Note: The following transcript was generated using AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wassalatu wassalamu ala ashrafi al anbiya wal mursaleen, nabiyyina muhammadin wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'een, assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. To all the brothers and sisters tuning in at home to another episode of Aabir us Sabeel, where today I am joined by Ustad Abdul Ahad.
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. How are you, Ustad? Are you okay? Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, I couldn’t complain myself. Alhamdulillah, very good, mashaAllah. JazakAllah khair for joining me on this episode. So, today what I wanted to talk about was actually a mix of different things. A bit about time management. I know a lot of brothers and sisters struggle with the concept of worshiping Allah and seeking knowledge, but also maintaining their affairs in the dunya (worldly matters). Like for example, running a family or household or holding a 9 to 5 job. And at the same time, some younger students might also be in university, and they need to balance between secular knowledge and seeking Islamic knowledge. And at the same time, I'm also interested in hearing a bit more about your recent experience. You've been in Somalia over the last year, and I'd really like to know a bit more about that as well, inshaAllah (if Allah wills). So, I normally just let my guest start wherever he wants, inshaAllah. So, fadhal (please, go ahead), inshaAllah. Before, I'll just give you two Snickers. Is it Sunday yet? You're driving, so don’t worry. First of all, it's nice to meet you. It's been highly anticipated. Secondly, I ask Allah SWT (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) to accept all the work that you guys are doing, all of the programs and the projects you’re doing, inshaAllah, and may Allah put them on your scale of good deeds.
So, pertaining to seeking knowledge first, inshaAllah, and then maybe we can move on to the matter of balancing it with secular studies and just generally life as it is. I wanted to touch upon first seeking knowledge. Not just the virtue, because we hear the virtues of it a lot. We hear the virtues that Allah raises the people in ranks. And those who have knowledge, He raises them in special ranks. We hear that Allah SWT, and we know—many people, shall I say, know of the virtues of seeking knowledge. But what I want to touch upon is that many people assume that seeking knowledge is exclusive to students of knowledge. So, a lot of people think that someone who goes abroad, whether it’s Egypt, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, or wherever it is, and he treads on a path of seeking knowledge, they see it as, "Okay, he's a student of knowledge and I'm just a Muslim." I wanted to break that barrier—it’s not just for students of knowledge but rather it’s for all of us. It’s for every single Muslim. The doctor, the engineer, the physician, you name it—the physiotherapist, the accountant, etc. And I want to touch upon the matter of sinning and the link between sinning and seeking knowledge or not seeking knowledge. But before that, Allah SWT said in the Qur'an: اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبَعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ الْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا "Allah is the One who created the seven heavens and, likewise, of the earth. And the command descends between them, so that you may know that Allah has power over everything, and that Allah has encompassed everything in knowledge." (Qur'an, 65:12)
So, what’s the reason? So that you may know. لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ That you may know Allah is powerful, and He is capable. The point is, we’re here to know. لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا We’re here to know Allah. We’re here to learn about Allah, His names, and attributes, and the religion. And then, of course, worship Him by implementing that knowledge. وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَاءِ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." (Qur'an, 51:56)
So, my first point is that the person who thinks that seeking knowledge is exclusive to only those who are students of knowledge—that’s a فَهْمٌ خَاطِئٌ (wrong understanding). It’s for all human beings, all Muslims. Every single person who treads on this earth needs to know who Allah is, and it is incumbent upon him to do so. He doesn't have a choice about it.
Now, the next point I would quickly want to touch upon is, which kind of relates to it, the one who doesn't know Allah, the one who doesn't learn his religion, the one who doesn't study, it's highly likely that this person is going to end up in the doldrums of sins, highly likely. Abdullah ibn Abbas, he says that Allah is not disobeyed except through ignorance, and it's profound because he extrapolates this from the Qur'an. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in various places, he linked a lack of knowledge, ignorance, not knowing about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and a deficiency in that to sinning. What did Allah say?
إِنَّمَا التَّوَبَةُ عَلَى اللَّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِن قَرِيبٍ فَأُولَٰئِكَ يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا It is upon Allah that He accepts the repentance of he who sins بِجَهَالَةٍ (due to ignorance). He sinned ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِن قَرِيبٍ (and then they seek repentance). Allah will forgive these people. Another place Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:
كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةِ أَنَّهُ مَنْ عَمِلَ مِنْكُمْ سُوءًا بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ مَنْ تَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَصْلَحْ فَأَنَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ Your Lord has made it upon Himself that He is merciful, أَنَّهُ مَنْ عَمِلَ مِنْكُمْ سُوءًا بِجَهَالَةٍ (that whoever among you commits a sin due to ignorance), ثُمَّ مَنْ تَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَصْلَحْ (and then repents afterward and corrects himself), فَأَنَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (then indeed, He is Forgiving, Merciful).
Again, بِجَهَالَةٍ (due to ignorance), because someone committed a sin due to his ignorance of not knowing Allah, Allah will forgive this person. If we look at some of the Prophets as well, if you look at the story of Yusuf (Joseph), for example, when the wife of the minister came to seduce him, and she locked him in the room, etc., and she chased him, trying to seduce him into committing sin, Yusuf عليه السلام made a profound dua. He said:
رَبِّ السِّجْنُ O my Lord, prison is more beloved to me than that which they are calling me to. But the ending is profound: رَبِّ السِّجْنُ وَأَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا يَدْعُونَنِي إِلَيْهِ وَإِلَّا تَصْرِفْ عَنِّي كَيْدَهُنَّ أَصْبُ إِلَيْهِنَّ وَأَكُنْ مِّنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ O Allah, if You do not divert away from me and aid me in not inclining towards this female and the plot of this female, then I will fall into مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ (ignorance). And he's linking what? The ignorance. He never said, "I will become one of the sinners, I will become one who commits zina." No, he said, "I will become from the جاهلين" (those who are ignorant). And he's linking not knowing Allah and being ignorant to him falling into zina (fornication).
Nuh عليه السلام, same thing. You know the story where Nuh عليه السلام tells his son: قَالَ الْكَبُّ فِيهَا بِسْمِ اللَّهِ مَجَرِيَهَا وَمُرْسَهَا Come on the ship if you want to be saved. His son didn't go on the ship and said: سَأَوِي إِلَى جَبْلٍ يَعْصِمُنِي مِنَ الْمَاء "I am going to go and seek refuge in a mountain." Then his father said to him: لا عَصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ There is no refuge today from the command of Allah. Nothing will save you. Please, oh my son, come on the ship. المهم, he was drowned. But what's amazing is Nuh عليه السلام makes a dua and says: إِنَّ بَنِي مِنْ أَهْلِي وَإِنَّ وَعْدَكَ الْحَقِّ وَأَنتَ أَحْكُمُ الْحَاكِمِينَ Oh Allah, save my son as well because he's from my family, and Allah promised that He would save his family along with the believers. What was Allah's reply? يَا نُوحُ إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ O Nuh, indeed, he is not from your family. إِنَّهُ عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَالِحٍ Indeed, he has done an act that is not righteous by not coming on the ship. Another explanation of the tafsir is: إِنَّهُ He himself is عَمَلٌ غَيْرُ صَالِحٍ (an act that is not righteous). فَلَا تَسْأَلْ لِمَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ Do not ask Me about that which you have no knowledge of. إِنِّي أَعِظُكَ Indeed, I advise you: إِنِّي أَعِظُكَ أَنْ تَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ If you don't stop this, you will be from the جاهلين (ignorant ones).
There are many other verses. Even Musa عليه السلام, when he told his people to أَنْ تَذْبَحُوا بَقَرًا Slaughter a cow, they said: قَالُوا أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا "Are you taking us as a joke?" His reply was: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ I seek refuge in Allah from being from the جاهلين (ignorant ones).
The point I'm trying to get to is that there are many more verses, but this whole theme of a lack of knowledge leading to sinning is a theme in the Qur'an that is repetitive. Just as a disclaimer, جَهَلَ (ignorance) of course has a few different meanings in the Qur'an, like of course going against the commands of Allah. The scholars say that even صبر (patience), being from those who don't have patience, is another meaning. But the point I'm getting to is that all of these meanings—someone who doesn't have patience is due to his lack of knowledge. Someone who goes against the commands of Allah, which is another meaning in the Qur'an, is also due to lack of knowledge.
المهم, the point I want to start off with is: Number one, it's incumbent upon every single Muslim that he treads on the path of seeking knowledge. We all need to learn about Allah. We were created for that. We're here on this earth, we breathe, we take in this oxygen, we respire and release carbon dioxide, and the sky exists, and the earth exists—all so we worship Allah. So, you need to learn. We're here to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And secondly, not learning is going to lead to sin. And of course, we know what sinning is going to do as well—pertaining to Allah's punishment coming, and us being destroyed, etc. So, inshallah, I want to start off with those two points. We really need to understand what we're speaking about. It's not just for students of knowledge only. It's not just for, you know, your sheikh or your scholar or the one who's got a pen in his top pocket or anything—it's for all of us to understand that, inshallah ta'ala, yeah?
And I think just to add on to what you mentioned so far, it's the concept of sinning coming from ignorance. It really has two different aspects. So, first of all, one aspect is that you might not know that this is a sin because you don't have the knowledge. But the second thing is, particularly in the day and age we live in today, and this is where I want to link it to the fact that this is not just for students of knowledge, this is for everybody. I feel like society, most of society anyway, depending on where you live, is putting so much pressure on you and so much deviation on people to turn away from Islam, to turn away from religion, to be liberal and free, and to live life the way they "quote-unquote" want to—that if you're not seeking knowledge, then what's going to save you? And it's more about the seeking knowledge here that I'm talking about. It's the impact that it has on your heart. It's not necessarily the impact that, "Okay, I know this is halal, this is halal." But it's when you're seeking knowledge, you're engaged in the words of Allah, you're engaged in the words of the Prophet ﷺ. When you're reading these hadith, this is what's needed for the heart to stay alive in a society that is constantly trying to kill the heart. You know, it reminds me of the lines of poetry by Abu Ishaq al-Biri. He mentioned: فَقُوتُ الرُّوحِ أَرْوَاهُ الْمَعَانِ وَلَيْسَ بِأَن تَعِمْتَ وَلَا شَرِبْتَ He said, "The reviving of the heart, and it's what keeps the heart alive. These letters you're learning of the religion, they're not letters like maths and science and English. They are قوت الرّوحِ أَرْوَاهُ الْمَعَانِ." And these letters, these books, the words of the Messenger ﷺ, the Qur'an, etc., it's what keeps the heart alive, just like food and drink keep our limbs alive.
SubhanAllah, again in the same lines of poetry, he mentions when he's speaking about knowledge and the virtue of it and speaking to his son, I believe:
أَبَا بَكْرِ إِن دَعَوْتُكَ لَوْ أَجَبْتَهِ إِلَى مَا فِيهِ حَضْدُكَ لَوْ عَقَلْتَهِ إِلَى عِلْمٍ تَكُونُ بِهِ إِمَامًا مُطَاعًا إِنَّ هِتَ وَإِنْ أَمَرْتَهُ وَيَجْلُ مَا بِعَيْنِكَ مِنْ غِشَاهَا وَيَهْدِيكَ السَّبِيلَ إِذَا ضَلَلْتَا وَتَحْمِلُ مِنْهُ فِيهِ نَدِيكَ تَاجًا وَيَكْسُوكَ الْجَمَالَ إِذَا عَرِيتَا
It's very profound. He says when you become misguided, the knowledge is what brings you back. Misguidance meaning if it means an aqeedah or someone tries to throw some sort of doubts in you. Likewise, if you fall over in terms of sins, it's that knowledge you have. I remember I was speaking to a brother, and you know, someone who memorizes the Quran at a young age or learns the deen at a young age, a lot of people say, "Why are you making them memorize the Quran? Why are you just teaching them deen? Let them enjoy themselves a bit," etc. It's profound because that person who's learned the deen, even though he was very young, when he grows up, if he ever slips up, he's always going to have the Quran in the back of his mind. He's always going to have the deen that he learned, that lesson he was inside and he heard that hadith. It's what brings him back.
وَيَجْلُ مَا بِعَيْنِكَ مِنْ غِشَاهَا: not having knowledge, you're having a veil on your face, and this knowledge uplifts it. And when you become naked, it covers you. Meaning when you slip up. هو العَضْبُ المُهَنَّدُ: the sword, and anyone that tries to give you doubts and shubahat (misleading doubts) and sins, you've got it ready.
So, المُهَنَّدُ. It's profound that you said that. And sometimes some of the people who are seeking knowledge, who have tried to tread on that path—not as students as much, but just Ahmad and Nas who are trying to seek a little bit of knowledge on the side—they might not realize the impact that it's actually had on them. They might actually look back and say, "I've been learning for so long, I've barely memorized, and I haven't learned much Arabic, I don't know my deen very well," but the impact that it's had on their heart and what it's actually protected them from, and they don't realize, because if they didn't tread that path, how different their life would have been.
And this is something that, this whole aspect, this is something that is very personal to myself. This aspect of really trying to encourage and understand that seeking knowledge is something that impacts the heart. It's not just an information thing; it's a spiritual activity. It's something that should be impacting the heart. Because I can't, in these qarjanis, add from the Quran or the Sunnah—that's what you're here for. I don't have that kind of knowledge. But my personal experience recently, even in the last two years, running AMAU, and this is something personal. A lot of people might have seen me in AMAU and actually thought, "Ok, mashallah, his iman must be so high." There have been times where in AMAU my iman has been lower than mine in my corporate job, and that's me being completely honest. In my corporate job, when I was working as a finance analyst, 9-5, I was going in, my iman was higher sometimes there than it was here.
And I had to look at my situation. This is a realization I came to in the last 3 months. I looked at my situation and thought, why is that the case? I'm around Islam, I'm working in da’wah (calling to Islam), what's the issue here? And I realized that because when I was in my corporate job, I was seeking knowledge. Not all the time, it doesn't have to be a full-time thing, but I'm going to work half an hour a day, an hour a day, and that's what kept my iman alive. Whereas with AMAU, it was all about marketing and finances and this and that, and I was just getting busy. Even though I'm busy in the da’wah, I didn’t give myself the time. It was all for others, it was all for the da’wah, it was all for AMAU. And slowly, I had to come to the realization that if I'm not seeking knowledge regularly and consistently, my iman is going to die no matter where I'm working. Definitely, 100%, personally myself, to be honest. Allah knows the knowledge of the unseen. But whenever I'm in circles of knowledge, it's completely different.
Likewise, what's important as well as you said something about how you don't know when it's really going to benefit you or when it does benefit you, etc. You might feel like, "Oh, I'm not really benefiting that much." You never know when a verse, a hadith, an athar (narration) or something along those lines that you learn will just click. If we look at Fudayl ibn Ayyad, for example, and other pious predecessors, it would be a verse that they heard—that's it, just one verse—change the course of their entire life, their whole entire life.
You have to wait Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala (Glorified and Exalted be He), and likewise another benefit is that the Prophet ﷺ, you need to give it time. The Prophet ﷺ was getting wahi (revelation) sent down upon him over 23 years. So, some of the scholars, they say that little bit every now and then was given him, not that he necessarily needed it, or not that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could not have done it in any other way, He could have, you know. But one of the wisdoms in sending this Qur'an bit by bit after of course making it firm upon his heart, but it's also to accompany him. It's also to give him this uplifting moment. You know, times that he would get sad, not depressed as some people say, times that he would get a bit sad and he would be starting overthinking, etc., Qur'an would be sent down, and then a bit more time, another bite, and then a bit more time, a little bit more. So, you need to, you need to take it inshallah bit by bit and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for aid. This is something huge, huge, huge.
The other day, again, I was speaking to someone in Somalia, and we were speaking about the matter pertaining to students mainly putting their effort in themselves, mainly putting their effort and relying upon the mere words, the tangible words to be that which gives them effect. What they don't understand is that it's the spiritual nature, the sacred nature of the words via Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who gives this uplifting of iman and benefit, etc.So we need to make dua to Allah, and I don't just say "make dua," but you actually need to make Allah part of your journey in seeking knowledge. How many of us actually go to a dars before the dars? This is where the difference is between seeking Islamic knowledge and seeking secular knowledge, because we've come from an education system in the West, particularly, which is built around the concept of just memorizing and understanding—memorizing, regurgitating, memorizing, regurgitating. It's not meant to, and of course, like business, studies, psychology, and finance, it's not going to change your heart. But seeking Islamic knowledge is different. It's about: what does Allah want from me in every single situation? That's what I'm trying to learn. It's not just about gathering information and just having that knowledge; it's about implementing the knowledge that you learn so that you can come closer to Allah.
You know, one of my mashayikh, may Allah bless him, he mentioned, mashaAllah, when it comes to raka'at (units of prayer) and the situation of the heart and the spiritual journey, he's very mashaAllah well-guarded in that science. But al-muhim (anyway), he mentioned something and said, "Someone who has less knowledge than you can be, if Allah gives them the tawfiq (success), more spiritually intact than someone who's not." And the reason for that is, that person who's just learning, learning, memorizing, memorizing, memorizing, hasn't understood that the knowledge part is just a means to a goal. The end goal is not to become a hafidh (memorizer of the Qur'an), it's not, wallahi (I swear by Allah), the end goal is not to memorize Sahih Bukhari, the end goal is not that. They're all just wasa'il (means), rather the end goal is taqwa Allah (God-consciousness).
فرأس العلم تقوى الله حقًا وليس بأن يقال لقد رأست The true knowledge is taqwa Allah, and to have this fear of Allah, God-consciousness, to be constantly thinking about Allah, to be secluded with Allah, yearning for the Hereafter. That's what the knowledge is about. It's not about the number of letters you learn. Someone could be two or three juz (parts) of the Qur'an and that was enough for him. Allah gave him aid in it, he was practicing, and then he passed away, and it's possible that he was more spiritually intact.
So honestly, it's a big topic—benefiting from knowledge and really implementing it, but also being spiritually intact and allowing us to not just make it a means of regurgitating content, regurgitating words and letters, etc. May Allah make us and give us tawfiq. It's honestly a hard situation; it's a lifelong journey.
So, what are some practical steps then for people who are, well, first of all, in the education system? They've got GCSEs, A-levels, university, and now they're hearing this information about seeking knowledge. And then a bit further down, we can talk about people who have a family and have a 9-5 job. How do they balance between the two?
So, there's going to be a verse of the Qur'an which we're going to make and we're going to make it a title—the base, the foundation in which all of these points of balancing between secular studies, work, and deen (religion) are going to be. That verse, inshallah (if Allah wills), is going to be: "فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ" (So fear Allah as much as you are able to do so). This is going to be our slogan, which is: fear Allah as much as you are able to do so. However much you can do, whatever is in your capability, do so.
The second thing, which is the base foundation, which I really also want to make as a second pillar of all these, inshallah, points that I'm going to mention is: quantity does not equate to quality. That's very important as well, because I just mentioned moments ago that you don't have to have X amount of knowledge for you to reach the goal, which is fearing Allah and being conscious of Him. You don't need to do that.
So, with those two pillars, inshallah, now we can look at students, first of all, who are in academic studies, studying at university, etc. And then we move on to people who are working 9-5. So, someone who is in university/college, I believe, would be doing maybe 3-4 days a week. 3-4 days a week at max, I'd say 4 days. I mean, I went through the process as well. So, at max, I'd say 4 days a week, that person would be going to university or college. Those 4 days normally end around 4pm, 3pm, 5pm at max. Max once again, with breaks in between. When I say breaks, there are free lessons—you don't have classes. So, you might start, for example, at 9am and then you have a class until 10:30, but then you're off from 10:30 to 12 and have another class, etc. Sometimes you might start late, so you might start at 11am.
So, what that kind of person would do is, first of all, in his times where he's actually in class, he should focus in class. He should do his studies, whatever he's studying. Don't miss classes.
The time that you're in classes is booked out, you can't do anything else. The days that you have a late start— and this is every day, the days you have a late start— those are the days that you're going to use for memorizing. Whatever you need to memorize, memorize. If it means the Qur'an, you find a teacher. If it means you've done the Qur'an and you're working on other poems or texts, etc., fit that in on the days you're off.
Number 2 is on the weekends. So, memorization in the mornings during the weekdays, and the days that you're off, the days that you go and eat—yes, correct. The days that are weekends, those are the days that I believe every single Muslim who's a student can give 2-3 hours to physically sit with the teacher. Don't even see your teacher the other 4 or 5 days of the week. Spend those with family, your studies, and the memorization you do. However, 2 days of the week, you need to physically sit down with the teacher. What is he going to teach you now?
As Muslims, we know, of course, the Shahada: La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah. The Shahada. Then we have the 4 pillars that remain: Salah, Zakah, Sawm (fasting), and Hajj. I believe... Sawm and Hajj—I'm sorry, now I'm saying Sawm and Hajj—so fasting in the month of Ramadan and doing the pilgrimage once in your life. What I believe every Muslim should be learning with his teacher for those 2 days until he finishes, this is what I would say is the foundation of every single Muslim: what he needs to know. It’s the foundation of Islam, which is the Shahada in 2 parts: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and Muhammadur Rasulullah (Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). So, La ilaha illallah is Aqeedah (creed), knowing who Allah is, knowing about Allah and His names and attributes. Likewise, the other pillars of Iman (faith)—the messengers, the books, the life of the hereafter. What do we believe about it as Muslims, according to the understanding of course of our highest predecessors?
So, point number 1: La ilaha illallah, Aqeedah—that's your first science. Muhammadur Rasulullah is Seerah (the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him). As a Muslim, and this is a 95% normal working Muslim, a student—21, 22 years old, 20 years of age, 19, 18, etc.—he needs to know Muhammadur Rasulullah's name, when he was born, and you're testifying that he is a messenger. You need to show how you've come to that conclusion. You can't say it with your tongue alone. So, you need to prove why you genuinely believe he was a messenger of Allah. You learn that in Seerah.
Then what remains is the third science: the other pillars of Islam, which are incumbent once again upon every single Muslim. That is, of course, fasting in the month of Ramadan—what are the rulings pertaining to it? Likewise, the prayer: how does one pray? What are the prerequisites of praying, the wudu (ablution), etc.? What breaks your Salah (prayer)? What Salahs are compulsory and which are not? And the third one: Zakah— which Zakah do I need to pay, which is compulsory and which is not? Are there ones that are compulsory or not? How much do I need to pay? When do I need to pay it? What are the conditions of paying it, etc.?
And last but not least, the fourth one: Ramadan, Hajj—when do I need to do Hajj? When is it compulsory for me to do it? How do I do it? What are the pillars of Hajj, etc.? These other four that I just mentioned, taken out from La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah, the remaining pillars of Islam are Fiqh (jurisprudence). How do I do what I was created to do? So, Al-Muhim (anyway), these two days that he has remaining and sitting under the feet of his Shaykh, he needs to do these three sciences:
- Aqeedah, Tawheed
- Seerah
- Fiqh
Inshallah (if Allah wills), whilst he is doing that, of course, on the days that he is not with his Shaykh, what is he going to do? Memorize in the mornings. There are some things he might say to go and memorize. There might be certain portions of the Qur'an he says to memorize, etc.
That is stage number one. Stage number two, now that he has got a foundation where he has done these three things and memorized the little things that his teacher has told him to memorize—that is going to aid him in these three things alone. He is not memorizing the Qur'an yet; he is just memorizing those things. I believe that might take him six to eight months.
After that, what he is now going to do is, if he is, of course, in university, he is going to do the same thing, but now he is going to make more advanced studies where he will increase whatever he is studying in these sciences. So, he is no longer just at the foundation level; he can add a few more books, a little more complicated Seerah books, etc. But now he is going to also embark on the journey of memorizing the Qur'an. What was he memorizing before in those mornings? Just things that his teacher tells him to memorize. "Memorize this hadith because it is the evidence for Hajj." "Memorize this hadith because it is the evidence for Zakah," etc.
But now, he is going to memorize the Qur'an. He is going to embark on that journey. Memorizing the Qur'an might take him two or even three years, maybe even three and a half years. So far, we're looking at around three and a half years, and it’s all part-time. Within three and a half years, which is normally a three-year degree, add six months to it—basically, within that person’s degree, I genuinely believe that person could memorize the Qur'an, be very well grounded in his religion generally, and also there is another thing which I would like to mention: anyone who memorizes the Qur'an is most likely to know Arabic. Because there is so much, obviously, in the Qur'an, he can look at the translations.
I'll be honest myself, in the beginning, when I learned Arabic, I didn’t go to an institute. I didn’t go to Egypt or anything like that. I learned Arabic via the Qur'an, and it was purely and mainly via the translation. Then I would just try to speak with people, etc., within the journey that I was memorizing the Qur'an.
Al-muhim (anyway), that’s part one. Then, Inshallah, if the person wants to continue, if it’s enough, he can keep learning Arabic after he’s graduated. That might take him a year and a half, possibly, etc. But within four years, all part-time, he learned Arabic, memorized the Qur'an, and he’s very well grounded in Islamic sciences.
The impact, again, going back to the first point: the impact that would have on his heart—he’s now shaped as a young adult. It’s now shaping him, the way he sees the dunya (world) and the way he sees the akhira (hereafter). Because he’s been around the speech of Allah and the speech of the Messenger of Allah.
Some people might look at that and think, “To be honest with you, that’s not me. I can’t memorize the Qur'an in two or three years.” One answer is, just like you whispered now, you can. You just need to be consistent, and you need to ask Allah for His aid.
But another aspect is, let’s just say you don’t memorize the Qur'an. How far would you have gotten? How much impact would you have had? The goal, like you said, is not to memorize the Qur'an in two or three years. Just stay on the path. Keep at it, and ask Allah to open the doors of Iman (faith) for you, as He did for some of the companions.
Your aim is for Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala to do that. Your aim is not necessarily to get to the end goal. Shaykh al-Bani, one of my favorite quotes, which I’ve mentioned at least three or four times in other lectures, said: "The path to Allah is long. It’s not easy, it’s not short, it’s not one day, one year, etc. The end goal, the objective, is not to get to the end because you can’t do every act of worship anyway. You can’t pray every single day; you can’t finish the Qur’an once a day. I mean, you can, but when you add every single act of worship that exists in the Shari’ah, you can’t do every single one of them. You physically can’t."
So, he says, that’s not the end goal. The end goal is to work as hard as you can, fear Allah as much as you can, work hard, and just get to death while you're doing it. That’s it. That’s all we need to do. No one made it compulsory upon you to finish the Qur’an. If you don’t, Inshallah (if Allah wills), you’ll be rewarded for it.
This is the beautiful thing about our religion: that someone who is on a path—let’s say you get sick or something like that—you're being rewarded for the same days that you were going to wake up in the morning anyway. Let’s say you were someone who reads the Qur’an, memorizes your Qur’an three days a week, every single morning. You’re sick for two or three months? You’re getting rewarded for it. Tijara lan tabour (a trade that will never fail). Similarly, if you die, likewise, and you had this intention of being on that path, Inshallah, you’ll be rewarded for your intention. Of course, it’s not the same as you physically doing it, but that reward is still there.
Unlike the person who thinks of doing a sin, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, it’s not written for him until he actually does it, so it’s not made compulsory upon you. Something very profound that I also wanted to touch upon, because you mentioned it, is when someone says, “I can't do it. I'm memorizing the Qur'an, it's too hard. I'm old, maybe. Come on, I'm 21 years of age in university. I can't do it."
If we look at some of the scholars of the past, just one or two that come to mind now: Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi, who died in the year 1064, the famous historian and great scholar, Ibn Hazm, he started seeking knowledge, and his story is amazing. They mentioned that he started seeking knowledge in his late 30s—some say 43 or 45 years old. This is Ibn Hazm, Ali Ibn Ahmad Ibn Sa’id Ibn Hazm.
So, how did he start seeking knowledge? He, rahimahullahu ta'ala (may Allah have mercy on him), they say he started seeking knowledge because he went to a janazah one day. The janazah was between Dhuhr and Asr. When he came to the masjid, he forgot to pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid (the greeting prayer of the mosque). They said to him, "You need to pray," and I think it was the imam of the masjid who said to him, "You need to pray because the Prophet ﷺ said that none of you should sit down in the masjid until he prays two rak'ahs." So, he got up and prayed, but he never knew that it was compulsory for him to do so.
I’m not going to go into the fiqh ruling on whether it is actually compulsory or not. Then what happened was the janazah finished, and they went back home, etc. Then it was Asr time. He went inside the masjid and missed the jama’ah (congregational prayer). But he said, “I learned today that I had to pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid.” He said, “Allahu Akbar.” Then, a man came to him at the end and said, “Look, it’s waqtun nahi (a prohibited time). You shouldn't be praying at this time.” Waqtun nahi means there is a certain time which is prohibited for prayer. Among these times is between Asr and Maghrib. You are not allowed to pray Salah at this time, it's prohibited. Of course, there is again a difference of opinion. The best opinion is that it is allowed because it’s Salah which is dhatu sabab (a prayer with a reason), and it has a valid cause to pray.
But anyway, what happened then was he got confused. He said, “What’s going on? One time you’re telling me to pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid, and now you’re telling me not to pray it at this time?” So, he started to seek knowledge.
If you look at another example, Al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam, the way he started seeking knowledge is also amazing. It’s mentioned that he was very poor, so he used to sleep in the masjid. He had a little corner near a wall, a shelter, and he used to sleep there. He didn’t have a house, etc. One day, he was really sick, he had the flu and a cold, and he was freezing outside. He got up for Salah, but then he had hadath (impurity) and he needed to do ghusl (ritual washing), not just ablution (wudu). He had to perform a full wash, so he went. It was freezing, and there was no way to heat his water up. He did ghusl.
But what did I say before? He was sick. He was not feeling well. What he could have done was tayammum (dry ablution). He had two reasons to do tayammum: first, there was no water that he could warm up, and second, because he was sick, and it would cause him harm. The next day, he did the same thing, to the extent that he says he fainted. Someone who's sick and not feeling well, using cold water for a second day, fainted. Then he got up, and people said to him, “What happened? What did you do?” A man came to him and said, “Do you want to worship Allah upon this ignorance for the rest of your life?” Then he began to seek knowledge. He said, “Take me to the faqih (scholar) of this place.” It was him, of course, at that time. They took him there, he studied with him, he learned the deen (religion), etc., and he’s called Abdus Salam Sultanul Ulama (the Sultan of Scholars).
When you look at it, it’s amazing. He also started seeking knowledge at the age of 40, 43, or 45. The point I’m trying to get to is that there are loads and loads of other examples, but these people started their journeys late. The companions of the Prophet ﷺ accepted Islam and learned the deen at later stages too.
So, it’s not about that. It’s about Tawfiq (divine success). As Shu'ayb (peace be upon him) said, "It’s not my effort, it’s not my power, it’s not my ability. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you aid. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will help you in it. It’s not about your effort or getting up or anything like that. This is a push from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.”
So, don’t think like that. Don’t despair from being able to learn, whether you’re busy or old. Especially old, man—it's such a bad excuse.
I think people use that as a scapegoat. It's just, "I don't want to put the effort in." Do you really think, Shahid, that there's a young boy, 22, 23, 24 years of age, who's in the West, surrounded by shubuhat (doubts) and shahawat (desires), the two diseases everywhere around him, and he puts in effort, asking Allah to teach him the Qur'an? And then he wakes up every morning, putting loads of effort—do you think Allah will not allow him to do so? Of course, He will. There’s that striving—wa lanahdiannahum subulana (and We will guide them to Our paths).
I just want to re-emphasize, because I know some people, myself included, many months ago, I would have been watching this kind of video and thought, "It's just hard. It's just not me." I'd like to say that it comes from... inherently, it comes from excuses. But the reward associated with just trying this path—not even finishing it—is immense. Every time you sit down to seek knowledge, you're getting rewarded. Every time you implement that knowledge that you've learned, you're getting rewarded. Every time you tell someone about the knowledge you've learned, you get rewarded. Every time that person does an action based on what you've told them, you get rewarded. Every time they tell someone else—it’s just constant rewards.
I think it’s this Western ideology of knowledge which has been infiltrated into our deen (religion). It’s not about content. It’s not about going through as much as you can. It’s a spiritual journey. It’s worship. It’s an act of worship, just like Salah (prayer) and Zakah (almsgiving)—they are of course compulsory—but just like any other act of worship, seeking knowledge is an act of worship. If you were praying Salah, SubhanAllah (glory be to Allah), you know, if you were praying Salah and you said to yourself, “You know what, this Salah is too long for me,” or you’re treading on the path of Qiyamul Layl (night prayer), for example, or giving Zakah, we wouldn't say, "Oh, giving Zakah is too hard for me. I’m not going to do it." People would say, "No, give the Zakah. Pray Salah. Oh, I need to get up for Salah. It’s too long for me." And it’s just the same thing. It’s the same thing—they’re all acts of worship. Seeking knowledge is an act of worship. So, even though it needs slightly more effort, we shouldn’t confine it to giving up or anything like that. Especially when you compare it—and again, it goes back to the West, but to be honest, it’s all over as well—especially when you compare it to the way we live our lives, the way we invest our time.
We have 24 hours in a day. I have 24 hours, you have 24 hours. When the schedule you laid out, and you said this student has, you know, university lectures for 3 to 4 hours a day, starting at this time and finishing at 4, and you said just, what was it, 2 hours on the weekends sitting with the teacher? Look at the amount of time that we’re spending learning the knowledge of the dunya (worldly knowledge) with the university lectures, or a person working 9 to 5. And again, even if you're working 9 to 5, for example, to earn a living, to provide for your family—which is an act of worship—but if someone said, "I'm going to increase your salary. I'm going to give you constant money coming into your bank account. You just have to sit here for 4 hours and just do some work," just constantly money, money, money coming into your bank account, that’s not even anywhere near what we get in rewards. Because that money's going to come to an end, but the reward in the Akhirah (Hereafter) is never going to end. Just saying SubhanAllah (glory be to Allah) once is greater than the world and everything in it, because it's going to last forever—that one statement, the reward that’s going to last forever—whereas this world and everything that’s in it, it's going to come to an end.
One other thing I actually remembered was students have holidays at university. I remember 4 months—unless you're like a medical student or something like that. Medical students don't get 3-4 months; they get like a month at the end of the year. That's it. But as a normal university student in the West, I mean, the UK more specifically, you have 3 and a half months of literally no classes whatsoever. And please, please, please—I don’t want to expose brothers and sisters—but no one is sitting at home in the summer revising their content for university. I know exactly what we do—literally, you memorize everything just before exams. So, let’s not act like we’re there working hard, studying, etc. A lot of people might say about work. A lot of us might not even work. I know brothers, even myself, I didn’t work, and a lot of other brothers and sisters don’t work in the summer to pay for their university. Brothers that do, that's a separate case. I know some brothers, they work the whole summer just so they can pay for their university. And we’re going to speak about those people who are working 9 to 5, so they’ll come into that equation as well. But in the summer, now it’s time to make it full-time.
I remember with our Sheikh, Sheikh Abdus Salam, we had 6 weeks of i'tikaf (spiritual retreat) in the masjid during my A-Levels, the year of my A-Levels in the summer. We were doing this basically on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday, we'd come from 5 to 8 am, and we'd leave around 10 am, for example. So during the A-Levels, on weekends, we'd learn mutoon (books of knowledge), memorize the Qur'an, etc. That was throughout the whole year. What days were they? Saturday, Sunday. We were off 3-4 hours in the mornings, and during the week, we would revise those. You just need to do a bit, etc.
In the summertime, because we only had 6 weeks, what would we do? We’d do i'tikaf in the masjid for 6 weeks. Our parents would bring us food, and we wouldn’t leave the masjid. We'd sleep there, do qiyam (night prayer), learn, etc. I’m not telling everyone to do that, but it proves that if you are really serious, why do you spend those 3.5 months doing 6-7 hours a day of studying? And let me ask you now—do you ever regret that time and think, "I wish I was out there playing sports" or "I wish I was out there socializing"? Honestly, not at all. Allah is my witness, it was the best time of my life. You know, when you're older and you're more busy and have more responsibilities, Allah—it was the best time of my life. And if I could do that every year, it would be amazing.
That’s one thing we haven’t touched on—this whole concept of seeking knowledge. It’s actually enjoyable. There’s an enjoyment that comes with it. You get rewarded for something that you enjoy as well, but it only comes after you put in the initial struggle. It’s amazing. You say that because right now, I just came from Hargeisa. When I came here, I said to myself, because I came here, of course, our schedule normally—Fajr is like 5 o'clock, so we’re up around 4:30 am. We’re in the masjid, the halaqat (study circles) start around 7 o'clock. When I came to the UAE and I woke up, I was ready to go to class, and I missed it. I said to myself, "I really missed it a lot," and it’s just been a few days. I'm going to miss it even more when I finish. But it’s very enjoyable. It’s not like it’s a punishment, like some people might think it is, etc. It’s enjoyable. Your iman (faith), you feel this spiritual attachment as well. You meet loads of brothers. You don’t think that the brother that you learned the Qur'an with—you’ll never forget him. The brother who was in your class when you memorized the Qur'an together, you’ll never forget. You know, you make a lot of friends, etc. So, it’s a journey as well, definitely, without a doubt.
You want to talk a little bit about people who have a 9-5 job, maybe family, and have to raise children? This is where it gets a little bit harder. You want to talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, definitely. So, as a family man who’s working, and of course, it’s compulsory for them to provide for their family, etc., so the sisters, by the way, have no excuse. I’m only kidding! The sisters look after the kids—they probably have more work to do. But for both of them, both the brothers and sisters, inshallah, the husbands and the wives that are working full time, I want to kind of... how can I say it? I want to say it in the most realistic way, but they have to have a time each where they do not see each other whatsoever. You’re talking about the husband and the wife? They don’t have any interaction with each other and any interaction with the children either. If they have children, they decide that timing. It could be, as an example, you, for example, might say, "You know what, give me like..." Let me rewind, inshallah. Just like I made a principle that we're going to follow for the other group, the principle we're going to follow for this group, because it's a bit harder for them, is sacrifice. If you want to do this, you have to, have to, have to sacrifice.
If you're learning the religion by the time you’re married or you’re completely starting from fresh and you want to learn and seek knowledge, etc., and you're a full-time, full-time working family man, 2-3 kids, a wife, etc., your slogan is sacrifice. If you don’t, you wouldn't be able to do so. That sacrifice is, you would need to do—for example, like 5 am, 6 am, your memorization. When I say memorization, so it would be the same thing. Two days of the week, you go to a teacher. For two days, that’s the time where you wouldn’t see your family. Don’t call me, don’t message me unless it’s like an emergency or anything like that. But you need to give time where you’re completely disconnected from family, children, friends, etc.
So during that time, the husband is at the lesson, and the wife is looking after the kids. When the wife is at her lesson, the husband is looking after the kids. If they want to go to the lesson together and it's a public lesson in a masjid, for example, and she’s in the sister section, they both are having that time at the same time where they are not anywhere near the children. Take the children to mum, dad, or whoever you could possibly do so. If that’s not possible, then of course only one of them can go and the other can’t go. But my point is, anyway, as the first point is, there have to be times where you’re physically not near each other. There have to be times where you’re not speaking to each other, you’re not busy with each other because, of course, married couples would know, there’s commitment with your wife, your husband. You need to give them time. You need to speak to them, there’s emotional attachment, etc. You need to completely cut that off for a portion of the day, every single day.
When I say every day, because they’re going to follow the same thing that the other group followed, but instead of them doing 2-3 hours every morning before school (because the school guys started at 11 am, for example), they don’t have that. They start at 9 am every single day. Instead of them doing 2-3 hours, they can do like an hour or maybe even 45 minutes. Their process might be a bit slower, but again, فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مِنْ صِفَاتِهِمْ (Fear Allah as much as you can). So, the first point is, you need to disconnect from each other for certain hours of the day and give it to Allah.
Number 2: You need to sacrifice things. Unfortunately, because it has come to a time now that you’re married and you have other responsibilities, and you didn’t do it earlier, you need to sacrifice a bit more. So, slightly less sleep, maybe—not ridiculously, I’m not saying sleep 3-4 hours a day, but you need to cut out a bit. Instead of waking up at 6 am, wake up at 5:30 am, wake up at 5:15 am. That’s a sacrifice you need to make now, simply because you didn’t do it when you were younger. Take advantage. If that’s difficult for some people who are not early birds, take advantage of the time at night when the kids are asleep. You’ve got a couple of hours in the evening to yourself. Just spend half an hour, 45 minutes with Allah. Correct? Exactly that. Either way is fine, but there just needs to be a time of the day where you sacrifice to do your memorization. Those are the days you’re going to work. On the days, inshallah, you’re off, we said you’re going to go to the class just like they did before. That is part 1. Part 2 of a couple or a family man, etc., is... or another way someone can do it, do that over a few years, inshallah. 2-3 years, what we just said. Within that time, have a budget where you put aside money every single month. After 2-3-4 years of doing that part-time, inshallah, you might have saved a certain amount of money. Spend one year where you go to a country with your family, and now you can be a full-time student because you've saved money. That’s another part. There are levels. Obviously, it depends on how deep you want to go. There are options there.
Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure, definitely. But I honestly think that everyone should at least try to get a taste of seeking knowledge, etc. You don’t have to. You’re not sinning if you don’t, and I want to shoot that message home. But that person is going to be following the same things before, he’s going to be following the la ilaha illallah muhammad rasulullah (there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger) aqidah (creed) and seerah (biography of the Prophet ﷺ), and then he’s going to be learning fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). Be grounded in that. The days that you’re working, you’re going to be away from your wife, your husband for certain hours. You’re going to be memorizing little things that you need to memorize, that your teacher gives you. Little things, not the Qur'an yet. Once you’ve done that, it might take you, again, we said 6-8 months for the student, might be slightly longer—say a year, maybe for that person to be well-grounded in his religion. Then he can embark on memorizing the Qur'an. Again, he could do it, it would take maybe a bit longer, maybe 4-5 years for all of his life. But again, it’s small, small amounts, and then inshallah, if he wants to go abroad for a year, but save up, you need to save up a bit. Have a little budget where you can go abroad, inshallah. It’s all فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ (Fear Allah as much as you can), but if the person does want to go to a higher level, he needs to go, he needs to leave, inshallah, and he needs to give it a year, 2 years, 3 years, and places like Egypt.
I’ve heard that Somalia is incredibly cheap; it’s not a lot for you to go abroad with your family where you wouldn’t need to work and could have the whole day to yourself. It comes back to the concept, which is spoken about a lot, the concept of time management. For example, I would fall into this group with my family. I’ve got a daughter, and managing time with a 9-5 job is difficult. One thing I did recently that has been really, really helpful, at least it helped me a lot, is organizing my schedule on an Excel spreadsheet. I have my week planned out, my days at the top—Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all the way up to Saturday. Sunday is when the working week starts here, so Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all the way to Saturday. Then, every half hour is mapped out so I know exactly at this time every half hour what I’m doing.
What that allows you to do is actually build something that is not too burdensome, something sustainable, and it gives everyone their rights. I’ve got time for my family, time for work, time for seeking knowledge, time for exercise, time for socializing. If you actually do that, you’ll realize you’ve wasted a lot of time, and you actually have a lot of time on your hands; you just need to organize it properly. That schedule for me personally was something that I found really, really beneficial. Now, I’m struggling with just executing it. I’ve got it, and it makes sense theoretically, and now I just need to be strict. Yeah, that’s the thing, that’s the problem. But you just have to be strict and stick to the schedule as much as you can. But that’s something I would recommend for a lot of people who are struggling with time. If they do that, they’ll probably realize, like I did, that they actually have enough time to do everything they want, including seeking knowledge.
Isn’t it amazing? Look, you just said you’ve got this schedule, this timetable. Let’s say you had at 3 pm to read a certain amount of Qur’an or memorize a portion of Hadith, something along those lines, and you couldn’t do it because something came up. Look how amazing our religion is! You’re rewarded for it. Yeah, I never thought of that before. What’s the big deal? You’re rewarded for it. Is that not what you wanted at the end of the day? You just want the pleasure of Allah, that’s it, that’s the end goal. Why is it that you have to necessarily... of course, if you’d done it, it would be an extra amount, alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah), and it’s tawfiq (success) from Allah. But you’ve reached there with no effort, you know? So, I think it’s the concept of learning the religion and studying. Let’s take it away from content regurgitation and physical action necessarily, and rather view it as a spiritual journey of getting closer to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala (Exalted and Glorified is He). Then, I think it becomes a transaction with Allah which will never have any loss whatsoever.
That’s where I know, personally, I know a lot of practicing Muslims who may not prioritize the concept of seeking knowledge. They want to do good deeds—they do a lot of good deeds, charity work, aid missions, everything—but this concept of seeking knowledge is not there because they feel like, "Why do I need to learn about the religion? If I have a question, I can just Google it. I’ve got Islam QA, I can just go to a sheikh." But that’s where they’ve stripped out the spirituality aspect. They’re just looking at the theoretical side; they just want to know the right answer. They’ve stripped out the whole spiritual journey of getting to know Allah. You’ve heard that, right? Yes, the sheikh did take it over.
So, we have probably half an hour left until Salat al-Dhuhr (the Dhuhr prayer). What has your experience been like in Somalia? Tell us a little bit about that, if you don’t mind.
Somalia, man... if I speak too much about it, I’m going to get emotional. And I honestly mean that—it’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. I really, really, really, whenever I think of it, I get emotional. Pertaining to my teachers and my sheikh, just being there, seeing things that I never thought I would see, etc. Somalia, honestly, I wouldn’t be able to say everything, of course. Inshallah, I am writing a book, as I said already before, about my experience studying there and some of the great, great incidents with the sheikh, etc.
Inshallah, that's a separate topic, but overall, you know, when you study in... I don't want to say poverty, because Alhamdulillah Somalia is not poverty, even though it might look like it. I’m in Hargeisa, of course, Alhamdulillah, it's an upcoming country, but it's not like where we are in the UAE, the UK, etc. It really, really, really reminds you of patience, struggle in seeking knowledge, and all of these other things. That’s point number one. There are times when, of course, the last time I had a warm shower was when I came to the UAE. The last warm shower I took was in the UK. In Somalia, it’s all cold water. You have to wait for it—basically, you have to wait until the water is in a little tank, and they place it in line with the sun. So when the sun comes out, the hottest times are normally between 11 am to around 2 pm. That’s when the water is warm, Alhamdulillah. So that’s the best time to have a shower. But if you miss it, most of the time, I’m in class in the mornings and afternoons/evenings, so it's cold showers. It really teaches you patience, and you always remember, "I’m not here for luxury, I’m here for a spiritual journey." So it makes it a lot easier, of course. But then I said to myself, what did the companions go through? What did the Prophet ﷺ go through just to bring the religion to us? Not just that, but also the people of the past... You know, there’s this amazing story of—what’s his name? When I remember, Inshallah, I’ll mention it. The name was literally in my head. It's a beautiful story. When I remember, Inshallah, I’ll mention it.
But that’s the first point. The first point was about patience, sabr, and difficulty—struggle. You need to really... it teaches you that. The second point is the mashayikh (scholars). Whatever I say will not be enough. I’ll make a disclaimer—anything I write won’t be enough either. You have to see it with your own eyes. Some of the incidents I came across, for example, one of our sheikhs, may Allah bless him, was giving a lecture in the masjid. Everyone was there, waiting, etc. It was after Salat al-Asr, so during Salat al-Asr, someone fainted in the prayer and became unconscious. An ambulance had to come, and everyone was helping him. He was sick before as well. Alhamdulillah, afterwards, he was fine, but he fainted and collapsed. How long did it last? During the prayer, people came to him, but there were some people—I don’t want to say they were laughing, but some of them took out their phones. Then the sheikh, he went to the corner. He didn’t want me to mention his name because I’ve mentioned it before. He went to the corner of the masjid, sat down, and started crying on his own. Five minutes went by, ten minutes went by, fifteen, twenty minutes. People started saying, "What’s going on? The prayer is done, the lecture should be starting now," and he was there, everybody could hear him crying loud. Khafidahullah wa ta'ala (may Allah protect him). Then, the lecture time came, and they went and said, "Look, Sheikh, the lecture is now, He went to the minbar and then he started, he said, "Bismillah, Alhamdulillah," and he was crying. He couldn't speak, and then he started asking questions. He said, "How many of you listening to me right now came to the masjid with your two feet? Raise your hands. How many of you can hear me easily and perfectly fine right now? Raise your hands. How many of you have no breathing problems? How many of you don't need a machine to eat? How many of you went to the toilet with perfect ease and released your stool and urine?" He mentioned these blessings and started crying. Everyone started crying after that. Then he said, "لَا تُسْئَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ" ("You will be asked and questioned about this"). Then he said, "The lecture—we can’t do the lecture today, Inshallah, we’ll make it next week." I said to myself, "Am I really going to see this in the UK?" I mean, it’s possible, Allahu A'lam, but it’s different. I think the scholars and the mashayikh—especially in these countries like Pakistan, India, and Somalia—it's slightly different. There's this element of zuhd (asceticism). There's this element of... But also, when you meet scholars and mashayikh, they’re very practical in the way they apply what they’ve learned. Another beautiful story is about these people—I don’t want to say they are awliya Allah (friends of Allah) because, according to us, awliya Allah are those who combine taqwa (God-consciousness) and iman (faith) and do righteous deeds. Anyone who does righteous actions and has iman is a wali of Allah, as we believe—unlike others who say the wali of Allah is someone who eats his shoe or something like this. But they are true, true, true friends of Allah. They are people whom Allah has truly chosen, and you can just see it.
One beautiful story was of one of my sheikhs. He was sick, in critical condition, and he had a disease. I don’t know exactly what it was, but he couldn’t eat properly, he was throwing up blood, he couldn’t sleep at night, and he was very weak. He was very old, probably in his 70s or 80s. So, my sheikh narrated to me, saying that his uncle went to visit this sheikh who was sick in a different city, in a different country—he was in Somalia, not Somaliland. He went to visit him, and when he was there, everybody was with him. The sheikh was peaceful. He said, "How can I despair in Allah’s mercy? If I pass away, I will meet Allah SWT and be in a new life of bliss. I am yearning to meet the Sahabah." And this is not just mere words; he was there crying, and it was a practical manifestation of the religion. Then, what happened was, everyone thought he was going to die. The medics said he didn’t have long to live and all that. But then he said something like, "How can I confirm my death when I have Allah, who is all-merciful?" Then he went to sleep that night, which was very rare because he normally doesn’t sleep—he has insomnia, sleeping problems, etc. This is a true story, my sheikh narrated this. It happened a few months ago.
Then, he woke up the next day, and he said, "I saw the Messenger ﷺ in my dream, and he came to me and said, 'Don’t worry. You’re going to be fine. You will get better very soon, and you will not pass away anytime soon.'" The next day, he woke up, stopped vomiting, no more vomiting blood, and his adhkar (remembrance of Allah) continued. He reads 10 juz of the Quran per day. It’s a very simple life. When I heard this, I said to myself, "Where are these people in the world?" When you come across these things, you just say to yourself, "Wow, wow, wow." There are people who have genuinely absorbed the religion and made it part of their living. There are loads of stories, honestly.
The program itself is amazing—the scholars, the way they teach. Because it’s in a masjid, another benefit is it’s different from universities. Universities are great; anyone who gets accepted into universities should go—it’s a very good opportunity. But the studies here are very different. It’s the classical way. You come in the morning after Fajr, and students walk to the masjid. Some students walk for an hour or an hour and a half. It’s nice exercise though. Some people, in fact, even go on a donkey. Inshallah, I’ve actually done it a few times myself. I want to make a documentary as well, not just as a hobby—I want to show the way of the past. You know, we hear about the companions riding animals, some of them riding donkeys, etc., and they would just pass away without anything to travel anymore. They would start walking. I’ve seen this with my own eyes. Do we even see donkeys in the UK?
Probably not, so we come to the masjid, and about 300-400 students in the program all sit on the floor. You just feel this tranquility descending. You sit on the floor, and then one sheikh comes in, he does his book, and then he has a question and answer session. He asks, "Anyone have any questions?" The next sheikh comes, and before the lesson starts, he asks you questions about previous lessons. For example, he would say, "Abdullah, stand up in front of everyone. The matter pertaining to this, this, this—tell me about it, what’s your opinion?" It’s a discussion, and then he’ll ask, “Does anyone disagree?” “I disagree with him, I want to add this to it.” That’s how the first 15-20 minutes go. Then the students can also ask questions about the last lesson they didn’t understand. After that, the lesson starts. The sheikh will give his sharh (explanation) of the lesson, and of course, he will ask some questions as well. At the end of the lesson, there is a question and answer session.
The next sheikh comes in, and then when the lesson finishes, we have around 4-5 lessons a day, from 7 AM to Dhuhr (around 12 PM). As soon as the sheikh finishes the last lesson, everyone has to wait for him to leave. You can’t just get up and go, even if you’re in a rush. Adab (etiquette)—the muhim (important thing)—it’s in the masjid. When your legs hurt, it’s nice as well. Your back starts to hurt, and I really like it. It’s an opportunity. Of course, it’s in Somali, but anyone who has the chance should go. Another thing is, there are prerequisites, which also make it more organized. It’s not like every Tom, Dick, and Harry can just go. If you want to study with them, you have to go with something. You have to learn the Quran first, memorize the Quran, learn Arabic, and other things, etc. May Allah make us from them.
But it’s a completely different experience. Honestly, it’s amazing. It brings you back down to earth. Likewise, you see loads of poor people and opportunities to give zakat and sadaqah every single day. I gave more sadaqah—of course, it’s not boasting or anything, but I just want to give you the image. Also, it’s not a lot. If you give someone 8000 shillings in Somalia, which is what I would sometimes give, a lot of the time, to be honest, that is literally one dollar. SubhanAllah, they’re so happy. It goes so far for them. If you give them 20 dollars, that’s their rent for the month, and you’ve facilitated that for them. They’re literally on the floor, on the streets, everywhere. In the UK, it’s hard to really find that. It’s not as easy, of course. There is poverty, but it’s not as visible. I’m not going to get into the politics side of it, but it’s different.
So, this is really something beautiful that came to my mind when you were talking about the shuyukh (scholars) and your mashayikh (teachers). This is really just a manifestation, a practical manifestation of everything we’ve spoken about so far. When we’re talking about the impact of seeking knowledge being a spiritual thing and changing you, people will be listening to those stories and think, “I want to be like that. I want to be able to cry. I want a heart so soft that it cries at things like that. I want to see the Prophet ﷺ in my dream.” This comes from what we’ve been speaking about for the last hour—slowly seeking knowledge. And that’s why the shuyukh, they have soft hearts, because they’ve been around it. It’s so true.
It’s so true. You know, Sheikh Ahmed Eid once mentioned something in the lesson. He always gives little heart-softening moments at the end. He said, “You guys might not see the fruits of your knowledge right now. Now is the hard part. Now it’s the time where you need to literally smash into the rock until you get to the bottom. It’s not going to happen now. Give it some time, you’ll have bits here and there, but maybe after six months, possibly, maybe after a year. It might even come after five years or even four years. And you’ll always have these little moments of boost, like when you're in Tarawih and you know Arabic because you've studied it for two years. You understand the Qur'an, and there will be an ayah that just hits you. That moment will come. It will come regularly. But this level of understanding—this is time. My mashayikh, they studied for 23, 24 years. Sheikh Ahmed Eid in Yemen, Sheikh Abdullah Barberawi, likewise in Yemen, for such a long time. And before that, they were already well-grounded when they were young in Somalia. Anyway, Sheikh Dr. Hussain Al-Faraidi—his name is Hussain Al-Faraidi because he was a specialist in Fara’id (inheritance law)—before he went to Medina University at the age of what? 16, 17, 18, and then he studied there for about 14-16 years with the scholars. The point I’m trying to get to is it takes time and patience.
The second thing you really benefit from is the environment. And you know, this is another thing as well. I feel like we’re talking about in the UK. It’s difficult to seek knowledge because of this commitment. Sometimes we pack our lives with commitments that are not necessary, and as a result, we don’t have time to do the things that are necessary. When you go to Somalia, for example, and you see the way they’re living—so basic—many people in the UK will look down on them and feel sorry for these people. These people don’t even have hot water. But the reality is, he should be looking down on you. I was telling you before, I went to Gambia maybe a couple of months ago, and I met a brother there living so simply. He said, “My entire living expenses for the whole year are 4000 pounds. That’s rent, bills, food, spending money, transport, everything. I come here with 4000 pounds, and I live for the entire year. I’m living like a king.” His words were, “I’m living like a king.” And he is, because he has time to do whatever he wants. He wants to get up, memorize the Qur’an, read a book, socialize—he’s got 24 hours a day where he doesn’t have to worry about putting food on the table, paying bills, paying for the electric or gas, etc. We’ve chosen to live our life like this. It’s a choice we’ve made. My brother, for example, my blood brother, he lives a very simple life. He’s very, very strong in his concepts. He lives a very simple life. We’ve chosen. Recently, I was moving house just this week, I was telling you before. I’m moving house. I’m stressing about getting this unpacked and sorting out the bill, this, this, and this. This is a choice I’ve made. And if I’m saying that I can’t seek knowledge because of this, then I’ve chosen not to seek knowledge. It’s not that you don’t have time. You have 24 hours a day. Just like someone else seeking knowledge has 24 hours a day. They’ve chosen to spend their time here, and you’ve chosen to spend your time there. That’s the reality, sahib.
Yeah, right. 100%. 100%. May Allah give us Tawfiq. Honestly, I thank Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala every single day for allowing me to go to Somalia when it happened as well.
I don’t know if you know how it actually came about. I was suggested the program, and then I called them up and said, "Look, is there a possibility I can come?" They said, "Yes, you can come, Inshallah, but of course, there are some conditions. We closed registration as well, but since you're coming from the UK, we’ll make a lot of exceptions for you. You’re the only person coming from the West." So, I made the decision. Literally within 48 hours, I packed my bags, didn’t even do much shopping because there wasn’t much time, and left.
I had never been to Africa before, never seen African lands. When I was on the plane, I looked down and saw a desert and dust—just nothing else. I got a bit scared, not frightened, but I was thinking to myself, "Did I make the right decision?" You hear so many negative things about Africa, so many misconceptions, and I thought, "What’s going to happen?"
But Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but it’s a test as well, not just a blessing, but a test from Allah. Will you make the most of it? Will you take advantage of the opportunity that many people haven’t been given?
What I would say to everybody, on a serious note, is that wherever Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has planned for your life, you don’t know. A lot of the time, you might make a spontaneous decision to do an act of worship, which might involve difficulty. An example is Hijrah—migration from one country to another, especially when it’s a country you love. A country beloved to you because you lived there, you grew up there, you were born there. It’s deeply rooted in your heart. For you to make the decision to migrate completely is not easy, which is why it’s such a big decision. Allah made this act of worship so great in reward because of its spontaneity.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala commanded the companions to make Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah because they weren’t allowed to worship Allah the way they wanted. The companions packed their bags and went. They didn’t think about their wealth, their land, or their houses—they just went. Look at where Islam is now after that decision.
So, whatever Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has written for you, you don’t know. Don’t think too much about spontaneous decisions. Inshallah, Allah won’t let you down, just like He never let me down personally. I honestly don’t regret going at all. It was the best decision, the best year of my life, in fact. I could have been making money, I could have been working, doing other things, but Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.
I would definitely advise others to experience it. Other places like Egypt, Mashallah, Saudi Arabia, go! That journey of seeking knowledge will never be regretted, Inshallah wa Ta'ala.
To close what I was saying, I honestly feel like luxury has destroyed us. It has really damaged us because now we want to maintain a certain lifestyle, and that requires time and effort, such as earning money. It's this concept of wanting more, and I don't know, I'm really reflecting on my own life here. Sometimes, it might be better just to live in a desert, like a Bedouin. But if you can't do that—understandably, not everyone can because they have families and commitments—then at the very least, you have to be seeking knowledge. You need to give a portion of your time every single day.
If you're not going to make that big commitment, which we all should be able to make because we know the dunya (worldly life) is limited and we could die before the end of this life, that’s the reality. I don’t even know if I’m going to get to the end of this sentence, and the Aakhirah (the Hereafter) is eternal—forever. How can we not make the big leap to leave the dunya behind and go and seek knowledge? But if you're not going to do that—understandably, it’s not for everyone—then at the very least, you have to be seeking knowledge, even in your comfort, every single day. You must dedicate that time, 100%.
Something came to mind. We often tell brothers and sisters to do part-time studying and balance it with seeking other secular knowledge. So far, the discussion has been about the general mass of Muslims. But I want to share a message: we need some Muslims, in fact, many more Muslims, to go above and beyond with the religion. What I mean by “going overboard” is not in a bad way but in the sense that we need Muslims to embark on this path and become scholars, just like we have Muslims who aim to become doctors, engineers, or work in other fields. We need Muslims who know the religion the way Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala sent it down, the way He meant it during the time of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam, with proper understanding of fiqh (jurisprudence). There’s never been a time when we needed this more. With all the heedlessness around us, it's so scary.
We need brothers and sisters, yes, I’m saying sisters as well, to tread this path, to set an example for others, and to take on the role of the messenger, because no one else is going to do it. There will be no more messengers coming. Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi wa Sallam is the Khatam al-Nabiyyin, the Seal of the Prophets. So, we need that as well. Let’s not just focus on the idea that Muslims should only learn a little—5%, 10%. Go all in, do it full-time, and make sacrifices. Don’t work for maybe four or five years of your life. Live a simple life. Go a few days without eating, a few weeks without speaking to your family, a month without hearing anything about the outside world. You need to go through this too, Inshallah. May Allah give us success and accept it from us, by the honor of Muhammad al-Mustafa and by the secret of Surah Al-Fatiha.
