Seven Habits of Highly Successful
Muslim Youth
By Altaf Husain - Social Worker —
USA
You cannot escape it. The
discussion about habits is all
around you: Mom and Dad are
constantly telling you to break
your bad habits; your teachers
are telling you to develop good
habits; your friends are
pressuring you to adopt their
habits; and the television and
media are influencing you to
explore new and supposedly cool
habits. "You will never be
successful," the constant refrain
goes, "unless you drop your bad
habits and develop some good
habits." In the end, it's all up to
you. You have to decide what
your habits are going to be. Have
you given this matter some
thought?
If you are alive and breathing,
you should constantly be
engaged in an inner struggle to
develop habits which draw you
closer to Allah Most High. Success
in this world is directly related to
the strength of your relationship
with Allah. The farther one is
from Allah and the teachings of
the Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him), the
less likely one is to achieve
success in this world and, for
sure, even less likely to achieve
success in the hereafter. Is it not
time for us to reflect upon
Islamic teachings to discern the
necessary habits of highly
successful Muslim youth?
Here are at least seven habits
indispensable for highly
successful Muslim youth, derived
entirely from the Qur'an and the
teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings
be upon him).
Be Truthful
Being truthful is not always easy,
especially when we make a
mistake. We fret over whether or
not to disclose exactly what
happened. We sweat, we are
afraid, we feel nervous and
anxious. We are often afraid that
if we tell the truth about what
we have done or said, we will be
in trouble with our parents or
friends. What we forget is that
whether we tell the truth or not,
Allah Most High knows exactly
what took place, even those
things that were never manifest
or visible to people around us.
Despite how burdensome telling
the truth might seem, all of us
are aware of the feeling of relief
we experience when we tell the
truth, even if the consequence of
telling the truth is punishment.
Casting the telling of truth and
the fate of the truthful in terms
of profit and loss, Allah Most High
tells us in the Qur'an
[This is a day on which the
truthful will profit from their
truth: theirs are gardens, with
rivers flowing beneath — their
eternal Home: Allah well-pleased
with them, and they with Allah.
That is the great salvation, (the
fulfillment of all desires).] (Al-
Ma'idah 5:119)
So much is to be gained from
being truthful as opposed to
escaping punishment or blame
because of not being truthful.
Not being truthful, in fact, leads
us down a slippery slope,
guaranteeing that with one lie,
more lies must be told. Being
truthful is not an option for
Muslims, but rather an obligation,
because our goal in being
truthful is Paradise. The beloved
of Allah, Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon
him), said, as narrated by
`Abdullah (may Allah be pleased
with him),
Truthfulness leads to
righteousness, and
righteousness leads to Paradise.
And a man keeps on telling the
truth until he becomes a truthful
person. Falsehood leads to al-
fujur [wickedness, evil-doing],
and al-fujur leads to the (Hell)
Fire, and a man may keep on
telling lies till he is witten before
Allah, a liar." (Sahih Bukhari, Book
#73, Hadith #116)
Ultimate success is therefore
achieved by living one's entire
life — the youthful years, the
adult years, and the elderly years
— being truthful.
Be Trustworthy
Who do you rely on? Of course,
Allah. He is indeed the Most
Trustworthy. But among humans,
who do you rely on? Who can
you trust to come through for
you all the time? Do people rely
on you? Are you considered
trustworthy?Mov

ing ahead in life,
achieving ultimate success,
requires that people consider
you trustworthy and reliable.
Being trustworthy should not be
an arbitrary activity but rather a
habit so that you can be relied
upon in all instances, big or small,
convenient or inconvenient, easy
or difficult.
In colloquial terms, we often hear
"I've got your back," implying, in
the most literal sense, that people
cannot see what is behind them
so they need to rely on their
friends to cover that angle, just in
case a threat occurs from the
back. Just imagine what it would
be like if a friend were climbing a
tree and was heading out onto a
very thin branch to get a kite that
got stuck there. She asks you if
you "have her back." In this
instance, she is relying on you
entirely to hold on to her in case
the branch breaks. There is no
room for joking around or for
being distracted: your friend is
trusting you with her life.
When we say Allah is the Most
Trustworthy, we are coming to
terms with the fact that Allah
Most High will never let us down,
will never leave our side. He, Most
High, says about someone who
willingly accepts Islam,
[Let there be no compulsion in
religion: Truth stands out clear
from error: whoever rejects evil
and believes in Allah hath
grasped the most trustworthy
hand-hold, that never breaks.
And Allah Heareth and Knoweth
all things.] (Al-Baqarah 2:256)
Indeed, the prophets of Allah
were all trustworthy people and
Allah attested to the
trustworthiness of those who
were doubted by their
communities. Prophet Hud,
appealing to his community,
declared to them,
[I but fulfill towards you the
duties of my Lord's mission: I am
to you a sincere and trustworthy
adviser.] (Al-A`raf 7:68)
Practice daily developing the
habit of being trustworthy.
Accept responsibility and then
fulfill it. When others trust you,
do not betray their trust.
You can read in the beautiful
biography of our Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings
be upon him) how people used
to entrust him with their
valuables, knowing that upon
their return they would find their
valuables safe and unharmed. His
personal and business practices
were commendable to the
degree that he was known for it
in his community, even before he
became aware that he was the
Prophet of Allah, literally one who
is most truthful and trustworthy.
Have Self-Restraint and Be God-
Conscious
Perhaps the most difficult
challenge while navigating
adolescence is to restrain oneself
from falling victim to one's
desires — especially one's lower
desires.
Our success in life depends to a
great extent on how well we are
able to restrain ourselves and to
be moderate in what is
permissible, as well as how
capable we are of distancing
ourselves from what is
impermissible.
Why is self-restraint so critical?
Satan's goal is to make you a
slave of your desires to the
extent that you eat until you are
actually uncomfortable; that you
consume without restraint
beverages made of caffeine,
sugar, and artificial flavors; that
you find yourself longing for
sleep more than prayer; and that
you yearn to satisfy your sexual
desires. Developing self-restraint
as a habit entails making self-
restraint your second nature —
something which is done almost
without thought, without too
much effort. We are reminded by
Allah Most High,
[And no one will be granted such
goodness except those who
exercise patience and self-
restraint, — none but persons of
the greatest good fortune.]
(Fussilat 41:5)
In seeking to be highly successful
Muslim youth, that is, youth
deserving of the greatest
fortune, it is imperative that you
develop self-restraint.
An interesting parallel is that,
throughout his Qur'an
translation, the late Abdullah
Yusuf Ali translates taqwa as self-
restraint. While taqwa is most
commonly translated as "God-
consciousness," one realizes
without much effort that the
height of self-restraint is full and
complete understanding that one
is indeed conscious of one's duty
to one's Lord. How awesome will
it be if you can look back at your
life and say to yourself, all praise
is due to Allah that I did not
succumb to my lower desires
and instead exercised self-
restraint consistently!
Be Thorough
Look around your room. How
many unfinished projects do you
have? When you work on
homework, are you likely to rush
through the assignment just so
you can be done with it or are
you more likely to take your time,
to check your work, and most
importantly, to be thorough?
Often teachers will grade a
report based on how well and to
what extent the student covered
the topic at hand. Being
thorough is not a habit that is
developed overnight. The
opposite of being thorough is
being incomplete, being rushed,
and working in haste without
any regard for accuracy or
quality. The most perfect is Allah
Most High, Who perfected
creation, Who perfected our
religion, and Who guided His
Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) to be the
most perfect among humans in
behavior and in character.
We read in the Muwatta of Imam
Malik "Yahya related to me from
Malik that he had heard that the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace,
said, 'I was sent to perfect good
character'" (Book #47, Hadith #
47.1.8).
To be thorough stems from a
desire to be perfect to the extent
that this is humanly possible.
Seeking perfection in our actions
and speech from an early age
helps us to develop a keen eye,
not only for thoroughness in our
own life, but also for
thoroughness in the lives of
those around us. Being thorough
in prayer, for example, teaches us
to be patient and to concentrate
upon the words we are reciting
and the different positions of the
prayer.
Be Focused
One thousand ideas go through
your head the moment you stand
up for prayer. Is that you? Really?
What do you make of those
ideas? Do you process them?
What about when you are sitting
in class? Do you find your mind
wandering, daydreaming, and
unable to focus on the lecture at
hand? Are you likely to use any
excuse whatsoever to leave what
you are doing?
Developing the habit of being
focused ensures that you are
awake, alert, and totally
motivated to work on and
complete the task at hand,
whatever it may be. Being
distracted early on in childhood
by video games, fast-paced
imagery, and constantly
changing scenes on television
shows contributes to an inability
to concentrate, to focus. Among
the best ways to develop focus is
to practice praying with deep
concentration to the extent that
you are almost unaware of your
surroundings. Allah Most High
tells us in the Qur'an that the
believers are
[those who humble themselves
in their prayers] (Al-Mu'minun
23:2)
The humility referred to here
results from total focus and
concentration on the fact that
one is in the presence of Allah,
standing before Him, Most High.
Do your best to develop focus, no
matter what activity you are
engaged in — whether in prayer,
in academics, in athletics, or
some other pastime.
Be Punctual
Stop saying over and over again
that you are late because of
"Muslim standard time," or the
"standard time" of your
particular ethnicity. The last thing
we should attribute to Islam is
the notion that its teachings
somehow make us late, slow,
slugging, and anything but
punctual. What a sad state of
affairs, indeed, that we attribute
our own weaknesses to our
religion or ethnicity!
Highly successful individuals, be
they Muslim or not, understand
and appreciate the value of not
only their time but the time of
everyone else with whom they
interact. Keeping people waiting
for hours on end is neither
something to be proud of nor a
habit that has a place in the
mindset of a person who tries to
be successful.
One of the central pillars of Islam
is prayer, and Allah and the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) have
given us clear reminders that we
are to establish prayers at their
due times.
When `Abdullah (may Allah be
pleased with him) asked "which
deed is the dearest to Allah?" the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) replied,
"To offer the prayers at their
early stated fixed times" (Sahih
Bukhari, Book #10, Hadith #505).
If indeed your day is to be
considered successful, you must
have prayed all the obligatory
prayers at their established times
and as many voluntary prayers as
possible. If your day is planned
around the times of prayer, you
should not pray exactly at the
time when you are to pray but
then come late to all other
appointments. Being punctual is
a habit which, when perfected,
demonstrates to others the
tremendous value that Islam
places on time — not only ours
but that of everyone else with
whom we interact.
Be Consistent
Apart from all the habits listed
above, perhaps the one that is
sure to help you become a highly
successful Muslim youth is that of
being consistent. One cannot be
truthful one day and a liar the
next; one cannot be trustworthy
in one instance and totally
unreliable in the next; and so on
for each of the other habits. A
Muslim understands from an
early age that it is easier to do
something once or whenever we
feel like it but much harder to do
something regularly and
consistently.
Indeed, the Mother of the
Believers `A'ishah (may Allah be
pleased with her) narrates that
"the most beloved action to
Allah's Apostle was that which is
done continuously and
regularly" (Sahih Bukhari, Book #
76, Hadith #469).
Regular and consist actions
show that a person has thought
about it, has intended to do it,
has planned to do it, and
therefore does it.
We urge you to be as consistent
as possible, especially in those
areas of your life which need
constant improvement, such as
your prayers, your fasting, your
manners, your studying habits,
etc. Do not say, I am going to
pray all day every day, or fast
voluntarily all of the days of every
month, or study all night every
night, because such actions
cannot be humanly sustained
over a long period of time. Say on
the other hand, I am going to be
sure to read at least one part of
the Qur'an every day, or I will
strive to help my parents with at
least one household chore every
day, or I will try to study at least
one new item every week so that
I can be ahead of the lesson plan.
Conclusion
Finally, Muslims aspire to develop
all of these habits because, in
doing so, we draw nearer to
Allah Most High. If you are intent
on being a highly successful
Muslim youth, then you owe it to
yourself to reflect upon your own
life and see how many of these
habits are already a part of who
you are and how many you need
to further develop or acquire.
We end with a reminder that
developing these habits will help
you to emulate the life of our
beloved Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon
him). His message and his life are
summarized well in a narration
of `Abdullah ibn `Abbas:
Abu Sufyan told me that Heraclius
said to him, "When I enquired of
you what he (Muhammad)
ordered you, you replied that he
ordered you to establish the
prayer, to speak the truth, to be
chaste, to keep promises, and to
pay back trusts." Then Heraclius
added, "These are really the
qualities of a prophet." (Sahih Al-
Bukhari, Book #48, Hadith #846)
Strive to develop the seven habits
listed above and many others
from the Islamic teachings so
that you will be among the highly
successful Muslim youth.