Qur'ānic Quality for Networking Success

Allāh (God) says:

‘O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know (recognise) one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allāh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwā [i.e. one of the Muttaqun (pious - see V. 2:2). Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.’ [1]

The word 'عُرف' which includes the meaning of 'custom/convention/tradition' is of the word 'تَعَارَفُوا' - to 'know (recognise) one another' - mentioned in this verse.

As-Sa'di, in his tafsīr of this verse, explained,

"he divided them and made them into nations and tribes, small and great, so that they may recognise one another. That is because, if each one of them was only known by himself (without his roots and origin), that recognising of one another - which leads to supporting one another, cooperating with one another, inheriting from one another and fulfilling the rights of relatives - would not take place." [2]

By understanding people's backgrounds, including particularly their customs/cultures, you get a better understanding of their values in life, their unique paradigm/perspective of morality, thus are better equipped in knowing how to behave/deal with them in order to foster the best relationships.

By understanding their customs/cultures, you are very unlikely to offend them. Rather, you are more likely to earn their respect and have credibility [trustworthiness] in their eyes due to you respecting and appreciating them in the first place.

So how does one go about in getting to know the people from different races, ethnicities, cultures, customs and backgrounds?

By becoming a person of observation and reflection, noticing the common behaviour patterns of people belonging to different groups in terms of ethnicity, what country they came from etc. 

There are three types of values when it comes to understanding people:

1. [General] universal values: these are moral/good behaviour qualities that are recognised universally/globally, in line with the fitra (natural disposition) and islāmic teachings such as respect, justice, mercy, courage, compassion, care, generosity etc. Both believers and non-believers exhibit these characteristics but the intention for believers is to please Allāh and seek His reward in the Hereafter whilst the latter's is limited to the dunyā (worldly) benefit. 

These qualities can be manifested in different forms by people from different parts of the globe with various ethnicities - but the basic objectives are the same for all of them. For example, we find students of knowledge manifesting the quality of being respectful to a person of knowledge/Shaykh in one part of the globe, by kissing him on the forehead. In other parts of the globe, they generally would not manifest respect in such a way. Rather, they would manifest it in alternative ways such as buying him a cup of coffee on the way to attending his lesson. The basic objective of both groups of people/students, is to show respect but it is manifested in different ways. To understand this better, realise that the love languages for husbands are different to the wives. Both are manifesting the characteristic of being loving to their spouse, but in ways that are accepted by the recipient.

With this understanding, we interact with people accordingly. It is important to also note that the group of people who have excelled in the qualities of being just and caring cannot be dealt with the same mannerisms as the group of people who have excelled in being unjust and cold-hearted.

2. Global values: These are global customs influenced by globalisation. A key reason for this, is due to people all over the world having access to regular, detailed information about people in other parts of the world through online/social media platforms as well as interacting with them through those mediums. 

The effect of this is that we may see common values people across the globe share, due to the greater influence. It is important to note that such values may not necessarily be correct/praiseworthy in the light of Islām.

Having said that, it's beneficial to be aware of these global, common behaviour patterns/mindsets of people, as it leads us to altering our strategies when it comes to networking to potentially multiply our profits by even 10 times, due to possibly finding new partners for our companies, opportunities to merge, unlocking highly, relevant knowledge from a successful entrepreneur making 8-10 figures and so on. 

Other benefits include helping the Ummah be more united, thus more co-operative, in turn, better serve their interests through collaboration and long lasting positive partnerships between organisations, different groups of people and so on.

3. [Specific] Ethnic Values: this entails how these different groups of people have been brought up, influenced by the customs associated with their race/ethnicity – it distinguishes people from one country to another. A person may notice this and remark people from 'X' country are really hospitable or kind or generous. They stand out for a particular characteristic due to the influence of their ethnic upbringing.

So is there a quick, easy and effective method by which you can understand people's ethnic values? 

Yes, AlhamduLi(A)llāh, you can learn by watching/listening/reading from permissible, beneficial content that are reputable, found online or otherwise, which explain the values/cultures of people from different origins.

To really develop a deep, insightful understanding of different types of people, you have to also practice behaving with them in ways that would lead to the most successful outcome in terms of your relationship with them and keep reflecting on the effects of such behaviours from time to time.

Now I’m not saying ‘getting to know them’ necessitates you becoming their best/closest friend. Rather you need to ‘get to know them' in order to be on cool/good terms whilst avoiding their harms, to co-operate in progressing with your righteous goals. In other words, you have a good working relationship with them. This incorporates practicing the universal qualities of being respectful, sincere, humble, caring, loyal, courageous, compassionate, understanding, prudent, wise, fair/just, generous and so on. 

Realise however that the aforementioned characteristics should be manifested in forms/ways that take into consideration the universal, global, cultural values as well as other types such as social and personal. Of course the manifestation of such characteristics should be done based on what is within the limits of Islām as well as aiming to incorporate the best practice of behaviour traits taught in Islām. This can be done by learning from the one who is the greatest of all time when it comes to the virtuous universal and personal character qualities – Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). 

Allāh says:

‘And indeed, you [O Muhammad (ﷺ)] are of a great moral character.’ [3]

In a nutshell, “...the character of the Prophet of Allāh (ﷺ) was the Qur’ān” as described by his wife ‘Āisha. [4]

You can learn from the greatest of all time/the champion (ﷺ) in terms of character by studying his seerah (biography). Thus, by practicing and cultivating his (ﷺ) character qualities, making them habits, you are bound to be much more respected, valued and loved by people, in turn, have better results when it comes to networking, whether it be utilised to scale your business, to establish justice or otherwise.

By having experience in dealing with different people whilst observing them, as well as reflecting on that observation, you can naturally detect, i.e. use your intuition, to know which type of person the individual you’re meeting for the first time, is likely to be. Now I’m not saying you act based on negative assumptions/judgements. Rather you use your experience/knowledge of people as a base to easily and quickly 'get to know'/understand new, important people you're planning to meet such as clients, investors and so on, who are likely to be instrumental in helping you to achieve your goals. You don’t want to put them off/offend them in a way that leads them to no longer wanting to collaborate with you.

Furthermore, applying the verse (mentioned at the beginning of this piece) regarding the aspect of ‘getting to know people’ leads you to being more effective as a leader/manager/ceo, a team player, a companion, a family member, a spouse etc. In other words, the benefit of applying this verse is immense that it causes you to become more successful in all aspects of your life bi-idhni(A)llāh.

On the contrary, if you don’t really know the different types of people, you could unintentionally offend them, put them off, be interpreted in a negative way and so on.

For example, suppose there is a foreign ESL teacher, ‘X’ who teaches English to university students in the Middle East. X doesn’t really understand the Arab students’ culture and so he behaved/dealt with them in mannerisms they disliked and were offended by. As a result, the students reacted by making fun of him and being disrespectful. The students kept reacting like this class after class, becoming more vicious over time due to constantly feeling offended by their teacher's behaviour towards them. This overwhelmed and scared their teacher to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore. He was so traumatised by this experience that he just quickly left the whole country altogether.

In comparison, another teacher, ‘Y’ teaches at the same university as X, understands the culture of the Arab students well, in turn, deals with them accordingly. As a result, the students respect him, he is able to continue teaching English, in turn, progress with his career and continues to get paid well.

Application

So if you want to experience multiple times more success in progressing with whatever your visions/goals are, then one of the easiest, quickest and most effective ways in current times to get to know someone before even meeting them for networking success - whether it be to hire a CEO, get on board an investor/partner for your company, secure a deal with a client, agree for an influential personality to do an interview on your show or even collaborate for da'wa (calling people to the oneness of Allāh) purposes - is checking if they have done podcast interviews which you can watch/listen to online. 

In such interviews, guests tend to reveal useful insights regarding their personal life as well as reveal their behaviour patterns to some extent. Thus, you can better understand who they are as a person, in turn, interact with them in the most beneficial way in line with the objectives of your visions and goals when you meet them bi-idhni(A)llāh.

Other ways include watching a good portion of their personal YouTube channel (if they have one), reading any writings they've done and so on.

To conclude, if you want to experience multiple times more success in progressing with whatever you visions/goals are, through networking, then put into practice the meaning of what the All-Wise has taught us in the Qur’ān: 

 ‘...know one another.’ [1]

Footnotes

[1] Al-Qur'ān, 49:13

[2] Tafsīr as-Sa'di, 49:13

[3] Al-Qur'ān, 68:4

[4] Sahīh Muslim, 746. Translation amended (slightly). Accessed from: https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/08/11/prophet-character-quran/