Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / Representing SHIAS in front of the world! - ft. Ali Al-Hamadi
Transcript
- 0:00But before we get to this one for the history books, I think
- 0:03to be honest, it gives me a break.
- 0:04Great, let's start again. Let's start again.
- 0:10Boom, go Salaam Alaikumala Hamilton, welcome back to After
- 0:14Maghrib. If you are here for the first
- 0:16time, make sure you smash that subscribe button.
- 0:18Stay tuned with everything we're doing from week to week.
- 0:22This is going to be an incredible episode.
- 0:23Inshallah we are going to be talking about the qualification
- 0:27of Iraq to the World Cup. So if you are either Iraqi or a
- 0:31football fan and to my right, I have said Ali Salaam Alaikum.
- 0:43Salaam. Abdullah, my Iraqi brother, can
- 0:46I classify you as a football fan?
- 0:48100%, yeah, 100%. Come on, bro.
- 0:52Inshallah. This is going to be one for the
- 0:53history books. Inshallah guys, we have someone
- 0:56who's a friend of the channel, friend of the podcast.
- 0:59He's of course not someone unfamiliar to you all, our dear
- 1:02friend Ali al Hamadi Salaam Alaikum Ali.
- 1:05Alaikum Salaam brother. How you doing bro?
- 1:07Hamdullah. Welcome back to our.
- 1:09Good to be back. Good to be back bro.
- 1:11Before we say anything, I just want to congratulate you on
- 1:14behalf of the whole team for not just qualifying, but scoring the
- 1:19opening goal after 21 qualification games to send Iraq
- 1:24to the World Cup. Let's give Ali a round of
- 1:25applause. You need to put some some after
- 1:30effect of the effect. No, I'll handle that.
- 1:33Thank you so much, boys. Yeah, on a privilege.
- 1:37It's such a pride for just everybody connected with my
- 1:43family, with Iraq, with the community, and I'm just happy I
- 1:47can kind of share this victory of so many people.
- 1:50And it's not just my own victory.
- 1:51So yeah, Hamdullah. Hamdullah Hamdullah.
- 1:53It's been a long time coming. 40 years?
- 1:56More than 40? Or was it 80?
- 1:58Yeah, 40, I think the 40 exactly was 86 Mexico.
- 2:01So it's actually ironic because the last qualification was in
- 2:06Mexico or the last World Cup that we were qualified that was
- 2:08in Mexico. So it's pan and largest the
- 2:12football the. Football, yeah, huge moment for
- 2:15you and and the Iraqi people who all deserve it.
- 2:17And I think it goes to show like this is a country which loves
- 2:22football and you guys don't have any other sports in that
- 2:24country. If you're saying how, how do you
- 2:25feel? Oh, bro, I'm, I'm over the moon,
- 2:27honestly. Yeah, I I'm grateful and
- 2:30thankful. And yeah, every time we speak
- 2:33with people, we're like, thank you.
- 2:34Hamadi smashed it. Ayman Hassan, all of you.
- 2:37Amazing team. Well, the guys played well and
- 2:39everyone, the whole country's proud of you and inshallah we're
- 2:42going to smash it. You know, I was hoping you asked
- 2:47me, you know, usually I haven't asked me.
- 2:48How was your? Week.
- 2:49Sorry bro. We'll ask him.
- 2:52Ask him bro. I'm tired, fatigue, kick up
- 2:56training. I'll let that go like now as the
- 3:04countdown is on. Obviously the World Cup is
- 3:06coming up soon. Before we get into the World Cup
- 3:08conversation, I know today we're going to cover a lot of things.
- 3:10So we want to talk to you about obviously qualification, what it
- 3:13means for you, your family, the country, the team, the manager,
- 3:17the journey and then obviously a bit about the World Cup.
- 3:20Of course, the World Cup is like you guys are in a tough group,
- 3:23as we all know, playing against some of the best players on
- 3:25planet Earth, but actually they're playing against you,
- 3:28which which them luck, but more so then of course, we know as a
- 3:32share podcast that the World Cups take place in Muharram.
- 3:36And of course, you guys are not just playing in Muharram.
- 3:38You're playing on the day of Ashura, which is something we'll
- 3:41get to later on in the discussion.
- 3:44But first I just want to ask you honestly, bro, on a personal
- 3:48level, how the last few weeks have been for you because you've
- 3:51not just of course qualified, which is great and huge news,
- 3:55but you've also won the FA Trophy at Wembley.
- 3:58Of course, for those who don't know, you are known from Ipswich
- 4:00right now and at Luton Town, you guys are being managed by Jack
- 4:04Wilshire. For other football fans who are
- 4:05listening, who will definitely know who that is.
- 4:07And you won the FA Trophy, you're in as we speak, you're in
- 4:11kind of contention for for promotion to the Championship,
- 4:15which is incredible. And at the same time, you've
- 4:17obviously been on ups and downs throughout the season has been,
- 4:23you've been on a lot of ups and downs since we've since we last
- 4:26recorded. But how's it been for you this
- 4:28season generally? Yeah, to be to be honest bro,
- 4:32it's been my most challenging season to date.
- 4:35Definitely. I started the season off
- 4:39obviously joining Luton my long from Ipswich.
- 4:44I, I signed with an injury, so I already had a three month calf
- 4:48injury at that point. So it was kind of weird signing
- 4:52for a new club and not being able to play straight away,
- 4:56having to kind of like feel it out, see, see what what the vibe
- 4:59is and settle in with teammates with the new coaching staff and
- 5:04also Luton. I think as a collector of the
- 5:06club, probably, you know, it's not, it's not a secret or
- 5:09anything, but we didn't start the the season well at all.
- 5:14The club had back-to-back relegations from the Premier
- 5:17League to League 1. So you felt the aftermath of it,
- 5:20you know, at the stadium it was, it was a bit of a tough
- 5:23atmosphere to play and I've seen the boys.
- 5:25Obviously the first couple of months it was, it was a really
- 5:27tough time, couldn't pick up results, couldn't get any
- 5:30rhythm, momentum. And then I came back from my
- 5:34first injury. I went away with that arc to
- 5:38play against Emirates home and away and that was my first game
- 5:42back from injury. Called UAE right?
- 5:43Yeah, so I played the first game in in the UAE, I played 45
- 5:50minutes and at the end of the first half I felt my quad.
- 5:53I just felt like something went and I was like I knew, I knew
- 5:58I'd done something to it straight away.
- 6:00So I came up 1/2 time and you know, I knew something I needed
- 6:06to get scanned. So I went back to the UK and
- 6:09unfortunately what I feared the most came up and it was it was
- 6:12another kind of muscle tear. So it was like I just came back
- 6:15from a three month injury and I'm out for another three months
- 6:18and sandwich in between that was scoring for arc.
- 6:20So it was just a weird, you know.
- 6:22Mix of emotion. Football, bro, you just go from
- 6:25like there to here to there. It's such an up and down
- 6:31industry. And yeah, it was tough.
- 6:34It was tough. But yeah, Hamdelah came back
- 6:36from the quad injury and I started to pick up a little bit
- 6:41of river momentum again, kind of built my minutes up.
- 6:45And then I actually picked up another injury in my heel, which
- 6:47was really affecting me. It was unfortunate.
- 6:49It was just kind of like an impact injury.
- 6:52So I was managing that over the past couple two months.
- 6:57And obviously I had the the the World Cup qualifier alumin in
- 7:00Mexico. So I was just fried mentally.
- 7:04I was like, I'm in so much pain right now.
- 7:07Like, I'm honestly in so much pain and I don't know how I'm
- 7:09going to play, but I have to, I have to find something within me
- 7:12now after all this hardship to just go and try and qualify my
- 7:16country to World Cup. And yeah, Handel loves you.
- 7:22He worked out, worked out pretty well in the end.
- 7:26So yeah, it was amazing to have that moment after kind of all
- 7:29the hardship I suffered this year from from a football
- 7:32perspective. And you know, on top of like the
- 7:34personal stuff, personal life, everybody's got their own, their
- 7:37own problems, their own families, their own conflicts,
- 7:41their own, everyone's got stuff going on in their own lives.
- 7:43So having to battle that with the professional and the and the
- 7:47performance pressures, it's a lot.
- 7:49So it's a lot, bro. I'm not going to lie to you.
- 7:51And it takes, it takes a toll, takes a toll on you.
- 7:54I've probably aged 10 years. So you can see on my hair, on my
- 7:58hairline, no Gray hairs. Yeah.
- 8:01And the level, it might be coming soon.
- 8:03And then, yeah, like you said, I came back.
- 8:05I scored my first goal for Luton, which was a reason, yeah,
- 8:09kind. Of.
- 8:10Destined to be. Have you got to?
- 8:12Assist that game. Yeah and yeah went to Wembley,
- 8:15we won the FA Trophy final, which was.
- 8:16You had like a crazy two weeks. Wow.
- 8:18Just yeah, it was, it was it was honestly, I'm super grateful.
- 8:24And yeah, here I am now kind of the the after the aftermath of
- 8:29that now is we've got a game left on Saturday, which we need
- 8:34to win and we need like another team to lose to basically get
- 8:38into the play offs. So I'm just trying to end the
- 8:40season as strong as I can, keep my fitness up, keep healthy and
- 8:45hopefully in Charlotte prepared to to try and have an impact on
- 8:49on the world stage and at the World Cup in Charlotte.
- 8:51So yeah, it's definitely not my easiest season I've ever played.
- 8:55It's been it's been a challenging one.
- 8:58I've grown a lot as a person. I've had to learn different sort
- 9:02of lessons, but it's been nice to kind of end that in a
- 9:06positive way with everything that's happened recently.
- 9:09So hopefully I can take down to the summer and, yeah, see what
- 9:12the World Cup hasn't saw. Yeah, a lot.
- 9:14Of beautiful man, it sounds, it sounds like you've been for so
- 9:17much and you mentioned the word hardship.
- 9:18And with every hardship comes ease.
- 9:20So inshallah there's light at the end of the tunnel and all
- 9:24the preparation and all the training and all the not just
- 9:28physical training, I think mental training as well.
- 9:30You have to be in a certain mental state to understand
- 9:33what's upcoming, what was required of you.
- 9:35And it's, it's a huge ask because you've got people of the
- 9:39focus on Arakna. You've got millions of Arakis
- 9:41counting on you, Charlotte and the upcoming World Cup.
- 9:44I, I being one of them, my family being one of them.
- 9:46And many of those listening around the world.
- 9:49And I, I had a combo the other day.
- 9:51I was like, I'm filming with Ali Hamadi tomorrow.
- 9:53And I was with, with, with somebody.
- 9:55And then he was like, why is Ali Hamadi coming to after
- 9:58motherhood? Like he's a professional
- 9:59footballer. What's faith got to do with
- 10:01football? And I thought, you know, I'll
- 10:02ask that directly on the podcast.
- 10:05Why do you feel like you bring faith into your professional
- 10:08work? How do you interface?
- 10:10It's it's. It's not, so he's going to
- 10:13listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 10:14It's probably it's, it's not separate.
- 10:16It's not separate. There's no, there's no football
- 10:18without faith. There's nothing without faith.
- 10:19There's nothing without without a law.
- 10:22There's nothing without that little bait.
- 10:25There's nothing in life. So there's the reason I'm able
- 10:29to do what I do is because of my faith.
- 10:31And it's because of me really dedicating myself to because now
- 10:36it might to be honest, boys, I have obviously been through a
- 10:39journey over the past couple of years of of, you know, maybe
- 10:42having a period in my life where I was finding myself.
- 10:45And I'm going through through kind of the the dealing with
- 10:48becoming a professional footballer at the beginning and
- 10:51what sort of pressures that bought and temptations.
- 10:53And I think I spoke about this last time on the podcast and
- 10:57I've been able to grow even more since then.
- 11:00And there is, you know, honestly, there is nothing that
- 11:04is worth more to me. You know, you score a goal on
- 11:07the weekend and people are praising you and that's all good
- 11:10and bad. But like, my thing now is my, my
- 11:12focus is how can I be a role model to it's not just children
- 11:15as well, it's to adults. And, and obviously I'm only 24,
- 11:18but there's a lot of older people who look on my journey
- 11:20who support me, who keep an eye on me, who follow my every step.
- 11:24And the amount of message I, I get and, and the best messages I
- 11:28get isn't like, Oh, you're such an amazing player or you're such
- 11:31an amazing, wow, what a goal. Like the best messages I get
- 11:34that I take to heart is like, wow, what a, what a nice human
- 11:38being or wow, like what, what a like you, you've helped my son
- 11:43or you've helped me or like you inspire me because of the way
- 11:45you deal with, with, with your life.
- 11:47And so Allah has obviously blessed me of being in a
- 11:50position that I can influence others.
- 11:53And I've took that a lot more seriously over the past 12
- 11:57months. And I feel like the injuries
- 11:58have forced me to go even deeper because it's so easy to be.
- 12:04It's so easy to be kind of like on the straight and narrow when
- 12:07everything's going well, when you score in, when everyone's
- 12:10there so now and everyone's happy.
- 12:12Yeah, But what sort of person you're going to be when I don't
- 12:17swear here, but the obstacles. Yeah, yeah.
- 12:19When, when it all goes, the fact, yeah, when it hits the
- 12:22fun. What were you going to do?
- 12:24Yeah, yeah. Like what?
- 12:24What person you're going to be? Are you going to be Yeah, yeah.
- 12:28Are you going to be like, are you going to be horrible to
- 12:30people? You're going to you're flap, are
- 12:32you going to be nasty? You're going to be backed by and
- 12:34you're going to be jealous or you're going to be comparing
- 12:36yourself to others or you're going to go even deeper into
- 12:40your path, your spiritual path of Allah and get closer to Allah
- 12:44and get more knowledge. And people always ask me this
- 12:47about like, it's, it's not separate, bro, it did.
- 12:51They're both, they're interconnected because you
- 12:53learn. Like for me, I've learnt about
- 12:55life and about my religion, about everything through
- 12:58football, through the challenges of football, through the highs
- 13:01in football, because you learn from the highs and you have to
- 13:04learn from from the challenges. So yeah, to answer the question,
- 13:07it's for me, it's not separate. And again, I just want to also
- 13:13be in touch with people and not be this person that's like out
- 13:16of reach or wow, like look at him.
- 13:18Because ego is the is the enemy. It's the enemy.
- 13:23And and people think that to be a footballer or to be successful
- 13:26in any industry that you need a lot of ego.
- 13:29I actually disagree with that. I don't think you do.
- 13:30I think that we reach where we need to, not because of ego, but
- 13:35it's in spite of ego. It's not because of it.
- 13:37And people get that mixed up. So it's to say the same on
- 13:41football. Like there's times where the the
- 13:43person that had you may be doing better than you, you guys just
- 13:46be grateful, say handle all the same way.
- 13:48I lost providers for them. He may provide for me, he may
- 13:50not. But and the same thing when I
- 13:53had the injuries. It's like, right, instead of
- 13:55sitting here and being down and like always down myself.
- 13:58And because that's what the ego, that's what I shave down wants
- 14:00me to do. It's like, no, let's focus on
- 14:01the positives. I have more time to get closer
- 14:04to all. I have more time to connect with
- 14:05people. I have more time to do this.
- 14:06I have more time. So it's all perspective.
- 14:09And luckily through football again, I've kind of because you
- 14:14become a professional so young on football, you have to you
- 14:17have to grow up quick. I've lived a moment since I was
- 14:191617 away from my parents and away from my community, my
- 14:23family. So yeah, it's see a long, long
- 14:27answer to your question, but I, I in short, I don't think
- 14:29they're separate things. You know what's for sure?
- 14:32And it's, it's, it's inspiring because I think of myself at 24,
- 14:36which wasn't that long ago, but you know, I'm 30 now.
- 14:40That's getting old. Getting old.
- 14:43Yeah, that's. What I say retirement tool
- 14:46anyway, but no like, like in total honesty, I shall not I've,
- 14:52we've known each other now for like 2-3 years and obviously we
- 14:56speak regularly and like we've made each other's families.
- 14:59And I know like kind of a lot of the struggles you go through,
- 15:05not a lot, but you know, we've, we've shared with each other and
- 15:08to see your maturity honestly at someone of your age with your
- 15:13surroundings put aside like what you do in your day job.
- 15:17But the fact that you've been born and raised without a strong
- 15:20and active Shiite community around you, it blows my mind.
- 15:25Well, I love him because we are here, born and raised in London,
- 15:29said Ali's the Sun Marshall. Lot of an incredible scholar,
- 15:33Elmar Holmes said. I passed another way.
- 15:35You passed away. But someone who was a role model
- 15:38and like a community leader in London to hundreds if not
- 15:41thousands of people. Hamdallah was raised in a
- 15:43community of thousands of people as well.
- 15:46And then I see you as someone who was raised in Toxteth in
- 15:52Liverpool. And like really in reality, it's
- 15:56like it's far away from us, like it's a detached world.
- 15:59And then you've you've climbed high, you've gone from League 2
- 16:04to Premier League within a season.
- 16:07And Hamdallah, Hara Bilal, I mean, then you've obviously
- 16:10reached more stardom and more kind of global fame through your
- 16:14national team, the qualification for the World Cup and inshallah,
- 16:19like it's another second promotion coming now or third,
- 16:22second, if you count second, second promotion for you coming
- 16:25Inshallah. It works out and all of these
- 16:28things have like continued, but at the same time you're still
- 16:31like the same guy. And beyond that as well, it's
- 16:35like you you'll continuously looking into faith like there's
- 16:40been times where like I don't know if you remember a year or
- 16:43two ago, I think Ramadan Ali will he called me up and he's
- 16:46just asking me random questions about religion and I'm not
- 16:49someone who can ask for. I told him Ghostfick to this
- 16:51scholar and that scholar who he Allah, has learned from.
- 16:54Yeah, because you guys got me in touch with Sheikh Mohammed.
- 16:57Sheili Mohammed Heli And of course, like the you've, you've
- 17:00got incredible people around you saying Ahmad, like some great
- 17:04personalities and also people who are people of knowledge who
- 17:08we've all benefited from in many ways.
- 17:10But like you're not just the same as a guy, but you're better
- 17:15as as a Muslim. And I think inshallah, something
- 17:17we can all learn from. And let me put it this way, if,
- 17:21if Ali let me put it this way, Yeah.
- 17:23Go on. It's going to sound mad.
- 17:24Like if Ali was not a footballer.
- 17:26Let's say Ali was a guy who worked at McDonald's or boycott
- 17:29McDonald's, you know what I'm saying?
- 17:31But let's say Pepe's. Yeah.
- 17:33Shake. Ali was working.
- 17:34Yeah. Shake tag Nando's.
- 17:37Nando's. Then, bro, he'd still be our boy
- 17:39because he's because of his salt.
- 17:41Do you know what I'm saying? So I don't know.
- 17:43It's not a question. I just wanted to share that
- 17:45about you because you're 24. Like you're not old, but you're
- 17:47my sister's 24 and in my mind she's a baby.
- 17:50Do you know what I mean? And I think about that and like
- 17:53you're young, bro. And at the same time you've
- 17:55you've reached, you've been through a lot, you've been
- 17:57through a lot. You travel a lot.
- 17:59You've of course away from your family most if not all the time.
- 18:04You know, your brother's doing bits, Mashallah.
- 18:06But like you have a lot happening around you.
- 18:10How do you do it? Like what kind of keeps you
- 18:12going? What is it that what wakes you
- 18:14up in the morning and gets you out of bed or keeps you at peace
- 18:17when you go to sleep at night? No, thank you for the kind
- 18:20words. It's the I have.
- 18:25I was having this conversation with a friend yesterday and also
- 18:29the what what I try not to do is because I, I feel like sometimes
- 18:33when you're on this path, there can also be a sense of
- 18:36righteousness as well. That's like, you know, look at
- 18:39me, look at all the Amal I do, look at where I what I do, who I
- 18:42go to all these events I do and all these salahs I do and these
- 18:46Das and this and that and God that.
- 18:48And don't get me wrong, that's amazing.
- 18:50And and that's something I've tried to actually add onto into
- 18:53my life because I'm as you know, I'm terrible with my phone.
- 18:57I'm I'm so bad at getting back to people.
- 18:59I'm so bad at keeping in touch because I'm just super busy all
- 19:04the time. It's not for a lack of like
- 19:07trying or or effort. It's just a lack of time and
- 19:09energy. But what keeps me going, bro,
- 19:14honestly, it's just, I think when you an example is like John
- 19:20Ramadan, you have this real spiritual connection and isn't
- 19:24it? It's really high and, and you
- 19:27don't like really find it hard to do the things.
- 19:30It's, it's definitely a challenging month in terms of
- 19:34spiritually, physically and and mentally.
- 19:37You have to put a lot into it, but you just feel like you have
- 19:40so much clarity. Can I just Yeah, Oscar.
- 19:43Yeah. Because I know there's boys from
- 19:45my boys from Stanmore are going to be watching.
- 19:47Did you enjoy Stanmore? Because.
- 19:48Yeah, yeah. I think where should I go for
- 19:51the other? Yeah, one as I go stamp.
- 19:55Sorry. Sorry to RA everyone.
- 19:57Else, yeah, it was good. I went, I went.
- 19:59I went two or three times. I actually, I made the rookie
- 20:02mistakes. It was the first time I ever
- 20:03went. So, you know, I did.
- 20:05I parked in the car park inside. Oh yeah.
- 20:09Training the next day. I'm thinking, you know what,
- 20:12yeah, I'm going to stay up a bit late today.
- 20:13Do some of my like I get home at midnight.
- 20:17I got into a car park 12. I looked at the car park and I
- 20:20asked the parking warden and I was like, bro, I was at my cars
- 20:25all the way at the back and all the cars are parked in front of
- 20:27each other. He's like bro, He's like, go
- 20:29inside and make some darkers. He's like you're, you're not,
- 20:32you're not getting out of fashion.
- 20:34Make dark. You're not getting out.
- 20:36But luckily, like after like an hour I end up getting out.
- 20:38But now I'll start, start. I didn't realise how close it
- 20:40was to because I live around there on that area, yeah.
- 20:43I love it. Yeah, that's great.
- 20:46But yeah, I was just saying that to get to keep that clarity
- 20:51through the whole year is really difficult because we get pulled
- 20:53in this direction, that direction, all the things that
- 20:56are kind of easy to in Ramadan, for example, I felt the shift
- 20:59when you come out of Ramadan, it's hard to keep the same
- 21:01habits, the same, the same sort of mindset, the same energy, the
- 21:04same drive. But yeah, I honestly thought I,
- 21:09I don't really know what, what, what it is.
- 21:11It's just I feel connected, feel connected to Allah.
- 21:14I feel connected to that little bait.
- 21:16I feel connected to the Das. I I try and do like, like you
- 21:21said, people kind of view you sometimes as a not normal person
- 21:24because I play football and it's actually hard to find people
- 21:27who, who, who, who love you and who appreciate you not for what
- 21:30you do. So not for like Ali Hamadi,
- 21:32because I'm a footballer, but it's the person like, yeah.
- 21:36So it's like, would you, you know, would you be like you
- 21:38said, would you be friends with me if I was a normal person?
- 21:42Or is it because I'm a footballer?
- 21:43And that all just comes from again, I just do what I would do
- 21:46if I if I wasn't a footballer. So it's like, you know, every
- 21:49Thursday I'll do my dark mail. I do Friday, I try to go to to
- 21:53John my I try and fast once a week.
- 21:56I just try and do everything that I would do anyway because
- 21:59not only does it help my football, but it just keeps me
- 22:03yeah, keeps me grounded, keeps me grounded through football and
- 22:06and if anything, it helps me with the football because you're
- 22:09able to perform better because you are connected and you're
- 22:11grounded spiritually, physically, mentally.
- 22:13So yeah, that that's really it. It's nothing that's no recipe.
- 22:16It's no, it's no secret. It's just I just do the I try to
- 22:20do the right things. I just do them consistently
- 22:22through the year. So it's like, what habits am I
- 22:25struggling with big one hours. I've been battling for a while.
- 22:29Is music, like music is one of try to care a lot and just like
- 22:34normal people, everyone has their vices and the things
- 22:36they're trying to work on. So some people could be smoking,
- 22:39some people it could be too much social media, Some people it's I
- 22:42don't know. Some people it's 2 minutes going
- 22:44out too much and socializing too much.
- 22:46Some people it's not socializing enough.
- 22:48So I just try and always just do what I would do, like regardless
- 22:53of whether I was a footballer or not, because like, it's still
- 22:57just done. Yeah, bro, it's, it's just, it's
- 22:59just done. Yeah.
- 23:00Like it's not, it's not my football isn't the thing that is
- 23:03my God. Like I don't worship football
- 23:06like football is for me. Just I've been blessed by a lot
- 23:09to be able to play it and to be able to be pretty OK.
- 23:13I and, you know, inspire others for it.
- 23:16So. So that's it really.
- 23:17It's just not making it. My identity is that I'm just a
- 23:20footballer. Because then your ego can be
- 23:24too, too much and then you won't be able to, yeah, you won't be
- 23:29able to be on that vibe the same, the same as kind of
- 23:31everyone else's. So yeah, that that's kind of
- 23:33what what keeps me going, I'll say.
- 23:35That's amazing. Well, that's amazing to hear it
- 23:37because it it, it brings it to life that everyone struggles and
- 23:41you know, is very relatable. And you know, speaking about,
- 23:45you spoke about, you know, the spiritual high of Ramadan and
- 23:47coming out of the holy month and facing challenges from then
- 23:50until now. And we all have spiritual
- 23:53fluctuations through our lives and what keeps us on track, like
- 23:56you've mentioned, you keep up with Darko made you keep up with
- 23:58all these things. That's what helps you stay on
- 24:00that part. Because if if that's missing, if
- 24:03those ingredients from our life is missing, it's impossible.
- 24:06If we face a challenge, we turn to Allah, we'll talk to
- 24:08something else. We'll turn to the Zdonia, right?
- 24:11We'll turn to other people for help rather than turning to our
- 24:13creator. And you know, you mentioning
- 24:16this, this morning I was driving to work.
- 24:20So I was playing one of my favourite lecturers at Hamad
- 24:24Baker Kazwini. And there was, there was a
- 24:26conversation about spirituality, you know, having fatigue and our
- 24:30spirituality. And it's you pretty much said
- 24:33what he said in all honesty, but he said one point he said as an
- 24:37advice and for those listening at home, you can have any up and
- 24:41down in your life. You can have any, you know, you
- 24:43can turn left and right. You're confused.
- 24:45One day you feel godly. One day you feel like I'm
- 24:48against God. Never leave your Salah.
- 24:51That Salah, that prayer is what keeps you on track down.
- 24:54No matter what you face, you end up bowing down to seduce to
- 24:58Allah. And you remember there is a lot
- 25:00and Allah Salah would take you out of any calamity, any
- 25:03difficulty, any obstacle, any challenge.
- 25:06And it's, it's a beautiful reminder.
- 25:07Thank you for sharing it man. Yeah, honestly, sorry.
- 25:10I just wanted to add one thing to that is again, there's I've
- 25:14kind of the reason as well, I love our teachings is because
- 25:18when you talk about like spirituality, it really like
- 25:20I've really been interested in like the Neffs and like, you
- 25:24know, in the West they call it the ego and all that sort of
- 25:27stuff. And obviously that's really
- 25:28dominant when when you're an athlete because you have such a
- 25:32high drive to succeed that sometimes that can get over
- 25:36amplified. And like you said, like, you
- 25:39know, you dissolve all your ego when you're unsidured always.
- 25:43And even like in Salah, it's like, don't just pray.
- 25:46Like because you can pray and you're not, you're not focused,
- 25:49you're not present, you're not, you're not there.
- 25:51You're thinking about what you're having for day.
- 25:53We all know this, right? And we all struggle with it, but
- 25:56really trying to trying to be present there with Allah and,
- 25:59and, and yeah, I, I think like whatever, like you said,
- 26:03whatever calamity you're in, because, because there's a
- 26:05version of reality that exists. And then there's like our
- 26:08version of reality that we think life should be like best.
- 26:12There's only one reality that Allah has placed this.
- 26:15There's only one reality that we live in.
- 26:16So I try my best always to just stay in that reality and like
- 26:20whatevers I think that the world should be like, or how that
- 26:23person should speak to me or how this person should act, or if I
- 26:26should play on the weekend or if I should have scored the goal of
- 26:30I'm fighting with reality and fighting with Allah has decreed
- 26:32for me. So this is the ego is going to
- 26:35always make me frustrated and make me angry, make me upset.
- 26:38So it's really interesting and and it's it's not easy.
- 26:42It's like we chase, especially when you're boys.
- 26:44I'm sure you've got kids. You've got I've not got kids.
- 26:46Yeah, and Charlotte and and obviously I know you guys have
- 26:52have have so much with after mother Ebb and your jobs and
- 26:55your life. So it's everybody's got their
- 26:57own stuff going on. So you know what I mean?
- 26:59It's not, it's not special to me, but what what football
- 27:02allows me to do is I feel like it allows me to fast track a bit
- 27:05because it's so intense because you experience such lows that
- 27:09maybe other people, I don't know, maybe they do.
- 27:11But I feel like on football the lows are very low and the highs
- 27:14are very high to euphoria and it's like bump on the floor.
- 27:17Yeah, yeah, and all eyes are on you.
- 27:19Yeah, so it shocks you, and that's another thing.
- 27:21The eyes broke the eyes. The eyes, bro.
- 27:23The eyes are too much. Bro.
- 27:26The eyes don't lie and and and even that like even that even
- 27:31adding that to my daily practices.
- 27:34It's like make sure and do my rope here and do my protection
- 27:37and like all these things I never used to take take care of
- 27:39that. So I actually have a thing on my
- 27:41wall. It's like for each day I have
- 27:44like what things I should do on that day?
- 27:46That sounds a bit silly and stuff, but no, no, not not not
- 27:49like. What do you say then?
- 27:50Headers. Oh, I thought you said headers
- 27:52like no. In the wall.
- 27:57Yeah, just like, look, you know, Monday I do this, Thursday I do
- 27:59the alchemy. Yeah, the car, Friday, they stay
- 28:02fast about that. Yeah.
- 28:03So I'll just make sure like, no matter what happens, I try and
- 28:06do the things on the on those days.
- 28:08And if you do like, you should find your way back.
- 28:11Like being a person of faith gives us always an advantage
- 28:15over everyone else. And it's kind of an unfair
- 28:16advantage that we have that they don't because in the fact that
- 28:19we have, we believe in Allah's the kalan mukadra of Allah's
- 28:23Pantala, we recognise all right, didn't go my way.
- 28:26For example, an injury or for example, in our case, issues at
- 28:30work and, and so on and so forth.
- 28:31And we will face this, you know, your, whether it's your, your
- 28:35pressure and university exams or school exams or an issue with
- 28:38your family or your spouse or whatever it might be, or even
- 28:42things as as, as completely out of your control like like a car
- 28:45accident or whatever. But the point being is that when
- 28:48you come to terms with the will of Allah, swan to Allah, and you
- 28:52recognise that Allah allows us a certain level of control.
- 28:57So we have we don't believe in absolute free will, nor do we
- 29:00believe in absolute predestination.
- 29:01Like Imam Salih Ali Salaam, someone came to him and said,
- 29:06what do you Shia believe? Do you believe in free will or
- 29:10predestination? He says both and neither.
- 29:13And he was like, what do you mean?
- 29:14He says lift one FOP. So the guy lifts his FOP.
- 29:17He says OK, now lift the other. He says I can't, why?
- 29:19Because I'll fall over. He says in in a similar way, he
- 29:22goes, we're limited to what we can do, but we still have an
- 29:25element of control, if that makes sense.
- 29:28And the Imam gives that example and that analogy to try and
- 29:30understand that there's a grey area in between where we can
- 29:33control certain things. So, for example, we know in our
- 29:36hadith that there's things that we can do for protection.
- 29:39Getting started on a daily basis, not only does it protect
- 29:41us, you know, about 70 evil acts on yourself or inflicting evil
- 29:45acts on yourself, but also, for example, expands your life, you
- 29:49know, say little Raham, like having peace with your family
- 29:53members and keeping relationships expands your
- 29:57lifespan, for example, like, and these are things that we know,
- 30:00of course Allah will know the end destination for us, but it's
- 30:04up to us to determine whether we choose that path to get there or
- 30:07not. And I think the fact that we in
- 30:09our theology, our epistemology, we believe that, we recognize
- 30:12that. And then the hard part for us is
- 30:14then to implement that. So when these day-to-day hurdles
- 30:17hit us sometimes like a ton of bricks, you know, you're in the
- 30:20middle of something, your mind is somewhere, something just
- 30:22comes and slaps you in the face, metaphorically, it's a wake up
- 30:26call. And then it's down to us to
- 30:27react. You know, we, we had a podcast
- 30:29recently and we spoke a lot about anger, you know, and said
- 30:32Ali and I after the podcast we spoke, we spoke about road rage
- 30:36and it's crazy. And I told him about an incident
- 30:38I had, which I won't repeat, which was a mad one, where I
- 30:42lost my temper. Not going to.
- 30:43Create Shia leaks and. I'll be finished, I'll be
- 30:47finished. If only people knew anyway.
- 30:50But like small things like that, they fine tune us.
- 30:53Do you know what I'm saying? So, and I'm sure like if you,
- 30:57like you said, as a footballer, you experience that on an
- 31:01extreme level because it's not internalised, it's there for the
- 31:05world to see. You know, and especially for
- 31:08example, in your case and not to put pressure on you, but you're
- 31:12the number 9 bagsman for flipping huge country of how
- 31:17many people in Iraq. 46 million. 46,000,000 yeah, 46 million
- 31:22people and Al Hamdullah, like they love you and we know they
- 31:26love you and I know you love them as well, but it's again, it
- 31:30is that pressure, right? It's what what you just said.
- 31:34If, if, if I like when you say that I feel something in my
- 31:37body, right? And it's, it's however I want to
- 31:41perceive that in my head. So, so using both examples, I
- 31:46could either be like for it's like big pressure being a #9 for
- 31:49her arc, or I can be handle like Allah has put me in a position
- 31:53that I can, I can do what I love and Allah has blessed me to be
- 31:56able to inspire and, and, and it's easier to do the other one.
- 32:00It's easier to say pressure. It's just easier when you're in
- 32:04traffic to be like what, you know what I mean?
- 32:06But you could be like, you know, he's might, he might be having a
- 32:10bad day. He might have had problems at
- 32:13home. He might have.
- 32:14I mean, we're all in traffic, we're all trying to get home.
- 32:16Like why am I more special than that person trying to get home?
- 32:20And it starts and those little things it does.
- 32:23And I, I notice it sometimes because my little brother, I try
- 32:25to speak to him a lot and he's the same, like just gets angry
- 32:28over everything. Sorry, hands above, but.
- 32:31He's young, isn't it? Which is fine.
- 32:33He's he's good man He's in he's just finished his second year in
- 32:36uni, Westminster 2021. Yeah, he's 2121.
- 32:39But it's just it's just perspective.
- 32:41It's it's flipping this perspective all the time and
- 32:43anger for me again, comes from like the the you arguing with
- 32:49what the reality is because you want the reality to be your way.
- 32:52Yeah, 100%. So when the reality is not your
- 32:54way, it's like you said about the free villain.
- 32:56Because I feel like we are again, not to get too deep, but
- 33:00there's this whole, there's this whole discussion about like is,
- 33:03is it cause and effect? Is that, is that the world we
- 33:06live in? Because you could argue, yeah,
- 33:09it is. But then you could argue, no,
- 33:10it's not cause and effect. Like we say Thai camel, but
- 33:14still play to Allah. We say, you know me as a
- 33:16footballer, train well, sleep well, eat well, but I could
- 33:20still play crap on the weekend and I could still have people
- 33:23abusing me on online, Twitter, Instagram, whatever.
- 33:26So because then that doesn't make sense because I've done
- 33:30what I feel like A cause would would give me the the effect I
- 33:34want. But it doesn't always work like
- 33:36that. And I think some things are
- 33:37like, if I spill this water on the floor, the carpet is going
- 33:39to get wet, right? I'm not being stupid, but I
- 33:42think with things that are beyond our understanding,
- 33:45especially human performance as an athlete, you can't.
- 33:48It's like part of it is flow state and it's part of just
- 33:52letting go. So I can do whatever preparation
- 33:54I want. But on that match day, sometimes
- 33:58it's just you're going to. And my dad, I think a big part
- 34:00of that is listening to our elders and listening to people
- 34:02who have more knowledge than us and who who you sit with and you
- 34:06listen to them. And I used to be bad at that.
- 34:07I used to just think I knew everything for, you know, people
- 34:10are my father and like the figures you said, like Sheikh
- 34:12Muhammad Hali Saddam a lot, lots of other respected scholars who
- 34:16I listen to. When you listen to them and you
- 34:18shit with them and you hear the way they speak and you hear the
- 34:21way they are, it rubs off on you and and you take it.
- 34:24So my dad's great at that. Like after a game, I could have
- 34:28had the worst game ever. And he's go like I'm the larger,
- 34:32I mean like way, so way, so annoyed.
- 34:33It's OK, it's OK. It's football like and, and and
- 34:37and I said that to I was in my boy today and he's like, we're
- 34:40just saying the key to life. Probably just like to stop
- 34:43caring so much. Like, it sounds easier said than
- 34:45done. Yeah, but just stop caring so
- 34:47much over the flow. This is what it is, man.
- 34:49Like, let go. And as a footballer, you need to
- 34:51have a short memory. Short memory because I might
- 34:53score on Saturday, but I got a game on Tuesday.
- 34:56So if I don't score on Tuesday, all of a sudden I've gone from
- 34:59being the best player in the world and I'm crap again.
- 35:01So you have to have a short memory.
- 35:02I'm good. All right, whatever.
- 35:03Cool. Next game.
- 35:04I played badly. OK, cool.
- 35:06Next game, I've had a bad day call next game, next moment.
- 35:08So it's, it's all of us. It's it's a hard and I feel like
- 35:12nowadays with the phones and social media and we can go on
- 35:15Uber and get something in 5 minutes.
- 35:17So our patience is getting thinner and thinner to deal with
- 35:20everything. Like we can't wait for anything.
- 35:22We're all guilty of it. You'd be waiting on the train,
- 35:25the train's 5 minutes late. You just like want to rip your
- 35:27hair out, but it's like. Yeah, can I can I like slightly
- 35:32pivot conversation towards the World Cup course in June?
- 35:38Look goes without saying as said Ali said, like we go through ups
- 35:42and downs and these different seasons train US spiritually,
- 35:45our nephs in our spirituality to become ultimately closer to a
- 35:50Las Pantala. Our ultimate goal is perfection,
- 35:53to reach a Las Pantala, and we have Shahramovan and we have
- 35:57Mahalan, and we see these two seasons as the pinnacles of our
- 36:02yearly calendar. And obviously we have moments in
- 36:06between and so on. But as Shia, Muharram is a
- 36:10defining moment for multiple reasons.
- 36:13And for those who are not Shia, who may be listening and who
- 36:17don't know what we're talking about, how long is the first
- 36:19month in the lunar calendar where we as Muslims and
- 36:23particularly as Shia 12 are Muslims, commemorate the
- 36:26martyrdom the lost the of the grandson of the Prophet
- 36:29Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaiwale, whose name was Imam Hussein.
- 36:32Imam Hussein gave his life on the 10th day of Muharram, known
- 36:34as the Day of Ashura. And in this day he gave his life
- 36:38along with over 70 of his companions and friends and
- 36:42family. And he fought against an army of
- 36:45at least 30,000 people who were all mercenaries under the
- 36:49tyrant, a man named Yazid, son of Mahawya.
- 36:52And this moment has lived on throughout history.
- 36:54So for 1400 years, we revisit this story, we rekindle our
- 36:59affection and our affinity towards Imam Hussain and what he
- 37:03stood for. His legacy of standing up for
- 37:06justice, his decolonial mentality against not allowing
- 37:10someone to shape your narrative to, to set their own rules based
- 37:13on their own kind of whims and desires.
- 37:17And in the same way, we take that and we apply it to our own
- 37:19lives today, I wanted to ask you, you're probably the first
- 37:25person. Well, I mean, you guys as as a
- 37:27collective are probably the first group of human beings in
- 37:31history to go to a World Cup during Mahalam.
- 37:35Like I can't even I can't even understand.
- 37:38As a young boy, all of us dream of the World Cup.
- 37:41My first memory was O2 Brazil World Cup.
- 37:44Like it was incredible. And like, you know, we all dream
- 37:47of that day and like, wow, what a like thing to be a footballer.
- 37:51But how do you feel Like did you feel a conflict inside?
- 37:55I'm sure there must be like 1,000,001 emotions for you as
- 37:58well. Yeah, yeah, it's difficult.
- 38:03Obviously I, I know you guys may have seen, but I had a brief
- 38:06chat with say that more about it, have a week on on on his
- 38:09show and I've spoke to a few people about it.
- 38:13And like you said, it's such a unique situation because it's
- 38:17never like no one's had to ever deal with this context of
- 38:21situation before. So, yeah.
- 38:25So you know, there's people that will say, oh, it's my Haram.
- 38:27Can't celebrate. Can't, you know, if you win,
- 38:29can't celebrate. If you score, don't celebrate.
- 38:32There's people that are a bit more lenient and, you know,
- 38:35context of what you're at. It's not as if like, you know,
- 38:39you go now like dancing and, and doing like a madness or like,
- 38:43you know, if you're going to celebrate, you know, keep it
- 38:46respectful and like, keep it a bit more mellow.
- 38:50So I, if I'm being completely honest with you, I still don't
- 38:53know how how I'm going to approach that situation.
- 38:55I'm still speaking to people. I'm speaking to people with more
- 38:58knowledge than me, people with more wisdom than me.
- 39:02Because there's definitely this, this, this conflict with him,
- 39:04which is like, is it, Is this the challenge?
- 39:07I mean, this is my challenge. Like I've just experienced the
- 39:12achieved, sorry, the regional World Cup and maybe playing, I
- 39:15think this is the France game, France or Senegal game.
- 39:18You should know this by. Yeah, sorry, sorry.
- 39:20Yeah, I've felt on round this you're.
- 39:22Playing Norway in France, yeah. Yeah, so, so it's like, I
- 39:27honestly, I don't know because it's.
- 39:30All because. It could, yeah.
- 39:31It's like, it's like your test, is that like, you know, you're
- 39:33choosing this or that there's that sort of angle you can come
- 39:37at. Or is there a way you can manage
- 39:39the two to bring more light and recognition to the situation,
- 39:42which is a a better, more balanced approach?
- 39:45Or is it like you just crack on and celebrate?
- 39:48So there's kind of like three ways you can go about it now.
- 39:53Yeah, I can't score and lift my top up and say, yeah, I say like
- 39:57that because I'll get kicked out of the country probably.
- 40:00But this is, I mean, it's just trying to, it's trying to find a
- 40:03way like the best and and. Again, but I've got a yeah, like
- 40:06I've, I've, I've had a lot of tough situations to be Yeah.
- 40:09Like I have a friend afterwards I'm going to show you some, some
- 40:12messages because I have a friend of mine who specialises in this
- 40:15field of Tabligh Obama, say whatever.
- 40:17And great guy. He he asked me to show you some
- 40:20stuff. But I'll do that later.
- 40:22But Sid, I know you had a question you wanted to ask Ali,
- 40:25specifically on Mahabharaman. I did.
- 40:28And before I ask, I just want to mention something just by your
- 40:30answer, it goes to show how you have this connection with about
- 40:35Abdullah Hussein Alayhi Salaam where you do not want to
- 40:38disrespect the sanctity of the of, of the Knights of Muharram,
- 40:42and rightly so to be in that position and feel that way.
- 40:45And Alakis are known for two things, football and Imam
- 40:50Hussein. And if you look, if you turn on
- 40:52the TV, if you turn on social media or scroll for everything,
- 40:56you see two things from Ziara of Imam Hussain and football
- 41:00Ronaldo. Edits like.
- 41:02Honestly, like honestly and and and, and you are inshallah both
- 41:06of these where you have the love for Imam Hussain Ali Salaam and
- 41:08you have the love for the football and it's not an easy
- 41:10position to be in. And I, I think a question I want
- 41:15to ask when it comes to this, in addition to what Ahmed just
- 41:19asked now when it comes to those days, is that everyone has this
- 41:23relationship with their Imam. Some people feel an immense
- 41:31feeling of emotion as soon as the name of Hussein is
- 41:34mentioned. As an example, some people I've
- 41:37witnessed, you mentioned Imam Hussein to them.
- 41:39Straight away, tears start rolling down their cheeks.
- 41:43And I'm going to ask it to you in Arabic.
- 41:46Shunur al Arktech, we al Hussein.
- 41:49Well, well, question. It's it's, it's impossible to to
- 41:58get away from it like Imam Hussein is.
- 42:01It's in our hearts, it's in our blood.
- 42:03It's in that's all I've ever known growing up.
- 42:08So it's my household. That's why I, I grew up learning
- 42:12about remembering handle love the miser.
- 42:17I've, I've, I've not had the chance in recent years to do
- 42:19Ziara, but I always went to Ziara when I was younger with
- 42:21my, with my dad. So no matter how far and how,
- 42:27like I keep saying to you, with the football journey, no matter
- 42:29how far you get with the success or the lows or you, you become
- 42:34further from the path, you become close to the path.
- 42:38The the lights of the Mamassee never, never dies in a heart.
- 42:41And now more than ever in the current world we live in and the
- 42:47current affairs of we live in is even stronger.
- 42:50And that is why it's such a difficult situation to to to to
- 42:56navigate because yeah, again, I'm I'm fortunate handle that,
- 43:02but more so maybe a bit unlucky to be one of the first people in
- 43:06history probably or footballer to have to deal with the
- 43:08situation. You also got to remember we have
- 43:11a split in the in the team. We have a lot of the foot.
- 43:14You know, we probably have like half of the Sony brothers and
- 43:17half of the series as well. And we're actually really lucky
- 43:21and blessed that there's just a great unity between between the
- 43:26two of them. There's a great social unity.
- 43:28And there's a different topic, but we were speaking the other
- 43:31day about like social unity and obviously theological unity.
- 43:34And we know there's never going to be a world where maybe we
- 43:37have utmost theological unity for a lot of my good friends.
- 43:41And one of my best friends is, is, is sunny and we always have
- 43:45these sort of conversations. But as I'm getting older, and
- 43:50like I said, as I'm getting even fairer on this path, I'm
- 43:53learning to not shy away from from my roots.
- 43:56I'm learning not to shy away from Imam Hussain.
- 44:01And yeah, I'm just again, I don't want to speak with,
- 44:05without knowledge of how to deal with the situation, to be
- 44:08honest. So I'm, I'm, I'm currently still
- 44:11speaking with people. Hopefully you can show me maybe
- 44:13some things after that I can that, that I can take on board.
- 44:16But yeah, our our, our heartbeat for Imam Hussein.
- 44:21Salam allahi Alayhi and then Hussein Musbah al Huda and you
- 44:28know, we, we say he is Rahmatullah al Wasa.
- 44:33And you know, just if I can just remind the viewers at home,
- 44:40because you mentioned, for example, unity, your best friend
- 44:44or your close friend, Sunni. Half the Iraqi team is a mix
- 44:47between Sunni and Shia. And something is very beautiful
- 44:50by winners. Every time Iraq plays, it brings
- 44:53the country together. It's if there's any differences,
- 44:57it steps aside. Everyone comes together,
- 44:59everyone celebrates together. And it's just one big, huge
- 45:03family. Whether you're Sunni or Shiite,
- 45:05as long as you're under the banner of Allah, Muhammad
- 45:08Rasulullah and Subhanallah, football does this like, look,
- 45:11there can be effects that I can have on a country, which is
- 45:14amazing. And Ali Hamad, if I can say
- 45:17abortion, Seid Mujtaba and the after Muslim team collectively
- 45:22have arranged a gift for you all the way from Karbala and I'll
- 45:25present it to you. No, I don't mind.
- 45:27Yeah, I'll be honest. Ring from the holy shrine of
- 45:34Imam Hussein and marble from the holy city of Karbala.
- 45:39Thank you so much boys. Thank you so much.
- 45:41Abebe, you deserve it. Shall Allah, may you be under
- 45:44the banner of protection of some of Abdullah.
- 45:47Please thank you so much Habibi. Amazing, amazing.
- 45:51Thank you SO. Much remember us in your
- 45:53daughter. Thank you more than everything.
- 45:54Like us? Our whole team, our whole
- 45:59family, the Arthur Moglot family and of course, like it goes
- 46:02without saying, like you've got the love, the daughter, the
- 46:05support of. Thank you so much.
- 46:07Please. Hello I really.
- 46:08Appreciate it. It's.
- 46:09Very nice of you Habibi, I'll open this.
- 46:18This is from. Look at that.
- 46:20So from the marble of the train. I'm like.
- 46:25Benny Harsham. Amazing.
- 46:27Thank you so much guys. Nothing.
- 46:28Nothing. Thank you guys.
- 46:31Thank you. I've I have a shirt for you as
- 46:34well, Charlotte, but. Oh, you got it, my guy.
- 46:38Thank you, I asked him the other day.
- 46:40I was like, I need a shirt and I also need one for my son more
- 46:43than anything. But unfortunately, if you if you
- 46:46want the Iraq shirt, that's going to have to wait a little
- 46:47longer. It's a different one.
- 46:49It's a different one, yeah. We'll get that.
- 46:55Yeah. All right.
- 46:55Now really. Thank you so much.
- 46:58Can I just add one thing to this whole conversation?
- 47:00You know, you know, when every time harass plays, you know,
- 47:02we've seen them, whether it's in the Golf Cup or the Asian Cup or
- 47:07even in Qatar and all these places, they always have these
- 47:11chants which are amazing. Like highly we are.
- 47:13I'm trying to think like, how do we like calm it down during
- 47:18this? It's hard, man.
- 47:19It's hard because we have passion, football, football, we
- 47:21love football. And Iraq is, you know, they're
- 47:24have some hard them hard. You know they're heated.
- 47:27That was going to say that I'm trying to remember because when
- 47:31was it last year? What?
- 47:33Haram it was a was that what I I bumped into you last time Haram
- 47:36the night Marble Arch. Yes, the they should remember
- 47:40that the brine procession, I'm sorry, Ashura procession.
- 47:42Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ashura, remember that day and
- 47:45absolutely rained on us? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 47:50No, I just came to my. I don't know.
- 47:51I just remembered to mention that because I don't think I've
- 47:53seen you since then, have I? I.
- 47:54Think that was the. Last, yeah, that was the last
- 47:56time I've seen you. Obviously seen you guys at the
- 47:59the event you had recently by then obviously didn't get to
- 48:01speak to you properly. But yeah, like you said, say
- 48:04that it's a really hard one. It's a hard one.
- 48:06And football has got such a power to unite.
- 48:08And I'm trying to come on it and think of it from an angle where
- 48:11how can I use that to be unity and and, you know, rather than
- 48:17cause any commotion? I was just remembering the
- 48:26chance in it. Well, does that mean?
- 48:27They got asked to tell you I want it.
- 48:31They started saying Bolivi Albani, Francis Senegali or
- 48:36Luigi. It's like like.
- 48:38Something on your head? What?
- 48:39Yeah, like. Basically like.
- 48:40Like on your. Head football.
- 48:45OK, Speaking of football, last part of the pod, I just want to
- 48:47ask you a couple of questions, OK?
- 48:49And we'll probably just like a bit more football related
- 48:52questions off air or whatever, but specifically bro, France,
- 48:58Norway, Senegal, bro, this is in, as you know, these kind of
- 49:04groups are called the group of death.
- 49:07Death. This is what it's called.
- 49:09This is the group of death, but a little.
- 49:15Do they know we are Shia. We.
- 49:18This does death does not ask for this.
- 49:20This is the month of we're not scared of no doubt about group.
- 49:24Honestly. Honestly.
- 49:26Now, let me ask you. OK, fine.
- 49:27Firstly, how do you feel about each three of these games?
- 49:29Let me ask you about each team specifically.
- 49:32What? Your first game, if I'm not
- 49:33mistaken. There's no way.
- 49:35No way. Yeah.
- 49:36How do you feel about Of course it goes outside there.
- 49:38Some of their players are Harlan Soloff, Adiga.
- 49:41There were some Ballers, bro. How do you feel about the game?
- 49:45Yeah, look like let's let's not be around the bullshit.
- 49:50If we get out that group, it's it's a miracle.
- 49:52Yeah, so nothing's impossible. Yeah, but but then we also like
- 49:58football. You can never predict anything
- 49:59And and I truly believe that there's been many World Cups.
- 50:02We have that one team that like no one expects to get out the
- 50:05group and and maybe has an amazing result.
- 50:07Remember the Saudi beat Argentina, Yeah.
- 50:10And Qatar and with this, you know, we beat we we beat Japan
- 50:14and the Asia Cup. So honestly, if there's one team
- 50:19capable of picking up results against those teams as Iraq and
- 50:22honestly because. Sorry, but you know their
- 50:26manager, there's a guy called Graham Arnold previously was
- 50:29Australia's manager the last World Cup and Australia had a
- 50:33great World Cup. They even got to the the point
- 50:38where they were playing against Messi, right?
- 50:43And I think if they had the last drawing or whatever.
- 50:46And then there was a great last minute save from Emmy Martinez,
- 50:49the Argentina keeper. But he's known as a manager who
- 50:53is a man management expert and in his books, nothing is
- 50:57impossible. The fact that this Iraq team can
- 50:59go 21 games to get to this point of qualification and after 40
- 51:03years you know of, of turmoil and struggle for a country to
- 51:07get to the stage is insane. So even bro like I I have belief
- 51:12and I'm sure you guys believe and your manager's probably
- 51:14telling you nothing is impossible.
- 51:16No, definitely, definitely. And and like I said, he's, he
- 51:19installed a lot of belief in us to in the 1st place to qualify
- 51:22for the World Cup because at one point people think and it's
- 51:24impossible and he kept saying to us believe, right, He instilled
- 51:27confidence, belief in us. So I think he'll he'll do the
- 51:30exact same thing for this game, for these games.
- 51:32Sorry, it's like you said, I think the one of course you're
- 51:36playing against France who are probably one first or second
- 51:39favorite to to win the whole tournament and you're playing
- 51:41against the the best players on the planet.
- 51:45Who are you most excited about playing in those three teams?
- 51:49Individual players who I know you've played against some of
- 51:52them in the past, right? I mean, we're talking about last
- 51:56season when you played against Holland and you you witnessed
- 51:59Sims scores hat trick right in front of you when you scored
- 52:01against Ipswich and of course you're playing Colin against
- 52:04Norway. But what plays are you really
- 52:06excited to see both playing? Games I have to say, I have to
- 52:09say Mbappe. I have to say Mbappe.
- 52:11I want to see the level that, you know, he's for me that I
- 52:15love over the past few years, kind of growing up, he was, you
- 52:18know, one of the best around and still is the one of the best
- 52:21around. So I just want to see the level,
- 52:22you know, he scored hat trick when he was was in 19.
- 52:25No, he scored the hat trick last World Cup final and he scored
- 52:28the yeah. In the he.
- 52:29Scored the most World Cup final goals, doesn't he?
- 52:31Or like close, close, maybe one off he scored like. 5 or
- 52:35something. Yeah, I don't know what smash
- 52:36stats might be off there, but him I want to.
- 52:39I'm really for playing against them Ballet playing against the
- 52:41Ballando winner holder. Yeah, playing against Ballando
- 52:44Holder right now, OK. And and obviously the defenders
- 52:47are just trying to test myself against the the best defenders
- 52:50on the planet. And then French, the French team
- 52:52is just, you go for that team, it's just stuttered.
- 52:54Can I ask you to make an all time 11 of plays that you've
- 53:01played against? OK.
- 53:05We'll go 433. 433, a lot of these obviously going to be from
- 53:12the Premier League season. Yeah, in goal, I would say
- 53:18Allison left back. I'll say I'm going to say
- 53:28Robertson as well. Yeah, it might just be the whole
- 53:30Left Four team. Yeah.
- 53:32Centre back, yeah, Verges in there.
- 53:39I can't score all the four players here.
- 53:42Celiba. Santa off?
- 53:43Who's another good Santa off? Do you play?
- 53:45Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'd say Gabrielle.
- 53:49Really. Yeah, he was.
- 53:51He's a machine. Why?
- 53:52Why this is a I'm I'm curious because these are the two guys
- 53:55who are like a duo and 50% of the people love 1 and 50% love
- 53:59the other. Why Gabrielle Love Celiba?
- 54:02He was just like just so, so physical, Like so big.
- 54:07Celiba was like, but basically like again, I'm not not
- 54:13disrespecting any of these two players, but don't don't clip
- 54:15these off. But I thought that when we were
- 54:18analyzing Arsenal, it was people were saying that celeb is
- 54:24probably, you know, he's easier to press maybe when the ball
- 54:26back off and maybe might he lose his concentration, whereas
- 54:29Gabriel was more like just just an absolute machine.
- 54:32So just for that. But they're both like wonderful,
- 54:34wonderful center box. So yeah, I'd I'd say I'd say
- 54:38them too. Right back again.
- 54:42I'm going to have to go Trent, sorry, because that backline
- 54:44Trent of Robertson Van Dyke yeah, speaks for itself.
- 54:50The free midfield. I'm going to go with Bruno
- 54:54Fernandez. I thought on the day he was just
- 54:56like on a complete different level to anyone on the pitch,
- 55:01Enzo Fernandez and. White Enzo, because obviously
- 55:07he's under fire a lot recently. He was just again, on the day he
- 55:11was, he was just fantastic. Like he was just such a good
- 55:13player. And I say Kevin De Bruyner,
- 55:19yeah, that being a Mitchell three, that's insane.
- 55:22And then the front 3 played play against Isaac when he was at
- 55:27Newcastle, so I put him #9 because he just scored the
- 55:30heart. Last season in Newcastle.
- 55:31Right. Yeah, yeah, of course another
- 55:33show was Holland. But I'm saying that on the day
- 55:35when I played on, I'm just thinking about on the day was
- 55:38seen with my own eyes. He was just unbelievable.
- 55:45And then I'd have to go probably, probably have to go
- 55:51Luis Diaz, I was. Going to say Diaz scored against
- 55:53you. Yeah, I'd love to go Luis Diaz
- 55:55on the left and right wing. I'd have to say the I'd have to
- 56:03say I have a son. I know he plays on the left, but
- 56:05just to put up, I say son or I'd say the the South Korean guy
- 56:09that plays the PSG left with the guy can't.
- 56:12Yeah, we played against them. Against when?
- 56:16Where was he? He is at PSG.
- 56:18No, but when did you play against?
- 56:19Him. No, not, not.
- 56:20You're thinking of the striker. Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, that's a
- 56:23different your thing. He's also yeah, yeah.
- 56:26Him, him, him. Where did you play against in
- 56:28Premier League? We played no, this wasn't.
- 56:29This was for Iraq. We played South Korea.
- 56:31Oh, right. OK.
- 56:32So he, he, he was just again on the day, he was like.
- 56:36Hanging the A bowler, he's a bowler.
- 56:38So play, yeah, again, that that's just based off like what
- 56:41I seen on the day of games I was involved in on the bench coming
- 56:44against these players. But of course, like there was
- 56:47like, you know, Holland Declan Rice, like Johnstone's Squealish
- 56:52Folden. Yeah, like all the TV.
- 56:56Player would make the best Molana.
- 57:02Come on boys. This is my language now.
- 57:05What, like Muslim or like Christian or like?
- 57:08Which one of your boys in football has the best speaking
- 57:13ability of like, yeah, if this guy was shit out, like he'd be
- 57:16popping the. Game.
- 57:18I want to say, you know what I'm going to say.
- 57:19My captain now at Luton Car Naismith.
- 57:23Oh, really? Yeah, I've been trying to.
- 57:24I've been trying to convey him for a while.
- 57:25He's not He's. Not budging.
- 57:26No, no. He's sensible.
- 57:28He's in the back. Left back.
- 57:29Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's coming. He's coming to the path for all.
- 57:33You're going to take a shot. The suit Michelle.
- 57:36Come on, blood. He's he's a great guy.
- 57:39He was, he went with, there was a period where we were both
- 57:42injured and obviously like he always like asked me questions,
- 57:46Oh, why don't you do this? Why don't you listen to music?
- 57:49Why do you never like hug women and all these sort of things.
- 57:53And then and then he started like watching those of like
- 57:56Khabib videos in Dagestan and this and that.
- 57:59So yeah, we always joke around, always like obviously like speak
- 58:02to him and say Salaam alaikum and stuff.
- 58:04So yeah, he's Muslim by heart. He's he just hasn't took a shot
- 58:07yet. Shout out.
- 58:08Yeah, shout out. He'll get there in shot.
- 58:10Yeah, Charlotte, I like Adam. Can I ask some fire questions?
- 58:12Go for it. When it comes to payment, Yeah.
- 58:14Carbola, you pay more on Ejafi. You got to be honest.
- 58:20Wow, good. I'm not going to lie because
- 58:22I've not had well had some payment last year last.
- 58:26I'm trying to think I can't. I don't know if it was an Ejafi
- 58:29or not. I'm going to say Kabuli just
- 58:31because I know, like I know, I know you're Kabuli is also.
- 58:36Yeah. So yeah, I can't wait.
- 58:39I've not had them in a while because I'm on this this
- 58:41football elite. OK.
- 58:43Between the two cities, Baghdad or Hamara?
- 58:47Hamara, of course. Why small town?
- 58:50Yeah, people. People obviously this desire.
- 58:53People ask me all the time, like where you're, where your roots
- 58:55are from. Also like my mother, the father
- 58:58from, from different areas of but yeah, I've got, I've got my
- 59:03strongest roots are there. So yeah, a lot of people ask me
- 59:07that. So they are.
- 59:10As you have a message for the people, is there anything you
- 59:12want to tell them? Being happy English because
- 59:17they're going to be listening because last time we done a
- 59:18podcast, I. Mean both.
- 59:19They spam the comments we love. You the marches.
- 59:22To have marches, I beg you, tell them discovered.
- 59:25The. First tell them in anarchy to
- 59:27subscribe to aftermarket. They'll get us to 20K.
- 59:31Yeah, I thought you a fully story when I was a bit younger.
- 59:34I remember, like I think with my dad's friend came over when we
- 59:37were a bit younger and like, I'm paraphrasing what the discussion
- 59:43was, but he looked at me. He's like, you know, they've
- 59:45been making me another. Someone does like this.
- 59:56So I went there after that Summer came back.
- 59:58Yeah, bro, I came back out like this car.
- 1:00:01This car, this car here, I was like, yeah, no way.
- 1:00:05So he come around like a few later he was like, he's awesome.
- 1:00:12So yeah, no, it's look, I'm proud of my roots.
- 1:00:15I'm just, I'm just, I'm very fortunate.
- 1:00:18I have to keep saying to just be in a unique situation where I
- 1:00:21have roots and these places and I'm I'm really, really, really
- 1:00:25proud to have that. I don't know why when I said
- 1:00:28South Korea, there's, there's another funny story you might
- 1:00:32like, but I got sent off against South Korea, didn't I?
- 1:00:37And the World Cup qualifiers. Remember.
- 1:00:39Yeah, and it. Was peak.
- 1:00:42Yeah, I, I got sent off when I was like really down, really
- 1:00:46emotional for like couple weeks and then, you know, ruined my
- 1:00:48whole summer came, but I was getting but I was getting all
- 1:00:51sorts of messages, abuse, whatever.
- 1:00:53And then, and my dad said to me, he was like, a few weeks later,
- 1:00:59he was like, we were joking around a lot of things.
- 1:01:01Like, can I tell you one thing? And I was like, yeah, yeah.
- 1:01:04And he was like, he's like, you know, I had a dream that you got
- 1:01:06sent off for the game. And I was like, what?
- 1:01:11And he was like, no, no, sorry. He told me.
- 1:01:14He'd already told me like a few days leading into the game, he
- 1:01:18was like Baba diabolic, then let me to be killing more.
- 1:01:21Hello. And I was like, what is it?
- 1:01:23He's like, no, no, I can't tell you.
- 1:01:25And he's like, he was like, yeah, he's like you got sent
- 1:01:28off. And I was like, I was like, I'm
- 1:01:30not gonna I'm a striker. Like strikers barely ever get
- 1:01:32sent off for anything. So yeah, remember the few weeks
- 1:01:35later and I was like, Baba brought home, like I like
- 1:01:39Khaliq. Never dream of me again.
- 1:01:40Please never dream of me. Like, yeah, so I, because I've
- 1:01:45said the South Korea thing before and I've I've, we speak
- 1:01:48most of the other day, but yeah, yeah.
- 1:01:50What a journey, man. You guys went South Korea,
- 1:01:52Jordan, UAE and then like just the lead.
- 1:01:56There was moments where I was like, yeah, Iraq is unlikely.
- 1:01:59And there was like, it was neither.
- 1:02:01Definitively yes and not definitively no.
- 1:02:05It was always like in the middle.
- 1:02:06It could or could not. A bit of pessimism.
- 1:02:09But bro, that Bolivia game, it was just your header was like
- 1:02:14beauty, bro. Strike his instinct.
- 1:02:16Such a well, moments I've never never experienced an emotion
- 1:02:21like and I knew straight away, yeah, like, oh, wow, my family's
- 1:02:27watching. My friends are watching.
- 1:02:29Like what? And I was just praying for the
- 1:02:30because I came off at like 17 minutes because I started
- 1:02:33cramping because I'm not played for a while.
- 1:02:34Yeah. And that last 20 minutes on the
- 1:02:36bench just felt like an hour. Oh.
- 1:02:38My God, I felt. Like an hour bro and I.
- 1:02:40Even scored by that time you came.
- 1:02:42Up. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:02:42So we both got stopped off at the same time.
- 1:02:44God. So we sat there on the bench
- 1:02:46just like, yeah, gripping our hair out and.
- 1:02:50And I knew obviously back home it was like 4 or 5:00 AM in the
- 1:02:52morning. So everybody was a.
- 1:02:54Whole country. Everyone's awake here and I've
- 1:02:56seen it was like, I don't know what time wasn't it maybe.
- 1:02:59I think it was early in the morning as well.
- 1:03:01So yeah, I didn't sleep a blink that night.
- 1:03:04It was that night was was special, was special.
- 1:03:07I wish I could give that feeling to people to to experience
- 1:03:10really, really fortunate handle. It was early here as well, yeah.
- 1:03:13It was, yeah, it was because I've seen my mom and dad.
- 1:03:17Yeah, my mom and dad, yeah. So it was.
- 1:03:19He's been watching that. I don't watch it.
- 1:03:22Now, yeah, my mom and dad obviously watched it.
- 1:03:24And yeah, I just remember they were up at 5:00 AM watching it,
- 1:03:28watching the games. Mental.
- 1:03:30May Allah, by the way, bless your parents for raising Someone
- 1:03:33Like You. And I was going to say, you
- 1:03:34know, people, you said this unknown, you know, we don't know
- 1:03:37if we're going to go through. We're not going to go through.
- 1:03:41Believe me, the prayer of the Mother does.
- 1:03:43And the Father not bless them both, you're right.
- 1:03:45Not bless them both. Just just by mentioning this as
- 1:03:49a final question from me, when you have thought of this, I just
- 1:03:51want to ask what's the conversation being at home with
- 1:03:55your mum, with your dad, with this achievement for the World
- 1:03:58Cup? Yeah, it was.
- 1:04:03I'm very, very fortunate to handle that.
- 1:04:05I've got 2 amazing parents. Everybody knows my dad's journey
- 1:04:09or it's kind of well documented online about what what he had to
- 1:04:12do to to come here and flat like all of our parents did.
- 1:04:18And I also sometimes, forgive me, I don't mention my mother
- 1:04:21enough because my mother also had me very young.
- 1:04:23She had to leave her family when she was 1819 and travel to a
- 1:04:26different country and settle and you so may Allah reward them
- 1:04:31and, and protect them and protect all of our parents for,
- 1:04:34for everything that they do for us.
- 1:04:36And like I said, they're say the biggest privilege I could ever
- 1:04:39get is when people say to me like, you know, like, like what
- 1:04:45an amazing terror beer from your mom and dad, because it's a
- 1:04:47testament to them. And, and I'm so fortunate, so
- 1:04:50fortunate to have them on this journey.
- 1:04:53And the conversation was just, it's just pure, it's pure
- 1:04:56emotion. It's pure emotion to see the
- 1:04:58pride in their eyes and their family and it's beautiful.
- 1:05:02It's wow. Like it's just so it's awesome.
- 1:05:05It's it's emotional and shed a lot of tears.
- 1:05:08We've shared a lot of laughter, a lot of joy.
- 1:05:10And we also deserve it because I feel like as we have a lot of
- 1:05:16downs, a lot of despair, a lot of hardship, a lot of sadness, a
- 1:05:19lot of grief and we don't get to enjoy.
- 1:05:23And I feel like we always talking about these things and
- 1:05:27we never raised a lot in time and joy and happiness and love.
- 1:05:30And I think that moment for me was just a reminder of how
- 1:05:34again, not to get too deep and soppy, but like how beautiful
- 1:05:36life is and the and to be able to have that moment for my
- 1:05:40family and for everybody is I'm just so happy for everyone as
- 1:05:44much as I'm happy for myself. This when I remember typing the
- 1:05:48message I put on my Instagram post when I posted and I was the
- 1:05:52victory isn't for me, It's for it's for my family.
- 1:05:55It's for every martyr, it's for every Muslim.
- 1:05:58She is everybody. So I'm I'm really grateful.
- 1:06:01I'll have it up. Can I?
- 1:06:02Can I quote it? Yes.
- 1:06:03Can I mention yes, go for it. You said this victory is for
- 1:06:0646,000,000 Harakis. For every joy, every tear, every
- 1:06:11moment of belief. This is for the little boy who
- 1:06:14had the dream. This is for the streets of
- 1:06:16Liverpool. This is for my roots in Harak
- 1:06:19and for my family and relatives back home.
- 1:06:22This victory is for every father, every mother, every
- 1:06:25brother and sister, and for every martyr who gave his life
- 1:06:29for this great nation. From North to South, your
- 1:06:32prayers were with us every step of the way.
- 1:06:35To my dear family who left their country and sacrifice everything
- 1:06:39to give me a better life. This victory is yours and you
- 1:06:43deserve it. This victory is for every
- 1:06:45anarchy. We are one team, one nation, one
- 1:06:48heart. Al Hamdulillah.
- 1:06:50Everything happens by the will and the decree of a loss upon a.
- 1:06:54Wattala wow, I don't think I've ever met a 24 year old.
- 1:07:02Whoa. That's maturity.
- 1:07:04That's and it touches. That's so beautiful, so
- 1:07:06beautiful. And you know, you, you're
- 1:07:09referencing all the Shohada and those who gave their life only
- 1:07:13yesterday, said Ali. And I had a really heartbreaking
- 1:07:17story about an orphan boy who lost his father in Iraq.
- 1:07:22And I don't even want to mention it again, but it's finished.
- 1:07:26It finished me, bro, absolutely. And today I called said Ali.
- 1:07:31And I told him again, like, I'm still thinking about it because
- 1:07:33I kept thinking about my son and it's been on my mind the whole
- 1:07:37day. And to hear you reference those
- 1:07:41forgotten people, you know, the, the widows and the orphans and
- 1:07:44all the shahada who gave their lives to defend their country
- 1:07:48and for the pride of the nation and protection of the people.
- 1:07:52You have been raised well, Marshall.
- 1:07:53You are a child of your, your people.
- 1:07:57And you know you, they, they have embraced you, Hamdullah.
- 1:08:02You deserve nothing, nothing but the best in dunya and akhara for
- 1:08:05you, for your family. Appreciate the voice.
- 1:08:07Well and just goodness and everything you do bro Allah, we
- 1:08:10love you so much. We're going to be rooting for
- 1:08:12you. I hope you know that and the
- 1:08:16games are going to be late as well right in the UK time.
- 1:08:20I'd after. Much.
- 1:08:21Yeah. After much, Yeah.
- 1:08:21As I say, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 1:08:29I'm kidding boys, Thank you for your kind. 1111 last thing.
- 1:08:33Take your time, I'm here. It came out some tickets are
- 1:08:36being sold for $6 million at the World Cup.
- 1:08:40Yeah, $6 million. So can I ask me and said I
- 1:08:44borrowed $12 million so we can come?
- 1:08:48Follow the. Situation.
- 1:08:49It's crazy healing me man, healing me the amount of
- 1:08:51friends, family that I need tickets for and of course we get
- 1:08:56some from like the FA and stuff. So we got a few free tickets for
- 1:08:59family. But you know, even today I was
- 1:09:01speaking to to my friend Charles and he also was my agent and
- 1:09:05he's tried to buy a few tickets and sell them for like 2-3
- 1:09:09grand. Crazy.
- 1:09:09It's. Insane.
- 1:09:11Insane. So the fact that I am with
- 1:09:13flights yeah, yeah, flights for how much the US might be visa
- 1:09:17people need visas, accommodation, you need this you
- 1:09:20need to book everything and it's that's the only downside.
- 1:09:25The only thing I'm really disappoints the boat is that the
- 1:09:27World Cups in America. So I hope they don't see this
- 1:09:30before but. Your game, your game, your group
- 1:09:33stage games are in Canada, right?
- 1:09:35This, the last one is the South. Pole one the. 1st 2 are in,
- 1:09:38think Philadelphia and Boston. So interesting there's all East
- 1:09:43Coast. There's a lot of erratis
- 1:09:44obviously in those places anyway, so the local ones are
- 1:09:46going to be able to come. Oh my, I've got in laws in
- 1:09:48Boston. Yeah, and Iraqi.
- 1:09:50Oh, you remind me about that. I need to ask you something
- 1:09:52about that by the. Way my in laws are from that
- 1:09:55Mara, yeah. I love left on this amazing,
- 1:10:00amazing boys. Honestly, I just wanted to say
- 1:10:03to you like I'm really proud of you too as all and like the work
- 1:10:06you've done. Obviously, I came to your event
- 1:10:08quite recently and there was bless you and it was so amazing
- 1:10:16to see because I was, I'd like to say I was kind of here, not
- 1:10:19at the start of the journey, but kind of early on seeing you guys
- 1:10:21and how you've grown and influenced me and my life and my
- 1:10:25understanding and connecting me with the right people.
- 1:10:28And yeah, I'm super proud of you.
- 1:10:30May Allah bless you and, and protect you and guide you and
- 1:10:33everything you do and bring more prosperity to, to aftermath rub
- 1:10:36and listen. Yeah, if you're not subscribed,
- 1:10:39Yeah, I'm telling you, all the cameras make sure you subscribe.
- 1:10:43Yeah, guy like. Yeah, thank you, boys.
- 1:10:46Thank you for having me on again.
- 1:10:47And Charlotte, can I have some good moments of the.
- 1:10:50Welcome bring your home bro, bring your.
- 1:10:51Home, bring home a point. It would be good.
- 1:10:56Yeah. Have you have?
- 1:10:57You all right bro? Sisters?
- 1:10:58I hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have.
- 1:11:00It's been a journey I like far more emotional than I thought
- 1:11:04it'd be. But yeah, thank you all for
- 1:11:07tuning in. Make sure you subscribe, make
- 1:11:10sure as I'm sure you will already be supporting Iraq and
- 1:11:13the World Cup, supporting Ali, supporting the whole team.
- 1:11:16Be vocal on social media as well and share with all your friends
- 1:11:20and family that they need to be promoting and sharing Iraq as
- 1:11:24well this World Cup. We're all backing them of
- 1:11:26course, like England as well. Yeah, Annie, but a heartsong
- 1:11:29with Ali and the team. So yeah.
- 1:11:32Is that safe for we wrap up? Yeah, just a final, final, final
- 1:11:36thing. You mentioned England.
- 1:11:38There you go. And you know, we're rooting for
- 1:11:40Iraq, Charlotte. There's an observation.
- 1:11:43I want people to understand Arakis are crazy when it comes
- 1:11:46to football. If if the English are known as
- 1:11:48hooligans, Arakis are the same. But remove the alcohol.
- 1:11:53And that's what. We'll see you next week in
- 1:11:57Charlotte.