The Backstory

By Fouzia Usman

As my years of research unfolded, it became evident that Muslim children were growing increasingly disconnected from their religion, lacking the vital passion and devotion necessary for their future.

Determined to understand the root causes, I embarked on interviews with Muslim youth directors, coordinators, parents, young Muslims and even former Muslims. The weight of uncertainty for the future of Islam weighed heavily on my heart.

Deen vs. Dunya

As I observed the challenges children face in navigating their worldly pursuits of education and personal growth, questions arose.

Would they thrive academically?
Discover their passions and talents?
And, crucially, would they have the courage and determination to wholeheartedly pursue those passions?

In our Ummah, we have highly educated individuals, as well as religious scholars, yet there exists a disconnect.

Highly educated Muslims may lack Islamic knowledge or not practice their faith, while religious scholars may lack modern non-Islamic knowledge. This discrepancy is the heart of the problem.

During the Golden Age and the Ottoman Era, scholars and inventors in the Islamic world made significant contributions to knowledge and innovation without separating faith and secular knowledge.

They viewed the pursuit of knowledge as a religious obligation, seeing it as a means of drawing closer to Allah. Their interdisciplinary approach and holistic perspective propelled advances in fields like mathematics, astronomy, medicine, chemistry and philosophy.

The dreams of Muslim parents and their children are not always aligned.

I observed a cultural trend where parents imposed their own dreams onto their children without considering their true potential. I found myself in a similar situation, trying to conform to societal expectations.

My husband, a pediatrician, and I, a software engineer, initially wanted our children to pursue our dream careers. However, we realized the importance of igniting their individual spark and nurturing their true potential for a fulfilling life.

Unfortunately, many parents fail to do so, resulting in children being pushed into careers they are not interested in or not suited for. This scenario is all too common.

As parents, we often find ourselves in jobs we dislike, longing for weekends to escape the monotony. This cycle should not be perpetuated in the next generation. It is crucial to break this cycle and educate parents.

As I delved deeper, I discovered a lack of a unified vision between parents and teachers for the children's future.

Articulating a clear and inspiring vision to align everyone under a common goal proved challenging.

Both parents and children are missing the Jannah vision, as our lives become consumed by competition and a never-ending race. The solution lies in bringing parents and children together with the same Jannah vision, fostering a unified goal.

Through coaching parents from various continents in my Parenting GPS program, I witnessed their enthusiasm. However, they struggled to bring their children on board with the same vision.

This realization highlighted the urgent need for a system within the Muslim Ummah to break this cycle and unite parents and children with a shared vision and unified goal, just as our past predecessors did during the Golden Age.

On January 6th, 2023, I dreamt of Sheikh Muhammad Alshareef, preparing to receive a gift from me. The dream was filled with joy and an incredible atmosphere that felt remarkably real.

Shortly after, Sheikh Abu Muhammad, the father of Sheikh Muhammad Alshareef, reached out to me. He expressed appreciation for my videos and the message I conveyed to parents, acknowledging the positive impact it had on the Ummah. Intriguingly, I shared my dream with him.

Through subsequent conversations, Abu Muhammad, as he is affectionately known, requested that I seek out a school for young children, aiming to teach them about the Deen and instill within them a fervent passion for Islam, thereby shaping them into the nation builders of tomorrow—just as he had raised a nation builder himself.

It was an extraordinary synchronicity as, after years of research, I was nearing the creation of a revolutionary system to transform the teaching of Islam to children. Then, my dream occurred, followed by Abu Muhammad's request to focus on children.

It was an undeniable sign from Allah. Muslim Nation Builders was born at that very moment, guided by Allah and the alignment of my dreams, research and Abu Muhammad's call for action.