The Divine Duty Part III

How will fulfilling our divine duty help us fulfil our potential?

In the last part, we discovered how fulfilling our divine duty will lead us to fulfilling our potential.

How exactly does that work though?

Maslow’s Model of Self Actualisation

Abraham Maslow is famous for his hierarchy of needs.

This is the most well-known self-actualisation model - once your lower needs are met such as food, safety and love, you eventually begin to desire self-actualisation (i.e. reaching your potential) as that is the highest aspiration for any human.

Maslow posited that all human needs are arranged in a hierarchy:

“It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?

At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency” (Maslow, 1943, p. 375) .

What is self-actualisation? According to Maslow:

“It refers to the person’s desire for self-fulfilment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualised in what he is potentially.

The specific form that these needs will take will of course vary greatly from person to person. In one individual it may take the form of the desire to be an ideal mother, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in still another it may be expressed in painting pictures or in inventions” (Maslow, 1943, p. 382–383).

This is widely known and quoted around the world.

It definitely has merit and is useful.

However, it centres around the individual and his needs rather than what God needs the individual to do to serve Him.

The caveat here is despite penning this theory, Maslow did not believe that many people could actually achieve true self-actualisation. He believed that people usually only experience transitory moments (known as ‘peak experiences’) of self-actualisation. Such moments, associated with personally significant events such as childbirth, sporting achievement and examination success), are difficult to achieve and maintain consistently.

As Muslims, we are not ego or individual-led. We serve God first.

The reason why we do everything in our scriptures, everything He ordained is because we surrender to Him and Him alone. But we also believe the byproduct of doing so is of benefit to us. Whatever He has commanded is better for us, no matter what.

Therefore we believe us fulfilling our potential is the peak of what is possible as long as we submit to His laws fully and do whatever was always intended. Best of all, it is not down to ourselves. We need to do the work, but Allah will do the development.

We have our own model for fulfilling our potential which represents this.

Introducing the Khalifah Hierarchy

Here’s how the “Khalifah Hierarchy” works:

STAGE 1: Worship Your Lord

The foundation stage is to worship your Lord.

This is the stage that 90% of the Ummah understand as our purpose. And therefore where most of us aspire to get to as the peak of our potential.

Some aren’t even at this stage, sadly.

STAGE 2: Benefit and Serve His Creation

The next level up is to benefit and serve His creation. This is to add value and serve others in what you do, to be kind, have great conduct and character. Many people live happy lives just doing this. They feel fairly fulfilled and content. They may work for a charity, a teacher or even a normal 9-5, but they show impeccable character and have a service mindset.

You may not be fulfilling your God-given purpose, but you are adding value and there is certainly some barakah at this stage.

STAGE 3: Fulfil your God-given mission

The next level up is where the magic happens.

Have you ever come across anyone who just oozes passion, and always seems to operate at peak productivity and performance? It’s like they were born for the role they do, they find it easy, and it fits their zone of genius. They are driven, dynamic and damn good at what they do.

This is not by accident.

We have been granted certain skills, abilities, powers in order to be able to carry out this unique role we have been made for. And sometimes, these gifts have been given to you because of experiences you’ve been through. Some nice, many not-so-nice.  

Everything has happened for a reason, all to prepare you for the mission you are uniquely designed for. It’s no coincidence those motivated, purposeful people are energised and have as their driving force something bad that once happened to them.

You can often recognise this because it’s where everything finally falls into place in your life, a genuine epiphany moment when you realise where all your unique talents cross over with a cause you’re willing to strive for, for life.

Everything finally has a meaning.

STAGE 4: Maximise Potential and become who God loves

As we start working on the mission we were created for, we will be tested more and more. That is in God’s infinite wisdom.

But at this point, you are willingly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone more and more, all because you are driven by your passion, your purpose, this duty you have. You know this is why you’re here, why Allah made you and now you won’t stop until you’ve fulfilled the mission in the best way possible. The barakah flows like never before. People are inspired by you. They want to follow you.

There may also be more haters than ever - but it means you’re significant. Shaytan and his cronies work harder than ever to take you off your path - that’s his purpose after all. Your mission filters out any meaningless activity that doesn’t take you closer to it.

Your mission is now your ultimate focus, even if you’ll never see the fruits of it in your lifetime. In some cases, even if it costs you your life.

But what it’s giving you beyond fulfilment, energy, and achievement is the fact you know it’s the ultimate worship that God loves and all of the work you’re doing counts as reward in your book of deeds. And gets you closer to achieving the ultimate objective we have as humans - to get to Jannah.

The work at this level gives you the best kind of ROI - one that elevates you both in dunya AND the akhirah.

How do you find and fulfil your God-given mission?

If our overall divine duty is to establish order and implement the Creator’s system on Earth - then our God-given mission is to find WHAT order we have to establish, and what part of the Creator’s system do we need to implement here on Earth?

It doesn’t have to be grand, or on a global scale. It could be at a community level. Sometimes it could even be at a household level - to be the best parent you can be for example. The reward is with Allah and with Him alone.

But the clues to all of this lie within ourselves.

Your fitrah - your natural disposition is who you’re supposed to be.

The gifts we’ve been given, the skills, passions and interests, the experiences. All of these stack on top of one another, making you completely unique. Nobody has your unique mix of skills, experiences, passions and history.

So only you are capable of fulfilling your divine duty and your God-given mission. 

Get to know yourself. Deeper than you’ve ever done before. Deeper.

Recognise the patterns. Where does everything join up? What makes you come alive?

There might be a lot of unlearning to do first. To get rid of the conditioning we’ve been through and let go of the baggage which clouds who we think we are.

Finding out what exactly this specific job is for us is vital to who we become and the key to whether we fulfil our potential.

Even if you’ve been an Average Joe all your life, you could genuinely be bona fide world-class in another. You just may not have discovered that unique blend just yet.

What happens if you don’t fulfil this mission?

Becoming the Khalifah you were born to be in the truest sense of the word is our real purpose.

If you fail to pursue this divine duty, it remains unfinished.

“It is just as if a king had sent you to the country to carry out a specified task. You go and perform a hundred other tasks; but if you have not performed that particular task on account of which you had gone to the country, it is as though you have performed nothing at all. So man has come in this world for a particular task, and that is his purpose; if he does not perform it, then he will have done nothing.” Rumi

This is not just collectively, but on an individual basis. Each and every one of us has been given a task to fulfil. Remember, each role is specific to the individual, based on the unique gifts Allah has given them.

This role is challenging and a lifelong pursuit, but it grows them, makes them resilient, and achieve their potential.

But that also means if you don’t become who you were destined to be, no-one else can fulfil that exact role for you.

There’s now a you-shaped hole and the Ummah ends up missing out on the contribution you were supposed to make for it.

When generations and generations of people fail to live by their purpose and neglect their individual missions, let alone fulfil their true potential, you get to the sorry state we’re in today.

The Ummah falls into stagnation, dwelling in the doldrums. Sound familiar?

Throughout our illustrious History and the Golden Age in particular, there were great Muslims. One of the core principles that enabled their greatness was the fact they understood their purpose and fiercely pursued it.

Only by returning back to living by our divine duty can we begin to do justice to who we were always meant to be - and begin the journey towards eventually reviving the Ummah, insha’allah.

So what’s preventing us from discovering our divine duty and living by it?

There are four main problems that every Muslim faces:

1. We were never really taught our true purpose beyond "I have created man and jinn to worship me" - and don’t know how to apply this practically in a way that harmonises with our world and work

2. We don’t really know ourselves beyond a superficial level so we don’t really understand what we’re good at or passionate about, let alone what role we’ve been created for

3. We’re living day to day, without a grand vision driving us forward, kept so busy by work and earning money that we can’t figure out how all of our experiences and skills connect for something bigger than ourselves

4. We can’t figure out (or are too fearful) to take the right action to make something happen for ourselves and move forward to achieving the mission.

There’s a fifth bonus problem. Ourselves. Sometimes we have past stories, wrong thought processes, trauma, mindset issues that prevent us finding a way forward.

All of these must be overcome to progress.

How I can help you

Since learning this, I don’t like saying I help people find their purpose.

It seems too small, too trivial for such a huge role. Purpose is too worldly. It’s still ego-centred. How do I find my purpose, what’s MY purpose of life etc. Me Me Me.

I prefer saying I help people discover their divine duty. This is much more accurate and places God at the centre, just as it should be.

If you want to figure out your divine duty for yourself, there’s a few things I can do to help you.

1. Subscribe to my social media channels where you can read more about this subject - (I write almost daily): X | LinkedIn

2. Do our free Purpose Life Assessment Quiz. This will see how aligned your current life is with your actual divine duty and help you to identify the gaps.

3. Watch my free training on getting more clarity and life direction here.

4. Read more about finding purpose in this article: How to Find Your Purpose as a Muslim

5. Schedule a free discovery call with my team to learn more for yourself.

6. I run a coaching program called KNOW Your Purpose. It’s a 40-day program designed to help anyone go from lost and lethargic to full of energy, enthusiasm and impact by discovering your purpose, passion and path in life.

7. You can learn more about KNOW and the work we do here.

And as you can see, when you discover your divine duty - the natural consequence is that you finally fulfil that immense potential you were born with, and become the Khalifah that God loves, insha’allah.