Saudishia.com - 23 / 1 / 2010 - 12:23 pm

This book is written by Sheikh Hasan Alsaffar and it consists of twelve articles in three categories; character building, facing challenges and social relations. In the character building chapter, the first article tackles the issue of the assertive character which means being confident, self-esteemed, able to express self and maintain rights. The writer compares assertive character with withdrawn and narcissist characters. He, also, declares that expressing one's opinion and feelings is a feature of assertive character. He urges parents to create a respectful and encouraging environment in which their children would be raised up in a way to be brave to face reality in this life.

The second article is about taking initiatives in every possible field of life. Alsaffar says that each individual has special potentials that need to be activated in any social work. Quran, on the other hand, encourages Muslims to be pioneers in every scientific and charity domain. The writer lists characteristics of those who, usually, take initiatives; well educated, confident, generous and active. He, also, declares that communities are full with highly qualified persons but need more effective and active initiatives.

The third article discusses the best approaches of how to make use of free times. Spending spare times in fruitful activities is recommended by ancient philosophers such as Aristotle who said, "Teaching children how to spend their time positively is the basis of good raising". On the other hand, Islam notions indicate the importance of time in many ways for instance, every person will be judged for the way he spent his time, human are both body and spirit each has special need that should be fulfilled wisely.

The fourth article discusses the vital role of women in every aspects of life, as they, like men, are fully minded, knowledgeable and capable to master any scientific field. The writer gives examples of some women who exceeded men in various professional domains such as Mazlan Othman, from Malaysia, who is the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Alsaffar states that females in Saudi Arabia are eager to study in all available academic fields, and according to official statistics, there are two million school and university female students. He mentions that some of them agree to live in other cities just to attend the university.

The last article in this category is about consuming and wasting money. The writer declares that the Middle East has one of the highest consuming percentages and the lower production rates, which indicate that people are wasting their money, for extra products without saving any money for cases of emergency. Alsaffar calls for money management and other important steps to cut the wasting phenomena.

The second category is about facing life challenges and the first article is entitled "Problems between Complaining and Solving". In this article the writer criticizes people's attitudes toward any sudden problem as they start complaining, crying and blaming without even trying to overcome these problems. But, Alsaffar discusses some important actions that could be made in order to treat any unexpected or expected problem positively.

"Life Difficulties between Passiveness and Understanding" is the title of the next article in this category and it, mainly, discusses the passive personality which deals negatively with life affairs and always has a pessimistic vision for any new active program, idea or figure. This kind of personality is more eager to destroy than to build. So, the writer mentions the reasons behind the existence of this personality and the appropriate way to handle life difficulties.

Then, the writer ends these categories with two articles; one of them is, also, about "Obstacles between Giving up and Effectiveness" which discusses the problem of feeling depressed and giving up when finding any tiny obstacle. Alsaffar gives more facts and examples showing that proceeding and effectiveness are the only way to achievements. The other article tackled the issue of the fear of exams, its side effects, how to build confidence and the role of teachers and schools in eliminating this fear.

The third category is about social relations, and starts with an article about "How to Build Successful Social Relations?", and it gives some ideas of how to deal successfully with the different types of people even the proud and rude ones. Then, the writer mentions the best way to deal with relatives.

The next article is entitled "Career, Service and Trust". In this article, the writer discussed many points such as how to choose the suitable career, monitoring and supervision at work, challenges facing employees, morals that should every employee have, work efficiency and loyalty.

The last article in this category and in the book is about "Sacred and Vital Role of the Teacher". This article discusses the issue of teaching weather it is an ordinary job or a very special career that should be taking care of. It also mentions the importance of efficiency and honesty in practicing this job because it is fully involved in raising up a whole generation weather in the academic or physiological side.