A brother moved to Makkah many years ago. He was a high-flying manager of major departmental stores in U.K., Malaysia and China. He had been brought in by Bin Dawood stores as a regional manager for the Makkah region. He was from England.
After living and working in Saudi for some time, he later narrated how he found it so strange, unique and uplifting in how business was done in Saudi. Here were the examples he gave:
1. In Makkah, next to a major Bin Dawood superstore a rival new company were entering the kingdom and decided to open a mega store right next to Bin Dawood, within metres. The brother was perturbed, “Why can’t they open just somewhere else.” The owners of Bin Dawood frowned on his outlook. They ordered him to send his workers to the other store being setup and offer them tea and food and any help they needed to setup! The brother was left astounded. The Bin Dawood management simply replied, “Our rizq is fixed, they cannot take even a single riyal from what has been decreed upon us. So why not gain ajr and help them.”
2. The owner of alFakieh poultry in Saudi, he has a famous mosque in MAKKAH (Masjid Faqih). He is very rich ماشاء الله تبارك الله and religious. He found out that his major rival AlWatania was floundering with huge debts of a million plus riyals. So he one day sent a cheque to the owner of AlWatania and said, “Pay off your debt, and pay me back, whenever you can.” He had the opportunity to become the sole major distributor of chicken but instead he decided to help his main rival.
I personally feel we have been affected growing up in the west with the capitalistic and consumer mindset that is in every part of our lives. It removes Tawakkul and the muhabbah of brotherhood from our hearts. Just some advice. Don’t worry about others, if you do your work with Ihsan and Allah gives you tawfeeq then you will never have your success limited by others.
Become a well wisher.
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