Al Salam Alaikum 🌱 

You’re at the networking event. Again.

Everyone’s laughing at jokes you don’t find funny. Celebrating launches you know used manipulative tactics. Celebrating revenue numbers achieved through compromise you're not willing to make. Exchanging business cards, details, strategies, and success stories that all sound the same.

And you’re standing there, wearing a smile that doesn’t reach your eyes, participating in a performance you no longer believe in.

This is the moment captured in every “successful entrepreneur” gathering: the room full of people chasing the same definition of winning, and you- the one person who’s starting to realize the game itself might be rigged.

🎭️ When Your Business Becomes Your Costume

Let me tell you what’s really happening in that room of “successful” entrepreneurs:

Everyone is performing.

Performing success. Performing confidence. Performing the version of themselves that their brand requires. They’re not being- they’re proving. Proving they made it. Proving they’re relevant. Proving their business works. Proving that their sacrifices was worth it.

The party isn’t a celebration. It’s a courtroom where everyone’s simultaneously serving as prosecutor and defendant, constantly presenting evidence of their worth.

And you? You’re exhausted from the trial.

You’ve been performing too. Playing the part. Showing up to the events. Posting the wins. Sharing the “behind the scenes." that’s actually carefully curated. Talking about your business like it’s your identity instead of your work.

But something broke. Maybe gradually, maybe suddenly. You started noticing the gap between what you say you believe and how you actually operate. Between the du’as you make and the decisions you take. Between the peace Islam promises and the anxiety entrepreneurship produces.

You realized: This version of you is a costume. And you’re tired of wearing it.

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

Read that again. Really read it.

You’ve been seeking the pleasure of people- the entrepreneurial crowd, your peers, your followers, even the Muslim business community- and it has left you empty. Because Allah left you to them. And they can’t fill what only He can fill.

🎉 From the Party to the Bench

Here’s what happens when you step away from the performance:

First, there’s the party you leave. You start making excused. Because the truth- that these spaces make you feel farther from Allah instead of closer- sounds too judgemental, too religious, too “extra.” So you quietly slip away. And suddenly, you’re on the bench.

The bench is where you sit when everyone else is chasing the sports cars, the designer bag, the next big launch, the viral moment. When they’re walking confidently toward material markers of success, and you’re…. sitting. Stationary. Alone.

This is the loneliest part of the journey.

Not because you’re physically alone- you might still be surrounded by people, attending events, engaging on social media.

But you’re spiritually alone. Because you can see what they can’t see: that the Ferrari is leased, that the bags are empty, that the success is hollow, that the hustle is unsustainable, that the party is ending soon and everyone’s going to wake up wondering what they were celebrating.

You see the truth, but you’re the only one not dancing.

🕊️ The Peace You Didn’t Expect

But here’s what no one tells you about the bench:

It’s where you find peace.

Not immediately. First comes grief of lost belonging. The fact that you’re falling behind. The doubt that maybe you’re wrong and everyone else is right. The temptation to get back up and rejoin the race.

But if you stay on the bench long enough- if you resist the urge to sprint back to the party just to avoid the discomfort of solitude- something miraculous happens:

You remember who you are.

Not ‘Founder of X.” Not “The person who does Y.” Not the personal brand you’ve been performing. But the actual person underneath. The one Allah (SWT) created.

The Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) said:

The bench is where you finally internalize this. You stop trying to build a home at the party. You accept that you’re just passing through.

You realize that your real community isn’t in the networking rooms- it’s with the few who are also willing to sit on benches when everyone else is chasing cars.

The loneliness transforms into liberation.

You stop needing their approval because you’re seeking His pleasure. You stop measuring success by their metrics because you’ve remembered His measurement.

You stop performing for the crowd because you’ve returned to worshipping the One.

And paradoxically, the moment you stop trying to fit in is the moment you finally feel at peace.

◀️ The Practical Shift

So how do you actually make this transition? How do you move from performing for the crowd to living for Allah?

Here are the practical shifts:

1. Stop Broadcasting, Start Building: Performance requires an audience. Purpose doesn’t. Ask yourself: If your business social media disappeared tomorrow- if no one saw your wins, your launches, your success- would you still do this work? If the answer is no, you’re performing. If the answer is yes, you’re being. Audit your intentions ruthlessly. Are you building for akhira, or for applause?

2. Choose Principle Over Proximity: You will lose relationships on this path. Partnerships will end. Invitations will stop. People who once celebrated you will now question you. This is not a bug- it’s a feature. Even your closest relationships might try to pull you back to the party. They’ll call it “pragmatism” or “balance” or “not being extreme.” But sometimes, the people who love you most will unknowingly become obstacles to your obedience. You have to choose principle over proximity. Even when it costs you the crowd.

3. Redefine Success Metrics: When your metrics change, your method change. When your methods change, your community changes. When your community changes, you realize the bench isn’t empty- you just couldn’t see the few who were already sitting there.

4. Build With the Bench-Sitters: You are not the only one who stepped away from the party. There are others- quiet, thoughtful, principled who also couldn’t stomach the performance anymore. They’re not at the conferences. They’re not in the masterminds. They’re not chasing the Ferrari. But they’re building something real. Something that will last. Something that serves akhira, not just dunya. Find them. Not to build another exclusive club, but to build true brotherhood/sisterhood. To remind each other when the loneliness gets heavy. To celebrate victories that don’t look like victories to the world. To walk the narrow path together.

5. Learn to Love the Bench: This is the final and most important shift: Stop seeing the bench as punishment. The bench isn’t where you sit while you wait to rejoin the race. The bench is where you sit because you’ve realized the race itself is meaningless. The bench- this narrow, lonely, misunderstood path- IS the ease that comes with hardship. Because it’s honest. It’s authentic. It’s aligned with your covenant. It’s where you finally stop lying to yourself about what matters. And that honesty, that authenticity, that alignment- that’s peace.

🪑 The Truth About the Bench

The narrow path is lonely.

There’s no way around that truth. When you stop performing for the crowd, when you step away from the party, when you choose principle over proximity- you will sit alone sometimes. Maybe often.

But here’s what makes it bearable, even beautiful:

You’re alone with Allah. And that’s better than a room full of everyone else.

This week, identify ONE area where you’re still performing instead of being.

Write down what you’re proving and to whom. Then ask: “Would I still do this if no one was watching?”

If the answer is no, you’ve found where your next surrender needs to happen.

💌 I’d Love to Hear From You!

Have you left the party? Are you sitting on the bench? Or are you still performing, knowing deep down it’s killing your soul?

Hit reply and let me know! I read every reply. And I promise you: you’re not as alone as you think.

🤲 Closing Dua

“O Allah, we seek refuge in You from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that does not fear You, and from a soul that is not satisfied, and from a supplication that is not answered.”

Ameen