Dealing with fear

A few weeks ago, I attended a public seminar given by a leading Malaysian psychologists. We discussed the problem of why people lie and cheat. He argued that people only lie and cheat because they are afraid. They might be afraid of their parents, their teachers, their peers or even of themselves. In a previous posting, I have already discussed why people fail to learn, fail to develop themselves. They are afraid.

The next question is: why are people afraid? Maybe, one of the reasons is that they are busy trying to meet other people's high expectations. Ultimately, Muslims should understand that trying to meet other people's expectations is a waste of them. If meeting your parents' expectations is discouraged if that spoils your pure niat. The only thing worth doing is trying to please Allah SWT. Allah SWT does not expect us to be perfect. He simply wants us to see whether we are trying to improve or whether we have given up and we are only following the crowd ... like the sheep going to the slaughterhouse.

It might seem corny but I have been trying to establish a few principles of life. So far, I have come up with four golden rules. As long as anything you do does not contradict one of these rules, you are okay.

1. To worship Allah to the best of our ability (after all, that is why we were created,...)
2. To be grateful for what Allah has given us and not to complain for what Allah has not given us
3. To make a contribution to the society, if only by smiling to others
4. To have fun

Coursework marks are out!

I have just posted the coursework marks for MGT2010 and MGT4110 outside my office.
Please note that some students have yet to submit their assignment. You have until Monday 12pm to do so.

What students said about assignment 1

As I mark your assignments, I have seen many comments that are both insightful and touching. Some of the comments are to personal to share but some of my favorite general comments are,

"I learned a lot from the tafsir of the surah. Even I recite the surah in my prayers but I do not even know the meaning. Then I realise that it is so pathetic , as a Muslim, if we don't know the translation in our own language. From now on, I wish to read one page of translation of al quran a day"

"There are certain things that I always wondered before and now, I feel satisfied as if one of the puzzles is placed at its right place and where it is supposed to be"


"There is no doubt that the gaining of greater knowledge has made it easier for me to be a better Muslim. The only difficulty lies in the first step, which is the independent search for knowledge."

Getting ready for the final exam

Well, it's this time of the semester again. My basic tips are:

a) Revise well what has been discussed in class. Know the key definitions and theories for the MCQ. If you don't know it by heart, you can't score.

b) For essay questions and the case study, you can relax a bit more. As long as you understood our discussions in class, you should be OK.

c) By and large, you should feel confident because most of you have got good carry marks.

Lastly, do think about the whole issue of continously adapting your skills in a knowledge based economy. This was a theme that I discussed in presenting the chapter on strategy, motivation and leadership. There must be a reason why I would repeat that point several times......