As-salaamu alaikum,
Tonight's video ended with something I want to sit with a little longer in the email:
The shade you leave is already needed.
That line is not poetry. It is a description of reality. There are people — some of them not yet born — whose lives will be shaped by what you plant now. Tonight, I want to go deeper on what that means and how to take it seriously.
What Islam actually says about legacy
The video tonight focused on the contrast between the world’s version of legacy and Allah’s version. In the email I want to give you the full Islamic framework — because there is more in Islam on this topic than any single video can hold.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “When a person dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: sadaqah jariyah — ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him.” (Muslim)
Three things survive death. Let me break each one down in a way that is relevant to where you are right now.
Sadaqah jariyah — ongoing charity. This is the most commonly understood form of legacy in the Islam. A well dug, a masjid built, a school funded. But the principle is broader than the classic examples suggest. Any resource you put into something that continues to benefit people after you are gone — that is sadaqah jariyah. The health fair you organize that becomes an annual event. The food bank you start that feeds families for years. The curriculum you develop that teachers use long after you’ve moved on. The principle is: put something into the world that keeps giving, no matter how small you think it to be.
Knowledge that is benefited from. This is Muhammad al-Shareef’s primary legacy. He taught. His students carried what they learned into their lives, their careers, their families, their communities. Some of those students taught others. The knowledge he transmitted is still moving through people he never met — rippling outward through a chain he started and could not have fully imagined.
You do not need to found an institute. You need to share what you know — genuinely, carefully, with the intention that it benefits the person receiving it, purely for the sake of Allah. A conversation that changes how someone thinks. A book recommendation that opens a door. An explanation of something Islamic to a friend who was confused. Knowledge passed on, with sincerity, is sadaqah jariyah.
One very beautiful example of this happened when a brother I know went to central America with others who wanted to give dawah. He was relatively new and didn’t know as much as they did, and he didn’t know much spanish. So, he decided that every person who accepted Islam on that journey, he would teach them to say bismillah. His reasoning was that as Muslims, they would say bismillah literally tens of times a day, at least, and he wanted to share in that reward. That is what I call a shrewd investor!
A righteous child who prays for you. This is the legacy that most directly involves the next generation — and it is perhaps the most humbling of the three. The child who prays for their parent after death is the product of what that parent planted in them. The du’a of a righteous child is a gift that keeps arriving long after you are gone.
You may not have children yet. But you are someone’s child. And the du’a you make for the people who planted in you — your parents, your teachers, the people whose knowledge and character shaped yours — is someone else’s sadaqah jariyah arriving right now. Make that du’a tonight and make it a habit.
The Sheikh Muhammad al-Shareef lesson — what I learned watching him build
I want to go a little deeper on what I observed in Sheikh Muhammad al-Shareef — because I think there are specific lessons in how he built that are worth naming explicitly.
He saw a gap. Islamic knowledge was transformational — he knew this from his own experience at Madinah. But it was inaccessible to most Western Muslims who had jobs, families, and couldn’t take years off to study abroad. He didn’t complain about the gap or wait for someone else to fill it. He designed something to fill it.
The Al-Maghrib model — weekend seminars, traveling faculty, serious scholarship made accessible — was not the obvious solution. It required imagination, risk, patience and the willingness to build something that didn’t exist yet. He was in his twenties when he started. He had no guarantee it would work.
It worked because he built it for the right reason. Not for recognition — though recognition came. Not for income — though the institute eventually sustained itself. For the transformation of the people sitting in those rooms. That was the metric. That was always the metric.
And here is what I noticed when I met him in London: he was genuinely excited about the students. Not about the institute as an institution. About the specific human beings whose lives were changing. That orientation — toward the person, not the platform — is, I believe, what Allah put barakah in.
Build for the person in front of you. Not for the institution you’re building. The institution is the means. The person is the point.
The Sulayman lesson — asking boldly
I also want to say something about the du’a of Sulayman ﷺ that the video didn’t have time for — because I think it has a specific application to how you make du’a about your legacy.
Sulayman asked specifically. He didn’t make a vague du’a for blessings or success. He asked for a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Specific. Bold. Unprecedented.
And Allah gave it to him.
The scholars note that Sulayman’s request was immediately preceded by an act of worship — he had been standing, testing and inspecting his horses, and when the sun set he had missed his ‘asr. He turned back to Allah in repentance and then made his request. The request came from a heart that was already turned toward Allah — not from a heart seeking its own glory.
That sequencing matters. The bold du’a for legacy is not the du’a of the arrogant person seeking recognition. It is the du’a of the person already turned toward Allah, asking Him to enable them to do something significant for His sake.
So here is the practice: turn toward Allah first. Repent of whatever needs repenting. Orient your heart toward Him. And then ask — specifically, boldly, with full sincerity — for the legacy He would give you. Name it. Ask for it by name. Ask for it repeatedly.
Al-Wahhab — the Bestower — gave Sulayman a kingdom no one else has ever had. He can give you what you need to plant your tree.
And on another note, this was also something Muhammad al-Shareef was well known for. Some of you may not know this, but after al-Maghrib took off and had its own staffing, he let go and turned his attention elsewhere. This is the mentality of the builder who wants to keep building for the sake of Allah. So, where did Muhammad al-Shareef turn his attention? To teaching people the power of du’a, and to summarize his teachings in the most concise manner, he taught people to make their du’a specific, not vague, and then to plan for the acceptance.
If you made du’a that Allah blesses you with a child, then go out and start getting the clothes and the crib. And this applies to legacy just as well. Make that du’a, make it specific, keep making it, and plan for it to happen.
The quiet majority — the legacy most worth leaving
I want to return to something from the video that I think deserves more attention — the observation about the majority of Al-Maghrib students who went on with their lives quietly, but were transformed.
They didn’t become scholars. They didn’t become famous. Most of them you will never hear of. But they approached their careers differently, raised their children differently, interacted with society differently — because of what they learned.
That is the legacy I want you to aspire to. Not the famous legacy — remembering that fame is actually something the righteous ran away from due to the serious harm it has on a person’s deen. The quiet legacy. The transformed life that transforms other lives. The parent whose children grow up with taqwa because of what they were taught. The doctor who treats every patient as an act of khilafah. The teacher whose students remember one thing they were told that changed how they saw the world.
The quiet majority of Al-Maghrib students — the ones nobody knows — are, in aggregate, the most important part of Muhammad al-Shareef’s legacy. Because they are the shade. The spreading, unglamorous, ordinary shade of a tree that keeps growing.
That shade is what the world actually needs. Not more famous people. More transformed ones.
Tonight’s journaling prompts
Prompt 1: The sadaqah jariyah inventory. Which of the three forms of ongoing legacy — ongoing charity, knowledge passed on, righteous child — do you feel most drawn to? What would it look like to begin building that form of legacy now, in this season of your life?
Prompt 2: The gap you see. What gap do you notice — in your community, your school, your masjid, your city — that nobody is filling? Sheikh Muhammad al-Shareef saw a gap and designed something to fill it. What gap are you positioned to address? Name it specifically.
Prompt 3: The tree you’re already planting. Is there something you are already doing — however small, however unglamorous — that could be a tree whose shade others will sit in? Name it. Recognize it as legacy already in progress.
Prompt 4: The Sulayman du’a. After your next salah, turn toward Allah in repentance and gratitude. Then ask — specifically, by name, boldly — for the legacy you want to build. Don’t be vague. Tell Allah exactly what you want to plant and ask Him to give you what you need to plant it.
Prompt 5: The person to honor. Tonight’s comment prompt asked you to name someone whose legacy shaped you. Do that here too — in writing, in your journal. Name them. Describe what they planted in you. And then make du’a for them — because your du’a is their sadaqah jariyah arriving right now.
Resources
Surah al-Mulk 67:1-5 — read the full opening of the surah in which tonight’s anchor ayah appears. The context of ahsanu amala — the best of actions — illuminates what legacy built for Allah looks like
Surah Sad 38:30-40 — the full account of Sulayman's ﷺ request and Allah’s response. Read it with tafsir — Ibn Kathir’s commentary on 38:35 is particularly worth reading for the context of the request
The concept of sadaqah jariyah — search for Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen's commentary on the hadith of the three ongoing deeds. His treatment of the breadth of what qualifies as sadaqah jariyah is practically very useful
Al-Maghrib Institute — visit almaghrib.org in memory of Sheikh Muhammad al-Shareef and what he built. Read about the courses, the faculty, the model. Let it inspire you to think about what you could build, and consider taking some of their courses. I believe that you will quickly find benefit insha Allah.
Productive Muslim by Mohammed Faris — a contemporary, Islamically grounded treatment of building a life of meaningful contribution
One more thing
Sheikh Muhammad al-Shareef, rahimahu Allah, went back to Allah at forty-seven. I did not know, the last time I saw him in London, that it would be the last time I ever saw him alive, subhan Allah. You never know which conversation is the last one. You never know how much time you have.
But you know this: whatever time you have is enough to plant something. Even if the Hour is upon you — plant it.
The shade you leave is already needed. And Al-Wahhab is waiting for you to ask.
My inbox is open. Just reply.
May Allah give us each a legacy that outlasts us, and accept it from us as an act of worship. Ameen.
— Dr. Ali