Five Before Five #1

A weekly newsletter blending insights from western thinkers with the evergreen wisdom of Islam

The Origin Story

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have said: “Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your busyness, and your life before your death.”

Many generations of Muslims have used this guidance to prioritize their lives. These five guiding principles run the gamut of the human experience and sound like they could have been spoken by a 21^st century productivity guru.

Ever since I became Muslim at the age of 15 in 1994, I have longed to share the evergreen wisdom and beauty of Islam with a Western audience. Meanwhile, during the pandemic, I began listening to podcasts like the Tim Ferriss Show that shared insights, life hacks, and techniques of world-class performers. What struck me was the symmetry between the advice of Tim’s uber successful guests and Islamic principles that I had been studying for years.  

I knew I was on to something, but I was unsure of the best medium to share the harmony between Islamic and western principles. And then, during a long walk, an epiphany struck. I should start a weekly newsletter called “Five Before Five.”

The topics of the “five before five” hadith—youth, health, wealth, free time, and life—are the core of the human experience. Nearly all of what we read and think about fall into one of these categories.

The goal of this newsletter is to blend expert insight from western thinkers with the timeless wisdom of Islam by sharing a few links, articles, quotes, hadith, Quran, poems, and original writing that explore these topics every Friday.

Without further ado, here is the first installment of Five Before Five:

Take Advantage of Your Youth Before Your Old Age

There is a truism that says that youth is wasted on the young. As a teacher with more than 20 years of experience in the classroom, I have had a front-row seat to watch the remarkable highs and frustrating lows of adolescence. As a college counselor at a small Islamic school, I have watched many cohorts of students progress through the ranks from middle to high school before navigating the college application process.

There are two overlapping characteristics that define the most successful students:

1)      A passion for reading

2)      An intellectual curiosity that springs from within

As a teacher, my least favorite questions are “Is this going to be on the test?” and “Is this graded?” because each imply a lazy reliance on the extrinsic motivation of grades. Colleges, and indeed people in general, are not looking for academic robots but are rather seeking inspirational and passionate thinkers and doers.

The very first word of the Quran that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was “Read.” This same chapter (96: Al-Alaq) later states that God uses the pen to teach humanity what they knew not.

An innate passion for reading and ideas allows a select few young people to navigate the social media-infested waters and shoals of apathy in a way that keeps their pilot light of curiosity burning. But this quality is within the grasp of all.  

Here are five specific recommendations on how to take advantage of your youth before your old age.

1)      Listen to The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. It is uncanny how many world-class performers read this book when they were about 15 years old. It is a remarkably simple (if somewhat quaint) look at how unshakeable belief that “I can do it” is the thermostat that regulates what we can accomplish in life. Most young people don’t believe they can succeed at the highest levels, so they don’t. Firm belief, or in Islamic terms, imaan, triggers the mind to figure out the how-to.

2)      Read How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. This book delivers on its subtitle, “A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out).” Newport advocates for things like “The Law of Underscheduling” and the “Law of Focus.” He recommends that students pack their schedules with free time, so they have the freedom to pursue their true passions with a single-minded focus that eludes their peers who follow the well-trodden and grueling path of piling on extracurriculars.      

3)      Calibrate your Qibla. The Qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca that Muslims face during their daily prayers. Metaphorically, finding one’s Qibla means having a clear purpose and direction in life and doggedly working towards it. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone is facing their own Qibla. Make sure you have chosen wisely. One quote I have shared with students to help them figure out their priorities is by a 13th century Sufi named Ibn Ata’illah who wrote:

“Bury your existence in the earth of obscurity, for whatever sprouts forth, without having first been buried, flowers imperfectly.”

You can buy his magisterial Book of Wisdoms here.

4)      Explore my Medium article “30 Minutes a Day: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Stand Out in the College Admissions Game” in which I share actionable ways to build daily habits that will 10x your intellectual curiosity.

5)      Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I wrote this quote in a student’s yearbook. Years later, she told me it was the most profound piece of advice she had ever received. So many of us become so paralyzed by the pursuit of perfection that we end up stagnating and not making any progress at all. One of the gifts of youth is that no one expects you to have it all figured out. Revel in this freedom, and lean into the discomfort of being a beginner. Recite Rudyard Kipling’s masterpiece “If” once a month and assess how far along you are to becoming a “man, my son.”

Hope you enjoyed this first edition of Five Before Five! Please share any ideas for improvement or feedback about what worked.

Until next Friday,

-Hamzah