EPIC Masjid, Imam Nadeem Bashir, Our Youth + Our Future Leaders.

Preparing Our Youth for Leadership

If there is something that we learn from their history, if something we learn from their life, the one thing that we learn — and there is a common similarity in all their lives — is that for them to come to this stage, to come to this position, they were prepared from a long time ago. For them to be leaders, for them to have this position of authority, whether they're in the House of Representatives, Senate, or Congress, or they're the president themselves, or they're governors of different states, they do not just wake up one day and feel like, you know what, I am enthusiastic, and I want to go and become a governor, I want to become a president, or I want to become this, or I want to become that. Their training has started a long time ago.

When I see all these people who are being elected, the one thing that I feel — what's happening in our community that we can see from them, and not only from their lives, but even from the life of Rasulullah ﷺ — the one thing that we really learn is that if we want to develop leaders for our own community, for the upcoming generations, for Muslim leaders, brothers and sisters, boys and girls, their development to become leaders starts today. When we study all these people, what we learn is that their development was put in the back of their mind; they were being taught, they were being educated, and they were being prepared for this day. A person like Barack Obama — do you think that one day he just woke up and he just wanted to become the president? No, this started at a young age.

Education, family, where they went to study — all of that played a big role in what they are today. So if we want our kids to become leaders for tomorrow, they are not a light switch. It does not just start that you wake up one day and say, you know what, they should become a leader, and bam, it happens. It's not like you flick a light switch and it turns on. Rather, their tarbiyah and leading them to that position where they will become leaders one day — it starts now. This is what we should take from all of these, from this presidential election at least.

And that is so important for us. When we look at our Muslim communities, there is hardly any work, any effort, made or done where we are developing leaders for tomorrow. We let our kids go out the way they want to be, and there is no thought that goes into our Muslim community about who will lead our Muslim communities in the future.

Leadership Begins at Home

Leadership starts now. Leadership starts with the parents. Leadership starts with those in the community. If you want to inspire your own children, you have to set them — you have to bring the qualities of leadership within your own selves first.

There is a kitab by the name of Risalat al-Mu'allim. In this book, the author writes that when a young child begins to learn — when he or she begins to learn from the very first day, when they open up their eyes for the very first time in their life — and then when they begin to observe things around them, their mind is completely empty, and they begin to grab onto everything they see.

Especially when a child becomes two years old. When any child becomes two years old, their mind has been so developed that everything they see, they grasp. Anything they hear, they grasp. This is psychology. This is how it works. This is a system that Allah has created. So instead of us telling our children what to do, if we were to live by example, this will have a bigger effect on them. Not sitting them down and saying, you do this, you do this, you do this. But if you want to bring the importance of salah into your child at a young age, the family members must perform the salah in front of their children.

I remember my own self. When my daughter was born, I made it very clear with my family members that salah will be performed when they are awake, in front of them, so that they can observe. Children see; they pick up. So that's why this person writes in his book that at the age of two, this child, whatever he sees or listens, they grasp. Then when they get to the age of five and six, they begin to imitate anyone around them. When they see someone doing something, they will imitate them. And as they grow, they begin to do this more and more.

There is a famous book — the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun. Ibn Khaldun was an author who wrote a book on Islamic history. In the introduction of his book, he writes that children are the most influenced by what they see.

My respected brothers and sisters, the reason I'm mentioning this is because if we are really sincere about making our children leaders for tomorrow, it will start with our own actions. It is not that we sit them down or send them to Islamic schools to be taught — it has to start from home. What they see, they will learn. What they hear, they will learn. And that is what their character will be molded as.

Learning Leadership from the Prophet ﷺ

That's why there are so many things that we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ. When we put ourselves in the position of being a leader and we're teaching leadership for our children, what needs to happen first is that as adults, we need to bring the qualities of leadership within our own selves first. And where do we learn leadership? We learn leadership from the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

Wallahi, you will find so many books today written on the subject of leadership. I read some books in the past. There was a book called The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. And as I was going through every single law of leadership, Wallahi, every single law of leadership was in line with the life of the Prophet ﷺ. There was no one who can demonstrate to us what it takes to be a leader better than the Prophet ﷺ. I read another book by a person by the name of Dave Ramsey — probably some of you have heard of him. He wrote a book called EntreLeadership. When you read his book, Wallahi, you see the life of the Prophet ﷺ in there. You see the life of the Sahaba, radiAllahu anhum, in there.

They were our pioneers. They were the ones who really taught us and demonstrated to us what is the Qur'an and what is the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And these non-Muslims today — they have taken the teachings from the Qur'an and Sunnah, they have implemented them, and today we see that they have reached such a position that most of us have not even reached. When these teachings are there with us and we have that, why are we not taking benefit from them?

So as I said earlier, if we really want to learn about leadership, we don't have to go far. We can simply look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ. Now I want to share with you today just a few things that we can learn about being a great leader — things that each one of us adults needs to bring within our own lives, and that we need to convey the same message over to our children also.

1. Engaging with the Community

The very first thing that we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ is that he always engaged himself with the community. He always engaged himself with the Sahaba. This is very, very important. Parents need to engage themselves with the children. And when children see that their parents are engaging themselves with them, eventually when they will become parents one day, they will engage themselves with their children, inshAllah.

For the most part, parents don't get so much involved with their kids. They don't get so engaged with their kids. When we learn from the Prophet ﷺ — I'm going to give you one example. At the time when the Battle of the Trench took place, the Prophet ﷺ consulted all the Sahaba: what should we do? What is going to be our strategy? What is going to be our tactics when it comes to this battle? Of course, different Sahaba gave different opinions. Salman al-Farisi said, "This is something that we used to do in Persia — we used to dig trenches around. So I think this is my opinion." The Prophet ﷺ loved the opinion. Everyone agreed to it. And they began to dig trenches around Medina.

And so what happened was that the Prophet ﷺ was a leader. What that means is that not only did he tell the Sahaba what to do, not only did he appoint them to dig a trench here or there — he got involved himself. When, as parents and adults, we tell our children to do something, the very first person who should be engaging is ourselves. Don't expect that we tell our children to do something, we don't get engaged, and then when they don't do it, we get upset with them, we get angry at them, and sometimes we may admonish them in a physical way also.

What we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ is that when you give a responsibility, the very first one who should be taking that step forward and fulfilling and completing that responsibility is the adult themselves. Show your children. Lead your children.

2. Facing Adversity with Perseverance

Something else that we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ, which we need to teach our children also, is that when our children today — youngsters or young children — and for the most part, a lot of adults as well — are staring at adversity, hardship, and difficulty, we give up very, very quickly. We are so weak. Wallahi, we are so weak.

But what we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ is that we need to teach our children — and we must do this ourselves — that life is all about adversities. Life is about hardships. Wallahi, there is not a single person over here who can say that in my life, I'm content about everything. Regardless of our financial status — I know there are a lot of people in our community, I was having this discussion with someone yesterday, here in my office — a lot of times we feel like, man, this person, he's wealthy, he has no problems. We feel like that person, he's in this position, he doesn't have any problems. And we say, I want to become like him. I wish I was in his position.

But Wallahi, you sit down — every person has something going on in their life that is bothering them. There is some challenge in their life. There is some adversity in their life. There's not a single person who can say that everything in my life is exactly the way I want it. No one can say that. And this is the way Allah has created the system. Because if every person was so completely content with their life, there will be no one who will be asking Allah. So He puts these kinds of circumstances around us so we are always connecting with Allah.

But what we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ, and what is the true quality of a leader, is that he never gives up his mission. He never gives up when facing adversity. When we look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ, his entire life is about adversity. Think about this: he is a young child born without a father. His mother passes away when he is six years old. Six years old. He has no mother, no father. His grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, passes away when the Prophet ﷺ is young. Then he goes into the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. And then in Makkah, once the Prophet ﷺ is given prophethood, adversity after adversity. His supporters, his followers, the Sahaba, they're being persecuted. Why? Because they said لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ. Did the Prophet ﷺ give up? He never gave up.

This is something that we need to teach our children also. This is something that as adults, we need to bring within ourselves — that there are going to be adversities. But our children, they need to be strong for the future. As we know, we live in a world where we see sometimes that things are leading in such a way that things could become difficult in the future. If our children are trained early on that you never give up — never give up. Today, when you go to school, you will see that people give you the example of Abraham Lincoln: look at this person, he has so much perseverance, he lost, he lost, he lost, but he never gave up. You know what I say? Forget about looking at his life — look at the life of the Prophet ﷺ. There is no one who has gone through as much as the Prophet ﷺ has. But he never gave up. This is something that we need to bring within our children also.

3. Selflessness and Caring for Others

Also, what we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ — what it takes to be a great leader — is to care about others and to put others before yourself. To become completely selfless. What we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ is that he was completely selfless. He always put his Sahaba before him.

The perfect example of this principle is what we learn from the life when the Prophet ﷺ was in Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ is going through adversity. The Sahaba are going through adversity. But when the Prophet ﷺ gave permission to the Muslims that you can go and migrate to Abyssinia — what did the Prophet ﷺ do? Did he go himself? No. He put the Sahaba before him. He put other people before him and looked after the interest of the people around him.

This is something of what it takes to be a great leader. A great leader never looks at his own self or her own self. They always look at the people who are around them. They will always put their children before themselves. They'll put other people before themselves. This is something we need to bring within our children — do not become selfish. Yes, of course, there are some areas where you come first and you have to take care of yourself first. But at the same time, what it takes to be a great leader is that you become selfless and you always care about others.

4. The Character of Forgiveness and Mercy

Something else that we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ — what it takes to be a great leader — is to have the character of the Rasulullah ﷺ: the character of forgive and forget, having mercy towards others. And the life of the Prophet ﷺ is full of stories like this.

There is the story of when a man came and tried to take the life of the Prophet ﷺ. The sword of the Prophet ﷺ was hanging. This person came, took that sword, and said, "Who will protect you today, O Muhammad?" He said, "Allah." What did the Prophet ﷺ do in return? He showed mercy to that person. And subhanAllah, something that we learn — which we can even teach to others — is that a lot of people say that Islam forces itself upon others. This story is an example that no, there is no compulsion in the deen. This person said, "O Prophet ﷺ, show me mercy." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Accept Islam." He did not accept Islam. What did the Prophet ﷺ do? He let him go. No compulsion in the deen.

And when the Prophet ﷺ returned back to Makkah — after conquering Makkah — he never went out with the attitude of revenge. In history, you will never find any city, any town, or any country conquering another place without a battle. This was the very first place where there was no battle, and yet the Prophet ﷺ was able to conquer it. When the people came to the Prophet ﷺ, what did he do? He forgave them.

This is the nature of a person who has the quality of leadership — their character is amazing. Their character is in line with the character of the Prophet ﷺ, and they have a habit of forgiving other people and showing mercy to other people.

Developing Leaders Within Our Community

There are so many things that I can share with you. But right now, because of time, I cannot go on and on. But what I'm trying to tell everyone here is: prepare your children for tomorrow. Teach your children what it takes to be a great leader. Demonstrate before them what it takes to be a great leader for the future. And when we look at all these people — all these people who were presidents, current presidents, in any position of authority — their upbringing for the position they are in today started when they were young children.

It really hurts me — it really, really hurts me — when I see that there is so much talent within our youngsters. Wallahi, there is so much talent within our youngsters. And what we learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ is that most of the famous companions of the Prophet ﷺ accepted Islam at a very young age — so many of them before they even hit the age of 20. Yet what did the Prophet ﷺ do? He demonstrated the true qualities of leadership. He taught them to be great leaders. And then these people were trained in such a way that when they grew up, they were put in positions of authority and they flourished. They succeeded in those positions of authority.

All the Sahaba — when you study their lives, most of them accepted Islam at a very young age. Yet, after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, they became the Khulafa' ar-Rashidun. They became governors in different countries. How did that happen? Did they just wake up one day and find themselves in those positions? No. They were young. The Prophet ﷺ trained them. They became leaders. There was a system in place.

In the same exact way, we have youngsters in our community. We have young ones in our families, in our community. If they are not trained from now, we will not have any leaders for tomorrow. So it is very, very important. Teach your children. And this is something I'm going to tell all the parents: please, teach your children about this also.

When you talk to youngsters today, they all have ambitions. They want to become something. Someone wants to become a doctor. Someone wants to become an engineer. Someone wants to become this or that. And I have no problem with running after your dreams, as long as they are lawful. However, this is something that as parents, we need to teach our children: regardless of what you want to become, always use that to give back to your community. If you want to become a doctor, alhamdulillah — support our children to become a doctor, but then tell them also that when you have achieved this skill and this art, when you become a qualified doctor, you should give back to your community also. If you want to become a psychologist, then do so, but then give back to your community. If you want to become an attorney, then do become an attorney, but then help out the Muslims within your community when the time and the need arises.

Alhamdulillah, I see in our community there is some effort. I see in Sunday school — I will say this very clearly — a lot of our young students who are coming and teaching Qur'an and getting involved in Sunday school. These are young ones. But guess what? They're not as many as I expect. There are so many hundreds of Muslim kids graduating, whether from IQA or VHA or any other school. Where are all those kids? I don't see those kids. And when I sit down and ask myself why these kids are not giving back to their community, you know what I come back to? They were not prepared, and they were not mentally prepared by their own parents. So that is why it is so, so important that we develop leaders within our own family.

The Importance of Da'wah

As mentioned last week — I'm sure some of you who were here remember — the topic of the khutbah last week was about da'wah, the importance of da'wah and reaching out to others. All of us know very, very well that in this time and day and age, the importance of da'wah is immense. We need to reach out to the community that we are living in. We need to influence the people who are living around us, because this is what the Prophet ﷺ did. When he was in Makkah, he influenced the people who were around him. When he moved to Medina, he influenced the people around him. This is who the Prophet ﷺ was. And if we truly say that we are the followers of the Prophet ﷺ, then we need to do the same thing. We need to have an influence on and affect the lives of people who are living around us.

Having said that, you all know that there are so many programs taking place within our community where people are trying to reach out to non-Muslims, trying to educate the average community about what Islam is all about — what are the misconceptions, what things they hear through media outlets that are true or not true — and we try to teach them what is the truth and what are the common similarities between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Alhamdulillah, there is a lot of effort taking place.

Of course, you all know that day after tomorrow, on Sunday, there is a big program — the Wings of Unity — coming up. And the week after, inshAllah, we have a program here at the Masjid ourselves. When we have a program as a community, we need to work together as a community to make this program a success. Alhamdulillah, we are encouraging everyone to start spreading the word. There are so many flyers outside also.

We come across and work with so many non-Muslims on a daily basis. So we are requesting everyone: whatever position you are in — if you are a doctor and you work in a clinic, take these postcards and hand them out to the non-Muslim people that you are working with, your colleagues, your co-workers, anyone you work with. Hand them this postcard, tell them that we have a program, inshAllah, at the Masjid. Do spread the word. If you are a youngster or a student studying at a university or a college, spread the word at your MSAs that we are having this program.

Overall, each one of us needs to take this very, very seriously — invite our neighbors, our co-workers, our colleagues, people who we work with, people who we study with, people who we come in contact with. Non-Muslims — we need to invite them. When we have open houses like this, our main target is not our own community. Our own community, alhamdulillah, they come and keep on learning. But our main focus and main target are the ones who need to educate themselves about Islam. So I'm humbly requesting everyone: please take this very, very seriously.

Do not put it upon one another. What happens is one person may think, you know what, if I don't do it, then who cares, it's not gonna make a big difference. But when this is a common thinking within everyone — that oh, this person will do it, or this person will do it — then nothing gets done. So each one of us needs to take the initiative on ourselves: I'm going to call the people who I work with, the non-Muslims that I know and deal with — inshAllah, I'm going to tell them about this program and inshAllah invite them to it.

Closing Du'a

May Allah give all of us the ability to act on what has been said and heard. And I also pray to Allah that may He make our youngsters and our young ones the leaders for tomorrow — for this country and for everywhere around the world, inshAllah.