The news on Tuesday, November 26

Yesterday, when Mr. Vahid hosted 25 Aradi traders at the Hazrat Khadijah (peace be upon her) Association office in Tehran, with the presence of the Director-General of Employment from the Rural Development and Expansion Office of the Presidential Administration, interesting events took place, and a report of this has reached us. It became an excuse for me to write about this topic: how powerful are we, the Aradi community?

Those who were present at the meeting will confirm that this Director-General was truly one of those officials who was really doing the right thing. When the traders talked about their products and their capacities, he had the ability to speak about each product in great detail and could say which villages in the country had more potential for further work with that product. He also had suggestions that excited our traders, and the Aradi members enjoyed sitting with such a competent person at such a high level of government.

I would like those who have experience in high-level government activities to write in the comments and tell us what it means to hold the position of Director-General of a department, so that when we continue reading, we can better understand what we mean by authority.

The first interesting point was that after the meeting, the Director-General asked privately for the contact numbers of some of the more proficient traders. What was even more interesting was that none of our people gave their numbers, and all of them unanimously said, “Our number should be given to you by Mr. Vahid.” 😁

This had left the Director-General so surprised that after the meeting, he said to Mr. Vahid, “These people have such a high level of self-confidence. I have never in my life experienced someone refusing to give me their phone number when I asked for it.

When I’ve asked for someone’s number before, they would first get flustered and then quickly provide it.”

I must take a moment here to thank our dear Aradi traders for showing such professional and classy behavior.

The second interesting point was that the Director-General, during his remarks, said:

“I must make sure that the country gets to know these individuals.

They are the hidden assets of Iran who have remained unknown, and if they become known, people will have real role models to follow instead of those who, in no way, deserve to be role models for people, especially for the youth. The fact that I want them to be recognized is not a favor to you, but rather a duty I see as my own, and by doing so, I am serving Iran, which I consider a religious obligation.”

The third interesting point in this meeting was that the summary of all the discussions, after the remarks of the Director-General and the Aradi traders, was left to Mr. Vahid.

In a part of this summary, Mr. Vahid pointed out: “These traders you see here are the pioneers of many more traders. If I were to just mention their names and surnames, without any explanation, it would take longer than a formal government meeting. We believe that our actual activities are equal to those of two ministries.”

When Mr. Vahid reached this point in his speech, the CEO interrupted and said:

“It’s more than two ministries.”

Last year, the Ministry of… (insert beep sound here) came to us and said that their top priority this year is rural development.

They brought three plans; one didn’t pass, another was canceled, and the third saw no real action—just statistics and fake reports were sent to us.

At the end of the year, we said, “Thank God that you told us rural development was your top priority at the beginning of the year.”

If this is how you treat your top priority, how will you handle your other priorities?

And this point was also very interesting—that a government official at the level of Director-General would say, “The Aradi traders are working more than two ministries.”

I would add that if the Director-General saw all of us as one group, he would mention an even higher number. 🤣

And the final point is that, before or after the meeting, Mr. Vahid was alone with our traders, and discussions took place.

Whether this happened before or after the meeting is due to my age-related memory issues, but dear Mr. Vahid kindly reported this conversation to me over the phone and mentioned it, though I forgot this part. Now, as I write this report in the middle of the night, I am too hesitant to call or message Mr. Vahid to ask whether this private conversation within the organization happened before or after the meeting. Hopefully, the attendees of the meeting will elaborate on the details of this matter in the comments.

Mr. Vahid told the Aradi traders: “I will introduce you to high-level officials and arrange meetings until you are certain that, with the training you’ve received and the abilities you have, you are stronger than any of them when it comes to improving and managing affairs. The only issue is that your self-confidence is low, and you do not believe in yourselves as you should. You think you are beneath them, while you do not realize just how high you truly are.”

After hearing this from the noble Mr. Vahid, I thought about it for a few moments and reflected on it alone, saying to myself, "How true this is."

For years, work was handled by other people with so many resources, and look at the result.

We Aradis, without taking a single rial in loans and without any support, have achieved these brilliant results.

Oh, I just remembered this, though it’s not directly related to the meeting.

Mr. Vahid says that whenever he speaks to any official, they always ask him one question: "What do you want from us?"

Mr. Vahid replies, "Nothing."

When they hear this answer, a deep surprise shows on their faces.

They ask, "What do you mean, nothing? Then why are you talking to us?"

Mr. Vahid replies, "Because I want you to utilize the capacities of the Hazrat Khadijah (peace be upon her) Association and its traders, and help the country out of this situation."

“This is our social mission for Iran, and you can also win more votes by using our capacities and firmly secure your positions with the real reports you present.”

Then they say, "You are the first private sector group to come to us, asking for nothing and not putting any burden on us."

Before you, everyone else came asking for money—not only small amounts but huge sums for plans that only existed on paper, and after we gave the money, there were no significant outcomes."

Praise be to God for this strong, trading community we have.

Mr. Vahid will have a meeting tomorrow with the CEO of Borna News Agency, and next week, he will meet with the Director-General of the Employment Department of the Presidential Administration to follow up and implement the decisions that were discussed in the meeting.

My noble teacher, I apologize again if I forgot any of your explanations.

I have a word for the traders who sit in these kinds of meetings.

Those who have been in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the dear ones who met with the CEO of Borna News Agency, and the distinguished ones who were present in yesterday’s meeting, as well as all the traders who will sit in future meetings with others, God willing.

The association cannot take all Aradi traders to these meetings, and only a select few, who make up less than one percent, are present at such sessions.

We, who are not there and cannot see for ourselves, can only speak based on what we have heard.

But you were there, and you saw with your own eyes.

Do not be stingy—share what you witnessed with the other Aradi traders so that the belief in our commercial power, as Aradis, is firmly planted in each of our minds.

If you remain silent about what you saw from this greatness, in my opinion, you have betrayed the writer, and this is a personal opinion. God knows that the senior managers did not say this directly to the writer, nor did they even imply it. However, I personally believe that anyone who witnesses such greatness and does not speak about it is being dishonest. If someone has experienced this and does not send videos or pictures to show how many people are involved, that is unkind.

And the result of stinginess is what God says in His book:

“And let not those who covetously withhold of the gifts which Allah Hath given them of His Grace, think that it is good for them: Nay, it will be the worse for them: soon shall the things which they covetously withheld be tied to their necks Like a twisted collar, on the Day of Judgment.” Surah Al-Imran, Ayah 180

The term tawq in Arabic refers to the iron collars that are placed around the necks of captives to drag them along.

You may have also seen that pigeons are often fitted with a ring on their legs to identify their owner.

But now, this pigeon’s ring is small and plastic, whereas the collar around the neck is iron.

Yesterday, we said that if we want to perform strongly in negotiations, we must first be certain that cooperating with us holds great benefit for the other party, and that if they do not accept us, they will incur an irreparable loss.

And we said that if we truly do not believe this, we should strive to make our brand one that carries this belief.

Like Arad, which believes that anyone who has found Arad, understood it properly, and followed its guidance has brought indescribable happiness into their life.

But the question is, do the 97 out of every 100 people who reject our business enterprise owners and refuse to engage in business with us understand that they have caused themselves great harm?

Certainly not.

Because even a small child wouldn’t want to lose a delicious piece of chocolate, let alone these individuals, who are older and have experience.

So, why haven’t they entered into business with Arad?

Because we failed to convey in negotiations that there is great benefit in cooperating with us and significant harm in ignoring us in their lives.

Because they do not understand what Arad is, they reject it.

I don’t know whether to say they are right or wrong.

On one hand, I can say they are right because they do not have the understanding.

On the other hand, I have heard many testimonies in your comments from many of you who, on the first day, did not have that understanding, but said that God placed a light in your hearts, that He instilled a love for Arad in your hearts even though your understanding had not yet formed, and you said, "We are with you," and gradually came to know and love it.

Therefore, I say that if there were any good in their involvement in trade, God would have placed it in their hearts, just as He placed it in the hearts of many of you Aradi people.

I truly believe that no matter how hard Arad tries to turn people into traders, God wills that some remain workers for years, living in poverty and hardship.

It seems destined by God that they will never taste dignity, honor, and greatness.

I do not want to say that we Aradis must have done some good deeds in our lives to deserve this fate, but I would like to borrow from the words of our esteemed president in his speech last year, when he said:

“God, from His grace, has given to us without us deserving it.”

If the dear ones remember, this speech was made on the 17th anniversary of Arad’s founding, and he did not consider the greatest blessing he received from God to be wealth, nor social status, nor health.

And the grace of God was not expressed as many of the things that come to our minds as primary priorities, and this was very fascinating to the writer and our entire team when he said:

“After God planted the trees of love for His Prophet and his family in the garden of my heart, His greatest blessing upon me was that He placed companions and beloved ones by my side, who, when I give orders, obey them, and when hardship falls upon me, they strive to make it easier for me.

This is the grace of God that has reached me, and I know I did not deserve it.

I was in need, and these blessings were given to me as charity.”

Now, here you are with valuable skills that others in the country do not have, and you only need to believe in yourself.

On the other side, there is the person with whom you want to negotiate.

Let us first understand the word "negotiation" properly.

Negotiation (Muzākara) is a completely Arabic word, placed in the form of the trilateral verb and comes under the root mufa'ala.

The mufa'ala pattern has two very important applications in the Arabic language.

1. One is that it indicates mutual action—meaning if an action is done jointly, it is placed in the mufa'ala pattern. If it is done alone, it does not belong to this pattern.
2. The second is that it implies repetition or intensification—meaning if an action is done repeatedly or in large amounts, it is also placed in the mufa'ala pattern.

Let me give you a few other verbs that may be familiar to you so that this concept sinks deeper in your minds.

Musharakah, the Arabic term for "partnership," comes from the mufa'ala pattern, meaning two or more people collaborating on a task.

Mudārabah refers to a partnership where several people contribute to multiplying an economic activity.

Munāqasa refers to a situation where several people contribute to reducing the cost of a task.

If a single person causes a deficiency or enhances an activity by themselves, it does not fall under the mufa'ala pattern.

The word Muzā'afa, which God uses in the Quran in the verse "Azāfān Muzā'afa" (Surah Al-Imran, Ayah 130), refers to the act of doubling. Since it belongs to the mufa'ala pattern, it means multiplying far beyond double—multiplying multiple times: two times two is four, four times two is eight, eight times two is sixteen, and so on.

I hope by now you have a clear understanding of the mufa'ala pattern.

Now, let's find the three root letters of the word negotiation (Muzākara). In Arabic, every verb typically consists of three root letters, except in rare cases.

It is enough to place the word mufa'ala against Muzākara and observe which letters replace f, 'a, l in this case. You will see that the letters z, k, r are the root of the word.

Let's define Zikr or Dhikr.

According to Dehkhoda, Dhikr means "to remember," "to mention," or "to speak out loud," and its opposite is sumt, meaning "silence."

If an Arab wishes to express that someone is talking or mentioning something, they don’t say Muzākara, but simply say yadhkur in its original trilateral form. The mufa'ala pattern is not necessary.

However, if a group of people are participating together in mentioning something, or if they are collaborating to speak about a topic, the word Muzākara is used.

Now, look at the senior managers meetings.

On some days, individuals deliver speeches, presenting points and reminding about topics. This is not called a negotiation; this is called giving a reminder (tadhkir).

However, in meetings where both the senior manager and others speak, and topics are shared and discussed, this is called negotiation.

All of this is to say that when you "negotiate" with your clients or suppliers, are you truly engaging in a discussion, or are you merely speaking while they silently listen as though they are mute?

You saw that, contrary to the word "Dhikr," silence, or rather quietness, is used.

If you are the only one talking and they remain silent, my dear one, this is not negotiation.

Negotiation is when you say one thing and they add something on top of it, and this is how the conversation progresses.

If you only want to remind them of something and they don’t say anything, this is not called negotiation.

Negotiation is when a group participates in this reminder and expression.

And this negotiation should not happen all at once; rather, it should occur many times, repeatedly and multiplied, so that it becomes a real negotiation.

See a huge difference between the Arad site and other sites in Iran and the world.

Any site you open, you see that when they post something, to reach the end of the page, you have to scroll, meaning you have to touch the phone screen with your hand and scroll down.

The writer is obviously from the same team behind the site.

Now the question is, how much have the audience participated with the writer on that topic?

You see that on most internet pages, the writers' scrolling is more than the audience's scrolling.

But look at the Arad site.

The videos of my media colleagues and my humble writings, for example, are 8 scrolls.

The comments of you dear ones are 800 scrolls.

The text can be read in 10 minutes, but no matter how much you read the comments, they never end.

Your eyes get tired and you fall asleep, but the comments still haven’t finished.

This is negotiation.

So, know that if you want to become a professional negotiator, you need to do two things.

First, every point you want to remind them of, bring the other party into participation, and saying something while they stay silent is not negotiation.

Second, you must repeat this participation in expression and reminder many times.

Those who want to trade in just one or two phone or in-person conversations have not understood negotiation correctly.

Look at Iran’s negotiations with 5+1, where they sat down and talked dozens of times.

A professional negotiator knows that even if the negotiation is going well, they need to slow things down so that it takes several sessions.

I don’t know if this example is right, but here it goes.

Imagine you go to propose to a girl for yourself or your son, and in the first session, she says yes. I swear, after marriage, you will feel bad.

But if you go back and forth for ten sessions, you will feel like you've won the heart of a dream girl. 🤣

Some traders, unfortunately, want the customer to pay after the first or second phone call. Then they think, "I did everything right, why didn’t they pay?"

My dear, it’s negotiation.

Commercial negotiation.

He did not come to buy two kilos of bananas.

Have you ever heard someone tell a fruit seller, "Negotiate with your customers"? 😁

As soon as you say commercial negotiation, it means, firstly, that there is no one-sided talking, one says something, and the other has to respond.

Secondly, it must happen many times to become negotiation; once or twice is not negotiation.

Now, in the middle of this, God has given you some moments, and you got the money the first or second time; don’t get into a bad habit.

I apologize to those who visit the site early in the morning and see that the post came later, because we write the content throughout the day and upload it at night, but we received Mr. Vahid’s report late, so my two colleagues and I came to the office at night and started writing, which caused a delay.

Please forgive us for the delay with your grace.