Shadee Elmasry – Syria Update with Bilal Abdul Kareem – NBF 408
AI: Summary ©
The Safina Society is hosting a live stream discussing contemporary issues related to theology, sharia, and affairs. The speakers emphasize the importance of unity and loyalty to the people, protecting the Iranian people and their families, and finding one's brother in leadership and guidance. They also touch on the difficulties of reaching the United Nations and the lack of human contact in the region. The speakers emphasize the need for unity and loyalty to the people, the importance of protecting the Iranian people and their families, and following the same stance using Twitter. They end with a Q&A session and a discussion of Galmeden.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem.
Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala.
Welcome everybody to the Safina Society Nothing But
Facts live stream.
It's a live stream where we talk about
the contemporary issues related to theology, related to
sharia, fiqh, but also related to the affairs
of the ummah, which has, we can say,
been on steroids for the last few weeks
because the affair, almost the last year since
Gaza started and nowadays we are talking about
Syria and let's get straight to our episode
for today, which is brought to you by
GRT, Global Relief Trust.
Omar, when you get a minute, fire that
up because we help support the Syria Winter
Drive.
Amazingly, they started that, they launched it two
weeks ago and now, and they were going
to cancel it because they couldn't get on
the ground with all the events occurring and
now they're actually expanding their work.
They're able to go to expand it because
it's now that there's no war any longer.
Well, of course, we know that Israel is
going in, that America is going in, but
the worries about the Assad regime are not
there anymore.
So they are able to now expand their
work and we raise funds for that.
One of the things we do on this
live stream is a dollar here and a
dollar there is a kaffarah for our sins
and it's for a good cause, and today
we have with us a special guest, one
of the few voices that we can get
on the ground who's been doing this for
some period of time now and his news
outlet is On The Ground News.
He's been a really amazing source of direct
information on the ground in places none of
us can go, even many of the press
couldn't have gone before, and that is Bilal
Abdelkarim.
Welcome to the Safina Society podcast.
There might be a delay.
Can you hear us?
Yeah, I can hear you.
You can hear us.
Okay, good.
All right, welcome to the live stream.
Okay, so we will begin.
Welcome.
Thanks for having me.
And thanks again for coming on.
We're going to cover a couple of things
and mainly questions from Twitter that we received
on Twitter.
I want to give people a chance to
ask the questions and I may reformulate them
or just pick out the part that's relevant,
but we're going to go in this following
order.
Personal bio, and you can say as much
as you like about that.
How to help out people that now they
want to pitch in.
We're going to talk about Sidnaya Prison, which
is probably one of the worst in the
world that we've seen.
We haven't seen footage like this before.
Haven't seen children who didn't even know what
a bird was or what a tree was
because he was born out of as a
result of * and lived their entire life
in a jail cell.
Their own childhood.
We're going to talk about the future government
and internal affairs.
And then we have questions on foreign policy.
So let's begin with the first category of
questions.
And this question is from Bilal Sayyid who
says, Could you tell us about yourself?
How did a brother from Brooklyn become a
news source for Syria?
First of all, as for my bio and
how I got here, as most of you
probably already know, I used to be a
stand-up comedian.
And that's going back some years ago.
Very interesting.
And around 27, 28 years ago, I accepted
Islam.
And after I accepted Islam, I had this
beautiful thing called Islam.
And I wanted to share it with the
world.
I wanted everybody to have a piece of
it.
So that kind of began my journey because
I was always into production.
I was into music and managing different groups
and stuff like that.
So when I became Muslim, I kind of
just transferred that production savvy from music and
hip-hop and R&B to actually producing
stage plays that revolved around some Islamic themes
and stuff like that and all.
So that got me started.
Then I became the program director.
I was the first program director for Huda
TV.
Maybe I'm not sure if you guys know
about it.
Of course, yeah.
And I had my own production company where
I was producing Islamic content.
But then at some point, I started to
say, hey, look, man, I'm seeing a lot
of content on TV around Islam, but it
doesn't represent anything that's going on in the
Muslim lands.
I mean, it's great to talk about Aqidah.
It's great to talk about fiqh.
But how about if we try to apply
this to some of the things that's going
on in our daily lives, like in Palestine,
like in other places where there are hot
spots?
Well, when I was working in Huda TV,
they weren't so interested.
I was like, come on, man, let's do
some new stuff.
They were like, no, no, let's just stick
to the regular program.
I was like, oh, come on, man, don't
be like that.
But it wasn't my TV.
It wasn't my channel.
So I had to do what the program
that they wanted me to do.
And I got bored with that.
And then I said, look, guys, I think
I'm going to end my tenure here.
And that's when I started doing documentaries and
traveling around.
Then the Arab Spring kicked off in 2011.
And I was living in Egypt.
I had made hijab to Egypt.
And when that happened, I was right there
and I saw it.
And then I traveled to Libya, which is
a neighboring country.
I'm right after the fall of Gaddafi and
I did a documentary from there.
And then I wanted to see what made
the Syrian rebels tick because they were talking
about Islam and implementation of Sharia.
So that appealed to me.
So I was like, okay, let's go.
Let's see what that's about.
That's how I got here.
Mashallah, wonderful.
And how long have you been living in
Syria?
Well, when I first came here in 2012,
from 2012 to 2015, I wasn't really living
here.
I was going back and forth, staying maybe
for a month or so at a time,
a couple of weeks.
And I would go back and forth.
But then in 2016, I came and I've
been living here ever since.
Okay, wonderful.
Mariam Mahfi says, I remember when you were
arrested and held in Syria.
Is that true?
And what was your experience like?
I was arrested by Hayat al-Tahrir al
-Sham.
My charge was basically for being a troublemaker.
I am a troublemaker.
I really am.
And I admit that.
But if you want to know what my
official charge was, it was Tahrir or inciting
the people against them.
Well, at that time, they were doing some
things that they were not supposed to be
doing, like mistreating prisoners and such like that.
So I had an obligation to speak out
on that.
They weren't so excited about the reports that
I was making, so I got locked up.
And that lasted for about six months.
It wasn't a lot of fun.
I myself did not experience torture, but others
did.
And once I was released, I moved out
of those areas, but I continued to speak
out against the mistreatment of prisoners and indefinite
detention, and I still do that until today.
Okay.
So you were arrested as a journalist, and
sometimes that's a badge of honor for journalists.
Well, yeah, you could say it was a
badge of honor, I guess.
You could use those terms.
But for me, when I was sitting in
my jail cell, I was cool because I
was like, look, I did this for the
sake of Allah.
The people who I reported on were mistreated.
I don't know them personally and all, so
I did it for Allah.
So I felt that my intention was good.
So when you feel like your intention is
good, you don't really worry about the results
because you don't control the results.
So I said, Allah knows where I'm at,
and he'll do something for me.
And I just have to just, I just
got to be cool.
So in that area that they ruled, was
it Idlib?
Yes.
And did they have trials and things like
that, or was it sort of just random?
It was neither this nor that.
One of the problems that we have here
is the justice system or a lack of
the justice system.
Now, I want everybody to understand, Hajj to
Hirshan is a group where you've got a
lot of good people in it.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody is.
And I think that one of the roles
that's very, very important for all of the
Muslims, but for people like myself particularly, is
that it's not necessarily to bring government down,
but to keep them strong by not allowing
them to freely do things that they're not
supposed to be doing.
And that's the role that I saw for
myself.
That's the role that I see for myself
going forward in the future.
Because I think that Hajj to Hirshan could
have a very pivotal and dominant role here
in the new Syria.
But also at the same time, Allah always
uses one group to check another group.
And as long as the brothers want to
do the right thing, then it's going to
be a good thing.
And I want to make sure that everybody
knows that.
But when there are certain individuals within the
organization that think that they don't have to
do the right thing because they feel like
they're in the right, then that's when you
have to pull their coat and say, you
know what, I can't do it like that.
Sufyan al-Thawri, one of his policies was
that it's always good for the emir to
feel a little bit of discomfort and concern
from the popular scholars because it's going to
make them think twice before oppressing.
And Sufyan al-Thawri is famous for giving
governors a hard time, for not bending to
their whims and their wills.
Even one time one of them came to
visit when he was sick.
So he was sleeping with his back turned
to him.
Another visitor came and told the governor and
the governor said, we're just waiting for him
to wake up because he's asleep.
So Sufyan al-Thawri turned to him and
he said, no, I wasn't asleep.
I was just ignoring you.
So Sufyan al-Thawri had this policy that
if the governors above you need to think
twice, if they have a carte blanche, they
could easily oppress and do things they shouldn't
be doing.
Yeah, I think that this is important.
I'm sorry, I just want to say one
little point right here.
I think that this is very, very important.
Why?
Bashar al-Assad got to be the way
that he is because he had unchecked power.
That's what happened.
There's a saying that says absolute power corrupts
absolutely.
So when you don't have that person, it's
just like having two parents in the house.
Sometimes the father is being too heavy handed
with the kids.
Father will come and say, or, you know,
maybe after the kids go to sleep and
say, hey, man, you can't do it like
that.
You know, this is going in the wrong
direction.
That's true.
Now, when you don't have that, then the
kids get smacked around.
And next thing you know, it gets out
of hand when you don't have a person
to check them.
Now, somebody's going to sit there and say,
OK, we'll be like, who appointed you to
be that person or whatever.
And the person who appointed me to be
that person is Alastair Cameron Watana.
We have to enjoy the good and forbid
the evil.
So I just don't want people to think
that.
I think that Hayat Jahir Sham is completely
facet.
I'm losing my English here.
Corrupt is the word for it.
I think that they have good elements and
they have some bogus elements, just like any
other organization.
So if we just stress the good and
try to forbid the evil, we might have
a shot at this thing.
Great point.
Commanding right, forbidding wrong.
It's a general commandment to the entire ummah
for everyone to do it to the ability
that they can with their hand, if not
with their tongue and if not with their
heart.
Let's go to we're going to skip the
part on how to help.
We're going to put that at the end.
But let's go to the next subject.
The biggest shock for most people and maybe
some people knew about how horrific the Sidnaya
jail was.
And but I don't think a lot of
people knew it was this bad.
So has the prison been completely emptied out
says Ali and Mexicani.
He's asking about certain doors, which were digitally
closed.
Were they able to saw through?
Were they able to get those people out?
What's the latest update on the Sidnaya prison?
Well, the latest update, firstly, is that there
are no more prisoners there.
The white helmets came in with their heavy
equipment.
And, you know, after consultation with former employees
who helped to run the prison previously years
ago, there are not three or four different
levels below ground.
You know, that was misreported, including by myself,
because those who were who were at the
scene were making a call for the former
people who were working at the prison to
come and help them out.
And that's how new information came, came forward.
Those people who were released are the only
ones who were being released.
Now, there is some speculation as to whether
certain prisoners or a good number of prisoners
were taken from that location and brought to
another location in Latakia.
So, yes, that speculation is still there.
But as for the prison, there are no
more prisoners that are expected to be released.
And I'm going to tell you something, brother.
It's it's it's it's just I'm I've lost
words, man.
I mean, when when you go there and
see.
The cell is just like a tin box.
There were no light fixtures inside there.
There were no light fixtures, so it's not
even like they're going to pretend that there's
going to be lights on.
There were no lights fixture.
It was dirty.
And while it wasn't underground, you got very
much the feel that it was.
There's no ventilation or anything of this nature.
Torture is I mean, I don't what am
I going to tell you about the different
modes of torture that that they would use
on a regular, regular basis on the people
from hanging them to by their hands or
hanging them with their hands behind their back.
I want to tell the brothers and sisters,
listen, you want to understand what's going on
here.
Check this out.
Why don't you take a rope?
And put it around your wrist.
You can get your wife or your husband
or your brother or whatever, and then you
just take it and throw it over something.
And you try to suspend yourself from it
for one minute.
I said.
You won't make a minute.
Now, that's the good.
That's the merciful one with being suspended like
this.
What about the one where they send you
with your arms behind your back and suspend
you like that or the beatings or the
lack of food?
Now, I'm not talking about lack of food
like you got to you.
You ordered a burger and some fries, but
the fries didn't come.
So you take the burger and say, hey,
man, I ain't going back there no more.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about where the body is emaciated
because it's a lack of food.
I mean, when you're starving prisoners, literally, literally,
we've seen the pictures starving men.
Just yesterday, we made a horrific discovery of
bodies that were killed at the Branch 27
and the St. Naya prison where they would
just stash at the rest of prison that
is located in Damascus.
They just left them there.
The bodies, some of them were pitched black
like charcoal because they'd been there for so
long.
And, dude, it was like a house of
horrors.
A house of horrors.
It's stuff that you say, nah, man, you
know, that's a good story and all.
But, you know, people, they don't really do
stuff like that.
Yeah, they do.
So for anybody that will ever come and
say now they might be able to tell
people who don't know.
But ain't nobody going to be able to
come to me and say, oh, why did
you guys make this revolution against the leader?
Or why did you do this?
Brother, I don't want to hear it because
you tell me when that's the result.
When they kill their own people, they have
no regard for human life.
It's like it's like fun.
It's like a gag for it.
And we're not going to we're not going
to resist these people.
You want to tell me that all of
the Amr bin Ma'ruf and Nihiyan and
Muqar doesn't apply anymore?
Brother, take it someplace else.
You know, what was really like almost made
people vomit when they realized there had been
nine, eight, seven year old kids.
Who had never seen sunlight in their life
as a result of rapes.
Can you tell us something about these children
and how are they going to what state
were they found in?
And then how are they going to be
introduced to even food, real food and regular
life?
I mean, it must be like the trauma
of all traumas.
To be raised like that.
Well, you know, you don't know what you
don't know.
And these kids, they were not.
If you ask them, OK, well, tell me
what is a what is a cow?
I don't know what's that.
We can't really fathom that, but they don't
know that they don't know.
So it's actually just a little bit easier
for them because it's not like he was
free and then went to prison.
He's always been him.
So it's a little bit more.
I don't know if I want to use
this word merciful, but it's easier on him
than it is for his mother to see
that that's the way her son has to
be raised.
Who would think that this was a good
idea?
I mean, exactly.
How do you oversee something of this nature,
a prison like this?
Now, I also want you to understand that
I reported from from Abu Salim, notorious prison
under the Gaddafi regime.
Also from their cells and everything.
Brotherhood.
It's the same thing.
You understand what I'm saying?
It was the same thing.
They were using coke bottles and sticking it
up the detainees anuses as a mode of
torture.
You know, the glass coke bottles and all.
So the result of all of this, if
we just go back as a movement and
we just continue on with things as is,
we have missed the point.
What we've got to do is we all
have to take a stand and say.
We are not having a lack of justice
in our lanes.
We're not having it anymore because that's what
keeps us weak when the when the authorities
have to constantly use resources to keep a
an oppressed people in check.
Because society can't grow.
It can't grow like that.
Now, whoever's in charge, he doesn't care if
society grows.
Man, I'm riding on a helicopter.
He doesn't care what society has to do
as Muslims.
And we have to care and we have
to stay engaged because justice is not self
-implemented.
That's one of the things they said was
one of the differences between al-Mulk al
-Adud and the Jababira.
The Mulk, like in a monarchy, the king
actually cares that his country is clean and
productive and things like that.
The Jababira are like the lowest class of
society who are now tyrants and dictators and
have no care or concern except for themselves.
But it's like you said, it's what a
society tolerates.
And if a society is not going to
tolerate it, the people who are in charge
are going to think twice.
Let's go to this.
OK, so we answered the question and Ahmed
Indada's question has been answered too.
Let's go into government and internal affairs.
So this question is from Rami S.
and he says, what is the next step
in forming the government, consolidating the different groups?
Can you expand on that, bringing the different
factions together, inheriting institutions and personnel from the
old government?
Can you comment on that?
Well, the direction which it seems to go
first, let's talk about the different groups.
This is the first time, and I want
everybody to hear what I'm going to say,
this is the first time that all of
the groups were together and look at the
result.
I'm going to say this again, brother.
It's the first time that all of the
groups, no exceptions, were together and look at
the result.
What could we do as an umma if
we put aside a lot of these differences?
Most of these differences are manageable and are
not something where we have to break the
unity.
So that's the first thing.
The second thing is in terms of governance.
Well, there are going to be some remnants
of the old government who are going to
participate in a transition phase where it seems
that Riyadh Hijab is going to be the
main guy.
He's going to be backed by Abu Muhammad
Joe's planning.
We'll have to see how that is going
to play out.
But that's the way that it seems like
it's going to go.
But I'm going to tell you something.
There's something special happening here right now.
And you know what?
The reason why I got locked up is
because I talk too much.
And I'm going to tell you, if it
wasn't like that, I would tell you.
But when these brothers and everybody decided that
they were going to work together, the magic
happened.
And I'm talking about the halal magic, you
see?
And that's got to be a lesson for
everybody.
Guys, there's a lot we can accomplish.
We've got to work together.
You were there in Egypt when there was
similar euphoria, when Mubarak was removed and a
unity that the Egyptians may have never seen
before.
Do you see any similarities and dissimilarities here?
Well, no, I can't really say that this
is the same thing because it was a
totally different dynamic.
Number one, the armed forces are revolutionary forces.
The armed forces at the Syrian revolution were
not a part of the actual people who
were protesting.
They were supposed to be the neutral ones.
This is the first thing.
And we all know that Abdel Fattah el
-Sisi, who overthrew Mohamed Morsi, is from where?
From the armed forces.
So, you know, when we're talking about unity,
there was unity from amongst the people that
they wanted to get rid of Mohamed Morsi
Mubarak.
But they were not unified in terms of
what is going to happen after that.
Now, all the armed factions and the people
are all unified that they wanted to get
rid of Bashar al-Assad.
We'll have to wait and see where that
unity goes afterwards.
So we have to wait and see.
But I think that it's going to be
less important who's in charge.
But what's more important is that the people
stay engaged.
It's that the people, I'm talking about the
brothers and sisters, and you're in America, you're
in Canada or wherever you guys are, stay
engaged.
Because if you stay engaged, we're going to
win this.
The first phase was to get rid of
Bashar al-Assad.
Mission accomplished.
Second phase, to rule with justice and to
unify the people, and we need your help.
So you bring that issue up in Egypt.
In Egypt, the military was not engaged in
the revolution.
They were sort of the third party.
There was the government, the people, and the
military.
And the military is eventually the one that
told Mubarak, all right, time's up, you got
to go.
And they're also the same people who ended
up saying, telling Morsi, you also got to
go.
But in this case, you're saying that the
Syrians, the revolutionary force is a military force.
It has power.
So that raises the question, well, what happened
to the old military force?
Assad, surely he had an army.
Surely he had guns, tanks.
Where is all that?
Okay, as for the military personnel, basically it
imploded.
The army, which was in tatters anyway, it
was poorly funded, poorly managed, poorly run for
a long time.
And it was propped up by Iranian money
and proxy forces, along with Russian air power
that made them seem stronger than they actually
were.
So in terms of their personnel, after they
fought some battles in different places or whatever,
they basically did insihab.
They withdrew.
Retreat.
And they would withdraw.
That's right.
Thank you.
They would withdraw and retreat from battlefront after
battlefront until basically they changed their clothes and
they left.
Because they realized that the Bashar al-Assad
regime was over.
It was finished.
It was done.
They knew that when Russian forces pulled out
their forces from key areas around the territories
under the control of Bashar al-Assad.
When they did that, the Syrian Arab army,
they realized they were in some deep stuff
and it was going to be trouble because
they didn't have the Russian air power to
back them because Russia's knee deep in a
fight against the Americans.
So at any time, Russian troops could find
themselves in direct contact with American troops.
They don't have the means to be propping
up Bashar al-Assad again.
At some point, Putin was like, you know
what?
This is just not working, man.
And you're on your own.
If you want to run off, all right,
you can come here, but that's the best
I can do for you.
The Iranians have their problems with the Israelis,
their proxy force of Hezbollah.
Their leadership has been decimated.
Their numbers have been decimated.
The ceasefire isn't really much of a ceasefire
because the Israelis are not respecting it.
So they could find themselves in that full
-blown conflict at any time.
Plus, the Israelis have 60 days to leave
southern Lebanon.
Who thought that was a good idea?
I
don't
know who signed that deal.
I don't know why they thought that was
a good idea.
But at the end of the day, Hezbollah
just didn't have the horses to be able
to back the decrepit and decaying regime of
Bashar al-Assad.
New Syria needs to have an army.
So are these defected, withdrawn, old soldiers –
and they are going to need something to
do – are they going to use them
to form the new army?
Of course not the leadership, but the actual
infantry, the actual soldiers.
You need a lot of people with experience
to be part of an army.
Are they going to recruit from the populace?
How is New Syria going to put together
its own army now?
I think recruiting personnel at this time is
not something that rebel forces are looking to
do.
I think that's the right move.
I think some time has to pass.
And what's more is that one of the
problems that took place in Egypt was that
the deep state was still active.
And Mohamed Morsi – may Allah have mercy
on him – tried to include them.
And they were like weeds.
And they grew and they choked him.
So I don't think that there should be
a rush at this time to try to
recruit that person drawn from, but not at
the moment to go back to the…
We're not talking about a young infantry guy
who is probably a Sunni just forced to
be part of the army.
As you said, they're conscripted.
They're forced in.
He may not believe in it, but he's
just a young soldier who knows how to
drive a tank.
But the leaders in the old days, you'd
get executed right away if you're from the
old guard.
They can't afford to have you with your
knowledge and experience roaming around causing problems, as
you said, like weeds that are going to
choke the New Syria.
But that's neither here nor there because we
don't have information on that.
Now, let's go to this question.
M.U. Mullah said, many people were not
backing the Mujahideen, simply assuming – this is
the wrong question.
But the question was, many people were not
backing the Mujahideen in Syria, imagining them to
all be ISIS and al-Qaeda extremists.
So how much of the ISIS and al
-Qaeda representatives are still active, are part of
this, and have they changed?
OK, well, the first thing I have to
say is I want to tell you something
that my mother told me, and it made
a lot of sense.
She said, son, don't ever let your enemies
choose your heroes.
Now, the importance behind that is that we're
getting most of this from Western sources, and
that who's good and who's bad, who you
should like and who you shouldn't like.
And as long as they're going to be
the ones who are going to say, OK,
click here for the dropdown menu of the
people who you can like and who you
can't like.
OK, if I go on that mentality, Harriet
Tubman never would have been on that list.
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X never would
have been on that list.
Nelson Mandela was designated as a terrorist in
the United States until 2008.
So we cannot allow Fox News and CNN
and everything and their characterizations in terms of
who's cool and who's not and all.
We'll never be able to be successful like
that, because they don't want you to be
successful.
They will only allow you to call a
good guy, the weakest one, the biggest sellout
and all, who's always getting smacked upside the
head and his wife's hijab getting pulled off.
And somebody says, yo, man, why don't you
throw a kick or a punch or something
like that?
And he said, no, we just have to
make duat.
He said, brother, see, those are the ones
that they like.
You see?
OK, I digress.
I'm getting excited.
OK, the point of the matter is that
we have to understand that ISIS was a
group that was born out of severe oppression,
torture, and tension in the camps of the
United States of America.
These extremists, and I'm calling them extremists and
I'm choosing my words very carefully here, their
experiences led them to be extreme.
And they overstepped the bounds and they didn't
see the good.
That's the reality of the situation.
That's where they went wrong.
To my understanding, there's no ISIS element here.
Nobody's calling for the slaughter of Muslims.
Nobody's calling to say this one's out of
Islam.
No, he's in Islam.
That talk is not here.
That's not prevalent here.
We understand that Syrians have been cut off
from Islam for 50 some years.
OK, so this one, he smokes more cigarettes
than a little bit.
That one over there is sipping tea when
he's supposed to be making salat.
OK, we got to understand that these are
the realities here.
Now, we can jump up and down and
bang our heads up against the wall or
we can say, hey, man, some of these
people, they just don't know.
So we have to be patient with them.
We have to try to teach them.
We have to try to our best to
to help them to understand where the good
lies, because they don't have it.
The only Islam that they were allowed to
have access to is state-sponsored Islam.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Allah yarhamahu, if you walk down
the streets in Ibn Taymiyyah, you would have
the Secret Service.
On that Secret Service, we call them security
and state security surrounding you and taking you
to say Naya in a quick, quick fast.
I had I spoke to one imam just
yesterday where he points out some of the
regime mistakes in an Akhira class that he
had.
And he did five years in St. Naya
prison for him, you see.
So I'm saying is that this new Syria
is going to take patience and understanding and
a lot of duas from the ummah.
But we can win this.
We really can.
But the only way we can win is
if we help the people to understand that
it's got to be the Islamic way or
we're going to lose.
Well, that leads us to the next question.
Is there a specific direction on where this
is headed?
Is it headed to be guided by Sharia
or is it headed to become more of
a civil, just a regular civil state?
Regular, I mean, by what we commonly know,
that is maybe partially allow some scholars to
talk, but not necessarily guided by Islam.
Is there any talk about which direction this
is going?
I think, well, of course, there's always a
lot of talk and everything.
And the fighters which are around the country
are Islamic fighters.
But I think that maybe that's not the
conversation that I think that we should be
having.
I agree with that, actually.
Not dodging the question, but the conversation I
think that we should be having is as
follows.
What are we going to call for?
The days of just saying, well, let's see
what the government is going to do.
No, we don't want to see what the
government is going to do.
We want to let the government understand from
right now, there's going to be some Islam
up in there somewhere.
It's not going to be a situation where
it's like, well, is it going to be,
is it not going to be?
Well, OK, we gave it our best shot.
No, not after 14 years of fighting, not
after over a million people have been killed,
not after half the population has been displaced,
not after all that we've seen of these
different prisons.
We are going nowhere without a fight.
Doesn't make a difference who it is, what
your name is, how many Muhammad's you have
in your name.
It makes no difference.
If there isn't going to be justice and
Islam, then we will call for your removal.
It's simple as that.
We will be patient.
We will be tolerant.
But we as a people, we've come too
far.
We've fought too hard.
We've gone through too much to turn back
now.
So we would say to Abu Muhammad Jolani
and to all of the others who are
in positions of leadership, we are your brothers
and sisters in Islam.
And you're there to spearhead this operation.
But brother, if you think that we're going
in the opposite direction, you are under a
very big misconception.
Very good answer.
And here speaking also about that, the leadership,
who do they look for for their Islamic
guidance and counsel?
Is that clear at all?
No.
I mean, the question is clear, but who
they're looking for for their religious guidance.
Well, that's not completely clear.
And we actually need more help from the
scholars.
I got to tell you, scholars ain't showing
up.
I know people are going to not like
what I'm saying right now.
But what the heck am I doing here?
I'm just a cat from New York.
How did I get in?
Where are the big shots?
Where are the ulama?
How come they're not here?
I don't need to sit in Riyadh or
to sit in Kuwait and stuff like that
and to pass Fatawa.
No, we need you to be here.
We need you to help us to understand
these affairs up front and personal.
But you know what?
We're going through a period of weakness.
Why?
Because if you look at Saudi Arabia, yo,
you've got to ask yourself a question.
You've got Beyoncé or however you want to
say it.
And you've got all these other scantily clad
women up on stage in Riyadh.
Where are the sheikhs at?
Where are the ones that are quick to
come up and say, no, this is not
jihad in Palestine.
No, this is not jihad in Syria.
All right, brother.
I understand what you're saying.
I don't agree with you.
But you know what?
I can't really hear your Fatawa because the
music is too loud and you ain't saying
nothing.
I mean, I'm just saying what everybody around
the world knows.
They're acting very, very badly.
And it's time for them to pay some
zakat on that knowledge.
And if you speak where you are, then
brother, I'm from New York.
I wasn't born in Syria and I came
here.
So that means you could leave Saudi Arabia
where they got plenty of money and go
someplace else where you can speak.
Go someplace where you can benefit the people.
I mean, look, man, you know what?
When they're making kabbas with chicks dancing in
front of it and the ulama aren't saying
anything.
What kind of example are you setting?
Subhanallah.
I saw recently pictures of some of the
soldiers attending a class.
Was there like a nice inspiring picture of
a Sheikh Fawzi or Fawazi and Nimr?
Is that something prevalent that the soldiers in
this revolution love knowledge and are always sitting
at the attending these classes now after fajr?
Of course, they're very busy in the daytime.
But after these pictures came out for after
fajr and they're encouraged to do this and
encourage, maybe that's going to be a bridge
between this revolution and the scholars.
We hope so.
We do have lots of good brothers who
do study and they and they do share
that knowledge with the others.
More needs to be done.
OK, but I do think that there's some
good things that are happening right now.
And there's very, very real reasons for the
ulama to be excited.
I'm going to say that again.
There are very real reasons for the ulama
to be excited.
But we're not there yet.
And we need you.
We need you to us.
We need your support.
And that support also means that when they
see that the brothers are going off track,
it doesn't mean that you have to get
up on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube and
curse them out.
But somebody who who's saying, hey, look, we
see we support you, but you're going in
the wrong direction.
But you my man and I support you.
But you can't do it like that.
Understand something.
Those voices matter.
They matter.
It's not I don't want anybody to think
that the people here are immune to what
may be said about them because they're not.
But when it's said constructively and with love,
there's a lot that you can accomplish a
lot.
This question is on Al-Jawlani himself, who
now most people are using the name Ahmad.
What is it?
Ashara, his actual name, but who is known
as Abu Muhammad Al-Jawlani.
You had reported on him.
And this question says negatively, but he has
apparently had many changes.
He's a young man.
So.
Has your opinion of him changed?
No.
And is it true that you had reported
about maybe you don't want to say this
because and you could feel free to just
tell me to skip the question.
But what was your opinion on him in
the past and why hasn't it changed?
OK.
I'm not.
I'm not a battlefield success.
Attains the extensive experiences that I've had.
And I'm going to say this clearly and
I want everybody to understand.
Abu Muhammad Al-Jawlani is a person just
like me and you, and he makes mistakes.
The big ones, big, big mistakes.
And I didn't hesitate to call those out.
And I can't not hesitate to call those
out in the future.
I wouldn't say that Abu Muhammad Al-Jawlani
is my favorite person because he's not.
But I'm sure I'm not his favorite person
either.
But I will tell you one thing, if
he's going to do the right thing, I'll
support him.
And it doesn't get more complicated than that.
If he's going to do the right thing,
I'll support him.
If he's not going to do the right
thing, I'll try to advise him.
If he continues to not do the right
thing, I'll oppose him.
And I think that's the way it's been.
That's that conditional support based on a condition
you can never go wrong with.
And that was a position that everybody should
take on any – when people are political
actors, you're not backing the individual.
You're backing their action.
And this action you're going to support, this
action you're not going to support.
And that makes your life very simple rather
than choosing a side for an individual.
This isn't like knowledge of transmission where I
say, yes, this individual is trustworthy, this one
isn't.
These are actions.
If they're going to take the right actions,
you support that action.
If they're taking the wrong actions, you don't
support that action.
Do you want to go in further on
your past experiences with him at all to
give people – to color for people some
image, some visual of who they're now interacting
with?
Who is this person behind the face and
the name that they keep seeing?
Well, Abu Muhammad Jolani, I didn't like the
way he managed his justice system, didn't like
it at all, didn't like it one bit.
And I felt that that was one of
the things that was holding us back.
Now, you asked me have I changed my
opinion, and I said to you unequivocally no.
Why?
Because when I see that those changes are
being made, then it's all good.
But I can't be hypocritical and just to
say, hey, you know what, because I want
to see this table and everything else.
I say, what are you talking about?
I didn't say anything bad about him in
the past.
No, I did say bad things about him
in the past.
I don't want to say good, bad things
about him in the future, so I'm making
dua, hoping that he will do the right
thing.
And if he does, like I said, I'm
going to support him, and I don't care
who doesn't like that.
But if he's not going to do the
right thing, then as his brother in Islam,
then I got to hold his hands and
I got to say, come on, I can't
be like that, man.
You got to do it this way.
And if that doesn't work, then I got
to get some scholars to say, go talk
to him.
And if that doesn't work, then we got
to tell the ummah, tell Joe Manning to
chill.
And if that doesn't work, we have to
oppose him.
But there are levels and there are steps.
And right now he's doing some good things.
So I think we should encourage him.
We should be alongside him doing those good
things.
And hopefully he'll say, hey, you know what,
I'm feeling a power I haven't felt before.
The ummah is behind me.
And if he starts messing up, then the
ummah should be advising him, not opposing him,
not looking to throw him in the trash
bin.
But to say, hey, listen, brother, man, we
can't do it like that.
We're Muslims.
We don't get down that way.
And if he's willing to listen and everything,
then we opened up a brand new chapter.
We have, we have, look, I want the
brothers to understand what's going on here.
The land of Sham is under control of
the brothers.
That's you.
That's historic.
We work together.
And now somebody asked me, Bilal, who would
be your first choice to be running the
show after the fall of Assad?
I probably wouldn't say.
But he's there.
And since he is there, then we have
to say, hey, man, do the right thing
and we'll be right behind you.
If you're not going to do the right
thing, we're going to advise you.
And I think that's the way that's got
to be.
OK.
This question is also on internal affairs and
on the treatment of minorities and the treatment
of sectarianism in Bilal al-Sham.
There are Christian groups, there are Alawi groups,
there are many other non there are non
-Muslim groups.
And there are groups within Islam, within Ahl
al-Sunnah that were not in agreement with
the ideology of these of the revolution or
of the forces such as Heyat Tahrir al
-Sham.
Has Heyat Tahrir al-Sham issued statements on
how they're going to interact and how they're
going to treat them?
Heyat Tahrir al-Sham is interested in oppressing
the Shia, oppressing the Kurdish brothers and sisters.
But this country's been through a lot, man.
And Abu Muhammad Yolani, he understands that part.
We'll have to wait and see what that's
going to translate into.
But he understands, along with the other brothers
who are around the country right now, that
these people have been through a tremendous ordeal.
And what we saw in St. Naya was
only a microcosm of what this place actually
has been like.
You know, the ikhtikar, which is a monopoly
that the government had on essential items, it
kept the people in abject poverty.
So, I mean, I would say that a
lot of changes have to be made.
I'm sorry.
Can you please just repeat the question?
Because I lost my train of thought there.
The question was about Heyat Tahrir al-Sham
is coming with a belief.
It's coming with a deen.
So the people who are not on their
deen are worried or want to know their
position.
Right.
No, I don't think that they have to
be worried in that regard.
Really, I don't.
I think that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and
the many groups that are working alongside them,
nobody's interested in saying, hey, let's do some
reprisal attacks against some Christians.
Let's go burn a church down.
Let's go kill some Shiite.
No, that element is not there.
And I think this question came as a
result of personalities like Candace Owens, J.D.
Vance talking about how this is going to
be like a death to Christians, et cetera,
and fear mongering.
I think everyone who's heard anything from what
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has said knows that
that's really not the direction they're going to
into.
Yeah, well, if we're going to talk about
Candace Owens, I understand Candace Owens.
She's a Christian and that might be her
experience.
But I have to ask you a question.
And maybe if somebody knows Candace Owens, maybe
they can pass this along to her.
Candace, you don't have any real experience with
these Islamic fighters.
You really don't.
If you'd like to call me or contact
me, I'd be willing to have a conversation
with you and all.
And if you like what I have to
say, you can accept it.
If you don't like what I'm saying, then
you don't have to.
But I think that you're laboring under a
bit of a misconception.
There hasn't been a history of Islamic fighters.
I'm not going to say Hayat Tahrir al
-Sham because Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is only
a part of what you're seeing happening here
in Syria.
But Islamic fighters here in Syria don't really
have a very extensive history of going after
Christians.
It's just it's just not there.
You know, I think that there are a
lot of people here like myself.
I grew up in the church, so I
don't have that animosity towards Christians because they
have a different belief system than me.
Growing up in New York, you know, we
had all shapes and sizes, but not everybody
has that experience.
But I think that given the way that
the situation is here right now, that there's
going to be this bloodbath or slaughter of
Christians and so on and so forth.
Candace, it's not like that.
I'm open to have a conversation if you
would like.
As for J.D. Vance, J.D. Vance
is a total bum and a loser.
This guy has access to intel that Candace
Owens doesn't.
So I'm a bit less, you know, understanding
from his perspective.
I think that he has a certain base
that he has to play to.
And in order to be able to maintain
that base, there has to be an enemy.
And the enemy has to be Muslims and
Islam.
Everybody knows his position about Muslims.
So, you know, to us, it's kind of
big.
When you say Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham
is merely a part of these Islamic fighters,
who are the other people and groups?
It's everybody.
All the groups.
There are no groups who are sitting on
the sidelines.
Everybody is engaged.
Everybody is engaged.
So it's not like I can give you
a roll call because I don't have to.
The roll call is this.
Everybody.
It's all in.
And that means some young people came in,
volunteered.
Like a volunteer army?
Well, there's no forced conscription.
No forced conscription?
People just came and volunteered to be part
of this?
People wanted to be a part of the
rebel factions.
Look, you've got to understand something.
If you go back to 2012, 2013, you
had the Friends of Syria that was spearheaded
by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Remember that?
OK.
The United Nations.
You had Antonio Gutierrez.
You had De Mistura.
And you had a lot of folks that
came and wanted to have conversations and discussions
and so on and so forth about Syria.
And it didn't amount to anything.
Zero.
Nothing.
We got no benefit out of it.
You know what happened?
How we were able to turn things around.
When the Muslims decided to fight and to
secure their interests, things changed.
I wish I could tell you that it
was the United Nations.
Oh, what happened?
Oh, it dropped off.
Oh, what is it?
The Zoom has 40 minutes.
All right.
Send him another Zoom.
Our Zoom is fine.
All right.
Let's message him again.
And until then, we can look at some
of the questions that the audience has here
that maybe we can get to when he
returns.
It looks like just maybe his Zoom just
got cut off or something because we still
have to ask about Turkey.
We still have to ask about the Israeli
incursions.
We have to ask about Israeli tanks being
25 kilometers outside of Damascus.
We haven't gotten to international portion of it.
We asked about his personal biography, how he
became a journalist.
We asked about interior matters, ideological matters.
And now we're going to now ask about
international matters.
OK, he's back.
Good.
Glad we didn't lose you there.
Yeah, you're back.
You're good.
It just clipped for a second.
But we want to now turn into international
matters.
This is the final portion of the segment
of questions that we have.
How much help, if any, is Turkey giving
to Syria right now?
I don't understand that the Turkish government actually
thought that this operation was a good idea.
A lot of the Turkish-backed groups that
are participating initially were not participating.
They came in.
The fight began early in the morning.
And the first convoys of reinforcements coming from
Turkish-backed groups didn't start going over until
that night.
If Turkey was backing it, then they would
have all been in place from the very
start.
And plus, I've had extensive conversations with different
people and such like that.
So I don't think that Turkey is backing
it.
I don't think that they oppose it, particularly
after the result.
But to say that, oh, well, look what
Erdogan's done and stuff like that, it's just
not like that.
I don't think that that's real.
Do you see Turkey being a strong ally
of the new Syria?
Every country needs allies.
Is Turkey going to be an ally, if
not the strongest ally, of new Syria?
Or is that not true either?
Well, I think that the new Syria allies
have to be based upon how they view
the Syrian national struggle.
And as for Turkey, Turkey hosted millions of
refugees.
And they opened their borders when others didn't.
And they backed Syrians when nobody else would.
That's huge.
That's huge.
Now, I couldn't sit here and tell you
that I like everything that Erdogan says and
everything that he does.
I think, underneath it all, I think that
Erdogan is a pretty nice guy, a pretty
decent guy.
And do I think that Islam actually means
something to him?
I do.
That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to
agree with everything that he's saying and that
he's doing.
But I do think that he's a guy
you can definitely have a dialogue with.
And you can't ask for more than that.
I think some of these other jokers like
Mohammed bin Salman, this nut from Nahyan, from
Abu Dhabi, and some of these other guys
like Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, I see them
as enemies of Islam.
These guys, you know, if you want to
talk about Nahyan and you want to talk
about Sisi and everything, they were cool with
Bashar al-Assad before this thing happened.
It was the United Arab Emirates that told
the general of the Arab League, all right,
you should let Bashar al-Assad back in.
What the heck?
Let him back in?
This guy hasn't changed anything.
You think that the Emiratis, they don't know
that St. Nahyan was going on there?
I knew what was going on there.
How they didn't know?
Of course they did know.
But you know what?
They didn't care.
It didn't make a difference to them.
They had some regional interests and it included
Bashar al-Assad.
So the Muslims got thrown in the meat
grinder.
And that's the way it was.
So to round the whole thing out, you
know, I think that Turkey can be an
ally, a great ally.
And let me tell you something.
Early on, when this thing first started and
we were running back and forth, you know,
trying to come into Syria to lend whatever
support that we could for the Syrian people.
And the people at the Turkish border, I'm
not talking about Turkish military, I'm talking about
average Turks.
Dude, they were given grapes and drinks and
take a rest at my house and then
go ahead and stuff like that.
The Turkish people are some amazing people.
The Muslims are some amazing people.
But you know what?
Sometimes we can't really see it because they
may be governed by people who are not
so amazing.
I mean, the U.N. has seen so
many world leaders, so many leaders who are
against Islam and fight Islam.
We've seen enough of the people.
But we've got some amazing Muslims that out
there do a lot for the state.
So that was the question on international relations
with a potential ally.
And you've been speaking, you spoke many times
about Islamic unity, the unity of Muslims on
this matter.
And it's something that I have to agree
with you 110 percent.
أَفَمَنْ كَانَ مُؤْمِنًا كَمَنْ كَانَ فَاسِقًا لَا يَسْتَوُونَ
When you have a Muslim and you have
a force of disbelief in front of you
or oppression or hypocrisy, what have you, you
have to support your brother even if not
in every single detail you're going to be
with him.
But in principle, in morale, in this fight,
you've got to be on the right side.
المؤمن ليس كالكافر At the very least, right.
So I totally love that theme that you
keep bringing up, which brings us to now
the final question, which is on the incursions
of Israel into the land.
They didn't wait.
The Americans bombed them on Sunday, probably the
weapons depots, I imagine.
And now there's word that the Israeli tanks
are in the country and not so far
off from Damascus.
So tell us, what are they doing?
What information do we have?
The Israelis have a certain understanding that anybody
that isn't Israeli friendly is a threat to
their security, needs to be neutralized.
And they invade Lebanon based upon this principle.
They've carried out all types of attacks against
would-be enemies based upon their security.
Their actions are what keeps them insecure.
OK.
The Israelis entered into the province of Quneitra,
which is near to the Golden Heights.
Benazir Smoltrich has said that step by step,
they're going to take over Damascus.
They're going to take over different territories here
in Syria.
And I guess I would have to say
to him, well, good luck with that.
Do you see clashes in the future with
the new Syrians?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
But right now, what are those tanks?
When they give us the image that tanks
are rolling into Damascus, what are they planning
to release troops and what does that exactly
mean?
Well, that's not really what's happening on the
ground.
There's been a contested area called the Golden
Heights for a long time.
And the Syrians or I should say that
the Israelis had been encroaching on that territory
even during the time of Bashar al-Assad.
Now, they didn't make this type of incursion
until his downfall.
But it wasn't that it was Bashar al
-Assad's forces that were actually keeping them away.
Bashar al-Assad has no history of launching
any rockets or bombs or throwing a rock
or a stick over the border to the
Israelis.
That's just the reality of the situation for
whoever does or does not like that.
So their incursion into this territory is not
something that was surprised, unexpected or what happened.
They've been trying to bomb the different weapons
depots and such like that and all to
keep rebel fighters from.
Benefiting from the Ghanima or the weapons falling
into their hands.
But I don't know if this is news
for Netanyahu.
But as is protocol for rebel forces, that
as soon as they take over a territory
and there are weapons depots, they immediately take
them out of that particular area into a
new area.
So seeing that some old planes that didn't
work anyway were destroyed and seeing some things
like that.
And you automatically assume, oh, no, they didn't
benefit or something like that.
That's just not the case.
It's protocol that the areas taken over at
2 p.m. You can believe by 4
p.m. there are people who are taking
those weapons and ammunition and other war goodies,
if you want to call it that, from
that location to another location.
That's just standard operating procedure.
OK, so they're entering into the Golan Heights,
but they haven't come near Damascus and entered
into Syria.
No, I mean, you're talking, you know, tens
of kilometers, more than 40 kilometers away.
And so there hasn't even been a, you
know, that's not what's happening on the ground
right now.
So that must be a false.
Sorry, you froze up for a second there.
OK, can you hear me?
Yeah, can you just repeat the last 60
seconds?
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can hear you now.
Yes, I'm saying that that might be what
Smuldridge wants.
Yeah, well, it's good that we had the
Wi-Fi for for an hour almost.
And we're completely cut again.
Well, listen, I mean, they're just having a
war going on.
So apparently their connection is not always going
to be great.
Without that, it's not always great.
I'll be back.
OK, now you're back.
Yes.
OK, so let's repeat that.
The question was that, is it a false
report that the tanks are heading in on
Damascus?
Was that a false report?
I'm sorry, could you please say that again?
There were reports that tanks are heading in
on Damascus, Israeli tanks.
Was that a false report?
False report.
OK, good.
What else would you like that perhaps I
haven't asked, that you know on the ground
that is important for people to know?
And remember, the whole theme here is concern
for the Ummah, getting ourselves educated about what's
going on for the sake of the prophetic
teaching.
If it wasn't for the prophetic teaching of
having concern for our Ummah, of having oneness
in the rows of the Ummah, we wouldn't
be doing this.
So this is all really in response to
that teaching of the Prophet ﷺ.
So tell us what you would like people
to know that perhaps today we haven't brought
up.
What I would like them to know is
that we here, myself included, are working on
a project called the Justice Covenant, or in
Arabic it's called Mitak al-Adhan.
The Justice Covenant is a document that outlines
what the Syrian people are expecting from their
leaders in terms of justice.
And it is as follows.
It's a 17-page document, but the main
parts are four.
One, no torture.
Two, no indefinite detention.
Three, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.
Four, every detainee has the right to see
a judge within 48 hours of their initial
detention.
Now, if you're asking what the people can
do, if it's cool with you and I
give my Twitter, I
want people to raise their voices around the
world with this new Syria to encourage Abu
Muhammad Jolani and the authorities to adopt the
Justice Covenant.
So everybody knows what everybody else is doing.
You see, I could say I want justice
and you could say you want justice.
We could both say that.
But my idea of justice might be there
is no torture of any kind.
Your idea of justice might be there is
no torture of any kind except for certain
individuals.
Do you see how the difference can be
right there?
But when we both sign on, that's this
document that says no torture.
Now we've got something that we can check
one another with and say, listen, brother, you
signed it.
This is the situation.
Where did we go wrong?
Excuse me.
I have a bit of a cold.
Where did we go wrong and how can
we get back on track so we can
be on the same page again?
Because we need to work together.
So what I'd like for the people to
do is to support us, support the Justice
Covenant.
Ask the people if you know people here.
What's up with the Justice Covenant?
Are the people going to sign on for
it?
I just left Damascus just earlier this morning.
And I left Damascus and I went to
Homs and I'm back in the northern part
of the country.
We're out every day.
We're going all over.
It's all in time now.
And because we want the Syrian people to
understand what justice is going to look like,
inshallah, in the future with their support.
No more torture.
It's not specific just for some people.
The Prophet ﷺ didn't do it.
We're not into it.
You understand?
And in terms of indefinite detention, Bashar al
-Assad was doing that and that's why he
got tossed in the dustbin.
We're not doing that.
We're going to do something different.
And we're going to be looking for the
tawfiq from Allah ﷻ because we want to
do it the way that he intended.
The Justice Covenant was written by a group
of people who have Islamic knowledge and they
are lawyers.
So they have an understanding in terms of
the processes of justice.
So if you'd like to support us in
any way, I'm not only talking about money.
I'm talking about support us by tweeting about
it, by talking about it, by asking people
about it, because we would like for this
document to be adopted not only in northern
Syria but all of Syria and then other
than Syria so that now we can start
to say, hey, we want the population to
be on our side because this is what
we are about.
This is who we are.
It's not about my rhythm, my beat or
some fancy talk.
The Justice Covenant is written and if people
would like to support it, man, it would
be a real boost.
Okay.
Two questions.
You mentioned your Twitter handle and then it
froze again.
So are you saying that this Justice Covenant,
what was the relation with that in your
Twitter handle?
Is it something that…
No, they can contact me.
Oh, okay.
Contact me and ask me, Bilal, how can
I help?
Okay, good.
And where is the Justice Covenant?
Is that something that has been presented to
the different groups or still it's just an
incubated idea at this point?
No, it's not an idea.
It's been presented to different groups and some
have been more forthcoming than others and I'll
tell you why.
It was presented to one group and they
said basically, look, the Justice Covenant is good
but here's the problem.
If we were to sign on to that,
then the people will have the opportunity to
hold us to account.
And if we fall short, then we'll be
held to account.
That's what's supposed to happen.
In terms of what they're doing is wrong,
they can say, well, we didn't sign on
to that.
So that's why what we're doing now is
we're not necessarily expending all of our resources
and going to the authorities, but we're going
to the people and we want the people
to say, hey, that's what we want.
We don't want any more torture.
We've been with St. Nyan and we've been
with these different prisons and we are not
with the movement.
So as long as the authorities are saying
no to indefinite detention, no to torture, that
the detainees are innocent until proven guilty and
they have the right to see a judge
within 48 hours, I'm in.
You're not even asking much.
There's no controversial thing in Islam or otherwise
on that.
So someone who doesn't sign off on that,
you don't want them in charge.
Well, you have to understand the way leaders
think.
And I'm not necessarily talking specifically about Jolani
or this leader or that leader.
I'm talking about leaders in general.
They have a hard job.
But they take the wrong paths to be
able to solve their problems.
And sometimes they want to have that freedom
that if they feel that somebody is guilty
and they have information, that they should have
the freedom to put the screws on them.
OK.
We don't like that type of a methodology,
because if you ask Bashar al-Assad, Bashar
al-Assad, do you want to spill the
blood of Syrian people?
He's going to tell you no.
Only the terrorists.
150,000 of them.
Right.
That man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.
So we have to adopt an Islamic principled
stance and take that stance and enforce it.
Torture we ain't with.
Indefinite detention we ain't with.
And we have to try to encourage our
brothers who are in leadership positions that this
is what we want.
This is what we expect from you.
Please give it to us so that we
can work together.
Very good.
That's how to help.
That's how to be part of this.
And we will, inshallah, try to have you
on again, because we're we want to stay
connected to this and we want developments.
And any time that you want to get
word out, please let us know.
And we'd have to have your Twitter is
at Bilal Kareem.
That's a Twitter handle that you can follow
ONG, which is on the ground news.
Again, the Twitter handle is at Bilal Kareem.
That is K-A-R-E-E-M.
And you'll see Bilal Abdul Kareem there and
he's posting regularly and he has videos when
he gets to places.
So it's been very, very useful.
Very, very helpful.
I thank you so much for your time
and thank you again for coming on and
hopefully that we can have you on again
in the future.
Inshallah.
I'm in agreement.
Jazakallah Khairan.
Thank you so much.
And there you have it, brothers and sisters.
Bilal Abdul Kareem, much awaited interview.
Such an easy personality to talk to.
You can talk to him forever.
Maybe it's that New York straight shooter personality.
So it's a wonderful personality.
Follow him on Twitter.
And he's a rarity, someone who is giving
us regular news in the English language.
I'm really grateful that he was willing to
come on and hopefully we'll have him on
again.
So, brothers and sisters, it's now 3.30.
We have to stop here.
We'll take your Q&A later on.
Jazakallah Khairan.
Subhanakallahumma wa bihamdik.
Nashhadu an la ilaha illa anta.
Nastaghfiruq wa natubu ilayk.
Wa al-'asr.
Inna al-insana la fee khusr.
Illa allatheena amanu wa aminu as-salihaat.
Wa tawassu bil-haq.
Wa tawassu bil-sabr.
Wassalamu alaykum.
Bilmeden aşkı kulağına zulüm var.
Yıldızlar kadar dinleyin.
İçme dışarıda bulunduğum için.
Zülkarı aşkla eğitim var.
Ya Allah.
Kardeşim.
Tövbe ya Allah.