Training the Co-Worker Family:
Clarifying Concepts and Specifying Methods – 2
Simple Things like E-Mails
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Writing Out Names of Individual Co-Workers in E-Mail Address Section:
Why?
Did I say “Simple things like E-mails”? Astaghfirullah, how thoughtless of me!
The simple fact is E-Mails connect the world. And E-Mails get things done.
There are not too many things in the world today that are more important than E-Mails – and the Internet.
Today, E-Mails and their myriad younger Social Media cousins and clones are what the whole world uses for everything: from business to politics and from social and religious reasons to personal purposes.
The Internet is one of the greatest blessings of God Almighty – nothing less than the Manna that God gave the Israelites in the desert.
It is easy; it is everywhere; and, at least in most cases, and at least for now, it is free. That is, if you train yourself to look past all the uninvited ads, pop-ups and other nasty bugs and critters that distract you and nibble at your time and attention.
Internet Use by Co-Worker Family Members
The question is how are the Co-Workers using – or not using – the Internet for Working for Allah?
Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that we will all be asked by Allah how we used the Internet? And for what purpose we used it?
Time has come for us to ask:
To what extent, and in what ways, do the Co-Workers use the Internet to Work for Allah?
And how much of their Internet Time and Energy and Effort and Use were channeled into Working for Allah?
And how much of all of this was utilized for other purposes than Working for Allah, whatever those other purposes may be?
Should we be surprised if Allah, and some of Allah’s concerned angels along the way, decide to ask us questions along these lines?
Some of the Reasons Why?
So, keeping this in mind, let me explain why from time to time I spell out individual Co-Worker names and addresses in the Address Section of my E-Mail to the Co-Workers, even though I seldom fail to use the collective address of Co-Workers@IslamicSolutiuons.Com.
It is not done without a reason. And some of the reasons for which it is done are as follows:
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To address each Co-Worker by name in an effort "to make each person feel important and wanted and valued and appreciated," as it were.
All that is part of the Islamic Culture of Afshus Salam, as the Hadith says. Meaning: Spread Salam and its blessings around.
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To doubly insure the mail does get to those whose names are written out separately.
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To give added incentive and special encouragement to those whose names are spelled out at the top to pay attention and to read, understand, acknowledge, and write back, because that is the polite and civilized thing to do.
Allah Bless all those in the Co-Worker Family who do that routinely – and at least some of them without fail!
All Must Participate!
All Must Lend Their Shoulder to the Wheel!And there are still more reasons why I do it, and here are some of them:
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To make Co-Workers all participate in this collective writing effort so they will help keep the ball of conversation and discussion rolling, as it were.
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To make us realize that we all have a duty to contribute; a duty to pull our weight; and a duty to lend our shoulder to the wheel.
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To train us all to play an active and responsible role in the process of training and educating each other.
And this goes back to that Hadith that has guided our efforts from the beginning and that informs and illumines the Co-Worker Model of Leadership, Responsibility and Participation:
Kullukum Raa-in wa Kullukum Mas-oolun An Ra-iyyatihi!
Paraphrase:
Every one of you is a shepherd and every one of you shall be held responsible for your flock and questioned about it.
A Lone Sheep Tempts the Wolf!
It is clear that it is never safe for a sheep not to be knit closely with the rest of the herd. So, some other reasons why I spell out individual names and addresses in addition to the collective Co-Worker address are:
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To remind ourselves to take the time, and make the effort, to be continually in touch with each other.
And in this we are guided by the Hadith that tells us to stay close to the group – to the Jama’ah – all the time, and warns us in starkest terms that the wolf only attacks and eats the lone sheep that strays off from the flock.
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To say “Thank You!” – Alhamdulillah! – to God Almighty for the Blessing of the Internet and for allowing us to make use of the Internet to connect with our Fellow Muslims and with the rest of our Co-Worker Family.
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To help foster a mindset and a temperament and a value option -- call it a personality if you wish – that would want each one of us to be producers of what must be there, rather than be merely passive consumers of whatever is laid out by whomever.
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To build a mindset that would say to each one of us that "I must be a giver and not just a taker and a user" of what is out there.
In other words, all this is part of training the Co-Worker Family, and it is not just wasted time, space and effort on anyone’s part.
But much more than that, it is an effort to inculcate in all of us a sense of humility and gratitude for the priceless Blessing of the Internet by urging all members of the Co-Worker Family to use the Internet in all forms and shapes most of all for Working for Allah.
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