If there were two of my teachers who impacted me the most I would confidently say: Sheikh Hussain Yee, and Dr. Bilal Philips.
And here I am, in 2025, sharing the stage with them, as a moderator for two of the most important educators of my life.
SubhanAllah, it was such a huge honor, humbling and a surreal experience. It never crossed my mind that one day I would have an opportunity to sit with them together in one seating, let alone share a conversation about a topic which I am deeply passionate about: Nurturing a family life guided by the Qur’an.
Both Dr. Bilal Philips and Sheikh Hussain played pivotal roles in shaping who I am today in different ways, and it is through them that Allah had provided guidance in two important areas of personal development: character, and knowledge.
When I first attended his classes back in 2008, Shaykh Hussain Yee really opened up my eyes about our attitude towards the sunnah, constantly reinforcing the importance of adab (etiquettes) and practicing ihsan in all that we do. He constantly emphasizes developing strength in character to stay true to our principles, develop our resilience, to lead by example, rise up to our manliness by taking care of the people around us, and ikhlas in all our actions: do your actions consistently, even if no one gives you credit or appreciates you for it.
But one particular aspect of Sheikh Hussain character that left a long-lasting first impression on me was how he treated children. I noticed that he was always so friendly and joyful to kids, would spend time talking and listening to them just as he would any other grown-up, bearded adult. Before that, I have never met an ustadz who behaved like this with kids. Back then, my experience was that other Ustadz were often fierce, strict and not-so-nice to children, often seen as if they view children like a nuisance. But Sheikh Hussain treated them with kindness and respect, and you could see it in his actions that he was treating them like future leaders instead of a nuisance, and that inspired me, because I love kids!
Later on, as I learnt more about the biography of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ , the sunnah and hadith of how merciful he was to children, it was clear to me that Sheikh Hussain was a man who really walked the talk in practicing the sunnah. Little actions can make a lot of difference.
Dr. Bilal Philips was a person who had benefitted me a great deal through his, primarily through his courses at IOU (International open university), previously named “islamic online university”). He is so much more knowledgeable than people realize: He has written books, conducted entire semester-long courses on subjects like Aqeedah, Fiqh, Tafsir, Arabic Language, Sciences of Hadith, and get this: even works of fiction. When we were studying wthose subjects, some of his best works of tafsir weren’t even published yet!
Dr. Bilal really opened up my eyes on Islamic knowledge, appreciating the vastness and simultaneously the miraculous interconnectedness of the subjects. Two of his subjects that impacted me the most until today were the subjects on Etiquettes of Students of Knowledge, The Evolution of Fiqh (history of the mazhabs), Tafsir Surah Al-Kahf, Hadith on the Best in Islam, and his work on Usool Hadith, all of which really helped bring an elevated perspective and have a huge impact to me until this day.
And I am sure, there are thousands of others who have been touched by the work of these two great teachers. May Allah preserve them both and grant them continuous barakah and success in dunya and akhirah.
