Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem If in 1896, inspired by a military action undertaken by an English nobleman. A closer look into Kipling’s life; a roller coaster of achievements and tragedies could have perhaps contributed to the wisdom presented in this particular work. Nevertheless, this poem has provided a rich array of advice that was not only pertinent to life in the 1900s but also to current times whereby individualism and self-entitlement have become both celebrated and necessary human traits.

The supposedly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) have made these traits and their likes shamelessly exalted by Man. Beyond the worldview of man himself; ironically associated with imperialism and Orientalism, this poem is most beneficial to those who approach it with the wisdom of the Arabic saying: Observe the spoken, not the speaker.

This 2 hour session therefore will be using Kipling’s If as a premise to appreciate and subsequently inculcate within one’s self, praiseworthy traits already enshrined in the Qur’an and Prophetic Traditions that has increasingly become diluted by the increasingly selfish pursuits of Man.

Main references from:

1. Rudyard Kipling’s If
2. Al Nubdhah Al Sughra by Al Habib Abu Bakar Al Adni Bin Ali Al Mashur translated by Shaykh Ahmad Saad Al Azhari
3. Shaykh Ahmad Saad’s lecture: Imam Ghazali’s Formula on How to Take Your Life Back (2018) Shaykh Ahmad Saad’s lecture: Holding Onto Something: The Pillars of the Time (2019)
4. Shaykh Ahmad Saad’s lecture:Too Soon to Despair: Reflections on Tawbah in the Age of Attractions (2019)