“I AM A LEADER!”
“I AM THE BEST!”
“I AM FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT!!”
Feisty. Fiery. If you were somewhere in Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel (Singapore) on Saturday 27th November 2010 between 2pm to 7 pm, you would feel a lot of heat being emitted from a seminar venue on the third floor.
If Mt Merapi in Jogjakarta had spewed hot lava, then that roomful of passionate, highly ambitious, highly-assertive women was also ready to explode with energy created by the three speakers that afternoon. Ustaz Tarmizi Wahid, Ustazah Maimunah Alhabshi and Sister Suria Mohd had managed to bring out the fire in the hearts and minds of participants of the Islam, Women and Wealth Seminar.
Around 90-odd knowledge-hungry ladies and a handful of the male species turned up with hopes of being motivated and enlightened of the relationship that exists between Islam, Women and Wealth.
- Who said that whoever who embraced Islam cannot embrace wealth at the same time?
- Who said that wealth is a bad thing?
- Who said that wealth and Islam need to be segregated?
- Why must I conform to societal norms that women cannot be wealthy?
- How do I combine wealth and Islam together?
Notice that yours truly here use “I” instead of “we”. “I”, “Me”, “Mine”. That afternoon was all about ME, the confident, and the financially independent ME!! Sis Suria had managed to drill all that into our brains all this time.
The ice breaker that afternoon was to go around the room and find people who share the same interest as ME. Coincidentally, I was sitting beside someone who loves to write, like ME. Madam Tina Jessamiene Goh, a success coach and consultant, does blogging and has two up her sleeves. The last row of chairs in the room was fully occupied by bakery chefs who turned up with their mentor, Kak Ros, who was once mentored by Sis Suria about her baking business. There were others from different lines of work, e.g. trainee teachers. Albeit the diversity of business backgrounds, all had the same objective in mind: How to improve my business in the way of Allah S.A. W.? Just as the networking chatters peaked to a crescendo, Sis Suria settled everyone down again and shared her story of how her illiterate mother has inspired her to be what she is today. After a walk through of her ups and down in the business arena, she handed the stage over to Ustaz Mizi.
The Al-Azhar University and Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah graduate warmed up the participants with a joke before reiterating the well-known fact that “behind every great man is a very great woman”. Citing examples of Nabi Ibrahim a.s. and Siti Hajar , and Mariam, the mother of Nabi Isa a.s., he stated that faith without work is nothing and vice-versa. The founder of Safinah Institute wants to dedicate his life to help others to see their true potential.
What if one day, you see an asatizah, *a person who seeks and shares religious knowledge*, come to class driving a red hot Lamborghini, carrying an LV bag, wearing shoes from Gucci, and a fat ring on the finger from Bucellati?
Ustazah Muna Alhabshi posted up this scenario on her Facebook page and received a myriad of responses, some batting their eyelids, while some stated their reasonable doubts. The founder of the Quranabics Course, Semantics Online and Soul Makeover then proceeded to give a beautiful explanation for “her personal research” on why there shouldn’t be a stereotype that religion and wealth shouldn’t go side by side.
The seminar closed with Sis Suria emphasizing the need for whoever that wants a successful business to “delete the virus that’s in your head”, i.e, remove all negative thoughts about yourself and think that you are the best.
Some follow-up initiatives to this Islam, Women and Wealth seminar are courses and programmes that are to be conducted by Ustaz Mizi, Ustazah Muna and Sis Suria. Ustaz Mizi will be conducting The Spiritual Confidence Programme, Ustazah Muna will be conducting Project Spirituality (ProjectSpirituality.com) and Learning Discoveries, under the helm of Sis Suria will be organizing 2 coaching sessions, The Money Breakthrough Method Coaching and Women Millionaire Mind Intensive.
All in all, everyone went home feeling more empowered after the impactful seminar. As long as they “spend in the way of Allah”, their wealth and business will be truly blessed. Insya Allah.
“So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me”. Quran (2: 152)
Written by: Sister Normayah Md Rahim
