"Communication Theories and The Pursuit of Happyness"

“Emotions just don’t carry with a read.”

“It’s more difficult for them because they are not emotional, they are thinkers.”

-         Paul R Warner

Communication or effective communication has important role in our life.

If a person is communicating there is a comfort zone. People have a tendency to slide to silence or slide to violence.

After watching the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” that is directed by Gabriele Muccino starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner and Jaden Smith as Christopher. Basically this movie is related to real Chris Gardner. It is a true story based on problems in life and struggles. The story depicts how a homeless person becomes a millionaire.

So in this movie there are lots of effective communication and some miscommunication.  From the theories of communication: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Packard’s theory of needs.

Firstly I will talk about Packard’s theory, in the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” there is a scene in which Chris Gardener is giving interview for internship in stockbroker where he persuade the people taking interview and finally succeeds in getting selected. This is the effective communication.

Secondly, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consisted of five factors that are survival, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. In the movie there are scenes which are related to these factors.

Survival: In one scene Chris Gardner doesn't give up, he survives and doesn't lose hope. In spite his wife doesn't stand with him but he stood alone with his son. This is survival.

Safety: Chris Gardner was very conscious for safety that is why he was struggling for shelter to save and hide him.

Social: In this point, Chris Gardner was very social to others. He doesn't show any problems to others but socializes very bravely in the environment.

Esteem: In this, Chris Gardner has the self confidence that he can do it. He doesn't give up like his wife. He stood up in front of all problems. He has a dream that he want to achieve it.

Self-actualization: In this, Chris Gardner live like an intelligent, he never let problems take over on his work. He kept the problems away and began to work even harder than before.

These are all the communication skills that Chris Gardner possesses in the movie “Pursuit of Happyness.”

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"Communication in Islam"

          

Islam is communication, no matter how you look at it.

Islam is communication with yourself and it is communication with God Almighty, with the Qur’an, with your fellow human beings and with the rest of God’s creation.

It is communication using the Qur’an, the Hadith and all the innate and acquired faculties, abilities and skills with which your maker may have blessed and endowed you.

So, Islam is communication. No matter how you look at it.

At the same time, Islam is also all about life, in every sense of that expression – life in this world as well as life in the next world.

And, of course, Islam is all about the Qur’an – and vice versa.

Qur’an, God’s own communication with and to his creation – the worlds – the best and finest and most complete that there is or can be.

And Islam is about the Hadith, the communication with and to his companions and the world of the man, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, the most perfect and influential communicator in all of human history, whom God Almighty sent down into this world to invite and guide human beings – all human beings – to him and to a world of perfect bliss both in this world and the next world.

Thus, life, communication and Qur’an, together, are a matchless triple token of love from God the life-giver, God the master-communicator, God whose immortal and timeless miracle-message the Qur’an is and forever will remain.

From God whose most favorite and the most miraculous description of himself is Ar-Rahmaan: the most loving, the most kind, the most compassionate, the most merciful. This simply does not have a parallel in so-called “religious” lore of the world or in the annals of human discourse and communication in general.

Islam teaches us how to communicate with others, how to deliver Islamic teachings by communicating others. Islam is the religion of peace but today in the world Islam considered as a religion in which terrorist are born and this is wrong it's not true; every religion has some bad and good peoples. The people in the world are not really awaken by true fact, so how we show them our true religion, the first method is communication that our Islam easily taught us How to communicate with people, let's see the communication in Islam,

let's we go to the past, communication first start by (wahi) the message by ALLAH that was given by ALLAH's angel Hazrat Jibrail (A.S) to Prophet Muhammad PBUH in the cave of Hira in Makkah, That's was the first communication, between ALLAH and His Prophet Muhammad PBUH, Hazrat Jibrail A.S used to deliver the message of ALLAH to prophet Muhammad PBUH and after that communication move forward towards the people to whom that the teachings of Islam must be deliver to them, so the people were delivering the message of Islam to the people, and how they were delivering the message, Islam taught them how to deliver the message, by communication. Islam taught us communication, and how to use it. Now i will tell you the communication of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH,

         

 Prophet Muhammad PBUH was careful about individual differences when conversing with people. For example, he had a conversation with a Bedouin, whose wife had given birth to a black child; the Bedouin denied that the child was his saying: "My wife gave birth to a black child. I want to reject this child". Prophet Muhammad asked: "Do you have camels?" The Beduin replied: "Yes" The Prophet asked:"What color are those camels?" The Beduin answered:"Red" The Prophet:"Are there any white, black or grey camels among these?" The Beduin: "Yes, of course. There are grey camels among them." The Prophet then asked: "Well, where do you think these grey camels came?" "O Prophet, that is in their blood; they take after the ancestors." "Perhaps this boy has taken after someone in his ancestry (he resembles them)." (Muslim)

         

Prophet Muhammad PBUH doesn't say directly NO, it is your child, but He explains it that the Bedouin could understand, and this is best communication. There are the principles of communication of Prophet Muhammad PBUH when he used to communicate with others like, He used sympathy to effect the person being addressed, secondly Prophet Muhammad PBUH established communication with people at every opportunity, Prophet Muhammad PBUH addressed the mind and emotions in communication,

        

One of the important principles of communication presented by Prophet Muhammad was addressing the mind and the emotions. It is known that Prophet Muhammad addressed the minds and emotions of those around him when communicating with them. For example, some of the Companions told him: "O Allah's Prophet! The wealthy have taken the blessings and gone. They pray like us, they fast like us, but they give more to charity than we can."

The Prophet replied:"Do you think that Allah has given you nothing to donate? Every time you praise Allah, every time you say Alhamdullilah (thank God), every time you say "La ilahi illallah" (There is no god but Allah), whenever you command good or frustrate evil these are donations to be blessed." (Muslim)

 Islam taught us while we are communicating, the important thing is that to give importance to other to whom we are communicating, Prophet Muhammad Gave Importance to People and the Things They valued: {Do not revile those whom they call upon, besides God, lest they then revile God out of spite, through ignorance.} (Al-An’am 6: 108) suggests that we should give importance to those things that other people value.

For this reason, even if we reject the thoughts and ideas of non-religiosity and disbelief, it is not considered moral to attack the thoughts and opinions of another person, no matter who they are.

The daughter-in-law of the chief of the hypocrites, Abu Jahl, accepted Islam during the conquest of Makkah. At this point, out of fear of her husband Ikrima, she fled to Yemen after accepting Islam and receiving the promise of forgiveness from Prophet Muhammad. Then her husband was found and brought before the Prophet: "Welcome, cavalry traveller " the Prophet said, smiling. Then he turned to his friends and said "Ikrima will join you; when you see him do not denigrate his father Abu Jahl because such an insult will hurt those who are alive." (Al Albani) 

So communication really manners in Islam, we must be truthful in our speech, All people should stop gossiping, back biting  and slander, avoid loud speaking, yelling and shouting, avoid lewdness, foul language and cursing.