Dana Nawzar

Facebook fans, Twitter reach and YouTube views cannot be the only indicators of influence especially when it comes to ethical leadership. Happy Friday everyone. May the week ahead be a good one.

Once Sheikh Abdulkadir Gaylani’s son started giving sermons. He was smart, educated & a good orator but people seemed not to be influenced meanwhile his dad would say ‘Salam’ and the congregation will start to cry. Information alone not enough for spiritual leadership.

Shouting advice alone isn’t good enough. That is why despite imam’s warning not to rush to leave the mosque after prayer, 3/4 of the mosque congregation rushed to the gates when the prayer ended. People hear but may not listen, especially when advice has no soul.

The imam gave a passionate Arabic sermon about the need for planning as a part of tawakkul. Gave Hijra as an example. Got angry at Muslims world wide for not planning. Then went ahead to deliver the English khutba which was an unplanned google translation of the Arabic.

My Friday khutba struggle is to switch off the critical cells in my mind to focus on the positive words in the khutba but I have to say most preachers these day test our patience. But even that, learning patience when listening to failed content and delivery, is a good thing.

Turkey can: 1. Reconcile with Assad: Erdogan’s image in Muslim public opinion will be in ruins 2. Accomadate refugees: lose next election 3. Let the situation as it is: Huge humanitarian disaster What options do they have?

The options in front of Turkey’s leaders range from very bad to absolutely terrible Turkey is the last party resisting Assad but Assad is winning. Meanwhile the pro-Assad opposition in Turkey is winning too because of refugee crisis, economy.

In 1991, the threat of Saddam Hussein coming back to the liberated areas caused exodus of over a million Iraqi Kurds to Turkey, Iran’s borders UNSC’s 688 resolution gave Kurds a safe zone, relived Turkey & Iran Syrians, too, deserve a no fly zone, a safe zone from Assad.https://twitter.com/hadialbahra/status/1167403649506643969 …

Qatar, Saudi, UAE entered Yemen together to bomb Houthis, alleged Iranian proxy UAE,Saudi kicked Qatar out UAE,Saudi made their own proxies. Now UAE proxies are fighting Saudi proxies. UAE accuses some of Saudi proxies of being Qatar proxies. And you think Brexit is complicated.

This is a beautiful photo. Rasan, a Kurdish young man with autism gets to see Maher Zain. Rasan’s family & friends had reached out to MZ on social media to meet Rasan because he can’t go to crowded spaces. MZ made the dream true by visiting Rasan at his home.https://twitter.com/NwenarFatih/status/1167063652337430528 …

*leader of the free world greets, retweets, endorses, loves the most extremist far right groups* Counter extremism experts: *former thieve with mental issues shouts Allahu Akbar before stabbing* CT experts: The threat of Ibn Taimiyah (d.1328) to liberal democratic orderhttps://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/1167029502091976704 …

We had a neighbour. His wife cheated on three times. First with a farrier, second time with a plumber. Third time he caught them with another neighbor. He finally filed for divorce. So Mattis is at the same status. ‘A man who couldn’t take it anymore’.