Fatima Barkatulla – Alimiyyah graduation speech

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah dear brothers and sisters, salaam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato. This is your sister Fatima Baraka tala here. And in this episode of the
podcast, I'm just going to be putting up for you a recording of my graduation speech. So
Alhamdulillah, just the last last weekend,
		

			I finally graduated from a Salaam Institute. And I received my Shahada, I lemmya
		

			Alhamdulillah. It's been a long time coming in the sense that, you know, when I was 16 years old, I
went to Egypt as a student, my father helped me to get there. And my intention from the age was to
graduate to complete my studies, you know, in Islamic Studies.
		

			And, of course, seeking knowledge is a lifelong journey. And it's something that you've got to be in
for the long haul, right.
		

			But obviously, you know, as a student, you look for milestones along the way. So and Hamdulillah,
this was a very important milestone, for me.
		

			I actually graduated from two Institute's this year with two Alameda degrees.
		

			And so it's kind of a strange feeling, I guess. Because, you know, for all those years, I've been
working towards Reaching this milestone. But at the same time, I wasn't only looking at the
qualification, for me was really about authentically seeking the knowledge, seeking out great
scholars, experts in their fields, who I could study with, and making sure that I studied Islam in a
structured way. But also making sure that I covered the subjects and topics that are essential for a
Sharia student to cover. Right. So that sometimes meant that I had to seek out courses and shoe
you're from different Institute's
		

			in order to do that.
		

			But anyway, hamdulillah I'm going to leave you with my graduation speech. It was such a lovely
event.
		

			shove a crumb nadwi was there my teacher for the last years, a few years, you know, Mashallah. And
chef Alia was there as well, who, for those of you from the UK, especially, you'll know that he was
		

			he's a key key person, you know, when it came to
		

			dow in the UK, especially in the 90s. And although he often downplays his role, I think a lot of us
growing up in the 90s were, were really positively in many ways affected by the dour that Shaka
bwalya gave, so it was kind of
		

			it was it was kind of strange, but it's kind of nice, you know, to have shockable Alia there as
well.
		

			And also, some other you know, senior students have shared chrome with their some other teachers and
my family, so it was a really special day. I was especially grateful to Allah that my parents got to
witness my graduation because,
		

			you know, I know that my my dad, he really worked hard to help me to be able to go to Egypt. He
really did his best. And it wasn't, it wasn't all plain sailing, you know.
		

			But he had the intention of helping me to
		

			become a scholar and 100 a lot. I felt like
		

			the graduation he saw the fruit of you know, his efforts materialize in front of him so
Alhamdulillah for that.
		

			Without further ado,
		

			my graduation speech.
		

			Next, I welcome Fatima Baraka to lockleaze
		

			Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah dear brothers and sisters, teachers,
scholars, elders, assalamu, alaikum, warahmatullahi, wabarakatuh
		

			25 years ago, I was having a conversation with my father of the barkatullah, about what I would do
in the future, what did I want to be? And I told my father that I wanted to be a doctor. I think
it's because I watched some movie. And it sounded like a really cool and meaningful thing to do.
		

			And he said to me, all those years ago, what about becoming a scholar,
		

			he said, there are many doctors of the physical body in the world, we need more doctors of the
spiritual person.
		

			And from then onwards, it was my dream, to pursue Islamic Studies. So today's milestone means means
a lot to me. And hamdulillah I praise Allah subhanaw taala
		

			for taking me on a very long journey, which started when I was 16. And I went to study Arabic in
Egypt, and has culminated in today, every step of the way, I felt a last presence. And I want to
thank my parents,
		

			especially my mother, who introduced me to how to connect with Allah Subhana Allah. She's the one
who really instilled in us a passion for a respect for scholars. And my father, who connected me
with the Quran, and showed me how the Quran spoke to me years ago when we were on omura, when he
used to stay up late at night, telling us stories from Surah Yusuf. And since then I fell in love
with the Quran. I want to thank my husband, my husband is also my teacher. He's also my mentor. He's
supported me, since we've been married 20 years nearly Mashallah,
		

			in so many ways, I can't list the number of ways that he supported me. And he's also infused
everything with a great sense of humor to help me and I know, the brothers who know him will testify
to that.
		

			And he's helped keep our family happy and light.
		

			I would like to thank my children who've had to be patient, my four children use of yahia, Soloman,
and rakia, who've had to be really patient on Sundays when I attend the classes. And I used to
arrange different things for them. I think they were quite happy that I've left actually, to be
fair.
		

			Well, I'm back now has finished Mashallah.
		

			I want to thank my siblings, two of whom are here today. I see my siblings as role models, that
achievements never cease to inspire me. Thank you for your support, and your desires. And I must
mention my little nieces who are here as well, Lorna and Sophia, thank you for coming, and being
excited about your auntie graduating.
		

			There are so many other people like to think I've had many teachers over the years. I've actually
studied in other Institute's as well. I can't mention all of them. But I wonder if any teachers from
other Institute's are here today who have taught me I'd like to thank you as well. And I turned to a
Salaam Institute
		

			Mashallah one of the dreams I had, was to study abroad, and I began studying in Egypt, but I
couldn't stay studying as her. Instead, I had to come back to the UK and handle I got married and I
had to pursue my studies here. But looking back, I can see that it was really a blessing. It was a
blessing that Allah did not answer my daughter of me going abroad and being able to live abroad and
study. Because if I had gone abroad, I would not have benefited from the likes of chef Akram. I
would not have sat in classes with my own father and the scholars that we benefit from right here in
Britain. Mashallah. So, I feel as though a lot of panatela
		

			created a situation such that I did not have to go abroad, and yet, I got a world class Islamic
education right here. So I want to thank chef Akram. I want to thank all of our teachers and all the
people
		

			Behind the scenes at a salon, thank you for all your hard work.
		

			And I will leave you with five words, five things, and this is for my fellow students at different
stages of their studies. I'll leave you with five things that I've learned along the way.
		

			five key things. The first thing I want to say to my fellow students is the fact that you are
sitting here today the fact that you are on the path of knowledge. See that as a sign that Allah
subhanaw taala already wants Good for you. Because a loss of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
told us that when Allah wishes good for a person,
		

			He bestows upon them understanding of the deen and you are upon that path. So know that Allah wants
something good for you.
		

			My five words are perseverance, courage, self reflection, openness, and critical thinking. That's
just think of that as one word, critical thinking, perseverance.
		

			along this path, there are going to be times when you feel like giving up when you feel like the
studies are too much. When life happens, you know things happen in life. Obstacles come your way,
and you feel like stopping, or you feel like you won't be able to carry on. But know that the people
who achieve things are not necessarily the most talented people. They're not the ones who are born
with a silver spoon in their mouth. They are the ones who push through those difficult times
		

			and persevere. So my fellow students, persevere, have subber and persevere through those difficult
times. Courage.
		

			As a student, you need to have courage, the courage to question so many times I've been in a class,
and I'm the only one who's asking lots and lots of questions. And after the class, the students will
say to me, thank you for asking the questions. You know, it seems as though many students are very
shy, to ask questions. And it's true. When you ask a question. It's a risk. You feel like you know,
people might think you're stupid, or it might be a stupid question or whatever. But you see, the
only way to gain knowledge, the only way to make sure you understood something, is to ask those
questions.
		

			So have the courage to speak up and ask questions, and have the courage to speak the truth.
		

			In our society, there are many ideologies, many vying for each other vying for our attention, and
our obedience and our allegiance.
		

			As people who are seeking knowledge, it becomes our duty to go out there and have the courage to
present Islam to others, to show people another way to show people another way of thinking. So we
need to have courage as people who are seeking knowledge, self reflection,
		

			bringing oneself to account is key. As a student, you know, knowledge brings with it a lot of honor.
People respect you, people look up to you. But we can never forget that Allah subhanaw taala, he
knows our reality. He knows our faults, he knows our shortcomings. And so we as students must keep
making an inventory of, you know, our strengths and our weaknesses, we must be very conscious about
about that, and how to improve them. As one of my former teachers used to say, if your knowledge is
above average, you're above that should be above average. And we need to hold ourselves as students
of knowledge to a higher standard
		

			self reflection, openness, openness, the will the willingness to consider other ways of thinking,
other points of view.
		

			That's one of the wonderful things about a Salaam Institute, that we're not just focusing on one
particular group, or one particular way of thinking one particular school of thought, there is a
respect for the plurality of schools of thought, in Islam. And so as a student, if you come to class
thinking you already know everything, thinking making up your mind about everything, and then
critiquing the teacher, or the class with that mindset. You'll never, you'll never learn. You'll
never be able to benefit fully from what the teacher has to offer, and you might miss something that
you actually need.
		

			Did
		

			a new way of thinking.
		

			So you must be open minded and willing to study with numerous teachers. And again, one of the great
things that chef Cochran said to us was, he's never forced us to follow his opinion.
		

			And that's quite refreshing. Because I've been to classes where you're kind of dictated to, then
you've got this is this is it, it's my way or the highway. But with Checkout crumb, if you argue or
critique something that he said, he always says, Okay, do your research. You say, you know, do your
own research. This is my conclusion. And I found that very, very refreshing.
		

			And hopefully I'm going to take that with me when I become a teacher.
		

			Critical thinking,
		

			or as chef Akram always says in class, think properly.
		

			I know everyone's laughing because we've heard it so many times, right? Think properly, check out
chrome says, and I think that's another