Aqeel Mahmood – His Father The Legend
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AI: Transcript ©
And on the way back is when there
was a car crash. And you were in
the car? Yeah. I was in the car.
Yeah. It was me, my,
my father, my grandmother,
my mum, my mum, and my brother. Older
brother. Older brother? Yeah. He was middle 1.
Okay. Yeah. So my father, my grandmother and
my brother passed away.
And welcome back to Beyond the Mimble podcast.
I'm your host, Muhammad Basaid.
And today,
we have a very, very, very special episode.
I'm joined here with,
a guest I've not had on the show
before, which is a blessing to have him.
I'm with Sheikh Akid Mahmood. Assalamu alaikum Sheikh.
How are you keeping? How are you? I'm
good. I finally got you here. That's it.
Yeah.
It's,
it's a blessing to have you here. It's
a blessing to be here.
I wanna,
that I wanna tell you what I wanna
talk about, inshallah, and how I got to,
this topic. Right? So when I reached out
to you, there was a couple of things
I wanted to discuss.
And first, I wanted to discuss
your father. Right? And then I did wanna
discuss you, and people will understand why I
wanna talk about your father in a minute.
So at the Masjid,
last year, we had a, a dawas
not a dawas, a strategy day strategy strategy
day for the staff members.
And in it, we discussed the history
of greening masjid.
And our imam,
he took,
he took,
not the stage, but he stood in front
of us, and he started telling us bits
and, about the history of Greenland Masjid in
which your father's name was mentioned.
So the the first question I wanna ask,
Insha'Allah,
for the podcast is,
who was your father?
So my father was, Sheikh Mahmoud Ahmed
Mepuri.
He was from Pakistan.
He lived in a village just outside of
Meepur called, Chitarpari.
Okay.
And
he was a student of knowledge. He studied
in Pakistan
in his youth,
as a young boy. And then eventually,
by the voice of Allah, he was accepted
at the Islamic University of Medina In
71
1971.
So it was one of the
early batches. Mhmm. I think the university opened
in the late sixties, I think. Mhmm.
So, yeah, he was one of the early
batches. And,
yeah, he was there for
5 years, I believe, 4 or 5 years.
He graduated from the faculty of Sharia.
So, you know, they say as as the
years go by,
there were people always said the Jamia isn't
as it used to be. Mhmm. So,
know, when I was there, people said Jambia
isn't as it used to be. When I
left, people, you know,
we would say after we would meet people
who who are studying there later on, we
would say, no. Jambia is not what it
used to be. Mhmm. And then people we
meet now who graduate, they'll be like, the
Jamia is not what it used to be.
So it's always changing. So, you know, back
then, you know, obviously, the Jamia was like
a different was a different kind of it
was different beast, if you like. Yeah.
So, yeah, there were, like, scholars there such
as, Shasay Hassan
from London. He was kind of, like, contemporary.
I think he was earlier. He was a
second Doha. That's right. Yeah. The second, bachelor's
students who graduated from the Islamic University in
history. That's right. Yeah. So my father was
after him, but they were I think they
were around the same time.
I believe,
was there around the same time.
Yeah. And there were others as well.
So, yeah, he was there.
And then 75,
he,
had a,
there was a a tour taking place, like
a like a visit from some of the
scholars,
who were sent,
by Saudi Arabia to this country just to
see the dawah potential. Yeah. And, Sheikh Albani
was one of the people, one of the
teachers. Yeah. Because he was teaching at the
time in in the in the jammya. Yeah.
And from the students was my father. Oh.
And he met,
Sheikh Hasim. You know Sheikh Hasim is? Yeah.
So Shahamus, he's one of the people who
founded Yeah. Adil's.
Adil's grandfather. Yeah. Yeah. Adil's grandfather.
So Adil's grandfather. So how long? So he
was already here. Okay. Yeah. I'm not sure
how long he was here for,
but he was the one who basically started
Mecca's Jami'al Hadith, which was which is the
organization and Yeah. You know, great ambassadors are
like part of that. Yeah.
So he need he was asking for help.
He needed help. My father came with with
this, kind of, Delegation. Yeah. Delegation. Yeah. And,
they got to know each other. And then
a year later in 76, when my father
finished, I think he went back home to
Pakistan for a while,
and then he came here. Mhmm. And it
was Sheikh Bem Baz at the time who
sent him. It was Sheikh Bem Baz who
sent your father? Yeah. He was a Madir
at the time. He was he was the
principal of the University of Medina at the
time. Wow. So it was under his kind
of,
you know,
he was he was the principal at the
time. So it was his decision.
He would make this in those days, they
would always send students out to different parts
of the world. That was the aim of
the Jambe in the first place, to send
students to parts of the world where they
could give the Awa. You know, Sheikh Saif
Hassan from London, he wrote, a fazilullah, he
went to Kenya initially. Subhanallah. He was in
Kenya. Yeah. Yeah. Subhanallah. You didn't didn't know
that? No. I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. He was
in Kenya. Adib. So he went he had
descended to Kenya, and I think the situation
was, it became very diff difficult there. Yeah.
And so he said, it's just getting too
difficult here. So, they asked him where he
wanted to go, and I think he said
England, so they sent it to England. Azim.
Yeah. So my father was, that's how my
father came. And, Sheikh Hasim was,
the Amir of the Marcus. Yeah. And eventually,
my father became the, general secretary.
And that's that's that's what happened. And was
always at the headquarters. Of all of the
the the the the markets that are in
the UK? Yeah. Yeah. The the ones. Yeah.
The the property, I think, was bought. I'm
not sure. You must know when the property
was bought.
1979,
I believe. 79. Yeah. But I think prior
to that, they were
collecting funds for it. Yeah. Yeah. And it
was like £24,000
or something to put the building for. Yeah.
Which is amazing. Yes. Compared to now? Yeah.
Again, it's for that much now. Yeah. Yeah.
So you had 24,000, Subhanallah. There was a
Kuwait,
scholar.
Yeah.
He's saying something.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And, he paid, like, he gave £20,000
for for the for the building. Yeah. At
the time, I remember people would say, and
I always always hear this from the elders.
They would always say, look, you know, people
tell my father, they would say, why are
you buying this building? Mhmm. Like, we don't
need it. It's huge. It's a massive property.
Yeah. It's it's really big. And so they
would say, you know, it's like a few
of us, you're buying this massive building.
We don't need it. It's too big. Yeah.
And, obviously, my father had an idea. He
had, you know, there was a vision there.
You know, as well. They all had an
idea of what was you know, what what
the plans were, and they had, like, a
vision for the dawah, alhamdulillah. Yeah. And it
shows us the importance of thinking big. Yeah.
Definitely. And having a vision. Yeah. Yeah. And
I wanted to talk to you about that
because it was indeed, you know, subhanallah, they
had something else in their mind, about what
this place would become.
You know? And,
obviously, now you've taught us, Allahumabarak,
your your father, he studied in Pakistan and
studied in the Jamiyah, and then he came
to the UK in which he was involved
in, the project of,
of, of, of Al Hadith, the makhas in
Al Hadith up and down the country, you
know, and creating, a network, you know, in
which, this place was the hub for all
that all those places. Now focusing a bit
more, inshallah, about him because you see,
I've tried to do my research.
Right? And, I'm gonna do your research, man.
You're the you're the host.
Yeah. I've I've tried to do my research,
you know, and and I really think we
should put together, like, a proper
history of of green and masjid, you know.
And there's bits in there that have been
written, you know,
in different places. And what I was trying
to find out was how old you were
at the time. Right? Because my question to
you was, what memories
do you have of him,
whether it being
back home or here?
So I was, I was born in 84.
Okay.
So I just have
very vivid not vivid, the opposite. Very like,
we have very kind of,
almost picturesque kind of memories. Yeah. Mostly
at home, just a few memories. Yeah. Just
at home with my father, with with the
family. Yeah. That kind of thing. Nothing,
I was 4 years old so there's not
much there. It was more like
what people would say. Yeah. You know, and
the kind of effect he had on the
data were on people,
you know? And you'd get a lot of
cases where
people would mention who you are, who I
was, and then people would
be happy and they'd come and hug you
and Yes. One of those kinds of things.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. SubhanAllah, that just shows what
kind of person my father was,
Yeah.
Yeah. And obviously he was so busy.
He was so committed to it that way.
He wasn't really
in the house. He was traveling a lot,
you know, up and down the country.
So that was know, that was to the
extent where,
even his his his eating routine, I think,
wasn't wasn't like he didn't have a good
eating routine. Mhmm. He would just see it
whenever he would get the chance. His mom
would my mom would tell me that she
would say, like, he'd have sometimes he'd have
stomach problems.
And then the doctor would say, it's because
you're not you need to have a proper
routine when you eat. Mhmm. But, yeah, I
think he would just eat whenever he had
a chance. You know, like,
in the middle of the night or early
morning or in the afternoon, whenever he was
able to eat, we'd just eat. Yeah. So
so he was always busy. He was always
busy, like, you know, up and down the
country doing doing Dawah. What,
going back to we were talking about,
the, the beginning of Gilead Masjid.
How
what role did he play
in in in starting that? You know? Because
I know he was one of the the
main people. There was him and another person
who came with him from Madinah,
to help, Sheikh Asim.
Yeah.
Sheikh Sharif
from then. From then? From then Sharish, yeah?
Yeah. From Sharish.
Yeah. So there was a few of them.
I think at the time, Sheikh Hasid wanted
help. He needed help. He wasn't, you know,
there weren't that many people around at the
time. Yeah. And, he was in need of
help. He need a he need a base
Mhmm. To start his, to start Dawah or
to just continue the Dawah properly. Yeah. And
he he also, like, was looking for people
who were learning, people who had studied the
din. Yeah. And that's where the university came
in, and they were able to, like, send
people like my father. Mhmm.
And so, of course, my father was in
Medina. He had, you know,
contact with the scholars there,
and that really, I think, helped Yeah. Especially
having, like, you know,
colleagues, people who who you studied with,
who obviously
graduated and they did their own, you know,
they had their own initiatives, their own projects.
They became who they became Rakshasaheb and others.
Yeah.
So it was it was just,
it was it was really a a perfect
kind of,
choice, really. Yeah.
He was an ideal position. Yeah.
He was from Pakistan, and obviously, the majority
of people here were from Pakistan. Yeah.
And, he was well he was well spoken.
For sure. And he had a drive, I
think. He had a drive. You you had
you'd have to have a drive, you know,
to do what he did. Yeah. So the
fact that he did all that, subhanahu wa'alehi,
it's only by, you know, the permission of
Allah, masha'Allah's
power and by his strength.
So, yeah, I think, you know, what he
did was,
it was obviously
it was down to him, but it was
also other people as well. Yeah. You know?
It was,
collective
effort. I know you said,
you you when you talk about memories, of
course, since you were very young at the
time. But from when people see you, of
course, they must tell you so much. Right?
Have you ever took moments where you extracted
a lesson or lessons,
from what people have told you about,
your father?
I've cut you off guard. Yeah.
Yeah. I think because I know there's probably
like, you get lots of people Yeah. Who
especially from the elders of the community. Oh,
subhanallah. Like, not that we left
now in terms of the elders. Yeah. SubhanAllah.
So, yeah. I think
one of the things that I always
think about is the fact that
obviously, the Jamia played a huge part. Yeah.
The Jamia played a huge part.
And so
if he wasn't the Jamia, then this wouldn't
have happened.
You know, him coming here and, you know,
being sent, etcetera. Mhmm. So Yeah. But specific
kind of,
things that people mention with regards to him.
You know, they they say he was very
persuasive.
Masha'Allah. Yeah. They would say he was very
persuasive.
You know, he if people were, like, hesitant
in terms of, like, committing to the da'wah
or,
you know, he would always remind them, you
know, what are you going to say in
front of Allah?
When, you know, you was you are in
a position to give dawah, you're in a
position to help, you know, whether it's volunteering
or being a teacher at the madrasa, which
was obviously in its early stages in those
days or
whatever capacity. You know, he was somebody who
it said that he was quite persuasive. You
know, he would really like,
you know,
persuade you and say the right things to,
you know, get a person to,
you know, to do whatever
it was that was needed to to be
done for the Dawah. Yeah. So people mentioned
that. They say he was, you know, persuasive.
He he would be like, you know,
he would nail it home. Yeah. And then
people would just be like, okay.
They would they would they would do things.
And and Sheikh, you know,
I I was told by,
Qari Zakha Ullah, saliem, our imam as well,
that he was, he played a part in
bringing
Shirk Hafizullah
and Shirk Abdul Hadi Yeah.
In the eighties? Yeah. Yeah. In the eighties.
Yeah. Shirk Abdul Hadi, I think, came in,
86, 87.
I think. Yeah. You have confirmed. I will
do. Do. This one, my my research is
lacking. Yeah. Because it was the it was
the ATM my father passed away. So I
think he came a year or 2 before
that. 88? Yeah. So
yeah. So he yeah. He was the one
who brought them. Mhmm. And it's interesting because
I remember,
I'm not sure who it was who mentioned
it, but the the last conference that that
took place before he passed away, he was
he was not on the stage. My father
wasn't on the stage. Mhmm. SubhanAllah.
And he was on the I think the
in the front row. I think somebody said
to him,
like, what are you doing? You should be
you should be on stage. Like, you're
he was a general secretary. He said, you're
the general secretary. He should be on the
stage. Yeah.
And, he was like, no. He goes, this
you know, he goes, other people should be
on this. It's good for other people to,
you know, be on the stage.
It's it's it's obviously thinking about
long term and Of course. You know, there's
gonna be a time when, you know, people
won't be around or they'll step down and
you need new faces, fresh faces on the
stage. And, SubhanAllah, it's,
you know, it's amazing how,
you know, how forward thinking he was. And
even, like, I remember I had
a a talk of my father's.
And I'm not sure which year. I was
just in the eighties sometime. Maybe 86, 85.
I'm not sure.
And SubhanAllah,
in the in the mid eighties, he's doing
a talk.
He's talking about how
we need more lectures, more talks, more programs
in the English language. Subhanallah.
Because he's saying people, our children here, they're
growing up speaking English.
We need to be able to reach them,
so we have to have more programs in
the English language and literature. I'm not sure
if you mentioned literature, but we were saying
talks, lectures, you know, programs in the English
language. We have to have it for this
you know, for for for for the Muslims
here. And that's in the eighties. And we
know, you know, how,
you know, how long people were doing,
you know, chutpah and talks in other languages,
you know, from from their local countries for
so long. Yeah. And up until, like, even,
you know, up until, like, the the notice
after the year 2000, it was still common
to do a footpath and talks in, like,
you know, other languages when people in the
crowd have no idea what what was being
said or what they're talking about. Yeah. SubhanAllah,
when I heard that, I was like, wow.
That's
you
know, it's impressive. Yeah. Long way back. Yeah.
Masha'Allah.
Okay. Can we can we talk about, and
you don't have to, if you don't want
to, about the in 1988
when he did pass away, Allahu Hamu.
Because I was,
again, with my research,
there was an article
in British newspaper
about it.
About, they just reported a short, article about,
him passing away. Because I know even at
the moment, like,
before he passed away,
he was still,
you know, invested and dedicated and driven.
Because he was coming back from Scotland
from meeting with,
what's it called, brothers who were from Anaditha
to establish
a a place there.
And on the way back is when there
was a car crash. And you were in
the car? Yeah. I was in the car.
Yeah. It was me, my
my father, my grandmother, my mum, my mum,
and my brother. Older brother. Older brother? Yeah.
He was middle one.
Okay. Yeah. So my father, my grandmother, and
my brother passed away.
Wow. There was some issue with the battery.
The battery died and it's in the middle
of the motorway. So it was, And here,
you still are, like, 4 years old? Yeah.
4 years old. So 88. I don't remember
it. I don't remember anything. No. Subhanallah, I
just I was 88.
Yes.
Yeah. It's ISIS,
you know, the of Allah. Yeah. It just
shows it's Allah's decree. You don't know what's
going to happen, when it's going to happen.
Yeah. But what you do know is how,
people are going to be remembered.
So as a result of the actions, what
they did, what they said,
that and this is a lesson, I think,
for for all of us. You know, you
don't know when it's going to come, when
your when your end is going to come,
when you're going to die.
But people are going to remember you as
a result of what you did, how you
behaved, what you said, you know, your actions,
your deeds.
So, yeah, that was, 88.
Yeah. Yeah. And obviously, I have to give
credit to my mother,
you know,
to lose your father,
your your, your husband, your your mother, and
your son. Yeah. SubhanAllah, it's,
can't can't imagine how difficult it must have
been. Yeah. So in all love, please,
and Allah give her, you know, reward her
for for the everything that she went through.
And
I mean that that's a really important point
of benefit you gave, Sheikh. You know, because
obviously, you know, when when we do these
podcasts,
the main point and the main thing that
I want the viewers to is to strike
benefit from the conversations that we do have.
And that is very true. You never know
when it's gonna happen, how it's gonna happen,
but definitely it's about what what you did,
for for, you know,
to whether it it was for people
or for the dua. That's people going to
be remembering you remember me by. Yeah. And
that's that's that's all we had as well.
And he's obviously very young, 4 years old.
Yeah. So a lot of it is just
people speaking about my father, saying things about
my father, talking about my father. Yeah. You
know?
My father-in-law as well,
Yeah. He passed away during COVID years, a
couple of years ago. Yeah.
But he's from the same town as my
father. Subhanallah. Yeah. And it was just like
coincidence kind of thing. You know? I wasn't
Yeah. Expected or anything. But, yeah, he would
tell stories. They knew each other from a
young age. They were like young That's true.
Like
friends. They would play play together. And
He would talk about how when he would
come,
he would take his bags when he would
come to visit from England. Or even from
Jjamaia in Madinah, where he would go back
in the summers in Pakistan.
He would take his bags for him. My
father would say, what are you doing? Like,
you know, is this different? He was like,
no, you don't take my bags. He's like,
no, no, no. He goes, you know, you're
studying in Medina and this and that. Yeah.
So he would he would talk about that
as well. Yeah. So, yeah. It's just stories
like that. You know, you hear people mention
and talk about it. Yeah. And then he
becomes this
legend, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And you think,
wow, this is amazing. And that's how I
heard about Medina as well. SubhanAllah. I know
that was Be before we get that because
I wanna talk about your your decision to
cultivate in. I mean, to, to make people
understand, you know, because legend is a great
word to use. You know, I mean, I
was looking and, when your father passed away,
there was letters that was sent to,
to the Marcus
Jamiat Jamiat. Sorry. And, letters from Sheikh, Ibn
Baz.
You know, Sheikh, Asif Al Rahman, Al Mubarak
Puri as well. You know, these,
like, scholars who are, you know,
sending in messages for for your father, you
know. So legend is a good word to
use.
There's something to be said about,
you know, people who pass away when they're
younger. Mhmm.
It's probably When you remember them in, you
know,
in that light. Yeah. Yeah. When they're young
and they're active and they
have the the shout, you know, they have
the the the the the the zeal, the
the the the directive in that way. Yeah.
You know, there's so much to be said
about that. I think people who it's like
the kind of their legacy lives on. Yeah.
Yeah. It's kind of different. It's not obviously,
there's always barakah
when you're blessed with more life and you're
able to do more. Of course. Maybe you
know Malcolm X, similar thing. Yeah. Yeah. There's
this thing about, you know, when people die
young Yeah. Yeah.
They're, like, remembered, you know, immortalized in,
in in the things that they said and
then there's videos and interviews. Yeah. Yeah. And
so Yeah. So, yeah, it's also one of
those things that people, when they pass away
young, that they how active they were, they
kind of remembered,
in their youth a little bit more. Yeah.
Yeah. Because obviously they didn't they didn't reach
old age. Yes. SubhanAllah. So I think there's
something to be said about that. Definitely. I
mean, even the videos, you know, the conference,
the the still videos of, of your father
or Mohammed on on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. You
know, that will post it from this masjid.
And even to add to that, you know,
what you mean, what you're talking about,
a legacy that was left behind was
the masjid itself in us being here, being
able to do the podcast, talk about it,
and everything that happens there, you know, was
from that vision that started everything in. And
that's,
that's Yeah. Definitely something amazing.
And now to move on to you, Sheikh
Ham.
Did
your decision
to go to
Medina, right, was it influenced by your father's
legacy? Yeah.
Yes. No hesitation. Yeah. It was,
I've not even known anything about the university
except that my father went there. Jeez. So,
yeah, that was I just heard about Jamey
Islam. Yeah. Well, Madin University. You know, Madin
University.
You
know,
Madin
University.
Your father went to Madin University, and I
was okay. 4, 5 years old, 6 years
old, 7 years old. You know, people talking
about Madin University. My father was in Madin
University.
I'm just talking about and, obviously, I'm thinking,
okay. It's basically because I'm Madin University
that he is who he is.
And so,
and I did hear about other people who
have graduated from there,
who would come and they would give Dawah.
Of course, like, you know, our elders like
Shaddur Hadi and Shafi'ulullah.
Yeah.
Shashoaib from Bambury. Yeah. You know, after the
whole allah, mother preserved them all. And then
you get, you know, people who came maybe
later on, obviously Abu Samah. Yeah. You know,
he used to come to the greener masjid,
like, back in the nineties. Yeah. Yeah. So
I must have been like, what,
maybe 8, 9 years old. So how am
I going to Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sitting
there and he's Abu Samba talking. I'm like,
woah. This guy's
you know, American accent and everything. Obviously, in
those days, there's no YouTube or anything. Yeah.
There's an American guy coming.
Bilal Phillips.
Oh. Bilal Phillips as well. Yeah. Yeah.
I think I heard of Osama first and
then
we're like, I'll put a bit of Bilal
Phillips. You know, he's
a black reaver from America or from Canada,
but I think he was in America for
a while. I'm not sure.
And we're like, yeah. I was 8, 9
years old. I was like, yeah. Yeah. Let's
go and see him as well. I'm thinking
of Abu Sam in my head. Yeah. That
kind of character. Yeah. Yeah.
So we go and we'll, you know, we
we sit down and my brother it's my
brother, my older brother who's like, you know,
I'm going with my older brother and he's
obviously he was he was on solid, like,
probably practicing and Yeah. You know? So you're
young, you just go along with it. Yeah.
And,
it wasn't like we were from a master
background or anything. Yeah. We were okay. Yeah.
So we went and it was beloved Phillips
and it was completely different. Yeah. And at
the age of 8, 9, you you're looking
for people, you know, do ads, cracking jokes.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
But obviously it's the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. He's
like technical and he's calm. Yeah.
His tone is different.
And I was was I was thinking, I
was I was disappointed. I was thinking,
what's this man? And you never don't You
never I didn't appreciate it. Yeah. When you're
older, it was, his book Fundamentals of Tawhid.
Yeah. I read that book
and I was like, this is something else.
Yeah. Just just
no. Before the Islamic studies.
Islamic studies books. Okay.
And I was thinking, Subhanallah, this, you know,
this Sheikh is something else, man. Just the
way he writes. Yeah. I was so and
then his talks as well, he's very methodical,
you know, the way he breaks things down.
I was very impressed. But I know I
know in those days when I was younger,
I was thinking,
you know,
this this was Osama, man. You need the
charisma. Yeah. Yeah. Where's the charisma? Where's the
I think he doesn't have charisma, but Osama's
a different character. It was different. Yeah. Definitely.
It was different in the way they give
dawah. Yeah. So, yeah. But mostly it was
it was from it was from my father.
You know, Jam Islami,
Medina University,
and I was thinking, yeah, I'm gonna go
I'm gonna go to Medina because my father
went.
That's what it was initially.
How did you end up applying?
I applied twice. Once,
I just gave my papers.
No. Not the first time I went.
Okay. Yeah. I went. Asin was there. Masha'allah.
Yes. Asin's cousin.
You know that. Yeah. Yes. Asin is. So
yeah. So Asin was there.
And my brother had been there before.
So he'd been back for, I think, a
couple of years. Mhmm. He didn't graduate. He
went for a few years, and he came
back.
So I'd always had
you know, people are going, coming. It's Birmingham.
So, you know, you know, people who have
have been there,
people many people who dropped out. They don't
they don't finish. And then other people who
you know who who are studying there at
the moment,
and, some of them would come back and
they just complain about, you know, how messed
up, you know, the the place was and
how messed up Saudis were and how, you
know, the Jamia is, you know, so hard
and it's this and that. So you'd hear
the stories. Yeah. Yeah. But it wasn't like
I was thinking, wow. Sounds
terrible, man. I I ain't going there.
So I was still like, hey. I'm gonna
go. Like, doesn't matter. I'm still gonna go.
So, yeah, my brother,
other brothers as well,
you know, who who had been there or
they were there at that time.
So by the time I,
applied and I went there for Umrah, Asin
was still there. Okay. And who else was
there?
I think nobody else that you you might
be you you might know.
Yeah. I think we're just asking. Some of
the brothers from who were local, like Birmingham.
Yeah. But obviously, there was a different at
the time as well. Of course.
So it wasn't like, you know,
there were brothers there who who weren't, like,
on the same kind of flex, if you
like. Yeah. But yeah. So I went to
Aslan, was there, did the interview and everything.
I didn't get in that year.
How old you then? How old were you
then? That was
2,000
2, I think.
So
18.
So 18. Yeah. 18.
Yeah. And then the following year, I applied
again. And I just gave my papers in,
who was the general secretary of the.
He gave my papers to Sheikh Abdul Musil
Al Qasim.
The imam of the masjid in Madinah. And,
Alhamdulillah, go in. 2nd time. SubhanAllah. So then
2,004 I left.
Amazing. You never gave up after that first
try. Yeah. Yeah. I was determined. Yeah. I
was devastated, to be honest.
Not getting it. But you know what it
is? I think,
it's It's a it's a tricky one because
I never had any plan b. That's the
problem. SubhanAllah. I didn't have a plan b,
which is good, but it's not good. Yeah.
You need to have, you know, a plan
b.
I went to college, but I just went
to college for the fun of it. Mhmm.
I wasn't interested. Yeah. I was thinking I
don't I don't wanna do this. You know?
But people were saying to me it's a
good idea to, you know? But I was
like, no. I don't I don't care. Like,
I'm not. It's not what I'm gonna do.
And obviously, you're a teenager as well. Yeah.
You know, and, you know, you wanna make
your own decisions
and, you know, you're in that phase.
So I didn't really have a plan b.
And I was just thinking I'm gonna go
to Madinah and I wanna
benefit people when I come back. But you
you just have to
first of all, you need guidance. Yeah. You
need somebody who's
kind of, has a mentor position,
who's going to give you advice, going to,
you know, somebody you look up to, somebody
who will give you the right advice and
tell you what you need to do.
I haven't really I don't I don't think
people really had that Yeah. At the time.
You know, just to tell you, look, this
is it makes sense for you to, like,
have a plan b or plan c. But
at the same time,
that was what drove me to make sure
that I actually Got in. Got in. Yeah.
It sounded like I wasn't, like, thinking there's
nothing else I want to do. This is
what I wanna do. So even if it
means you're applying 3 or 4 or 5
times, I'm I'm gonna get in. That's a
problem.
So, yeah, I don't really have a plan
b,
which, again,
it's double double edged sword, really. Yeah. Yeah.
So you you got in.
So you're probably around 19 years old? Oh,
yeah. So by the time I got there,
I was 20. 20 years old. Okay. Yeah.
And and that,
batch of students was a blessed batch.
Yeah. You know us? Was it my Sheikh
Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali from Sheffield. Yeah. Muhammad
Tim. Masha Allah. And,
Sheikh Naveed
from Nelson. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So,
that year was, and there was, like there
were others as well.
There was a brother who came with us.
Yeah. I'm about to tell you this. There
was a brother who came with us.
And so we went to the we went
and there's a brother who got accepted in
rialth, same year. Okay.
Sheikh Abdul had his nephew. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
So me and him went to the embassy.
And that's a different story, man. Everyone's got
their every university's got their embassy story. So
we went to the embassy to get our
papers sorted. And we meet we meet
a
a a brother, the elderly elderly brother, and
he said, yeah, I'm giving my papers in
for my son.
He's great. He's he's he's got accepted. He
said, Yeah. He goes, You know, when you
go there, just take care of him.
So he was telling this to you?
Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking, okay. Who's gonna
take care of him? I was like, Okay.
So I didn't understand what he meant. Yeah.
And,
we could get all our paperwork sorted out.
That's another story because we we we delayed.
Yeah. It was the 1st year, they had
the criminal,
you had to produce a criminal Record. A
record or something. Yeah. That you they've got
tinned slate. Yeah.
And no one no one knew what it
was. Super powerful. So we'd we'd call people.
We'd call, you know, the, the embassies or
whoever it was that you're supposed to call.
I don't know. Mohammed Tim was was good
at that stuff. He would try to sort
it out and try to call it here
and there.
Everyone was like, look, it's nothing to do
with us. Like, if you wanna go somewhere,
you can go. If you wanna study somewhere,
you can go and study. We don't have,
like, a something, like, a an official government
document to state that. Literally, what they wanted
was something to say, look, he's not a
criminal. He doesn't have a criminal record. Okay.
But they said, we don't do anything like
that. Now, obviously, it's everyone knows what it
is. But back then, it was the first
time. No one had any idea what what
they wanted.
Oh. So, yeah, we we went, I think,
in the end of October or beginning of
November.
We were very late. It's power. Yeah. So
we're running around going to the embassy trying
to figure out this it was because of
this. And eventually, they didn't do it. They
just said, okay. Just fine. Just come.
Because it was, you know, no one knew
what was no one knew what it was,
how to get it, how to acquire it.
Yeah. So we we go to Medina,
and this brother,
whose father was the embassy that we met,
you know, we get we are talking and
stuff.
And,
basically, he he didn't know he was he
he didn't know,
that he was applying. His father applied for
him. Oh, subhanallah. So he didn't And he
didn't wanna go. Okay. Yeah. He didn't wanna
go. He wasn't interested. Okay. In coming to
Madinah. Yeah. Didn't wanna go to Madinah. He
wasn't interested. His father did it, like, behind
his back. Get all the paperwork in. Okay.
He got accepted.
And then I think, I'd say a month
or so
before he was to fly out, he told
him.
Yeah.
He's from UK? From UK. Yeah. From London.
Yeah.
And he wasn't interested.
Just wasn't interested.
Like, wasn't coming to lessons,
you know, to the extent where even I
was thinking this guy, man, like,
chance of a lifetime. Yeah. You know, he's
just not,
you know, coming late, you know, come and
drag himself into into classes half asleep,
sleeping on the desk and just like, you
know, getting teachers getting annoyed with him. He's
getting he's getting annoyed with the teachers.
He's just completely not interested.
And we're all like, you know what? Next
year he there's no way he's coming back
next year. Yeah. He's just not interested.
Come next year he comes back. Subhanallah. And
we're like,
what are you Why? What are you back
for? What what are you doing here?
And, you know, again similar.
Just not really interested. You know, you could
tell us maybe family issues, father's time to
come, whatever.
But, you know, he's probably thinking, might as
well just
make it be of an effort and might
as well study while I'm here. Yeah.
Anyway,
he
I think he's just finished his doctor now.
He's
just finished his doctor. He's just finished his
doctorate.
He's
just finished his doctorate. He's just finished his
doctorate now.
I was born to him for a while.
I think this year or last year he
finished.
You know, you don't you don't know who
is going to excel. Sometimes you think, yeah,
masha'Allah, this student is going to do really
well. You know, it's promising. And they drop
after a year. It's true. And then the
others, you think, no way. No way is
in the last. Yeah. And they just, you
know, he did his doctorate. It's true.
I think that's,
a very big lesson to take as well.
You know, we're from others who are going
and want to go, you know. Now if
if people go, I always tell them, why
do you want to go? Mhmm. What's your
what's the purpose?
And, you know, obviously, they're gonna say,
I wanna come back and give Dawah. Yeah.
Wanna benefit people.
But
I don't know. I think you need more
than that these these days. Mhmm. You need
more. There has to be you have to
have a goal in mind, a vision. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, like, there has to be
a a more,
laid out plan about what it is you
want to do,
what are your goals,
what are your objectives.
Yeah. It's because very easy. And, of course,
I had the same thing. It was my
father, ultimately. But, of course, you see other
people graduating. Yeah. And you think, yeah, man.
Like, you know, these guys are, like, you
know, giving talks and hutbas and,
you know. Yeah.
Saying all the Arabic,
terminology, anything, yes. You know? And so you
start thinking, I wanna go to Medina. And
so sometimes
it might
be, you know, those intentions might not be,
you know, well thought out. Yeah. You know,
you're going because
you see other people going Yeah. And they
come back as scholars. And you're like, yeah,
that's what I wanna I wanna go and
become a scholar. Yeah. You know? And there's
nothing scholars say there's nothing wrong with a
person having that intention as long as he's
doing it for the sake of Allah. Of
course. He must be an arim and, you
know, teach people. That's nothing wrong. Nothing wrong
with that. Mhmm.
But I think it's it's kind of a
so it can be
misplaced because
the Daria isn't what people think. Yeah. It's
not what people think in terms of look.
If if I said to somebody, okay. Go
and live in,
go and live in Cardiff. You did never
be to Cardiff. Okay. Or go and live
in, London or go and live in, I
don't know, Cornwall or, you know,
Edinburgh or somewhere. Somewhere you've never been before.
Go and live there,
you know, for a year.
It's not gonna be easy. Yeah. You don't
know anybody there. Yeah. The The culture might
be slightly different. People are different. Yeah. Place
is different. You know?
Places that you're gonna eat or places you're
going to, you know, frequently. It's not gonna
be what you're used to. Yeah. It's gonna
be hard. And that's in England or in
the UK. Yeah.
Let alone in a different country. Yeah. So
forget about, you know, the Islamic aspect of
it. Yeah. Just practically. Yeah. You know, getting
up and, you know,
moving and going to a place where it's
a different it's a different world essentially. It's
like a different place. You know, it's different
environment. Different language, different
people. Different weather. The weather's different. The food
is different. The culture is different. Yeah.
You know? The bureaucracy is different.
The paperwork and how long the things take,
it gets very tedious, especially for us. Yeah.
It's not the same. So take all that
into account. And then the living conditions,
they're not the same. Yeah. It's, it's
not easy when you're living, when you're there.
Yeah. Because a lot of students, they move
out, especially like Western students.
They would just move out.
SubhanAllah. Yeah. They'd like
stay there for a few years, and then
they would move out. I was in Jammu
for 7 years in the university itself, which,
obviously, you get you become, you know, institutionalized.
You get used to how things are. Yeah.
But, yeah, initially we had, like, a room
with 6 6 students
in the room. Yeah. And just curtains.
That's right. Yeah.
Because we had a new dome that was
built for us. But because we came late,
we were in the oldest, one of the
oldest dormitories. SubhanAllah. Because we became late, so
we weren't able to. Yeah.
But alhamdulillah, I I already expected it. Masha'Allah.
Because
everyone would talk about it, you know. Even
in Birmingham, you know,
people who graduated or or lots of dropouts
as well. So they'd all talk about, you
know, how how the conditions are. And my
brother was there as well, and, you know,
his friends, and they would always talk about
how messed up he was. And so I
already had I already knew. You meant to
be part Yeah. Yeah. I already knew exactly
what well, how it was going to be.
And I was like,
okay. You know,
I'm expecting it. But I remember other students,
they would they would see the conditions. They'd
be like,
what's this? They they don't know what what
to do. They don't know what to say.
They they don't know what to think. Because
they're expecting something in their mind. Yeah. You
know, Jamis Lamia, Islamic University Madina, thinking it's
gonna be like 5 star. You know, really,
like, yeah, like Oxford University.
Yeah. Okay. And they go there, and it's
like,
conditions are terrible. And
they just don't know what to do. They're
like, you know, they can't believe it.
You know? But you have the expectation, and
if you have the expectation, then you can
manage it. Yeah. And then you know how
it's going to be, and then you can
just it's still hard. Obviously, it's not easy.
Yeah.
But you kind of you can live with
it.
And Sheikham,
who have you know, a lot a lot
can be said about,
you have it like a separate podcast just
on, you know, your experiences in Medina. You
know, I wanted to link it, you know,
to, of course, your father who had been
there, you know, rahimahullah.
Now I wanna ask you about
if you can, you know,
there's probably so many lessons you've learned from
being in Medina, but maybe
a lesson that you took away from your
experiences in studying in Medina that
you
will never forget
till this moment right now. You can always
look back at that moment and says that
was one of the biggest lessons for me.
Yeah. It's hard to, I think,
choose one specific thing. Yeah. Just a pinpoint.
Because,
you know, sometimes you forget something Yeah. And
then something happens. Yeah. Or or you go
through an experience and then you're reminded of
what happened in Medina. Yeah. Yeah.
And then there's different lessons that you learn.
It could be just life lessons. Yeah. You
know, it could be like,
experiences you had. You know, it could be
things you learned from your teachers. Yeah. It
could be,
things you observed.
I tell you, one of the things I
learned
was,
how vast the Islamic Ummah was,
when you get there. Because it's a global
village.
Literally I had a room
and in my room I had
a French brother, Indonesian brother, and Sri Lankan
brother. Masha'allah.
And
you know when you're in in in, in
the, wherever you
are, you have a very sometimes you have
a very fixed idea of what Islam is.
Yeah. You know, and how how a Muslim
should be. Yeah.
Because you're following,
you know,
you know,
the the exact footsteps of your teacher.
You know, and he's following the footsteps of
his teacher, and you're in a you're in
a bubble, basically. Yeah. You know, even in
terms of knowledge and understanding, especially when it
comes to fiqh. Mhmm. You know,
the different schools of fiqh and understanding
the
hakam
of salah and wudu, etcetera.
And so sometimes look down on people who
might pray slightly differently.
It's
very narrow minded, living in a bubble. When
you go there, SubhanAllah, you realize
there are people there.
Okay?
And
they're clean shaven.
And you start thinking, it's messed up. And
then you realize and then you realize
they're forced to shave
when they go back to their countries because
if they don't shave when they get to
their countries, they're gonna be imprisoned.
SubhanAllah.
And you think, SubhanAllah, like,
you
know, Hosnazan
Yeah. Is an important thing. Having good thoughts
of your brother. Yeah. But just understanding and
realizing, look, you know, your circumstances
and how you live and you know, how
things are in your country or in your
city is not like how other people are
living in other parts of the world. Everyone
has their own challenges.
Everyone has their own issues and their own,
you know, trials and tribulations they're going through.
You know, the the the, you know, the
good things there that they, you know, that
they that they have in those countries, the
bad things. You know, we have certain fit
and fit in here that maybe they don't
have in other countries. Yeah.
So just talking to people,
you know, from different parts of the world,
you really understand and you really start to
realize, you know, this is not as black
and white as we think. Yeah. You know,
there's many great areas about, you know, what
people are going through and the hardships and
the challenges, whether it's political or whether it's
just, whatever the case may be.
It's just, it's not,
it's not easy. Yeah. You know, it's it's
not easy to just,
well, it's easy to assume Yeah. You know,
that people are, like, you know, just misguided
or they don't know, I'm at the I'm
at the right path. Everyone else is misguided.
But just understanding
the different,
you know, circumstances that people
are, you know, are growing up in and
the different challenges. So that's that's one thing
I learned.
In terms of in the lesson,
obviously we're learning hadith and we're learning, you
know,
fiqh and the different subjects.
But, you know, like, they would say you
learn from
your teachers,
adab and akhlaq, his manners before you learn
Yeah. What he's actually teaching. Yeah. And that's
that's been the case so many times. Like,
I I remember and I still some of
those
one of the things I would do is
I would look and see how
a teacher would teach. And I did that
even when I was in school.
And I would look and I would observe.
And if people were learning and they were
like, they were paying attention, I'd be like,
he's doing something right here.
And if people were messing around,
and they weren't listening, or they weren't paying
attention, they weren't learning, they didn't really find
the teacher to be very good. I think
why, like, why is he not What's the
difference? Yeah. What's going on? What is it
about him that, you know, isn't really, you
know, stimulating people to actually learn? Mhmm. So
I would always do that. And in Madinah,
like,
you'd pick up you'd pick up things. You'd
get teachers who maybe knew things, but they
weren't they didn't know. They weren't they didn't
know how to teach. We had a teacher
who would just come in and he would
just read from the malakira, from the from
the from his note note from his notes.
Just sit. As soon as he would sit
down, he would just read. He looked down
and read
for like 50 minutes.
Yeah. And Allahu Adam, like I don't know
if he had,
mental issues or something,
but he would just go off on the
student sometimes. Just start shouting at them. It's
a problem. Yeah. It was like
And obviously,
I would realize this
is how I'm This is how I'm not
to teach. This is what you shouldn't be
doing. Because it's not No one's paying attention.
No one's listening.
We had another teacher,
Sheikhad Rahmani Sultan. A lot of these teachers
as well, they're not well known.
You know, no one knows who they are.
But
as teachers, they were just, SubhanAllah, some of
the best teachers I ever had.
This teacher, you know,
excellent akhlaq,
friendly,
smiling.
And he would just come into the class
and sometimes he would stand around, he would
stand and walk around, or he would just
lean on the table, and he would just
ask questions.
And he would pause. He wouldn't answer. He
would wait for us to to answer. For
example, he I remember once he came in
and said,
Does Jannah exist right now?
And he would just stop.
And students would be like, yes.
And somebody would be like And then he
wouldn't say anything.
He would just pause and look at us.
And then people would second guess.
They were like, no.
And then and sometimes we'll get into debates
with each other.
They'll be like, no. Does this And then
and he's just watching.
But it was the way he did it
was it was a master class, masha'Allah.
Because he's making us now think. Yeah. Yeah.
He's making us think about the question.
He's making us use our own, you know,
brains and it was amazing. I would watch
it and I'd be like, hey, do you
do it? No. You do it. You do
it regularly.
I always look and I'll be like, that's
really good. That's amazing the way you would
do it. Very impressive.
And I still do it because I teach.
I still do it in school.
Yeah. I do I do the same thing.
So I'll ask a question. And the same
thing, you just sit back, sit, you know,
stand quietly,
ask a question.
And some people would say no. Some people
would say yes.
And obviously, Jenna does exist. Mhmm. Just so
that people
know. Yeah. Yeah. Because Allah says
prepared for the believers. So it's something which
does exist right now. But just that technique
was really good. And then he didn't even
give the answer and he was listening. Yeah.
Because they're like in 2 minds or they're
not sure or they were sure but then
he didn't say anything and so then they're
second guessing. So that was amazing. We had
another teacher called Hamudasalli.
And he taught us Kitabun Dhaka.
Masa Allah. And
this
this teacher,
he and he he taught other people. He
taught Asim as well. And Asim would say
the same thing. Yeah. He had stories, man.
About his own life. Oh, masha'allah. So he
would just talk about things that have happened.
Sometimes it had nothing to do with the
lesson.
We'd come in and I would go in
as well. I'd be like, I wanna listen
to what he's gonna say. Yeah. Because he
would just tell stories. Sometimes it'd be like
random stories. Yeah. You know? You know those
teachers who just
just talk about all sorts. Yeah. And he
but he taught as well. He was he
was a good teacher.
And he was talking about how he,
you know, proposed,
you know, how he, you know,
got to know his father-in-law and Yeah. The
whole story and
Masha'Allah, he was very nice.
That was the thing about him. He was
good at telling stories. Masha'Allah. You know, try
to take that as well and use it
as well when you're teaching. Yeah. Yeah. Because
everyone loves stories and it's a good break
if you're teaching something like fiqh or whatever,
hadith.
You know, it's always good to kind of
throw stories in there, you know, get people
to relax a little bit and to kind
of switch off and just listen to a
story.
And he would do that. It was just
beautiful.
So every teacher was different. Of course. So
you'd pick up things.
One thing also that I remember that I've
been actually mentioning I've mentioned it in a
few lessons I've had and in school I've
mentioned it for assembly as well. Yeah. On
this just just this Wednesday.
When I was in the Haram, and I
just saw the video today because it was
recorded. I was in the haram
in Madinah,
and it was a negative time. So the
adhan went, and Sheikh Khalifa came out to
lead the salah. Awesome.
And so, you know, he tells everyone to
straighten their roles. He's got this deep, deep
voice. Yeah.
So he makes the kabir, a lawu, a
kabir, and there, you know, starts a salah.
And,
so
we're waiting for Fatiha.
And I'm in I'm in, like, maybe the
10th row or something from the front.
And, waiting for Fatiha,
but Fatiha doesn't come. And instead, he just
says,
wait a minute.
You know this story? No, I don't. So,
I don't think that was going on. Other
people are looking around.
And some people missed a second. They don't
know. Like, what's going on? They just carry
on. As if they're still praying. I think
he was like, what's going on? Then he
says it again.
Wait a minute.
So I put my hands down. And,
it's just everyone's just waiting.
And a few minutes go by, 4 or
5 minutes go by.
And,
then again you hear him striking your rose.
Starts with
salah, out of breath. Yeah. It seems like
he's out of breath. So obviously we're thinking
maybe something happened. Was he not well? He's
old. He's still alive. He's still the imam.
Longest serving imam, I think. So we made
Madinah.
And we're thinking what's you know, what happened?
Was he ill or did something happen? Was
it a health issue?
And it was recorded because they record the
prayers. And so you see that I saw
the video later.
He starts a salah and then after a
while he raises his hands again
and takes a step back.
And then he says, He takes his cloak
off,
puts it down. And again he says,
wait a minute. And he goes off, few
minutes, comes back and starts the salah again.
We realized basically he didn't have voodoo.
He didn't have voodoo. So he left the
salah. Didn't care about what anyone thought.
Wasn't interested in like, you know, what are
people gonna say? It's just so embarrassing. Oh
my God. Like, I can't eat the salah.
Everyone's gonna know I didn't have voodoo. I
brought my salah. You know, just went telling
everyone let's wait.
I'm coming back. Just goes off. It's like,
I don't know how many people. It's the
haram. So, like,
I don't know.
6, 7, 8, 10000 people. Yeah.
And so it just goes off. Just,
you know, Everyone's gone. I don't care. You
guys just wait. I'm gonna go to.
You guys just wait. And,
you know, I need to do basically. So,
yeah, I'm gonna go and do it. So
when I did came back and started the
salah?
It's on this. Unbelievable.
Yeah.
Like,
we all know
if you break your wudu, you go and
you you perform wudu again, the salah is
not valid. Yeah. But to do it
in salah Yeah. Yeah. With people watching Yeah.
Yeah. Is not the same thing.
It's supposed to be done. We know we're
supposed to do it.
But to actually do it, you know, in
that
circumstance,
it just shows, you know, mashaAllah is the
devil of taqwa and warah and his you
know, his iman inshallah. Yeah, yeah. But that
was, that was, that was impressive. You find
out later and I was like, yeah, man.
Next level.
That's that's really cool. To do that in
front of everybody. Yeah. You know, takes, takes,
takes guts. Yeah, definitely. Because any other person
you just be thinking, oh, everyone's watching. Yeah,
yeah. Or, you know, I'll just repeat the
salah afterwards. Yeah. I'm not gonna leave the
salah now. I'll just
start it out and then after salah, I'll
just go and, you know, yeah. 2 of
them again to pray.
The fatay did that. Masha SubhanAllah was Yeah.
So I remember that. And I mentioned to
the kids as well just about
not caring about what other people think. Yeah.
It's not about other people. It's about your
relationship with Allah. Yeah. Your connection with Allah.
Yeah. So I remember that. That was that,
that's the story I remember. When there's There's
loads of things that you're just you know,
stories come and go sometimes. Experiences come and
go and you remember things, people you met,
things that happened.
You know.
Yeah.
And Shaykh,
obviously me and you, we could sit here
for hours on end and and going through
it all Mubarak. But just to just to
make a conclusion, inshallah for those who are
watching.
Any final advice for,
I think, for 2 people because we cover
2 things.
First is
losing,
a close family relative, 1st and foremost.
And then secondly, for those who want to
go and pursue knowledge.
So, you know, for those who lose family
members, especially like one's parents
Yeah. I think,
it's good to remember that,
we're in good company
because the prophet himself was an orphan. Mhmm.
You know, he lost his father before he
was born. He lost his mother when he
was around the age of 4.
And
I think one of the lessons you learn,
or a lesson that one should learn, is
that,
Allah always has a plan.
Allah always has a plan.
If my father was still alive, maybe I
wouldn't have gone to Madinah. It's bad. You
know? Yeah. You do get cases where,
sometimes,
children of scholars don't end
up being
scholars or even people who are students of
knowledge.
They just lead a simple life.
They don't pursue that path.
Maybe because they're around it so much.
Maybe they just,
you know, lose
interest or whatever the case. Maybe they just
not they don't have that interest anymore. They
want to do something else. It's just
maybe it's too much because it's always around
them. Allah knows best.
So maybe I wouldn't have I wouldn't have
even gone.
But you know Allah says, well we did
the kabbal and fahada.
You know, we found you lost and we
guided you. Yeah. Talking about the prophet shawallahu
alaihi wa sallam. So sometimes,
you know, you realize
that it's not your,
parents or your your guardians who are,
protecting you and guiding you. It's ultimately Allah.
So one of the things you learn is
Allah is the one who's guiding you. Allah
doesn't matter if your parents have passed away,
you know, the prophet was an orphan, the
greatest man who ever lived. Yeah. And his
parents weren't even alive
to take care of him, to raise him,
and to give him whatever he wanted. Allah
is saying, we were the ones who guided
you when you were lost. It's from Allah.
You know, we were the ones who
enriched you. I was the one who enriched
you. So I think that's
one lesson that we can learn.
Allah is the one who's taking care of
you. Allah will take care of you. You
know, you take care of, you know, your
your duties to Allah. Allah will take care
of the rest. Even if, you know, you're
by yourself. Mhmm. No one would have imagined
the prophet being who he was. You imagine
somebody whose father's
father passes away before they're born, mother passes
away when they're 4 years old. You know,
the grandfather who's the next guardian passes away
when he's 6. Somebody like this today,
you would say he's,
you know, he's gonna struggle. Yeah. You know,
he's not gonna amount to anything. Yeah. He's
gonna be, you know, going to orphanages and,
you know, he might end up
in juvenile juvenile or whatever it is. He
might end up leading life for crime. It
wouldn't be a surprise. Yeah. Like the highest
expected. Yeah. That kind of upbringing.
And the fact that that was the case
with the prophet and
then he became who he became,
Allah is telling us, you know, I was
the one who took care of you. Subhanahu.
And so that's I think one of the
lessons we can learn.
All is not lost. We're in good company.
No.
And for those who,
want to
to go and study,
whether it be in Medina or
in Reaba,
what kind of,
advice can we give to them? Can you
give to them?
Obviously, I think first and foremost, you know,
just sincerity.
Mhmm. That's the main that's what's gonna drive
you. I really think. We always hear about
sincerity and, you know, since it was the
first thing people mentioned, it's like, okay, okay.
Yes. Sincerity. But what's up to sincerity?
You know, what's the next thing? But
if
you are sincere,
let's say for example you went to the
Jammia because you wanted to be famous. Okay?
If you're not sincere, you're gonna get to
the Jammia. You're gonna think, you know what?
This isn't worth it. There's other ways of
me being famous.
Okay? I'll just, stay a year or 2,
and then I'll go back and I'll, you
know, pretend as
if I've studied for 5 or 6 years
or you know, I'll just
the drive won't be there then. Yeah. Because
there's no
long term goal which is, you know,
good deeds and pleasing Allah, azza wa Jal,
you know, having your scale of good deeds,
you know, heavy on the day of judgement.
Those goals aren't there.
The objective isn't like so high. Yeah. And
so you're not gonna there's no motivation there.
That's powerful. So sincerity is like key. Also,
to have, you know, a backup plan. You
gotta have a backup plan, I think. Mhmm.
You know, as Muslims,
we're told to prepare. Mhmm. You know,
says, prepare as much as you can with
strength. And Allah was talking about the, you
know, preparing to to fight the disbelievers in
the time of the Prophet SAW.
As Muslims, we're told to, you know, be
ready and prepare. You know, make preparations.
You know, always have a plan a, plan
b, plan c, plan d. Yeah. And always
have backup plans. You know, it's it's part
of it's part of our deen, you know,
to, you know, to to prepare. So we
shouldn't just throw our eggs in 1 basket.
Wherever we're going, if it's Egypt, if it's
Riyadh, if it's Medina,
wherever a person plans on going, you know,
I think,
always have a plan,
a long term plan. Okay? A backup plans
before he goes, but also a long term
plan about what he's going to do when
he comes back. I think the I think
the problem many of us have,
especially Madina, I can only spoke to speak
about Madina, is when we come back, we
don't really know what exactly we're going to
do. It's a problem. We wanna give Dawah,
but, you know,
how are we going to do it? To
what extent are we going to do it?
Know what capacity we're going to do it,
on top of the fact that we're gonna
have families, and we're gonna be married, and
we're gonna have children, and we have to
work.
You know, all those things. You need to
have a plan about how you're going to,
you know,
execute that well, while at the same
time, you know, having a kind of living.
And of course, because of the past, they
would have they would have professions.
Yeah. You know? Yeah. You know? Yeah. I
remember, Hanifa
was a craft merchant. He was a
a Tajir businessman. Sheikh Arbani was a watch,
he would repair watches. Yeah. So it's good
to have some some skills, just so that
you can fall back. Yeah. And
repair
watches. Yeah. So it's good to have some
some skills just so that you can fall
back on it. And if you need to,
like, in a living, then you you have
something. Yeah. Yeah. Just sincerity, having having a
plan, and
being, being driven. I think you have to
be,
you have to make sure that, you know,
you stick with it. Yeah. Just regardless of
what happens. Like for me it was just
a case of there's nothing that's gonna stop
me from there's nothing that's gonna make me
leave. And quit. Once I finish. Yeah.
Because I I I wanted you for so
long. Yeah. Yeah. You understand? So so much
time had gone by. I was finally there.
I was like, okay. Well,
I need to finish. Yeah. You know, if
I finish late, if,
whatever happens,
I am gonna stay. There's no person about
it.
It's,
it's
been so beneficial, man. And,
I think, I'm hoping, inshallah, this is the
first of many times you'll be joining us
inshallah.
It's it's,
it's not that bad.
My first time doing a podcast. So Yeah.
Your your experience in this, inshallah.
My first time. Yeah. But it was nice.
I will reward you all and, may Allah,
it's a beneficial,
beneficial thing, inshallah.
We've, we've got plans to kind of,
continue,
talking about,
the legacy of of going in Masjid, inshallah,
and have the elders involved.
Of course,
our imam, Insha'Allah, who's, Khadiza Khalil is going
to be doing some of those episodes,
But this was kind of like the the
step towards that Yeah. Yeah. Which was, it
was, very, very insightful, you know. And, your
stories from Medina and your experiences is something
insightful, you know. And, your stories from Medina
and your experiences is something that I think
the the people who are listening can take
away a lot of benefit from. So just
ask
Allah to preserve you. And I thank Allah
to Allah for allowing us to be here
and discussing this.
Insha Allah for that will conclude insha Allah,
to the viewers. If you find this beneficial,
make sure to like subscribe, comment below and
we'll be back, insha Allah, with new episodes
for this year.