"Pace yourself, it only takes hindsight to see that pace is important."

Who are you and what do you do?

“ I’m a Project Developer in the Oil and Gas industry and of course a Muslim, Yemeni, British, husband, brother and son.”

What do you enjoy about your job?

“ Most of the time, I enjoy the things that I can relate to having some sort of positive effect in my life.”

Is there a book you would recommend to people to read or that has inspired you?

“ Malcom X Autobiography, it’s an amazing book, highly recommended, it is a testament of the potential for change. He goes from being, the lowest of the lowest state a human being can be as closest to an animal you can be and then it goes to the end of the book to what some may consider as higher than the angles. So it shows the potential for human change.”

Is there a person who has inspired you in your life, present day of historical figure?

“ Ofcourse Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is our number one example and then I would say, well at least at this stage of my life my parents and specifically my father and grandfather. Because I think they are a testament of how you can bring the deen and duniya together in a very practical way. How you can make the duniya work for you and get you to the akirah and not the other way round. Actually, the last time I was speaking to my Father he told me that my Grandfather always makes a dua everyday at Fajr, and say “Oh Allah put the duniya in my hand and not my heart.” That says a lot about them or him at least, about him and about why I take them as an example.”

When you hear the word legacy what do you feel or think?

“ I see it as leaving something behind, leaving the world, society, human family a little bit better at the end of your life, a little bit better than how you found it at the beginning of your life.”

Have you thought about your own legacy and if so in what capacity?

“ Allahu Alam. That is something I battle with everyday, but, I would hope to contribute, personally, me, I would hope to contribute to improving the socio-economic condition of the muslim ummah. Because I think fakr and kufr are related. Poverty and disbelief are related and poverty and diseases of the heart are also related. So I think if we could try and eradicate poverty, maybe it will enable some sort of positive change.

If people can go beyond just thinking about how to fill their belly that one day then maybe we could allow the muslim ummah room for solving the other social problems that we have. The reason I believe that is because there is a dua where the Prophet (SAW) said, “Oh god I seek refuge in you from disbelief and poverty" and there’s a reason why both are together.”

What advice would you give to the 20 yeard old you?

“ That religion is much deeper and wider than you think, it is not as black and white

Pace yourself, it only takes hindsight to see that pace is important. If you are in a 10 mile race, sprinting in the first mile will mean you don’t finish the race. So realize you have to pace yourself. And I think they are very related, because we go very fast and we sprint, we see the religion as a very simple thing because we are sprinting by it. We are almost sprinting through the deen and don’t take time to really understand fiqh, what is the depth of fiqh, the origins, the rasool. Instead we just say how do we do wudu, bish, bash, bosh that’s how we do it. What’s next salah, okay what’s next and I think we should take it a bit slower and go deep.”

Often as part of life we go through challenges, what do you say or do as a pick me up?

“ Allah tests those who he loves. When you have a tribulation or test, think of it as an expression of Allahs love and think of it as an opportunity to raise yourself in rank in Jannah.

Surah Al Baqarah: God does not burden a soul more than it can carry. So I know that anything that I face, any bad day I have, or test and tribulation, it is not more than I can carry, so I am able to deal with it, I am able to tackle it. That doesn’t make them easy, they are still difficult, but that’s the point of fitna I guess.”

Interview nomination

" Of course my wife. Mo Ibrahim, Sudanese Business man who is doing so much good and Hamza Yusuf. "