Abdur-Raheem McCarthy – My experience giving Dawah in Ireland – Abdur Raheem McCarthy

			and from the people who warned me not to go was a chef who suggested saying this. He said the same
people who are supporting you now continue to come. He said, they're the ones who are going to stab
you on your back when you go. But they say, what's the main problem? When it comes to, you know,
Islam in Ireland? I said, the fact that we have Muslims podcasts.
		

			So, yeah, you you tell us about what you've been doing recently, please. I mean, you, you moved from
me you grew up in? People know, you grew up in
		

			the USA, you're born and raised Irish kind of extraction. You went back home to Ireland? For a
while? Yeah, actually, it was it was very interesting, because when I decided to move back to
Ireland,
		

			I call it back. Yeah, but even though you were born and raised back to the homeland.
		

			So the I asked different Musharraf and different, you know, people have experience and who lived in
the West, and, you know, should I go back or not. And I knew when I was when I turned eight, when
eight when I was 18, I became Muslim. And then I went out to study Oh, and I stayed overseas,
studying for over 13 years. And then I ended up going to work in Sudan. And you know, worked in
started my, my Dawa career, I guess there are very minor when I first started, my dad was there, and
then it started International, international,
		

			lecturing, traveling or what have you and internationally to extend on PCB and PCB, that's when it
started 2009. And then, you know, who did TV and other TV channels. And then I moved to Dubai and
stayed there for about three and a half, almost four years, and had this dream or this, you know,
inspiration to kind of build and do things in Ireland because there was no English speaking do out.
There are students of knowledge, you know, there's some people giving Dawa. But you know, to like,
as a thought of as a student of knowledge. There's no one there who was an English speaker. So I
would have been, I was the first and from that aspect. So I decided to go back and build there. And
		

			from the people who warned me not to go, was she a few semesters, if he has the experience, he said,
Now it looks good. And he said, the people I know promising you this and you're saying this, we said
the same people who are supporting you now continue to come. He said, they're the ones who are going
to stab you on your back when you go, they're the ones gonna cause you problems. And he said, You're
going my son through a midlife crisis. And he said, Don't do it. He said, You're comfortable where
you are living in the Middle East. So you're doing well, there, you and your family said, Stay
there. But obviously, sometimes, as you say, you know, you have to go through something, learn
		

			yourself in order to experience it. That's it. So I didn't listen to his advice. But every now and
then I go back to his email, it was actually much deeper than that, at everything. He said, What
happened to me from the Muslims in Ireland or in the West, that happened, just kind of rewinding
back a bit. You mentioned, maybe something be controversial, when you're saying shift use of STS was
saying, you know, the people will, what do you say, Sally will stab you in the back stab you in the
back? What's that about? Getting? Because obviously, you'll find like, especially if he's Masters is
still in the US. Okay? And because obviously, you know, you'll find that a lot of times, you know,
		

			that, you know, people who say they want to support the dollar when they're behind the dollar. And
then once you start, you know, to come into especially in the massage and for some reason to massage
it in the West. You know, I reached the conclusion that you know, the massage in the western
Fortunately, you know, some of the probably the biggest barrier between us and giving Dawa. Wow, you
know, even now when people
		

			do come to them, or when I when I travel across the world view, oh my gosh, Ireland, and look at
people like Irish people, Irish people are nice people. So how is Islam in Ireland? Ireland is
beautiful. Ireland is wonderful. The Irish are or, you know, fantastic non Muslims, they, but they
say what's the main problem when it comes to, you know, Islam in Ireland, I said, the fact that we
have Muslims there, there is no Muslims, it would be a fantastic place to live. You know,
unfortunately, this is this is the reality. So it's a huge challenge for a reverse, obviously,
because you see in the book certain things and you read about it, it's amazing. Then also even in
		

			the Quran, the ayah
		

			Robina Allah Tatiana fitna and Latina Cafaro. And then that you could take that as well. Don't make
us a tribulation or trial for the disbelieving people. And that's the reality because when we give
we give that with sometimes to non Muslims, and they read about Islam, or they hear about Islam,
they talk to you about Islam. They see how that makes sense. And I could understand that, but they
say if it was truly beneficial, it's truly good. Why didn't it benefit you guys? Why are the Muslims
in the situation there? Why this country is like that. That's country why the immigrants when they
come to our countries, they're doing this and that. So this is the thing is that they see that and
		

			that's actually spineless. It's a beautiful example. Any that we really need to think about in any
Muslim living in the West needs to always remember that I that he doesn't become a fitna tribulation
for the non Muslims because they see Islam through us. And I'll tell you a story. Subhanallah when
we first when I first moved to Ireland, one of the tests I had with one of the brothers, he asked me
to come here, Mission limited. May Allah bless him. He had a former and he was a hospital. And he
actually gave him all the things away for charity, all the all of the things that Aziz entered the
vase, and he paid for that and then he opened up his center to be a mosque, or to be in an Islamic
		

			Center.
		

			And then when he went for the planning permission to open it, he didn't get the hours you know, so
he couldn't like use it for a shell, we couldn't use it for Fudger. So as a masjid or to pray in any
ways, we could use that as a masjid. So basically, it was an information center, but obviously we're
using it to pray five times a day, but we weren't able to use it when we opened it. And one of the
main things was, is the we had one of the neighbors who was so against us. Yeah. And she was like,
you know, just her, you know, she had this vendetta against Islam and Muslims. So we just you know,
figured you know, stuff Allah, this, you know, Kathira hater. You know, there's everybody's
		

			thinking, but Subhanallah when we actually found out what the problem was, I guess, can I guess? It
was people parking outside of a driveway, when life started in a parking
		

			parking spot with one of the brothers who was living there next to the next to the man in masjid.
And he disputed with her over who had the more right to the certain parking spot. And the brother
yelled at her, raised his voice to her, and then raised his hand.
		

			And, like, threatened to hit her, she jumped back and she was like, Well, you know, so it escalated
to that. So then what did she see? Muslim beard, Arab guy, you know, in she just mark all Muslims
with with with the same color, you know. And then later what happened, like when I moved in there,
she's like, looking at me, you know, a beard. Another one. I see my wife like with the niqab. And
		

			so she's looking at us, but um, you know, I'm generally I'm, I try to always be nice to everyone. So
I'm just this, you know, Hi, how you doing this type of thing and raise your hand. Just Hi. Very
nice. Hi. But I'm the law. So I never had any issues with her myself. But I never actually, you
know, spoke with her. But one of the brothers who was better than me, may Allah bless him. He was
living next door to one of our neighbors, he actually started to speak to her start to be nicer to
try to, you know, fix the situation. And he found out this story from her. She said, after meeting
with you and speak with you, she said, I've changed my mind about Muslims. And she says, Unless she
		

			said, No, she does this.
		

			She said, You know that I've changed my mind about Muslims because of how nice you are. And I've
seen you know, Muslims really are but your friend from your country, same and same Arab countries,
that he did this. And this. I mean, that's why I labeled all Muslims being the same. So I look out
now. And it just how you can combine the two.
		

			And you see now that he truly as they said in the verse, they became a fitna. For those individuals.
No, they became a trial and tribulation for her where his actions push her away from Islam where
another brother with true Islam and good manners and being like a Muslim shooting, a main thing is a
HELOC. For the four people around you. I mean, if it was like, if it happened in England, I would
maybe give some explanation maybe about, you know, hundreds and hundreds of years of indoctrination
of with racist stereotypes. But in Ireland, I've seen that just generally non Muslim Irish people,
they don't have the same kind of stereotypes generally against Muslims. Is that a fair kind of
		

			assessment, in terms of until recently, recently, they've kind of they've been on the receiving end
of English. That's why you'll find for example, when I think the stereotypes it is there because of
the media. And I would actually find that interesting enough people seem to like my wife within the
club. I think she found that it was very challenging for obviously, but maybe it was sometimes less
challenging for me than if I were to come like wearing a thought. Because they see me and they know,
I'm Irish, you know, and I'm one of them. But I'm wearing the closest one of them, you know, St.
Patrick.
		

			Maybe they know it, but they don't they don't get it. So like, if you would see them. Like they
would be scared, you know, oh my god, you know, it's one of them. But he's one of us at the same
time. So what's going on? There was a bit of shock. My wife they probably assumed she was out of or
something like that. So they wouldn't, you know, think about this. One time when she was going with
she, she had we had our son there. She was in the hospital, she comes up. So the lady looks at her
and she's like, Do you speak English? And she's like, Yes, pretty good.
		

			But she assumed obviously she's not from them. So the Irish people, they're amazing. But you'll see
that when they like you said because they went through that for 800 years. So that's why you'll find
that when it comes to when it comes to the ISRAEL PALESTINE. One of the most countries who know
behind Palestine,
		

			they're fantastic. They're always, you know, you know, you know, demonstrating and the oh, you know,
even even I remember one politician when he won the elections, as a TDP put up the flag, you know,
and even if you look at like the some of the government, they had a meeting with Israeli ambassador,
and they roasted him and they really gave it to him. Yeah, I've seen like clips and stuff and viral
clips.
		

			But But why is that because they went through the same thing. They were occupied colonizer and
colonized for over 100 years. So when they see with the Palestinian Palestinian people are going
through, they have to have that feeling for them. So I'm delighted for the Irish it was an it was an
amazing experience. But anyways, even with all the difficulties that I went through, and all of the
knives that I received in the backs, were just saying, What was the reason not just I mean, one
thing is bad luck. That's unfortunately probably everywhere. But do you think what is there a unique
issue with Muslims in the West I mean,
		

			Maybe like disunity or sectarianism? What do you mean? Why?
		

			Why do we they look at us in a negative light? Not I mean, because someone could say, you know, it's
unfair to say the Muslims in the West will stab you in the back or, you know what? You have good
people, they were a Western Muslim, right? You don't stab people in the right. But I think a lot of
times, I mean, it could come from people who came from different countries to be there. Because
honestly, this massager we have is like these monopolies on the massage we have a bunch of, you
know, Qaddafi is ruling the massage but who the only way they'll leave from their administrative
position is if they were to
		

			steal anyway, way they're going out. Right? So it's just like, and they hold on to and they fight
for it, you know? And, and sometimes they're like, it's a masjid. Or wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't
wouldn't the better thing to do be stay there, work hard and try and reform that community?
		

			You can look at it like that. But I mean, for me, honestly, when I looked at the situation, I didn't
see that people were serious enough. I've had some serious people around me who were really striving
really want to benefit really wanted to gain knowledge and learn that I would have you know, been
patient, but you how long did you stay in it for five years? Five plus, actually, I say after five
years, you can have the luck of Ireland The
		

			have that anyways.
		

			From my blood and yeah, I remember that one time we went in there and she's like, What do you come
in here? I said, Well, I'm originally from here. I'm just coming to visit. I was I was just to go
for visits. So your Irish look at the name McCarthy's Oh yeah, no doubt.
		

			They know right away. So there's,
		

			I mean, there's good everywhere. I mean, we have to be fair, there was a lot of lot of good brothers
and sisters who are trying to do what they can