 Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh I don't think my life is as adventurous as my partners here But mashallah what I can tell you is I'm the eighth out of nine children So I have got siblings a brother who's younger and three sisters and the other brothers are older than me From a very young age my father is a sheikh actually he was the Imam in the masjid in Zimbabwe and he used to teach Children the Dean and I think from the age of three I started learning the Quran Not because he sat me down and and and taught me but because there were children who used to come to the house and do Hif and I used to sit and I could read and I recall they there was once a Man who visited the house and he heard me reading so one day when we visited his house He wanted to tell the others this little boy, and I was only three. I think three and a half maybe he says this little boy can read and They told me come sit down They and I recall exactly what there was in their lounge And they may they seated me and I was a very shy person So I didn't read and I remember he said I'll give you one cent now one cent in 1978 or 79 Was actually a lot of money in Zimbabwe was stronger than the pound stronger than double the British pound I think and to be honest with you I Think we laughing because Zimbabwe and currency is cancelled at the moment We went into billions and trillions and non-illions and decillions I shift or Fik knows all that so what happened is For I don't know whether it was the same to whatever it was But I I read what I had known of my heart and I recall now what the verses were la qadana sara kumu allahu fee ma waatina kathiratin wa yawmahunain Those verses up to the end of that little his and I was just reading and continuing and they told my dad This little boy will be a half it, you know my father low profile. He said, you know, just make do our child But in the meantime he used to work very hard on me and I never ever forget the effort my father made on me from a very young age he was very patient although Back in my days corporal punishment was the norm You know when I say corporal punishment I mean to get whacked was a thing that was normal, you know, you expected my father used to call it charging the battery because whenever he Whenever he visited whenever he left the country. He also attended many conferences and you know, I'd like to think I followed in his footsteps So what happened is every time he comes back I would duck and dive because my hip would have become a bit weaker because I would you know You have to have that fear of someone in your life. I think well, it was it worked with me So that was my dad for me and he come back and I knew that day I would get whacked and The same day he would take out of his bag a toy every time he went no matter where he went He brought me back something not just me but even the my little brother Even if it meant of little value, but something was brought back So we looked forward to him coming back and we dreaded it at the same time So Alhamdulillah at a very young age I learned the Quran I memorized it with school You know, we come from a very Perhaps maybe I Wouldn't I wouldn't be embarrassed to say quite a low-income background in that sense You know a long time ago a lot of our fathers perhaps or grandfathers couldn't afford shoes That's not the reason why we're slippers today, but anyway Subhanallah What happened as a result is I started learning the Arabic language and there was the Arabic Embassies that opened up in Zimbabwe as we became independent in 1980 They collected their children and gathered in one embassy and started their lessons for the children of the Arabic embassies And I had the good fortune of joining them So from that young age, Masha Allah learning the Arabic language and you know picking up on so many things together with secular education in the mornings with the government schools and When I got to the point of getting to high school. I was Good I was actually of the good fortune of being accepted at college Which was considered one of the best in the country to this day It is considered one of the best in Zimbabwe, but it was a proper pure Christian college That we had that was the best option we had and Masha Allah I got into there I did quite well and when I completed Masha Allah. I was looking forward to become an Ophthalmologist and I had actually applied to a certain Academy in the United States before I had got the You know acceptance from them One day in the post I got an acceptance letter from Madina Monawara now I had already studied a lot of the Dean and a lot of the books with my father and as we were growing up He used to teach and I used to attend the lessons with him and I used to sit with him and he runs massive Institutions which today Masha Allah we are trying to run by the wall of Allah in Zimbabwe and what has happened is What did happen at the time is when this acceptance from Madina came through I told my father I said you know what I Don't remember applying He said well two years ago We had a few Masha who visited us and I just gave your name and you know We agreed that let this let's see what happens in by the time the application is approved Here it is approved and my dad says you know what? we're The ticket is there everything is there Why don't you just go it's a city of Rasulullah salam see how you feel and you know if you really feel you can't manage And you won't be able to then you can come back and continue with whatever you wanted to and If if you go according to what my plan is go and complete there And then you can go and do your medicine after that inshallah, you know So I looked at him and I said okay, not a problem. Let's see Madina It was exciting to travel by air and to go to Madina Munawara. This was in 1991 Just after that war had Erupted and so on so I pitched up Madina Munawara Masha Allah and I didn't look back by the will of Allah today Masha Allah You know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has Taken us places and we ask Allah to keep us as humble as possible and accept from us Whatever little he has used us to to do in the field one thing I want to make mention before I close check I was a youngster as I grew up at the age of about 14 to about maybe 18 I had a temper I Actually used to get angry at very small things I used to get upset so much so that people my in my own house You know, they didn't really mess with me so to speak because they knew this this guy's capable of breaking a window Or perhaps, you know, you look at me today, so I'll fix that window for you, but I Had a temper and I recall that when I arrived in Madina Munawara The way I was treated the day I arrived, you know people look at it as negative These guys to Al-Bukra, which means come tomorrow and everything is there You can see your name on the list. He says la to Al-Bukra, you know and you You But you cannot do anything about it nothing nothing you just have to digest for me that was training That was elimination of your temper. It was like him telling me come back when you're cool, and I'll still tell you Taal Shehar Al-Jai and it come back next month, you know at least he's saying tomorrow You know subhan Allah so to be honest with you I worked so hard because I complained to one of the Mashaikh in Madina Munawara saying what's the problem? The guy is reading the newspaper. He's drinking tea He just doesn't want to do what it's so simple. You know, what's all this? He says calm down. You need to know there's a dad this to Khalid There's things people are born and brought up in that system. You need to like the system or you're not gonna be able to Survive here, so I thought to myself. I said knife. I phone my dad and tell him I need to get back home because of this Subhan Allah. It's so such a weak excuse and then There was a Nustad and I even recall his name He a sheikh out of the shahrya. I don't know if you some of you might have heard that name Madina Munawara He was teaching us al-Bukhari and there was a hadith where he Reiterated the fadail al-Madina virtue of Madina and he says Inna al-Madina tataibatun ten fil khabath kamayan fil kheer al-Khabath al-Hadeed Madina is pure and it flicks away. It chases away. It basically kicks out the dirt just like the blacksmith or the Yes, the blacksmith would blow into the the ore and kick out You know the dirt and I that time I felt you know, maybe if I want to leave this place I might be a dirty person. That's why Madina is actually kicking me out So I'm gonna prove Madina wrong and I'm gonna stay here Subhan Allah and I was a youngster growing up and believe me. I worked on my temper to the degree that today By the will of Allah, I won't be wrong if I say it's quite hard to get me angry It's quite hard to get me angry You can you need to work very please don't try your luck But what I mean is you say what you want do what you want I just sit you know and I just look at you and things might be going at the back of my mind But I know I need to be in control of what I'm what's going on because you need to be calm and cool to have good health And to be a person who's a Muslim and live as a Muslim and so on la taqdab la taqdab la taqdab Don't get angry don't get angry. I calmed it down so much that today subhan Allah a lot of what I do I feel that if I had a temper I wouldn't I wouldn't have achieved my Allah grant us. Goodness jizakumul akhir