A tribute to an original thinker and a visionary

There are three genuine criticisms you can aim at the Ummah and our state today:

The first is that we lack ambition and vision.

We also lack innovation, excellence and creativity in our solutions.

And finally, we lack empowering leadership and purposeful action.

We now lack it that much more, today, with the news of the passing of the late, great Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef.

None of these criticisms you could ever level at him. He was the antithesis of mediocre. In fact, he ferociously fought to fix those flaws in Muslims.

He was the shaykh who dreamed big and dared you to dream even bigger.

They say you always remember your first.

Your first fight, your first holiday, your first day at school, your first teacher.

I only met the Shaykh a handful of times. However, in those few meetings, I experienced a whole host of firsts.

The first (and only AlMaghrib) class I’ve ever attended was The Shepherd’s Path — which he delivered in London

The first time I ever paid for an online Islamic course was the very first Visionaire.

The first time I ever ate brisket was with him.

The first time I ever went to an escape room.

The first time I ever ate crab.

You get the idea.

He was someone who would pay attention to the minutiae of detail, to ensure your small time with him is memorable and beneficial.

I didn’t know him personally. These are just micro experiences from one random guy. At the macro level, the fact he was the first to do so many big things shows him to be a true pioneer, and those people are very, very rare.

That’s why the outpouring of grief that is flooding social media is so huge.

Everyone has their own way they’ve been touched or impacted.

One of the things people love, is an original.

An original Picasso or a Banksy is priceless.

A world-class superstar with a never-before-seen style like Muhammad Ali, Maradona or Michael Jackson.

Originals inspire us. They wow us with their innovation, creativity and impact.

They are rare breeds. These pioneers are big thinkers and often break the mould.

And it’s quite interesting for me personally in terms of my own mission, because I would argue that Muhammad AlShareef is the modern archetype of the type of person we need to be producing more of, if we want to eventually bring about a Second Golden Age. He understood (and mastered) both worlds of deen and dunya. He was a polymath, purposeful, legacy driven, a true lifelong learner (a voracious reader in particular) aspired for ihsan in everything, inspired, elevated and created leaders while aspiring for huge world-changing goals — and trusting wholly in Allah to make them a reality.

To end, a small anecdote. I remember I bought an album 20 odd years ago now called N.W.A Legacy. I still remember the insert — when you opened it up, there was an huge mind map/ organisational tree diagram looking at the original members of the rap group (Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E et al) and measuring the impact they had on the ‘rap game’. Almost every popular rapper from Snoop to Scarface to 2Pac to Eminem had links that all traced back to one of the original members in some way, thus showcasing their immense influence on the industry.

It’s a semi-crude example to borrow from for such a luminary but I would love to see a similar version for Shaykh Muhammad Al-Shareef in the centre, and his wide-ranging impact on Muslims in the West — and all of the seeds planted and leaders created by him or one of his ventures, across all the different spheres, from the Islamic sciences to dawah, business to personal development to relationships and what organisations, companies and leaders they’ve gone on to create.

He has left some huge shoes to fill.

But, instead of grief and despair that a ray of light for the Ummah has been extinguished, we should be proud that he had such a vast impact in his short time here, and that he has planted more than enough seeds to provide plenty of hope that the future is bright, insha’allah.

We just need to ensure we do our bit.