Some individuals perceive greatness solely through age, associating family greatness with being born earlier.
Indeed, age is a factor in greatness, and respecting elders is paramount however, throughout history, a more critical factor than age in appointing someone as the family patriarch across all cultures has been universally acknowledged.
And that factor is the individual's utility to the family.
Imagine a young person who contributes significantly to the family compared to an elderly individual who brings no benefit.
Whom do people select as their family leader?
Now, if we blend these two aspects together, the result would be even more ideal.
As our age advances, our efficacy and usefulness to the family should also increase.
If you are a big fan of Arad and you believe us, we must inform you that in the current era in which we live, family utility can be summarized into 2 issues and the other issues are less effective and even Ignored.
- Economic and Financial Matters
- Intellectual and Scientific Issues
What are economic and financial matters?
You can categorize economic and financial matters into four main headings:
- Your presence should reduce the expenditures and costs of your family.
- Your presence should augment the income of your family.
- You should be able to generate employment opportunities for family members and hire them.
- You should be capable of extending loans to family members, providing financial assistance, and forgiving debts.
The implementation of any of these four issues within your family will earn you recognition as a prominent figure.
Intellectual and scientific issues
Undoubtedly, family members and relatives suffer mental and physical harm in certain aspects of their lives due to ignorance or lack of knowledge about various issues.
Surely, if your presence as a rational and knowledgeable individual is acknowledged, and your advice leads to the well-being and benefit of family members, and you prevent harm wherever intellect and consultation are needed, you will be the sought-after source of wisdom.
This being the case, being the reference point for advice will bring greatness to your family along with it.
What is the use of the greatness and usefulness to the family?
It has been narrated from the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family) that he said: "The best among people is one who is more beneficial to the people."
And he also said: "The best among you is one who is better for his family, and I am the best among you for my family."
Wouldn't it be delightful for God and His Prophet to rank you among the best for your usefulness and to attain excellence so that you become esteemed in the eyes of the Prophet of God?
The difference between being cherished and respected in one's family and merely existing without any impact is immense.
Indeed, we all will die.
But isn't it different to pass away without having benefited anyone, compared to having left behind a life full of positive influences?
At the end of our worldly journey, only one thing remains for each of us:
Either they will say God forgives his parents, or they will say God does not forgive his parents, or they will say nothing, meaning his existence or non-existence made no difference to anyone.
Indeed, the wise prefer dignity and honor over humiliation and insignificance, striving to achieve this dignity.
Trade and its intellectual role in the greatness of a family
All of you, especially the elders among you, surely acknowledge the significant impact commerce has had on the growth of your wealth and intellect.
Even those who have recently joined the business world and have not yet experienced commerce directly, but have embraced its teachings, have witnessed the effects of intellectual growth within themselves.
Many individuals have mentioned in comments how since they entered the business world, changes in their behavior and actions have led their families and acquaintances to view them differently and with admiration.
Their perspectives are heard among relatives, and their words are given special consideration.
All of these blessings stem from the same two-thirds of intellect mentioned by Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) in commerce, without which they would not have come to fruition.
A person once approached Imam Ali (peace be upon him) and said:
"O Amir al-Mu'minin
I wish that God would provide sustenance to His servants in such a way that they would not need worldly work, so that we could engage in worshipping our Lord day and night without any other responsibilities."
Imam Ali replied: "If God knew of a better way for His servants to worship Him than seeking lawful sustenance, surely He would have commanded that very action that you mentioned."
Then he added: "I heard from the Messenger of God that prayer consists of seventy parts, the best and highest of which is seeking lawful sustenance."
Trade and its economic and financial role in the greatness of a family
As mentioned, we can engage in four types of behavior to demonstrate our economic greatness.
The fourth type is lending and forgiving, which is the most honorable and prestigious form of greatness and traders who have excelled in commerce have indeed attained such powers, and praise be to God.
The Prophet and his pure family were exemplary in this regard.
Some claim that Shia Imams mostly obtained their wealth from people's khums and zakat and then distributed it among others, but they are gravely mistaken.
If they only read a bit of history, they would find that after Imam Ali and a brief period of Imam al-Mujtaba's caliphate, all our Imams were severely isolated from both communication and economic ties, and their followers were very few.
Even Imam Sadiq, who had many students (over four thousand as mentioned), most of them were Sunni, accepting the Imam as a knowledgeable and good person from the Prophet's descendants but not accepting him as an Imam who they should give their khums to.
Imam Ali even said, "If I had forty supporters, I would rise against oppression," meaning that not even forty of them were Shia.
It is narrated from Imam Kazem that he said, "The number of my Shia is less than the number of sheep in this flock," and they continued their path while we stopped and counted the sheep, seeing that there were seventeen.
There are numerous narrations from the Ahl al-Bayt stating, "Khums was our right, but it never reached our hands."
Even if we assume that a small amount of money reached the Imams from khums and zakat after Imam al-Mujtaba, we must realize how wealthy Shia and supporters of the Imam were to provide such a large amount of khums, giving it to the Imam out of love and devotion, because the Imams did not have governmental or military power to collect money from the people.
Furthermore, distributing other people's money does not have such virtue that people would say, "The bag of Musa ibn Ja'far reached so-and-so." rather, they should say, "The khums of the people reached him."
Therefore, it is easily proven that this money came from the efforts and work in commerce, extensive agriculture, large-scale livestock farming, and also the participation of the Imams in entrepreneurial projects.
There are numerous reports in this regard, indicating that the Imams invested in individuals who were worthy of investment, and because their economic activities were profitable, they shared in their profits.
Jabir ibn Hayyan, known as the father of chemistry and one of the students of Imam Sadiq, is one prominent example of this.
Trade and creating jobs and income for family members
There are two other paths to demonstrate this greatness.
Increasing income and creating jobs for family members.
We recommend not partnering with family members in your business ventures, and if you see familial collaborations in Arad, consider them exceptions.
Instead, utilize family members as sales representatives and technical staff to attract more leads and signals.
For example, assign a family member who is articulate and has good business acumen to the sales department to focus on increasing product sales.
Another family member may have limited business acumen but possesses technical knowledge and expertise, assign them to computer-related tasks such as content creation, website management, or social media management to grow your signals.
If your financial capacity allows, offer fixed salaries or a combination of fixed salaries and bonuses, if you currently lack sufficient financial resources, consider working with them on a commission basis, however, never let them see themselves as your partners, as it will deprive you of your intellectual and financial independence, which will become problematic in the future as you become a bigger and more renowned merchant.
We do not want to completely negate the concept of partnership in business, but it has conditions and limitations, especially for newcomers.
Snail trading and reducing current expenses in family life
If you have studied business school lessons, you are familiar with the concept of snail trading.
Most old Aradis are familiar with this term and the name "snail" being associated with this type of trade.
Even if you cannot currently use the first three models—lending and forgiving, job creation, or increasing income—for your family's economic growth, you can definitely benefit from this last model and be beneficial to your family.
All families have needs that need to be met.
Surely you have seen how crowded and busy supermarkets are in every city and village that supplies all needs at a lower price to the people.
There, people are only buyers and do not sell.
They pay and do not receive money.
But snails do not have genders.
They are both male and female.
If we interpret buying and selling as a kind of contract, like a marriage contract, just as this interpretation is well known with the term "trade contract," you are both buying and selling in snail trading.
Let's elaborate on the topic a bit more.
Suppose you can raise this claim with your family that anyone who wants any item should tell me so I can provide it to them at the lowest price and the best quality.
This means the same as a large supermarket.
This means reducing family expenses.
It means providing your family's needs to them with better quality and at a lower price.
You may ask yourself, "How can I make this claim a reality?"
Do you remember a few days ago when we discussed the tribe of Quraysh, and we said that God said: "Their affection is in journeys, winter and summer"?
What purpose did this affection among the Quraysh serve in trade?
It wasn't that each of them handled everything in trade individually, rather, each of them focused on one or at most a few products.
But when there was affection among them, each of them could claim to have expertise in all trades.
The other party would ask, "I want such and such a product."
If they had it, they would explain and sell it.
If not, they would introduce them to a fellow tribesman with whom they had friendship and affection, and they would sell it, giving them a percentage as commission.
This way, they never missed a customer.
In trade, it often happens that your customer asks for multiple items, like chickpeas along with saffron and pistachios.
Most Iranians engage in bargaining in such situations, meaning they whatever the customer says, they say I have it and enter by themselves and end up losing the sale because the customer realizes they lack expertise.
But in Quraysh's affection, they only focused on their own product and personally dealt with it.
In products that didn't belong to them, they introduced their friend to handle it.
This means the same as commercial expertise.
It means sales growth.
I personally sell my product and hand over the sales of my merchant friends' products.
Now, it's possible that my customer sees me as trustworthy, and there's no harm in doing all the negotiations with other merchants myself and then taking the goods and delivering them to my customer.
In families, due to the existing trust, there's no need to introduce other merchants to family members, and your affection and camaraderie with other merchants suffice.
What should I do to grow snail trading?
At the same time as publishing this claim among the family as a big trader, contact other willing Aradi businessmen.
There are numerous reasons why we insist on leaving comments, and you will reap more blessings from it in the future, one of its blessings is that Aradi merchants introduce each other to one another.
This introduction isn't just based on names, cities, product names, and website addresses, you become acquainted with each other's spirits.
Those who leave comments with love and read others' comments with love know how much mutual feelings they share, even though they've never met each other.
One of them is from Shiraz, and the other is from Mashhad.
One is a gentleman, and the other is a lady.
One is young, and the other is old.
Yet, common beliefs have bound their hearts to one another.
And how much these affections in business relationships can affect a merchant's commercial power.
So, we recommend visiting each other's websites.
Getting to know each other properly.
Become friends.
Assist each other in business growth.
Strive to be one spirit in a multitude of bodies.
It may seem a bit exaggerated at first, but it's achievable and will happen by God's grace.
What's the point of having a snail trading companion?
There comes a time when you buy from him, and there comes a time when he buys from you.
You have a customer in his city whose trust in you is lacking, so you send them to his office to build trust in your place or to collect money.
As once a dear one used to say, the homes of Aradi merchants residing in all cities of Iran are our houses of hope.
The house of hope means that if a knot is tied in this city one day, we know there is a house where we can stay.
Perhaps this event may not happen once in a lifetime, but the existence of such a volume of houses can keep a person's heart warmer.
And since this article is also translated into other languages, we tell our foreign friends that in Iran, you have many houses of hope, and we are certain that your houses in different countries will also be our houses of hope.
And this affection continues...
0
0