Adnan Rashid – Conversation inside Hagia Sophia
AI: Summary ©
A tour guide leads a tour of Islamic history, highlighting sites like the Roman history and sites like the Islamic culture. The guide emphasizes the importance of showing the story in the context of the tour guide's work with Brother Tariq. The success of the tour guide's work with Brother Tariq is highlighted, including the rise of Muslims in Turkey and the need for inspiration to reconnect with their culture. The choice of "medicals for tours" and "medicals for vacations" is also discussed, with a recommendation to check out " edggetaways.com."
AI: Summary ©
Hi everyone, I am here with Brother Tariq
from Halal Getaways.
As-salamu alaykum Masha'Allah, so Brother Tariq
is a tour organiser who organises tours to
historic sites in Turkey, in Spain and Morocco.
And Alhamdulillah, many Muslims from around the world,
from Canada, from Australia, from the US, from
UK, from other parts of the world, they
are joining, even UAE and Saudi Arabia, we've
had many amazing guests joining these tours.
So I want to talk about these tours.
I've been working with Brother Tariq for a
while and what is the purpose of these
tours and what are we trying to achieve?
Welcome.
Thank you.
So tell me Brother Tariq, why are you
doing these tours?
How long have you been doing these tours
for?
Spain we started 22 years ago and since
then we've added Turkey and Morocco.
And the reason is we want to show
Islamic history, Islamic history from a Muslim perspective.
So it's really important for people to visit
these sites.
But with people who know about the history
and also to take lessons from the history
that's there.
A lot of people come, they visit sites,
they take photos, they go back, they learn
a little bit of information.
But what are the lessons from these places?
And also the narrative, it's told with a
story.
So it's like you're living through a story
and it's a story narrative that they follow.
So for example as we've just done this
Ottoman one.
We started right at the beginning and we
covered the Roman history pre-Islam.
How Islam was founded, how it came about
and then the early attempts and then the
Ottomans.
Before we even get to the Ottomans we
cover the early...
So people get a real idea of the...
So let me very quickly explain this because
I've been on the tour as well and
I'm explaining history as we go along.
Brother Tariq Mashallah is an accomplished historian.
He does presentations every single evening to give
a better appreciation to the participants.
The history of Ottomans in particular and the
history of Turkey in general.
So we start from Iznik, ancient Nicaea, explaining
the Roman past, Roman history and the Council
of Nicaea.
The beginning of the Christian theology let's say.
It began in Nicaea where the doctrine of
the Trinity was formalized.
And then we make our way to Sugut
which is where the Ottomans were initiated or
started.
First settled.
First settled.
Ertugrul Ghazi was based there and you know
the Ertugrul series.
Everyone knows about it and we tell actual
history on the ground.
We take people to the monuments and their
tombs and explain the history.
And then we move to Bursa where six
of the early Ottoman Sultans are buried.
From Othman Ghazi onwards all the way up
to Murad II who was the father of
Sultan Muhammad al-Fatih who conquered Constantinople.
And then we make our way to Constantinople
i.e. Istanbul.
And we come to great mosques like Sulaymaniyah
and Sultan Ahmed.
And right now we are in Hagia Sophia.
So this is the journey.
A short summary.
And why are we doing this?
I want to ask brother Tariq.
What are we trying to achieve from these
tours in particular when it comes to Muslims?
You could say Islamic reconnection, a revival, a
connection with their history.
If you don't know your history then you're
basically nobody.
Absolutely.
Identity.
There's lots of issues that need to be
addressed and through journeys like this, I think
many of those get addressed especially young Muslims.
As you know, young Muslims are going through
an identity crisis and a journey like this
really reconnects them with their heritage.
But even older people as well.
We have all sorts of people.
Everyone needs inspiration.
Everyone needs to be inspired.
Can I ask you as a historian, somebody
who does lectures, talks, vlogs, you have like,
you know, some YouTube presentations.
Why is people traveling on a journey like
this with someone like you, like yourself, different
to listening to a lecture, to reading a
book, to, you know, what's the impact of
the actual journey itself?
You see brother Tariq is a very polite
brother as you can tell, but I am
very blunt.
I will say bluntly that Muslims have no
idea what is out here.
Most Muslims who have never been to Turkey,
never been to Islamic Spain, those who can
actually afford to do so, you are missing
out big time.
You have challenges with your children.
You have challenges with your youngsters going astray,
going off to other ideologies, possibly going on
drugs and doing all sorts of shenanigans.
And you're worried about them that why are
they behaving like this?
Background, the context of why, how, where, when,
who, all of this is very important.
And when everything is explained in detail, the
legacies of Sultans, why they fought certain battles,
why they took territories, what were they working
for?
What were their aspirations?
Why did they end up making such grand
structures like Sulaymaniyah Mosque or the Blue Mosque
in Sultan Ahmed Square?
Or why was Hagia Sophia turned into a
Masjid when Sultan Fateh took the city in
1453 from the Romans?
How did the Roman Empire collapse?
How did the Ottoman rise?
And what lessons can we take from the
Ottoman history?
If you don't bring your children, your youngsters
or even your elders to these places, especially
when you can afford to do it, you
are losing.
You're missing out.
We might spend money on holidays to islands
and, you know, going to exotic countries to
spend time there.
This is the best place to bring your
families, your kids, your youngsters, your elders, so
that you can have quality time together and
learn the history of Islam in general and
the history of Ottomans in particular.
Okay, so I am here every few months
on the ground with Halal Getaways.
Brother Tariq has been at it for a
very long time and he's very passionate about
history.
I am myself, you can tell from my
content, it's mostly history based and we're trying
to really revive appreciation for the history of
Islam in the Muslim community around the world.
Okay, we are missing out.
We are really lost and we can never
find the way again unless we study our
history carefully and master it, take control of
it.
We should teach our history to the world,
not our enemies.
Brother Tariq?
Just finally, I mean like the impact of
a journey like this, I don't think anything
compares.
You can do as many courses.
Of course, I'm not saying don't do courses
and don't study and don't read books.
Of course, you must do that.
But the impact of a journey like this,
you can't put a value on it.
100% You can't put any kind of
value on it.
100% We've seen it, we've been doing
it for 22 years.
We work with youth, we have other people
coming.
We have people who have been to these
destinations before.
They've been to Turkey before, they've been to
Spain before, they've been to Morocco and then
they come on a journey like this and
they say, wow, we're just seeing it in
a completely different light altogether.
We really didn't come before.
We want to just come for the first
time now.
So the impact of a journey like this
is invaluable.
And yes, you can visit, bring your kids
if you can, but try to join one
of the tours.
Absolutely.
Destinations are selected for a reason as well.
They're not just random destinations.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
These destinations are very carefully chosen, specifically chosen
for specific reasons.
We are right now sitting inside Hagia Sophia,
the famous Hagia Sophia that was once upon
a time, the biggest church in the world.
It was completed in 537 CE, almost 30
to 40 years before the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam was born.
Okay, the structure around us, you can see
it.
Yeah, we're just finishing in a few minutes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay, we're finishing now.
Okay.
So this structure around us is more than
1,400 years old.
Okay.
The pillars, the walls, the dome has been
fixed many times.
So there's a reason why we are here.
It was recently turned into a masjid again
from a museum.
And a lot of Muslim youngsters take inspiration.
So brothers and sisters, you do tours to
Spain, to Turkey, to Morocco, to teach Islamic
history and many tours are coming up soon.
Check out halalgetaways.com, halalgetaways.com.
And we're going to be doing more of
these interviews and content so that you can
appreciate the work we're doing inshallah and join
in the future.
Thank you so much for listening.
As-salamu alaykum.
Thank you.
Thank you.