Don't Let Shaitan Tell You It Doesn't Work

Most brothers join IMA to escape something.

A dead-end job. A capped income. A schedule that's eating them alive.

Ensar joined to get somewhere.

He's 24 years old, Turkish, living with his parents in Germany. And if you ask him what he actually wants from life, the answer has nothing to do with money.

He wants to study at the Islamic University of Madinah.

He's memorising Qur'an. He's taking Arabic lessons five days a week. He's applied to Madinah and Qasim, and he's spoken to his shuyukh about the path ahead. Marriage and hijrah are on the list too, in their proper order.

There's just one problem with that dream, and every brother who's ever seriously considered seeking knowledge knows exactly what it is.

Someone has to pay for it.

The Starting Point

Before IMA, Ensar's life was simple.

He'd dropped out of university. He worked at his brother's company, driving sick and elderly people to their hospital appointments and back. The kind of patients who can't manage stairs, so you carry them.

Honest work. But not a future.

And when it came to business, he was a total beginner. His words, not mine.

No business experience. No marketing knowledge. Nothing.

He used to watch YouTube videos about hijrah, following a brother who had moved to Oman, dreaming about a life in a Muslim land. And in one of those videos, that brother mentioned IMA.

The Decision

Here's what I want you to notice about how Ensar joined, because it's the same pattern I see in almost every student who wins.

He had some money saved. Not a lot.

And instead of spending three months debating with himself, his logic was simple: worst case, I work a month or two and earn it back. This is not a life-ending decision. Stop overthinking it.

In his own words: "Okay, khalas, Ensar. Don't think too much about it. You go all in now."

He'd seen the case studies. He'd looked at the concept. He knew brothers were making it work.

So he committed.

He even came in with his own business idea, he wanted to sell abayas. Our team told him honestly that it wasn't the move, and pointed him at the model that actually works. He listened.

Two Months In

Ensar started as a course only student.

No private coach. Just the training, the community, and the open Q&A calls.

And I want to share how he described that experience, because a lot of brothers assume that without one on one coaching, you're on your own.

He said the course gave him structure. He knew what to do. He felt taken care of, because any time he had a question, there were calls he could jump on any day of the week and ask as many times as he needed.

A lot of the time he didn't even watch the videos. He read the summaries, filled in the gaps himself, and got to work.

Two months after joining, he closed his first deal. $2,300.

By December, he was at around $18,000 in deals at roughly 33% profit, posting in the community that "istighfar, dua and putting in some work is like a cheatcode."

Today he's closed five deals for around $35,000 in revenue and $15,000 to $20,000 in profit.

As a beginner. Who drove patients for a living. Working from his parents' house.

Allahouma barik.

The Day Everything Was "Trash"

I'd be lying to you if I said it was a smooth ride.

Ensar hit walls. His niche was narrow, and there were stretches where he couldn't find new brands no matter where he looked.

He had a day, he told us about it openly where the voice in his head was saying: the niche is trash, everything is trash, the brands are trash.

Every student has that day. What matters is what you do on it.

Here's what Ensar did. He turned the accusation back on himself: "Okay, you're the problem. Just look for more. Be more creative. Look for other ways. But get it done."

Then he had sabr for a few more weeks. More dua. More istighfar.

And the results came, SubhanAllah.

Later, when it was time to scale, he upgraded to one on one coaching and expanded into a bigger niche and he'll tell you the coaching taught him to see deals from angles he never considered. But the foundation was built the same way everything in this business is built.

Volume, sabr, and refusing to quit on the hard days.

What He's Actually Working Toward

When our team asked Ensar what he needs the business to do for him, his answer wasn't a Lamborghini number.

He wants two or three long term brand partnerships generating stable monthly income. Enough that he can sit in Madinah, in shaa Allah, and study in peace.

He put it plainly: even 1.5k a month, and "you live like a king" in some Muslim countries.

Understand what's happening here.

This is a brother using business the way it's meant to be used. Not as an identity. Not as a dunya obsession. As a tool that buys him the freedom to seek knowledge, get married, and make hijrah without begging anyone.

The job driving patients could never travel with him.

This business fits in a backpack, and it will land in Madinah the same day he does.

And one more thing. Through one of our community contests, Ensar's results earned him a water well, built under his family's name.

A sadaqah jariyah, flowing for people he'll never meet, earned through emails sent from his bedroom in Germany.

That's the kind of wealth worth chasing.

The Advice Every Hesitating Brother Needs to Hear

Before we finished our conversation with Ensar, we asked him what advice he'd give to other students.

"Once you are actually sure that this works, don't let the shaitan come in later and tell you that it doesn't work. You decided to do it after you knew it works. So don't let the shaitan tell you afterwards that it doesn't. You have the blueprint. You just have to follow the steps. After that, it's just upon you to have sabr and persevere."

Read that again, because it's not just advice about business.

Shaitan doesn't usually attack you before the decision. He attacks you after it. When the first month is slow. When a deal falls through. When the doubt creeps in at 1am and whispers that everyone else is different from you.

Ensar's answer to that whisper was more istighfar, more dua, and more work.

May Allah accept him into the university, preserve his hifdh, and put barakah in everything he builds.

Barakallahufik,

Abu Lahya