1 on 1 with Shaykh Adnaan Menk

hamdu lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. All earlier Sophia Germaine Sheikh Adnan salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu Vallecano. Salama deliver your shahada and I have met you here in the UK. And I was surprised. Well, not very surprised because you do look like him. You are the nephew of the renowned Mufti mink, am I right? Correct and mashallah, and shahada and I've sat with you a few times here and I've become very interested in your background, your academic knowledge, your Sharia knowledge, masha Allah. And you told me that you are a graduate of the medina University in Sharia Alhamdulillah. So you've studied all the disciplines of Sharia, the Fuqua School of

folklore, the foundation of the fundamentals of all of that, Mashallah.

And you also pursued a master's degree. And you wrote a paper about a very interesting topic that we don't hear about much in the Muslim community. In fact, it's somewhat of a negative perception about it. And that is Islamic, that is economics from an Islamic perspective, and you wrote specifically about cryptocurrency, in light of the Islamic perspective and the Sharia.

You graduated from a master's degree from Medina University as well did you correct in 2021 2021, Masha, Allah. Let's begin your shahada man, asking about your background, your childhood, your schooling growing up, tell us where you're from. Go ahead. Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim. So interestingly enough, I'm actually born here in England. Oh, yeah. But I never ever lived in England. We always lived in Zimbabwe. We used to come along for visits because of family. So Kembla, my schooling from a young age. My grandfather, that's mostly Mike's father, he always had emphasis on Islamic knowledge. So from a young age, we learned how to read Arabic text, we learned how to

read the Quran. And he started me off on HIV at the age of nine. So alhamdulillah it started off with him along with academic schooling, so we used to go to the school in the morning, and then Midwest, afternoon, him to like completed HIV by the age of 12. And at that point, my grandfather, he, you know, after the actual hefty set, right, you guys have to move on to Arabic and you have to move on to Def sealer. So hamdullah he started teaching us a lot in terms of Tafseer also fic so by the time I reached the age of 17, and have like graduated in terms of you know, the GCSE finished them off. He had already taught us a lot of what you would learn in your first and second year in

Medina University. So hamdulillah and then at the age of 17, I went to Medina University, and I went the Arabic language program lengthy for one a half years. I went into Saudi high school because as you remember, I said I completed a GCSE so I still had a level to do that. I did that in the Saudi High School. So yeah, it was interesting. And then that's how my journey started in Medina University, Masha, Allah mentioned your grandfather a few times you were sharing with us some inspiring stories about him.

Can you share something inspiring them that you shared with us about his clothes onto 90 years old? Mashallah, till today, he told today he reads his Quran every day to Jews, three Jews one day, think a few weeks ago, he was telling me and I wasn't feeling well. And I didn't manage to read my Quran. Then he tells me today I was feeling much better. So aside from the morning and I read seven Jews on it says when when we were younger, you know, we used to read Quran and my Sheikh told me after I finished that, don't forget your Quran, make sure you revise it. There was a point in my life. I used to read one Quran a day, and we were tired half a Quran a day and this went on for three to six

months and mashallah a lot more stories he's got he's very disciplined, waking up time going to bed his food till today he tells me it says, you know, when it comes to food, I monitor my sugar, my weight, everything and if I need to make some sort of adjustment I do that mashallah a very disciplined person, very inspiration. And obviously, if you had to ask my uncle of the monk who

you know who's inspired you the most who did you benefit from the most say, obviously his father, he put a lot of effort into his children as well as his grandchildren. Subhanallah you know, young, I'm a teacher myself. So a lot of young people say to me that we feel whole and that we belong in this world when our grandparents are alive and we see them. It's interesting how grandchildren love us and aspire to their grandparents lots upon us.

It seems like your grandfather is a role model in your life and the life of your uncle, with the bank and also your father, isn't it? Where are all your uncles in the field of Sharia? Or is it just yourself? And so there's a half of them your father, for example, yeah, half of them and the Islamic field and then the other half and the business field. So my father, for example, he's not an electrician by trade, and Hamlet, now he has a family business and we sell electrical and that type of things. So

I heard Mufti mink once seen a podcast that

your family is a mix of those who study Sharia and give Dawa and others who do the business and help them and support them financially. Is that true? That's correct. And oh, can you? Can you elaborate on that? Of course, it's true. I'm not saying anything wrong. That's correct. And, you know, the policy my grandfather always had, as was my uncles, in your Dawa. You do your Dawa with your own money? That's where you have that? Is you able to go out and really benefit others, you know, some people are only in it for money. Using the data now, they said have you independent means and when you do the data, well, with your money Shala there's a lot more acceptance, even in that. And I

think, you see that with everybody who has done that. Instead of, you know, people going on to say, You know what, give us give us give us, somebody say, You know what, this is my Dawa. I'm doing it I'm independent Allah has given us and you find people respect you a lot more because they know you're not after what's in their pockets. And as Allah says that people they love money or to hipbone al Maleh have been janma. So the minute you've got a knowledgeable person, however, somebody perceives him as wanting something from his pocket, they stay away, they stay away, but they know that you know what, you don't want any of the material. And you only got call Hello, hello, Rosalie

Shala, the nature of humans, isn't it? And we've got a respect that, in fact, is the nature of humans and all the Ambia who came before me tell the people don't worry, this message we've come with one Mazzello Comala human, I'm not asking you for anything, just take the message. But here's an interesting important point for students of knowledge to bear in mind, masha Allah, that opens up another question now. So in your experience, do you see that people have knowledge? who study shut er Islamic Studies? Or they go into Dawa? In your experience? Is it?

Does it make them more stronger and beneficial when they do have their own separate income from other avenues? do you advise them to, for example, open up their own business or study something else which takes care of the finances so that they don't get their money from the from the dowsing. Obviously, everybody's unique in their own different ways. Everybody comes from different backgrounds, different situations. But you know, the more independent you are, the more you're able to benefit. Also, when it comes to an alum, doing some sort of business, it's not wrong. In fact, if you look at the Sahaba of the Allahu anhu, most of them were business people. And, you know, I

always think about Earth, none of my family Allahu Anhu on three different occasions. In fact, he was promised Jana on many different occasions, three of them from what I've counted with to do with the fact that he had a good heart and wealth. Now, just imagine, if the messenger salAllahu alayhi. Salam was amongst us all, and he said, Whoever does this action, he will get Jen, everyone will want to do it, but not everybody can do it. So when he asked who by the well, or who will expand the masjid, or who will prepare the army for the campaign, surely everybody wants to do it because they want Jana. But not everybody can do it because it didn't have wealth fund on our family level and

work at the global level and messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says in one of the Hadith that nobody's wealth has benefited us more than the wealth of Abu Bakr Satya Nadella, who I know and he's rewarded with a lot, we can repay him back. But the point I'm getting at is,

you know this, this shouldn't be a disconnect. And people shouldn't frown down on an alum who wants to trade or who has business as wealthy, the Sahaba of the Lavon did it the alumni from before, a lot of them were wealthy, and obviously it's what ALLAH SubhanA wa Allah gives everybody some Allah gives others Allah gives a little bit less than some of that gives more. So here

let's ask about your studies. Now.

Your shahada and you did your paper on cryptocurrency? A lot of young people and even older people ask this question all the time. Where can I invest my money? What's highlighted for me what's not hot? What's haram for me and so on. So your journey what what inspired you to write about Islamic economics and cryptocurrency what would you do that? I'll tell you something interesting. When you go to Medina University, obviously I mentioned I started in the Arabic language. And then I went to Saudi high school and then I went to college Sharia

Up to the first year, you still learning about a badass acts of worship so you're learning about your taharah, Salah Hajj, fastings occur, etc. Then the second half you start learning about more Amma let buying and selling more specifically, and hamdullah we had two young teachers who taught us the importance of money. Money Matters in Islam and you know this was an eye opener for me, because we've always attributed fit to be beheren Salah and then full stop. I'm saying these these two teachers are talking about something that I've never known existed. They tell you, if you open the books of Hadith you'll find some of the longest chapters archetypal to your anomala Rahim Allah is

written so much on on bouqs the longest verse in the Quran is speaking about protecting the wealth of one another riding down Dane will did. So this was like a light bulb that lit in my head. And alhamdulilah started perceiving it or I started pursuing it sorry further. And you didn't you learn the importance of you know how the economy works from an Islamic perspective, obviously before there was Islamic empire time of the messengers alerts. So how about the Allahu Anhu there were people who they had to look after there was infrastructure that was needed, they needed to expand how did they do it, they didn't just sit in the masjid only and wait for things to fall down as a matter of the

Allahu Anhu when we reprimanding one of the people said you can't just sit in the masjid the whole day because the sky doesn't rain, gold and silver, you've got to go out and do something. So this opened my eyes to a new part of the world that I didn't know existed shahada and

if you were to go back in time to your younger self, now I know that Masha Allah, you are already very young. How old? Are you? 30 years 30 years old. You're married? Hamdulillah. Married? And how long have you been married? Michelle? About 77 years?

Who's your wife

moved to Mexico.

He's my uncle and he's my father in law at the same time. Well, masha Allah, so she's your first cousin. Correct? The vertical. You love her? And she loves you.

That's what that's what we'd love to hear about Michelle. No, I just want to ask that as a side question, because we have in many of our culture, especially in the Western culture, that somehow you shouldn't marry your cousin, you're not allowed to marry your cousin.

And I get a bit concerned about that, because you don't have to marry your cousin. But we also don't want people to think that okay, your cousin means that she's like your sister, or he's like your brother, you're not Muslims to each other, isn't that correct? Was you're allowed to marry each other? That's 100% Correct. I think a lot of the times people have, you know, the wrong perspective of who is family and who is not family. And as you mentioned, sometimes people sit together and you know, they carry on not realizing that you know, what, my mom not my Muslim and I'm actually allowed to marry my cousin and what Allah made halal, nobody can say It's haram. So sometimes you find the

youngsters, they want to get married in the family, but it's you know, the people around the frown on it. And it's wrong the messengers Allah so Allah is daughter, Fatima holiday Alana was married to first cousin Very good point. Very good point earlier the Alonso married Fatima going first cousins That's correct. The reason I asked that question as well is since you're in the business field and you actually come from a family who knows about business and interest yet you Masha Allah we find you knowledgeable in the deal and practicing families yet the money didn't take you away from the fear of Allah you earned your wealth in Hala and you spend it in Hallett yet Masha Allah, Allah has

blessed you with wealth as well because some people they think if you become religious, it means wealth is out the window you can't enjoy life but yet you're still enjoying life 100 In that so being in that field and you marrying

your wife Your cousin

is the shield also had that same mindset as you about wealth and business does she run her own thing, for example is

how do you to deal with wealth and talk about that aspect? I'll tell you what's interesting when we got married him that I was still a student in the University, obviously learning and she started learning also an Arabic Language Institute for Women they in Medina, and she learned through Sharia course, that was in Medina at the same time. I was really inspired by, you know, knowledge with pertaining to skills, learning new skills, how to speak, how to interact with others, et cetera. And she also got onto this train, so to put it And Alhamdulillah she's as driven as me and she's she

She buys and sells She always tells me you're the one who wants to give everything away for free and I'm the one who makes the profit. Well, Michelle is just she's got more of a business mind. She's competitive handler and every time we speak and you know, sometimes you don't agree on certain things. And we always end up saying, You know what we both makes we have hotheads, masha Allah, I've benefited a lot from her. She's really driven hamdulillah and she's been my pillar of support, as well as my my whole family. I mean, my parents, my uncle's, my aunts, my relatives that Hamdulillah we have a good unit. So there are a lot in the Muslim community, we often don't know how to

involve our women or where they stand when it comes to business and money.

And we often think in our culture, Michael to live in his culture, money in business is a man's job. But here we have an inspiration, your wife is heavily involved in business, Michelle has got a good business mindset. And you said that she runs her own business.

And your new love it and you work together? And shall Monets that's very inspirational.

So how does she run her business? And how does she fit within the Islamic boundaries of this whole thing to inspire our sisters? So interestingly enough, she's very, you know, she, she wants to inspire the sisters. So she started, you know, buying and selling a few things, mainly for the sisters. Then she started with her teaching and inshallah she wants to open an academy and all that for the sisters. So that hamdulillah she's involved in that way. I don't get involved in what's hers in terms of money, or, you know, her decision, sometimes she asked me, you know, what do you think of this, this, this give my opinion, and then whether she takes it or not, and similarly with me, is

certain things I want to do. And, you know, I tell Okay, what do you think of this? What do you think of that and hear her opinion, but at the end of the day, you know, habla we respect one another. Now, that's beautiful. I mean, it's as simple as that, you know, even if you don't take each other's opinions, you still hear each other out. That's, that's what brings the love between you and closeness isn't my shell, so much to learn from that.

One last question your wife, she runs a podcast you said, mashallah, she literally before she interviews, sisters, inspirational sisters, especially in the field, and you know, I was very strict in my opinions. And, you know, after seeing how the world has has gone, and we find that youngsters online, they look up to people who, at times, not the best have role models, and I thought, you know, tomorrow, you have a child who's going to be on social media, who will lead them in the correct way. So after telling my wife not to be that view, I thought about it, and I said, You know what, it's better for somebody who's studied who knows who's learned, but who can inspire the

youngsters. You know what go for it, and we trust one another Hamdulillah we will never had any issues in that regard. So I actually encouraged her to go through that and she knows her boundaries. I know my boundaries and so if sisters who were who listened to us want to follow and learn from your wife, where can they go

Shala we put up we have Paige is right now she's into Quran and Arabic teaching for sisters specifically. So inshallah maybe I can give you the handle and we can put it up and shall

be very happy with that we want our sisters to find also inspirations for them and how much better than this Masha Allah? Leave your chef up. Now starting off with a question before as well. I said, if you were to go back to your very younger self, you're now 30 years old. Mashallah, if you were to get back to your very, very younger self, what advice would you give yourself about? Life and money, whatever? What advice would you give?

You know, my mother always told me, she said that any good skill you can learn in life, learn it, practice upon it. So I think if I could go back, any good skill I could pick up, I would take it another thing is to benefit from everybody. Everybody's got benefit in them. You know, sometimes when you live in your own little world, you don't realize that there's a lot of goodness in the world also traveling, meeting new people interacting with new people. If I could do that, from 10 years ago, I think I would have learned a lot more. Another thing is that,

you know, when you're young, you hear your elders giving you advice. You hear your elders telling you do this, don't do this, you should do this. And sometimes you don't realize as a youngster that they speaking from experience, they've lived life. You haven't yet lived life. So not say I was a child who didn't listen, but now if I could hear a lot more people's experiences and does benefit from them, when you talk about people show had none. Do you mean just Muslims and or just shakes or Muslims and non Muslims? What do you advise us what's from your ex?

Experience of hell should we expand our knowledge from my experience personally? I think Muslims non Muslims, whoever's got something to benefit you take it from them. I mean, when it comes to infrastructure when it comes to business when it comes to so many things, I know it's it sounds all good when you say okay, only listen to a Muslim. Most of the things we use today are made by non Muslims. So we either have to say let us live in in a cave literally always say that. We learn from them, how did they do it? And we try and you know, make a better version of it. And there's a lot of things when it comes to that. I mean, I always speak about confidence, you know, storytelling when

speaking is an art on its own till today.

I think most of the good storytellers non Muslims but you have to learn from them. Allah tells you in the Quran that the importance of story this is not an episodic us analysis be telling you Um hum. Salah Salem story of use of Elisa Nam is the best story What did it show you, it shows you, it shows you the power of story. And that means that we as do our political skill we should learn.

So in expanding your knowledge, check on them at any mentors or role models, who you listen to? Well, there's a lot of them. And I think every single person, every individual is unique and they are attracted to different people. Everybody has their style. So instead of naming a few others say that wherever you finding benefit from and shadow you, everybody is grounded in the deen to a certain level you're able to differentiate between right and wrong, what goes against your principles that you benefit. You know this examples from the time of Mr. Salah. As well as in the Quran, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah when speaking about

the people, even your enemies, he says that Allah had remained a commissioner and Coleman, Allah Allah Azza de Loup de Loup, it says, you know, your hatred for group of people, he's telling people with the enemies, it shouldn't cause you to be unjust, rather, me just so what about people who you can benefit from people who you can learn from the messenger sallallahu alayhi salam at his time. They were not Muslims were also they, they were those who were not hostile. They were those who respected him. So people respect you, and you respect them, you give them that respect. And when they have something of benefit, I personally believe you take that benefit and away you disagree.

You disagree with them, disagree with them and hamdulillah now, I find it very interesting that you wrote about cryptocurrency, what was your paper about specifically when it came to cryptocurrency so my paper was specifically about not to get too technical proof of stake coins. So what I realized stake coins are proof of stake. It's a concept, okay? If you look at the paper, you'll find that at the beginning, I had to go through you know, the origins of cryptocurrency, the whole idea is something called the Byzantine generals problem, how a blockchain works, etc. Because what I realized is a lot of the seniors in the field in terms of our professors

they didn't speak good English, a lot of the content is in English. And you know, they need that in Arabic, they say the soul war of the masala to understand and just see the muscle from bird's eye view. So I started with that, and then I went more specifically into the coins. So cut the long story short, obviously, as you know, in every fifth he matter, there's a difference of opinion. And there's people on the side of the equation people on that side of the equation, but what inspired me more was, you know, when Allah says in the Quran, Aloma committed to Allah come, Dina, come today I've completed your deen for you almost. And we always go around teaching people that Islam is a

complete religion, Islam is the true religion. And then when it comes to contemporary Messiah, unfortunately, we shy away from them. If Islam is really a contemporary, if Islam is really a complete religion, they should be

a ruling. And they should be some sort of guidance from Allah and His messenger for every single thing you have in your life. And that should include cryptocurrency or tomorrow when you've got dropshipping, whatever it may be. So when I thought about that, I said that handle life, reading a lot about coins and, you know, going through the papers and the algorithms and that type of thing, so why not seem like a practical type of show? And that's why I like seeing that chicks who live with the times and understand what's going on in the community.

And bringing Islam to really how it should be and that is in our life and answering the questions and new questions that we have the new issues that we have. Sometimes we look at the past such as the schools of thought and the

Macedo any issues that they took care of. But many of them were up, some of them were appropriate for their time and looking at this, but now we've got some new things that we need to deal with like cryptocurrency and the sharks have scratched their heads to figure out what's the best way around it. Please Shut up, man. So I have people asking me about investments, how have you found investments? So to be honest, when it comes to investments, the best thing you can invest in is yourself. Your Deen your knowledge, your understanding, you know, being a better person. And obviously, there's financial investments. And there's a lot across the scope across the board. More

specifically, when it comes to crypto, as I mentioned, is scholars who have different opinions. If you follow the scholar who believes it's not correct, or it's impermissible. That's his he had you followed him and you respected for that. And if somebody follows a scholar who believes that it is permissible, and most countries have now made it legal, so somebody believes it's permissible to follow the scholar, it's okay. And was just three things I'd like to mention. Firstly, do your own research. Don't be that guy who's just heard about something on Twitter or discord or slack and this thing's going up and down. Because they you would be making a mistake and you're doing a disservice

to yourself, you might fall under the category of those who are just throwing money at things they don't know about. So do your own research. Number two, most specifically the coins. The last time I checked, there were more than 5000 different coins, every coin is trying to solve a different problem. Some you know what they call pump and dump where people just put the price up and then they dump it.

So you've got to see that is this coin involved in that which is impermissible because there's those coins which are specifically to deal in drugs or to deal in things which are invisible, Sharon, or which gives you interest they made for interest only. So you've got to see that the coin itself is permissible. You've got to do your due diligence. And I think you go from there, if you also encrypt every coin represents a line of products, every coin represents a different thing, a different thought, a different idea. There's white papers for these coins, obviously, inside the whole crypto community, there's those who only believe in Bitcoin. And then there's those who believe in other

coins without taking a stance before anybody gets upset. But I think you do your own due diligence. And that's the same when it comes to investing. Let's say somebody wants to buy a stock, for example, this, if you're following the opinion that the stocks, there's nothing wrong in them, there's no harm involved in not involved in Haram activity, you've still got to do your own research, you've got to understand and realize that what's going up or everything that goes up will come down at this point in life, you know, sometimes people just try to run behind the trend and throw all their money behind it. And then everything crashes, and we lose everything. But at the

same point, we should be open minded in the sense that something's new. Just because it's new, we shouldn't just shut it. And the third point for which I've now come to a realization is

you make money in a few different ways. If you could categorize them into two, you'd say those investments that you put money in, and then you wait. So obviously Allah is in charge, but you're at the mercy of the markets after the market goes up, you make money, if the market goes down, you lose money. So that's one type of investment. And a lot of people who invest in stocks and crypto they in that category, I would say used to be in that category. Ma'am, I'm on the second category, we even allow you able to influence the outcome with your effort. And that's in business, you go out and you do the work. You're not, you're not

held hostage to the market literally. So you go out you make effort, you buy goods, you sell goods, or you have a service that you've got to offer. So I'm more into that.

So Sheridan, and you gave us three advices. Three points about it. Can you repeat them quickly? In summary, I think number one is the person should invest in themselves. Number two, is if you're going into any of these coins, etc. Make sure that what you're dealing in is Hala. Okay. And number three is only put money that you willing to lose so you able to lose a lot of people throw everything in. And you know, sometimes a lot of the times it turns out badly. Do you have like a formula that people can use in relation to their money? Obviously, we should avoid getting debts. We all understand that as much as you can. So when you said money that you can afford to lose, do you

have a formula for that a percentage of your money or anything like that or anything that you personally not? I think everybody's unique. Everybody's different. Everybody's situation is different. And sometimes, you know, I'll give you something that's interesting story.

There was a time where I want to go into a venture. I put money in, and then I lost an amount. Then my dad tells me says, you know, don't worry about if you carry on thinking about that you die depressed, he said, that was what you paid to go to school I in the real world, or in the, you know, the practical world to predict. The practical world is gone now. So you go again, and you try again. So yeah, well, so your father, the father invested in you by allowing you to make mistakes, it's amazing. He actually encourages us, he says, you know, any good project you've got, you know, go out and do it. It encourages us to travel, for business. And for obviously, for the dean, he says,

anytime an opportunity for the team comes up, you must go for business. You know, for those who import from other countries, etc. It's a process, you've got to go, you've got to learn it if you're involved in the field. So yeah, he had none. Think encouraged you? Well, look, I'm just thinking how a lot of this people moving forward and being productive.

It starts with family as well, it starts with mentoring from father, and you mentioned your grandfather and relationship with them, and the parents willing to allow their children to make mistakes and to be gentle with them. I mean, this reminds me of one of my mentors.

A doctor in Sharia and finance, in the past, gave His Son

$20,000. And he said, use them for the business and he lost it all. And then the sun was upset and said, Dad, I'm really sorry, I lost the role and I didn't make the mistakes. That's fine son, I was investing in your learning. So obviously, you had much wealth at 100 he led that relationship. And then I hear about other fathers for example, said look at this person investing in this or investing in in that they're just wasting their money they should go in and work a nine to five job and keep their money and save it.

And so the relationship started to break down between father and son. I see that Masha Allah and your family that you have this good relationship and you're willing to make mistakes and hamdulillah Yeah, I think it's a balance also, I mean, every person is different. So for some people, the nine to five, that's what they like, you know, they don't want the stress of after work and looking at the computer and worrying about this and that. If that's what you what you like, Hello America. Some people love studying some people love going through the academic system, if that's what you like, and you want to do Heidelberg, there's those people who want to go out you know, make mistakes and

that type of thing, however Baraka but as you said, if you've got that support structure around you, yeah, it helps a lot that cohesion with the family network is not just about money, it's about your entire life, your self esteem, isn't it? Having a strong family, network and understanding hamdulillah Mashallah. Shadman? What advice can you give to young people who are aspiring to go into business and investment entrepreneurship, obviously, as we mentioned, point number one is ask ALLAH SubhanA wa taala. He's the one who gives Now, point number two is surround yourself with the people who you've already achieved that result. So you've got business people, for example, in your

community, ask them benefit from them, you've got business people online, etc. Benefit from their experiences. And point number three, which is the most important is you've got to carry on doing. So you've got to, you know, some people analyze and they have what's called analysis paralysis. They read all the books, they know all the theories, but when it comes to doing the actual thing,

this in this case is business. They don't do it. Look at Adorama on the outflow, the Allahu Anhu he, he comes from Makkah, with Nafi, zero and Sahabi of Allah Han who is paired with he says, I'll give you half of everything under a man without what does he say? He says that I don't need anything, just show me where the marketplace is show me where the business is carried out. He goes to the place where business is carried out obviously starts off small businessman and then he grows, grows, grows. So my advice would be start off, do something and be in that environment. And there's so many people you can benefit from I mean, sometimes it's but uncles in the masjid your own family, you

know, you ask them

What did you do? How did you start? And as long as you in that environment, that community and you carry on working towards a goal,

inshallah you you will get there. So number one, your relationship with Allah subhanaw taala. Number two, get a network or connect with people already in the business and ask them you'll get advice and number three, we said don't give up, keep going learn you're going to make errors and that's how you learn Inshallah, and you have to be willing to always improve. You know, sometimes people think that okay, so I did this and they see a little bit of success and they say, Okay, now I know how to do it. And that's in any field. You've got

To be willing to learn from those who are better than you, those who are on your level your peers and attend you, your students, those who may be younger than you. You know, sometimes

people start off, even in business, and you find the seniors in the business and the youngster comes along, and he's doing it a different way. And they all benefit from it, they all benefit and this also in knowledge, etc. But I would say, do a lot more than you think. Or, you know, talk about the doing and Allah subhanaw taala will open your ways and also not to panic. Everybody loses him the game, Allah says, These are the days where tickle a Yamanaka will have a menace these days alternate between the people sometimes a youngster who started in the business,

he doesn't make any profit, he loses in the first venture, second venture, third venture. There's some very famous business people who've lost so many times, but you only lose when you stay on the ground and you stay on the floor knocked out, you have to carry on lifting yourself up. And you don't know that

these ventures that you went into what you may perceive as a material loss, Allah subhanaw taala is actually preparing you teaching you a new skill, because something further down the line is coming your way. So it's a bit of courage and bravery. 100%. I'm the type that I can't take too many risks. So then I see that your advice is very simple. And that I can see that people who are successful.

They had to fail a lot. And they were brave, and then sit down talking, I failed, I gotta keep going, keep going, trying again and again. And again. In fact, if you substitute that word fail, and to say not a learn, learned, I learned instead of saying I fell silent, so hey, I've got just got a couple of questions. Young people and older people, they asked me a lot of questions about investments. So the first question is, they're confused if their investment goes into an area where some Haram is involved in network, the majority of the work is halal.

How can they maneuver through that? What advice can you give? Well, we if we go back to a lot of the scholars who have written on this topic, you find that they have varying opinions, okay, and you've got those who are very strict and they took the path of water to say even one drop of haram, we don't want to come close to it in a respectable opinion. And you find a lot of people do follow that. And you find a second opinion, we they've allowed it under certain conditions. So you find they'll tell you and again, the bulk differ as to how much haram Can you have in let's say, a stock, for example, is it 1/3 or full of our full focus here, anything less than that, if they if it's

involved in that investment, they will tell you as long as the company that they save the Nisha out of the company, what they doing is not haram. So let's say you've got a construction company, for example, or you've got a manufacturing company, what they doing may not necessarily be haram however, when it comes to the loans, and when it comes to the interest that they're giving and and and let's say here that haram you can take out that potion as long as it's not majority of

the value of that stock. And that's an opinion that most people do follow in the world, just because it's practical, they'll take it out and do what did they take it out and give it to a good cause. I mean, it's, it's like, if you've got money in the bank, and they're giving you interest on that money, let's say five 10%, take that money out and put it in any good cause that you know, will be of benefit because at the end of the day, it's well.

And it's not befitting for a believer to take that wealth and destroy the wealth or if you leave it, there's other people who are going to use it. So you might as well put it in a good cause. And as I mentioned, there's different opinions. In fact, whoever you follow, you know, we respect that opinion. But if somebody has a different opinion, you've got to respect them. Also Correct. hamdulillah a hadith comes to mind, and what we would call a clear amendment and then movement of life if you couldn't hire, that a strong believer is more beneficial than a weak believer and both of them have goodness in them when it comes to a strong believer shahada and how do you understand

that how, what makes you a strong believer other than the Eman side we all understand connecting with Allah's pantile or getting your solid right fearing Allah subhanho wa taala. But is there a worldly aspect attached to that strength? I definitely believe so. I mean, okay, if you ponder over some of the verses in the Quran,

just look at the verses of ye. Allah tells you here Alayhis Salam Yeah, yeah, here who will Kitab you who will take the book of Allah with strength, addressing our messengers low seldom He says, Yeah, you have a Zulu bellick Mountain Zilla. Oh messenger. convey what Allah revealed to you

Tell him, Musa alayhis salam, it tells him the whole the hub before, take this revelation we've given you a strength, that strength requires you to have confidence to know that you've got something good to give. So I personally believe that men on COVID You hear what have Allah minute one minute but atheists as you mentioned the Eman aspect but a believer has got to be confident you've got something good to, to benefit to give others you know, go for it. And at the end of the day the people who are around you know, sometimes people they feel that know somebody might judge me, I might get a hate comment online are my friends might laugh at me and I might make a fool out

of myself. These are all at times thoughts from the devil because he doesn't want you to benefit the broader public.

That's why the young Sahaba or the Levant on the messages, a lot of Salem empower them once they were still young, the learner Omar Abdullah and first we all know the story of Elijah inositol Allah he will fit her model Allahu Anhu with the senior Sahaba he asked the answer about the meaning and he knew the meaning. But more important is the youngster amongst the elders was speaking and giving his opinion.

You know what's interesting after fit Maccha conquest of Makkah, the messenger sallallahu alayhi salam put a Sahabi in charge, he was a terrible no Oct, or the Allah minus MC he was only 18 years old, 19 years old. So he empowered the youngsters. So the strength in mineral Kawi are higher when we talk about the strength Yes, the man but a Muslim should be confident, should be proud of the identity, and should be proud of the religion to complete religion. As we mentioned, it's not only about salons, as important as they are. It's a whole lifestyle. Even when it comes to health and well being I mean, the ioco Lucia Ebola 234, eat and drink and you know, don't exceed the limits.

Even if the Rahim Allah tells you that that's half of medicine, if not the whole of medicine, what do they preach today? You are what you eat, you know, people tell you that I'm on this diet or that diet, if you follow whichever diet but you weren't extravagant and you were eating that which was by YouTube pure that Allah told you, you fall into the category Islam taught you that a long time ago. So how about Allah Han who amongst themselves, they used to ride horses, these two race with one another, it was from people. So you encourage. So we're talking about encouraging young Muslims to build also worldly skills such as self defense, riding horses, knowing how to invest in business and

knowing how to manage your wealth and investing in knowledge and several other schools. All of this is fine, isn't it? And it's good, as long as it's permissible. So I think that's, that's good. Learn it. Anything that because at the end of the day, everybody's different. Everybody likes different things. Everybody's attracted to different things. Your job as somebody who's a Muslim, is you adapt to Allah, you call in to Allah subhanho wa taala. Some is what they tongues in a masjid setting. Others it's through the books, others, it's with the people you interact with, oh, is how many times you hear a person say that? This person is very disciplined. It could be in the gym, it could be

elsewhere. Why? Because they're Muslim, they pray five times a day. I mean, I heard one of the most famous YouTubers A while back, he was speaking about one of the Muslim Brothers in his crew, and he says just the commitment and the discipline that he has something else. Vinny says I think there's something they disclose, but I think 200 million subscribers, the youngsters will know exactly what I'm talking about. But my point is, look at how he's calling to Allah subhanaw taala. All these actions people are saying he's committed, he's what he's doing is inspiring. That's how a believer is, is like rain, everybody benefits from a shallow, beautiful like rain. Sometimes when he says

like a bee as well, lands on the flower takes from its benefit gets from gives good from it, but doesn't ruin the flower or contaminate it. So it's a beautiful example you gave. And last, last advice or question. We live in a world of materialism. And everybody wants to be rich. Everybody wants to drive a nice car. Everybody wants to enjoy themselves. Sometimes I tell my students to inspire them to continue their education. I say look from Islamic perspective. This is what Allah will look at and everything but sometimes some of them don't see that as much of a drive. They say, Oh, I can get that from other places. So then I say well, don't you want to drive a nice car went

down to and have your own income and not need anybody else and have a nice wife where you can or a husband where you can enjoy your life with.

So ego sometimes come into the picture wealth can take you away from knowing yourself and making you arrogant. Can you give us little pointers or advice to young people about how they should look at wealth and materialism even especially if they

Start making a lot of wealth. You know you might, you mentioned a very important point and it's repeated throughout the Quran in nama unwelcome Allah to comfort. Allah tells you that your wealth, your children, your material, it's all a fitna and it's a trial but a believer looks at wealth as a means of doing good. So you find those who look at wealth as the end goal, to find somebody wants to make 1,000,010 million. Okay, after that, what's next after that? What's next you find they live a very empty life, but somebody who looks as well at wealth as a means of doing good, empowering others, helping the community, they themselves being respected in community, you find that person

with an ally with the correct intention, his pursuit for wealth is rewarded. And he lives a better lifestyle and bathe in Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala is happy with him. So interestingly, at the end of Surah, two Muslim Allah Allah Allah, Allah says, What are Harun Albery Bona fill out the habit of wonderment about pa Malayalees a group who are unable to perform PMO live for so long, etc. Because they've gone out looking for Hala and wealth Creekmore festival go to the Rahim Allah, he speaks about how rewarding it is for Muslim business person to go out to other lands and bring products which will benefit the Muslim community Allah praise those people. So as a Muslim, don't

look at it from a very narrow and shallow perspective. We you know what, my money is honest, I can drive a good car. And you know, everybody will look at me as a top guy in society. Now you use that wealth to do good and to attain Jana, as the Sahaba of the Allahu Han Han did as many of the great old Lama who came before they use their wealth to serve the dean and in a way which pleases Allah subhanho wa taala. That is the difference. And is it okay for me to drive a nice car or

as long as that nice car is not in your heart, so you're not affected with it not 100% I mean,

what's also important to mention, somebody might say that, Oh, you guys, you've become to material in the Darwin, etc. That's not that wouldn't be a correct observation because you find Sahaba or the Allahu Anhu amongst themselves. They were those who were wealthy, but they chose zoot they chose it it was a choice. And when they chose that suit, they will not a burden on everybody else. So if and some people want to choose it, but they don't want to work, everybody else must feed me clothe me. Look out for my kids and fees. That's wrong. They didn't do that round. Yeah. And those who may have dressed well or road you know, the best enjoyed the blessings a Lago, Allah subhanho wa Taala did

most definitely give them and we could say that they used it in a way which they weren't attached to it. It wasn't, you know, it was the it was available Halon Alhamdulillah. That's the key diverticula shahada when he was a pleasure sitting with your lion Azeem and in these just few days have grown to love you. And there's not many people that a person grows to love from heart to heart.

Because, for me, a scholar in a share is somebody who is able to live what they say and live what they believe. So to speak the truth. The higher limb is somebody who lives that truth, not just talks, but also lives at mesh on them. We see a man in a person, NASA will come and I asked her last Friday to make you what we see on the outside. Hello, we can see it to make you and I and everyone else who feels a lot to be on that path. Finally, you were here with your uncle, Mufti, mink, And subhanAllah you look like him a lot. You got the beautiful soft skin.

Love Allahu Akbar mashallah you interact with Mufti Menk a lot the, because you probably travel a lot together don't you know?

Now he travels a lot, but every time he comes home, he always you know, MSSM home and says, Shall we go sit with him we when we were young, before the internet, that's where we spend the most time with him. And I remember he always had that concern for the data from a long time ago, he would be the guy who would drive five hours to give a lecture and drive five hours back just there was no internet, no cameras, nothing. And I think you know, being with him obviously from let's say behind the scenes you learn a lot about you know, how how he is and everybody has their weaknesses, you know, myself, everybody else, but at the same time you benefit from the good points they have. And

Al Hamdulillah we lucky to have you share. First time meeting you have like Allah Allah the life of 20 Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala love you and love all of us and you know

others all in the highest part. So Jana, it was a pleasure having met you at the Bucha level, benefiting from you. You know sometimes

just by observing people you benefit from them with without any speech without any questions just observe and you look and you say martial law this person has, who do in them the way they carry out themselves the way they interact with others or Xochimilco, hey, we always say May Allah make us better than what people assume malice to forgive us from the things that don't know about us and not to hold us accountable. The praises we received was after humble ourselves, but I just feel a bit greedy to ask you these questions. Yeah, because we all love, you know, Mufti mankind, we love you. And we always ask a lot of these questions. So

growing up with muckety muck, just the last thing. So you said he was involved in your lives that it seems like you were all sort of kids looking up to him, and he was always around.

So it looks like he's played a big role in your lives. Yeah, a very big role in my life, our family's lives, the whole the whole family and the whole community mashallah right now, a lot of people in the world and you know, when, as a young person growing up, when when he came onto the scene and massage, etc, that was integral Be precise. You found that he came with something different. He came with something new, he was somebody who the youth related to and he spoke in their language on the topics where you find with others who, at the time that we may have listened to you always found there was a disconnect. You could never ever relate these people on this

pedestal and we are here and he found what he did what lol Hamleys that barrier pedestal was no longer they also him not only in front of others, but behind the scenes more. So he helped so many people that we don't know about. And for us, I remember a specific time in Makkah, and also the student at University. And you find we were in one of the hotels it took us to eat. Everybody wants to meet move they make. And we sat in one of the corners they he's telling us guys eat I brought a lot of food coming in He's making us the show Wilmers giving us to eat everyone wants to meet him and he's the serving your family. And there's so many other examples. And you know, if I'd like to

add a point is, sometimes people see

others or what we could term as acceptance amongst the people. And, obviously acceptance in the eyes of Allah subhanho wa taala. I'm not saying fame or more followers means acceptance, but I'm saying that a lot of times people will look up to a certain individual. And from what I've seen anyway, from him, as well as others, they've got

a lot of good that they do behind the scenes that others don't know about. Others have no idea about people think it's only how much you memorized or your way of speaking or your way of telling the story. True. That's not true. Acceptance is from Allah subhanho wa Taala he elevates whomsoever He wishes and sometimes your acceptance may not be that 1 million and 10 million people follow it may be one person who loves nobody who follows absolutely zero, but

it's from Allah subhanho wa Taala How did you do what you're supposed to do. And if that's the case,

we're always afraid of your shareholder he that on a day of judgment, we find all our work go like dust in the wind because our intentions weren't right or we got to attach to the social media views in the cloud and how many people love us apparently can really get to our heads now you know, in the love we're not very careful. Always have to monitor ourselves as if on the edge of a cliff subpanel until our death and a shutdown is always there at us. Many people don't understand how hard it is to be in the limelight. How you and you know, everyone's looking at you very, very intricately and very, very carefully that judging every little thing about you and at the end of the day, you got to

remember that it is a loss panda that you have to please subhanho wa Taala I can see that you're going on the same mindset in line as you know when we talked about being open minded and understanding the people that you're talking to some Allah Subhana Allah bless your journey or shahada man and men last Penta Isla reward you place it in school of your good deeds and keep you guided in the right path and avoid the Haram and innovations and everything that Allah soprano is displeased with May Allah bless you when you fall Yeah, certainly a pleasure to welcome a low heat on Well * Allah. I mean we can see an example of

you know, meeting you and having sat with you. And Allah subhanaw taala gave us all in the highest part of Jana altogether. Robben Island just like

her that will solve

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