Five Before Five Podcast

Hamzah Henshaw
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Every Friday I share five ideas that blend expert insight from education, business, and health with the timeless wisdom of Islam. hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

  1. 15/06/2024

    Navigating High School as a Muslim: How to Become a Beacon of Noor

    Earlier this week, I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Islamic School of Rhode Island’s 8th grade graduation. During this special occasion, I recounted a pivotal encounter from my own youth—a bus ride that occurred when I was just a few months older than them—that profoundly redirected my path by introducing me to Islam. Finally, I gave five specific tips for students on how they can safeguard their iman as they venture outside the of them Islamic school bubble. I explained how fully embracing their Islamic identity will make them magnetically attractive both to their classmates and to colleges. Please enjoy the speech and let me know your thoughts in the comments or by hitting the like button. Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim Assalam alaykum, It is an enormous privilege and pleasure to speak at the Islamic School of Rhode Island’s 8th grade graduation. I want to thank ISRI for inviting me and for the incredible work they do in nurturing the hearts and minds of our future leaders. Br. Mohamed Abdelrhman (Allah yarhamhu), one of the founders of ISRI, was a dear mentor of mine. He had a vision of inspiring unity among the Islamic schools of New England, and it is therefore appropriate that I, as a long-term teacher and administrator at Al-Noor Academy in Mansfield, was chosen to deliver today’s remarks. Standing here today brings back memories of my own 8th grade graduation, a time when I had no idea how dramatically my life was about to change. Little did I know a single bus ride just three months later would change the trajectory of my life forever. But more on that story in a moment. To be honest, I don’t remember my 8th grade graduation all that well. I was probably busy daydreaming about epic sleepovers and beating my top score in Donkey Kong. A few months later, I would begin at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, a boarding school that my father, grandfather, and an assorted array of cousins had attended before me. Who could have expected that within 18 months of arriving at this Christian school that I would embrace Islam and change the trajectory of my life forever? How did this happen? How did a boy whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower end up accepting a new faith at the age of 15? I'll tell you in one word: Dawa. An Unlikely Friendship When I arrived at St. Mark’s, there was only a single Muslim in my class. His name was Nabil, and he was different than anyone I had ever met. I first got to know Nabil on a bus ride on one of the first days of school back in my freshman year in 1992. He looked different than the rest of us. He was Indian, weighed about 220 lbs, and had the awkward beginnings of a beard with wispy hairs across his face. There was a lot about him that stuck out. At night, when we would be brushing our teeth with traditional toothbrushes, Nabil would be using a stick that he explained was a miswak, a sunnah of the Prophet (SAWS). He would carry a lota with him everywhere he went, eventually making us question how we could have ever thought toilet paper was sufficient. He completed a strange ritual every night before bed: running water up and down his forearms, performing an aggressive farmer’s blow, and then putting his feet in the sink! Our initial inclination was to make fun of him, but he was so charismatic that insults bounced off him like teflon. Nabil would then return to his room, leave his door slightly open, and call the athan. He had heard a hadith that even if you're a shepherd alone on a mountain pass, you should still call the athan out loud, as everyone and everything will bear witness on the Day of Judgement. As you can imagine, all these strange rituals made us curious, and we began to ask Nabil what they were all about. He explained that he was Muslim, that he believed in the same God mentioned in the Torah and the Bible. He said that each of the Prophet’s from Adam to Moses to Abraham and Jesus were bringing the same message: that there was only One God. Truth is a continuum, he said, and Islam was the updated “operating system” brought for all of humanity by Muhammad (SAWS), the final prophet of Allah. A Single Sentence That Changed Everything I'll never forget when my heart really changed, and I became convinced that Islam was the truth. We were in my friend Matthew’s dorm room, and out of the blue Nabil asked us, “Boys, do you want to hear the most valuable sentence in the world, that is weightier than the heavens and the earth?” We’d never heard a question like this before, so naturally, we were extremely curious. He then said: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad ar-Rasul Allah. There is no god but God and Muhammad (SAWS) is His messenger. When he said the kalima, an electric current coursed through my body. My hairs stood on end, and tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t embrace Islam at that moment, but the seed had been planted. Within about 9 months, 3 of us, including Matthew, had become Muslim. His name is Noor ud-Deen, and he remains one of my closest friends to this day. So what is the purpose of relating this story to you today? Nabil was 14 years old when I first met him. That bus ride happened in September, just 3 months after my 8th grade graduation. You are exactly the same age as Nabil, and you have the opportunity to make just as profound a difference on the world if you make the same intention. Just like Nabil, many of you are about to leave the Muslim bubble and the cocoon of ISRI and join a high school where you may be one of the only Muslims on campus. From what Sr. Nafisa told me, your class is one of the most impressive in the history of ISRI. She told me that you are an incredibly positive and supportive group who love one another for the sake of Allah. She even mentioned that you get together to discuss hadith in your free time. MashAllah, that’s incredible! I get the sense that there are many Nabils on this stage who are ready to go out and spread khayr and barakah in the world. It wouldn’t be a graduation speech if I didn’t share a few pieces of advice. For today, I want to give you five nuggets of hard-earned wisdom that might have kept me awake at my 8th grade graduation. Each focuses on how you can protect your iman and get the most out of your high school experience. So here goes. 1) Your I Can is More Important than Your IQ. Some of you may be good students, some great, and some may struggle in school. In the long run, none of that really matters. The most successful of you is not going to be the one with the highest GPA but rather the one who believes in themselves the most. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.” (x2) And the great Yoda said: “Do or do not, there is no try.” (x2) IQ is a silly measure of “intelligence” and has nothing to do with success in this world or the next. Your “I can” attitude, on the other hand, is the key to achieving great things. Set audacious, big goals that scare you, and then have the absolute conviction and yaqeen that you can achieve them. Set a 12-month goal and then figure out how to accomplish it THIS SUMMER. Why? Because you have something even more important than “I can.” You have iman. The reality is that we cannot do anything, but Allah can do everything. And He can do it through us if we set the right intention. As I always teach my students: “Believe in Allah, believe in yourself, and you can move mountains.” 2) You are the Average of the Five People You Spend the Most Time With. Having the right suhba or friend group is one of the most important ingredients to success in dunya and akhirah. You have been blessed to have each other and the amazingly supportive community of ISRI for many years. You must preserve these relationships and forge new ones. Do not restrict yourself to Muslim friends only. If Nabil had done that, where would I be today? Find a group of friends that pushes you to be the best version of yourself, and cut out those people who are constantly negative and push you away from Allah and your dreams. In addition to the suhba of friends, fall in love with the suhba of books and podcasts. These days you are one trip to the library or one click of the mouse from interacting with the very best ideas of some of humanity’s greatest minds. The vast majority of high school students never pick up a book (or listen to one on audible) unless they have to. Dare to be different. 3) Success is the Result of Happiness, Not its Cause Society has things backwards. We are taught from a young age that the point of working hard in high school is to get into a good college. Doing well in college leads to a good job. A good job leads to a big house with a white picket fence, a beautiful spouse, and 2.5 perfect children. If and when you finally achieve this American dream of success, then, and only then, will you be happy. Nonsense. In his book the Happiness Advantage, Harvard Business School Professor Shawn Achor explains that it’s the exact opposite. Happiness is the cause of success, not the result. When you do something you love, it doesn’t feel like work. You happily put in the thousands of hours necessary to achieve mastery of your profession and become an expert. Take me for example. I LOVE what I do. I run a business called Five Before College that helps Muslim teenagers like you get into their dream colleges. I help them clarify their mission in life when they are still in high school, so that they become extraordinary human beings infused with the noor of Islam who unlock big scholarships and gain admission into the country’s top colleges. I love what I do, and I think I’m pretty good at it, and society therefore rewards me. I have built a six-figure business in less than a year, and I have ambitions to grow it into a seven-figure business over the next couple of years inshAllah. You need to set similarly ambitious goals and then work on them starting TODAY. 4)

    17 min

  2. 31/05/2024

    What You Can Learn from the Explosive Success of my Recent Course Launch

    One of my favorite genres is “behind the scenes of my business.” In this vein, I like to occasionally share updates about my company: Five Before College. This week, we opened enrollment for a limited number of 1:1 coaching spots for the summer cohort of our flagship program, “Find Your Qibla.” If the last offering of FYQ was a spark, this time it has ignited a wildfire. For today’s newsletter, I want to do something a little different and share an FAQ (frequently asked questions) for FYQ (Find Your Qibla). This is the heart of the second email that I sent to my list that has unleashed another tsunami of engagement. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

    13 min

  3. 18/05/2024

    How to Take Advantage of Your Youth Before Your Old Age

    There is a truism that says that youth is wasted on the young. As an educator with more than 20 years of experience in the classroom, I have had a front-row seat to watch the remarkable highs and frustrating lows of adolescence. As a college counselor at a small Islamic school and now an independent educational consultant, I have watched many cohorts of students progress through the ranks from middle to high school before navigating the college application process. There are two overlapping characteristics that define the most successful students: * A passion for reading * An intellectual curiosity that springs from within As a teacher, my least favorite questions are “Is this going to be on the test?” and “Is this graded?” Each implies a lazy reliance on the extrinsic motivation of grades. Colleges, and indeed people in general, are not looking for academic robots but are rather seeking inspirational and passionate thinkers and doers. The very first word of the Quran that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was “Read.” An innate passion for reading and ideas allows a select few young people to navigate the social media-infested waters and shoals of apathy in a way that keeps their pilot light of curiosity burning. But this quality is within the grasp of all.   Here are five specific recommendations on how to take advantage of your youth before your old age. 1) Listen to The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz It is uncanny how many world-class performers read this book when they were about 15 years old. It is a remarkably simple (if somewhat quaint) look at how an unshakeable belief that “I can do it” is the thermostat that regulates what we can accomplish in life. Most young people don’t believe they can succeed at the highest levels. So they don’t. I am constantly drilling home to my students that “Your I Can is more important than your IQ.” I always add that “Your Iman is the source of your I Can.” The reality is that we can’t do anything without the help and permission of Allah. But with His help and permission, we can do ANYTHING. Firm belief, or in Islamic terms, iman, and a vivid vision triggers the mind to figure out the how-to. 2) Read How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. This book delivers on its subtitle, “A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out).” Newport advocates for counterintuitive ideas like “The Law of Underscheduling.” Instead of filling their schedule with a grueling list of APs and endless extracurriculars, students should pack their schedules with free time. This grants them the freedom to pursue their true passions with a single-minded focus that allows them to become “pointy” in one or two areas of authentic interest. Top colleges are not looking for “well-rounded” students. Instead, they are seeking to build well-rounded classes of pointy individuals. By leaving enough time in your schedule to go deep and invest heavily in your top interests, you are cutting down on the stress of high school while becoming more intellectually and emotionally alive.         3) Calibrate your Qibla The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca that Muslims face during their daily prayers. Metaphorically, finding one’s Qibla means having a clear purpose and direction in life and doggedly working towards it. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is pursuing their own Qibla. Make sure you have chosen wisely. One of the reasons I love shepherding students through the college application process is that it forces them to come face to face with the age-old question: What makes you you? So many people, including most adults, are sleepwalking through life, putting out one urgent fire after the next without ever zooming out to see the 10,000 foot view of their lives. They never make the time to consider who they are and what they are trying to accomplish in life. Only about 20% of the population sets goals. And only about 15% of those who set goals write them down. Meanwhile, a Harvard Business study found that the 3% of graduates from their MBA program who had written down their goals ended up earning ten times as much as the other 97% put together, just ten years after graduation. I will be launching the next iteration of my Find Your Qibla premium group coaching course soon where I will teach students how to clarify their purpose and set ambitious goals. 4)  30 Minutes a Day: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Stand Out in the College Admissions Game As a college counselor, I get lots of questions about the most effective strategies for gaining admission to competitive colleges. It is my firm belief that dedicating 30 minutes a day for a full year to the steps below can transform high school students into compelling college candidates with a fraction of the stress faced by those who overload their plates with a grueling slate of extracurriculars. * Google any topic that piques your interest and add “Just For Dummies.” The “For Dummies” series provides a wealth of articles (and their famous books) on a wide range of topics written in easy-to-understand language. Once you have read enough of this series, you will be far from a dummy yourself. * Watch educational YouTube channels like CrashCourse or TedEd to explore topics that you are curious about. We all know YouTube will be a big part of your diet; don’t neglect to eat your fiber. * Go on a walk and listen to podcasts, especially ones like Stuff You Should Know or Everything Everywhere, which offer short snippets of high quality, high interest material. What could be better than getting exercise and expanding your mind all at once? College is a bottom-line business. One of the dirty secrets of the industry is that a large factor in admissions decisions is the future earning potential of their graduates. The creator economy is now king, and nothing predicts success in this market as clearly as genuine intellectual curiosity. Young people who somehow manage to retain their childlike wonder at how the world works and never stop asking why will rise to the top when admissions committees are meeting. 5) Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I wrote this quote in a student’s yearbook about 15 years ago. Years later, she told me it was the most profound piece of advice she had ever received. So many of us become so paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection that we end up stagnating and not being even good. One of the gifts of youth is that no one expects you to have it all figured out. Revel in this freedom, and lean into the discomfort of being a beginner. Whenever I would head off to camp in the summer, my father would send along a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s masterpiece “If.” Try to read it once a month and assess how far along you are to becoming a “man, my son.” In conclusion, harnessing the potential of youth is about cultivating a passion for reading, nurturing intellectual curiosity, setting clear and ambitious goals, and embracing the freedom to explore and learn without the fear of failure. By integrating timeless wisdom from the Quran, adopting strategic approaches from thought leaders, and dedicating just a small portion of time daily to self-improvement, young people can navigate their formative years with purpose and confidence. Let your curiosity and determination be the compass that guides you to success, both in this world and the next. Please join the thousands of readers just like you on my Five Before College email list. Every Monday and Thursday I send out college and education tips interspersed with Islamic wisdom to help teenagers succeed in this world and the next. And please hit the heart button or leave a comment to let me know what you thought about this week’s newsletter! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

    11 min

  4. 10/05/2024

    The Greenhouse Effect of the Muslim Bubble…and What We Can Do About It

    The problem with bubbles is that they eventually burst. When this happens on playgrounds, the impact is minimal, but when bubbles burst in the housing or stock markets, the repercussions can be life-altering. Our planet is not so far off from being a bubble itself. The greenhouse effect describes how heat radiated from the Earth’s surface is trapped by greenhouse gases, thereby warming the planet. The greenhouse effect is essential to life on Earth, yet excessive greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are causing the temperature on earth to rise dramatically. While melting polar ice caps and catastrophic climate change are not quite the same as a bubble bursting, they represent a similar threshold of irreversibility that, once crossed, could lead to drastic changes in the global environment. Bubbles and greenhouses are also apt metaphors to describe a common strategy of raising Muslim children in the west. When I taught at an Islamic school, many of the graduating seniors were “lifers,” having attended the school from pre-K to 12th grade. Their weekends consisted of hanging out with Muslim friends at Muslim events in Muslim spaces. I just returned from a week-long speaking tour in Dallas in Houston. MashAllah, the Muslim infrastructure there is truly impressive—state-of-the art masjids, 1000+ student Islamic schools with beautiful gym facilities, thoughtfully designed Muslim neighborhoods surrounding the masjids, infinite halal food options. Despite the highly developed ecosystem—or perhaps because of it—many of the young Muslims I met there seemed stuck inside of the Muslim bubble, seldom engaging with the wider world. Few students had applied for internships or had gotten any real-world work experience, and most had limited social interactions outside of their immediate community. This insular approach, akin to a greenhouse, nurtures growth in a safe, structured environment. However, just as with any protective bubble, there is a risk of a sudden burst. I vividly remember a Muslim college student being rushed to the emergency room to have his stomach pumped due to alcohol poisoning on the first weekend of college. The “greenhouse effect” of the Muslim bubble describes the phenomenon where Muslim parents create a controlled, insulated environment to nurture their children’s development while limiting their exposure to external influences in order to ensure religious and cultural continuity. Of course, many children raised outside of the Muslim bubble, are suffering even more dire consequences—loss of faith, drug use, teenage pregnancies. This begs the question— how can we strike a balance between protecting our youth within a supportive Muslim community and ensuring they are equipped to engage confidently and competently with the broader world? In short, how can we leverage the positive impact of the greenhouse effect without creating a bubble in danger of bursting. 1) Benefits of the Greenhouse Effect There is a reason that farmers use greenhouses. By creating a controlled environment where the temperature and humidity can be monitored, the growing season can be extended, and pests can be kept at bay, delicate saplings can be nurtured when they are at their most vulnerable. Similarly, there are significant benefits to raising our children within a greenhouse-like “bubble” when they are young. The solidarity Muslim children feel when growing up among like-minded peers helps them reinforce spiritual practices without feeling marginalized. Early exposure to Islamic rituals and mindsets helps cement their identities when they are most impressionable.   Just as important, Muslim “greenhouses” protect children from negative influences such as drug & alcohol use, inappropriate relationships, and societal pressures toward materialism that prioritize fleeting pleasures over long-term spiritual and ethical goals. 2) Dangers of the Muslim Bubble Just as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels release excessive greenhouse gases that threaten the health of our climate, similarly an over-reliance on the “Muslim bubble” can have detrimental effects on our children. Plants raised in greenhouses tend to have a shallow root system and are less hardy than those that grow naturally in the forest. Children raised exclusively within the Muslim bubble tend to lack resilience and develop an insular worldview. In their desire to protect their children from negative influences, some Muslim parents stunt their growth by never exposing them to real-world challenges. This overprotection fosters a dependency on constant support and shields them from failure. Children raised within the bubble don’t have to “fight” to maintain their Muslim identity and are at serious risk when they are eventually exposed to the diverse challenges of the real world. Many Muslim families insist that their children live at home even during college, further eroding an opportunity for them to develop an independent Muslim worldview. 3) Contrast with the immigrant experience The childhood experiences of children growing up within the Muslim bubble contrast sharply with those of most Muslim immigrant parents. Many Muslim parents arrived in the west with only $5 in their pockets and a dream about building a new life. With a twinkle in their eyes, they tell their children stories about their early years—cockroach-infested apartments, living on Ramen noodles, working a minimum-wage job late into the night. They look back on these hardships fondly because they were the key to their later success. Just like trees in a natural growth forest must grow deep roots to find the proper nutrients, these parents developed resilience and a strong work ethic thanks to their early struggles. By contrast, most Muslim children growing up in the bubble have faced few challenges. They often live in comfortable, well-established communities surrounded by family and community members who share similar values and experiences. While these children benefit from a sense of security that their parents may not have initially had, this “softer” environment shields them from the harsher realities of life, potentially impacting their ability to handle adversity with the same resilience demonstrated by their parents. Despite knowing that their time in the “oven” is what baked their bread, many Muslim parents seem to prefer to treat their children as delicate pastries, carefully shielding them from the intense heat of life’s challenges. 4) Islamic Perspective In Surah Ankabut, Allah asks: “Do the people think that they will be left to say, ‘We believe’ and they will not be tested?” A hadith in Sahih Bukhari states: “When Allah (SWT) desires good for someone, He tries him with hardships.” While these hardships can come to us whether we are in the Muslim bubble or not, it is instructive that Allah indicates that trials are a major source of growth. In our efforts to protect our children from fitna, we may paradoxically be making them more susceptible to the virus by not allowing them to strengthen their immune system. Just as a tree that has been raised in a greenhouse will be toppled by a strong wind, so too can our children be felled by the arrows of Shaytaan if we have never put them in an environment where they learn to build their own shield. 5) So What is the Solution? I believe that Muslim families should adopt a hybrid approach when raising their children. During their formative K-12 years, there are significant benefits to the protective shell of the Muslim bubble. When they reach the second half of high school, and certainly when they enter college, however, it is essential that our children confront the diverse perspectives and challenges of the “real world.” “Hardening off,” is a term in gardening that refers to the gradual acclimation of plants raised indoors to the harsher conditions of the outdoors. It consists of progressively increasing the indoor plant’s exposure to sunlight and varied weather conditions before eventually transplanting them in an outdoor garden. I recommend that Muslim families take a page from the gardener’s handbook—raising our children inside the greenhouse of the Muslim bubble when they are young and vulnerable but then gradually exposing them to outside elements as they become more mature. At my daughter’s Islamic school, for example, the juniors and seniors take all their “secular” classes on the campuses of local community colleges through the dual enrollment program. By allowing them to have a hybrid experience during their final two years of high school, I believe this program provides an ideal transition from the shelter of the Muslim bubble to the extreme exposure of a college campus. Many Muslim families, however, insist on having their children live at home during their college years, effectively extending the Muslim bubble well into their 20s. While there may be sound financial reasons for making this decision, whether they are living at home or on campus, it is critical that our children learn independence and build a diverse network. As our children step into the wider world, the bubble we’ve so carefully constructed around them is stretched thin, threatening to burst under the pressure of new challenges and experiences. This moment of tension isn’t just inevitable; it’s necessary. It’s our responsibility to ensure that when the bubble does burst—as it must for growth to occur—our children are not left vulnerable but are equipped to thrive in the diversity and adversity of the real world. Please join the thousands of readers just like you on my Five Before College email list. Every Monday and Thursday I send out college and education tips interspersed with Islamic wisdom to help teenagers succeed in this world and the next. And please hit the heart button or leave a comment to let me know what you thought about this week’s ne

    11 min

  5. 20/04/2024

    Shura in Silicon Valley? How tech giants are outpacing us with our own principles

    Masjid boards have a lot to learn from Netflix. Google’s governance has a lot more of the spirit of the shari’a in it than some Islamic school boards. I know these words may ruffle some feathers but hear me out. The other day I was listening to a podcast with Reed Hastings, founder and former CEO of Netflix. He said something that really struck me: “To disagree silently is disloyal.” When facing a big decision, managers at Netflix are instructed to actively “farm for dissent.” Leaders are energized by opposing viewpoints, not threatened by them. Regardless of your role within the company, you are empowered to “say the thing you think you cannot say.” Autonomy in decision making, open and candid communication, and, above all, a focus on people over process are the principles woven into the fabric of the company that have propelled its meteoric growth and success. Uncles and Aunties and Boards, Oh My! Meanwhile, the pace of change at most Muslim organizations is glacial. Board elections (if they happen at all) often consist of a revolving door through which the same uncles (and occasional aunties) assume positions of leadership year after year. The management structure of many Islamic schools and masjids could best be described as a benevolent dictatorship. Smiles and salaams abound, but dissent is frowned upon and actively stamped out. I believe that Muslim institutions in the United States are increasingly reaching an inflection point. They were founded by visionary community members who wanted to ensure that the torch of Islam be passed on to the next generation. May Allah reward them with the best in this world and the next. Ameen! But these founders were heavily influenced by the leadership styles they experienced in their home countries during their formative years. Many of these OG board members are petrified by changes to the status quo and are resistant to major change. I believe that Muslim institutions in the United States are increasingly reaching an inflection point. Meanwhile, a new generation of younger, mostly American-born leaders is waiting in the wings. Their management philosophy has been heavily shaped by western corporate culture. While this western influence might be seen as a threat, the paradox is that the policies of many western companies align more closely with the maqasid al-shari’a (the intentions of Islamic law) than those drawn from Arab governments. Our deen is perfect, and its principles are Light. Whoever applies them, no matter their creed, will benefit from them and whoever ignores them, no matter their piety, will suffer. For today’s FBF, I want to explore the famous Netflix culture memo, a comprehensive document that outlines the core philosophy and business practices that underpin the corporate culture at the streaming giant. After hearing the podcast with Reed Hastings, I did a deep dive into the culture memo and discovered numerous principles that harmonize with Islam. Here are a few examples: * The name of the memo itself, Netflix Culture—Seeking Excellence, aligns with the Islamic concept of ihsaan (excellence). The Netflix version of ihsaan, however, has teeth as shown in this line: “the reward for adequate performance is a generous severance package.” Ihsaan is the base expectation, and anything short of it results in a gentle termination. * One of the core tenets at Netflix is “You only say things about colleagues that you are willing to share with them.” This sounds very much like Islam’s prohibition of ghiba (backbiting) and mirrors the famous hadith that the “Muslim is he who is safe from other Muslims’ tongues and actions.” * Along similar lines, Netflix culture emphasizes husn al-dhann (thinking well of others) when it states, “You act with good intent and trust your colleagues to do the same.” * The memo also echoes the Islamic concept of nahee ‘an al-munkar (forbidding the evil), with its edict: “You question colleagues' actions inconsistent with these behaviors.” The place where the Netflix corporate culture most closely aligns with Islamic principles, however, is in decision-making. I believe that much of the success of the company derives from how closely its decision-making process resembles the Islamic principle of shura or mutual consultation. While many Muslim institutions pay lip service to the concept of shura, setting their boards up as “Shura Councils” or styling their PTAs as “Parent Teacher Shura Committee,” very few practice shura in an authentic way according to its etiquettes. Our deen is perfect, and its principles are Light. Whoever applies them, no matter their creed, will benefit from them and whoever ignores them, no matter their piety, will suffer. One Muslim group that relies heavily on shura in its pure form is the tableeghi jamaat. All decisions of this global dawa movement are made through mashura. I have spent many hours in tableeghi mashuras and have learned a lot about the etiquettes of this decision-making process. For today’s FBF, I want to show five ways that decision-making at Netflix aligns with shura (and one very important way in which it does not.) My hope is that this essay will prove instructive to many Muslim organizations that have strayed from this guidance. 1. Role of the Decision Maker The Amir of a shura is the central decision-maker who seeks the opinions of others before making a final decision, thus fostering a sense of collective responsibility. He may ask the opinions of all shura participants, just a few, or even make the decision wholly on his own. Along similar lines, the Netflix culture memo states “For every significant decision, we identify an informed captain of the ship who is an expert in their area. They are responsible for listening to other people’s views and then making a judgment call on the right way forward.” Both the amir of an Islamic shura and the “informed captain” at Netflix are thus responsible for making the final decision after considering input from others, reflecting a similar central leadership role in decision-making. The amir and “informed captain” typically rotate, although some Muslim organizations do have a permanent amir for large decisions, similar to the CEO of a company. 2. Selfless Opinions and Long-Term Vision Islamic shura emphasizes consultation with those who have a good understanding and are devout. When giving an opinion, it is imperative that it should be tied to whatever is best for the promotion of the deen and not given out of any self-interest. Shura decisions take the long-term view, considering ethical dimensions and akhira outcomes. Two of the foundational tenets of Netflix culture are: “You seek what is best for Netflix, not yourself or your team” and “You make decisions mostly based on their long term, rather than near term, impact.” While allegiance to the deen is obviously a far more noble and important precept, there are unmistakable echoes about fidelity to a purpose beyond one’s own selfish needs in the Netflix memo. 3. Post-Decision Unity Once a decision is made in shura, everyone is expected to support it, regardless of their initial opinion, fostering unity and collective effort. There is no “mashura before mashura” and no “mashura after mashura.” In fact, if your opinion is accepted, you should make istighfar (seek forgiveness) in case there was some problem with it. If rejected, you should say alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah) that the group was saved from any mistake you may have suggested. If something goes wrong and a person says that it happened because his opinion was not accepted, it is considered disbelief in one of the articles of faith. Netflix takes a similar approach: “once the informed captain makes a decision, we expect everyone —including those who disagreed—to commit and help make the outcome as successful as possible.” Whether entering a shura or a meeting at Netflix, the goal is the same—after talking out their contrasting opinions, the entire team should be united around the decision as if it were their own by the end of the meeting. 4. Avoidance of Dictatorship Without Embracing Democracy In mashura, while the Amir has the final say, the process is not meant to be dictatorial. The input from the group is crucial, and the Amir should not impose his opinion without genuine consideration of others’ views. Before making his decision, the Amir asks for divine guidance, reciting the du’a, “All praise belongs to Allah. We seek His aid, we seek His forgiveness, and seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves. Whomever Allah guides, there is no one who can mislead him. Whomever Allah sends astray, there is no one who can guide him.” Similarly, Netflix promotes listening to diverse opinions before making a decision, but the informed captain has the sole authority to make the final decision—“We avoid decisions by committee, which would slow us down and diffuse responsibility.” Thus, both Netflix and Islam promote a middle ground between pure democracy and pure autocracy. 5. Navigating Differences of Opinion Shura places a premium on consensus and harmony. Shura participants speak directly to the Amir when giving opinions and not to their fellow members. They are discouraged from actively campaigning for their opinions, and they must never contradict or disparage opinions of their peers. Informed captains at Netflix, on the other hand, are encouraged to “farm for dissent.” If an employee disagrees on an important open issue, it is their responsibility to explain why, ideally in person and in writing. Before making a major decision, the informed captain asks everyone present to rate their opinion about the decision on a scale of 10 to -10. This process was put in place after Reed Hastings prematurely made the decision to spin off the DVD-by-mail portion of the company into a separate business called “Qwikster.

    13 min

  6. 06/04/2024

    Want Success? This Ancient Practice Is Your Modern Superpower

    I have made more progress in achieving my life goals in the last two years than I did in my first 40. And today I want to share my secret. Du’a. Prayer is an essential component to all world religions, and it forms the backbone of Islamic practice. When most Muslims think of prayer, however, they are referring to salah, the five daily prayers that are one of the pillars of Islam. While salah is absolutely essential, it follows a fixed routine, and it doesn’t lend itself as easily to customization. Du’a, on the other hand, is a more personal form of prayer, where you can unload your deepest desires and fears to the one being who can solve them all: Allah. The Most Important Du’a of My Life The most important du’a I ever made was at Hajj back in 2003. My burning desire at that time (as it is for many young Muslims) was to find a spouse who could be my companion in this world and the next. On the day of Arafah—the spiritual climax of the pilgrimage—I made a “design-a-bride” du’a in which I shared with Allah the exact qualities I was looking for in a wife. When I returned from Hajj, I had an email waiting for me from a sister named Ruheena who turned out to be the answer to my prayers. Within three months of Hajj, we were engaged, and just six months after that life-altering du’a, we were married. This August will mark 20 years, alhamdulillah. I detailed our remarkable courtship and eventual marriage in “A Preppy WASM Finds a Wife.” Despite the success of this du’a, for many years I underutilized this form of prayer, falling into a routine for much of the year of somewhat robotic du’as that did not establish a deep connection with Allah. Every Ramadan, particularly during the last ten nights, I would briefly “lock in” and power my entire year with a few sincere du’as in the last third of the night during tahajjud. But these ultimate flow states of du’a were fleeting, and I rarely accessed them outside of this beautiful month. Pronounced Prayers: The Power of Du'a Out Loud A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a habit that changed everything. Making du’a out loud. When I hit the age of 40, I faced the proverbial midlife crisis. Was I fulfilling my potential? Had I allowed myself to get stuck in a rut? What would the second half of my life look like? This crisis coincided with the onset of the pandemic which, in turn, helped me discover the magic of walking. In addition to listening to podcasts and audiobooks during my 20,000 steps per day, I began speaking to Allah out loud. Deep inside beautiful state parks bursting with signs of the Creator and far removed from any other humans, I was inspired to speak with Allah in a more conversational tone than I had ever used before. Walking unlocks my creativity, and my du’as became intensely personal and increasingly profound. Something about speaking out loud allowed me to reach a level of focus and sincerity that had eluded me for so many years outside of Ramadan. A Shift from Sole to Soul Solutions Most of us are doing everything backwards. When we face a challenge, our first inclination is to ask, “How can I solve this problem? What can I do to make things better?” Seventeen times a day in Surah Fatiha we say, “Iyyak na’budu wa iyyak nasta’een” (“You alone do we worship, and from You alone do we seek help.”) But our actions show that we are only giving lip service to this prayer, and its reality has not penetrated our heart. So many of us rely exclusively on ourselves and on worldly asbaab (means) to solve our problems, turning only to Allah when things have become hopeless. Allah himself has told us about this quality in the following ayah: The goal of today’s FBF is to convince everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to tap into the superpower of sincere du’a, especially du’as spoken out loud between only you and Allah. 1. Ramadan: A Du’a a Day While the du’as I have been discussing so far are personal ones emanating from your heart and typically in your native language, nothing can compare to the Quranic du’as and those taught to us by the Prophet (SAWS). The wife of my local imam, Sr. Nadia Salma Ahmad, wrote a short book called Ramadan: A Dua a Day. It is a compilation of 30 authentic du’as drawn from the Quran and sunna. It is magical. On the 27th night, I have a tradition of going somewhere in nature in the middle of the night using my headlamp and reading all 30 du’as in both Arabic and English. Here is the very first du’a. Notice how beautiful and comprehensive it is and what a punch it packs in so few words. SubhanAllah! 2. Moonshot Du’as: Daring to Dream Big With my “Find Your Qibla” premium coaching students, we are currently working on building “moonshot” du’as that we can make during these precious last 10 days of Ramadan. These are powerful, ambitious prayers that stretch our imagination and faith. A “moonshot” du’a is bold and aspirational and intertwines your worldly ambitions with your hopes for the hereafter.  In order to qualify as a “moonshot,” the du’a needs to give you butterflies, be a decade in length, and include elements of both dunya and akhira. I built my first moonshot du’a when I took Visionaire 2030 with Sh. Muhammad Alshareef (rahimahullah). I always yearned to make a huge impact on the ummah, but I was struggling to figure out how. I turned this problem over to Allah and begged him to open up the way for me to share my talents and skills with the ummah as a whole. The fruit of this du’a was Five Before College. Allah inspired me to found a company that helps Muslim teenagers develop an akhira orientation and arm them with the insider knowledge of how to excel in college admissions and get into the college of their dreams. The trajectory of my life changed forever when I embraced Islam at the age of 15, and my “moonshot” vision is to transform the ummah one teenager at a time by launching them on a path of dunyawi and spiritual success. 3. Tapping into Times of Acceptance Last weekend I attended a coaching business conference in San Diego. One of the speakers, a remarkable man named George Bryant, said something that struck me. “For some reason, I always wake up at 3:30am and am inspired to walk around and talk to God. Last night I was wandering the hallways of the hotel in the middle of the night.” I shared with him this hadith: These prayers in the last third of the night are known as tahajjud. During these last 10 days of Ramadan, most mosques offer communal tahajjud prayers starting at 2 or 3am. I actually find that I have more khusu’ (concentration) when I pray tahajjud on my own. Whether alone at home or in the mosque, after praying 2, 4, or 8 rakaats, be sure to leave time to make du’a. Any tears that fall from our eyes during these du’as are sufficient to put out oceans of fire. The most special time of all is Laylat al-Qadr, which Allah describes as better than 1000 months. Oliver Burkeman wrote a great self-help book called “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.” Both 1000 months and 4000 weeks represent 83 years, the average life span of a healthy person. This infographic breaks down the untold reward possible to unlock during Laylat al-Qadr. 4. The Catalyst of the 99 Names of Allah One of the best ways to start your du’a is to call out to Allah using some or all of His 99 names. While the oneness of Allah is the central tenet of Islam, the 99 names are ways that He has described Himself that allude to different elements of His Majesty. By prefacing your du’a with Yaa Allah, Yaa Aleem, Yaa Khabeer, etc. and pondering on these attributes, you are able to “lock in” and recognize the immense privilege you have to be in communion with the One. I find repeating “Yaa Allah” ten or more times electrifies my body and makes my hairs stand on end. It is the perfect way to catalyze the du’a mindset. 5. Applying Our Superpower in Daily Life I used to only make du’a for things pertaining to the akhira. Once I began begging Allah for my dunyawi needs as well, I really tapped into the superpower of du’a. Let me give a practical example to illustrate what I mean. As I recounted last week, I recently participated in a marathon of 25 sales calls in two weeks. Before each of these calls, to get myself in the zone and to give the greatest chance of success, I would turn to Allah. “Yaa Allah, I am going to be speaking to Aisha & Omar. They are coming to me because they think I can help them increase their iman, discover their purpose, and get into the college of their dreams. But yaa Allah, I cannot do anything. It is You alone who control the hearts. If there be good in this program and it will help them grow closer to You, then You allow them to join Find Your Qibla. If it would harm them in any way, please prevent them from joining. I beg you to enliven my tongue and expand my chest, just as you did for Moses when he spoke to Pharaoh. These students are in complete need of You and I beg You to allow me to be a conduit to help them get there.” I have no doubt that it is thanks to this du’a that Allah allowed me to close 12 of the 25 sales. Articles like this are not about information. They are about transformation. While I of course love the dopamine hits of your likes and comments, my greatest ask is that you take action on this advice and call out to Allah aloud in the last third of the night. Whether you are Muslim or not, you are calling out to the same God, and He will answer your prayers inshAllah. And, if you remember, please remember to make du’a for me. Download our free eBook 11 Mistakes Muslim Families Make When Applying to College, and don’t forget to hit the heart button if you found this article beneficial. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

    13 min

  7. 22/03/2024

    How a $25K Email Shattered the Myth of the Starving Artist

    A couple of weeks ago I wrote an email that made me $25k. Today I’d like to tell you how. For many years I had bought into the myth that pursuing humanities was a recipe for a meager existence. I didn’t just buy into it, I lived it. My first career was in Islamic Finance. I knew that my Harvard degree was supposed to unlock the “good life,” but I had my eyes set on the true prize of succeeding in the akhira. When I discovered the nascent field of Shari’a-compliant investing, I thought I had solved this dilemma. Islamic finance was a way for me to “have my biryani and eat it too” — to build wealth and plant seeds to be harvested in Janna at the same time. Within a short time, however, I realized I had made a mistake. I was a man of letters, not numbers. I thrived on ideas, not Bloomberg spreadsheets. The Pivot: From Islamic Finance to Education In 2003, just two years after graduating, I made a pivotal shift—moving from the corporate world of Islamic investing to the more humble world of education. I told myself that I was giving up a life of wealth for one of purpose. My classmates used to mock my choice of major at Harvard: Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. They would say things like, “Studying ancient Islamic philosophy and theology sounds like a real money maker.” I would dismiss these barbs with vague statements about how I would leverage my position as a westerner fluent in Arabic to connect the Middle East with the West. Deep down, however, their words ate away at me. By the time I made the transition to education, I had emotionally embraced the starving artist trope. For 20 years I pursued a deeply meaningful career as an English teacher at international, private, and Islamic schools. Alhamdulillah, I helped close to 1000 students deepen their understanding of English and themselves. I led a “good life,” marked by ample time for tennis, long walks, and summers in Maine. I don’t regret my decision one bit. But I never earned a salary above $60k. Eventually the financial realities of raising two children in the States as well as the daily frustrations of a teacher’s life—administrative red tape, unruly students, lunch duty—started to chafe away at me. I knew I needed to make a change, but I was held back by what I call “altruistic anchors.” Every time I contemplated leaving, I would tell myself things like, “These kids need me,” and “If I leave, who is going to replace me?” The Entrepreneurial Awakening But an entrepreneurial idea that had long been germinating finally sprouted during the waning days of the pandemic. I could take my expertise of helping place Muslim teenagers into the country’s top colleges and start a company to deliver these services to the umma as a whole. On a whim, I called up another Muslim convert who had also gone to Harvard and had also followed his heart, buying a farm in Western Mass where he sold organic vegetables and pasture-raised Zabiha poultry. “How’s farm life treating you?” I asked. “The farm went bankrupt a few years ago. The business model was broken. I didn’t realize that being a business owner meant more than just doing good work.” “So, what are you doing now?” “Copywriting for an Islamic publishing house.” “You mean like getting patents and stuff?” “No, no, that’s copyrighting, I’m copywriting.” “Copywriting is the art of using words to spur action. It is a way to use your English skills to sell things and translate your writing into money.” Those few words changed everything. The Power of Copywriting: Turning Words into Wealth For so long I had seen writing as a mere hobby, a way to explore my creative genius, but never as a vehicle for monetization. Sure, I could write a book or become a journalist, but I told myself that it was highly unlikely I could ever make real money from it. But here was a way to leverage my greatest strength to financial success. Almost exactly one year from this conversation, I wrote an email that brought me $25k in revenue. After a year of studying copywriting, hosting webinars, writing an eBook, sending two emails a week, writing this newsletter, and turning on a low-budget FB ad, I had built a “tribe” of thousands. It turns out that all this patient groundwork had built up a lot of pent-up demand within my audience. I enrolled in a life-changing course called High Impact Coaching, and my business coach urged me to send out a "blunt post," a short email stating my offer in plain terms. And so I did. I used all I had learned about copywriting and composed one of the shortest messages I had ever sent to my audience. Here is the $25k email: I was aiming to build a cohort of 12 for an 8-week program called “Find Your Qibla.” Within two weeks, I had scheduled 25 calls with prospective clients. Anatomy of “Find Your Qibla” FYQ is designed to solve the very problem I had been suffering from my entire professional life—how to design an akhira-focused career that both aligns with your values and gives you financial freedom. The goal of FYQ is to guide students in identifying two qiblas. First, it instills the “qibla” of the akhira: the conviction that true success is solely achieved by pleasing Allah and securing a place in Paradise. Second, it helps students discover their dunyawi “qibla,” a ‘big’ vision for their future that will become their north star, allowing them to unlock tremendous success in their worldly lives. With those two qiblas identified, the students then work backwards to design a “Saturday Morning Project” that harmonizes with their vision. It could be a podcast, a YT channel, an entrepreneurial venture, an NGO, or any other heart-centered enterprise. This Saturday Morning Project will become something so exciting to these teenagers that they will eagerly wake up early on weekend mornings to work on it throughout high school. The benefit of FYQ is that they will have developed an impeccable character inspired by the sunna, a compelling vision of how to achieve worldly success, and a fully fleshed out project aligned with their qiblas that will wow admissions committees and get them into the college of their dreams, inshAllah. The message clearly resonated with my audience because, by the end of a frenetic two weeks and 25 inspiring conversations, I had filled the cohort of 12 and brought in a revenue of $25k. Why, oh why, is copywriting not taught in high school and college English classes? Who would have thought that I could earn nearly half a year’s salary by following my heart and leaning into my strength as a writer? Far more important than the money, however, is the life-changing impact that FYQ will, inshAllah, have on those teenagers. The Broader Lessons and Moving Forward So, my message to parents and students who believe that the only path to financial stability lies in pursuing STEM education or becoming a lawyer is clear: words can be just as lucrative as numbers. If you believe in Allah and believe in yourself, you can move mountains. You just have to find your qibla first. If you found this article insightful and would like to know the next time a spot in FYQ opens up, join the thousands of readers just like you on my Five Before College email list. Every Monday and Thursday I send out college and education tips interspersed with Islamic wisdom to help teenagers succeed in this world and the next. And, oh yeah, please hit the like button as well! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

    10 min

  8. 02/03/2024

    How I Found My Qibla

    I want to tell a story I’ve never spoken about publicly before. I have shared different portions of the story of my conversion to Islam in various places. You can see a fairly comprehensive presentation I did about it last Ramadan here: But none of these give the full picture. I became Muslim at 15, alhamdulillah. But I don’t think I became a mu’min (inshAllah) until 5 years later when I was a junior in college. The Journey Begins Let me back up. When I first embraced Islam, there were a grand total of three Muslims in my network—Nabil, the brother who introduced me to the deen, and two other classmates who became Muslim about 6 months before me. We did our best. Some tableeghi brothers used to visit our boarding school once a month and brought us to the masjid in Worcester for taraweeh a few times. During those first couple of years our resolve stayed strong. We propped each other up when our iman began to falter. Facing Doubts and Double Lives By senior year, however, cracks began to appear in everybody’s armor. Although we kept our doubts to ourselves, I believe each of us began to feel increasingly shackled by Islam’s many rules and restrictions. No alcohol. No girls. No inappropriate music. We saw our friends exploring these budding pleasures, and we felt we were missing out on our youth. While my core belief that there was only one God and that Muhammad (SAWS) was his messenger never wavered, my daily prayers become monotonous, burdensome, and eventually ceased altogether. After getting in to Harvard and graduating from high school, I took a gap year and traveled for nine months around the world. I touched down in Hawaii, Thailand, Nepal, India, and Greece; I took trains through nearly all of Western Europe and much of its East; I studied art history in Venice and farming in France. During all this time my horizons were widened to all the possibilities that my narrow Islamic worldview had prevented me from seeing, or so it seemed. By the time I was a freshman at Harvard, Islam had become for me a footnote, something I mentioned in passing. At Harvard, however, I encountered a real Muslim community. For the first time in my life, I could regularly attend Friday prayer. And I began to do just that. I befriended many Muslims, and Islam slowly began to creep back into my life. Before long I had developed two distinct personalities. Around Muslims I was the humble, pious Mahboob; but with my roommates and non-Muslims I was the fun-loving Marshall, whose life resembled that of a typical college student. I was what I now refer to as a “jumma Muslim.” Eventually, this hypocrisy began to eat at me from within. I found myself on the lookout for Muslims when walking towards my final club and ashamed to wear Islamic clothing or make wudhu in front of my roommates. A Turning Point I remember the exact moment when things changed. I attended a Friday khutbah with Sh. Taha Abdul-Baseer, and the topic was nifaq (hypocrisy). He explained that the munafiq—one who professes Islam on his tongue but belies it in his actions—was worse than a disbeliever. Afterwards, I ate lunch at a Chick-fil-a at the Harvard Science Center with a fellow convert. The khutbah had softened my heart, and I was feeling disgusted by the hypocrisy of my lifestyle. My friend was one of the few Muslims who knew about both of my lives. He told me that I was suffering from something called cognitive dissonance, an incongruence between stated beliefs and actual practices. It arises when you simultaneously hold two conflicting beliefs or when your beliefs and actions don’t match up. I knew I had to make a change. But try as I might to shake myself free, I had become too attached to my western freedoms. I realized that I needed a shift in environment to get away from haram influences, and thus I applied to spend my junior spring abroad at the American University in Cairo. The Search for Authenticity In my letter to Harvard requesting to study abroad, I explicitly stated that I wanted to spend time in a Muslim country to ensure that my decision to accept Islam was correct. With this niyya in place, in January 2000, I made hijra to Cairo.  During the first few days, I was shocked by the permissiveness of AUC. Buried in the middle of Cairo, I found a little America, whose population was even more westernized than the west. Before long, however, I learned to spend all my free time on the rooftop musalla. I soon built a network of incredible Muslim friends who helped reinvigorate my faith. I made a vow to never intentionally miss a daily prayer, and alhamdulillah, I never have in the nearly 25 years since. While I became Muslim at 15, I found my Qibla at 20. The Challenges of being a Teenage Muslim I have now taught at an Islamic school for more than a decade, and I see my same story play out with so many teenagers. For many students, it’s as if they have an Islam “switch” that they flip on as soon as they enter the school or masjid and then shut off as soon as they exit. I think one of the reasons I’m able to connect with teenagers so well is that I was just like them. They are able to open up to me in a way that many never really can with their parents because they see that I am not going to judge them. What I discover during these heart-to-hearts is that many feel disconnected from the deen. Many are going through the motions, largely to keep their parents off their backs, but only a few have forged an authentic connection with Allah. During Ramadan, some have tasted the sweetness of faith, but then they slip out of harmony with their fitra after the shayateen are released from their shackles. Another issue that nearly all face is a general feeling of rudderlessness. They know they are supposed to be “following their passion,” but they swear they have no idea what it is or where to find it. Their extracurricular choices are guided by questions like “will this look good for college,” and their concern for their GPA far outstrips any authentic curiosity about what they are learning. The boys are often addicted to gaming, while the girls are frequently drowning in toxic social media. I don’t want to paint an overly bleak picture of the Muslim teenager. I am constantly amazed by their generosity, social activism, and ingenuity. I have had countless spectacular students whom I have helped place in many of the country’s best schools. When Muslim students discover something they care about, they go after it with a ferocious tenacity. When they fall in love with the Quran and the deen, they transform their lives. Just like I did in that rooftop musalla in Cairo. Introducing Find Your Qibla Yesterday I launched a premium 1:1 coaching program set to go live at the beginning of Ramadan. It is called “Find Your Qibla.” This is how I described it in an email sent yesterday: “If you’re a student who has high college aspirations but is struggling to figure out what your ‘passion’ is. Or a parent who wants to make sure your child has the best possible chance of succeeding in this world and the next. Then “Find Your Qibla” is for you. FYQ is an in-depth program to help define what success means to you and then make a plan to go and get it. By the end of the program, you will have a comprehensive high school plan to get into the college of your dreams, inshAllah. But more importantly, you will have built a roadmap to janna.” The response has been overwhelming, alhamdulillah. I have gotten close to 25 emails and WhatsApp messages expressing interest. I have already sold some of the 12 available spots with many others saying they are likely to join. I feel that all of my life has been leading up to teaching this course, and I anticipate that it will become the flagship offering of Five Before College, sort of the “front door” to working with me throughout high school. For today’s FBF, I wanted to briefly mention the five goals of the course, which are all aligned with the famous five before five hadith that underpins this newsletter and my company. 1) Getting good grades and getting into a top college College is the next major milestone for teenagers, and the academic transcript is the single most important component of the college application. I plan to teach students HOW learning works and how to infuse their study time with barakah. The other components of the program will make them irresistible to colleges inshAllah. 2) Feeling good about themselves and where they are going in life Self-esteem and self-confidence are hugely underappreciated factors in success. You really need 3 “sets” to succeed—mindset, skillset, and toolset. Of these the mindset is the most foundational. By tapping into the Magic of Thinking Big students will develop a compelling vision for their future, and their self-belief will rise dramatically inshAllah. 3) Finding a career path that aligns with their strengths and values This is a biggie. College is not the end goal for students but rather a steppingstone on the way to professional success. Leading students through comprehensive exercises like those found in What Color is Your Parachute? will be a critical component to the program. I aim to help students discover careers that align with what they love, what they are good at, what they can be paid for, and what the world needs. When a student has a vision of what they want to do with their lives and the self belief that they can get there, they can move mountains. 4) Discovering their “passion” and how to turn it into a tangible project Again and again, I hear students tell me they have no “passions.” Usually it takes only a few questions to get them to change their tune. A few good ones are: * If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be and why? * Imagine you have an entire day with no obligations or financial constraints. What would you do? * If you could change one thing about your school or comm

    12 min
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Every Friday I share five ideas that blend expert insight from education, business, and health with the timeless wisdom of Islam. hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

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