Know Yourself, Then Make Hijrah

Asalamu allayikum. Hello everyone. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. In this podcast, we talk about balance between dean and dunya, between faith and focus, how to reach a successful status in life using the Quran, how to make hij we're talking about every single thing that well is part of a barakafilled life. And to those of you who have been listening from the start, well, you guys know we touch on many many subjects. Uh we've started more about productivity. We've talked about religious topics. We've talked about hijra topics. And I wanted to give you guys the chance to post some questions. Maybe there were some specific questions that we were wondering that we couldn't cover in a particular episode or talk about it under a specific subject or topic. And that's why I wanted to give you that chance to check this to ask your questions freely. And I'm sure there are going to be more questions coming. But I wanted to dedicate this specific episode to to discuss your questions and so that you can get a better understanding of well what this podcast is about. And I've seen many of you ask the question specifically about hijra which makes perfect sense. I mean the majority of my audience is an audience that lives in the in non-Muslim countries and they have been or you guys you guys want to make the move and you guys want to jump the ship which obviously makes perfect sense. I would say it's about time. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through these questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities. And if there are any specific questions that you want me to focus a bit more on, feel free to reach out to me. You have me on Instagram, you have me on Tik Tok, you can even comment on Spotify, YouTube. Well, actually, this podcast is everywhere because we want to bring a Baraka life everywhere. So, without any further ado, let's address your questions in Baraka style. So the main questions I've been asked are about Hijra, about the transition period, and let's see what other questions I've been getting. I had some questions about country recommendations, which country I would recommend making a hijra to, the mindset for hijra. I have gotten some career specific questions and productivity questions. So here's what we're going to do. Let's take them one by one. I'll first start with the the obvious question which is the transition the transition from Sweden to the UAE. What do you expect or what can you expect? I'll tell you one thing. I'll be very very honest. This completely depends on your baseline. If your baseline is you are a father of three, you you're then your baseline is going to be not just your adjustment period and not just your transition period. You will need to take into consideration your wife's transition period and and for your kids as well. There's going to be a transition period for where you find schools, how to budget for tuition fees, are you coming in as an entrepreneur? Are you coming in as an employee? What type of employment? So, your transition period is going to defer greatly from someone who's recently married or for someone who's even single. Right? So the first thing I would recommend is what what you're going to expect is you you need to expect a difficulty level that is directly comparable to your preparation level. If you have prepared enough the difficulties that you're going to go through while still existing. You will still have difficulties. You will still have friction in your in your in your path. Don't get me wrong, but they will not slow you down as much as if you haven't prepared for this transition. Now for me personally as somebody who moved in well primar primarily and initially alone I didn't have to consider some of the other well due diligences that others have to consider like schooling for example tuition fees and whatnot. For me it was mainly finding an apartment and budgeting my life because I've visited the United Arab Emirates as a tourist. I've visited as as an employee even with the expenses covered, but I've never lived in the UAE. I've been here for a transition period to apply for my visa, but that wasn't still not the same thing. So, my adjustment period was very much a calibration period. It was a calibration period from number one from a financial point of view, from a social point of view, but also from an emotional point of view. Now, why am I saying all of this to you? The reason is because you need to understand that you're going to have challenges in the way and you also need to understand and this is I'm telling you this because in the beginning due to the friction that I felt and due to the let's say every now and then missing your friends and family in Sweden because it's very normal. I still do that. I still miss my family. I still miss my friends in Sweden. So in the beginning it took such a toll on me that I was literally considering moving back and the thought came across my mind every now and then but ultimately what I did is I decided to focus on this path that I took and alhamdulillah I don't I do not regret this one bit as a as a matter of fact I'm very very happy that I didn't second guess myself. So, and and the reason why I didn't is because I knew exactly where I was headed. I knew exactly what I wanted. I understood why I moved away. I understood what goals I have both in my dean and also in my dunya career-wise, my in my current employment, in my other plans and projects. So, I I had very clear goals as to what I would achieve. And I set myself or I I wrote a road map for myself that I was going to follow. Literally I wrote down exactly what goal I wanted to achieve, what I wanted to achieve in my career, what I wanted to achieve in my dean. And this is something that I am following up on. So it doesn't have to be crystal clear for you, but it needs to be clear somehow. You need and this is what's going to help you to focus on your goal. And this will also help you and ease the difficulties that you may face during this transition period. And this specific transition period, no, let's let's not call it a transition period now because I've already I've already moved. The first 6 months in the United Arab Emirates, I would say overall I had a positive experience and overall I still was convinced that I wanted to stay, but I wasn't as sure. I mean, I wasn't I still didn't hit the 100% mark as today I am. Alhamdulillah. Today, I'm not even 100% sure. I'm a thousand% sure. So the first 6 months definitely I was a doubtful person like I was still doubting the steps that I took. But alhamdulillah thanks to the action of understanding what goals I wanted to to attain and following up on them and holding myself accountable for these goals. Alhamdulillah this really really helped me in my journey. Other than that, I would say also it was a getting to know the country time and getting to know the people time as well. I was growing my network and my circle at the time. And alhamdulillah when I saw a fruition and a maturity in both of them. as in when my understanding of the culture and the people around me matured more and when I started to understand the or when I started to build a stronger and more impactful network that is when I realized that okay I am getting a lot more value here as in where I moved rather than if I was to be in Sweden it's something that I'm feeling today alhamdulillah so I would say the transition was not very difficult Alhamdulillah. Overall, if I look back to it, it had its challenges. But the reason why it was easier is because I prepared myself sufficiently based on my current situation and my future situation inshallah. And that is what I would recommend you dear listener and dear questioner is to prepare yourself. If you're undergoing a similar journey or you want to prepare yourself in the meantime, it's not too there's nothing that is called too early to prepare. It's never too early to prepare. You take the time that you need prepare yourself financially, mentally, physically, everything and with that take do it with the intention also prepare and purify. I would say prepare and purify your intention because at the end of the day this is an act of worship. Hijra is a it is an act of worship that was commanded by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and also by God Almighty. So you can find a commandment for that both in the Quran and in the Sunnah. So prepare yourself. If you do and if you execute, if you prepare properly, you can execute this properly. This takes me to the other question that I got which is what did I feel before making that step. And the thing is majority wise I actually felt very excited. I was very very excited even the year before while the preparation was going on. The only time I started second-guessing the entire thing was I think the week before that is when the jitters and the creeps started to appear within and when I started second guessing the things and you you could also call it somewhat of a reality check. I did get a reality reality check where I was questioning what am I going to do with how am I going to deal with loneliness in the beginning because I'm a very social person. I'm a person who loves to spend time with people but I'm going to a place where I barely know anyone. So that was something that hit me right around the time I was going to take the flight and leave Sweden. So right up until then, otherwise like I didn't really think about that. And everything has to do with how, like I said before, how prepared you are, but also how willing you are to take the step. If you've already had second thoughts in the beginning, then I guess you're going to feel this reality check much earlier than me. Because for me, I was I was blinded by the hype. if you want to call it that. And also at the same time, I'm born and raised in Sweden. I mean, Sweden was my comfort zone. So, it is very natural that if if I've been used to living in my comfort zone for 27 or so years, it makes perfect sense why I would want to or or why I would second guess leaving that comfort zone. At the end of the day, we have to tell we have to be honest with ourselves. If you're going to stay in your comfort zone, you'll never grow. Whether it's spiritually, mentally, physically, career-wise, I mean, whatever it is, if you're staying in your comfort zone, if and if you're willing to stay there for way too long of a time, you're not really growing or you're not really going to grow substantially. So, that being said, when I did leave that comfort zone, I of course had my doubts. Like I mentioned, I had doubts in terms of how will I deal with loneliness? How will I deal in distance? what how will I deal with the distance with a distance from my family and my friends and not only that I would even say whenever I would have a process related question something that is related to whatever I need to do visa- wise or for my finances or whatever whenever something was unclear and I'll tell you what I'll be very honest someone from Sweden coming to the UAE there are many processes that are extremely different from Sweden There are many processes in Sweden that I would say are more structured or more appealing structure- wise than in the Emirates. And the opposite is true. There are many processes in the UAE that far outperform the processes in Sweden. So you'll get both both worlds have their own benefits process-wise and bureaucracy wise, right? So whenever I would hit a hurdle here since I am well I'm going through this ignorance tax right I together with my doubts I would sometimes escalate this to a point where I say oh wow this is not a place I want to be and and it will happen a few times but like I said the way I dealt with doubts was very clearly I would always anchor my final state and my final feeling to my why. Why am I doing all of this to begin with? Why am I moving? Why did I want to move to begin with? And alhamdulillah, even though it was difficult in the beginning, it did become much easier. And I did get another question here, which is also also having to do with the doubts, but how can one stay focused navigating through those doubts? Honestly, it depends from person to person. But I can tell you some factors that do help. I have secondguessed my decision sometimes and there are different things that help me get back on track. Number one, I had a positive friend circle around me in Sweden that did support the move and do understand me. They know me as a person and they know my why and they know what I am trying to achieve. And with that, alhamdulillah, their advice always kept me grounded and kept me steadfast on my goal. So number one, and this is not just related to hijra, it's related to anything. Make sure that you have a positive, healthy, and god-fearing group of friends. Those three are mandatory. Those three criteria are mandatory. If you don't have that, find better friends. Honestly, besides that, what helped me stay focused is my understanding of the goal. The goal that I want to achieve. The goal that I want to achieve career-wise. I know that I will achieve it here far easier and quicker and in a more accelerated way than in Sweden. My goals in my personal project, my personal branding, it it is much easier here than in any other country. My dean, my practicing of my religion. It is far easier to be a practicing Muslim in a Muslim country. And by the way, I am seeing all of the content that is happening where certain people are criticizing certain moves to certain countries. Right? I'm not going to I'm not going to name any names, but what I mean with that is and this is my final take on such a question or such a doubt or such a criticism. Right? At the end of the day, at the end of the day, any place, any place where you can hear the aan, where it is easier for you to practice your religion and you are constantly purifying your heart and purifying your intention to the best of your abilities, you're already in a better place. It goes without saying because and as the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, God consciousness is here. God consciousness is here. Simple. So if you are in a place that enables and eases God consciousness, you have a net positive result wherever the place is. And you could even be in the holiest cities of Islam and you are not purifying your intention and you're living a corrupt life because you're far away from God consciousness. Hence, you're closer to corruption. And if you have a corrupt heart and you don't want to purify your heart and you have absolutely no interest in attaining God consciousness or getting closer to God consciousness, may Allah protect us and forgive us. Even being in the purest place on earth will not be the final help for you. So this is what I have to say about such content that is being spread. Anyway, moving forward to another question that I got actually which is about countries that I recommend for hijra. I'm gonna be very honest, but I can't really answer that question. I mean, I'll tell you what, there's only I mean, the only recommendation that I can give is based on my experience, and my experience is only here in the United Arab Emirates. And my experience can only be it's it's it's only connected to two things, right? It is connected to what's the the way I am living, right? and my conditions and my prerequisites because not everyone that lives here has the same prerequisites and the same how do you say advantages fair or unfair whatever it may be so I can't give you a general recommendation for moving here either to be fully fully honest I can give you a specific recommendation my specific recommendation is if you are a freelancer if you are an entrepreneur if you are a person who can accelerate their growth and are comfortable with fast-paced changes. And if we're looking at the employment side of things, if you're working in any of the STEM fields and same thing applies here, you're comfortable with fast-paced changes or can be comfortable with fast-paced changes and even volatile speeds, this place is the perfect place to grow career-wise. As far as the religion is concerned, it is a fantastic place to be here as a practicing Muslim. You can tell me exactly everything and anything about a what do we call it the materialistic side of certain cities, right? There are certain cities even within certain Islamic countries or Gulf countries that are going to be more fancy. They're going to be fancier, right? There are there is definitely going to be consumption of alcohol around you in certain Muslim countries. Yes, absolutely. That is very correct. At the same time, it is much easier for you to be a practicing Muslim because the identity of the place is an Islamic place. That will never change. Right? Even if you have some people or even a larger group of people committing acts of degeneracy, it doesn't even matter. Why? And this I mean this reminds of the two people that approached the Amir of the Muslims. Two of his sons both sent to Damascus. Both returned back with their findings and discovery and both had contrasting opinions and contrasting experiences and both of them were right. According to their dad, the first son told his father that this place is a corrupt place. There's only degeneracy. There is horrific acts being committed. There is I mean they mentioned everything that is horrible the the the one of his two sons and the father looked at him and said you're right it is exactly how it is and when his other son said honestly I have nothing but good to say I mean mosques everywhere you have you have religious people everywhere and lessons lessons of dean going in growing in in in god consciousness and the father looked at him and said the exact same thing you are right this is exactly how it Why? Because the heart is attracted to its nature. So if your heart has more corruption than God consciousness, you are going to be attracted to corruption. Okay? Sure, hate the corruption, hate the degeneracy. Of course, I do the same. Which is why I'm not attracted to it, which is why I don't hang around in those places. So if anyone comes to me and tells me, "Oh, you're you're living in a city where there is a lot of alcohol consumption." My answer is going to be, "I have no idea what you're talking about because that is not the circle that I am spending my time around." All right? That is not the thing that I want to do. Similarly, if someone comes to me and tells me, "Hey, there's a lot of promiscuous partying wherever you're living." I have no idea. That is not the circle that I am hanging around. Of course. But if someone comes to me and says, "Hey, your mosques are very luxurious and beautiful." I'm going to say yes. Oh, and by the way, the mosques in this city or actually in the country as a whole, beautiful. Like just stepping in on a Friday and as a perfume lover, by the way, as a as a perfume freak, I would even say entering a masid that has it just smells of burning incense and bur and rude and everyone else is rude as well. everyone else's freakish choice of perfumes. That is crazy. When it comes to perfumes, I love being associated with crazy. So, but that's a side note. If someone was to come to me and tell me about that, I will be able to reply to you and I can tell you in detail because this is the circle that I am around. So, like I said, you can say exactly anything about any country. You can criticize it. You can criticize a certain place. You can say that it is not Islamic hij whatever you want to call it. Right. I'm not going to sit and argue with you religiously whether you're right or wrong. I'm not going to sit and argue with you. Well, in in any way whether you're right or wrong, I'm just going to say you're right. Honestly, if you're if this is what your heart is attracted to, okay. If this is what you're willing to see, okay, the glass is either half full or half empty, right? We're we're just the ones who choose the way we see it. See what else did I get? Yeah, that was I just remembered the question that I got. It was about the choice of countries for hij. So like I said, yeah, I can't really give you specific advice. I mean, okay, you know what? I'll try to give you general advice. Beside the fact that hijra is an act of worship, it is an act of right. So that means that the baseline or the the intention I need to check my phone so that the connection with the phone and the camera is not uh off. The intention needs to be for the sake of Allahh. That's number one. So you're moving to a place where you want to practice your religion better. You can have side quests. You can have side missions. Yes. For example, career oriented life. Hell, if you want to have a luxurious life as well, I don't mind. Go ahead. Right. If this is going to be your goal, not everybody wants that. Not everybody wants a career oriented lifestyle or a lifestyle where you're chasing career goal after a career goal. Not everybody wants to climb the corporate ladder or to be a an independent entrepreneur and an employer of a team of x amount of people. Most people don't want or not most people sorry I'm not going to make an assumption of statistics. There are people who don't want that. There are also people who want to have a luxurious lifestyle. Fantastic. Now depending on your want but mostly your why. This is what can help you decide what country or what area or what place is most suitable for your goals. For example, there are certain countries where heritage community and a certain lifestyle is more attainable or the standard. Therefore, if you move to a country where people are just career focused and focused on entrepreneurship that there's going to be a mismatch. You're not going to be satisfied and you are going to feel the clash. There are other countries like for example in the the Gulf countries nowadays are very very they're very suitable for somebody who has a freelance entrepreneurial focus and a career focus. and career focus I would say even in certain industries not all industries there are certain countries that are more suitable for other industries right so for example I can imagine this is without me doing a deep dive search I would recommend you you to do that whichever country you're interested in moving to I can imagine that certain careers in or certain industries are a person who works in a certain industry or has a certain career in a certain industry it is more suitable for them to live in Turkey for example than in Qatar just to give an example, right? That's a general example. Similarly, there are certain industries that well, if you if you're working there and if you're developing yourself there, let's let's say in in this in the STEM area, engineering, medicine, science, tech, tech, definitely Dubai is is the place is the place. So, yeah, this is it's it's very much dependent on you, my friend, whoever asked the question, and thank you for the question, by the way. So I got a question here is what mindset should someone have when making the when making their hijra? It's a journey on so many levels. Literally it's a journey on so many levels. Why? Because it is not just a physical journey. It is a sometimes a relocation of priorities. I when I had this when I had the talk with the brother Darren from American in Dubai podcast or his his tagline American in Dubai we talked about the fact that you don't need to have a visa to relocate your heart and I stand by this 110%. Why? Because the first relocation happens within and this the first step of this journey is not a physical step. It is a mental, emotional, spiritual step. This is the first step that you take as in number one recognizing whether you need to move or not. Recognizing what kind of person you want to become and what kind of person you should be at certain stations. It doesn't have to be that you're a different person, but it has to be that. But it it it has it has to do with you being a person with certain perks and certain, you know, advantages, right? So start with that. Start eternally and you're going to realize slowly but surely that this is a journey that requires a lot of mental maturity. You need to be a mature person. If not, if you're not a mature person, you need to mature through the journey. At the same time, you need to have a strong mentality. You need to be very strong mentally. I'm a person who got I was second guessing many times. I'm not going to say that I'm I'm not going to sit here and make the claim that I have the strongest mentality out there. I am strengthening my mentality. Alhamdulillah. This is something that I am improving on. But what I can tell you is if I had a weaker mentality, I would definitely succumb to the pressure and Allah what would have happened to me. So with that the advice that I can give you is work on your mentality, work on strengthening your mentality and most importantly purify your intention. Then I got a question here. Do you miss Sweden? Of course I do. I mean I've I've even said that to Americans in Dubai. Of course, I miss Sweden, but I don't miss Sweden as a country per se or specifically I miss things about Sweden, right? The the the positive memories connected to this concept that is called Sweden, my my closest and best friends, my my my family, of course, memories with my family, uh be it when we were living in that place or that other place, right? trips that I took with the family, trips that I took with my friends, trip that I took even by myself, like whatever it is, right? There are experiences that are only in Sweden that I miss. Oh, and to those of you in Sweden who are listening to this kebab pizza, of course, good god, I'm coming to Sweden in June. And if there's one thing that I'm missing, it's that if we're going to connect something specifically to the country, what else? I mean not and this is in no way sponsored by the way but these are the things that I am missing if we're going to like say okay this is something that is only in Sweden sure you can use if I can use desert cart and order these Swedish drinks but it's not the same thing as you know going out a cold evening to the nearest uh kiosk or the petrol station or the the petrol station kiosk or whatever and then getting that cold cold noco drink. Yeah. Now those are things I definitely miss but mostly it's the friends and family. Other than that I mean I am very happy where I am. Alhamdulillah and to the point that I want more people to feel this which is why I'm making this podcast which is why I mean which which is why Hijra hacks exists to begin with. So to close us off before we end the podcast number one you have to understand that hijra begins internally and not externally. Number two hijra is a journey on many levels. It is a physical journey. It is an actual relocation, physical, financial, educational, whatever. But it's also a mental relocation. And this is a relocation where you will grow a lot as a person. You need to be prepared for the changes. You need to be the kind of person that accepts change. Accept change in terms of you understand that there are things that need to be changed. There are certain situations that you need to adapt or there are where you need to adapt. Sorry. And you need to adapt to you need to adapt yourself. I mean there are certain things about us that or characteristics or whatever it may be that we either need to acquire or that we need to remove and that takes time. So you need to accept that you can change as a person and that you have to change. It's inevitable. Every person has to change but unfortunately not everybody accepts that. And it is also a long-term commitment. It's not just a quick ex it's not a quick escape. It's not just, you know, you getting out of a hellish tough situation, right? It is a commitment long term. You are intending to build a future in whichever country you're moving to. So, with that being said, treat it as the most serious thing that you're going to go through. And with that, you will have the honesty. And with that, what will fuel this journey is the purification of your intention. Just like we were told by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam just like we're were told by the companions after him and just like we're told by the the rightful descendants and after the which is that if there's one thing you need to do if there's one thing you need to do constantly and frequently it is to purify your intention and this goes without saying. So, without any further ado, without any further to do. I think it's without without any further ado, right? Wow. Okay. I've been speaking so long and I'm partially sick. So, please excuse me to the point that I forgot how to say without any further ado, I think. Yeah. Anyway, whatever. That would mark the end of the podcast episode. Good for me and for you listening so far. Thank you so much for tuning in to yet another episode of the Baraka Blueprint podcast. If you like what you hear, please give me a subscription on YouTube if you want to follow for more fun exciting projects. Please leave me a review and subscription on YouTube and on Spotify, I was going to say, so that I know what I am doing that is beneficial and good or what I can do to improve this very important message, this uh crucial message that I believe is important to reach everybody, especially Muslims living in the West. I'm also on Instagram and Tik Tok if you have any questions, if you want to follow highlights of this podcast and if you want to DM me to have a if you have a quick question about be it Hijra or anything that I am doing in terms of career consultation and business consultation. So with that said, until then stay grounded, stay faithful and stay focused in Baraka style. Asalam allayikum.