bismillah

yusuf is saving a life

javed: alex and yusuf are waiting on the sidewalk until the traffic light turns green. behind them, there are tracks where the tram runs. yusuf sees a man and thinks to himself:

yusuf: the sidewalk here is really narrow. the poor man with the headphones is standing on the tracks.

javed: yusuf can’t take his eyes off the man.

yusuf: good that there there’s no tram now. oh, there comes the tram.

javed: yusuf gets nervous and doesn’t know what to do.

yusuf: i’ll inshallah wait a bit longer before i intervene. okay, now the tram is too close and the man doesn’t seem to notice.

javed: yusuf, a bit scared, pushes the man. but before the man could express his annoyance at being interrupted while listening to music, yusuf points at the tram. the man thanked and smiled at him.

alex: oh, yusuf, you lifesaver.

yusuf: actually, i was quite afraid and had no idea what to do.

what hinders you from learning to code

yusuf: alex, man, what hinders you from actually writing the first few lines of code?

alex: you know that i am much stronger than you and also much smarter than you, right?

yusuf: yes, i have heard this lie. and what about the answer to my question?

alex: i would never say that in public, but yusuf, you are quite a smart guy. i am a bit afraid of coding.

javed: yusuf pretends to look around to see if anybody is watching them.

yusuf: i hope nobody is recording this, but alex, you can do it. everything i can do, you can do too. of course, with the exception of having a somewhat bearable character.

alex: for the moment, we only had theoretical talks about coding. but really, i do not know whether i am smart enough for that.

yusuf: you really do not need to be a genius to code. you do not need to have a degree in computational science or aerospace engineering. you just need to make the first step.

alex: the first step?

yusuf: yes, the first step is the most difficult one. if you are outside of a thing, you think this would be so difficult, but when you spend some time with it, a lot changes. let me give you an example. this javed guy has a bachelor in mechanical engineering, he wrote a topology optimization code, he has a master in aerospace engineering, and has quite a bit of knowledge about ai stuff. he is the one who told me the latter based on his own experience.

alex: you already once mentioned this javed guy. who is he?

yusuf: maybe more about him, later. for the moment, i also started with knowing nothing about coding. it was just, i inshallah try it and Allah will do the rest.

alex: okay, what about people who do not believe in Allah?

yusuf: first, they should start thinking about their purpose in life. next, they should pay close attention to the sky, to trees, nature in general, and how their body works. finally, they should read the quran and start believing in the perfect One and Only Allah.

alex: thank you, and someone who is not that far?

yusuf: the first step is the most difficult one. you try it and sure it might get a bit difficult, but that’s fine. things that have value are not obtained without any effort.

alex: okay, i inshallah will try to do the first step, but what if i fail?

yusuf: you have to, otherwise this would be a miracle. listen, the process of learning anything by definition is by making mistakes. you do not know, Allah knows. He does not make mistakes. You feel fear, He doesn’t, you are desperate, He isn’t. so what i am trying to tell you is, you are a human. thus, please try to act like one.

alex: ahh, so now i am finally a human.

yusuf: no, you see, because i am a human, i make mistakes. it was absolutely wrong to call you human. no, for real, you will inshallah make mistakes and that’s a good thing.

alex: what if other people make fun of me?

yusuf: the only one who actually cares whether you learn to code or not is me. why should anybody make fun of you when nobody cares about it?

alex: if you make fun of me, i inshallah punch you.

yusuf: you are a walking joke. also, have a look at the following:

print("asalamu aleikum")
print("there is no need to be afraid of starting the coding journey")
print("if you can understand this code snippet here")

alex: yeah, walekum asalam, but what is this supposed to show me?

yusuf: my dear darling, this was your first code snippet. based on your answer, you already understood at least some part of it. so there is really no reason to be afraid of learning to code. inshallah, you will do great.

alex: let’s say, i would like to do the first step, how would it look like?

yusuf: now that’s a nice thing to say. finally, i can inshallah introduce you to this javed guy. we can meet him through that link below. however, before that, let’s first conclude.

mashallah, let’s recap

yusuf: i, yusuf, the one who is better in anything than alexandra, helped a man on the tracks.

alex: two lies in one sentence. everybody knows that you are my tiny assistant that tries to copy me. next, that man helped you not to kill yourself.

yusuf: anyhow, for the recap. there are many obstacles. it could be time management, not having access to a computer, or simply having fear of not being good enough. in most cases, i think people are going to be afraid of something that they consider to be complicated.

alex: and the first step is the most difficult one. we just have to take the first step. and somehow this javed guy is related to this.

yusuf: love it, great, thank you.