Latest / After Maghrib 🌙 / Trump VS Iran (Ft. Ammar)

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Trump VS Iran (Ft. Ammar) · After Maghrib 🌙

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This Mullah Rahman Arhem Samuel Ali Kumala put a live account
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and welcome back to the aftermarket of podcast.
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Hope you guys are doing well and shot Allah.
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If you're here for the first time, make sure you subscribe,
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hit the notification bell, and make sure you stay up to date
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with all of our conversations on a week to week basis where we
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tried to talk about issues affecting Muslim communities,
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especially Muslim youth in the Western world.
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And this week is no different. This is an astronomically
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important week for Muslims around the world, especially in
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America, as of course, as I'm sure you know, unless you've
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been living in a cave, Donald Trump has now been elected and
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declared as the 47th president of the United States of America.
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And that is going to be the core of our conversation this week.
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What does that mean for Muslims? How do we get to a place now
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where Donald Trump, despite all of his depravities, can be
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elected as the president once again for a second term, four
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years on from the point where he was not in a position to win an
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election? So we will get into that
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inshallah and talk about all the surrounding effects of it, what
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it means for the genocide happening in the Middle East,
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what it means for Muslims living outside of America as well.
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And inshallah we have a very special guest to discuss that
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with before we get into it, Inshallah.
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I am joined once again by my dear brother Seyda Ali,
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Sawalikum said. A.
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Couple Allah Malcolm, may Allah accept your Omana for those who
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don't know. Havibi, thank you very much.
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Yes, I've just recently come back, I think less than 24 hours
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ago. Yeah.
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So I'm not sure what day is today.
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What's today? Is Wednesday.
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Wednesday, Yeah, we're recording a day before.
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Thank you. Well, I wish you were there.
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Even the brothers I went with. Shout out to Hamazadi, said
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Hamid Mussovi. I was like, I wish Goku was here
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because we went out of wine together.
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I was like, this would have been the cherry on top.
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Yeah, no, no, I missed them. Pretty much shallows it.
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How was it? How was it blessed?
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Amazing. How's the aura?
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Difference normally, like when I go to Yaara's was.
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Your first time I got Amla. So the last time I went, I think
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I was like 11 and I was like with the family.
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So I have vivid memories. I don't really understand
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everything that's going on back then, but now it's a bit
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different. I took all in and how can I say
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I went to the House of God? And.
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People choose to go, I don't know, Malaga and Ibiza and all
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these places. We went to the house.
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Of Allah Lala, no, it's, I think a lot of people are are there
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now or have just come back or are going soon for Omar.
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And it's nice to see that there's a rekindling of that
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relationship. And Sharla, I think maybe in an
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upcoming episode, I think we can talk about about my experience,
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but there's so much I. Want to talk about Yeah, Sharla,
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you came back and the next day Donald Trump's been elected.
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Was it a shock to you? It wasn't a shock.
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I think for me it was expected seeing, you know, the rhetoric
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coming from both parties, right, and how the American people
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think and how, you know, how he uses the phrases, you know, make
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America great again. I'm going to end wars and I'm
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going to do XYZ. So I think already I knew where
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his head. So it wasn't really a shock.
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But back in the day when he was serving his first term, and I
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think I told you this earlier on, I didn't really care about
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US politics. I didn't care because I thought
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it doesn't affect me. I didn't think it would affect,
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you know, Muslims living in the West, in different countries,
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even back home in the Middle East.
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But I think the recent events in the Middle East has opened my
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eyes to, you know, whatever happens in the States has the
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ripple effect. Iran.
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But what? Yeah.
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Without a shadow of a down. Given their foreign policy, but
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inshallah, maybe we can get into it.
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Yeah, so we do have a special guest as mentioned, brothers,
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sisters, and that is none other than our dear brother, said
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Ammar Kazmi Alaikum Alaikum Assalam.
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How you doing, bro? Hamdallah, It's been a long time
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coming, this podcast. Hamdallah, thank you for making
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the journey. Thanks.
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I'm going to read for those who don't know, said Ammar.
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He's he's definitely been a key and critical voice.
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I think in the last 12 months especially.
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You've done incredible work on community activism here,
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discussing resistance to to Zionism and the ways in which
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Muslims can really have an effective voice.
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And not just Muslims, but anyone who's anti war.
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At the same time, obviously, for those who don't know, you are a
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law graduate with a master's degree in human rights law.
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You're currently in the process of becoming a barrister.
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Amar used to work in Parliament and also worked on Jeremy
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Corbyn's 2016 leadership campaign.
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Amar now helps to run the Left Legal Fighting Fund, which
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supports activists and protesters with legal support.
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You're also a researcher on the Zionist movement and the
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influence of the Israel lobby in the United Kingdom.
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So welcome. Thank you so much for being
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here. How are you feeling?
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I know a lot of us in the last 24 hours, I guess, have been,
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like I said, Ali, kind of trying to get sleep, struggling because
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we've been watching the news and obviously it's been a lot
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happening. What what is your immediate and
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initial reaction to to the election of Donald Trump?
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Well, like yourself saying that I'm not at all surprised by
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Donald Trump's election is something that I think I was
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expecting really for the whole of this year seemed very clear
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trajectory under Joe Biden, the Democrats that they were fine
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with losing support from not just the Muslim community.
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I mean, The thing is, is the people concerned about Palestine
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are not just Muslims or not just Arabs.
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You know, it's much broader than that.
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There are lots of non-Muslims who are horrified at seeing dead
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children on their screens every day.
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So I think that given their complacency, also given the way
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in which the Democratic Party was conducting itself, one,
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trying to impose a candidate who seems to be senile as a
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presidential candidate seemed like a losing strategy to me.
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And then forcing the number two party in the complicity to the
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genocide as a candidate also didn't seem like a winning
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strategy to me. And the way in which the sands
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were shifting seemed to me that Donald Trump was going to be
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elected. When, when Kamala Harris came in
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the, the, the predictions in the polls turned on his head and
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there was a period where she was 13 points up on Donald Trump
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when, when she was announced to be the to, to, to be the main
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candidate. I mean, however you look at it,
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excuse me, I think that the left has handed Democrats have handed
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this victory to Donald Trump on a platter, on a golden platter.
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They've given it to him and they've said, you know what, do
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what you want. And that's been coming over the
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last couple of months. Excuse me.
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We've seen Harris on TV shows saying I'm no different to, to,
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to Joe Biden in essence, in terms of policy.
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We've seen her take a strategy very similar to the 08 Obama
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campaign, one of hope and change and good tidings, but a lot of
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narrative and rhetoric, but nothing substantial where really
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she could have theoretically taken like 3 core issues and
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said, here's where I'm going to be different to Joe Biden and
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Americans if you look at it at large.
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And of course, the genocide is such an important issue.
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And I think for a lot of people, but not for everyone, right?
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And the main thing is which I think people were concerned with
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is the economy in, in America and rising gas prices and the
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amount of money in your pocket. And the the narrative which
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someone with, as I mentioned, the depravities that Donald
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Trump has to still come out and say to people that I will save
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money in your pocket. Just do what I tell you.
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Look down and don't look up. Don't look at people who are
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running the country and where they've faltered.
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Rather look down, Look at the people who are delivering your
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milk, delivering your Amazon packages.
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Who are you buying your newspapers from at the shop.
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These immigrants are the root of these problems and the economic
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issues which the country are facing at large.
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The inflation rates, the unemployment rates.
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Ultimately people may have looked at that and and and seen
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their strategy and their campaign to be a losing 1 from
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maybe a week or two after because I think her announcement
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actually brought a lot of motivation.
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Americans like change. Well, it's the same thing as
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what happened with Hillary Clinton.
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She didn't have a platform that was at all substantial.
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And I think what you're saying is absolutely right is that if
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you don't offer a meaningful alternative to someone who's
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providing very clear, simple solutions, then you're bound to
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lose. I mean, Ronald Reagan once said,
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and we not supports of Ronald Reagan, but he said very aptly
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that if you're explaining, you're losing and say, if you're
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fighting a campaign that's based on trying to explain the nuances
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of things and say, well, you know, we're not opposed to
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immigration because of this, that and the other.
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And you're facing someone who is just having to basically just
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going with vibes, basically. It's not, it's not very easy to
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defeat someone like that particularly as well when you're
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not offering substantial change. So I don't think she was the
8:54
candidate of hope and change. And she was also a very weak
8:57
candidate. She couldn't perform in
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interviews. She was not someone capable of
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defeating someone like Donald Trump.
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So yes, the Democratic Party, who I won't really call the left
9:06
to be honest, But if you want to say the left and the the liberal
9:08
left in the United States shot themselves in the foot
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completely. I think I'm just something I
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read earlier, which I really wanted to to share.
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It's a piece from David Finkelstein, who is, sorry,
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Daniel Finkelstein, rather, who's a writer in the Times.
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Just listen to this, OK? It's almost certainly an
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overstatement to suggest that none of his wayward personal
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behaviour has ever lost him any votes.
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But remarkably, Donald Trump has remained politically viable
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through a series of quite extraordinary scandals.
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He's been convicted of multiple felonies, has been found by a
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court to have raped a woman, has been disowned by his former vice
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president and his national security advisor, has been
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called a fascist by his former chief of staff, and has been
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described by his former military chief as the most dangerous
9:58
person ever. And this merely scratches the
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surface of the scandals he's been embroiled in and the staff
10:03
members who've sounded the alarm about him.
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And yet through the crimes and the gaffs and the crassiness,
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through the incompetence and lies and the vindict he has
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sailed on, he's won the Republican nomination three
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times and the attachment of roughly half of a great and
10:16
prosperous country for almost a decade.
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I think that really tells a story to us when we see a
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candidate who's someone who has so many moral flaws, who who
10:26
lacks moral integrity, who's been, who's been found on a
10:29
numerous amount of times to be, as you mentioned, Joe Biden
10:32
being senile in many ways. You could argue the same for
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Donald Trump to have a very poor memory and whatnot, and you
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could argue that's age. But at the same time, a lot of
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what he says is completely insane, absolutely absurd and
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dangerous if anything as well. And now we have a man like that
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who's unhinged, who is the one who incited the insurrection on
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January the 6th of 2020 and who went, who incited a mob to
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directly go for the chair of government in the capital.
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So to have someone like that now back at the helm of power, is it
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as dangerous as people think? Because we have to understand
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that there are Muslims, and we'll discuss this as well, who
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have voted for Donald Trump, Dearborn or Michigan at large.
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Muslims for Trump? Muslims for Trump and that was
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trending, if I'm not mistaken, earlier on social media.
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But Muslims have been voting for Donald Trump and I think that's
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something which may come as a shock to some, but but not as to
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others. Would you reckon?
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I think to be honest, Donald Trump's personal moral flaws and
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the fact that the majority of the people in the United States
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don't seem to care about that is not surprising to me.
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I mean, what is the United States other than the promotion
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of ultra secularization and liberal degeneracy par
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excellence? So this is what they're trying
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to promote to the rest of the world.
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It's not really surprising that the chickens have now come home
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to roost for themselves. So also as well, I don't think
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that it's really a question of him being especially dangerous
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just because of his own personal mentality.
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I think one, lots of other US presidents have engaged in
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horrific, you know, crimes against humanity.
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They've attacked the Muslim world, launched wars against our
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people. But also, I mean, what makes
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Trump, I think so dangerous now, particularly for not just the
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Muslim world, but the Shia world in particular, are the people
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that he has around him, the people he is likely to appoint
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to his cabinet, the people who have donated to his campaign
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hundreds of millions of dollars and are wanting to obviously
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have a return on their investment and give that money
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just for no reason. They want to influence the
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policy of their of that government.
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So I think that's what really concerns me.
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So do you know what concerns me? It's how would Trump affect me
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or you, Ahmed, all Muslim families around the world.
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You know, as I said earlier on, what happens in the USA when
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it's relating to the foreign policy effects everyone
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globally, right? I remember when he was
13:09
president, he'd done the travel ban and it affected me as well.
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My Esther was revoked. I used to travel to the US quiet
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I think every few months, be at work or a salacious things like
13:21
that. My Esther was revoked based on
13:23
the fact that I was Muslim and I have travelled to Iraq.
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I think part of that band. There was, I think, 7 or 8
13:30
predominantly Muslim countries. And that was very apparent.
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And it was like, acceptable. Like no one was shocked that,
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you know, a group of ethnicity or race or colour or religion
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was being, you know, how can I use the word?
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What's the right word? Ostracized, Ostracized, right.
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And at the same time, he'd speak normally, like he'll have an
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interview saying, you know, Islam hates us. the US has a
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problem with Islam and things like this.
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And now he's coming back to, you know, be in charge of the White
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House and, you know, be the policeman of the world.
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And how does that affect the Muslim world?
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Should we be worried? Where does the Islamophobia come
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from? Yeah, yeah.
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Well, that's the key question I think as well.
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Really. I mean, we can go back to what
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you're you're saying, saying about how he specifically affect
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us in this term or what we should expect from this term.
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Because I remember, sorry to interject, like when he was in
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power, when he was the president, before Biden,
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Islamophobia was on the rise. And I remember there were many
14:26
numerous articles relating Islamophobia's rise to Donald
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Trump's remarks when he goes on stage.
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Where he said Islam hates us. Yeah, things like that on CNN.
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It was like Islam became, well, Islamophobia became normalized
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because of Trump. Where do we stand now?
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Well, it's it's a change of tone, but it's not necessarily a
14:44
change of policy. So while you have someone like
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Donald Trump saying Islam hates us, you also had someone like
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George W Bush who launched the invasion of Iraq and of
14:55
Afghanistan saying that Islam was the is a religion of peace.
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But this one, this individual is the person who built the counter
15:03
terrorist security state for the entire western world and beyond
15:07
that then attacked and discriminated against Muslims,
15:10
including in this country. And that legacy still remains.
15:14
So yes, it's a it's a difference of tone with Donald Trump, but I
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don't think it's necessarily a change, a complete change of
15:20
policy because everything that has happened in US politics
15:25
since George W Bush's election has been leading to this moment.
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I think it is a long arc that goes from George W Bush to Obama
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to Donald Trump, then to Biden and now back to Donald Trump.
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So we can't view these things in isolation.
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You talked about the Muslim manner, for example.
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Well, this didn't actually start under Donald Trump.
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It was intensified under Donald Trump, but it actually began
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under Barack Obama. He was the one that initiated a
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policy that meant that if you've been to a number of countries
15:55
within the past five years, in order to get a visa, you'd have
15:58
to undergo a interview at your, you know, U.S. embassy, which
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basically means that you'd have to be interviewed by, you know,
16:05
their intelligence, CIA operatives to determine whether
16:08
you could have a visa. Then it was Donald Trump who
16:12
obviously was campaigning on that, that we'll have to, you
16:14
know, stop the total, you know. Complete shutdown.
16:18
Complete shutdown, that's the right one, the complete shutdown
16:21
of Muslims entering United States until we can figure out
16:23
what's going on or something. And then he intensified that.
16:26
So this is not these are not necessarily things that he has
16:29
just engineered himself. They've come a long way that
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have been, you know, continual U.S. policy that has now
16:37
resulted in the situation where I would say the Zionist
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movement, which in particular is very invested in launching and
16:46
is launching a global war on the Shia, not just Muslims.
16:50
But she asked specifically because they have now sort of
16:54
managed to capture his presidency through the fact
16:57
they've individual Zionist donors have donated.
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I'm being serious. You can look at it on a website
17:03
called Open Secrets. Hundreds of millions of U.S.
17:07
dollars to. The Trump campaign.
17:10
To the Trump campaign. And there were obviously Zionist
17:12
donors who donated to the other side.
17:13
But like, out of the top 25 donors, I think six of them
17:20
donated to the Democratic Party. Not all of them being, you know,
17:23
Zionist, obviously. But out of the top 25 donors in
17:25
general, the billionaire donors, only 6 gave to the Democratic
17:30
Party and then 19 gave to Donald Trump.
17:33
And the majority of the Zionist movement has been funding Donald
17:35
Trump and have been putting people in his proximity.
17:40
And it's now very likely that people who have been trying to
17:45
wage war against not just, I mean, we have to disentangle to
17:48
that things. There are people who are
17:50
invested in attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran.
17:52
And so lots of Shia, I think, well, this is not my issue.
17:55
This is an Iranian issue. It might not even be a question
17:58
of of Marja Taklid. There's not even a question for
18:02
me. If I'm a follower of say in
18:03
Khamenei, it's this Iranian issue, nothing to do with me.
18:07
But actually these people have demonstrated that they want to
18:10
attack Shia everywhere 100% regardless of the Marja Taklid.
18:15
And you can take, for example, we're talking about, you know,
18:19
the long arc. Let's look at the Foundation for
18:21
Defence of Democracies, which poses as a thing as a think
18:24
tank, but really is a kind of Israel lobby group.
18:27
I think it was about a decade ago they were making the
18:31
argument that every single Homs donation, regardless of which
18:37
model giant it was being sent to, should be classed by the US
18:40
Treasury as financing terrorism. You know, this was a decade ago.
18:46
They also the FDD, the Foundation for Defensive
18:48
Democracies had a big influence on the Obama administration.
18:53
And so we now see that long arc translating into U.S. policy.
18:58
You'll have to see exactly how Trump's presidency shapes up.
19:02
But if he appoints certain people to his cabinet, like Tom
19:05
Cotton, a very anti Shia, anti Iran, and you know, as an anti
19:10
Shia in general senator to his cabinet, people like Jared
19:13
Kushner and so on, then the Marco Rubio as well, then we're
19:18
going to get a very anti Shia, anti Muslim cabinet in the
19:23
United States, which is probably much more open in your face than
19:26
we've ever seen before. Do you know what the what really
19:28
frustrates me? I've been trying to hold back
19:30
from interrupting you. Is that the absolute naivety of
19:33
Muslims and particularly that I really, really don't want to use
19:39
any kind of inflammatory language.
19:41
But the guy so-called Imam Bilal Al Zuhairi, who I shouldn't even
19:47
say so-called because I don't know his religious credentials.
19:50
But the, the Imam who endorsed Trump in Michigan last week.
19:53
I'm sure you guys may have seen that ridiculous two to three
19:56
minute clip where he's saying I believe that God protected this
19:59
man's life to save lives and. He was like absolutely conned or
20:05
fooled into making that endorsement for whichever reason
20:08
Allah knows best. Yeah, what I would say is he he
20:11
actually went on the tale afterwards and he did 1/2 an
20:14
hour clip, which I forced myself to watch through and he was
20:17
grilled by Mehdi Hassan and he was Austria.
20:19
Are you being conned? Like what on earth would make
20:22
you believe that Donald Trump is going to listen to you?
20:25
He said, well, you don't know, But before the speech, we sat
20:28
with Donald Trump. We gave him 5 promises that he
20:30
has to agree to and then he'll get our votes as if you're the
20:33
most important people on earth. He says #1 end the war.
20:37
OK, bro. You're talking about a guy who
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was leaked in a document to have been not just.
20:43
We're not just talking about Zionist top level donors who
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have donated to the Trump campaign. 19 out of those 25.
20:50
We're talking about Donald Trump who's personally donated to
20:52
Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign. Benjamin Netanyahu who today
20:57
tweeted Donald Trump saying, I quote, this is a massive victory
21:01
in true friendship. Bibi and Sarah signed off with
21:05
his nickname and his wife's name in true friendship.
21:08
And you have this guy, the so-called imam in Michigan out
21:11
there on a stage and what what did he say to Mehdi Hassan?
21:14
He said, yeah, I told this guy Donald Trump that he has to have
21:17
Muslims in cabinet, he has to end the war and he has to end
21:21
Islamophobia. And Donald Trump said, yeah, of
21:23
course, why not? Let's do it like, you know, and
21:26
and that that just goes to show that there's naivety.
21:28
And despite the fact that we have seen 2 decades, 3 decades,
21:33
not just that more so in terms of the, the long standing
21:37
attacks that have taken place by Israel on, on Shia countries,
21:41
Shia communities in the Middle East and the fact that Muslims
21:44
till this day, you have a Yemeni imam because standing stage and
21:47
endorse a man who was responsible for making Yemen the
21:51
most poor country on earth. It's, it's just putrid to think
21:55
of. Honestly, it just, it drives me
21:57
insane. So I don't even know what, what
21:59
point I'm trying to make. I just think it's, you have
22:01
absolute insanity amongst certain Muslim communities.
22:03
You can't see what's right in front of them, in front of their
22:05
eyes. A man who has funded Netanyahu's
22:09
personal campaign, a man who's been on the phone, it was leaked
22:13
in August. He was on the phone to Netanyahu
22:15
asking him not to broker a deal for a ceasefire because that
22:19
would look good on the Harris campaign because that would have
22:21
been done on the Democratic term.
22:22
You're serious? Yeah, bro.
22:24
Oh my. God, so like it just doesn't
22:26
make sense to me. Now when we look at for example,
22:28
I want I want to ask you specifically is like tactics and
22:30
techniques that we use specifically in Trump's first
22:32
term of of policy being deployed by Trump in West Asia, which are
22:41
anti resistance and generally have been a pushing back on
22:46
anyone who's anti war and really just to try to cure peace and
22:50
stability in the Middle East. Well, if I can just quickly
22:53
address one thing else that you were saying, which is about
22:56
Muslims in general, right. Muslims around the world, and I
22:59
would say with all due respect to our Sunni brothers,
23:01
particularly Sunni Muslims, have been defanged, secularized, have
23:07
been depoliticized, desensitized, and this has been
23:11
a long strategy that's had the involvement of particularly Gulf
23:15
Arab states, the United Arab Emirates, which pushes
23:19
Islamophobia in Western countries.
23:20
They have Islamophobia lobbies dedicated to that, particularly
23:23
here in Britain. And so it's been a long thing
23:28
coming. That was particularly present
23:31
during the War on Terror. There's the way of trying to
23:33
demobilize Muslim communities and trying to consider any
23:38
political involvement like Muslims as being akin to
23:43
terrorism or so-called Islamism. This is a word we heard a lot.
23:46
It's kind of, it's died out a little bit now, but we do hear
23:49
this word Islamism or radical Islamic terrorism and this that
23:52
and the other. So I think that is, that's
23:55
probably, you know, the reason why lots of Muslims today, they
23:58
can't connect the dots. Also, when you think about it,
24:01
if you look at our, you know, our opponents like the Zionists
24:05
for example, every Zionist is a soldier.
24:08
In the case if you're an Israeli citizen, you're literally
24:11
probably a soldier and as well you.
24:12
Have to go through. Well, you have to go to military
24:13
training, unless you, you know, took some time out in prison and
24:16
you decided I'm not going to join the IDF.
24:19
But the vast majority of them. Right, that's about at least at
24:21
least a year or two. Exactly so or if they're not
24:23
literally a soldier, then they were soldier ideologically.
24:27
Yeah, or they worked in the reserves.
24:29
Whereas every Muslim is not a soldier.
24:32
They're not even. They're not even thinking about
24:35
any of these, any of these questions critically.
24:37
He doesn't even enter their mind that that's something that might
24:39
affect them. And then, as you're saying,
24:40
there's so much cognitive dissonance that a Yemeni imam
24:45
can support someone like Donald Trump.
24:48
You have, sorry to interrupt you, but you have like Rudy
24:49
Giuliani, who said a day or two, I think before that, that that
24:54
endorsement was made, who came out at a Trump rally and said
24:58
that there are two, The Palestinians are trained from
25:01
the age of two to kill us. Quote.
25:06
In what world can one believe that this administration
25:11
incoming will be more pro peace, more anti war, will end the war
25:16
in Gaza and Lebanon? And, and I'm not saying that,
25:23
you know, the the Biden administration has done a great
25:26
job. In fact, if anything, obviously,
25:27
you just need to look at the the amount of so-called aid which
25:30
has been sent to Israel, which is now reaching $17 billion if
25:34
I'm not mistaken, compared to the last few years, which is
25:38
averaged about a couple of billion.
25:39
And and just looking at what is incoming, just say, yeah, but
25:42
look what they've done. I can't support the the
25:45
Democrats. No one's asking you to Habibi.
25:47
It's asking you to use your brain.
25:49
By the way, when you're saying aid, we'll talk about weapons.
25:51
Yeah, of course. Yeah, without a shadow, because.
25:53
I was thinking the humanitarian going on, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:57
But I. Forgot your other question
25:59
though. I think it was mainly about the
26:01
tactics that were used by Trump in his first first term
26:04
specifically. So if we're looking at the the,
26:07
again, the long arc of U.S. policy, yeah, OK.
26:09
Under George W Bush, we had the sort of direct military warfare,
26:16
very easy to identify. You have, you know, U.S.
26:19
soldiers. On the ground.
26:20
Boots on the ground, yeah, OK. Launching, you know, bombs and
26:24
everything else. And obviously that was very
26:26
costly and to a large degree, very ineffective, right.
26:30
So the US is spending trillions of dollars to not basically meet
26:32
its military objectives and actually, you know, probably
26:35
empowering their enemies. Now you have a situation where
26:37
the Taliban, who they're trying to eradicate or in control of
26:40
Afghanistan. So, you know, things haven't
26:42
gone there on their way. So there was a concerted and
26:47
deliberate change in warfare where the US policy makers
26:53
decided we're not really going to do this boots on the ground
26:56
thing anymore. We're going to use our position
27:01
as the financial hegemon, if you like, because, you know, loads
27:05
of currencies are backed by the US dollar.
27:07
We have, you know, control of the International Monetary
27:10
system. We're going to use economic
27:12
warfare primarily to attack our enemies, sanctions.
27:18
And, you know, I mean, this is not necessarily new, but I mean,
27:21
this kind of became more refined under sort of the latter end of
27:27
George W Bush's presidency, Obama in particular, and then,
27:32
you know, Trump. So we saw economic warfare.
27:35
We saw an intensification of sanctions on Iran, on Syria,
27:40
which indirectly then affected Lebanon and, you know, various
27:46
other economic measures trying to make the economies of these
27:49
countries scream so that it would ferment discontent among
27:54
Muslim populations who would then rise up and then, you know,
27:58
cause problems for their. Own customers.
28:00
Or in general, just create hardship, you know, kill
28:03
indirectly, kill essentially hundreds of thousands, if not
28:06
millions of Muslims. So we had that.
28:09
We have had, you know, cultural warfare.
28:12
This is also long. This is nothing new.
28:13
And it's not necessarily something that's just been
28:15
targeted against Muslims. You had even destroying the Cold
28:18
War, the United States trying to promote certain types of culture
28:24
in the Soviet Union, to try to destabilize the Soviet Unions.
28:27
What I mean by that is, for example, attacking the hijab,
28:30
trying to promote a situation where people want to engage in
28:35
how on, you know, promote that sort of thing and to among the
28:39
populations. So they then again want to rise
28:43
up or or, you know, go against their governments and of course
28:48
information or, you know, psychological warfare as well.
28:52
So trying to create streams of propaganda designed to again
29:00
ferment discontent among some sections of the population,
29:04
population. So it's not make that too sort
29:05
of abstract. I'll give you an example.
29:07
In Lebanon, you have an outlet called Megaphone, right?
29:11
This is like a western backed, Western funded small media
29:15
outlet, which I think came to prominence during the Obama era
29:18
and then has been promoting anti resistance discontent, anti
29:24
Shiite, even discontent within Lebanon, which is primarily
29:28
aimed it's audiences trying to get people on the left, even
29:32
some of the the youth, the Shiite youth to be in a position
29:36
where they are just discontent with politics.
29:38
Like you have this kind of foldy mindset.
29:42
What I mean by that is revolution.
29:43
Revolution. But revolution to what end?
29:44
Revolution for what? It's a colour revolution.
29:46
It's a revolution has a real purpose other than to create
29:48
destabilization and to get rid of or to disrupt a political
29:51
system that is anti US, anti Israel in general.
29:57
So we've had that sort of warfare going on and that
30:00
intensified under Donald Trump. Now, I think, I mean, we'll
30:04
probably come to what the second term means under Donald Trump,
30:08
but I think we're going to see again a major intensification
30:12
which is directed particularly at the global Shia.
30:16
Yeah. So I came across a message that
30:21
came in actually Ahmed before the podcast today recording.
30:23
He put up a message on our Instagram where he said, you
30:27
know, if anyone has any questions and if feedback, have
30:29
you taken part in US elections? You don't speak to us as there's
30:33
a question that came in and I think it relates to this
30:35
conversation. Well, and I'm going to ask it to
30:36
you because I think the person that is talking here wants an
30:39
answer. And I think it's the point that
30:40
we discussed this. A sister goes.
30:42
Given Trump's previous travel bans targeting Muslim majority
30:46
countries, how might similar restrictions impact families,
30:51
students, and workers from these regions?
30:54
Could there be further expansion of such bans and what effects
30:58
might this have on Muslim American families and
31:01
communities? Well, look, I think I wouldn't
31:04
put it past Donald Trump to again reinvigorate these sorts
31:09
of policies. And I think in particular,
31:11
though, it's probably going to be aimed at countries with the
31:16
high Shiite population, right? So we're talking about Lebanon.
31:19
We're talking about Bahrain, we're talking about Iraq, Iran.
31:23
And maybe Bahrain might escape it because of the fact that they
31:26
are Zionist normal normalizers, not the Shiite population,
31:29
obviously, the ruling elite in that country.
31:33
But I think that's likely what we're going to see.
31:36
And to be honest, we've seen sort of informal travel bans
31:38
happening anyway under Joe Biden.
31:41
You know, I think there was a report in the Guardian a few
31:43
years ago. I think Sheikh Nabilawan was
31:46
mentioned or he helped to write that article in which he
31:50
mentioned how he, as a she, a cleric, was not able to, was
31:55
finding it difficult to get a visa into the United States.
31:57
Yeah. And this has a lot, lots of
32:00
speakers. You know, what's interesting
32:02
though you mentioned is I actually remember last Muharram,
32:04
I, I was, you know, I was on Twitter strolling one of the
32:07
nice Muharram and there was many, many scholars who had, you
32:12
know, been booked by various centres and communities in the
32:16
USA to go lecture during the 10 nights of Muharram and they were
32:20
all denied entry. So they fly there, they'll get,
32:22
they'll get them back to what? Happened to a lot of alamar.
32:25
Without no reason, but I think it was very apparent.
32:27
Yes, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Earlier certain subsection of
32:29
Olama are being targeted. Welcome, right?
32:32
Or welcome indeed. Exactly.
32:34
Yeah, So the irony. We know who those are.
32:38
So when we're talking about a travel ban, again, it's like
32:43
under Trump, things are sometimes more vulgar or they're
32:47
more public. It doesn't necessarily mean the
32:49
policy has changed that much. So if you already had like an
32:52
informal ban in the United States of Shia clerics coming
32:55
in, that I'm sure will be intensified.
32:58
Even whether it's declared or not declared, if it's a matter
33:01
of formal policy or if it's just a matter of how they handle
33:04
things at an airport, I think we're likely to see that
33:07
continue. We've seen that happen here in
33:08
Britain as well. And what happens over there.
33:12
Again, the influence is here. And it was under Donald Trump
33:15
that policy began to change here, where we saw people coming
33:18
back from Ziara being stopped and scheduled seven of the
33:21
Terrorism Act, having their phones confiscated and being
33:24
questioned about their religious beliefs.
33:27
Now, whether they pray frequently, things like that,
33:30
whether they're religious and you know, their views on
33:34
politics in West Asia more broadly.
33:37
So I think that will also affect us here.
33:40
And if you've seen recently the way in which the intelligence
33:45
agencies in Britain, like the head of MI 5 have been talking
33:47
about, you know, an Iranian threat, by which they mean a
33:50
Shia threat and is an excuse for them to go after Shia centres in
33:54
Britain, I think we're going to see that increase here as well.
33:58
So it's not going to, it's going to affect us.
34:00
Actually, quite It's happened in Germany already.
34:02
Of course it's. Happening in many countries.
34:04
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's there's a few
34:07
things to mention. The first thing I want to
34:09
mention is a quote from Doctor Yasuf Gadi, who says one praise
34:14
that the Republican Party. So where has it gone?
34:17
One prays that the Republican Party, despite all of its flaws,
34:20
understands that the role genocide played in the downfall
34:22
of its opponents. And for the sake of humanity or
34:24
morals, or even for their own selfish great greed to remain in
34:27
power, we pray that they take decisive steps to end the
34:30
American sponsored genocide. Are we being serious?
34:33
Like, do we genuinely believe? And this is your doctor, Yasir
34:35
Khadi, who is, of course, one of the most renowned and respected
34:40
global Aloha in the West especially, and who's a
34:44
mouthpiece, a spokesperson for the Sunni community in the West.
34:49
I think it's utopian. I think it's idealistic as
34:51
ambitious as unrealistic to imagine that Donald Trump the
34:56
same guy who who has, as we said, imams to say that he will
34:59
stop the war. God saved his life so he can
35:02
save other people's lives. But once, twice yes panel are
35:04
like wow 1 Angel. Trump might Trump might end the
35:08
genocide. We'll come to that in a second.
35:11
OK, by. Completing it, I mean, so that's
35:14
the only situation which Donald Trump is going to, you know.
35:17
He, he, he, he. He is opening the gates.
35:20
You know Joe Biden's legacy, his four years of president will be
35:23
remembered as him being a genocide enabler.
35:27
Joe Biden has the nickname Genocide Joe for the reason he
35:31
is the genocide enabler. He is the one who is nearly 10
35:34
times the average amount over the last few presidencies.
35:37
The last few administration increased the amount of of money
35:41
being sent to Israel, aid being sent to Israel, weapons being
35:44
sent to Israel. This man is the genocide
35:47
enabler, and Donald Trump has come out to say he's not doing
35:51
enough. He's holding back.
35:52
It's interesting that you mentioned that epithet in a
35:56
genocide Joe because it speaks to Donald Trump's cunning as a
36:02
politician that when he was at the rally, and you may have seen
36:04
that clip, there are some voters behind him saying genocide Joe,
36:09
Genocide Joe, and what does Trump say?
36:13
He says they're not wrong, but this is someone who wants to
36:16
intensify the genocide. So the way in which he has, you
36:20
know, manipulated people is, you know, quite incredible.
36:24
But I mean, we can't, we can't like, criticize him as a
36:27
politician for manipulating votes.
36:29
That's the job. It's the job of the voter.
36:30
The intent is clear. The intent is.
36:32
Clear. There was even a reference when
36:34
he said, I think I remember vividly a few months ago when he
36:37
was like, he was asked, you know, what would you do if you
36:39
were president? And he was like, I'll tell BB to
36:42
finish the job, do what you're doing, but just do it quicker,
36:45
you know, so people. And The thing is, he's people
36:47
saying that like Muslim Americans on on.
36:51
I've been following the Muslim vibe who's been like a really
36:54
key voice in the last few months on social media and go shout to
36:57
them and follow them. But they've been kind of
37:01
engaging with people on comments, game people to
37:03
comment. And there's a lot of Muslims who
37:05
have got obviously very differing opinions, especially
37:07
in the last few days. Those who are voting for Jill
37:09
Stein, those are voting for Kumal Harris, those are voting
37:11
Trump. And those who are abstaining
37:12
from voting at all, and people are coming out and saying, yeah,
37:15
well, what did Biden do for us? What's commander done for us?
37:19
But brother, we have to remember that Donald Trump on his website
37:23
has said that he he pledges to deport campus Gaza protesters.
37:29
Deport or we're talking about deportation for protesters.
37:32
And when you criminalize the act of protest, which is your
37:35
democratic right, it's a human rights, it's a civil right.
37:38
And obviously this is way more your field than than mine.
37:42
But that that is that is the, the, it's illegitimate in in its
37:46
core, because it's human right to have freedom of speech and
37:48
expression, freedom of religious belief.
37:50
These are things which are innate, the human rights and
37:52
civil rights as well. So I think it's very important
37:54
to discuss that and what the next 100 days in specifics.
37:59
And then obviously the the coming four years will look like
38:01
under Donald Trump for those who are pro Palestinian, who are
38:04
anti war. And we're not just talking about
38:06
Muslims, we're talking about those who oppose the absolute
38:10
enabling of genocide in the Middle East.
38:13
So. We're talking about the first
38:16
100 days. Sorry, I didn't.
38:18
Not just the first 100 days, but I have your question, what is,
38:20
what is the first, what is what are the next four years going to
38:24
look like for, for those like us, for those who want to see
38:27
the end of the spilling of of innocent children's.
38:31
Blood. I think we have to just again go
38:34
back to who are the people around Donald Trump, because if
38:39
you look at his first presidency, he was very much
38:43
subject to the whims of the people around him, of course.
38:45
So initially he had John Bolton, that bellicose individual
38:51
circular glasses and the white mustache Who?
38:53
Well, Sebastian Walker. Yeah.
38:55
And yeah, exactly. And you had, you know, various
38:58
individuals who were pushing Trump.
39:01
So he was saying that his big project was trying to overthrow
39:03
the government of Venezuela, which is actually very pro Shia,
39:06
very pro resistance. They've been trying for decades.
39:09
Exactly. And there's a there's a mural
39:11
of, you know, Hugo Chavez and Imam Al Mahdi, really Sharif,
39:17
you know, walking hand in hand with the resistance fighters.
39:20
I mean, they have this is the kind of politics that exists,
39:22
the revolutionary parties the US wants to crush, right.
39:25
So here's a big project was overthrowing the Venezuelan
39:27
government. That was his project and Trump
39:29
just let him do it. And then eventually when it
39:32
failed, Trump got rid of him, replaced him with Mike Pompeo,
39:36
former CIA director, Christian Zionist, who is hell bent on
39:41
trying to, you know, create a greater Israel.
39:44
He believes that's his Christian duty to do that.
39:47
By the way, Mike Pompeo is someone who Donald Trump is
39:49
likely going to be appointing to his cabinet this time.
39:52
So just look at the people around him and then you'll know
39:57
what his politics are going to be because he is not going to be
40:00
the key determinant of how his administration shapes policy.
40:05
It's going to be all the people around him.
40:06
So currently you have a man called Howard Lutnick.
40:11
Who is heading Trump's transition team?
40:13
He is good friends with Jared Kushner, who is Donald Trump's
40:16
son-in-law. Jared Kushner being the
40:18
individual who was the pioneer of the so-called Abraham
40:22
Accords, which was seeking to normalize relations between the
40:26
UAE and Israel and Bahrain and etcetera, etcetera.
40:30
And they tried as well with Saudi and they almost did it of
40:33
course. But then, you know, October the
40:35
7th happened. I'm sure they will still
40:37
probably normalize. Mohammed bin Salman is of that
40:39
way inclined and I'm sure he will try to normalize with the
40:42
the Zionist regime as as quickly as possible.
40:44
But then you have someone like him who I think recently was
40:47
videoed because he comes from a rich New York real estate family
40:51
talking about creating in a beachfront real estate in Gaza
40:55
after they've, you know, raised the whole thing to the ground
40:57
and depopulated it. That's Trump's son-in-law.
41:01
He's very influential when it comes to his policy on Iran, on
41:05
the West Asia in general. And he's also a member of or was
41:10
born into a kind of cult called Habad Lubavitch, right, which is
41:14
a messianic, Jewish supremacist Zionist cult, which is also, you
41:22
know, there's also other people involved in that, like Ben
41:24
Shapiro. And Trump has aligned himself
41:27
with this group of nefarious individuals who have offices
41:29
around the world. In Britain, I think they have a
41:32
hundred officers just in Britain alone around the one thing
41:34
they've got 1000 officers. This is an international
41:38
messianic Zionist movement that is seeking to create Greater
41:42
Israel, which wants to, which doesn't just want to absorb the
41:45
West Bank and other, it wants to absorb parts of Lebanon, of
41:50
Syria, of Iraq, of Kuwait, of even Saudi and Jordan.
41:54
So this these are the people he has around him.
41:58
And then again, I mentioned before how he has received
42:01
literally hundreds of millions of dollars from people like the
42:07
Adelson family, which that comes from their their wealth comes
42:11
from Sheldon Adelson who was the casino magnate.
42:15
He said he's famously said that his he is 1 issue voter and his
42:20
one issue is Israel. Yeah, and Miriam as well.
42:24
Miriam. Who's been who's been funnelling
42:26
money that they've got historically such a strong
42:29
relationship? Can I ask a question?
42:31
Sorry, just off. I know it's slightly on a
42:33
tangent to to the cabinet and and all of the cabinet
42:35
appointments. But for those who have said who
42:37
do say that Donald Trump has the autonomy and he does have the
42:41
autonomy that we saw in 1982. You mentioned Reagan earlier.
42:45
Reagan famously rank Menechev Begin, who was the Prime
42:52
Minister of Israel at the time, in 1980.
42:54
Two and a former terrorist. And a Yeah.
42:56
And said to him over the phone, stop bombing Beirut.
43:00
Within 20 minutes of him putting the phone down, the bombing
43:03
ended. And that was that.
43:05
And we're talking about a man who has the most power in the
43:08
Western world, arguably on the face of the earth.
43:11
So for those who say. Undergone state capture there.
43:14
I appreciate this argument. It's like when people say that
43:17
Israel is just an extension of the United.
43:20
States 51st state. But we're talking, I mean, maybe
43:23
historically that was. True, I think that the tables
43:25
have turned of the yeah. The tables have turned slightly
43:28
because you didn't have Khabad Lubovich running Ronald Reagan's
43:33
campaign. Yeah, yeah.
43:34
They weren't running even Obama's campaign, so, or even
43:39
Trump's first campaign. So this is how things have
43:42
shifted, where you've actually had a process of state capture,
43:46
where the politicians in the United States are so reliant on
43:50
the funding that comes from the Zionist per Israel movement.
43:55
Because their their politics is entirely corrupted by money and
43:58
lobbying. Because they're so reliant on
44:01
that funding. And because they've built such a
44:04
massive lobby infrastructure that if you don't support
44:06
Israel, it's almost impossible for you to get elected.
44:11
And now the president of the United States, Yeah.
44:14
They, you know, historically, they had lots of power.
44:16
And maybe they were the most, you know, powerful figure in the
44:21
world. But theoretically he couldn't
44:22
pick up the phone the same way. But he Reagan did.
44:25
He wouldn't. Even if he could do that, even
44:27
if he could pick up the phone to Netanyahu and say, Netanyahu, I
44:30
want you to stop doing this, He wouldn't do it.
44:33
Yeah, of course, because he's only got to that position
44:35
because the ilk around Netanyahu and the people who support
44:39
Israel have got him elected as president.
44:42
So who's running America well? I think, I think largely it is
44:46
essentially, you know, subservient now in the realm of
44:51
Israel policy to. The Israel lobby.
44:55
The Israel lobby. And that's because the Israel
44:57
lobby and the Zionist movement is a hegemonist global movement.
45:02
They want to seek dominance everywhere because that's the
45:04
only way it sustains itself, particularly when it comes to
45:06
support within Western countries.
45:08
Think about it. The only way an entity like that
45:11
can do the things it's doing surrounded by Muslims and can do
45:17
that with impunity is because they have support from Western
45:21
countries, particularly the United States and and Britain
45:23
and Germany and and others. So why?
45:26
Why would Kamala Harris theoretically not have gone with
45:33
what the popular opinion is to end the war in the Middle East?
45:37
Stop the bombing. Regardless if you're Muslim or
45:39
Jewish or or you're you're uninvolved in terms of cultural
45:42
religion. The majority of people in
45:45
America wanted the war to end. What's the genocide to stop?
45:48
What's bombing to end and killing to stop?
45:50
Why would I? I think I know my answer, but I
45:54
know there are people out there who would be saying why would
45:57
she not go to Michigan and speak?
45:59
Why would Trump go to what would he would have deemed the the
46:03
territory of his opponent? Go and speak and have
46:06
endorsements from the local community and go there with
46:10
passion and vigor despite the fact that he knew that there
46:13
there would be a large mob of people against him in his eyes,
46:17
but Kamala wouldn't? Is that because of institutional
46:19
caution? Is it because of AIPAC funding?
46:22
Is it because of conventional wisdom?
46:24
Is it because she wouldn't want to be seen as taking a risky
46:27
position? Is it because she wouldn't want
46:29
to upset other voters, the Jewish vote and others?
46:33
Well, I think it was it's primarily a question of
46:35
political calculation. So it's it's one of not wanting
46:39
to rock the boat and some a liberal like Kamala Harris, one
46:44
her own politics are on shaky foundations.
46:47
I don't think she has a coherent ideology of what she believes in
46:50
if you listen to any of her interviews.
46:52
She's no substance. She was left to right, zero.
46:53
Substance. So she didn't really know what
46:56
she was doing. She she wouldn't know what to
46:58
say in the first place. And also, yeah, it's risky
47:02
because you say the vast majority of people in the United
47:05
States want a ceasefire, for example, But it is the case
47:07
through consistent polling that the vast majority of them are
47:10
pro Israel. They're not pro.
47:12
Palestinians very much so, but I think in the case of being anti
47:14
war, I'm not talking about a more political solution in the
47:18
long term or one which ends apartheid.
47:21
Talking about in the sense of the stopping of of
47:23
bloodshedding. But the way that she calculated
47:25
it and the way her campaign went is that she calculated that she
47:29
needed support from disaffected Republican voters.
47:34
So she wasn't trying to. She thought, well, the Muslim
47:37
constituency is too small for me to care about, really.
47:40
I want to get support with the likes of Liz Cheney, Dick
47:43
Cheney's daughter, Dick Cheney, being the former vice president
47:47
under George W Bush. She was, you know, Dick Cheney's
47:50
daughter. And even Dick Cheney himself, as
47:53
I said, helped to launch the War on Terror against Muslims.
47:56
They're supporting Kamala Harris.
47:57
So she wants those kind of people in her camp.
48:00
She wants disaffected neoconservatives and other
48:03
Islamophobic racists as part of her campaign who I guess
48:07
probably are a bigger constituency in the United
48:09
States. To be fair, she thought, well, I
48:12
can do that and then I'll have enough people to support me and
48:15
so I don't need to worry about these Muslims.
48:17
Obviously she was 110% wrong because you can't out Republican
48:22
the Republicans. It's the same strategy here when
48:26
you know, people in the Labour Party want to adopt conservative
48:28
policies because they think, well that will appeal to the
48:31
so-called centre ground. But the way that politics is now
48:34
shifting is that people want substance, even if it's not
48:37
really there. The thing that Trump could, at
48:39
least. Opinion.
48:39
Opinion sells, it always has been.
48:42
Sorry to interrupt, I'm sure you probably agree with this as
48:44
well. But the polarisation, why?
48:46
Why figures like Nigel Farage have been so popular in the last
48:48
10 years? You know why?
48:50
Why do we have voices like that? Why?
48:52
Why was Jeremy Corbyn so influential amongst the youth?
48:54
And obviously you were a massive part of that campaign and and
48:58
you, you would know because you were probably studying at the
49:01
time. I'm not mistaken.
49:02
Yeah, I mean, and for a lot of us, like I know we're shifting
49:05
talk talking about the UK slightly, but there was
49:07
mobilization and we reached nearly half a million members in
49:11
the Labour Party. I signed up as did many others.
49:13
And you know, we had somewhat a candidate who spoke and a
49:16
candidate's opinionated and the, the, the long gone were the
49:19
Brown and Miliband days. And we're now looking towards
49:22
the candidate who appeals to us. And I think that that goes both
49:25
ways. And the polarization on the
49:26
spectrum is what people are looking for.
49:29
And one thing, one thing with which which the Democrats have
49:33
massively failed on is the online war.
49:35
When you have the leaders of the Free Speech Movement in the
49:38
world, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, people like that who are so
49:42
influential online and can can reach pockets of media which
49:46
mainstream media can only dream of reaching can come out and
49:50
endorse Donald Trump. Where Donald Trump can sit on
49:52
the Joe Rogan podcast and have his peace.
49:55
Where Elon Musk can do a full couple hour long interview on X
50:01
and endorse him. And you have a huge minority, a
50:04
huge majority of, of white middle-aged men and just men
50:08
across the, the US are feeling, you know, disengaged by the
50:12
Biden administration who are feeling the pinch of rising gas
50:15
prices and inflation, who are frustrated and, and who care
50:19
about democracy and patriotism. Who then look at Trump as a
50:23
figure of free speech, as a figure of, you know,
50:26
unconventional politics, who comes out and says what he
50:29
wants. He says how he wants it.
50:30
He, he brings humour to the table, He brings fun.
50:33
He talks about crypto. He, he, he sells watches online.
50:36
Have you seen the Trump watches? Like, I don't, it's a full
50:39
tangent, but it's like the guys appealing to, to the majority,
50:42
to people and the West, Sorry, the left have failed at that
50:46
miserably. You know, they keep pushing
50:48
candidates in this country as well.
50:51
Keir Starmer, who I have extremely strong opinions on, is
50:55
literally the personification of that whole movement, a stale,
50:59
monotonous form of political rot and Deadwood.
51:05
You know, like there's, there's, there's no interest, there's no
51:07
intrigue. So I've gone on a bit.
51:10
And it's interesting because you know, he people can.
51:14
Views of my own. He exactly.
51:16
Same with me as well, but he got a super majority in Parliament.
51:21
Kirstana. Yeah, but actually he had
51:23
nationally far fewer votes than Jeremy Corbyn did.
51:26
Of course. Right.
51:27
And the only reason he won was because there was so much apathy
51:30
and a deflated Conservative vote.
51:34
That wasn't the popular vote. But you look at the US and what
51:36
is it? Trump has won the popular vote
51:38
as well as the electoral role. And the fact that he can win
51:40
electorally as as well as the popular vote signifies something
51:44
to me because he lost the popular vote last time.
51:47
Trump lost the popular vote. Now he has a case to come out
51:49
and say the most Americans back me.
51:53
Do you know what I mean? And that that's saying something
51:55
as to where the world is going and what what the priorities are
51:58
for people that they would look at a candidate who's done so
52:01
much wrong in his life as a politician as as well as an
52:05
individual who who's befriended the likes of Epstein, you know,
52:09
and so many others. And at the same time is is pro
52:13
genocide and you know, has got a track record of failing on many,
52:17
many, many different policy issues, but still still go for
52:21
it because they think that they're selfish gain.
52:24
Do you know what I mean? I know, I know what I mean.
52:26
And there's so much to take in. And, you know, there was a point
52:29
you referenced very early on the conversation where you mentioned
52:32
the article by the Times. And I'm thinking now we have a
52:34
criminal who's going to become president.
52:37
How does that make a normal human being feel?
52:41
Any how can a criminal become a president?
52:44
Like what happens? To this case, what happens to
52:47
this case? That's a good question for a
52:48
lot. To be honest, I have a slightly
52:51
different view because I kind of think that all US presidents are
52:53
criminals. I mean, if they if they haven't
52:55
been formally indicted in the court, fine.
52:58
But I mean, what? Obama was blowing up weddings
53:00
with drones. Yeah.
53:02
Is that not a prime? Yeah.
53:03
So for me, the fact that, OK, he's morally debased and I mean,
53:09
so was Bill Clinton, mind you, for example, the fact that he's
53:12
morally debased and he's been charged and this And you know,
53:15
for me, that's not really that's so important.
53:18
I think that's really the case for all US presidents.
53:20
There's no, there's no moral U.S.
53:22
President. If you're capable of going to
53:25
sleep at night after ordering drone strikes that are killing
53:27
thousands of people, then you're not a moral person.
53:30
It doesn't matter for me if you've entitled charged by a
53:33
court, this makes no difference whatsoever.
53:35
So look, I think the, the as we say, it's the it's the openness,
53:41
I guess it's the vulgarity of Trump that is different.
53:44
But to me, I think that's it's probably a good thing because it
53:49
exposes the rock at the heart of the US political system that you
53:53
see someone unashamedly immoral. And he is the person who the
53:58
majority of voters have decided to put as their leader says a
54:03
lot about the nature of politics and the the thinking of the
54:07
United States of America. And I would say it's a caution
54:09
to all Muslims around the world that, you know, people who you
54:15
know, who aspire to secularization, want to turn
54:20
away from Islam. I say, look, this is this will
54:23
be your role model. This is this is the highest
54:26
person in that country, someone like Donald Trump.
54:30
So you need to rely on what we have in our origin.
54:33
Look at our beautiful role models that we have.
54:36
And it's a it's AI think a lesson to all those who want to
54:40
imitate around the world, not not particularly so much in
54:43
Britain, but I think those W oxified individuals across the
54:47
Muslim world, be they in Saudi or Iran or wherever they are who
54:51
look to. Some in our own communities,
54:54
Precisely. Exactly.
54:55
Wherever they are that this W oxification is not going to lead
54:59
you anywhere. It's going to lead to the likes
55:00
of Donald Trump and if that's what you want to be your leader,
55:04
then you know you need to give your head a bit of a wobble.
55:06
That's our own this self destruction.
55:08
And it's a very nice point. I think it's good for food for
55:11
for for me and for everyone listening.
55:14
But there's something I want to ask you say it and probably it's
55:16
the last question from me. You mentioned earlier on that,
55:21
if I'm not mistaken, you said that the way things are going
55:25
now and the way and now Trump is president and the way Israel was
55:29
doing things and they're coming after the Shia, Someone
55:34
listening might say, you know, this is a conspiracy theory.
55:38
I think I know where you're going with this and what you
55:40
mean by it. But for someone listening, what
55:42
did you mean by that? And is there like an example
55:45
that you can pinpoint so we can get a better understanding of
55:47
how this affects the Shia community?
55:50
Well, look, the the way the reason I'm saying that say is
55:53
not a sectarian issue. Yeah.
55:55
OK, so let me just say very clearly, it doesn't need to be
55:57
said, but maybe it needs to be said for certain people that I
56:01
have full love for my Sunni brothers and sisters.
56:03
Half my family are Sunnis. Because you could have said
56:05
they're coming for all Muslims, but they said they're coming.
56:07
They were, they were. The thing is, is we have to look
56:09
at, look at, look at the long arc.
56:11
Let's not just look at one president and then another
56:14
president. Let's look at the long arc of
56:15
U.S. policy from the War on Terror after 911, right?
56:20
They did go after the Sunni community hard.
56:24
The vast majority of people in their sights were Sunnis.
56:27
It was Sunnis that they were neutralizing and pacifying and
56:30
focusing all their attention when it comes to policy.
56:33
And actually for for a long time, it was a Shiite saying,
56:36
well, this is not really affecting us.
56:38
I mean, they're going after these people.
56:39
We're not terrorists or whatever.
56:41
And this this is an issue within the the Sunni community.
56:44
And, you know, the fire from Western governments is going
56:46
after them. And so they've been pacified.
56:50
It's not a question that they never mounted any kind of
56:52
resistance. They did, but then they were
56:54
quickly defeated. But I think with us, there's a
56:57
strength and a staying power that can't be pacified.
57:00
And that is a question of API that end of the day, it's a
57:03
Hosseini and a Zainabi API that and it's not actually just for
57:06
Shia as well. There are people, others among
57:09
our Sunni brothers who have that.
57:11
I'm not going to mention names, but we know who those people are
57:14
who who mount that resistance and are inspired by Karbala.
57:20
And that I think is what the Zionists understand about us.
57:26
And they have seen that in the material effect it has on them
57:30
and. It's become a threat to them.
57:32
Well, precisely because we don't just have that as a it's not
57:34
just a theological theoretical thing, it's something that we
57:38
are Shia implement in practice and it's a source of pride for
57:41
us, you know. So I'll give you one example.
57:44
Please. Back when Daesh, I was ravaging
57:48
through Syria and then into Iraq.
57:50
ISIS. We had a say that Sistani give a
57:55
fatwa which then mobilized 10s of thousands of Iraqi youth and
58:00
these were not, you know, Rahabadi or whatever they will,
58:04
you know, ordinary Shia average, whatever came together and
58:10
worked with the Iraqi armed forces to smash Dash.
58:14
They saw that immediately as a religious obligation, but they
58:18
didn't just have to think about it.
58:20
They went and they did it. That is the difference.
58:25
And that's what they that's what they recognize and they
58:27
understand, and that's what they feel threatened.
58:29
By it's unyielding. It's undying.
58:31
It's like you said, I think the right word is mobilized and that
58:35
is it. It just kind of brings us back
58:38
to the core of all things and the root of all things, which is
58:41
we are temporarily in this world and we are we are nothing but
58:45
instruments and cogs in a wider picture of a last other and the
58:50
color of a last panel to Allah is ultimately divinely planned
58:54
and and we cannot interfere with with Allah's other, but we do
59:00
have a part to play. That's the key thing, right.
59:02
So we each have a responsibility.
59:03
We each have a voice, We each have a skill set.
59:06
Ultimately 1 shallow with Imam of our time, Arjala to Alafarj
59:11
Sharif arrives and in Charlotte in our lifetimes, he will see us
59:15
as a valuable asset in Charlotte life.
59:17
We're worthy of that. We are those who are born in the
59:20
West. We're raised in the West.
59:21
We have we speak the tongue of the West.
59:24
We are educated and trained by the West and ultimately speaking
59:29
in Charlotte, we will be valuable to his cause, to the
59:32
matter we cause. And we will use those those
59:36
lessons and those morals of like you mentioned, the Hosseini and
59:40
the Zanabi mentality that we've been born and raised with and
59:44
that we see in our brothers and sisters around the world.
59:46
Like you said, no names mentioned, but those who are
59:48
fighting and those who are resisting and every sense of the
59:52
word to terrorism and extremism and violence and basically Shait
59:58
Bani principles. We will, we will be the same
1:00:03
inshallah when the time comes and we will be uncompromised and
1:00:07
undivided in our love for what our last pantala has told us to
1:00:12
be wary of. And you know what our what our
1:00:14
goals are. I mean, I mean Sharla, are they
1:00:17
assume? Sharla, anything last?
1:00:20
If I just may just say just something that you were
1:00:21
mentioning there is that ultimately, look, we have a duty
1:00:25
wherever we are. This isn't a case of I know we
1:00:28
feel very saddened and sickened and we feel motivated and maybe
1:00:32
some people think, well, I wish I could be in Lebanon right now.
1:00:35
I wish I could be in a lock. Your duty is where you are
1:00:40
because as I said before, this is a global war that's going to
1:00:44
affect everyone. It's not going to disappear for
1:00:46
the Shia and Britain just because you have made hijra or
1:00:49
something. You've done something else.
1:00:51
You have a responsibility here. We all have to be alive to our
1:00:54
responsibility to defeat the anti Hussein movement, the
1:00:59
movement of Yazeed, Lana Soulai Ali.
1:01:02
Today every era has the Yazeed. And aren't we fortunate that in
1:01:07
the era that we live that Yazeed is very clearly identifiable?
1:01:11
There's no fits. Now we think, oh, we're not sure
1:01:13
which, which party we should be aligned with, which stance we
1:01:17
should have. It's very clear.
1:01:20
It's very, very clear. Visible to.
1:01:22
Us. So we're looking in that sense,
1:01:24
and then we should, now that we know, you know, which side we
1:01:28
are on and which side we're opposing, we then have to do our
1:01:31
duty wherever we are to oppose the use either of our time.
1:01:36
And that can be done from here, the shores of Britain, or if
1:01:38
you're in the United States, you have a part to play in your own
1:01:42
resistance. Sounds beautiful, Beautiful
1:01:46
point. I love.
1:01:47
I love that that's where we ended.
1:01:48
I love that that's where we got to.
1:01:51
Thank you so much for for your time.
1:01:52
Thank you for being here. It's been a long time coming.
1:01:56
I'm sure there will be people who want to reach out, maybe
1:01:59
those who have questions. I know obviously you you, you
1:02:02
offer legal advice as well if I'm not mistaken.
1:02:05
Can people reach out to you on social media or is there any way
1:02:08
to reach out or get in touch you?
1:02:09
Can reach out. I don't know if you want them to
1:02:11
say it or you can just display it on the screen with your
1:02:13
editing tricks. We'll do both.
1:02:15
I have. I have.
1:02:16
Yeah. I'm on Twitter.
1:02:18
It's at Sayid, Ammar, under score, SAYEDAMMAR under score,
1:02:24
if you want to. And I will just say I will take
1:02:27
the moment just to plug. Yeah.
1:02:29
So, so we don't offer legal advice as such, but the Fighting
1:02:34
Fund, which you can find at www.fightingfund.org and you can
1:02:39
contact us through there, We offer support or we tried to
1:02:44
connect people with legal advice if they're in a situation where
1:02:47
they're facing some sort of difficulty.
1:02:49
So, for example, you know, you're in you're facing
1:02:52
difficulty in your workplace because you've said something on
1:02:54
social media and now they're trying to sack you, Things like
1:02:58
that. You know, if you're having
1:03:00
trouble of that kind, you're getting in trouble because of
1:03:03
your political beliefs or action that you're taking.
1:03:08
Or even, let's say you know, you've gone out and you've done
1:03:10
something and you know, now you're being prosecuted by the
1:03:13
police and you don't know where to turn to.
1:03:16
Then you can turn to us and Charlotte, we can offer you, you
1:03:20
know, some support or we can try to connect you with a lawyer who
1:03:23
can assist you. I have to say there are, I don't
1:03:26
think that there are many people doing that work.
1:03:28
And I know lots of people face these situations and they think
1:03:31
they think they're alone, particularly when they're
1:03:33
getting attacked by their employer and they're going to
1:03:36
lose their job. They don't know what to do.
1:03:38
So you're never alone. Even if it's a case of, you
1:03:41
know, you're in AB sock and you're being attacked like some
1:03:45
absocks recently were by the Daily Mail.
1:03:48
You can come to us, we can help you with press support, whatever
1:03:51
it is, we need to be doing more to support each other throughout
1:03:56
this. Throughout this it's.
1:03:57
Extremely valuable, very, very rare to find people doing this
1:04:01
kind of work. Well, I'll reward you, run you
1:04:03
more success and I hope people recognise the HINMA that you're
1:04:07
doing because it's it's really valuable and an asset to us all.
1:04:12
I want to thank you so much as always.
1:04:13
Thank you. I said as always, thank you very
1:04:16
much my dear brother. Guys, we will be back next week
1:04:20
and share a lot. Leave your comments below.
1:04:23
That's not what you think of the podcast.
1:04:25
I'm sure you enjoyed it as much as we did.
1:04:27
Stay strong people. It's going to be tumultuous few
1:04:31
weeks to come I'm sure, but nonetheless, we will stay strong
1:04:34
as a community. Stay together and keep out in
1:04:36
mind. And our huck there.
1:04:39
Sharla. Anything that said?
1:04:44
Yeah, but Abdullah. Alright guys, see you soon.
1:04:46
Take care.