Birth And Death Are Just Transitions

Bismillah Alhamdulillah As salam o aleikum, greetings of Peace Welcome to the deen Show. I'm your host subscribe, hit that notification bell if you haven't already now. My next guest grew up in North London. She's worked as a journalist and political writer for the London Evening Standard.

The New Statesman, The Mail on Sunday, which is supposed to be the biggest selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. She went from hanging out and appearing on TV shows with celebrities to joining us here on the D show to share her wonderful and amazing story and experiences that's affected so many people who are once or still are afflicted with the hate book towards Islam as being our next guest Lauren booth. Salaam aleikum, sister. Well, I like Mr. Lamb rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. Who My dear brother, how are you? How is your family and a big Salam aleikum to everybody.

So nowadays, there's a lot of misconceptions and misinformation and that was perpetuated a lot of this was to go ahead and to create this, you know, war and to go ahead and see you see what happened, you know, but many people as far people are hopefully waking up, you know, getting educated and like you did, and you actually thought that the Koran there was a couple of points here you are so surprised that the Quran there was a chrono English translation of the Quran and then you thought this was because you were treated so kindly by Muslims that you thought the Quran was a handbook on how to be a good person. Is that true? Yeah. Subhan Allah when I first came across the

Quran, it was handed to me. My first ever English copy of the Quran was handed to me by a young Shabaab, a young man, a young teenage boy in the streets of rainy streets of Jerusalem in 2006. And he was so excited to give it to me. And he handed it me with lots of other gifts that I was supposed to pay him for, because he was like the person introducing me to the stallholders. And if you ever get the chance to go to Jerusalem, please go, go and visit the Palestinian people there. Go and visit their city. Go and stay in Palestinian owned hotels, go and visit the shopkeepers because you know if you're Christian right now and by the grace of Allah, you're watching this Welcome, welcome.

With big love in our hearts welcome. Go and visit the first Christians go and visit those who are Christian and converted to Islam go and those that visit those whose family would have known the family of Isa Ali Salam would have no Marian would have known their their extended family because they never moved. Guess what? Allahu Akbar. So you go along into these bazaars. And you see everything is covered in dust. Because people are told not to visit these dangerous Arabs. And so I was handed this Quran and I was supposed to pay for the gifts. And the young man said something and by the grace of Allah alone, it changed the course of my life. He said, I said, How much do I owe

you? Because I was expecting to have Kaggle brother, you know how you know is it 50 quid 500 shekels? Is it 50 How much is it? And he looked at me and he handed me the Koran. He said that you don't owe us anything. You don't owe us anything. But one thing only one thing I'll ask, please don't forget Palestine when you go, Allahu Akbar. That's how I got my first ever copy of the Holy Quran, in the streets of Jerusalem, this ancient city, but when I went home, it sat on a high shelf out of respect for a year. And when I finally picked it up, it was the scariest thing I've ever read in my life. Because I came at this scripture as a Christian, I was a practicing Christian at the

time I went to church. I believed in God. I knew that Jesus was a prophet. I don't remember ever praying to Jesus. I remember Jesus being the Son of God thing was always a bit of a sticking point with me, but But I absolutely believed in God, and the prophets. And so I opened this book, and I thought this could be the big one.

Not you know, not a distant one not a messed about well, I've got to be prepared that this could be the biggie. So I opened the Koran, and I read Surah Fatiha and I thought, oh, it's called the opening and I've just opened it. That's kind of cool. Okay, the opening Yeah, they got something going on here. Subhanallah I wouldn't have said Subhan Allah then I didn't know it. But then I read al Fatiha, which is just a few lines long. And it reminds you of how great is our Creator, worship Him alone and ask him alone for support and help and don't go off the paths. And don't and don't under make him angry with you. And I was like, okay, as a Christian 100% behind that. And then I

went on to surah baqarah and that was like a gut punch. Because Surah Baqarah is is the the longest Quranic chapter and it has many many warnings and rules and regulations and advice

is, and it tells you just two pages in. There are those who are the pretending at this face. But when they're alone with their evil ones, they chit chat and laugh at it. And you know, they are the ones who are going to the hellfire. And it was like, Oh my God, that's me. I go to church on Sunday, I drink on Monday, I backbite on Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday, and my whole job is backbiting. And I know I'm, I'm in this kind of lost spiritual state. But then on Sunday, I'm like, Oh, dear God, forgive me. And this hypocrisy, and it looked right at me and told me that, and then said, your gods are angry with you. You're just going to the fire. So what do you do with that? Eddie, what do

you what are you seriously, I understand if people are scared by the Koran, but remember this, this incredible, incredible Holy Scripture Subhanallah tells you what you need to know at the time. And I needed to know that I was just writing this down what you said, and I want people to make a

post on this. You said that I was going to church on Sunday. I was back to work on Monday backbiting on Tuesday.

Drink drinking on Wednesday, live on Thursday. Wow. That's deep. And you actually went you went from being on different celebrity TV shows hanging out with celebrities. I mean, living a lifestyle that many dream to attain, I mean, having a connection with some of the close to is there any tie to Tony Blair in that family with the royal family?

I think that that may be an American reading of how things work in the UK. Yeah, that's yeah, that's I never met Diana either. I'm sure she was very nice. Because we, that's we think, okay, because for many people, it's kind of confusing, because here we have the president over there. You have the Prime Minister, which is kind of like a president. But then you have the queen.

So is there a due date? Do they, they still have some? Because the queen is the one that who gives, like overseas things, it gives the blessing, right?

Believe that we're talking about this. It's fascinating, but it's not my okay. So I tell you what, go away and watch the film, The Queen with Helen Mirren, who wants to know how the Prime Minister deals with the queen and how she deals with him. Okay, because that's that really, that really sought it out there.

Do people ever connect you with having like, being part of the royal family when they've heard that you accepted Islam being connected to Tony Blair? Did some people have that? No, you know what, you know what I get being called on the internet? Is she Laura Bush. That's what I Laura Bush. She's the daughter of George Bush. Yeah. So we can put that to that that was that to bed never met the Queen? Not the daughter of George Bush, I think. Okay.

All right. But definitely you are living a lifestyle that many dream to attain. And now you're a part of also writing from any of these conservative political newspapers. And now, you're just like, Okay, this is the big one. What goes through your mind, you're thinking Hold on, I'm risking a lot here. I could be now labeled, you know, like many people do extremist or, you know, connected to some radical religion, which people have this misconception and maybe not invited. Now, too many of these social gatherings blacklisted, what's going through your mind? And where do you get the courage to move forward? Because there's a lot of people, a lot of people in that position, that

they ascertained that Islam is the truth. But then because of possibly being blacklisted by family, by a political party, etc, etc. They opt out from accepting it.

Here's the thing, that when the truth comes to you, your heart has to be ready, because it will wipe away everything. So I you know, it took me five years to get out. And Allah knows each of our hearts and our conditions. And how much of a, you know how shaken I had to be in my life. I had to be humbled the year that Islam was gifted to me, I didn't accept this Islam Subhanallah who am I? Who am I? Thank you. Yeah, I'll take it. I'll open it and I'll read it. No, Islam lands in your life light like a rocket. And it goes in the most, the most beautiful way. It's a love bomb. It is it from from the from the very core of your being. I mean, you just think about it. And I was sitting

in a, in a mosque of an A far flung place. And suddenly I knew with absolute certainty, that there was one God and His name was ALLAH, that the Prophet Muhammad was the last and final messenger, that all of the messengers were true that they all had the same message, obey God, do good. You know, don't sin. There is a heaven and there

As a hell, and the books are real, and you sit and I sat there and I was, well, I was just, I wasn't scared. I was

in a blissful state. That was how it happened to me. I know everybody has their own story. But but a lot takes us on the path that we need to shake to shake and shape us. And I'm a, you know, Allah knows my character is a sort of experiential, I see life as an experience.

I used to see it as a kind of win lose dynamic a bit. But But Subhanallah now, it's what you do with the experience. So when it came to me, Well, lucky, nothing else mattered. Except that, how do I put myself right now? Because along with that wonderful joy, and that absolute certainty that there is calm and peace in the universe, and it's so beautiful, and you see leaves in a new way, and you see the rain, and you think about the cells in your body? And how can what somebody says about you in some dodgy newspaper when you know they're taking cocaine anyway? How can that measure with what you're reading in the Holy Quran? How can their words actually What did you say? Because they're

taking cocaine anyway, you know, you're taking cocaine within three days before in some dive, divey toilet, and now they're writing their stuff, like they're so holy, and you're like, Whoa, how's the lamina shaytaan and regime?

That's deep

SubhanAllah. But this is nothing new to you. I mean, you talk about as a child, you are someone who was aware, you didn't suppress the fitrah. And we know that every child is born among the fitrah, meaning the natural inclination to if you left it, Oxford did a study on this, you know, with children, that they concluded that the belief in the creator is just innate. So you didn't suppress that as you were growing up. And you also had experiences with your father is saying that there's only one God and Jesus is a messenger prophet of God. Tell us about that. Subhanallah my dad was amazing, amazing man and an amazing, flawed character. He was larger than life. He told the best

stories. He was a greatest storyteller. And he really messed up people's lives. May Allah have mercy on him. But he always, you know, supported the poor. And he always used to speak in these ways to say to me, remember, this was a hip here in the 1970s am a child of the 70s. Yeah.

So he'd sit me down and say, Listen, it's about changing the world. This, isn't it, this plant this plant, you this table, this is not it, there is there is something that's what we can't see is greater than here. And I look back and I'm thinking, Oh, Allahu Akbar, How close was he even in his, you know, state, drunken state telling me about these things, but he was so close.

And my dad had a terrible accident with fire, Allahu Akbar. And it changed the course of our lives. But I was a kid who believed in God. And in fact, my mum, one day, said to me, the family keep asking me why you've become an extremist in religion. And I said, Okay, Mom, what do you tell them? She said, that you were always a weird kid, you were always praying, you're always I'm going to tell God, I'm going to ask God. And that was me. 56789 1011 until I reached my teenage years, and then Then a friend mocked me. You know why you put your hands together? I'm speaking to God, whose God is he the guy in the cloud.

And then this kind of, you know, haze of

confusion, you know, entered my heart, and then you've got your naps, and you've got your ego and you've got temptations as a teenager, and it's a it's a long journey back, isn't it? Life is a long journey back. But you're right, the fitrah Subhanallah I've spoken to. Children are very secular parents. And I like I like my dad taught me. I like to speak to people and to children on a real level. Where do you come from? Where are you going? This is an it, you know, almost done. The parents aren't there this, isn't it? It's something greater. And when we talk about you being great about how much good you can do, because you know, and so I asked this one child who is seven years

old, do you believe in God? And she said, yeah.

I said, Who's God, the One who takes care of us. And then she said something really amazing. We were walking down the high street.

And I got greeted by and remember, her parents are absolutely secular. We want to give her a choice. So we're never going to speak about God ever. Okay, I'm like, I don't know what choice that is. Because we're given a choice. You speak about God walking down High Street, and some Muslims walk past and they're obviously Kuwaiti or perhaps Katalin, and they say I say Salaam Alaikum. When it comes to them, how are you? How is your family? And she's looking like this. And she said, Do you know them? I said, never met them before in my life. She's like,

that's how you speak to strangers. Unlike in this face. That's how we speak to strangers. And she gave a two minute lecture to me the seven year old

young person from London young child said, you can see light on people's faces. When they're doing good. The light shines through their face. And when they're doing bad, it goes dark and *. And the dark isn't to do with skin color. Because you can have people with dark skin who are full of light. I've recorded it. That's fitrah Subhan Allah. And may Allah forgive us when we take that from a young SubhanAllah. Have you ever we get excited when we hear about different celebrities accepting Islam? Because obviously they have a big following? And have you have you had a chance because you love you talk about and we see it. You just love talking to everyone about God, the Creator? And

have you had the chance to talk to any of these celebrities that you were friends with? Are you still friends with with any of the people from the past? One or two? And I think, yeah, I think I'd probably really annoying. In fact, there's a one, there's a wonderful TV journalist, and I keep saying to him, You know what, all y'all know what you need to say to have the perfect life right now. He's like, what is it? I've testified there is no God, but Allah and the Prophet peace be on he was the last prophet. And then I didn't hear from him for two weeks. He's like, anyway, you want to do this TV thing? And so yeah, sometimes, but you have to know the person to be that blunt, to be

honest.

I love to have conversations with strangers.

Because there's, there's a kind of purity and a clean slate. And I think that's why it's so difficult for converts, to speak to our families. And especially our mothers and fathers. It's like, you go into sort of white terror.

Like, don't, don't talk to me about this, I change your nappy like, they shut you down. But when you're with somebody who doesn't know you, you can make a really good first impression and start again, that's how I tend to think I remember one time brother being on a plane.

And the guy in front of me coming from Qatar, he had a little sweat a tank top on, he had tattoos. And he was he was obviously a bit hungover because he was a bit sweaty, and Barry, and I looked at my

passenger ticket, and I thought please don't let me be sitting next to him, please don't let him and he said, he showed the hostess when he got on, you know, F 21. And I don't F 22 It's gonna be a long flight. So I got on nudged past him. And he kind of looked at me like Muslims. And I sat down and I just made a little dua to myself, you know that we be kind to this person and not be too judgmental. And he offered me who started drinking wine. But he gave me his water. And I thought, Well, that's nice of him. So I said, Do you want my cheese? And he said, Sorry, what? I said, Do you want my cheese? He said, thank you. And he thought I couldn't speak English. And when he found out I was

from Manchester, he's like, Oh, that's amazing. And I'm really, really sorry. And I said, Why are you sorry? He said, Because of all the presumptions I made about you.

And so I was just kind to him, You know what I did? How are you?

And this big guy on a plane from Qatar to London, he broke down and said, I'm suicidal. And I don't know why I'm alive.

And that's all it takes for most people is just a genuine question. How are you doing? How are you doing in here? How's it really going?

And he said that sometimes. I said, I said, I pray to God, when I feel like that. I asked the One who created everything helped me I'm in need, and I don't know what I'm doing. He said I don't believe in any of that. I said, but you do something. Everybody does something. What is your protocol? He said when I'm crying a lot. I look at my mom's picture. She died when I was young. And I say mom help me. How sad. How painful. And I said to him as gently as possible.

Did your mom ever pray?

And he said my mom had a hard life and she used to pray all the time. I said then why don't you ask the one your mum asked. And long story short or long story long. I had I just been given a short a small copy of the Quran in English. I took it from my bag, and he accepted it and when he got off the plane, he was holding it going. Thank you.

Now that was a purposeful moment in my life.

Allahu Akbar that's that's that's what it's about.

Besides talking about God Almighty, Allah, the Creator, you also like to talk about a subject that many people run far away from, especially your father's death. Why do you like talking about your father's death?

I think

I think for me, it was a

Inspiring to get to spend some time with him we'd been estranged for a number of years, again, this family argument about, you know, stuff gets in the way, right. But when it came to the end, I got called to his bedside

about seven days before he passed.

And I thought there is only one reason that Allah has put me at his bedside, it's not to right wrongs, it's not to make him laugh. It's not to it's because you're a Muslim in that room. And, and be real with him. My dad was always real with me, no matter how gritty it was. He was he was like, let's cut to the chase kid, not in a harsh way, just in a real you know, that speak heart to heart, you know. So when I saw him and he was sleeping, and he was emaciated, he hadn't eaten for five or six days, he was really on the way out, and I was stroking his hand, and I was reciting Surah Fatiha.

And he opened his eyes, and they were so bright, so bright, and he looked right at me. And he hadn't been recognizing people who visited him. And he hadn't seen me for over two years. And he said, my name, Sarah. He said, You're so full of light, and you're so honest, allow Akbar

and he said, Go on, sing some more. And he thought that the Quran, he felt that the Quran was singing.

So Subhanallah, I recited what I knew, I recited the calls I recited. And then I said that, I'm only here.

Because I'm here to say goodbye.

And I'm here to tell you about your Lord, because you will be seeing him, you'll be with him soon. He said, Well, I because people don't like to say, you'll you're on your way. I think if I had seven days, if I was, you know, even, you know, if we're in a confused state, don't frighten people in that, but know them well enough to go, should we talk about this. But you have to have a message to give them rights. I mean, if you don't, if you're a nihilist, if you don't believe in anything, hey, you're going to be worm food in seven days in two weeks is not a nice conversation to have, I get it. But if you if you really, really have this, this beautiful certainty, then you're able to speak

to your family members, and you're able to take it in and not be afraid. So we had a conversation about death. And I said, Listen, I want to speak about God. And he said, Stop. And I thought, Oh, dear, he said, I want to tell you something. There is no god but God. And Jesus was a prophet Jesus was not God, she and I'm like, I'm good. I'm good with that. is like, let's just get that straight. Okay, Jesus is not God. I'm like, Okay. And then I said, Look, we believe the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. He's he was the kindest, most honest, most, most truthful, most, you know, God fearing person who ever lived. And he was the last prophet. And my dad said, All

right, then he probably was, alright. He was the last prophet.

He's basically he's basically I mean, that's the Shahada. Like what he said, there's no god but God, there's nothing worthy of worship except the Creator of the heavens and earth. And Jesus is a messenger. That's what you would have said, at Jesus's time. Muhammad is peace be upon them all is the final messenger. So it seems like he was taking his like agreeing and accepting. Yes.

And what was the last word I heard my dad say that he said was we left the room Subhan Allah. Never forget the pool. He said it twice. Never forget the pool. Those were the last words. I heard my dad say a lot of work about in this role. And the next and when he when he passed a week later, and I got the phone call. I was actually in Istanbul. And I had the most beautiful dream that my dad was being faced by four imams in a big white palace. Subhan Allah, I never felt sad about that. I feel like inspired by Hamdulillah this is this is beautiful. Tell us have you you've heard of this guy who you have a kind of a similar accent to his name is Russell Brand.

My god Russell. Russell is doing a great job. And I really appreciate him. He veers you know off on a tangent with the anything goes you know, do what you feel kind of stuff. But boy right now he's smashing it. And I did meet Russell back in the day. And then if he remembers, hopefully not. Okay, so you've met Russell Brand. There's pictures of him before like having a reading the Quran. So I wanted to ask you, have you met him and has How much does he know? Have you gotten a chance? Will? You probably not, but do you know people who have talked to him about Islam or since he's there in UK, right? Do you know what I think he was with Jemima Khan for a couple of years. So I got who's

who's pharmacom was Imran Khan's ex wife.

And she would have spoken to him about Islam. I'm absolutely certain from from that, you know that, that he's aware of it as a world religion. The big thing for for most people, brother is the Accepting of a faith from God with stipulations.

Morality, right and wrong, that at some point, you have to say no to yourself. I, you know, I think, you know, there was there was, there was a great

thirst for spirituality out there. But when it comes to saying, and people should not do this, and then there are things that you must not do. People run, you know that the nafs kind of fights you so I think we should all pray for him. I think he's doing a smashing job of kind of fighting, you know, the big companies and big pharma. And may Allah bring him to the truth. I mean, so if you had a chance to sit down with Russell Brand, Lauren booth, what would you tell them? How would you invite him to go ahead and search more for the purpose of life while we're here and to look into the Quran like you did to really read it and to really connect with the Creator? What message would you have

for Russell Brand from Lauren booth? Do you know what I would say? I'd say, Read, I know you read. So how about reading the Syrah of the Prophet peace be upon him by Martin lings. It's written in a story form, and you will know the best of creation. And you will be inspired, inspired on whatever journey you're going on. But know about the prophet. Now it's time in Sharla.

There's also another experience that was really fascinating. Many people, when you talk to some people, they say, Well, who created you say, my mother created you? So you have to correct them? No, she carried you. She didn't create you. But when you when mothers give birth, you went through that moment where you had to look at the child and you're, you're honest with yourself that I didn't create this child. Talk to us about that experience that moment. For me, the first time I gave birth was like a moment I'd waited for my whole life. I hadn't been waiting for it. But when it arrived, it's it's an amazing thing. And women don't we didn't speak about this enough. So I'm gonna get

really passionate here. Okay, especially brothers, you don't know. It's like every cell in your body is alive and tingling. I'm ready. And you know, when the Holy Quran Subhanallah talks about women being on the verge of death that it is this, this this great wrenching of the of the veils of reality. I just felt these veils going, you are close to something now you're close to creation. Because Because you're you are, you're bringing something into the world, you didn't create it yourself, but you're bringing it you're, you're being enabled to bring it into the world, and you're going to see something new. And you're going to be a part of this. And there's no getting out. And

there's no getting away from it. Most things in life now we can negotiate. All right, and unfortunately, you know, sisters, if you if you ever think about having a cesarean section as like, I'm gonna negotiate with this, I'll have a suspect. Don't do it. Don't deny yourself this incredible experience. And this, of course, obviously, medically important. Take your advice. Take the advice of your doctors, right. But, but if you can do it naturally, it's incredible. And I screamed, and it was guttural. And it was the you know, and then when the baby comes, and I looked

when you see eyes, and toenails, and hands. And you know, I didn't think have brown eyes. I didn't make that hair. I just ate a bit and wobbled along, you know, and did my best. And here you are, and you're perfect.

The honestly, birth is amazing.

Just let's stick on this for a second. I think it's really important that anybody who is in a situation where they're planning on it or about to have a child, I think everyone should watch this documentary called the business of being born. I don't know if you got a chance to watch that it's the business of being born. Have you seen that? No, I haven't. I haven't. So this goes into the growing rate of cesarean sections in the United States all over the world where it's just skyrocketing has become a big business. You know, so it goes back to to what you were saying and there's also growing movement now of home births also, and also many people are going towards

midwives.

Edie, Can I just jump in here? Yeah, we're not live. Are we

kind of live? Oh, yeah. I was gonna ask to take a pause because it's the event. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. It's just

so the dawn for people that don't know this is the Muslim call to prayer. Liam Neeson when he was in Turkey. He was first annoyed. I always mentioned the story. I

When Liam Neeson was in Turkey where you're at, he would wake up hearing this this noise is what he called it at first he was very annoyed with it. But then he just got accustomed and then he said it was like something penetrating his soul. So Liam Neeson he went came back to America and he was sharing this story he was just seemed like he was just glowing in his heart you know, attracted to it, which Adan is what Muslims hear the call to prayer, calling people saying that there is English I like translating it God is the greatest God is the greatest there's no God but but God Allah. Muhammad is the messenger, the final messenger light, I feel a lot is nothing worthy of worship of

God, come to prayer, come to prayer, Come to success come to success. And it was it was seemed like he was so close to accepting Islam. He got a big pushback, which many people end up doing. So I don't know what happened from there from our Irish.

Yeah, Liam Neeson, I suspect that he watches your videos and Sharla and that he's doing his own digging. And there is nothing wrong. I meet secret Muslims all the time. SubhanAllah. And it's the most amazing experience, I kind of really, really, they're really precious those experiences, people have different views on it. But we don't all have to be out there. If you're watching this, and you've taken your shahada, and you're keeping it

to yourself for a while, for safety reasons, maybe go ahead and do that. But remember, as well, subhanAllah that if Allah has given you this great gift,

to be the person that others can come to, for, for real spiritual advice to know our faith, to do the work of the faith is is is a part of the duty so don't don't miss that opportunity. But I've met I went to

a meeting of a shack in London. And these were these these were Sufis. I think it's a friend of mine. And there was a lady there and she had a little skirt on to her knees. She was about 70 years old, and a little kind of bear a. And I said hello, how are you? She said Salaam Alaikum, I think and I said, Oh, well it comes around. I said, Are you muslim? She said, Of course I've been Muslim 23 years family still doesn't know. But Allah knows. And it's like, and you know, I used to go shopping in Manchester. And sometimes these I remember this kind of really rough and rugged girl in a in a kind of jogging suit

came up to me, and my daughter sort of went, Oh, here we go. And I thought all right, ready myself. And she said Salaam Alaikum. And I said when it comes to lamb, she said Have a nice day. And you and it was like okay,

so you know, I'm gonna do that. And this is so what what you did we couldn't hear it but that you took a break you wanted to? This is the dawn and I was touching upon the Liam Neeson incident. And just you're actually in Turkey. So you get to hear the than regularly. Now how was it when you want to also Bosnia? Were you able to hear that then when you when you were when you were there? Yeah, it's kind of it's a bit quiet in Sarajevo though, do they turn it down?

Yeah, it's not kind of as raw as as a whipping. As it is here. I did a I did a program on that, like, turn it up, return it down. Because you can. Yeah, so some people were complaining Why it was turned down? But

yeah, so we're trying to get it back up. But you got you kind of got to hear it right, of course. And how was your How was your experience in Bosnia was one of the most pivotal experiences of my life? You know, for me, and my, my daughter, Alex, we went together, we went for two weeks. And we and we made the intention, we're going to pay our respects to the Muslims there. Because if you don't know, you really should know that there was a genocide in the 1990s. And it was, you know, appalling war crimes visited upon the Muslims in that region. And really, we should, you should find out about it. So I won't. I don't think I can. Sorry. I can't do it justice here. But it's it's a

it's an appalling part of European history that's kind of skirted over. But we wanted to meet as well, the Muslims there today. Because who knew that there's Muslim Europe. And now maybe you're watching somewhere in the world and you're going, that's not true. It's Judeo Christian.

You know, what, almost a quarter. And one time a third of Europe were majority Muslims. And what's fascinating about Bosnia, brother, you will know is that there are churches, and then mosques, and then a little road between them and then a church and then a mosque. Because although Islam was there for 800 years and is still there, the church has remained. What does that mean? Oh, does that mean the Christians are allowed to pray? Yeah.

Does that mean they lived side by side? Oh, yeah. And Croatia. And then you know, this this this awful hatred rose up. But for me, you know, it's best described as minarets in the mountains, which is a wonderful book by Tarik Husayn brother, Tarik Hussain, who's written about the Balkans, which is Kosovo, which is Macedonia. You know, which is Bosnia, which is Albania. And for me, I spent a long time years ago in Austria, and I thought that's probably the most beautiful place in the world. To be honest, it probably is. But when I went to Bosnia, I thought, goodbye, Austria. Goodbye, racist who don't like Islam, I'm not coming back to your country. Nice people, too. I'm very

beautiful, but I now have Bosnia. And so I want to go to Ica inshallah. Jana Boyle. Me. You like it that much. Ah, yeah. Beautiful.

So I'm looking for I'm looking for a house there, make no mistake. Secondly, and it's like, I feel like I'm in a portrait somewhere like, it's just so beautiful and serene. Did you get a chance to visit the memorial site, the museum that they made there outside of setup, please go to my YouTube channel, Lauren booth, you just put it in and go and look at my visit to Srebrenica to the memorial there.

You know, it's one of those horrific places. And it's I met a man there,

whose family you go into the, the graveyard. And there are hundreds and hundreds with the same name hundreds and hundreds with the same name. He's like, they're all my family.

SubhanAllah. And yet, he managed for us with his Islam, to come through it on the other end to to to still be a creative person to still have a family to still work for his people. And this is the resilience that faith gives Subhanallah Yeah, that was you. When you see all the different writing's on the wall, one of them that stood out, it was a UN and they translate United nothing, because they were supposed to be protecting those innocent men, women and children. But then they ended up the Dutch ended up leaving throwing a party. And then they didn't just leave you know, you're being too nice, Eddie, I know you're there in America, whether you've been too nice. They disarmed the

Muslims. They demanded that every man and they all had their own little old rifles, okay, they weren't heavily armed but they were hunters because they live in the mountains. And they came house to house bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And they searched the Muslim houses and they took the weapons and when the Serb you know, well Serbian,

genocidal army came through, and the Muslims will say, Please, the coming, then we know what they're going to do, please give us a we can't we need this piece of paper, and they left them to be massacred. That's what happened. Point of history. Yeah, and many people don't know, that was the greatest genocide after World War Two. And you had it this is the other thing it just a, because a lot of times were told, as Muslims, you know, were put under the radar if some lunatic does something and they tried to, you know, just defame the whole religion of almost 2 billion people, but you never hear about these techniques. You never hear of this movement there. That was actually

connected to the New Zealand killer, a terrorist, Andrew Brevik there, he was actually playing these Chetnik song. And this is a whole ideology that wants to exterminate Muslims there. So you know, that was that was a study sorry, but there was a study done.

It's over on blogging theology. He's doing some great stuff, Mashallah. But he did a video about which are the two most murderous ideologies. And now the, the ideology that has killed the most through through the last three 4000 years is Christianity, I'm sorry to say. And then after that, it's atheism. Okay. You look at Marxism, you look at communism. Right. You you look at the Viet, the Vietnam the Vietcong, but

Oh, gosh. Anyway, the you know, the communists basically in all of these areas, the millions and millions of people that were killed and the atheists and, and the war's over oil, and then after that, I think it's number six or seven is Islam. So at the top Christianity 120 578 million atheism 125 million.

Islam I think 23,000,001 Death is too many. Okay, one is innocent death. Make no mistake, this is not a win. A win lose thing. We don't want anybody on this list. We want no more wars. We want no more massacres. We want no more children dying under drones. We don't We want no more women in Sarajevo having to walk side by side and know that the rapist of their mother or themselves is still free and wearing a t shirt saying finish the job.

Yeah, and then when you look at Were you surprised you see the Christian churches like there's

Still standing after the war, you had hundreds of hundreds of mosques just obliterated, obliterated but this goes back to the teachings of Islam, you know, and this is why you had all those churches left, you know, in their place. And this goes against the narrative a lot of times so it's good you know, people visit and they get to see you know, this is like a modern day they say European Jerusalem, they call it they're in Bosnia, where Jews Muslims are living together in peace Subhanallah just just visit there, you're right, the Jerusalem of Europe is is is as Bosnia It really is amazing. Amazing, mashallah, you know, did you see that line? They literally have a line

where east meets west and you walk through bacha, you walk through there the little shops, you feel. Yes, that's right. Yes, we did. Yeah, we had a photo there. It's just sensational. SubhanAllah. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to go this year with all this madness. But I missed Bosnia, I hope to visit soon. Some amazing, amazing country. I think for identity purposes, me and my daughter being converts from Britain. We felt really at home there. And we felt like oh, okay, for once we're not aliens. You know, we're not aliens in, you know, in the Muslim community who sees us as weird and we get asked, Are you muslim? No, I wear this for fun because I like being shouted out in the street.

You know, I really had to stop yourself from being sarcastic. Ya know, I just put this on every Tuesday for a bit of a laugh with my friends. Yes, I'm Muslim. And then you know, of course, other people saying stuff to you, but handling that it wouldn't change it for anything I saw you did visit that Masjid up in the mountains there. That was very moving the

it's called The War mosque. And it was where the brothers used to pray. When there were Serb forces in the hills. And they were fighting for their lives. And their city, Surrey, ovo was under siege. For a number of years that people were on the brink of starvation, Allahu Akbar. And, and they had this beautiful little mosque and I had the honor of going there. And with the brigades with the surviving brigades, and

I tell you, I hope you can maybe later on if we edit this cut in some of the scenes that I saw there, because it was so moving, and they were so kind, and so sweet. Listen, Muslims are sweet. When I wasn't Muslim, and I used to go to Muslim events, I felt so

I felt like a big giant bully. Who had no

you know, no emotional compass, amongst a little, a little playground of very sweet children who were about four years, you know, I was like, 14, and they were four in their innocence in their sweetness. And I still feel that way today. Allahu Akbar. And you know, if you have a good Muslim friend, you know, you're probably experiencing that too. Like, why are you so nice? Why are you giving everybody at work food? Why Why are you looking after my mother when I'm out when my own family won't do it? Why would you run me to the airport? You know, when my best friend says she's busy.

It's the teachings of the Holy Quran and our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon us who make us a good people in society. You should want more Assam not less. Yes, absolutely. And just to touch upon one more thing before I go into my next question, is that you have Serbians as a nationality. You know, and a lot of times because it's nationalism, which the last of all the misuse of the mankind pro Muhammad said, This thinks, you know, this is going to be a division between people, because you do have Croatians, you have Serbians, who have come to Islam, they have searched out the purpose of life, they found that the Quran is indeed from the Creator of the heavens and earth based on

evidence and proof and they've accepted and had been welcomed open heartedly and those who haven't that's we still live in peace. But now just as people ask Muslims to condemn, you know, such fringe elements out there, you do have amongst in that, in that community, you have some who are extreme that now some Serbs talk against that, you know, so it's not labeling a whole a whole nation or a nationality. Because Islam is about living peacefully with your neighbor, no matter if he's you, Christian, or whatever the case. So this is very important. And it goes back to knowing your deen and sharing your deen what you love to do, which we've kind of and I think, because I went to visit

a chutney

in his church, he's a priest. When I went there, you know, there's the there's a line of division between the Republic of Serbia and its dimension when you're driving, you can just go from one part of the Federation of Bosnia and then you cross the line and you're in a different part. So it's kind of scary. You're going I went here at his church service, and I went there, and I talked to him. I don't know if you got a chance to see that. You can see it on our Facebook page just reposted it and he had no idea of many of the teachings of Islam he didn't know that we loved you.

Jesus, there's a whole chapter named after his blessing number nine mother. So we also are doing a very bad job at conveying the message of Islam. And I think many of our problems come from us not doing what our Creator God Almighty Allah told us to do. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's kind of a tough one. Because

on the one hand, we're sort of trained to take faith out of the public space. And that it's almost like a dirty thing to talk about. It's either dirty or embarrassing.

You know, don't don't talk about it over dinner. We don't You don't talk about politics, or you don't talk about religion and just keep it out this bit. Well, when are we going to talk about it? Where when is that magical space going to happen if it's not in our daily lives, so the more that we push those conversations away, the more misinterpretations and disunity arises, I'm really glad you said that about about Serbia and Croatia. And because these are nationalities, they don't have to be ideologies in the individual. It doesn't have to be like that. And so, you know, we pray for each and every person and we want individual relationships, but we do we also pray that these ideologies

end and that those spreading hatred are are sidelined by their by their own communities. And because just as Muslims were called upon to sideline those who are calling, who may be misguided and leading to

violence and misunderstanding, well, we call on on you, on your community. You know, if somebody is speaking to you violently, and saying, God, those Muslims, they stink, we shall go wreck their women, or why don't you go and do this. So my very good close friend of mine, she had a hijab ripped off a couple of days ago in Leicester, she's traumatized, the police did not, quote came and came in question to our husband, and not the people who did it. These are real things that really shaped people. So what are you doing in your community? Dear viewer? What are you doing to stop the hatred when you hear it? Tell us more about this? What happened? Was this in the news? Was this something

that was just a isolated incident that happened in your neighborhood now or with your friend? Was it something Why did this happen? So she's a practicing Muslim woman.

She's a convert. And someone just off the street randomly came and just know they, they've been so so they've been some bullying by this gang of about five adults. They live in the same building. And they've been shoulder barging and, you know, making comments. Was it go back to Iran? I think they were saying to her some random, you know, it's normally Saudi Arabia, then a way Iran came up. But anyway, they'd obviously read something on the internet that day. And so they'd been bullying them, and other Muslims in the block for a while. And this particular day, it tipped over. And they, they pulled her hijab off, and she was actually on the ground looking for it outside her home. And her

husband went after them on his own, which is dangerous, and there was a scuffle. And then they called the police, they ran away laughing. They called the police and the police questioned him. And so did you start the fight? Did you do this? And now they're such they're so upset by their interactions with the police, they don't feel that they can report it. So we're still working on this inshallah. And when you know, sister is ready, when she's ready, inshallah she will, she will. But this is it's a fight rather, it's a fight because you're upset. You don't feel the police are on your side. And then you've got to get the guts to go in and see them again, and be bullied by the

state. And that's that's really is this like a group like Tony Robbins saying like the EDL or something or do some local thugs or local facts? For a bit of fun bit of a laugh? This is normal for Muslim women. It's like, oh, you get spat. spat out, nevermind. It's become it's becoming more normal in the UK is it's getting worse rather than better.

It is what it is I've left. Make no mistake I left. I left because I'm afraid that that society is falling apart. And I wish I wish it well. My daughters are there. My friends are there. My family extended family there. But for me as a Muslim, I felt I could it and it's not just about faith. It's not even just about ethics. It's about the commercial material society, when you take away people's material goods, and that's what's happening now in the UK. It's happened post COVID People fall apart and it becomes really kind of dangerous and that yeah, Allah Allah took me from that of Hamdulillah. So we got about five minutes left. Let's talk about so you've made hijra, and you see a

lot of people who are actually leaving and coming over to places like your turkey. I think we have to be really careful with the term Hijra for someone like turkey because Hedra is looking for an ideal Islamic State and that's not fair. Turkey is a dynamic and mixed place to live and it's pretty much 50 50% secular, with other with other religions here and still 50% inshallah of people who are practicing the faith so I don't think you can put it as head

Where did I come to somewhere by the Grace of Allah? Where the van is called? Yes. Where there are beautiful mosques? Yes. Where you we can do charity. You can do that in the UK. Of course you do that in your own environment. But where there's a peacefulness in in wearing the scarf? Yes.

So are you are you seeing How was life there compared to where you left the UK? How was it for your dean? How was it like, we just got to experience you just stopped being and hearing the dawn. So I mean, that's, that's something amazing. Sometimes you just don't want to be the other. Sometimes you just want to be yourself. Sometimes you just do. You just don't look at me and my hijab. I want the hijab on to be invisible when I'm out. And that's it's like a cloak of invisibility. And it's lovely. When it works in the west and you're invisible. And as a woman, you're not stared at your comments aren't made it you That's That's when it is working beautifully. And then when it when it

draws attacks, that's when it's something we have to, to wear with, with with steadfastness. There's a big change, right? Because several years ago, there was also something there with the hijab, right? in public places. And now it's also changed for the better. Oh gosh, in Turkey. Well, listen, 20 years ago, President Erdogan had to send his daughters to America to study in the hijab, Allahu Akbar, because you could not have the hijab in Turkey. So again, that's another topic for another day, because it's huge. There was communism, and there was secularism, and it was deliberately entered into the Muslim lands of Europe. And this confusion reigned for a while and this hatred and

fear of what had gone before, and this forgetfulness, and now Hamdulillah, some stability in sha Allah, we pray for that. Let's talk a bit talk about real quickly, this 10 Year Itch, you know, where we are now and the importance of continuing to get well grounded into Deen? And then we'll go on to my last question with this. Yeah. Okay.

I wanted to speak, especially to people who are perhaps converted, you know, it's so important to keep on learning this face. So it's so deep Eddy, it's like, you dive in to this wonderful ocean. And then it's like, you're almost drowning. It's like, I don't know anything, and I'm a sinner, and, and it seems so overwhelming and the waves are washing over you if you've ever I've tried to surf. And it's like having this big. You have you're getting dragged underneath the waves.

And, you know, you forget about the beauty because you're kind of overwhelmed that that can be an experience. But that only happens continually. And then of course, the pull back. Where are my friends? Where's my fun?

And, you know, shaytaan and the temptations? You know, everybody's still going to the bar. What about Christmas? It looks so bright and Tinsley and you forget about people being bankrupt in January forget about the arguments over who gave the biggest present, you forget about the drunkenness and the fights that go you forget because it's all tinsy Oh, let the sleigh bells ding ding we'd love it to be like that. It's not Christian. It's nothing to do with Christianity. And it is not peaceful. But all of these things for the convert and for the bomb awesome. Are their reality. So I keep just

inviting myself to go back to the beginning. Go back to the basics. And now by the Grace of Allah learning Arabic. I am doing the hard work 11 years in you know, fella fella fellow fell out Valletta. Trying to get the Arabic grammar away. My aim is to read the Quran with understanding before I die, Yara and I've studied a couple of books this year in depth. Because the explanation, dear brothers and sisters as you start working on yourself, you start really understanding your you know what your flaws are in a deep way, and the deepness is and how do I please Allah when I get rid of those, what am I meant to be doing? It's not just about undoing. It's about redoing, and for the

pleasure of God. So please, if you're feeling confused, if you're feeling lost, come find me on Instagram. I love to recommend books. Keep watching the deen show, inshallah to Allah and keep learning your deen and keep going back. Don't just make it a part of life out. I do my five prayers. Or maybe I do three prayers. That's probably enough. You can that's an easy way to slide away and you won't get the beauty.

I want to just touch upon real quick got one minute left, you have a new book and I'm really impressed that you've made it and I think we're lacking here the audio portion of the book, you actually have a book but it's also an audiobook format. And I encourage others because if you ever go to Audible, and you just put it in Islam, you have a lot of the hate propaganda that's pushed through these audio books so we really need to catch

Chuck to get the right information out there. And audible audiobooks is a great resource that we're lacking tremendously behind and you are actually promoting your book as an audio book. Correct. Hampton, it's called in search of a holy land. And it is the the stories. It's my own journey, but it's the stories of Muslims. It's a story of Palestine, it's the story of us being from birth to death, and all of those experiences in between, how do they impact us? And how should we react? And what does Islam actually mean in our lives? So I've recorded it myself, there's a lot of laughter in there. That's the character Allah to Allah has given me there's a lot of light and shade. And people

have said that they cry and they laugh in equal measure, and that their heart is is warmed by the truth that inshallah so in such a holy land, you can find it on Audible, you can find it on scribble.com. And it's I kept it really, really super cheap. Sometimes these things are 18 $18 I've made it $1 $2 Because I want as many people as possible to have access for it. And Charles, thank you very much for sharing some of the highlights of your story. And some great experiences there that we got to benefit from some advice. Thank you very much discipline. May Allah bless you keep you close to him. I mean,

well, they can Salam but I've got