A wealthy businessman is touring his factories. Everywhere he goes, people are working hard and producing. When he visits one of the factories, he enters the factory manager’s office. The manager is standing with his hands behind his back, looking out of the window.
The owner quietly says to his assistants, “Dismiss this manager immediately. While everyone else is working seriously, he is standing here doing nothing but looking outside.”
One of the assistants whispers in his ear: “Sir, before this manager came, this factory was making a loss. Since he took over, it has become one of our most profitable factories. Yes, he is standing here with his hands behind his back and looking outside, but his mind is occupied with questions such as, ‘How can we make the factory more profitable? What else can we do to make it even more efficient?’ His eyes are looking outside, but his whole mind is actually focused on his work.”
The factory owner then says, “In that case, clean the window he is looking through very thoroughly, so that he can see everything more clearly.” And they leave.
In fact, for almost everyone, at all times and in all places, it is extremely important for an organization to employ people in the areas in which they can be most productive. It is also important to recognize that every person working in an organization—not only a factory manager but also the workers—is unique, to understand what contribution each person makes or could make, and to recognize how their contributions can grow over the years. People should be appreciated accordingly. If there are people who do not yet fit these expectations, efforts should be made to rehabilitate them, without hurting or humiliating them, and to help them become part of this collective effort.
When Orhan Türköz, a former member of the Council of Higher Education and former Undersecretary of Land Reform from Isparta, came to Kayseri, he expressed this idea beautifully: “We should always, everywhere, whenever possible, help capable, knowledgeable, and deserving people. With one hand, we should lift those who are below us upward; with the other, we should push those who are above us even higher.” Indeed, this is an excellent approach to the subject.
Allah has created every human being with a different nature, different abilities, and different characteristics. Everyone may have areas in which they can perform exceptionally well, as well as areas in which they may have shortcomings. Evaluating people solely by focusing on their shortcomings is therefore incomplete. Employing people in the areas where they are truly suited can improve those areas and lead to much greater productivity.
In almost every place where people work together, these principles may vary somewhat according to the place, time, and circumstances, but their essence remains the same.
The same is true of people working in charitable and humanitarian organizations, who strive to do what they do without expecting anything in return, solely for the sake of earning Allah’s pleasure. Not everyone can do everything. But everyone has something they can contribute. When people in managerial positions understand these individual qualities and act accordingly, they can obtain the full benefit expected from such institutions and, in this way, serve humanity more effectively.
Human beings were not brought into this world merely to meet their own needs, gain status and wealth, and live comfortably. There is a deeper meaning to life. A person reveals his or her true value through how they use the life they have been given, how they make use of their opportunities, and what they contribute to the lives of others.
A person should not live in this world only for himself or herself. The life, health, knowledge, material means, position, and social connections Allah has given us should be used not only for our own needs but also for the well-being of others. Educational, healthcare, humanitarian, and social-responsibility projects carried out together by people of different religions, languages, ethnic backgrounds, and cultures can make a great contribution to the common good of humanity. Since the problems of humanity are similar everywhere, the language of goodness is universal.
Helping to build a school, educating a student, contributing to the treatment of a patient, helping a family recover from hardship, or enabling a young person to build a brighter future can allow a person to leave behind beautiful traces that may continue long after his or her earthly life has ended.
In the end, a person’s greatest success is not how much he or she has earned or how well known he or she has become, but how many beautiful traces have been left behind in the hope of earning Allah’s pleasure.
Furthermore, human beings are not machines. They have sensitive souls, thoughts, and emotions. These dimensions of human beings should never be neglected—not only in civil society organizations, but in almost every sphere of life. In organizations established especially to enable people to become more useful and beneficial to others, even greater attention should be paid to these sensitivities.
A person should be placed where he or she can be most productive, developed in that field, and encouraged. Within this framework, deciding where each person should serve and how best to benefit from their abilities should not be based on the decision of a single individual, but rather on consultation and collective wisdom, through the shared views of those responsible for managing the organization.
Especially in the world and age in which we live, where science and technology are advancing at tremendous speed and modern technology and the internet enable people to reach one another with extraordinary ease, even greater importance should be given to these sensitivities, while also ensuring their continuity.
There is much work to be done in these areas. Since the available resources and the number of people who can devote themselves to such work are limited, it is of great importance to work as efficiently as possible, make sincere efforts, and benefit from the wisdom and strengths that emerge through collective thinking.
One day, when the door to this earthly life closes, one of the most valuable things a person should be able to say is:
“My Lord, I tried not to live the life You gave me only for myself. I tried to make the lives of some of Your servants better and, as much as I was able, to become a means of goodness. Forgive me and accept what I have done.”
Such a life provides a strong foundation for finding peace in this world and hoping for Allah’s mercy and pleasure in the Hereafter.
True gain is not what we possess in this world; it is the goodness we are able to carry from this world into the Hereafter in the hope of attaining Allah’s pleasure.
Life is limited for every human being. Within this limited span of life, in addition to attending to their personal affairs, people should also set aside time to help those in need, regardless of their customs, habits, religions, or cultural values. For all these reasons, transforming the world into a place made up of peaceful islands, free from war and conflict, also depends on such efforts.
Therefore, without becoming unnecessarily entangled in differences and divisions, we should evaluate everyone through our common denominator of being human. Within our limited time on earth, we should strive to accomplish these most important tasks. As a result, we may attain not only blessings in this world, but—more importantly—in the eternal life of the Hereafter, the rewards promised by Allah, “that no eye has seen and no ear has heard.” Reaching such rewards should be the goal of every sensible human being.
The effort is ours; success and divine assistance come from Allah.
