Dear Recent Graduate
Today marks the 10th year anniversary of my first university graduation. Little did I know I would be applying for another undergraduate degree, then going back to university to complete three post-graduate degrees. I did not know that I would later work at the University of Oxford, and apply to study there for a fourth post-graduate degree twice without success. I did not cherish it enough and realise the immense achievement that that first degree was in and of itself.
So, I decided to write a letter to my past self. Something I wish I was told on my day of graduation to reassure me that everything is exactly how is ought to be. To remove self-doubt, and to really congratulate me on the achievement. I hope that writing this -in retrospect ten years on- that it can offer some guidance and words of comfort for many current recent graduates.
Dear Recent Graduate,
You have come so far. You have achieved what so many others could not have never dreamed of achieving. Whether due to their own doing, or due to the current state of their circumstances and the opportunities that they have. We have to be clear that it is mostly due to the latter reason.
Do not take your degree for granted. It may have not been a “walk in the park”. The fear of failing was real, but was never manifested. The temptation to quit existed, but you overcame it. The thought that you made the wrong decision keep creeping up: whether about this whole university business, or more specifically about your particular course choice. It was all Divine Decree. There was a fleeting thought that you would rather give time and attention to your just learning about “faith”. Though you would then quickly learn that the whole journey of education is an act of worship in itself!
Abu Umāmah al-Bāhili (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The superiority of the scholar over the worshiper is like my superiority over the lowest among you." Then, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, Allah, His angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, even the ant in its hole, and even the fish, invoke blessings upon those who teach people goodness."
Hasan/Sound by virtue of corroborating evidence. - [At-Tirmidhi]
وعَنْ أَبي أُمَامة، أنَّ رَسُول اللَّه ﷺ قَالَ: فضْلُ الْعالِم عَلَى الْعابِدِ كَفَضْلي عَلَى أَدْنَاكُمْ ثُمَّ قَالَ: رسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: إنَّ اللَّه وملائِكَتَهُ وأَهْلَ السَّمواتِ والأرضِ حتَّى النَّمْلَةَ في جُحْرِهَا وَحَتَّى الحُوتَ لَيُصَلُّونَ عَلى مُعلِّمِي النَّاسِ الخَيْرْ.
رواهُ الترمذي، وقالَ: حَديثٌ حَسنٌ.
Go on. Go on and be proud of your accomplishment. You can go on and study more if that is your preference. Just do not underestimate this current achievement. Do not let the higher qualifications and the desire to keep on excelling and learning take anything away from the enormity of what you have just gained.
We all know that university was not just for the qualification and learning part too. You may have made lifelong friends at university. You may have even met your rest-of-life and Jannah companion there. You may have essentially begun to really discover who you are and what you stand for...
As you enter another phase of decision making for your next direction in life, you may be puzzled. You may question: how are you supposed to know what you want to do and be in five- or ten-years’ time when you do not even know what is to come tomorrow? You may not know what the world will be out there in years to come. I mean, how much has the world changed over the past ten years? Arguably, there are some advancements, but overall there are some scary “developments” out there. What is more important though, and will matter mostly in the end is: amidst all the changes in the outside world, I hope that you remain steadfast and that your internal world only continues to improve.
You may not know what and where you will be in ten years from now, and that is okay. The uncertainty should excite you rather than cause any form of anxiety. If in ten years’ time, you have surprised yourself. If you are in a place and position you would have never imagined yourself to be in when you first graduated. If the path still does not really make much sense. Then know, that it all makes perfect sense to the best of planners. For:
“Your place is where He has positioned you”
"مقامك حيث أقامك"
With education you have to be patient. It is a process. A journey of self-development. If you are just focusing on the outcome, then you have hardly learnt anything really. Pause. Take time to reflect on your journey recent graduate. Know that perhaps the biggest lessons you have learnt from this degree are not the ones that your lectures had planned for you…
And do spread the knowledge. For the charity of having knowledge is spreading it:
زَكَاةُ العِلمِ نَشّرُهُ
If you feel that you have had enough of that institutionalised structured learning, then fair enough. That is perfectly fine, and you should not feel any less than those who continue to gain qualifications_ sometimes forever. Just remember that seeking knowledge is a lifetime pursuit. You only really are open to learning when you fall in love with the specific act of learning. You do not need every possible qualification for everything you are learning to prove that you have learnt.
The most important lesson of all my dear recent graduate is: you cannot fast-track maturity and wisdom. Good things take time. And that is why I absolutely love the quote showing in the coincidental background of the candid photograph here from the day of my first graduation.
“You don’t get older, you get better” – Dame Shirley Bassey
16/07/2013 at the Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University
