In the Name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

It was a privilege to address the Oxford University alumni community, graduates of an institution recognised globally for academic excellence. May Allah make our gathering sincerely for His sake and bless the time we spent together.

My message that evening centred on a single Qur’anic verse that provides both a descriptor and a mandate for the believers:

الَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَمَرُوا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهَوْا عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ

Those whom We establish on earth, they establish prayer, give zakāh, enjoin good, and forbid harm.

(Qur’ān 22:41)

This verse outlines the identity of a people empowered by Allah. When Allah grants them position, opportunity, or influence, they respond with responsibility. They build spiritual discipline. They strengthen economic well-being. They stand for what uplifts humanity and push back against what harms it.

In short, Allah does not empower believers for survival; He empowers them for leadership.

This principle forms the foundation of my own vision: to ignite communities that benefit humanity. It is what has driven my work for the past two decades and what carried me on an eight-hour journey to meet the alumni that evening.

Honoured With a Title and Trusted With a Legacy

Allah describes this Ummah as “the best nation ever raised for mankind.”

But this title is not inherited by lineage, location, or population size. It is earned through responsibility, because this Ummah carries something no other nation carries: the preserved legacy of the final Messenger ﷺ.

Our greatness is not in our name.

It is in our mandate.

We are a nation tasked with:

contribution,

direction,

service,

and preservation, ensuring this prophetic legacy reaches the next generation intact.

The Prophet ﷺ understood this deeply. Despite leading a people emerging from idol worship, he invested immense care into training his companions to carry this trust. They were not asked to abandon their strengths or professions; they were taught to anchor them in purpose.

This is the first lesson of nation-building:

Purpose must govern output.

A believer never confuses result with purpose, nor allows titles, metrics, or applause to define success. When a believer works, the heart asks only:

“Is Allah pleased?

Is my Hereafter growing?”

If our efforts are Allah-centric and intention-centric, even small deeds become monumental. Without that grounding, even monumental accomplishments become hollow.

The Sunnah, the Better!

The Prophet ﷺ did not only establish our why. He also shaped our how.

If we live for Allah, then we must live for Him in the manner He loves. The Sunnah is not merely a set of rituals; it is the finest model of integrity, mercy, strategy, professionalism, and leadership.

If we carry the prophetic legacy, then the prophetic method must define our ethics and our excellence.

Two Young Men Who Understood Deployment

To illustrate how purpose transforms potential into legacy, consider two examples from the earliest generation. Two young men who recognised that their talents were not personal possessions but assignments from Allah.

1. Musʿab ibn ʿUmayr (ra): The Ambassador of the Prophet ﷺ

Musʿab was raised in privilege: wealth, education, status, and admiration. Yet when he embraced Islam, he lost all of it. Rather than retreat into bitterness, he asked a simple question:

“How can I serve?”

When the new Muslims of Yathrib (named thereafteral-Madīnah) sought a teacher, the Prophet ﷺ sent Musʿab, not a senior companion, not a tribal leader, but a young man with emotional intelligence, grace, and wisdom.

In a single year:

he softened hearts,

guided tribes,

and prepared an entire city to receive the Prophet ﷺ.

When the Hijrah occurred, the Prophet ﷺ did not enter a vacuum. He entered a society whose spiritual, relational, and moral foundations had been laid by one sincere young man.

This is what happens when a believer understands deployment.

2. Zayd ibn Thābit (ra): The Guardian of Revelation

Zayd was barely a teenager when he approached the Prophet ﷺ, saying,

“Deploy me, O Messenger of Allah.”

He did not see age as a barrier. He saw an opportunity to serve.

The Prophet ﷺ directed him to learn Hebrew. Zayd mastered it within days. Then Syriac. He became the Prophet’s translator and scribe, and later the leader of the Qur’anic preservation project during the time of the firdt and third caliphs (may Allah be please with them all).

A teenager became one of history’s most important intellectual gatekeepers because he understood that every skill is a trust from Allah.

Here we learn firsthand about two young men.

Two different strengths: diplomacy and intellect.

Both were unschooled in formal religious scholarship at the time.

Both were deployed by Allah.

Both world-changers.

A Nation That Lives With Vision

A community that carries the final revelation cannot drift without direction. We must cultivate a vision, both individually and collectively.

Every believer must ask:

What has Allah placed within me?

What does He expect me to build with it?

What will the world miss if I am no longer in it?

Our lives cannot revolve around self-preservation or self-promotion. We are placed, positioned, and stationed by Allah for benefit.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us that:

أَحَبُّ النَّاسِ إِلَى اللَّهِ أَنْفَعَهُمْ لِلنَّاسِ

“The most beloved people to Allah are those most beneficial to others.”

(al-Ṭabarānī fī al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (13646), wa-al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (6026), wa-al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (861). Although the narration is graded weak, scholars still consider its meaning acceptable, as other reports support the sense it conveys.)

This is our job description.

Purpose Across Professions

For this Ummah to rise, it must rise through excellence in every arena. Not through scholars alone, but through professionals who treat their careers as assignments connected to Allah.

We need purpose-driven believers in:

Finance

To design ethical, restorative financial systems that heal rather than harm.

Technology

To pioneer AI ethics, cybersecurity, digital architecture, quantum computing, and data governance centered around responsibility.

Media and Communication

To craft narratives that elevate truth and dignity, shaping public consciousness with integrity.

Healthcare

To serve human vulnerability with compassion, research, and world-class medical excellence.

Humanitarian Work

To build sustainable, long-term solutions, not just emergency responses.

Education

To raise generations formed by wisdom, critical thinking, spiritual grounding, and lifelong learning.

Sports

To cultivate strength, discipline, teamwork, and representation that inspires confidence and unity.

Policy, Law, Education, Urban Development, Environmental Sciences, and More

Every field is a battlefield of ideas.

Every profession is a platform for da’wah through excellence.

The Ummah rises when its people rise, each in their own domain.

Deployed, Positioned, and Stationed

Your degrees, expertise, and networks are not trophies. They are responsibilities.

You are deployed.

You are stationed.

You are meant to serve.

So ask yourself:

How will my skills serve Allah?

What legacy will I leave behind?

How will my profession look different because I passed through it as a believer?

• If we are the best nation,
  we must live like the best.
  
  
• If we carry the Prophet’s legacy, we must build as he built.
• If Allah establishes us on earth, we must rise to His expectations.

May Allah make us people of purpose, benefit, vision, and sincerity, and believers who carry this Ummah forward with excellence.

Āmīn.