By the Editorial Team, Habitus
On June 1st, the Class of 2025 gathered to celebrate the completion of their academic journey with immense pride and joy. President Wasif Rizvi’s speech was equal parts elegy and charge, that addressed the graduating class and called on them to become more aware of a world that is increasingly being defined by crisis.
“You now carry the burden of seeing what others are trained to ignore. The burden of truth in an age of noise. The burden of moral clarity in a time of engineered confusion.”
This year’s convocation was bookended by the tradition of Tashakkur (gratitude). The President reminded students of their first virtual orientation in August 2021, when they were asked to stand and acknowledge their parents and caregivers. Now, nearly four years later, they stood again – first for their Asatiza and Rehbars, and then for the Mohsineen whose generosity made their education possible.
“Salaam & Aadab to the faculty of Habib University – you are the not-so-secret ingredient of what makes this institution intellectually distinct.”
The speech spoke about the world’s harshest truths with clarity, addressing the ongoing violence in Gaza, the legacy of colonialism, and the illusion of modernity as progress. Yet, it was not a message of despair, it was one of dignity. At the heart of the address was Yohsin – the university’s philosophical cornerstone: a metaphysical stance, as President Rizvi put it. A way of being rooted in Hasan (inner beauty and generosity) and Ehsan (conscious action in the world).
“What we are witnessing today is not a breakdown of the modern world order – it is its true face revealed.”
“Do not let your education become a credential. Let it be a lamp.”
The President invoked sacred texts, from the Qur’an to the Hadith, to frame the graduates’ next steps as a “trust”, and a “weight” that dignifies,
“Walk into the storm, but not alone. Walk with the light you’ve been given. Walk with remembrance. Walk with love.”
As the Class of 2025 steps into the world, they do so not merely as degree holders, but personifying Yoshin in their future. Their task is not to win the world, but to refuse its violence.
