10 March 2026

4-minute read

What we need to understand when we study History, and even Islamic History, is that we always discuss the youth and the generations to come but the problems of the generation to come stem from the fact that we are only obsessed with our own current material goals, objectives and desires, and are not service-minded. We are not community-orientated and therefore we are not passing on to the next generation what they require to prosper. One of the greatest problems that the world faces right now is that the current generation is motivated by selfishness and pursuing only its own interests and not worrying about the generations to come.

A non-Muslim Professor in South Africa did a study on family businesses. He said that family businesses prosper with the first and second generation but by the third generation is crumbles and collapses. Why? Because the first generation puts more effort into the business, not expecting profits for itself, but for the generations to come. In other words, the father works hard for his son to enjoy the fruits thereof, and that son saw the father do it, so he works hard for his son to enjoy, but by the time his grandson takes over the business that legacy is forgotten. So he works only for himself and after his generation, the trend is that the business collapses.  This has become a world-wide phenomenon such that when you work only for yourself, you will leave no legacy. You may think that the money, home, assets, and the investments that you leave are enough, but if you haven’t really worked for the community around you, how will your progeny be able to enjoy all of that which you have amassed for them?

One day Mūsaعَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَ السَّلَامُ  asked Allāh, “Oh Allāh, tell me from your entire creation who is the Most Beloved to You?” Allāh said: that person who becomes saddened when the next man is saddened. If he is sad, you are sad. If he is happy, you are happy. That man who takes the problem of his brother and makes it his own. Today it has become a popular thing to say: ‘Don’t make your problem, my problem’. Allāh says the greatest man in my sight is the man who takes that man’s problem and makes it his own problem because that’s his brother.

One day, Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْه Khaleefatul Muslimeen, Ameeratul Mu’mineen, stood on the Mimbar and he told the Sahaba, “You people pay Zakaat on your wealth but there is a Zakaat on your body.” They were astounded and enquired, “Where did this come from? Zakaat on the body? What is this Zakaat of the body?’ He responded, ‘The zakaat of the body is that you take the next man’s difficulty, and you make it your own difficulty.”

وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ

That was the hallmark of the Sahaba. They would put themselves through difficulty to allow ease for the next man.

There was a great saint, Ebrahim bin Adhamرَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْه- and the following is mentioned in authentic sources about him. This great Shaykh was moving with his whole entourage of students, and they were travelling in the desert, and it was bitterly cold. So, they were looking for some refuge, and they found a dilapidated building. However, the building door had been removed, so it wasn’t what they required because the wind was still blowing through the doorway. They tried to sleep, but it was still too cold. Eventually, they fell off to sleep. When the students woke up in the morning, they said to one another, it became quite warm in here, what happened?’ When they looked at the doorway, the Shaykh, their Ustaadh, had stood the entire night in the doorway blocking the wind. He alleviated their difficulty and compromised himself so that they could have ease and sleep in comfort.

That is what you call a leader.

A leader is not only a man who can sign a cheque. Obviously, to assist the next person, financial assistance is imperative but that’s only one part of living to serve humanity. Our motto in life as Muslims is to live to serve the creation of Allāh. Firstly, our immediate community

أَلْأَقْرَبْ فَالْأَقْرَبْ

And then the broader Ummah of Muhammadur Rasoolullah (ﷺ) and beyond that, humanity at large. For the entire creation are the servants of Allāh, Tabaraka wa Ta’ala (تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعلى), even those who do not believe in Allāh.

{Extracted and adapted from Volume One of the book In Pursuit of Purpose by Ml Sulaimaan Ravat}