What Qurban Has Taught Us About Career Development

Every 10 Dzulhijjah is a sacred moment for Muslim around the world. Today (15 June or 16 June depending on the area), all of muslim celebrate the sacrifices that were made by Ismail, son of Ibrahim.

For those who are unaware, the story starts when Ibrahim dreamed about slaughtering his own son as a sacrifice to Allah. After considering that it’s a divine order, Ibrahim shared the sad story to Ismail, expecting rejection and abomination.

It turns out Ismail accepted those Deus rituals and was willing to be sacrificed for Allah the Almighty.

When Ibrahim sliced Ismail's throat, miraculously Ismail turned into a goat. And the killing spree order was just a test of faith. Ibrahim and Ismail passed the test, on giving what we love most in life, if Allah asks it.

What’s the lessons from a career point of view?

#1 Sacrifice is a Price to Grow

Let’s imagine.

Imagine that Ibrahim neglects those dreams. Or Imagine Ismail rejected his father's request. What will happen?

They will not step up. 

Maybe Ibrahim won’t be ‘ulul azmi’, the most prolific prophets among Allah’s messengers. Maybe Ismail won’t be ‘promoted’ into a prophet, and just become a regular son of prophet.

In career perspective, it means we must be willing to ‘sacrifice for a greater good’.

We must sacrifice our existing career, if we want to make a quantum leap into a better one. We must sacrifice our time in learning new skills to enhance our self development. We must sacrifice our short term happiness, and do the hard jobs which benefited us in the future.

#2 Say No to Dragger

During the sacrifice day, Satan tried to persuade Ibrahim to cancel those holy activities. Ibrahim tried to expel the satan by throwing stones three times, which now translated into ‘throwing jumrah’ in Hajj ritual.

What’s the career metaphor?

We must be able to say NO, for any career dragger.

Say NO for badmouthing your own coworker. Say No to unethical behavior and integrity offenses. Say No for unproductive activities during working hour.

We must apply ‘via negativa’: propelling any unrelated activities towards our goal. 

#3 Just Follow God Willing - It will End Sweet

Since Ibrahim and Ismail have high iman, they know that anything ordered by God must be good. Ibrahim and Ismail just follow God's request. 

Same with career. Follow ‘God’s rule’ in developing our career.

What are the God’s willing in our career?

Our job must be halal and tayyib. Clean and good. Islam has a simple word for it: baraqah. 

It means we must be doing legal jobs which are not prohibited by religion (gambling for example). Be honest, live with integrity, and never take that is not our right.

Even Though we might not be a powerful person or become CEO, as long as we follow God’s rule, we will be a happy person.

It’s good to be a great person. But it’s great to be a good person.

Happy Eid Adha Mubarak!