“He who desires to see a martyr walking on the ground, let him look at Talha bin ‘Ubaidullâh.”
[Mishkat 2/566; Ibn Hisham 2/86]

Growing up, I was told stories about the greatness of this companion, Talha ibn Ubaid Allah. His wealth, generosity, chivalry and courage are just some of the things which stand out from his remarkable life.

I feel so insignificant when compared to his greatness. My parents named me after him in the hope that I could follow a similar path in my life, but as I stand at the feet of the mountain, I wonder what I could ever do to come even close to his greatness

…and yet all this is overshadowed by the shining light of our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ…

I wonder what will be our legacy when we leave this world for our children: global warming, exploitation of labour, WMDs, pornography, dysfunctional families… We need a modern visionary like Jesus ﷺ, Mohammad ﷺ, Talha. We need someone like Malcolm X, a man who rose from the gutter of society to bceomc the guiding light to take away the darkness within society. We need people to reform themselves before they can reform others. We need people who can unshackle the concept of materialism to put their own material pleasure and fame aside to work for the greater good of society

May God make us those people and make this generation the one which turns the curve around. Ameen