Praise be to Allah, who taught man what he does not know, and blessings and peace be upon his Messenger, the teacher of nations. I hope that my speech to you today be fruitful and advantageous to all intended audience.

I am so pleased with the invitation addressed to me by MoFAIC to co-write this letter. There is no doubt, however, that this happiness would also be greater when readers of this article gain the desired benefit from my experience, parts of which are to be mentioned briefly on this page.

What I will present to you today is merely a simple summary that briefs the basic rule for what I have learned from field experiences in terms of "learning and training" during my government work and when I have devoted myself to entrepreneurship. Please allow me to use direct guidance sentences, only for the benefit of my beloved readers. For us to learn, to understand, to perceive, and to master, we have to put aside our material ambitions, take away our desire for fame and superiority and leave all that behind. We have to get free from all these ambitions and their accompanying obsessions.

The social position, and your intellectual attachment to it, cannot accompany you while you seek knowledge.  Learning cannot find its way or become deep rooted into your brain when the mind is possessed by anxieties of reaching high positions. Hence, dependency should be the first adopted strategy for an individual to become a true learner.

The overwhelming ambition of fame, money, and position; as associated with social compliments and constant pursuit of opportunities; will leave you with no time to invest in learning. This will not keep any space in your mind for memorization, analysis or even reaching logical conclusions, no matter how many lessons you go through, and no matter how much information you experience during your day.

The times I have spent with groups who are lower than me in grade are to be considered the best for me to receive learning and training. It was the time where I found myself automatically falling off the heat of the "raging life" to the calmness of moments, when information flows in classroom, enriched by discussion to breed new information and deep ideas. On the contrary, the moments of learning and training, I have spent with groups or individuals who hold positions equal to mine are no more than wasting time in discussions where each part tries to prove that they have knowledge more than what others have. It also happened that we sometimes departed from the goal for which we sat in that room to end up with leaving the room with nothing new to report.

It is noteworthy here that no matter how knowledge, grades, or level of education you reach, you will remain ignorant of the secrets of life and universe. No human being before you has been able to capture all courses of science and knowledge. Do not let the little information you have gained make you feel that you have acquired all knowledge you need"… (Of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you”, (AL-Isra -85)

Some people who have left public jobs or technical professions and turned to business may believe that they no longer need to receive any kind of knowledge or training as their work is mainly based on seizing opportunities, using compliments, holding agreements, and proving presence in markets. However, such kind of people have missed the fact that the good understanding of business environment and its vicissitudes do require learning. The dealing with such environment also requires ongoing training to gain success in business world and keep up with the terrible speed of this world transformation.

I have endeavored in this piece of writing to introduce to you a basic rule that can be summarized as the following:

“In the moments you spend for learning and training, forget any ambition other than gaining knowledge and practical advantage. Try to turn all your material and moral gains into bridges that can assist you reach the resources of knowledge. Try always to be convinced that you are still a scholar of knowledge no matter how old you are and what position you hold.”

HE Saeed Mohammed bin Murshid Al-Maqbali

UAE Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation