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Everything Changed when I Became Muslim (Ft. Shia of Colombia) · After Maghrib 🌙

0:00
So I'm Alok, and welcome back to After Maghrib, your favorite
0:02
podcast. It's amazing to be here.
0:04
If you haven't already been here before, then make sure you
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subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow us on Spotify or
0:09
whatever. You're listening to us today,
0:11
Brothers, Sisters. We have a really interesting
0:13
episode. We are going to be talking a lot
0:15
about stepping out of your comfort zone, which is something
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for me personally I'm doing today because this is the first
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episode on After Maghrib where I am not joined by saying, well,
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actually it's not the first episode, but it's one of the
0:27
first episodes without saying Ali and definitely the first
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episode where there's only one host.
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So please bear with me and be patient with me today because
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I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and we're going to be
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talking about that today. We're also going to be
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understanding how a last panel to Allah wants us to zone in on
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our lives to really understand and reflect how far we've come
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and how to make a change towards a last panel to Allah's path and
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His purpose for us. Because of course, we see
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numerous times in the Holy Quran where last Pantala rewards and
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gives glad tidings to those who strive in His way.
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So how do we reassess where we are and Inshallah where we are
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going to be headed to? So we have two very special
1:09
guests today, as they have like many other guests before come
1:13
from around the world. We'll start the husband and wife
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team. I'll start with my dear Brother
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Ali Elvis. How are you doing?
1:30
Great. Thank you for having us.
1:31
Thank you so much for coming on. And of course, your wife, our
1:34
dear sister Lady. How are you doing, Sister Lady
1:36
Fatima, Right. Yes.
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Lovely to have you. I'm dulilah so happy to be here
1:41
today. Good to have you on as well.
1:43
So for those who don't know, Ali, where are you guys from?
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I don't even know anymore. I moved around quite a bit, but
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right now we're coming from Colombia, Medellin, Colombia.
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So you guys live in Colombia? Yeah, right.
1:55
OK, cool. And obviously I know your story.
1:57
You, you've lived in Pakistan, you've obviously spent most of
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your life in the US, in New York.
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And then obviously you moved to Colombia a couple of years ago.
2:05
And sister, you are you are born and raised in Colombia.
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Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
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OK, cool. So this is going to be an
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interesting conversation. I'm looking forward to getting
2:13
into it. So listen, before we kind of get
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stuck into your story and a lot of the amazing lessons you guys
2:19
have learned, I want to ask you because you're obviously
2:22
visiting London sister your first time.
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You've been here once before, of course, for my wedding, but
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yeah, which is nice. So, but what you know, what is
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your relationship like with London so far?
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So what? What are the things that you
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like about London the most? I think for me is like amazing
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to see a lot of Muslim people out of the street and halal
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places, halal stores, because in Colombia we really don't have
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anything of this. For example, in my city we have
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barely 2 tree halal restaurant. Wow.
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So that is too much for the amount of people that we have.
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So it's amazing to walk off the street and see hijabis because
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what I say in Colombia, nothing of this is happening, so it's
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really cool. Yeah, I mean, and we have two
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3000 halal food shops on everywhere.
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Yeah, amazing. Yeah.
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And obviously the community for you, Ali, obviously you've lived
3:30
in like a heavy Shiite community, heavily dumped, you
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know, strong Shiite community, Muslim community in New York and
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in Washington. What?
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How has it been like for you? Not even moved coming to London
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but adjusting to moving to Colombia.
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It's very different growing up in Pakistan, as I was born
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there, the whole country's Muslim, right?
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So it's a certain way. Then living in the Washington,
3:54
DC area, moving to New York, living there for 9 years,
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there's Muslims everywhere, you can find halal.
4:01
But then moving to Colombia, it's completely different.
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I think when I when I got there, we had maybe four or five Shia
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people total in the city of 3 million people.
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Definitely different, right? Because it's not like we can
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find halal or or other Muslims around.
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It's very difficult and I had to adjust to it.
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I think I've adjusted OK. And then coming back here now,
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it feels great just to be able to walk down the street like she
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mentioned, like she mentioned that just walking down the
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street, we find so many halal restaurants, which when we're
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living in it, we take it for granted.
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But when we're away from it, we realize what we have is, you
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know, really awesome to be able to just walk down the street,
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set it to go into any restaurant almost.
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And it's hello. Yeah, yeah.
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You're not 100%. You're right.
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So what? What on earth is a Pakistani
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American doing in Colombia? How did you end up in Colombia?
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And, and, and sorry, bro. And if you can tell people,
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because obviously for those who don't know Ali and I go back a
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while, Ali's known me since I was a lot younger and we used to
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work together in Who Is Hussein, which is an incredible
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organization which spread awareness about Imam Hussein.
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And you definitely took that literally, that goal of
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spreading the message of Imam Hussein literally.
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And obviously I learned a lot from you.
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But three years ago you called me and you said I'm gonna, I'm
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gonna make a decision. I'm gonna make a change in my
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life. How did you end up and why did
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you go to Colombia of all places?
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It's a long story. Ready.
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You have your tea, popcorn. Well, it started about five
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years ago. I was going to get some dental
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work done and a friend of mine in New York said, Hey, I'll set
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you up with my family dentist in, in, in Colombia and they'll
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take care of you. It'll be a lot cheaper because
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obviously in New York or London, Well, actually you guys have
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like free healthcare, but but at least in the US, we have to pay
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out of pocket for a lot of things.
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So I said, OK, fine, let's go. I had never been there.
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I went there for my dental and then I went to a different city
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for my eyes. And then I started traveling
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around a little bit and went back a few times.
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And one time I was there, I went to a city called Medelline or a
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lot of people called it Medelline because you know,
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there's two elves, but they're pronounced it for Jay.
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So in Medelline, I was looking for a mosque to go pray.
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I found a mosque. I I went in to pray and there
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was a gentleman, he was a little bit older and he just started
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rattling off like a lot of anti Shia rhetoric.
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And I didn't really like it. But he didn't realize that I was
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actually Shia until he saw me praying.
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After I finished praying, he said, yeah, yeah.
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But brother, you know, we're all brothers.
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I was like, yeah, we're all brothers.
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But this is what you're teaching everyone, right?
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And you're only saying that now that you see me, that I must,
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I'm sorry, and that I'm Shia. And so that happened.
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I left. A day later, I was leaving and I
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was on a flight. I was about to get on the flight
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and I was talking to a friend and I was like, you know, this
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is what happened, this is what transpired and someone needs to
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do something about it. How many times does it happen
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when we see something? We're like, someone needs to do
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something, honestly. But right then I had this idea,
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why not me? Because I'm here right now.
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I don't know anyone else that's going to go to Columbia and have
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a similar experience and is going to want to do something
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about it. So that's what triggered.
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There are a couple of stories behind it if you want.
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I'll give you more details about that, of how I ended up in that
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sense. But then I came back to New
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York. I was going to go back and Meta
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Gene, stay there for a couple weeks, see if I like it.
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But COVID hit and then I was stuck in in my apartment alone
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for three months in Manhattan, no human contact.
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And after that, as soon as they opened up in Columbia, they
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opened in September, October, I was there.
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Rashallah, Rashallah. And of course, that's where you
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met sister. Yeah, Fatima as well.
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And obviously you. You, for those who don't know,
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are well, I'm sure most people won't, but you are a Riva who
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joined Islam 13 years ago, I'm not mistaken.
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So you were. And then of of course, obviously
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in your Shia as well. So you actually were one of the
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few Shias in Medellin before Ali came there.
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How, how this is like, obviously when, when we talked about this
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before the film, before filming, I, this was eye opening for me.
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But how did you discover Islam in the 1st place?
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And why did you marry this guy of all people?
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I'm joking, but I'm joking when obviously when you know your
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journey and whatnot. And was it frightening for you
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to to the the the journey and the change?
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Well, we kind of start like I discovered Islam through 911.
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Through 911. Yes, my sister was the first in
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the family who get like attention and curious about what
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happened. What religion is that?
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So she started researching and she found like Islam is totally
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totally opposite that the news or the social media show was.
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So we start like get into the the Islam and we found like, Oh
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my God, this is the like the truth, because I was born like
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Catholic whole life, going to A to a church and whatever.
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But it was you take the you took the religion more like is a
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history is the past that past like many years ago and that's
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it. But Islam shows like a real
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meaning of life, real meaning of God.
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What do you have to do to get the the paradise to do something
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really for Allah, for God, not just for your life.
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It's it's like like a lifestyle. That's what I want to say.
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So I Start learning the Sunni Islam because this is most
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common in Colombia, especially in my city.
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But after some years through my brother-in-law, he's Shia, we
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start to listen and hearing his history, the about Ramana
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Muharram, sorry about the history of the Imam Ali, the
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Imam Hussein. So we're like, what is all this?
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Because before we never heard about it.
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So we Start learning about Shia. And after I said it has to be
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the correct way because it's it's too much behind and nobody
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never explain us about it. Mashallah, Mashallah, that's I
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don't know, I don't know how people like see, this is the
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thing I mean for, for someone like me, and I think for a lot
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of us at home, we've been born and raised in the same city and
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we only know one thing, one culture, maybe 11 mentality.
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And you come to a point in your life, maybe you're 18, maybe
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you're 25. But there comes a point when you
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start to think and reflect, to think, what am I doing?
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How am I acting in life? Because when you reverted, you
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would have been young, you would have been, you know, working or
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studying and you would have friends.
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And, and then there came a point where you, for example, you
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decided to wear the hijab And, you know, to think that, for
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example, a native lady in Colombia, a native woman who
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chooses to wear the hijab and just carry on with life.
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And that is a real challenge because I, when I decide to, to
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work the hijab, I was like, we, we start like a step by step.
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I start to dressing up like modesty.
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I stop eating like pork or drink alcohol or something.
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And after I was like, if it's the, if I want to please Allah
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totally, I have to do everything what he says, what he told us to
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do. So one day I woke up and I told
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my mom like, I think I'm ready to wear the hijab.
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And she said that is up to you. So I start wearing the hijab.
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I was living out of the country like for three years.
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When I came back, my friends and the people start seeing me
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wearing the hijab and they say, Oh no, you can like get a job
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like that with that piece of cloth.
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So you have to you must take care of.
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And I say, no, I won't do it because this is non negotiable.
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This is to please Alan or to please the world.
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So if I going to get a job I will get it because the Allah
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provide me everything. A lot of the provision come from
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Allah. So I don't going to take off my
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hijab and as soon as I say that like one month, 2 month after I
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got a job and since that I have been I had like 3 different job
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and in all my interview that is my only request.
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Can I wear my hijab? That's it.
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And alhamdulillah, here I am. I think a lot of times we find
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excuses of not doing something and we end up lying to ourselves
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or really just cheating ourselves, our souls, yeah,
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because of our friends or family member or society.
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But, but we're not really going to be questioned by our friends
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in our grave. Exactly.
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We're not going to be questioned by our family or society on why
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we did something, why we didn't. We're going to be questioned by
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God and if He's given us a clear outline of what to do and how to
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live life. I mean, maybe we can lie to
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ourselves, but how are we going to lie to God?
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And Allah has given us that agency, that ability to, to be,
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to be free thinkers. You know, 300 times in the Holy
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Quran, Allah tells you reflect, think, think, think, think,
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think. And in early Islam, in early
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Sunni Islam, or you know, in some versions of Islam at the
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beginning, this notion of free thought or to criticize or
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analyse the teachings and to analyse what you're doing, where
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you're going was suppressed, unfortunately.
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But we see Al Hamdallah, Harabal Al, I mean, our, our community
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in general is going in a good direction.
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But the founders of all of our communities was someone who took
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initiative. MyHeritage, for example.
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I am for, for your benefit, sister, because you don't know.
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And I know everyone at home has bored of me saying this, but
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I'm, I'm from a tribe called the Kojas and we are maybe around
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the world 300,000. We have been Muslim for 200
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years, and that was because 200 years ago someone made a
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decision to to become a Muslim. Before that, our lineage, we
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were all Hindus, you know, and because someone made that
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decision to, to, you know, embrace Islam, 200 years later,
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there's a massive community around the world and we have
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beautiful children who are named Ali and Hassan and Hussain and
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Fatima and beautiful children. But that's something, you know,
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which always comes to my mind. And Allah tells us again in the
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Holy Quran about Tawakkol and trust in the last panel to
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Allah. But look, I really want to ask
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you sister, especially if you don't mind and, and Ali, I know
15:54
I'm, I would ask you, but you don't want a hijab.
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So, but you know, there's a lot of ladies and a lot of women and
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girls in London or in the West, anywhere in the world really,
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who want to wear the hijab, Who are, you know, they are Muslim,
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they love Allah, but they're frightened or they're scared.
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And they may even live in a place like London, or maybe not,
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but they may live in a place where there are more Muslims
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than in, in Colombia, for example.
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But they are, they're scared, they know, for example, or, or
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they, they are worried that they will lose their job, like you
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said, or worried that they may people will look at them
16:32
differently. What message do you have or what
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do you want to say to those girls who are feeling frightened
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or even the girls who wear hijab but are thinking about taking it
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off? I think the most important is
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like is something that we believe in God, but we really
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trust God because and at the end of the day, if we really trust
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Allah, he will make easy whatever for us.
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So I think that is my main message for the people who is
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struggling about hijab because I know it's difficult to see
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because we are human beings and we care so much about what other
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people going to think or going to say about us.
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But it's what my husband say, what Allah going to think, what
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Allah going to say. He's the only who going to judge
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us. How do we know how what a last
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one to Allah like if a last place?
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So for example, you, you went on both of you in fact made a huge,
17:37
huge change in your life, a huge change and two different
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changes. You know, if you neither of you
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made that change, then you would have never met, you know.
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So Subhan Allah, you both were, you know, you made the right
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decisions and you came across each other.
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How do you know if you've made the right decision?
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Is there ever a way to know? I think it depends on the person
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and how close you are with Allah, how honest you are with
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God and yourself. Sometimes you just have to look
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in the mirror and have a conversation with yourself to
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see who really you are. There are ways as God says, like
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he shows you signs. So definitely there are ways
18:19
that we can tell you were talking about and it's like, I
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guess like really part of a journey because we're all in
18:25
different parts of our life spiritually and physically, as
18:30
well as financially or whichever way.
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So you mentioned earlier, if someone's 18 or someone is 25,
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we hear different things, whether it's during much less or
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during a conversation with our friends or or, you know, you're
18:47
watching film or something, you see something and sometimes they
18:50
stand out. For example, I remember one of
18:54
the things that really stuck out to me.
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I was listening to a much less at the dollar Zafia in in
18:59
Maryland and the Schick said that listen, every year we'd
19:04
come here and he says that we cry, we do Matham and we tell
19:10
Imam Hussein al Islam that if we were there, we would be there to
19:14
defend him and we would help in his mission to help him.
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And he said that on that day when Imam was sent, said, who is
19:24
there to help me? Who really was he talking to?
19:29
Yeah, Who really was he talking to?
19:31
Because Azad Abbas was gone, Ali Akbar's gone, Qasem's gone,
19:35
everyone is gone. So the Sheikh said that he was
19:38
really talking to the generations to come.
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If you're saying that like, oh, I wish I was there to help his
19:45
mission. What are you doing today to help
19:47
his mission? So that was something that stuck
19:49
out for me and was in the back of my head for a long time.
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And because of those small, I guess this wasn't as small, but
19:59
like because of different reflections, they stay in the
20:01
back of your mind. And then eventually there will
20:04
come a point in life where you have to make a decision based on
20:09
the different things that we've learned, different reflections
20:12
we've had. And once we make that decision.
20:16
Then we start to see our life change and then we start to
20:19
realize whether God's actually happy with us or not, and then
20:23
we make our life a lot more God centric as opposed to
20:26
materialistic centric. And you, like you said,
20:31
sometimes you when you make that change and you realize that even
20:35
if it was something you're fearful of, something you're
20:37
scared of, actually it was good for you.
20:39
Yeah. And the last point Allah says in
20:42
in sort of bakara, he says, perhaps you, you, you hate
20:46
something and it's good for you and perhaps you love something
20:49
and it's, it's bad for you. And we never know about true
20:51
perspective and that level of Basira and knowledge and Alma
20:56
Lahaib, that is not for us, You know, that's for the adul beta
21:00
Nahmal Salaam and that level of knowledge.
21:02
And no one is able to tell. Even the most wise people won't
21:07
be able to tell the end of all tales.
21:09
You know, this is something which we sometimes assume.
21:12
We will assume that if we stay here and we stay with these
21:16
people, then we will be in good hands.
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And do you know what I mean? And sometimes we need to be
21:22
driven and be comfortable in stepping outside of the box as
21:26
well. But when you when you think
21:28
about your purpose and you think about because you left the USA
21:32
and you said, I want to bring the name of Imam Hussain Alehi
21:36
Salaam to a part of the world where no one has heard it.
21:39
And I want to bring people towards Wilaya of Amid Al
21:43
Mahmaneen Aliabdi Ali Salaam in a way where no one has heard it,
21:47
in a place where no one has heard the name Ali and William
21:50
Law. And that is beautiful to us.
21:53
You know, we are here in the largest community in the West.
21:56
And and you know, we I then realized for someone like me in
22:00
a mice, my mosque is 10,000 people, for example, and I've
22:06
martial law in in three years you went from four or five
22:09
Muslims Shia to now you told me 2025.
22:13
Yeah, about 25, sometimes 30 depending on it's.
22:16
Amazing Mashallah, Mashallah. And that is quality over
22:20
quantity, because that's when you know you are doing something
22:23
of high quality. Doesn't matter if you have
22:26
loads, hundreds, thousands of people, but they don't, you
22:28
don't mean it and they don't have love in in what you're
22:31
doing. Yes, yeah, absolutely.
22:33
And, you know, you're saying like announcing, I'm not
22:37
announcing, but like getting people to know the name of Obama
22:39
Hussein al Islam. I remember this one brother.
22:43
He would, he would go to the Sunni mosque before.
22:47
And I think it was this Muharram after one of the Majlisses.
22:50
Or was it? I think it was this Muharram
22:52
after one of the Majlisses. He stands up in the crowd and
22:56
says, listen, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I have
22:57
something to say. Yeah.
22:59
It's like, Oh no, what's he going to tell him?
23:02
What does he know about me? I've seen this before.
23:05
So he says that I want to say that I've been Muslim for, I
23:10
think 10 years or however long. He, he mentioned and he said
23:14
that I'm sorry that I've been Sunni all my life of being
23:18
Muslim. I just didn't know any better.
23:20
And I didn't know about him. I was saying it and I didn't
23:22
know about Kerbla. Wow.
23:24
So what type of guts does it take for someone to stand up and
23:28
30 people and say that one And two, how sincere is this man
23:33
that he's open about it and honest about it?
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That hey, I just didn't know. Now I know, and I know this is
23:38
the truth. And sometimes when, when you,
23:42
when you, you know, there's always like a chain of reaction
23:45
in these things. Like, I would have never thought
23:46
that the the the I remember when I first joined Hussein, my
23:52
brother was the one who told me 10 years ago.
23:55
I was like, hey, Ahmed, are you do you want to do something?
23:57
He told me I was like wasting time playing video games, you
24:00
know, so you want to do something to help.
24:02
I was like, oh, yeah, what can I do?
24:04
He said, I want you to join this team and work with this brother.
24:07
I did, brother. And I never knew that that
24:09
decision that I said yes to my brother.
24:11
My brother would then say, OK, I want you to join.
24:13
Who is host? But I would get married because
24:16
of that. Yes.
24:17
Yeah. That I would meet friends like
24:18
you guys and that so many things were a chain of reaction, a
24:23
result of an initial small step, you know, like a domino effect
24:27
that comes afterwards. You know a last panel to Allah
24:29
says in sorts of and Kabut I I saw the verse earlier Yeah in
24:34
terms of striving for Allah, the jihad and Nephs.
24:36
You know you you work towards righteousness, you work towards
24:40
the Tesquiatan nuts, the purification of your soul.
24:44
Allah says and heard of Quran. Those who strive for us, who
24:47
work for Allah Subhanahu wata Allah, we will surely guide them
24:50
to our ways. Allah says don't worry don't
24:53
worry about if you'll achieve it if you will if you'll make it
24:57
happen. Just try your best and to me
25:01
leave the rest. The last one I was telling us in
25:03
so many ways, have you been, you know, when you think about your
25:07
when you look back on your journey, sister, and you look at
25:09
like the change and the decisions, the hard yeses, the
25:13
hard decisions you've made to say yes or no to things.
25:17
Has it been worth it? Of course, totally, totally.
25:21
It's it's worth it because sometimes you just stop to
25:25
reflect how was my life before? Yeah.
25:29
And how much has been changing for all these years, years.
25:33
And Subhanallah, that is amazing how you life changed your mood,
25:39
that you say you leave the the comfort zone, yes, to discover
25:46
something new, because basically this is new for us and you feel
25:51
really, really changes in your life.
25:53
Yeah. And amazing changes.
25:54
Yeah, I think I don't know what you what you think, Ali, but I
25:57
feel like there's a big gap in the generation right now,
26:01
especially for those who are in their early 20s or mid late 20s
26:06
when it comes to identifying their own purpose.
26:09
What do I do in life? I'm I'm my father and my mother
26:12
want me to become this job, want me to be a doctor or a lawyer.
26:17
And I have pressure to get married young and I have to
26:20
provide for my wife or I have to serve my husband, for example.
26:25
And there's pressure and expectation.
26:27
And you know, you know, you should be more religious, but
26:30
you don't care. You know, you try, but you'd
26:33
like, you don't want to push yourself too hard.
26:35
And there's a bit of a crisis which is happening with that age
26:38
group. Do you agree?
26:41
Yeah, absolutely. And, and I think that comes from
26:45
in a lot of ways of what we watch and what we listen to.
26:48
That's not true. That's really true.
26:50
I think so. That's not true.
26:51
No, no. No, no, that's so true before I
26:55
get cancelled. For example, Netflix series, if
27:00
that's what you watch or anything on YouTube or maybe
27:02
you're listening to music, yes, that that would be better to
27:05
watch, right? Or if people listen to music,
27:09
think about what the lyrics are, because so many times people
27:14
memorize the lyrics, but they don't memorize the Quran or they
27:16
don't memorize the Hadees. And with the lyrics, a lot of
27:21
times, especially these days, it's not very Islamic, I guess,
27:26
right? And those things, whether it's
27:30
music or, or, or the programs we're watching, it's making us
27:35
turn into those type of people. But they're not us, right?
27:38
They're not Shia, they're not Muslim, and they have a
27:42
different outlook on life than what we have.
27:45
And if we start following someone that has a different
27:48
outlook than what we have, eventually what's going to
27:50
happen is we're going to become that way.
27:52
So what happens, I think, is that from home and from the
27:55
Masjid, we have a certain mindset, but then when we see
27:59
other things outside, we have a different mindset.
28:01
And then the people get caught in between not knowing which way
28:05
to turn to. And I think you should turn to
28:09
after Mugrib, obviously. Subscribe.
28:12
And turn to God. In reality, and of all the
28:16
people, like in life, everything is temporary, whether it's your
28:19
friends, your clothes, your where you live, where you go to
28:22
school, your your family members.
28:25
You know, people pass away, people get married, divorced.
28:28
Your circle of French changes. I'm pretty sure if you're 28,
28:32
you're not wearing the same clothes you're wearing at 8,
28:36
right? Hope not, right.
28:38
So just like that, everything changes all the time.
28:41
Yeah. And the one constant is God.
28:45
Allah's the only constant. So why not get really close and
28:49
good with God and let everything else happen?
28:52
Because if your best friend is someone that looks out for you
28:56
and they're a human being, but if you make God your best
29:00
friend, God has all the power to do everything.
29:06
Yeah, I fully agree. Yeah, I fully agree.
29:09
And sometimes when you're in the search for that answer and
29:12
you're looking for for direction, you're looking for
29:15
purpose and guidance. Sometimes it's also about the
29:19
questions you're asking. You know, they say, and there's
29:21
a hadith, it says that a good question is most for Joab, a
29:26
good question is half of the answer.
29:29
You ask the right question and you'll get the answer you're
29:31
looking for. You ask a last panel to either
29:34
for direction, for guidance, then you're more likely to find
29:37
it. And when you're in a specific
29:39
search for something like in your case, for example, system,
29:42
the search for Islam and and you're on your path from as the
29:46
Sunnah or Jamaat to becoming Shia.
29:48
In those four years where you were Sunni and you learned about
29:52
Islam and you learned and you asked and you researched and you
29:55
discover and you asked the right questions and it leaves you to
29:58
the right path. Middleman said to his
30:01
companions. He said, ask me before I die,
30:03
before I go out of this world. A guy comes to him and says, OK,
30:06
how many hairs are on my head? And what sort of stupidity
30:11
brings someone to do that? It's a bad question.
30:13
So you won't be able to benefit the most.
30:16
So I think that's another thing for us to think about as well.
30:19
Absolutely. Yeah.
30:20
Of course, for anyone who's new to Islam and who's on the
30:23
journey of becoming a river and learning more about Islam, it's
30:28
it's a a new culture, it's a new language, it's a new.
30:32
New everything. It's everything is new.
30:35
Is, is that like, you know, difficult for you?
30:38
And not just that, I mean, what words of encouragement, what
30:42
words of support can you give to people who are maybe new Muslims
30:47
or who are looking to Islam now and researching Islam to let
30:51
them know that it's OK and you don't have to be expert in an
30:54
Arabic language or, for example, you don't have to know
30:57
everything on day one. I think if you feel and you
31:02
know, you are doing like something and you are behaving
31:06
like the core way to please allow everything, the racist is
31:11
like, like, like, OK, yeah. You don't need to be a spare.
31:16
You don't need to speak Arabic or something.
31:19
That is, for example, that remind me, my father, he became
31:24
Muslim like some months ago. Yeah, he's like at home he has
31:30
like the Bible like 2-3 different types of Bible and the
31:36
Quran and he reads everything and he start to like compare
31:39
this and this if they say the same or something different.
31:43
And he asked question, he's so curious about it so that when he
31:51
want he want to become Muslim, but he said no, but I don't
31:55
speak Arabic. I don't know how to break in
31:57
Arabic. No, no, no, I can't do that.
32:00
I say no, don't worry about it. It's OK.
32:03
Yes, first thing you can do it in Spanish, you can learn in
32:06
Spanish. It's OK.
32:07
But if it's better if you do anything in Arabic because it's
32:11
it's the the first language. So you will do it like step by
32:17
step. Don't worry about it.
32:19
And now he's doing that, we do that also, I do that.
32:23
So if you if you are doing something to please Allah to go
32:28
in the correct way, the things will come out like easily.
32:32
Yeah, I don't think you have to know everything 100% of how
32:37
everything works as long as there's, you know, sufficient
32:39
evidence for you to believe and then start, right.
32:42
For example, I went to Colombia. All I knew how to say was hi,
32:46
how are you? I didn't know anyone there.
32:49
I didn't speak the language. I didn't even know where I was
32:51
going to stay. I literally stayed in a hotel
32:53
for two weeks until I found an Airbnb.
32:55
So but I knew my purpose of what I wanted to go and do there.
33:00
And I started with four or five people coming to my apartment on
33:03
Thursday night program then that group to 67101520 people
33:09
eventually we have a spiritual center.
33:11
We call it spiritual Learning Center because in in Colombia,
33:17
if we go in there, say for example Lolly mosque or
33:20
something. The door of Yeah.
33:23
It'll be more of a deterrent, yeah, because our target market
33:26
is people that are actually, they want spirituality but don't
33:30
necessarily want to go to church because they're so tired of
33:32
church they don't get answers. All the countries know it's the
33:35
same thing the people is avoiding like.
33:37
Religion. Religion, yeah.
33:39
So we started. Looking for a feeling?
33:42
Yeah. Exactly.
33:43
Yeah. So we started the Spiritual
33:45
Learning Center and we have people that come that are
33:48
Catholic, Christian, the Buddhist.
33:52
Like I think one person was goth.
33:54
She came in like for a while and Muslims, Sunnis and Shia.
33:57
So it's more about common ground of what we can bring together in
34:02
that sense. But I started with just going
34:05
there and telling God, hey, I don't know what I'm doing, but
34:09
this is my purpose. This is what I want to do.
34:11
So help me out, right? So one thing after another has
34:15
LED us to have a community of 30 or so people, 2530 people.
34:21
And the people think that it's a different religion or different
34:24
God or something. They say, oh, you're God.
34:27
And finally after we start talking, they realize that it's
34:31
only one God for everybody. Call however you want, but it's
34:35
only one God, so. Yeah, and and that's just start
34:40
right and figure it out. It's not like there's a, there's
34:45
a guide book, maybe there is, of how to go to Columbia and start
34:50
a spiritual Learning Center to talk to people about Imam
34:53
Wassenala Salame de El Al Bed. I don't know if there's a guide
34:56
book. If there is, somebody please
34:58
help me with them because we're still trying to figure it out.
35:02
But we know we're in the right direction because of the
35:06
numerous stories that we have, right?
35:08
We have, for example, there was a guy that used to work for me,
35:13
he was also a priest and he was working as well.
35:17
And he said to me one day, why are you always so common?
35:19
Where do you leave at 12:00? Because I would leave to go
35:21
pray. Oh, I see.
35:23
And I was like, I'll show you tomorrow.
35:25
So the next day I took him with us and we started to pray and he
35:29
said, can I join? So after we finished praying,
35:33
even though he didn't understand Arabic, he followed.
35:36
He followed suit with us with how we were praying.
35:39
Afterward, he started crying. No way.
35:42
I was like, are you OK? What's going on?
35:43
He's like, I've never felt something like this.
35:48
That's crazy. And we take it for granted.
35:50
Yeah, I'll pray in like, a couple hours, right.
35:53
So he says, I've never felt something like this.
35:56
And we started talking and talking and discussing.
35:59
And then that Thursday, he came to the Thursday night program.
36:02
And I remember he was telling me like, oh, no, Ali, you're wrong.
36:07
Jesus is God. You don't know what you're
36:09
talking about. And I gave him some verses from
36:12
the Quran. He started reading, I'm sorry,
36:13
from the Bible. He read those.
36:16
A few weeks later, he says, I need to speak to you outside.
36:20
I was like, OK, what's going on? He's like, listen, I read the
36:24
Bible verses you told me about, and I realized now that Jesus is
36:29
not God. I was like, yeah, now read these
36:33
other verses. So I gave him some other verses.
36:35
A week or so later, he calls me back.
36:37
He says, yeah, we need to meet again.
36:40
I was like, OK, He says that I realized that there's another
36:44
prophet after Jesus. And I was like, who do you think
36:48
that is? And he says the Prophet
36:51
Muhammad, peace be upon him. So he says to me that now he
36:56
cannot continue preaching at the churches because his words, they
37:00
lied to us and they hid the truth from us.
37:04
So how can I preach something that I know is no longer true
37:08
that next Thursday he comes with his wife and his children take
37:11
the shot. So with the idea of going to
37:18
Colombia to tell people about about, about Imam Ustin al
37:22
Islam, we have people like him who are priest and Christian all
37:26
their life and they realize there's more to it.
37:31
For example, my assistant, what we would do is there is the
37:34
place called Camino 13 in Medellin.
37:38
There were a lot of gangs and drugs activities there and then
37:43
eventually the government went in and cleaned it up and there.
37:45
It's very touristic now because they put a lot of graffiti all
37:49
over the walls. And we were lucky enough that we
37:55
put up three different quotes from Hamas and Al Islam on three
38:00
different murals. No other organization had the
38:02
ability to do that or the opportunity to do that.
38:04
Anyway, there I would go every Wednesday with my assistant.
38:07
We would talk about personal development, how to set up a
38:11
business, things like that, More about business.
38:13
And I was waiting for them to ask me one day, who are you and
38:15
why are you here? And eventually, I think about
38:18
two months later, they asked me. I was like, thank God, I've been
38:20
waiting this for this. So then I was able to discuss
38:24
with them that, you know, I was born in Pakistan, this is my
38:27
religion, so on and so forth. So then it took a whole turn and
38:31
we started talking about religion for the next two or
38:34
three months and comparing the Bible, comparing the Quran,
38:37
talking about Prophetessa, Jesus and so on.
38:41
And then we had people that started coming from there to the
38:45
center, to the programs. And in doing that, because my
38:48
assistant was Colombian, was translating for me, she started
38:53
questioning and eventually she became Muslim.
38:56
So Hamdullah, slowly it's building up in that way.
39:00
And again, going back to the fact that if I never took that
39:04
risk to leave New York and go to a country where I don't speak
39:08
the language, I don't know anyone.
39:09
I'm not saying you should absolutely do that, but but
39:13
that's something I decided to do because I felt the need that I
39:16
had to do something about something that I saw was not
39:19
right. For example, the the gentleman
39:22
that was, you know, speaking anti Shia rhetoric.
39:25
Yeah. So if I had never done that, she
39:30
wouldn't be sitting here, right? I wouldn't be married.
39:34
My assistant, the other guy that works for me, my attorney and
39:38
her father and all these other people who became Shia, I would
39:41
have never heard about it. So just like you were saying
39:45
you're, you're Koja and someone became Muslim.
39:48
Fact, bro. So I think in the next coming
39:51
years, inshallah, the same thing happens in in Colombia.
39:56
As a matter of fact, last year we were able to bring three
39:59
people for our bane for their bane walk.
40:03
And it was amazing for them. I think you were one of them if
40:07
you want to tell your story. Yeah, yeah.
40:09
Yeah, Oh my God, that's really like a dream because I never
40:16
like think and I never thought that I will be in that place.
40:22
And the the feeling it's OK to travel, it's OK to know another
40:27
countries. For example, London is my one of
40:31
my dreams to, to know. And it was like, Oh my God, this
40:35
is really good. And I I telling you guys that I
40:38
feel like in a movie, but going to Karbala, Oh my God, it's
40:42
totally different. The, the, yes, the connection,
40:45
the everything, everything you, you feel like spiritually, like
40:50
mentally, like even though like physically everything changed
40:55
and you feel like, Oh my God, I was missing this for all these
40:59
years. So.
41:02
I cannot, I cannot ask because you are both like bash Allah,
41:08
like a power couple. And I really mean that because
41:12
you, you became Shia before you met Ali and you were, you were
41:17
strong in your faith and certain in your faith before you guys
41:20
had a community and you had the spiritual learning centre.
41:23
And the last part, I gave you a community and the last Fontana
41:27
gave you a community and he gave you a family and a wife and, and
41:32
you know, people around you who love and care for each other.
41:34
And that's something so beautiful.
41:37
And I think every human deep inside us, you know, ourselves,
41:41
we crave that like we crave the affection, we crave the love.
41:46
And people will look for that affection and love through
41:49
anything, through material things and cars and phones and,
41:53
and, and, you know, other relationships and things like
41:57
that. But you won't find that there.
42:00
You find it through something which is much deeper than that.
42:03
You know, you find it through something which is, which
42:06
transcends a physical form, you know, something which is in so
42:10
many ways spiritual and emotional and sentimental.
42:15
And these things are God-given a last panel to Allah gives risk
42:21
and the risk that Allah gives is more than the wealth he gives us
42:25
and more than the food and the clothes he gives gives us.
42:29
One of my, my very good friends and the dear brother of mine
42:32
told me the other day, and it's emotional for me.
42:36
He's he's leaving the UK, he's moving out of the UK and we've
42:41
only known each other for maybe two years, OK, because our wives
42:45
were friends. And I've become very close to
42:49
him in the last maybe six months, very close.
42:53
Like I now look at him as an older brother.
42:56
In the beginning he was like, yeah, my wife's friend's
42:58
husband, brother. He's he's liquid.
43:02
But like, you know, Marshall, he's I got to see him more and
43:04
we got and now I look him, I think he's an example to me.
43:07
You know, I look at him, I learn about how to be a good father,
43:10
how to be a good Muslim. And he told me the other day, he
43:13
said Ahmed Allah Spano Ta'ala gives risk through friendship as
43:18
well through relationships. Don't just think of it as as
43:21
wealth because you know, in this society where to survive, let's
43:25
say in a city like London, any household is spending at least
43:29
three, four, £5000 a month, you know, or maybe 6, seven, $8000 a
43:36
month to survive, to have a home, to have feed your
43:39
children, you know. So a lot of us pray for risk, we
43:43
pray for y'all. Allah give me sustenance.
43:47
You know, Allah gives you sustenance in his own way at his
43:50
own time, by his own decree and choice.
43:54
You have no say in it in terms of how it's given to you, but
43:59
you raise your hand, you make the DAW Allah will give that to
44:01
us. And it could be today or any
44:04
other day or never, but that's Allah's wish.
44:07
And how he chooses to send that mercy down on us is his his
44:10
choice as well. And one of those, like I said,
44:12
the key thing is when it comes to relationships, and this has
44:15
been a like a change in my mentality in the last few weeks
44:18
since the brother mentioned it to me, is that I care a lot
44:21
about my friends. I care about you guys.
44:23
I care about Amir Saad behind the cameras.
44:25
My, my brother and I love him. And you know, like friends are
44:30
few, they're like diamonds, you know, and pearls.
44:34
They are rare and they're valuable.
44:37
And when you have a good friend, you hold on to them, someone who
44:40
you love, someone who care about someone who will look after you,
44:43
protect you. And for you guys, Mashallah,
44:47
friendship is one level, their marriage is another.
44:50
The Quran says that your your spouse is like a clothing for
44:54
you. They shroud you, they guard you,
44:56
they embrace you, they they dignify you and they adorn you
45:00
with beauty and, and you know all of these adornments.
45:03
So I think it's. Half of your denials?
45:06
Part of half of your denial. There you go.
45:08
So I mean, it's it's so beautiful to see like how our
45:12
last one tells blessed you both and in such a beautiful way as
45:15
well. And now you are helping others
45:16
find their purpose. You're helping people understand
45:20
that, you know, what is their place meant to be in life and
45:23
how are they meant to find hack and, you know, truth and peace
45:28
because I think that's ultimately what we all want.
45:31
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, and a lot of times I think
45:34
we get, we feel lost or uncertain about what we should
45:38
do, I think. We need a little push.
45:42
Yeah, we need a little push, right?
45:44
But but also I think we should have whatever goal that we have
45:48
in mind that we want to do. Obviously, as long as it's halal
45:51
and just step forward and do it, you're probably going to fall in
45:54
your face once, twice, three times.
45:57
It doesn't matter. How many times do you get back
46:00
up and keep going. And whether you're here in
46:05
London or you know, with us in Columbia, Medellin or New York,
46:10
wherever, it doesn't matter where you are because God is
46:15
everywhere. Allah is everywhere.
46:17
So whatever goal you have, go for it.
46:20
Don't wait and make God your friend because he's the one
46:24
that's going to guide you through it.
46:25
Don't worry about the society. Don't worry about your friends.
46:29
I think we worry too much about what our friends or family are
46:31
going to say. For example, when I moved to
46:33
Colombia, people were like, oh, why are you going there?
46:36
There's all this like drug cartel and this and that.
46:40
And I was like, I'm going there for this purpose by.
46:44
The way have you seen Narcos? Yes, and your friend who is in
46:47
Narcos is a. Shia as well.
46:49
He's a Shia also. Yeah, there you go.
46:52
He's actually a Shia from Colombia.
46:54
He was born Shia because his father and his uncle there were
46:58
converts from the 80s or so or maybe a little bit before that,
47:02
but he lives in New York now. But yeah, just just take the
47:06
step forward because you always have a lot of there to guide you
47:09
and help you and sustain you. Because it's not like only in
47:12
London will you make this money. No.
47:14
Maybe you go somewhere else. For example, if you have a
47:16
remote job, you can go to a different country that you want
47:19
to make a positive change in. Work your remote job from there.
47:22
And most likely you won't need to make as much money because it
47:26
probably costs a lot less to live there.
47:29
And with the savings that you have, you could probably, you
47:33
know, to have some positive change for the society and the
47:36
community there, whether they're Muslim or not.
47:40
And you know, they see that you're Muslim and you can be the
47:44
example that they see as what Islam is as opposed to the
47:49
example that they see on, on, on social media or, or, or in like
47:53
movies of what Islam is. Well, anything that's this
47:58
stuff. Any any any anything you want to
48:00
say. No, I think like I was thinking,
48:07
well, while you were saying that like when I became Muslim, I
48:12
start like losing friends and I was like, Oh my God, what is
48:18
this? But finally you realize that who
48:23
really is your friend? So if I have to be alone, I will
48:29
be alone. I have got so I don't need
48:31
anything else. I think that's an inspiration to
48:35
all of us. And it's not her just saying it.
48:37
She's really. I'm a surprise.
48:39
I mean, like you guys, like we said, people in the West are
48:44
discriminated and we have horrible Islamophobia here.
48:48
And this is the most, one of the most diverse countries in the
48:51
world, you know, and people suffer here, suffer Islamophobic
48:57
incidents here and people who are racist and people who hate
49:01
Muslims. And we have, but even here where
49:04
you have so much slum in this country, I mean, we were
49:09
mentioning the other day in London, you have over 30 Shia
49:11
centers just in this city alone. At each Shia center is hundreds
49:16
or thousands of people, you know.
49:18
So we have so many at Hamdid, Lahara, Bilal.
49:20
I mean, but I can't imagine in somewhere like in Colombia or in
49:24
in any other remote part of the world in Far East Asia or in
49:30
parts of New Zealand or Australia or parts of like
49:33
Alaska. Or anyway, like, you know, in
49:35
these very remote areas or very dominated Catholic areas or
49:40
Hindu country or like it might be a Buddhist land or something,
49:44
a place where it's just dominated by a specific
49:46
religion. And you enter into that land as
49:50
a lady with a hijab on her head and say, I am Colombian, I was
49:53
born here, but I am a Muslim and I accept it.
49:55
And you can, you can take me or you can leave me and I don't
49:59
want. No, and sometimes we don't do
50:01
like things or changes because we feel afraid too.
50:06
But for example, is normal that people ask me like, oh, you're
50:11
wearing hijab how they treat you in in Colombia because we don't
50:14
have that culture there. So it's totally funny because
50:21
when you are on the street, most of the people are like, oh, you
50:25
look so pretty like that. Oh, are you wearing that Instead
50:29
of say, I didn't the years that I have been Muslim, just one or
50:35
two or three person people, sorry, have telling me like, oh,
50:39
you're terrorist. That's it.
50:42
But the rest of the people are more curious about it.
50:45
So that is like, like a door that we have to make that one.
50:51
Yeah. I had to explain why we were the
50:53
hijab, why we became Muslim, why we practice the religion.
50:58
It's funny, on the flight here, the lady that was sitting next
51:01
to her thought that she was Muslim, Pakistani, something,
51:04
and I was Colombian. Roles reversed.
51:08
Yeah. Wow.
51:10
But like, that's a good point. And that sometimes you doing
51:13
that thing in front of people and the way you encouraged him
51:16
to pray with you as well. And people, you know, I was in
51:19
the office the other day and we have a brother who's a good
51:23
friend of mine and he works in the same building as I do.
51:26
And he was praying, you know, he was about to do wudu.
51:29
And I said, bro, there's, there's a private bathroom here
51:32
where I do wudu. You can use it if you want
51:34
because there's a code on the door.
51:36
So I said, I'll give you the code.
51:37
You can do wudu in here. It's clean.
51:39
No one uses it. It's just me and the other
51:41
Muslims. He said, no, I, I want to do the
51:44
wudu in the kitchen. I said, why?
51:47
He said, because I want people to see what I'm doing.
51:49
He I said, wow. He said, yeah, sometimes people
51:52
ask me, what are you doing? Why are you washing your hands
51:54
and your feet? And yeah, you know, when you're
51:56
about to pray or you're in the office and it's 1:00 on a
51:59
Wednesday. Yeah.
52:00
You know, so he, he and you guys make a very good point that
52:04
sometimes you have to be unapologetic.
52:06
You have to be brave, you have to step out of your comfort zone
52:10
because without that, there's no growth ultimately.
52:12
And what are we if we're not growing in in the way of a last
52:15
pontala? Like we said in Hunger Quran,
52:17
Allah tells us strive in the way of Allah and Allah will reward
52:20
you and make that path easy and visible for us.
52:23
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
52:26
I think it's been an incredible discussion.
52:29
I just want to ask you guys one or two last questions for those
52:34
who look, I'm sure that I'll be I'm going to talk to everyone at
52:36
home. OK?
52:37
So if you're listening or you're watching on YouTube plus things,
52:41
subscribe, OK? Please, if you're enjoying this
52:43
content, make sure you subscribe.
52:44
Trying to get to 8 million subscribers, like I said last
52:47
week. So I'm joking, but no listen
52:50
guys, make sure you subscribe. But more so if you feel like I
52:55
do passionately and strongly that my brother and my sister
53:00
here are doing incredible work in their community in Colombia,
53:03
where in two or three years they have brought 20 people towards
53:07
the path of the Akhil Beta name of Salaam.
53:09
And we need to support them, OK. And this is not like a sponsored
53:12
episode or anything like that. So we're not, they're not paying
53:15
us. I mean, it's from the bottom of
53:17
my heart. I've seen the messages that
53:20
Ali's put together and Ali's wrote, he's made reports and
53:23
he's made campaign pages and all sorts of things to try and seek
53:27
funding specifically. And in two or three years, if
53:30
you don't mind me saying how much you've, he's raised
53:33
Mashallah an incredible, but not enough.
53:35
About 6 or $7000, which is definitely not enough.
53:40
Definitely not enough. And we're talking about the
53:42
establishment of a Shia community here, which is so
53:45
important, and a community which is independent of politicization
53:50
and independent of, of, you know, like, you know, any kind
53:56
of strings attached or any exclusions.
53:58
This is a community which is encouraging and allowing
54:01
everyone and anyone to come and learn about Islam and health and
54:04
safety, environment, health, health and safety, healthy and
54:07
safe environment, not health and safety, healthy and safe
54:11
environment and an environment which allows a conversation to
54:14
prosper. So guys, I really want you to
54:16
support their work. How can people learn more
54:19
support, follow you? Do you guys have a page?
54:22
Is there people where people can?
54:23
A place where people can support your work?
54:26
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for that,
54:27
because I wasn't expecting that I'll.
54:31
Take my check after. Yeah, but yeah, we have a
54:36
website. We also have a Instagram page.
54:40
I will put it in the link in the bio as well.
54:41
Yeah, let's do that. Let me see if I can find the
54:44
actual. It's in Spanish.
54:47
It's in Spanish, so it's spelled out.
54:49
Centro. Centro, Yeah.
54:54
And then spiritual. Spiritual, ESP. iritual.co.
55:04
Wow. For Columbia I.
55:05
Think we'll put it in the bio? Yeah, it's gonna have to go in
55:07
the bio and then I'll. Don't you say the whole thing.
55:09
Centro Spiritual, but that's just the website and also we'll
55:14
do the well. The Instagram page also probably
55:17
is better off in the bio. Yeah, and, and what, what, what
55:20
would you like people to help you with and where can, where
55:22
will your their support go? Really it just goes towards the
55:27
center of the rent, the different programs that we do.
55:31
As a matter of fact, just to give you a little more insight
55:33
about the community, most of the people in Colombia don't make
55:36
more than maybe 500 or or seven hundred $800 in a whole month
55:42
and they don't have too much money there.
55:47
As a matter of fact, some of the people that come, actually a
55:50
few, quite a few of them, we have to pay their transportation
55:54
to come back and forth because they just don't have it.
55:56
One guy literally like literally just washes cars for a living.
56:02
And the other people, they, they live in very poor areas as well.
56:06
And sometimes we're even giving, not sometimes, every few months
56:11
we give donations to them full of rice and lentils and
56:16
different items in a bag for groceries for for a month or so
56:20
or two months that they can last with to help them out.
56:23
So the money goes directly towards that, towards rent,
56:27
towards transportation for them to come, come and go and any
56:31
other events that we hold there. Just keeps you going.
56:33
Yeah, we share food like every Thursday program.
56:37
Yeah, we share like dinner or something.
56:39
So yeah. That's amazing.
56:41
My last point, always bless you guys.
56:43
I really pray and I've followed the journey from the beginning
56:49
and you know, just to see how it's growing and succeeded is
56:52
amazing. But it's, it's not at the end of
56:55
your story. In fact, in Charlotte, so only
56:57
at the beginning. And you know, hopefully you told
57:00
me what 2 days ago you're like, you could see yourself living in
57:03
Colombia for the rest of your life.
57:04
Yeah, I mean, that's the plan, Charlotte.
57:06
We can continue growing the community and and get it to a
57:10
place. We were walking down the street
57:12
earlier and I was telling her, you know, wouldn't it be amazing
57:15
that we can have halal restaurants all around Colombia
57:18
like this? And that's just for a lot of
57:21
restaurants. But wouldn't it be amazing if we
57:23
can see? Hijabis.
57:25
Hijabis and the. Stores everything.
57:28
Yeah. Masjid because.
57:30
Yeah. Masjid over there, so my God.
57:33
Charlotte, Charlotte. And that community is developing
57:35
with your support. So yeah, Charlotte, we pray for
57:39
that guys. Thank you so much both of you
57:41
for being here. It really means a lot to me on
57:44
the personal level. And obviously I'm sure viewers
57:46
at home will agree. Everyone, this thing that this
57:48
has been like an eye opening episode.
57:51
I've learnt a lot. I really feel emotional as well
57:54
to hear about growth and successes of communities which
57:59
are smaller but succeeding. And I really mean that because
58:02
these are communities which are pure in their nature and sincere
58:06
in their goal. So we have a responsibility to
58:10
support them. And that could be through
58:12
material, it could be through resources, information.
58:16
If we have Spanish speakers who are in the West who feel that
58:20
they could support, they could provide material, they could do
58:23
translation work, that these kind of things are important
58:26
because there is a growing community in Colombia here.
58:29
And that is thanks to sister Lady Fatima and our dear brother
58:33
Seid Ali. And because of them, we're able
58:35
to get to a point where we're having this discussion today.
58:40
So yeah, thank you both again so much.
58:42
Thank you so much for having us. I don't think it's because of
58:46
me. I just wanted to add that I
58:48
think I'm just lucky and honored to be able to do this because it
58:53
could have been anyone. God could have picked anybody.
58:56
So I don't think it's me. I'm just happy that He's using
58:59
me as a tool. Awesome, awesome.
59:01
That's a beautiful way to look at it.
59:04
And lastly, guys, make sure you subscribe.
59:06
I do miss say that I need other way, I really do.
59:08
He's not here today, but inshallah next week we will be
59:11
back as usual. And listen, a last thing and I
59:13
know we mentioned it last week, but I'm just going to mention it
59:16
again. We are expecting to do a big
59:19
beautiful event in January inshallah for the Wiladit of
59:22
Emil Mahmanin Alehi Salaam. And we're going to do something
59:25
probably in London, something which you will all have the
59:28
opportunity to have the opportunity to attend and
59:31
something which will bring speakers maybe from around the
59:34
world, maybe for from different areas, but a number of amazing
59:39
speakers, some of your favorite podcast guests on Aftermath and
59:43
bring them directly to a venue where you can come and engage
59:47
with them one to 1. So this is a really amazing
59:49
opportunity, maybe not one to one, but you know, you can
59:52
listen to them as well. So alright guys, we'll see you
59:56
next week. Stay tuned because that event,
59:58
inshallah we will release as soon as we have all the details
1:00:01
finalized. We'll see you.
1:00:02
See you next week. Take care of some alaikum.