Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / 🍉 Art & Quran to change the World (Ft Zuhair Hussaini)

Transcript

🍉 Art & Quran to change the World (Ft Zuhair Hussaini) · After Maghrib 🌙

• 0:00
  It's Mlahad, Rahim, Slamwalaikum.
• 0:01
  Everyone, welcome back to the aftermarket podcast.
• 0:03
  Hope everyone is doing good wherever you are watching or
• 0:06
  listening from. If you're watching on YouTube
• 0:08
  and you want to hear us, head over to Spotify, Apple or
• 0:11
  Google. You can hear us when you're
• 0:12
  driving or in the gym. And likewise, as always, if
• 0:15
  you're listening and you want to watch and you want to see the
• 0:17
  new set and you want to see what's happening here, head over
• 0:19
  to YouTube. We are trying to get towards
• 0:22
  10,000 subscribers, so you can help us if you hit that
• 0:25
  subscribe button. But this is, as always, we have
• 0:27
  a fantastic conversation. Today we're going to be we're
• 0:30
  talking about a multitude of of of topics ranging from the Holy
• 0:34
  Quran, the way we interpret it and the relationship we have
• 0:37
  with it along with resistance. Creatively talking about how we
• 0:41
  use art and creative talents to to show our passions, to stand
• 0:46
  up against oppression, to do all sorts of different things.
• 0:50
  As always, I'm joined by my wonderful Co host, said Ali
• 0:54
  Rodwis. Sam Ali Kumsaina.
• 1:06
  How you doing bro? I'm well, Hamdallah.
• 1:08
  How are you? Beautiful smile.
• 1:10
  And Charlotte, it's a reflection of you.
• 1:12
  It feels like I have recorded you in long while, although it's
• 1:14
  only been a week. Well, I haven't recorded you
• 1:15
  either, so now it's good to be back.
• 1:19
  I know we started last week. Yeah, kick starting off Season 3
• 1:22
  and Hamdallah, you know, we're back to our usual weekly
• 1:24
  conversations and inshallah, people are subscribing,
• 1:26
  interacting and engaging with our conversations.
• 1:29
  Today is not different. Yeah.
• 1:31
  Why? Because we have our first guests
• 1:34
  of season three and our first guest of season three, we
• 1:37
  couldn't get someone local. We couldn't get someone who the
• 1:42
  people don't want. We needed to fly someone in and
• 1:45
  get a world renowned party that goes by the name of Daddy Zaher
• 1:50
  Hussein Song They come bro. They come Saddam.
• 1:52
  How are you doing? Handler Thank you for having me.
• 1:54
  It feels like a long time coming to have you on after Maghrib.
• 1:57
  Thank you for having me. It's a wonderful pleasure to be
• 1:59
  here, honestly, Handler. It's a pleasure for me to see
• 2:02
  you again. Yeah.
• 2:04
  And it's like deja vu. So I see you on Twitter.
• 2:06
  I see you at space conferences in the Canada.
• 2:08
  Now I see here Handler. You guys were in space last
• 2:11
  month, right? Yeah.
• 2:11
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 2:12
  In. Vancouver a few.
• 2:14
  Weeks back. Amazing weather was a little
• 2:17
  tough there. How did it say Ali do?
• 2:19
  You look great. Great.
• 2:20
  Yeah. It's been it's been too nice.
• 2:22
  It's been too. Nice now I was enjoying every
• 2:24
  second of it, honestly. Your your your.
• 2:26
  Presence was missed. I missed you guys as well.
• 2:29
  Obviously I heard it was a fantastic event.
• 2:31
  What what was your like kind of your focus there?
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  I was doing I had a workshop finding a God through art and
• 2:39
  architecture. OK, yeah, Watch unlocked.
• 2:41
  That's kind of on a similar note to what we want to talk about
• 2:43
  today. And for those who don't know,
• 2:45
  Iris O'Hare is probably the most talented man I've met in the
• 2:50
  Shia community. I'm not even just being, I'm
• 2:53
  being completely honest with you.
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  You are by profession, you're an architect, Mashallah, you are a
• 3:01
  world renowned Ghari. And of course you've won
• 3:03
  competitions all around the world and you're invited to
• 3:05
  recite everywhere. You're a calligrapher, you're a
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  photographer and mashallah, you're a public speaker now as
• 3:10
  well. So you know, we learn a lot from
• 3:12
  you. Some of the work that you've
• 3:13
  been involved in, which which like obviously is very close to
• 3:17
  my heart, We met each other. For those who don't know, why
• 3:19
  don't you say it? Yeah, how where we go back?
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  We met in 2015. First the auto trip was a
• 3:25
  spiritual retreat at the house at and there was a group of guys
• 3:29
  from London from Dearborn, MI and it was a wonderful
• 3:33
  experience. We would go to housing classes
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  morning, afternoon, night time, and my evening would be falling
• 3:39
  asleep at Scholars Powers. But it was a wonderful it made
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  friends that. Our first both of both of us was
• 3:46
  our first, yeah, rock. Beautiful.
• 3:48
  It was, I remember, like our first we were connecting on our.
• 3:52
  Where was the exact meeting point was in the shrine or?
• 3:55
  Probably when we landed in nature.
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  Yeah, in the hotel. Yeah, and for both of us, it was
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  our first time going to the Holy Land.
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  So it was and everyone else had been and everyone else is Iraqi
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  and we're like one of the only two non Iraqis.
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  Yeah, most. Charlotte.
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  Now all three of us have the opportunity to be Under the Dome
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  of a mirror moment. Charlotte I look forward to.
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  That so. Just before you kick start,
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  yeah, I think something we used to do in Season 2 and season
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  one, whenever we have like an international guest join us, we
• 4:23
  ask how do you find the holy City of London?
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  Where do I begin? This is this is probably by 6th
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  or 7th time and same gloomy, grey and rainy.
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  And I I despise that part of it, but otherwise I love it.
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  I I mean, I keep coming back, you know?
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  It's a good thing. It's a good thing.
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  I mean, there's so many great things, but the weather is.
• 4:43
  The weather brings you back. Like the weather takes him home,
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  bro. Yeah.
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  I drive him away. Yeah, I mean, I do at the end of
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  coming in the fall or winter, which maybe is my fault, but
• 4:54
  it's still it's it's, it's, I don't know how you guys do it,
• 4:57
  honestly. I think we're used to it.
• 4:59
  We are, yeah. Yeah.
• 5:00
  So as as everyone at home will know, we we're going to try
• 5:03
  something new for Season 3. Inshallah, we're going to play a
• 5:06
  game called Rankings. OK, so for guests who come,
• 5:09
  especially guests from abroad, we're going to give you 5 items
• 5:13
  or five topics and you've got to rank them first to 5th in terms
• 5:17
  of your current favourites. OK, so today's topic is saed.
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  Cities eventually remember. OK, so we're going to give you 5
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  cities, Saed. What's the first one?
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  Oh, OK, this is off the spot. Yeah, from first the 5th right?
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  You got a ranked number between 1:00 after you tell me the five
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  great. I'll start off with can it be
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  holy? Yeah.
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  OK. I'll go with Medina.
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  Medina, we're going. To find out he's actually been
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  there. I haven't been there, no.
• 5:45
  OK, fine, unfortunately so. Does it have to be the city
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  you've been to? OK.
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  Yeah. OK.
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  I've been trying though, for four years now.
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  Let's start with this Detroit. OK, Detroit, New York.
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  OK. Say.
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  Vancouver. OK, Vancouver, London.
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  It can't become last. Baghdad Baghdad.
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  OK. Baghdad.
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  It's random. So Detroit, Vancouver, London,
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  New Yorker. Baghdad.
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  Let's do it all. Right, cool.
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  Go on, listen to the last game. #1 New York.
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  Oh, OK. Sorry, I am.
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  Home is home. Yeah, home is home #2 Vancouver,
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  Vancouver, number 30, man. London #4, Baghdad #5 Detroit.
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  You know, I yeah, although I did just experience Baghdad like
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  outside of Kalami for the first time last week.
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  So I got to see a bit more but. Sounds like you're really
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  convinced that Detroit is fifth, though, yeah?
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  100th if I could. I'm sorry.
• 6:53
  We might have listeners from there, so we do apologise.
• 6:58
  OK, cool. Let's get stuck in obviously to
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  the conversation. You obviously you're involved in
• 7:03
  a lot of different things, but I'm going to start off with the
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  Holy of Quran because I think that's been a passion for you
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  for majority, if not most of your life or all of your life
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  pretty much. And there's a clip for those who
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  haven't seen of you on YouTube reciting your very your very
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  first Quran competition. Where do you remember this?
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  Yeah, I do. Where you ran up to the stage
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  and your side was it, so it's. Yeah, Surah class.
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  And then the judge asked me if I know any more surahs.
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  I'm like, no, I don't. He's he's like Surah class.
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  Although I I I really recited it.
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  But to me it's just like it's a blur.
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  It's like this is all the Quran. It's all I know.
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  It's all I got to show. And you know it's beautiful.
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  It's when when you see that clip of you reciting like with the
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  greatest respect, all of us at that age were residing in the
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  same way. So it was just like we're
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  speeding through the Surah. No tune, no Maharaj, no thought.
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  But as in we all had a desire to learn the Holy Quran.
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  What would you say the Quran, the Holy Quran means to you?
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  That's a big it's a big question.
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  It's everything you know. It's I.
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  It's a guide for how I should live my life.
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  It's take the Quran has taken a different meaning throughout the
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  different phases of my life. You know, as a kid, that's
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  something you learn. You go to madrasa, you learn the
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  Quran. But it's like, OK, it's
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  something I do on Sundays or Saturdays and sometimes in the
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  Masjid and that's it. And I reached the point in high
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  school where it's OK, I go, I would say the Quran in front of
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  the community, but that's all. It's a part time thing.
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  That's how I felt like. And it reached the point where
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  it's like a fork, like it can no longer be a part time thing.
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  It's not just reciting. And it needs to take on a bigger
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  meaning in my life to to like, to cement itself.
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  And from the phase from high school to college, I I it became
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  something like like I'm I went as a badge of honor.
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  It's not something I'm ashamed of like or I was never ashamed
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  of it. But it's like you know it's like
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  whatever. And because you you know at that
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  point it's like you like religion isn't as AI feel like
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  you don't take it seriously up until like later on in your
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  life. So it's you know the more time I
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  spend with it it's I I-1 regret I have is I don't spend enough
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  time with it. Ramadan rolls around your your
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  site you spend time and reading tough series or but then it's
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  like different it's it's like up and down thing.
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  Sometimes, you know I'm really into it.
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  Sometimes you know it it's hard. So you know, I I it's like a
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  push and pull thing and I don't force it if it if I can't get
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  into it. Other times I'm I can't I can't
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  drop it so. Can I ask a question here?
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  Yeah. You know, when you recite at
• 9:41
  different places, so let's say 100, like if you've had many
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  opportunities where you've had, you know, reciting at majalis,
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  where it's celebration events, whether it's, I don't know if
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  you've done weddings, things like this.
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  So you've had like a variety of beautiful, beautiful.
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  So you've had like a variety of opportunities to reside in
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  different places. Yes.
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  Also I'm sure you recite at home.
• 10:03
  Yes, 100%. Does it feel different in terms
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  of, for example, the respect people give to the Quran
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  depending on where they are? Or sometimes is it like I don't
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  want to say people just leave it in the background?
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  Well, I think this is a great question to start with.
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  How do you feel like the the audience listening to the Quran?
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  Do they give a respect that it deserves?
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  Most of the time, no, no. In weddings, people are quiet
• 10:25
  because it's like, OK, there's someone, There's only one.
• 10:28
  It's like something's happening. Let's all be quiet.
• 10:31
  It's being recited in the major setting, depending on the kind
• 10:34
  of community, community most of the time, you know, like a
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  centre I used to recite as as a child.
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  There's always noise, even after, like, you know, saying
• 10:44
  hello three times for people to simmer down.
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  It's like this little, you know but in certain communities where
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  they have appreciation for the Quran and it's a citation their
• 10:54
  their pin drop silent. And I I feel off the energy if
• 10:58
  they're noisy or if they're not receptive, I can't have a good
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  recitation no matter how much I try to focus, focus and pretend
• 11:05
  like I'm only one in the ruin and I'm just reciting.
• 11:07
  So it it it depends, you know, and it depends how long I'm
• 11:11
  reciting the five minute thing, you know, it's like it's it's
• 11:14
  very hard to like get into it so.
• 11:17
  Is that like a community which you find shows the most
• 11:21
  appreciation or tends to have the best respect while the Holy
• 11:25
  Quran has been recited? I think from my experience the
• 11:28
  Afghan community, there's a lot of reciters that come from the
• 11:30
  Afghan community and like they it's something they sit by and
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  listen with like with much like it's like they're hungry for it.
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  You know That's what the one setting I enjoy reciting in like
• 11:44
  in New York I mean or in the tri-state New Jersey area like
• 11:48
  there's many centres that are are reciting but I I'd say that
• 11:51
  I've been community they they typically very receptive to it
• 11:54
  because so much talent comes from from the Advent community
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  with chrono recitation compared to other communities I feel
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  like. So it's something that they are
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  more receptive to it. So you know, it's interesting
• 12:04
  because obviously we go back a bit.
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  We talk about when you took part in that first competition when
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  you were a young boy and Marshall Law to where you are
• 12:12
  now. The growth has been phenomenal.
• 12:15
  I feel like for a lot of us as a community, we, I'd say the
• 12:21
  majority of people have learned the Holy Quran to some degree.
• 12:24
  So either with family or in a Sunday school or with a Quran
• 12:27
  teacher at some stage of their youth.
• 12:31
  But that's stunted. So there came a point where the
• 12:33
  the recitation and the knowledge in terms of reading the Holy
• 12:36
  Quran plateaued And I'm I am where I am and I'm stagnant in
• 12:41
  my growth of reading the Holy Quran.
• 12:43
  What would you advise? Because look, I'm sure a lot of
• 12:46
  us highly appreciate the recitation of all your Quran,
• 12:50
  maybe even appreciate certain reciters, maybe to another
• 12:54
  degree know the differences between the mukammad but don't
• 12:57
  even know how to take it to the next level.
• 12:59
  What would you advise? I mean the the biggest
• 13:02
  difficulty is there's not enough resources as in manpower with
• 13:05
  other communities. I had no teacher as there was an
• 13:08
  early age really. Like I I had people who show us
• 13:12
  how to recite the Quran from just like this is LF, this is
• 13:16
  Eugene, These are the letters. But not like tajweed, not like
• 13:19
  recitation from a professional way.
• 13:21
  Like this is how you play with the melodies or the sound.
• 13:24
  There's just no, there's just no one.
• 13:25
  Was there known of teachers? Is that what it was?
• 13:29
  I I started to this day there until.
• 13:30
  Today. Yes, because people are more
• 13:33
  folk. I feel like from my perspective,
• 13:35
  I feel like our communities, our youth tend to go more towards
• 13:40
  poetry than Quran and there's no, there's no desire or like
• 13:48
  for to have any recites or Quran and if you have a few, it's like
• 13:52
  there's no, there's no Ted read. So I seize a responsibility on
• 13:55
  on my shoulders as well as others.
• 13:57
  But we can't do it alone. It has to be you know just
• 14:01
  having giving a reciter time to recite like as in like
• 14:06
  sufficient time will open up the doors with people to see like
• 14:09
  you know this is this exists in the community and other people
• 14:12
  take interest in it. But as far as advice to give,
• 14:15
  you know there's online. There's more more resources
• 14:18
  online now. But it depends what stage you're
• 14:20
  in. Like if you the biggest thing is
• 14:22
  to read and learning how to recite properly before you get
• 14:25
  into voice and and melodies. That's the biggest thing you can
• 14:28
  do is listening to the right reciters like finding a guide to
• 14:32
  what to let's just say you live in the middle of nowhere.
• 14:35
  There's no teachers finding you know there's there's books out
• 14:38
  there in English that's have the different rules.
• 14:39
  You get the text of, you know, this is my instruction manual.
• 14:42
  But the Quran has to be taught as an do you need a teacher?
• 14:45
  Do you need someone to correct you?
• 14:47
  For the years, no one corrected me and I was reciting wrong.
• 14:49
  And it's like I have to like go back and fix those mistakes.
• 14:53
  Yeah. So if if and if that's what it
• 14:56
  takes and that's what it takes. But you find reciters that that
• 14:59
  are really good from a instructional perspective and
• 15:03
  you listen to them and you basically dissected like how is
• 15:06
  this reciter saying this letter, you know, how how is he ending?
• 15:10
  Like you have to surgically like.
• 15:12
  Dissect. The reverse engineer recitation
• 15:15
  and do technically you know a seasoned Egyptian reciter from
• 15:20
  the 70s and and you literally have to dissect it.
• 15:24
  That's what I would do. You know now everything on
• 15:27
  YouTube maybe 10 years ago I would my favorite reciters would
• 15:31
  go to your Islamic countries and recite IBM forums trying to
• 15:34
  download these They can invite you Ramadan and I'm like I'm I'm
• 15:37
  literally emailing people like hey you guys invited him to this
• 15:40
  city where's the recording. So I I was after these.
• 15:43
  Now everything's because everyone has a, you know, with a
• 15:46
  with a phone or video camera, it's widely available, but like
• 15:49
  for 10 years ago was, it's a different game.
• 15:52
  I remember in my days it was cassettes like would would have
• 15:56
  literally boxes of cassettes of every jizzo every.
• 15:59
  Yeah, like it was like a box of this reciter.
• 16:01
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I and I remember Abdul
• 16:03
  Bassad and all these names childhood growing up it gave me
• 16:07
  so much memories. Now you speaking about how you
• 16:09
  how you how you going to Quran reciting and you mentioned
• 16:12
  something about, you know before getting into melodies and things
• 16:15
  understand how to pronounce the Quran.
• 16:17
  And this was very nice for my childhood.
• 16:19
  Why? Because we used to actually have
• 16:21
  competitions on pronunciation, not just not just on.
• 16:25
  For example, you know how much Solas do You know how much
• 16:28
  Solas? You know by heart?
• 16:29
  Yeah, yeah. I mean things like, I mean a lot
• 16:32
  of these times like yesterday you and you and me were together
• 16:35
  and you told me for example in sort of Fatah people making a a
• 16:41
  simple error like for example the Nastrato musta theme and
• 16:46
  they'll bounce on the meme rather than or the musta theme.
• 16:50
  So, but there must be a lot of like common misconceptions or
• 16:53
  common errors that you see a lot as well.
• 16:55
  Can I just ask before you answer that does it null the verse
• 16:59
  completely if you make that error or?
• 17:02
  That's more from I feel like from a scholar.
• 17:04
  Perspective. I will ask that, but I hear this
• 17:07
  a. Lot what what happens is like
• 17:09
  here I'll tell you like I had an Egyptian mentor years later and
• 17:13
  he pointed out to me. So he's like it's wrong like if
• 17:16
  it's more still came or like it's like they open their mouth
• 17:19
  more than they should. So is it is it you know Yeah.
• 17:22
  I mean, I guess it depends who you ask, you know, but he was,
• 17:25
  he was, he had studied a less hard.
• 17:27
  So that's his. That's fair enough, but yeah.
• 17:30
  All right. So I've got another question for
• 17:31
  you. So you mentioned earlier about
• 17:33
  the, the Khalid of recitation in the sense of imitation and kind
• 17:37
  of like you said, reverse engineering it, right.
• 17:39
  So just to understand correctly, for those of us who are aspiring
• 17:43
  to build a strong relationship with recitation of the Holy
• 17:46
  Quran, specifically speaking, the best way you'd advise is to
• 17:51
  listen and to imitate in terms of your muckridge, your touch
• 17:55
  weed, all the rules, the pronunciation, and that is the
• 18:01
  fastest way and then and the most reliable way to learn it
• 18:04
  correctly. So what should we focus on that
• 18:07
  stuff before we then move to Tunes and Makama of?
• 18:10
  Course tunes, voice and makama melodies are tertiary like it's.
• 18:15
  It's not important to us. It's, it's, it's.
• 18:17
  It's nice to beautify secondary, but it comes nowhere near like
• 18:21
  reciting properly, right? Yeah, I had a thought in my head
• 18:26
  and disappeared. Yeah.
• 18:29
  Because obviously those things are the attractive things.
• 18:31
  Yeah, you hear them a car marks. And especially, like you said,
• 18:35
  the interest that a lot of people take in melodies with
• 18:38
  poetry. Yeah, so for example, said Ali
• 18:40
  said, I love the guest myself to a small degree.
• 18:44
  We enjoy listening or sometimes reciting poetry.
• 18:47
  So by by our nature innately we are drawn towards tune.
• 18:51
  You know we we live and die for TuneIn our in our in our
• 18:54
  communities. So the Makamati is attractive
• 18:58
  like the adornment of recitation it is.
• 19:00
  So, so he he You have to listen twice as much as you recite.
• 19:04
  It's like you have to build a palette in your head and you
• 19:09
  can't. You can't.
• 19:10
  It's like you have to before you could walk like you have to, you
• 19:14
  have to listen to the extent where it like it's like an
• 19:17
  artist making, making a painting, You know, they get
• 19:20
  inspiration from nature or they have to see with their eyes
• 19:23
  much, observe more before they can actually start painting.
• 19:27
  With A recitation, you know, whether it's composing your own
• 19:30
  recitation. With melodies you have to listen
• 19:33
  a lot before before from melody perspectives.
• 19:36
  Team goes with reciting properly with the dream or or Maharaj
• 19:42
  because you listen to, you know ex reciter and see how they're
• 19:45
  reciting it and that builds OK. I've listened to this person for
• 19:49
  hours and now I have a good understanding of how he's
• 19:53
  reciting. For example Saud or a different
• 19:55
  school for Saud for example a lot.
• 19:57
  So you have to listen like hours and hours before you can
• 20:02
  because. If you don't have that you know
• 20:04
  history in your head, it's hard to then recite and then do it
• 20:08
  properly. So I would say at least you
• 20:11
  listen twice as like as much interesting like you listen 3 *
• 20:16
  2 times and then you say once like it needs to be much more
• 20:18
  than reciting. Because especially when you get
• 20:21
  to the point years later when you start building your own
• 20:25
  melodies, it's like now you listen to X reciter all these
• 20:28
  different reciters and how they approach the recitation.
• 20:31
  So you could like make your own or because you you have that,
• 20:35
  the colours of the palette in your head to bring that to life.
• 20:40
  OK, all right, that sounds good. I want to ask you to recite, but
• 20:43
  we're going to ask the viewers to wait.
• 20:44
  Towards the end of the episode your beautiful voice, I want me
• 20:48
  and Sage were talking before the show.
• 20:51
  Obviously it kind of on a semi tangent towards the other side
• 20:55
  of your work, but obviously the the the the world we live in at
• 21:00
  the moment is a terrible place. The the genocide of the
• 21:05
  Palestinian people has brought us down over months now, two
• 21:10
  months, and we're seeing an annihilation, We're seeing an
• 21:14
  illegal occupation, which is not a new occurrence unfortunately.
• 21:18
  It's existed for for for decades.
• 21:22
  I'd say one like it's it's not really a nice thing to say, but
• 21:26
  one thing which is like kind of being some sort of a silver
• 21:31
  lining in terms of the response to to what's happening in
• 21:34
  Palestine has been the way and the creativity in which people
• 21:39
  have resisted. You know, they say respect
• 21:43
  existence or expect resistance. And if you don't respect the
• 21:47
  existence of the Palestinian people or any oppressed nation,
• 21:50
  then you will expect the resistance that comes behind it
• 21:53
  from it. Now, one of the forms of
• 21:55
  resistance that we see a lot of is cultural and creative
• 21:58
  resistance. So for example, simple example,
• 22:01
  the watermelon, you've seen the watermelon everywhere for weeks
• 22:05
  and weeks, right? So for those who don't know if
• 22:07
  there was a time where to paint the Palestinian flag or to to
• 22:10
  portray it was illegal and therefore people started
• 22:13
  painting the watermelon because you have the red, white and the
• 22:16
  green and the black and it became a symbol of of
• 22:21
  resistance. From your perspective both as a
• 22:24
  creative and as someone who's engaged in in like cultural
• 22:28
  resistance through your work with a bouquet project, Firstly,
• 22:30
  could you tell us about that, that project itself?
• 22:33
  And secondly, why is art and creativity so important at a
• 22:39
  time like this? For sure, yeah.
• 22:41
  The bouquet project was a start off with.
• 22:44
  That was my thesis project for architecture school, my fifth
• 22:47
  year of architecture school. You can.
• 22:49
  Well we were told you could pick any project and run with it
• 22:52
  because the last four years we listened to the professors and
• 22:55
  but when they reached the 5th year we're told I was told my
• 22:59
  professor we have to do the former housing in New York City.
• 23:01
  I was like no I'm not going to do that because I wouldn't do I,
• 23:04
  I am. And this is right after we had
• 23:05
  gone physiada because we came back in August, September and I
• 23:09
  started by fifth year and I. You're doing late nights.
• 23:13
  Yes. And and I said hey there's this
• 23:16
  mausoleum there used to be in in in the monkey cemetery in Medina
• 23:20
  that was demolished. I want to create a proposal for
• 23:23
  the future of it and I had to spend the week convincing him,
• 23:26
  you know coming up you know what the what the the problem is you
• 23:28
  know history of it. They're putting together a
• 23:30
  presentation and I got the green light.
• 23:33
  So I spent two semesters, basically close to 8-8 months
• 23:37
  work on the project to create something, a future proposal
• 23:41
  that is based off a contemporary interpretation of mausoleum or
• 23:46
  Shiite architecture, something that's different than what we
• 23:49
  have currently in like Iraq or Syria or Iran with those
• 23:54
  mausoleums there. So it was basically, you know,
• 23:57
  both from the architectural perspective, you have a a new
• 24:00
  design as well as having a seminary which pays homage to
• 24:04
  Sadaq Ali Saddam and the university that he had during
• 24:07
  his time with Balkan. So, yeah.
• 24:12
  And like I presented the project in many cities, mostly in the US
• 24:17
  and the last thing I did was I I built, I built many models for
• 24:21
  school. Yeah.
• 24:22
  But I built A5 like a massive wooden model in Najaf.
• 24:27
  Yes. And it was in our grade, my
• 24:31
  pasan's birthday 2019. So it's still there, but it was,
• 24:35
  it's been the jewel of My Portfolio as I see it cause it's
• 24:40
  both. Like I did something.
• 24:41
  It was. It was for school.
• 24:43
  But there's something for like Islam, for Hilbeiten.
• 24:46
  To me, that's everything, quite frankly.
• 24:50
  As far as the answer to your second question, I think when it
• 24:54
  comes to art is so powerful. You know, I'll give you 2
• 24:57
  examples I I've seen in in the last few weeks.
• 25:01
  Palestinian dresses for women have a very or, yeah, it is for
• 25:05
  women, I believe. But they have very distinct
• 25:06
  patterns and they I I saw one artist use the patterns to show
• 25:11
  the amount of people who have passed away and and it's
• 25:14
  basically they have all kinds of designs like in this part of
• 25:17
  their dresses and it's always embroidered So seeing how the
• 25:23
  dots increase based off and this is this was four weeks ago so
• 25:26
  imagine it's increased more than that.
• 25:30
  Another example is the Tufia. There's different, the different
• 25:34
  parts of it resemble different things.
• 25:36
  Everyone for the, I'm not sure I don't remember them exactly but
• 25:39
  I think one was for the olives or and I've seen different
• 25:43
  interpretations of you know if you're to look at there are a
• 25:47
  bunch of like you have a basic a circle and then you have lines
• 25:49
  coming out of it. So it shows people standing and
• 25:53
  and it zooms in and it's people standing with their arms like
• 25:56
  this. It makes the same pattern.
• 25:58
  So it's like they're showing their heritage and their culture
• 26:01
  in a very sad way but it it it it's so profitable because it's
• 26:04
  telling their story using their own heritage.
• 26:08
  So and it's been amazing to see like what what the different art
• 26:15
  pieces. I mean it it it's sad to create
• 26:17
  that kind of art. It like it gives there.
• 26:20
  The silver lining is you know you you feel like you're doing
• 26:22
  something for the cause but it's people are unfortunately passing
• 26:27
  away. Yeah, killed because of this.
• 26:29
  Yeah, yeah, let's say do you know this as well like because
• 26:32
  obviously you you create art in a different way through through
• 26:36
  words and through sound. So you'll know that people will
• 26:40
  connect emotively to to to to something which connects to
• 26:46
  their soul, touches their heart like.
• 26:48
  And when you see art or you see a drawing or a picture,
• 26:51
  obviously everyone knows the saying picture paints 1000 words
• 26:54
  or pictures more. Is it someone on those lines,
• 26:56
  right. A pictures worth 1000 words.
• 27:00
  So you know, I know I, I actually said to someone who I
• 27:04
  saw recently I was like someone like me, I've got the worst hand
• 27:08
  eye coordination. I can barely write my name.
• 27:10
  So, so like you know Marshall, I'd like to see, you know,
• 27:14
  people who can use their talent, whether it's digital art,
• 27:17
  calligraphy, painting, anything. And then obviously like a self
• 27:21
  saved people who can use poetry, use their voice and you're
• 27:24
  pulling people towards a cause, whether it's theological,
• 27:28
  whether it's political, humanitarian, whatever it is
• 27:31
  that is powerful, beyond powerful.
• 27:34
  And we see the stories that I in my live Musalaam when Imam Al
• 27:37
  Baqar al Islam gathered 120 reciters and he said disperse
• 27:41
  into the lands and use your voice to tell the story of my
• 27:44
  grandfather because we connect differently sometimes.
• 27:46
  No, you're right. Because it brings it to life,
• 27:48
  you know, especially being like Muslims and we we we try to
• 27:51
  connect, connect with our history as much as we can.
• 27:54
  So if we had like recitations and melodies, if we see for
• 27:56
  example the the work that I did for Baquet, it bring me Baquet
• 28:00
  to life. All lives to remember about
• 28:02
  Baquet was it's a grave lonely grave unfortunately with some
• 28:05
  stones and that was it. And the most we had was that
• 28:08
  every every every Muslim or in particular every Shia.
• 28:11
  That's the only image they had of but let's inshallah we see
• 28:13
  this come to fruition. Inshallah, in the near future
• 28:16
  you never know whether how parents.
• 28:19
  How would that make you feel if before the end of your life,
• 28:21
  your work came to life? I I don't think about it because
• 28:26
  I feel like I did. What I did was like the I, I I
• 28:30
  hope that comes to life. But it's like if that happened
• 28:32
  that that would be beyond my expectation.
• 28:34
  It's like I it's like I do what I can with this, whether it's my
• 28:38
  calligraphy work or the like. It's like I do it and I just
• 28:40
  leave it. It's like I, I I put my
• 28:43
  intention was there. What happens after like you know
• 28:46
  like to put like a metaphor it's like a stone skipping.
• 28:51
  It's like what happens downline, what kind of ripple effect it
• 28:54
  has. You know that that's beyond even
• 28:57
  I could, I could. And it's all from God.
• 28:59
  That's what I try to. It's like whatever I can do.
• 29:02
  Who knows what what what, what piece of art or what initiative
• 29:06
  is that, you know, takes the spotlight, but not from a
• 29:10
  spotlight with people, but in the eyes of God.
• 29:12
  I have a question for both of you.
• 29:14
  OK so for those who are there will be people at home who are
• 29:18
  like me and control you know and but people who are passionate
• 29:26
  like you know very good with words or writing or have
• 29:29
  beautiful voices. Marshall love both of you guys
• 29:31
  have beautiful voices. Where do I mean how, how do, how
• 29:35
  do people can Marshall? Both have got beautiful voices.
• 29:38
  That's. All it is.
• 29:39
  Kind of all it matters how do people use that talent to make a
• 29:45
  make a change, make an impact Because obviously we we use our
• 29:48
  voices for example for Latmiyat and you know recitation and
• 29:51
  whatnot. And of course that has it's
• 29:53
  wajib like place in our community, but how can we use
• 29:57
  it, maybe our talents or those talents to do more?
• 30:02
  For you. One, one thing I've thought
• 30:06
  about and not just The Voice but anytime like even the time we
• 30:09
  have, I feel like we're responsible.
• 30:12
  One another God's going to ask us what we do our time with our
• 30:15
  resources. And the biggest thing I always,
• 30:17
  you know, think about is, you know there's many things I could
• 30:19
  do or or have interests in, but there's very limited time.
• 30:23
  You know, no one here can sit and say, I have no 67 years to
• 30:27
  go. I have this much to go.
• 30:28
  You don't know. So I it's like what are the
• 30:30
  things that have the most value in this life And the year after
• 30:34
  that, that's how I gauge like how do I devote my time like the
• 30:37
  work that I do. You know whether it's citation
• 30:40
  it's like you know this. You know it's a it's a godly
• 30:43
  thing whether it's art you know I like to partake in Islamic art
• 30:47
  the narration of the imams spreading spreading the duas of
• 30:51
  the and there's so many of them many people haven't seen or
• 30:55
  heard. So it's like this this is what I
• 30:57
  feel has the most value in my eyes because not does there's
• 31:00
  only help in this life but I feel like maybe it earns me
• 31:03
  pointed in the hereafter so that that's my that's the lens.
• 31:08
  I look at things it's like you know there's tons of other
• 31:10
  things I would like to do. I see other people do more like
• 31:13
  this or animations or this and that's like you know I have had
• 31:16
  tons of interests since high school but it's like you know
• 31:19
  there's so limited time and it's like where can I channel this to
• 31:22
  have the most impact because the no one knows how long they'll
• 31:26
  live. And it's like if this can if if
• 31:29
  it has a positive impact, you know for this, they'll
• 31:31
  definitely have one for hereafter.
• 31:33
  So that's, you know, whether it's my voice or whether it's
• 31:35
  like my work that I do, that's that's what keeps me going and
• 31:38
  that's how I gauge what to work on and what not to do.
• 31:42
  You know what I like about your work?
• 31:45
  You know, Hamdala, the world is blessed with many architects and
• 31:49
  many people who do calligraphy or yours is so unique in a way
• 31:52
  that I I found out, I think it was about two or three years ago
• 31:55
  I followed you on Instagram and you've done a very nice drawing.
• 31:59
  I can call it that, or I'm going to call it a masterpiece.
• 32:02
  In fact, yeah, it was like using calligraphy through architecture
• 32:08
  to bring, I think it was the shrine of Imam Ali, if I'm not
• 32:10
  mistaken. It was like.
• 32:11
  Blue The picture of the shrine using calligraphy using.
• 32:14
  Calligraphy. You do that a lot with shapes.
• 32:16
  This is very unique because normally calligraphy, we see it
• 32:19
  as just written or drawn and architecture is like lines and
• 32:22
  pencils and things like. But this was like bringing two
• 32:24
  things to life. It gave it its own soul.
• 32:27
  Hamdullah Mashallah, you're very blessed in this God.
• 32:29
  Bless you. Yeah.
• 32:31
  It's those things I feel like play at people's heartstrings.
• 32:34
  Very unique in a good way. You see it.
• 32:36
  It's like you resonate with. Like it brings us joy.
• 32:38
  What? Yes, the work that I do.
• 32:39
  Literally, there's piece. Of Wallpapers, yeah.
• 32:43
  Do you? Do you and and I know the answer
• 32:45
  for this, but do you Commission your work or can people get much
• 32:48
  or? Yeah yeah I I have a website I
• 32:50
  saw some work and I there are many things I want to out bro.
• 32:55
  zaharie.com Zaharie. I have a new website coming out
• 32:58
  next week so not next week. Sorry about that soon.
• 33:00
  It's all about end of this year. But I spend most of the time
• 33:04
  doing other people's work than the ones I want to do.
• 33:06
  So I'm trying to change that. But it's a good thing.
• 33:09
  But it's like it was tons of when I have a project or an
• 33:11
  idea, if I don't have the time to work on it, I like log it
• 33:14
  into the closed system. And then I say, I'll come back
• 33:16
  to this. If and if it doesn't work, I'll,
• 33:20
  I'll, I'll hold off on it because I need to be happy with
• 33:23
  what what I post or what I do. Otherwise it's not worth forcing
• 33:26
  it. You can't force art.
• 33:28
  Like there's so many even for the space conference, like or
• 33:30
  even. There's so many things I want to
• 33:31
  work on and I'm sitting there trying so hard, but it's not
• 33:35
  happening. And it's like, you know what?
• 33:36
  It's just not working. You just gotta let go.
• 33:39
  And like maybe it'll happen in a few weeks or so.
• 33:42
  You can't. Yeah.
• 33:44
  I want to ask like a a real question and feel free to answer
• 33:47
  it or not. There's two things on us.
• 33:49
  Number one, you being a Quran reciter, how does it feel when
• 33:53
  you make a mistake, live in front of an audience?
• 33:55
  That's one, that's one. And then my second follow up
• 33:58
  question today is it's you know when you make a a masterpiece as
• 34:03
  I call it, when someone tells you you could have done better.
• 34:06
  I hope they had. I have.
• 34:06
  I hope they have never said this to you, but if someone ever
• 34:09
  tells you this could have been done better, how does that make
• 34:11
  you feel? I think that's two questions I
• 34:14
  really want to know. Good questions.
• 34:15
  You know I. Because you have a very humble
• 34:19
  heart. Believe me, those who don't know
• 34:21
  him off the podcast, I've met a person.
• 34:23
  I just, I don't know how it is, how it feels.
• 34:25
  You know when it comes to Quran anything, I'm a perfectionist,
• 34:29
  it comes to Quran citation. I go mad.
• 34:32
  I always record myself and listen after, but it fits a few
• 34:35
  like a few early this year. I won't say where, but I made a
• 34:38
  mistake. Big crowd and I am just inside.
• 34:45
  It's like it's burning. It's like the world is on fire
• 34:48
  because it's like I made a mistake.
• 34:50
  Chances are people, the crowd didn't realize it.
• 34:52
  Which is. Most likely.
• 34:54
  Which is its own conversation, but it's like how can I do this?
• 34:59
  And at that point it's the damage control because when it
• 35:02
  comes to conversation, it's not just the and I was reciting from
• 35:04
  memory as well which doesn't help, but it's better it's it's
• 35:09
  better for reciting to recite from memory.
• 35:11
  But it is recommended to recite from most half.
• 35:13
  But at that end it's like I have to control my voice, my breath,
• 35:17
  my melody and actual like text of the Quran.
• 35:21
  So it's like managing all these things at the same time and it's
• 35:25
  like. Overwhelming.
• 35:26
  Very overwhelming. Like I like.
• 35:28
  Do you not repeat the half? You know, go back to the
• 35:30
  beginning of the eye and start again?
• 35:31
  I tried but. With my memory, you know, just
• 35:34
  it failed me and it's like you're sweating.
• 35:37
  It's like, oh, when is it going to end?
• 35:38
  When is the recitation going to end?
• 35:40
  I know you do your best, but you know it's like it it bothers me
• 35:43
  a lot because I have a perfectionist but the same same
• 35:46
  time, the Quran. So it's like I messed up and
• 35:48
  it's not like it's not like, you know, it's not a it's not a big
• 35:51
  deal, but to me it's a big deal and it takes me perhaps a week
• 35:54
  to recover from it. But.
• 35:57
  That's good. It's just serious.
• 35:59
  Yeah, you take it. Yeah.
• 36:00
  No, it's I. And it's happened, you know, a
• 36:03
  few, The bigger, bigger events, you know, if it's the most
• 36:06
  harvest there, like OK, correct it.
• 36:08
  But if you go off to melody, it's not in the world.
• 36:10
  But if you recite the different like you half the eye it goes
• 36:14
  missing. It's like the world's, our world
• 36:17
  is falling apart. Inside here no one can see it.
• 36:19
  Everyone's looking at you. But inside it's like, you know,
• 36:21
  like there's videos of this disaster is happening.
• 36:24
  That's what's exactly happening. Honestly, my art, not in
• 36:32
  calligraphy, but my bucket project.
• 36:34
  I didn't get criticisms. Yes.
• 36:37
  And I I I welcome like constructive like I I want you
• 36:42
  know I want people to I I guess qualified people if they you
• 36:46
  know people I I I am I will listen to anything they say
• 36:49
  because they know more or you know they they they're an expert
• 36:52
  in the field But even calligraphy you know I I've like
• 36:56
  I'm by no means I like I don't call myself a calligrapher
• 36:58
  because I feel like there's traditional calligraphy there's
• 37:01
  freestyle and it's like I don't know traditional calligraphy.
• 37:04
  I'm trying to learn it, but something that takes years, you
• 37:07
  know, star that teaches you and it's I I I know I'm a beginner.
• 37:12
  I'm like, I take anything they say and I tried.
• 37:15
  You know, I realized the mistake and I humbly accept it because
• 37:18
  they know more than me. So that that's how I look at it.
• 37:21
  May Allah reward you. I love it humbling to him.
• 37:23
  Yeah, yeah. So as we kind of come towards
• 37:26
  the end of the podcast that's on the topic of calligraphy, I just
• 37:28
  want to shout out Abdul Zahara who for those who can see behind
• 37:32
  me, beautiful, beautiful depiction, aya from swords and
• 37:37
  bakara. Well, Las Pantada talks about
• 37:41
  the dominion over the the east and the West.
• 37:43
  It's a long aya and hopefully you can put it in the
• 37:46
  description as well. And we also obviously having
• 37:50
  Cara Zahra on, we want to hear your beautiful voice.
• 37:54
  So if there's any aya, any sorta that comes to mind, any
• 38:00
  mukammat? My I'll recite my favorite
• 38:05
  verses. I've enjoyed these verses for so
• 38:09
  long, and I will always go back to the last few pages I should
• 38:16
  have probably had already. But I don't.
• 38:21
  I don't want. To recite it from memory
• 38:25
  because. It's a lot of experience.
• 38:27
  It's late. Right now and so these verses
• 38:30
  are from Surah al Imran from verse 189.
• 38:38
  I will be love him in a shameful near regime.
• 38:43
  Miss Milla here, Rahmani Rahim. Forgive me.
• 41:20
  I. Have the souvenir of a cold
• 41:23
  after so. You know, Mashallah, the
• 41:25
  recitation, honestly touch the heart.
• 41:28
  And you, you said you were ill and you said you've caught
• 41:31
  something from, you know, across the pond before coming here.
• 41:34
  By the way, you held your breath and the way you pronounce
• 41:37
  everything nicely a lot. It really touched the heart and
• 41:39
  resonated with me. But one thing I do want to say
• 41:42
  and I really want to ask this, you said these verses meant
• 41:45
  something to you. What did they mean?
• 41:48
  You know the these are the verses, the prophets of law.
• 41:53
  How you are seldom with recite. I believe I have to start the
• 41:56
  Lail God look at the skies. I read the translation of the
• 42:01
  one one of the verses because as you recite the One, I mean the
• 42:04
  verse before to begin it. But to Allah, Allah belongs the
• 42:07
  Kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is the most
• 42:09
  capable of everything. Indeed, in the creation of the
• 42:12
  heavens and the earth are the alternation of the day and
• 42:14
  night. There are signs for people of
• 42:16
  reason. There are those who remember,
• 42:19
  who remember Allah while standing, sitting and lying on
• 42:23
  their sides and reflect on the creation of Allah, creation of
• 42:25
  the heavens and the earth and pray or our Lord.
• 42:29
  You have not created all of this without purpose.
• 42:32
  Glory be to protect us, protect us from the torment of the hell
• 42:36
  because these verses are essentially speaking about
• 42:39
  nothing was created in vain. Everything has a purpose, you
• 42:42
  know. Everything has a connection back
• 42:44
  to God, anything, whether you it's it's basically remembering
• 42:48
  God through anything and everything.
• 42:50
  It's like that. Like these verses I came across
• 42:54
  as a young perhaps maybe 10 years, 1015 years ago around
• 42:58
  freshman year of college. And they always bring.
• 43:02
  They make like it's so powerful if you reflect the it's just any
• 43:07
  it's a reflection versus like there's signs for anyone who
• 43:11
  takes them all to reflect. Version of law and I think that
• 43:14
  they are specifically relevant verses to our conversation as
• 43:18
  well. That our last plan to Allah has
• 43:20
  created all of us and everything around us with the purpose and
• 43:23
  that could that could include our our day-to-day activities
• 43:26
  our talents and how we use them to serve our last plan to Allah.
• 43:30
  So it ties it all in Marshall and in a beautiful way.
• 43:32
  Do you know we we are so lucky to have you here with Charlotte
• 43:35
  we hope to have you again bro. You are like family to us.
• 43:38
  We don't need to tell you that already.
• 43:41
  And we ask for our span to always give you more Buttercup,
• 43:44
  to give you more opportunities to serve the whole community And
• 43:47
  of course to be alongside your way to Saviour Mahmud Mehti
• 43:50
  Ajala to Allah Faujar Sharif. And on the front, Charla
• 43:54
  reciting for him and for all of his unsaid.
• 43:58
  Charla. I'll give you more opportunity
• 44:00
  and and more, more, more strength.
• 44:03
  Charla. Thank you so much, bro.
• 44:05
  Last question, where can people find you online?
• 44:08
  I know you've mentioned your website Instagram.
• 44:10
  Yes, how can. People find you and see your
• 44:12
  work. Zahir under score Under score H.
• 44:16
  Double on the score, Yes, OK. I couldn't get the one on the
• 44:19
  score, I couldn't get without none on the score.
• 44:22
  At the settle. Yeah, I post everything, so
• 44:24
  that's a big jumble of calligraphy.
• 44:27
  Check it out guys and as always thank you again.
• 44:30
  So thank you for having me I. Love you so much, Walla.
• 44:32
  Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
• 44:33
  Thank you for the time you took out to come here.
• 44:35
  Thank you. And allow us to be educated as
• 44:37
  well. Thank you.
• 44:38
  And Charlotte Spy is those at home listening and watching.
• 44:40
  So we get into the field of recycling and Islamic
• 44:44
  calligraphy, Islamic architecture and inshallah a
• 44:46
  love blesses you in the working. Thank you SO.
• 44:48
  Much inshallah, thank you as always everyone for tuning in.
• 44:50
  We'll be back as always next week, so don't forget to hit
• 44:53
  that subscribe button, hit the notification bell.
• 44:55
  Stay tuned to After Mughalib and all of the work we have coming
• 44:59
  up. It's going to be a busy few
• 45:01
  weeks so you don't want to miss a second of it.
• 45:03
  We will see you then, Aslam Alaikum or to lie here.
• 45:16
  Jump.