Three Practical Steps to Maximize Your Legacy

Three Practical Steps to Maximize Your Legacy

Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Opening Praise and Greetings

Reflecting on Our Legacy

What are people gonna say about you and about me the day that the news reaches that we have passed away? Death is something we all experience but we will not be here when it is experienced on our behalf. We see and we hear others pass away all the time and we know our own reactions but very few of us think about the reactions when we will pass away. Almost on a daily basis somebody, a friend, an acquaintance, a relative passes on and the closer they were to us obviously the more painful it is, that's human nature.

And the first things that happen in our own minds are the memories of the times we spent with those actual people. A friend, I was just with him two weeks ago. An acquaintance, oh my God he seemed just coming to work every second or whatever. A relative obviously closer. And we always think of the impact they had on our lives and the legacy that they leave behind after they're gone. Now, the true mu'min will be pre-planning his own or her own legacy before people are talking about it.

The Prayer of Ibrahim (AS) for a Good Legacy

And this is in fact an Islamic commandment and reality. The Prophet Ibrahim (AS) made dua to Allah:

And one of the interpretations of what lisana sidqin means is Oh Allah, leave my memory to be a good one in the later generations. The legacy I leave behind, I want people to think of me in the best of manners.

Of the Quranic duas:

Make us role models for the believers. So the Prophet Ibrahim (AS) is making dua to Allah that, Oh Allah, make my legacy a positive one. And subhanAllah, no human being is more universally admired across all faiths than the Prophet Ibrahim (AS). We call them the Abrahamic faiths even.

Allah Records Our Legacy

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the Quran that He is going to record:

We will record all that they will send forward and the legacy they will leave behind. Whatever you've sent forward, your good deeds, your sadaqah jariyah, your hasanat, and what you have left behind, athar, literally means your remnants. Literally.

We will record that which they send ahead and that which they have left behind, which is their legacy. When they've left this dunya, what remains that people will remember them by, that's called athar. What are the remnants that the people have of them? And Allah is saying, we shall record those remnants.

The Importance of Maximizing Our Impact

What will my remnants be and what will your remnants be? What will my legacy be and what will your legacy be? We want to have the best of legacies. And not because we want fame for the sake of fame. No. But because we want to maximize our good deeds. And the way you maximize your good deeds is you expand your influence. And the way you expand your influence, you have the maximum impact in a positive manner on the most number of people, both quality and quantity, if possible. And if not possible, then quality obviously over quantity.

The Legacy of Imam Al-Bukhari

Just look at the legacies of our great ulama that came before us. Sometimes I just wonder, people like, where do we begin? Imam Al-Bukhari. You cannot give an Islamic lecture without giving some good deeds to Imam Al-Bukhari. You cannot give a khutbah, a dars, a halaqa. You cannot give a khatira, chances are. Except that you're gonna be quoting something that Imam Al-Bukhari spent time compiling, registering, recording. And when you quote that hadith and say, Bukhari narrates, a little bit of good deed is being added to Imam Al-Bukhari. He only lived 60 odd years, that's it. But the legacy that he left behind is truly phenomenal. And that's just again, so many examples can be given.

So in today's short lecture that I have, I wanna remind myself and all of you about three practical steps that we need to undertake in order to maximize our legacy. And insha'Allah ta'ala, those three also explain why certain people Allah has blessed over others, even when they're alive, it's pretty clear that they're gonna leave a large legacy when they leave.

First Step: Ikhlas (Sincerity)

The first of these three, and without a doubt the most important, is ikhlas or sincerity. If you want to leave a legacy, then your niyyah has to be not for the people, but for the creator of the people. Your niyyah has to be to please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And that's why some people get a little bit confused at the Quranic du'a that I just quoted:

Allah, make us an imam for the believers. And people say, wait, hold on a sec, I thought we're not supposed to seek fame. You're right, you're not supposed to seek fame. The Quran is not saying, make me famous. The Quran is saying, make me a true leader for the righteous people. Let the righteous people look at me as a role model, as an exemplary person. For the muttaqeen, I wanna be the imam. The imam here doesn't mean the guy who leads you in salah. No, the imam here means the role model imam. O Allah, make me a role model for the people of taqwa. Yes, we want to have that level. And that's why we ask Allah for that level. We don't ask the people. We ask Allah to give us that level of ikhlas, of true sincerity.

The Example of Yusuf (AS)

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions when He talks about Yusuf (AS) and how he goes from the well to the jail to become the minister in Egypt. The raising of the ranks. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Qur'an:

Yusuf was of our servants who had ikhlas. In explaining how he rose up in ranks, in explaining how he went from one daraja to another to another, why did he end up where he ended up? He was of our servants who had sincerity.

The Difference Between Islam, Iman, and Ihsan

And that's why the level of ihsan which is the highest level of our religion, it only deals with sincerity. As Hasan al-Basri said, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiallahu anhu did not excel over you simply in the quantity of his raka'at. And then the number of days he fasted, pause here, full stop here, put a footnote, he's talking to the tabi'un, he's not talking to me and you. Abu Bakr excelled over us, yes, in the quantity of salawat, yes, in the quantity of zakat, yes, in the quantity of siyam. But Hasan al-Basri is talking to the tabi'un.

And the tabi'un, look, again a bit of a tangent here, but how many raka'at can you pray in a day? How often can you fast? Monday and Thursday, and then the three days of the month, and then Ramadan, and then there's just a set number. Now, most of us, I know myself, we haven't even reached that level yet, obviously. And that is the difference between Islam and iman, Muslim and mu'min. Generally speaking, it's the increase of rituals. But the real difference between the mu'min and the muhsin is not in the quantity of rituals. After a while, you will max out from the sunnah, otherwise you're becoming excessive. After a while, you will max out, or else you will be like the three people who think that the Prophet is not doing enough, I can do more than him. After a while, you'll max out.

The Prophet's Daily Prayer Routine

Our Prophet , quick quiz question. How many raka'at did he pray on an average daily basis when he wasn't traveling? Quick quiz. How many raka'at would he pray? All. 24 hours. 50 raka'at. 50 raka'at a day. Why? Because when he went up to Isra' al-Mi'raj, Allah said, 50. Then he went back down, up, back down, up, and then finally he said, for your ummah, 5, and I'll write 50 for them. But for him, when the 50 command was given, that was his regular lifestyle. Calculate it out. The wajibat, the sunnah mu'akkadah, and the tahajjud, exact 50. That was his daily routine. 50 raka'at. That would take up 3, 4, 5 hours of the day. How much would he on average fast? On average it was Monday, Thursday, the three days of the month, and then the extra, the 10th of Muharram and whatnot. That's the average sunnah of the Prophet .Once in a while he'd do more than that.

The Heart's Role in Excellence

So, Islam to iman, it's that quantity. But iman to ihsan, it is the quality. Iman to ihsan, it is a change in your ikhlas. Going back to what Hasan al-Basri said, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq did not go ahead of you simply by the kathira, the extra salah and siyam. But rather it was something that was in his heart. It was something that was in his heart that was then manifested in his amal. His heart had something that you guys don't have. And that is the level of ikhlas, iman, and tawakkul.

The Legacy of Imam Malik

Imam Malik ibn Anas, the famous scholar of Medina, he was the first person ever in the history of Islam to compile a book of hadith meant for the other people. He called it al-muwatta. Now you know, the first person who ever does something, immediately there's copycats. Immediately everybody else follows. That's the nature of human society. And it's always the first person who goes down, as the one who does it, then a lot of people follow on. Sometimes those who follow on do a better job than the first person. Actually usually that is what happens in terms of technology and writing and what not. Generally the first person who writes a book is not necessarily the best one. Then people build on that.

So Imam Malik wrote al-muwatta. In his own lifetime, people began writing other books called the muwatta and this and that. One of his students came and said, and the student assumed through a cursory reading that some of those other muwattas seem to be better than Imam Malik'smuwatta. So he said, Oh Imam Malik, what are you gonna do now? There are so many muwatta'at, so many muwattas out there. What's gonna happen to your muwatta? Imam Malik said:

What was done for the sake of Allah, that muwatta will remain. And if I now say muwatta, every Muslim on the planet immediately jumps to muwattaImam Malik. Nobody's even heard of the muwatta'at

written after Imam Malik. This is what ikhlas does, sincerity. You don't do it for the sake of the people. You don't do it for fame. You don't do it for anything other than the pleasure of Allah.

The Power of Small Sincere Deeds

That's why the smallest of deeds can become magnificent if done for the sake of Allah. Of the first Quranic revelations:

We're giving you this food, and they give their food to the poor, and don't even thank us. Don't even thank us. We don't want your thanks. We don't want any money back from you. We are feeding you for the sake of Allah.

It is reported that one of the sahaba would send food to the poor, and he would tell his servant, listen to whatever they say and any dua they make for me afterwards. Then the servant would come and say, oh, he made dua for you, he said this, this, this, this. Then he would repeat exactly the same dua and give it back to him basically, and then hope that Allah and Allah alone will reward him for the food. I don't even want your jaza or your shukur for giving this food. Don't want anything back from you. I feed you for the sake of Allah.

The Woman Who Fed the Dog

And that's why again we have in the tradition sometimes the smallest of deeds become the most magnificent of deeds. In the famous story of the lady of ill repute who fed that dog water (Bukhari and Muslim), nobody saw what she did. Not a single human witnessed it, but Allah witnessed it. And Allah knows how many centuries later our Prophet... Because you know this story happened in the past, before our Prophet ﷺ. It's not a Muslim story per se, meaning of the ummah of the Prophet It's a pre- Islamic story. Nobody even saw this incident of this lady feeding that dog water. I hope you all know this story. Nobody heard, nobody saw this lady do it. But Allah Azza wa Jal saw. And the fact that this story has been preserved on the tongue of the most blessed human being who ever walked the face of this earth. This hadith is reported in Bukhari and Muslim, mutafaq alayh. It is one of the most popular hadith heard. So her action was recorded by Allah and manifested and broadcast to all of mankind and all of the ummah to benefit from. Allah Azza wa Jal knew.

The Companions of Tabuk

In the battle of Tabuk, our Prophet mentioned that, you know in the battle of Tabuk, a lot of sahaba were not able to go financially, they couldn't afford it. And the books of seerah mentioned that the Prophet said, when they were coming back from Tabuk, one of the most difficult expeditions in the history of the seerah. Read and study that. One of the most difficult expeditions. When they were coming

back, the Prophet ﷺ said, there are a group of you sitting in Medina. Allah knows who they are. You don't know their names. Allah knows who they are. Every single step that you took, they got your ajr along with you, even though they're not with you. Because they couldn't make it. They wanted to make it. They had the niyyah to make it. They had the ikhlas to make it. Their names are not known in the books of seerah. We don't even know their names. But Allah (عز وجل) knows their names. That's what you call ikhlas.

You do it and you do it for the sake of Allah. You don't care whether the limelight is on you or not. It's not even relevant to you how many people are there or not. Your deeds and your ikhlas shall be the same wherever you are. That's the number one criterion of success in leaving a legacy.

Second Step: Humility and Humbleness

Number two, you want to leave a legacy. You have to erase the ego and pride and kibr and embrace humility, humbleness. True leaders are humble people. True leaders that are genuinely respected by the ummah. And in fact, it's not even just the ummah. These are human characteristics. Human. Doesn't even matter. Obviously we're talking about within the paradigm of Islam. But the fact of the matter is these three criterion, they actually transcend Islam. You want to see a successful leader outside of the faith community, you will find the three things I'm gonna say in them as well.

The Example of Nelson Mandela

And I'll give you one example. It's fresh in my mind because I just came from South Africa two weeks ago. And I visited Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island. Truly a mesmerizing experience. If you follow me on Facebook, I have a video of it which I was on the island for three hours. It's really just... I don't even know how to explain the emotions that were overcoming me at the time to see that cell. No exaggeration, it's basically smaller than this area over here. For 20 years, he's confined to that cell. His restroom is a bucket in the corner that he has to empty himself. The bed is basically some, you know, old carpet on the floor. Just 20 years living in that. And in his own way, obviously, he had ikhlas to his cause. And it was a good cause. He had humility. You cannot be a respected leader without genuinely being that humble person to hear the stories that we heard.

And many of you don't know this by the way, you don't have time to go into there, but on that island, Robben Island, there is actually a musalla and the grave of one of the first Muslim prisoners. Robben Island was known for housing Muslim prisoners who fought jihad against the Dutch. These were prisoners from Indonesia, from Yemen, from other places. And as soon as you enter the island, and from the cell of Nelson Mandela you can see, and Nelson Mandela actually writes about this in his autobiography, the walk of something, the long walk to freedom. He actually writes about this, that the Muslims who fought against the Dutch, they actually gave him that hope and encouragement. That we are walking on the right path. Human beings cannot live as slaves. Human beings cannot live as second, third, fourth class citizens.

The Universal Nature of Humility

Anyway, the point being, these three characteristics I said transcend any faith community. And the second characteristic is humility, humbleness, not a sense of ego, not a sense of deserving something without having given back to the community.

The Hadith on Humility

There's a beautiful hadith in Sunan Nisa'i. Our Prophet ﷺ was standing on the minbar. And you know he was obviously the best and the most eloquent speaker. And he used tactics that would bring the attention of the people. So I ask you to look at me, I'm gonna do exactly what he did. Our Prophet ﷺ was giving the khutbah, and he raised his left hand. And he said:

(Sunan An-Nasa'i)

Then he took the right hand:

He literally used both of his hands to get the point across. Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah will raise his ranks up.

True Leadership Through Service

You wanna leave a legacy? You wanna be a leader? A real leader, not the leader that's in the limelight, the leader that the people think is a leader. A leader of the imam of the muttaqeen. Then you're gonna have to eliminate the arrogance, the self-entitlement, the glory and fame, the desire to want to be served rather than to serve. And that's why every great leader is a servant of his people. And not somebody who pretends or acts as if he's some pompous arrogant person.

Even if... and here's the irony, I don't wanna mention any names, but there are politicians in this world. They surround themselves with those yes-men. They surround themselves with people whose izzah is purchased with money. So they delude themselves into thinking that we are respected. And they might even get away with that delusion in their lifetimes because they're paying, their izzah is purchased. It's not real izzah. And this is of the ironies. True glory is given to those who do not seek it. One of the most ironic realities of human existence and explicitly mentioned in the hadith. True glory is given to those who don't seek it.

The Divine Process of Love

You don't wanna become famous. You don't want the people to know you. You humble yourself for the sake of Allah. And guess what? The people will love you. Not that you want, that's the point. You don't want it. You don't desire it. But it is a blessing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives.

And that's why in that famous hadith, of hadith Qudsi and Sahih Bukhari, that the Prophet ﷺ told us that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves someone, He announces to the angels, I love so and so. By name, He announces to the angels, I love so and so. So you love him, O Jibreel. So immediately Jibreel loves the person. Then Jibreel goes down to the heavens, throughout the heavens. And Jibreel announces that angels know that Allah has said, He loves so and so. So you love him as well. So all of the angels love this person. Then our Prophet ﷺ said, what a beautiful conclusion. He said, when the inhabitants of the heavens love the person, then those walking on this earth will also love him. When those up there love that person, then those down here will also love him.

And that is why, that genuine love that comes, respect that comes, that is a gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Humility and ikhlas bring that about. You and I do not control those whom we look up to. Think about it. Their reputations in our hearts is something that is a mystery. Why do we respect certain people in our community and not others? Even though their resumes might be the same. Their degrees might be the same. They might have studied in the same institutions. They might have attempted to do the same things. And yet for reasons we cannot explain and understand, certain people are beloved and others aren't. (هذا من فضل ربي). This is Allah's blessing that He gives to certain people. Where does it come from? It comes from that love that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has. It is Allah's blessings.

The Definition of Ihsan

So the second ingredient for success, for a legacy, for leaving:

is humility for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Humbleness. Don't expect that people will serve you. You need to serve them. And that is why the definition of ihsan, as you all know ihsan is the highest level. And ihsan is a very very rare trait that exists.

One of the earliest scholars of the Arabic language, Al-Raghib al-Asfahani, he wrote a book called مفردات القرآن الكريم. And he died, don't quote me, around 440-450 Hijrah. So a thousand years ago. One of the earliest dictionaries of the Quran, and it is a beautiful book. And in it, he says, the definition of ihsan is that you give more than what is required for you to give. And you are content with receiving less than what you should be receiving. Think about that.

The definition of ihsan, you give more than what... In any situation, there's a protocol. If somebody does something for you, you give something back to them. How you conduct yourself, there's a certain protocol, a minimal that is accepted, below the minimal which is not accepted, and above the minimal, right? Ihsan, you give more than what the situation calls for. And you are content to receive less than your haq, your due. This is how he defines ihsan, which if you think about it, is essentially humility. That is what humility is.

Third Step: Sabr (Patience)

So that is the second characteristic of the three that I'm gonna mention. Obviously this is an exhaustive talk, time is limited. The third characteristic is sabr, patience. Patience. You will not leave a legacy in a millisecond. You will not leave a legacy because you were religious and zealous for one day. That's not leaving a legacy. A faad will never leave a legacy. A temporary enthusiasm is not legacy building material. You wanna leave a legacy, you have to get down in the trenches and dig and dig and dig and dig. And then continue to dig. And when you're tired of digging, take a rest and then dig again. Consistency over a long period of time that requires patience in all that you do.

Allah's Promise to the Patient

Allah says in the Quran:

We made from amongst them role models, leaders. We made from amongst them those imams. So when the Quran uses imam, it doesn't mean the prayer leader as I said. When the Quran uses imam, Allah Azzawajal is talking about a role model figure, a true leader, a legacy builder. And we made from amongst them imams. Why? What was their characteristic? لما صبروا - When they demonstrated their sabr. You will never become an imam. And by imam again, we mean that legacy builder, that leader, without that patience, systematic, continuous, perseverance for a higher cause, the pleasure of Allah.

The Reward for Patience

And of course the blessings of sabr are too many to mention. Of them the famous verse in the Quran that the angels are gonna be entering upon them:

Beautiful that Allah talks about the people in the gardens of heaven. And in fact in this particular verse Allah says that, we shall combine them with their fathers, and their sons, and their spouses, and their families. All of them will be together. Families will be together in Jannah if they were righteous. May Allah Azawajal reunite us, and reunite us with our families, and be with our loved ones in Jannah. So families will be together, Allah says in the Quran. You will be with those that have gone on, and those beneath you in genealogy, your children and your forefathers will be together. And the angels will be coming in from every door. And they will say to you:

So sabr is a necessary ingredient to bring about that success, that legacy.

Honoring the Pioneers: A Practical Example

And I wanna now bring it and make it personal to one of the causes why we are here today, and that is to talk about and to honor Imam Siraj, and others of that generation, some of whom have gone on, and some of whom still remain. And if you look at these three characteristics, and you see those pioneers of American Islam, who laid the foundations of these very masajid, there's hardly a state and a city, except that Imam Siraj and others have traveled and fundraised for the masajid and the schools of those cities.

The Problem of Celebrity Shaykh Culture

You look at these three things, number one, ikhlas. Let me say this, we have a problem right now, big problem. We seek Allah's refuge, sometimes I feel myself and others of our generation are part of the problem, may Allah forgive us. And that problem, let me just call it, it's called celebrity shaykh culture.

Let me just be honest with you, when I was growing up, I mean I grew up in the 80s, I was born in the 70s, when I was growing up, there was no national Islamic figure that we looked up to. I'm just being brutally honest. Early 80s, no one. That we really and genuinely, the way that some of us look up to others of our generation, there were some people that we knew, mashallah, doing stuff, stuff here and there, but there was no one of that caliber. There was no one who was mesmerizing the entire nation. There was no one who made a career out of preaching and teaching.

The Early Pioneers

We had dua'at who were engineers and they loved Islam, so they give da'wah. Who were professors of economics and they loved Islam, so they travel to teach and preach. We didn't have full-time preachers. We didn't. I mean, that's just a fact. Look at those early people. Who were they? People like Ahmed Sakr, may Allah bless him and bless his soul. People like Jamal Badawi. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless him for the remainder of his life. People like Siraj Wa'aj.

The Purity of Their Intention

Let me just be brutally honest here. I have a sense of jealousy for that generation, positive jealousy. You're allowed to be jealous for positive reason, you should know. Because, whatever you wanna say about them, you can never doubt their ikhlas. Whatever you say about them, you can never double guess why they did what they did. Never. There was no fame in Islam. You didn't get rich being a preacher. There was no limelight, no stage where 10,000 people were watching you. This is a fitna of our generation. May Allah forgive us.

Stories from the Early Days

Imam Jamal Badawi, I spoke with him a while back and asked him to tell us some stories from the early 60s about his travels and going around in America and whatnot. And honestly, my jaw just dropped listening to some of the stuff that he would tell us. He said that at times, when he was a grad student,

HEADING

they would take the Greyhound bus into a city, into a place, and sometimes they wouldn't even know any particular Muslim over there. So they'd open up the yellow pages and look up the name Muhammad or the name Khan, and some other name, Khan is also very common at that stage, okay. And they would just random, cold call, say, are there any other Muslims, is there some place we can go and have a gathering or whatnot.

The MSA conventions, there was no isna back in the 60s, the only thing was the MSA. The MSA conventions would take place in graduate student houses. The halaqas would take place in the living room of the same place where they'd sleep that night, 10, 15, 20 people crammed together. The notion, the concept of grandiose banquet halls of tens of thousands of people, I mean he told me, if we got 20 people, we would think this is amazing, unbelievable. There was no money to be made, they'd have to pay their own money to go. There was no fame, what fame is there? There is no internet, no YouTube, nothing. They did what they did for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Barakah of That Generation

And the brutal fact of the matter, let me say this bluntly, perhaps after them, people came that have a longer CV, that have more degrees from Islamic universities, that have memorized more mutoon, but the barakah of that stage, it doesn't exist anymore. The sheer blessings of those people and what they accomplished. We seek Allah's refuge. It's not there. May Allah forgive us, I speak for myself. I don't take the greyhound. When I land at the airport, somebody picks me up in a fancy car. I go to a hotel to stay the night. And yes, this is a career for me, it is one of my sources of income. And I do get paid for many times that I go. Today I'm not getting paid by the way, don't worry. But sometimes, I'll be honest here, usually I get paid, so yes, I'm guilty. It is my career.

Now by the way, we need full-time imams and that. I mean, that's the problem here. We need people, you know, to have a full-time career in this regard. We cannot have part-time. But see, when you have the fame, the limelight, the money, the fat honorarium checks, don't be surprised when you're gonna find a type of corruption.

The Purity of Mecca vs. Medina

There were no munafiqun in Mecca. Why did they start in Medina? There were no munafiqun in Mecca. Why? Not a single sahabi of Mecca was even... I mean, there's just no question, there was nothing to be gained by being a Muslim in Mecca. You were a Muslim because you wanted to be a Muslim.

In the 70s, in the 80s, in much of the 90s, there was no fame or glory or money. And I caught that era. I know this well, and I'm not, astaghfirullah, bragging or boasting. I'm just telling you how it was. I applied to Medina in 1994. And even in 1994, there was no career to be made out of Islam. I literally thought I would come back and continue my... I have a degree in chemical engineering. Continue, I worked at Dow Chemical. I thought that I'll go to Medina for 4 years, 5 years, and then come back and continue a career.

I had no clue, no understanding that a full-time career can be made. And that has pros and cons. Let's be honest here. Has major pros and cons.

When we look at Imam Siraj, when we look at that generation, there is no nifaq in that generation, inshaAllah. They caught that time frame. They did it for the sake of Allah.

The Humility of the Early Generation

Humility, my time is up, I'm just gonna finish up in 3 minutes, inshaAllah. Humility. Look at that humility. Sleeping in the dorms with 20 other students. Traveling greyhound, city to city. Coming back Sunday night to go to work 40-50 hours a week of a job that has nothing to do with Islam. And that is their career. I mean, again, Jamal Badawi, what is his career? He's a professor. Those other people, Ahmad Saker, they have secular careers. They have careers, they have to live like all of us are living, 40-50 hours a week. And on top of that, they did what they did.

I once asked my father, my father is one of the early pioneers as well, 1963, he came to Houston. And I asked him about those days and inviting speakers and preachers and what not. And he hosted Ahmad Saker in Houston in their annual convention of 1971, I think it was he told me. They had an annual convention in Texas, a grand total, a massive number of 50 people came for the Texas MSA. Think about that. 50 people and they were ecstatic. And they invited Ahmad Saker to come. And he told me that we all slept in the apartment complexes we lived in, all of the people that came. And Ahmad Saker was hosted in the apartment complex I was born in. I wasn't born in 1971, I'm not that old. But the house that my parents lived in at that time, they lived over there.

And then my dad told me point blank, because he knows I have a career in this. My dad told me point blank, in those days, we didn't give honorariums. We didn't give honorariums. The concept of paying somebody to come wasn't there. Perhaps that is why those people accomplished what leaders cannot accomplish. May Allah forgive us for that. And I said, you didn't even used to give hotel rooms for the speakers? And he thought for a while, he said, the first hotel room we ever got for a speaker was 1973 or 1974. We invited Sheikh Qardawi to come from overseas, so we thought we should at least get some money for him. But no honorarium. International speaker. And all he got was a measly like Motel 6 or something, which was a big deal for them. But see, humility, ikhlas, and sabr. That is how you achieve that legacy.

The Message for Everyone

My time is up, I'll conclude very simply. I'm talking about big names, preachers, speakers. Please, don't lose yourself in that large picture. Allah Azza wa Jal does not care about how many followers you have on Facebook, about how many people know your name in this world. That's the whole point of ikhlas, and humility, and sabr. It's irrelevant your fame in this dunya. If you manage to be sincere to Allah and

consistent in your good deeds, serve the people, that's all that is required. And your daraja in jannah can be much higher than many of the famous people out there. Allah doesn't care about that fame.

The Story of the Woman Who Cleaned the Masjid

And I'll conclude with that hadith of the lady who used to clean and sweep the masjid. Those are the three characteristics in her. We don't even know her name. Do you know that? We do not even know her name. The lady who used to clean the masjid of the Prophet, and the Prophet ﷺ noticed the masjid was dirty and whatnot. Where's that lady? Oh, she passed away, Ya Rasulullah. She passed away? Why didn't you tell me? Ya Rasulullah, she died at night. We didn't want to disturb you. Who knows who she is? We just buried her at night.

Tell me where her grave is. So he walked from the masjid to Baqi' the only time in his entire life that we know of. The only incident that we know of, where he walked from the masjid to Baqi' because he hadn't prayed janazah over that person. And she becomes the only person in Islamic history that we hear of, that the Prophet left the masjid to the graveyard to visit her grave and to make special du'a for her because he didn't pray janazah over her.

What was she doing? We don't even know her name. But ikhlas, humility, and patience and sabr. She used to clean the masjid for the sake of Allah. Her name is not known to me or you, but it is known to Him. And that's what matters. The Prophet ﷺ himself walks and makes special du'a. And he says, these quboor, they are dark for their people until du'a is made and Allah gives light to them. So he made special du'a for her, so her grave is now a grave of light. That's special du'a. She cleaned the masjid in the dark, nobody saw her, because of that Allah gave her that light in the grave.

Concluding Du'a

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to purify our hearts of any nifaq, any hypocrisy. May Allah cleanse our hearts of any evil, bless us with sincerity. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us humble, truly wanting to benefit others without expecting benefit back from them. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us sabr and iman and ikhlas and tawakkul and yaqeen.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow our Prophet ﷺ to be our one and only role model. May he bless us to walk in his footsteps. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us the shafa'ah of the Habib al-Mustafa ﷺ. May he allow us to drink from his hawd on judgment day. May he allow us to enter jannah with him and be a companion with him. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us to say, la ilaha illallah muhammadur rasulallah as the final breath when we leave this earth. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cause us to live as Muslims, to die as mu'mins and to be resurrected with the Prophets and the companions and what a noble companionship they are.