Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – University Success Talk at Cambridge University
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Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al Hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah Hamden
cathedra on the uban Mubarak and fie Mubarak unnati Gama your head
Bharat buena La Jolla, Judah who are among our was salatu salam
ala. So, you will have even Mustafa SallAllahu there are
already who are either he or sabe he whether or go seldom at the
Sleeman Kathira on Eli Yomi Dean Amma beret. So the brother and
sisters, nice to be in your midst today. Usually what I would like
to cover and the notes that I have regarding student life and how to
get the most out of it usually takes just over an hour. Since we
don't have that kind of luxury today, I'll cover what I think are
some of the main points and then I'll open it up to questions so
that we fill in any gaps that may remain by and through your
questions and answers inshallah. So if that's okay, we'll start now
inshallah. Now, I'm assuming that people here are going to be at
different levels. In terms of first year, second year, maybe
third year, some people are very near to finishing, and some people
are probably starting off. So we're all at different stages of
our journey, and the way the world works. The way the
the SIS system of Allah works in this world is that
aside from very few instances, in most instances, we can actually at
least make a situation better if we can't completely sort it out.
So if we've really messed up on something, and we've really
corrupted something, or we have not done what we're supposed to
do, and we wasted a lot of time, there's always time to make
amends. Allah subhanho wa Taala has made that a system where you
can make an effort, and you can still make amends, and you can
still turn the course of your life and get something out of it.
That's something we definitely need to know. Because what happens
is that
when we do something wrong, clearly, we've done something
wrong because of maybe negligence because of laziness, because not
interested because of whatever the case is. Or we just we could have
done better. And we didn't because we didn't know how to make it
better how to enhance ourselves.
We're in Cambridge University. So I'm assuming that everybody's a
very hard worker, right? I don't know if that's just a stereotype.
But that's a reality, or whatever it is, but I'm gonna work on that
assumption. So now it's just about enhancing it in Sharla. And the
one thing, the wonderful thing is that Allah has made us very
flexible, so that we can actually change and become much better
people. Right, and get the most out of it. So these are, for a lot
of people, for the majority of us, usually the this teenage years,
late teenage years, our probably most productive time, and
productive in the sense that what we do around this time is what's
going to be projected for a lot of our immediate future, if not for a
long time in our future. It's what we do here, the way we set
ourselves up. So some people, sometimes they've spent their
three, four years at university studying a dead end course that
they get bored of afterwards. I mean, I don't want to mention, I
don't want to, I don't want to discourage anybody. But there are
certain courses, you know, I've met the people after they're 30
and 35. And they're just not interested in that topic. And, and
then they've gone into a different vocation, and they regret what
they've been doing. Okay. So
what's really important here is that you have to pick a topic that
you really think is going to be what you want to do for a very
long time in your life. Otherwise, why do it right? I mean, maybe not
here, but in a lot of other places, people come to university
to escape home,
right? Or the rigors of
home as such the strictures of home and get free time and
enjoyment and so on. So that's usually with party schools that
probably choose a school like that as well. I mean, I'm assuming
people aren't going to be like that here. But one of the things
that is a problem for pretty much everybody, especially in this last
10 to 15 years is basically time management has just become a lot
more difficult. People have already had always had problems
with time management, that's a perennial issue that people have
been dealing with for for a since probably human beings, right. I
don't know if there was ever a nation that was so productive. And
you know, nobody ever wasted any time. However, the kind of access
we've been given to wasting your time because before 100 years ago,
or let's just say two 300 years ago, if you want and for the vast
history, if you wanted to waste your time, you would sit at home
and just do nothing but just sit with friends and do nothing. Or if
you wanted some kind of entertainment, you'd have to
actually go out and look for it in the village somewhere in the
cities. I mean, there's not always going to be like some clown
jester, you know, doing something on the corner of the street or
something like that. Right? If you wanted to commit some haram, you'd
really have to look for it. Whereas right now you can waste
your time all that you want, and then you know you're regretting it
even halfway through but you still do it because the next video is
really cool.
All right, the next real is just amazing. And it's just knows your
brain and knows how you function and knows what you enjoy. So
that's that's how it is. We've never had a distracted generation
like that. We've never had a distracted generation that is
challenged by distraction the way we are today. And that's
scientific. I mean, that's obvious to anybody. We also have not had a
generation, I think that
you could say, has ever had so much vanity, people who've looked
at themselves, as much as people look at themselves today, what I
mean by look at ourselves, I mean, in terms of how we look,
in history, do you think just just, you know, maybe 100 years
ago, 50 years ago, 30 years ago, even didn't think people looked at
themselves so many times? Right? I don't think so. Because you'd have
to go and look at a mirror unless you carried on, you know, around
with you all the time. People didn't do that all the time. But
now, mashallah, multiple times a day, you know, I just check it up
on my phone. Right? So the concern with oneself, right, rather than
concern with concern with how we look and things like that, these
are major challenges. And all of that comes, all of that is
actually going to be an issue in terms of productivity, or we
really want in life, because all of these things, they're not as
beneficial as they should be. Time management is very, very
important. That is probably the biggest thing that everybody's
struggling with time management. Now what is that you might
mashallah get your you might be good enough that you actually do
get in your assignments in on time.
Like you're savvy enough to do that. But are you maximizing your
potential of what you could be in your course?
Right? Are you are you actually going to get something out of it
and really function well and pick up as much as you can, so you can
be formidable afterwards in your field? So that's the question,
what Muslims need today what the Muslim ummah needs today is people
at the top of their game.
So that we can actually make a difference, because we have what
is about 4 million, or maybe even more now, right million Muslims in
this country, but we're not taken as seriously as we should be, even
though in various different vocations. That that that has not
been yet fully achieved Alhamdulillah, it's way better and
much better. And that's very optimistic compared to what it was
about 20 years ago, however, it needs to be a lot more. And the
way we do that is where our hopes are in you. Right? The generation
that is studying, to be at the top of their game, that can actually
help to make policy changes. In everything that's going on. That's
why you're in various different fields. So the way, the way we
need to understand is that we've got a wonderful faith, we want to
share it with people. And the way we want to share it is organically
rather than just having to go out to do that, or go out to invite
people, we're supposed to do it organically in every field that
we're in that wherever we are, we're there to provide a different
opinion, a better opinion, sha Allah a cool breeze through the
door, the only way you can do that is if you're taken seriously, if
you're not taken seriously, nobody's gonna listen to people
look at value doesn't matter what you're saying. There's very few
people who like look at what people are actually saying rather
than who's saying it. Right. So sometimes you just have to be up
there to be able to be taken seriously. So
there's a I used to live in another city in America for about
eight years, and the local university that was actually
considered the parties used to start on Thursday night. So
usually, it's Saturday and Sunday that but there are Friday and
Saturdays rather, there used to start on Thursday night, and
Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday, right. So some schools are
like that, where they provide Now not every school is like that.
However, there are still a lot of ways to
to waste your time. So there's many, many different clubs, and
societies and things that you can take part in. But I think what we
need to do is we need to have a goal in mind. And the best thing
to do is to have a 510 and a 20 year goal in mind, even if it's a
bit of a maybe an ambiguous goal, but at least you've got a goal if
somebody doesn't have a goal of what they want, where they want to
be in five years, except that I just want to complete this course.
We need to know where we want to go after we complete here. So in
five years, where do I want to be? And then in 10 years, where do I
want to be?
Studies on the human being shows that human beings actually change
every 10 years, the whole the way the mind works? And the way the
mind is wired, literally is is very adjustable, and it actually
changes. So where do I want to be in five and 10? And hopefully 20
years, right? So we want to make sure that we we aim correctly,
because if you don't have an aim in life, except just finishing the
course then how does your case project your life? And how does it
inform your life? That's going to be very, very important for us
that
What happens when you're studying is that sometimes it just gets a
bit overwhelming, especially if you're in a very, if you're very
serious, it can get very, very, very, very time consuming. Even if
you're not wasting much time, or we are we waste a lot of time. But
besides that, there's a lot of demands, there's a lot of demands
to do multiple things, some people can't deal with it. So we also
need to make sure that our health stays right, because our health is
what carries us. And if our health, if our health gets
effected, then everything just breaks down and we can't think
properly. Now in terms of that, let's not do what people do,
right, let's not do what other people do to unhealthy things.
I've just been to a country recently, in Asia, and 60% of the
drinks that are sold there in any shop or store are energy drinks,
energy drinks is the way to go in that country. There's just 1015
different types of energy drinks, everybody's making them,
including, you know, the famous ones 60 to 70% of the drinks
offerings are all energy drinks, and nobody cares, salt, taurine,
or whatever it is that they add to that kind of stuff. Red Bull is
not for students. Right? That's not useful. If you want something
like that, that helps you concentrate that helps you stay
awake, there are a lot of especially nowadays, there's a lot
of natural options for that. Right? There are
L theanine is actually a very good thing. l theanine, it's a
supplement, you can buy it online. And that's supposed to be really
good for you to help you focus. And there's multiple other things
as well. There are these what they call brain hackers and things like
that made up of natural ingredients. But they called
nootropics, or something like that. And they're very good. You
know, you can try those out, rather than this junky stuff on
the you know, on the streets, go and get something serious. If you
do have issues, consult with a naturopath, because if you have
good health while you're studying, it really helps you be productive.
One thing that we have to be careful of is that when we come
into an environment where all sorts of people are there, then
people come from all sorts of different forms of walks of life,
and from various different faith backgrounds, or no faith
backgrounds, and so on so forth. And one of the things that people,
there's a lot of people trying to escape the rigors of life, or the
strictures of studying, or the difficulty. So alcohol is or
drugs, alcohol and drugs. They, they they're your family's not
around you're not with your family, you don't have that.
You don't have that protective surrounding environment. So then
the shaytaan takes a lot of people away. I mean, I know individuals
who are mashallah very solid, they were very focused, they hardly did
any major, you know, they didn't do any of these major blunders,
but then they went to university, they got into music, which is the
lightest of all, probably, you know, and then they got into much
worse stuff and drinking and things like that. And then when
you when you speak, it's like yeah, it was just a downward
trajectory. Now you have to remember one thing about alcohol.
While it may seem like an escape for some people, because somebody
else tells you, that's what they do a lot or protects us. But
alcohol is part of the sociological socialization process
that you can't really socialize, which really is debilitating for
Muslims because if there's a socializing going on somewhere,
for for Muslims, that's very difficult because then there's
always alcohol. They don't always cater for other things, and then
you feel obliged to be part of that scene. And then after that,
you get caught up, you may avoid it once or twice or three times.
But eventually the taboo goes down and then you get into one thing we
have to remember of alcohol if you're serious about your deen
alcohol is really, really, according to what the other might
have written from the experiences with alcohol is that alcohol for a
believer is so serious and so dangerous that it is something
that would probably prevent a person from having the Kadima on
their deathbed. So they will be deprived of saying La ilaha
illallah on their deathbed because of alcohol, even though they're
believers. So it's something that you want to completely avoid is
something you don't ever want to touch. Right? So when we die, we
want to say that we never touch this stuff. Right? It is harmful,
and we need to come at it. From a perspective of it being unhealthy
in that sense, everybody knows that. But it's just an abandon.
It's just an indulgence. It's just an obsession with it that, you
know, that allows people to continue on it. Okay, so now
another thing is that some people here, did any of you come from an
Islamic school?
You just went to Sunday school and then you came to this place? Any
of you did any of you go to an Islamic school at all?
No Islamic schools, okay. One person, two, three people. So
another thing is culture shock, right? Totally different. You
know, some of you may have gone to just all boys, all girls schools,
and we come here and it's a mixed environment. All of that needs
negotiating and that's very, very rare.
recruit, to negotiate shaytan has steps shaytaan never get somebody
into something haram straightaway, there's always a step by step
process which Allah mentions in the Quran, that will at the W
Hotel where the shaytaan do not follow in the footsteps of the
shaytaan exactly his footsteps. So let's just imagine the girl she's
been in for a guy been in just a single, you know, all girls all,
all boys environment, firstly, they go to college. And so let's
just take an innocent girl, she's, there's a guy in the class comes
and says, Hi, she's never talked to a boy before in that sense,
she's just gonna be like, I don't know how to say what to say. And
then maybe she might just ignore him. And then come few days, it
gets getting a bit more comfortable. And then it's just
like, hey, you know, your dress is really nice. You look really cool.
Now, that's, that is something that anybody praises us. Very,
very difficult to resist praise. We love ourselves more than
anybody else. The guy just might want one thing. But people don't
know that. They don't realize that they think it's genuine attention.
And it is genuine attention for a different reason, I guess.
Give it some more time, and Allah protect, but there's a slippery
slope. As soon as you return that smile, you've made a contact. And
then it's God protects, goes all the way to
texting, and then and then he just carries on and then there you go,
you lose your, you lose yourself. Right? And distractions. Well,
that's the biggest thing, right? Because then you're worried about
somebody else union relationship. So these are a number of issues
that we have to worry about. I remember
this cases of guys who saying that they're doing dour two sisters.
Right. That's the justification for going sitting with them as
though there's nobody else to do data to.
When you're studying, you have to take good notes, right? You have
to take good notes.
Whatever method works for you ask other people, because obviously,
when you're studying, and good notes, I know Chet GPT is around
now and makes life a lot easier. But if you want to be serious, you
take good notes, so that it just helps that exam time. Otherwise,
you have to cram in exam times in and that just doesn't work like
that. When you're when your students finance is a big issue.
Or it's an issue for most people, unless you're from some very
wealthy family, and you've got credit cards, you know, Platinum
credit cards, that there's no problem, right? In your spending.
Otherwise, this is a time when you're going to rack up debt. In
fact, I would say most university students are going to come out of
university with a massive debt on debt, whether by design, or
whatever the case is, it's a massive issue. That's why when my
son went through university, we, we Al Hamdulillah, he got a job,
which helped to pay for it. So he's debt free. Right. And I think
that might be very difficult. But you can actually sort of mention
you can actually avoid a veil of zakat. Because if you have to pay
9000 a year,
that means you're in debt for 9000. That means you're in debt.
We have a lot of zakat money, and Marshall is going to the poor but
a student is also poor if he's 9000. in debt.
I mean, university is not a luxury for some people, it's it's a
necessity.
Right? I'm not here to promote university, because there's a lot
of other ways to make things work in the world. Right. Don't just
follow the sheep. If it's good for you, it's good for you. But for
some people, it's not. There's other vocations that you can go
into. But I just want to mention that there are there is a cut if
you've got wealthy family, meaning extended relatives and others or
friends, they're going to be given there's a God money. If you can
get your zakat money if you can get enough zakat money to pay for
your fees. I know that might not be easy. But if that is the
possibility, then at least you come out debt free, at least you
don't have a burden on your head. And it the I know the repayment is
getting more expensive. Right it is getting under his interest. So
there's a lot of issues related which I don't want to go into. So
be careful of your debt. The profits are low Sam said
moderation in spending is half of your livelihood. Sorry, if Alec
decide have enough, nicotine is full Marysia. What does that mean?
So when you're moderate in your spending, that's that will turn
out to be half your livelihood in the sense that you don't have much
control of what comes in you may have like a certain stipend
certain amount, right? However, you definitely have control of
what goes out to a certain degree. There may be some fixed costs, but
then beyond that,
you know, it's up to you. So rather than having a Starbucks
coffee all the time, you can make one at home, or Costa or whatever
it is that you're in
University because you're amongst so many, you may have come from a
very homogenous kind of background, lots of people that,
you know, they may be of very similar background to you. So
you're kind of used to that now you come to university and
mashallah, there's all sorts of people here. So you have to have a
lot of tolerance of others. Tolerance is very important,
right. And for some people, you know, they may be exposed to
people of other ideologies and other leanings, and so on and so
forth. So one has to have a lot of tolerance, but you must never lose
your own principles. You stick to your principles, but you have
tolerance for others in the way you deal with things. Avoid
useless and detrimental debates, some people get caught up in that
some people get caught up in useless detrimental debates,
Alhamdulillah, we've just seen an near end to about 25 years of
brain drain, right Hamdulillah you can check that out. That's a
different lecture. I've got I don't want to get into that right
now. But literally, for about 25 years, people wasted a lot of time
behind where the mud hubs were valid or not. Hamdulillah. Now
people accept it. Right? It was just a big waste of time.
Don't get fired up? Yes, you do need to take on a cause. So we're
not saying don't be part of a cause or a movement. That is a
genuine movement, but make sure you pick that correctly. Right.
The youth are in the best position because they're the most
they're the most flexible, and they have time and they've got
mashallah that youth vigour. So that's fine, but just make sure
what you pick is not going to be absolute destruction, and a waste
of time when it finally recedes. The way they describe a fitna, you
heard the word fitna, Fitna means a trial, a challenge. So test
comes to somebody in the form of a movement or something, it looks
like a beautiful, attractive suitor. Okay. And so you get
involved, you get heated up, because until you're about 2728,
you until the brain studies, I mean, you can read this stuff up
online, but brain studies telling you that the risk, part of the
risk taking parts, or mitigating parts of the brain only develops
in about 2728. So you're still 2122, you're willing to take more
risk. And that's why your insurance is high, usually, right?
They've done all the studies. So
instead, it comes very attractive, but then when it receives this,
like this old, hag ugly woman, right? And you're like, What did I
just spend my one or two years or three years fighting for. So be
very careful what you get involved in, I'm not saying don't get
involved, we do need to get involved in good, you know, good
movements that are to bring Betterment to people here or
around the world. And may Allah subhanaw taala bring relief to our
brothers and sisters, right. Now, the other thing is, and this might
sound a bit random, just giving you notes, because I want to
finish this quickly, is key one policy is don't suffer in silence.
There might be issues, you're having trouble with something,
whether that be with your room, or somebody else. So your your, your
studies, or your health or something, don't suffer in
silence, go and get some help. Preferably from the right people.
Try to make some good friends that think like that can assist you in
goodness, and righteousness and piety as well. And in doing good
work. Remember, if you get friends, we just like to have a
laugh all the time is going to be very difficult. Right? For
example, I once took a trip from one country to three other
countries by road. So it was a road trip. The three people that I
had with me.
We were four of us. So the three people that we had with me they
didn't, they didn't pray. They're all Muslims, but they didn't pray,
they were not interested in prayer. We're going through. This
was in Africa, we're going to African villages. I'm the only one
who wants to pray. I'm not making them better than them. I'm just
saying that I was concerned it might be a prayer prayer. Now
imagine you're trying to get through borders on time. And
you're in the middle of nowhere. Some of these places are
dangerous, and so on
South Africa to Malawi, right? Zimbabwe Mozambique. And it was a
nice trip, though. So now I'm the only one. So I have to stop
everybody and say I need to pray here. I need to do what do I need
to find a place to pray? And others aren't concerned? In fact,
sometimes it's actually
like a burden on them. Like, come on, we need to get to the border.
If we get stuck in Mozambique, you know, we are in trouble. Possibly.
So Well, that was tough. Now imagine if I have three other
people and they were all into prayer. Do I have to worry about
touch? No, they're going to be also focused. They're going to
find the place they're going to tell us to stop is going to be a
collective effort. It's very difficult if you're not with like
minded people, for your values.
And you'd be very successful and very productive, if you can be
with people of your values is very important. Otherwise there's a
moral dissonance and that's it.
really tough place to be, you don't want to be stressed out.
Right? So have no friends rather than bad friends. You understand?
Solitude is better than bad company, good company is better
than solitude. That's what the poet says. I'm not saying in a
productive way, though, right. So don't suffer in silence, get some
help. A lot of people, when they come to university, they start
neglecting their family. They found this other big family, which
is not their real family, it's just a temporary family, don't
negate don't neglect your family. Ultimately, they have to be there
for you, they are there for you. So don't,
don't do that. You're the product of your friendship. And you are
obviously still linked to your family, perseverance, take it a
year at a time. That's what they say, take it a year at a time.
Because what happens is, if you look at four years, or three
years, or whatever you're doing, it sounds like a big mammoth task.
If you take it a year at a time, and you do well each year, then
Hamdulillah. When you break things down, it's just easier. That's
just the way you break things down. Whenever you see any task to
be too big, break it down, and suddenly it starts becoming
easier. That's how you deal with procrastination and multiple other
things. We're not here to deal with that. But it's the number of
good books on that subject. hyperfocus, and there's multiple
other books on that subject, how to how to get focus, Inshallah,
you will pull pull through, right, so take it at your own time, keep
asking Allah subhanaw taala for steadfastness and assistance,
okay, you know, when we talked about what you want to do in life,
so be realistic. Because you might have some major pipe dreams, I'm
going to become like this, I'm going to do this, and then it
doesn't work out. And then your whole edifice and structure just
basically breaks all around you, and then you, and then you get so
despondent, you don't do anything, there's no point of that. So be
optimistic. But be realistic, be realistic, you might not get a
50,000 job straight away after university. It might be 25,000.
Right? So be realistic. And inshallah it'll be it'll be very
good. You know, be realistic, talk to other people in your field. I
mean, you know, all of this talk to other people in your field, see
how they've done in their careers in their path in their occupation.
I do want to mention something that I mentioned the word career
that in Islam, we don't have careers.
There are no careers. What I mean by career is something you give
everything to, because then you've made that the point of your life,
why would you give everything to something,
your ultimate goal is paradise. Yes, you can still give everything
to this to make to make good for yourself and for other people. But
it's not the end all, it's still for a higher purpose. So whatever
you consider your occupation, right, whatever you're studying,
and you consider your occupation, it has to be fitting into the
bigger purpose, which is
that I'm not just doing this selfishly, for myself. Now think
about this. There's a guy who's, there's two people, they are both
high achievers, but one person is doing it for himself, because he
wants a good house in a particular area of London, he wants a
particular type of car, right? Whereas the other guy, he's more
focused is I want to really be productive, I want to really be
beneficial, I want to leave a legacy.
So they both study, they both get good marks. But which one is going
to be better off in the long run? Do you think the guy who has this
higher ideals and he wants to be just more productive and help
people? Do you think he can't have a good car, you think he can't
have a good house, if he studied the same same job, you know, same
kind of feel that he's in, he could get a same kind of job. But
that's not the end goal for him.
And I've just heard too many people show off about where they
are. So I was in I was in a meeting I was being consulted
about it was during COVID times I was being consulted about
something of a particular field. Right, a government related field.
What one of the would you call it? Civil War Civil was a civil
service, civil service, one of the civil service. So
most of the guys there were in the you know, they're on the lower
ends in the sense that low and mid range. And then one of the guys
was I don't know what you call those higher bands or something.
Great, something Yeah, great, five, six, or whatever. So he made
it a point to tell everybody that right. Now the thing is, he made
it a point to tell everybody, which if he's telling people just
so that they might listen up to him or something I can, but there
was nothing like that. It was just like, I've achieved this. Just to
say I've achieved this. I mean that so what that's good for you,
then why is it good for me that you've achieved that? Right? Okay,
I'm happy that you've achieved it, but what else is it? But if you're
trying if you're asserting your position, just so you can help
people? Okay, then that's fine. Right? I'll get a call from people
and they'll say I've, you know, I'm a medical doctor from you
know, Pakistan, or I'm this or that I don't need to know that I
just couldn't answer your question. Makes no difference that
you're you're
Because then I asked him the question, it's not about medicine,
it's actually about the law, because they're like, why do I
need to your doctor, doctors don't give different
divorces. Right? So you don't want to show off. And the reason you're
the reason why people are led to this is because they've made that
the end or this is their achieved, because we come from certain
cultures and backgrounds where that is the big thing. Your your,
your everybody in your family is a doctor or they're all, whatever it
is, and you must do the same thing. It's just a bad way to look
at it. I'm not saying don't do that. I'm saying, do it. But for a
bigger motive, a greater motive. I'm doing this for Paradise. I'm
doing this so that I can assist people I can make a difference to,
to humanity, I can assist people, all right, then you're still a
great doctor, you're still a great scientist, you're still a great
engineer, you're still a great, you know, great, you know, with
breakthroughs in AI or whatever it is, but your your, that's not like
your end goal, because now if that changes tomorrow, what are you
going to do? Right? So it needs to be for the sake of Allah, the
sincerity and you will see that if you do that,
because you are doing it for the sake of Allah. And for a higher
motive, there's going to be more assistance from Allah subhanaw
taala, we as Muslims, we believe in Tofik a concept, which means
when Allah supports a person, gives them a helping hand with
others, he just abundantly let them do what they want to do. So
they add their own disposals, right, they're their own devices.
Whereas with Allah, when he supports somebody, there's going
to be things which are facilitated, having that higher
goal to do something for Allah, Allah just opens up the path
because in sha Allah does visa be the law, that's a form of being in
the path of Allah, all of my studies where I'm not studying
Hadith here, I'm not studying Tafseer, right. But I'm studying
this subject, because genuinely, I want to help people. So I've got a
friend, he did a medical degree.
But his whole purpose from the beginning was that he's going to
do a medical degree to go and help people around the world. So then
he did a specific specialization on tropical medicine, because he
thought that's where, you know, that's gonna be very useful for
him, because Muslims are in those kinds of countries. So that just
shows so that gives you Baraka, that gives you a blessing, you're
not doing it just for yourself, you're doing for others. And
studies show that when you're doing things for others, you get a
lot more satisfaction yourself rather than just selfishness.
Okay, I believe at this point a bit, because I think this is
probably the crux of what I'm gonna say is, you're here for only
a few years, and then you're gonna get what you get, you're gonna
get, you can enjoy life. Right, but have a higher motive, and
everything else will come. Everything else will come. Right.
And this is in every field, if you're a good recite of the Quran,
let's just take that example, good recite of the Quran, and you're
leading prayer. Now, we're supposed to be focused on Allah.
But I'm focused on the people behind me that they're gonna
really enjoy this man, he's a good reciter. They, they're going to
probably be moving around in prayer, because of the way I read,
I can't see him. Right, I put a mirror in front. That's just
absolutely silly. If I've got a good voice, and if I read well,
and if I do it for Allah on people still going to enjoy it. Yes, they
will. Because I'm still doing the same thing. But my focus is no
longer there. My focus is there. So really correct our intentions.
And find a way that's why we shouldn't be telling our teachers,
our students, sorry, our children, right, young brothers and sisters,
you know, they say, What do you want to be? You want to be a big
doctor?
The doctor the nyako, right? You want to be a big engineer, you
want to be a big this? No, you want to become a influence
influencer, not those ones, right? You're going to change, you're
going to help people, I think that's what we should give that
holistic look to our children. Look, your job is that you're
going to be really, really productive and a helpful
individual when you grow up. We figured out how but that's what
you're going to be let's not tie them into like, you're going to
just do this or you're going to do that. And then they have to do
that even if they hate the subject. Right. So don't
perpetrate that same kind of abuse on your own children. If that was
if that if you were if you were victim to that, because I've come
across too many students who don't want to do the field that their
parents are putting them into or blackmailing them into, or they're
gonna kill themselves. If they don't if you don't do it, they get
it goes really bad, right? Maybe not with you guys, but you know,
maintain your religion principles.
Always. I think that one of the things that we need to do is that
when you're not in an environment of deen and religion, it your
faith takes a hit. So I think one one way to deal with this is just
check your Imani level.
Right, there's a there's a certain meter that you can get to check
your Imani level, right? It's not a physical meter. It's just in
your mind. Okay, so where is my
mine right now.
I mean, you can easily tell that in Ramadan Doesn't your iman go
like seven or eight out of 10. And then other times like five out of
10. And sometimes God forbid it falls to two out of 10. Right. So
always be checking our eMoney level every day and then do
something about it. Because if we never will just get so comfortable
at two out of 10 or one out of 10 just scraping it, I just pray
Jumar
that's a problem. So always keep the Imani meter in mind to check
out where we are each time and do some. So in that regard, I would
just leave you with a thicker regimen. Very simple stuff will
take about 1520 minutes of your time for each day, but at least it
will maintain our iman level because of the the sincerity in
what we're doing will increase right because the world takes
consumes us otherwise. And we can constantly be asking Allah
subhanaw taala to assist us in what we're studying and what we're
doing. So very simply, you can just do 100 or even 50 100 is
still for every morning and evening a stop for Allah just that
much which means Oh ALLAH forgive me. So all the little sins or any
issues I've I've come across in the daytime will get forgiven. So
after maghrib I do in the evening, sometime after six, seven o'clock
I do 100 Time is the first inshallah my morning to now all of
that gets clearer than I do it again in the morning. So all my
anything happened in the evening and night that gets cleared. So
once we do that we purified ourselves like we're taking a
shower, then after that, we want to now embellish ourselves and
attract blessings from Allah and make that plea to Allah. So what
we're doing now is we're going to ask are we going to send blessings
on the Prophet sallallahu sallam, so drew Sharif silhouette and
Priscilla is 100 times anyone that you want to pick the shortest one
or whatever, prophesied and said, Whoever sends one blessings on me,
Allah sends 10 blessings on him. And we really need that blessing.
Okay, so that's number two. Number three, read a bit of Quran every
day, at least, preferably with meaning. Like, I would guarantee
that if you can read even one page of the Quran with meaning everyday
just reflecting over it, your life will become a lot more focused.
Because that's what the Quran does, it makes you focus because
it deals with realities. whereas all the other entertainment social
media that we deal with, it doesn't necessarily deal with
reality in terms of the future all the time. Right? So at least read
a page or two of the Quran and reflect over it is the book of
your Lord, it is his speech, who is talking to every one of us
directly. And that's really, really beneficial to release a lot
of emotions from the heart, it is there to orient ourselves to
understand the purpose of this life. And to remind us of what
really our ultimate goal is.
Okay, so there you go. Try to attend at least one religious
gathering a week, because that helps us to get rejuvenated,
refreshed, boosted. If you can't do that in physical in person,
because there isn't one available maybe, then I don't mean a nice
talk meeting. Those are important, but they're not the same as having
a religiously motivated talk. Right? A thick class. Again, I'm
not talking about a fifth class, although they're very useful and
beneficial, unnecessary. I'm talking about religiously
motivating talk. If you can't find one, physically listen to one
online, there's multiple things on YouTube, and other places, right?
So that helps to just keep the booths going. And again, if you
have a good set of friends, there'll be there'll be, you'll be
mutually assisting one another. And Insha Allah, that is the best
policy while you're here because our family is not around. So
that's what that's where we are. And Allah subhanho wa Taala keep
up the doors, because we do ours. That's what Allah subhanaw taala
accepts from us, and will benefit us. So there you go, that was a
bit of a
bit of a hasty coverage. Right? I've got a much more in depth talk
on the same subject that I did in some university content, which one
it was, right, that's online, right. So it discusses these
things in a bit more depth. So you feel free to go to some some
Academy and listen to that, therefore more coverage of that,
but I'm going to open it up to questions
so there's two things when you have goals. Number one, there's a
number of different things you can do and being realistic. There you
can have as many things as you want to do and you got your whole
life to do that. So for example, when I graduated, I had 10 ideas
in mind. And I knew I can't do all 10 straight away so know that this
is long term goal. Right? So that's the first thing you can
have multiple goals, but that's for your whole life. I also want
to do this and it's free. Why should you shortchange yourself by
having no goals are very less goals have 20 goals for your life
you've got inshallah another 40 5060 years to live so have
multiple goals.
Now you just have to be realistic, and then not become despondent. So
don't have a single goal, that is such a big goal that you want to
achieve, you know, this huge mammoth task, you want to get to
the end of that within a certain number of years. Whereas that's
not realistic.
Yes, if you think that you've got strategy to, it's very difficult
without an example, right? But it's very, but some things you can
do. So be realistic, and realistic means that what others have been
able to achieve, that's realistic, and you can push yourself a bit
more, if you think you're special.
As long as you can, you can deal with failure. So you have to learn
to deal with failure, I've done my best, that's what I could do. I'm
not gonna give up because of this. So I think part of this whole
journey is dealing with failure, carrying
dusting yourself and carrying on to the next project. So in terms
of number of things that you want to do in your life, how do you
even determine what to do in your life? For me, I look at role
models, I look at other people doing things that I'm really
impressed by. So for me, in the scholarly world, like that
scholar, mashallah he's, you know, started this kind of a school,
he's doing this kind of work, he does this, or he has achieved
this, okay, I want to do all of those things. I know, I can't do
it all straight away. But I think Alhamdulillah, you'll see that
over the next 2030 years, one by one, as long as the goals are
still there, and will become adjusted as you go along, you'll
be able to achieve all of them. So look at role models, right? Look
at Ron, and if you can find a mentor, that is going to be a real
massive boost for your productivity and for you keeping
on on track of what you want to do. But remember, a mentor can't
just be they say one or twice above you, one or two levels above
you, because you'll catch them up very easy. If you if you really
focus, and then you know, then they won't have to teach you
anything. They say that to find a mentor in the in the subjects or
area that you want to have to be 20 times 20 levels above you,
because they're constantly enhancing and you're constantly
learning from them. So if you can find somebody like that, then
that's great. But look around for Ron Wallace, who impresses you for
the good work they're doing, you want to do that work as well.
Right? So remember, you make, you can have an intention to make a
lot of money. So you can help in multiple ways, right? So you can
actually help with your vocation itself. Remember, there will be
two people in community in the community that are always in
demand COVID Or no COVID.
Anybody know what those are? I mean, there's multiple, but
generally, there's two fields.
One is a doctor, and one is a scholar. Education has to continue
people have questions all the time, and be or medical issues all
the time. Right. But that's not all you can do with uh, I mean, I
don't know what I'm talking about medically. I mean, how many of you
are in medicine here?
Okay, so it's a minority. We're not a minority, but it's about
30%. But 15 20% still good. So if you and in England, you don't make
that much money for a doctor. Now because I lived in America for
eight years and the doctors just crazy money there. So I've got a
student, she did Hibbs with me. She memorized the Quran, I showed
a wonderful girl. And then I met her when she was about 21. And she
was finishing her emergency medicine. I just asked her when
you finish this, how much you're gonna make? What's your starting
salary? $400,000 To I can do with that money. Right? Because it is a
lot of stuff you can do with that kind of money. Right? America is a
different game. But it's a whole bubble in the sense of insurance.
And all of that kind of sounds kind of crazy. Right? So it's
probably a bit bit here. But you can also help people with your
money. So good business ideas, don't all you know, business is a
tiara. Tiara is a sin not to promise I seldom. So consider that
as well. Even for the sisters, Amazon, not just Amazon, but a lot
of online businesses write it there. There's something in front
of it flexible, can do a lot of stuff. So don't just think of one
thing you can do multiple things could be doing one thing could be
doing business on the side as well. The genre is sooner. Yes.
So So look,
unfortunately, I don't think the model is popular enough out there
that you can actually do more than one thing. All right.
We can I look around I see
people from an Indian background and Pakistani background and
Somali
Eritrea, right. And anybody else I'm not representing here
Malaysian Bangladesh. Sorry, sorry. Yes, Indian. I'm an Indian
like that whole subcontinent background like let's just keep it
subcontinent. Thank you very much for that. Right.
So forth. A lot of those faces they've never understood to
Join scholars together with professionalism. Right? Whereas
it's happening
might not be happening in Cambridge yet. But it's happening
in East London, in a mother Assad that I teach in the evening called
Imam Zakaria Academy, multiple students who are doing University
by day. And they're doing a mother's night, students were
doing a levels by day, and they go to mothers and do the Alim course.
And then they graduate, you know, from the university. So we have
graduates from the master's program from places like UCL
Imperial and other places PhD, right, while doing the IBM course,
they get the best of both worlds.
So I know that they may not have this kind of offering in Cambridge
in particular, but there are online options, always be studying
something, take an online course. So what we've done is we actually
set up and if you know about Rayyan courses, right Rayyan
courses essentially, is a place where you can go and on demand,
you can you can take multiple courses. So it's just this monthly
subscription, and then you can literally take it as according to
how you want to proceed. So there is an Islamic essentials course.
Now what happens is many of us here, there's Islam that we know,
was probably taught to us when we were young, in the local McDouble
by our parents or by the local teacher, right, which was good
enough to carry us here that so you sit here today, right? It's
kept our faith. But majority of us have probably never read a book on
Islam, any book on Islam. Since that time, how many people have
read any book on this unlike a zero book, or any other full book
on Islam, since they've become mature?
Except because we've been studying All right, so that's just a few,
which is really sad. That knowledge was good enough to make
our foundation. But now we need to look at Islam again, with an adult
mind and understand that and upgrade ourselves. And we don't do
that, right? Or take a course. Right. So you either read books,
or you take courses. So you would really suit the suit us that while
we're doing all of this, we also take courses. So we have, we have
a course called The Summit essential certificate. So what you
do is you take 20, very short modules on a bit on Hadith, a bit
on aqidah beliefs a bit on Sierra a bit on a salmon history, a bit
on thick, and so on. So you get a decent basic understanding on an
adult level. And then after that you can take the more intermediate
courses, and just we want to be studying Islam throughout our life
until our last day. That's ultimately that's our goal. So
even if I've studied formally, for this many years, since I was 11,
until I was
25. And then I did a PhD mussen PhD, and by the age of 30. I still
not stopped studying, I want to be constantly updating and learning
more as we go along until I die, because I want to be in the best
position, right with knowledge and practice inshallah. So that's what
you want to do, and it never stops. So you can study
everything, at least take one lesson or two lessons a week. And
it's available now mashallah, it's available at on demand. And you
can even speed it up now
before the shake and have to stay with him for an hour. But now you
can actually speed him up and he talks too slow. double the speed.
I don't get that. Let me just rewind it, rewind it a bit. You
understand? So Alhamdulillah, Allah has made it very easy. So
yeah, that I think everybody should do that.
Okay, so to repeat the question for everybody.
It's a very high pressure
environment we're in, especially when it comes to to tests. And
then there's the concept of failure, and feeling of rejection,
and despondency and so on. So number one, I think we need to
understand our mistakes. So I just dealt with a guy who's doing a
levels, and he doesn't want to wake up in the morning to go to
school. Okay, why don't you want to go because I slept late. The
parent told him at night to go to sleep at 12 o'clock at night. I've
got homework and to finish it off. So okay, fine, if that's what you
want to do. Next one, he can't wake up for school. So then
finally they get him out. And you have to go to school. He said, No,
I've recognized what my problem is. I need to uninstall YouTube
app. Because I wasted time last night I shouldn't have been it
just overtook me and so on. So I think number one, we need to cut
out the wasting of time we need to really like understand and budget
for this as it right. So what is my weakness? I need to find out do
I do things last minute for I'm just slow or whatever the case is
very difficult to advise on this because there's multiple
variations in people. However, I would say taking good notes from
early on and not starting exam preparations at the last minute is
really of I used to start my exam preparations about three to four
weeks, at least in advance. And if it's if it's more than that, you
know do more
And so then, and then take good notes during that. So then the day
before the exam or just before you go in the exam, you've taken
enough notes, and you can just use those notes for it, right.
Another thing to help in exams, is that if you can find somebody to
actually teach, what may, your subject matter, that is the most
effective of understanding your subject matter is when you have to
teach it. One of the best advices that I got from one really, really
major scholar a few months before he passed away, he said, learn
your lesson for the next day off today, learn your lesson for today
as though you need to teach it tomorrow. Because then you don't
ignore anything, because the students are going to ask you, you
need to be on top of your game. If you if we just adjust that of
learning things really getting it from earlier on, then we have to
do less cramming. And then of course, we do our best. And if
we're not so smart, and we just don't get it then, okay, maybe we
need to do something else. Or we keep trying. It just depends on
what our level is. And ultimately, if we did our best, and it was
just a fluke failure, right? We just say, Okay, I did my best,
we're going to try better next time. But you just have to carry
on to the next thing, adjust and carry on and just start
preparation early. I don't know if I've answered your question.
There are, yeah, as I said, taking some supplements that calm you
down, and distress down like ashwagandha, and few other things
like that, which just help, then they might help just to manage it.
If a person is somebody who gets a bit agitated too quickly, or
something like that. So there's a lot of naturopathic stuff out
there that I would say take benefit from as well in sha Allah,
and ask Allah subhanaw taala.
Yes, assisting people, some very glorified path, actually. But
yeah, you're right, maybe I don't think we've had probably any
workshops on how to practically take your studies and do something
with it. Right? I don't think that's been a course. Maybe we
need to organize a course on that as to whatever field you're in,
what are the possible options, you have to assist people? So you're
right, I think that just gave me an idea. Right? There's not
enough. But again, I think
if we look around to see what other people are doing in those
and how they're helping, and mashallah, we've seen many
university students like Doctors Without Borders, you know, this
all started in university, a lot of this started in university,
University students got it in their mind, I want to start
something. So start something for others, right? And then that would
help us to become more productive as well. But first, let's identify
what are those things we can do by seeing what others are doing? We
come by we'll have a brainstorming session with a few, you know, with
a few individuals and just come up with what can be assisted, you
know, what an ask a few other people and then say, Okay, we're
going to start with some of this stuff. So I'm definitely going to
take that on board inshallah.
So, yeah, because when everybody's doing the same, I mean, basically,
the question is, based on what I said earlier, is that how does one
stop vivo, obsessed with enhancing their grooming and things like
that unrewarding, right, but still be focusing on at least being
dignified and at least being respectable? So I think that's
what it is, I think, one of the things that we have to learn is
that our community or all communities, it's all focused on
frills and fancy things, and they're not productive. Sorry,
they're not practical. Give me an example.
In many weddings, ceremonies,
some will just have music. religious ones won't have music,
but they will play in the sheath. While people are eating, can
anybody tell me why they do that?
We're eating and they've got these machines saying we want to talk to
one another, no resistance in the sheep. But why do they pay the
sheets? There's give me a reason to just
sorry.
There's no silence. Everybody's talking. Nobody's listening.
Everybody's saying no, when you're sitting at a wedding, and you're
sitting on the table eating, you're talking to one another,
right? It's not boring. You know, people are talking so why did they
put in a sheet some?
Sudden, but why do you need music?
If satisfying. The one MFI Certified, nobody's listening to
she has the background zone.
It's just like, I go to Pakistan into KFC or something. They've got
the music blaring like they don't have music in KFC in the UK.
I'm not singling out Pakistan, I'm just saying, you know, it's just
people on projects. So I'm like, Look, if you need the music, I
have no problem. If you need flowers do him. If there's going
to serve a very particular but don't do it for vanity, don't do
it for show. Do it because you know, it's important. So be
productive, Be practical. And there's a word that there's a word
that's missing, be functional. So whatever you do for yourself be
functional. I need to look after myself to a certain degree. Right?
I need to brush
my teeth,
I need to make sure my hair is combed forgot long hair. Right?
Otherwise, that's no good to be disheveled. But I don't need to be
putting on for example makeup every day. Because just because I
feel self conscious, how do you deal with that? I'm not the best
person to talk about that if, if that's part of this deal here. But
I think the the simple thing that I found in life is different. So
for example, let's just say that I got a new house, I moved into a
house. So friends of mine are telling me, for example, that in
your front room, you need to have a feature wall
was like, Why do I need to do that said that's the place where you're
going to entertain your guests and so on. So you need a feature wall.
And for that, you can get the special wallpaper, special pains
this that and other said, I don't have the time for I want it
functional.
So Hamdulillah, my walls are covered with books, it's Sorry,
I've got multiple feature walls. But what I'm trying to say is that
these people will go overboard. So So one person is telling me that I
made sure that I changed all my sockets, multiple sockets to these
chrome ones. Now I'm wondering why he did that?
Do you understand, be functional, if that serves a purpose, go ahead
and do it. If it doesn't serve a purpose, be functional, get
something that functions well get the most expensive thing that is
functional. If you need an iPad with one terabyte that cost to
1500 pounds, go ahead and get one. But don't get it just because it's
an Apple product.
And you need to show off it.
It's about being functional and practical. So that's where it's
not just cut out the clutter. Ask others what do you think about
this, because sometimes we have a threshold which is, you know,
artificially created by others. So let's talk to other decent people
that we respect that we value as being productive and functional
individuals. And we spoke to them and they say, What do you think?
Where do you think the line is?
Right? That's always going to be a bit of a struggle. But ultimately,
I think if a kid this mind, is this functional?
Is this practical? Or is am I just being vain and show off for no
reason?
So I think in sha Allah that that's helped me a lot, by the way
that's helped me a lot just be functional.
And if that means you spend a lot of money do so if you've got the
money of course, right? That doesn't mean be a cheapskate,
we're not talking about you know, saving money here. We're talking
about just being functional, not wasting your money and not showing
off.
Just like Allah here Allah bless you on in whatever studies that
you're doing medicine or otherwise, and inshallah we'll see
you again one day in life and if you have any questions, meaning
based on what I said, later on, I've got a public number on the
zamzam Academy website on the Contact Us page. So feel free to
call me sometime in the evening is probably best, if you want to
discuss something right regarding your occupation or what you want
to do in life or your some of the challenges you may be having insha
Allah will help you and again, go to Rayyan courses Rayyan courses
for you can sign up there and take the courses and start your
education journey. If you can find something physical somewhere with
a physical scholar to study that's even better, but at least this is
when the sunlight is out. We use artificial lights so that it's the
you know, we do the best that we can now situation and have a
higher motive for what you're doing. And what you're doing is
just going to be part of the higher motive insha Allah and
you'll be successful here. You'll be successful there. So inshallah
you gotta hire more to nine shitload of
right. It needs us some thinking and Sharla reorientation, Allah
bless us all Allah except salary kumara Tala workout.
The point of the lecture is to encourage people to act to get
further an inspiration and encouragement, persuasion. The
next step is to actually start learning seriously to read books
to take on a subject of Islam and to understand all the subjects of
Islam at least at the basic level, so that we can become more aware
of what our deen wants from us. And that's why we started Rayyan
courses so that you can actually take organize lectures on demand
whenever you have free time, especially for example, the
Islamic essentials course that we have on there, the Islamic
essentials certificate, which you take 20 Short modules and at the
end of that inshallah you will have gotten the basics of most of
the most important topics in Islam and you'll feel a lot more
confident. You don't have to leave lectures behind you can continue
to live, you know, to listen to lectures, but you need to have
this more sustained study as well as Accola here in salaam aleikum
wa rahmatullah wa barakato.