5. Parachute
It was a big week. We had our Annual Benefit Gala and our Annual “Big” Field Trip for the Sanad Prep students in the same week.
There is so much planning and thought that goes into these events. However much you might imagine it to be, multiply that by two. With Muslim-led organizations, there are spiritual dimensions to vital considerations connected to intentions, objectives, finances, outcomes, promotion, content, time, and more. It’s exhaustive.
And when you are a founder, perceptions and responsibilities are magnified and multiplied.
For the longest time, many people thought my work with Sanad Trust was just a hobby, a really noble hobby. Something that I care about deeply but nothing that I would sacrifice too, too much for. After more than 13 years of effort day after day, year after year, I can’t imagine they still think it’s a hobby, but they are still probably confused about the sacrifice part.
Why would someone do this full-time, for so long? Especially when they have several other “good” professional options.
If I’m honest, sometimes I hear their thoughts. They’re loud and reverberate in my own mind. I used to dwell there, with them and their projections. But, not so much anymore. I simply don’t have the time to stay in that noise for too long. I am pulled now by a concern, a hope, and an aspirational wind that is oftentimes not in my control and out of my hands.
It is a wind that I have seen shared by others doing similar work, or with similar hopes, or similar dreams that are connected to responsibility, to family, to mortality, to Allah. Perhaps even you have felt it in moments of your life.
Often there is an urgency to the wind yet a calmness. And even where there are gale force gusts that yank you forward or pull you back, you find that you have still moved in the right direction somehow. (Sometimes it takes a while to get our bearings straight before coming to that realization.)
You see, a parachute is required when you embark on this work. You never really feel like you have your feet touching the ground. As much as I want that at times and as close as I might feel… a wind always lifts me away. And on the rare occasions where I do touch the Foundation’s efforts, it’s never too long. You are never really there in that moment of progress or achievement for too long. (That goes for the moments of regression and failure too, alhamdulillah.)
I imagine myself attached to this parachute grazing plateaus atop mountains…skipping along barely touching the surface before I’m lifted off as the next cliff approaches.
Hanging over valleys you study the terrain, you try to navigate, you learn to trust, and you look for the next place you might touch in your next moment. This is the life.
So whether you are a professional, a student, a parent, or a founder connect your parachute to sincere intentions and good actions, then allow the heavenly winds of Allah to push (and sometimes pull) you toward the direction of progress.
The work of Sanad Trust has left me no choice but to keep it moving.
– Rehan
PS: It’s humbling to hear that my words are resonating with other men and women, and helping others cope and better appreciate their own life’s journey. Please continue to share, it means a lot to me. May Allah bless everyone who has shared a kind word with me about Rehan.Climbs, ameen.
Rehan Mirza is an organizational psychologist, educator, and father. He completed his graduate studies at Teacher’s College, Columbia University in New York City, then spent formative time in the company of the students and scholars of Dar al Mustafa in Tarim. He has worked with the UNHCR in Geneva and taught social sciences as an adjunct professor in Miami. He writes, speaks, and consults on parenting, education, and institution-building. Rehan is the Founding Executive Director of Sanad Trust Foundation, a nonprofit that provides education, wellness, and community programs for children, families, and elders.