The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, "The best among you are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it."
Br. Hakim was an incredible human being who I first met when I was 12 years old, at a summer camp at PGMA. He was different from the other teachers. While he sat against the same wall as all the others there would be times when he wouldn't be taking any students. In between teaching he was also learning the Quran himself, which I thought was odd at the time. I didn't practice with him much at all during that summer, and I had no idea how much this man would affect my life in the following years.
The very next school year I took off from traditional school to attend Hifz school (full time school to learn the Quran in it's entirety). We had two teachers, and again, I wasn't one of Br. Hakim's students. My first impression of him as a teacher was slightly terrifying, he was physically imposing with a booming voice that he wasn't afraid to use when necessary. Not a day passed without him yelling at a student for something, and making him stand against the wall as punishment. I thought I was pretty lucky to not have been in his class.
Fast forward a few months later and I'm doing terrible in Hifz school. I was making too many mistakes when reading and wasn't putting in the full effort I needed to correct them. That resulted in me moving to Br. Hakim's side of the Masjid. Again, I was terrified. I thought I would be yelled at, made to stand on the wall every time I made a mistake. I thought school wouldn't be fun any more and everyday would be terrifying.
Surprisingly, it was the complete opposite.
When I first read to Br. Hakim he recognized where I was at, and moved me to an easier part of the Qur'an and let me work from there. He never yelled at me. I rarely had to stand. I realized that he was a disciplinarian who's main annoyance was never mistakes, but rather effort. I noticed the kids who got yelled at were given chances. They would get caught messing around, be told to stop multiple times and only then be punished. Despite those kids I learned he cared so much because he took his job seriously. He could decide to only give his attention to those who showed they cared, but he didn't. His goal was always to get through to everyone and that was one of his many traits I admired.
I left the Hifz school after that year and saw Br. Hakim occasionally while at the Masjid. We'd talk about sports and school for a few minutes and then go on our ways.
There are kind people in this world. Then are those who posses some extra level of moral fiber woven in between their strands of DNA that push that kindness and care for others on another level. And yet to say that this was simply a trait he was born with would be a disservice to the amount of struggle he had overcome on his journey from being who he was in the past to what he ultimately became in the latter stages of his life.
When I was in high school he gave me a call, asking me if I wanted to work alongside him as a teacher at weekend Qur'an school. He said he was moving his program to a new Masjid and could use some help. The thought of a paying job doing anything when I was 15 was great and I happily told him I'd love to help. His teaching style had not changed: he was still the hardcore disciplinarian. But he also made sure to show his fun side a bit more.
One day a student walks into class early with large Nerf sniper rifle. The thing had like 8 darts that could fit in a clip and was pretty big. Needless to say, the moment Br. Hakim walked in that thing was confiscated and the person who brought it in was punished. Instead of making him stand however, Br. Hakim used that Nerf gun and went open season on all the students. Everyone was running around and trying to hide while Br. Hakim picked em off one by one. It was incredibly fun and it was one of the many reminders to those kids that Br. Hakim does more than yell at you.
He loved those kids, and knew their entire families by name as well. He genuinely cared about everyone that set foot in that Masjid wanting to learn. It's how he managed to grow that weekend school from 5 or so students to upwards of 30 at a time. When he started he charged parents $80 for a month. He refused however, to turn anyone down. He gave discounts to anyone in need, no questions asked. Parents would take advantage of him and wait months to get current on their payments. Br. Hakim would remind them, but never turned anyone away for not paying. He never increased his tuition fee either, despite years of the School running and increasing in students and teachers.
Despite not having money coming in from students he never failed to pay us, reaching into his own wallet if he had to. And he treated us teachers like equals. I was never as quick to punish as he was and any decision I made, Br. Hakim backed me unconditionally. I was the first one that came along, but with the increase in students he got more teachers so students were still given their due attention.
He always cared more about us than himself. He would increase our pay as the number of students increased, but never cut down on our pay when the number of students went down during the summer time. I knew there were months where he didn't take anything for himself, and yet he still found a way to pay us every single month.
I'm convinced that the only way trickle down economics would work would be if Br. Hakim was the one running everyone's businesses. He is the only person I've met who's selfless enough to always put the needs of others in front of his own.
Despite his many years of teaching the Quran in various places he never actually finished memorizing the Quran himself, something many of his students achieved under his tutelage. A few years ago he set out to fix that. He publicly posted his "Quran Memorization Streaks" on Facebook. The goal would be to memorize at least one verse before going to bed for the night. He did this with the utmost diligence, showing his progress, and shamelessly showing his broken streaks as well. People took notice, and began posting their own streaks. It was incredible, seeing him influence not only children and youth but full fledged adults without even interacting with them.
I last remember him being pages away from finally finishing his memorization, and I'd like to think that his time came as soon as he finished reciting those last few verses from memory, finishing a goal I saw him start over ten years ago. His reverence in the community is obvious just by looking at his GoFundMe page for his funeral costs. In less than 2 hours people donated over $12,000, well past the intended goal of $10,000. All donated by people who's lives he affected for the better.
I've cherry picked examples from his life that stood out to me, but the simple fact is that you could see many if not all of these traits on a day to day basis during otherwise mundane day to day activity. I could fill a book with examples of his humanity and not come close to scratching the surface of who he was as a person.
I'm personally still reeling from hearing the news earlier today. And the best way I could think of to deal with this was to let those who may not have known him as well to have some inkling as to the type of man Hakim Leveille was.
He was my teacher. He was my mentor. He was my friend. We will miss you Br. Hakim.
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