I’ve always loved marketing, most importantly the consumer psychological/behavior aspect of it which is extremely interesting when you start studying it deeply. I’ll give you one example. Pepperidge farms sells many products but one of their most successful ones are Goldfish crackers, yea they are cute, tasty and are shaped just like little goldfish. When the company first started selling them in grocery stores, the goldfish crackers didn’t sell too well.

After researching they discovered the goldfish needed to be changed in appearance. Rather than leaving the face blank, eventually they stamped a smile on each goldfish cracker and this directly increased their sales. It’s no secret, consumers love seeing smiles. It gives them a sense of peace and happiness.

Anyways, I’ve come to the realization that every advertisement serves as a reminder to buy a certain product or service. It’s not surprising, humans are naturally inclined to forget. The solution? Reminders! Companies that spend the most on brand awareness tend to influence consumers purchasing habits more on a subconscious level.

It’s true, they basically want us to do constant dhikr of what they sell. How many advertisements does the average American expose to in one day? Take a guess, to relax your brain cells I’ll tell you what it is. Anywhere between 3,000-5,000 ads a day!

This leads me to my next part of the blog post. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships and I came to the conclusion that if you really value someone in life then you’ll remember them not only when you need them but on a regular basis.

Zooming out even more, as Muslims we believe the one who deserves the most remembrance in life is Allah. The Holy Qur’an reminds us “And the men and women who remember Allah frequently, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and great reward.” (33:35).

The above verse highlights frequency. The challenge for all of us is arriving at a high level of consciousness where you are remembering Allah throughout your daily affairs and ultimately before you do any beneficial act. There is no doubt certain elements of the dunya distract us but when your going to sleep after a long and tiring day, you need to remind yourself that the next morning isn’t promised and only with Allah’s permission your life continues.Yea it’s easier said than done, but progress is a slow process. We all need to evaluate ourselves and take the necessary steps practically to improve our relationship with Allah. If you aren’t completing your five daily prayers, get on top of it. If you are then move on to developing a strong relationship with the Qur’an, there is always room for improvement.

When I was flipping through the dua book “Fortress of the Muslim” today, Subhan’Allah the amount of dua’s prescribed by our Beloved Prophet was amazing. There is a dua for just about anything in life. A dua for when you wake up, when the wind blows, before you put your new clothes on, for a good or bad dream, for a full moon, when it rains, pretty much anything and everything in life.

So how does this all relate to the original introduction of advertisements? Simple, Allah shows us through many ways that we should remember him. There are many signs of his existence. The order of the universe, the way your body functions, the endless blessings you receive. It’s clear in the Qur’an, “And if you would try to count the favors of Allah, you would never be able to count them. Truly, Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful”. [16:18]

In conclusion, don’t have that half relationship with Allah where you turn to him only when you need him. We don’t need 3,000 ads to remind us to remember Allah. If you truly love Allah, you would want to remember him. He is worthy of praise through your times of trials and times of ease. That wraps it up like a mummy, forgive me if I wrote too much and because I haven’t posted lately. insh’Allah (God willing) I’ll write again real soon.

One last ayah from the Holy Qur’an before I bounce.

“And establish regular prayer, for prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds, and remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing in life, without doubt.” (Surah al-Ankabut 29:45)

That being said, social media is a great way to inform non Muslims and spark productive engaging conversations.

Say hello to Muslim Hulk. This is far by the most creative Muslim twitter account I’ve seen, Yea he has anger problems but he gets angry for the right reasons.

His Slogan is “ISLAMOPHOBES, JIHADIS, AND NON-ELASTIC THOBES HAVE CREATED MUSLIM HULK! MUSLIM HULK MAD!”

Muslim Hulk’s tweets are reflective of where daw’ah meets creativity and smart comedy.  Just by looking at what he says, you can tell it’s effective.

Anyways check out some examples of what Muslim hulk is saying below, mash’Allah very entertaining and beneficial:

• “ALMOST FORGOT – HAPPY ISLAMIC NEW YEAR! HOPEFULLY SMASH HATRED AND IGNORANCE THIS YEAR”
• “EID MUBARAK TO ALL! WOULD GIVE YOU BIG EID HUG AFTER PRAYERS BUT AFRAID I MIGHT CRUSH YOU”
• NEED TO FIND SPECIAL PANTS THAT DON’T RIP, MUST PROTECT AWRAH WHEN GROW BIG & GREEN, CANNOT SMASH WHILE NAKED
• MUSLIMHULK LIKE BREAK FAST WITH BIG MEDJOOL DATES – THE INCREDIBLE HULK OF DATES!
• MUSLIMHULK RAGING AGAINST STEREOTYPE OF MUSLIMS RAGING! OK, THAT COUNTERPRODUCTIVE SO MUSLIMHULK CALM DOWN NOW

Hilarious isn’t it? Follow him on twitter for more at MuslimHulk

It’s great to see Best Buy recognizing consumer values and marketing to Muslims, maybe if Circuit City did the same they wouldn’t have gone bankrupt, haha. Just playing.

Organized by Muslim Peace Coalition USA, below are some topics that will be covered:

* Why Muslims must be part of the peace movement
* Grassroots organizing to influence policy makers
* How to mobilize against Islamophobia
* Goals & Adab of Interfaith engagement
* How individuals can successfully influence media

Speakers

Bob Keeler, Pulitzer prize winning editor of Newsday

Kathy Kelly, Nobel award nominee

George Gresham, President of the largest labor Union in USA

When

Sat. January 8, 2011
9 AM Registration
10 AM to 5 PM Training
5 PM Public Program

Where

Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI)
835 Brush Hollow Road,
Westbury, NY 11590

Apply Now“>Apply now

This post is directed at Muslims who speak on public forums, more specifically at college institutions. This past week I had the opportunity to attend an MSA (Muslim students association) event at my college. It was Islamic revival week and alhumdulilah the turnout was great for most of the programs. It’s good to have your emaan boost whenever possible since most of us have busy schedules in this short life.

So this speaker was invited to come speak on “Paradise and Hell”. I learned some interesting stuff, for example: Did you know that the first meal of the people of Paradise will be Extra-lobe (caudate lobe) of fish-liver? Yea I didn’t know, I guess all of you nemo sea food loving believers have something to look forward to, =).

By the way, you can’t imagine what it taste like because the pleasures of the Jannah are well, let me be creative in my vocabulary, it’s “unimaginable”.He mentioned his source for that hadith and others, if anyone can find it please share it.

While he did touch on a few good points, it got very disturbing when the Q and A session came. I’m not sure what type of group or Islamic brand he classifies himself a part of, but his rhetoric was way out there, I felt like I was listening to a dog barking. He said things like everything in the college is against the Shariah (Islamic law) and basically pointed out the brothers who didn’t have beards and wear their jeans below their ankles are in the fire. First of all, I don’t think that’s the deciding factor for someone to enter into jannah. Secondly, the hadith that speaks about people who wear their jeans below the ankles is specifically for those who wear it like that out of arrogance.

Of course societal pressures can change people for better or worse, but it’s not like the college requires you to sin to study.  So making a statement that this college is against the shariah is non sense. What the water fountain is against the shariah? How about the fact that you can come to this college and speak your mind? These people really need to wake up and get out of their bubble.  One of my friends even challenged the speaker and said ” He has come closer to Islam from attending college, now he has the ability to participate in the MSA and attend meaningful events. On top of that, many students convert/revert to Islam on campus, Subhan’Allah.

Oh and the most surprising thing he said was when he spoke about the sisters that were talking during the lecture behind the divider. On the loud mic, he told the sisters that hes “old enough to  be their father and they are belligerent” in other words aggressively hostile.

What a foolish thing to say. There is a time and place for everything, on top of that not being conscious of the fact that their were non Muslims at the event that came to learn about Islam.  Hmm, I wonder what their perception is going to be now.

While I do recognize that everyone has short comings, I raise the question where are these people being trained and how can you spread negative messages like that. In a time where the majority of Americans have a negative view on Islam, this is the last type of Islam we need to be spreading.

We should all be productive members of society and when we speak realize who we are speaking to and what methodology/tone we should adapt when giving lectures.

It’s important that those who are on the MSA board check what type of people are coming to speak.On the flip side, we do have a shortage of speakers and the renowned respectable scholars are for the most part booked, I guess that forces us to produce more intelligent and dynamic speakers who have a a more holistic understanding of Islam in America.

That brings this post to an end, sorry I haven’t written a blog post in a while. Insh’Allah I’ll try my best to change that habit.

May Allah swt guide us all to the straight path and make us true representatives of Islam, Ameen.

Shout out to Br. Meer for sharing this.

I just came across a video of Shaq a.k.a Shaq Attack, a.k.a Shaq Diesel a.k.a “the big leprechaun” talking about this plans for hajj.

Even more surprising was he said “insh’Allah” to making the holy pilgrimage one day and mentioned that NBA superstar and his Muslim brother Hakeem Olajuwon as his favorite center of all time.

Anyways, check out the video below. May Allah swt guide us all, Ameen.

The solution is without doubt peace and understanding. Thank you MTV!

May Allah swt guide us all, Ameen!

Be pious people, be good people. Don’t cheat the system, live within the laws, this is our religion. To be good citizens. Be exemplars to this religion, your here your not somewhere else. You have immense opportunity, many of you have been blessed greatly. Use your wealth for good. Don’t squander this opportunity, life is very short. Many of us are growing old before our eyes. We have young children, we need to sow the seeds for those young children to reap the benefits of our hard work and labor.

Please take it as an opportunity. Don’t ignore the winds that are blowing out there. Many of the Jews in Nazi Germany didn’t see those winds blowing. They thought this must be as bad as it’s going to get. We are watching it get worse and worse and worse. At which point,  if we allow this is happen, they will make it impossible for Muslims to live in this land with their children without concern every time their child goes to school. I believe in the heart of hearts, it’s Allah swt that is waking us up.  If we don’t wake up, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Allah swt has told us “tell people who you are”, our beloved Prophet (S) said “empower people if you can’t do it yourself”.

- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf