Dought & clear - Should zakaat al-fitr be given to one person, or distributed among several?

Is zakaat al-fitr for one person and cannot be distributed among several?.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is permissible to give zakaat al-fitr on behalf of one person to
one person, and it is also permissible to distribute it among a number
of people.
And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Islam and Teamwork: Working Together Is Success

A team is a collection of people where each individual is a powerhouse
of talent, knowledge, expertise, skill and above all the right
attitude. The team is effective and powerful when it delivers the
quality and results. For this all individuals shouldmerge into the
team and add value. To add that value to the team, he / she should be
a team player.
A team player is one who has the right attitude andright direction to
work ina team. On the contrary, anon-team player is one who does not
share information, not being honest, not participative and above all
are those who do not extend cooperation. They do notbecome one with
the team. When team members do not come together with the team, the
focus of the team is lost and the results are not achieved.
A team player is one who takes up responsibilities that are outside
their role too. They do not feel that they have to perform tasks of
other team members during contingencies. The best part of being a team
player is, he / she never blames others and accepts their mistakes.
Apart from this a team player would also act as aguide to the juniors
who join the team.
However, being a good employee does not necessarily mean being a good
team player. Working in a team is the real challenge an individual
faces in the organisation. A team comprises of members from different
backgrounds who are together for a purpose.
When different individuals come together different values also come in
and there is enough scope for conflictto take place. The reasons for
conflict could be any one of the following reasons like not following
the instructions of the team leader, the team's efforts or
achievements not being recognised by the boss, blame game for the
mistakes that take place, individual achievements are not recognised
and being neglected, roles and responsibilities of the individuals not
defined clearly and difference of opinion or contradicting values of
any team member.
Strategic alliance
It is an art to exhibit the qualities of a good team player. A team
player is one who performs effectively and efficiently. Getting along
with everyone at work is considered as a skill. Being a team member or
a team leader per se is for the purpose of working together and
getting along till the objectives are achieved. It also means
friendship at work. Teams are made up of individuals that will, now
and then, differwith one another.
What makes a team aggressive in achieving the goals is the attitude to
take those differences and turn them into opportunities for
development rather than turn the teammates in opposition to one
another. We can call it as strategic alliance at the workplace for a
common objective.
Remember, to get help from someone we must have helped them before. It
is a give and take situation at work. Solet us put that as a forward
thinking action and lend the helping hand in our work place. Learning
to be nice to people around us does not cost at all. In particular, we
should not hesitate to ask for help from people who have rich
experience. Most of the time, we hesitate dueto being addressed as
ignorant or lacking knowledge.
We need to give and takefrom one another at workplace and be open and
receptive to new ideas. An employee can achieve his /her her best when
working in a team.Those of us who have worked in different teams
realise that working together closely as a team is difficult in
reality. All of us have had our share of difficult colleagues and
teams.
The guidelines
Team is above the individual in situations. As a team player we
mustremember to follow these guidelines.
*.Adapting to change
*.Not taking credit for the colleague's work
*.Learning to appreciate and recognising other members presence
*.Treating everyone with respect and dignity
*.Not involving the issuesthat are not significant to team's values
*.Meeting the targets or keeping the deadlines
*.Being a good communicator (special reference to listening skills)
*.Cooperating with others in the team
*.Sharing the information and knowledge that benefits all in a team
A team member enhanceshis / her value in the organisation by
demonstrating characteristics of committed players. Every individual
should understand that his / her work is an integral part of a larger
organisation and is binding on the company's overall performance.
Remember,if an employee is an unruly team player we cannot expect any
productivity from him / her in the team.
Conscience decision
Kevin Eikenberry has listed the traits that would help the individual
and team to have greater success. According to him effective team
members are: committed, focused on the team's objectives, supportive,
competent, collaborative, provide feedback, they are good
communicators, they value and build trust, they are proactive and
learners. It is only a conscience decision that brings in the team
player factor in every individual.
Even for a team to win a cricket match or a football match, we as
audience or spectators look at the strength of each player and the
coordination of activities in the game. It is the leadership and team
spirit which contributed for the success of the team. Let's recall the
old phrase "united we win, divided we fall" suites every team that has
to progress. Each and every team constitutes an organisation.
The end result of organisation depends on the performance of each employee.
"Coming together is a beginning; Staying together is progress; Working
together is success" said Henry Ford

Islam and Leadership, Islam and Teamwork, Islam and Consultation, Islam and Joint Planning

Islam encourages its followers to practice and develop the qualities
of leadership, Teamwork, Partnership, Consultation and Joint Planning.
Islamic Leadership meansa person or a group that will lead humanity
from the brink of destruction to the way of Allah (SWT) the Almighty.
Leadership in Islam is a trust (Amanah). It represents a psychological
contract between a leader and hisfollowers that he will try his best
to guide them, toprotect them and to treatthem fairly and with
justice. Hence, the focus of leadership in Islam is on doing good.
Every movement has a need for leadership and the importance of
leadership is like the engine of a train. The train doesn't move
anywhere without the engine moving. Only Islamic leadership can solve
the problems of humanity.
A successful leader is one who attains his ends in the best possible
manner,with the least inconvenience to the team, at the minimum cost,
in record time and with a high quality performance.
Whoever wants to be a leader should educate himself before educating
others. Before preaching to others he should first practice himself.
Whoever educates himself and improves his own morals is superior tothe
man who tries to teach and train others.

Even in situations one would think in his own mind that there is no way out, there is always a way out for real believers

One of the mistakes people generally fall in is their descending into
desperation whenever they face even the slightest difficulty. Most
people, under such circumstances, instead of thinking "There is
definitely a way out that would correct this situation", they are
prone to believe that all the solution ways are exhausted by acting
with logics such as: "that's it", "there is nothing more to be
done," "this is as far as it goes", "we came to a deadlock", "this
matter is in a deadlock now".
Yet, no matter how difficult the circumstances are; no matter how
limited the means he has are; and no matter if he has done
everything that could have been done; he should believe that there
can always be a new way out, and never lose hope.
Allah has revealed in the Qur'an that a person who believes in Allah
would never lose hope in any matter as follows:
"My sons! Seek news of Yusuf and his brother. Do not despair of
solace from Allah. No one despairs of solace from Allah except for
people who are unbelievers. '" (Surah Yusuf: 87)
They said, 'We bring you good news of the truth, so do not be among
those who despair .' (Surat Al-Hijr: 55)
Consequently, no matter what the situation a Muslim faces is, he
should never give way to hopelessness, despair or negative thoughts
even indirectly. This is a command of Allah on Muslims.
Lower self, when facing such a situation, -almost like a reflex-
would lead one to instantly think about the most negative
possibilities that might happen. Almost everyone, ever since their
childhood –until they learn the morality of the Qur'an- approach
every incident with such a point of view. Since they do not think
about the falsity and the harm of this, they do not feel the need
to resist and change this reflex. This is the reason why the first
words that come out of their mouths are words like "alas!" and
"unfortunately".
And the pain that desperation, thinking with negative possibilities
and believing that there is no way out, would make people feel is
really severe. The state of mind of people, who feel this way, is
the reward Allah had created for them in this world as a result of
their living by a morality Allah does not approve.
Yet, living by the morality which is opposite to this one is really
easy. A person's knowing Allah Who has infinite wisdom, Who has
infinite justice, Who has infinite compassion and infinite grace,
Who is forgiving and Who possesses infinite creation power is
really a great blessing for him. Allah is mighty of creating
whatever He wills, whenever He wants. And in the Qur'an Allah says:
"If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the
caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and
believe in Me so that hopefully they will be rightly guided" (Surat
al-Baqara: 186) In the Qur'an Allah had informed us that people can
ask whatever they want from Allah. Since a person could ask for
anything from Allah Who has the power to create whatever He wants,
whenever He wills, it is totally unreal for him to be living among
the possibilities such as: having exhausted all the ways out or
having no way out. That is because –by the will and help of Allah-
a person's way is always open in every matter. His knowing Allah's
might and compassion would always enable him to be hopeful about
every matter.
This morality is the one Allah commanded in the Qur'an. And carrying
out this command of Allah turns into a great blessing for people.
It is much more beautiful, reassuring and comfortable for people
to live by a hopeful morality, instead of pessimism. While, in the
contrary, a person would be continuously living restless, in a state
of fear with his mind occupied in negative suggestions; someone
abiding by the morality Allah demands, would live in peace,
tranquility and joy of expecting the help, mercy and the closeness
of Allah even under most difficult conditions.
And another point that should be thought about here is; while living
among blessings, plenty and safety, a person trusts in Allah and
lives in the awareness of the truth that all those come about
because of the infinite might of Allah; but when there is something
missing about those, he forgets how limitless and endless the might
of Allah is. Allah has informed us about the morality that people
in this situation would show in the Qur'an, as follows:
When We give people a taste of mercy, they rejoice in it, but when
something bad happens to them because of what they themselves have
done, they immediately lose all hope. (Surat Ar-Rum : 36)
Man never tires of praying for the good and if evil touches him, he
despairs and loses hope. (Surat Fussilat : 49)
Such a person cannot appreciate the fact that Allah Who had given
him blessings before, also have the Power to give –again and again
whenever He wants as much as He wills. He fails to think that all
the beauties he has in his life exist not because he himself had
found a way to attain them but because Allah had willed them to be so
and granted him that means through His Grace. Everything that he
possesses has been created from nothing. When difficulty and
troubles arise the situation is no different than that: Allah, Who
created everything from nothing, even if there is a situation in
which there seems to be a no way out, would again create the way
from nothing and would show him the way out.
Allah says in the Quran: "… But your Lord is a sufficient guide and
helper." ( Surat Al-Furqan: 31). The guidance of Allah for a man
is – by the leave of Allah- a great blessing with which he can solve
every matter. And moreover man does not have the power to find a
way out on his own anyway. Humans are weak creatures who have no
power for anything unless Allah wills the contrary. Man is in need
of Allah showing him the ways out, the solutions and rights.
Consequently what one should do is to trust in Allah very much, by
being very sincere towards Allah; to ask full of hope for His help
and to show all the effort that he is capable of showing by using
his mind and conscience in the best possible manner. However the
secret here is in wanting everything from Allah in hope and believing
that they can definitely come true. It is Allah Who creates the
result. And Allah is the One Who always creates the best for
Muslims both in this world and in the Hereafter.
Their sides eschew their beds as they call on their Lord in fear and
ardent hope . And they give of what We have provided for them.
(Surat Al-Sajda:16)
And when the two hosts came into sight of one another Musa's
companions said, 'We will surely be overtaken!'
He said, 'Never! My Lord is with me and He will guide me. '
So We revealed to Musa, 'Strike the sea with your staff.' And it
split in two, each part like a towering cliff.
And We brought the others right up to it.
We rescued Musa and all those who were with him. (Surat Ash-Shu'ara': 62-65)