Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / Ramadan & Palestine: Spiritual resistance (Ft. Dr Zayn Ahmad)

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Ramadan & Palestine: Spiritual resistance (Ft. Dr Zayn Ahmad) · After Maghrib 🌙

• 0:00
  Smilla Ahmad Rahim Salaam Alaikum and welcome to the After
• 0:03
  Mazra podcast where we are having our first conversation
• 0:07
  during the holy blessed month of Ramadan.
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  I would like to wish every single one of you, all our
• 0:13
  supporters, our subscribers, our listeners, wherever you're
• 0:15
  watching around the world, Ramadan Kareem to you and your
• 0:18
  family and insha'allah, you make the most out of this month.
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  And inshallah together we try to make the most out of this
• 0:25
  pleasant month insha'allah. Now it is the first week of
• 0:29
  Ramadan. So Ramadan is a journey.
• 0:31
  Inshallah. We are all part of this together
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  on this journey towards our last, final with Allah gaining
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  nearness to our loss of final with Allah and and I can't do it
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  alone. I have a Co host and I have a
• 0:42
  guest today and as always I would like to welcome my
• 0:45
  energetic my. I'm going to stop rhyming.
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  Actually, I'm not. I'm not well with rhyming here,
• 0:51
  and this is poetry. But Ahmed Ramadan Kareem Salaam
• 0:53
  Ali. How are you?
• 1:06
  How are you? I'm good, I'm good.
• 1:09
  Everyone, welcome back to after Mugabe.
• 1:11
  Yes, it's amazing to be here. And late.
• 1:14
  Night buzz. Yeah late night buzz.
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  And I don't know what time of day you guys listen to this if
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  you are fasting right now keep going you're nearly there fast
• 1:22
  is nearly done. And if you are after mugged him
• 1:25
  right now and you're enjoying your start or your sahord and
• 1:28
  Charla coming up, then listen, all your all are accepted and we
• 1:32
  hope that you're using this time to just unwind, relax as it
• 1:36
  should be done. But obviously to get close to
• 1:38
  our last one, to Allah. And look guys as we do every
• 1:40
  year, we use this opportunity to build that connection with God
• 1:44
  but also the community around us.
• 1:45
  And this year our focus primarily is going to be on
• 1:48
  building that connection with the mum and Methi Al Jallah,
• 1:50
  Alaf, Al Jah, Shalif as we've been trying to do over the last
• 1:53
  few weeks as you of course know. So to kick off the episode we
• 1:58
  have a really exciting guest. It's a friend of ours who's
• 2:01
  being well. We've been trying to arrange a
• 2:04
  date for the podcast for a very, very long time, but we're very
• 2:08
  lucky to have with us Zain Ahmed, Salaam Alaikum, Zain
• 2:11
  Alaikum. Salaam.
• 2:12
  How you doing, my brother? Good.
• 2:14
  Salaam alaikum. Alaikum.
• 2:16
  Salaam Karim to you and your family.
• 2:20
  Kareem to you both as well. You're looking.
• 2:21
  You're looking like you've just come out of Talao with you.
• 2:24
  I'm joking, I'm joking. No, you look like you've just
• 2:27
  come out of nice. You know Salah Talael or?
• 2:30
  Something this new haircut has dressed me for the part for.
• 2:33
  So tell us about it. Can we get a sneak peek?
• 2:35
  Yeah, of course, of course. Here we go, Hope you can see.
• 2:38
  The shine on my head I don't. Know.
• 2:41
  Those who don't know Zane had a a Unicorn like mane before of
• 2:47
  like a full head of healthy hair Marshala.
• 2:49
  But what happened? You flatter me, You flatter me.
• 2:51
  No, no. I'd, as you know, I had grown
• 2:54
  out for quite a while. But just before Shah.
• 2:57
  Ramadan, actually, I had a bit of a fundraising campaign to
• 3:01
  raise funds for the situation in in Gaza.
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  And so, among friends, family, network community, Al Hamdallah,
• 3:09
  a huge amount Al Hamdallah was raised to support those through
• 3:11
  the Lady Fatima Trust. Gaza, which was doubled as well,
• 3:14
  wasn't it? Which was all doubled.
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  So donation, matching and Hamdallah was really, really
• 3:18
  good effort from everyone in the community.
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  And I thought, well, at this point it's don't really have a
• 3:23
  choice. I've got to shave my head on
• 3:24
  this phone now. Yeah.
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  So you raised 5000. Did you hit your target?
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  We actually, with the donation matching on Hamdallah, we went
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  over 15,000. Marshall, Marshall, Marshall, I
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  went. Really, really well.
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  And I wish I could take the credit for that, but it's of
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  course for the for all the amazing people who.
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  Donated. No.
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  I remember when how fast like donation just went up.
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  And do you know what bro, this is?
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  This is really the peak time why?
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  Every year it is, but to to recognise causes which are
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  important to give to and to obviously give back there.
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  There are causes out there supporting Gaza and the
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  situation right now in Palestine and what has been going on now
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  for too many months, too many years in fact.
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  And and not just that as well of course we know that the hope
• 4:04
  appeal, which is doing work with that little bit TV is doing
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  incredible work in Pakistan, Iraq, other countries as well.
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  Looking at orphans, looking at education, supporting aid where
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  most needed and really targeting areas which need to be targeted
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  and trying to uplift people out of the cycle of poverty.
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  And I think that's sustainability in Ramadan.
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  They go hand in hand. Of course we've got a hadith
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  which talk about one of the many reasons why we fast in these
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  days is to recognise the hunger and the and the struggles which
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  people who are less fortunate than us are going through.
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  So look, it's it's very noble thing you've done bro.
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  And Charlotte, we can get the the opportunity to serve
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  somehow. I don't know how you've done it.
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  I don't think I've shaved my head, so not that I've got much
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  to be proud of, but but. I would rather stick to my grey
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  hairs than Gobolt. Really.
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  I've been, Hodge said. I haven't done.
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  Charlotte, Hopefully. Charlotte, you go.
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  And when you do go. That's that's all.
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  That's all. That's the only time I'll agree.
• 5:01
  No, said Ali. Is a nice skin fade.
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  Well, wear the hat as well. I think we should see it from
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  both of you. I think that'll be a nice little
• 5:08
  new podcast. Charlotte.
• 5:09
  Two snooker balls. Hatch together Charlotte.
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  Inshallah Charlotte, let's do it.
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  Hodge. Three of us, all three.
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  All three in Charlotte. So saying every every time we
• 5:18
  have a new podcast or like a new guest, we try to get to know
• 5:22
  them outside of the conversation.
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  OK. So I obviously know you very
• 5:27
  well. For those who don't know you,
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  you're a doctor by profession, you're an activist, you you work
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  with different communities recently doing a lot of
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  discussions and and seminars on Palestine and situation with
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  context. And obviously you are the
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  president of the Muslim Student Council which is the umbrella
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  body for that is based societies, universities across
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  the UK, which is all great. But outside of that we we want
• 5:47
  to get to know you a bit better. So me and said Ali have come up
• 5:50
  with a little scenario for you. Here it goes, Miss Miller.
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  So, Brother Zane, I want you to imagine that you are passing
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  through security at Heathrow Airport.
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  It's up to you. Either Terminal 1, Terminal 2,
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  all the way to Terminal 5. It's up to you.
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  You've passed through security, You know.
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  You've sat at the boarding gate. The gates of the plane are now
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  open. You're boarding, you're sitting
• 6:19
  down, you're checked in and Hamdullah, the plane takes off
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  and you're on the air. A few moments later, you hear
• 6:25
  like a bang noise. Something's wrong with the
• 6:27
  engine. There's a malfunction, God
• 6:28
  forbid Charles, never a real scenario.
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  The plane crash lands and you're the only one that's left
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  surviving. You're the only remaining
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  survivor. However, luckily for you, you
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  are close to an island. It's an isolated island.
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  You're alive and you swim to this island.
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  What are a number of things you will ensure?
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  All you would wish you had with you to survive.
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  Let's say five things. Five things.
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  Let's say you knew you were going to get rescued in 30 days.
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  What would you what would you take with you?
• 7:04
  30 days to get through. Oh, it's.
• 7:07
  A very good question. It's a very good question.
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  Yeah. I mean.
• 7:14
  I would have you know I'd love to say I'd take a device to
• 7:16
  watch that after micro podcast, but.
• 7:17
  Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to have that all data
• 7:19
  there, so we'll make sure that I won't be able to say that no,
• 7:22
  no, unfortunately. Starlink.
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  No, no. It's a very good question
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  actually. Are you kind of one of those
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  survival guys? And we asked this question to
• 7:34
  save Mohammed Hassan a shot at from instant debate.
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  You might know and Marshall Law. He said I'll take a gym, which I
• 7:41
  think is an American term for like gym equipment.
• 7:44
  Yeah. And he said I'll take an Imam
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  Barca like Jose NIA. And I was like, OK, I don't know
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  how this is going to fit in a. Backpack.
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  I think he's building a whole new country whole civilization
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  for 30 days. No, no, no.
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  I think it's it's very good questions.
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  I think I I I like this idea of the survivor instinct and trying
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  to trying to build your own build your own island.
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  But to be honest, I think I'd appreciate the 30 days away from
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  from the the busy, busy, busy work that goes on elsewhere.
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  I think you know what, You take a nice few items that you can.
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  Why? Let's say why are we at the
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  time? What do you why is 1 item What?
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  Are you taking? We're.
• 8:27
  Going to have to come back to this.
• 8:28
  Yeah, it might. Might be when we have to come
• 8:30
  back to. We'll come back to the end.
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  We'll come back to the end. OK, cool.
• 8:33
  Let's get into the discussion. Let me just say something that I
• 8:35
  thought on the spot. How would I how would I survive
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  without a nail Clipper? I know it sounds proper
• 8:41
  annoying, but a nail Clipper it would be like torture.
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  Imagine getting sand in your fingernails.
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  That would proper kill. Your your proper thinking this.
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  Yeah man, because it's been a few months, I.
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  Think I was going to say the amount of times you've probably
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  gone through this question, you've gone through all the
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  finer details. Yeah, we've done that like we've
• 8:58
  talked about, gone on and all of that stuff and great, we'll take
• 9:01
  all that. Yeah, but Nail Clipper, very
• 9:04
  important, underappreciated. I don't know.
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  You know what I'm saying. All right, let's get into the
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  discussion. OK.
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  So we're in the holy month saying firstly how how the first
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  couple of days been for you? Yeah, Hamdallah is it's
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  interesting a different experience, I mean in the second
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  year where I've been fully working full time while you know
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  during Shahram Alan, but I think that makes it like that that
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  adds a whole new challenge to it.
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  But I'll Hamdallah is every year.
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  It's one of those ones where you know you you end up looking
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  forward to the month. And you try to really maximize
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  the spirituality you can get from it.
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  And obviously, there's so much more we can do.
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  There's so much more you want to utilize before the month is
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  over. It's over before we know it, but
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  Alhamdulillah has been really. Is that what it is for you?
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  Is that is that how you look at Shahadah Mavan as maximizing
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  spirituality? I I I think so I know, I know
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  it's not always the best outlook to have often when we when I I
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  think it's something we tend to do when we see the month coming
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  up and we're thinking OK this is the month of spirituality and
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  this is the this is the month where I want to maximize and it
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  is a good way of course but I'd like to say we can do that in
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  every of the year. You know we're looking forward
• 10:05
  to that every month of the year. But it is definitely that that
• 10:08
  tranquility and that sense of contentment that you have in
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  that month is second to none. And there's definitely something
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  you know aim to maximize in the month while you can.
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  Well, for not maximizing in this month, what are we doing?
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  Honestly, what what are we doing?
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  Because there is a hadith by the way I read the other day that
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  states, you know if you're only fasting with food during
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  Ramadan, technically you haven't truly fasted at all because you
• 10:32
  also have to fast with your senses.
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  That means your tongue, your eyes, everything else that comes
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  comes with it insha Allah. So I think on on from my
• 10:41
  perspective, I think Ramadan for me is a place where I can be at
• 10:45
  the most peak in terms of spirituality because I can't
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  find that in any other month apart from let's say Shaban or
• 10:51
  Muharram or many of us like Ramadan is like our main goal to
• 10:56
  a place where we can truly connect with our creator.
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  Because it's impossible not to have a connection with Allah
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  during this month. Whether you take Ramadan
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  seriously or you don't in the back of your mind, I think
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  everyone knows Allah is there. And there's a chance for you to
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  maximize, not just from your fasting in terms of your food
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  and your drink, but not with your spirituality, with your,
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  with your Quran, with your Salah, because Ramadan is
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  everything to us. We're known as Ramadan.
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  The Knights during this month, sort of, you know, they pave
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  your destiny. What you do now has an effect on
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  the coming months and the coming years.
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  And at Handila, we are here alive.
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  By the way, a lot of people always say, you know, let us be
• 11:40
  here, let us see Ramadan, Let's make the most of Ramadan.
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  If we truly mean it. We have to put action into the
• 11:45
  words that we do, you know. Yeah, yeah.
• 11:47
  Yeah. No, there's there's, it goes
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  without saying. I mean, we've grown up in this
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  community where we are used to routine when it comes to child
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  on the bond. Of course, the way we break our
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  fast, the all we do when we break our fasts, who we are
• 11:59
  with, the the, the, the communal environment of sitting around
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  the table together or sitting on the on the floor together in in
• 12:05
  in the Massagin. And the togetherness plays a
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  role in the spirituality. At least I feel that community
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  element is very important when it comes to recognising the
• 12:17
  Creator through understanding the beauty of his creation.
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  We know of course the Hadith from Hadi Prophet Muhammad
• 12:22
  Sallallahu alaihi wasallam where he says that Ramadan is the
• 12:26
  month of my Ummah And when he says that, he's referring to the
• 12:30
  acknowledgement of what the global community of Islam means
• 12:35
  to us as Muslims. We talk so often about the the
• 12:39
  Omar as a body and if one part hurts, the whole body feels the
• 12:42
  pain for argument's sake or, you know, understanding the roles of
• 12:46
  of our our brothers, you know, brotherhood in Islam,
• 12:48
  friendship, companionship. And at times like Ramadan is
• 12:52
  where we really take it to the next level.
• 12:54
  So with that in mind, we're talking about OMA, we're talking
• 12:58
  about community, OK. I think that Ramadan is as much
• 13:01
  about the community as it is about the individual on a
• 13:03
  personal level, because I feel it's very symbiotic.
• 13:05
  You have a number of individuals who reach their potential to
• 13:08
  make up a community. That reach reaches its
• 13:10
  potential. The community which is reaching
• 13:12
  its potential will aid people in reaching their potential.
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  It's very symbiotic in that regards.
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  But when we talk about a more global aspect, OK, how can we
• 13:22
  use Shahramovan to make it impactful and everlasting?
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  Do you know what I mean? So this month may be my last
• 13:30
  Shahramovan, hopefully not insha'allah, but what if it is?
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  How do I make sure that the changes or the near or anything
• 13:37
  that I'm making this month will last?
• 13:40
  So that's a brilliant way of phrasing that actually,
• 13:44
  especially that that that emphasis you placed on the idea
• 13:46
  of community. I mean that that aspect of
• 13:48
  community is so emphasized within our religion.
• 13:50
  You know, whether whether it comes to prayer or like you
• 13:53
  mentioned the month of Shah Ramadan is the impact on the
• 13:55
  self as well as the impact that you could you can do in the
• 13:58
  world, the good you can do for the betterment of the community.
• 14:00
  We're not individualistic religion, you know.
• 14:03
  In that sense what we want to do is we want to better the whole
• 14:05
  community That the question about the lasting impact though
• 14:09
  in in Shahana Madan is it's such a powerful question because that
• 14:13
  that is exactly what we're what we're trying to do in this month
• 14:15
  and we're trying to any impact that we're making on ourselves
• 14:18
  to be long lasting and on the community to be long lasting
• 14:21
  both ways or we do both ways. And I think to be honest the
• 14:26
  answer that I would give to that question is, is largely what you
• 14:28
  alluded to in the in in the second-half which is about
• 14:32
  refreshing our intention in that in that regard.
• 14:35
  And I think one of the one of the key factors in in in
• 14:39
  ensuring that you know long term nature of this whole thing is
• 14:44
  about refreshing our attention, not just at the start,
• 14:47
  refreshing our attention continuing throughout the month
• 14:49
  to say I want to live as if this is my final Shahana Madan, what
• 14:52
  is it that I want to have achieved by the end of it.
• 14:54
  You know, I think that's the that's the key factor.
• 14:57
  Because you look, I'll be really frank here to kind of get into
• 14:59
  it. Yeah.
• 15:00
  The the work you do outside of your day job mashallahs is
• 15:04
  second to none. The service you on a personal
• 15:06
  level, give back to the community.
• 15:07
  For those who don't know you, there's a lot we can learn from
• 15:10
  from what you you do. Why?
• 15:13
  Why not? Honestly, bro, why does such
• 15:15
  causes mean so much to you? So I'm talking about the work
• 15:18
  you do for Palestine in terms of education of our community and
• 15:22
  also the support you do for the youth.
• 15:24
  But let's start with Palestine especially and that sort of
• 15:27
  thing, because I feel like we talking about Shahad Al Malvan
• 15:32
  right now while the plight is going on for the Palestinians.
• 15:35
  It's not fair or Mahal Alim, it's not fair because there are
• 15:38
  mothers who can't feed their babies right now and there are
• 15:41
  fathers who can't feed their their sons and so on and so
• 15:44
  forth. You know, there are, there are
• 15:45
  Muslims who are waking up in the morning who are making the
• 15:47
  intention to fast and they don't know whether they'll survive
• 15:49
  till the end of the day. They don't know whether they'll
• 15:52
  make it to far. So for us to live here
• 15:55
  comfortably in the West, we are in in many ways blissfully
• 15:58
  ignorant of the the privileges we have.
• 16:01
  You know it's it's would be obnoxious of us if anything to
• 16:06
  to go about our lives and pretend that this is just
• 16:09
  another Ramadan when there is oppression.
• 16:12
  We say that the Holy Prophet said that this is the month of
• 16:15
  my Ummah. Well the Ummah is in pain and
• 16:17
  the and you know we should all feel the pain respectively.
• 16:20
  So talking about that, how does that make you feel?
• 16:22
  Why do you do that work and and in this month, how do you kind
• 16:25
  of approach it? I think that hadith you
• 16:30
  mentioned earlier when you talked about how if one part of
• 16:33
  the Ummah is hurting, the rest of us are hurting is so vital
• 16:38
  when it comes to this conversation of Palestine,
• 16:40
  especially when we're talking about maximizing our
• 16:42
  spirituality in this month, it's it doesn't make sense to talk
• 16:44
  about that and ignore the issue of oppression within the Ummah
• 16:49
  you mentioned. These issues if for example in
• 16:51
  Palestine not knowing if you want to make it even to the end
• 16:53
  of the fast we're talking we often we talk about especially
• 16:56
  in at the times when our fasts are quite long here we're we're
• 17:00
  we're looking forward to that moment when we can eat again and
• 17:03
  we've we've we've suffered throughout the day.
• 17:04
  We've not we've not eaten and drunk we've suffered in some way
• 17:07
  obviously it's not it's not a suffering but we say in that
• 17:09
  sense we've suffered the other day of not eating and drinking
• 17:11
  and you're looking forward to that moment where you can quench
• 17:13
  that thirst and there's people who are what are they breaking
• 17:16
  their fast with you know what is there to break their fast with.
• 17:19
  We look at the annual the, the daily allowance of water that
• 17:22
  people in Gaza have even before October it was below the the the
• 17:29
  minimum requirement even before. Now it's dropped to almost
• 17:32
  nothing. And so when we talk about, you
• 17:34
  know, quenching our thirst at the end of a long fast, we've
• 17:37
  got to remember the people who aren't able to.
• 17:38
  And it's these types of conversations and these types of
• 17:41
  topics, for example, that the situations you just mentioned
• 17:43
  that particularly drive myself and and others in in all the
• 17:48
  work that they're doing insha'allah.
• 17:51
  I think that's the driving factor for them, that
• 17:54
  understanding that actually feeling the pain of the
• 17:58
  Palestinians and not just of the Palestinians, of the all the
• 18:00
  oppressed people around the world feeling that pain
• 18:02
  themselves. They're not when they're
• 18:04
  empathizing with it. They're not just seeing it and
• 18:07
  thinking that that's bad. I wish that wasn't happening.
• 18:09
  They're feeling that pain themselves.
• 18:11
  They're genuinely feeling that pain themselves.
• 18:13
  When it comes to myself in terms of the work, for example that
• 18:17
  for example putting some talks on in various centers on
• 18:20
  Palestine, one of the key things I thought was OK looking at
• 18:23
  these situations of injustice and oppression that are going
• 18:26
  going on around the world, it is our responsibility and duty as
• 18:30
  Muslims to do what we can about that.
• 18:33
  We're not in a position where we can do anything about it unless
• 18:35
  we start educating ourselves on the true historical context
• 18:38
  around it. And I think the the the
• 18:40
  knowledge in our community and some aspects of it was was
• 18:42
  lacking quite badly and I thought this is 1 area perhaps
• 18:46
  where we can. The aim was to stop opening the
• 18:49
  conversation, mostly say let's start having these uncomfortable
• 18:52
  conversations, let's start having them in our communities
• 18:56
  and hopefully it will trigger something snowball into
• 18:58
  something more. We're now openly talking about
• 19:00
  ways that we as a community can effectively help.
• 19:03
  Not purely what mentioning it in passing at the end of a
• 19:08
  matchless, but actually saying how more effect, even more
• 19:11
  effectively can we? What can we do to maximize our
• 19:13
  efforts, which was being most effective for the people not
• 19:16
  just in Palestine, but all the press people around the world?
• 19:18
  Can I ask why use the word uncomfortable?
• 19:21
  What did you mean by that? So the main reason I use a lot
• 19:25
  uncomfortable there is because it's uncomfortable and we have
• 19:28
  to challenge the idea that we don't know as much as we think
• 19:32
  we did. Because often when we're talking
• 19:34
  about issues, I, I, I use Palestine as an example of
• 19:37
  course it's it's very topical at the moment.
• 19:40
  We're speaking about the issue on the side of Palestine, of
• 19:44
  course, and on the side of humanity, but often not fully
• 19:49
  equipped to be 100% effective because we don't necessarily
• 19:53
  fully appreciate a historical context, We don't understand the
• 19:57
  arguments. We don't see this perhaps as a
• 20:00
  'cause that's our own. We see it as I'm going to help
• 20:02
  out that 'cause. We don't see it as our own
• 20:04
  cause. And I think in that sense we
• 20:06
  have to, we have to challenge these these misconceptions we
• 20:08
  have in our community. And that the reason I say
• 20:11
  uncomfortable is because that can be uncomfortable and it's
• 20:13
  opened up a lot of areas that people don't really want to
• 20:16
  discuss. Within our communities, I've
• 20:18
  noticed as having done these discussions of actually perhaps
• 20:22
  we are doing a disservice to our to our responsibility as Muslims
• 20:26
  and I think that's where the the discomfort comes in.
• 20:28
  Yeah. And to some degree is hypocrisy
• 20:31
  because like you said right at the beginning the the, the, the,
• 20:35
  the carrying out of our day-to-day activities, our
• 20:37
  day-to-day arbada and at the same time dismissing in like an
• 20:41
  extreme case, fully dismissing. But in some cases just like you
• 20:44
  said in passing and mentioning the the situation there, it's
• 20:49
  it's hypocritical at times because you know we're trying to
• 20:51
  reach God and we're trying to get close to our last month
• 20:53
  Allah and all these things talking about the return of the
• 20:55
  Holy Imam. And you can't talk about one
• 20:58
  without talking about the other. In, in my humble opinion, like
• 21:01
  you, you cannot talk about a world which is filled with peace
• 21:05
  and justice and praying for that world while at the same time,
• 21:10
  you know, living in a world where there is injustice and
• 21:12
  more acting or talking about it. Of course, we always talk about
• 21:14
  the hadith. We've talked about it on the
• 21:16
  podcast as well, where the Holy Prophet, Muhammad salallahu
• 21:19
  alayh. Alayh Salam says if you can't
• 21:21
  change something with your hand, do it with your tongue.
• 21:22
  If you can't with your tongue, do it with your heart.
• 21:24
  And that is at least the weakest form of resistance, OK, because
• 21:29
  resistance is in many ways the backbone of how we have got to
• 21:34
  where we are in every form of life.
• 21:37
  You're talking about your rights as an ethnic minority living on
• 21:43
  the other side of the world to practice medicine and to treat
• 21:47
  people who are natives of this country.
• 21:49
  That is because of resistance. You're talking about you going
• 21:52
  on the streets of London, or you.
• 21:54
  I say you, I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but people
• 21:56
  who are on the streets of London protesting against the
• 21:59
  oppression in Palestine or Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen or
• 22:02
  wherever it is, that is resistance.
• 22:04
  And that's because of resistance that we can do that.
• 22:07
  That resistance on the external level is very important, you
• 22:11
  know, standing up for people in need.
• 22:13
  On the internal level, there's resistance that has to take
• 22:16
  place as well. The jihad and Neffs, you know
• 22:18
  that jihad and Neffs is the primary.
• 22:20
  The first thing that we should do is resist ourselves and and
• 22:24
  resist the actions. If there's anything you learn in
• 22:27
  Ramavan's resistance and resistance of oneself and the
• 22:31
  desires that we feel in Ramavan, the physical desires, the food,
• 22:35
  the hunger, the way we speak, what we listen to, where we go,
• 22:38
  those kind of things are starting foundational point for
• 22:41
  us then to make a greater, more impactful, more effective change
• 22:44
  and not to just be erroneous in our data actions.
• 22:48
  So I mean, so I think it's important because you know,
• 22:52
  these these conversations have to be had and I know we're
• 22:55
  starting to shut on, move on and probably people at home are
• 22:57
  thinking now what? What darsh shall I read?
• 22:59
  Why aren't after Mahadam telling us what dars to read?
• 23:01
  Bro, you know that stuff Al islamisthere.org.aus.org is
• 23:04
  there and we will talk about spirituality a lot in Charlotte,
• 23:07
  but I think it's a really important place for us to start
• 23:09
  when it comes to our intention and making our intentions
• 23:12
  sincere. I love the points you both made
• 23:14
  because you know, I'm thinking now as you lot are talking, you
• 23:16
  know if if we don't even you know brush the surface on the
• 23:22
  situation of Palestine as an example, then we live in Lala
• 23:25
  land. I've used this this phrase
• 23:27
  before that because we forget that there there is suffering
• 23:30
  and there is oppression. There is people who need help.
• 23:33
  They they, as in they don't have anyone apart from, I would say
• 23:38
  as a Muslim, the least we can do is make dua dua for them
• 23:42
  because, you know, here we are, Ramadan, where probably al
• 23:45
  Hamdullah had the best of aftar. Tomorrow and the day after we're
• 23:47
  going to have even more better aftar wondering what are we
• 23:50
  going to eat, You know, whether we're going to our mum's house,
• 23:53
  our relative's house, whether we're having a start in the
• 23:55
  mosque, in the community. I was excited.
• 23:56
  What's aftar? Well, there's people in
• 23:58
  Palestine, genuinely they have not thought.
• 24:01
  And I know what Allah ladim, I can know deep down in my heart.
• 24:04
  They will still say al Hamdullah for nothing.
• 24:06
  They haven't had nothing to you yet.
• 24:07
  They'll still say al Hamdullah. And it makes you think, you
• 24:10
  know, are we really grateful to our last panel at Allah?
• 24:13
  Because I don't know if I was in that situation.
• 24:16
  Can I say Al Hamdulillah? It's easy to be grateful for
• 24:18
  the. Position where you have.
• 24:19
  Because. We're blessed with so much, and
• 24:21
  the moment this is taken away from us, then we remember our
• 24:24
  lost panel. I think that's a problem we all
• 24:27
  have in ourselves. We don't really know the value
• 24:29
  of something until we lose it. Yeah.
• 24:31
  Yeah, yeah. You don't appreciate the sound
• 24:34
  until it's a rainy day basically.
• 24:36
  Yeah, you're right. OK.
• 24:37
  Let me ask you a question, said. Because I know we've talked
• 24:39
  about this when this when the conflict was a conflict, when
• 24:42
  the genocide began in October, we we talked about the need to
• 24:47
  not become emotionally fatigued with Palestine, OK, And not
• 24:51
  become lazy or dismissive and all of these things.
• 24:56
  Obviously we are an Islamic podcast with an array of things
• 24:59
  to talk about with with all sorts of different personalities
• 25:01
  walking through the door. Do you think we're becoming
• 25:04
  emotionally fatigued? Not us per SE, but as a
• 25:07
  community. I wouldn't say we are.
• 25:10
  I just don't think we are aware of everything we know.
• 25:15
  But we don't want to get involved.
• 25:17
  We know something's happening around the world, but we don't
• 25:19
  know. We don't want to know about it
• 25:20
  because we're not affected by it directly.
• 25:22
  But the moment you solve, to understand the situation,
• 25:24
  Palestine and other oppressions that have been around the world,
• 25:27
  you solve. No.
• 25:28
  You realize we must say something.
• 25:31
  We must do something. Whatever.
• 25:32
  As I said, the most basic thing you can ever do is do.
• 25:34
  Ah, that's like the most basic thing we need to have as a
• 25:38
  Muslim and as a human is that you love for your brother what
• 25:42
  you love for yourself. Yeah, and we can't take things
• 25:45
  for granted. I wouldn't say we're emotionally
• 25:46
  like detaching ourself. And I think it should be more
• 25:50
  than emotion, it should be we, Allah gave us happen.
• 25:52
  Have to use our Internet, have to maximize that brain use.
• 25:57
  What's the point? Allah gave it to us.
• 25:59
  He's made us the best of creation in terms of all his
• 26:02
  creation. Use that brain.
• 26:05
  A lot of them tell you no eat and sleep and repeat No, no, no,
• 26:08
  no, no, no. I mean we God told you use your
• 26:11
  akali use your brain inshallah to its fullest.
• 26:14
  Because if we just eat and sleep we're like animals animals.
• 26:19
  Their job is what eat sleep, repeat.
• 26:21
  Hamdullah we are from mankind and we are Beni Adam the sons of
• 26:25
  Adam bro. We should look out for each
• 26:27
  other. And I said in a previous podcast
• 26:29
  where we spoke about Palestine, we claim to be from the Shi Alva
• 26:32
  Mira, not mini. If we claim to be from the Shia
• 26:35
  of Imam and Hussein, I promise you they looked after everyone.
• 26:37
  Yeah, but there's fatigue, right?
• 26:39
  They're they're at some point there is fatigue, especially
• 26:42
  social media. You get tired, you get like you
• 26:46
  get. Like I haven't seen these times.
• 26:49
  Maybe maybe it's just me, but from personal experience, there
• 26:51
  are days where I'm like, I can't look at this stuff anymore.
• 26:53
  Do you know what I mean? Like I need a break.
• 26:55
  Like today I saw something. I saw.
• 26:57
  Something of a I've been discussing Palestine every day.
• 27:01
  Yeah, man, Honestly, it's it's amazing because there's so much
• 27:04
  content, but it's tiring at times.
• 27:06
  Like I can't look at the I'm, I'm for example, I'm at my job.
• 27:09
  I'm like speaking to someone this that.
• 27:12
  And then I open my phone if I have a second free and I'll see
• 27:16
  a a picture of a child who's died of starvation or
• 27:18
  malnutrition or something like that.
• 27:21
  Or and like, it just gets the point where it's tiring and it's
• 27:24
  OK to of course feel that right. Yeah, I think it's a it's a
• 27:28
  really important topic to to to broach a really on on
• 27:32
  conversation to to open up the idea of emotional fatigue
• 27:35
  especially like you said mentioning social media at the
• 27:38
  moment. What we're doing is you can
• 27:40
  scroll through Instagram or Twitter, whatever it is, and
• 27:42
  you'll see, you know, images like you've just described of
• 27:46
  Palestinian suffering. And the next next thing you'll
• 27:48
  see is just the, you know, some people partying and stuff like
• 27:51
  that. It's completely almost dystopian
• 27:53
  that you see. It's like two different.
• 27:54
  Walls it's it's it's it's ridiculous that we're seeing
• 27:57
  this and we're we're becoming almost at times we're becoming
• 27:59
  desensitised to what we're seeing and then at other times
• 28:02
  we're thinking you know what I I am, you know, I'm pro humanity.
• 28:06
  I'm pro Palestine. I'm looking at these images and
• 28:08
  I'm feeling something and at times you might think, you know,
• 28:11
  but I'm seeing a lot of this on social media, it's between
• 28:14
  discuss a lot. And so that conversation has
• 28:16
  been opened about the idea of emotional fatigue.
• 28:18
  What I see is that when we when we're looking at these types of
• 28:24
  images repeatedly, that's important for us to do even when
• 28:28
  we find it, even when we find it fatigued and difficult.
• 28:31
  Because remember when we're looking at these and thinking,
• 28:33
  remember there's that image on on Twitter.
• 28:34
  You know there's an image at that option on Twitter where you
• 28:36
  can press hide. Sensitive Gazans don't have that
• 28:39
  option. They don't have the option to
• 28:41
  see something like that on the ground and press hide.
• 28:44
  And that's what we're sometimes forgetting by living, especially
• 28:46
  living in the West, looking through it's own social media,
• 28:48
  looking through this of a lens of thinking.
• 28:50
  I've done my bit for today. You know, I've, I've done a
• 28:53
  donation. I've attended a talk, I've done
• 28:56
  this and you know, I'm guilty of this myself.
• 28:58
  I'm not you know, trying to speak as some, some expert on
• 29:00
  this, but I think it's important for us to not look away.
• 29:05
  It's it's almost important for the Zionist entity to ensure
• 29:10
  that when we look at it, we are looking away from these things.
• 29:12
  We do get desensitized. We don't want to look at it all
• 29:14
  the time. And they're ready for us to move
• 29:16
  on. Because the second our attention
• 29:18
  is diverted, that's when the next stage begins.
• 29:20
  We we, our answer is to this, you're emotionally fatigued.
• 29:25
  The Gazans are emotionally fatigued.
• 29:26
  They're physically fatigued. They're in every single possible
• 29:29
  way fatigued and if we look away we're doing a huge disservice to
• 29:33
  and I. Think if we look away they'll
• 29:35
  get it even worse. Yeah, yeah.
• 29:37
  If the world turns a blind eye, I think things can truly
• 29:41
  escalate. And you know here we are talking
• 29:43
  about fatigue and everything. But I think when we go out for
• 29:47
  example on these protests let's say and in Marshall Law, we see
• 29:50
  10s of thousands of people just here in the UK, in London, they
• 29:54
  come out week in, week out. They've been doing it what,
• 29:56
  almost every single Saturday since, since since October.
• 30:02
  And you have people like government level, UK government
• 30:05
  level trying to persuade the nation and the people to stay
• 30:09
  away from this because I think they fear something that if you
• 30:13
  stand up for this, you can stand up for something else.
• 30:16
  Because I I truly believe the Palestinian cause is not just
• 30:18
  about Palestine. It's like a global.
• 30:22
  I don't know if I can call it resistance, but it's like a it's
• 30:25
  a it's a swear. Then whether whether you're
• 30:27
  Muslim or not, everyone does not want oppression.
• 30:30
  It's an it's an it's a global message.
• 30:32
  I think this is the thing I want to push for.
• 30:34
  It's a global message and we're missing out if we're not jumping
• 30:37
  on that message. 100% It's a global message.
• 30:40
  And I I really like what you said about I think people,
• 30:43
  especially the elite in this country, not just this country
• 30:46
  but many countries, they they do see it as a threat.
• 30:48
  And we often think to ourselves and this ties into the emotional
• 30:51
  fatigue we sometimes, especially after doing lots of protests and
• 30:54
  boycotting for a long while, we think.
• 30:55
  But what difference have we really made?
• 30:56
  Yeah, yeah, You know, we think I'd like to make a change, but I
• 31:00
  don't have any change. My government not actually
• 31:02
  listening to me. Ultimately, they're gonna,
• 31:03
  they're gonna play to their own. Interest You see that video a
• 31:05
  couple of weeks ago. I'm sure you did the the the guy
• 31:08
  who made a boycott video about Pepsi.
• 31:10
  Yes, yes. Really, really, really, really
• 31:12
  powerful. And that was before Ramadan,
• 31:14
  which is cool. So now obviously we're breaking
• 31:16
  our fast and a lot of us create. I'm one of those guys I crave.
• 31:19
  Like, I get random cravings in the day and I'll crave like the
• 31:22
  fizz of of a, like cold kind of Pepsi on my tongue.
• 31:25
  Pepsi, you know what I mean? It hits you hard.
• 31:28
  Yeah. But like those kind of things
• 31:29
  are small, really, like useful ways to to utilise your creative
• 31:34
  art and your, you know, your, your, your, your own craft to
• 31:39
  send a message. And this guy used that through
• 31:41
  film, OK? And he obviously, for those who
• 31:42
  don't know, he showed a storyline, a timeline over 30
• 31:46
  seconds of a guy who goes to a shop, he buys a can of Pepsi and
• 31:49
  where that money goes, it shows the journey of the dollar to you
• 31:54
  know unfortunately at the end a family who's who's attacked or
• 31:57
  or being bombed, you know. I think that's so important to
• 32:00
  show, to illustrate to people the the power of these, these,
• 32:03
  this form of protesters. People often don't see that.
• 32:06
  So we we see it in news about how how beneficial boycott's
• 32:09
  been, but often it's overlooked and it uses things like this
• 32:12
  such as people using their creativity, using their hard
• 32:14
  work to truly put into perspective how important it is.
• 32:18
  And I think that brings up another question which is we
• 32:24
  talk about the power of boycott and the power protest.
• 32:26
  One really, really interesting thing about the about the the
• 32:29
  Power protest 1 interesting story which I've mentioned in in
• 32:32
  previous of my talks actually was interesting.
• 32:35
  During the Vietnam War. There was a man who would
• 32:39
  protest the American government's involvement in
• 32:41
  Vietnam War and stand outside the White House every single
• 32:43
  day, sometimes just by himself. And he would stand outside
• 32:46
  protesting and journalists would ask him, why do you stand
• 32:49
  outside here every single day? Do you really think you're going
• 32:51
  to change your government? And he said, I don't stand
• 32:54
  outside here every day to change the government.
• 32:56
  I stand here so the government doesn't change me.
• 32:58
  I love that. He's doing, that's one of those
• 33:02
  buzz, yeah. As a we're share of a man saying
• 33:05
  Islam or at least we hope you are like numbers aren't of
• 33:10
  matter to us. You know it's quality over
• 33:12
  quantity for us and that's just always been our philosophy we
• 33:15
  always will remain. We believe we are on hack with
• 33:18
  we lie as a minority of Muslims and so on and and I don't want
• 33:22
  to get into all that like you know polemical stuff but to be
• 33:25
  very honest with you you're right.
• 33:26
  Like you know we the the numbers don't matter in terms of how
• 33:31
  many people are supporting me as long as you're doing your bit
• 33:33
  and and don't underestimate your power as an individual.
• 33:36
  I'm saying 172 VS 10s or thousands.
• 33:39
  And of course the 100 Quran. I think so.
• 33:40
  I had a last one that says I will not change the condition of
• 33:44
  the society unless someone changes themselves.
• 33:46
  Do you see what I'm saying? So it starts from within and
• 33:49
  it's beautiful how this whole discussion has gone very
• 33:51
  cyclical and and leading back to oneself and the individual and
• 33:56
  the Reformation of the heart and the soul and and if there's a
• 34:00
  time to do that, it's now Shahad Almavan.
• 34:02
  You know this is where you make your change.
• 34:03
  If with your permission I'm going to kind of move the
• 34:05
  discussion on a bit. I'm kind of a bit away from
• 34:08
  Palestine, but obviously on a similar note of of activism and
• 34:11
  particularly of a younger generation because you do a lot
• 34:14
  of work with with youth and with societies and youth groups and
• 34:18
  communities and what not. Why let me just put it out there
• 34:22
  first in this way a lot. You told me before the the the
• 34:25
  podcast, you said a lot of the most revolutionary movements in
• 34:29
  the world or in world history have begun at university level
• 34:33
  or educational like foundational level.
• 34:36
  What do you mean by that? So I think when we look
• 34:39
  historically at and and we often use examples, the ones that are
• 34:43
  often used in the news are are apartheid South Africa and the
• 34:45
  fight against against apartheid South Africa.
• 34:49
  Black Civil Rights Movement. Yeah, exactly.
• 34:51
  Black civil rights movement. And we talk about, we talk about
• 34:53
  Iran and we talk about Vietnam turning the tide against the
• 34:55
  Vietnam War and the US support for it.
• 34:58
  A lot of these stories we see about this grassroots movements
• 35:01
  and activism started on the university campus and there are
• 35:05
  countless stories of activists starting there in multiple
• 35:09
  different ways. It it often comes it comes in
• 35:11
  the form of protest. So protesting speakers at
• 35:14
  university lobbying the university to make changes.
• 35:17
  Often activist groups meet there in universities.
• 35:20
  University is is is one of the best institutions where you can
• 35:23
  have that free thought where people can come in and and
• 35:25
  introduce new ideas and so many influential speakers have come
• 35:29
  and spoken at at universities. When Malcolm X came to to came
• 35:33
  to the UK, he was speaking at at university age groups here.
• 35:37
  Here in the UK that importance can't be underestimated.
• 35:43
  The importance of the youth seen, the university seen in
• 35:49
  the, the grassroots movements of these, of these activist
• 35:52
  movements, of these revolutionary movements.
• 35:54
  And we see it in small aspects even even today in the UK, in
• 35:59
  the US, on university campuses, you can see how groups, small
• 36:04
  society groups, often initiated by a small group of individuals,
• 36:08
  can go and lobby their university to divest from
• 36:12
  Zionist businesses. For example, they can lobby
• 36:14
  their university to make policy changes on Prevent or other
• 36:18
  policies that target Muslims on campus.
• 36:19
  We can see this with our own eyes, and it's important not to
• 36:22
  dismiss that and put onto the side, because that's what I
• 36:24
  meant about institutions have always been at the heart of
• 36:27
  these revolutionary movements. Yeah.
• 36:29
  No, it was. I mean for me, on a personal
• 36:31
  level, it was completely reformative, period.
• 36:36
  Because like you said, you're in the heart of dialogue, free
• 36:39
  thought and and that that cohesion of minds, thoughts,
• 36:44
  speech in in one room, like it's just, it's just a fascinating
• 36:49
  place to be in terms of universities.
• 36:51
  But it's not just specific to universities, of course, It's
• 36:54
  also in our centres, in our homes with our siblings.
• 36:57
  It's using conversation at a certain age to to change
• 37:02
  oneself, kind of to reach your potential.
• 37:03
  Can I just say, when it comes to like university, wouldn't it be
• 37:07
  considered a point dangerous to have such an open space because
• 37:13
  you're? Talking about in terms of having
• 37:14
  a space for free, free speech and free thought, Ah, this is a
• 37:18
  conversation to have. Because sometimes you may hear
• 37:21
  something which is not right, or you may go towards a path which
• 37:26
  is incorrect. What happens then?
• 37:31
  It is something on. Just because it can benefit one
• 37:34
  side what the what the does the quite opposite.
• 37:38
  No, it's it's an interesting conversation, that idea of lots
• 37:43
  of ideas being being being all platformed at a university.
• 37:46
  And that's why I think especially one of the key things
• 37:51
  we benefit from in our community is having the involvement of
• 37:55
  scholars and experts in certain fields.
• 37:57
  And we, and we, we emphasise the benefit in going to experts in
• 38:01
  the field and going to scholars in not telling us opinions to
• 38:04
  learn and memorise by rote, but actually to to provide that
• 38:07
  information in a structured way. So while at university you you
• 38:12
  will have a lot of these platforms with lots of different
• 38:14
  opinions from all different range of movements.
• 38:17
  You will see a lot of these, you'll be exposed to a lot of
• 38:19
  them. And I think this is where Ahmed,
• 38:21
  as you mentioned, the importance of community comes into and
• 38:23
  friends and family and that kind of network.
• 38:25
  Checks and balances. Exactly.
• 38:26
  And it's ensuring that you, you, you're exposed to these kind of
• 38:29
  ideas and it can be a risk exactly as you mentioned, which
• 38:32
  is why I think it's important we have that influence of
• 38:35
  community, friends, network scholars as well to actually
• 38:39
  guide us through this time. So we're exposed to all these
• 38:41
  new ideas and we're guided through that period.
• 38:43
  So would you say organizations like Absoc play a key role to
• 38:46
  this? 100% I don't hope it on some
• 38:49
  bias. No, no.
• 38:50
  Go for. It sponsorship I mean I'm glad
• 38:56
  you got my message to work that into the to the conversation but
• 38:59
  no, no, I think exactly what you mentioned the work of groups
• 39:03
  like the Absocs and. Societies has been phenomenal
• 39:06
  over the years. I mean the works and campaigns
• 39:08
  that we've seen in the activists scene, in the fundraising scene,
• 39:11
  in the bringing new ideas, some of the speakers that are
• 39:14
  brought, for example, some of the ideas that are raised there.
• 39:16
  There's a there's one of the key benefits that Absocs have long
• 39:19
  done is is hold intimate discussion circles.
• 39:22
  One of the best places you can do there in university, where
• 39:24
  you're exposed now to people who are like you from your
• 39:27
  community, but who've all come from different different
• 39:30
  communities, different levels of understanding of different
• 39:32
  concepts, and you're all coming together and the work of AB
• 39:35
  socks in that space can therefore help you become one
• 39:38
  unified community on campus and navigate.
• 39:41
  Microcosmic at large because you're you're you're going in,
• 39:44
  like you said with fresh ideas and or even not even fresh ideas
• 39:47
  but your own set way of doing things and you're exposed to
• 39:50
  fresh ideas and fresh opinions were through through interaction
• 39:53
  and engagement and you come out maybe as like a more more
• 39:57
  moulded or clearly defined person.
• 40:00
  Maybe and of course there's I agree to a degree like there is
• 40:04
  there is an element of risk with the free sport free thought and
• 40:07
  free speech and what not. But that's that's why we always
• 40:10
  talk about the self accountability and the checks
• 40:13
  and balances that we have from community and the the the need
• 40:15
  for the experts. Like you said like properly or
• 40:18
  really eloquently. But like the point being is
• 40:21
  universities in general. I think it applies to everyone,
• 40:25
  but the university scene is a scene where you can, you can,
• 40:30
  you can change the course of your life.
• 40:32
  Your destiny will be shaped by the the friends you make at uni,
• 40:37
  the conversations you engage in. You don't even have to engage in
• 40:40
  them. Just being present sometimes is
• 40:43
  like completely a really important thing.
• 40:45
  AB socks. And obviously everyone knows our
• 40:48
  home like the love we have or AB socks.
• 40:50
  And after through and your nights they're going to be doing
• 40:53
  some work with AB socks which is quite cool.
• 40:55
  But AB socks in general for me I'd say were were life changing.
• 41:00
  I don't think I would be sitting here today if it wasn't for my
• 41:02
  AB sock. I swear to God.
• 41:03
  I mean I remember my first day of university I I I entered as a
• 41:07
  person with like a certain mentality and I walked out of
• 41:11
  uni as a completely different person and that was thanks to AB
• 41:13
  socks and thanks to the guys who basically brought me in.
• 41:17
  So it's it's it is Microcosmic of Great Society for sure 100.
• 41:22
  Percent you know how much since we're talking about universities
• 41:24
  and here we are speaking about AB socks, a lot of our listeners
• 41:27
  of that age group where they're where there are in they are in
• 41:31
  university. Sorry.
• 41:32
  And it says that our mother, what advice can you give them to
• 41:36
  make the most of this blessed month?
• 41:38
  During uni, during university Wow exam season coming up and
• 41:41
  all that, isn't it gone? From both of you, I think
• 41:44
  you've. Done way more exams than I have.
• 41:47
  That's a fact, Mr. Doctor. OK.
• 41:49
  No, very, very interesting point, you know for.
• 41:56
  Focusing on Shah Ramadan, in the universities especially, I mean.
• 42:01
  Because I know the month of Ramadan can be challenging and
• 42:04
  has its own dilemmas in the workplace.
• 42:07
  But university, if we're saying it's a free space, how can we
• 42:09
  make the most of Ramadan? Yeah, I think it's a really
• 42:12
  interesting questions and I think there's there's a few
• 42:14
  different avenues we could go down.
• 42:15
  One one point I think that I'd really like to mention is
• 42:18
  perhaps a bit. I'd like to say slightly related
• 42:20
  to the to the question you asked, which is.
• 42:23
  It's good to know. Especially with the with the,
• 42:27
  with the ABSUX in in Ramadan. One of them things I've
• 42:30
  mentioned earlier is that we've got people coming from lots of
• 42:33
  different communities and lots of different backgrounds and
• 42:37
  levels of understanding. And often the month of Ramadan
• 42:41
  on campus is their first real experience in this, in this type
• 42:45
  of community, in this form of community.
• 42:47
  And there's been countless examples I know of of
• 42:49
  individuals in this time who have through ABSOC into their
• 42:53
  first ever communal Iftar for example, the first ever one.
• 42:56
  They don't do it. Sometimes they're reverts,
• 42:58
  sometimes the reverse. They don't have that family
• 43:00
  space to go back to and they they they use ABSOC has that
• 43:02
  space. And the work that ABSOC have
• 43:04
  been doing is incredible in in providing that space for these,
• 43:08
  for these individuals. And sometimes they're people who
• 43:10
  who might not be reverts, but they don't they they haven't had
• 43:12
  that communal, they haven't had that communal Ramadan
• 43:15
  experience, not just for iftar, but that experience of all being
• 43:19
  together, learning together, building together, growing
• 43:22
  spiritually together. They haven't had that
• 43:23
  experience. And I think one of the key areas
• 43:26
  that we can do is remember how beneficial AB Sok is for us, as
• 43:32
  you mentioned, for the for the journeys that we've been
• 43:33
  through, but also for those individuals who are actually
• 43:35
  coming from very different, very different backgrounds.
• 43:37
  Very true. And in terms of Ramadan
• 43:39
  especially and for in the context of university.
• 43:43
  When I was at uni Ramadan was in summer, so I never like.
• 43:48
  I don't think it was other term time, at least while I was at
• 43:50
  university, but just what I would imagine might work well as
• 43:54
  a routine, like a routine of your day if you're like me who
• 43:58
  skips lectures and you know, I used to be very nocturnal when I
• 44:02
  used to live at uni, but maybe having a good routine, so
• 44:05
  revision in the evening. When I say the evening, I mean
• 44:07
  like let's say after 3-4 PM up until the solar time, you have
• 44:12
  your breaker files, you go to the mosque, whatever.
• 44:14
  And then using that time where you energize you're, you're
• 44:16
  mentally stimulated to revise and study and whatnot and then
• 44:21
  obviously up until Fajr and then you know, start the start the
• 44:24
  day again. But I think a routine is key for
• 44:25
  all of us and sometimes it's harder than than that.
• 44:29
  But when you're working long hours and your your hours don't
• 44:32
  change for work or whatever according to our Mulan
• 44:34
  calendars. But yeah, I think that's very,
• 44:37
  very. Important You know, I I think
• 44:38
  universities are a great opportunity for people to learn
• 44:41
  about Islam who are not, who are not Muslim.
• 44:44
  And why I say this because I think as Muslims we shouldn't be
• 44:47
  selfish with our faith. We should truly be selfless when
• 44:51
  it when it comes to Islam. You know, whether it's the way
• 44:53
  we speak with our classmates, whether it's the way we speak
• 44:56
  with our professors, teachers, other people, other fellow
• 45:00
  students, the way you speak, your luck, your manners, you
• 45:03
  know all the effects and attract someone you know.
• 45:06
  Why are they like this? Why do they speak like this?
• 45:10
  Why do they act like this? And if we try to be the best we
• 45:13
  can be, imagine changing friends who are not Muslim to become
• 45:18
  Muslim. I've always heard stories I
• 45:20
  give. We're living here in a world of
• 45:22
  digital and social media. I've always seen someone saying,
• 45:24
  you know what? I became Muslim because I saw my
• 45:27
  friends behave in such manner with his parents, for example.
• 45:32
  Or I saw my friend who was so devoted to Allah, Subhanahu
• 45:35
  Watala. He took Islam so seriously.
• 45:37
  I didn't find that in any other religion.
• 45:39
  Like there's certain things I think we can have an impact on,
• 45:42
  on people who are not Muslim at university and I think even in
• 45:45
  the workplace and inshallah we can make the most by encouraging
• 45:49
  other people to join the faith. But I do want to mention it is
• 45:51
  the month of Ramadan and for those of you who want to give in
• 45:54
  the way of charity, this is the month for it and we hope you are
• 45:58
  inshallah contributing towards many causes.
• 46:00
  One of them is with the Hope Appeal, who is working with Adel
• 46:03
  Bay TV and they do some amazing work helping those in need,
• 46:07
  looking after those who need. You know, when it comes to food,
• 46:10
  whether it's water wells, whether it's educational
• 46:12
  packages, there is everything for every scenario you can ever
• 46:15
  imagine, inshallah and the hope of people do amazing work.
• 46:18
  Ahmed, you have worked with them before.
• 46:20
  When it comes to, for example, knowing more of the work that
• 46:25
  they actually do on the ground, How can we encourage our
• 46:29
  listeners in Charlotte to make that intention to contribute, I
• 46:33
  think? The Hope appeals is is
• 46:36
  fantastic, although it's it's a relatively new charity but the
• 46:41
  idea being is the the philosophy behind it is breaking the cycle
• 46:45
  of poverty for those in need around the world in targeted and
• 46:49
  very selected and rigorously selected regions in the world
• 46:53
  which need that support and that those are areas where people
• 46:56
  need to be lifted out of poverty.
• 46:58
  You need to, as brother Neil says, you don't just teach a man
• 47:03
  how to fish. You build a fishing rod factory
• 47:06
  and you distribute the rods. That's how you that's how the
• 47:08
  hopeful operates and the idea being is that we should all be a
• 47:11
  part of that sustainability and building sustainable society.
• 47:15
  That's the only way you move forward in this day and age.
• 47:17
  And if you are one of those people who likes to give to
• 47:21
  other causes, if you're like the three of us and you believe in
• 47:24
  the need for education, the need for upliftment, the need for
• 47:28
  galvanization of the minds and you know, like just taking
• 47:33
  ourselves spiritually, intellectually to the next
• 47:35
  level, then Muslim media needs your support brand sisters.
• 47:38
  And specifically speaking when it comes to Adelbate TV, we've
• 47:41
  talked about it time and time again.
• 47:43
  But the three channels, the new channels alongside the main
• 47:46
  Adelbate TV channel, that's the daily.
• 47:47
  I've got Iron Channel 24/7 in the holy month of Ramadan and
• 47:51
  all year round the documentaries channel which of course every
• 47:54
  day will bring you documentaries that we've produced over the
• 47:57
  last 10-15 years. And of course the brand new kids
• 48:01
  channel which I think for for parents in the community really
• 48:04
  need to snap up the opportunity to you know zero to 16 years
• 48:07
  old, the threats kids are facing in school and wider society
• 48:10
  online in mainstream media. It really needs to be targeted.
• 48:14
  So why are we giving our money to the likes of Netflix and
• 48:17
  Disney where we can support a Muslim media cause which is
• 48:20
  creating, engaging and educational and enticing content
• 48:25
  for children? So support those causes Bronze
• 48:27
  Sisters. I'm sure Zane will probably have
• 48:30
  another fundraiser soon so he can probably support that.
• 48:32
  Have you got any anything coming up Zane we can look forward to?
• 48:36
  At the moment we'll see inshallah what perhaps absorbs
• 48:39
  come up with for for our next charity campaign.
• 48:41
  Inshallah. Inshallah inshallah bro, thank
• 48:43
  you so much for coming on last Last question from me or two
• 48:46
  questions. One have you thought of an item?
• 48:51
  I forgot. Coming back to that.
• 48:53
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, come on, brother.
• 48:56
  OK, I mean, I I I definitely, I I can't do what all these like
• 49:01
  Mystic people do in terms of sleeping on the floor.
• 49:03
  So I definitely need to take my bed with me.
• 49:05
  I think that's one thing I've got to do.
• 49:07
  I need, I need the comfort of absolutely no bed.
• 49:10
  It's needed. I think if people have to take
• 49:12
  gyms, I think I need to take my bed.
• 49:16
  That's one thing I've got to say.
• 49:18
  My list of what I need has definitely decreased since I've.
• 49:21
  Shave my head because I. Would have told you shampoo
• 49:24
  comb. I would have told you all these.
• 49:25
  Things, yeah, like maintaining. I can tell you how much easier,
• 49:28
  how much quicker does. I mean, might still be late in
• 49:30
  the mornings, but you know, I. Must save like half an hour a
• 49:34
  day a. 100% it saves, it saves a lot of time.
• 49:36
  I mean, I like. Your head get cold.
• 49:38
  Definitely gets caught, except for today.
• 49:40
  I forgot to actually put this back on.
• 49:41
  But you know, exactly. But no, no, it does.
• 49:44
  It definitely gets caught. Especially now I've I've chosen.
• 49:46
  I mean I I shaved off in February, so it definitely
• 49:49
  wasn't the right month for that, but.
• 49:52
  Fair play, bro. Listen man, thank you so much
• 49:54
  for coming on. Really appreciate it.
• 49:56
  And you know bro, you you're doing incredible work.
• 50:00
  Charlotte Long may continue and we pray Las Pontar always grants
• 50:02
  you and your family more risk and Buttercup to serve and just
• 50:06
  keep going. Brother.
• 50:07
  Is there any last message you want to say to anyone at home?
• 50:10
  There is there. There's one final message.
• 50:11
  I think it it, it ties in to what we've been speaking about
• 50:15
  earlier about when we're feeling fatigue, when we're feeling
• 50:20
  that, that stress, especially when we're talking about
• 50:22
  activist movements and I want to say about understanding the
• 50:25
  importance and not losing hope. And I wanted to give one story
• 50:28
  which I've lifted actually from a different podcast, an Empire
• 50:31
  podcast with with William Darempo and the story that was
• 50:34
  given talking about the Society of Rome.
• 50:37
  And it says Rome at the time was a was a slave society.
• 50:40
  We know that, but often we underestimate just how many
• 50:42
  slaves there were. And there were slaves walking
• 50:45
  around the streets, taken from different areas around around
• 50:47
  the continent. And at 1.1 of the Roman elite
• 50:50
  had asked posed the question, can we put all the slaves in a
• 50:54
  uniform? Because that way we know who's
• 50:57
  to say we know who we can treat as a slave, We know who we don't
• 50:59
  have to treat as a slave. It's easier for us to tell.
• 51:02
  And the answer given to him was no, because if we put them in a
• 51:06
  uniform, they'll know how many of them there are.
• 51:10
  And I think that's a huge lesson we can learn when we talk about
• 51:12
  the power of the people and not underestimating that and never
• 51:17
  losing hope, and of course, never losing hope in the power
• 51:20
  and magnitude of our loss of Panel I.
• 51:21
  Sent some, I sent some Badakhlaf.
• 51:23
  Thank you so much bro. Really appreciate it.
• 51:26
  I really love this conversation, man.
• 51:27
  Yeah, because I think it was generally like focused on not
• 51:31
  us, but others know how we said love for your brother way love
• 51:34
  for yourself. And I think it's an eye opener.
• 51:36
  And then I loved it that this was the 1st conversation that we
• 51:40
  had during the month of Ramadan because it reminds us to
• 51:43
  inshallah be selfless rather than selfish.
• 51:46
  But I do have my final question. I know I haven't had one.
• 51:48
  I'll I have one as well. To you, one is 2, two.
• 51:51
  Well, it's two quick ones inshallah.
• 51:53
  Two for me, two for. And your name and your title,
• 51:55
  there's Doctor on and all bit about that.
• 51:57
  Where does that come from? But the but the main one is what
• 52:00
  has been one great Ramadan memory from last year that you
• 52:03
  cherish. Very good questions.
• 52:07
  In terms of my, my, my, my name, title, Doctor.
• 52:12
  I mean, I've been practising for for how long has it been now?
• 52:16
  Actually coming up to two years now.
• 52:18
  I'll have that last so. Been going really well, but of
• 52:21
  course, you know, you don't have to, you don't have to refer me
• 52:24
  by you do, but you don't have to refer to your title.
• 52:26
  So doc's fine though. Don't worry.
• 52:29
  No, no, I'll have that. That's been going well in, in
• 52:32
  terms of Ramadan memory I think last year.
• 52:36
  Especially last year we we, we say this month is the month of
• 52:40
  the the Holy Quran. And last year I had I found
• 52:44
  myself having a really, really strong connection with the Holy
• 52:47
  Quran, especially more than I found in previous years.
• 52:50
  I found something about the serenity of spending those
• 52:54
  nights just yourself before I lost upon what Allah not there.
• 52:58
  There's obviously the benefit in having those communal iftars,
• 53:01
  communal sessions, but just that, the serenity in spending
• 53:04
  those nights, especially the Knights of Qadar, with you and
• 53:08
  sitting before Lasa Panatana and looking into that holy book and
• 53:11
  truly, truly having that, that connection that I felt the last
• 53:14
  year more than more than previously.
• 53:17
  And I think that itself as a memory just just stands out.
• 53:20
  I wish we spoke about your hand circles as well, but that's been
• 53:22
  a conversation for another day. Another day, inshallah yeah.
• 53:25
  Thank you so much. Remember us, your daughters in
• 53:27
  this nights for and everyone at home.
• 53:29
  Thank you very much for tuning in.
• 53:31
  We will be back. As always we have a really cool
• 53:36
  conversation lined up for next week which I'm sure inshallah
• 53:39
  you will appreciate. A very, very fun conversation.
• 53:43
  Probably one you may or may not want to watch with your spouse
• 53:47
  or your potential spouse or whatever, so you'll enjoy it.
• 53:51
  Let's stay tuned and we will be back next week.
• 53:54
  We'll see you then. Take care of some alaikum.
• 53:56
  Don't lie.