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Toronto Interfaith Forum: On Leadership
Written by Qamrul A. Khanson, Recording Secretary, UPF-Toronto, Canada
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Toronto, Canada - Dr. Hussein Auckberaullee opened the monthly meeting of UPF-Toronto by expressing his deep sadness over the tsunami which hit Japan this week resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. People held hands and stood in silence to show solidarity with the people of Japan who are facing this dreadful challenge.
Rev. Stoyan Tadin took the podium to speak on the topic of “Rise and Fall of Inadequate Leaders.” The political wave for change in North Africa is engulfing adjoining countries. The rise and fall of leadership depends not only on the adequacy of leaders but also the demands for commercial goods which industrialized countries consider vital and indispensable to their economy.
Rev. Tadin said, "Today we want to analyze how inadequacy within the leadership affects the day-to-day life of every citizen of a country. We all recognize that criminal elements in a society represent no more than 0.5% of the population yet criminals dominate the news headlines, covering more of the space in the newspaper and getting more attention than the sleeping majority of good people who are rarely mentioned. Imagine, if good people, especially those in the forefront, exert their resolve more aggressively for righteousness, then criminal elements would hardly matter and we would be able to maximize what concerns us more. The proponents of righteousness do not utilize adequate energy, motivation, and assertiveness to eradicate inadequacy in the society.
In order to enhance our abilities to give more to society, we should focus on ways to bring positive changes. Such changes would be possible through enhancing our abilities, the process of harmonizing, the influence of leadership, increasing our knowledge, and patience.
The intention of a person is the core strength which influences action. People who lack intention are less motivated to change from wrong to right. God created us with love so that we could share love in order to increase and enhance love. Unfortunately, such qualities are rare among people who are at the helm of affairs. Leaders acting with love and respect can bring out many hidden qualities in people. Regretfully, people did not share such love and achieve the level of piety ordained by God. The result was the sending of prophets with a series of divine revelations to correct society.
Qamrul Khanson quoted the saying that "God gives and forgives, while we humans get and forget." Human failures prompted God to communicate divine laws through his prophets, who were sent down to the community of humans. Unfortunately, we all failed to achieve comprehensive results. However, we have one thing in common — the realization of our failure. As long as such a realization is alive within us, our resolve to remedy our failures will continue. Let us develop the purpose of unity to remedy the failures in our ranks through love and assertion.
God does not change the inner condition of a person unless the person intends to change himself or herself to get help from God. Through religious rituals, we may satisfy our outer show of allegiance but what matters is to change our inner intent and consciousness of the purpose. The Almighty acts precisely.
Two videos from an Islamic site were shown regarding the earth's iron core as reference in the Qur'an: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWL7N1Y6H58 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxgO48O9-eM
They relate to the following reference in the Qur'an: "We (God) sent our messengers supported by clear proofs, and we sent down to them the scripture and the law, that the people may uphold justice. And we sent down the iron, wherein there is strength and many benefits for the people. All this in order for GOD to distinguish those who would support Him and His messengers, on faith - GOD is Powerful, Almighty" (The Qur'an – Surah Al Hadeed (Chapter: The Iron) 57:25).
In another example, Janine Banyu was quoted as saying, "Everyone is inadequate." Janine said over billions of years, natural selection has come up with winning strategies adopted by all complex, mature ecosystems. The strategies in the following list are tried-and-true approaches to the mystery of surviving in place. Think of them as the ten commandments of the redwood clan: "Organisms in a mature ecosystem use waste as a resource, diversify and cooperate to fully use the habitat, gather and use energy efficiently, optimize rather than maximize, use materials sparingly, don't foul their nests, don't draw down resources, remain in balance with the biosphere, run on information, and shop locally." Nevertheless, we remain inadequate.
Rev. David Stewart chaired an open discussion on the topic. He mentioned that many institutions fail and challenged us to draw on spiritual resources to revive them.
Dr. Hussein Auckberaullee mentioned the fear of God’s chastisement against wrongs committed by inadequate leadership. Every soul shall return to the Almighty and be accountable of the Day of Judgment.
Willie Nabus said that our leadership shall be visionary and must adapt to the changes in order to face the challenges of the passing time.
Lilly Tadin emphasised the importance of responsibility. Each one of us is responsible for his/her actions. Children learn leadership from their mother, and so mothers should be aware of how they are role models.
Mrs. David Stewart echoed Lilly Tadin by saying that women have been vying to be first-class citizens rather than focusing on being the role models for better character and leadership.
Dr. Golam Dastagir said that his role model for leadership was the second Caliph, Omar Bin Qhattab, who never took anything from the coffers except what was designated and no more than anyone else did. He was the most judicious and an excellent administrator.
Rev. Earl Smith mentioned that Rev. Ron Hubbard always said that declaring intention was the key for a leader's success.
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