Five Before Five Podcast

Most Muslim communities don’t lose because they lack resources. They lose because they respond to resistance the wrong way. Not to hard opposition. Hard opposition is actually easier. You know what you’re dealing with. I’m talking about soft opposition. Polite discomfort. Procedural resistance that sounds reasonable on the surface. “We have concerns about parking.” “The schedule doesn’t allow for...

Earlier this week, I was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Islamic School of Rhode Island’s 8th grade graduation. During this special occasion, I recounted a pivotal encounter from my own youth—a bus ride that occurred when I was just a few months older than them—that profoundly redirected my path by introducing me to Islam. Finally, I gave five specific tips for students on how they can sa...

One of my favorite genres is “behind the scenes of my business.” In this vein, I like to occasionally share updates about my company: Five Before College . This week, we opened enrollment for a limited number of 1:1 coaching spots for the summer cohort of our flagship program, “Find Your Qibla.” If the last offering of FYQ was a spark, this time it has ignited a wildfire. For today’s newsletter, I...

There is a truism that says that youth is wasted on the young. As an educator with more than 20 years of experience in the classroom, I have had a front-row seat to watch the remarkable highs and frustrating lows of adolescence. As a college counselor at a small Islamic school and now an independent educational consultant, I have watched many cohorts of students progress through the ranks from mid...

The problem with bubbles is that they eventually burst. When this happens on playgrounds, the impact is minimal, but when bubbles burst in the housing or stock markets, the repercussions can be life-altering. Our planet is not so far off from being a bubble itself. The greenhouse effect describes how heat radiated from the Earth’s surface is trapped by greenhouse gases, thereby warming the planet....

Masjid boards have a lot to learn from Netflix. Google’s governance has a lot more of the spirit of the shari’a in it than some Islamic school boards. I know these words may ruffle some feathers but hear me out. The other day I was listening to a podcast with Reed Hastings, founder and former CEO of Netflix. He said something that really struck me: “To disagree silently is disloyal.” When facing a...

I have made more progress in achieving my life goals in the last two years than I did in my first 40. And today I want to share my secret. Du’a. Prayer is an essential component to all world religions, and it forms the backbone of Islamic practice. When most Muslims think of prayer, however, they are referring to salah, the five daily prayers that are one of the pillars of Islam. While salah is ab...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an email that made me $25k. Today I’d like to tell you how. For many years I had bought into the myth that pursuing humanities was a recipe for a meager existence. I didn’t just buy into it, I lived it. My first career was in Islamic Finance. I knew that my Harvard degree was supposed to unlock the “good life,” but I had my eyes set on the true prize of succeeding in...

I want to tell a story I’ve never spoken about publicly before. I have shared different portions of the story of my conversion to Islam in various places. You can see a fairly comprehensive presentation I did about it last Ramadan here: But none of these give the full picture. I became Muslim at 15, alhamdulillah. But I don’t think I became a mu’min ( inshAllah ) until 5 years later when I was a j...

“You can't create desire. It’s either there or it’s not.” This lesson—marketers can’t make people want something they have no inherent interest in—is the most significant insight I’ve gained so far from the biggest investment I have made in my coaching business. Last week I decided to reinvest most of my January earnings in a program called High Impact Coaching , which promises to help first-time...

Which of these college applicants sounds more interesting to you? * Faisal: He is taking an unprecedented 6 AP courses his senior year, and his report card is a sea of A’s. He is a member of the debate team and VP of the science club. Last summer, he took a demanding (and expensive!) computer science course at Harvard Summer School. To keep up with his taxing schedule, his days are meticulously pl...

Five Before Five turns one this week! When I was contemplating starting my own online business, I researched how long it would take to gain traction on the internet. The answer I heard last January: two years. I was told that if you put out high quality information on the internet every week for two years, you will have built a tribe of 1000 true fans , and you’ll never have to rely on a paycheck...

College admissions coaches like me don’t exist in most parts of the world. In other countries, the university admissions process is straightforward and transparent. Here in the States, however, the process is opaque and confusing. Contradictory advice abounds, and it is easy to get buried by information overload. Muslim families are faced with additional challenges. Even though their children are...

This week, I am trying something new: an audio version of the article, read by me. If you like this new feature, please let me know in the comments. Most of us are drowning in procrastination. It steals our dreams. Procrastination is delayed goals. It’s dying with a whole lot of wisdom inside of you that never gets released. It’s a silent thief of time leaving behind unrealized potential. I have b...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

Thanks for reading Five Before Five! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

Thanks for reading Five Before Five! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

Thank you for listening to Five Before Five. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hamzahhenshaw.substack.com