This is my picture. This is how I look like. Despite of my look, I believe that we are all of the same human spirit. At human spirit level, we all look same. Don't you think so? I choose to think in that way. It makes my life easy-going and thus becoming more flexible. Our choice and the decision we make on daily basis makes us unique from each other. Yet at bottom line, we are human being with human spirit that come from the same source of The One Creator.
Again, does my introduction make sense to you ? If you like that 'introduction', I invite you to read further.
This writing is an attempt by me to answer the question "Are we going towards real growth?"
I strongly believe that we all have rights to go TOWARDS REAL GROWTH in our life.
It is indeed a very interesting question to answer. I do have several questions which help me to be more specific in this quest. The following questions serve as a basis of my personal journey towards real growth. It is because of this quest, I have been making many full-of-surprise decisions throughout my life. We come to that later as I share my experience to answer the following questions.
1. We want to be in good health, yet do we really take deliberate action to maintain our biological make-up in its original form and thus have continuous supply of positive energy throughout the day? Or do we ever scrutinize our conventional knowledge about health, when we find out that there are other people of the same age who are much healthier than us?
2. We want to be a good student, yet are we the kind of person who is curious about everything on daily basis and willing to dig the necessary information and knowledge to form a mind-map-like understanding?
3. We want to be a good teacher, yet are we confident and satisfied enough with the ability of our graduate to deal with all necessary challenges in the real life of multi-influence and propaganda? Can they articulate a thoughtful action on their own pertaining to important issue and agenda in their future? Can they calculate the risk-reward ratio to their favour?
4. We want to be a good parent (regardless as a father, mother or guardian), yet do we really know what our children really need to learn for their future? Do we really care about their personal development with the purpose to put them in tandem with the challenges of their 'time line' not ours? Do we ever make any real effort to improve and refine our children worldview and moral code towards their life and future? Do we teach them about money in the most thoughtful way possible so that their have the 'financial headstart' to be successful in their personal finance?
5. We want to be called a success story, yet do we really accumulate enough experience to start all over again if 'the so-called life' strikes us all of sudden like lightning from the sky? Do we prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario? Do we have desire to help the poor and the unfortunate as well as we desire to be called a success story? Do we have real friends to help us, if we have to start all over again?
They are tough questions. I don't like them. Yet, life is so real. To ignore them means that we are not interested to have a meaningful and happy life. How could I ignore these tough questions? Yet, am I honest enough to have a meaningful and happy life. Let say if I don't care to answer these tough questions, will I be happy? I won't.
These questions are the essence of a happy, meaningful and fulfilling life.
How could I ignore them? Could you?
Some people may have an opinion that it is about being PROACTIVE. In any sense towards this idea, I want to do something about it. And to be precise, I like to share with everyone my own personal journey to find the answers. I will share my experience and opinion about certain areas in life that have been helping me to grow up, becoming more mature and thoughtful. And this journey of my life is all about Towards Real Growth in which I strongly believe that we all have rights to desire.
Don't you agree that we all have rights towards real growth? You do agree, don't you?
I was not born in a rich family. Both my parents were government employees and they serve well till their retired age. Now, they are on their pension and I love to visit and talk to them about anything. Despite being in the middle class of our modern society, my parents manage to go through the hardship in raising their four children in a very modest and moderate manner. My father has a thinking set of a military officer and my mother has a thinking set of a public administrator in various government offices. I have been analyzing and observing their words and actions throughout my life. I love them because I know with 100% certainty that they have been doing their best in their own 'time line' for their children. Their parenting approach is out of their blood and tear. Even though it is unimaginable, the feeling I have as a grateful son is real. They are real parents who enjoy parenting.
Despite of their advice of encouraging me to be like them, I strongly believe that I have rights towards real growth even though I know nothing about it. What is real growth? Why should I care about real growth? Why should I put that high standard? What should I do then if I really want to pursue real growth? Who should be my role model? Can the storyline in any movie contribute to any good idea towards real growth?
Regardless of the questions which have been spinning in my head throughout my childhood, teenage and young adulthood, I always in the opinion that I shouldn't limit myself to my parent advice and their background. Surely, everyone of us is bound to our family background, yet our human spirit is always able to go deeper and wider about real issue in life.
I find in general people are happy when they are safe, comfortable and rich.
Just to make my points very clearly, to be happy we are looking for the following sense:
1. secure, safe from danger
2. comfortable, feel much relieved
3. rich, be able to outreach more
Apparently, with the spirit of TOWARDS REAL GROWTH, most of the time I question my deepest emotion if I do really feel happy or just want to desperately look happy.
Yet, it is always good to feel safe and comfortable. Don't we come from heaven? Surely, we love beauty and it makes us happy to enjoy all forms of beauty. Time goes on and it is tough not to think about having that sense of happiness again and again. We want to be addicted to that feeling of happiness. The question is how much do we have to give in order to get that ever lasting happiness.
There are many opinions about happiness. I rather to leave it to you to define your own happiness. And please share your definition of happiness in my facebook wall.
I do care many things in my life. To make it simple, I put them in order of priority:
1. Energy
2. Learning and Teaching
3. Financial assets
4. Parenting
5. Helping the poor and the unfortunate
Let us continue...
Chapter 1: My Quest About Energy, Health, Body Transformation and Wellness
What do I learn or have been learning about energy?
I love energy so much. Energy could make difference. The conventional notion about energy which I learn from school is : it cannot be created. Fine! then what should I think about that information? Nothing much! Through a lot of reading and discussion, I found that we are energy well being. It is well related to our ability to care our well being in the first place. My experience about energy tells me one thing:
I must keep that energy in a good flow or else I will have another problem which I call mood swing and self doubt. It has several concerns when I understand ENERGY in this new understanding. In this new understanding, we should look energy at its cellular level.
First:
cellular nutrition - how certain drinks and food can affect well being of our cells
Second:
cellular exercise is to trigger optimized cellular respiration and subsequently having more energy like authentic Tai Chi exercises
Third:
cellular connection to fresh unpolluted environment and how they interact with our body to give more energy.
Fourth:
positive thinking - to trigger our brain cell to generate fresh, original and innovative idea
Thinking about my self-contained-energy in this way leads me to new habits. I become more conscious of my energy flow and what should I do about it. The knowledge will only become useful if I take action accordingly.
The point to make is - we have rights to be more vibrant. I strive to get all the 'real' information by pushing out all the conventional information being fed to me before.I ask many questions about health, energy and wellness.
Honestly I am still learning about health and wellness. Do you ever think about living till 120 years old and still maintain a healthy body? I do and no wonder I feel like to know more about the secrets. This is all about TOWARDS REAL GROWTH in the area of health and wellness.
Right now I manage to reduce my weight from 88 kg to 78 kg. I want to reduce to 70 kg. With this idea in my mind, I need to master the art of burning my fat and building my muscle. I have found the best source to be able to do just that. Ouuhh long way to go in this area of life - BUT once I internalize the WHY , I will know exactly what to do next. Wish me success ok - mate ! Enjoy some pictures of self-transformation here. These people prove to all human kind that we can transform our physical being and thus have more energy.
Their transformation could blow your mind. Be careful! They are real people with steel like will power and determination. Can you transform your body? The answer is so much dependent on your imagination rather than your knowledge. Even though, we know by science of body fitness, it is possible for everyone to become physically changed for good.
Fat seems a catastrophe to anyone who has been struggling to lose weight and burn fat. The worst case scenario is when fat is overall the body including within blood vessel. Fat also can damage our internal organs. It is known as visceral fat. My quest in life includes this 'fat factor'. What are exactly the factor to burn all unnecessary fat in our body? How to do about it?
I found the best answer for my quest on UGLY VISCERAL FAT on this website. You decide yourself about this best resource on 'burning visceral fat effectively'. I enjoy it to unimaginable level since it blows my previous understanding. The human spirit to go towards real growth brings me to this knowledge. You are welcome to take advantage of this resource.
The secrets to burning fat can be summarized as follow:
1. Get yourself healthy nutrition with enough drink of plain water. This is to prepare your body to burn the fat when you work out later.
2. Make it an habit to do athletic movement - to prepare the heart, metabolism system and muscle system as you work out later.
3. Set your mind to break your current muscle fiber by pushing it to the limit yet do them systematically under the supervision of a qualified fitness trainer.
4. Enough rest to allow the fat burning process while the muscle fiber being repaired and rebuilt by body assimilation process.
5. Rinse and repeat yet with specific instruction of a qualified fitness trainer.
My next interesting question is: how about those people who are able to have a lot of internal energy which is sometimes more powerful than muscle energy? Where does internal energy come from?
My Quest on Internal Energy
Have you heard about internal energy? It is very interesting to see a person with internal energy. In some countries like Eastern countries, there are many individuals with powerful internal energy. They can move something and somebody without touching. I find it amazing.
See this tai chi master. How could he do that!
See the video here:
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Energy is for me the first thing to take care of. Some of my friends, family members and fellows do have different opinions about important things and priorities in life.
Many of them put money, job and business profit among the first things to take care in life. I don't have anything to argue. It is their right.
Yet, as far as the human spirit towards real growth is concerned, don't you think we need perpetual flow of positive energy to be in synchronized action in whatever fields we get ourselves involved into?
Perpetual flow of positive energy into our human being will surely give tremendous impact to our personal lives as well as personal lives of people near to us.
I always like this quote ' People don't remember us for nothing but for the feeling they experience while they are with us.' That means people want to experience our positive energy and that makes them feel good.
Let us strive to get access to this 'perpetual source of positive energy flow' into our well-being.
Some resources do give this secret.
If we can do tai chi exercise at dawn morning at regular basis, (during the first hour of the first sunlight in our local time) we are going to have good chance to be able to emit invisible force from our palm. Authentic tai chi movement if learnt well can speed up the process of acquiring that ability.
It is up to everyone to believe it or not, but this is the information I do get so far. Still I have a long way to go before being called as a 'master of internal energy'. The spirit of 'towards real growth' will help me in my strive on this quest. Tai Chi is becoming natural to me as I practice it more often.
Chapter 2 : My Quest About Learning and Teaching
The next thing in life that I have most interest and how close it is to my heart is about LEARNING AND TEACHING and subsequently INTEGRATED APPROACH TOWARDS EDUCATION.
I was a poor student at the beginning phase of my schooling years. I was only able to speak quiet fluently at the age of 8 years old. My mind is not tuned to formal and proper education until I was 11 years old. I do remember the cause for that self realization is due to a Chinese male teacher who was teaching English in a manner that I understand quiet well. The teacher demonstrates to me that I have ability to understand and make me believe in self teaching and learning process.
Again, I want to make my point here very clear that - as human being with the spirit towards real growth - at age of 11 years old - I believe in our ability to self-teaching and self- learning unto myself. Since that I have no more problem to progress as an excellent student in my class. I used to be in the last position and it changed dramatically fast once I have subscribed to this self-belief.
Gentle approach in teaching is important as it is to instill self-confidence in students that they are able of self-learning and self teaching. Hard knock approach is just to mold the students' behaviour. It may work and it may not work. At the last analysis, any progress made is out of students' intention and action. Teachers can only show the know-how, give enough reason to move on and let the students know the next thing.
The best result after a teaching process is to have students who are able to believe in themselves to move on. They believe in their own ability to undergo the process of learning and teaching with full excitement. They are able to develop a series of questions that will tremendously improve their current understanding and subsequently develop comprehensive mind map on the subject matter.
As teacher, we shouldn't be rude to students because our aim is always to open the broadest possible horizon to students to the excitement of self learning and self teaching process. Once they believe in the process, the educational impact on them will be (very) lasting. Here is how a functional contributing individual is born. In reality, we can solve a lot of problems when we have many functional contributing individuals in our community. If they become genius then it is even much better.
We want to raise individual with 'a learning mind' and this is to ensure continuous development in their character and competence. They are ready to process all sorts of information pertaining to real life situation and come up with synergized solution. They understand that they will be able to do more if they continue tapping their potential. And they have a habit to question their own paradigm and expand their reality on regular basis. For them, the logical and artistic thinking can run in parallel. This is an amazing educational approach as it allows continuous improvement of an individual in all life dimensions.
I believe in our ability to progress more than we think possible at current time. Our mind setting could be changed. Our current reality can be expanded in order for us to create new reality and therefore we can prevent ourselves from being a prey of our current situation. And this process can happen continuously unless we ourselves self-sabotage it. We let ourselves to be trapped in our own self-limiting thinking in order not to make any progress because we are afraid and greedy. How so many fearful and greedy people around us. Fear and greed have been holding us back for many times.
Most people who fail in life are those who are afraid and greedy too often.These both traits simply block the flow of positive energy through us.Without positive energy, all our effort could be easily in vain. For children whose self-value depending so much on how adult treat them, they are the ones who need this constant flow of positive energy through them in order to sustain their self confidence in their own self learning and self teaching process.
I hope, I am able to make sense of this point to the readers. It is not about mere achievement, it is about towards real growth. It is a habit worth developing inside our self as life get tough on the course of time.
The purpose of education is to leave students with a lot of questions, which they themselves are able to find the answer on their own through the accumulated self belief they have been building within themselves with the help of good nurturing teacher. It is a process of putting students from formal education to self education in a positive energy flow circulating them with the help of a bunch of good teacher.
Any parent who can have such setting for their children must be very grateful.
Again , do I make sense? It is my honest thoughtful opinion about education. I wish my children will have good teachers later in their school life. I decide to become a teacher and subsequently a good nurturing teacher because I want God to give my children as many as possible good nurturing teachers to guide them as well. I will never know if I will be able to live long enough to nurture them myself.
May He help us!
Don't let our children left behind. Education should begin at very early age. 5 years old is a good starting age to learn about self-responsibility. The education is becoming more important today than ever. That's why self education is eventually a MUST to everyone of our children. Simply put, there is no real success, without a habit of self education in our children.
Teaching is therefore a noble job when it is done right. Once said, who dare to teach must dare to learn.
Chapter 3: Developing Personal Asset
Asset is something that put money in your pocket. In today digital world we have internet as a tool to acquire our assets. "Acquire our asset" has a very big meaning. It means once you acquire that 'asset', you have money flowing or flying to your bank account. That means you don't have to go to work or get a job. You can have a lot time to go 'towards real growth' as I always like to put it.
Assets are normally not cheap if we are talking about acquiring land, commercial and residential real estate. They are also not cheap if are talking about acquiring metal like gold and silver. They are also not cheap if we are talking about share and stock of all categories. They are also not cheap if we talking about acquiring a franchise or a well-expanding networking business.
Assets are acquired after a lot of self-struggle. Those people who want to acquire assets may forgo the idea of getting permanent job all together and they may rely more on accumulating knowledge and experience from various aspects of literally any business. For them, the idea of acquiring asset is equivalent to acquire personal wealth and freedom. They normally go to opposite direction of the crowd because they have specific goal which is not familiar to the rest of the crowd. They just know what is the next thing need to be learnt and they pursue the knowledge for the sake of positioning themselves better in the marketplace. They are perpetual learner because they know for sure the more they learn the better their chance is to acquire more asset.
With the advent of Internet, the asset seeker may look at Internet in much different way than the rest of the crowd. As most people may think Internet as a platform of information pool, the asset seeker views the internet as a money pipe channeling monetary earnings direct to their bank account. And they know exactly what they are doing. They mind out their blueprint and build passive internet income system based on the power of software and internet technology.
So, here is a simple question.
Do you know that there are asset available in the internet? Yes, they are and they have been tested and proven to put money in your pocket. I love to share those assets (internet money making systems) with you and I let you know that those assets cost mostly less than USD1000. Some money making systems could cost measly around USD50.
In the real estate, we do have to pay the down payment of any rental property before we can earn the rental yield next month, right? And I don't think the mortgage down payment is less than USD1000. Now with the internet, the initial investment for acquiring our asset is much cheaper. Like I said before it is between USD50 to USD1000.
The next question is about the scam. I have been scammed many times. I know that anyone without any Internet experience can be easily scammed. That's why I have already given below a list of the internet assets @ internet money making systems right away to avoid and prevent you from the scams and hassle looking for such asset in the internet.
Here they are with the rate out of 5 for its efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of making money for you. The rate is done by an internet marketing expert Suzanne Fox from improductreviewed [dot] com. She is really a nice lady. Another good thing is the availability of 60 days refund policy for all the above mentioned systems @ internet assets. I need to remind you that they are assets which are based on the sophistication level in programming code, software reliability and strategy sustainability
All the systems I share with you are with the rating greater than 4.50 out of 5. They are among the best internet assets which will make you money day in and day out. You don't really have to look somewhere else. You may remind yourself that you are eligible to ask for refund from the support team if you feel that the system doesn't suit you in any manner.
1. Gsniper 2.0 Highly rated
2. Click For Commission 4.74/5
3. Exit Plan Profit 4.75/5
4. Instant Profit Pages 4.74/5
5. Quick Money App 4.78/5
6. Commission Shortcut 4.68/5
7. Affiliate Overthrow 4.57/5
8. Fast Fire Sites 4.76/5
9. Get Free Commission 4.63/5
10. Home Website Builder 4.75/5
11. Constant Cash Machine 4.68/5
12. Rank For Commission 4.58/5
13. Global Traffic Machine Highly rated
14. Commission Cash Code 4.79/5
15. Easy Facebook Commission 4.68/5
16. Rapid Fire Commissions 4.79/5
All systems are tested and proven to make money from the Internet. They are the kind of assets which are much cheaper than any other asset property and . You can get FULL ACCESS to any of the 'Internet Asset' at the cost of less than USD1000. Some are even less than USD50. I let you know these asset because I know there is a conspiracy to scam people who look way to make money on internet and they normally end up losing money instead. I show you the direction and that makes me feel much better. All systems are built by the experts who know how to put money from internet into anyone's bank account. It is your turn now to take action. Do watch their presentation and do understand that you have all the rights to ask for refund within 60 days after the purchase date.
Once you discover them, you have already saved a lot of time and money in your journey to find an asset.
Chapter 4: Parenting
Parents always think that they have to bear the responsibility of being great parent. Parents normally don't realize how their behavior can totally lead the children to negative conclusion about life. Parents want the best for their children yet without any sound parenting knowledge about children psychology they end up making a lot of parenting mistakes. It is very important to point out these parenting mistakes and I find this is the best resource to inform the parents about their routine mistakes. Oh My God, there are so many parents keep making the same mistakes and they claim they have done their best as parents.
As parent myself, I believe that the children should be taught of moral code based on highly regarded moral principles and values. This could be the worst part because we may have no clue on how to prioritize these moral principles and values as far as children psychology and their maturity development is concerned.
At very young age, children are dependent so much on their parents in all dimension of life : emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually.
I do believe in character development of the children as the most pertinent part in parenting concern. Surprisingly, I find out that words that parents could shape the upbringing of the children. They make their own conclusion of out words used by the parents. Children are very good at reading the emotion tunes behind parents' voice. They know if the parents don't really mean of what they are saying. Consequently, parents will easily fail to raise and mold their children into a good functioning human being.
Not all parents are in the best position to raise their children. These parents do need real help to turn them from negatively critical parent to positively nurturing parents. I find this resource which is so helpful to help parents with inner self issue. Listening to specific functional music arrangements known as meditation music could help those parents with inner self-problems.
As parent, I ask myself this big question. If having good character is so important, what should I do to lead my children to an adult with good character?
And again, I ask myself another big question. If having competence and certain skill set is so important, what should I do to help him to take in charge of his own learning and education?
Chapter 5: Helping the poor and the unfortunate
Let us go out from our house to see the world of the poor and the unfortunate. They are here to get our help and if we do help them, God will help us towards real growth and eternal blessing.
It is a cycle and indeed it is a virtuous cycle. In regard to that opinion of mine, I have a story about a man who just 'did' it.
There is a story of a man who at his 80s still work hard to help the poor and the unfortunate. He owns nothing after he recently distributes his wealth of USD 7.7 billion among his children and various endowment channels. Now he is still working hard at several projects to help the poor and the unfortunate around the world. He had formal education until he was 8 years old. Since his 9 years old, he had been struggling to earn trust from people for his work and eventually he successfully earns massive fortune from various businesses and investments. Here are his photos.
He is the founder of Al Rajhi Bank - his name is Sheikh Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi.
This man clearly demonstrates the positive flow of :
Self-discipline -> Work well done -> Earn perpetual trust -> Be trusworthy -> Continuous business deals -> Accumulate profits -> Build lasting organization of trust and respect -> Profit for virtue -> Lasting impact
Here is his story. As I think about 'towards real growth' versus 'becoming super achiever', his story simply answer my quest: He gives us answer with his exemplary in both of his struggle and achievement.
Sheikh Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al-Rajhi is a world-renowned philanthropist. He is the founder of Al-Rajhi
Bank, the largest Islamic bank in the world, and one of the largest
companies in Saudi Arabia. As of 2011, his wealth was estimated by
Forbes to be $7.7 billion, making him the 120th richest person in the
world. His flagship SAAR Foundation is a leading charity organization in
the Kingdom. The Al-Rajhi family is considered as one of the Kingdom’s
wealthiest non-royals, and among the world’s leading philanthropists.
Al-Rajhi is a billionaire who chose in 2011 to become a poor man at his own will without having any cash or real estates or stocks that he owned earlier. He became penniless after transferring all his assets among his children and set aside the rest for endowments.
Al-Rajhi is a billionaire who chose in 2011 to become a poor man at his own will without having any cash or real estates or stocks that he owned earlier. He became penniless after transferring all his assets among his children and set aside the rest for endowments.
In recognition
of his outstanding work to serve Islam, including his role in
establishing the world’s largest Islamic bank and his regular
contribution toward humanitarian efforts to fight poverty, Al-Rajhi was
chosen for this year’s prestigious King Faisal International Prize for
Service to Islam.
In an interview with Muhammad Al-Harbi of Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, Al-Rajhi speaks about how he was able to succeed in convincing chiefs of the leading central banks in the world, including that of the Bank of England, nearly 30 years ago that interest is forbidden in both Islam and Christianity, and that the Islamic banking is the most effective solution to activate Islamic financing in the world and make it a real boost to the global economy.
In an interview with Muhammad Al-Harbi of Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, Al-Rajhi speaks about how he was able to succeed in convincing chiefs of the leading central banks in the world, including that of the Bank of England, nearly 30 years ago that interest is forbidden in both Islam and Christianity, and that the Islamic banking is the most effective solution to activate Islamic financing in the world and make it a real boost to the global economy.
The story of Al-Rajhi is that of a man who made his fortunes from scratch, relying on grit and determination. Al-Rajhi threw away his huge wealth through two windows — distributed a major part of his inheritance among his children and transferred another portion to endowments, which are regarded as the largest endowment in the history of the Islamic world. He had to fight poverty and suffering during his childhood before becoming a billionaire through hard work and relentless efforts, and then leaving all his fortunes to become penniless again.
Al-Rajhi is still very active and hardworking even in his 80s with youthful spirits. He begins his work daily after morning prayers and is active until Isha prayers before going to bed early. He is now fully concentrated on running the endowment project under his SAAR Foundation, and traveling various regions of the Kingdom managing activities related with it. He always carries a pocket diary containing his daily programs and activities and he is accustomed to stick on to the schedule he had prepared well in advance.
Al-Rajhi scored excellent performance results in almost all businesses in which he carved out a niche for himself. In addition to establishing the world’s largest Islamic bank, he founded the largest poultry farm in the Middle East. The credit of activating the organic farming experiment in the Kingdom mainly goes to him through launching a number of farming projects, including Al-Laith shrimp farming. He also established real estate and other investment projects.
Excerpts:
Sheikh Suleiman, have you become a poor man again?
Yes. Now I own only my dresses. I distributed my wealth among my children and set aside a portion for endowment to run charity projects. As far as I am concerned, this situation was not a strange one. My financial condition reached zero point two times in my life, and therefore I have had the feeling and understanding (about poverty) well. But now the feeling is accompanied by happiness, relaxation and the peace of mind. The zero phase in life this time is purely because of my own decision and choice.
Why did you choose this path?
All wealth belongs to Allah, and we are only those who are entrusted
(by God) to take care of them. There were several reasons that prompted
me to distribute the wealth and that resulted in performing this virtue.
Most important among them is to foster brotherhood and love among my
children and safeguard their harmonious relationship. This is more
significant than any wealth in this life. I was also keen not to be
instrumental in wasting the precious time of courts in case of any
differences of opinion among them with regard to partition of
inheritance. There are several examples that everybody could see when
children entered in dispute over wealth and that led to the collapse of
companies. Nation has lost many large companies and their wealth that we
could have been saved if we tackled the matter in a right manner. Apart
from this, every Muslim should work on some endowments that could
benefit him in the life after death. Likewise, I prefer my children to
work on developing wealth, which they inherit after my death, during my
lifetime itself rather than I continue working to increase them.
Are you getting enough free time after the distribution of wealth?
As earlier I am still working on developing endowments. I will donate and give alms from it until Allah takes over this trusted deposit. I have worked out a meticulous scheme for this endowment and developed it with the support of specialist consultants and agencies. This idea struck me long before. Usually people in the Islamic world set aside one-third or one-fourth of their wealth for endowment and that will be effective only after their death. But in my case, I decided to implement this decision in my lifetime itself. So I invited my children to Makkah during the end of Ramadan and presented the idea in front of them. They readily agreed it and then I distributed my wealth among my children in addition to setting aside a part of it for endowment. I sought the help of consultants to facilitate the procedures for the distribution of all my assets including properties, real estates and stocks, and that was completed in a cordial atmosphere. All my children are now fully satisfied with my initiative and they are now working on these properties in my lifetime.
How much wealth you distributed among children and set aside for endowment?
He laughed without giving an answer.
How do you feel now about your projects?
I would like to point out that there were some factors that prompted me to make investments in certain specific areas. My experiment in money exchange was the temptation to set up a bank. The absence of any Islamic banking was also another factor in establishing Al-Rajhi Bank, which is now the world's biggest Islamic lender by market value. I began the experiment with opening an office in Britain where we introduced Islamic banking system at a greater level. The experiment was a success and it had received total backing of the Saudi Islamic scholars at that time. I still recall the application made for getting license for the bank was turned down in the beginning. This was because the concerned British officials did not have any idea about Islamic banking.
Therefore, I went to London and met with the manager of the Bank of England and two of his deputies. I told them that Muslims and Christians see interest as forbidden (haram), and the Muslim and Christian religious people are unwilling to make transactions with banks based on interest and instead prefer to keep their cash and other valuables in boxes at their homes. I tried to convince them that (if we establish Islamic banks) this money would be helpful to strengthen the world economy. These talks were helpful in convincing them and they agreed to open Islamic banks. Then I traveled widely throughout the world in the West and East, and met with the chiefs of central banks in various countries and explained to them about the salient features of the Islamic economy. We started working and achieved success through launching it in the Kingdom and implementing it in London.
When I returned to the Kingdom from London, I met the late Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz and Sheikh Abdullah bin Humaid, and informed them about the plan saying: 'We would reach, by the grace of Allah, the Islamic banking within a stipulated period of time.' They praised me for the initiative. We started aggressively implementing the project and that is in the form of Al-Rajhi Bank as you see now. Regarding Al-Watania Poultry, the idea of establishing such a venture struck me after my visit to a poultry project abroad. I saw that the way of slaughtering chicken was not proper. Then I decided to make investments in the field of poultry after considering it as a duty to my religion and nation. I started the project even though making investments in poultry involved high risks in those days. Now Al-Watania has become a mega Saudi project that is instrumental in achieving food security in many respects. The company enjoys a 40 percent market share in the Kingdom, and Al-Watania chickens are naturally fed and halal slaughtered in accordance with the Shariah principles.
What about your insistence on introducing organic farming through Al-Watania agricultural projects?
As you see, now I am 85 and still enjoy good health. If we pursue organic farming as our healthy food style, we can bring down cost of treatment to a great extent. We made several experiments in the field of organic farming. Our numerous experiments met with setbacks in the beginning. This prompted many engineers and workers to reach a conclusion that it is impossible to have organic farming and profit together. In the beginning, they were firm in their view that this would not at all be successful. But I insisted that it would work and continued compelling them to proceed with the venture. At one time, I took a firm position and told them either to do organic farming or quit. Now we are reaping the fruits of this lucrative business in line with my vision to provide only the healthiest, safest and most trustworthy food to consumers. Al-Watania Agricultural Company stopped using chemicals and artificial fertilizers and focused exclusively on organic methods such as the use of pest insect repellants and animal manure.
Your austerity and thriftiness on spending are well known. Please comment?
I am not a miser. But I am always vigilant against extravagance. I always try to impart this lesson to all those working with me whether it is in banking or poultry or other projects, and I am more concerned about it when it is coming to the case of my children. In the past, I never gave money to my children when they were young in return for nothing. When any one of them approached me to give them cash, I asked them to do some work in exchange for it. In our life, we practice some extravagance without being aware of it. But it affects our whole life, exhausting us and putting a burden on our country. For example, there is no logic in putting heavy curtain on our windows and then lighting lamps in daytime when we get sunlight free of cost while electric lamps are costly.
Despite all your wealth, why don't you still have a private aircraft?
Let me tell you that I have many planes but they belong to various airlines. I have ownership in all of them to the tune of the ticket fare that I pay for each travel. I always travel in economy class with the conviction that Allah bestowed us wealth not for showing arrogance or spend extravagantly but to deal with wealth as a trusted property.
What about the recreation and hobbies of Sheikh Al-Rajhi? How do you spend free time?
I have not any special recreations. However, I find happiness and enjoyment while making a trip to the desert. I never went out of the Kingdom on a tourism trip.
What about your will? What are its salient features?
Regarding my will related with wealth, I have already implemented it in my lifetime. As for the remaining aspect of my will, it is a public matter and also involves certain private matters, besides encouraging my children to maintain their kinship and always reminding them about the life after death.
How do you see your children's private investments? Are there any directives to them?
A number of them are doing an excellent work in accordance with their knowledge and experience. Most often, I try to guide them when I noticed anything undesirable even if it is in their private investments. Regarding my younger children, I always guide them, especially in the case of their investments. This is purely out of my keenness that they should be honest in their work as well as in spending wealth given by God as a trusted property. I am also eager to hear about my children that they are interacting with the society in the best possible manner, and that they are serving their religion and nation.
In what way you like to spend your time? What are the places that you like most?
I used to travel between Riyadh, Qassim, Al-Jouf, and Al-Laith to oversee my projects there. I always prefer to visit the farms in Qassim and Al-Jouf.
How could you preserve many old and precious things and antiques at Suleiman Al-Rajhi Museum?
A long time ago when I was in Jeddah, I was keen on preserving heritage pieces and gathered them together, especially those related with money exchange. There would be a history with every human being. The museum tells the story of money exchange. I particularly kept registers and cash boxes that were used when I started the money exchange business. The first cash box was made of wood, and there was a huge treasure box in which we kept our gold and silver. The artifacts kept at the museum tells the evolution of currency in the Kingdom through issuance of bank notes, as well as some currencies and coins that were in circulation among the Haj pilgrims. A major factor that prompted me to set up the museum was the visits made by a large number of officials from various countries to know more about these old coins and currencies. We have had to exhibit these rare collections in front of them to explain about our history and heritage, especially those related with money. I was keen to furnish the museum with historic and heritage pieces, especially with the same materials used for construction in the past. Hence, the roof of the museum was made of palm branches, and that was the case with the seating arrangements at the museum.
Al-Rajhi's punctuality
The interview also sheds light on many qualities of Al-Rajhi, including his punctuality. "In the beginning of my business career, I had appointments with several top European company executives and officials. I still remember that I reached late for such an appointment due to an unavoidable reason. My delay was only a few minutes but the official excused himself for the interview. Later, after expansion of the projects, the same official came late for an interview with me so I excused myself for the interview. I always carry a paper to note down the schedule of meetings and stick to the schedule at any cost."
Al-Rajhi continued: I am always keen to strictly adhere to the Islamic principles throughout my life. Once I received an invitation from an Arab government to attend an investment conference there. On the sidelines of the conference, I was invited to take part in a dinner reception. When I reached there, I found a recreational program, which is contrary to our religious customs and traditions, taking place. So I quit the place immediately and, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghorair from the UAE also joined me. Soon minister plenipotentiary rushed to us, and we explained to him that the function is against our Islamic tradition. So he informed us that the recreational party would be cancelled. When they canceled that party, we participated in the dinner.
Tackling crises
Al-Rajhi said: There was a huge fire that gutted down one of my factories managed by my son. When he came to inform me about it, I told him: Say praise be to God. I asked him not to submit any report about the losses to the authorities seeking compensation. In fact, the compensation is from Allah and it is essential for us to be satisfied with What Allah destined for us. Assam Al-Hodaithy, financial director of Al-Watania Poultry, said: "When the fire broke out at the factory, we decided not to hurt Sheikh Al-Rajhi by informing about it at that moment. Later, when we met him next morning, he told us to shift the factory to another place and remove the debris until completion of reconstruction." There was a similar fire at Al-Watania Poultry project in Egypt. The company incurred losses worth SR 10 million Egyptian pounds. When the concerned factory official contacted Al-Rajhi to inform about the fire, he was surprised to hear an instant reply from him: "AlHamdulillah."
Are you getting enough free time after the distribution of wealth?
As earlier I am still working on developing endowments. I will donate and give alms from it until Allah takes over this trusted deposit. I have worked out a meticulous scheme for this endowment and developed it with the support of specialist consultants and agencies. This idea struck me long before. Usually people in the Islamic world set aside one-third or one-fourth of their wealth for endowment and that will be effective only after their death. But in my case, I decided to implement this decision in my lifetime itself. So I invited my children to Makkah during the end of Ramadan and presented the idea in front of them. They readily agreed it and then I distributed my wealth among my children in addition to setting aside a part of it for endowment. I sought the help of consultants to facilitate the procedures for the distribution of all my assets including properties, real estates and stocks, and that was completed in a cordial atmosphere. All my children are now fully satisfied with my initiative and they are now working on these properties in my lifetime.
How much wealth you distributed among children and set aside for endowment?
He laughed without giving an answer.
How do you feel now about your projects?
I would like to point out that there were some factors that prompted me to make investments in certain specific areas. My experiment in money exchange was the temptation to set up a bank. The absence of any Islamic banking was also another factor in establishing Al-Rajhi Bank, which is now the world's biggest Islamic lender by market value. I began the experiment with opening an office in Britain where we introduced Islamic banking system at a greater level. The experiment was a success and it had received total backing of the Saudi Islamic scholars at that time. I still recall the application made for getting license for the bank was turned down in the beginning. This was because the concerned British officials did not have any idea about Islamic banking.
Therefore, I went to London and met with the manager of the Bank of England and two of his deputies. I told them that Muslims and Christians see interest as forbidden (haram), and the Muslim and Christian religious people are unwilling to make transactions with banks based on interest and instead prefer to keep their cash and other valuables in boxes at their homes. I tried to convince them that (if we establish Islamic banks) this money would be helpful to strengthen the world economy. These talks were helpful in convincing them and they agreed to open Islamic banks. Then I traveled widely throughout the world in the West and East, and met with the chiefs of central banks in various countries and explained to them about the salient features of the Islamic economy. We started working and achieved success through launching it in the Kingdom and implementing it in London.
When I returned to the Kingdom from London, I met the late Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz and Sheikh Abdullah bin Humaid, and informed them about the plan saying: 'We would reach, by the grace of Allah, the Islamic banking within a stipulated period of time.' They praised me for the initiative. We started aggressively implementing the project and that is in the form of Al-Rajhi Bank as you see now. Regarding Al-Watania Poultry, the idea of establishing such a venture struck me after my visit to a poultry project abroad. I saw that the way of slaughtering chicken was not proper. Then I decided to make investments in the field of poultry after considering it as a duty to my religion and nation. I started the project even though making investments in poultry involved high risks in those days. Now Al-Watania has become a mega Saudi project that is instrumental in achieving food security in many respects. The company enjoys a 40 percent market share in the Kingdom, and Al-Watania chickens are naturally fed and halal slaughtered in accordance with the Shariah principles.
What about your insistence on introducing organic farming through Al-Watania agricultural projects?
As you see, now I am 85 and still enjoy good health. If we pursue organic farming as our healthy food style, we can bring down cost of treatment to a great extent. We made several experiments in the field of organic farming. Our numerous experiments met with setbacks in the beginning. This prompted many engineers and workers to reach a conclusion that it is impossible to have organic farming and profit together. In the beginning, they were firm in their view that this would not at all be successful. But I insisted that it would work and continued compelling them to proceed with the venture. At one time, I took a firm position and told them either to do organic farming or quit. Now we are reaping the fruits of this lucrative business in line with my vision to provide only the healthiest, safest and most trustworthy food to consumers. Al-Watania Agricultural Company stopped using chemicals and artificial fertilizers and focused exclusively on organic methods such as the use of pest insect repellants and animal manure.
Your austerity and thriftiness on spending are well known. Please comment?
I am not a miser. But I am always vigilant against extravagance. I always try to impart this lesson to all those working with me whether it is in banking or poultry or other projects, and I am more concerned about it when it is coming to the case of my children. In the past, I never gave money to my children when they were young in return for nothing. When any one of them approached me to give them cash, I asked them to do some work in exchange for it. In our life, we practice some extravagance without being aware of it. But it affects our whole life, exhausting us and putting a burden on our country. For example, there is no logic in putting heavy curtain on our windows and then lighting lamps in daytime when we get sunlight free of cost while electric lamps are costly.
Despite all your wealth, why don't you still have a private aircraft?
Let me tell you that I have many planes but they belong to various airlines. I have ownership in all of them to the tune of the ticket fare that I pay for each travel. I always travel in economy class with the conviction that Allah bestowed us wealth not for showing arrogance or spend extravagantly but to deal with wealth as a trusted property.
What about the recreation and hobbies of Sheikh Al-Rajhi? How do you spend free time?
I have not any special recreations. However, I find happiness and enjoyment while making a trip to the desert. I never went out of the Kingdom on a tourism trip.
What about your will? What are its salient features?
Regarding my will related with wealth, I have already implemented it in my lifetime. As for the remaining aspect of my will, it is a public matter and also involves certain private matters, besides encouraging my children to maintain their kinship and always reminding them about the life after death.
How do you see your children's private investments? Are there any directives to them?
A number of them are doing an excellent work in accordance with their knowledge and experience. Most often, I try to guide them when I noticed anything undesirable even if it is in their private investments. Regarding my younger children, I always guide them, especially in the case of their investments. This is purely out of my keenness that they should be honest in their work as well as in spending wealth given by God as a trusted property. I am also eager to hear about my children that they are interacting with the society in the best possible manner, and that they are serving their religion and nation.
In what way you like to spend your time? What are the places that you like most?
I used to travel between Riyadh, Qassim, Al-Jouf, and Al-Laith to oversee my projects there. I always prefer to visit the farms in Qassim and Al-Jouf.
How could you preserve many old and precious things and antiques at Suleiman Al-Rajhi Museum?
A long time ago when I was in Jeddah, I was keen on preserving heritage pieces and gathered them together, especially those related with money exchange. There would be a history with every human being. The museum tells the story of money exchange. I particularly kept registers and cash boxes that were used when I started the money exchange business. The first cash box was made of wood, and there was a huge treasure box in which we kept our gold and silver. The artifacts kept at the museum tells the evolution of currency in the Kingdom through issuance of bank notes, as well as some currencies and coins that were in circulation among the Haj pilgrims. A major factor that prompted me to set up the museum was the visits made by a large number of officials from various countries to know more about these old coins and currencies. We have had to exhibit these rare collections in front of them to explain about our history and heritage, especially those related with money. I was keen to furnish the museum with historic and heritage pieces, especially with the same materials used for construction in the past. Hence, the roof of the museum was made of palm branches, and that was the case with the seating arrangements at the museum.
Al-Rajhi's punctuality
The interview also sheds light on many qualities of Al-Rajhi, including his punctuality. "In the beginning of my business career, I had appointments with several top European company executives and officials. I still remember that I reached late for such an appointment due to an unavoidable reason. My delay was only a few minutes but the official excused himself for the interview. Later, after expansion of the projects, the same official came late for an interview with me so I excused myself for the interview. I always carry a paper to note down the schedule of meetings and stick to the schedule at any cost."
Al-Rajhi continued: I am always keen to strictly adhere to the Islamic principles throughout my life. Once I received an invitation from an Arab government to attend an investment conference there. On the sidelines of the conference, I was invited to take part in a dinner reception. When I reached there, I found a recreational program, which is contrary to our religious customs and traditions, taking place. So I quit the place immediately and, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghorair from the UAE also joined me. Soon minister plenipotentiary rushed to us, and we explained to him that the function is against our Islamic tradition. So he informed us that the recreational party would be cancelled. When they canceled that party, we participated in the dinner.
Tackling crises
Al-Rajhi said: There was a huge fire that gutted down one of my factories managed by my son. When he came to inform me about it, I told him: Say praise be to God. I asked him not to submit any report about the losses to the authorities seeking compensation. In fact, the compensation is from Allah and it is essential for us to be satisfied with What Allah destined for us. Assam Al-Hodaithy, financial director of Al-Watania Poultry, said: "When the fire broke out at the factory, we decided not to hurt Sheikh Al-Rajhi by informing about it at that moment. Later, when we met him next morning, he told us to shift the factory to another place and remove the debris until completion of reconstruction." There was a similar fire at Al-Watania Poultry project in Egypt. The company incurred losses worth SR 10 million Egyptian pounds. When the concerned factory official contacted Al-Rajhi to inform about the fire, he was surprised to hear an instant reply from him: "AlHamdulillah."
This story reminds me of something. It reminds me of my childhood mission. We all have our personal childhood mission. It is the answer that we give when we were asked what we want to do when we grow up.
The idea of this blogging is to help me and the readers to find the connection to our birth mission. We all are unique to certain proportion and it is that 'birth promise' keep us upright towards our real personal growth.
I hope that I continue again with other insights on 'Towards Real Growth'. Till then.
