Abdul Wahab Saleem – Why I Believe He Was a Reviver A Tribute to Shaikh Muhammad Alshareef
AI: Summary ©
The importance of language learning for community members is emphasized, particularly for those who speak English. The speaker discusses the challenges of finding a financial system that works for everyone and the need for acceptance of modernity. The speaker emphasizes the need for acceptance of modernity and acceptance of modernity in various fields, including modernity in Islam. The "medestream of Islam" was a person who wanted to be a pioneer in Islamic education, and the "medestream of Islam" was a person who wanted to be a leader.
AI: Summary ©
Sooner hamdu lillah wa salatu salam ala Rasulillah Hamdu lillahi Hamden wash in your home who you care for OMAS either SallAllahu ala Sayidina Muhammad the more Allah early he was such a huge Marine, la melanoma and Frodo and Pfanner Bhima Lim Turner was in a alemannia, Karim rubbish really. So very recently I met Melissa, many of our colleagues are visiting your Hillman or visiting your ailment or visit nivolumab. I want to start with like what exactly does Sheikh Mohammed Sharif mean to me?
And why am I talking about him? Firstly, I think that across North America, and maybe a lot of the world, a lot of the holdup today would have been about Sheikh Mohammed the shed, if you go online, go on YouTube. Just type in type in a tribute to Sheikh Mohammed the shade if you'll find dozens of, of lectures given on this topic today, where and probably a few more will come out over the next few weeks as well. So for me personally,
I grew up in the 90s and 2000s, in Toronto, before that in ATS and and of course, I used my early childhood is in Saudi Arabia. So in that time, there really were not many options. And I think a lot of you are around that same age, right? So there really were not too many options to learn Islam. Right. My parents were very keen on me going to any halacha possible. And I will be honest, even though I'd memorized you know, a lot of the Quran when I was younger, and my parents tried to instill as much as human values within them would never feel connected to the Masjid 100%. The only time I would feel connected with the masjid was when we would go and do sleepovers. That's it.
Right? Because the person that would be speaking to us in the masjid, he didn't know how to speak English. And this was the reality that a lot of us growing up in Canada in Toronto, and maybe even over here, even more so had to experience because all of the Imams were imported. And this is not to say those were bad people, they're great human beings. But at that time, we didn't have a system of
our very own going overseas study and coming back and teaching, right. So the language, there was a clear language barrier, my what to do is not all that. So the only main language I had at that time was my English. So I'd go to the masjid and I could barely communicate with the Imam. And so naturally, I would feel a disconnect. And then around early 2000s, one of our family friends from
somewhere in the States, I don't know my mom's childhood friend,
she started to send cassettes to our house that were of this gentleman. And we didn't quite know who he was, obviously, because nobody really knew him at that time. And these cassettes were speaking to me, because they were lectures that would be in English, they would talk about and address topics that would be very relevant to me as a teenager at that time. And I would feel very connected. So we would listen to this, me, my brother, my sister, all of the siblings, everybody would be listening to these cassettes, and that was actually shaking him with a Sharif. We didn't know because he wasn't quite famous at that time. And so when he moved over to Toronto to Ottawa, his parents were
in Toronto, but he wouldn't move over to Ottawa. At that time, he slowly started to come back and forth. And around this time, more and more of the
native English speaking graduates, they started to come around as well. And the odd treat would have when Dr. Vidal Phillips would come over and he would do his lectures and these type of things. So those were traits that I cannot forget because I'm finally speaking to a person who actually understands my language, right. I'm able to communicate and, and this is a very key important point. And Alavi you as community members, they you also need to fill this in to all of the misogyny Hamdulillah. In our masjid, we have Imams all of whom speak English properly, they grew up in Canada, etc. But still till now in Edmonton and other places, we have Imams who cannot speak
English. Yeah, sure they can lead the salah. But if you have a housewarming gift given by a man who cannot speak English, how is he going to relate to people? How is he going to talk to people? How is anyone going to feel safe communicating with them? Right? And there's a lot of people who have went overseas and come back and studies and you should push this agenda of we need to have people who are able to speak the language of the people this is one of the keys with which Allah sends the rissalah Mama or Santa Mira Rasool in Ellerbee. rissani, homie, hindi you but you never know. We never sent a messenger except with the tongue of the people so they may be able to understand, right so we
finally began to understand there's like opportunity now you can hear lectures from people one of the pioneers at this time, really was Sheikh Mohammed the Shetty
he faded out over the recent years. And that's why a lot of people who came into the Dean more recently, they don't really know if you can remember the sheriff because he kind of retired about 10 years ago, or less than that, from the data was seen as we call it. He kind of retired, for reasons I'll talk about in a bit. Okay. So he started this institute, which he started in, in the States, and he started bringing it to Toronto. And this was called the mother of Institute. And I took maybe four or five classes with them, before I had headed off to my studies, and a couple of those courses with with, or maybe three courses were with Sheikh Mohammed Sharif. And this is this is really, this
was formative for me because again, I'm seeing a person who went over to like, there's an example before me, someone who went over he learned Islam, and he speaks my language. He's got the Quran memorized, he had very melodious tone in recitation as well, Mashallah. And these were like,
the typical idea of who an imam is, like, you know, when you start to have like, a cognitive dissidence, like you're like, what's going on, like, this is how an imam should be, he's able to speak English, and he's able to communicate ideas, and he's even ahead of you in three steps ahead of you in every other way, even when it comes to personal development and self help. And he's taking courses with Tony Robbins, and
like, what do you Who is this guy, right? Like, this is the type of feeling that came over me because in the middle of our class, he would come and tell us get up, start doing jumping jacks. Never been in a Halaqaat, where you're being told to do jumping jacks. Right. Right. It's, it's, it was an interesting thing. Now, I don't necessarily do my Halaqaat like that. But still, I remember experiencing that. I'm like, this is interesting, okay, part of the how to do jumping jacks, right. But like, obviously, he's trying to get the blood flowing. And he's thinking about it from these angles, and he's trying to get all of the, the, you know, the people with after an hour, they lose
focus. He's trying to get people to refocus. So these things were really captivating, right? And, and so this is why I'm talking about him. So he had something to do with my early development. And
of course, after that, I went overseas for about 15 years, right? That was a different experience. But here, this was
the very early stages, I got to learn from him. And there was really, some things I always remembered, right. So who is Sheikh Muhammad Sharif? So Muhammad Sharif, he memorized the Quran, he was born in 1975 1395, and hijra, he memorized the Quran, as a young man, as a young man, and
and he graduated from the Islamic University of Medina, with a degree in Sharia or law, and that was the class of 1999. So you can do the math on that, right. And from what I saw, and what everybody knows about him was he was an extremely focused human being, he was a very jolly human being very fun to be around. But he knew exactly what he wanted. And he was going to do exactly what he wanted to do. And he had the ability, like unique ability to handle challenges, right. And that I think, gave him a level of leadership that probably, I would say,
almost everyone that I have met in the Dawa did not have because he could handle a challenge in a very fun, capable
way, where he would be able to handle that challenge without you feeling it's even challenging. Okay. And one of the situations that I so vividly remember, around 2008, give or take, there was a big trial that happened in the Muslim community in Toronto, those who No, no, right. And
I'll lot of the Halaqaat around Toronto started to get closed down. People were extremely afraid. And I remember that same weekend, there was another moment of course happening and Sheriff hammer, the sheriff heard about this. And when he heard about it, he literally very, very capably embrace that difficulty. And he said, that this is a test from Allah azza wa jal, and Allah will help us Allah will aid us Allah will take care of us something along these lines, but I noticed that at that time, a lot of people became afraid a lot of machines they were you know, what should we do? Should we stop the Halaqaat? Not answering phone calls, why everybody's afraid? What if I get picked up in
the process as well? Right. So this man he could have had that fear as well and I saw this literally unfolding before my eyes. I said, my shot like really felt like this man. You know, he's got his vision. He's going to do it. He went back to the class and he taught with the same zeal, the same passion, the same ability
At the same capability, while he comes around are humans Allahu barakato and didn't change any bit, he continued to do exactly what he had to do. And that was he was going to teach this was his goal, nothing was going to stop him. And of course, there was many challenges that were to come, whether it be in the States, and whether it be over here, and other places as well. But but every single time for him the goal was establishing this institution, I'll talk to you more about the institution as well, right.
So he had leadership skills. And this was one of those signs that he could embrace challenges and handle them in a way where it doesn't even look like it's a challenge for him, right. And, of course, he was an introvert, there's no doubt about that, like he would keep to himself to for the most part, but he would also try to challenge himself and meet people because he had to do that for his vision, right. And he, he would teach and he himself knew his own self worth.
He will teach people to recognize your own self worth, as Islam even teaches you to recognize your own self worth meaning to recognize the abilities that you have, and then utilize that. And one of the incidents that I remember in this regard, is that he was talking about how he was able to make Al Maghrib the institute he masterminded happen. And he said, he basically talked about all of these different machines that are on his roster. He said, you know, fuller and fuller and he gave all the names in the class. And he said everyone had a different idea. Now, these are very accomplished human beings, like guys are just valedictorian of his class, he is called the the top student
graduating from his Master's class. You know, Muhammad, faqih very good gentleman. And also, you know, one of the
individuals was very sought after, after during that time, and he took all of these people who had their own visions. And he said, I basically refocused everybody. Right. And this is a level of leadership that is very difficult Human Resources is not an easy thing. The Prophet was sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a mastermind in human resource management as well. So in order for you to be a leader, anyone who knows anything about HR, you know how difficult that particular scope is, because you're dealing with human beings, everybody has a different problem, right? And you have to keep everyone happy. Does anybody work in HR here, right? You have to keep everyone happy. And so it's
very complicated to do. So for him to take all of these humans who already have a vision and reorient them, refocus them and sell to them his idea in a time where really, a lot of people are against the idea, and I'll tell you why. They were against the idea as well. I remember even when I would go to class, a lot of people would be like, don't go to those classes. Why? Because when you go to the class, they're like, Oh, they're just they've made a game out of the deep. Right? Well, it wasn't a game anyways. The idea is to be able to refocus, it's a very, very unique quality. So you also recognize that he has that ability to take individuals and reorient them towards the direction
that he wants to take them. This is very powerful if you get the skill, human resource management, you know, the incident in which someone came to the prophets. I said, Let me told them about the Athan. That's a hobby. And the prophets SLM said that go teach it to be done. For in the hole and dam in Casselton. Go teach it to Bilal because he's more capable of giving us on the new. This is the profit, human resource managers you spotted a talent. This guy's more capable. Yes, you learn the Athan, but teacher to biller is going to be able to do a better job at that. So taking people, reorienting them, refocusing them, this was one of those abilities that he had, and that was part of
his leadership, his legacy. The main thing that summarizes his legacy is taking a model that existed in the Western world. And that was these weekend seminars. And
basically, Islam is sizing them. And this is very important. Because every time we see anything of modernity, we'll find some people who will be like this needs to be rejected when cryptocurrency came out, it cannot be Milan. Why can't it be halal? Because governments haven't approved of it yet. Why? Who said for something to be halal, governments need to approve of it. Where this this idea, by the way, let me just debunk this myth as well. Government saying something is illegal doesn't make it automatically halal. You know, the whole thing about following the law of the land.
You should follow the law of the land because there's going to be legal consequences, but is it obligatory for you to notice and is it obligatory from a city perspective? No, it isn't. Let's say the law of the land tells you that you cannot wear a hijab.
Are you going to say you have to follow the law of the land
know,
if there's legal consequences, you might end up removing it because of that, like people do in France at times. But whenever you can be away from the sight of the law, what are you going to do? What's your job? All?
Right.
Similarly, if they outlaw praying salah, are you going to say follow the law of the land? No. So what we have to do is we have to take anything that modernity has to offer, and Islam besides it.
Anything in Islam aside, this is a very key factor, not everything in modernities, haram things that are haram. Of course we leave them there's no doubt about it. But things that are halal, whether it be the capital markets, we can Islam, besides them, there's a company called Anamosa. That's what they're doing there, whether it be cryptocurrencies there's defy exchanges now being made, which are halal defy exchange exchanges, I work with one of them. And
so the idea is that anything that modernity has to offer, you can accept it, embrace it. And that's what he did. One of those things that were really famous at that time was self help seminars, he's going to all of them. He took the model, and he took Islam, and he started packaging it within this model. Okay. And really, what ended up happening is that he, I don't even think he expected. Maybe he did, I'm not sure, but I don't know if he even expected and anticipated the level of success that this will have. Because people started coming to the seminars in large numbers. There was no other way for people to learn their Deen except this. People who were university students, they didn't
want to go to the masjid because again, the Masjid dilemma was most of the Messiah and the misogyny, they don't know how to speak the language, they don't come prepared for the lectures. One of the reasons for that is because in the past, and even till today, in different massages, there will be one chef doing all of the tasks. He's the one who's the janazah chef, he's the one who's checking the teeth of the all the hair to make sure how many years it is. He's the one who's praying Salawat he's the one who's coming for Fajr the night prayer, he's coming for the taraweeh he's giving the hotbar he's preparing for the lecture, what's going to happen? Human beings cannot talk. Like this
is beyond human, right? No Muslim country does this happen. You have a chef, he's teaching you ever chef, he's praying Salawat you have Salatin. Joomla happening with another shift doesn't happen like this, right. But in the Western world, because of the lack of human resources and also financial resources. Generally, most massage it used to end up having one shift. And even till today, most massage do that we have over here, tissue. And I really pushed for that when I came here. Right? The idea is that the you know, so because of this, like, people didn't want to go to these Halaqaat. Like, there's unprepared and, and so when these more prepared seminars came books, you know,
notebooks and exams, and everybody started flocking hundreds of students, 1000s of students, hundreds of 1000s of students in total, they say I don't know, 120,000 students. But that's not actually the number. Because the real number is when this system was created. Dozens of other Institute's started following the same system, both in the Western world, and also in the Eastern world. Now. Now they're in the East, as well. There are dozens of institutions that actually opened up on the same exact model. And I've taught at some of them as well. And they have students also in the hundreds as well. I taught a class in Sri Lanka, 400 students, and they're using the exact same
system. I taught another class in Pakistan, again, same type of system. And there's, again, hundreds of students learning. So when the system came in, it was embraced other people also started embracing. So that's, I think, where the legacy lies. Now, the problem was, obviously, a lot of people they started to criticize the show, whenever you do something new. There's going to be criticism, one of the criticisms was you've made this into, and there's no more education, there's no elements, all entertainment, or edutainment, that's what you're doing. Right. And I clearly remember this allegation. And I would say, Well, I mean, I didn't feel agitated, like I felt like I
was being educated. And yes, a little bit of movement in the class here and there that would, that would affect us positively. Right? Your cognitive abilities are only capable of comprehending enough over eight hours, right? So this was one of the criticism and other criticism was, they're charging money. This was completely new charging money in the Western world, for Islam. Now, literally, when this happened, even in the east, when they started these Institute's they started doing the same thing. So that issue eventually ended up being dissolved because now everybody's following the same system charging money. In order for you to have a system that works you need to have a financial
system that also works as well as the sheriff needs to get paid. The room needs to be you know, also hired like whatever room you're you're
renting out whether it's a classroom, logistics, lodging, flights, obviously there's costs so it's only natural that there's going to be a price tag attached to all of this. No, there's no billion dollar man who's gonna who's gonna part ways with 10 $10 million and say, you know, do it for the sake of Allah azza wa jal doesn't work. This doesn't exist right now. We don't have people like that we don't have an arithmetic nor fun. You know, I always tell people if he was here, we don't be seeking donations because we have people who are multimillionaires, but they don't dig deep into their pockets and give 10,000 Maybe 5015 20. Where's that millionaire that just comes in, says, You
know what I'll build the masjid in the backdrop doesn't happen. So you started charging, and then there was nothing, nothing wrong with that. In fact, I'll give you one example. Right? So for those who want the examples from the era of the self, I really picked this example out. An example is the example of men from the fourth century and they Lucia 319, after the age of the prophets, so his name was Mohammed ibn Fordyce, even Watson and Laughlin EBD, one of the real amount of their time in endless, and he basically went to learn the motor from one of the scholars, right. And that Chief, he demanded a payment, he wanted some money. Right? So they paid him after paying him.
He started teaching them he finished reading the book with them completely taught them. And then afterwards, Mohammed, even Felice, he said, My heart was not content, I ended up paying someone for knowledge, right? Is this even halal? Is this okay? Is it not? So he went to
a more senior chef in town. And he started reading a book to me wanted to actually ask him this question. He said, Is it okay? If I wanted to ask him if it's okay to charge money for knowledge, but he was afraid that
this small senior shift even of the heckum, he would think that I just came for this question. And if he's harsh, he's going to get mad at me and, and all that, right. So he basically played a trick. He went to the chef, he started reading a book to him. And after reading for a few days, he went and asked the chef, he said, a slug Allah, which is one of the ways that historically they would use to begin a question. He said, a slug Allah, Allah Salim, were who the original Jonatha Allah karate, can a scholar take money for teaching.
And immediately the scholar he realized what's happening. He knows he went to that guy. And he was charging. And he learned a book. And now he's coming to verify with me.
So he said, that he hid his book out of anger, because he realized you're basically trying to contest what had shifted with you. And after he calmed down a little bit, and he said, he said, This is allowed Africa Allah, may Allah forgive you, or may Allah
fix you. And then he said, This is completely okay. He said, I can read one page for for one dyrham. One silver coin if I so wanted, right. No problem. This is again, one of the scholars of this LF and I've hunted like dozens of examples like this, actually started looking into this because again, there's always this accusation leveled, what are you doing charging for knowledge? There was a villa. Right? The charge is not for knowledge. But exactly what this scholar said. He said that,
who has forced me, listen to this, who has forced me to sit with you for the whole day?
Who has forced me to sit with you for the whole day, and leave my family and not earn wealth for them and look after them?
I'm spending my time here. And I have a family to look after, of course I do it.
So he was charging? Yes. But he didn't take all of the profits for himself. This is something that a lot of people don't know. Right? He left all of the gains for the sake of Allah azza wa jal, all of them, like yes, he would, he will just as well the other instructors and all these weekend courses, they get a small fee, maybe 1000 bucks or 2000 bucks or something like that, whatever is reasonable, and whatever place it is, but
beyond that,
they, you know, all of the prophets are for Allah. There is no other thing and there's nothing wrong with this. And literally the Prophet said, as I said, the problem is sometimes we like to become more religious than the prophets Allah. Literally. There is examples of best paying for knowledge and body. There's the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam literally saying that the best thing that you can take money for is the book of Allah azza wa jal, this is also in Makati. So what else is left you want to become more righteous than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam him
Golf and accused people of this and that and the other. And the least we can say is the most simple thing we can say, is literally what Mm hmm. No. Oh, he said. He said that. After he quoted the Hadith that I just quoted, he said, This is a clear sign that it is permissible to take money for rakia, reading Fatiha doing vicar. For people. All of that is halal. And this is not mcru. And just like that is teaching Quran. This is the madhhab of Imam Shafi Malik Muhammad, this happened with all because this is the hadith of Rasulullah. What more do you want? So this accusation obviously, is meaningless. In reality, there's no meaning to it. But I'm explaining this because this was one
of the things that was leveled. It was a completely new idea. We have a weekend seminar, we're going to charge some fee for it. And then obviously, even the people who were criticized eventually embraced the same idea, because they realized the model is working. Yeah, and beat them. Join them. Right. So the other thing that really I think he did very well, and I remember he would plant this in the minds of students all the time, he changed the perception of money in the minds of students. Okay. And I think that I actually got affected by that as well. That every now and then he would challenge the status quo is it like is money a problem? Is it a sin? Wait, Abu Bakr is a rich man
philon was a rich man, this was a rich man. I always say these things in my classes as well. Right? But this was one of the status Posey challenge one of the one of the things he has a course called I've never taken it, but it's something like millionaire who intergender you can look into it. I don't know what what's inside of it. But that's another thing that he would talk about, right? One time he said something and I remember it registered in my mind, and I thought about it for many years afterwards. He said, What if a she comes to the masjid and he has a Ferrari.
Right? You remember that? Everybody remembers that? Right? So what if a chef comes to the rescue that he has a Ferrari? Remember, he left millions of dollars for the sake of Allah azza wa jal, I'm not trying to paint him as a money hungry human being he left literally as worth millions of dollars. Because I'm going to probably went on to become one would estimate, I don't know their books, but at least a multimillion dollar Institute, right? So he said, What if a chef comes to the masjid with a Ferrari? What would you say is questioning the status quo? Why can't a chef come to the masjid with a Ferrari? Ask yourself, why not? What's the problem with that? Why? Really? What's
the problem with that? You might say Oh, but he's telling us to give sadaqa maybe he's a billionaire. Maybe he's a, you know, if a billionaire to him, it's not even a half a percent of his wealth. Right?
And I remember going to kingsroad University. One day, I went to the parking lot as I'm coming out of my class, one of my machines, he drove in with a Porsche Cayenne.
That is 170 $80,000 car. Right? And I immediately remembered what the city said.
I thought to myself, like Subhanallah and this was not like your average chance. This was like one of the top professors we had in our school. He was very intelligent, very smart. You could tell he's close to Allah. His alien was right on. Like, he was one of the people I really looked up to and I was hanging in a parking lot a Porsche Cayenne. What's the problem with that?
There's no problem with that. The prophets Allah Allahu alayhi wa sallam, he said in a hadith, that in Allah you hit Bucha Yura Ethel near Mati here, Allah Abdi Allah loves to see the SLD example of the near AMA, or the sign of the neuroma of Allah azza wa jal upon slave, no problem, right? For a person who has a million dollars goes by a Lamborghini that will be sawed off half of his wealth is printed on a car, someone who has $100 million, he buys a half a million dollar car, is that?
Is that exaggerating? 71.5% of his wealth, right? So there's no, you can still give millions of dollars. But this is a little bit of as well, no problem. And sometimes people do that for other reasons, you won't understand until like, you understand I have friends who are multimillionaires, a little very simple lifestyle, but they have a nice car, why? Some of them they say it allows me to different situations where I can increase my business, right? When people see you have a nice car, sometimes they let you into greater business opportunity. So there's, again, there's no problem with that. So all of those notions, they ended up, you know, completely disappearing. And
the haters they've, they disappeared and, and the system that he created, it took the whole Western world literally by a storm, and then literally the rest of the world as well. I used to live in Malaysia and Mata was one of the biggest institutes in Malaysia and they were probably a dozen, two dozen, maybe three dozen more than that institutions, all of whom are following the same model at this point. All of them I taught at multiple institutions in Malaysia teaching in the same model. I'll tell you what I taught there for a couple of years. Exact same model. It was
literally copied, you know, hook line and sinker from the MACRA model, right? So.
So this went around the world, and people benefited from it immensely. And I think one of the things that we really need to stop at is his ability to found. Now not everybody is a founder, you know what I mean by a founder, like taking a concept, and creating a product, and then creating systems to be able to maintain the sale of that product. This is what founders do, they have a vision for the future, and they end up developing that vision. Today, we have the ability to have any knowledge literally at our fingertips, information technologies, reached to that point, where you know, during the time of September there wasn't there. But still, it was better than before, right? But now,
literally anything you want minutes, you can get it you want. You want a package and audio, you want it in video, you want it in reading, you want someone to read you a book, all of that is there, right? Podcasts, whatever you want, you can do it. It's so simplified to a degree that never I know not, I think definitely I know never in human history has information, because it's been so simplified. So you can get information about on everything, everything.
What founders do is they take this information, and they create a vision for the future through it, they make a solution, they make a product. And then they develop a foundation and a system to be able to market and sell and bring to the world this product. So that's exactly what he did. He had a system in place, he made a course, which was a product and he courses products, and he made a system around it. And that system really flourished, right. And if any of you are interested in this, and I tell you all to be interested in this really read a book by the name of zero to one, zero to one, it's a very beautiful book. And it's written by a man by the name of Peter Thiel, he was one of the
founders of PayPal. And he also founded a number of other companies currently, if you know anything about what's going on. Now, one of the big companies that everybody wants to get into his, at least investment is Palantir. He's also a founder of Palantir, as well. But he very nicely sums up how to found how to take an idea for simple concept and make it into a startup and be able to found and there is a process once you master it, you can found so he mastered this process, he founded the foundation of an institution. And many of the institutions they were not founded in the the systems were imperfect. So they kind of lived, but then they died as well. They kind of lived in they died
as well. And I'm not saying that they have a perfect system in that institution. Right now, that's not my intention. But I'm saying that at least he was able to make a system that works. And it went around the world, it was replicated by hundreds of 1000s of people. And that is ingenious, that quality of being able to found is not something that everybody can do, it requires a level of focus that you will only find out find out when you try to felt right. I have worked with multiple startups in the capacity of advisory. So I know them going from literally zero to a billion dollars. And so I have seen this happening and the level of focus that it requires, for it a person to really
invest himself completely in an in a startup and bring it to
bring it to fruition. It's very difficult. It's not a task and a feat that everybody can handle. Right.
So this was one of the things that I think we can take from her read that book, Peter Thiel, as I said, zero to one and there's other books on this topic as well. But there's a very simple guide of a successful founder. Right? And
the other thing is that Allah gave this man a bow. He gave him acceptance, right? He was you could tell whenever you hear him, there's a level of a philosophy what he's saying sincerity, and he would touch people in that way. And
it suffice to say that everybody's mentioning him with goodness, everybody, right? Even the people who are his critics, they actually caved in and they started saying good things about him as well. This is a quote from Allah acceptance from Allah azza wa jal, and
we all make the DUA that Ibrahim Ali Salam used to make, and he would say about the heavily Mina Saudi hain. And he would say that, he would say what you're really saying,
oh, Allah, make a positive mention for me after I die for generations. So we ask Allah to make a positive mention for us after we die for generations. And here I want to say something about critics, you know that some of the criticism that I've already told you about right? This was something that I would very, very regularly hear
or when I was a student in Saudi Arabia, students have knowledge. One of their biggest pitfalls is they just love to backward, walleye.
And they love to contest and they think they know it all. And so I would hear all of these young students of knowledge, whoever and even sometimes it's finished reading Arabic and learning Arabic, the one of the main people that was the subject of their backbiting during that time, because he was doing something was Sheikh Muhammad Sharif, he's doing this and he's making people, you know, taking them away from the and he's making classes that are intermingling and he's doing this. He's doing that he's
look today.
People are going to the janazah of this man from across the world. This is a sign of acceptance from Allah. People are speaking good of him. People who are much senior than him, they're saying this was our mentor. This was our leader. Chef Yasser vigeous was older than any age as well. He's literally say, this was our leader. Why? Because he had leadership skills was clear shape. He also called the industry you said said something similar to the same effect. He said that this was my mentor. Why? Because this is a man of, of genuine, a classic man who really had something to offer to the OMA and literally, I'll say to you the same thing that Obama had said to his son. He said that between us
and the people of innovation, because that's what they would like to call it. Person of innovation is the day that we have our janazah people always talk about the blinky geomat and all these things. Look at the share who died over here for Mr. Oba. He was notably the man
did you see his Janaza?
We have never witnessed a janazah like this over here in this city.
Innovator wala Hila de la ilaha illa? Who No, no, this is a man of a class of sincerity. This is a matter of sincerity as well. People are not like Allah's Prophet said in a hadith and to shahada, Allah, if in order to you are the witnesses of Allah within this land, right.
And
another thing that I want to say and I really am convinced on this particular point, is that I personally believe that chick Muhammad Sharif was among the revivals of the 15th century. And I say this with a lot of conviction. I've read a lot into biographies. I like to believe that biographical accounts is one of my specialities. I've read 1000s of biographies, without exaggeration.
And I know how people are and the things that they achieve, right?
I sincerely honestly believe this man was among the revivals. And what do I mean by that? That anything that would that would, the Prophet SAW Selim, he said that Allah sends upon the beginning of every 100 years, someone who revived the religion for the people, right. And that revival happens in different ways. It happens in systems. This was the case with Sheikh Mohammed, it happens in on the Forte's of development that happens on the 14th itself knowledge, it happens in many different scopes, right. And it can be many, many different individuals as well as it notice not in his book, in his explanation of Philippi diode he said that this is this doesn't have to be one person, it
could be many, many people, right? It is not one revivalist. It could be multiple people doing different aspects of the task, and also multiple people in different regions as well. So within the Western Hemisphere, Sheikh Mohammed created a system that really circumvented everything around them. Everyone that knows knows that working within Masjid systems is very difficult, because the board's most of them are made up of people who don't actually know much about Islam. They're trying to bring the corporate experiences to the masjid. They don't know how to handle it, they put misplaced people, human resources are not managed, managed properly. So he had to circumvent this
whole system, and create a system that would be able to bring knowledge to people and it did in a way that would help bring people to Islam. And it did exactly that. So in this way, I really truly believe that this man was among the revivals of the 15th century. And why do I say that? Because he was born in 1395. Five years later, six years later, he would have started to memorize the Quran, right? So literally at the beginning of the century, this is the time where he's really getting started. And when they say Allow SQL me It says nothing of the help, Adela. We explained that this means towards the end of the century or the beginning of the century. So he came literally around
towards the end of the century, and the beginning of the century. So we created a system that was definitely revolutionary. There is not a single person who's involved in Islamic education within the Western world. No one.
One of the biggest institutions now is the
institution of no matter he
wrote on his Facebook page, he said, This man is a pioneer in Islamic education because anyone that knows me knows that the system that he created was pioneering nobody else had thought about bringing this Western system into the Islamic space and making a product out of it and bringing it to the people. So this is really a system that was that was pioneering. And in that way, I believe he's one of them rejected in one of that revival, one of the revolutionaries, one of the revivalists of Islam within the modern era within the 15 Hijiri century. And of course, he died very, very young. But he, I think he lived past most of the people's ages, because in a short period of time, he was able to
accomplish this. And, and one of the things like I always used to wonder, I wanted to actually go to Dubai and ask him like what's going on? Right?
He finished what he had to do, and retired.
Basically, I mean, he started something else called discover, you can go check it out. But it wasn't completely in tune with what he had studied. He was trying to incorporate, you know, self help and Islamic knowledge and all these different things. And he was enjoying his life. But basically, he accomplished what he had to do is the prophets that couldn't do more air maneuver couldn't
do and everyone is going to be paved through for whatever they've been created. He did what he had to do, and he retired, right.
So this is always a mystery. Why did he just like leave, you know, but maybe he was trying to develop himself read Quran, I don't know, I didn't have too close of a personal relationship with him. Even though we met multiple times after the Islamic events he would do. And I knew him. And he knew me as well. But we didn't like have the word friends or something like that. But we knew each other and he knew I was one of his students. And the last time I met him, and he saw me,
he was very, very happy actually. Because I was just graduating from kingsisle University 2013 June, and right after my graduation, literally as I graduated, the next weekend, I flew out to Dubai. And when I went there randomly, I wasn't even expecting to meet your member there. I didn't even know he lived there to be honest. And I was just going for lunch and I saw Sheikh Mohammed that Nando's and Sheikh Mohammed he saw me he told me to come sit down, have lunch with me. I had lunch with him. So he started catching up. He said, When are you finishing your education you knew I was studying at Kingsborough that time is that when you finish your education, he started asking me what have you
been up to? And he actually tried to reorient me as well, by the way, just as a, like he tried to change what I wanted to do to whatever he thought I should be doing. And
he said to me, why don't you?
Why don't What are you going to do next? So I said, I want to continue my education or do a masters or PhD. And he said that. He said, You don't need a master's. You don't need a PhD because you've learned enough. Now you need to go back and teach the people. And I said, Well, I am still teaching the people, you know that Jeff, but I still want to continue my education. He really tried hard. He said I will I when I graduated, I went to University of Chicago. And the key really, really tried hard on this point. But he wasn't able to convince me. I really wanted to continue my education. And I didn't have the law. But one of the things I saw that day was that
he was sitting there
very beautifully, like the madness was so jolly every time you you attest to that, like every time you meet him, he puts a smile on your face, because it's so jolly and happy. You know, he's happy life, right? So
he was peeling
meat off of drumsticks at the Nando's like he was peeling it off as very difficult for you to use fork and knife to peel it off as peeling it off. And he was slowly but surely bringing all of that meat into his daughter's plates. Right. And to see that I was just so amazed and like you could see the love in what he's doing right. And when I got home I have little daughters as well at that time they were even more younger.
I did exactly the same. I wanted to mimic this practice of bringing food to my children. And I got affected even by what he was doing. Another thing is the chef used to recite very beautifully theory melodious go online type in recitation of Chef Muhammad Sharif. So one day, I asked the chef, I said, Why don't you record the Quran? Really, I think his recitation, especially in his prime when he his lungs were good and all that, right? Because as you're younger, you have more energy to recite in your 20s, early 30s. As you get older, it becomes weaker. So I told him, why don't you record the Quran? Right? And I came to know someone else. Maybe many people told them this, right?
So he said that he looked at me, he said,
You know, that's not a big responsibility. He's a half of the Quran. He's worried because once you make a mistake, what happens it gets recorded and
And if it's a juried mistake, he has mastery of 3d ijazah Interjet, right. One thing that I'll leave you off with,
they just entered with reminded me of this. I remember this answer of his that it really got engraved in my mind.
We were leaving to dinner as usual, as usual after a lot of classes. And
I was sitting right next to him, the chef. And I said, chef, I wanted you to tell me like, What did you learn? Like, I was really into deep learning, and I still am to some degree.
So I said, What did you learn when you were in Saudi Arabia? I know you have a bachelor's degree and all that. But I wonder like, which machine if you studied with what who did you read to and these type of questions I started asking him, he gave me a couple of things. He told me I read diverse tinea Shudehill, agile Romea to XYZ. And he said, I memorize I had memorized the Quran was younger, but he recited the Quran to one of the shoe when he got his half son, Hossam ijazah. And he said that and then he said a couple of other things, but not much else. Now, really, as a person who had studied there, I know that really that is something but it's not a lot. Outside of extracurricular,
that is. And then he said something else he said, but
a lot of people in the world, they collect knowledge all of their lives, but they don't do anything with it. They don't do anything with it. And I decided to do something with the knowledge that I did collect.
And that's exactly what we see. He was not even within the oil market of Institute. He wasn't one of the top instructors in terms of knowledge. He wasn't a lama, he was very humble, he would say, I don't know very regularly. This was one of the things that was very easy to him every day, even though he's the head of the institute every time you ask him a question, he doesn't do Hola, hola, hola. Hola. Very easy for him to say that. He knew his place.
But what he did is he took the knowledge he had. And he did something with this knowledge. And I really did not understand the depth of this particular comment of his until I went through the system. And I saw my own peers. Now I've graduated almost 10 years ago from King's old university. And I saw my own peers at that time, what they did and what they didn't do, right. Some of them they got involved in work, some of them they left to other things, some of them they forgotten all of their knowledge, some of them all sorts of things. People who are very strong students of knowledge, they didn't do anything with the knowledge. So it's not about how much you collect.
It's not about that. It's about what you do with it in your life, what you do with in terms of teaching it to people, things that you create out of this knowledge that Allah has granted you doesn't always have to be teaching people because knowledge teaches you to create, maybe you learn about off for example, endowments, make a fund for endowment. There's one of the Messiah he recently came back this is his goal in life. He wants to make an endowment for Islam. For Islamic studies within the Western world. This is his goal. He gained a lot of knowledge. He saw something practical within it. He wanted to implement I ask Allah subhanaw taala to have mercy on our dear Sheikh
Mohammed Al Sharif and I say hola hola Philippe. You know where I'm at now. Shaheed? You know why we know Selena Covina was okay no uncertain hola hola them and at home enough that he added Islam or mentor feta Homina photographer al Iman. Allahu Allah to him Nirjala hola to the letter, or SallAllahu ala Sayyidina Muhammad Muhammad Ali. He was like to be huge