Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we always praise Him, we continue to praise Him, we ask Him to grant us the ability to praise Him upon all conditions, we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, the one who was sent to guide us, we consider ourselves blessed to be from amongst his followers and we thank Allah for that and at the same time we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless all the household of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam as well as all his companions and may Allah bless every single one of us. I mean my beloved brothers and sisters really it is a warm feeling to be in your midst once again the last time I was here it was freezing cold and this time mashaAllah it is very very warm so alhamdulillah we will now balance the two by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and come inshallah at a time when it will be the temperature will be average inshallah brothers and sisters from the time of birth it is impossible for us to exist on our own without the help of other human beings be it a parent a guardian a midwife or whoever else it is when you are born you are automatically in need of a person another human being Muslim or non-muslim whoever they were whoever Allah has chosen to help you to survive that is something important when Allah created you and I He made sure that a certain system was fulfilled and it was applied in a way that we had no choice no choice whatsoever where you were born and under what circumstances you were born was not your choice nor was it mine so we need to understand that that point it was a test for those around us to do that which was beneficial for us in a way that not only did we survive but we had the best available and this is why in most cases people have both parents in some cases they have only one parent and in few cases they have no parents in that the mother if she died just at childbirth then what would happen is if the father had pre-deceased the mother it would mean the child is totally orphaned no mother no father and that is the case in a very few perhaps in much less than the norm that is both mother and father are there so the test is for the mom and dad my mother and my father were tested by me being born to them firstly as a gift and secondly to test them what will they do how will they bring me up at that particular stage what would they actually react with how would they react this is all part and parcel of the test of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so this interaction Allah has kept it from the very beginning and this is why Allah says in the Quran Allah has declared that none shall be worshipped besides Him and that you shall do good to your parents you shall be kind to your parents because it was Allah who chose them the fact that i am sitting here right now and you are sitting here right now someone looked after me someone looked after you at a time when had they abandoned us perhaps we would not have survived so you owe it to them through what the minimum is kindness and this is why Allah says whether they are Muslim or not kindness is still a duty and this is where we refute those who say that you should not be kind to the non-muslims when Allah says you have to be kind to them you have to be kind to them and you need to understand when they are instructing you to do something that is against what the Almighty has commanded that is the only time you excuse yourself from fulfilling that particular instruction understanding that you still have to be kind to them amazing the teachings of the Quran the teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam he reached out to all the Muslim and the non-muslim so today we'd like to talk about reaching out to others and it starts from the point of birth we reach out to our little ones but that Allah has made the heart in such a way that there is an automatic connection between you and your child automatic it would require a person whose qualities are far away from humanity to hate their own children at the point of birth may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us because nature Allah has placed within your heart a connection and that connection would obviously lead to you loving that child we find children very cute if Allah wanted he could have made children such that they were not cute perhaps they became cuter later on but children are cuter than adults would you not agree and that is something amazing it's a gift of Allah you look at the child who's not even yours and the mere fact that those innocent eyes look at you immediately it brings joy to the heart that is the plan of Allah what will you do as a result we have children do we just spoil them in the name of love and do we just give them as they want what they want if that's the case we fail our test but we give them through the love that which will be beneficial for them by the help of Allah through the guideline set by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala given by Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam so it is important for me to understand the interaction that Allah has kept the interaction that he has kept for survival with other human beings if i were to ask you a question who provides for you your answer would be Allah who gives you who sustains you Allah but remember Allah's plan is such that he uses other human beings to be a means for something to get to you let me give you one example you want to earn you have a qualification for example can you just sit at home and think to yourself Allah will provide can you do that you need to get up and apply for a job you need to get up and do something when you apply for a job what will happen someone will call you for an interview someone a human being so you cannot say look this person is not providing for me so i don't need to talk to them properly you need to go and you need to show them your skill in order to prove to them that you are deserving of that post because if there are 20 people 50 people vying for the same post you will not get the job unless you happen to be a person who is outstanding somewhat somehow and then you get the job so you go out you have to show them what you have this is not an ibadah in the sense that we are not showing them an act of worship but we are showing them a skill that we have in order to prove that we are deserving of what we are asking for that was the plan of Allah so you got the skill you went out you had to make an effort then every day you have to get to work at a time that was already fixed so it's either nine to three if you're very lucky or eight to five if you are still a little bit lower down the ladder may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for us why i say this is because our children also need our time and we ask Allah to help us such that as we progress and become older we have more time with our family rather than the other way around so if you get your job you will need to mix with people you need to interact you have your mobile phone when you phone you talk to someone how you talk is reaching out to them how you interact is reaching out to them what is your duty your duty is to live by the example of Muhammad may peace be upon him that is your duty that is my duty sometimes we know his example but we become oblivious of it for some reason we throw it at the back of our minds and we lead a life thinking we are good muslims and that's it without implementing what we've learned sometimes when we go to universities we learn so much for so many years but how much will you actually implement when you get your job it's a small percentage of what you've learned when it comes to islam that is not the case whatever you learn you implement whatever you know about Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam you put into practice this is the gift of Allah and your test is to ask yourself am i putting more and more into practice as time is passing or am i becoming worse may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us and grant us ease so this is why my brothers and sisters to mix and interact has been kept the plan of Allah how do you mix with others and how do you interact with them in order to answer that you need to ask yourself who do you mix with and who do you interact with firstly as you're growing firstly as you're growing older when you're a little baby you don't even know how to speak and then your parents teach you how to speak or those around you teach you how to speak from that time let's put ourselves into the shoes of parents for a moment it is your duty to touch the lives of your own children in such a beautiful way that they learn manners they learn good language if you are to swear and to use foul language how would you have touched the lives of your own children in a very dirty way in a way that when they grow up they will be even more vulgar than you is that called beautiful touching of the lives of your own children when we say others you start with your own family and this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when he sent Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam he instructed him at a certain stage saying warn those who are close to you that's circle the family and the broader family and so on ashira those who are from your kinsmen your tribe and so on that was the beginning it was the first circle it does not mean that islam stopped at that no it was just a circle to start with if my inner circle is ideal and good and i've worked on it i will be able to be more successful with the broader circle but if i've not worked correctly on the inner circle then how do i expect to succeed when it comes to the broader people may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a deep understanding so my brothers and sisters take a careful look at how you talk to your own children how you interact with them how much time do you give them it is important that is an act of worship it is an act of worship teach them mannerism to begin with through following your example so sometimes in some homes there is not much of instruction dished out by the father or the mother there is more following example they watch your etiquette and mannerism and they will follow suit do you know that so if you start with bismillah before you eat and you make it loud and clear they will also say bismillah before they eat sometimes you did not yet tell them anything but you touch their lives in a beautiful way so they just follow you read your salah on time the adhan goes everything stops you touch the lives of your child they will learn without you instructing them that the time of adhan they will give up whatever they are doing and they will come towards the salah they will fulfill it this is why i always say you find a one-year-old child getting into sujood because mum reads salah because mum is in sujood and this is why you find little children wanting to dress like their parents you know a lot of us subhanallah on a friday we like to dress with the thawb what is known as a kandura we like to dress with the thawb you find your little children will say dad i want to wear the same thing i want to wear the same thing why because they they feel automatically a connection to you how do you touch the lives now to in order to be able to be the most effective with your children you need to watch how you are with your spouse amazing look at the connection everything is connected if i want to be effective with my children i need to make sure that with my own wife i am so decent that when my child grows up he will know how to interact with the opposite sex he will know what the mother is all about what her wife is all about he will know that you have to talk to her with respect he will know that you are not allowed to scream and yell at your spouse but if i am such a bad example i will touch the lives of my children in a negative way such that when they look at a woman they think you need to shout you need to scream you need to yell or the other way around sometimes you find the women yelling and screaming that's the only thing they know may Allah not do that to us may we not be from amongst those this is why it is an act of worship to be kind and good to your spouse khayrukum khayrukum li ahlihi the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam when he says and we know the hadith he says the best from amongst you the best to your spouse those who are the best to his spouse or his or her if we were to take it the other way around sometimes we can even add family members to that meaning of that beautiful hadith so the reason is if you are good within your inner circle you have contributed towards the positive growth of society and humanity at large but a person who is hypocritical he goes out and preaches one thing and in internally within his own family he is a harsh person he cannot forgive he cannot overlook he wants everything as he wants it when he wants it if that's but if that's the case you will not be able to teach your children how to grow and how to live with their own spouses may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us goodness as your child grows and they watch you let us lay a good example let us set that beautiful example and whilst i'm talking i hope and i pray that we are all arriving at resolutions in our minds to say inshallah i'm going to improve on this because believe me as an umma we are bleeding bleeding in what way we are lacking character and conduct that is one thing that people are really lacking as muslimin we begin to attack one another to hate one another to address one another rudely to to speak to one another without any respect and even worse not even to acknowledge one another today i look at you i see a warmth in the eyes wallahi let me tell you something when you look at a person physically there is no substitute for that not at all never ever physically it's a gift of Allah this is why the hadith has said let that moment be a moment where you touch the life of the person that you've been blessed with or you've been afforded the opportunity to actually interact with to actually physically see them touch them quickly by saying what assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah with a smile that's an act of worship so i greet you it's an act of worship i smile at you looking in your eyes wallahi the warmth i feel it wallahi and you will definitely feel it you can feel the genuineness there is a connection that will never be substituted facebook twitter cannot overtake that this physical greeting is something else it is something amazing it is a gift of Allah there is spirituality in all of us we feel that link human beings we are together look at the person greet them that's how you touch them primarily as a muslim and guess what Allah says if i looked at you and i greeted you assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah and i just looked at you you would have to say wa alaykum assalamu rahmatullah as a bare minimum may peace be upon you as well and the mercy of Allah and you may want to add wabarakat to who and his blessings you may want to add that because Allah says in the Quran amazing end of the verse at the beginning Allah says when you are greeted with a greeting respond it with something better or at least it's equivalent look at how Allah says respond with something better that's to start with so greet back better than it why because someone touched your life go out and touch theirs in an even better way amazing i may never get a chance to greet you again i may never get a chance to see you again but at least when i saw you once i greeted you and guess what you greeted me back in an even better way someone does good to you do good back to them in an even better way brilliant and do not wait for someone to do good to you but do good to people whom you interact with and others whom you can do good to as best as you can i tell you why your life in this world is quite limited you need to pack away as many good deeds as possible in order to be able to get to the other side one day and see a large number of good deeds through what worshipping Allah alone we agree through the blessed teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and part of it is through touching the lives of others interacting with them with the best character and conduct this is why Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam says the best from amongst you are those who have brilliant character the best in character amazing sometimes we only want to interact with a small circle but Allah has let people walk past you every day you work in a certain environment you study in a certain environment how do you interact with people someone was asking me a question saying how do i interact with the opposite sex that is not related to me to be honest if circumstances make you cross paths in a way that you cannot ignore today for example i flew over to this beautiful country and when i got to the counter it was a female so within whatever i can with respect bearing in mind that i'm a muslim without something that is unnecessary but at the same time with character that is as exemplary as possible you will have to put forward your ticket you have to put forward your passport you have to answer a few questions because there is nothing you can actually do about it but to know that you have this particular situation make the most of it to touch the life of someone in a way that when you disappear they feel closer to Allah as a result why because it's the teachings of Allah that asks you to be kind to people so that they can relate to the maker if we were to be as horrible as possible to everyone believe me nobody would be seated here today no one would be seated why because i need to be as bad as i can to you and this is what happens when hatred jealousy and enmity overtake the heart people go out of their way to make your life difficult i remember a case that just sprung to my mind because it's not so far you know not so far back when someone sent me an email and said you know my sister-in-law makes it her business to turn everything i want to do or i do completely upside down and to tarnish my image and so on and immediately i said you know what she needs help she needs to be a muslim muslima the reason is a true believer muslima you submit to Allah you don't submit to your wombs and fancies you really don't like someone why you can answer that perhaps but that must not make you be ugly to them no must it make you be unjust to them in fact Allah says in the Quran that even if you dislike someone you must still be just with them beautiful teaching of the Quran Allah says do not let your dislike for someone make you become unjust with them be just for indeed it is closer to piety and the consciousness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala this is a gift of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he has blessed us with and it's amazing when i greet when i meet people even sometimes like i just said moments ago the opposite sex islam does not say that you need to ignore the reality on the ground and pretend like you are someone who's not living on the earth the ideal scenario we do know it we know what is the ideal but the real scenario that we're living in we need to make the most of it to portray not only the good image of islam but to be able to touch the life of someone in a way that if i were to never meet them again it would still have left a mark in their lives and this is why Allah says do not forget the virtue between you amongst you do not forget to be virtuous amongst yourselves be good to one another be kind to one another fulfill one another's rights amazing you're a baker and guess what i'm a plumber when you when when i need bread i know i've got a friend you know back in my country there was a time may Allah never let us see this again but there was a time when there was no bread there was no milk there was a shortage of it complete when i say no bread no milk i mean it was very very difficult to get bread or milk and all those who had friends or contacts who were bakers they were set guess what i was one of them so they were set why because you got a friend and you know there's something you need he's got it do you think he's going to block it from you well if he does he's not a genuine friend so it's amazing how it comes handy when you are in need but we are not doing it because we're hoping that a the day i'm in need i'm going to get this back no we're doing it for the sake of Allah we want a reward from Allah but as a result there are perks there are side rewards there are benefits that you will get amazing subhan Allah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless every one of us so as we grow older now the child learns the child goes to school remember one thing your character be careful how you speak how you interact in the home it is about time we improved our attitude to our family members it is about time we became people who suppress our anger we all have a bit of a temper there is no one here who can say i have no temper perhaps some might be as cool as a cucumber where it takes them a while to become upset but as soon as you become angry you need to calm down calm down drop it for the sake of Allah why go back to the teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam a young man came to him asking him for advice he said don't get angry a little while later he says can i have more advice don't get angry don't get angry repeatedly can i tell you one of the reasons why when you are angry you touch the lives of people negatively you don't reach out to them correctly you touch the lives of people in a bad way you leave behind a mark that is a scar rather than something good you know you can either plant a rose or you can just destroy the garden it's up to you you need to choose what you want to do so it's important for us every opportunity we get we touch the lives of people in a positive way take a look at the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wherein he says if you have a seed that you would like to plant and qiyamah comes go ahead and plant the seed meaning make that effort to plant the seed don't just say oh it's the end of the world let me just throw this away no go ahead make the effort that is giving or showing us the importance of reaching out and benefiting to others because or benefiting others because Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says whoever plants a tree whoever plants a tree shall have the full reward of any human being or any other creature that benefits from that tree whether it is through the shade of it or the fruit of it or any other way and who planted it you and i let's hope and not only the physical tree but you can plant a seed of goodness i tell you there are so many cases but i can give you one there was a sister who embraced islam not too long back and normally we like to ask them what is the reason why you have embraced this islam the faith and she said you know 12 years ago i met someone when i was on a holiday and they happened to be muslim and i was busy drinking and they told me in a beautiful way when i offered them would you like some they said you know what we don't drink because x y and z and the way they spoke to me was so respectful that i went back and i researched the matter and i gave up drinking i gave up drinking now put i put myself in that scenario and i thought to myself imagine someone drinking the first thing is we will be a little bit of a distance number one number two is imagine if they offered you what would you do it's a test isn't it someone says brother i don't think they would say brother because if they were they wouldn't offer it to you but i hope not actually Allah protect us and if they would how you react it's my chance that's what you need to tell yourself my chance to do what to touch the life of someone in a positive way Allah gave me a chance here it is so now you can explain in a beautiful way you know what this is something that's actually not very you don't have to change your face and spoil your face and start saying what are you doing you're going to jihanna and so on relax relax take it easy touch the life positively you're going to get angry you're going to touch it negatively really if you want them to think about what you're saying talk to them communicate engage them touch it in a beautiful way what are we talking about touching the life of someone who is engaging in the sin at that moment and they're offering you to share the sin with them and you're touching their life in such a way that later on it will have an impact it has happened i'm giving you a live example of a sister who said more than a decade back someone told me something about alcohol and i researched it and i saw it as a result i ended up giving you know giving up this alcohol and as a result i started studying islam because they were muslim and i found that it is a religion that protects your health how does it protect your health through halal she says i never knew what halal was because we were bombarded with this misinformation that halal is actually some form of magic if you are to eat it you suddenly like the muslims i don't know if you've heard that up to today on the globe even in the first world countries they are saying this that you know what is halal is actually some form of magic that they they chant something you know some hocus pocus on the animal and when you eat it you suddenly love the muslims and you love islam and that's what they were all taught so they thought you know this is something very bad we stay away from it and she says i came to learn that everything that is very healthy for you is called halal amazing amazing everything that's healthy for you is called halal and the minute you take out the health factor and it becomes unhealthy for you then it would contaminate it perhaps to the degree where it is no longer halal obviously depending on the level of harm sometimes people might say okay red meat has cholesterol in it or perhaps it might increase my cholesterol and so on so why is that not haram my brothers and sisters to be honest with you if it is slaughtered correctly it will be halal but at the same time how you eat it will either be correct or not correct not correct meaning you're harming yourself you cannot just have it every day you know half a kilo one kilo and you think okay it's halal and alhamdulillah technically speaking the food is halal but the way you're eating it is wrong we'll use the word wrong inshallah may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us to understand so this is the gift of Allah this person touched me i was touched and moved in a very positive way it affected me to the degree that today i'm sharing it with you when this person happened to say subhanallah i was moved to islam because of someone who spoke to me whilst i was drinking and offering them drink and as a result i then went to meaning i quit that and subsequently started studying the dean and checked this halal issue and found it to be something so moving that i decided to go deeper into the faith and then i realized this is the true faith yet there was a stage when i really disliked muslims with a passion now this proves subhanallah that if you are to touch the lives of people who did not like you at all in a positive way look at how they can turn by the help of Allah you and i are only a means we're only a tool it is Allah who guides but did you seize your opportunity to guide have you seized your opportunity to touch the lives of those whom you interact with you know we drove into here for example two brothers greeted us at the motor vehicle where we parked one of them was a bit of a distance the other one i told myself opportunity what is the opportunity greet with a smile take your time shake hands you know it's not like you're in a huge area where the whole public is going to crowd around you shake the hand and look and greet sometimes you might even want to create a discussion obviously if it is relevant and permissible create a discussion that would just show that you are also a human being i can tell you how if i greet a little child i can say salamu alaykum i can smile i can perhaps put my hand on the child's head a little bit and i can carry on or i can say what's your name i can tell you what i've done and i've done it quite a few times you greet a child and the sunnah is to give children importance that is the sunnah why when you touch a life of a child you have sown a seed that will actually grow a tree that is so huge and big and strong that it will be much more effective and the impact will be much more long term than if you were to touch the life of the same person sometime later on so nip it in the bud as they say take it when they're young so following that sunnah we give a little bit of importance to some of the children as best as we can and shake the hand so i would shake the hand and ask what is your name wow subhanallah now that's unnecessary isn't it but it's a little child it's in fact it's something good i you want to touch their lives in a beautiful way it's my opportunity it's my chance if there are so many people you might not be able to do it but like i said you've got to understand your situation what's your name so one one youngster told me my name is yusuf so i told him i like that name yusuf was very very handsome he says i know i said you know what let's swap names this is all a discussion only to touch somebody's life let's swap names would you mind no i wouldn't so i said okay your name is mine and my name is yours now i tell you what we do so i took the little child and i i stood where he was standing and i made him stand where i was standing and then i greeted him and i said salaamu alaikum and he was just taken of that you know he started smiling he was so happy and i gave him a big hug and i said i'm so happy to see him sheikh and he was delighted that i called him sheikh you know subhanallah the reason is following the sunnah of muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam give a moment to children not your children we're talking of the children of others if you can give a moment to them and you can perhaps say something to them that they will remember for the rest of their lives but it will be beautiful that means it will grow from there because i tell you if you have really touched the life of someone in that particular way they will want to know more about what motivated you to do what you did that's it what motivated you and they will come to realize that you know what it is the dean of this person it is the religion a sign that a person is very close to Allah is when they are humble and polite to other human beings you know that this is why sometimes we have people outwardly they are very religious but they they have a lot of arrogance in them they won't greet they won't look they won't spend a moment that means they have not understood the term closeness to Allah closeness to Allah comes hand in hand with being good to people because they are the creatures of Allah just like you they are part of your test you are here in this world to pass a certain test that test is such that anyone that has come into your path has been placed there intentionally for a reason not just for nothing you are here today not coincidentally you made an effort mashallah we all know that but Allah had planned that we would be sitting here today in a way that we would be responsible what we took back if i say something that is bad don't take it back if i say something that is good and correct take it back what you are going to do with the message and what i am going to do with what i have said whether i implemented or not is part of my test it's my chance my opportunity so this is why you interact with people it's your chance anything you have tell yourself this is my chance to do what to gain closeness to Allah through what through reaching out to fellow human beings to reaching out to others so much so that we are taught that if you reach out to an animal you will be rewarded for that an animal you will be rewarded for that look at how we have taught that to plant trees that means to be interested in your environment in your surroundings it's part of reaching out today mashallah driving through doha for example you find a beautiful greenery at a certain place why because that is reaching out the country is reaching out to the citizens and the residents and the visitors to beautify it in a way that you look at it it soothes your heart you want to go there you have a place for recreation that is reaching out it's touching you hasn't it touched you you have beautiful facilities may Allah reward these people and may Allah grant us goodness you know recently i went somewhere and we had to pay to enter so i was busy talking and i was telling my family and a few others to say you know what we need to pray for the people who have put this they said what do you mean we already paid them i said no we've paid them that's one thing but they got the thing here for us to be honest with you the payment will go towards maintenance towards salaries towards perhaps even growth and maybe even a profit for someone who thought of it but don't you have the facility it's a theme park it's a theme park and we have the facility they are reaching out to us providing some of the best in terms of facility for our children to have somewhere to go where it's halal wow pray for them reach out to someone in their absence through your prayers for them and this is why to reach out to someone in their absence in a negative way is called backbiting and and it is haram and Allah says you know the verse in surat al-hujorah Allah equates backbiting with the consumption of the flesh of a deceased or dead brother that is disliked why is backbiting so bad because it is reaching out or touching it is touching the life of others or the lives of others in the negative way so that's why Allah says watch out you're sowing a seed of descent you are sowing a bad seed and it will grow into something very very bad when someone is engaged in slander slander is such that you are lying about someone they will receive the the outcome of the seed that they sowed which was so negative in a way that anyone else who continues that particular slander the original person who created it will get a very very serious sin they will earn a sin and what the result of their seed would be a cactus a cactus this is why Allah says in surat al-noor when he speaks about the story of the accusation against Aisha he says everyone who engaged in passing on that slander will have a proportionate amount of the sin they will have their own sin which is taken upon them but the one who is the greatly responsible the one who is the main culprit he shall have a big big sin a big punishment that is mentioned there is a great punishment why he was the root of it he sowed the seed he touched the life in such a negative way that it rebounded to him and this brings me to the next point I want to raise when we touch the lives of others in a beautiful way it comes back to us how does it come back to us in many ways we achieve calmness we are content we are happy you can see it in the eyes the person is content why you try to create goodness for others Allah automatically creates that for you and who can create it in a better way when we say create we mean you seize the opportunity to reach out to someone Allah reaches out to you that's why the hadith says Allah continues to be in the assistance of a worshipper for as long as that worshipper is engaged in the assistance of another amazing this is what we're talking about today touching the lives of others Allah will touch your life in such a beautiful way he is the owner of it he's watching you and this hadith proves that Allah gives back you get a reward for it I had someone who told me you know I give beggars money but I don't want to reward for it I said what do you mean I'm doing it but just for the sake of helping I don't really want to say okay Allah give me a reward give me a reward and I said you have not understood Allah's plan Allah has placed you here in order to spend the time in this life to earn maximum because you are going when you go your wealth is not going to come with you but how you spent what you had will come with you when I die my money is not going to follow me but how I spent my money will follow me because it becomes a deed it becomes an action an act amazing so when you convert your money into a deed you take it with you but when you leave it it stays behind like the hadith says a person when he dies his family remains his wealth remains and so on but what goes with him is deeds so if you've converted the fact that you had family into deeds it will come with you let me tell you when you are so temperamental one of the easiest ways of venting frustration is with the loved ones our family members our children we tend to become upset and angry we scream and yell at our wives and our mothers and fathers and anyone else we just yell at them and we have no patience with them so the had the quran speaks about how the person who extinguishes the anger that they have will actually win with paradise when Allah speaks about jannah later on he says the qualities of those who achieve paradise Allah says they are the ones who do good those who actually do good and who are they they are the ones Allah describes them and one of some of their qualities those who extinguish their anger and those who forgive people forgiveness is a very good way of reaching out to yourself do you know that when someone has done wrong to you two things happen you can feel in your heart that this person has done wrong to you so now i have i'm holding something against them or you can actually say this person's done something wrong but i choose to forgive them when we stick to this holding of the graduate in us it starts building it develops a crust around it and the crust then starts growing you know it's like yeast you put it in the oven and it becomes a piece of bread it becomes a bread mashallah when you put it in it was small but you put it in the oven it started growing it became a whole bread leave it for a while it's big but it's burnt so when you have a grudge it starts growing leave it for a while it becomes burnt it's of no benefit to anyone it starts smelling your oven begins to let out something that is smelly no one wants it people will say what's wrong here get a fire extinguisher same happens to us you have a grudge it starts growing if you don't take it out of that oven in time it gets burnt if you still don't take it out it starts burning your oven your stove and perhaps your kitchen and people will enter and see all the smoke may Allah protect us so Allah says what would happen to you you should learn to forgive people so that you can earn paradise it's part of your test how do you reach out to those who wrong you through forgiveness we are not saying that you need to you know forgive someone who's oppressed you he stole your wealth say today we heard forgive him forgive him he stole it again we heard forgive him forgive him he stole it a third time everyone will say wow sheikh please keep on coming that's what the thieves will say and what will the others say they say he's suffering a big loss so one is to respectfully ask for your right no harm in that someone stole from you with respect you ask for your right this is why we say when a thief has just stolen and gone out you apprehend you don't have to meet out instant justice by thumping him until his ribs are broken that's wrong you apprehend the man and you hand him over to authorities that's what you should do but today we have instant street justice have you ever seen it happening i've seen it people the minute they say thief everyone runs and they seize the opportunity to take out their headgear or to take out their their sticks their shoes and they start beating the people up and break their bones and the man needs to go to the hospital and sometimes it's the wrong person may Allah save goddess this is why touch the man's life in such a way that he does not steal after that right we said moments ago you catch him and you say listen i want it back and he gives it back to you it depends what it is obviously you might say okay i'll let you go this time Allah Akbar may Allah help us to touch the lives of people sometimes really people will turn completely just because we've interacted with them beautifully pray for them make dua for them Ya Allah this thief who stole from me Ya Allah guide him guide him towards goodness whatever weaknesses i have helped me in my own weaknesses but that was his problem Ya Allah help him and help him in so many ways that he becomes a person who does not take from society but gives society make the dua how many of us reach out to people and touch their lives through dua that is a way of touching the lives of others that we have been taught it is such that Allah says if you do that there is a greater chance of that dua and supplication being answered when we pray for others in their absence Allah says there is a greater chance for that prayer to be answered why you are touching someone's life in their absence in a positive way sometimes you don't even know them like i always say you know someone tells me how do you manage you know you go here i say look it's through the prayers of those whom i perhaps don't even know it's true there are people across the globe whom i don't know we may meet inshallah in the akhirayf Allah wills but people who pray Ya Allah protect this person Ya Allah we let's hope it happens to us all may Allah protect us all grant us goodness may Allah cure you reach out to the Sikh by doing what go and visit them it's become an act of worship is known as it's known as the right of a fellow believer unto you to visit the Sikh and if they are your family members even if they are non-muslim even your friends and your business partners non-muslim you can visit them when they are sick you can pray for their cure nothing wrong with that and you can tell them may Allah cure you but the man is a non-muslim subhan Allah that's an act of worship do you know that he will look at you wow this person's prayed for me sometimes people say oh but he's a non-muslim well how are you going to touch his life who said it's prohibited to pray for someone who's a non-muslim to be cured from a disease and sickness if you say may Allah cure you the first thing that's included in that is Hidayah it's guidance because the biggest disease that anyone could have is the fact that they are misguided if i am dying of a physical sickness but i have iman believe me it's okay it's it's less important should i say then if a person does not have iman in that particular case the loss of this world and the loss of the next so this is why reach out to the sick it's become an act of worship it is something that is a duty unto you to visit the sick today we have technology we don't even phone those who are related to us who are sick and ill to say you know what may Allah cure you or leave a message on their phone or send them an email may Allah forgive us technology has made it so easy to reach out to people but we don't and sometimes with our own relatives we have a problem we make it worse this person is poisonous watch out watch out poisonous it has happened to me someone came to me and said sheikh watch out for this man he's very poisonous so i said there can be nobody more poisonous than abu jahl and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reached out to him and prayed for him and asked Allah to guide him okay he was not guided that's one thing but the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reached out let me tell you there was a lady who used to throw her mess on the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam daily and it didn't come one day how did he touch her life well there are so many examples he touched her life in such a way that when it didn't come he inquired about her health just inquiring hey perhaps something's wrong here let's find out what's going on what happened what happened you tell me what happened subhanallah she was touched to the degree that she had to admit wow whatever you are doing that's the right thing whatever you've brought it's correct i believe and you are definitely a messenger of Allah i believe in one Allah yet just the day before she had hated perhaps moments before so much hatred that she had the guts to do something that the others did not have the guts to do and she kept on doing it and he kept on ignoring it and that's not easy so this is why when someone intimidates you if you become intimidated they have full control over you because that means if i want you here all i need to do is do something that will get you here because i know when i do this this is how you react typical reaction but a muslim reacts in a spiritual way in a beautiful heavenly way in a way that has the consciousness of Allah in it it is clear manifest so touch the lives of people in a beautiful way mashallah wallahi as we speak you know they are we work for people and perhaps people might be working for us depending and we might be working for ourselves but we have others whom we have employed and so on everyone you interact with treat them with utmost respect no matter who they are if you are very wealthy everyone else treat them with utmost respect reach out to them give them time give them importance when we give one another importance we have reached out to one another in a beautiful way pray for your fellow brothers and sisters today we have disasters across the globe we heard about a mining disaster in turkey today it happened yesterday if i'm not mistaken what a big disaster it's impossible for me or should i say very difficult for me to reach out to the families and even to those who've passed away physically but what i can definitely do is pray for them ask others to pray for them and the families you do not know how many breadwinners they were who have lost their lives by something that Allah had willed in a way that the families are left orphaned and semi-offened and they have absolutely no clue of what's going to happen in the future besides the mercy of Allah complete a man breadwinner he's the only one coming in with the wealth suddenly he's gone what would happen it can happen to me and you but if i've reached out to them ya Allah help them may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help the families may Allah grant jannah to those who've passed away they were muslimin may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala really protect us all all those who have any form of issue may Allah open your doors may Allah open our doors do you know every one of us has needs you can be as wealthy as you want you can be as healthy as you want you can be as good-looking as you want you can be as intelligent as you want Allah's plan you will be in need of something then it's impossible for someone to say there's nothing i need impossible we need to breathe we need to live we need to interact we have so many things we have a reputation that everyone loves imagine if your circle of people know you as a very bad person or suddenly they have all your sins are exposed to them and half of it might be fabricated and they stop talking to you how do you feel you would feel very bad you would actually say sorry give me the time to explain to you they say we don't want to hear how would you feel give me the time i don't want to hear and they stop talking to you and you lonely and you're all on your own no do not do that to others so it does not happen to you and if it does happen to you even though you have not done it to others it's a test from Allah be patient reach out to others still reach out to them a day will come when you will get the payment for your for your patience and this is why Allah says the recompense of sober and patience Allah says they will be granted it without limits without an account meaning it's just as much as Allah wants to give you he gives back to you it's something that is it flows may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us and bless us all so this evening we have spoken about touching the lives of others reaching out to them in a beautiful way i have not even gone through a tip of the iceberg the reason is every moment of our lives is an opportunity to reach out to people do you know that every moment so much so that when i die it is the duty of those who are alive to reach out to me how that janaza the enshrouding the washing and the salah and the burial is far do keep fire it means it is compulsory upon at least a minimum number of this society and community that i've lived in to ensure that that happens to me why because when it happens to them someone else will do it for them so if you say look someone passed away it's okay they'll do it sometime show an interest not all the time should you say let them do it show an interest the hadith says if you follow that janaza and fulfill salah you will have one mountain full of reward and if you follow it up to the burial and ensure the burial is done and so on you will have two mountains full of reward that's a hadith of rasulullah sr sallam kiratan the hadith of two huge mountains of reward why is this because we have to reach out to one another and also we reach out to family members of those who've passed away we reach out to people in need and this is why very importantly Allah has blessed us on different levels in different items some people have more wealth some people have more intelligence some people have more good health all things are different everyone has been blessed in a different way and Allah has kept it such that one has to reach out to the other and when you are giving your wealth say for example in zaka zaka meaning the charity the compulsory charity that is upon the muslimin when you're giving it out you are not allowed to give it out in an arrogant way you have to give it out humbly considering yourself fortunate to have been blessed with poor people in your midst that you can help that's how you should be giving and asking Allah to cleanse you as a result this is what it is now sometimes you have people i remember there was one man and i learned a lot from him someone threw a certain amount of money to him someone owed him some money and threw it to him on the table and just threw it and he says can you please take it back this was a big businessman he says we do not take wealth that is thrown to us give it with respect this is money and you're not just throwing it to me you don't throw this is why this was many years ago from that day if i enter a supermarket or i enter somewhere if it is a male subhanallah give it to him in his hand the wealth with respect let him look at you thank you very much is that come Allah here if it is a female you can put it down down meaning i don't mean on the floor come on but what i mean is on the counter you place it respectfully on the counter subhanallah with respect and i tell you it creates such an atmosphere of respect it's amazing it's something amazing do you know when you get to the shops and you want to buy we have a little supermarket super at whatever you call them bakala or whatever else to actually interact beautifully thank you very much wow they'll probably look at you and say first person today i hope they don't say first person this week but it happens we think that because i have the money it's my right just throw it take your Pepsi and carry on no don't throw it take it look at the person greet them put your wealth smile wait for the change say thank you very much have a nice day sir you have touched the life of someone in such a way and don't just say have a nice day and walk out tell them have a nice day looking at them with a little bit of a smile so wallahi i promised you your life you will touch someone's life you feel better do you know that you feel so good why because automatically you've touched someone's life you had to smile in order to smile or you feel nice it's something that i cannot explain it's from Allah to smile at someone there's a sparkle in your eyes as an automatic result of that and you're looking at someone even if they're so down they think i hope that prayer works i hope that prayer i've been feeling so low he said have a nice day that's actually a prayer it means i hope you have a nice day i pray that you have a good day i hope it works and they start feeling good imagine four or five six people tell you enjoy the rest of your day okay that's a different type of a prayer but subhan Allah enjoy the rest of your day amazing everyone you mix with whether it is passport officer greet them i swear today when i came in here i was watching what was going on and i like to see this because it brings a lot to us to learn and you see people they come put their passport stand at this spot look there the thing ticks give your passport back you walk out very few people actually talk do you know that notice it very few people talk are you a muslim do you believe in Allah do you want to do free da'wah without saying you're doing da'wah all you need to do is just greet how was your day i like to ask a question i say when is your shift ending and they wondering why are you asking you know why i ask it's default i almost always do this if you i arrive at a passport you know immigration checkpoint and i greet and i'll say if i can obviously it's the opportunity you don't use someone's looking so stern you've got to break the ice a little bit first sometimes just a greeting is enough you walk away because you know the way they look at you it seems like they want to eat you up but anyway so so then you ask a question you say when is your shift ending today i asked it when is your shift ending he says just now i said oh you're so lucky you must be so tired i look i wish i was in your place i can go and rest and they just look at you and they think i don't know what must have gone through their minds but i know it's something positive sometimes they'll smile they'll laugh they give you an answer they say yes it's been a hard day today i was actually told yeah this you know emirates causes a problem every time it lands it actually creates huge lines here i just kept quiet i didn't want to say well that's your job but i kept quiet because if you're going to say something to spoil everything it's not going to work subhanallah but you just say well you know you're leaving just now that's good sometimes you're looking tired i hope it's the end of your shift they say no it's not oh i wish you have a good day why am i saying all this do you believe that this is part of the goodness of a mu'min to to display beautiful characters so you touch the life of someone when they look at you they see a muslim name they see a muslim identity they normally think these people are hard harsh people who don't greet and they're not polite that's what they think i'll be honest with you people think that you know what it's a muslim guy just don't even expect him to be good to you he thinks that everything is supposed to be his and he's not even going to say thank you at the end no thank you may Allah reward you do you know the best reward that a non muslim can have is hidaya we said that just now guidance but how will that guidance come when you who perhaps has been so fortunate to hold the candle of that iman has not even shared the flame with someone may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us my brothers and sisters this is such a beautiful topic i just want to say one thing it applies in every aspect of your lives and there is every moment in your life there are chances to touch people's lives positively take a moment be courteous even on the road when you're driving when you go now as you're leaving going home something might happen people might cut you up you know the typical person someone cuts you up and you you go so close to them like you you want to show them look i can come close to you and scare you that i can bump your car i can scare you and you close shave and we come in front of them and cut them up again and make them break i fixed you is that touching their lives properly is that touching their lives in a positive way fix someone that's not the way it's supposed to be but no be courteous someone wants to go let them go and please don't stay all day and say okay let everybody go it will come a time when you know we have to balance it because sometimes people think that you know we should be so passive and we should just sit back and no be a normal human being come on be a good muslim you know let's say look i'll let three people go let five people go and then suddenly you start moving subhanallah you know notice i'm saying three and five because it's an odd number but at the same time my brothers and sisters learn to reach out to everyone you can from amongst us there are doctors from amongst us there are accountants from amongst us there are so many other people with different fields so many people experts in your field believe me you can reach out to someone in such a beautiful way each one of us has a unique circle of people sometimes they overlap but you have people i don't know so please reach out to them you're doing me a favor and you're doing everyone else a favor and you're doing yourself a favor by making the world a better place and by promoting and propelling the truth about islam because there are too many people at the moment who are promoting that which is not true about islam as though it is a barbaric religion that preaches abducting girls from here and there and selling them off here Allah protect us that's got nothing to do with islam absolutely nothing but who's going to change that i have to change it and you by starting with the little circle we live in and reaching out to them to say we're not just going to do this and that and that no we're going to reach out in a positive way so that you understand that this religion is actually so good that it comes back to help me and make me feel so good and content and happy and at the same time reach out to you so that you can think about what i'm doing and why i'm doing it so this is why in your field please reach out to those you interact with it could be a patient it could be a fellow doctor it could be a manager it could be a top ceo whoever it is remember reach out to him or her in a way that will touch his life positively forever the five minutes you get with someone or the minute you get with someone how do you touch their life even on the phone you dial sometimes nowadays you know i was watching when i was in saudi arabia there was a small supermarket and next to it there was a pepsi machine you know you put one real and you press a button and the pepsi comes out and i noticed that a lot of people prefer to use the machine if they have the change in the real they use the machine so much so that they will go into the shop and ask for change and come out to use the machine so i was wondering why so i thought to myself okay we're not going to ask people but interestingly as time passed i realized that sometimes we don't even want to interact because our lives are so gloomy so gloomy you know we have gloomy in our lives whole day we're on the phone we we're not even interacting with real-life people whole day we're perhaps doing all sorts of other things when i landed today i noticed one thing very clearly when we went into the bus mashallah the bus took us long i thought we were going back to dubai subhanallah but mashallah beautiful new airport and alhamdulillah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward those who've made this happen subhanallah wallahi it's forward thinking but as i'm going everyone i saw was with the phone besides just a few i i i could perhaps count them in one hand and i was one of them i also picked up my phone because i had to message the brother that i've landed subhanallah but i looked at it and i said you know what life has changed and it's changed too quickly and it's changed dramatically and so much in such a little while that we forget there are real-life people around us so as soon as i sent my message i put my phone back and i started greeting one or two guys just you know just to create something salam aleikum salam wa rahmatullah back on the phone i said oh no what to do but at least we greeted you try and i think to myself these two minutes i'm going to get with this person i'll never get them again in my life i don't want to touch them in a way a guy here's my business card please contact me i'm also dealing in heavy metals no no no no but rather i reach out to you in a way that when i see you in the ahirah inshallah you'll remember that you know what this guy reached out to me and we can get a good reward for it and perhaps by the will of allah maybe that one little deed might earn my paradise subhanallah look at some other deeds that muhammad salallahu alaihi salam makes mention of where people have earned paradise as a result that's the help of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so what i'm saying here is in your own fields as well whatever you are do not think that you cannot promote the dean and to promote the dean it's so beautiful you don't have to actually say i'm promoting the dean that's why i'm good to you you don't have to say that you just promote it automatically you can be a living da'wah just by your interaction like muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam and i think i will end on this note seeing that i've already spoken for more than an hour subhanallah muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam he touched the lives of others in the most powerful way in history never did anyone before him or anyone after him touched the lives of those around him in that way can i tell you how powerfully anyone who saw him just who saw him anyone who saw him with the correct heart meaning as a mu'min as a believer automatically arrived at a certain height of spirituality and respect which was to remain up to the end of time by them being known as companion of muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam sahabi or sahabatu rasulillah so what qualified them to be known as sahaba or companions and for us to add the tag radiallahu anh may Allah be pleased with them after that what qualified them was the touch what was the touch that to see muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam in their lifetime even if it meant for a split moment split moment amazing imagine what type of the touching that was sahabi and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam has instructed us not to speak bad about them no matter who they are don't you dare mess your mouth by getting into the lives of the companions in a negative way watch out Allah chose them and Allah knows may Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all may Allah bless us too so this was known as suhba the companionship beautiful he touched the lives of his enemies such that they became mu'mineen this is why Allah says Allah is all able and capable of creating love between you and those whom you dislike or hate who can change that Allah can change that it was changed in the instance of Abu Sufyan it was changed in the instance of Khalid ibn al-walid radiallahu anhu may Allah's peace and blessings be upon them and so many others who had harmed islam they hated islam but yet they came a time when they were so deeply in love that they sacrificed their lives to defend islam and the muslims amazing so this is why do not underestimate your position wherever you are however highly educated you are still reach out to people in a beautiful way may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala help us to reach out to one another and may this session have really been a heartwarming session my brothers and sisters i really appreciate the fact that you've come out all the way and all those who are listening online may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you too may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala unite us again in this dunya and in the akhira inshallah in jannah and until we meet again perhaps tomorrow if Allah gives us the opportunity to do that we say


Let's look at Nigeria's ranking as one of the most corrupt countries in 2022. Nigeria again has scored 24 out of 100 points while ranking 150 among 180 countries in 2022. Corruption Perception Index, released by Transparency International on Tuesday, had stated this. Although the country maintained its previous years, that's 2021's score of 24 out of 100 points, there was a change in the rank from 154 to 150, that's like F9. As for some other countries, they seem to have performed more poorly in 2022. Now the tools for measuring the levels of corruption were based on prevalent indices such as bribery, diversion of public funds, public officials using public offers for private gain without consequences. The ability of governments to contain corruption and enforce effective integrity mechanisms in the public sector. They talked about red tape and excessive bureaucratic birds and amongst many other factors. We're joining us to break this down this evening. We have Wemimo Adomi, she's a media strategist and communication expert. We're also being joined by Binga Ashu, he is the ADC Chairman for Lagos State. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Good evening. Good evening, my pleasure. Good evening, it's George, because I know you keep a colleague from the channel. George, it's so good to have you join us for a second there, I knew something was wrong. Let me start with you Wemimo, as a journalist of course, every year when Transparency International and all of these indexes come out, we're always looking for when Nigeria is. And then of course we look at the measures, whatever they're using to measure how corrupt we are or how less corrupt we are. But then of course a lot of people have been talking about why Nigeria had to move a few points up, but then still maintain a particular number. Now I want to go through some of the reasons they gave. Transparency during COVID-19, nepotism in public service, lack of adequate corruption, legal framework, et cetera, et cetera, I'll stop there. For the government of President Buhari who rode into power with the number one reason being that they were going to fight corruption, what does this say, especially as Mr. President is about to bow out after the elections in February? That's a very good place to start. No one knows that the President when he came into power back in 2015, one of the things he rode on was a fighting corruption and being a military man, I mean it was easy to believe that he would be able to achieve that, which I believe is why Nigerians voted for him in 2015 and possibly a repeat in 2019 because before then the Good Love Jonathan administration was started to be really corrupt and Nigerians were looking forward to a government that could change all of that, save us some money, jail some corrupt politicians and persons and set a good precedent for the Nigeria we want to see. Now have we been able to achieve that? I totally doubt it and I believe that the much touted slang of the President of being anti-corrupt was certainly which I believe is one of the reasons why we really badly were doing so badly. Now if you remember one of the very interesting cases from 2022 was the two former governors who were pardoned by the President. Now these two gentlemen, Yame and Dume, had been convicted and sentenced by a competent court of law in Nigeria for being corrupt up to over billions, over billions of naira were saying stuff that happened over 10 years ago. If you calculate what that money is in terms of inflation, rate and everything, in terms of possible development for their state, we're talking I mean more in billions. These two men were sentenced by the court and it was a good time for Nigeria to see oh that our courts could truly sit and sentence corrupt politicians. Now what happened? Not even half way through their sentences, the President pardoned these two gentlemen. If nothing else tells me that the President's so much touted anti-corruption slogan is possibly not deeply rooted, that was a very good example. I mean a president that had been set which would have made the public officers sit up was broken on his back. They were pardoned and four months after the pardoned they were freed. I remember looking at the photos the media of they had, they were all smiley. I mean and the remember that this index we're talking about is a corruption perception index and it is measured taking a look at the perception by businessmen and experts. Also remember that it focuses only on the public sector. So we're not talking about private sector or individual corruption. We're saying the public sector and like you said in your introduction it takes a look at how the government is able to handle corruption, how it's able to reduce bribery, how it's able to reduce nepotism, how it's able to generally reduce corruption in the public system. Now when a court of law in Nigeria sent convicts and sentences due for my governor's studio, which should have said a precedent which I think might have improved our perception and our rankings, the president goes on to pardon them. Now you asked me what perception does this further lead to? Not just for the international community but even for politicians and for public servants. It tells you that if you I mean if you play your cards well you can still as much money as you want and all you have to do is be in the good books of whomever is the president and you get a pardon as if it never happened. What a pardon means is that your sins just like Jesus said for your sins and wipes them away. Your sins are totally wiped and forgotten. You can never again be called a criminal. You can never be referred to as such. You can sue such a person. Is a presidential pardon the highest level of pardon for corrupt former governors? I think the president lost a very good opportunity to put his foot down and set a good precedent in terms of our anti-corruption fight in Nigeria. So the president might doubt that he's against corruption. I'm yet to be convinced. Let me come to you. I like that what we all made especially talked about the fact that this is more about the public sector and not necessarily sorry about the government officials and not about the private sector. But do we not also play a role in that public sector because we always solely put this at the feet of government or government officials and I mean look at what happened recently with the field scarcity. You and I cannot get access to fuel but then the guys who were selling it in jericans get access to it. We see what's happening in different sectors. You go to an office and you need to get certain things done. Well a certain lady says if you're not going to part with someone is the file is not living her table. So if we solely say that the politicians the guys who are in a public office the guys who are up there are the ones who this index is about. But what about us the people because I'm thinking did they fall from Mars? Well corruption at the level of governance is far more damaging to the economy far more damaging to the human development indices that related to the welfare of the people and that's why it's critical for that to be examined on his own merits because 90% of all income that comes into the country goes into the composite government to kudo sales. And so when you have all of this income and most of it is filtered away PWC even told the government they said right now probably by the thousand to a thousand five hundred dollars per individual per person you know is connected to corruption in this country which is basically our GDP most of the GDP per capita is lost to corruption. So if you know our GDP per capital is maybe say five thousand dollars and two thousand five hundred dollars of that is lost to corruption that means you're left with just half of that you know to run governance. So that's why it's critical to examine that and to look at the holistic way to attack the issue is cultural it's become a major problem and the system of governance which we have right now is not helping it's top heavy it's egimonious it's very expensive and it doesn't allow for transparency the president came as a military person but he cannot rule as a military person he has to deal with the judiciary now he has to deal with the legislature now he has to deal with state governments that have in the constitution their level of independence so he cannot by fear you know say whatever it is that he wants to say and make it happen he has to negotiate his way to things he has to give and take us to be compromises and that's exactly what you saw there with the partnership you know it was basically but I'm going to give you a pattern because I need you to do this for me that's something that's been done over over over decades ago as well so it's a cultural problem it's a it's a government problem and nobody has been able to get to the root of it which is at the end of the day is greed as poverty is a lack of faith in the nation as a nation a lack of patriotism it's a key reasons why people fail infinity I can do what I like because I don't care about what happens to the people in this country I don't care about the country itself I don't care about the future of the country which includes the future of their own children so we need to really really go back and do a deep dive as to the root causes of corruption at every level whether it's a private level whether it's a business level corporate corruption or whether it's the government level but the one that has the greatest impact is political corruption that is exemplified by what happens at the top of government in Nigeria I just want to push you a bit further because we we we we talk about these issues of corruption and and nepotism or bribery and just as you said in the last statement that you know you can do whatever nothing's going to happen but does this not put a question mark on our judiciary I mean these these arms of governments are supposed to check each other and and I don't know if there seems to be any form of checks or balances but then the judiciary like we say on the streets supposedly the last hope of the common man but is it is there really any hope in our judiciary today in making sure that people are one way or the other like she said like the women were said some guys are walking free today because of presidential pardon so why should the simple person not also want to be a politician so they could steal their share of the national cake sometimes it's the law itself that is weak the law the law itself the constitution and the laws and the acts that are connected to these issues are not they're not clear-cut enough for you to diligently prosecute people so when you have a great area someone steals money and then he says oh I gotta prove to steal it and then you know so technically speaking he says I cannot go against my principal because my principal says go and collect money and I had to go and collect the money so I didn't steal the money he stole the money that's using the law playing playing with the law because he's gray as gray area so when you go to court there is a there is a presumption of innocence and based on that presumption of innocence diligent prosecution is required now the government does not have the expertise and the capacity to diligently prosecute corruption the people in legislature the the the various attorney generals in the state at the federal levels most of those lawyers don't have the right to kind of experience and government cannot continue paying private lawyers to prosecute its own cases so essentially the justices are hamstrung by the fact that this is what the law has permitted someone is not paying their taxes and they go to the you know they go to the law books and use the law books as a base for saying what the law permits me to do this and do that and do that so this is all I can pay you and the law permits it so so those are the key reasons why the legislature will seem to be weak because if you go if they if they send someone to prison for corruption person goes to appeal and takes a just a little principle the law to you know to make a case for themselves their appeal court is going to overturn it and then they will go to the supreme court and so some of this case is going for 10 15 20 years and governments change and governments change and political parties you know new political parties are controlling governments across the country and then the the decision by the new government is might be that oh I don't want to prosecute this case anymore so it's of no political use to me besides I need this gentleman in my cabinet I need this person in my political team so I'm not going to prosecute that case and this is these are the things that happens if the law itself you know pardon me it's it's it's a piece of ass we need to change some of these laws themselves some of them are cake the laws that we you know we take over from the British that we have not tweaked you know because we're coming from a parliamentary system into a presidential system so some of those things need to be looked at by a law reform in itself by the judiciary they have to be able to do that and then it needs to go through the national assembly to ensure that new laws are better laws are passed and then the prosecution is easier you know most that's achieved okay let me well I'm coming back to you now because we can't keep I mean there's a lot to do but I want to ask you a two prong question because of because of time the number one reason why these people still ranked Nigeria where we are today is absence of transparency during COVID-19 now you and I were here we heard about the palliatives it became a thing and we saw the blowback of the palliatives right across the country and all the drama that was around COVID-19 and how government was being or most of the issues and the monies were shrouded in secrecy I know that a group called follow the money are still dragging the federal government on the issues of where did the money go in terms of COVID-19 now the second part is do you see Nigeria coming out of the doldrums of corruption anytime soon we're getting ready for another election season it's happening in 24 days how ready are we to fight corruption or stop it or are we just managing with corruption okay let me let me start with your first question now that's a very good question or let me start with the later one can we get out of the dungeon we certainly can I mean like the other speakers said Mr George where we are is remember that we're talking about this ranking we're talking about I repeat is a perception which is why sometimes perception can determine a lot is the perception that people have that's why you hear that I mean perceived justice sometimes is even more weighty is weighty at than the justice itself if people do not perceive that justice has been served now can we get there it's easy to say that the people who become the judges and who become the lawmakers that we refer to they come from the common man they lead the vote of the common man they step by the vote of the common man they collect the pvcs of the common man they block the common man from getting their pvcs it's a multi-layered unfortunately multi-layered problem but I believe a lot of our leaders are dancing around I mean recently the president said he has tried his best that's a very convenient way of saying oh things are bad and I pretty much did what I called and left the rest it says his garden is best and he doesn't believe he's appointed anyone I am disappointed because the box stops at the table of the person who was voted in and you hold the power particularly as as the head of state now can we change this perception we can interestingly I'm one of those who believe so much in the in the in the concept called Nigeria I believe the Nigeria can grow the Nigeria can become better the Nigerians can be served as citizens of the countries but the people that they vote in the power what we need and I believe it might just be a stroke of miracle that what we need is two tenors of two people who would put their foot down and say that we must kick corruption out let me put you in a tight corner quickly my time is up they're telling me I have to go looking at the 16 presidential candidates and of course you might not know all the governors across the country but for the presidential candidate who's who are these two people who would be able to put their foot down looking at the list of these presidential candidates so is it to say I've been you know I mean I've been a journalist 11 years these things are not easy for me to declare on public platforms but in my personal analysis of the three top most candidates I'll put my faith in Peter Obi in the truth and this is because we've seen what the other parties have done the ACC is not is not perfect I mean they are still there and so I mean and we see the clash some people would say that uh internal is internal rank glint within the APC is trying to discredit the presidential candidate of the APC but that's what them to deal with and we see where we are have they done well in terms of infrastructure or yes but so many other things that could have been fixed were not I would say let's give it a fresh shot let's give it a I mean the other two parties have had their time let's try a new party like I said a stroke of miracle maybe this is it maybe this is it and again they already have that when they become president they are president unless we vote them out again okay well I want to say thank you George Ashiru is the state chairman of the ADC in Lagos and what we're doing is a media strategist and of course we always have the pleasure of having great minds on this show thank you lady and gentlemen for being here thank you my pleasure all right well that's the show tonight we will be back tomorrow still talking for development I'm Mary Anacorn don't forget you still can get your PVC before INEC puts a stop to it it's your passport to a new Nigeria have a good evening


So there you have it, a biology lesson, a physics lesson, history lesson, all of these things packed into one hour. So we probably have a lot more questions that we can handle, but what I'd like to point out is that we have a session coming up at 2.30, called Conversations, where it's going to be back in this room, and we're going to have all the folks here there so we can actually spend an hour with them going through all the insights and questions you might have. But we do have just a few minutes right now to take any questions that you might have in mind that we can take. Hi, I'm Alan Sanstead from Berkeley Lab. I first want to say that you all are really impressive and inspiring. Kudos to you for your vision, your drive and the contributions you're making. So I would like to pose a hypothetical. Suppose any of you might want to take a shot at this. Suppose that your research succeeds beyond your wildest dreams. Not only you get the science done, but then whatever the technology or technological application done, and it's built. And not only have you built a prototype, but you've built, you can build these things, whatever they are, at what you consider a commercial price point. So it's all happening on that end. Now what happens? We want to take a first shot of what happens if you guys are actually successful at commercializing. Okay, I'll start. So we highlighted in that talk three things that are just not really possible to do right now with existing technologies. And we think that those will be our niches, basically things that are below about the one kilowatt or even 10 kilowatts where your generator is just really bad. But then as we start to move off, if we're successful, our price point that we've been able to price out through some techno-economic modeling implies that basically if we're successful, you won't buy a Honda generator anymore. You'll be buying a kilowatt spark reactor and then a 10 kilowatt spark reactor and then all the way up to match the needs of not just individuals, but micro grids and so on and so forth. So we really believe that what we're doing will just be the way that when you need on-demand power in a very lightweight package, you'll look to us. I think the price of lawn clippings will grow up. People will be raking their lawn and not just leaving it to methane. They'll be collecting it so that they can turn it into something like, candy-flavored antibiotic for their kid's strep throat. I would say we would have a lot less headaches at the workplace. For me, that's the first start is understanding what sort of health implications there actually are and what we can do at a very small scale so that when we do become a larger scale sort of corporation, we know exactly what impact we're going to have on ourselves. And then we can start creating an environment that is healthy for not just us, but other animals as well. I think to start we have a 10x reduction in the carbon intensity of building heating and cooling, which is like a behind the scenes, but important goal if we want the next six building people to have normal comfort. But then after that, the next thing I'm excited about is nobody really likes their air conditioner. No one's really that happy with how thermally comfortable they are in a building. They're just suffering less. And so I want to think about how we can design systems that actually make people more comfortable and happy. So I'd say if we were successful making tandem solar panels, then the first thing to do, of course, is to upgrade all of the existing capacity from how it exists today to tandem technology. But ultimately to reach the future that we want to reach, then the next question is figuring out how to get the entire industry to the terawatt scale rather than hundreds of kilowatts. And so that means massive increases in manufacturing capacity. It's not clear exactly how we do that in a cheap and efficient manner. So I think if we're successful, we'll no longer have to think and worry about how we're going to get from point A to point B. I think we'll actually reach mass market electric vehicles and renewable energy and not have to worry about anything bad happening. I think that's the future that I see. So I think just in the interest of time in getting into lunch, what I'd do is I'll take this conversation offline with the folks if possible. But if you can, just take a moment just to thank them again for their time and their vision and for joining us here today. And I just want to point out again my gratitude to Matt Price from Cyclotron Road for actually making the introduction and for having the folks here. And I think you'd all agree that irrespective of where you live in the world, I think we have a bright future ahead of us in terms of some of the technologies that are emerging to solve some of the macro problems around the future of energy.  And again, please feel free to come up to speak with our speakers. Thank you.