lot of confidence to step out of your comfort zone. You can build this confidence by trying something new every day.

Start today!

It doesn’t need to be something BIG or SCARY, just new. Try a new coffee shop, walk a different path to work, cold call a new potential client, post something different on social media, or even just try a new recipe when cooking today!

Take a chance and try something new. As soon as you do so, you will feel an immediate boost in confidence.

Now keep that momentum going by trying something new every day. This will gradually build your confidence and help you tackle the bigger scarier stuff in the future.

3. Positive Self Talk

“The difference between peak performance and poor performance is not intelligence or ability; most often it’s the state that your mind and body is in.” – Tony Robbins

A simple way to improve your confidence today is to talk yourself into it. Do not underestimate the power of self-talk. Talking to yourself isn’t a sign of madness. (If it is, I’m in trouble!) It is a way to pump yourself up and get yourself in the right state of mind to get things done.

If you have something big coming up today and you don’t feel like doing it, just look in the mirror and tell yourself that you can do it, will do it, and will do an awesome job of it. Remember that our mind believes what we tell our selves, so only say good things to yourself about yourself.

Even if there is nothing big to do today, but you are just feeling lazy or lack motivation. A good self pep talk may be all you need to get into the right state of mind and get things done.

Summary

It doesn’t need to take years to build your confidence. Its true that long term confidence requires long term effort. But immediate confidence requires immediate effort.

Do these three things today and feel the difference!

Learn more self confidence tips with our exclusive eBook:

Self Confidence Tips eBook

Get the full book right now!

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Self Confidence
17
Jan
2017

How To Build A Culture Of Reading For Your Kids

How to build a culture of reading for your kids

How to Build A Culture Of Reading For Your Kids

Reading is an essential habit that develops every important aspect of a child’s personality. It is the duty of parents to prioritize reading and make it a part of the home culture. This infographic summarizes five tips on how to build a culture of reading for your kids.

These tips are:

1) Have a home library and give the kids access to it

2) Be a role model. Read often and in front of them.

3) Set a daily reading time for the family.

4) Discuss books regularly as a family.

5) Diversify your book range. Keep educational books, but keep fun books too!

Bonus Tips:

1) Teach them the biographies of great leaders who were also great readers

2) Read for them when they are younger and unable to read themselves

3) Share with them for your favorite books from your childhood

4) Have mini-competitions at home to see who will read the most books each month

5) Start a book club and make your family the founding members

Note: When sharing the image on social media, don’t forget to tell your friends to scroll down to see these bonus tips!

Take charge of your kids education and guarantee them a brighter future!

What if I told you that your children don’t have to go to school?Homeschooling 101

And What if I told you there is a way to have your children graduate from college a few years early?

What if I told you there exists an alternative to schooling which has proven far more effective in the long term?

Let me introduce you to homeschooling. A growing trend that has helped thousands of children gain a better quality education, while developing a closer relationship with their parents.

This eBook is designed to help you decide if homeschooling is the right option for you.

Click here for more details.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Books, Homeschooling
10
Jan
2017

5 Islamic Reasons To Get Rich

5 Islamic Reasons To Get Rich

5 Islamic Reasons to get rich

Yes! 5 ISLAMIC Reasons!

Wealth is not a bad thing. Its how we earn it and spend it that we will be questioned about on the Last Day. The Sahaba viewed wealth as a means to earn more reward. This means there are many Islamic reasons to get rich.

The following Hadith is proof of this:

“Some people from among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to the Prophet (peace be upon him), ‘O Messenger of Allah, the affluent have made off with the rewards; they pray as we pray, they fast as we fast, and they give [much] in charity by virtue of their wealth.” (Saheeh Muslim)

What did these companions do with their wealth to get more reward?

Good deeds that require wealth!

Here are five such deeds: 

1. Give More Charity

Giving wealth in charity is one of the best good deeds we can do. The more we give, the more reward we get. When we give charity, we are rewarded ten times over or more!

If you want to give a million in charity, you will need to become a millionaire first!

2. Perform Hajj and Umrah more often

Each accepted Umrah is a cause of forgiveness for the sins before it. An accepted Hajj earns one Paradise. Hajj and Umrah require a lot of wealth to perform often.

This means we need to earn more wealth if we wish to increase in this act of worship!

3. Support The Dawah

Imagine being able to support an Islamic scholar by providing him a full month’s salary each month. By doing so, you allow him to free up his time to do Dawah, and you earn the reward of all the Dawah he does!

Likewise, if you fund a Dawah organization or project and it leads to many people converting to Islam. Imagine the rewards in such a scenario!

All of this requires wealth! Enough wealth and you can do such good deeds in future!

4. Build Masjids

Find a part of the world that needs a new Masjid and finance the entire project yourself!

Imagine the rewards you can earn if that Masjid lasts until the end of the world and millions of people pray in it over the remainder of history!

This kind of good deed requires us to get rich first, so that we can do these things.

5. Uplift the Ummah

The ummah is facing major problems today. We can sit around and grumble or work at improving the state of the ummah. I choose the latter!

You can too!

Build Islamic centers! Fund Islamic research! Donate to humanitarian institutes! Build Islamic schools! Help young Muslims with capital to start their own businesses! Invest in Muslim start ups!

The Bottom Line

There are hundreds of ways we can assist this ummah through wealth.

These are some of many Islamic Reasons to get rich!

So what are you waiting for?

Work hard, build your way up in life and then utilize your wealth to uplift this ummah and build your Akhirah!

Shaykh Ismail Kamdar is the founder of Islamic Self Help and author of multiple eBooks.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Business