1. Arad Branding in 60 Seconds
⏱️ 1 Minute
2. Arad Documentary
⏱️ 5 Minutes
3. Arad Branding’s Foreign Representatives in Iran
⏱️ 1 Minute
4. Change Your Goal.
⏱️ 1 Minute
5. The Quran’s Perspective on Wealth and Assets
Many people, especially those with religious inclinations, believe that money is inherently filthy and corrupting.
The question arises: where did they get this belief from?
Is there a verse from the Quran or an example from the life of the Prophet and his family to support this notion? Today, we’ll examine clear evidence to better understand the Quranic perspective on wealth and assets.
God states in His Book:
"To those weak of understanding Make not over your property, which Allah hath made a means of support (Qiyam) for you." Surah An-Nisa, Ayah 5
Key Definitions:
Jʿal: Placed, made.
Allah: God.
Lakum: For you.
Qiyam: Stand, stability.
A few days ago, we discussed qiyam (standing firm), meaning resilience and strength.
In this verse, God declares wealth as a foundation for human stability.
It means that if you lack wealth, you will break, and you won’t be able to stand firm in the path of God.
Precisely in this context, three narrations from Imam Ali (AS) come to the writer’s mind, in which he said:
"After me, nothing and no one will save you from tribulations except your wealth, through which you can adopt piety and righteousness."
And in another instance, it has been narrated that he said:
“In the end times, all my followers will abandon their faith except for the wealthy among them.”
“Wealth is an excellent aid for achieving piety.”
And these align with the words of the Quran, as God also considers wealth a means of stability. All interpreters agree that the ultimate qiyam (standing) referred to in the Quran is the uprising of Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance).
And when God says, "This wealth, which I have provided for your stability, do not give to the foolish," the term safeeh in Persian translates to fool, ignorant, or incompetent.
However, in meaning, Imam Sadiq (AS) explained that safeeh refers to those who, when entrusted with wealth, squander and destroy it.
Now, if you want to identify the true sufaha' (foolish ones), look at those who, over the years, took billions of people's money and brought them to ruin.
These are the very sufaha' mentioned in the Quran, whom God has forbidden us from entrusting with our wealth. Yet, you see people continue to give them money.
I’ve heard many say they have entrusted the return of their lost money to God on the Day of Judgment. However, during the lifetime of Imam Baqir (AS), a man approached him and said, "I gave money to someone who wasted it, and he doesn’t return it in this world. I’ve left the matter to God and the Hereafter."
The Imam replied, "God will not rise on the Day of Judgment to reclaim your right."
The man, surprised, asked, "Isn’t this a matter of haqq al-nas (the rights of people)?
Why wouldn’t God restore my right?"
The Imam responded, "Have you not read the verse, ‘And do not give the weak-minded your wealth’?
Whoever gives their wealth to a fool will be addressed with this verse on the Day of Judgment. God will say, ‘I had already told you not to entrust your wealth to fools. Since you acted contrary to My command, don’t expect Me to retrieve it for you.’"
The Imam further added:
"Gold and silver are God’s seal and signature on His Earth.
He has ordained them to organize the affairs of His creations, to stabilize people’s lives, and to fulfill their needs."
This demonstrates the high status of wealth in the Quran and the teachings of the Ahlul Bayt (AS).
The people of Iran, especially the religious community, must understand that the teachings which portray wealth and riches as undesirable do not come from God or His Prophet. Rather, they are deceptions introduced by devils to mislead people.
6. A Negotiation That Turns into Money and One That Doesn’t.
To better understand this title, let me begin by talking a bit about football.
In football, we have four sections.
- Goalkeeper
- Defense
- Midfield
- Attack
Now, whether the customer calls you or you initiate contact with them doesn’t make a difference.
If this initial contact or communication were to be compared to football, which section would it fall into?
Choose from the four options above.
I’ve explained this in one of my previous texts.
Well done, you got it right.
Defense.
We said that branding and lead generation methods are like the goalkeeper.
The first negotiation becomes defense.
If we conduct the first negotiation in a way that we keep talking and talking, to the point where we delve into the details of the business and collaboration, we have passed the ball to the midfield.
So, the first negotiation is defense.
Discussing business details like payment methods, shipping methods, packaging, and so on, is the midfield.
Talking about the actual money, securing it, and finalizing the contract is the attack.
And when the money lands in your account, that’s scoring a goal.
If you haven’t fully grasped this, please go back and read it again from the beginning before we continue.
Now, we said that the first negotiation is defense.
Here’s a question: Should good defense try to pass the ball forward to the midfield, or should it pass it back to the goalkeeper?
A good midfielder should try to set up the attack for scoring, or should they pass it back, to defense or to the goalkeeper?
If you’re a football fan, you would say: Of course, the defender should pass the ball to the midfielder, and the midfielder should pass it forward to the attack and move the play forward. Playing backward is unnatural.
Let me ask you, when can a midfielder pass the ball backward to defense, or defense to the goalkeeper?
You’d say: When they can’t make a good pass forward, and all forward paths are blocked. In this case, they pass the ball back to restart the game from the back.
I say, "God bless your parents."
Then why don’t you pay attention to this simple point in business negotiations?
A customer reaches out, either by message or phone, asking about your product.
And what do you do? You immediately send them the catalog.
You quickly send them the website link.
You forward them a video of your product.
You send them an old recorded file from centuries ago.
My dear friends, all of this is a pass backward.
When we create a website,
When we design a catalog,
When we produce videos and audio, all of this is for branding so that customers can find us through the internet, which is the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective way to attract leads and signals.
Now, the customer has found you, and there is no longer any need to pass the ball backward.
Pay attention, dear friends: any referral is a pass backward.
Please, in your negotiations, put yourself in the customer’s shoes.
Imagine you’ve gone to a store to make a purchase.
You ask the shopkeeper, "How many different models of this product do you have?"
And he replies, "Go to my website and find the answer there."
How would you feel?
Or if he says, "Listen to this 20-minute audio file I recorded earlier to get your answer."
Or he says, "Here’s my product catalog, look through it yourself."
All of these are mistakes in negotiation.
When a customer asks a question, they want an answer from you directly.
Even if your verbal response is ten steps weaker than a pre-recorded video or a prepared catalog, the feeling you give to the customer by referring them to walls and external sources is extremely unpleasant.
Most of you, because negotiating and talking is difficult for you, try to avoid it by referring to the website, video, or file, thinking that this will lighten your load. What you don’t realize is that you are losing them.
Especially in a country like ours, where when we go to an office, we’re passed from one room to another, we’ve developed a strong sense of aversion to being passed around.
Perhaps, as the esteemed Mr. Vahid mentioned, and I heard that last night he even kindly acknowledged me in their meeting, if we had been living in Western Europe or North America, the sense of aversion and disgust towards passing people around wouldn’t be as strong.
To make the idea of passing the ball backward clearer to you, I’ll say this: Every click a customer has to make is a pass backward, and people don’t want to make passes backward.
And to help you understand this better, I’ll bring your attention to this news you are reading.
Read the comments.
Most of the discussions are about the text.
According to our estimates from analytics software, fewer than 50% of readers click on a video (this page’s video, which is placed at the start of the text).
About 20% click on two videos, and fewer than 5% click on all the videos.
This is while we can be certain that even those 5% don’t watch the videos to the end—they skip ahead and move on.
However, test statistics show that over 80% of readers read the text carefully.
Because the text is right here, and watching a video or listening to a podcast requires a click, and that one click is essentially a pass backward.
So, when a customer approaches you, or you approach them, under no circumstances should you pass the ball backward, unless...
Listen carefully to this "unless" and understand it well because it will be very useful in your negotiations.
There are only two situations where you are allowed to pass the ball backward, meaning sending a file, providing a website link, or sending a video or audio file that takes the customer away from the negotiation and into another space.
The first case is when the customer themselves asks.
For example, they might say, "Please send me your website link."
In this case, you send it to them.
Or they might say, "Please send me your product catalog."
Here, you quickly send it.
Or they might say, "Please send me a proforma invoice."
Here, you quickly send them the proforma invoice.
So, under any circumstances, if the customer asks you to send them something, even though you know it's a pass backward, you do it.
The second case is when defense sees that they can't pass the ball to midfield, or midfield sees that they can’t pass it to attack.
Because the forward path is blocked, and their own position is also blocked, that’s when they pass the ball backward.
So, as long as I can keep talking, I will keep talking.
But there comes a point where I see that my negotiation has reached a dead end.
For example, the customer says, "How do I know you are really qualified for this?"
In this situation, I start talking about how I shipped goods to such-and-such a place last week, and so on and so forth.
I see the customer isn’t accepting it, and says, "These are just words."
At this point, I can ask, "Would you like me to send you the file?"
If they say yes, I will send it.
So, even in this case, when it’s a pass backward, I still ask for their permission to send the pass backward, or not.
Because inherently, people dislike passing the ball backward, but since they themselves ask for it, they can’t be upset.
Here, I will send them the video of my loading process.
So, if I see the customer is filled with doubt or doesn’t accept my words through conversation, that’s when I provide concrete evidence.
In Islam, we have something called "Shahada."
We also have something called "Bayyina."
"Shahada" refers to evidence that can be seen with the eye, as it comes from a root word meaning to witness or see.
"Bayyina" refers to statements or arguments that are accepted with reason.
Notice that in negotiations, you should try to focus as much as possible on "bayyina."
And this is the word of God, as He says in several verses:
And indeed, Moses came to you with clear signs. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 92)
We have sent down to thee Manifest Signs [ayat]. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 99)
This means rational explanations that were revealed as verses of the Qur’an. Otherwise, you did not witness the miracles of the Prophet of God; instead, you hear the clear signs and evidence.
Those who conceal the clear [Signs] We have sent down, and the Guidance, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book,-on them shall be Allah’s curse, and the curse of those entitled to curse. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 159)
Thus, it becomes clear that the guidance of Allah is also through these clear signs, and Allah has guided the people through this explanation in His Book, without referring them to other things.
And regarding the month of Ramadan, Allah says:
Ramadhan is the [month] in which was sent down the Qur’an, as a guide to mankind, also clear [Signs] for guidance and judgment [Between right and wrong]. (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 185)
So, the Qur’an that was revealed in the month of Ramadan, and is a guide for the people, is of the type of clear signs.
And in another narration, He said:
How can Allah guide a people who have disbelieved after their belief and have witnessed that the Messenger is true, and clear signs have come to them? (Surah Aal-e-Imran, Ayah 86)
In this verse, the witness and the sign are mentioned together.
This means that when both the witness comes and the sign is brought, it is a complete package.
Anyone who denies after this would be someone who is severely...
Since I promised not to use harsh words in my texts, you can fill in the ellipsis yourself.
It’s like someone who hears your beautiful words in a negotiation, listens to your logical reasoning, watches documentaries validating your credibility, but still refuses to accept it.
That would be a customer who is...
You can fill in the blank so that my language remains respectful. 😂
In the Book of God, the word bayanat (clear signs) is mentioned 55 times in 54 verses, but the word shaahid (witness) is only mentioned once, which is in verse 86 of Surah Aal-e-Imran. The word zubur (which refers to the outward display of a sign) is mentioned twice, and it always follows after the mention of bayanat, meaning first comes the clear sign, then comes the zubur.
So, 55 times bayanat is mentioned in contrast to 3 times shaahid.
Interestingly, in both places where zubur is used, it comes after bayanat, meaning the clear sign first, then the outward display.
It’s also interesting to note that many people, especially newcomers, when they reached the Prophet, would say, “Show us a miracle.”
The Qur’an addresses this, stating that they gather in this space, demanding to see a miracle.
Is showing a miracle really that easy?
Tell them: "The showing of a miracle is in God’s hands, not mine."
This means Allah tells His Prophet to speak to the people with bayanat (clear signs).
When it became extremely difficult, and the situation was dire, only then, under special circumstances, was the Prophet allowed to show miracles.
Moses, peace be upon him, struck the sea with his staff 11 times, and it did not part. Finally, on the 12th strike, it parted, and after that, the same staff struck the sea many more times, and nothing happened.
I say all of this to tell you, my dear.
Do not rush to bring your customer to shohood (witness) and zubur (outward signs) so quickly.
Practice moving forward with your bayan (clear expression) without needing witnesses.
The display of witnesses in any negotiation is not always attractive.
Stop passing the ball backward.
Do not exhaust your customer.
If you make the customer feel like they are being pushed around, and they will not work with you.
Pay attention to another example of my own writing style.
I provide the full verses that I mention in my texts.
If I didn’t provide them and simply said, "Refer to the Qur’an, Surah so-and-so, Ayah so-and-so," how many of you would actually go and open the Qur’an to read that verse?
Very few, even less than 10%.
But in my text from yesterday, when I referred to the wealth of the Jews, since I mentioned a specific percentage of Jewish wealth in the US and the world, I provided two links—just one line each—only to make sure no one would ask where I got those numbers from. I’m sure more than 90% of you didn’t click on those links, but just having the links there made you feel reassured that the writer is speaking factually.
So, know that when you refer people backward, 90% of them don’t even take a look, just as you wouldn’t.
Now, for the last and very important point, I hope you haven’t gotten tired—this is like passing the ball to the goalkeeper.
It means a situation has occurred where you had to pass the ball back.
It means you had to send a video.
You had to send a catalog.
You had to send a website link.
Naturally, there’s a need for this person to see those pieces of evidence you provided.
If you leave them, hoping that after seeing it, they’ll message or call you, I have to say you really don’t understand people.
Less than 2% will message or call.
You need to follow up with 98% of them. If you don’t follow up, it’s like you’ve passed the ball to the goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper won’t return it to you, and the customer is lost.
You must follow up to bring them back to the negotiation.
One very important point remains.
When you want to resume the negotiation after following up, most of you use this sentence:
"Did you watch the videos I sent you?"
The question is: why did you send them the videos?
It was to clear up the doubt they had in their hearts.
Do you expect them to answer, "Yes, I watched them, and now I realize all the doubts I had about you were wrong. I’m an ignorant person who wrongly suspected good people"?
Asking "Did you watch the videos I sent you?" is one of the worst phrases to use when resuming follow-ups.
You don’t need to ask this at all.
You should continue the conversation based on the evidence you already had, without referring to the fact that they watched the file, video, or website.
Naturally, if they’re with you in the conversation, it means either they’ve seen the videos and they’ve calmed down, or they haven’t seen them and just the fact that you sent them reassured them.
Why should you care whether they watched the videos or not?
When I provided you with two links showing that Jews hold 75% of the wealth in the US and 82% of the wealth in the world, did I ask you if you watched the links or not?
I provided the link and moved on with my conversation, whether you have seen it or not.
What matters is that I was forced to provide evidence, and whether or not you paid attention to this evidence should not be questioned.
When you are forced to pass the ball backward, do it, and make sure to follow up afterward. During your follow-up, make sure to continue your conversation, and do not focus on whether the person has paid attention to the evidence you sent or not.
Either they have seen the evidence and softened, or just the fact that you sent it has made them lower their head.
The fact that they continue negotiating with you means their doubts have been resolved and they’ve accepted it. There's no need to emphasize or point out their acceptance.
I kindly ask all dear traders and respected business enterprise owners to read this last part about negotiation several times. I proudly admit that the headings of these negotiation points came from Mr. Ghorbani, the esteemed CEO, and I also had a phone conversation with Mr. Talia, who clearly explained to me how to handle the situation. I hope that when they read this news in the morning, it will be exactly as they intended.
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