Shadee Elmasry – On The Ground in Syria with Tauqir Sharif – NBF 413

Shadee Elmasry
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The conversation covers the history and success of Islam in Syria, its impact on society, and its importance in advancing enterprise. The three stages of Islam, including education, development, and self-investment, are emphasized. The importance of independence and helping people in their roles is emphasized, and the use of activation methods and rebuilding efforts are discussed. The state of society and consumer, housing, and veterans, and the rising housing crisis and rising housing price are also discussed, along with challenges of living or studying in the context of the pandemic and the need for a culture to be active and not get arrested. The current state of Iran and its potential for Islamization are also discussed, as well as the challenges of living or studying in the context of the pandemic and the need for a culture to be active and not get arrested.

AI: Summary ©

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			Welcome everybody to the Safina Society nothing but
		
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			facts live stream on a Thursday in the
		
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			month of December where the weather out is
		
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			who knows maybe it's a I don't even
		
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			know if it's colder or not to be
		
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			honest with you and that's why people get
		
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			sick because you don't know if it's cold
		
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			you don't know if it's hot and you
		
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			get sick but this is the time and
		
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			so you got to get your vitamin C
		
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			ready and that's what's going on here to
		
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			fight these sicknesses but we are today we
		
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			have a wonderful guest we have somebody this
		
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			program is called nothing but facts we want
		
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			to get to the facts you can interpret
		
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			them as you wish you can have what
		
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			opinion you wish but we want facts and
		
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			that's what we're going for so I have
		
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			been in the effort to really understand what's
		
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			happening in a sham have ended up following
		
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			a Twitter account by the name of Toki
		
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			talks Sharif and I found it really valuable
		
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			what he was bringing to the table and
		
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			I liked his optimistic nature and so he's
		
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			I get our guest today and we're gonna
		
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			learn and see what is going on on
		
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			the ground and get his perspective and get
		
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			his commentary and his observations on the latest
		
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			happenings in a sham so welcome to the
		
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			nothing but facts live stream Tokita city miss
		
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			Milo Salam alaikum walaikum salam Jazakallah khair for
		
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			having me it's my pleasure inshallah ta'ala
		
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			okay there are not that many people that
		
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			at least that I could talk to who
		
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			are on the ground Bilal Abdul Kareem was
		
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			one of them you're the second one we
		
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			have on the grounds we are sending our
		
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			own man Salman inshallah he's going to sham
		
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			as part of relief organization let me begin
		
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			with you and for the audience to put
		
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			it out there I've already asked him what
		
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			are the red lines in this discussion he
		
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			said there are no red lines in this
		
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			discussion so we're going to talk so my
		
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			first question to you how does a British
		
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			person from what the northern part of England
		
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			I am assuming no East London so it's
		
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			the southeast London okay how does someone from
		
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			East London end up in sham well I
		
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			suppose I have to go on a bit
		
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			of a journey my my journey didn't begin
		
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			in Syria per se but it didn't begin
		
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			in sham in a different part of sham
		
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			which was Gaza Alhamdulillah Allah blessed me to
		
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			be able to go to Gaza in 2009
		
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			after the operation cost led offensive by by
		
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			the Israelis and yeah I mean we went
		
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			on a convoy took 100 ambulances from the
		
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			UK drove them border to Gaza broke the
		
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			siege and what I saw in Gaza kind
		
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			of changed me forever I wanted to stay
		
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			what year are we talking say again what
		
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			year recently this was 2009 2009 and you
		
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			are went for relief work in Gaza yes
		
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			we've been on an aid convoy so we
		
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			basically bought second hand ambulances fill them with
		
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			with aid the well-known MP George Galloway
		
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			he was the one who was leading the
		
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			convoy and basically we drove it was a
		
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			kind of aid effort but also a political
		
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			statement driving through all of these countries driving
		
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			through borders that had never been opened before
		
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			between countries you know that had issues between
		
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			them but Alhamdulillah we made it after a
		
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			couple of months of driving through different countries
		
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			doing conferences Alhamdulillah we broke the siege and
		
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			entered Gaza and what I saw there changed
		
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			me forever I really wanted to stay and
		
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			many of the brothers that would be want
		
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			to stay and the brothers in charge there
		
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			wouldn't allow us to stay they were like
		
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			your voices are more important and powerful to
		
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			us outside so I remember leaving Gaza one
		
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			of the few times you know that you
		
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			know tears were streaming down my face that's
		
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			the place that's Gaza it has a it's
		
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			an enchanting place to put it in very
		
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			basic terms so you went here in Gaza
		
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			2009 they made you leave you went back
		
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			home to England so I went back home
		
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			to England started getting involved in more relief
		
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			work I was kind of helping run the
		
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			family business which made it easy for me
		
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			so I could work three months and then
		
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			leave for three months so there was a
		
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			flood in Pakistan in 2010 went to other
		
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			you know disaster relief areas in 2010 I
		
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			was on the Marvi Marmara freedom flotilla so
		
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			this was a ship or this was a
		
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			group of ships that were sailing to Gaza
		
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			to again break the siege but break the
		
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			sea blockade and then the Israeli IDF they
		
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			basically attacked the ship came down with helicopters
		
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			nine people were killed 50 were injured we
		
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			were all arrested and taken to prison in
		
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			Beersheba or Beersheba in occupied Palestine so that
		
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			was a big international story in 2010 a
		
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			lot of these escapades that I was doing
		
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			ended up resulting in me being banned from
		
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			quite a few countries so I was banned
		
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			from obviously you know Palestine I couldn't go
		
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			to see Al Aqsa I was banned from
		
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			Egypt banned from quite a few other countries
		
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			for these kind of you know political aid
		
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			convoys if you want to call it that
		
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			that's strange because aid is usually neutral aid
		
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			is neutral if you're you know being how
		
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			can I say the nice the nice guy
		
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			which is not involving himself in you could
		
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			say fighting for human rights once you start
		
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			to push that boundary and you start becoming
		
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			an activist that's when Zionist lobbies think tank
		
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			think tanks people like this they start attacking
		
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			and you become you become an enemy okay
		
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			so you so you ended up in an
		
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			Israeli jail yeah and did your British passport
		
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			help get you out no funny enough it
		
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			didn't you know it's really funny because we
		
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			thought that as Brits we would be the
		
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			first people that would be released from prison
		
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			right because Britain and Israel are allies yes
		
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			that's the British government basically washed their hands
		
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			of us they were like we were a
		
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			contingent of I can't remember exactly how many
		
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			of us but we must have been over
		
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			15 of us some were Irish some were
		
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			Brits different ethnicities and we just assumed that
		
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			we would be the first to come out
		
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			the Irish ambassadors were great they came they
		
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			took their people out straight away because they're
		
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			very pro-Palestine they brought us some chocolates
		
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			and they said listen guys looks like you
		
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			guys are gonna be waiting for a while
		
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			and when our embassy eventually turned up they
		
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			were like well we told you guys not
		
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			to come here like what the * are
		
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			you guys doing sort of thing even countries
		
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			like Pakistan because the whole point of the
		
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			freedom flotilla it was a one it was
		
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			taking millions of dollars worth of aid it
		
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			was trying to break the illegal blockade on
		
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			or naval blockade but at the same time
		
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			obviously it was a it's a political statement
		
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			that we're saying that look this this siege
		
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			is is illegal right we didn't understand or
		
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			think that we were going to be attacked
		
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			in this manner and with this brutality but
		
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			we shouldn't have expected any different from such
		
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			a brutal regime but yeah so what ended
		
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			up happening is even countries like Pakistan who
		
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			have no ties with Israel their citizens end
		
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			up being pulled out earlier because the whole
		
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			point of the reason I'm explaining the different
		
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			citizenships I'm a bit tired so you're gonna
		
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			have to forgive me but the goal was
		
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			that they wanted to have as many different
		
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			citizenships on the ship and as many high
		
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			-profile people as possible so that in the
		
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			event something happened many there will be international
		
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			pressure and governments would intervene but like I
		
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			said even those countries that had no ties
		
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			with Israel like I think that the Pakistanis
		
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			got taken out by the Malaysian government came
		
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			in and took them out so we Brits
		
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			were actually the last ones we were the
		
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			last ones left in prison which is which
		
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			is crazy eventually the Turkish government ended up
		
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			bringing us out the British government was like
		
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			we can give you a temporary travel document
		
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			one phone call and we can lend you
		
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			50 pounds that's it but they took all
		
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			our money like how are we going to
		
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			pay for tickets the Israelis took all our
		
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			money they took our cameras they took everything
		
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			right how are we gonna what we're gonna
		
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			do with 50 pounds they were like well
		
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			you got one phone calls you got 50
		
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			pounds work it out sort of thing whereas
		
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			the Turkish government came in and they were
		
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			like look we're gonna fly you on a
		
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			five-star airline or I don't know top
		
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			of the top airlines we basically had beds
		
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			on Turkish airlines they brought us to Turkey
		
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			the president came out to meet us there
		
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			were millions of people waiting at the airport
		
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			like when we came out we came out
		
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			like heroes they prayed like heroes like I
		
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			remember coming out of the airport and onto
		
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			like this bridge and they were just people
		
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			as far as you could see when people
		
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			were shouting Takbir the whole ground was shaking
		
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			people crying people giving us flowers and I've
		
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			still got a book a sister gave me
		
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			to today it's like a book about Palestine
		
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			in Turkish and you know it's got a
		
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			message inside it and and scarves and it
		
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			was it was it was insane and then
		
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			they put us in a five-star hotel
		
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			we did the janazah of our brothers that
		
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			were killed at the at the it was
		
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			one of the famous mosques in Turkey again
		
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			millions of people came out and then they
		
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			said stay as long as you want and
		
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			when you're ready to go home we'll send
		
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			you home Wow so got on a plane
		
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			paid by them of course again with a
		
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			bed and you know first class or business
		
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			class got to the UK and everybody the
		
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			whole British contingent was kind of let out
		
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			of the airport Heathrow Airport except for me
		
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			I was held under schedule 7 and the
		
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			British intelligence wanted to wanted to question me
		
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			and I was like guys this is the
		
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			international story the whole world knows where I've
		
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			been like come on like if you want
		
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			to talk to me I'm tired I want
		
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			to go back to my family like just
		
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			talk to me I'll come back and talk
		
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			to you like this is just taking the
		
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			absolute you know but so there was like
		
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			quite a few there was a big contingent
		
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			of people waiting in the airport so they
		
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			start protesting all of my compatriots so they
		
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			were like English Scottish you know different people
		
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			that were with the British contingent they staged
		
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			a protest that we're not going to leave
		
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			the airport until you guys release him just
		
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			go just go just go so they let
		
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			me go through and obviously there was media
		
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			and people waiting and that was kind of
		
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			that was kind of a lot of the
		
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			kind of Palestine activism I was leading a
		
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			lot of convoys to Gaza after that but
		
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			because I was banned from Egypt I would
		
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			go as far as Egypt or Libya sorry
		
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			not as yeah the Libyan border and then
		
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			I would the convoys would go in and
		
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			yeah the aid would get delivered so there
		
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			was there was a lot of things that
		
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			I was doing like that and then in
		
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			2012 when the conflict broke out in Syria
		
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			I wasn't really aware of the nuances even
		
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			though I'd traveled to Syria before that and
		
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			I knew that there was oppression taking place
		
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			and stuff I wasn't aware of the kind
		
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			of finer details about the Alawite minority population
		
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			their beliefs and how they had you know
		
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			most of the control and power in government
		
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			and so it was a group of brothers
		
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			that came to visit me and they were
		
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			like look we want to take a convoy
		
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			to Syria you've got experience you've been leading
		
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			convoys through all of these countries we want
		
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			you to lead the convoy what organization was
		
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			it again so they were just a group
		
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			of brothers they were just a group of
		
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			brothers who were working in the Dawa Allah
		
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			bless them so they didn't have an official
		
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			organization so they were coming to me I
		
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			was connected to many organizations and I remember
		
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			going to all the organizations that I knew
		
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			and saying look guys this is what we're
		
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			doing and basically nobody wanted to help us
		
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			everybody was like no it's too hot you
		
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			know we can't help you you know we
		
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			need to see what the British government's going
		
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			to say about this first you know this
		
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			kind of cowardice kind of colonized mindset I
		
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			call it so yeah we ended up taking
		
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			a small convoy some of the brave hearts
		
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			from the UK Muazzam Beg came with us
		
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			obviously Guantanamo survivor one of my teachers one
		
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			of my mentors may Allah bless him and
		
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			you don't need to say anything about his
		
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			bravery and sacrifices for the Ummah so we
		
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			took 13 ambulances it was some organizations did
		
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			help us under the table and yeah April
		
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			2012 we took the first aid convoy from
		
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			the UK it was difficult but we managed
		
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			to get those ambulances into Syria and Alhamdulillah
		
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			that was a big move because once we
		
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			achieved that it empowered other people to do
		
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			the same you could say it became politically
		
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			correct at that time to start supporting the
		
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			rebels and that empowered a lot of the
		
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			rest of the Muslim community to then kind
		
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			of start working in Syria so yeah when
		
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			I went in April I was like how
		
00:15:47 --> 00:15:51
			can I leave this place you know people
		
00:15:51 --> 00:15:55
			are getting killed I saw you know mothers
		
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58
			you know crying over their children who had
		
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01
			been you know killed by barrel bombs and
		
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02
			I just said to myself how can I
		
00:16:02 --> 00:16:06
			as a man see this take place and
		
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09
			leave I thought of the ayah in the
		
00:16:09 --> 00:16:24
			Quran the
		
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27
			verse basically says and what is wrong with
		
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30
			you that you don't struggle in the cause
		
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32
			of Allah when you see the men the
		
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			women and the children who are screaming out
		
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40
			save us from this this oppressor and that
		
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			just reverberated in my mind I remember seeing
		
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45
			you know the video the images of Bashar
		
00:16:45 --> 00:16:50
			soldiers burying you know people alive and saying
		
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52
			to them say La ilaha illa Bashar and
		
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55
			I just said to myself I can't Subhanallah
		
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58
			I went back to the UK organized another
		
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			convoy told my wife who would only be
		
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03
			married for 10 months I said listen pack
		
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07
			your bags we're going to Syria Subhanallah and
		
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09
			that's it in December 2012 we were in
		
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			Syria and we never looked back okay I
		
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14
			want to get this straight so you took
		
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17
			ambulances where did you purchase the ambulances from
		
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18
			where were they purchased from we bought ambulances
		
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21
			from the UK second-hand NHS ambulances in
		
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			the UK we also bought some from Germany
		
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26
			wherever we could find them in Europe we
		
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29
			bought right-hand drives left-hand drives everything
		
00:17:29 --> 00:17:32
			that was they call them there's a word
		
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34
			for it when they go out of service
		
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37
			basically because so obviously these rich Western governments
		
00:17:37 --> 00:17:41
			after 10 years of use they basically take
		
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43
			them out of service they're still brilliant ambulances
		
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47
			Mercedes, Reynolds so we would buy them like
		
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49
			that and and fill them with aid and
		
00:17:49 --> 00:17:53
			drive them to Syria okay you drove them
		
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55
			to Syria or you had them shipped you
		
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59
			drove them drove all through Europe and from
		
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			Europe to Turkey yeah yeah so we would
		
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03
			drive them to Palestine so I basically use
		
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04
			the same route that I used to use
		
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07
			to Palestine because basically one of the things
		
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09
			that's important to understand is that the convoys
		
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12
			in 2009 many of the people that went
		
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15
			on those convoys it was like a an
		
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18
			awakening and a realization for them because they
		
00:18:18 --> 00:18:22
			were like wow we can actually do something
		
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25
			ourselves we don't need to like all of
		
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27
			this red tape that because we are privileged
		
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30
			and we have British passports we can do
		
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32
			a lot and I basically stuck like glue
		
00:18:32 --> 00:18:36
			to a guy called Kieran Turner he's not
		
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37
			Muslim Allah subhana wa ta'ala guide him
		
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40
			but he was very gracious he's an expert
		
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42
			I mean he this guy's been doing aid
		
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45
			convoys to all different parts of the world
		
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47
			Africa and all sorts for many many years
		
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49
			so he basically I stuck to him like
		
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52
			glue and learn how to navigate the different
		
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55
			countries how to do cargo manifests how to
		
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			you know liaise with different borders how to
		
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00
			organize ships you know that this is this
		
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04
			it's not that difficult and yeah we just
		
00:19:04 --> 00:19:05
			started doing our own convoys and that's basically
		
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07
			what happened so we would drive from the
		
00:19:07 --> 00:19:11
			UK take the channel tunnel or take a
		
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13
			take a ferry to Dover to France then
		
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16
			from France we would there's two routes that
		
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19
			we could take we could either drive down
		
00:19:19 --> 00:19:23
			the coast to Gaza it was two routes
		
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25
			we'd drive down the coast to Spain from
		
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27
			Spain get a ferry to Morocco and then
		
00:19:27 --> 00:19:32
			go all the way through North Africa, Morocco,
		
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35
			Algeria, Tunisia, Libya I was actually in Libya
		
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37
			a week before the war started and Gaddafi
		
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39
			was taken out and then we'd go to
		
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41
			Egypt and then to Al Arish to Gaza
		
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44
			that was one route the other route which
		
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46
			we started using for Syria was you go
		
00:19:46 --> 00:19:50
			through Europe you get to we'd go to
		
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53
			Belgium Luxembourg basically all the way through the
		
00:19:53 --> 00:19:59
			east end up in Bulgaria Bulgaria to...
		
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01
			there's so many borders I'm looking at the
		
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03
			map here there's so many borders yeah so
		
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05
			in Europe because you've got Schengen it's very
		
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07
			easy most of these borders are very easy
		
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09
			Eastern Europe gets a bit tricky but generally
		
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11
			it's very easy Schengen?
		
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15
			yeah it's like the Schengen zone so like
		
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17
			there's no borders in Europe basically you're not
		
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19
			driving through any borders like you're driving through
		
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21
			different countries but you wouldn't really...
		
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24
			oh so you didn't have to stop yeah
		
00:20:24 --> 00:20:28
			because we're Brits like many countries like you
		
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30
			can you literally drive through a country you
		
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32
			wouldn't realize you went from Belgium to France
		
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35
			okay so that explains a bit yeah it's
		
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38
			only certain countries like Switzerland that have borders
		
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41
			everything else is basically open it's a bit
		
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43
			like America in the States when you drive
		
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46
			from one state to another state I'm assuming
		
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48
			there's no checkpoints there's no like police waiting
		
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50
			there saying give me your passport which is
		
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53
			how all the Muslim countries should become that's
		
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55
			what we wish that all the Muslim countries
		
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57
			would become like that's what it was like
		
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00
			previously in history and we hope one day
		
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02
			we've got some kind of Muslim passport that
		
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04
			we can do we've got a lot of
		
00:21:04 --> 00:21:08
			work to do so you go from England,
		
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10
			you know I'm all about maps so I'm
		
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12
			just looking at this you get to Belgium,
		
00:21:13 --> 00:21:21
			Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia no
		
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23
			no no we wouldn't go through the Balkans
		
00:21:23 --> 00:21:27
			so we would go from Austria what's on
		
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29
			the east of Austria give me a few
		
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32
			different Hungary and Slovakia yeah so we go
		
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34
			from Hungary and then from Hungary not to
		
00:21:34 --> 00:21:38
			Slovakia we would go to there's a route
		
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40
			Romania Bulgaria we could have go to yeah
		
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43
			Romania Bulgaria the other route is that we
		
00:21:43 --> 00:21:50
			would drive to where's the place now Italy
		
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52
			we will drive to Italy get a ferry
		
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54
			from Italy to Greece and then from Greece
		
00:21:54 --> 00:21:57
			into Turkey that's the other route Greece okay
		
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00
			so you go up around Greece to Turkey
		
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04
			so you would skip Sarajevo, Bosnia and those
		
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06
			areas yeah because those countries the roads are
		
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08
			poor so what we'll do is there's a
		
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10
			port in Italy if I can remember the
		
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12
			name of it I mean this is a
		
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14
			long time ago now right so my mind's
		
00:22:14 --> 00:22:17
			not as good as it was but we
		
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20
			would go from let's see if I can
		
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21
			remember the name of the port there's a
		
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23
			port in Italy and there's a port in
		
00:22:23 --> 00:22:28
			Spain and we would go over to Greece
		
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30
			that was probably one of the best routes
		
00:22:30 --> 00:22:34
			Greece is absolutely beautiful driving in Greece nothing
		
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37
			like it amazing wow so you're driving 12
		
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38
			hours a day how long does this take
		
00:22:39 --> 00:22:43
			yeah so again the convoys would kind of
		
00:22:43 --> 00:22:49
			be political statements so what we would do
		
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51
			is we'd have press conferences along the way
		
00:22:52 --> 00:22:56
			smart you'd stop in different countries and in
		
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59
			Europe it was always very kind of organized
		
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01
			it was easy and obviously they're not Muslim
		
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03
			majority countries but as soon as you would
		
00:23:03 --> 00:23:07
			hit Muslim majority countries different level people crying
		
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10
			on the streets people taking their sisters taking
		
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12
			their gold off and giving it to you
		
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14
			you know people waiting in the rain for
		
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16
			the convoy to come past you know a
		
00:23:16 --> 00:23:18
			different you know the Muslim ummah is so
		
00:23:18 --> 00:23:23
			empathetic with Muslim causes and they would treat
		
00:23:23 --> 00:23:24
			you like we were heroes that we were
		
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27
			going to liberate these countries and sometimes I'd
		
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28
			feel guilty I'd be like look we're just
		
00:23:28 --> 00:23:33
			driving ambulances but there's nuances right us as
		
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35
			privileged even though we're not I'm not a
		
00:23:35 --> 00:23:37
			white Westerner but I'm still a white I'm
		
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39
			still a brown Brit right which means that
		
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41
			I have privileges that other people don't so
		
00:23:41 --> 00:23:46
			for example us as Westerners with Western passports
		
00:23:46 --> 00:23:49
			we can go to Al-Aqsa but Palestinians
		
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52
			can't so we would literally meet so many
		
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55
			Palestinians on route that were not able to
		
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57
			go to Palestine so for them this was
		
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59
			amazing and similarly with the Syria convoys the
		
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00
			same sort of thing many Muslims are like
		
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02
			oh you're going to Syria to help you
		
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04
			know and they would have that empathy and
		
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07
			people filling up our cars for free and
		
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09
			saying you're not paying for the fuel and
		
00:24:09 --> 00:24:14
			all sorts of amazing beautiful you know stories
		
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17
			I can tell about how great our Ummah
		
00:24:17 --> 00:24:22
			is and can be sometimes SubhanAllah so kids
		
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24
			you know when you said you'd take these
		
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26
			ambulances I was thinking what are you like
		
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28
			driving them to the port and then shipping
		
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31
			them there and then meeting them there so
		
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33
			you guys driving them you must have been
		
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35
			a huge group like minimum 20 people right
		
00:24:35 --> 00:24:40
			10 ambulances the first convoys were small but
		
00:24:40 --> 00:24:43
			we I mean we were doing 100 car
		
00:24:43 --> 00:24:48
			convoys Wow sounds like a blast yeah yeah
		
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51
			amazing amazing I mean those convoys changed my
		
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54
			life and I would one of the most
		
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56
			amazing experiences you can ever have especially if
		
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59
			you've got a good group of brothers on
		
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01
			there and it's a good dawah opportunity for
		
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03
			non-Muslims as well when they see us
		
00:25:03 --> 00:25:08
			pray when they see the muamalat but yeah
		
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10
			many people who went on those early convoys
		
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12
			all have their own projects now they have
		
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14
			their own aid organizations or they have their
		
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17
			own projects or they're in different countries around
		
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20
			the world so they were really they activated
		
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22
			a lot of a lot of people from
		
00:25:22 --> 00:25:24
			the UK especially because they were like wow
		
00:25:24 --> 00:25:26
			we can do things ourselves so there was
		
00:25:26 --> 00:25:30
			a lot of Barakah in it but yeah
		
00:25:30 --> 00:25:34
			SubhanAllah amazing amazing memory so it took you
		
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35
			like a month I'm assuming with all the
		
00:25:35 --> 00:25:40
			press conferences the stoppages 3 weeks normally 4
		
00:25:40 --> 00:25:44
			-8 weeks 4-8 weeks wow and then
		
00:25:44 --> 00:25:48
			who who are you submitting these vans to
		
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51
			so when we would come into Syria it
		
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53
			depends if you're talking about Palestine or Syria
		
00:25:56 --> 00:26:00
			either one so yeah so we would have
		
00:26:00 --> 00:26:03
			coordination with different hospitals inside Palestine or inside
		
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06
			Syria and then we would basically distribute them
		
00:26:06 --> 00:26:08
			to the hospitals and that's what we would
		
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09
			and of course no hospital is going to
		
00:26:09 --> 00:26:11
			say no to that no hospital is going
		
00:26:11 --> 00:26:15
			to say no to an ambulance from Europe
		
00:26:15 --> 00:26:17
			for free full of aid so you don't
		
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19
			even need to actually have anyone there prepared
		
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22
			you just go show up any hospital and
		
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24
			yeah obviously that would be chaotic but we
		
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27
			were organized like that so we would make
		
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29
			sure that everything is organized beforehand and like
		
00:26:29 --> 00:26:33
			I said I took two convoys to Syria
		
00:26:33 --> 00:26:37
			myself after that I was inside Syria and
		
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40
			the brothers continued to organize convoys and I
		
00:26:40 --> 00:26:43
			would basically organize everything internally but this is
		
00:26:43 --> 00:26:45
			where the story gets a bit I mean
		
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47
			it's part of our journey and this is
		
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50
			where I mean it wasn't all what do
		
00:26:50 --> 00:26:52
			they say all rosy posy if you want
		
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55
			to call it that so in 2013 we
		
00:26:55 --> 00:26:58
			brought in a really big aid convoy of
		
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01
			ambulances from the UK at that time ISIS
		
00:27:01 --> 00:27:05
			was on the rise basically there were 99
		
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08
			99 of those vehicles were being driven by
		
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11
			Muslims one was driven by a Christian called
		
00:27:11 --> 00:27:15
			Alan Henning so the convoy was at least
		
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17
			250 people because you have more than one
		
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20
			driver for each vehicle and out of those
		
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22
			250 people we had one Christian and Alan
		
00:27:22 --> 00:27:27
			was a guy that basically he had empathy
		
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30
			for the Syrian cause he was very receptive
		
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32
			to the dawah he was very close to
		
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35
			becoming Muslim and he was just a simple
		
00:27:35 --> 00:27:40
			guy a taxi driver when he when we
		
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42
			got the when we got ambulances in and
		
00:27:42 --> 00:27:45
			the ambulance reached Syria they got to a
		
00:27:45 --> 00:27:48
			place called Dana and ISIS came and kidnapped
		
00:27:48 --> 00:27:53
			oh my god wow so they kidnapped Alan
		
00:27:53 --> 00:27:57
			Henning and what ended up happening is that
		
00:27:57 --> 00:27:59
			many people on the convoy obviously got scared
		
00:27:59 --> 00:28:01
			ran back to the countries it was chaotic
		
00:28:02 --> 00:28:05
			I tried negotiating with many of their leaders
		
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07
			we said to them look guys this is
		
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09
			haram what you're doing we have given this
		
00:28:09 --> 00:28:12
			person a covenant of safety and security he's
		
00:28:12 --> 00:28:15
			not someone of great importance in the UK
		
00:28:15 --> 00:28:16
			the UK is not going to pay you
		
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19
			a ransom because you know ISIS they were
		
00:28:19 --> 00:28:21
			like we're going to strike fear into the
		
00:28:21 --> 00:28:24
			hearts of the Ghaffar and you know we're
		
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27
			going to get a ransom and I pleaded
		
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29
			with them I negotiated with them for months
		
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30
			I was one of the people that negotiated
		
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33
			with them or tried to negotiate with them
		
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36
			and unfortunately to no avail eventually they ended
		
00:28:36 --> 00:28:41
			up putting Alan in a orange jumpsuit and
		
00:28:42 --> 00:28:46
			filming it and basically decapitating him and executing
		
00:28:46 --> 00:28:50
			him and that was very very problematic when
		
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52
			that happened again that was a turning point
		
00:28:52 --> 00:28:56
			for me because my mum always told me
		
00:28:56 --> 00:28:58
			and it's something that's a part of my
		
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00
			character and it sometimes gets me into trouble
		
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03
			but it's an Islamic principle you know that
		
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05
			speak the truth whether it's for you or
		
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07
			against you it's a ayah of Quran too
		
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09
			so at that point I came out publicly
		
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12
			against ISIS, me, Bilal, a few others you
		
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15
			know troublemakers and we basically started telling people
		
00:29:15 --> 00:29:19
			that these people don't represent Islam whilst we
		
00:29:19 --> 00:29:22
			were inside Syria so this is what people
		
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24
			need to understand many ulema, many people were
		
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27
			still on the fence they weren't sure and
		
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28
			we took a lot of heat people were
		
00:29:28 --> 00:29:30
			saying you lot are munafiqeen, how can you
		
00:29:30 --> 00:29:33
			say this these guys are mujahideen and we're
		
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35
			like guys we're in Syria people were like
		
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36
			no you're looking at western news we're like
		
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37
			we're in Syria we know these people we
		
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39
			see what they're doing to the Muslims right
		
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43
			and so yeah they tried to kill me
		
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45
			I had a black toy Hilux they put
		
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47
			a bomb in under it but Alhamdulillah I
		
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49
			survived I had a gym, I had a
		
00:29:49 --> 00:29:52
			youth project where I would train youngsters in
		
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54
			a refugee camp they put a bomb in
		
00:29:54 --> 00:29:58
			that I survived Alhamdulillah this is an insane
		
00:29:58 --> 00:30:00
			story I did not expect this at all
		
00:30:00 --> 00:30:02
			by the way everyone I came into this
		
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05
			totally cold not having a clue but this
		
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07
			was this is insane keep going I've got
		
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09
			loads of stories bro this is just the
		
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13
			beginning wow so yeah so we continued Alhamdulillah
		
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16
			we persevered those were difficult times many people
		
00:30:16 --> 00:30:17
			said to us look you're crazy what you're
		
00:30:17 --> 00:30:18
			doing and we said look this is the
		
00:30:18 --> 00:30:19
			truth we have to make sure that you
		
00:30:19 --> 00:30:21
			know people know the reality and it took
		
00:30:21 --> 00:30:24
			quite a while before other people caught on
		
00:30:24 --> 00:30:27
			and realised yeah actually these guys are what
		
00:30:27 --> 00:30:31
			you know these lot are saying but subhanAllah
		
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33
			obviously now there's no dispute over this but
		
00:30:33 --> 00:30:35
			at that time it was a very difficult
		
00:30:35 --> 00:30:41
			stance to take but Alhamdulillah there was a
		
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43
			lot of blessings and barakah obviously we didn't
		
00:30:43 --> 00:30:46
			do it for any reward or for any
		
00:30:46 --> 00:30:47
			reason we just done it because it was
		
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49
			the right thing to do because we saw
		
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51
			the damage that they were inflicting the murder
		
00:30:51 --> 00:30:54
			you know they had a thing called qatal
		
00:30:54 --> 00:30:58
			maslaha we kill people for the greater benefit
		
00:30:58 --> 00:31:00
			this is one of their like when we
		
00:31:00 --> 00:31:03
			would talk to their scholars like their shari
		
00:31:03 --> 00:31:05
			'een they called them they would say yeah
		
00:31:05 --> 00:31:09
			they would profess we got qatal maslaha we
		
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11
			had a maslaha to kill that person so
		
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12
			we killed him and because you know we're
		
00:31:12 --> 00:31:15
			building an islamic state it's fine that's some
		
00:31:15 --> 00:31:20
			insane fiqh yeah so some insane insane you
		
00:31:20 --> 00:31:23
			know situations you got that in the Hanafi
		
00:31:23 --> 00:31:28
			school that's some insane fiqh oh my goodness
		
00:31:30 --> 00:31:33
			so how did continue so this is like
		
00:31:33 --> 00:31:34
			one of those things when people say things
		
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36
			to me I say to them look guys
		
00:31:36 --> 00:31:38
			you're talking from things that you've seen on
		
00:31:38 --> 00:31:41
			videos and stuff you know we've personally met
		
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44
			these people we've been in their courts we've
		
00:31:44 --> 00:31:46
			you know we've negotiated and we've spoke to
		
00:31:46 --> 00:31:49
			these people and you know we know these
		
00:31:49 --> 00:31:51
			people first hand we know like we've heard
		
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52
			it from the horse's mouth I'm not this
		
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54
			is not a second or third party source
		
00:31:54 --> 00:31:58
			do you understand and yeah like I said
		
00:31:58 --> 00:32:00
			people found it difficult to believe at that
		
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02
			time but obviously over time we were proven
		
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05
			right not that that means anything what matters
		
00:32:05 --> 00:32:08
			is what you know Allah SWT is pleased
		
00:32:08 --> 00:32:11
			with and nothing else but it's also nice
		
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13
			to you know to when people recognize that
		
00:32:13 --> 00:32:15
			actually you guys took a stance that was
		
00:32:15 --> 00:32:18
			very difficult and the right stance to take
		
00:32:18 --> 00:32:21
			yeah I mean you're given the way they
		
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24
			act if they're doing Qatil Maslaha I'm sure
		
00:32:24 --> 00:32:27
			they're going to do Qatil Taskeet or Qatil
		
00:32:27 --> 00:32:30
			to get someone to close their mouth right
		
00:32:31 --> 00:32:36
			so that's so you survived two attempts from
		
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39
			ISIS to kill you to bomb you essentially
		
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41
			and then at what point did you say
		
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43
			nah forget this I'm going back to England
		
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45
			and at what point did you say no
		
00:32:45 --> 00:32:49
			you know what I'll stay here there was
		
00:32:49 --> 00:32:51
			never I'm going back to England I mean
		
00:32:51 --> 00:32:55
			me anyone who knows me from you know
		
00:32:55 --> 00:32:57
			before I started practicing Islam knows that I
		
00:32:57 --> 00:33:00
			was kind of always an adrenaline junkie and
		
00:33:00 --> 00:33:02
			I loved doing all the bungee jumping skydiving
		
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04
			fast cars all of that kind of stuff
		
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08
			so you know for me being you know
		
00:33:08 --> 00:33:12
			in this kind of environment Alhamdulillah it was
		
00:33:12 --> 00:33:13
			I mean there was many blessings I know
		
00:33:13 --> 00:33:16
			that might sound a bit crazy but when
		
00:33:16 --> 00:33:17
			you're in the path of Allah subhanahu wa
		
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19
			ta'ala you see many miracles you see
		
00:33:19 --> 00:33:22
			many difficult things I've seen crazy things I've
		
00:33:22 --> 00:33:24
			seen a lot of death destruction I've seen
		
00:33:24 --> 00:33:27
			some of the most difficult things that you
		
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28
			know someone can see but at the same
		
00:33:28 --> 00:33:30
			time Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you know
		
00:33:30 --> 00:33:34
			gives you resolve you know when you're when
		
00:33:34 --> 00:33:35
			you're when you're doing the right thing and
		
00:33:35 --> 00:33:39
			and no one will truly understand that until
		
00:33:39 --> 00:33:42
			they go out and put themselves in these
		
00:33:42 --> 00:33:46
			situations you know I read somewhere that you
		
00:33:46 --> 00:33:51
			know you won't truly understand many ulama say
		
00:33:51 --> 00:33:55
			that you won't truly understand until you're you
		
00:33:55 --> 00:33:58
			know in the midst of battle and I
		
00:33:58 --> 00:33:59
			can relate to that you know I've been
		
00:33:59 --> 00:34:02
			in situations where everybody around me has died
		
00:34:02 --> 00:34:05
			and I'm the only person that survived Boy
		
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08
			you gotta tell this story now so yeah
		
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10
			I mean we used to do a lot
		
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12
			of work with with hospitals and stuff in
		
00:34:12 --> 00:34:16
			Aleppo in you know different regions all across
		
00:34:16 --> 00:34:20
			Syria and obviously hospitals were a target so
		
00:34:20 --> 00:34:24
			I was in a building once a missile
		
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27
			hit the building and basically nearly everybody died
		
00:34:27 --> 00:34:30
			I literally walked out of that room I
		
00:34:30 --> 00:34:31
			walked out of that building smoked you know
		
00:34:31 --> 00:34:34
			when these buildings it hits like white clouds
		
00:34:34 --> 00:34:36
			of smoke just envelop everything you can't breathe
		
00:34:36 --> 00:34:39
			you're choking and you're just trying to you
		
00:34:39 --> 00:34:40
			know fight your way out because you can't
		
00:34:40 --> 00:34:43
			see anything because of these clouds of smoke
		
00:34:43 --> 00:34:44
			but I ended up walking out of there
		
00:34:46 --> 00:34:49
			perfectly fine me and one other person another
		
00:34:49 --> 00:34:51
			guy was on the balcony of the building
		
00:34:51 --> 00:34:54
			he ended up flying off the balcony and
		
00:34:54 --> 00:34:58
			landing on the street perfectly fine and me
		
00:34:58 --> 00:34:59
			and him were the only two that survived
		
00:34:59 --> 00:35:04
			so and that was an ISIS bombing no
		
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06
			no that was a airstrike that was a
		
00:35:06 --> 00:35:11
			airstrike from the Bashar regime Bashar ok the
		
00:35:11 --> 00:35:15
			Bashar regime was targeting a hospital so obviously
		
00:35:15 --> 00:35:19
			the ISIS thing is a side point it's
		
00:35:19 --> 00:35:21
			just one of the side kind of points
		
00:35:21 --> 00:35:24
			of the brutality of the you know Bashar
		
00:35:24 --> 00:35:26
			regime there was many different things that were
		
00:35:26 --> 00:35:29
			happening inside Syria but obviously the main aggression
		
00:35:29 --> 00:35:31
			was from Bashar al-Assad and his you
		
00:35:31 --> 00:35:33
			know brutality killing his own people that's how
		
00:35:33 --> 00:35:36
			the whole kind of revolution started the ISIS
		
00:35:36 --> 00:35:39
			chapter was just you know that was a
		
00:35:39 --> 00:35:41
			side thing so the majority of it was
		
00:35:41 --> 00:35:44
			from the Syrian government yeah yeah I mean
		
00:35:44 --> 00:35:47
			obviously ISIS's thing was about power they had
		
00:35:47 --> 00:35:49
			a time when you know they took power
		
00:35:49 --> 00:35:50
			they announced the caliphate and stuff like that
		
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52
			there was a lot of infighting but obviously
		
00:35:52 --> 00:35:55
			the fight has always been against the Bashar
		
00:35:55 --> 00:35:58
			regime and Bashar's regime was brutal there was
		
00:35:58 --> 00:36:01
			a British doctor who took a wrong turning
		
00:36:01 --> 00:36:02
			in Aleppo in the early days Dr. Abbas
		
00:36:02 --> 00:36:06
			Khan and he ended up getting tortured to
		
00:36:06 --> 00:36:09
			death so it was a dangerous place but
		
00:36:09 --> 00:36:11
			this is not to put people off like
		
00:36:11 --> 00:36:13
			one of the things I really want people
		
00:36:13 --> 00:36:15
			to understand is that safety is relative right
		
00:36:15 --> 00:36:18
			yep I was closer to death in the
		
00:36:18 --> 00:36:20
			UK than I've ever been in Syria I've
		
00:36:20 --> 00:36:23
			been in Syria for 12 years and I
		
00:36:23 --> 00:36:24
			always ask myself you know is it because
		
00:36:24 --> 00:36:27
			you know I'm unworthy of shahada may Allah
		
00:36:27 --> 00:36:29
			subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive me and purify
		
00:36:29 --> 00:36:32
			me and purify my intentions if I am
		
00:36:32 --> 00:36:34
			because obviously we're always in the quest for
		
00:36:34 --> 00:36:38
			shahada if Allah blesses us with that or
		
00:36:38 --> 00:36:40
			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has you know
		
00:36:40 --> 00:36:45
			a different plan for me but subhanAllah like
		
00:36:45 --> 00:36:51
			it's one of those things where you know
		
00:36:51 --> 00:36:54
			if your time is up your time is
		
00:36:54 --> 00:36:56
			up I was in the UK when I
		
00:36:56 --> 00:36:58
			was 19 I was stabbed in some gang
		
00:36:58 --> 00:37:03
			violence and I could have been another statistic
		
00:37:03 --> 00:37:05
			I could have been a number I could
		
00:37:05 --> 00:37:08
			have been just that Asian guy that young
		
00:37:08 --> 00:37:11
			lad that got killed in London in a
		
00:37:11 --> 00:37:13
			gang fight but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
		
00:37:13 --> 00:37:15
			gave me a different opportunity he gave me
		
00:37:15 --> 00:37:19
			an opportunity to you know you know be
		
00:37:19 --> 00:37:23
			guided inshallah Allah gave me hidayah and that
		
00:37:23 --> 00:37:26
			you know opened doors for me so now
		
00:37:27 --> 00:37:29
			knowing that why would I hold back why
		
00:37:29 --> 00:37:32
			would I be afraid and this is important
		
00:37:32 --> 00:37:34
			you know Allah says in the Quran even
		
00:37:34 --> 00:37:37
			if you're in tall high towers death is
		
00:37:37 --> 00:37:39
			going to come to you wherever you are
		
00:37:39 --> 00:37:42
			so you know going out in the path
		
00:37:42 --> 00:37:44
			of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is it's
		
00:37:44 --> 00:37:47
			unfortunately we're in a situation where the men
		
00:37:47 --> 00:37:51
			of the ummah are not fulfilling their obligations
		
00:37:51 --> 00:37:56
			we have become a people of dunya and
		
00:37:56 --> 00:37:58
			that's why we're in the decadence that we
		
00:37:58 --> 00:38:00
			are you know I mean one of the
		
00:38:00 --> 00:38:03
			sad things for me is that for 13
		
00:38:03 --> 00:38:07
			years the Syrian people have been being brutalized
		
00:38:08 --> 00:38:11
			but now that the victory has come everybody
		
00:38:11 --> 00:38:13
			wants to come to Syria and it's like
		
00:38:13 --> 00:38:17
			brothers we needed you and in these 13
		
00:38:17 --> 00:38:19
			years I take my hat off to the
		
00:38:19 --> 00:38:23
			sisters because wallahi many of the sisters were
		
00:38:23 --> 00:38:28
			consistent and supported us and supported and supported
		
00:38:28 --> 00:38:30
			and supported and you know times they had
		
00:38:30 --> 00:38:32
			no one to support them the filling containers
		
00:38:32 --> 00:38:36
			by themselves and doing all sorts and you
		
00:38:36 --> 00:38:39
			know that's unfortunate but now Alhamdulillah we want
		
00:38:39 --> 00:38:42
			people to enjoy the victory but at the
		
00:38:42 --> 00:38:45
			same time sometimes it's disheartening that brothers man
		
00:38:45 --> 00:38:47
			we need to we need to step up
		
00:38:47 --> 00:38:51
			especially brothers in the west because we can
		
00:38:51 --> 00:38:54
			do a lot more what I feel is
		
00:38:54 --> 00:38:57
			that in the west we have so much
		
00:38:57 --> 00:39:00
			advantages and we're staying in the safe zone
		
00:39:01 --> 00:39:02
			we want to stay in the safe zone
		
00:39:02 --> 00:39:05
			we're not even willing to like we're not
		
00:39:05 --> 00:39:07
			even saying get to the boundary we're not
		
00:39:07 --> 00:39:09
			even willing to push those boundaries you know
		
00:39:09 --> 00:39:11
			what I mean and we want to stay
		
00:39:11 --> 00:39:13
			safe all the way down here the boundaries
		
00:39:13 --> 00:39:14
			here we want to stay all the way
		
00:39:14 --> 00:39:18
			down here right I recently heard some clips
		
00:39:18 --> 00:39:20
			Sheikh Asrar Rashid I love him you know
		
00:39:21 --> 00:39:24
			he's a sheikh brother in Islam respect him
		
00:39:24 --> 00:39:26
			but when it comes to Syria I don't
		
00:39:26 --> 00:39:29
			agree with his sentiments that you know we
		
00:39:29 --> 00:39:32
			take the side of safety that to me
		
00:39:32 --> 00:39:35
			shows a lack of standing of the Syrian
		
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39
			conflict do you understand I believe and I've
		
00:39:39 --> 00:39:42
			never personally spoke to Sheikh Asrar but I
		
00:39:42 --> 00:39:44
			believe many people like him held that view
		
00:39:44 --> 00:39:46
			because they were able to go to Syria
		
00:39:46 --> 00:39:49
			they were able to go to Damascus to
		
00:39:49 --> 00:39:52
			Ruknuddin and certain places where they could study
		
00:39:52 --> 00:39:55
			in these small enclaves and what it does
		
00:39:55 --> 00:39:58
			it gives this illusion that everything is okay
		
00:39:58 --> 00:40:01
			and there's deen here and people are studying
		
00:40:01 --> 00:40:03
			but the reality is that's not the case
		
00:40:03 --> 00:40:05
			you know people were being brutalized people were
		
00:40:05 --> 00:40:08
			being taken if they would go to pray
		
00:40:08 --> 00:40:10
			salat al fajr in the masjid people were
		
00:40:10 --> 00:40:13
			being taken to Sednaya and Tadmor for growing
		
00:40:13 --> 00:40:15
			a beard many of the sisters that I
		
00:40:15 --> 00:40:19
			know that are Palestinian sisters here that are
		
00:40:19 --> 00:40:21
			part of my team and they teach in
		
00:40:21 --> 00:40:24
			our madaris our schools and our institutes if
		
00:40:24 --> 00:40:26
			you hear their stories they used to they
		
00:40:26 --> 00:40:30
			studied Sharia in secret they studied in secret
		
00:40:30 --> 00:40:33
			they used to learn deen in secret like
		
00:40:33 --> 00:40:34
			Tariq Al-Arqam back in the day in
		
00:40:34 --> 00:40:36
			the time of the Prophet ﷺ you couldn't
		
00:40:36 --> 00:40:40
			learn deen in Syria for yes for the
		
00:40:40 --> 00:40:42
			privileged people that were going to Ruknuddin and
		
00:40:42 --> 00:40:44
			foreigners that were coming from outside yes you
		
00:40:44 --> 00:40:46
			could and it looked it gave this illusion
		
00:40:47 --> 00:40:48
			but if you look at the amount of
		
00:40:48 --> 00:40:51
			people these mass graves that we're finding now
		
00:40:52 --> 00:40:55
			this has been a systematic I was just
		
00:40:55 --> 00:40:59
			talking to an Italian reporter yesterday and we
		
00:40:59 --> 00:41:01
			were just in a mass grave and we
		
00:41:01 --> 00:41:04
			were looking at these bags bro look at
		
00:41:04 --> 00:41:05
			some of the videos I just done the
		
00:41:05 --> 00:41:06
			last couple of days this is like 48
		
00:41:06 --> 00:41:11
			hours ago the Syrian families that came to
		
00:41:11 --> 00:41:13
			this mass grave with us they started opening
		
00:41:13 --> 00:41:17
			these mass graves in front of us and
		
00:41:17 --> 00:41:21
			what they started taking out was not bodies
		
00:41:22 --> 00:41:27
			bags sacks with names on them names and
		
00:41:27 --> 00:41:31
			numbers so it makes you think who went
		
00:41:31 --> 00:41:35
			to the effort of putting bones of a
		
00:41:35 --> 00:41:38
			human because you can't fit a body in
		
00:41:38 --> 00:41:43
			a sack so either these people were cut
		
00:41:43 --> 00:41:45
			into pieces and put in these bags but
		
00:41:45 --> 00:41:46
			then there was no remnants of blood inside
		
00:41:46 --> 00:41:49
			these bags it means these bodies were somewhere
		
00:41:49 --> 00:41:51
			else and they were moved and that's what
		
00:41:51 --> 00:41:53
			happened when we did a bit of investigation
		
00:41:53 --> 00:41:55
			and digging we went to a place called
		
00:41:55 --> 00:41:59
			Al Qutayf which is just north of Damascus
		
00:41:59 --> 00:42:01
			and when we asked the people we said
		
00:42:01 --> 00:42:02
			look guys we heard that there was a
		
00:42:02 --> 00:42:04
			mass grave here they said yeah there's a
		
00:42:04 --> 00:42:08
			mass grave everybody in the town knew about
		
00:42:08 --> 00:42:10
			the mass grave we said how does everybody
		
00:42:10 --> 00:42:12
			know they said because the regime would come
		
00:42:12 --> 00:42:18
			here and force us to dig and bury
		
00:42:18 --> 00:42:22
			the dead and then in 2019 they came
		
00:42:22 --> 00:42:26
			with trucks and they made us move all
		
00:42:26 --> 00:42:29
			of the dead to this place so they
		
00:42:29 --> 00:42:32
			took 7 months to move all of these
		
00:42:32 --> 00:42:34
			bodies to another place and that's where we
		
00:42:34 --> 00:42:36
			found this place it was in a place
		
00:42:36 --> 00:42:38
			called Jisr al Baghdad they basically said the
		
00:42:38 --> 00:42:41
			place where these bodies were moved were moved
		
00:42:41 --> 00:42:42
			to this place so when we got there
		
00:42:42 --> 00:42:45
			we started finding bags with names on it
		
00:42:45 --> 00:42:50
			children's names women's names a name and a
		
00:42:50 --> 00:42:53
			number so I was talking to an Italian
		
00:42:53 --> 00:42:54
			journalist and he said this was similar to
		
00:42:54 --> 00:42:57
			what the Nazis would do because you're killing
		
00:42:57 --> 00:43:01
			people on an industrial scale what happens you
		
00:43:01 --> 00:43:05
			need to have death bureaucracy do you understand?
		
00:43:06 --> 00:43:10
			we killed so and so family they had
		
00:43:10 --> 00:43:12
			26 members of their family we've killed 13
		
00:43:12 --> 00:43:14
			there's another 13 left to go for example
		
00:43:15 --> 00:43:19
			wow crazy this means that when you see
		
00:43:19 --> 00:43:20
			Sednaya and you go in there when you
		
00:43:20 --> 00:43:22
			go to some of these military hospitals and
		
00:43:22 --> 00:43:30
			you see this was industrial killing it's crazy
		
00:43:30 --> 00:43:33
			and we know that western governments were involved
		
00:43:33 --> 00:43:36
			in rendition and torture you know caged prisoners
		
00:43:37 --> 00:43:39
			actually got compensation for certain brothers that were
		
00:43:39 --> 00:43:42
			sent from the UK America, Canada to places
		
00:43:42 --> 00:43:46
			like Egypt and Syria for torture so they
		
00:43:46 --> 00:43:47
			were doing all sorts of stuff with the
		
00:43:47 --> 00:43:51
			blessing of the west but I didn't realise
		
00:43:51 --> 00:43:53
			it was on this scale when you walk
		
00:43:53 --> 00:43:57
			into these places and you see not only
		
00:43:57 --> 00:44:03
			that Sednaya was Sednaya was heartbreaking for me
		
00:44:03 --> 00:44:05
			because the amount of people that came out
		
00:44:05 --> 00:44:08
			was very minute but I filmed footage where
		
00:44:08 --> 00:44:12
			it's literally like you're walking if anyone's ever
		
00:44:12 --> 00:44:14
			been to a football game or a baseball
		
00:44:14 --> 00:44:19
			game or a any kind of concert you
		
00:44:19 --> 00:44:21
			know when people are going to the venue
		
00:44:21 --> 00:44:23
			it's like thousands of people walking in one
		
00:44:23 --> 00:44:27
			direction literally I remember the first day Sednaya
		
00:44:27 --> 00:44:29
			was released we couldn't get our car up
		
00:44:29 --> 00:44:31
			Sednaya prison is on the top of a
		
00:44:31 --> 00:44:35
			mountain so we had to park our car
		
00:44:35 --> 00:44:38
			like 2km away and thousands of people are
		
00:44:38 --> 00:44:41
			walking all the way up this mountain to
		
00:44:41 --> 00:44:45
			the top of Sednaya and then inside this
		
00:44:45 --> 00:44:47
			prison is absolute chaos people are breaking down
		
00:44:47 --> 00:44:49
			walls people are trying to find this infamous
		
00:44:50 --> 00:44:52
			this red prison that's supposed to be under
		
00:44:52 --> 00:44:54
			the ground and you've got women crying and
		
00:44:54 --> 00:44:56
			you've got and this went on for days
		
00:44:56 --> 00:45:01
			my brother days people coming and you're asking
		
00:45:01 --> 00:45:03
			people what are you guys doing and they're
		
00:45:03 --> 00:45:05
			like we just want to find our loved
		
00:45:05 --> 00:45:07
			ones and when you see that amount of
		
00:45:07 --> 00:45:12
			people you realize how many people were missing
		
00:45:12 --> 00:45:15
			most of these people it's a psychological kind
		
00:45:15 --> 00:45:19
			of destruction and torture and this was going
		
00:45:19 --> 00:45:21
			on at a mass scale so when people
		
00:45:21 --> 00:45:25
			like Sheikh Asrar Rashid say we were choosing
		
00:45:25 --> 00:45:28
			the side of safety which is no revolution
		
00:45:28 --> 00:45:31
			against the Bashar regime that's insane what safety
		
00:45:32 --> 00:45:35
			safety for the Alawites safety for those who
		
00:45:35 --> 00:45:38
			are in power because the normal Sunni Muslim
		
00:45:38 --> 00:45:43
			population was being absolutely brutalized decimated, burned I
		
00:45:43 --> 00:45:46
			went to Tadhaman you've seen the video in
		
00:45:46 --> 00:45:49
			Tadhaman where there's soldiers and they're kicking people
		
00:45:49 --> 00:45:51
			into a pit and they're spraying them when
		
00:45:51 --> 00:45:54
			I went to Tadhaman that was just one
		
00:45:54 --> 00:45:56
			massacre that was filmed that ended up getting
		
00:45:56 --> 00:46:01
			leaked Tadhaman is Tadhaman is a site of
		
00:46:01 --> 00:46:04
			massacres when we went there every single person
		
00:46:04 --> 00:46:06
			had a story my brother, you know what
		
00:46:06 --> 00:46:08
			they were saying to us half of Tadhaman
		
00:46:08 --> 00:46:10
			is underground what they would do is they
		
00:46:10 --> 00:46:13
			would kill people tie them to the pillars
		
00:46:13 --> 00:46:17
			of the buildings, put explosives on them, blow
		
00:46:17 --> 00:46:18
			the building up so the building would fall
		
00:46:18 --> 00:46:20
			down so they didn't have to bury them,
		
00:46:20 --> 00:46:24
			subhanallah and Tadhaman is just rubble I mean
		
00:46:24 --> 00:46:28
			some of the stories like it's just you
		
00:46:28 --> 00:46:31
			can't, like it is literally like concentration camps
		
00:46:31 --> 00:46:35
			and the Nazis and this systematic killing this
		
00:46:35 --> 00:46:37
			is what we're talking about before the revolution
		
00:46:37 --> 00:46:38
			right?
		
00:46:38 --> 00:46:41
			and then obviously the revolution has barrel bombs
		
00:46:41 --> 00:46:43
			and chemical attacks and all of these different
		
00:46:43 --> 00:46:44
			things that were happening right?
		
00:46:45 --> 00:46:48
			so anyone who says that Bashar al-Assad
		
00:46:48 --> 00:46:51
			by not revolting against him this was a
		
00:46:51 --> 00:46:53
			popular revolution, look at the millions of people
		
00:46:53 --> 00:46:57
			on the streets right now anyone who can
		
00:46:57 --> 00:47:03
			say this is some western engineered revolution is
		
00:47:03 --> 00:47:08
			insane, that's completely untrue, has there been external
		
00:47:08 --> 00:47:09
			influences in this revolution?
		
00:47:10 --> 00:47:15
			yes of course ok we're not children of
		
00:47:15 --> 00:47:17
			course there's been deals made, things have happened
		
00:47:17 --> 00:47:20
			but the revolution is real and the reasons
		
00:47:20 --> 00:47:22
			why the people rose up against this tyrant,
		
00:47:22 --> 00:47:26
			dictator, brutal evil person is 100% real
		
00:47:27 --> 00:47:34
			did you ever shift from relief to taking
		
00:47:34 --> 00:47:35
			up arms against the Syrian side?
		
00:47:37 --> 00:47:42
			so my story is quite public, I've been
		
00:47:42 --> 00:47:45
			public about it I mean I'm an aid
		
00:47:45 --> 00:47:49
			worker, I came here to help people with
		
00:47:50 --> 00:47:52
			you know all the different things when it
		
00:47:52 --> 00:47:57
			came to education, relief tents, blankets, all of
		
00:47:57 --> 00:47:58
			this kind of stuff and this is the
		
00:47:58 --> 00:47:59
			things that we've done but I've been very
		
00:47:59 --> 00:48:02
			open about my support for the resistance and
		
00:48:02 --> 00:48:04
			the fact that I even went on channel
		
00:48:04 --> 00:48:08
			4 and debated a British parliamentarian, he was,
		
00:48:09 --> 00:48:12
			he's a Zionist and he actually agreed with
		
00:48:12 --> 00:48:13
			me, you can find this on YouTube by
		
00:48:13 --> 00:48:15
			the way, it's called the jihad debate, this
		
00:48:15 --> 00:48:19
			was in 2014 I think, and I said
		
00:48:20 --> 00:48:23
			the resistance the jihad, they call it the
		
00:48:23 --> 00:48:26
			jihad debate, I said that the jihad in
		
00:48:26 --> 00:48:31
			Syria is justifiable and the Zionist parliamentarian, he
		
00:48:31 --> 00:48:34
			agreed with me, he said Tauqir Sharif, I
		
00:48:34 --> 00:48:37
			agree with you right, we're talking about on
		
00:48:37 --> 00:48:39
			a moral ground, so I've been open about
		
00:48:39 --> 00:48:41
			that, I've carried a weapon, I've carried arms,
		
00:48:42 --> 00:48:43
			and I've been open about that I've been
		
00:48:43 --> 00:48:46
			like look, I've carried weapons to defend myself
		
00:48:46 --> 00:48:50
			and to defend those around me I cannot
		
00:48:50 --> 00:48:52
			be expected to be in a war zone
		
00:48:52 --> 00:48:57
			and you know support the Syrian people and
		
00:48:57 --> 00:49:01
			be you know, not be armed this is
		
00:49:01 --> 00:49:02
			what happened to Dr. Abbas Khan Dr. Abbas
		
00:49:02 --> 00:49:04
			Khan took a wrong turning and he ended
		
00:49:04 --> 00:49:06
			up being tortured to death, so as a
		
00:49:06 --> 00:49:12
			Muslim, neither do I shy away from that
		
00:49:12 --> 00:49:15
			I'm not a fighter that's not my profession,
		
00:49:15 --> 00:49:17
			but have I fought?
		
00:49:17 --> 00:49:18
			Yeah, I've fought to defend myself and I've
		
00:49:18 --> 00:49:20
			fought to defend other people and I don't
		
00:49:20 --> 00:49:23
			see any problem with that and I make
		
00:49:23 --> 00:49:25
			no bones about it and it's completely illegal
		
00:49:25 --> 00:49:28
			according to British law and international law, if
		
00:49:28 --> 00:49:32
			the Israelis can go to Israel as British
		
00:49:33 --> 00:49:37
			nationals and fight in the IDF army that
		
00:49:37 --> 00:49:43
			does international war crimes, then nobody has the
		
00:49:43 --> 00:49:45
			right to tell me that I cannot carry
		
00:49:45 --> 00:49:48
			a weapon to defend men, women and children
		
00:49:48 --> 00:49:52
			in Syria you know, in a defensive position
		
00:49:52 --> 00:49:53
			to make sure that these people are not
		
00:49:53 --> 00:49:57
			harmed and that's what I believe and I
		
00:49:57 --> 00:50:00
			even said that at the BBC and the
		
00:50:00 --> 00:50:02
			Americans have a second amendment, right?
		
00:50:02 --> 00:50:03
			Why is it a problem when Muslims carry
		
00:50:03 --> 00:50:04
			weapons?
		
00:50:06 --> 00:50:08
			Has anybody challenged you on this?
		
00:50:08 --> 00:50:11
			Has anyone from the British government side objected
		
00:50:11 --> 00:50:13
			to any of this?
		
00:50:14 --> 00:50:16
			No, I mean like I said, I did
		
00:50:16 --> 00:50:18
			that debate with the MP.
		
00:50:18 --> 00:50:20
			I've been very open about it.
		
00:50:21 --> 00:50:23
			There was one female in some of the
		
00:50:23 --> 00:50:25
			stuff that I did with the BBC when
		
00:50:25 --> 00:50:27
			I was made stateless because this is what
		
00:50:27 --> 00:50:28
			comes next, right?
		
00:50:28 --> 00:50:30
			I was deprived of my citizenship.
		
00:50:31 --> 00:50:36
			There's like a Zionist you could say think
		
00:50:36 --> 00:50:38
			tank called Chatham House one of their women,
		
00:50:39 --> 00:50:42
			Lena something some irrelevant woman she was like,
		
00:50:42 --> 00:50:45
			which kind of aid worker carries a gun?
		
00:50:45 --> 00:50:47
			Well I do and I like guns and
		
00:50:47 --> 00:50:50
			I like shooting guns and every Muslim should
		
00:50:50 --> 00:50:51
			learn how to use one.
		
00:50:51 --> 00:50:51
			So yeah.
		
00:50:52 --> 00:50:56
			So tell us you becoming stateless means they
		
00:50:56 --> 00:50:57
			stripped you of your citizenship.
		
00:50:58 --> 00:51:00
			Yeah, so what ended up happening is, I
		
00:51:00 --> 00:51:03
			mean this is a racist law.
		
00:51:03 --> 00:51:05
			So what happened is because obviously I was
		
00:51:05 --> 00:51:09
			a well-known aid worker they deprived me.
		
00:51:10 --> 00:51:11
			It's called a deprivation order.
		
00:51:12 --> 00:51:14
			The British government the foreign office at that
		
00:51:14 --> 00:51:17
			time it was Amber Rudd who was the
		
00:51:17 --> 00:51:20
			foreign minister I think it was that was
		
00:51:20 --> 00:51:22
			her title they put in a deprivation order
		
00:51:22 --> 00:51:24
			for my citizenship to be revoked.
		
00:51:24 --> 00:51:26
			That was in 2017.
		
00:51:27 --> 00:51:27
			What's the crime?
		
00:51:28 --> 00:51:30
			So the crime was and this is how
		
00:51:30 --> 00:51:31
			ridiculous it is, right?
		
00:51:32 --> 00:51:37
			The crime was that I am so other
		
00:51:37 --> 00:51:39
			people that got deprived of their citizenships it
		
00:51:39 --> 00:51:41
			clearly stated you have been involved in acts
		
00:51:41 --> 00:51:42
			of terrorism.
		
00:51:42 --> 00:51:45
			You have been part of a prescribed terrorist
		
00:51:45 --> 00:51:45
			group.
		
00:51:46 --> 00:51:53
			My letter said Mr. Sharif we believe you
		
00:51:53 --> 00:51:58
			are aligned to a group that is aligned
		
00:51:58 --> 00:51:59
			to Al-Qaeda.
		
00:52:00 --> 00:52:00
			Wow.
		
00:52:01 --> 00:52:01
			Right?
		
00:52:01 --> 00:52:03
			So this is not guilty by association.
		
00:52:03 --> 00:52:05
			This is guilty by association with a degree
		
00:52:05 --> 00:52:06
			of separation.
		
00:52:06 --> 00:52:08
			That's how crazy it is.
		
00:52:09 --> 00:52:14
			So my case had my case had anonymity
		
00:52:14 --> 00:52:14
			on it.
		
00:52:14 --> 00:52:15
			A lot of people don't know this but
		
00:52:15 --> 00:52:18
			my deprivation order happened in 2017.
		
00:52:19 --> 00:52:22
			My case didn't become public until 2019.
		
00:52:23 --> 00:52:26
			And again that was of my admission.
		
00:52:26 --> 00:52:28
			That was a political statement that we made.
		
00:52:28 --> 00:52:31
			Some of the human rights organizations, brothers in
		
00:52:31 --> 00:52:32
			the UK lawyers, we consulted.
		
00:52:33 --> 00:52:35
			When Shamima Begum's case, she's obviously the most
		
00:52:35 --> 00:52:38
			high profile Brit that was stripped of her
		
00:52:38 --> 00:52:43
			citizenship went public we decided that this was
		
00:52:43 --> 00:52:47
			the right time to piggyback off that and
		
00:52:48 --> 00:52:50
			come out and say no not everybody's ISIS.
		
00:52:50 --> 00:52:51
			You are lying.
		
00:52:51 --> 00:52:52
			The British government, you're trying to say everybody
		
00:52:52 --> 00:52:55
			was ISIS and that's why you took their
		
00:52:55 --> 00:52:58
			their citizenships but that's not true and what
		
00:52:58 --> 00:53:02
			you're doing is not only illegal and unconstitutional
		
00:53:02 --> 00:53:06
			and not you know, according to British values,
		
00:53:06 --> 00:53:08
			as they like to say but it's also
		
00:53:08 --> 00:53:08
			racist.
		
00:53:09 --> 00:53:13
			Why are only people who have ethnic minority
		
00:53:13 --> 00:53:15
			heritages or backgrounds, because like I'm born in
		
00:53:15 --> 00:53:16
			the UK, I'm born and bred in the
		
00:53:16 --> 00:53:16
			UK, right?
		
00:53:18 --> 00:53:19
			Why are we the only ones that are
		
00:53:19 --> 00:53:20
			getting stripped?
		
00:53:20 --> 00:53:21
			Why are white people not getting stripped?
		
00:53:22 --> 00:53:25
			So why are IDF soldiers people who have
		
00:53:25 --> 00:53:27
			you know, because the British government basically said
		
00:53:27 --> 00:53:30
			if you're a dual national we can strip
		
00:53:30 --> 00:53:30
			you.
		
00:53:30 --> 00:53:34
			I've never had a Pakistani nationality but according
		
00:53:34 --> 00:53:39
			to Pakistani law, I am what's the word
		
00:53:40 --> 00:53:44
			I'm eligible one by birthright which is crazy
		
00:53:44 --> 00:53:47
			so so that's why I basically got stripped
		
00:53:47 --> 00:53:49
			but I mean there was a lot of
		
00:53:49 --> 00:53:52
			support for me from politicians from the Labour
		
00:53:52 --> 00:53:55
			Party because obviously they were the opposition but
		
00:53:55 --> 00:53:57
			the way things went in the UK is
		
00:53:57 --> 00:54:00
			that the UK has become more right-wing,
		
00:54:00 --> 00:54:03
			Brexit leaving the UK, you know, anti-immigrants
		
00:54:03 --> 00:54:05
			all that kind of stuff the Labour Party,
		
00:54:06 --> 00:54:08
			they were like we'll repeat these laws if
		
00:54:08 --> 00:54:10
			we get the Muslim vote but Jeremy Corbyn
		
00:54:10 --> 00:54:12
			and his team they didn't get in, he
		
00:54:12 --> 00:54:14
			had the historic defeat so that ended up
		
00:54:14 --> 00:54:17
			happening but going back to the letter and
		
00:54:17 --> 00:54:22
			why I was supposedly deprived, right?
		
00:54:23 --> 00:54:26
			and a lot of this goes into detail
		
00:54:26 --> 00:54:28
			in Al Jazeera documentary, it's called Stateless in
		
00:54:28 --> 00:54:29
			Syria, you can find it on YouTube as
		
00:54:29 --> 00:54:35
			well basically in essence what the British government,
		
00:54:35 --> 00:54:38
			this was our defence in court so what
		
00:54:38 --> 00:54:40
			the British government has is something called SCIAC
		
00:54:40 --> 00:54:44
			secret courts, you know one of the greater
		
00:54:44 --> 00:54:48
			democracies of the world has secret courts where
		
00:54:48 --> 00:54:50
			you can't even see the evidence that is
		
00:54:50 --> 00:54:53
			being presented against you where you have to
		
00:54:53 --> 00:54:56
			make a defence on charges that you don't
		
00:54:56 --> 00:54:59
			know what they are so we were like
		
00:54:59 --> 00:55:03
			okay what, like first of all we were
		
00:55:03 --> 00:55:05
			like I want a public hearing, if I
		
00:55:05 --> 00:55:07
			have a jury I'll win, because I haven't
		
00:55:07 --> 00:55:09
			done anything that's unconstitutional, I haven't done anything
		
00:55:09 --> 00:55:13
			that's illegal, yes I've carried arms, but again
		
00:55:13 --> 00:55:18
			that's not illegal either and yeah I haven't
		
00:55:18 --> 00:55:20
			done any acts of terrorism and by default
		
00:55:20 --> 00:55:22
			you guys are admitting, the British government is
		
00:55:22 --> 00:55:25
			admitting that I am not ISIS, you're admitting
		
00:55:25 --> 00:55:27
			that I'm not even Al Qaeda, you're admitting
		
00:55:27 --> 00:55:29
			that I'm not even part of a group
		
00:55:29 --> 00:55:30
			that is aligned to Al Qaeda which they
		
00:55:30 --> 00:55:34
			meant HTS now, apparently going to be taken
		
00:55:34 --> 00:55:37
			off the prescribed terror list, so you're saying
		
00:55:37 --> 00:55:40
			I was basically a guy that was aligned
		
00:55:40 --> 00:55:43
			to HTS I wasn't even HTS by your
		
00:55:43 --> 00:55:46
			admission so the UK government wasn't having none
		
00:55:46 --> 00:55:48
			of it, so we went around in circles
		
00:55:48 --> 00:55:52
			for about two years and then we ended
		
00:55:52 --> 00:55:55
			up doing a press conference and boycotting the
		
00:55:55 --> 00:55:57
			secret courts because we were like, what I
		
00:55:57 --> 00:55:59
			was advised was, that if you go to
		
00:55:59 --> 00:56:03
			a secret court it's a very high probability
		
00:56:03 --> 00:56:06
			that you're going to be found guilty right,
		
00:56:06 --> 00:56:10
			because it's a cowboy court it's a mockery
		
00:56:10 --> 00:56:13
			of any kind of justice system, so you're
		
00:56:13 --> 00:56:19
			better off boycotting the trial and, funny enough,
		
00:56:19 --> 00:56:22
			my lawyer is Jewish, Gareth Pierce she's a
		
00:56:22 --> 00:56:26
			famous lawyer and Daniel Binberg, also another famous
		
00:56:26 --> 00:56:28
			lawyer in the UK very good people, shout
		
00:56:28 --> 00:56:31
			out to them but they were like, look,
		
00:56:31 --> 00:56:32
			it's better for you to boycott, because that
		
00:56:32 --> 00:56:34
			way you're not going to be convicted as
		
00:56:34 --> 00:56:37
			a terrorist in any court of law, just
		
00:56:37 --> 00:56:40
			means you're deprived, so that's my current status,
		
00:56:40 --> 00:56:43
			I'm stateless I'm not convicted of any crime
		
00:56:43 --> 00:56:45
			I'm not a terrorist and I never will
		
00:56:45 --> 00:56:47
			be a terrorist, one man's terrorist and another
		
00:56:47 --> 00:56:49
			man's freedom fighter, as they say and another
		
00:56:49 --> 00:56:52
			saying that I like is I'd rather be
		
00:56:52 --> 00:56:54
			a what's the saying, it's a famous Chinese
		
00:56:54 --> 00:56:57
			saying I'd rather be a warrior in a
		
00:56:57 --> 00:57:00
			garden, than a gardener in a wall that
		
00:57:00 --> 00:57:03
			makes sense smart, so tell me, are you
		
00:57:03 --> 00:57:04
			able to bring your case up?
		
00:57:05 --> 00:57:06
			to court somewhere?
		
00:57:06 --> 00:57:09
			this is what's interesting now, after liberation and
		
00:57:09 --> 00:57:14
			you know the British government coming and sitting
		
00:57:14 --> 00:57:17
			with Abu Mohammed Al Jawlani, who has a
		
00:57:17 --> 00:57:18
			10 million dollar bounty, and he said he
		
00:57:18 --> 00:57:20
			still is prescribed, and his group is still
		
00:57:20 --> 00:57:26
			prescribed maybe maybe it's a possibility, I mean
		
00:57:26 --> 00:57:27
			I've got lots of news agencies and people
		
00:57:27 --> 00:57:29
			talking to me, but to be honest that's
		
00:57:29 --> 00:57:33
			not my, I mean me losing my citizenship,
		
00:57:34 --> 00:57:35
			was probably one of the best things that
		
00:57:35 --> 00:57:37
			ever happened to me and that might sound
		
00:57:37 --> 00:57:41
			crazy that might sound crazy but Alhamdulillah, I
		
00:57:41 --> 00:57:44
			wear it I wear it as a badge
		
00:57:44 --> 00:57:46
			of honour and I hope that InshaAllah, Yawm
		
00:57:46 --> 00:57:47
			Al Qiyamah I can also wear it as
		
00:57:47 --> 00:57:48
			a badge of honour, why?
		
00:57:49 --> 00:57:54
			because during this revolution, during this journey, I
		
00:57:54 --> 00:57:56
			saw so many people that were escaping to
		
00:57:56 --> 00:58:00
			Europe for many people in the world to
		
00:58:00 --> 00:58:03
			have a British passport, which was a red
		
00:58:03 --> 00:58:07
			piece of paper or an American passport that
		
00:58:07 --> 00:58:12
			is like one of the most prized possessions
		
00:58:12 --> 00:58:13
			in the world that we live in today
		
00:58:13 --> 00:58:16
			so I want to be that person that
		
00:58:16 --> 00:58:19
			says Ya Allah I gave that up for
		
00:58:19 --> 00:58:21
			the sake of you so InshaAllah, I hope
		
00:58:21 --> 00:58:24
			Allah accepts it from you so for me
		
00:58:24 --> 00:58:26
			it was a blessing, when it went it
		
00:58:26 --> 00:58:29
			just took that fitna away from me Alhamdulillah,
		
00:58:29 --> 00:58:31
			it is what it is it just showed
		
00:58:31 --> 00:58:33
			me as well that people have so much
		
00:58:33 --> 00:58:36
			Iman in a piece of paper, when this
		
00:58:36 --> 00:58:38
			is Allah's earth, if Allah wants to open
		
00:58:38 --> 00:58:40
			it for you, He will open it for
		
00:58:40 --> 00:58:41
			you and that's why when you see today
		
00:58:41 --> 00:58:45
			what's happened in Syria yes, there's been a
		
00:58:45 --> 00:58:47
			lot of people like to be pessimists and
		
00:58:47 --> 00:58:51
			dwell on the negatives but there's a lot
		
00:58:51 --> 00:58:53
			of positives to take from it we've been
		
00:58:53 --> 00:58:57
			languishing in the refugee camps in the north,
		
00:58:57 --> 00:59:01
			besieged in Aleppo, we've been chemical attacked in
		
00:59:01 --> 00:59:05
			Khan Sheikhoun you know, these people have been
		
00:59:06 --> 00:59:09
			they have been steadfast throughout all of this
		
00:59:09 --> 00:59:14
			and again, like the people of Palestine, doing
		
00:59:14 --> 00:59:16
			a service for the whole Ummah by staying
		
00:59:16 --> 00:59:19
			here and resisting, resisting is not a crime,
		
00:59:19 --> 00:59:23
			it is an unalienable right for one to
		
00:59:23 --> 00:59:25
			defend themselves and to defend their land, and
		
00:59:25 --> 00:59:28
			we as Muslims should not be afraid to
		
00:59:28 --> 00:59:32
			say that, you know as long as we
		
00:59:32 --> 00:59:35
			understand the terminologies we can speak about this
		
00:59:35 --> 00:59:38
			in an intellectual manner and not be afraid
		
00:59:38 --> 00:59:42
			because these are the same tenets, these are
		
00:59:42 --> 00:59:45
			the same ideas that the west holds on
		
00:59:45 --> 00:59:48
			to, so why why can we not profess
		
00:59:48 --> 00:59:51
			this as well, and that's what's important, and
		
00:59:51 --> 00:59:54
			after 13 years for this, these futuha to
		
00:59:54 --> 00:59:56
			happen, and you know, yesterday I was in
		
00:59:56 --> 01:00:00
			Damascus, sitting in the Sheraton hotel, with many
		
01:00:00 --> 01:00:03
			of the the brothers, Alhamdulillah big, big blessings,
		
01:00:03 --> 01:00:05
			no one imagined that something like this could
		
01:00:05 --> 01:00:08
			happen, now is there sinister hands at play
		
01:00:08 --> 01:00:11
			now is there, you know, influence from other
		
01:00:11 --> 01:00:12
			countries, yes there is, and there always will
		
01:00:12 --> 01:00:14
			be at the time of Salahuddin, at the
		
01:00:14 --> 01:00:16
			time of, throughout the whole of human history
		
01:00:16 --> 01:00:19
			Bilad al-Sham has been a melting pot
		
01:00:19 --> 01:00:22
			of empires and everybody has wanted control over
		
01:00:22 --> 01:00:23
			this piece of land, and that's why it's
		
01:00:23 --> 01:00:26
			so blessed, the anbiya, the sahaba, everybody walked
		
01:00:26 --> 01:00:27
			here, so why do we think it's going
		
01:00:27 --> 01:00:30
			to be any different why do we have
		
01:00:30 --> 01:00:33
			this you know, this crazy idea that, oh
		
01:00:33 --> 01:00:36
			yeah everything's just going to be easy, and
		
01:00:36 --> 01:00:39
			you know, you're going to go and everything's
		
01:00:39 --> 01:00:41
			going to be nice there's going to be
		
01:00:41 --> 01:00:43
			risk, there's going to be difficulties, it's going
		
01:00:43 --> 01:00:46
			to require sabr it's going to require patience
		
01:00:46 --> 01:00:48
			it's going to require a lot of anxiety
		
01:00:48 --> 01:00:50
			it's going to require deals to be made
		
01:00:50 --> 01:00:53
			do you understand, this is siyasa sharia this
		
01:00:53 --> 01:00:56
			is not some utopia, like people imagine you
		
01:00:56 --> 01:00:58
			know, some people outside, when I listen to
		
01:00:58 --> 01:00:59
			their commentary I'm like, guys, what do you
		
01:00:59 --> 01:01:01
			think, this is some utopia Islam is just
		
01:01:01 --> 01:01:03
			going to fall out of the air, and
		
01:01:03 --> 01:01:05
			it's just going to be one perfect khilafah
		
01:01:05 --> 01:01:06
			that's going to come, it doesn't work like
		
01:01:06 --> 01:01:08
			that my dear brothers and sisters, and our
		
01:01:08 --> 01:01:12
			Islamic history is littered with kingships and littered
		
01:01:12 --> 01:01:14
			with dictatorships and littered with, you know people
		
01:01:14 --> 01:01:17
			doing crazy stuff, but there has to be
		
01:01:17 --> 01:01:19
			a group of people who are what?
		
01:01:20 --> 01:01:24
			muslihoon people who do islah and islah, my
		
01:01:24 --> 01:01:26
			dear brothers and sisters, means that you have
		
01:01:26 --> 01:01:29
			to come out of your comfort zone and
		
01:01:29 --> 01:01:32
			you have to throw yourself into the midst
		
01:01:32 --> 01:01:35
			of the difficulties of the ummah I always
		
01:01:35 --> 01:01:37
			hear people online saying you know, where are
		
01:01:37 --> 01:01:38
			we going to make hijrah to, what are
		
01:01:38 --> 01:01:42
			we going to do well there's levels, right
		
01:01:42 --> 01:01:44
			even if you look at the sahaba, there
		
01:01:44 --> 01:01:46
			were those that made hijrah to Habesha for
		
01:01:46 --> 01:01:49
			safety and there's those that made hijrah to
		
01:01:49 --> 01:01:51
			Medina to be with the prophet salallahu alaihi
		
01:01:51 --> 01:01:53
			wa sallam even though they knew that they
		
01:01:53 --> 01:01:56
			would be persecuted people like Salman al Farsi,
		
01:01:56 --> 01:01:59
			Suhaiba Rumi, Suhaiba Rumi when he was leaving
		
01:01:59 --> 01:02:01
			Mecca to join the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
		
01:02:01 --> 01:02:04
			sallam in Medina the famous story where the
		
01:02:04 --> 01:02:08
			Quraysh, they surrounded him and they said how
		
01:02:08 --> 01:02:10
			could you come to Mecca as a poor
		
01:02:10 --> 01:02:12
			man, you've made your wealth and you've made
		
01:02:12 --> 01:02:13
			money and now you're going to leave and
		
01:02:13 --> 01:02:14
			join the prophet and he said if it's
		
01:02:14 --> 01:02:17
			wealth you want I'll give you my wealth
		
01:02:18 --> 01:02:20
			and you know, he told them where his
		
01:02:20 --> 01:02:23
			wealth was and he was willing to fight
		
01:02:23 --> 01:02:25
			all of them till the end or he
		
01:02:25 --> 01:02:27
			gave them the option, take the wealth and
		
01:02:27 --> 01:02:28
			they found his wealth, they took his wealth
		
01:02:28 --> 01:02:30
			and he made it to Medina he was
		
01:02:30 --> 01:02:33
			willing to sacrifice everything so that's what it
		
01:02:33 --> 01:02:36
			is my dear brothers and sisters we need
		
01:02:36 --> 01:02:39
			to be those people that you know we're
		
01:02:39 --> 01:02:42
			on the line, we can't think that Islam
		
01:02:42 --> 01:02:45
			you know our forefathers, you know subhanAllah this
		
01:02:45 --> 01:02:47
			last week has been amazing, so I'm a
		
01:02:47 --> 01:02:51
			bit hyped I've been in the masjid of
		
01:02:51 --> 01:02:53
			Nooruddin Zinki in Hama, I've been in the
		
01:02:53 --> 01:02:55
			masjid of Khalid bin Waleed standing at his
		
01:02:55 --> 01:02:57
			maqam seeing the grave of Khalid bin Waleed
		
01:02:59 --> 01:03:03
			seeing the grave of Salahuddin Al Ayubi, these
		
01:03:03 --> 01:03:07
			people put it all on the line so
		
01:03:07 --> 01:03:09
			if you want a legacy, if you want
		
01:03:09 --> 01:03:10
			to be part if you want to be
		
01:03:10 --> 01:03:16
			recognized by Allah SWT then sitting you know
		
01:03:16 --> 01:03:20
			in comfort you're not going to get that
		
01:03:20 --> 01:03:23
			and Allah knows best let me ask you
		
01:03:23 --> 01:03:26
			a question, so you went to 2009 around
		
01:03:26 --> 01:03:27
			that time you couldn't go back, you end
		
01:03:27 --> 01:03:30
			up staying in Syria, so you've been living
		
01:03:30 --> 01:03:34
			in Syria for the last almost for a
		
01:03:34 --> 01:03:37
			long period of time yeah for 12, since
		
01:03:37 --> 01:03:43
			2012 and doing relief work yes so Alhamdulillah
		
01:03:43 --> 01:03:46
			we've built 44 masjids, we've built schools, we've
		
01:03:46 --> 01:03:51
			built villages, we've built refugee camps, we have
		
01:03:51 --> 01:03:53
			to be honest not many people know but
		
01:03:53 --> 01:03:55
			we have a lot of infrastructure, our project
		
01:03:55 --> 01:04:01
			is actually called Iqra we have 10 departments,
		
01:04:01 --> 01:04:05
			10 different departments, 355 staff, over 10,000
		
01:04:05 --> 01:04:08
			beneficiaries every month and we're not like your
		
01:04:08 --> 01:04:10
			normal aid organizations unfortunately a lot of aid
		
01:04:10 --> 01:04:15
			organizations they are doing the easy work basically
		
01:04:15 --> 01:04:18
			they say we work in 120 countries and
		
01:04:18 --> 01:04:19
			we give out 10,000 food boxes a
		
01:04:19 --> 01:04:23
			year, my dear brothers and sisters that is
		
01:04:24 --> 01:04:26
			compounding issues in the Ummah you're not helping
		
01:04:26 --> 01:04:28
			the Ummah, what you're doing by doing this
		
01:04:28 --> 01:04:34
			is you are one, creating a dependency two,
		
01:04:34 --> 01:04:35
			a lot of people are using this as
		
01:04:35 --> 01:04:38
			a business, that's not the real work and
		
01:04:38 --> 01:04:40
			that's not what the Ummah needs, Syria over
		
01:04:40 --> 01:04:43
			the last 13 years didn't see a lack
		
01:04:43 --> 01:04:45
			of aid but it saw a mismanagement of
		
01:04:45 --> 01:04:51
			aid, it saw exploitation it saw charities making
		
01:04:51 --> 01:04:55
			bucks over conflict and we see that with
		
01:04:55 --> 01:04:57
			Gaza now, many people who have never been
		
01:04:57 --> 01:04:59
			connected to Gaza are now raising for Gaza
		
01:04:59 --> 01:05:01
			and money is sitting in bank accounts and
		
01:05:01 --> 01:05:03
			it's unfortunate when it should be going to
		
01:05:03 --> 01:05:04
			those people that actually are working on the
		
01:05:04 --> 01:05:08
			ground and that's important people need to recognize
		
01:05:08 --> 01:05:10
			that when you're working with a charity ask
		
01:05:10 --> 01:05:12
			them what's your portfolio don't tell me you
		
01:05:12 --> 01:05:14
			work in 100 countries, I don't care if
		
01:05:14 --> 01:05:16
			you work in 20 countries 30 countries, don't
		
01:05:16 --> 01:05:19
			be that charity be a charity that specializes
		
01:05:20 --> 01:05:22
			and works in 2 or 3 countries but
		
01:05:22 --> 01:05:25
			you have quality that you're working you're not
		
01:05:25 --> 01:05:28
			just working on primary relief you're working on
		
01:05:28 --> 01:05:32
			education and development you're working on enterprise you're
		
01:05:32 --> 01:05:33
			helping people to stand on their own 2
		
01:05:33 --> 01:05:36
			feet the Muslim Ummah is a proud Ummah,
		
01:05:36 --> 01:05:38
			they don't want handouts everyday when I go
		
01:05:38 --> 01:05:40
			places people say to me Ya Abu Hussam
		
01:05:41 --> 01:05:44
			MashaAllah give me a job I want to
		
01:05:44 --> 01:05:46
			work for my rizq I don't want a
		
01:05:46 --> 01:05:49
			food box I don't want this humiliation but
		
01:05:49 --> 01:05:51
			unfortunately a lot of people in our Ummah
		
01:05:51 --> 01:05:53
			they don't understand that so how are you
		
01:05:53 --> 01:05:58
			creating businesses and that stuff, that development so
		
01:05:58 --> 01:06:00
			for example we have a model, we have
		
01:06:00 --> 01:06:04
			a sustainability model if I'm going to talk
		
01:06:04 --> 01:06:06
			about Iqra Iqra has a whole constitution, it
		
01:06:06 --> 01:06:09
			has a mindset, it has 4 stages of
		
01:06:09 --> 01:06:10
			work so I'm going to have to explain
		
01:06:10 --> 01:06:11
			this to you and you're the founder of
		
01:06:11 --> 01:06:13
			Iqra I'm one of the founders, so we
		
01:06:13 --> 01:06:15
			have a shura we have a board of
		
01:06:15 --> 01:06:20
			scholars we're one of the only charities in
		
01:06:20 --> 01:06:22
			Syria who has a board of scholars most
		
01:06:22 --> 01:06:24
			of your support is from England or from
		
01:06:24 --> 01:06:27
			everywhere we have a lot of support from
		
01:06:27 --> 01:06:28
			all over the world, we do a lot
		
01:06:28 --> 01:06:33
			of online crowdfunding we're registered in South Africa,
		
01:06:33 --> 01:06:36
			we're registered in Turkey and Alhamdulillah we have
		
01:06:36 --> 01:06:38
			many partners and you said you have a
		
01:06:38 --> 01:06:40
			board of scholars what do they oversee?
		
01:06:41 --> 01:06:43
			so they oversee the whole organization they oversee
		
01:06:43 --> 01:06:50
			the administration of the distribution of Zakat and
		
01:06:50 --> 01:06:56
			Sadaqah they also oversee the Islamic ethos of
		
01:06:56 --> 01:07:01
			the organization so we go to them they're
		
01:07:01 --> 01:07:05
			an integral part of the organization what we
		
01:07:05 --> 01:07:07
			have in Iqra is 4 stages of work
		
01:07:07 --> 01:07:10
			I wanted to do this in a proper
		
01:07:10 --> 01:07:13
			series to help people to understand I hope
		
01:07:13 --> 01:07:18
			there's some I hope people take this advice
		
01:07:18 --> 01:07:20
			on board it doesn't mean they work with
		
01:07:20 --> 01:07:22
			us but I hope that they go and
		
01:07:22 --> 01:07:25
			implement this in their own organizations so we
		
01:07:25 --> 01:07:27
			have 4 stages of work, the first stage
		
01:07:27 --> 01:07:29
			which is the lowest stage is primary relief
		
01:07:30 --> 01:07:32
			primary relief is like putting a bandage on
		
01:07:32 --> 01:07:34
			an open wound the ummah is bleeding out,
		
01:07:34 --> 01:07:36
			we have so many wounds, you by giving
		
01:07:36 --> 01:07:38
			food boxes yes it's needed at certain times
		
01:07:38 --> 01:07:40
			but just giving out food boxes is not
		
01:07:40 --> 01:07:43
			going to help the ummah the second stage
		
01:07:43 --> 01:07:48
			is education and development education and development is
		
01:07:48 --> 01:07:52
			the least funded sector go to your most
		
01:07:52 --> 01:07:55
			charities and ask them how many schools do
		
01:07:55 --> 01:07:59
			you support what institutes do you have most
		
01:07:59 --> 01:08:02
			charities what they do in America, in the
		
01:08:02 --> 01:08:04
			UK is their only fundraise and what they
		
01:08:04 --> 01:08:06
			do is they give their money to third
		
01:08:06 --> 01:08:09
			party charities they have no understanding of what
		
01:08:09 --> 01:08:11
			curriculum is being taught you know the level,
		
01:08:12 --> 01:08:13
			the standard of education even if they are
		
01:08:13 --> 01:08:17
			supporting schools right, so the second stage is
		
01:08:17 --> 01:08:21
			education and development not just for the beneficiaries,
		
01:08:21 --> 01:08:23
			I like to use the word rights holders
		
01:08:23 --> 01:08:25
			because that's what Islamic Relief uses, a good
		
01:08:25 --> 01:08:26
			term, I stole it from them I won't
		
01:08:26 --> 01:08:28
			claim that one, by the way what's your
		
01:08:28 --> 01:08:35
			website our website is I think it's project
		
01:08:35 --> 01:08:39
			Iqra it should be iqracharity.org I think,
		
01:08:39 --> 01:08:41
			but our website is a bit outdated, this
		
01:08:41 --> 01:08:42
			is the thing because we've been so busy
		
01:08:44 --> 01:08:47
			implementing inside, we haven't really been able to
		
01:08:47 --> 01:08:51
			show people the work in that way most
		
01:08:51 --> 01:08:52
			people know us as Live Updates from Syria
		
01:08:52 --> 01:08:55
			because that's the kind of media kind of
		
01:08:55 --> 01:08:56
			political stuff that we do, but Inshallah we
		
01:08:56 --> 01:08:58
			will be launching a new website, I think
		
01:08:58 --> 01:09:01
			the old website is iqracharity.org but yeah
		
01:09:01 --> 01:09:06
			I'm here it's not anything amazing right, so
		
01:09:06 --> 01:09:09
			the second stage is education and development this
		
01:09:09 --> 01:09:10
			is not just for the rights holders or
		
01:09:10 --> 01:09:13
			beneficiaries but also for our staff our teams,
		
01:09:13 --> 01:09:17
			we don't have any sponsorship whether it's for
		
01:09:17 --> 01:09:20
			widows or orphans except that it's connected to
		
01:09:23 --> 01:09:26
			education the education most of the time is
		
01:09:26 --> 01:09:29
			in Masjid, we have a strong connection of,
		
01:09:29 --> 01:09:31
			right now I'm sitting in this office, this
		
01:09:31 --> 01:09:33
			is in one of our Masjids here in
		
01:09:33 --> 01:09:35
			Syria, it's called Masjid al-Sakinah so you
		
01:09:35 --> 01:09:37
			open up a Masjid and then you run
		
01:09:37 --> 01:09:40
			this education out of there, yeah yeah we
		
01:09:40 --> 01:09:42
			have, like I said we've built 44 Masjids
		
01:09:42 --> 01:09:46
			in Syria some of those Masjids have gyms
		
01:09:46 --> 01:09:51
			some of them have different facilities it's making
		
01:09:51 --> 01:09:53
			them the community centres bringing people to the
		
01:09:53 --> 01:09:56
			Masjid so a lot of the time when
		
01:09:56 --> 01:09:58
			people do orphan sponsorships for example, they give
		
01:09:58 --> 01:10:01
			money, but what they don't realise is that
		
01:10:01 --> 01:10:05
			in a war zone, this sister has many
		
01:10:05 --> 01:10:06
			different variables, many factors that are affecting her
		
01:10:06 --> 01:10:09
			life she might be being exploited because she's
		
01:10:09 --> 01:10:10
			living in a refugee camp, she might be
		
01:10:10 --> 01:10:13
			in a situation where she has trauma, so
		
01:10:13 --> 01:10:17
			she's buying antidepressants or drugs etc or there's
		
01:10:17 --> 01:10:19
			family members that are taking, so that those
		
01:10:19 --> 01:10:20
			funds a lot of the time don't end
		
01:10:20 --> 01:10:22
			up going to that orphan so what we
		
01:10:22 --> 01:10:24
			do is, our programmes are very different, the
		
01:10:24 --> 01:10:26
			mother, the widow has an education programme and
		
01:10:26 --> 01:10:29
			psychological support, as well as the orphan, the
		
01:10:29 --> 01:10:32
			yateem themselves so we do horse riding, we
		
01:10:32 --> 01:10:33
			are the only charity in Syria, if you
		
01:10:33 --> 01:10:35
			see any charity doing anything to do with
		
01:10:35 --> 01:10:38
			horses in Syria, that's us we implement that,
		
01:10:38 --> 01:10:41
			we do equine therapy, that is our project
		
01:10:41 --> 01:10:44
			so we have different riding centres in Syria
		
01:10:44 --> 01:10:48
			it's again a prophetic sunnah that we've used
		
01:10:48 --> 01:10:51
			to basically, you know the prophet said in
		
01:10:51 --> 01:10:56
			a hadith there will be blessings in the
		
01:10:56 --> 01:10:57
			four locks of horses until the day of
		
01:10:57 --> 01:11:01
			judgement we've seen that with our orphans kids
		
01:11:01 --> 01:11:03
			that never used to speak because they've seen
		
01:11:03 --> 01:11:06
			trauma, once they start riding, becoming these confident
		
01:11:06 --> 01:11:08
			children that can give khutbah on the minbar
		
01:11:08 --> 01:11:13
			you know, their school results get better their
		
01:11:13 --> 01:11:15
			behaviour at home gets better, etc etc, so
		
01:11:16 --> 01:11:19
			everything that we do is connected to education
		
01:11:19 --> 01:11:21
			development, so that's the second stage, the third
		
01:11:21 --> 01:11:26
			stage is self dependence, so our goal is
		
01:11:26 --> 01:11:30
			that we want independence right, not self dependence
		
01:11:30 --> 01:11:36
			independence so this is the third stage what
		
01:11:36 --> 01:11:38
			we want is, we don't want someone to
		
01:11:38 --> 01:11:42
			be dependent on the charity forever, so alhamdulillah
		
01:11:42 --> 01:11:46
			many of our sisters now they went through
		
01:11:46 --> 01:11:50
			our programs they're teachers, they are running their
		
01:11:50 --> 01:11:52
			own institutes and alhamdulillah they don't need handouts
		
01:11:52 --> 01:11:55
			anymore, right similarly, we're one of the only
		
01:11:55 --> 01:11:57
			charities that when we build homes, we give
		
01:11:57 --> 01:12:01
			the ownership to the people and we had
		
01:12:01 --> 01:12:04
			many issues with many different militias on the
		
01:12:04 --> 01:12:06
			ground because we were doing that, people did
		
01:12:06 --> 01:12:08
			not want us to do that, many organisations
		
01:12:08 --> 01:12:11
			here, the homes that they build are haram,
		
01:12:11 --> 01:12:14
			and I can list organisations and I've advised
		
01:12:14 --> 01:12:17
			many organisations, they get land that is contested
		
01:12:17 --> 01:12:20
			land because it's free, and then what they
		
01:12:20 --> 01:12:22
			do is they build homes on that land
		
01:12:22 --> 01:12:25
			this is categorically haram because many people are
		
01:12:25 --> 01:12:28
			using amwal al zakat, and obviously as you
		
01:12:28 --> 01:12:32
			know, zakat should be cash, because of laws
		
01:12:32 --> 01:12:35
			and stuff like that, and charities difficulties, what
		
01:12:35 --> 01:12:37
			ends up happening is people, we had an
		
01:12:37 --> 01:12:40
			exception you know, a fatwa as an exception
		
01:12:40 --> 01:12:41
			from the ulema to say we can build
		
01:12:41 --> 01:12:43
			homes for people with the condition what?
		
01:12:44 --> 01:12:46
			the ownership goes to those people but unfortunately,
		
01:12:47 --> 01:12:49
			many charities are not open about this, they
		
01:12:49 --> 01:12:51
			go for the cheaper option, and the homes
		
01:12:51 --> 01:12:52
			are not going to those people, what ends
		
01:12:52 --> 01:12:55
			up happening is when territories change hands different
		
01:12:55 --> 01:12:59
			militias control those and they take those homes
		
01:12:59 --> 01:13:02
			if they don't like a person sorry mate,
		
01:13:02 --> 01:13:04
			out of here this is a really important
		
01:13:04 --> 01:13:07
			concept so, the goal, the third stage like
		
01:13:07 --> 01:13:13
			I said, is independence the prophet said the
		
01:13:13 --> 01:13:15
			upper hand is better than the lower hand
		
01:13:15 --> 01:13:17
			so this is what we want, right?
		
01:13:17 --> 01:13:20
			from our people and then, so the goal
		
01:13:20 --> 01:13:23
			is someone who was an IDP an internally
		
01:13:23 --> 01:13:25
			displaced person, they lost everything in the war
		
01:13:25 --> 01:13:27
			they benefited primarily from Iqra then they were
		
01:13:27 --> 01:13:32
			educated and developed and then, they got to
		
01:13:32 --> 01:13:34
			a point where now they no longer need
		
01:13:34 --> 01:13:38
			the organization because they're independent what's the next
		
01:13:38 --> 01:13:38
			stage?
		
01:13:38 --> 01:13:40
			this is the most difficult stage, the fourth
		
01:13:40 --> 01:13:46
			stage, which is activating the people so that
		
01:13:46 --> 01:13:50
			they go on to help other people in
		
01:13:50 --> 01:13:52
			the community so they become a sadqa jari
		
01:13:52 --> 01:13:54
			for us so Iqra is like a factory,
		
01:13:54 --> 01:13:56
			Alhamdulillah we have many people that started with
		
01:13:56 --> 01:13:58
			us in our organization, now they have their
		
01:13:58 --> 01:14:01
			own projects we're happy for that one of
		
01:14:01 --> 01:14:05
			my youngsters, I've known him for since he
		
01:14:05 --> 01:14:10
			was 17 Alhamdulillah, he learned English Allah Mubarak
		
01:14:10 --> 01:14:13
			he went through university his brother was a
		
01:14:13 --> 01:14:16
			shaheed in Aleppo in the early part of
		
01:14:16 --> 01:14:17
			the conflict we sent him out to Turkey
		
01:14:17 --> 01:14:22
			he became a prosthetic limbs technician we helped
		
01:14:22 --> 01:14:25
			pay for his education and stuff he eventually
		
01:14:25 --> 01:14:28
			ended up getting a masters and he is
		
01:14:28 --> 01:14:31
			now one of the most qualified prosthetic limbs
		
01:14:31 --> 01:14:37
			technicians in Syria he's either trained most of
		
01:14:37 --> 01:14:41
			the technicians in Syria and now Alhamdulillah he
		
01:14:41 --> 01:14:43
			is going to Egypt to set up our
		
01:14:43 --> 01:14:47
			prosthetic limbs center in Egypt he's going to
		
01:14:47 --> 01:14:49
			be helping the Gazans this is what we're
		
01:14:49 --> 01:14:51
			talking about I met him when he was
		
01:14:51 --> 01:14:55
			17 he's married and he said to me
		
01:14:55 --> 01:14:57
			the other day and it really hit me,
		
01:14:57 --> 01:14:59
			Alhamdulillah this is what I work in he
		
01:14:59 --> 01:15:02
			said Abu Hussam he said all these years
		
01:15:02 --> 01:15:04
			that I was serving Syria, I felt like
		
01:15:04 --> 01:15:05
			that was just my obligation I had to
		
01:15:05 --> 01:15:08
			do that but he said now for the
		
01:15:08 --> 01:15:11
			first time now that I'm going to Egypt
		
01:15:11 --> 01:15:15
			I feel like you know what I'm really
		
01:15:15 --> 01:15:17
			going to be serving the Ummah and now
		
01:15:17 --> 01:15:20
			I'm going to be doing that greater struggle
		
01:15:20 --> 01:15:24
			that's beautiful I know I went on a
		
01:15:24 --> 01:15:29
			bit not at all this was great I
		
01:15:29 --> 01:15:32
			didn't know that it's the first time I've
		
01:15:32 --> 01:15:36
			seen this for part of relief organizations because
		
01:15:36 --> 01:15:39
			we are new to the game we are
		
01:15:39 --> 01:15:42
			new to relief and we tend to do
		
01:15:42 --> 01:15:45
			primary relief but now that you're talking about
		
01:15:45 --> 01:15:51
			education independence and activation, I like it and
		
01:15:51 --> 01:15:53
			that's how it has to be that's how
		
01:15:55 --> 01:15:57
			you want to eventually produce I could talk
		
01:15:57 --> 01:15:58
			about this for hours but I don't want
		
01:15:58 --> 01:16:02
			to bore the viewers this was beautiful I
		
01:16:02 --> 01:16:05
			wanted to ask you about your future there
		
01:16:05 --> 01:16:09
			you must have now so much rebuilding to
		
01:16:09 --> 01:16:13
			do in Syria what does the rebuilding look
		
01:16:13 --> 01:16:14
			like?
		
01:16:15 --> 01:16:17
			currently we're building a super village it's called
		
01:16:17 --> 01:16:23
			the walnut village in northern Syria this is
		
01:16:23 --> 01:16:24
			the one that we're building at the moment
		
01:16:25 --> 01:16:27
			it's about half complete we're hoping to complete
		
01:16:27 --> 01:16:28
			by the end of 2025 this was before
		
01:16:28 --> 01:16:32
			obviously all of this kicked off so what
		
01:16:32 --> 01:16:34
			we have in our projects is we have
		
01:16:34 --> 01:16:38
			a again this is one of the activation
		
01:16:38 --> 01:16:40
			methods that we use so obviously we want
		
01:16:40 --> 01:16:42
			to verify that people are the most needy
		
01:16:42 --> 01:16:44
			and they need these homes so we have
		
01:16:44 --> 01:16:47
			a point system within our projects a person
		
01:16:47 --> 01:16:50
			has to hit 3000 points if they get
		
01:16:50 --> 01:16:52
			3000 points then we give them the ownership
		
01:16:52 --> 01:16:55
			of the home the reason why we do
		
01:16:55 --> 01:16:57
			that is because we want to make sure
		
01:16:57 --> 01:16:58
			that because what you have is in a
		
01:16:58 --> 01:17:01
			war zone again survival of the fittest some
		
01:17:01 --> 01:17:04
			people will be registered in many different refugee
		
01:17:04 --> 01:17:07
			camps and be getting aid from different places
		
01:17:07 --> 01:17:09
			some people will be actually have a home
		
01:17:09 --> 01:17:11
			in a different place and they're trying to
		
01:17:11 --> 01:17:15
			get another home for free so this model
		
01:17:15 --> 01:17:18
			that we use is one to make sure
		
01:17:18 --> 01:17:20
			that we verify that these people really need
		
01:17:20 --> 01:17:22
			these homes and they're present in those projects
		
01:17:22 --> 01:17:25
			and number two that again they're not getting
		
01:17:25 --> 01:17:28
			something free they're working for it by helping
		
01:17:28 --> 01:17:30
			their own community so how do they get
		
01:17:30 --> 01:17:31
			points?
		
01:17:31 --> 01:17:34
			by guarding their own project by cleaning the
		
01:17:34 --> 01:17:39
			project you know by teaching so if they
		
01:17:39 --> 01:17:41
			teach Quran anything that they do basically that
		
01:17:41 --> 01:17:44
			is voluntary they can get it and we
		
01:17:44 --> 01:17:46
			found this model to be really really good
		
01:17:46 --> 01:17:48
			a lot of our donors they understand it
		
01:17:48 --> 01:17:53
			and it's important and what it ends up
		
01:17:53 --> 01:17:55
			doing is like someone can get their house
		
01:17:55 --> 01:17:58
			in three months basically someone it might take
		
01:17:58 --> 01:18:01
			them three years but the goal is that
		
01:18:01 --> 01:18:03
			this person understands that they worked for it
		
01:18:03 --> 01:18:06
			I need to help other people now and
		
01:18:06 --> 01:18:08
			that's kind of what we do so in
		
01:18:08 --> 01:18:12
			terms of now the rebuilding efforts now that
		
01:18:12 --> 01:18:15
			village is still being built alhamdulillah we built
		
01:18:15 --> 01:18:16
			about 72 homes on it we've got another
		
01:18:17 --> 01:18:20
			130 that we're building at the moment we're
		
01:18:20 --> 01:18:22
			building the largest school in northern Syria on
		
01:18:22 --> 01:18:26
			the same site we have a riding center
		
01:18:26 --> 01:18:29
			being built we've got a football pitch you
		
01:18:29 --> 01:18:30
			know when we build a village we don't
		
01:18:30 --> 01:18:33
			just build homes we build communities we also
		
01:18:33 --> 01:18:35
			build close to cities we don't build on
		
01:18:35 --> 01:18:37
			the side of mountains like many other charities
		
01:18:37 --> 01:18:39
			do they build villages and this is a
		
01:18:39 --> 01:18:41
			tip for anyone who wants to build a
		
01:18:41 --> 01:18:43
			house in Syria if someone's going to build
		
01:18:43 --> 01:18:46
			a house in Syria when someone says we
		
01:18:46 --> 01:18:49
			got the land for free alarm bells alhamdulillah
		
01:18:49 --> 01:18:51
			when you see the drone footage and it's
		
01:18:51 --> 01:18:53
			on the top of a mountain alarm bells
		
01:18:53 --> 01:18:56
			the reason why they do that is so
		
01:18:56 --> 01:18:58
			that they don't have to build foundations again
		
01:18:58 --> 01:19:01
			the homes are cheaper but what you end
		
01:19:01 --> 01:19:03
			up doing is you're putting people on the
		
01:19:03 --> 01:19:05
			side of a mountain and they are far
		
01:19:05 --> 01:19:07
			away from society so you're not actually helping
		
01:19:07 --> 01:19:07
			them people where are they going to go
		
01:19:07 --> 01:19:10
			even if you build a school there how
		
01:19:10 --> 01:19:14
			are they going to work how are they
		
01:19:14 --> 01:19:16
			going to you know be part of society
		
01:19:16 --> 01:19:17
			so a lot of charities have done that
		
01:19:17 --> 01:19:19
			as well housing projects on the top of
		
01:19:19 --> 01:19:21
			mountains and I'm not going to mention names
		
01:19:21 --> 01:19:22
			because I don't want to expose people but
		
01:19:22 --> 01:19:25
			the consumer you people that are giving your
		
01:19:25 --> 01:19:28
			sadaqa and zakat do your homework look at
		
01:19:28 --> 01:19:31
			the videos and look wow that village is
		
01:19:31 --> 01:19:34
			on a mountain that's why I'm paying $1
		
01:19:34 --> 01:19:36
			,000 or $2,000 for a house yeah
		
01:19:36 --> 01:19:38
			because it's in the middle of nowhere that
		
01:19:38 --> 01:19:40
			land was free doesn't need foundations it's on
		
01:19:40 --> 01:19:42
			a mountain you're not helping the people you're
		
01:19:42 --> 01:19:45
			making the people dependent again so yeah just
		
01:19:45 --> 01:19:47
			throwing that in there what city are you
		
01:19:47 --> 01:19:50
			in northern Syria I'm in Azaz right now
		
01:19:50 --> 01:19:52
			but we have a city we already have
		
01:19:52 --> 01:19:56
			an office in so basically 20 days ago
		
01:19:56 --> 01:19:59
			before all of this started up 21 days
		
01:19:59 --> 01:20:03
			ago we had one base in the northern
		
01:20:03 --> 01:20:08
			Turkish territories which is Turkish administered so I'm
		
01:20:08 --> 01:20:10
			in Azaz in the countryside of northern Aleppo
		
01:20:10 --> 01:20:13
			and then we also have another base in
		
01:20:13 --> 01:20:15
			Idlib in a place called Atma where there's
		
01:20:15 --> 01:20:18
			several refugee camps so our organization was split
		
01:20:18 --> 01:20:20
			into two teams so we had the countryside
		
01:20:20 --> 01:20:23
			of Idlib and the countryside and Aleppo and
		
01:20:23 --> 01:20:27
			the countryside but now over the last 20
		
01:20:27 --> 01:20:30
			days we've already mobilized we have an office
		
01:20:30 --> 01:20:33
			in Aleppo city I know the city well
		
01:20:33 --> 01:20:35
			because obviously in the beginning of the revolution
		
01:20:35 --> 01:20:36
			a lot of it was with us and
		
01:20:36 --> 01:20:37
			I used to work in many of the
		
01:20:37 --> 01:20:39
			hospitals there so we already have established an
		
01:20:39 --> 01:20:42
			office in Aleppo we already have established an
		
01:20:42 --> 01:20:44
			office in Damascus because a lot of our
		
01:20:44 --> 01:20:47
			team was from all over the country my
		
01:20:47 --> 01:20:49
			guys that had been displaced from Damascus on
		
01:20:49 --> 01:20:52
			green buses are going to Damascus and they're
		
01:20:52 --> 01:20:54
			setting up our office there my guys from
		
01:20:54 --> 01:20:56
			Aleppo that came out on green buses are
		
01:20:56 --> 01:20:59
			going to Aleppo so alhamdulillah we're working we're
		
01:20:59 --> 01:21:00
			going to be working all over this country
		
01:21:00 --> 01:21:04
			when you were before the revolution when you
		
01:21:04 --> 01:21:06
			were in Aleppo and this other city that
		
01:21:06 --> 01:21:08
			you were in who was ruling these cities?
		
01:21:09 --> 01:21:09
			what was the government?
		
01:21:09 --> 01:21:10
			just civil governments?
		
01:21:12 --> 01:21:14
			just like local governance or what?
		
01:21:15 --> 01:21:17
			yeah so in the early days of Aleppo
		
01:21:17 --> 01:21:20
			obviously one thing people don't understand is that
		
01:21:20 --> 01:21:24
			the Free Syrian Army is not a monogamous
		
01:21:26 --> 01:21:30
			that's not the right word homogenous yeah homogenous
		
01:21:30 --> 01:21:35
			it's not a homogenous group it's an umbrella
		
01:21:35 --> 01:21:38
			it's an umbrella a lot of people really
		
01:21:38 --> 01:21:39
			don't understand this so the Free Syrian Army
		
01:21:39 --> 01:21:43
			is an umbrella underneath this banner it has
		
01:21:44 --> 01:21:48
			hundreds of groups so you have the biggest
		
01:21:48 --> 01:21:52
			groups are Fayalik and then underneath them you
		
01:21:52 --> 01:21:56
			have Aliwa and under Aliwa you have Kata
		
01:21:56 --> 01:22:00
			'ib and under the Kata'ib you have
		
01:22:03 --> 01:22:06
			no it's Harakat anyway there's different types of
		
01:22:06 --> 01:22:11
			groups so a Kata'ib could be 15
		
01:22:11 --> 01:22:16
			guys from a certain area then Aliwa could
		
01:22:16 --> 01:22:21
			be like 300 guys and then what's it
		
01:22:21 --> 01:22:27
			called a Faseel would be like 3000 and
		
01:22:27 --> 01:22:30
			then one of the Fayalik would be maybe
		
01:22:30 --> 01:22:34
			10,000 so now how would these groups
		
01:22:34 --> 01:22:36
			group together so let's just say let me
		
01:22:36 --> 01:22:39
			try because your audience is American right where
		
01:22:39 --> 01:22:42
			abouts in America are you it's American and
		
01:22:42 --> 01:22:43
			British because it's the evening time in England
		
01:22:43 --> 01:22:45
			so we get a lot of viewers from
		
01:22:45 --> 01:22:48
			England it's right now it's 3.30 ok
		
01:22:48 --> 01:22:50
			so England is easy for me to describe
		
01:22:50 --> 01:22:54
			so let's just say London ok London when
		
01:22:54 --> 01:22:57
			the war broke out you had all of
		
01:22:57 --> 01:23:01
			these different areas you've got different boroughs so
		
01:23:01 --> 01:23:03
			you've got like Waltham Forest and then inside
		
01:23:03 --> 01:23:06
			Waltham Forest you've got places like Chinford, Leyton,
		
01:23:06 --> 01:23:09
			Leytonstone you've got all these different areas you've
		
01:23:09 --> 01:23:11
			got the borough of Newham inside this borough
		
01:23:11 --> 01:23:14
			of Newham you've got Manor Park you've got
		
01:23:15 --> 01:23:21
			what's it called what else is in Newham
		
01:23:21 --> 01:23:26
			you've got my brains gone dead anyway you've
		
01:23:26 --> 01:23:28
			got other areas right in Redbridge you've got
		
01:23:28 --> 01:23:32
			Elfrid etc all of these areas are inside
		
01:23:32 --> 01:23:35
			London now what happened is let's just say
		
01:23:35 --> 01:23:39
			the revolution broke out a group in Walthamstow
		
01:23:39 --> 01:23:41
			were like guys we're rising up we're going
		
01:23:41 --> 01:23:44
			to go and take over our local police
		
01:23:44 --> 01:23:47
			station and we're taking over this area the
		
01:23:47 --> 01:23:49
			area next to them let's just say Leyton
		
01:23:49 --> 01:23:52
			was like no where were the regime ok
		
01:23:52 --> 01:23:56
			so this is how the revolution kind of
		
01:23:56 --> 01:23:59
			started organically certain areas were allied to the
		
01:23:59 --> 01:24:01
			regime most of the areas because of the
		
01:24:01 --> 01:24:05
			popular revolution ended up all going with the
		
01:24:05 --> 01:24:08
			people rebelled right and they took over those
		
01:24:08 --> 01:24:13
			areas so depending on the areas and demographics
		
01:24:13 --> 01:24:16
			certain areas the people that rose up were
		
01:24:16 --> 01:24:20
			army defectors so naturally they were people that
		
01:24:20 --> 01:24:24
			were more powerful and efficient at fighting against
		
01:24:24 --> 01:24:27
			the regime because they were soldiers in other
		
01:24:27 --> 01:24:29
			areas they were people that were maybe were
		
01:24:31 --> 01:24:34
			working in the civil sector so they had
		
01:24:34 --> 01:24:37
			certain strengths in other areas it was poor
		
01:24:37 --> 01:24:39
			people that were living in such difficult situations
		
01:24:39 --> 01:24:40
			that they just rose up and took control
		
01:24:40 --> 01:24:44
			of the areas so in the early days
		
01:24:44 --> 01:24:47
			the Free Syrian Army was a hodgepodge of
		
01:24:47 --> 01:24:49
			all these different rebel groups which was crazy
		
01:24:49 --> 01:24:51
			some of them were tribal groups had tribal
		
01:24:51 --> 01:24:53
			affiliations some of them were ethnic groups that
		
01:24:53 --> 01:24:56
			had ethnic affiliations it was very very very
		
01:24:56 --> 01:25:00
			very mixed and then they were all again
		
01:25:00 --> 01:25:04
			some of them had Aqaidi affiliations and I've
		
01:25:04 --> 01:25:07
			heard some commentators outside talking and saying there
		
01:25:07 --> 01:25:09
			was no Ash'ari fighting groups in Syria
		
01:25:09 --> 01:25:11
			this is stupid whoever said that is dumb
		
01:25:11 --> 01:25:13
			they don't even know the situation in Syria
		
01:25:13 --> 01:25:20
			okay alright there is so for example Jabha
		
01:25:20 --> 01:25:25
			Shamia, Liwa Tawheed um who else was an
		
01:25:25 --> 01:25:30
			Ash'ari group predominantly Ash'ari uh I
		
01:25:30 --> 01:25:31
			think they're the main ones that stick out
		
01:25:31 --> 01:25:32
			on my mind but there's more there's more
		
01:25:32 --> 01:25:35
			there's many more groups right it's just that
		
01:25:35 --> 01:25:37
			in the outside world those names are not
		
01:25:37 --> 01:25:40
			that famous if that makes sense right so
		
01:25:40 --> 01:25:43
			there's a large population or maybe even the
		
01:25:43 --> 01:25:45
			majority of people in Syria are Ash'ari
		
01:25:45 --> 01:25:49
			Shafis okay but then there is a lot
		
01:25:49 --> 01:25:51
			of groups that are Al-Hanbali, Salafis if
		
01:25:51 --> 01:25:52
			you want to use that word or Ash
		
01:25:52 --> 01:25:54
			'aris if you want to use that fighting
		
01:25:54 --> 01:25:59
			groups like Al-Qaeda groups like you know
		
01:25:59 --> 01:26:02
			Al-Qaeda groups like Al-Qaeda groups that's
		
01:26:02 --> 01:26:05
			what they used to kind of ascribe themselves
		
01:26:05 --> 01:26:09
			to although now it's it's very much different
		
01:26:09 --> 01:26:12
			in terms of the pragmatic approach they're taking
		
01:26:12 --> 01:26:14
			but you would still generally say that they
		
01:26:14 --> 01:26:18
			are the Ash'ari orientated group okay so
		
01:26:18 --> 01:26:21
			like I said you had certain groups that
		
01:26:21 --> 01:26:23
			were Islamic groups and they were outwardly Islamic
		
01:26:23 --> 01:26:27
			they were kind of not they didn't come
		
01:26:27 --> 01:26:29
			under the Free Syrian Army banner but then
		
01:26:29 --> 01:26:32
			you had other groups that were Islamic groups
		
01:26:32 --> 01:26:34
			that came under the Free Syrian Army banner
		
01:26:34 --> 01:26:38
			so it's not this binary thing that Free
		
01:26:38 --> 01:26:41
			Syrian Army is un-Islamic and the Islamic
		
01:26:41 --> 01:26:43
			groups are Islamic it doesn't work like that
		
01:26:43 --> 01:26:45
			some Islamic groups like ISIS who were under
		
01:26:45 --> 01:26:50
			the Islamic banner did atrocious things so we
		
01:26:50 --> 01:26:51
			have to take a very we've got to
		
01:26:51 --> 01:26:53
			look at it in a detailed manner and
		
01:26:53 --> 01:26:55
			look at every group for who they are
		
01:26:55 --> 01:26:57
			and what they did within the revolution so
		
01:26:57 --> 01:26:59
			in terms of who was administering these areas
		
01:26:59 --> 01:27:01
			you have to have a really good knowledge
		
01:27:01 --> 01:27:04
			of who is doing what and obviously being
		
01:27:04 --> 01:27:05
			in my field in terms of aid work
		
01:27:05 --> 01:27:06
			working with hospitals we had a really good
		
01:27:06 --> 01:27:09
			relationship with everybody because we're doing something that
		
01:27:09 --> 01:27:13
			you know supporting the widows, the orphans and
		
01:27:13 --> 01:27:16
			people that need their help so Alhamdulillah we've
		
01:27:16 --> 01:27:20
			been able to navigate you know What percentage
		
01:27:20 --> 01:27:25
			of the quote unquote rebels were foreigners?
		
01:27:29 --> 01:27:31
			Interesting question so it's varied isn't it over
		
01:27:31 --> 01:27:35
			the years varied over the years I'd say
		
01:27:36 --> 01:27:38
			in the beginning when I came we were
		
01:27:38 --> 01:27:42
			a minority obviously when we came in I
		
01:27:42 --> 01:27:43
			mean we're still a minority but I mean
		
01:27:43 --> 01:27:45
			when we came in in the early days
		
01:27:46 --> 01:27:48
			we were like heroes people were like the
		
01:27:48 --> 01:27:51
			Syrian people the way they greeted foreigners were
		
01:27:51 --> 01:27:56
			like Asalaamu Alaikum it was amazing amazing right
		
01:27:57 --> 01:28:03
			but then as obviously the conflict progressed and
		
01:28:03 --> 01:28:05
			then there was rise of certain Islamic groups
		
01:28:05 --> 01:28:09
			the Islamic groups were mostly part of a
		
01:28:09 --> 01:28:13
			group called Katiba Muhajireen Jabhat al-Nusra Harar
		
01:28:13 --> 01:28:17
			al-Sham had foreigners and I would say
		
01:28:17 --> 01:28:19
			Jund al-Aqsa was another group that had
		
01:28:19 --> 01:28:21
			foreigners these were mainly the groups that had
		
01:28:21 --> 01:28:28
			foreigners inside them and obviously when at the
		
01:28:28 --> 01:28:30
			rise of ISIS because there was a lot
		
01:28:30 --> 01:28:35
			of media and they had an amazing media
		
01:28:35 --> 01:28:36
			machine that was brainwashing a lot of people
		
01:28:38 --> 01:28:40
			thousands and thousands of foreigners were coming to
		
01:28:40 --> 01:28:43
			Syria you would say at that time and
		
01:28:43 --> 01:28:47
			a lot of them were prone how can
		
01:28:47 --> 01:28:49
			I say they were just used as cannon
		
01:28:49 --> 01:28:53
			fodder a lot of sincere people came when
		
01:28:53 --> 01:28:54
			they saw the reality they were like oh
		
01:28:54 --> 01:28:57
			my god what have I done this is
		
01:28:57 --> 01:28:58
			one of the things I used to say
		
01:28:58 --> 01:28:59
			to people if this is a true caliphate
		
01:28:59 --> 01:29:02
			why will they why don't they let you
		
01:29:02 --> 01:29:05
			leave if you want to leave why do
		
01:29:05 --> 01:29:06
			they kill you if you want to leave
		
01:29:06 --> 01:29:07
			what kind of caliphate is that is that
		
01:29:07 --> 01:29:10
			the caliphate that you imagine because you don't
		
01:29:10 --> 01:29:12
			like it they'll kill you if you leave
		
01:29:12 --> 01:29:15
			so that's real I know people that went
		
01:29:15 --> 01:29:17
			there and they thought you know we can
		
01:29:17 --> 01:29:21
			we can go and do something and they
		
01:29:21 --> 01:29:22
			tried to leave and they killed them so
		
01:29:24 --> 01:29:27
			the percentage bro it's hard it's hard to
		
01:29:27 --> 01:29:31
			work that out obviously now over the last
		
01:29:31 --> 01:29:33
			you know I'd say five six years when
		
01:29:33 --> 01:29:35
			there was less fighting many many people left
		
01:29:36 --> 01:29:38
			a lot of foreigners were killed in the
		
01:29:38 --> 01:29:41
			ISIS time and many people left I'd say
		
01:29:41 --> 01:29:42
			now if I was to take an estimate
		
01:29:42 --> 01:29:49
			the foreigners in Syria now I don't think
		
01:29:49 --> 01:29:50
			I don't think it's over 10,000 people
		
01:29:50 --> 01:29:55
			okay and and the biggest group is probably
		
01:29:55 --> 01:29:58
			the Uyghurs the Turkistanis as they're known they're
		
01:29:58 --> 01:30:00
			probably about 6,000 I reckon and how
		
01:30:00 --> 01:30:03
			did that group become you know it seems
		
01:30:03 --> 01:30:08
			like an odd connection how did that group
		
01:30:08 --> 01:30:10
			get so involved it's not a really odd
		
01:30:10 --> 01:30:12
			connection to be honest you got people who
		
01:30:12 --> 01:30:16
			are oppressed in the most brutal way where
		
01:30:16 --> 01:30:23
			they have no opportunity to exercise their deen
		
01:30:23 --> 01:30:29
			and religion Islam is basically fought in every
		
01:30:29 --> 01:30:31
			aspect of their life where we have never
		
01:30:31 --> 01:30:34
			seen anywhere else you know you've heard the
		
01:30:34 --> 01:30:36
			stuff like you know forcing their women to
		
01:30:36 --> 01:30:41
			marry Han Chinese men you know you know
		
01:30:41 --> 01:30:44
			forcing people to drink alcohol these concentration camps
		
01:30:44 --> 01:30:48
			you know destroying Masajid banning the Quran all
		
01:30:48 --> 01:30:50
			of this kind of stuff this is real
		
01:30:50 --> 01:30:52
			obviously we speak to these brothers and we
		
01:30:52 --> 01:30:53
			hear this from them first hand this is
		
01:30:53 --> 01:30:56
			not some concocted story you know how some
		
01:30:56 --> 01:30:58
			people like to make it out to be
		
01:30:58 --> 01:31:01
			because China is a superpower and they have
		
01:31:01 --> 01:31:04
			you know strict controls unfortunately there's not enough
		
01:31:04 --> 01:31:09
			light on that whole situation so those people
		
01:31:09 --> 01:31:15
			escaping that context coming to a conflict zone
		
01:31:15 --> 01:31:19
			to fight and live as Muslims makes all
		
01:31:19 --> 01:31:23
			the sense and I mean they're an amazing
		
01:31:23 --> 01:31:26
			community Allah Mubarak amazing brothers amazing brothers and
		
01:31:26 --> 01:31:28
			they came with their families they didn't just
		
01:31:28 --> 01:31:30
			come by themselves they're a community they have
		
01:31:30 --> 01:31:33
			certain areas they're a community if you ask
		
01:31:33 --> 01:31:35
			the Syrian people who some of the most
		
01:31:35 --> 01:31:38
			ferocious fighters are they will tell you the
		
01:31:38 --> 01:31:42
			Turkistanis they are a force they have been
		
01:31:42 --> 01:31:49
			one of the trump cards in Jowlani's armory
		
01:31:49 --> 01:31:52
			not a lot of people know that did
		
01:31:52 --> 01:31:55
			you have any relations with Jowlani himself any
		
01:31:55 --> 01:32:03
			interactions I've had interactions with him yeah I'm
		
01:32:03 --> 01:32:07
			not he's I mean I would say that
		
01:32:08 --> 01:32:12
			he's he wasn't my biggest fan that's because
		
01:32:12 --> 01:32:16
			I advised him on certain things some of
		
01:32:16 --> 01:32:19
			them to do with you could say justice
		
01:32:19 --> 01:32:22
			system and stuff like that some of that
		
01:32:22 --> 01:32:23
			I did in private some of that I
		
01:32:23 --> 01:32:31
			did in public and yeah I mean my
		
01:32:31 --> 01:32:34
			interactions with him like I said he's someone
		
01:32:34 --> 01:32:37
			that in this time now he's done a
		
01:32:37 --> 01:32:41
			lot of good things and I hope that
		
01:32:41 --> 01:32:45
			he continues on that trajectory does he have
		
01:32:45 --> 01:32:49
			mistakes like any human he does I wouldn't
		
01:32:49 --> 01:32:51
			like to be in his position it's very
		
01:32:51 --> 01:32:53
			difficult to be in the position that he
		
01:32:53 --> 01:32:57
			is in of course he's made deals with
		
01:32:57 --> 01:33:02
			western governments again I'm assuming I don't know
		
01:33:02 --> 01:33:03
			the details of every single deal that's been
		
01:33:03 --> 01:33:07
			made but I'm assuming they're very difficult to
		
01:33:07 --> 01:33:13
			navigate and you know difficult concessions maybe have
		
01:33:13 --> 01:33:18
			been made but I'm optimistic that this phase
		
01:33:18 --> 01:33:21
			that we're in now inshallah will be better
		
01:33:21 --> 01:33:23
			obviously it's no secret that I've been critical
		
01:33:23 --> 01:33:26
			of HTS ironically the group that I was
		
01:33:26 --> 01:33:28
			accused of being aligned to and losing my
		
01:33:28 --> 01:33:32
			citizenship over but at the end of the
		
01:33:32 --> 01:33:36
			day they are Muslims and when they are
		
01:33:36 --> 01:33:39
			doing good I'm kind of different to Bilal
		
01:33:39 --> 01:33:41
			in a sense that I feel that yeah
		
01:33:41 --> 01:33:43
			we should blow their trumpet they've done some
		
01:33:43 --> 01:33:45
			good stuff and they're doing good stuff and
		
01:33:45 --> 01:33:47
			whilst they're doing those good stuff we should
		
01:33:47 --> 01:33:49
			highlight that and say yeah these guys are
		
01:33:49 --> 01:33:52
			doing good things right now and in regards
		
01:33:52 --> 01:33:54
			to the future where this will go only
		
01:33:54 --> 01:33:57
			Allah knows you know we hope that they
		
01:33:57 --> 01:33:59
			are going to be better for the Syrian
		
01:33:59 --> 01:34:01
			people than Bashar and I think I definitely
		
01:34:01 --> 01:34:05
			think they are and they will be when
		
01:34:05 --> 01:34:09
			you say deals with the west are you
		
01:34:09 --> 01:34:11
			able to elaborate what kind of deals are
		
01:34:11 --> 01:34:15
			you talking about what kind of deals and
		
01:34:15 --> 01:34:19
			concessions are you talking about there I mean
		
01:34:19 --> 01:34:20
			look it doesn't take a rocket science right
		
01:34:20 --> 01:34:26
			if you study the previous conflicts between rebel
		
01:34:26 --> 01:34:30
			groups Mujahideen terrorists if you want to call
		
01:34:30 --> 01:34:34
			them that over the last decade over the
		
01:34:34 --> 01:34:36
			last 20 years if we're talking about conflicts
		
01:34:36 --> 01:34:40
			like Bosnia Afghanistan Shishan you will realize that
		
01:34:40 --> 01:34:48
			the the treatment or how can I say
		
01:34:48 --> 01:34:51
			the way things are moving right now in
		
01:34:51 --> 01:34:57
			Syria hasn't happened for any rebel Islamic group
		
01:34:57 --> 01:35:01
			in the past you know 20 25 30
		
01:35:01 --> 01:35:05
			maybe even 50 years okay now that doesn't
		
01:35:05 --> 01:35:07
			necessarily have to be a bad thing okay
		
01:35:07 --> 01:35:11
			I want to make that very clear just
		
01:35:11 --> 01:35:14
			because someone is able to negotiate a deal
		
01:35:14 --> 01:35:16
			doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing okay
		
01:35:16 --> 01:35:20
			we have to be realists here yeah but
		
01:35:20 --> 01:35:23
			and this is the caveat right what are
		
01:35:23 --> 01:35:26
			those concessions that have been made if the
		
01:35:26 --> 01:35:30
			concessions have been made you know are that
		
01:35:31 --> 01:35:35
			we are not going to implement Islam in
		
01:35:35 --> 01:35:37
			this time for some people that is a
		
01:35:37 --> 01:35:40
			concession that is too great I am of
		
01:35:40 --> 01:35:43
			the opinion that it's not realistic to expect
		
01:35:43 --> 01:35:45
			that at this moment in time do you
		
01:35:45 --> 01:35:50
			understand the reality is the West will not
		
01:35:50 --> 01:35:54
			allow an Islamic state to flourish a real
		
01:35:54 --> 01:35:57
			Islamic state state like ISIS yes they would
		
01:35:57 --> 01:36:01
			support these extremist identities and ideas but a
		
01:36:01 --> 01:36:05
			real true Islamic state Islamic project no so
		
01:36:05 --> 01:36:08
			it doesn't make sense to be overtly you
		
01:36:08 --> 01:36:11
			know Islamic I mean people look at Turkey
		
01:36:11 --> 01:36:13
			Turkey has been on a path of Islamization
		
01:36:13 --> 01:36:16
			you just got to read the don't read
		
01:36:16 --> 01:36:19
			the tabloids in the West read the broadsheets
		
01:36:19 --> 01:36:21
			one of the things the West is very
		
01:36:21 --> 01:36:23
			worried about is the Islamization of Turkey yeah
		
01:36:23 --> 01:36:27
			and Turkey has been made very secular statements
		
01:36:27 --> 01:36:29
			and said we're a secular country etc etc
		
01:36:29 --> 01:36:32
			but you can see the trajectory this is
		
01:36:32 --> 01:36:34
			why I say to people and this is
		
01:36:34 --> 01:36:36
			what sometimes annoys me with certain Salafi brothers
		
01:36:36 --> 01:36:38
			and I'll say I'll throw it out there
		
01:36:39 --> 01:36:42
			they will say as long as someone doesn't
		
01:36:42 --> 01:36:46
			say Kufr then you can't do or say
		
01:36:46 --> 01:36:50
			anything or whatever right they could be fornicating
		
01:36:50 --> 01:36:56
			in the street okay but no he hasn't
		
01:36:56 --> 01:36:58
			claimed Kufr so we can't say we can't
		
01:36:58 --> 01:37:00
			even we're not talking about Khoruj because this
		
01:37:00 --> 01:37:02
			is what these brothers do they always conflate
		
01:37:02 --> 01:37:04
			two things they conflate Amr bin Ma'ruf
		
01:37:04 --> 01:37:06
			wa Nahi al Munkar and we're becoming a
		
01:37:06 --> 01:37:09
			bit I don't know if your viewers are
		
01:37:09 --> 01:37:11
			going to understand this yeah they got it
		
01:37:11 --> 01:37:15
			your platform is a lot more maybe intellectual
		
01:37:15 --> 01:37:17
			than me but Amr bin Ma'ruf wa
		
01:37:17 --> 01:37:18
			Nahi al Munkar is not Khoruj they're two
		
01:37:18 --> 01:37:23
			completely different things right so when we're looking
		
01:37:23 --> 01:37:24
			at the trajectory of Turkey you can see
		
01:37:24 --> 01:37:26
			this country is making an attempt to become
		
01:37:26 --> 01:37:29
			more Islamic whether you like them you don't
		
01:37:29 --> 01:37:31
			like them whatever it is 15 years ago
		
01:37:31 --> 01:37:34
			Hijab in universities was banned now it's not
		
01:37:34 --> 01:37:36
			banned it's clear whereas if we look at
		
01:37:36 --> 01:37:40
			Saudi Arabia it's very clear that Saudi Arabia
		
01:37:40 --> 01:37:44
			is becoming less Islamic okay that is not
		
01:37:44 --> 01:37:47
			rocket science guys Wallahi that is just common
		
01:37:47 --> 01:37:50
			sense 10 years ago there was no discos
		
01:37:50 --> 01:37:54
			going on in Saudi Arabia none of this
		
01:37:54 --> 01:37:57
			mad Halloween parties and all this crazy stuff
		
01:37:57 --> 01:37:59
			was not happening okay so these are trends
		
01:37:59 --> 01:38:03
			and trajectories I think that that is more
		
01:38:03 --> 01:38:07
			important than statements and so that's what's important
		
01:38:07 --> 01:38:10
			to bear in mind in this conversation in
		
01:38:10 --> 01:38:12
			the context of the conversation that we're talking
		
01:38:12 --> 01:38:16
			about so someone coming out and professing Islam
		
01:38:16 --> 01:38:20
			is not as important as the application the
		
01:38:20 --> 01:38:24
			Arabs have a saying لا تعطيني الناتور اعطيني
		
01:38:24 --> 01:38:29
			العنب so we want the grapes we don't
		
01:38:29 --> 01:38:31
			want the boy that's going to get the
		
01:38:31 --> 01:38:33
			grapes we want the prize at the end
		
01:38:33 --> 01:38:35
			right and this is going to take time
		
01:38:36 --> 01:38:41
			was the wazir in a Fatimid state today
		
01:38:41 --> 01:38:42
			many people would say they would have made
		
01:38:42 --> 01:38:46
			Takfir on this guy so we have to
		
01:38:46 --> 01:38:49
			be what's the word we got to think
		
01:38:49 --> 01:38:51
			deeper we got to think long term we
		
01:38:51 --> 01:38:52
			can't just be simplistic and say oh look
		
01:38:52 --> 01:38:54
			Mohammed said it's an Islamic state so these
		
01:38:54 --> 01:38:58
			guys are a bunch of losers and also
		
01:38:58 --> 01:38:59
			you know what I was thinking like practically
		
01:38:59 --> 01:39:01
			speaking when people are looking for a place
		
01:39:01 --> 01:39:04
			to live or to study or just to
		
01:39:04 --> 01:39:08
			be active in Dawa right people aren't looking
		
01:39:08 --> 01:39:11
			for a perfect utopia just give me a
		
01:39:11 --> 01:39:13
			place where I can go be active and
		
01:39:13 --> 01:39:15
			not get arrested like that's a very low
		
01:39:15 --> 01:39:19
			bar Turkey has set that bar so they
		
01:39:19 --> 01:39:20
			got out of Turkey everywhere and they say
		
01:39:20 --> 01:39:22
			they're secular okay but if I can go
		
01:39:22 --> 01:39:26
			there and I could participate in a little
		
01:39:26 --> 01:39:30
			school that has maybe a Syrian scholar that's
		
01:39:30 --> 01:39:32
			been a refugee and is working with the
		
01:39:32 --> 01:39:35
			Turkish people and I could do Dawa I
		
01:39:35 --> 01:39:37
			could talk I could do a lot of
		
01:39:37 --> 01:39:40
			things the bar has been sort of set
		
01:39:40 --> 01:39:42
			so low in the Arabic world like they're
		
01:39:42 --> 01:39:47
			arresting you prison Egypt oftentimes no different Saudi
		
01:39:47 --> 01:39:49
			now if you speak out against concerts you're
		
01:39:49 --> 01:39:52
			out so the bar the level is so
		
01:39:52 --> 01:39:55
			bad that just a place to go to
		
01:39:55 --> 01:39:58
			a masjid to have a beard to be
		
01:39:58 --> 01:40:02
			involved in Dawa it's a step up and
		
01:40:02 --> 01:40:03
			you could do a lot you can transform
		
01:40:03 --> 01:40:06
			culture as is happening in Turkey the culture
		
01:40:06 --> 01:40:08
			is being transformed this is what I believe
		
01:40:08 --> 01:40:10
			is a generational thing we need to look
		
01:40:10 --> 01:40:15
			for those bases those places where Islam can
		
01:40:15 --> 01:40:18
			flourish where we can build that next generation
		
01:40:18 --> 01:40:20
			and that's what we're doing here that's what
		
01:40:20 --> 01:40:21
			we're trying to do build the next generation
		
01:40:21 --> 01:40:24
			that inshallah they are going to a lot
		
01:40:24 --> 01:40:26
			of people talk about the king they don't
		
01:40:26 --> 01:40:28
			talk about the king makers they talk about
		
01:40:28 --> 01:40:30
			Salah ad-Din Al-Ayubi but no one
		
01:40:30 --> 01:40:32
			talks about Shirku his uncle nobody talks about
		
01:40:32 --> 01:40:34
			his mother nobody talks about Nooruddin Zinki nobody
		
01:40:34 --> 01:40:36
			talks about Imad ad-Din Zinki they don't
		
01:40:36 --> 01:40:38
			talk about the people that made Salah ad
		
01:40:38 --> 01:40:40
			-Din and the culture that made him that
		
01:40:40 --> 01:40:41
			put him out that's right and the culture
		
01:40:41 --> 01:40:44
			so stop thinking we've got two problems right
		
01:40:44 --> 01:40:46
			we've got double sided problem we've got those
		
01:40:46 --> 01:40:48
			that are saying what do I what do
		
01:40:48 --> 01:40:49
			I do what do I do what do
		
01:40:49 --> 01:40:50
			I do what do I do and they're
		
01:40:50 --> 01:40:53
			just sitting there on their laurels and then
		
01:40:53 --> 01:40:56
			you've got those that are like having this
		
01:40:56 --> 01:40:58
			utopic understanding that we're going to get Islam
		
01:40:58 --> 01:40:59
			straight away in one day and we need
		
01:40:59 --> 01:41:00
			a Salah ad-Din now it doesn't work
		
01:41:00 --> 01:41:02
			like that we need to get the ball
		
01:41:02 --> 01:41:06
			rolling start and work and think long term
		
01:41:06 --> 01:41:08
			and understand that there's going to be stages
		
01:41:08 --> 01:41:11
			yeah and I just saw yesterday a some
		
01:41:11 --> 01:41:14
			article that said that people were upset that
		
01:41:14 --> 01:41:17
			music was not allowed in a coffee shop
		
01:41:17 --> 01:41:19
			and I'm like see this is actually what
		
01:41:19 --> 01:41:23
			the west wants the matter to be reduced
		
01:41:23 --> 01:41:26
			to right to be reduced to these detail
		
01:41:26 --> 01:41:29
			things that have no place in a nation
		
01:41:29 --> 01:41:32
			that's really rebuilding itself and that's not a
		
01:41:32 --> 01:41:35
			comment on the ruling of music don't get
		
01:41:35 --> 01:41:36
			it wrong for those people who want to
		
01:41:36 --> 01:41:38
			take it out of context it's we're not
		
01:41:38 --> 01:41:40
			talking about that we're talking about you literally
		
01:41:40 --> 01:41:43
			have a pile of rubble a nation of
		
01:41:43 --> 01:41:46
			people who half of them are were left
		
01:41:46 --> 01:41:49
			you lost half your manpower you have Israel
		
01:41:49 --> 01:41:54
			putting down an earthquake bomb on that border
		
01:41:54 --> 01:41:58
			and you have probably counter revolutions developing and
		
01:41:58 --> 01:42:01
			this is the issue like that seems not
		
01:42:01 --> 01:42:03
			only that people don't realize the regime is
		
01:42:03 --> 01:42:07
			still here like Bashar I'll give you an
		
01:42:07 --> 01:42:09
			example I was in a hospital called Masjid
		
01:42:09 --> 01:42:14
			Masjid in the center of Damascus at the
		
01:42:14 --> 01:42:16
			beginning of this podcast we spoke about systematic
		
01:42:16 --> 01:42:21
			killing death bureaucracy the hospitals are connected to
		
01:42:21 --> 01:42:23
			when I went into the hospital I had
		
01:42:23 --> 01:42:26
			sisters doctors they were shaking they were like
		
01:42:26 --> 01:42:27
			we can't talk to you I was like
		
01:42:27 --> 01:42:30
			Bashar it's gone you're free no we're not
		
01:42:32 --> 01:42:33
			they didn't even want to give me their
		
01:42:33 --> 01:42:36
			name so Alhamdulillah we managed to convince some
		
01:42:36 --> 01:42:37
			of them they're going to be safe we
		
01:42:37 --> 01:42:38
			got their numbers we took them out of
		
01:42:38 --> 01:42:40
			the hospital we spoke to them and the
		
01:42:40 --> 01:42:42
			things that we heard were shocking some of
		
01:42:42 --> 01:42:48
			these these you could say the structures of
		
01:42:48 --> 01:42:50
			these organizations are still there the same hospital
		
01:42:50 --> 01:42:53
			managers are still there and these hospitals what
		
01:42:53 --> 01:42:56
			were they doing they were slaughterhouses they were
		
01:42:56 --> 01:42:59
			part that the regime would bring people there
		
01:42:59 --> 01:43:00
			and they would torture people and they would
		
01:43:00 --> 01:43:02
			do stuff inside these hospitals even if you
		
01:43:02 --> 01:43:05
			go inside them they're scary places so for
		
01:43:05 --> 01:43:10
			the new government now to dismantle dismantle a
		
01:43:10 --> 01:43:14
			lot of these old regime institutions is not
		
01:43:14 --> 01:43:17
			easy it's not easy it's not something that's
		
01:43:17 --> 01:43:20
			going to happen overnight so you know people
		
01:43:20 --> 01:43:24
			have no understanding of governance people are looking
		
01:43:24 --> 01:43:26
			at this from the outside and until you've
		
01:43:26 --> 01:43:30
			been in the field until you've seen my
		
01:43:30 --> 01:43:35
			organization is you know 355 staff 10,000
		
01:43:35 --> 01:43:38
			beneficiaries a month we have mistakes it's not
		
01:43:38 --> 01:43:41
			easy it's not easy at all you're talking
		
01:43:41 --> 01:43:46
			about a government that was looking after 4
		
01:43:46 --> 01:43:48
			to 6 million people in the north in
		
01:43:48 --> 01:43:51
			refugee camps hardly any infrastructure all of a
		
01:43:51 --> 01:43:54
			sudden taking over a whole country and now
		
01:43:54 --> 01:43:59
			the numbers have quadrupled the institutions it's not
		
01:43:59 --> 01:44:00
			easy right now there's a * of a
		
01:44:00 --> 01:44:02
			lot of work to be done so unless
		
01:44:02 --> 01:44:04
			people want to come out of the field
		
01:44:04 --> 01:44:09
			get off their backsides pardon my French and
		
01:44:09 --> 01:44:10
			be a part of doing Islah and helping
		
01:44:10 --> 01:44:14
			us to build this country then a lot
		
01:44:14 --> 01:44:16
			of them should you know maybe keep quiet
		
01:44:18 --> 01:44:19
			Mashallah we kept you for a long time
		
01:44:19 --> 01:44:24
			this was really a great ability to talk
		
01:44:24 --> 01:44:27
			to you great discussion learned a lot and
		
01:44:27 --> 01:44:29
			we hope to be able to support your
		
01:44:29 --> 01:44:32
			work and maybe direct people who we know
		
01:44:32 --> 01:44:35
			that is moving back to Syria to your
		
01:44:35 --> 01:44:38
			organization and maybe get involved in some of
		
01:44:38 --> 01:44:41
			these things and get help and we're here
		
01:44:41 --> 01:44:43
			if you need anything you need anything put
		
01:44:43 --> 01:44:48
			out need any help on our end I'd
		
01:44:48 --> 01:44:51
			like to have this relationship continue inshallah anytime
		
01:44:51 --> 01:44:53
			you want to hop on just a phone
		
01:44:53 --> 01:44:56
			call I appreciate you for having me and
		
01:44:56 --> 01:44:58
			please forgive me if I offended anyone not
		
01:44:58 --> 01:45:01
			at all not at all not at all
		
01:45:01 --> 01:45:04
			and I think that's the best way to
		
01:45:04 --> 01:45:06
			be you know 100% I agree 100
		
01:45:06 --> 01:45:09
			% alright thank you so much for coming
		
01:45:09 --> 01:45:17
			on alright guys alright there you have it
		
01:45:17 --> 01:45:20
			folks that was a really a wonderful wonderful
		
01:45:20 --> 01:45:22
			interview and a surprise and I did not
		
01:45:22 --> 01:45:26
			know that he was engaged in so much
		
01:45:26 --> 01:45:29
			work and especially intelligent work not just giving
		
01:45:29 --> 01:45:32
			out sandwiches given out food given that stuff
		
01:45:32 --> 01:45:35
			is good don't get me wrong but this
		
01:45:35 --> 01:45:41
			education independence and activation it's great that's the
		
01:45:41 --> 01:45:42
			way to be that's the way to do
		
01:45:42 --> 01:45:46
			relief work folks I'm going to be hopping
		
01:45:46 --> 01:45:48
			off right now to get onto the thinking
		
01:45:48 --> 01:45:52
			Muslim podcast probably it's recorded I don't think
		
01:45:52 --> 01:45:55
			they live stream it's probably pre-recorded it'll
		
01:45:55 --> 01:45:57
			be recorded you know pre-recorded makes no
		
01:45:57 --> 01:46:00
			sense of course you can't record it after
		
01:46:00 --> 01:46:04
			right so it'll probably be recorded and released
		
01:46:04 --> 01:46:06
			later on but I will hop on to
		
01:46:06 --> 01:46:09
			that Jazakum Allah Khayran Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdik
		
01:46:09 --> 01:46:13
			nashadu an la ilaha illa anta nastaghfiruk wa
		
01:46:13 --> 01:46:15
			natubu ilayk wa al-asr inna al-insana
		
01:46:15 --> 01:46:18
			la fee khusr illa allatheena amanu amilus salihat
		
01:46:18 --> 01:46:22
			wa tawassu bilhaq wa tawassu bil sabr wasalamu
		
01:46:22 --> 01:46:22
			alaykum