The M & J Legacy Fund

Why We Started the Legacy Fund

The M & J Legacy Fund was created to honor the people who shaped our lives and the values that continue to guide us every day. We each came to this fund from different starting points — different countries, different families, different struggles — but we arrived at the same conviction: education is one of the most powerful tools for changing the course of a life, and it should not be reserved only for those who can afford it.

Maz’s Story

I was the youngest in my family, which meant I spent most of my life watching my older brother and sister go first — first to figure things out, first to sacrifice, first to carry more than their share. Education in our house was never handed to anyone. It was something we built together, collectively putting each other through college, whoever could carry more at a given moment did, and the rest of us leaned on that. It wasn’t a plan anyone designed; it was simply what our family did for one another.

That same spirit carried me forward when I moved to the US as a student to pursue my master’s. I told myself the hardest part was behind me. I was wrong — the hardest part was every semester after: tuition bills that never seemed to shrink fast enough, stretching every dollar, taking whatever hours I could find, and living in that particular kind of tired that comes from doing school and survival at the same time. And it was never just about me. Back home, my family was still counting on my success — not as pressure, but as hope, the same way I had once counted on theirs.

Those years taught me humility, perseverance, and the quiet debt you carry toward the people who sacrificed before you — a debt you can’t repay directly, only forward. Education wasn’t a nice-to-have in my life; it was the one lever that could move everything else. It was the thing that let siblings with each other’s backs become people who could stand on their own, and then stand for others.

Jia’s Story

My mother grew up in a society where women were not encouraged — or even permitted — to leave their families to pursue higher education in another city. Despite those barriers, she persevered. She worked tirelessly to pay for her own education and ultimately became a successful business owner, cosmetologist, and electrologist. Her resilience taught me that determination can overcome even the greatest obstacles.

My father’s journey began in poverty, where education became his pathway to opportunity. Through relentless hard work and an unwavering commitment to learning, he earned not one but two master’s degrees and built a life that has allowed him to travel the world. He showed me that knowledge is one of the most powerful tools for changing the course of a life.

Together, my parents instilled in me the values of humility, perseverance, compassion, service to others, and a deep respect for education. Their sacrifices created opportunities that my siblings and I might never have otherwise had. As a first-generation immigrant in the United States, I became the first person in my family to pursue a career in science and medicine. Throughout high school and beyond, I worked alongside my parents in our family business, helping support our household and contribute to the education of all three siblings. Every milestone I achieved was built upon the sacrifices and unwavering support of my family.

Together

When our two stories came together, so did the values behind them — humility, perseverance, compassion, service to others, and a deep respect for education as the thing that makes everything else possible. Alhamdulillah, we’re now in a place where the struggles that once defined our lives can become a source of support for others instead.

The M & J Legacy Fund is our way of paying that legacy forward. Every dollar given becomes a Qard Hasan — an interest-free loan — for a Muslim student chasing the same kind of future we once had to fight for. And because it’s structured as a revolving fund, it doesn’t stop with one student: when they graduate and repay it, that same money goes right back out to the next person standing where we once stood, creating a continuous cycle of generosity that honors the sacrifices of those who came before us while empowering the generations that follow.

If any part of our story resonates with you — if you’ve ever been the one someone was counting on, or the one who needed someone to believe in you first — we’d ask you to consider being part of this. You’d be standing in the gap for someone living through the version of our story that hasn’t been written yet.

May Allah ﷻ accept it, multiply it, and let it outlive all of us. Ameen.