5 Things You Can Do For Yourself In 2026

Recently I attended a job fair organized at a Chicago-area masjid. Also attending were about 150 young graduates with bachelor’s and master's degrees; some also had professional degrees and experience. I, together with other Sound Vision team members, interviewed perhaps half of them. We went through their bios as well. Something became very evident to all of us: they were not aware of the workplace havoc caused by the sudden, rapid growth of AI.

Allah has put this world, the Dunya, first, so let’s talk about our economic wellbeing first. Based on current data as well as projections, our economic conditions and the marketplace are going through rapid disruptions due to AI, economic changes, demographic changes, and evolving workplace expectations.

According to the World Economic Forum, people will require significant reskilling, as 39% of workers’ core skills change. More new jobs will be created by 2030 than lost. The category you will be in depends on your capacity for reskilling.

Let’s listen to God Almighty Who wants us to live a thoughtful life, full of hope, working for the future of this world and the hereafter.

“You who believe! Be mindful of God, and each one of you must consider carefully what you send ahead for tomorrow; be mindful of God, for God is well aware of everything you do.” (Quran 59:18).

Taking charge of our lives for the better can only happen when we think and plan carefully. We need to determine how we intend to spend our most precious resource—time—along with all of the other resources God has provided for us. 

With 2026 being a critical year for democracy in the United States and our rights, we must become better neighbors and better citizens. Ensuring the wellbeing of all through establishing justice was the mission of Prophet Muhammad, God’s peace and blessings be upon him. What is your mission in life? Zohran Mamdani has shown that demonstrating our concern for all, through affordability, is a winning strategy.

Let’s take charge of ourselves, succeed in this world, and ensure a lasting place in Jannah where water flows beneath our homes, as promised to us by our Creator. 

1. Increase the time you spend developing yourself

Each dua we make should not just stand alone, but instead must become part of an intentional plan to achieve the object of our prayers. Our prayers are not only an expression of our desires but also of our goals. The most common Dua (supplication) Muslims make is

Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire (Quran 2:201).

Given that we are asking God for the best of both worlds, we must plan for both worlds as well.

While you know yourself best, there is nothing wrong with using some tools to help you think and plan. For example, Gemini is a good AI tool that can help you think through an idea. 

When researching, think of your children, their education, and their future as well.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Have I developed any new skills or knowledge since last year?
• Am I making more money than last year?
• Am I satisfied with my contribution to society?
• Do I have more friends today than last year?
• Am I a better Muslim, better neighbor, and better citizen today than last year?
• Are my deeds leading me on the straight path to Jannah?

Aspects to consider as you develop plans focusing on yourself:

Future of your job and business. The world of jobs and business is undergoing a rapid transformation. It is driven by a confluence of technological advancements, AI, economic shifts, and changing workforce expectations. A McKinsey report projects that by 2030, 30% of current U.S. jobs could be automated, with 60% significantly altered by AI tools. Compared to those with high salaries, low-wage workers are 14 times more likely to need to change careers. Most will need to learn new skills to do this. 

• A question to Gemini can generate a good summary analysis of the future. Ask, for example, what businesses will thrive in the future. How your family, or your not for profit should plan in view of the future changes.
• But human analysis and reports are also available regarding what skills will be in demand in the next few years. What businesses will thrive, and what job openings will be available? Research before planning. Here are the fastest growing occupations according to the US Government. Here is the US Chamber of Commerce with 55 business ideas. 
• Think about your children’s future as well. Here is Uncle Sam’s advice based on education and job opportunities.

Learn communication skills. Communication was one of the major success strategies of the Prophet, peace be upon him. Communication skills are a key ingredient in achieving a harmonious family life, being successful in your career or business, and being a good citizen. 

• Learn the art of video production by using your phone and computer. 
• Become a YouTuber for your masjid. 
• Become a citizen reporter. 
• Start a Toastmasters club in your library. 
• Become a reporter for the daily Muslim News. 
• Sign up for writing and speech classes.
• Have your Masjid start classes on interpersonal communication, writing, speech and accent improvement.
• Check out your local library or community college for free or low-cost classes and seminars. If unavailable, request that they start one.
• With the help of your librarian, a mentor, or an Internet search, develop a reading list on communication skills.
• Read, read and read some more instead of doomscrolling or watching too much entertainment. 
• Write letters to the editor, op-eds, and commentaries.
• If you are a student, no matter what your major, take some courses in writing, public speaking, journalism, audio/video or multimedia production, etc.
• Consider switching your major to journalism, broadcasting, creative writing or at least make these programs your minor.
• Organize your family to write a book together.
• Have a monthly family circle in which creative writing is shared or a presentation is made.

Learn leadership skills. This includes learning how to manage our time as well as managerial skills. Muslims are in dire need of these skills, whether it be in our personal lives, mosques and Islamic centers, or in youth groups. The need to lead our communities so that we become better contributors to society and can better defend our rights has never been so important. Ask ChatGPT how to develop leadership skills. It may help you develop a 30-day plan.

Strengthen Your Family. Muslim marriages are at risk. Today, about 34 percent of Muslim marriages in North America end in divorce. So if you’re thinking of getting married, learn marriage skills from the resources available. 

• If you’re already married, sit down with your spouse today and honestly discuss the state of your marriage as well as how it can be improved.
• Be ready to seek help by attending counseling with a trusted professional who understands your Islamic values as an individual, a couple, or a family. 
• Subscribe to the weekly Muslim Home Newsletter produced by Sound Vision which comes every Wednesday. It is loaded with tips to strengthen Muslim families.

Dua: Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire (Quran 2:201)

2. Connect with your neighbors

Muslims, Jews, Christians and others working together brought the issue of Palestine to America’s consciousness. Ahmed al-Ahmed risked his life in Australia to save the lives of Jews, and in doing so wiped out the potential ill effects of Islamophobia in the wake of the attack. Allah encourages us to work for common good. Working for the common good is not possible if we keep to our individual, isolated lives, which unfortunately has become the norm in our society. 

Like us, our neighbors spend more time online than with other people. Generally, online content exaggerates, distorts, preaches bad news about you, which fuels Islamophobia.

But when neighbors meet each other, they see each other’s humanity, connect with each other. 

What kind of relationship do you have with your neighbors? Consider this Hadith: Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, once said,

"The angel Gabriel kept insisting about the kind treatment of neighbors to the extent that I thought he would assign a share of one’s inheritance to neighbors" (Bukhari and Muslim).

In the modern world, we can think of neighbors as referring to society in general, not exclusively those who live next door to us. 

One of the major success strategies of the Prophet was caring for all people and connecting with them in extending a helping hand.

Questions to ask yourself:

• What can I do together with my neighbors? 
• How much time do I spend connecting with my neighbors at home and my colleagues at work?
• Are my neighbors comfortable enough with me that they can ask me any questions they might have about Islam?
• Do your neighbors know you’re Muslim?
• When was the last time you read the Prophet’s sayings about neighbors?
• When was the last time your Masjid had an open house for its neighbors?
• Do you make Dua (supplication) for your neighbors and colleagues?

What aspects to consider as you develop plans focused on your neighbors:

• Think up a project you can use to engage your neighbors. What is a common cause? Local, national? Scouting? Neighborhood watch? Local elections?
• Immigrants and in particular Latinos are being hunted by ICE. Can you extend a hand? Can you stand with them?
• Organize a neighborhood program: it can be about a neighborhood watch program, climate change, or affordability. 
• Take part in local elections, support a candidate, or run for office yourself. 
• Send special dishes to your neighbors with a recipe and ingredient list. 
• Make your lawn and garden a joy for neighbors to see. 
• Grow vegetables, fruits, and flowers and share them with your neighbors.
• Invite neighbors to family occasions planned for this year. 

Dua: Oh Allah! Open our hearts towards our neighbors and open their hearts towards us.

3. Work to save America

American democracy is at risk. 

Between the centralization of executive power under the Trump administration, the dismantling of the independent Inspectors General system, increased pressure on the judiciary, enhanced federal powers to target dissent, our democratic rights are at constant risk. Civil liberties, freedom of speech, our freedoms, and our democracy are all under attack—and thus America itself is under attack. 

The rapid and unregulated growth of AI at the hands of oligarchs who operate without any checks and balances also poses a great risk to America and humanity at large.

America is not just important for Americans. As a civilizational leader and the planet’s richest nation, America is important for all of humanity. 

We, as citizens, cannot remain silent when our rights and liberties are being routinely signed away by the government which claims to represent us and work in our interest. 

We also cannot ignore the role that our country plays in overseas war crimes and violations of human rights using our tax dollars. We cannot grow economically when we become an unwelcoming nation.

With midterms set for 2026, we have a unique opportunity—and responsibility—to turn around this downward spiral. 

We can no longer afford to be absent citizens. We must invest our time and our money into strengthening our country by participating in the political process. We must develop relationships with our elected representatives, seek office and support the right candidates, and engage with others to develop alliances or coalitions with others. We should also financially contribute strategically.

Muslims in America are a small minority. We cannot do much just by ourselves. We must develop networks, coalitions, and alliances across society. Coalition-building was yet another Prophetic strategy of success. 

Networking is good for jobs, business, and is a great opportunity to relate to people with the message of our shared God.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Am I a better citizen today than I was last year?
• Am I a better bridge-builder than I was last year?
• Am I a part of new networks? 
• Have I volunteered to make my community and my country stronger?
• Have I taken a stand for justice?
• Have I related to Americans of other backgrounds and faiths?

What to incorporate into your plan:

• Enhance your networks.
• Run for public office. 
• Volunteer for a candidate in the 2026 midterms. 
• Study and communicate with an American think-tank. 
• Develop a personal relationship with an opinion maker.
• Join a civil rights organization. 
• Join an interfaith, labor, or peace network. 
• Work on bringing Muslims together at the city level. Ask Muslim leadership if Muslims have a common agenda and why are we not working with each other.

Dua: Oh Allah! Help us become better citizens. Help us make America a better citizen of the global village. Keep us and our neighbors safe and liberate us from the fear of the unknown. Help us deal with our enemy justly.

4. Increase your time for Islam

Jannah isn’t free. We must work for it while also making dua that in Allah’s Mercy, He allows us to enter this beautiful place of eternal rest and tranquility. The time to work is now. Not tomorrow. Not the Next Life.

Most children in America are growing up without the benefit of a Juma Khutba (Friday sermon). When they grow up, most children do not come back to Masjids. Who will run our Masjids when we are gone?

If you and your family are a dynamic part of your community, we trust Allah that we will succeed in our faith and achieve an everlasting life.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How much time have I volunteered for Islam? And how does that number compare with the time I spend watching TV?
• Is my family a part of the Muslim community?
• Are women in my family learning to be leaders and communicators?
• Are Muslims working together in my city?
• What do I know about Islamophobia and other forms of prejudice in society?
• Is my Masjid a part of any social, justice, peace, or interfaith coalition?
• Is my faith connecting me to the cause of poverty and the oppressed?

Things to incorporate into your plan:

• Take a “vacation” for Islam. Devote one or two weeks towards an Islamic cause of your choice.
• Volunteer to organize an open house at your mosque.
• Become an agent of Muslim unity. If Muslim organizations worked together as a federation, bringing their resources together, we could do a lot more good for Islam and America. 
• Ask your Masjid leadership what they are doing to encourage Muslim unity.
• Meet, call, and write to Muslim leaders you know and ask what they are doing to bring Muslims together.
• Volunteer in soup kitchens or homeless shelters run by other groups.
• See what Islamic books your library has available. If the books or other materials they have available are not good, suggest or request other items.
• Attend a local interfaith, labor or peace and justice network. Showing up sometimes is half of the work.

Dua: “Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate from the truth after You have guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from Your grace. Verily You are the Giver of bounties without measure” (Quran 3:8).

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him used to pray: "I seek refuge in You, O Allah, from knowledge that does not benefit and from a heart which does not fear".

5. Give sisters their space

I know a number of very spiritually conscientious Muslim sisters who practice Islam thoroughly. However, they no longer go to the Masjid. Islam needs Muslim women and Muslims need sisters willing to devote their time and skills to our faith.

We will always need good books, articles, and literature about women in Islam. But we also need solid examples of Muslim sisters actively involved in healthy Muslim communities, where their full participation helps our communities grow on the balanced path of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

Questions to ask:

• Does the sisters’ space in your Masjid resemble the sisters’ space in the Prophet’s Mosque?
• Do sisters have equal access to the Imam and the Masjid board and noticeboard?
• Do mothers have a lounge available to them?
• Are sisters a part of the leadership in the community through the Masjid or Islamic center’s board?
• Are women in my family able to spare time for Islam?
• What can I do to facilitate sisters’ participation in community life?

Things to incorporate into your plan:

• Learn how to run your family based on the Prophetic model. Follow the Prophet Muhammad’s example, God’s peace and blessings be upon him, in the way he cooperated, consulted, and treated his wives as life partners.  
• Develop a sisters’ leadership caucus in your city. If sisters don’t do this, it won’t happen.
• If the Masjid leadership is elected yearly, then issue an annual report card on the Masjid from a sisters’ perspective.
• Make sure your community newsletter/newspaper reflects sisters’ aspirations. In my experience, sisters are generally better writers and designers. Get them involved.
• If there is only one cook in the family, get everyone else involved in learning how to cook and take care of the home.
• If you are unmarried, narrate or write down your worldview regarding marriage. Make sure any potential spouse you are considering knows about your views. Insist on both of you taking premarital classes.
• Establish social service organizations in your communities. Sisters’ leadership is emerging from this sector.
• Talk to the Imam about giving woman-focused Khutbas.

Dua: Ya Allah! Help us live Islam as the Prophet did, by treating women with dignity and respect, as equal partners in faith. Ya Allah help us reason with Muslim brothers and sisters who disagree with our position of giving proper space to women in Masjids. Ya Allah, help our community establish justice for all, men and women.

Conclusion

We must remember that the blessings we receive come with responsibilities. We will be held accountable for how we used them. Prophet Muhammad, God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: 

“Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your free time before your work, and your life before your death.”

Taking advantage and holding ourselves accountable for our blessings will allow us to leave a legacy that will have an impact on our family, community, and the world long after we have left. The responsibility is not only to our individual selves, but on a collective level as well.

One of the most certain things about life is its uncertainty.

We come into this world alone and we will leave it alone. Whatever we do, it is only for our benefit. In our graves, what will count will not be how well off we were in this world. Rather, it will be our good deeds that we depend on.

Your good deeds demand your time and your money. With good planning and budgeting, you can make this world better while ensuring a good life in the Hereafter.

May Allah bless our plans and intentions.