Footprints in the Sand: Lessons from the Pious | Muftī Azeemuddin Ahmed | 03/09

Footprints in the Sand: Lessons from the Pious

By Muftī Azeemuddin Ahmed

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon the family of our Master Muhammad and blessings and peace be upon him.

Amma ba'd. We are discussing the section of zakat of the elders. This is the last story. And this is the story of Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani, rahmatullahi alayh.

The Story of Mawlana Qasim Nanautawi and the Nawab's Gift

The first years of my elders' lives were difficult. Sheikh Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani writes of the first few years of his life in Medina Munawwara in his autobiography, Naqsh-e-Hayat. Conversely, his last years were prosperous. As mentioned earlier, the Ameer of Kabul sent 5,000 rupees for Mawlana Sheikh Ahmed Gangohi, but he refused the gift and returned it.

It was also narrated in the biography of Hakeem-ul-Ummah Mawlana Talib, rahmatullahi alayh, that money orders would frequently return to their senders. It is narrated in the biography of Mawlana Qasim Nanautawi that once he was getting a haircut in Chattah Masjid, when Nawab Abdul Kareem, the Nawab of Meerut, came specially to visit him in Deoband. Mawlana had already seen him from afar.

When he came close, Sheikh affected aloofness and turned away as if he had never seen him. The Nawab folded his hands respectfully. A big wad of notes rolled up in a handkerchief in his hand. He remained standing for some time. Finally, Sheikh turned around and said, "Ah, Sheikh Sahib, hope you are well." Nawab Sahib greeted Mawlana with Salaam. He even kissed his feet and laid the rolled-up wad of notes at his feet. The Sheikh nudged it away with his foot. Then the Nawab held his palms together in deference to the Sheikh and pleaded with him to accept the gift. But Mawlana Qasim refused. The Nawab finally stuffed the notes in the Sheikh's shoes. When he stood up, Sheikh casually shook the shoes and the notes drifted to the ground. The Sheikh wore his shoes, chuckled, and said to Hafiz Anwarul Haq:

"Hafiz Ji, we earn money and so do the lovers of the dunya. The difference is that we renounce it and it falls to our feet. While the lovers of the dunya fall at the feet of dunya and it spurns them."

SubhanAllah. Saying this, he distributed the notes amongst those around him.

The Wisdom Behind Wealth in Old Age

Sheikh Zakaria Ahmadullah is saying that this is the habit — the system of Allah — with the mashayikh: that their early years were always difficult and challenging. But as they progressed towards the end of their lives, Allah brought ease for them. And this is actually a du'a of the Prophet ﷺ:

"O Allah, make the best portion of my life the last portion."

That's best if we think that abundance of wealth is good. Sometimes it's not good. But sometimes it's a big blessing that a person can actually give away in different causes. And a person can maybe stay focused on what he wants to do and not have to worry about the next meal. There are many blessings of having wealth. But the idea is, this du'a that I shared with you is general — O Allah, make the best portion of my life the last.

But there's something more specific. This du'a is found in Hizbul A'zam:

"O Allah, make the most amount of rizq destined for me in my old age."

This is the du'a of Rasulullah ﷺ. I think this du'a got accepted for them. There are so many ways to understand this. When a person is young, he has a lot of shahwa, a lot of lust, a lot of desires. As you grow older, majority of the time those desires start dwindling. If a person has abundance of wealth when they're young, it is very difficult to channel that in the right direction. And number two, you have a physically strong and able body to go the extra mile — to work hard, and also to do ibadah. As you grow older, the physical strength gets weaker. To be able to work 12, 14, 16 hours of hard labor and then to do ibadah together is hard for a lot of people. So now you're asking Allah: give me money when I don't have desire for it. And give me money when physically I'm not too strong, not able to spend many hours earning and also many hours in ibadah.

So this is possibly one of the hikmah. When you're old and now you're becoming wealthy, you're hopefully thinking that my death is near. I might go today, tomorrow, this year, next year. So now let me use this wealth to actually prepare for my akhirah, to have a beautiful landing into the luxurious akhirah. When you're young, you think you're never gonna die. You still have a long time to go. So let's enjoy now, and we'll think about the hereafter later. When you're older, you are focused on preparation for akhirah. So this is possibly one of the things — how this du'a got accepted for the elders. That they had very little to eat, and at the end they're receiving these massive amounts of gifts.

The Etiquette of Giving Gifts

So now Mawlana Qasim Nanautawi is sitting there getting a haircut. A Nawab — Abdul Kareem — a very wealthy man from that area, who is in charge of large lands and is ruling that area, he came specially to visit him. And he is intentionally acting as though he cannot see him. You know how you act when someone — you know he's gonna ask you for something? You look the other way? You enter from a different place, you exit from a different place, hoping you don't cross paths with someone who's gonna ask you for a loan, a donation, a hadiyah, a gift — or a beggar. Imagine, Mawlana Qasim Nanautawi here is ignoring — not a beggar. He knows this rich man has come here with gifts for him, and he doesn't want his gifts.

So he's looking the other way, getting his haircut, looking the other way, acting like... And the Nawab is sitting there quietly, just respectfully standing, hoping that maybe he will look at him — not for a penny, but for one glance of rahmah so he can present his gift. And eventually he turned around — "Oh, mashallah, Nawab Sahib, you're here." Look at the ikram with which he comes — he says salam, he bows down, because over there in the culture, people would bow down. So he bowed down, kissed his feet, and he laid the rolled-up wad of notes at his feet. He didn't throw it at him. He is saying: I am a faqeer, just accept this gift from me.

This is one of the etiquettes. When you give a gift, our mashayikh teach us: when you give a gift, don't ever give a gift like this — holding it from the top. Because this is how you give to a faqeer. You shouldn't even give to a faqeer like this. Because:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1427; Sahih Muslim, Book 12, Hadith 94)

"The upper hand is better than the lower hand." The giving hand is better than the taking hand. You don't want anyone who you're giving a gift to feel that you are giving something to him as though he is begging. Instead, you put your hands underneath the gift — even if it's an envelope. You put it in your palm and you present it. So the person who is taking it should never feel that he has the lower hand. He should feel that alhamdulillah, I'm receiving a gift with honor and respect.

So look here — he is giving the gift, and he is begging, on the floor at his feet, having put it in a handkerchief, wad of bills, presenting it at his feet. The Sheikh nudged it away — I don't want it. Then he holds his palms together, the way a beggar does, and says, "Please accept it." He says no. Eventually he takes it, he puts it inside the Sheikh's shoes. Then the Sheikh stands up from his haircut, goes to put on his shoes, sees there is something there, picks it up, dusts his shoes, and all the bills fall on the floor. Just imagine what dunya meant for these people.

Then he chuckled and said, "Look, we earn money, and so do the lovers of dunya. We're both earning. The difference is, we renounce it, and it falls to our feet — it's inside our shoes. While the lovers of dunya fall at the feet of dunya, running after it, and it runs away from them."

The Hadith: Whoever's Focus is the Akhirah

Where do we get this from? The hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. So many hadith about this. The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4105; classified as sahih by al-Albani)

Whoever's focus is the akhirah, Allah will gift him with three things:

Number one: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ الْغِنَى فِي قَلْبِهِ — Allah will make him rich in his heart. The one whose focus is akhirah, Allah will make him rich in his heart. He will never, even for a moment, become greedy or envious over what material things other people have. No matter what the person is driving, drinking from, what type of car, what type of house — he will literally look right past it.

You know they say, don't judge people by their clothes, don't judge them by their tattoos, don't judge them by their chains, don't judge them by their haircut. Some people are like that — they look right into your eyes. They don't look at how you dress, how you look. A judgment-free zone. Similarly, we have to become like this with the dunya. When you look at someone, don't look at what he's wearing, how expensive his watch is, his clothes, his shoes, the car he came out of, the house he walked out of, what type of company he owns or runs. No — we become indifferent to all that. Treat him like a human being. Do not be envious of what he has. Do not become greedy of what he has.

Treating People According to Their Level

Should we treat a wealthy person differently from someone who is poor? The ulema give this example: if someone comes to you and asks for a glass of water and all you have are paper cups, give him a paper cup. But if you have a prince coming, a king coming, someone who is accustomed to a very high lifestyle, then go inside, find a crystal glass, and give it to him like that. It's not about treating poor and rich differently — it's about treating everyone based on what they're accustomed to.

For example, someone is doing your landscaping in the backyard on a hot summer day. You say, I should give him some juice. You don't have to give anything — you're paying them $250 to do your spring clean-up. But if you want to give some punch, no problem — give it in a paper cup. On the other hand, someone came to your house to visit you — give them in something nicer. Does that make sense?

This is the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4842)

"Treat people based on their level, their standard." So generally speaking, people sometimes don't understand this and say, "Oh brother, you're treating people differently." No — you should treat people based on what they're accustomed to.

The Front Row: Sacrifice Determines Rank

The Prophet ﷺ had those in the front row who, when you say "who's ready?" are sitting right there in front. If you're not ready, go sit in the back. The front row has to be the people who are ready for anything — any amount of sacrifice, any number of days, ready to put their life on the line: "Ya Rasulullah, I'm ready." You're going — wave goodbye, hug goodbye to your wife and your kids — are they gonna make it back alive or not? Go. Done. The front line — you are on the front line based on your sacrifice. And that's exactly how it's gonna be on the Day of Judgment.

This is a beautiful discussion, and there is a mention regarding Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه. In his assembly, he had a small place where he would meet people. One day, one of the noblemen of the Quraysh who had accepted Islam much later — he was a great Qurayshi leader — came with the other big shots. He sat in the back. There's no space. No one said, "Oh, come, come." Because Umar رضي الله عنه — the big shots in his eyes are the people of sacrifice. So they're sitting around him. No one made way for these late-comers in the back.

So the big shots in the back started mumbling and getting upset: "What is this? Who's in front? These are our ex-freed slaves. These are our previous slaves sitting in front, and Umar doesn't even make space for us. These people of the lowest socio-economic class are sitting in front."

So this sahabi — Suhail ibn Amr, if I remember correctly — he said, "You all can mumble and grumble. I'm going." They said, "Where are you going?" He said, "Do you not understand? Today, even though we're so rich and we come from the nobility of Quraysh, we can't even get close to Umar. What will happen on the Day of Judgment, my friend? How will we ever even get close to the front line? In this world, we're not even getting close to Umar — how on the Day of Hashr are we gonna get close to Allah and His Rasul ﷺ? We came late into the game. We're paying the price for it. We didn't accept Islam until much later in life compared to these people. And they suffered. And Allah is showing us their status in this dunya."

He left, went in the path of Allah, and said, "I'm never going to come back to Madinah. I'm gonna die in the path of Allah." SubhanAllah. Because: "I'm worried about where I'm gonna land up in the akhirah."

This is how we should think. If you find yourself in the back somewhere, ask yourself: why are the people in the front? And if you are equally able, you should say, "SubhanAllah — what's gonna happen on the Day of Judgment? Where am I going to be?" That's how the person in the back should think. The person in the front should never think, "I deserve this." The person in the front should think, "I am now in the hot seat. Anything that's gonna be asked, I have to step up. And I have to continue until my death."

The Danger of Ego in the Work of Deen

My beloved brothers, wallahi, we don't understand how Shaytan comes to me and you. There are people who do khidmat, and something happens — they get upset and say, "That's the end of that." It happens all over the world. "I was building a masjid — forget it, I'm not gonna build a masjid anymore." "I was donating somewhere — that's it, I'm not gonna do that anymore." And what happens? If you ask them — and I hear this because people come and share these stories — you have to be very careful because you don't want to further alienate them. But the statement is so scary. Honest to God, you have 250k in the ground and you're not gonna get anything for it, unless you make tawbah. 10 years of work in the ground, and you're not gonna get anything for it. Because what your statement is filled with — insincerity.

Because the test of sincerity comes when you don't get respect. The test of sincerity comes when you get hurt. The test of sincerity comes when the people who you helped don't help you. Because the question is: who did you do it for? Did you do it for somebody? Well, guess what — you better take whatever you want from him now. He's not gonna be able to give you anything in the akhirah. And if you did it for Allah, then zip it up, look down, and continue to work.

When someone says, "Brother, this is an issue of my ego now" — I'm sorry, that's exactly what Iblis said. You're becoming Iblisi. Have you ever heard this? "Now it's on my ego." Okay — now you're going on the path of Iblis. If you're verbalizing this and saying, "This is an issue of my ego" — imagine how much other shaitani has filled up in that soul. And this is after years of khidmah, years of donations, years of sacrifice. People say stuff like this all over the world. That's why don't ever put your guard down. This is something I'm worried about for myself, and I want you to be worried about yourself.

If you're sitting in the front row, be so scared that you may end up in 30 seconds in the last row. You might not even be in the room anymore. If you show one iota of insincerity, or if Allah decides to test you and me. And that's exactly what happens — Allah does test us. He will send one guy to you who will say something, and now you're so hurt. "That's it — I am no longer going to continue this." That person who insulted you was sent by Allah to test your sincerity. Why are you failing this test? Why am I failing this test?

Never ever allow ourselves to say: "Okay, that's it. I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm not gonna be involved in this anymore. I'm not gonna participate in this work." You'll see this in the effort of da'wah and tabligh, you'll see it in different khanqahs and zawiyahs, you'll see it in different madrasahs, you'll see it in non-for-profits, you'll see it in masjids. You'll always see people who used to be involved before and are no longer involved. Some of them are the founders of the masjid, some of them are the founders of the khanqah, some of them are the founders of that institution. But what happened to them? They're gone. Mar gaye? No, no, no — they're here. They don't come anymore. Kya hua? They failed the test.

It's a very tough pill I'm giving you, but I'd rather you listen to it now than suffer afterwards. But whatever happens — this is Allah's house, this is Allah's madrasah, this is Allah's khanqah, this is Allah's effort of da'wah. No matter who screams at you, no matter who says anything to you — if you did it for Allah, you don't leave. And if you never did it for Allah, then good luck — you already lost 10 years of your life, 200,000 dollars, and you're not getting anything of this back.

So Shaytan will try his best to push all the buttons and say, "No, I'm ticked off, that's it." My beloved friends — do you know anybody like this? I want you to share this talk with them. Because they don't realize: you harm nobody besides yourself. Allah doesn't need you, Allah doesn't need me. No masjid needs me, no masjid needs you. No madrasah needs you, no madrasah needs me. No khanqah needs you, no khanqah needs me. No effort of da'wah and tabligh needs you or me. No dini effort, no humanitarian effort needs any one of us here. If you think they need you, then you're wrong. If I think I'm needed, I'm wrong. That is my ana — that's my ego — to think that I'm needed somewhere. I am 100% replaceable right now, in every single thing.

The Iblisi mindset will say, "I'm not replaceable." No. You're nobody. You came from nothing, you're going to nothing. A dirty drop of sperm and a stinky corpse — this is who we are, this is who I am. If we don't brush our teeth, if we don't make miswak, we'll stink. If we don't use deodorant, we'll stink. If we don't use the bathroom, we'll stink. If we don't take a shower, we'll stink. So what are we arrogant about? This ana — this ego — is exactly why Iblis is going to hell. And this is exactly why so many workers of deen, unfortunately, are following the footsteps of Iblis.

The amount of work — 20 years of khidmah of masjid, madrasah, khanqah, 10 years in a humanitarian organization — is nothing compared to the millions of years that Iblis made ibadah of Allah. But after that one small incident, Allah threw him out. Because his ego came in. All of humanity's effort put together cannot equal Iblis' years of serving and doing ibadah. But for Allah Azza wa Jal — He doesn't care. Allah will never accept kibr. Allah doesn't accept arrogance. And Allah does not accept shirk.

And the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 12, Hadith 1015)

"Indeed Allah is pure and accepts nothing but that which is pure." If there is an iota of insincerity anywhere, it will be thrown, flung right back in our face. And it will be told to us: go get the reward from who you thought you did it for. You're not gonna get it from me. Allah is ghayoor. Allah cannot accept any milawat — any mixing. So whenever you hear somebody who says, "I was involved but no longer, I was there but no longer — because someone said this, and this happened to me, and that happened to me" — then remind them in a nice manner.

This is why so many people in all sorts of efforts of deen — so involved in the 70s and 80s — are gone now. And who's suffering? They're suffering. Their spouse is suffering. Their kids are suffering. Because of one thing: ana. Ego. Why do you make your wife and your husband suffer because of your ego? Why do you make your kids suffer? "I'm not gonna go to that masjid anymore because of X, Y, Z." And hence my son can never go there. My daughter can never go there.

Someone may say, "You know, the test is: you donate money to an Islamic school, and your son gets caught up in some mess — gets expelled. Now you say, that's it, I won't donate to that Islamic school." Wait — your son made a mistake. What am I supposed to do? Let's address it. But why are you linking it up with your donation? I saw a Google review once. Someone said, "I'm a monthly donor," and because in Jummah time they told him to park somewhere and he missed his Jummah — he left a one-star review. But if I knew who he was, I would say: please, take back your 5,000. It's not gonna do you any good. Go donate it somewhere else. Because when you say stuff like this, it won't do any good — here or anywhere else.

So this is something — and I'm not saying I'm free from this. It happens to all of us. We think that if we give something, we now have special perks. That's why reading these books hopefully cleans us out of this filth. If you gave it for some other reason, then please don't give it.

This is why you see plaques in masjids — "Donated by..." If someone even says, "I'm gonna put a plaque for you," say, "I don't want it." How dare a person demand a plaque because he donated something. Demand that something should be named after him. Demand a masjid should be named after him.

These are all massive, spiritual, horrible diseases. A person should say: I want to give, without anybody even knowing it. That's how it is.

And I still remember one brother, subhanAllah, who was very much involved in one institution. He did so much for that institution, and something similar happened — one of his kids simply could not benefit from the institution for whatever reason. But the brothers there noticed that his level of financial commitment, physical labor, mental commitment, number of hours per week per day — there wasn't a decrease by one cent or one second. When his own son or daughter had to be removed from that school. That's called ikhlas. That's called ikhlas. You're not doing it for anybody but Allah.

If your son benefited from it, alhamdulillah. But imagine if a nabi said, "Ya Allah — I gave 950 years, you didn't give my son hidayah, I'm done. I'm out. I'm no longer gonna be a prophet." Why don't you say that to Allah? "Ya Allah, you deprived my son of iman when I worked on this community for 950 years — I'm out." That's exactly what we're saying. As wild as that sounds, that's exactly what a person says: "I'm serving a masjid and a madrasah and a khanqah and a tablighi effort and a humanitarian effort, but my wife was treated like this, my son was treated like this, my mom and dad were treated like this — I'm done." That makes no sense. Who are you serving? You're serving Allah. You're not serving an institution. Is that clear?

So this type of discussion has to happen with people who have distanced themselves. I see this many times — people who are depriving themselves in anger. And they're harming themselves because of their ego. And if you ask them, "How is your life now compared to 20 years ago?" — if their ego is a little bit controlled, they'll be honest. They'll say, "Wallahi, our life 20 years ago was way better when I was doing that khidmah, when I was involved with my shaykh, when I used to go." There are people who have been cut off from their shaykh, roaming around the streets. They had a mentor, they had a shaykh — and now that connection is gone. And if you ask them, "Are you in a better state now?" — they'll be honest. "You're right, I'm not in a better situation. I used to be so punctual, so regular in the masjid, and my dua was so on point. And now I'm just busy in the dunya."

That's where you were 30 years ago — why are you in this situation? Go back to that. "Nah, man — it's over." It's not over. This is what Shaytan is telling you — it's over. You can still make tawbah. You can still go back. If not there, then somewhere else. But go connect yourself again.

The Three Gifts for the One Whose Focus is the Akhirah

So now, subhanAllah — this was the discussion of the hadith. The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever's focus is the akhirah, Allah will gift him with three things.

Number one: جَعَلَ اللَّهُ الْغِنَى فِي قَلْبِهِ — Allah will make him rich in his heart. When you are rich in heart, it means you will not be impressed by anyone else's wealth. You will not, even for a moment, look twice at a mansion. You don't look twice at an expensive car. You don't look twice at an expensive watch. You don't care about it. Because you say: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى مَا أَنْعَمَنِي — I thank Allah for what I have. I'm not impressed by anything. May Allah make us all like this. Never to get impressed by anyone's dunya.

Number two: جَمَعَ اللَّهُ لَهُ أَمْرَهُ — Allah will organize all your affairs.

Number three: أَتَتْهُ الدُّنْيَا وَهِيَ رَاغِمَةٌ — Dunya will come to your feet disgraced. This is what you're seeing in Mawlana Qasim's story here. When you make the focus akhirah, Allah will bring dunya to your feet. And you, like Mawlana Qasim, you'll kick it and it'll come right back.

The example I used to hear from childhood is: dunya is like your shadow. If the sun is out and you chase your shadow, you'll go from here to China and back. You'll never be able to catch up to your shadow. But if you simply turn around and go towards the source of light — which in that example is the sun — what will happen to your shadow? Go to China — it'll come running behind you. Come back to America — it'll come running behind you. But Allah is that sun. Allah is the Creator of the sun. Allah is the Creator of everything. You run towards Allah with ikhlas, Allah will bring dunya to your feet. This is something so important. May Allah give you and your spouse, me and my spouse, my parents, your parents, our children, and our progeny the understanding of this.

Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani and the Empty Pockets

These are not fake stories, brothers. These are not old stories. These are stories from only 150 years ago. But look at what Mawlana Qasim is saying: "I don't want this. I kick it, and it keeps coming. I push it away, it keeps coming." Besides one or two exceptions, I do not know any of the elders who kept money with them. Every single elder, every mashayikh — Mawlana Zakaria says — if they had money, they just gave it out. If any needy person came, they secretly helped them out and no one knew the better.

He writes: I personally experienced a common episode with Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani, rahmatullahi alayh, on many of my trips with him. Sometimes when it got hot, Sheikh would hang up his achkan and lie down for a short nap — the banyan-type undershirt that has pockets in it. Someone would come along, rummage through the pockets, and take whatever they fancied to gain his barakah. Can you imagine? You have your waistcoat hanging while you're sleeping, and someone says, "Hazrat is lying here — let me go get his barakah, his tabarrukaat." Whatever is in there. Sometimes the Sheikh would know that so-and-so came and emptied out his pockets. He would then take out a loan to pay for his train ticket, and he refused to disclose the name of the one who had filched him.

La ilaha illallah — Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani. People taking in the name of barakah. This happened with Hazrat Mawlana Tariq Jamil Sahib as well — one day someone gave him money, rupees, a large amount for the madrasah. He had it in his pocket. He gave a bayan somewhere. After the bayan, people were lining up to say salam, and one individual pickpocketed him — took all the money for "barakah." There is no barakah, brother — that's going to take you to hell if you don't make tawbah and return it. Sometimes they grab the amama, they grab the topi — I can't understand that. And Mawlana Hussain Ahmed Madani would borrow for a train ticket, because he had no money.

Mawlana Zakaria writes: "How can I ever do justice to their beautiful conduct? There are thousands of such anecdotes filled with their awe-inspiring traits and habits. I just wish I and others of my ilk could be blessed with even an iota of their beautiful character."

Our Heritage: Following in Their Footsteps

My beloved brothers, recently I heard a heartbreaking clip of people calling my elders and your elders — these mashayikh — very dismissively. Saying that these were old-school people, that they were rigid in their ways, that they were trying to safeguard their deen in India, so they thought the only way to do it was to divorce themselves from the rest of the world and fortify themselves with their old ways. How do you dismiss people like this?

If you think of the Prophet ﷺ — doesn't the life of these mashayikh look closer to the Prophet ﷺ than anyone else we think of today as scholars? This is how the Prophet ﷺ was, till the very end. He passed away — subhanAllah — with his sword and his shield as collateral in the hands of a Yahudi. Because he had no money. He had to borrow food. That's the sunnah of our Nabi ﷺ and our mashayikh. Alhamdulillah, they truly followed the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ — not just in miswak and turban, but their internal private life was so close to the Prophet ﷺ.

We all should be so proud. We should be so happy that Allah has given us such great grand teachers. Allah has given us such a beautiful heritage and lineage in ilm. We should never be ashamed, and we should never look anywhere else. We have everything in our lineage and heritage. Now, the only thing we have to do is start following in their footsteps. That's it. Reading their stories, being inspired by them — and one day we ask Allah that He allows these qualities to truly be alive within us, and may He join us with them on the Day of Judgment. Allahumma ameen.