Ustadh Asif Uddin was born and raised in the UK. He has graduated in Business and Information Technology from University of North London. He further pursued a Masters degree from Brunei University. He has been heavily involved in Dawah from the time he was in University. He is a keen student of knowledge and has studied Islamic sciences in Mauritania, Egypt and Qatar and continues that journey today. Ustadh gives weekly Tafseer and Seerah circles and is a lecturer for SABEEL (MRDF). Formerly, he was editor in chief of Islam21c.com. He has a show called “Chapter by Chapter” on “Eman Channel”, discussing the Quran. This is his exclusive interview with Hiba.
- Ustadh, please tell us something about your childhood.
Alhumdulillah, I had a very good childhood that was free of troubles and problems. Now being a father myself, I appreciate that my parents really cared for me, even though they were quite strict with me. I have seen kids whose parents are easygoing with them, allowing them to come and go whenever they like. Although at that moment I did not understand their strictness with me, I could still see the benefit in it. I especially remember that even though they were not super religious, Salah was really central in their life. They would make sure that I was praying on time, which obviously had a very strong impact later on in my life.
- What did you want to become when you were a teenager?
I feel like I did not have too much direction in my life. I needed someone to guide me and tell me that this is the career you should pursue. I never thought I would be giving Dawah, because I actually started to come closer to Deen in my late teens when I was in college. Even when I started to practice Islam, I never imagined that I would give lectures. I always thought that if I would ever get involved in Dawah, then it would be behind the scenes in organizing the events. Even in my wildest dreams, I never had the intentions of addressing the audience and becoming a speaker.
- Everyone has a person in their life who motivates them to get closer to Deen. Who was your role model, mentor, or teacher?
A very strong impact on me had a scholar in London – Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad. He is a very inspirational person – by being in his presence, my Iman would increase. The things he would say were so relevant at a particular moment and time that he would have an impact on my life every single time he would give a reminder or speak to me. If there was one person then that would be my teacher, and he is from London.
- You do a lot of Dawah projects in different countries. How do you balance your work with your home life?
Alhumdulillah, my wife is very patient and she understands that I am involved in Dawah, so she realizes that she is going to lose time with me for the sake of Allah (swt). I always try to communicate and have close contact with her when I am abroad, so that she doesn’t feel like she is being neglected or abandoned. So it is all about striking a balance between your home life and your Dawah life. It is all about making her feel special when I am with her, and when I am away from her, she knows that I am trying to build our Akhirah. Alhumdulillah, she realizes that for everything I do, when I am on the road, she will get the reward, too, Biznillah.
- Nowadays we need more and more Daees. What would you recommend: should a youngster first finish his formal education and then come to the field of Dawah or should pursue Dawah and complete his education later?
I feel that they are not mutually exclusive – you can do both: study and give Dawah. A person shouldn’t feel that you could do one or the other. Obviously there has to be a balance: you have to make sure that you are not neglecting your studies, while still giving Dawah on the side.
But I do wish to highlight that a lot of Daees get so involved in Dawah that they tend to neglect earning for their families. I would suggest that you first try to make a good living that frees you up, so you can contribute to your time towards Dawah. Some knowledgeable people are very poor, and they end up just working, without giving any time to give Dawah, because they need to provide for their families. It is very important to think ahead and try to balance our Duniya and our Akhirah.
- What are you planning for your children?
What I plan for my children is simply this: the greatest job that a father or a mother can teach to their child is how to save people from the hellfire! This is the greatest job. Sometimes we have lofty ambitions for our children to become doctors or engineers. And those are good ambitions. Alhumdulillah, they can be all of those, but a greater job is to save people from the hellfire – parents should inspire their kids towards this.
At a very young age, parents should get them to memorize the Quran fully and teach them good manners. Unfortunately, often people, who are close to Allah (swt) and committed to the Deen, don’t interact with other people. It is important for us not to live in our bubble but to interact with people who are not so close to Allah (swt), so that we can actually influence them and bring them to the Deen.
- How can we come closer to Allah (swt) in this time of crisis?
What I would suggest is to have targets. This is really important, as they say: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
I always ask myself this question: why is it that we have such a strong connection with the Quran during Ramadan? Perhaps the only time we read the Quran in the entire year is in Ramadan. The reason behind is that we set targets and have ambitions that we are going to finish the whole of the Quran in one month. I think the reason why we neglect our connection to the Quran and our Salah is because we do not set targets for ourselves. We need to have targets. We should have an aim and then we need to achieve that aim – a strategy, a portion of the Quran, and so on.
- Besides being a Daee, what is your profession?
I have a Master’s degree in business and information technology. I worked for SAP, which is an entrepreneur recourse planning product, where effectively you become like a business consultant. I did that for a few years but I didn’t enjoy it. I am actually going through another career path. My aim is to become a university lecturer in Islamic studies. In order to that in the UK, you need to have a Ph.D. Currently I am doing Master’s degree in Islamic studies that I hope will develop into a Ph.D. in Islamic studies.
We pray that Allah (swt) fulfils your lofty goals for you. Ameen.
Conducted by Talha Arif, a 15-year-old student of L2L Academy
Transcribed by Rahila Abdul Aziz – Educationist and mother of three
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