This world is not a place where people can be together forever.
If you want to live a happy life, don’t teach your wife how to drive a car or a motorcycle.
One of the greatest tazkiya (purification) of the nafs (self) is to part with your money and to give it to people who deserve it.
Allah (swt) by His grace has given you some ni'ma (blessing), some bounty. So, the best way to be thankful to Allah (swt) is to use that bounty and ni'ma to bring the people of Allah (swt) close to Allah (swt).
Whoever will give sadaqa, his wealth will increase.
I am a little boy but I am going to do something really big in times to come.
I have never seen a generous man go bankrupt.
Generosity always pays.
My wife obviously would like to have her husband right next to her. I keep telling her inshaAllah we will be together in paradise.
Now the canvas is not just my country Pakistan, but now the canvas is the entire world. Now the canvas is the entire ummah (Muslim nation).
Wealth is something that is closer to the heart.
Because I move around among people I get inspired by the people.
I think Allah (swt) has given me the ni'ma of this voice, for which I use for Allah (swt) and his Prophet (pbuh) to read nasheeds. That is a certain kind of music, which is pleasing in the eyes of Allah (swt) and His Prophet (pbuh). And if people can start listening to it, I think that is a great service to the ummah. Keeping that in mind, that now has become a priority.
Making music, creating lyrics comes very naturally to me.
My aim in times to come is not to just work with Muslims but to actually sing songs for everyone and sing songs in which people all over the world can relate to.
In the UK, most of the nasheeds that I did were in my native language, Urdu. Youngsters who could not understand the language came up to me... [and] said it was a great experience to just listen. That was actually very heart warming for me.
I read the lifestyles of our Rasul (pbuh) and the Sahabah (companions of the Prophet) a lot. I read the lifestyles of people who have done a lot for the people - of Muslims and non-Muslims [working] together.
I come across children who sometimes come up and say such nice things and it motivates you so much. They look up to you and they would sometimes say something so nice, something so beautiful.
You have a lot of children that come up to you... and their parents tell you, and sometimes even [the children themselves] tell you how much they love singing your nasheeds. It is a great source of satisfaction that even now you can make a difference in the lives of people.
Initially, when I was first starting as a musician, I was a very nationalistic figure and I used to believe in doing a lot of national songs. I would always have a national song in the albums I did.
I get to meet people from all walks of life, from all different countries, from different backgrounds.
I make sure the events I do have the element of entertainment that Allah (swt) and his Prophet (pbuh) permit. Having said that, I would also like to make sure they are contemporary and our children can actually relate to them.
The nasheeds I do are for children, the youth, and for the older people.
Why should I just limit myself to the Urdu language? Why not sing in different languages?
I read nasheeds (Islamic songs) in English, in Arabic. I read nasheeds even in Bangla language. Now I don't just travel to meet people from my own country but people from the entire ummah.
