ISLAM - Will help rid the world of poverty

May Allah forgive me for not spending enough in His path and may Allah give me the ability to spend much more.Ameen. This video and others like it really make me feel guilty about the life of ease I live, I wish i could help so much that it makes a difference, I live in one of the most disparate countries in the world when it comes to wealth, just a stones throw from an area filled with millionaires you can find dire poverty, As a Muslim it is unacceptable that a neighbour can go hungry while we have food on the table, may Allah make me realise this and help me fulfill my goal of becoming the best muslim philanthropist of our time and may Allah make us all realise that we have to start now.

Expectations, desire and the power of thought

I am currently reading Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century, the book is centered on the fact that thoughts translate into reality as it is the thoughts that come first, the book does discuss a lot of other concepts that go with this in order to "transmute" thoughts into reality.

I found this discussion very much related to the hadith qudsi which goes to the effect that Allah treats a person according to the person's expectations from Him. This is very much related to yaqeen and Imaan. Napoleon Hill also mentions such states as essential for success in his book, i.e. having "faith" that one's desires and plan to achieve them will result in fruition.

As a Muslim there is a state of mind or rather heart referred to as ihtisaab, which means roughly to do an action with complete conviction that whatever is promised for doing it will be granted by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala. This ties in with having good expectations from Allah, couple that with the a'maal that has been given to us through our Prophet (SAW) and we have a sure recipe for achieving wealth and success. As an example it is related in ahadith that whoever recites Surah Waqiah in the evening will never be afflicted by poverty, this is so powerful we don't even realise, the fear of poverty is a major stumbling block in achieving success, so many people dwell on this fear and live with a poverty mindset that it then becomes their fate. By acting on this amal with ihtisaab, i.e the conviction that what Allah has promised will come to pass ones fear of poverty can be totally eradicated and one can develop a mindset away from poverty which then because if one's expectations from Allah will transmute into reality, Alhamdulillah I myself have realised the wonderful effect of reciting Surah Waaqi'ah every evening, besides the barakah I have seen in my wealth I have absolute conviction that as long as Allah grants me taufeeq to continue this practice I will never be afflicted by poverty. Allahs promise is never broken.

With regard to he book itself i would caution readers not to take the chapter on sex and its relation to success too seriously, i can see where the author is coming from with regards to the powerful emotions associated with it though i would rather take the lessons that he describes regarding how many have become unsuccessful because of their overindulgence in it in wrongful and harmful ways. As a practitioner of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine it is interesting to note though that overindulgence in intercourse does lead to a weak mind and willpower both of which are essential for the achievement of one's goal and purpose in life. The rest of the book presents a concept not easy to pick up if one is reading such books for the first time, in fact as a primer to this book i would read this book first;

The author is a fellow South African, not that i am really nationalistic, he one of the best motivational speakers in the world at the moment and I have to say his book really inspires me to break my mental barriers and push myself to achieve what otherwise i wouldn't even have dreamt of achieving, he has many Muslim friends who no doubt have had some influence on his thinking as well.

Bottom line is thoughts are important, yes, they do tend to transmute into their reality, napoleon says it nicely: "Thoughts have a tendency to clothe themselves in their physical reality", really powerful, negative thoughts bring about negative consequences, positive thoughts bring about positive consequences,

Its interesting also that when Shaytaan will be blamed by his followers on the day of judgment he will reply that he is not at fault as he only whispered the thought in the heart of the wrongdoer. I'm sure now you can see how powerful thoughts are, may Allah guide us to fill our minds with thoughts of khair and goodness and protect us from evil thoughts. Ameen.

Lets work the numbers - Ponte

I said before that I prefer to invest for cashflow when looking at properties. Property is an easy way to get rich at medium speed but its important that the numbers should be right, every property should be looked at as you would a business and when doing so there are some very important things to consider:-

1. Will the business/property give me a profit/money in my pocket from day one?
2. If not how long will it take to reach breakeven point?
3. Do I have enough extra funds to carry the business/property until it reaches that point (where it can pay itself)?
4. In the case of property - is it in an area where i can expect a good rental demand for the property?
5. what are the long term prospects for the property/business?

With regard to the ponte property it will not be profitable from day one when looking at the apparent numbers, the unit i booked costs 750 000 (I'm not saying what currency), the rental expected is approximately 7750, the levy will be about 800 and if i get it fully financed the instalment will be approximately 8200, lets look at that more clearly:-

Rental income from the unit: 7750

levies: -800

Instalment: -8200

Shortfall: =-1250

which is equivalent to 15 000 for the year, so why in my right mind would i take this property, well for one, if i were young which i am i suppose i could fund the shortfall from my other businesses but there is another reason, because the building falls in the urban development zone i can get an accelerated depreciation on this building of 20% of the refurbishment cost (1/3 the price) in the first year and 5% for every year thereafter for 17 years, that would in effect reduce my personal income tax bill as follows:-

1/3 of 750 000 = 250 000

20% of 250 000 = 50 000

considering a tax rate of 35% = saving of 17 500 less the original shortfall of 15 000 leaves me with a positive cashflow of 2500 in the first year.

in the second year my yearly shortfall (with a 10% rental increase) would be -6768 and the tax saving 5% of 250 000 = 12 500 * 35% = 4375 which leaves me with a shortfall of -2393 less the 2500 of the previous year = 107

What this essentially means and why i prefer cash flow positive properties is that they pay themselves.

Creating wealth through property is the easiest and most assured way of becoming rich and financially free, just make sure the numbers are right and your financing is halaal. Some people say they would rather pay cash and i would say to such people that it is okay to pay cash but then you lose out on leverage, if you had the cash why not put down 10% deposit on 10 of these properties and secure yourself an income for the future, as Muslims yes we should be ready for death should it come any moment but that definitely does not mean we should not prepare for the financial safety of ourselves and our families should we live to see it or worse leave nothing behind for them when we leave. One category of martyr in Islam is he who passes away while striving in pursuit of halal sustenance so that his family does not have to ask from others.

May Allah assist us and guide us. Ameen.

(I share this in the hope that others and myself will learn the important lessons of wealth creation and Islam's view on it that we rarely learn elsewhere)

Rap Jumping @ Ponte

Another rap jumping video inside ponte

Picturing Ponte

Another great video on Ponte, now you can see why I really want 10 apartments in this building plus a penthouse. I am going to go through the figures in my next post and how to determine a good investment with regard to cash flow and why you should invest this way.

Rap Jumping Ponte

Found this video of something going on in the hollow of the ponte building mentioned in the previous post.

Ponte building - I want 10!! plus a penthouse

I have a goal to own 10 apartments in the Ponte building in Johannesburg in addition to one of the penthouses within three years. Went to the showday a couple of weeks ago and it just reinforced my goal. The Ponte building is the landmark building of Johannesburg just as every city has its main building, it is probably also the highest and easily visible from all the buildings from far. In the apartheid era when it was built it was the building to have an apartment in, so basically if you were rich and famous you had an apartment there, over time the area became bad and the building got run over by non-paying tenants, crime and drugs, there was a time when everyday a murder would take place in ponte. Last year two developers with real vision bought the building over and are restoring it to its former glory and more, the area itself is also being upgraded in preparation of 2010 and the governments future vision for the city but you have to have the eyes of a true investor to see it. I already have two flats in the area and my property strategy for at least the next five years will see me acquiring more and more properties in the same area Insha'Allah.

Here is some info i ripped off the net about the original building:

Originally planned to be 64 stories high but was scaled back due to fire fighting concerns of the council.
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A proposal surfaced in the late 1990s to reconfigure the building into a high-rise prison.
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The tallest residential building in Africa, Ponte City has a hollow core along its entire height.
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The sign at the top of the building is the highest and largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
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The building is not completely cylindrical as it has a flat area on the rear side facing north.
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The top 23 floors have a separate water supply located in tanks on the 31st floor and while lower floors are serviced by council supply.
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The multi-story parkade is below ground at the front entrance and exposed at the rear due to the very steep nature of the site.
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There is a shopping arcade on the 8th floor with 50 shops serving the tenants as well as a pedestrian bridge to the University crossing an adjacent freeway.

and here is info about the new building:-

http://www.newponte.co.za/index.htm

http://www.newponte.co.za/downloads/PonteInMaverick.pdf

I managed to get some photos from the day i went, we particularly liked the "future slick" option and booked a 1 bedroom exec that is depicted in these photos:-

Take a look at the view!!!

Usually I wouldn't be interested in new developments at this stage in my investment plan because the rental is not usually enough to pay off the loan taken out on the property, in the case of this building however, i believe the rentals that can be achieved will be far greater coupled with the tax benefits the government is giving to buy in this area would make it a viable and cash flow positive investment.

I have no idea how to organise the finance but i know Allah will help me Insha'Allah.

Wealth is a fitnah, does that mean don't acquire it?

I read today in one of the muslim forums the familiar ayaat and hadith regarding wealth being a fitnah, I posted my own thoughts there and am repeating in more detail here. Yes, wealth is a fitnah or temptation/test but as i said in the forum so are a persons wife and children as per the verse in the Quran, does this mean that we should not get married or have kids, absolutely not, the verse goes on to mention "fear Allah" not "dont get married" etc. The point I am making is that the object of these warnings are not to stop us from acquiring those same things but rather an admonishment that we should not let these things make us stray from deen, if it can be said that excessive wealth will take a person away from deen then can it be said that excessive children can do the same? quite the contrary, in fact we are encouraged to have more children by our Prophet (SAW) so in the same way it is an erroneous belief that excessive wealth in and of itself will take a person away from Deen, in fact a person can be away from Deen even in poverty and reach high stages while being wealty, much of Islam was spread in the world when the people of other countries experienced the sound business dealings of muslims who travelled to those countries.

In conclusion my point is yes, wealth is a test, just like the world itself is, acquire it in the right way, spend it in the right way and don't let it stop you from practising on your deen.