Imtiaz Sooliman – Imtiaaz Sooliman is our #championSAfrica on todays show.

Imtiaz Sooliman
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the high rates of cyber bullying in Africa and the need for parents to be "identifiable" for parents. They emphasize the importance of following spiritual guidance and not just achieving "has been done" concepts. They also discuss the success of their own career and the importance of helping others. They emphasize the need for faith in people and finding the ones who have the best success. They end by thanking everyone for their time and thanking them for being part of the group.
AI: Transcript ©
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Hi, welcome back.

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Lots more to come. I can tell you, not just on this show, but

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certainly all throughout the day, some really great programming on

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Salah media that you absolutely have to listen out for, right? Um,

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Doctor. MJ Solomon comes up next, but there's we've asked for

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comments on a range of issues. We are getting comments. Let's get

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let's get more on that. Rahima, what have you got? So our

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listeners are definitely confirming the fact that South

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Africa has one of the highest rates of cyber bullying in the

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world. We've got two comments specifically that speaks to the

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notion that adults are bullies and how children how

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their parents behave at home and in the workplace. We also hearing

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that it's no surprise that the children are bullying, because

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that's what they see adults doing. So there's been a huge shift now,

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also with regards to placing adults as responsible for

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bullying. And we've got one more comment that I think is necessary

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to mention. Somebody says, I'm a rever to Islam and wish to remain

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anonymous, but I noticed a problem amongst us Muslims, a special name

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referring to us, and realize that we will never be accepted by most

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Muslims. It's sad and disappointed, as we are also a

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lost creation. So yes, being a revert seems to come with its

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difficulties and challenges in our community, something we need to be

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aware about and try and solve. Okay, I think it's an important

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point, let me, let me give you my quick thoughts, on, on, on,

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Revert, right or convert. I just think

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me better now. I just think,

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if a person is a Muslim, is a Muslim, why do you have to even

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tell people the next question, how low are they Muslims? If you

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actually go back to the pre Islamic time, or that first

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generation of Muslims, the Sahaba, in fact, all of them are my

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interpreter, all reverts. Think about it. Just think about that.

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So why is it that important? Okay, the champion people feature. It's

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inspired by what I do at champion South Africa, where we say

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champion people, bold champion nations, and therefore we

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highlight people that we consider amongst the champion people. So

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today is the turn of Doctor imtia Suleiman. He's the founder of gift

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of the givers. Salam Alaikum. Welcome to the show

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I should have salabed. You to come to your listeners, and then I'll

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go back to everyone. Absolutely. We've spoken on so many different

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platforms. You and I, and I always think of you as nothing less than,

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uh, than a champion. So par for the course.

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Well, no, it's what whatever happens is bylaws. Grace. You

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know, as my teacher said, Whatever happens is through you and not by

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you. So whatever you see is the reflection of something coming

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through me. I've got something done by myself. You know, it's

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interesting you say that because, I mean, this is just a nice,

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chilled conversation we're having, but, but that part it comes

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through you and not by you, is something I've heard from you say

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so often, right? But help us internalize that. What does that

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really mean? It comes through you and by and not by you.

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It's to do an ego. It's to understand that you don't actually

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achieve anything, that whatever you do, it's not something to make

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you feel great and feel solid at it. It was the first teaching of

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my Sufi teacher to me when I met him in August, 1992 the sixth of

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August, 1992 to the Thursday night, and the first instruction

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that he gave me to form an organization as part of the

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teaching, he said the most important point to remember is

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that whatever you do is done through you and not by you. So

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there's no place to feel inflated, because if anything can destroy

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good It's pride and ego. And you know, Islam has made so much

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emphasis on pride, destroying good things and a whole institution

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service everything could be destroyed by pride. So he made

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that the primary focus, that whatever you do, and it's true,

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I've loved it, the kind of things in greater commerce that I've

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achieved is not really possible to be in so many places at the same

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time drag decisively, to be so fast, to get so much of support,

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to get things happen. You know, things fall into place. Yes,

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there's challenges, but the way things happen so speedily, it just

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incredible. And you know, because another part of the teaching that

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he told me is, when he gave me an instruction, I asked him, now,

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okay, if you give me this instruction, what does it mean?

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I'm a doctor in private practice. I have three surgeries. Is the

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Sunday I'm going to do in the weekends, after hours, public

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holidays, long holidays, when? And he just told me, one night, you

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will know, yeah, and believing, but 28 years, I do know, and it's

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just something that comes to you. It's not something that you plan

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or you think or you read about. It just happens now. Now we know. I

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mean, you're the founder of gift of the givers, right? And we you

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have a formidable team.

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We're aware of that, but you're still very much the public face of

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of gift of the givers, right? So, so help us with this right to To

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what degree does the it doesn't happen by you, but through you.

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How do you use that as part of the gift of the givers culture, so

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that all your team of permanent staff and volunteers embrace that

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fully so what do you tell them? How do you get them to buy into

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that?

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Again, the type of people that you draw are people with that kind of

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thinking. They come to you, across religion, across race, across

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culture, and they buy those same principles, and they live those

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principles. And of course, I have briefings with them all the time.

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There's different categories. The one is the full time staff in the

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different offices in the country. Then there's full time staff in

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offices outside the country. And then there's the volunteers who

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are primarily medical and search and rescue that respond to

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disasters. The message is sent over and over again to all, to all

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the teams in all the different categories, either through

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communication like this, or meeting personally or being honest

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officers on site throughout the world, or meeting teams in the

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country and regularly and in of course, I've mentioned this in

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every media interview and speaking to them, and we have sessions with

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them all the time. And everybody understands that, that it's a team

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effort, that we don't do anything, that we can't do anything without

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the next person, whether the person who packs the box where

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does, the person takes the call on the switchboard, whether somebody

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who drives the truck. We are all part of an important process, and

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that process is spiritually driven, that we only achieving

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what we're achieving because of a great spiritual hand behind us.

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And there's no place for someone to think is better or her better

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than the next person, whether be it medical team, search and rescue

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teams. You can be a professor, you can be a consultant. You can be

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wherever you are, everybody from the person at the bottom who makes

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the tea to the professor at the top, we all equal doing the same

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kind of work. And the most important point is that we should

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regard ourselves as privileged, as being given an opportunity to do

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this, that we are selected to do this. That's not an easy thing.

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How do you keep your your ego in check when there's so many

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accolades from people like myself, and the President says something,

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and somebody else says you should be the president, and someone

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says, you know, give the money to give to the givers, not the

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government. They will sort out things. It's recognition for

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outstanding work by give to the givers. MTR, Solomon, vice versa,

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right? How then do you keep the ego in check that it must be

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incredibly difficult when you're getting so many accolades all the

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time.

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It's simple.

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Ashraf, when you have a total allegiance to a Sufi teacher when

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he's taught you that, and you follow every instruction to the

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point and everything that he has said, I've watched it over 28

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years came true something that he told me in 92 came true much, much

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later in years. So you know that whatever he stole you is something

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very spiritual, significant, and for you to be successful is to

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follow exactly what he's told you. And again, you are if you

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intelligent enough to realize that the kinds of things achieved, if

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you have to get on your own, without a teacher, without a

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guide, or without a spiritual benefit, you will achieve it. It

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just won't happen. It will probably a total disaster. And

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that's why you have to keep reminding yourself that you are

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nothing. You are nobody. You're only just achieving this because

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of some great force behind you. The moment your force goes away,

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you are useless. And, I mean, you are a medical doctor. You were a

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medical doctor even before you met your spiritual teacher, in in in

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Turkey, right? So, so you've already achieved a high degree of

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excellence in your in your in the medical space before you met him,

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but when you met him, and he advised you, and he changed your

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life. And we know that, how did you have to change your day to day

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routine in terms of you know, we often talk about structure of

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life, and we spoke about it earlier on. How did you have to

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make adjustments to ensure that you fit it in to this new mantra,

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there is no planning. I shall in the problem with the issue with

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this thing, because it's spiritual. He said, You will know

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there is no planning. It just happens. If you ask me for a

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blueprint for each of the givers of PDs, there's been none noble.

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It things just fall in front of you and you follow what's given to

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you by guidance and direction. You follow them. I practices. So it

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started off small, you know. But actually not small. When I left

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that, I asked him, What do you mean now? What do I have to do? He

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said, you know. And as I walked out of the door, the first thing

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they fell in behind was a civil war in Bosnia. Now, starting an

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organization, you're not doing something simple like a soup

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kitchen or a food parcel or a blanket distribution, you're

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starting off in a war zone that requires all kinds of detail and

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skill and knowledge, and information outweighed in that and

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everything, I was guided along the line 85% to 90% of what I learned

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in crypto givers came from the first project, intervention in

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Bosnia. Then, of course, I had.

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50 practices. So I was running the practices, and as is when up and

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down, the family decided, You know what a children or wife decided?

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She said, You're not here all the time. The patients are waiting for

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surgery. They don't want to see your locum, Sam is going to die.

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She just closed the practices. She said, I think it's better you

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close the practices, because somebody's going to die here,

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wondering. And whilst I was in Bosnia on the 30th of June, 1994

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she just shut all three practices. That's not something we set and

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plan and discuss. It happened in 30 seconds, literally, before you

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said, I'm closing your practices, and I just said, Fine, finish.

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Yeah.

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It just happens that way, and it's the best decision we made. You

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can't do two professional jobs at the same time Well, and that's a

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way of knowing that you will know more to come from Doctor MJ

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Sullivan, founder of gift of the givers. He's featured as one of

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the champion people will continue up to about nine o'clock. Really

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important issues in your comments, as always, are welcome. You can

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WhatsApp Voice Note or text, 0617, double 603.

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Double five. So what happens? Should MTR Suleiman stand for the

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presidency? Should he stand for government? Should he want to get

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this is the Usher of Goddess show,

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and you are listening to salaam media.

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And for me, what a privilege in the show to to speak to people

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that inspire me. And MTR Suleiman certainly does that, founder of

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gift of the givers, imcha, so I asked that question before the

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break. I.

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That you know this based on on many people, and I'm talking about

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high profile people who said this gift of the givers crowd have done

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something remarkable things, and they're not interested in your

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spiritual inspiration. They're like they've done something for

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South Africa. And I know in recent weeks they've said just even the

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whole issue around covid issues and vaccines and and other relief

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work, just bequeath the money to them to let them manage it. Right?

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My question therefore, is, would you you already have a, you have

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an alliance with government, you have to but, but would you see

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yourself now being, you know, getting more involved in

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government? I mean, actually, as an elected official, because

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that's been spoken about by many people.

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No. God says straight, no, yeah. Again, it goes to spiritual

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teaching. The teacher said, clearly, you will never be in

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government. You will never work for government, but you will work

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with government. And that's what we're doing right now, and that's

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what been doing for 28 years. We have a relationship with

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ministers, MECs, premiers, mayors, some people like us, and some

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people don't like us, you know, and some, some of us like us, and

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some people, some people, someones don't like us, because we know we

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we make things happen. And sometimes people feel that they're

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being shown up. We're not here to show anybody up. This is not ego.

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We're dealing with people who are in difficulty, who are struggling,

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who are battling. And we have my staff are told one line only,

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wherever you go, imagine your child or your wife is in that

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difficulty, what would you do and how fast would you do it? Don't

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afford me back. Don't ask me anything else. Just do what you

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think you'll have to do if your wife or your child is in that

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situation. They work with speak what excellence, and they make

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things happen. When we do that, of course, government has

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bureaucracy. They have the four, five or six people down the line

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to get something signed. People aren't available and before they

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can even reflect, we done and we gone. So that, of course, upsets a

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lot of people, but at the same time, it wins over the hearts of

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many inside government who says it should be done this way. And as

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you find something may be upset, the next day, you got three

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ministers with us at the same time on a program or a minister or an

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embassy. I mean, last week, the premier Eastern Cape had this

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entire MEC. It is entire Cabinet meeting us. You know, in a

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program, by the way, in AMTA, it was just an accidental meeting,

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but everybody wanted to meet us. And yet, previously, they thought

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we were showing them up in covid 19, and when they realized you are

00:17:27 --> 00:17:31

benefit to them and not opposition to them, it's just a total, total

00:17:31 --> 00:17:34

being embraced totally by everybody, including the cause of

00:17:34 --> 00:17:34

King.

00:17:35 --> 00:17:39

So, so mtrs for President, we can cancel out. Mtrs in government, we

00:17:39 --> 00:17:43

can cancel out. You've touched on it to a degree, but. But here's

00:17:43 --> 00:17:47

the thing you know, moving forward with your own life, right? How?

00:17:47 --> 00:17:52

How do you export? How do you copy and paste the the give to the

00:17:52 --> 00:17:56

givers template to other organizations in South Africa. You

00:17:56 --> 00:17:59

know? I've, I also drive the, the champion South Africa project. You

00:17:59 --> 00:18:02

know about it from day one, but many other people, how do we get

00:18:02 --> 00:18:06

them to do whatever it is they're good at, to be even better, to be

00:18:06 --> 00:18:08

world class in the way that gift to the gift is,

00:18:09 --> 00:18:12

well, it's, it's, it's personal. You know, it's something that's

00:18:12 --> 00:18:16

very personal. It comes from your own motivation of having a

00:18:16 --> 00:18:19

spiritual teacher. It's something very spiritual. Everything is

00:18:19 --> 00:18:23

guided every I think I'm an advantage compared to many people.

00:18:23 --> 00:18:27

That's the fortunate part and as but the important thing is to hold

00:18:27 --> 00:18:30

on to the teaching. The moment you deviate from that, from what has

00:18:30 --> 00:18:33

been taught, everything can collapse. So what I've learned,

00:18:33 --> 00:18:36

I've actually built a team. I mean, I started off with one

00:18:36 --> 00:18:41

staff. I only had one stop. You know, I worked from my children's

00:18:41 --> 00:18:44

home, my children's room in the house, and eventually took an

00:18:44 --> 00:18:47

office on one staff. And today there's eight staff full time in

00:18:47 --> 00:18:50

South Africa, and 500 worldwide. We have just seen the staff alone

00:18:50 --> 00:18:53

running to the hospital in Syria, besides being Palestine in

00:18:54 --> 00:18:58

Somalia, Yemen Malawi, Zimbabwe, and projects all in the country

00:18:58 --> 00:19:02

and offered it in Turkey. So the staff compliment has grown, and

00:19:02 --> 00:19:05

all the teachings we've put up different divisions. We've got

00:19:05 --> 00:19:08

corporate manager we've got project managers, we've got people

00:19:08 --> 00:19:11

who do it and logistics, but everybody gets the same teaching

00:19:12 --> 00:19:15

and to the point, and even, of course, the search industry teams

00:19:15 --> 00:19:17

and the medical teams. And of course, I'm not going to live

00:19:17 --> 00:19:21

favor, so the point must be reached where all these teams can

00:19:21 --> 00:19:24

function without me really being around. And it's happening.

00:19:24 --> 00:19:26

Everybody knows the responsibility. I've even tested

00:19:26 --> 00:19:29

it the last three missions. I never let them out of the country.

00:19:29 --> 00:19:32

I send the teams themselves. And I said, you've traveled me before.

00:19:32 --> 00:19:35

You know how to deal with the situation. If there's a problem,

00:19:35 --> 00:19:39

you can deal with it yourself. And they've been very, very successful

00:19:39 --> 00:19:43

in overcoming problems when they travel internationally and locally

00:19:43 --> 00:19:46

too. Whatever difficulty they may be, whatever they face, you know,

00:19:46 --> 00:19:50

in different communities or municipalities or areas, they

00:19:50 --> 00:19:54

solve themselves. So the most important point for me is to teach

00:19:54 --> 00:19:57

them the policy and to teach them that the teachings that has come

00:19:57 --> 00:19:59

to be from the Sufi master, and if they follow that.

00:20:00 --> 00:20:02

Everything else from a worldly point of view, or fall in line?

00:20:02 --> 00:20:05

Okay, well, it's interesting. You brought it up because I was going

00:20:05 --> 00:20:07

to ask you, like, when are you going to retire and call it today?

00:20:07 --> 00:20:10

Like, I don't, I don't suggest you to hold I think you've got another

00:20:10 --> 00:20:13

30 years to do just that anyway. But, but, yeah, do you then have a

00:20:13 --> 00:20:17

succession plan? So one is the infrastructure plan, but, but the

00:20:17 --> 00:20:20

other is a succession plan in terms of the the the figureheads,

00:20:20 --> 00:20:24

because, I mean, you're an important you're you're a visible

00:20:24 --> 00:20:28

member of the of the organization, and that gives you tremendous buy

00:20:28 --> 00:20:32

into to public spaces like the media. So who's your who's your

00:20:32 --> 00:20:38

crown prince? My son. My son has been trained by me. He's also a

00:20:38 --> 00:20:41

disciple of the Sufi master. And in 2016

00:20:42 --> 00:20:46

when I went across and I told because in every this is what we

00:20:46 --> 00:20:50

call Adam, you know, respect of the Tariqah. And I told him, in

00:20:50 --> 00:20:53

2016 you know, you've given me the permission to to do whatever I

00:20:53 --> 00:20:58

have to do in organization, but as a courtesy, I need to ask you, you

00:20:58 --> 00:21:02

know, to bring my son in. He looked at me and said, what took

00:21:02 --> 00:21:02

him so long?

00:21:04 --> 00:21:06

What took him so long? You should have been there a long time ago.

00:21:06 --> 00:21:09

He said, because we have bigger responsibility coming. He didn't

00:21:09 --> 00:21:12

clarify what the bigger responsibility is, but I know what

00:21:12 --> 00:21:15

it is, and something I can't talk about right now, but I know what

00:21:15 --> 00:21:19

it is, and it's already happening. And you know, he came in and, of

00:21:19 --> 00:21:22

course, it will never be the same, even from the time. I'm not, of

00:21:22 --> 00:21:25

course, in no way competing myself to the Prophet. But after the

00:21:25 --> 00:21:28

Prophet left, things are different in any company, in any

00:21:28 --> 00:21:32

organization, people, even in Sumit Erika itself, the spiritual

00:21:32 --> 00:21:36

teachers, each one that comes has a different sort of mindset for

00:21:36 --> 00:21:40

the one before. And somebody has, everybody has a different type of

00:21:40 --> 00:21:44

preference. All important. So in the same way, when somebody comes

00:21:44 --> 00:21:46

after you and the next one takes over, each ones will have a

00:21:46 --> 00:21:49

different approach, a different mindset, as long as the work gets

00:21:49 --> 00:21:52

done, as long it follows the principles of, you know, what you

00:21:52 --> 00:21:56

it, everything comes through you and not done by you, and you

00:21:56 --> 00:21:59

follow that, it will happen, but in a different way, I I'm not

00:21:59 --> 00:22:01

expecting everything to be done the way I'm doing it. It's not

00:22:01 --> 00:22:04

gonna happen. You know, it's not realistic. In any company, in any

00:22:04 --> 00:22:07

religious organization, in any spiritual teaching, it happens by

00:22:07 --> 00:22:11

as long as it happens and it will be guided again. That change times

00:22:11 --> 00:22:15

change. Things change. We never did business on Zoom. We never did

00:22:15 --> 00:22:18

internet meetings on Zoom. We never done companies on Zoom or

00:22:18 --> 00:22:21

Microsoft. But we doing it today. We can't travel. You have to do

00:22:21 --> 00:22:24

things without traveling. Things change. Circumstances change. So

00:22:24 --> 00:22:27

at the right time, things will change, and different type of

00:22:27 --> 00:22:30

mindsets will be required to do what's required. I'm not an IT guy

00:22:30 --> 00:22:34

at all, you know, but the world is full of it, and my son is IT

00:22:34 --> 00:22:37

specialist. So you know, this coming at the right time when it

00:22:37 --> 00:22:40

is such a big thing in the and then he came to me said, No, man,

00:22:40 --> 00:22:43

your sister's all wrong. You have to fix this that any other,

00:22:45 --> 00:22:48

I tell you what, if you spoke to, if you spoke, if you listen to my

00:22:48 --> 00:22:52

chat with Abdullah earlier about digitizing your systems, you your

00:22:52 --> 00:22:55

you, even your son, will bind exactly what, what was said. So

00:22:55 --> 00:22:59

absolutely. So I'm just, I'm really trying to imagine, what

00:22:59 --> 00:23:05

would your spiritual Sufi master suggest that in chars you have

00:23:05 --> 00:23:07

something you have even a bigger challenge. I know you don't want

00:23:07 --> 00:23:11

to tell us, but I obviously I'm scratching my head, like, what can

00:23:11 --> 00:23:13

be bigger than what you've already done? At gift of the

00:23:14 --> 00:23:17

givers. Look, it's, it's, it's something internal. I think it's

00:23:17 --> 00:23:21

uniting people. Because gift of the givers, from a physical point

00:23:21 --> 00:23:25

of view in disasters. Look, we are highly specialized at that. We in

00:23:25 --> 00:23:28

so many times. We've been the first in the world. We've been

00:23:28 --> 00:23:31

decisive. We saved lives. We've saved hundreds of 1000s of lives.

00:23:31 --> 00:23:34

And I say save lives. It's not against something that we do. It's

00:23:34 --> 00:23:37

been we've been committed to help people. The saving of life is

00:23:37 --> 00:23:40

Allah's responsibility. We've been put in the position, from a human

00:23:40 --> 00:23:45

point of view, to do the saving. Because, of course, he clarifies

00:23:45 --> 00:23:48

that by saying, You saved one life, saved all of mankind. When,

00:23:48 --> 00:23:51

then you may ask the question, but I'm you, God Almighty, the one

00:23:51 --> 00:23:53

that saves lives. Why are you telling mankind that you saved

00:23:53 --> 00:23:57

lives, saved all of mankind? But he has put mankind there as an

00:23:57 --> 00:24:00

instrument to do the same of the life physically. So our teams have

00:24:00 --> 00:24:04

done that any type of disaster, earthquakes, floods, Typhoon,

00:24:04 --> 00:24:07

Cyclone, you die, even the drought, covid 19, our teams have

00:24:07 --> 00:24:11

excelled. And I think what has come up in the last especially

00:24:11 --> 00:24:14

during covid 19, is to see the relationship between people of

00:24:14 --> 00:24:20

different cultures and communities and religions responding so well

00:24:20 --> 00:24:23

to us where people are starting to show respect to each other. I

00:24:23 --> 00:24:27

mean, on Tuesday, we launched the Ramadan campaign. And one of the

00:24:27 --> 00:24:30

people who came for the Ramadan Ramadan campaign was a pastor. A

00:24:30 --> 00:24:33

pastor said that in any I mean, you know him for quite some time

00:24:33 --> 00:24:37

now, and he said, in my community, when I feed 40% of the people are

00:24:37 --> 00:24:41

Muslim. And He came to collect food because 40% of his people are

00:24:41 --> 00:24:45

Muslim, he came as a Christian to us, and on the river side, we feed

00:24:45 --> 00:24:50

everybody. We said, the 60% also gets from us. We get calls from

00:24:50 --> 00:24:54

schools where Christian principles or Hindu principles call us. And

00:24:54 --> 00:24:56

so we know it done, but there are a lot of problems from children

00:24:56 --> 00:24:59

here with no food to eat. Can you do something about that?

00:25:00 --> 00:25:03

This is what religion is all about. It's not about competition.

00:25:03 --> 00:25:06

It's not about fighting each other. It's about working with

00:25:06 --> 00:25:08

each other, because the God is the same, just calling my different

00:25:08 --> 00:25:13

names and more Almighty Who teaches peace and universal values

00:25:13 --> 00:25:16

of mercy and compassion, would love to see, in inverted commas,

00:25:16 --> 00:25:19

his children working together, understand each other, supporting

00:25:19 --> 00:25:23

each other. That's why, when religions fight and affliction,

00:25:23 --> 00:25:26

those who are not on the religious fraternity say, Oh, you see, what

00:25:26 --> 00:25:29

is this religion? It causes more conflict than this and disaster.

00:25:29 --> 00:25:32

So it gives a reflection that God Almighty himself, you know, is a

00:25:32 --> 00:25:36

negative personality. Yeah, that's because of our own behavior. So

00:25:37 --> 00:25:41

the Yeah, I think your point about uniting people, I look forward to

00:25:41 --> 00:25:44

what that really means, because I think that is, that is, yeah, hand

00:25:44 --> 00:25:49

to heart. It's really important. What? So, what is it? 28 years

00:25:49 --> 00:25:52

now, for gift of the givers, right? Yeah, 29 in

00:25:53 --> 00:25:57

August, okay. Why was they? Help us understand from a brand point

00:25:57 --> 00:26:02

of view, why was the name walkful? Walk a fiend, which means gift of

00:26:02 --> 00:26:05

the givers. In the Arabic language, change to give to the

00:26:05 --> 00:26:09

givers. And how many years into the organization did that happen?

00:26:10 --> 00:26:11

It was

00:26:13 --> 00:26:17

at that name affected Well, in an Arabic society, in a South African

00:26:17 --> 00:26:20

society, at that time, 2030, years ago, when there was so much. It

00:26:20 --> 00:26:24

studies now, but, you know what? But Islamophobia and terrorism and

00:26:24 --> 00:26:29

just having a religious name created a sort of a barrier.

00:26:29 --> 00:26:32

People think, How can I work with this religious Islamic name? You

00:26:32 --> 00:26:36

know, at the moment, the strange enough, the guys love the name was

00:26:36 --> 00:26:38

John Robbie from 702 he never said he

00:26:39 --> 00:26:42

always just say rap for a thing. You know, you always just say that

00:26:42 --> 00:26:47

all the time and and eventually we said, look for people who are

00:26:47 --> 00:26:51

already abusing us to but make it easier to easy on the tongue, easy

00:26:51 --> 00:26:55

to understand and in English, the name had more relevance to people

00:26:55 --> 00:26:58

of English speaking communities. Yes, it won't make any sense to

00:26:58 --> 00:27:01

people in Arab world. In Arabic, they will work much better there.

00:27:01 --> 00:27:05

So it is only logical to use an English name in an English

00:27:05 --> 00:27:09

society, and, you know, and for people to understand, and it just

00:27:09 --> 00:27:12

has been a hit. There's just, it's just caught up with everybody. Now

00:27:12 --> 00:27:16

I know MTR that you know often, when I ask people like, Who would

00:27:16 --> 00:27:19

they like to meet or take out for lunch, I can tell you now you

00:27:19 --> 00:27:22

you're very much up there amongst the top five South Africans that

00:27:22 --> 00:27:25

people would love to meet up for lunch, right? But, but let me tell

00:27:25 --> 00:27:29

you the round. I mean, you've had the privilege of meeting many,

00:27:29 --> 00:27:32

many people around the world, but, but who would you like to take out

00:27:32 --> 00:27:32

to lunch?

00:27:34 --> 00:27:36

You've asked me that something similar problems. What you asked

00:27:36 --> 00:27:41

me, you know, what, as a role model, and I don't have any

00:27:41 --> 00:27:44

preference to take anybody out for lunch because, and I give you an

00:27:44 --> 00:27:47

explanation to that. You see, people tell us, you have to draw

00:27:47 --> 00:27:50

the influence of what I was saying. Now, people say, every

00:27:50 --> 00:27:53

year is the university? Do you have a function? What's the event?

00:27:53 --> 00:27:57

And I say there's no event. They say it's 25 years now, what's the

00:27:57 --> 00:28:00

event? I say, there's no event. I don't want to know. Why is there

00:28:00 --> 00:28:05

no event? And I say, Who am I going to invite? Rich people, big

00:28:05 --> 00:28:09

donors, influential people, presidents, ministers,

00:28:09 --> 00:28:13

politicians, whoever going to invite by the invitation, am I

00:28:13 --> 00:28:17

saying that people who are in rural areas, who have no money,

00:28:17 --> 00:28:19

who are poor, are not valuable?

00:28:20 --> 00:28:26

Who knows where the value has come from. Is it some old lady who got

00:28:26 --> 00:28:29

up four o'clock in the morning to pray for you, what the heart and

00:28:29 --> 00:28:32

the soul? Or is it the guy that gave you 1 million Rand and he

00:28:32 --> 00:28:36

heard is it's what 1 billion? Or is it somebody like in the

00:28:36 --> 00:28:39

Mitchells playing mosque in 93 when I walked with the Imam at the

00:28:39 --> 00:28:43

mosque, and somebody walked past and put his hand in the cash

00:28:43 --> 00:28:47

pocket, in the jeans, and took out a folded out 10 grand. He put it

00:28:47 --> 00:28:51

on the bus, Salah, and then he walked out, and Imam said, Do you

00:28:51 --> 00:28:56

know is that man? I said, No, I don't know. He said, That man lost

00:28:56 --> 00:29:00

his job two weeks ago. He probably gave you the last 10 grand in his

00:29:00 --> 00:29:03

house, which is more important for him than for the cause that you

00:29:03 --> 00:29:07

are supporting? And that's a tight of 10 Rand the man gave you and

00:29:07 --> 00:29:11

walked out. Who's important? The guy gave me a million Rand. The

00:29:11 --> 00:29:15

guy gave me 10 from his pocket. So who do I take out for lunch? The

00:29:15 --> 00:29:19

Prophet saws from said that you want Allah to find them among the

00:29:19 --> 00:29:22

poor people. To be honest, I should have I'm not saying there's

00:29:22 --> 00:29:25

anything wrong with rich people, there's religious people, there's

00:29:25 --> 00:29:28

righteous people, but you'll find me spending more my time in rural

00:29:28 --> 00:29:32

areas, down in the rural areas for the people, and that's what I

00:29:32 --> 00:29:35

enjoy doing. I don't like offices, I don't like expensive buildings,

00:29:35 --> 00:29:38

and I don't like there's nothing wrong with them. Remember, the

00:29:38 --> 00:29:40

police people. Don't misunderstand. There's absolutely

00:29:40 --> 00:29:44

nothing wrong with having a smart building and smart cars, unless

00:29:44 --> 00:29:46

it, I'll give you blessings. Use it, you know, make, make. Benefit

00:29:46 --> 00:29:49

of it. No problem with that. But I just prefer being I feel people

00:29:49 --> 00:29:52

isolated, and nobody gives them any time. And I can see the

00:29:52 --> 00:29:55

reaction you get when you turn to people like that. Well, there you

00:29:55 --> 00:29:59

are. So, so we expect no big celebration. We expect, I expect

00:29:59 --> 00:29:59

not to be involved.

00:30:00 --> 00:30:03

Related to your, your big celebration, because it's not

00:30:03 --> 00:30:06

going to happen. I expect some, some greater impact, right? Let,

00:30:06 --> 00:30:08

let's end then, then MTS, and hopefully we'll chat again some

00:30:08 --> 00:30:11

other time, as we often do at different platforms. Let's, let's

00:30:11 --> 00:30:15

end by, by asking you, you this, right? I mean, you've said many

00:30:15 --> 00:30:19

things already, right? But, but, but, what's the one thing going

00:30:19 --> 00:30:23

forward that that you can give people, you know, people are

00:30:23 --> 00:30:26

grappling with their lives. They they're grappling with leadership,

00:30:26 --> 00:30:29

they're grappling with what to do. They're grappling with with stress

00:30:29 --> 00:30:33

and tension and and all sorts of things, a lack of direction. What?

00:30:33 --> 00:30:37

What's the one nugget that you were besides what you really said,

00:30:37 --> 00:30:40

that you can tell people to hold on to faith.

00:30:41 --> 00:30:44

Everything is by faith. You know, you find people. You hear of

00:30:44 --> 00:30:50

earthquakes and disasters where a disaster happened and one house

00:30:50 --> 00:30:53

was saved and everybody else perished. So Allah promises you

00:30:53 --> 00:30:56

that he will take care of you. So if you do the right thing,

00:30:57 --> 00:31:00

whatever happens around you is irrelevant. You follow the right

00:31:00 --> 00:31:04

thing the right way. Follow his rules. We all week. We all have

00:31:04 --> 00:31:07

our weakness around shortcomings. Nobody is a saint, but as far as

00:31:07 --> 00:31:11

possible, try to do the right things and have trust in him. Yes,

00:31:11 --> 00:31:14

he guarantees there will be challenges. We have created man

00:31:14 --> 00:31:18

into toil and struggle. Doctor says, we have created men into

00:31:18 --> 00:31:23

toil and struggle. You will have tests as he tells and he asked you

00:31:23 --> 00:31:28

to be patient, so that faith and trust in him, like, for example,

00:31:29 --> 00:31:32

people we deal with, how many areas we went to, and people were

00:31:32 --> 00:31:37

saying, God sent you, not me. The teams that got to them, they said

00:31:37 --> 00:31:41

we were just praying when we going to eat, our children are hungry,

00:31:42 --> 00:31:45

and as we looked up, we saw the gift of the gift of struck. It's

00:31:45 --> 00:31:49

something we're not expecting. Allah accepts the prayers of every

00:31:49 --> 00:31:53

human being, Muslim or non Muslim, because they all his creation. He

00:31:53 --> 00:31:56

has created everyone. And we need to understand that very, very

00:31:56 --> 00:31:59

clearly. We need to bring that mentality for Muslims only. The

00:31:59 --> 00:32:01

Prophet didn't come for Muslims. He became a Muslims only, which

00:32:01 --> 00:32:05

Muslim was a dedicated there that he came for? There was no Muslim

00:32:05 --> 00:32:10

when he came. Everybody came to him. After that, he came as a

00:32:10 --> 00:32:16

mercy unto all creation. And your best safeguard is service satka.

00:32:16 --> 00:32:20

And satka doesn't have to be money. It can be a smile, a good

00:32:20 --> 00:32:25

word comfort, seeking out people, assisting, word of encouragement,

00:32:26 --> 00:32:29

and you keep doing those kind of good things. You yourself will

00:32:29 --> 00:32:31

warn me, I run away from difficulties, but you'll be much

00:32:31 --> 00:32:36

calmer and more at ease. Remember, I think the final line, it's most

00:32:36 --> 00:32:39

important. The Prophet thought that whatever is going to strike

00:32:39 --> 00:32:43

you is never going to miss you, and whatever is going to miss you

00:32:43 --> 00:32:47

is never going to strike you. So what's going to happen is going to

00:32:47 --> 00:32:50

happen, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. All

00:32:50 --> 00:32:54

you can do is have trust and faith that things work out the best for

00:32:54 --> 00:32:58

you in the end. Absolutely thank you for leaving us with those gems

00:32:58 --> 00:33:04

and and I think you know, do faith? Faith, do the right thing

00:33:04 --> 00:33:07

and and this important amplifier all that good that happens,

00:33:07 --> 00:33:12

happens not by you, but through you. Doctor India, Suleiman is

00:33:12 --> 00:33:14

always, always a privilege to connect with you and to use you as

00:33:14 --> 00:33:18

a vehicle to inspire other people to try and and become their own

00:33:18 --> 00:33:21

gifts, or gifts of the givers, if I can put it that way. So

00:33:21 --> 00:33:25

appreciate your time. Thanks for signing up and being part of this

00:33:25 --> 00:33:29

champion people. Feature most appreciated assalamu, Alaikum,

00:33:30 --> 00:33:33

walikum, salaam, akatu. Thank you. Well, there you are. You can also,

00:33:33 --> 00:33:36

by the way, follow the hashtag champion people, and then hashtag

00:33:36 --> 00:33:41

a show is what we do every day. But also follow Salam media. And

00:33:41 --> 00:33:44

also you can follow me and follow champion South Africa on on

00:33:44 --> 00:33:47

different platforms, because that's the ethos. We say champion

00:33:47 --> 00:33:50

people build champion nation. Just think about that for a moment.

00:33:51 --> 00:33:55

Coming up next? It's Sheik Yasin al dusari with the regular Quranic

00:33:55 --> 00:33:59

recitals the today, Jews three and just four. That comes up in a

00:33:59 --> 00:34:04

moment. I will be back with the team on Monday, 8am and I'd love

00:34:04 --> 00:34:07

it for all the right reasons that you're a part of it, as well as

00:34:07 --> 00:34:07

salaam warah.

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