“Sir, does legacy matter?” asked the young student during my recent lecture in a University in Lahore. The hush in the audience made me realise that it was a very important question and over 500 students were interested to know the answer. Maybe it represented their thought process about what had crystallised over the last few years in Pakistan. Or maybe, the social media had confused them into thinking that whatever is there, it is in the now, and they should not care about the imprint they would leave. Either way, it definitely was a very profound question.

What is legacy? In my understanding, legacy is simply how one is remembered by the people he/she has interacted with in life. Do people pray or abuse once a name is mentioned? Is the name blessed or cursed? This is at the individual level and holds true for each one of us.

Then there is a legacy which has shaped the journey of the species. As research shows, nearly 117 billion people have inhabited this planet. Estimating the total number of people who have impacted history is very challenging due to the vast scope and diversity of contributions across eras, societies, cultures and regions. However, it is safely presumed that this number would be between a few thousand to a million individuals, who have had a significant influence on society, culture, science, politics and other fields. If we take this number as 1 million, 0.085% of all the humans who have been born have left a mark.

Of these 1 million, the most impactful have been the religious figures. Prophets Adam, Abraham,........

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