Introduction
Alloying is the art of mixing metals to create a material with specific desired properties. Mixed in the precisely right proportions, the resulting material can be of better quality than the sum of the individual components.
An example from the field of aeronautical engineering: nickel-based aluminium superalloys, used to make super-efficient jet engines in today’s commercial aircraft. The Farnam Street blog has a great write-up on alloying in people:
Alloying People & Skills
In people, alloying is the combination of skills that makes them unstoppable.
Consider a person possessing deep engineering skills who can clearly explain ideas. They are more valuable than someone with just the engineering skills.
Now add empathy, humility, resilience, and drive. This person becomes incredibly rare.
The key to successful alloying is knowing which elements to combine and in what proportions. Too little of one ingredient and you don’t get the desired effect; too much and you might end up with something brittle or unstable.
The art lies in finding the sweet spot, the golden ratio where the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts.
This idea of alloying the unique combination of skills that you (and only you) have is extremely valuable for those of us who are considering the next 5-7 years of our careers, or thinking about our next phase activism and volunteer work.
For those of us just starting out, it nudges us to think about combining our various experiences and skillsets in unique ways that can maximise positive impact on those around us.
Take a step back. Look back at what you have experienced, the skills you have picked up, the knowledge you have gain, and think hard about what you can do effortlessly that takes others much more effort to figure out.
Figure out what that “golden ratio” of experience, skills, knowledge, and attributes are, and how you can apply it in different contexts and subjects, that will magnify your contributions.
Speaking of alloys and metals, how about the following hadith (which some of us may know as hadith logam):
حَدَّثَنِي زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا كَثِيرُ بْنُ هِشَامٍ، حَدَّثَنَا جَعْفَرُ بْنُ بُرْقَانَ، حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ الأَصَمِّ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، بِحَدِيثٍ يَرْفَعُهُ قَالَ “ النَّاسُ مَعَادِنُ كَمَعَادِنِ الْفِضَّةِ وَالذَّهَبِ خِيَارُهُمْ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ خِيَارُهُمْ فِي الإِسْلاَمِ إِذَا فَقُهُوا وَالأَرْوَاحُ جُنُودٌ مُجَنَّدَةٌ فَمَا تَعَارَفَ مِنْهَا ائْتَلَفَ وَمَا تَنَاكَرَ مِنْهَا اخْتَلَفَ ” .
Abu Huraira narrated directly from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) that he said:
People are like mines of gold and silver; those who were excellent in Jahiliya (during the days of ignorance) are excellent In Islam, when they have, an understanding, and the souls are troops collected together and those who had a mutual familiarity amongst themselves in the store of prenatal existence would have affinity amongst them, (in this world also) and those who opposed one of them, would be at variance with one another.
Sahih Muslim 2638b [https://sunnah.com/muslim:2638b]
Who in your social circles has that “golden ratio”, that could potentially make them superalloys for da’wah, islah and tarbiyyah, once they are missioned up?
Bring them along to our programmes, we want to get to know them. 😊
