Why am I against New Year resolutions? In order to explain, let us briefly discuss the concept of the surface structure and deep structure of communication…

Pakistan has a rich history and culture and has significantly contributed to the world in various fields….

Avoid making a threat in life, whether it is to your child or a country across the border. And if you have to, ensure you carry it out at all costs…

The default state of relationship between a father and a child is defined by the father‘s role as a qawwam (sustainer, caretaker, protector)…

The beauty of having a clear vision is that as much as it tells you what to do, it clearly tells you what not to do. When you say that your vision is to be in Islamabad next week…

In Gaza today, the sentiments of Ismail Haniyeh, the chairman of Hamas, are beautifully captured by the words of Iqbal…

Steven Kang, a cardiologist, writes in his article “Stress Can Increase Your Risk for Heart Disease,” published in the Health Encyclopedia of the University of Rochester Medical Center…

In my encounters with many unhappy individuals, I’ve noticed a recurring life misstep: instead of focusing on what lies within their control, they fixate on…

People become good at what they practice.
The oppressed (مظلوم) practice prayers with tearful eyes and trembling hands…

Here is a small questionnaire to help you decide. Please score 1 for “Yes” and 0 for “No”, then add up your scores at the end…

People have asked me about my position in the Israel-Hamas conflict. While I am not a scholar, here are my views. In Islam, the default state of the relationship….

A client that I am coaching recently inquired about the issues with Western coaching models like Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)….

Your future health depends more on the investments you make during times of wellness than on the money spent after falling ill…

I have learnt in life that it is very important to distinguish between the following three states: power, helplessness, and the illusion of power….

Focus on action and silence, if your noise is not making a difference!…

Remember that the destination in life is set by our Ultimate Purpose (our reason for existence), and the vision sets the milestones…

Miseducating children is a far greater crime than not educating them!
John Taylor Gatto was a seventh-grade teacher with twenty-six years of experience…

…جب میری عمر ۱۸ سال کے آس پاس تھی تو میرے مشفق استاد امان اللہ اسماعیل صاحب نے ایک

You only have one shot at life, go in with all guns blazing!…

We all possess character traits like courage, generosity, modesty, and gratitude. Similarly, we may have negative character traits like cowardice…

شہرت، قبولیت عند اللہ کی نہ شرط ہے اور نہ ہی دلیل— ہاں ایک علامت ہو سکتی ہے۔

While learning Digital Circuit Design as part of my EE degree, I learnt that when a circuit fails, it could be either an application fault or a design fault…

Many long years ago, when I was running a medical ward in Kandahar as part of my relief work for Afghanistan…

This is the first in a series of three life lessons about benefiting most from your teachers and mentors…

یہ دنیا اہل دنیا کو بسی معلوم ہوتی ہے نظر والوں کو یہ اجڑی ہوئی معلوم ہوتی ہے

The only way to get relief supplies into war-torn Bosnia was through the ports of Croatia. Abbas and I set up a warehouse on the coast…

Children are one of the greatest assets to powerful visions. When a holder of a grand vision is not planning to have a lot of kids, I see a contradiction!…

Always keep in touch with teachers who have significantly impacted your life or whose knowledge and ideas you share with others. Why?..

Many long years ago, on asking his daughter‘s hand in marriage, the father asked me how much money I made?…

Without the ability to differentiate between essentials and non-essentials in life, your time management will fail…

Last night, I met with a CFO of a multinational whom our Ministry of Finance often calls in for advice. What he said was stunning…

Recently, Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, the founder of Indus Hospital, told me that he went to Dr. Amjad Ali, the founder of Madrassa e-Aisha…

When your realization that time is more important than money turns to belief, you have taken one of the most important steps towards creating a life of significance.

If you see darkness all around you, look again. Maybe you are the light!…

کچھ اور بڑھ گئے جو اندھیرے تو کیا ہوا مایوس تو نہیں ہیں طلوعِ سحر سے ہم

Saving time has two components: one is to reduce the time of doing stuff by cutting down on time-wasting activities, which contributes to our efficiency…

This Ramadan let us enhance our relations with our relatives. Allah (SWT) says:…

I discovered that one of the key elements of greatness is to treat people whose Zarf is lower than yours according to your Zarf and not theirs…

After listening to Myles Munroe (a leadership consultant from the Bahamas), witnessing the pathetic political circus in Islamabad…

The Ala Zarf — the people of high Zarf (magnanimity) — will remain indebted to you for life on receiving favor and will strive to return it in multitudes….

In an earlier post, we discussed foundational character traits where one character trait becomes a foundation for other character traits…

I increased the salary of three of my drivers from Rs. 40,000/month to Rs. 45,000/month today. This section of our society…

For the past few months, living and traveling with the Afghans from the cities to the remotest mountains and diving deeper into their past…

Loyalty demands that a favor be returned, but when—I have learnt the hard way—this violates Shariah or prudence…

Seven years ago, I consulted with Diamond Paints. We came up with a compelling purpose and a hundred-year vision…

As I delve deeper into the history and geopolitics of the subcontinent and expand my travel to Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka….

I set up Timelenders twenty years ago and have trained thousands of people from over 75 nationalities!…

Recently a friend asked me for advice regarding a girl he wanted to marry. I was asked to listen to the dialogue as he proposed…

Want to work on something that needs brainpower?…

Great ideas never change the world!..

The word vassal is derived from the Latin word vassallus meaning servant. Collins Dictionary defines vassal as..

Last week I had the privilege of traveling with Dr. Shahid Mahmud, Chairman and CEO of the Interactive Group of companies.

You want to be loved, or do you want to be valued? Of course, your answer would be both. But what if you had to choose between the two?

After posting my last life lesson about not compromising our present excellence for the future, I have received several queries about further elaborating on the idea.

My dear friend, Maulana Momin Hayat Khan, taught me a revolutionary lesson many years ago. He said..

جو کھا کے پتھر دعائیں دے گا وہی رہے گا ہر ایک نشتر کو جو سہے گا، وہی رہے گا

The misalignment of your profession with your ultimate purpose (ultimate purpose is the reason for our existence) is like a slow-progressing deadly cancer..

As opposed to other ways of life, In Islam, romance in marriage is not the cake; it is the icing on the cake.

If you seriously want something and not getting up in Tahajjud and crying your heart out in front of Allah (SWT), you are not serious enough!

A grave mistake is to make decisions emotionally and then justify them through logic and reasoning; instead, we must make decisions based on facts..

The word ‘think’ is a verb. Oxford Learner‘s Dictionary defines it as: “to use your mind to consider something, to form connected ideas, to try to solve problems, etc.”

One of the most significant leaps in knowledge and wisdom happens on the day when we can discern between assumptions and facts in our minds.

As a life coach, I frequently encounter parents who seek my guidance for their troubled children.

One of the most important lessons of my life is encapsulated in the following quote and a verse of poetry..

Visions don‘t change the world, masterstrokes do!

The most profound gift one can offer a fellow human being is the enlightenment of the reason for their existence.

I define a life stroke as a significant achievement in life. It may not be as substantial as a masterstroke, but it does have a considerable impact.

Retire from your profession but not your vision! I once asked a government officer about his plans after retirement. He replied: “I will relax and play with my grandchildren.”

It was sudden. There was no escape! In a masjid, I found shoes strewn on the steps. I picked up my shoes and had no option but to step over the shoes.

Multiple people requested an explanation to the recent life lesson speaking about setting our destination by our purpose rather than our vision.

Remember that the destination in life is set by our Ultimate Purpose (our reason of existence) and the milestones are set by the vision.

At 15,397 feet above sea level, the Khunjerab Pass is the world’s highest paved border crossing between Pakistan and China. It is twice the height of Murree (7,517 ft).

Choose your mentors wisely! Remember, a piece of marble is as valuable as the pair of hands sculpting it.

The golden rule for finding time for exercise, as Warren Buffett says, is: “Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.”

I got the following comment on my last post referring to Pakistan as a burning building..

Where do you stand if a building is on fire? When a building catches fire, the residents immediately fall into five categories..

Is your interaction with social media positive or negative? When we interact with social media, we are either creating content (or sharing) or consuming content.

Want to teach your daughter how to live? Teach her how to die first; she will amaze you with how she will fathom the intricacies of life.

Do you want to catch the magic of the morning hours? Here are some steps to wake up early and catch those magical early morning hours, full of Barakah and productivity

Looking today at either side of the line drawn by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand on November 12, 1893, I realized that when an ideology weds the will to sacrifice, revolutions are born.

I’ve learned that almost all of the people who are hugely successful in this world and the next know a truth very well

It is of great honor to go down fighting for a worthy vision backed by a correct ideology! Success and failure are just secondary.

One important lesson I’ve learned in life is that if I don’t complete my plan for the day before Fajr (the pre-dawn prayer in Islam), I’ve already lost half the battle for that day.

If you enquire a highly distressed adult who has lost a cheap toy about the cause of his distress and were to learn that the reason is the misplacement of the toy, you would be shocked.

Pakistan is not a case study of a failed state or a failed nation, it is a case study of a failed system of governance!

Like the girl at the Kabul Airport, Mullah Shakeeb could have also been a Pakistani citizen as he grew up, was educated, and spent decades in Pakistan.

Last week in Kabul, a young airport security officer began speaking in broken Urdu, sensing that my wife didn‘t speak English

Today I explained the Nakhla program for widows and orphans to His Excellency, Amir Khan Mutaqqi, the Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.

Along with the Muslims of Afghanistan, I wish you Ramadan Mubarak. Afghanistan is under siege…

While many Muslims were arguing that COVID vaccination is a Jewish conspiracy, the Jewish state rushed to vaccinate..

My recommendation of an article in my last lesson has created some confusion. Please note that when I recommend something

Here is an ayah and a hadith about orphans:

“And worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him, and be good to both parents and to the relative and the orphans and the destitute…

Here is a high-leverage intervention for your health: double the intake of water and watch multiple health indicators improve dramatically.

Being extremely busy can be an exception but not the rule in your life. If this is the rule, then your most precious goals in your life are at a severe risk!

A few years ago, a girl came up to me after my training. “I am not beautiful”, she wept, “I will never get married.”

فقط باتیں اندھیروں کی محض قصے اجالوں کے چراغِ آرزو لے کر نہ تم نکلے نہ ہم نکلے

Three sentences said earnestly can solidify all of your relationships—from your five-year old to your boss; from your wife to Allah (SWT)

If you don‘t start your day without a proper to-do list, your credibility, your financial future, your relationships and your hereafter are all at risk!

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the leading health Think Tanks of the US, states that people who have obesity, compared to those with a normal or [...]

کوئی جماعت یا ادارہ جس کے معنی خیز عزائم ہوں، اس کے افراد میں کچھ عزیمت پر چلنے والے اور کچھ رخصتوں کے راہرو تو ہو سکتے ہیں لیکن اس کی قیادت میں اہل رخصت

دنیا کی صحرا نوردی کے نتیجے میں، میں نے سیکھا کہ زمانے کے نشیب وفراز سے عزیمت والے کم اور رخصت والے زیادہ متاثر ہوتے ہیں۔

خلیل الرحمان قمر صاحب نے کچھ اپنے اشعار اپنے کتبے پر لکھنے کی وصیت کی ہے۔ میں چند لوگوں کو جانتا ہوں کہ اگر وہ بھی شاعری کرتے تو کچھ ایسے ہی اشعار اپنے کتبوں پر لکھے جانے کے خواہاں ہوتے:

Continually advise your children, gently pointing out their mistakes. If they continue, set creative consequences that least impact their self-esteem.

Give wings to your thoughts, not your feet.
It is the flight of ideas, not the limbs, that begets great endeavors.
Please slow down!

ایک فرنگی حاکم کی اپنے بیٹے کو نصیحت
علامہ اقبال کے الفاظ میں:
سینے میں رہے رازِ ملوکانہ تو بہتر کرتے نہیں محکوم کو تیغوں سے کبھی زیر

We Muslims, as a nation, have ambitions in this world. In western styled democracy, a drug addict‘s vote equals that of someone like Dr. Amjad Saqib, Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, Dr. Javed Ghani, or Mufti Taqi Usmani.

Cognitive dissonance is a battle within, avoidance of which may require battles outside. A life of principles and values requires confrontations with the world.

Allah (SWT) has given us two gifts, amongst many, for our success in both worlds. First, all humans are bestowed with an innate ability to discern between good and evil. [...]

In January 2018, Qasim Ali Shah Foundation did a fantastic job of interviewing me and producing a professional short video…

A quote from Isaac Newton that I came across years ago changed my perspective on life. I have reworded it…

A few verses of the poetry of Ahmed Faraz that I quoted have led some people to believe that I had some negative experiences in Afghanistan.

On my way back from Afghanistan, the following verses of poetry of Ahmed Faraz struck a chord:

Deep Meaningful Meeting (DMM): a tool to dramatically enhance the relationships with our children.

I have learned that the roads which are the longest and the hardest are often the shortest ways to your destinations in life!

Why should you have a strong bond with your children? A bond between people is a strong feeling of friendship, love, or shared beliefs and experiences that unites them (Collins Dictionary).

As I am preparing for my eighth trip to Afghanistan since last February, the following verses of Iqbal flood my mind: نگاہِ فقر میں شانِ سکندری کیا ہے خراج کی [...]

I recommend we document our loans and make arrangements to have family or friends pay them in case of our deaths.

Around 125 years ago, the colonial powers ruled most of the world, subjugating and tormenting hundreds of millions of people.

As war broke out between Chechnya and Russia in 1995, my foundation in Chicago tasked me to visit Chechnya and provide humanitarian assistance.

I believe that recognition and appreciation – both for us as a person and in actions – are as innate needs of humans as water and oxygen. Just as plants [...]

Relational character traits – similar and dissimilar – are developed due to our relations with others..