Recently I entered the world of entrepreneurship as the co-founder and CEO of NexHealth (nexhealthdoc.com). The world of entrepreneurship is harsh, an uncertain path with high ups and extreme lows. Having role models to follow helps.
The reason I'm writing about Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) is that his journey as a prominent businessman is similar to the journey of a startup founder. A startup is defined as a company that faces extreme uncertainty. And there is no one else in history I know of who faced bigger uncertainty with his business than Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf.
Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf immigrated to Madina with nothing, fleeing the persecution of his own people from Mecca. He gained the brotherhood of Sad ibn ar-Rabi'ah, who, upon seeing ibn Awf's condition, said, "My brother! Among the people of Madinah I have the most wealth. I have two orchards and I have two wives. See which of the two orchards you like and I shall vacate it for you and which of my two wives is pleasing to you and I will divorce her for you."
Ibn Awf, being the man that he was, in reply said, "May God bless you in your family and your wealth. But just show me where the market is." And upon this statement, he took some dried yogurt and butter, headed to the hostile Jewish marketplace. There, he was able to scale and grow his market (from some scrap yogurt and butter!). Just to provide some context: The Jews were wealthier than the Arabs at the time; they were the only ones who possessed a marketplace, and thus, they thought the Arabs to be inferior. So, it is even more astonishing that he was able to scale in a market like this.
From this yogurt and butter, he bought and sold, and his profits grew rapidly. After a few days he went to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Seeing Abdur-Rahman well dressed, the Prophet exclaimed "Mayharn [an expression in Arabic said out of a pleasant surprise], O Abdur-Rahman!" Then Abdur-Rahman explained that he got married. When asked about his gift to the bride, he said one date (the fruit) size in gold as mahar (dowry)! Obviously, he was a gifted entrepreneur.
From there on he became one of the richest Arabs of his time. And let's not forget his greatest virtue, generosity. His generosity is legendary amongst Muslims and Arabs. It is said that all of Madina would live on the money of Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf. For more on this virtue, check out this short video by Imam Omar Suleiman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdRwKRqC_KU
To conclude, the main reason I am writing this post is not because of my entrepreneurship, it is to show how perfect this religion of Islam is. Everything one needs in life, is there. Muslims have examples of entrepreneurs! Now, of course, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a merchant himself, but I thought it would be better to use a Sahaba (some context if you're not aware: It is part of Sunni Islamic theology to respect and follow all of the companions of Prophet Muhammad) whose full time job was entrepreneurship. I hope, from this brief example we can at least appreciate how encompassing this religion is.
No comments:
Post a Comment