Interview – Tauqir Sharif on Genocide VSActivism
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Channel: Lauren Booth
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the need for activism to address climate issues and the importance of protecting one's privacy and not collaborating with evil individuals. They use the examples of the movie The Lion King as an example of the need for positive thinking to help people achieve their goals and build a culture of peace. The importance of learning and development for developing a positive mindset is emphasized, along with the need for people to use their own skills and focus on the big picture.AI Generated Transcript ©
You're a kid from from London, and now
you're in a stress position in the sun
with a gun pointed at you.
Yeah. I mean,
one of the things that was really kind
of scary was the fact that we were
like, does anybody want to inspire someone? Wow.
You've got 250,000 followers. I'm like,
what does that mean? Who cares? That's not
gonna help me migrate.
And they started shooting,
and and killing people. Over 50 people were
injured. 9 people were killed. And this is
what we see today, my dear sister Lauren.
You just gotta look on your social media
feed. You see a generation,
you see youth that are doing all this
crazy dancing, they're far from the deen, they're
doing all this haram stuff. A generation like
this is going to free our brothers and
sisters in Gaza. It's those who are willing
to give up all of this designer clothes,
who are willing to give up these lavish
meals. It's those who are willing to give
up everything
for the sake of Allah.
They are the ones who are gonna liberate
Al Aqsa. Rahim. Welcome to a one off
special
on activism,
a chat really with a friend of my
family who I've known for almost, my gosh,
15, 16 years now. We were both kids
back then. He was more of a kid
than me, I have to add.
And, Tox is currently in Syria, and I
want us to really
explore Tox, inshallah, what it takes to be
an activist, and how to get ourselves
off the sofa and
into being,
you know, a caring part of humanity. Where
are you right now? Yes. I'm in Syria.
I'm, sitting in the middle of,
thousands of refugee
camps. And in the midst of that, we're
building this project here, which is the super
village. We're building homes for our brothers and
sisters here in Syria.
You think
somehow, to me, it seems like you need
a special set of skills
to
build,
you know, a huge
place in a war zone
and to actually cope with that.
Did did you train for this? Is there
training that you need to be an activist?
I don't think there's a set training. I
don't think you can go on a course
or,
you know,
you you know, there's some, you know, 3
month course that you can do and you
turn out to be activist. I think I
think life just teaches you,
the the skills that you need to to
to kind of know what's right and wrong
really. I I think what most people struggle
on though is how do I actually act
upon that, and am I willing to to
to make a a sacrifice,
to, you know, to help others? I think
there's a really profound statement that
kinda sticks in my mind which says that
I I think it was from the black
civil rights movement.
I remember one of my friends and mentors
Bilal Beqreme telling me, he said that
most of the people who
fight for the rights of of people or
fight for human rights
really get to enjoy them themselves.
So it's a it's a it's a interesting
concept. What it means is that as an
activist,
you have to be willing to go kind
of the extra mile. You have to know
that you might be, you know, you might
face aggression, you might face prison, you might,
you know, suffer harms,
but in the end you're doing that for
the greater good so that other people they
can live in comfort, inshallah. And that's kind
of what my my whole life and ethos
has been about up until now.
It's interesting that you raised that some somebody
were in your young life
made you
feel that you had to intervene in things
rather than sitting by. For me, it was
my dad.
He was an actor, but he was also
a civil rights activist
and an activist for the elderly and for
the poor, and he had a really bad
burns accident. I don't know if you know
this.
And he was in the hospital for 6
months, and all of his leg legs were
3rd degree burns.
But there was a march in the 19
eighties, I remember,
for the unemployed up north for Liverpool and
Manchester.
And my dad was asked to lead it
with his wife,
and he walked for 5 miles on crutches.
And when they finally got him to sit
down,
he told me that his shoe, they emptied
it out of blood.
The body. The shoe was actually
full of blood, and they said you can't
go on. And then only then did he
go on the top of the truck.
So those early examples,
I guess as parents, that means don't be
an armchair,
you know, activist. Right? I think I mean,
for me,
I hope that I can be a good
role model for my children. When I came
to Syria, I didn't have any children. All
my kids were born out here,
and we try to involve them as much
as we can in in in the work
that we're we're doing when we're doing distributions,
even when we're doing lives in the night.
They're staying here in the refugee camp of
us at the moment.
So
it's kind of a part of their life,
you know. It's a it's a it's a
situation where we hope that inshallah we can
kind of continue that legacy and they they'll
or they will continue our legacy, should I
say, and and continue in this work in
helping others.
I remember,
going into Gaza on that trip,
and it was organized by George Galloway, who
martial arts now back in parliament. He really
is an old slugger, isn't he? I don't
know if you remember the fight
that we had to get the,
to get the goods through the Mubarak regime
at the time. Do you remember that? With
Alaricia.
Do you remember do you remember that,
a load of the Egyptian secret forces were
throwing stones at everyone?
Yeah. Yeah. I do. And, Spana, it's a
it's a it's a crazy story because,
you won't you won't believe it, but it's
a bit embarrassing for me. But when we
were on the actual when when that happened
and we were in the compound just outside
Al Harish, I was actually asleep in the
ambulance.
I was asleep in in one of the
ambulances.
And, I woke up in the middle of
it,
and most of the most of the kind
of fighting and commotion had had finished.
And I was so upset.
I was so upset. I was like, why
did nobody wake me up? How did I
miss? Like and obviously, a lot of our
comrades had been injured. They had blood coming
from their head. I was I felt so
guilty after that. Then it was a bit
of a running joke after that. Tux, you'll
sleep through anything. You know?
Do you know what happened to me? So
I wanted to join in. I was like,
right. Okay, lads.
I'm on with the Pakistani lads because I
was a Muslim at the time. Right? So
you were just kind of like northern scallies
to me.
And, the stones started coming, and I'm like,
right. Let's have some. And let's get some
stones, and here we go. And, all the
brothers kind of ushered me away, and I'm
like, what's happening? No. No. No. This isn't
a good place. You might get hurt. We're
gonna look after you. And they kind of,
kettled me over to George Galloway, and I
went, George, I wanna go through stones at
the at the Secret Services
and and and and stand up. He said,
you'll be sitting down here and making notes
on my speech, you know, and,
of trying to do the politics of getting
the,
everything through. Those horrible men from the Sinai
who probably still in still in the Rafa
crossing now, I bet those same evil people
are there. So we both missed out on
that. Subhanallah mentioning evil people. I remember that,
I remember when we came to to to
to Al Harish, to the to the,
the crossing, I remember,
there was a, there was a Egyptian general,
and I'll never forget it. I'll never forget
it. He had a really evil face, pockmarks
on his face. He had a lot of,
if you wanna say, he he had a
lot of medals, and, you know, he was
high ranking,
Egyptian official. And I remember I said to
him,
and he turned around and he said to
me,
what do you think that we are backwards
and old fashioned?
And I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe
coming to a Muslim country, you'd that that's
the kind of response that you would get.
So some of these people,
they not only are they,
you know, evil in their,
complicitness
of the siege of Gaza,
some of them actually hate Islam.
And that's that's not to say that Egyptian
people are like that. Obviously, we know that
the Egyptian people are amazing people and and
they're oppressed, but sadly the Egyptian military and
the the current regime and the Mubarak regime
at that time,
unfortunately, they're the ones that hold the real
power,
and they are fully complicit in in in
the siege of our brothers and sisters in
Gaza. That's what hurts the most. One of
the things I always say to people is
that we have to
clean our own house.
Sadly, we have a lot of people in
the Ummah.
When you're talking about issues that we have
within the Ummah, they get upset. Like me,
I think it's known maybe some of your
followers don't know, but I was imprisoned here
in
Syria,
by HTS, which is an Islamic
group. Right?
And many of the other voices here, some
of them British,
they were like, why are you causing fitna?
Why are you speaking?
I said, because if we do not speak
out against these aggressions now and we do
not correct our brothers when they are doing
wrong,
then
where they will end up
is gonna be,
atrocious.
We cannot allow
one drop of Muslim blood to be spilt,
whether that's from non Muslims or Muslims themselves.
And they didn't understand this concept.
They were like, no. It's fitna, etcetera, etcetera.
They said, you know, we must support,
the de facto leader, Abu Muhammad al Jawlani.
We should not make any fitna. We should
not say these things.
But now just recently,
torture,
after 3 years after coming out, torture has
become so widespread.
There's mass protests right now in Syria every
single day.
And and it's it's it's become clear even
for them now
that they should have spoke.
Because if you let one thing slide, what
will end up happening is it's a slippery
slope. So this thing of, you know,
speaking out against our own, we have to
have checks and balances.
This idea of just, you know, bending down
backwards,
no matter what the the the ruler is
doing, people really,
what's the word?
They they,
exploit this in Islam. It's very problematic,
and and ISIS did it.
Obviously, had interactions with them. And now we
have this in every Arab land where if
you say anything,
it's like it's treason. It shouldn't be like
this, and I don't think that that's that
that is the prophetic way.
Let's go back to Gaza for a moment,
then I then I then because I do
wanna hear about
how it's impacted you being in prison
for those months.
But I want to know what you expected
when we went into Gaza in 2009
because I remember going and I wanna talk
about the Rafa Crossing for a second so
people understand what you said,
which is that
e the the the regime
who are building these fences
and looking over at starving children and watching
the bombs,
fall are culpable.
They are making this happen. They have been
working with Israel for
decades
decades to make sure that this is the
situation.
And I remember going into Rafa
coming trying to come out of Rafa in
2008
and seeing a guy, it might have been
the same guy, big guy with pop mark
face, and he said, you live in Gaza
now, you like the Palestinians, you live in
Gaza.' But here's the joke: when,
the, Muslim Brotherhood were in power in Egypt,
I saw that same guy when I came
through the Rafa Crossing, and I went, oh,
you. You're still here.' He said, 'I've never
met you before in my life, Miss Booth.
Such an honor to host you. Please go
and help our Palestinian brothers and sisters.' And
I'm like, It's
him. He's the one.
So there's a real sickness there. And I
remember, no, I wanna hear from you. Tell
me about going into Gaza that first time
and what expectations you had because you must
have been a bit afraid of seeing, I
don't know, resistance fighters. Was there any caution
there?
No. No. No. You know me. I'm like,
for me, that was not a that wasn't
fair at all. I'm I mean, my was
a bit different because I was newly practicing.
I just kinda started growing my beard. I
was a young lad. I was still at
university.
It was it was an adventure for me.
Right? But it was also a journey where
I was trying to find myself. At that
kind of period in my life,
I just felt like something was missing. And
that's kind of what brought me back to
Islam because I wasn't practicing. I was very
far from the Deen, very very far. Even
though I was born Muslim,
I kind of I I say to people
that I wasn't a Muslim at that point
because of the things that I was doing.
Right?
I wasn't praying. I wasn't doing any of
these things, that I should have been doing.
May Allah forgive me.
And SubhanAllah, I through through that period of
my life,
in university, I went on a a journey
where I started,
studying different religions like comparative religion. I was
going to bible class in university. I was
sitting with, Jews. I was sitting with Buddhists,
and it was only when,
subhanahu wa'am, I met Areeva
to Islam who was very inspirational that kind
of I was like, wow. Look at this
guy in university. He's not doing any of
the haram that we're doing,
and he's struggling. His whole family had kicked
him out. They had disowned him. So that
was kind of how I ended up going
on my journey. That's why, like, I was
looking for something. So Gaza was kind of
it was a soul searching journey, and and
the things that I saw changed me for
life even just like you were saying, going
into Rafa when we were going in,
I remember because the people were so happy
to see us coming to Gaza, they came
rushing towards the borders,
and then the Egyptian military started shooting at
them. I remember 1 boy,
and there's footage of it on my YouTube,
when Al Shifa hospital,
me and some of the brothers and sisters
from IHA IHH, the Turkish charity,
he was shot in the back,
and, he was paralyzed from the neck down.
He was a 16 year old boy.
So these kind of things, first of all,
the complicitness of of Egypt like we spoke
about was really shocking for me. How can
Muslims be doing this to our brothers and
sisters? I didn't I didn't know that, and
I didn't understand that that dynamic, and I
think a lot of people today still don't
understand that.
And then secondly, entering to be honest, I
didn't know what I was gonna see. I
didn't I I didn't know, like,
I just I just knew that I wanted
to help people because even in Jahiliyyah, even
throughout, you know,
when I wasn't practicing, that's something that I'd
always done. I'd always been someone that, you
know, wanted to help people, save people, etcetera,
etcetera.
For for me, it was
incredible
to go in and do some good. We
had fire engines and ambulances
by the grace of Allah.
The the Egyptians took the ship. Do you
remember the yacht? There was a yacht.
The Libyans,
had given a lot of things and
just,
I I went right the way through
from Rafa to Gaza City sitting outside a
car. So my legs were inside the car
going, yeah. A lot of work work. And
we have to remember 2,009
was off the back of Operation Cars Lead,
which was a baby holocaust. It's a baby
holo just a little trying it out kind
of holocaust,
and yet the people were still had the
energy in them.
Tell me about some of the stories that
that the people that you met because because
they had been bombed. They'd had,
chemical weapons tested on them.
All of this has been
evidence provided by the United Nations.
And yet
Suparna, you mentioning that it just it just
brought back a memory and a feeling for
me.
It's it's one of the ones that I've
I I don't really speak about much. Right?
But
and it wasn't you could say
it was a small percentage of what I
felt in Gaza because the people are so
amazing, but I felt a great sense of
guilt.
Right? And the reason for that was because
when we came in
and the way that people greeted us,
it was as if we were like heroes
that we had
liberated Al Aqsa. We had, like, liberated them,
and we'd saved them. And I knew obviously
that, look, we're gonna leave. At some point,
we're gonna we're gonna leave,
right, and I I just felt like, wow,
we're not even we we haven't even saved
you, we haven't stopped the war, we haven't
we haven't done anything. We've just come, you
know, with a 100 ambulances or whatever it
was. It's, like, measly aid in comparison to
to the needs. Right?
But I just remember feeling like, wow. They
see us as heroes, like, just for coming
here and coming in, and the way people
were screaming and shouting Allahu Akbar and the
way we were hosted what was was absolutely
amazing. And and then for me, I would
say meeting the people,
I stayed with a brother called Abuham Abuhamza
Borayan.
I'm no longer in contact with him now.
May Allah bless him. I'm not sure if
he's shahid. I'm not sure for sure if
he's still alive.
But
I remember staying in his house,
and one of the things that would never
leave me and I I I've I've told
the story many times is that
I remember seeing him
and the way that he was interacting with
his family.
And when I saw that,
I was just I was just I was
just so taken aback because it was like
the way he would hug his children,
the way he would greet them, the way
he would leave the home, it was it
was it was so real, it was so
heartfelt, it was like it was the last
time
that he every time he left the house,
it was like the last time he was
ever gonna see them,
And I was like, Subhan, look at us
in the west, we're rushing out of the
house. Sometimes we have an argument with our
mom or our dad or our our family
members and and, you know, there's no kind
like, the the the difference was
was was was enormous. Right?
And, Subhanallah, this brother, by day, he was
a teacher,
and by night, he was a Morabit. He
was a he was a resistance fighter that
was,
defending,
the the borders of of of Gaza.
So when he would, you know, get ready
in the night, he would get get ready
and,
and put on his gear and leave. It
was something that was so
so profound in my mind, and the way
he would, you know, get kiss and hug
his soul, it never left me.
And and and that changed me for life.
That one image
of many that I saw in Gaza really
changed me for life, changed my whole dynamic,
my perspective.
I remember on that trip,
there were a couple of Birmingham brothers, Ras,
I think his name is. I forget their
names. They were social workers from the Midlands,
and they had, brought loads of cash, like,
$15,000,
something like that. And they said, we don't
know anybody here, Lauren. You know people.
We wouldn't we've got one night to give
this out.
And so,
they have all these wads of cash, and
that's not a great idea in a war
zone, but alhamdulillah, I asked my friend Yasser,
whose daughter we're working with now Rizang Masha'allah.
She was 5 at the time.
We went around
Jabaliyah,
Shajaiyah,
places now that have been absolutely massacred,
flattened,
and, going to families that the locals knew
needed it. So I think we gave something
like $1,000
to 15 families, which is a lot. You
know, it's quite a life changing amount.
I remember 2 things from that night. I
remember
visiting,
a blind lady,
a blind sister.
She was actually a Christian,
and she sang
a a hymn,
from the UK, we shall overcome.
And we're sitting in this, you
know, empty room with a blind woman singing
we shall overcome, giving
charity from British people via a very insane
experience
and just thinking
I was thinking there's some connectivity here in
the universe. There is some great reason watch
has brought us here. There's a connection. Right?
Because it's also
otherwise, it's all so random. And when we
came out, this was in Jabaliya later,
about 3 o'clock in the morning, I turned
a corner, a little corner. I was looking
at my feet because I had my phone
like this with the light, and I didn't
wanna fall over, and I came face to
face with a platoon of resistance.
Now I'm
at this point, I'm a British journalist.
I've been told about the you know, they're
all terrorists,
and I come face to face with them.
I sort of almost bump into the the
stomach of 1 and I look up and
I go, oh,
and they're there in black, and they've got
the guns.
And I have a feeling,
overwhelming
feeling that I want to cry because
and not with fear. I'd had no moment
of fear
because because they were
out protecting
what
a man made border
with some old guns against the force most
heavily armed army. People aren't I don't I
don't even know if we can keep this
in. But, honestly,
I looked at their hands talks
and they were kids' hands.
They were young people
and I thought, like you did, I thought
I'm gonna go home to young people who
are blessed to be on their computer, to
be learning, to be going trampolining
and
whatever they're doing
and these kids are out protecting
their people with old guns from annihilation.
Changed me. I mean, I remember,
something as well.
I met a group of resistance fighters,
in in in Gaza,
and, they were kind of chaperoning us around.
And, one of the things that you hear
all the time in Gaza, you hear 2
things in Gaza, or you hear 3 things
in Gaza, should I say. One
is the sound of building because these people
are the most, you know, you could say,
what's the word?
There are people that are so resolute, they
will continue no matter what. So you can
hear the sound of building. You can hear
the sound of children on every corner. You
just see it's like Gaza is a playground.
Children in my life. I've never seen so
many children. It's like a nursery. And then
the third thing is drones.
You hear the buzzing
of the drones, the constant
zzz
of the drones. And, it was only the
other day because I've been speaking to sister
Razan,
Masha'Allah, she's, you know, the live updates and
Equa team in in, in Gaza. I've been
speaking to her, like, every day over the
last few days,
and just hearing the drone in the background
reminded me of of what the the the
resistance fighters, the brothers there were saying. They
said,
because when I came here I remember saying
like what's that sound like? Why is that
sound everywhere we go? And they were like
that's the sound of drones, Just whatever you
do, don't look up. Right?
So I was like, what do you mean
don't look up? They were like, yeah, because
then it would take like a
a shot of your face. Right?
And because, you know, we're we're chaperoning in
you and stuff, you know, that they you
know what? You might come to some harm
from that.
So that was that was just another really
interesting experience. But to to understand that
Gaza also has drones over it all the
time, And to see the way that it's
been bombed now,
it shows you that
this
evil
Zionist regime, this entity,
they've been surveying
Gaza for for for years, for over 10
years.
The when they are bombing schools, when they're
bombing hospitals, when they're bombing
civilian areas, they know exactly what they are
doing. And it is,
100% a genocide. It's 100%
a way to kind of try and get
these people
by any means necessary
to leave this land,
to change the demographic. And and that's that's
that's what a genocide is, you know.
But unfortunately,
many people
still have yet to to come to terms
with with this.
There was a time
that was a time, 2,009, 2,010,
there was actually a lot of direct action
for Palestine.
There there was a a lot of people
kind of
gathering together. So in 2,008, by the grace
of Allah, I went on the free Gaza.
People have forgotten this. They remember the Marvy
Marmar, and I wanna speak to you about
that.
But 2,008,
we arrived in Gaza by sea.
We confused the,
Israeli
forces so much they thought we'd sink ourselves.
We were such a random bunch of human
beings. And by the way, anybody planning to
do good works, the matrix can't figure out
goodness,
and it can't figure out randomness.
And so, you know, when your heart is
engaged and when you're a random group of
people, you know, you can actually get Sound
like Andrew you sound like Andrew Tate there
talking about the matrix.
Let's change the matrix. I don't like that
word. Let's take that away. Forget the matrix.
The control paradigm. How about that? The control
paradigm. Let let's talk about that. The things
that that survey us and want us to
stop,
doing
positive resistance, nonviolent
resistance. They can't work out goodness. So we
managed to get 2 votes
to Gaza, and there were a couple more
after that. And that, then I started campaigning
with a brother called Osama, not that Osama,
another one exists,
to have more ships go in. And it
seems that that may have influenced some people
to start the Mavi Marmara movement, although things
move in the same direction anyway. I'm not
taking any,
credit or harm for that.
But I wanted to go on the Marvy
Mama, and my children begged me not to
go.
And so as a parent going to war
zones,
you have to speak to your kids and
you have to say, look. Are you more
important than other children? And children's hearts are
so
unique, they're so pure that they'll go, of
course not.
So should we help others? A child will
go, yes. That's the fitra of the human
being. The fitra of the human being isn't
ugly.
It is prone
to ugliness.
It we can be tempted into doing great
wickedness,
but we're not wicked.
We are good, pure beings when we're born,
subhanallah. So I had to I always ask
my kids, look. Mommy's going here. And with
the mommy mommy momma, I'd signed up. And
then a few nights before, they came in,
and they were, like, 5 and 6, 7,
8. And they looked me in the eye
and said, mommy, we've got a bad feeling.
Don't go.
And I said, alright. I'm not going, and
I didn't go.
And you, you did go. Yes. SubhanAllah.
Tamar v Ma'mra, man. Tamar v Ma'mra.
Life changing. Again, another life changing experience. A
blessing to be aboard that ship.
Obviously, the Mahdi Mahra was yeah. It was
a continuation of of your journey,
and the first flotilla.
The Mahamra, which most people don't know, was
actually a freedom flotilla as well. It was
actually
marketed as the Freedom Flotilla, but most people
today, they just remember the Mavi Mamba because
that was the kind of the iconic
kind of cruise ship with
the majority of the passengers on it. Right?
And again, I was kind of blessed enough
to be on that that main ship.
And in essence, the difference between our ship
and
the the other ships on on on the
Freedom Flotilla was
that
we were told that guys if the Israelis
tried to board us then resist.
We're not gonna just sit down and let
them take our boat. Right?
So resist is our boat. We are in
international waters. We're not doing anything wrong. Who
the hell do these people think they are
to come on our ship? Right?
Even though we didn't have weapons,
we were told that, you know, we should
we should resist. Whereas the other ships on
the Freedom Flotilla,
they were like, look. As soon as the
Israeli military comes, we're gonna sit down, cross
our arms,
and we're we're not gonna move. Right?
So
when the attack came, it was just before
Fajr.
And I remember for some reason us thinking
that if we reached Fajr,
somehow we would have won. I I don't
even know where that idea came from,
but we just thought that daylight, you know,
these kind of,
you know, daylight would save us somehow.
But SubhanAllah,
as is, the the the Zionist, the the
IDF, they tried to, you know,
board.
We resisted. We cut their ropes when they
were trying to board the ship.
You know? Then they came with helicopters to
try to come down.
Some of their soldiers, you know, end up
being captured on the ship,
and disarmed.
And and
they basically came with full force,
and they started shooting
and and killing people. Over 50 people were
injured,
9 people were killed.
That was the first time I'd seen,
I'd say,
you know,
people killed in a in front of me
in a warlike setting.
I mean, I'd seen violence before.
When I was 19 years old, I'd been
stabbed in a in in in a in
a gang fight in the UK,
and that had had an impact on me.
The fact that, you know, I could have
died being a statistics.
I could have been a stat a statistic
of knife crime in in the UK, and
that's always stuck in my mind even today.
It's Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala who gives gives
life and and takes death. Right?
So
now seeing this kind of violence and aggression,
to be honest, it still feels like it
was a movie. Helicopters coming down and and
people, you know,
upsetting down from the helicopters with full gear
and assault rifles and, you know, people being
shot. I remember one of the guys that
got shot was a cameraman. He got shot.
He was holding his camera like this. The
bullet hit him right in his forehead and
came out, big exit wounds on the back
of his head. I remember carrying the dead
bodies of the shuhada of the martyrs.
So, yeah, it was it was it was
it was it was,
again, it was something that resonates in my
mind. But you know what, Toxha? I'm gonna
jump in here because what really
should resonate with what's going on now is
the world did nothing.
Now the world did nothing. Now, you know,
these were international people.
Right? They were in international
water.
You know, there there are maritime laws.
And still when it came to,
the the IDF,
that you had no rights. And and the
the media coverage was weird. It was like
these horrible people attacking those nice commandos
in the water. It's like, what?
Yes. SubhanAllah. It was again,
it just goes to show how
spheres of influence and the powers that be,
you know,
control a lot of the narrative.
And this is why I always say to
Muslims, I say look,
we have to be activists,
we have to
be an important part of raising awareness,
but we also have to build institutions. We
as Muslims, Muslims, we cannot be reactionary.
For how long are we going to see
our brothers and sisters
die in Gaza?
If by now you've been watching this the
last 10 years
in Gaza, in Syria,
in in in Burma,
in in all of these different places where
the Muslims in in East Turkestan, where the
Uighurs are being, you know,
butchered also. Right? And and and and, they
say they call it a silent genocide is
taking place. Right?
If we see all of this
and we we are not moving, then there's
a problem inside us, and and that's why
we have to now not be reactionary. We
We have to think about long term,
solutions. We have to build influence.
We have to build institutions,
so that we can have
not just change the narrative because changing the
narrative is part of it, but it's also
about
actually having some impact and influence on the
ground
where you can make change. Because the reality
is
making noise and raising awareness is just one
part
of the puzzle. And that's why for us
as live updates, we always said make noise,
make change. They go hand in hand. It's
not just about talking. It's not just about
changing that narrative, but it's also about physically
doing something.
Tell us,
about the background where you are now
because that has a lot to do with
your you you found a mission. You
how did you get off the Mavi Marmara?
Yeah. So, Subhanah, getting off the Marawi Ma'mra,
we was I mean, getting off the Marawi
Ma'mra and ending up here, get just surviving
the Marawi Ma'mra in essence.
You know, that's a subhanah, that's a story
by itself. But, we were arrested
by the the the Israeli oppressive
forces.
I remember,
you know, subhanah, we were stripped.
We were
cable tied, put in the stress position,
left in the sunshine for hours,
and then once we receive once we we
we came to the port of
of, of,
Ashkelon,
we were kind of paraded. I remember these
going through your mind when you're when you're
in that position? What's going through your mind?
You're you're a kid from from London, and
now you're in a stress position in the
sun with a gun pointed at you.
Yeah. I
mean, one of the things that was really
kind of scary was the fact that we
were like, does anybody know?
Does anybody know what's happened to us? Because,
the Israelis had
jammed the the satellite connection of,
the the the ships that we were traveling
on. So all of the media that was
on there, their signals had been jammed. So
we didn't know if any of this news
had got out. Thankfully thankfully for us,
the team that had organized the flotilla, they
had a backup signal, and some of the
media of them attacking the ship had had
managed to get out. It was like a
direct live link streaming to the to the
Internet.
But we, of course, we didn't know that.
So
just being in this position,
being at the hands
of captors, of people that you know are
evil and and oppressive,
and, you know, have committed war crimes
is is, it's it's it's it's a scary
feeling. Right?
But again there's so much adrenaline pumping through
you
that
to be honest I I I feel like
I didn't have have time to be scared
because especially even in that situation we had
people that needed help. I remember being on
the ship and
being in a stress position
and then
certain,
uncles and aunties,
they were,
they were they were passing out because of
the the sunshine.
And what we did was, a few of
us brothers who were young, we were healthy,
we started getting up, because in the fighting,
the the upper deck of the the ship,
it had like a
you could say like a canopy section with
a shade,
so that part of that was broken.
So even though we were cable tied behind
our back, we tried to like pull it
across some of the aunties and uncles, and
then the Israeli soldiers were hitting us and
telling us to get back down, and then
we were fighting them and we were saying,
look, these people are old. Look, let them,
you know, let them at least have some
shade, give them at least some water.
So even in that kind of environment, we
were still trying to trying to help people,
and we didn't care if we were getting
hit by the the gun butts of the
of the of the Israeli soldiers and stuff.
And then once we finally got to Ashkelon,
I remember
stepping off the ship,
1,
Israeli soldier holding one arm, me handcuffed by
my back, another one holding the left side.
And I remember the one that was on
the left, he was a a Ethiopian Jew,
and again that was that was very shocking
for me. I was like,
look,
you're you're more similar to me man, that
we're we've got the same skin color. I
was trying to use any, I know that's
a bit racist, right, but I was trying
to use anything I could to try and
get through to this guy and be like,
look, does it make sense what you're doing?
Why are you why are you doing what
you're doing?
But he was like, no, we are Zionists,
you know,
we are we are Jews and this is
our land and and those it turned out
those
Ethiopian,
Jews,
it's crazy because the the other, you know,
Zionists,
the the Ashkenazi,
the European
Zionists, they were actually being racist and rude
to them in front of us right?
But these guys they had this level of
insecurity so much so that they were being
even more evil to us. They felt that
they had something to prove and to belong,
So I remember these guys they were they
were taking us out and it was like,
it was like in essence a walk of
shame. So literally you walk out of the
ship and there's thousands of
soldiers,
These big massive lights were shining on us.
People were spitting on us. These soldiers were
spitting on us as we walked by.
They were booing and chanting and and screaming.
I remember all these different,
you could say, uniforms,
and then eventually we were taken into,
like a,
what do you call it, like a,
a center where they a processing center.
And then then we were interviewed there. And
then from there we were taken to a
Beersheba prison, and, we were the first people
that were that were in Beersheba, which again,
Swana being imprisoned for the first time,
in in in in Palestine or or occupied
Palestine was
that was that was definitely a a experience
that, you know, I will always stay with
me as well.
So you you really have some some
kind of inner sympathy,
extra sympathy with the, what is it, 7,900
prisoners,
hostages
that the
the occupation forces are now
holding? Yeah. I mean, definitely. I mean, the
hunger for us, of course,
we were very lucky,
and Spoila, sometimes, you know, when I look
at the world, I think it's such an
unfair world. Just because I was
born in a country with a British passport,
I have certain rights
or should I say I had certain rights,
but,
whereas others don't. And and the crazy thing
is like you would be treated differently because
you're British. British. Right?
In the beginning,
even though we were British, they had a
a lot of contempt for us. They were
like, don't you know we are Israel,
and you think you can just come here
and do what you like? They were very
arrogant,
But then once the media
story spread and we we knew that the
it had it had got out to the
whole world and it was an international story,
the
what's it called? The the treatment changed.
Right?
And they were being very polite to us
and and the food changed and all of
that kind of stuff. Right?
But imagine those people in in in
in Israeli prisons
who are of Palestinian
origin.
They're not even recognized as a people,
their names are unknown,
they're forgotten people.
Imagine the way that they're treated,
and these
IDF soldiers,
these prison guards, they know that they can
do whatever they want to them with impunity,
and they will face no harm.
That must be a
utterly
terrifying
position to be in.
And all I can say is may Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you know, keep our brothers
and sisters in that situation strong. May Allah
free them soon. And may Allah forgive us
for our shortcomings and our betrayal
in in not being able to release them.
I mean I mean,
thank God for
the deen, thank God for that that strength
that it gives us, that reality. I I
knew,
a brother was who was released in a
prisoner swap,
in
2011, 12
and,
he had been a lecturer
in
comparative
poetry
in Jerusalem.
And
he had limited eyesight. But when they tortured
him in one of these prisons,
he was he went blind, completely blind in
an, an IDF prison, IOF prison,
and they used to electrocute him.
And he said he realized after a while
that if he stayed calm and just made
zikr in his mind,
that they were more scared of him than
he was of them and that his calmness
when when he was seeking the presence of
Allah to Allah was really terrifying. They would
throw chairs at him and he would just
say la illaha illallah la illaha illallah.
And they would,
you know, and the brothers would pray against
him, and he became a half of the
Quran, a blind half of the Quran in
one of these households.
SubhanAllah, what you're saying what you're saying is
so true, sister Lauren.
So I've been imprisoned obviously in in in,
in Israel, in Beersheba.
I've been imprisoned in, obviously, now in Syria
as
well. But one thing I've realized is your
your oppressor,
your torturer,
your,
prisoner, the person who's imprisoning you, right, imprisoning
you, should I say,
they're humans as well. As much as they
try to show at times that they're not
humans and they are these, you know, these
evil blank beings, the reality is they're humans.
And the natural fitra
also exists, the natural disposition also exists within
them. So when you're calm
and it's only the deen, it's only Islam
that can do this for you, you are
the most powerful being on the planet.
I've seen it like when you're calm and
you're in prison, right,
and you're not fazed by what they're saying,
you're not fazed by what they're doing,
it is absolutely
terrifying for them. You know why?
Because it reminds them of God, it reminds
them of
the final day, and it reminds them that
that recompense, that day is coming where they
are going to get it back,
and they're gonna get it back in full,
and that makes them it makes them panic.
Sometimes they'll completely leave you. When they see
you in the stay, they will just,
you know stop,
and it's it's interesting it happened to me
once,
one of the Israeli soldiers
he he went to slap me,
and SubhanAllah I just kind of stood there
and tensed myself. I was in, you know,
better shape than I am now
And,
he got scared. He got scared like the
fear of, you know,
the fear Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put the
fear in his heart and instead of slapping
me, he basically slowed down and he stroked
my beard.
And I remember laughing in his face, I
just
I couldn't do anything but laugh. It was
it was it was so funny even till
now,
I could still picture his face, and then
he kind of just embarrassed
embarrassedly
kind of turned around walked off and just
shuffled away.
So it's Allah Subhaana Wa Ta'la that puts
that strength
in you, and some of these
Palestinian brothers and sisters, Mashallah, Subhana Wa Ta'la,
they're absolute heroes, you know. Allah Subhana Wa
Ta'la has given them something
that he hasn't given anyone else, you know,
they're chosen people. And that's why I always
say to people, Gaza changed me. The people
of Gaza changed me. Whenever I speak to
them, even speaking to sister Razan, the stuff
she sent me today, you know, I'm I'm
on a high today. You know, I know
you you you you were kind of,
what's it called?
I
hit I hit a wall this morning. I
hit a wall. I just woke up, And
I'll tell you I'll tell you what happened
is I was I I read a lot
of Quran last night by the grace of
Allah, 74 pages, something like this. And it
did something to my heart.
And we should have soft hearts, and we
should cry, and we should be impacted, but
we're never hopeless.
And so that kind of had to come
out.
And so that that came out this morning
and, alhamdulillah,
that you're strong again, you know, and you
know hizbul Allah when your mom will kill.
And we're talking about Razan, that that wonderful
sister, may Allah bless her and all her
people and her family,
who recites Quran
to me during moments of bombing there to
make me feel better because she has that
power. It's craziness. She has that capacity
to do by Allah's grace.
People don't understand that like like to even
me, what I was telling you like obviously
we will have our downs that's that's natural
and we outside of course
seeing what's going on there of course we
should definitely feel that way. I feel that
way, I think most of us do.
But the reason why I was on such
a high is because just seeing our team
out there, just seeing her, just seeing her
sisters,
Mashallah the ethos it just reminds me of
some of the work we're doing here, and
it just reminds me of
like they're in that moment now,
and they are not fearing, Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has put that, like they're there giving
out Qurans to people, they're reciting Quran,
they're singing nasheeds,
it's like they are not phased.
They are facing the you know, one of
the strongest militaries in the earth,
and they're not phased. And us
to be honest
it's us that should be the ones that
should be worried, you know, the ones that
are outside, the ones that are seeing this
take place because we're the ones that are
gonna be accountable right, so when I see
them and I see them in this
in this,
you know with this aura, it's just it's
just inspiring. It's why that's why I'm today,
I'm on a high. Today, I'm gonna do
some amazing stuff here in Syria, you know.
And,
those guys in Gaza, they're gonna get the
Hajj for it. And this is this is
the word, and, and I wanna speak directly
to
brothers and sisters who are following this channel.
Look, the only reason that that I have
this channel is to share the beauty of
Islam and to do good works. Inshallah may
Allah accept it. And and talks, has trained
himself to be something of a media genius
only because he wants the work to continue.
Hey, you're pretty good. You're pretty good. I'm
gonna give you credit where it's due.
You know, he he he knows that you
know how to speak to the camera. Not
everybody can do that. And you've got that
passion, and you've got that hunger for doing
good.
And I wanna ask just before we wrap
up, Supanella,
what are you working on now, and and
how did you get your vision?
Yeah. So,
the the vision comes from Gaza. Gaza like,
I know that sounds so cliche,
but for me, like, Gaza changed my life.
Everything that I saw in Gaza,
like I've analyzed it. I've I was only
there for 3 days like literally 3 days,
right?
But every single minute I have
analyzed and I've thought about it from the
people that I met to the the institutions,
to the way that people were walking, to
the sounds that I heard. I've analyzed every
single and I've and and I've I've over
analyzed it. And that's what kind of built
my understanding and way of thinking. Right?
I want to stay in Gaza, but they
didn't let me. They were like, you know,
your your work, your your voice outside is
more important for us. At that time, I
was so upset. I was crying. I remember
leaving Gaza on the bus crying my eyes
out. I didn't understand it at the time,
but now, of course, I I I understand
it 100%.
But that's that's helped to build build our
ethos and and and the work that we're
doing here in in Syria, which is, you
know, we have to think about building
the next generation. One of the things that
I saw in Gaza was that they were
working on a Tarabiya system,
you know,
where
we have holistic Muslims.
It's a very important point Sister Sister Lauren.
With all due respect
to our Ummah, unfortunately we've become like the
foam of the sea, like the Prophet
when he mentioned in the Hadith that time
will come where the nations are
scouring around you, sitting around you like they
are feasting
from from a meal at a table. Right?
And they'll be taking piece by piece and
the companions they said, You Rasoolullah,
will it be because we are small in
number? He said,
no. The opposite, you'll be great in number,
but you'll be like the froth, the rubbish,
of the sea, you know, gathering up.
And they said why is that? They couldn't
believe it. Why is that? How can we
be so large in number
that we we will be like this in
this state? The prophet
said, because you will have a Wahan,
in your hearts. You'll have,
you know, they said, what is this wahan?
He said, a love
for the dunya and a hate for death.
And
this is what we see today, my dear
sister Lauren. You just gotta look on your
social media feed. You see a generation,
you see youth that are doing all this
crazy dancing. They're far from the deen, they're
doing all this haram stuff,
doing all of this crazy stuff,
and they think that
from this
we will liberate Al Aqsa. A generation like
this is going to free our brothers and
sisters in Gaza.
It's those who are willing to give up
all of this designer clothes, who are willing
to give up these lavish meals. It's those
who are willing to give up everything
for the sake of Allah.
They are the ones who are gonna liberate
Al Aqsa. Not those whose life is all
about dunya. And sadly, that's what we're seeing
now, and that's what we've tried to build
now in our students. These orphans that we
have in our camps right now, what we
are bestowing in our hearts, just these buildings
behind us now, the Super Village,
this is a small percentage of the work
that we're doing. This is not the real
work. The real work, building the buildings, we
say Bina Al Insan,
building the humans,
is more important than than building these buildings.
Because Insha'Allah, if we build
the right people and we give them the
correct understanding, Islamic understanding InshaAllah Ta'ala, then they
are the ones who, Bayhna Ta'ala, will be
a hand
of strength for our brothers and sisters in
Palestine
and and all around the world. So that's
that's what we're doing. That's what our ethos
is. Our ethos is yes, we wanna do
the primary relief. We wanna build people homes.
We're building Masajid. The Masajid that we have,
our our our centers, they are our training
centers. We play football in there. We do
training in there. We
Masjid Alhambra, we built over 40 Masjids.
They are
the centers,
and we know the disbelievers.
They dislike this. They hate this. You know,
someone asked me, they said you're building Masjid
Yusuf, this masjid, this, massive masjid.
What if the regime, the Bashar regime comes
and bombs it again? I said we'll build
another one. I said this is the mentality
we have as Muslims. We will give everything
we have, and we will build another one.
And so that is what we're doing, that's
the ethos of the work. That that's why
we're here. That's why we gave our lives
to be here. And even if a bomb
falls on us now and and we pass
away, insha'Allah,
you know, shahada, victory.
Victory or shahada. There's nothing else. This dunya
is this dunya is it's fake.
It's it's it's it's
it's, you know, it's it's not everlasting.
It's just,
you know, it's fana as Allah says in
the Quran. It's just, you know, it's it's
it's it's nothing. It's nothing in comparison to
the. So my dear brothers and sisters, all
the Muslims, if you're watching this Ramadan, give
as much as you can. You know, Alhamdulillah,
we're doing amazing work in Gaza. You're gonna
see it all over Afid. We're doing amazing
work in Syria, which is also Bilaad al
Sham,
and that is what is gonna benefit us
in the next life. None of this. Having
followers on YouTube, having followers on social media,
it does nothing. You know, so many times
people are, inspired some, wow. You've got 250,000
followers. I'm like, what does that mean? Who
cares? That's not gonna help me in my
grave. That's not gonna help me one bit.
You know, if anything, I'll be accountable accountable
for those followers.
So this is why we're on here. This
is why sister Lauren's on here because we
want you guys to do the right thing.
We want you guys to sacrifice something. Allah
says in the Quran
That you will never know piety.
You will never know Taqwa. You will never
know what it is until you give
that which you love.
Give that which you love. Allah says what
you love, not just the extra stuff that
you have on the side.
He's saying what you love. So so that's
my message, and that's what we're working on,
to our sister Lauren.
We'll get the important thing that we're doing,
like you said, is building the insights of
people and one of one of the things
I don't want to see happen in Gaza
after the you know the the killing stops
which it must
is that these external psychologists
go in and tell all the kids, you
are damaged for life. 'Au'uzu Bilem in a
Shaytani regime.
These children
are they're gonna be the backbone, bi'udnila, of
beauty
in the coming generations because they they have
the Quran in their hands and they have
the Quran in their hearts and they have
a connection from Allah to Allah that we
can't see and we're not aware of. Leave
them in that zone. Let them go deeper
into that zone. Help them as they need.
Sure. I'm not saying, but I do not
trust western psychology.
You know, these are people who don't believe
in God.
We know that Allah Ta'ala is the one
who cleanses hearts, purifies souls,
gives,
from his storehouse, which is never empty.
And this is the psychology that has made
the Garzans who they are today. So anybody
watching this who's like, oh, we've got to
help these children, yes, please do,
but the psychology wise, we've got it covered.
And that's what that's what I believe. Subhanah,
one of the things is just two really
important things that to mention here. Right?
1, the legacy of the Garza people is
cemented. Look at all the people who are
becoming Muslim. Look at all the people who
are suffering from psychological illnesses
outside
and they're seeing these resolute people under this
intense bombardment
and they are
saying They're
saying
They're saying for you, Allah. They're saying take
all of my blood. This is it's it's
it's it's it's unbelievable.
And that legacy cement look at people like
Sean King becoming Muslim, who was a Christian
pastor, is becoming a Muslim, and the the
list is is endless you know, this is
the Hikmah of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
then the second point about
Western NGOs
and their hidden agendas 100%
their goals are not to just come in
and give counseling.
One of the things that we do here
is we have Quran
Therapy
It's a curriculum based on the Quran,
utilizing the Quran
to give therapy to our brothers and sisters
because the word of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has more effect and it has more power
than any of this Western counseling, right?
If it is used
in the right way, it is Ruqyah, it
is Shifa. And for me, SubhanAllah, when sister
Razan and our team in Gaza said, Brother
Toks, we want to buy Qurans,
I said, you know what Sister Razan, I
understand you, me here in Syria Wallahi I
understand you, but the people in the West,
they're not gonna understand. They're gonna say to
us why are we giving money and you're
buying Quran? And I said to her, I
said to her sister Razan, make me a
video,
and speak to the people and tell them
why you,
the people in Gaza,
are asking for Qurans, and that's something we're
going to release InshaAllah
over the next few few days. People don't
understand it. They would rather go without food
and have a Quran
in their hand.
It's it's it's the Quran is what what
will satiate them,
but for us,
we are people of gluttony.
Unfortunately, gluttony, you know, one of the the
7 deadly sins as they say, SubhanAllah, there's
never been a time in human history where
there's been so much food,
right, and a and a exuberance of of
food, lavish food like this. You know, this
was only for the the kings and queens
in their castles where they'll be having meals
like this.
So, you know, when you see a people
who reject that, it only reminds you of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the companions
in the battle of the trench when the
Sahaba, they said, You Rasulah were hungry and
they lifted their bellies and they had one
stone tied to their stomachs. And the prophet
he lifted his,
you know, shirt and he had 3 stones
tied to his stomach. This is what these
people remind us of and, you know, we
should take inspiration,
we should take heart, yes, we should feel
sad at times, and that sadness,
we should harness that to actually do something.
No reactionary,
but think about it long term. If you're
a mother, think about how I'm gonna raise
my children
not to just be someone. You know, my
mom, you know what my mom used to
always say to me? I forgot to mention
this to you. You said, why is it
you are who you are? My mom always
used to say to me, son, I want
you to be a doctor and you're going
to go and help the Ummah.
Son, you're going to be a doctor
and I want you to help the Ummah.
Wallahi used to say this to me from
when I'm young, she used to always say
this to me, son, you are and I
I remember that from from being a baby,
from being so small. Obviously, I didn't become
a doctor,
but Alhamdulillah, I hope that Insha'Allah Ta'ala I'm
doing my mom proud in terms of helping
the Ummah. So yeah, man, that's,
that's just a little bit. Brilliant message. Allah,
Allahu Akbar. Be the parent that you, you
know, be the parent that is gonna inspire
your child. My dad used to say to
me, you're gonna change the world. You're gonna
change the world. You're gonna change the world.
And and, you know, I I can't say
in any way that that's the case, but
that impetus that it put inside me that
this life is not just about me, that
it's about the positive impact you can have
on other people. It's about helping other people.
It's about using your resources
not to make money. What is money?
Forget it. Just it comes and goes. You
know, Allah gives and then it let let
it pass through our hands in a good
way. So thanks, Tops. I'm not gonna take
any more of your time. You've got work
to do.
The buildings behind you are gonna be filled,
inshallah, to Allah, with the refugees now living
in the camps looking at them, and you
can help to be a part of this,
brothers and sisters. We're gonna put the links
below.
Please do, build
these, properties that are gonna be owned, do
things by half. This isn't a temporary fix.
They're going to restart their lives in a
new village. We're also, helping our brothers and
sisters in Palestine,
especially in Hazar. May Allah bless you, may
Allah accept all our fasting, may Allah accept
all of the duas,
free Palestine, free asham. Allah bless the Ummah
and see you again. Allah bless you. Thanks.
See you soon inshallah.
May Allah bless you as well and, give
you and
doing.
doing.