Al Salam Alaikum 🌱 

When a farmer plants a seed, it doesn’t immediately sprout. It doesn’t break through the soil the next day with leaves and fruit ready for harvest.

The seed first goes through process invisible to human eyes: It absorbs water. It swells. It breaks its own shell- the protective casting that kept it preserved but dormant. It sends roots downward into darkness before it ever sends shoots upward toward light. It establishes its foundation in the unseen before it announces its presence in the invisible.

This takes time. Weeks. Sometimes months. Even years. During this entire period, if you were to dig up the soil to check on it, you’d see nothing. Just dirt. You’d think the seed was dead. Wasted. A failed investment.

But underground, in the darkness, everything necessary for life is happening.

This is where you are.

But you can’t see it. And that terrifies you.

🚰 Will You Keep Watering It?

Allah Almighty tells us in Surah Al-Baqarah:

Notice what’s included in that test: loss of wealth. Loss of fruits.

The absence of fruit isn’t evidence that Allah has abandoned you. It’s evidence that you’re in the test.

The underground period is designed to answer one question: Will you keep watering what you cannot see?

Will you maintain your faith-based business practices even when they’re not producing immediate results? Will you keep making salah on time even when your revenue hasn’t increased? Will you trust Allah’s timeline?

This is the test of the unseen. And it separates two types of entrepreneurs:

Type 1: Those who plant seeds and abandon them when they don’t see immediate growth. They’re not really trusting Allah- they’re testing Him. “I’ll do it Your way for 90 days, but if it doesn’t work, I’m going back to what I know.”

Type 2: Those who plant seeds and keep watering them in the dark. They commit to the faith not because they guarantee immediate profit, but because they’re seeking Allah’s pleasure. They maintain obedience not because it’s producing visible fruit, but because Allah deserves their obedience regardless of outcomes. They’re not testing Allah- they’re trusting Him.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) said:

Read that carefully.

Even if the world is ending- even if there’s no possible way to see the fruit- plant the seed anyway.

Because the act of planting with sincere intention has value regardless of whether you personally see the harvest.

👩‍🌾 The Difference Between Dead and Underground

Here’s where Muslim entrepreneurs make a critical mistake: they confuse “underground” with “dead.”

When you don’t see immediate growth, you assume your new approach failed. You assume Allah didn’t bless the decision. You assume you misread the guidance. So you dig up the seed to check if it’s growing- and in doing so, you kill what was germinating.

Let me be brutally clear about what “digging up your seed” looks like in practice:

• Abandoning your principles at the first sign of difficulty.

• Changing your strategy every few weeks because you’re not seeing results.

• Comparing your underground season to someone else’s harvest season.

• Questioning whether Allah heard your du’a because He hasn’t answered it on your timeline.

Each of these is you, frantically digging up the soil, demanding to see proof of growth before growth has had time to happen.

Here’s how you know the difference between a dead see and a seed that’s underground:

-Dead seeds produce nothing- no growth in your character, no peace in your soul, no alignment with Allah.

-Underground seeds produce invisible fruit first- character transformation, spiritual depth, reliance on Allah, peace despite uncertainty.

The visible fruit will come. But the invisible fruit always comes first.

🗡️ What Kills Your Seeds

There’s a reason most seeds never become trees: they get destroyed by the very person who planted them.

In entrepreneurship, impatience masquerades as “strategic pivoting” or “being responsive to the market” or “staying agile.” But often, it’s just panic. It’s the inability to sit in the discomfort of the underground period. It’s the refusal to trust Allah’s timeline.

Here’s what impatience does to your niyyah:

It makes you uproot before roots can form. You try faith based business practices for one quarter. Revenue dips. You panic and go back to the old methods “just temporarily.” But seeds need seasons, not quarters. Your roots haven’t had time to establish. You uprooted before the foundation was set.

It makes you water inconsistently. Some days you’re all in. Other days you’re running on anxiety and self-reliance. Seeds need consistent watering, not sporadic spiritual bursts when you’re feeling inspired.

It makes you plant in multiple places simultaneously, hoping one will grow faster. You can’t commit to one approach because you’re hedging your bets. Seeds planted in multiple soils simultaneously grow nowhere. Commitment to one path produces roots. Hedging produces nothing.

It makes you curse the conditions required for growth. You complain about the financial pressure. The lost opportunities. The criticism from peers. The confusion from your audience. But what if these aren’t obstacles to growth- they’re the environment growth requires? Pressure is what forces roots downward. Difficulty is what builds resilience. The hard season is what prepares you for the harvest season.

☀️ What Nourishes Underground Growth

So how do you actually survive the underground period without uprooting your seed? How do you maintain faith when there’s no visible fruit?

1. Measure Growth By Roots, Not Fruit: Stop obsessing over revenue, followers, clients, launches- the visible fruit. Start measuring the roots: How is your character developing? Is your salah life stronger or weaker? Are you more patient with Allah’s decree or more anxious? Are you more generous or more protective? Is your trust in Allah deepening or deteriorating? These are the real metrics of growth in the underground period. If your roots are deepening, your fruit will come, inshAllah.

2. Commit to Consistency: You don’t need to do more. You need to do consistently. Maintain your salah times- every single day, no exceptions. Maintain your ethical standards- even when they cost you. Maintain your character under pressure- even when no one’s watching. Maintain your du’a practice- even when you don’t see answers. Seeds don’t need intense bursts of water. They need regular, consistent watering. Your business doesn’t need your sporadic spiritual intensity. It needs your daily, boring, unglamorous faithfulness.

   3. Stop Comparing Seasons: You’re in planting season. They’re in harvest season. These are not comparable moments. You cannot compare your buried seed to their visible tree and conclude that something’s wrong with you or that Allah (SWT) favors them over you. Allah gives different people different seasons for different reasons. Your underground period is purposeful. It’s preparing you for something specific. Honor your season instead of coveting someone else’s.

4. Document the Invisible Growth: Start a journal of character growth, not just business growth. This helps you see what Allah is growing underground while you’re impatiently staring at the surface.

5. Remember: Allah Doesn’t Waste Sincere Intentions: Your sincere intention- Allah sees it. He honors it. He doesn’t waste it. Even if you never see the business results you hoped for, your obedience has value. Your sacrifice has meaning. Your faithfulness during the invisible period is recorded. You’re not wasting time in the underground period. You’re being transformed in it.

This week, every time you’re tempted to check your metrics, dig up your strategy, or panic about results- stop. Instead, ask yourself: “What roots is Allah developing in me right now?” Write it down. 

By the end of the week, you’ll have a list of the invisible growth happening underground. This is your real growth chart.

💌 I’d Love to Hear From You!

If this reflection sparked something in you, I’d love to hear it. You can reply directly to this email- I read and respond to every message.

Share your thoughts or tell me what did you plant that hasn’t broken through the surface yet? What makes you want to dig it up? And what invisible growth are you noticing in your character, even if you don’t see business results? 🌱 

🤲 Closing Dua

“O Allah, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.”

Ameen