abbdheen: The Greatest Danger Before Any Other

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Greatest Danger Before Any Other

The noble scholar Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen rahimahullaah
said: 1
“The most serious of all that Allaah forbade is Shirk and this is because
the greatest of all rights are the Rights of Allaah the Mighty and
Majestic.
So if a person violates the Right of Allaah, then he has violated the
greatest of all Rights which is the Tawheed of Allaah…”
The noble scholar Saalih Ibn Fawzaan Aali-Fawzaan hafihahullah said:2
“…as long as you have understood Tawheed which is to single out Allaah
alone for worship, then it is obligatory upon you to recognise Shirk
because the one who does not know something, falls into it…
So the danger of Shirk is that it prohibits entry into Paradise…
Therefore it is a great danger which is obligatory for you to have
knowledge of, before any other danger…”
1 Reference: Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles of Islaam p. 75 [transcription: Bint
Mahmood]
2 Reference: Readings in Al-Qawaa’id al-Arba’ah part 3 [salafipublications.com]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Tutorial

Ten Tips for Starting and Running a Successful Small BusinessSuggestions to help get your business off to a smooth start and keep it going for the long haul.
Read more

1. Save up as much money as possible before starting. All too often, people go into business without any savings, exclusively using loan money from friends, banks, or the SBA. They except to be able to start paying the loans back right away with their profits. What these business owners don't realize is that it can take months or years to make a profit. And once a lender discovers a business isn't as profitable as expected, the lender is likely to call in the loan or refuse to renew it for another year. Often new business owners then have to take out home equity loans or use credit cards to pay off their loans (which puts their home and credit rating at risk). A better plan is to save up as much of the needed investment money as possible, including your living expenses for the first year, or even two. Odds are that your business won't be profitable for one to two years. Even if you get plenty of business coming your way -- and your customers pay you on time, which isn't always a sure thing -- you'll want to be able to invest most of that money back in the business for space, equipment, advertising, and insurance needs 2. Start on a shoestring. Think small. Don't rent premises if you can work somewhere else, and don't hire employees until you can keep them busy. (You can hire independent contractors or temps in the meantime.) People who start their small business on the cheap, often in a garage, den, or some other scavenged space, and create their first goods or services with more sweat than cash, have the luxury of making their inevitable rookie mistakes on a small scale. And precisely because their early screw-ups don't bury them in debt, they are usually able to learn and recover from them. 3. Protect your personal assets. When you go into business for yourself, you are usually personally liable for all judgments and debts that the business incurs. This includes business loans, taxes, money owed to suppliers and landlords, and any judgments against the business as a result of a lawsuit. If you don't protect yourself, a creditor can go after your personal assets, such as your car and your house, to pay for these debts. While you can protect yourself against lawsuits by buying business liability insurance, this won't help you with business debts. If you will be running up big debts, consider forming a corporation or limited liability company (LLC). Just one person can form either of these types of businesses. Human resource issues need constant attention Human resource management is directly related to the overall performance of the organisation. Identifying and planning for training can be linked to many corporate processes. The level of intense activity continues in most organisations. Many managers and team leaders find themselves working hard on a myriad of activities. However, effort can be wasted if it is expended in a vacuum. If each activity is treated as a separate action, its intended impact on the organisation may be lost. Many important initiatives are undertaken by organisations. These can include technology upgrades, quality processes, industrial issues and the like. These initiatives are important, but they must be related to an underlying theme that ties them together. Performance is the underlying basis of many organisational and human resource (HR) programs and initiatives. Total quality management, benchmarking, re-engineering and the move to self-managing teams, are all concerned with performance. In human resources management, training, performance management (including performance appraisal and salary administration), recruitment and selection, and employee relations' activities are all concerned with performance. Each makes an important contribution. Often these initiatives are regarded as separate programs. Often, when they are, they fail. If organisations lose sight of the basic goal of performance improvement, if they treat these or other programs as the ends rather than the means, then they are doomed to difficult times, if not outright failure. All activities need to be regarded as complementary rather than separate, with the underlying principles and vision clearly established. The first step to a sound organisation is to keep all programs and initiatives aligned to a framework of increased performance. This ensures that each activity complements the others occurring at the same time. The relationship between internal and external factors is also important. Within the performance framework, the second step is to achieve the best outcome from each activity. Improvements and achievements can be made in all areas, even the traditional ones such as training: The sources of training need provide a diversity and complexity of training requirements. To be at best practice level, you should be managing and coordinating the training necessary to satisfy, in priority order, all of the needs shown. All personnel involved in training should be skilled and effective. All the training should dovetail into your performance improvement efforts. The training effort is at an optimum level when every area is addressed. The importance of training in performance management is clearly shown by the similarity of the two diagrams. Training is an important foundation of success. Recruitment/selection is another traditional HR area. The best possible recruitment/selection processes should be in place. High quality candidates should be attracted to your positions. The person and position requirements/competencies, including the appropriate balance, should be clearly established. A variety of selection methods appropriate to the situation should be used. Selection decisions should be free of bias and discrimination. These are just some of the benchmarks to be considered. The processes used need to reflect the latest thinking. The staff involved need to have, and more importantly practice, high-level recruitment/selection skills. After training and recruitment/selection, the third and final traditional area to highlight is salary administration. In some organisations, a whole variety of different salary and pay arrangements have resulted. Opportunities exist to bring these different systems into a new framework that may overcome the difficulties of the past. Staff need to have confidence in the salary administration system. They want the rewards to be shared fairly and equitably. Dissatisfaction can cause severe morale and performance problems. Some enlightened Councils may establish an improved salary administration structure which is developed specifically to meet local requirements. It is possible to develop a simple structure that overcomes the difficulties of the past, yet is simple enough for everyone in the organisation to understand. This can be tied to a completely new performance management approach, including better performance appraisal mechanisms. Organisations have many change programs in place at any one time. All should be related. A co-ordinated approach understood by staff leads to confidence. Confidence leads to trust. Trust provides the foundation for a positive cultural environment, which in turn provides the driving force necessary to achieve performance improvements. Did you enjoy this article? Gathering information for marketing decision-making As we all know, marketing plans should begin with a look at the 'consumer' and their needs - consumer analysis and the market environment they operate in - in other words, market analysis. The objective of consumer analysis is to identify segments or groups within a population, with similar needs, so that marketing efforts can be directly targeted to them. Over the last year, via its Township House Promotions program, which sees thousands of township residents face-to-face every month and through its Cash Van distribution division, which services over 3000 township traders every month, The Alternative Consultancy (TAC), started to hear of changes in shopping and spending patterns emanating from this sector (full) Developing a Marketing Plan Include: · A professional looking front page with your company name, address and logo. · Contents page. Include an interesting introduction explaining: · What product or service you have chosen and why? · What price you are going to charge - high, medium or low and why? · Where you are going to operate from - the area and why? · How you are going to promote your business? · The important highlights of your plan Market Research Give a brief background on the market you have decided to operate in. You can discuss the economy in brief relating to your business. Determine the total market potential: · Define exactly who your potential customers will be in general terms e.g. for a bottle store it will be people that drink alcohol. · Determine the total market spending power or the potential for your product in rands e.g. each customer spends approximately R100.00 per month on liquor. · Define the area you are going to market in e.g. Natal, Durban, or PMB. Include: · Surveys - in this section include market research surveys that you have done. · General research - how many homes in the area, population count etc. · Statistics - obtained from Human Sciences Research Council etc. · Maps of the area you are going to operate in. Swot · Do a "SWOT" analysis of your business and yourself - what is going to make your business different and better. · Do a "SWOT" analysis of all your main competitors, including an estimation of their market share. Define your specific target market/niche. · Who are your customers? · Geographical parameters. · Discuss all factors that could exert an influence on your market - race, ages, income patterns etc. Calculate your expected market share Do a forecast of: · Poor · Average · Best-case scenario. · What is your expected monthly and annual turnover? List your business goals or objectives going into: · Short term goals, medium term goals, long term goals · You can include your personal goals here. Develop a promotional plan so that you can achieve your marketing goals How are you going to promote your business? · Newspapers · Internet · Pamphlets · Public Relations · Customer Service · Free samples · Competitions, radio advertising, word-of-mouth, door-to-door etc. · Make sure you include the cost price of each method of promoting your business. Include pictures, maps and photographs

abbdheen

Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Greatest Danger Before Any Other

No comments:

Blog Archive

knowledge

Tutorial

special questions.

blogs

About Me