greetings and peace welcome to the dean
shaw media hold subscribe hit that
notification bell if you haven't already
now
my next guest grew up in north london
she's the sister-in-law get this of the
former prime minister tony blair who's a
buddy to george bush
also daughter of actor tony boof she's
worked as a journalist and political
writer for the london evening standard
the new statesman
the mail on sunday which is supposed to
be the biggest selling sunday newspaper
in the uk
she went from hanging out and appearing
on tv shows with celebrities to joining
us here on the dean show to share her
wonderful and amazing story and
experiences that's affected so many
people who were once
or still are affected with the hate bug
towards islam let's bring our our next
guest lauren booth salaam alaikum sister
muslim rashford allah
my dear brother how are you how is your
family and a big salaam alaikum to
everybody
please be with you thank you brother
so i mentioned tony let's start off with
this because this is a tree and probably
intriguing to a lot of people this is
the this was the former prime minister
to the uk this is like what we call
president of the united states but
president of uk prime minister
so you're sitting at the table
with uh this is your brother-in-law and
you tell him look i've accepted islam or
how does the conversation go
when he finds out
so the interesting thing is
that actually there had been a rift
in the family
with me in the family
about five or six years before because i
began to
stand um against the policies of his
government
and
i was actually really nervous when i
decided to come to islam because the
minute every everybody was saying you've
got to stay close to your family you've
got to stay close to your family and
i've been this sort of radical person
saying you know what they're doing to
the poor is wrong the war in iraq is
wrong and following my heart and i felt
very disloyal at times um telling this
truth but then you read alhamdulillah
the ayat in the quran that tells you you
have to be true
to to the huck you have to be true even
if it's against yourself or against
members of your tribe your clan your
family
and so i was greatly relieved by that so
i can't say that there was a dinner
table discussion
um
but you know at the end of the day to be
fair the blairs are people of faith they
have their faith
and certainly my sister sheree god bless
her has always defended women's rights
to wear hijab and and defended me in
public as well mashallah
did you ever get a chance to uh share
islam with tony blair how much knowledge
does he actually have authentic
knowledge of islam you know you know
i'm gonna i'm gonna leave him to himself
and say all we do is we pray for for any
leader and those leaders who who who
make money
their their god
um and who commit crimes against
humanity
are are in danger and so all we can do
is pray for him now i mentioned that he
was a friend of george bush and many
people don't i mean now the truth is
uncovered that the war that happened and
we could just touch upon this that
killed what was it conservative numbers
are like a million innocent people it
was based on a pretext a lie that this
country had weapons of mass destruction
and they went in was he part of that
that's the one so people listen at the
end of the day you and me know and i'm
sure everybody watching this now knows
very clearly
subhanallah if it hadn't been for
britain at the time america could not
have unilaterally committed shock and
awe
and decimated iraq you know this mockery
of muslims is living in the middle ages
when america's forays into you know the
world across the world and around the
world are bombing people literally back
into the middle ages because they don't
have electricity and they don't have
clean water
um you know it it's it's it's hideous
it's a shame it's uh it's you know huge
crimes have been committed so i don't
have any sympathy with that and about
the world the war in iraq i just say
this fallujah
if nothing else had happened except for
fallujah and i'm not going to go into
details here because brothers and
sisters and people in humanity are
brothers and sisters in faith and
humanity go look up fallujah if you
still if you're still against the war in
terror you still think it had a good
basis forget beyond the money beyond
halliburton beyond all of that human
beings fallujah that's all i'm going to
say
i wanted to mention that because before
you can go ahead and get public support
usually you have to demonize the other
so nowadays there's a lot of
misconceptions misinformation and that
was perpetuated a lot of this was to go
ahead and to create this you know war
and to go ahead and see you see what
happened you know but many people smart
people are hopefully waking up you know
getting educated and like you did
and you actually thought that the quran
there was a couple points here you were
so surprised that
the quran there was a quran an english
translation of the quran and then you
thought this was because you were
treated so kindly by muslims that you
thought the quran was a handbook on how
to be a good person is that true yeah
subhanallah when i first came across the
koran it was handed to me
my first ever uh english copy of the
quran was handed to me by a young shabab
a young man a young teenage boy in the
street rainy streets of jerusalem in
2006
and
he was so excited to give it to me and
uh he handed it me with or lots of other
gifts that i was supposed to pay him for
because he was like the person
introducing me to the stall holders and
if you ever get the chance to go to
jerusalem please go
go and visit the palestinian people
there go and visit their city go and
stay in palestinian owned hotels go and
visit the shopkeepers because you know
if you're christian right now and by the
grace of ali you're watching this
welcome welcome with big love in our
hearts welcome
go and visit the first christians
go and visit those who are christian and
converted to islam go and those that
visit those whose family
would have known the family of isa
alaihissalam would have known marion
would have known their their extended
family because they never moved guess
what
so you go
along into these bazaars
and you see everything is covered in
dust
because people are told not to visit
these dangerous arabs and so i was
handed this quran and i was supposed to
pay for the gifts and the young man said
something and it by the grace of allah
alone it changed the course of my life
he said
i said how much do i owe you because i
was expecting to have kaggle brother you
know how you know is it 50 500 shekels
is it 50 or how much is it and he looked
at me and he handed me the quran he said
there you don't know us anything
you don't notice anything but one thing
only one thing i'll ask
please don't forget palestine when you
go
allahu akbar and that's how i got my
first ever copy of the holy quran
in the streets of jerusalem this ancient
city but when i went home
it sat on a high shelf out of respect
for a year and when i finally picked it
up
it was the scariest thing i'd ever read
in my life
because i came at this scripture as a
christian i was a practicing christian
at the time i went to church
i believed in god
i knew that jesus was a prophet i don't
remember ever praying to jesus i
remember jesus being you know the son of
god thing was always a bit of a sticking
point with me but but i absolutely
believed in god and the prophets and so
i opened this book and i thought this
could be
the big one
not you know not a distant one not a
messed about world i've got to be
prepared that this could be the biggie
so i opened the quran
and i read sora fatiha and i thought oh
it's called the opening and i've just
opened it that's kind of cool okay the
opening yeah they've got something going
on here subhanallah i wouldn't have said
subhanallah then i didn't know it
but then i read al-fatiha which is just
a few lines long
and it reminds you
of how great is our creator
worship him alone and ask him alone for
support and help and don't go off the
pass
and don't and don't don't make him angry
with you and i was like okay as a
christian hundred percent behind that
and then i went on to surah baqarah and
that was like a gut punch
because sora bacara is is the
the longest
quranic
chapter and it has many many warnings
and rules and regulations and
is
and
it tells you just two pages in
there are those who are the pretending
at this face
but when they're alone with their evil
ones they chit-chat and laugh at it
and you know they are the ones who are
going to the hell fire
and it was like
oh my god that's me
i go to church on sunday i drink on
monday i back bite on tuesday and
wednesday thursday and my whole job is
back biting and i know i'm i'm in this
kind of
lost spiritual state but then on sunday
i'm like oh dear god forgive me and this
hypocrisy and it looked right at me and
told me that and then said you and god's
so angry with you you're just going to
the fire so what do you do with that
eddie what do you seriously i i
understand
if people are scared by the koran but
remember this
this incredible incredible holy
scripture subhanallah tells you what you
need to know at the time
and i needed to know that i was just
writing this down what you said and i
want people to make a uh
a post on this you said that i was going
to church on sunday
i was back to work on monday backbiting
uh on tuesday
you know drink drinking on wednesday
lying on thursday wow
that's deep and you actually went you
went from being on different celebrity
tv shows hanging out with celebrities i
mean living a lifestyle that many uh
dream to attain i mean having a
connection with uh some of the uh close
to
is there any tie to uh to tony blair in
that family with the royal family
um i think that that may be an american
reading of how things work in the uk
yeah that's yeah that's right i never
met diana either i'm sure she was very
nice because we that's we think okay
because
for many people it's kind of confusing
because here we have the president over
there you have the prime minister which
is kind of like a president but then you
have the queen
so there do they do they um they still
have something you know
because
the queen is the one who gives like
overseas things it gives the blessing
right
how does that work believe that we're
talking about this it's fascinating but
it's not my okay so i i tell you what go
away and watch the film the queen with
harold mirren the queen you want to know
how the prime minister deals with the
queen and how she deals with him
okay because that's that really that
really sorts it out
do people ever connect you with having
like uh being part of the royal family
when they've heard that you've accepted
islam being connected to tony blair did
some people have that you know you know
what you know what i get i've been
called on the internet is she laura bush
that's what i laura bush
she's the daughter of george bush yeah
so we can put that to that that was back
to bed never met the queen
not the daughter of george bush i think
we're clear okay
all right but definitely you are living
a lifestyle that many dream to attain
and now you're part of also writing for
many of these conservative political
newspapers and now you're just like okay
this is the big one what goes through
your mind you're thinking hold on
i'm risking a lot here i can be now
labeled you know like many people do
extremist or you know connected to some
radical uh religion which people have
this misconception and
maybe not invited now to many of these
social gatherings blacklisted what's
going through your mind
where do you get the courage to move
forward because there's a lot of people
a lot of people in that position that
they ascertain that islam is the truth
but then because of possibly being
blacklisted by family by a political
party etc etc they opt out from
accepting it
here's the thing that
when the truth comes to you your heart
has to be ready because it will wipe
away everything
so i you know it took me five years to
get out and allah knows each of our
hearts and our conditions
and how much of a
you know how shaken i had to be in my
life i had to be humbled the year that
islam was gifted to me i didn't accept
this islam subhanallah who am i who am i
thank you yeah i'll take it i'll open it
and i'll write no
islam lands in your life like like a
rocket
and and it goes
in the most but in the most beautiful
way it's a love bomb it it is it from
from the from the the very core of your
being
i mean you know you just think about it
you know i was sitting in a in a mosque
about a far-flung place
and suddenly i knew with absolute
certainty that there was one god and his
name was allah that the prophet muhammad
was the last and final messenger that
all of the messengers were true that
they all had the same message
obey god do good
you know
don't sin
there is a heaven and there's a hell and
the books are real
and you sit and i sat there and i was
well i was just i wasn't scared i was
in a blissful state
that was how it happened to me i know
everybody has their own story
but but allah takes us on the path that
we need to shake to shake and shape us
and i'm a you know allah knows my
character is a sort of experiential i
see life as an experience
um i used to see it as a kind of
win-lose dynamic a bit but but
subhanallah now it's what you do with
the experience so when it came to me
well
nothing else mattered
except that
how do i put myself right now because
along with that
wonderful joy and that absolute
certainty that there is calm and peace
in the universe
and it's so beautiful and you see leaves
in a new way and you see the rain and
you think about the cells in your body
and how can
what somebody says about you in some
dodgy newspaper when you know they're
taking cocaine anyway how can that
measure with what you're reading in the
holy quran how can their words actually
why did you say it because they're
taking cocaine anyway you know you've
taken cocaine with them three days
before in some dive divi toilet and now
they're writing their stuff like they're
so holy and you're like whoa
that's deep
subhanallah but this is nothing new to
you i mean you you talk about as a child
you were
someone who was aware you didn't
suppress the fitra and we know that
every child is born upon the fitra
meaning the natural inclination to if
you left it oxford did a study on this
you know with children that they
concluded that the belief in the creator
is just innate so you didn't suppress
that as you were growing up and you also
had experience with your father saying
that there's only one god and jesus is a
messenger or a prophet of god tell us
about that
subhanallah my dad was amazing amazing
man and an amazing flawed character he
was larger than life he told the best
stories he was the greatest storyteller
and he really messed up people's lives
may allah have mercy on him but
he always uh you know supported the poor
and he always used to speak in these
ways he used to say to me remember this
was a hippie year in the 1970s i'm a
child of the 70s yeah
so he'd sit me down and say listen it's
about changing the world this isn't it
this pla this plant uh this table this
is not it there is there is something
that's
what we can't see is greater than here
and i look back and i'm thinking
how close was he even in his you know
state drunken state telling me about
these things but he was so close
um and my dad had a terrible accident
with fire
allahu akbar
and
it changed the course of our lives but i
was a kid who believed in god and in
fact my mum
one day said to me
the family keep asking me why you've
become an extremist in religion and i
said okay mom what do you tell them she
said that you were always a weird kid
you were always praying you were always
i'm going to tell god i'm going to ask
god and that was me 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
until i reached my teenage years
and then i then a friend mocked me
you know why are you putting your hands
together i'm speaking to god who's god
is he the guy in the cloud
and then this kind of
you know haze of of of um
confusion you know entered my heart and
then you've got your naps and you've got
your ego and you've got temptations as a
teenager and it's a it's a long journey
back isn't it life is a long journey
back but you're right the fitra
subhanallah i've spoken to
um children of very secular parents
and um i like i like my dad taught me i
like to speak
to people and to children on a real
level where do you come from where are
you going
this isn't it you know almost when the
parents aren't there this isn't it it's
something greater and when we talk about
you being great it's about how much good
you can do because you know and so i
asked this this one child who is seven
years old do you believe in god and she
said yeah
i said who's god the one who takes care
of us and then she said something really
amazing we were walking down the high
street
and i and i got greeted by and remember
her parents are absolutely secular we
want to give her a choice so we're never
going to speak about god ever
okay i'm like i don't know what choice
that is because if you're given a choice
you speak about god we're walking down a
high street
and some muslims walk past
and they're obviously kuwaiti or perhaps
qatari and they say i say salaam alaikum
how are you how is your family and she's
looking like this
and she said do you know them i said
never met them before in my life she was
like
that's how you speak to strangers i'm
like in this faith that's how we speak
to strangers
and she gave a two-minute lecture to me
this seven-year-old
young person from london young child
said
you can see light on people's faces
when they're doing good the light shines
through their face
and when they're doing bad it goes dark
and she said and the dark isn't to do
with skin color
because you can have people with dark
skin who are full of light i've recorded
it
that's fitra subhanallah and uh may
allah forgive us when we take that from
our young
subhanallah have you ever we get excited
when we hear about different celebrities
accepting islam because obviously they
have a
big following and
have have you had a chance because you
love
you you talk about and we see it you
just love talking to everyone about god
the creator
and have you had a chance to talk to any
of these celebrities that you were
friends with are you still friends with
with any of the people from the past
one or two
and i i think um yeah i think i'm
probably really annoying in fact there's
a one there's a wonderful uh
tv journalist and i keep saying to him
you know what all
you'll know what you need to say to have
the perfect life right now he's like
what is it
i've testified there is no god but allah
and the prophet peace be order is the
last prophet and then i don't hear from
him for two weeks he's like anyway do
you want to do this tv thing
and so yeah sometimes but you have to
know the person to be that blunt to be
honest
um i love to
have conversations with strangers
um because there's there's a kind of
purity and a clean slate
and i think
that's why it's so difficult for
converts
to speak to our families
and especially our mothers and fathers
it's like you go into sort of white
terror
like don't don't talk to me about this i
changed your nap you're like they shut
you down but when you're with somebody
who doesn't know you
you can make a really good first
impression and start again that's how i
tend to think i remember one time
brother um being on a plane
and the guy uh in front of me coming
from qatar he uh had a little sweat a
tank top on he had tattoos and he was a
he was obviously a bit hungover because
he was a bit sweaty and beery
and i looked at my uh
passenger ticket and i thought please
don't let me be sitting next to him
please don't let him and he said
he showed the hostess when he got on you
know
f21 and i looked f22
it's going to be a long flight
so i got on nudged past him and he kind
of looked at me like ugh
muslims and i sat down and i just made a
little dua to myself you know let me be
kind to this person and not be too
judgmental
and uh he he offered me he started
drinking wine
but he gave me his water and i thought
wow that's nice of him so i said do you
want my cheese and he said sorry what i
said do you want my cheese
he said thank you
and he thought i couldn't speak english
and when he found out i was from
manchester she was like oh that's
amazing and i'm really really sorry
and i said why you sorry he said because
of all the presumptions i made about you
and so i was just kind to him you know
what i did
how are you
and this big guy on a plane from qatar
to london
he broke down and said i'm suicidal and
i don't know why i'm alive
and that's all it takes for most people
is just a genuine question
how are you doing
how are you doing in here how's it
really going
and
he said that sometimes
i said yeah i said i pray to god when i
feel like that i ask the one who created
everything
help me i'm in need and i don't know
what i'm doing he said i don't believe
in any of that i said but you do
something
everybody does something what is your
protocol
he said when i'm crying a lot i look at
my mom's picture she died when i was
young and i say mum help me
how sad
how painful
and i said to him as gently as possible
did your mum ever pray
and he said my mom had a hard life and
she used to pray all the time i said
then why don't you ask the one your mum
asked
and long story short or long story long
i had i'd just been given a short a
small copy of the quran in english i
took it from my bag
and he accepted it and when he got off
the plane he was holding it going thank
you thank you thank you
now that was a purposeful
moment in my life
that's that's what it's
about besides talking about god almighty
allah the creator you also like to talk
about a subject
that many people run far away from
uh especially your father's death why do
you like talking about your father's
death
i think um
i think for me it was uh
inspiring to get to spend some time with
him we'd been estranged for a number of
years again this family argument about
you know stuff gets in the way right but
when it came to the end i got called to
his bedside
about seven days before he passed
and i thought there is only one reason
that allah has put me
at his bedside it's not to right wrongs
it's not to make him laugh it's not to
it's because you're a muslim in that
room
and
and be real with him my dad was always
real with me no matter how gritty it was
he was he was like let's cut to the
chased kid not in a harsh way just in a
real you know let's speak heart to heart
you know
so i saw him and he was sleeping and he
was emaciated he hadn't eaten for five
or six days he was really on the way out
and i was stroking his hand and i was
reciting sora fatiha
and he opened his eyes and they were so
bright
so bright and he looked right at me and
he hadn't been recognizing people who'd
visited him and he hadn't seen me for
over two years
and he said my name
sarah
he said
you are so full of light
and you're so honest
allah
he said go on sing some more
and he thought that the quran he felt
that the quran was singing
so subhan lai recited what i knew i
recited the calls i recited and then i
said dad i'm only here
because i'm here to say goodbye
and i'm here to tell you about your lord
because you will be seeing him you'll be
with him soon he said will i
because people don't like to say you're
you're on your way i think if i had
seven days if i was you know even you
know if we're in a confused state don't
frighten people but know them well
enough to go should we talk about this
but you have to have a message to give
them right i mean if you don't if you're
a nihilist if you don't believe in
anything hey you're going to be worm
food in seven days is in two weeks is
not a nice conversation to have i get it
but if you if you really really have
this this beautiful certainty
then you're able to speak to your family
members and you're able to take it in
and not be afraid so we had a
conversation about death
and um
i said listen i want to speak about god
and he said stop
and i thought oh dear he said i want to
tell you something
there is no god but god
and jesus was a prophet jesus was not
god
and i'm like
i'm good
i'm good with that
he's like let's just get that straight
okay jesus is not god i'm like okay
and then i said look we believe the
prophet muhammad peace and blessings be
upon him
he he was the kindest most honest uh
most most truthful most you know uh
god-fearing person who ever lived and he
was the last prophet and my dad said all
right then
he probably was all right he was the
last prophet
he's basically he's basically i mean
that's the shahada like what he said
there's no god but god there's nothing
worthy of worship except the creator the
heavens and earth and jesus is a
messenger that's what you would have
said at jesus's time muhammad is peace
be upon them all is the final messenger
so it seems like he was taking his like
agreeing and accepting yes absolutely
and what was the last words that i heard
my dad say
that he said was we left the room
subhanallah
never forget the poor he said it twice
never forget the paw
those were the last words i heard my dad
say hello
in this role and the next and when he
when he passed a week later and i got
the phone call i was actually in
istanbul
and i had the most beautiful dream that
my dad was being um bathed by four imams
in a big white palace
subhanallah
i've never felt sad about that i feel
like inspired
alhamdulillah this is uh this is
beautiful uh tell us um have you um
you've heard of uh this uh guy who you
have a kind of a similar accent to his
name is russell brand
oh my god russell brad russell is doing
a great job
and i really appreciate him uh he veers
you know off on a tangent with the
anything goes you know do what you feel
kind of stuff but boy right now he's
smashing it and and i did meet russell
back in the day i don't know if he
remembers hopefully not okay so you've
met russell brand there's pictures of
him before like having or reading the
quran so i wanted to ask you have you
met him and has how much does he know
have you gotten a chance well
you probably not but do you know people
who have talked to him about islam or
since he's there in uk right do you know
what um i think
he was with jemima khan for a couple of
years so uh
who's who's
imran khan's ex-wife and she would have
spoken to him about islam
i'm absolutely certain from from that
you know that that that he's aware of it
as a world religion
the the big thing for for most people
brother is
the accepting of a faith from god
with stipulations
morality right and wrong
that at some point you have to say no to
yourself
i you know i i think um
you know there was there was a there was
a great
uh thirst for spirituality out there but
when it comes to saying and people
should not do this and and then there
are things that you must not do
people run
you know the nafs kind of fights you so
i think we should all pray for him i
think he's doing a smashing job of kind
of um fighting uh you know the big
companies and big pharma and may allah
bring him to the truth i mean
so so if you had a chance to sit down
with uh russell brand lauren booth
what would you tell him how would you
invite him to go ahead and search more
for the purpose of life while we're here
and to look into the quran like you did
to really read it and to really connect
with the creator what message would you
have for russell brandt from lauren
booth do you know what i would say i'd
say
uh
read i know you read so how about
reading the sera of the prophet peace be
upon him by martin ling's
it's written in a story form and you
will know the best of creation and you
will be inspired inspired on whatever
journey you're going on but know about
the prophet now it's time inshallah
there's also another experience that was
really fascinating many people
when you um talk to some people they say
well who created you say my mother
created you so you have to correct them
no she carried you she didn't create you
but when you when mothers give birth you
went through that moment where you had
to look at the child and you you're
honest with yourselves that i didn't
create this child
talk to a bus about that experience that
moment
for me uh the first time i gave birth
was
like a moment i'd waited for my whole
life
i hadn't been waiting for it but when it
arrived it's it's an amazing thing and
women don't we don't speak about this
enough so i'm gonna get really
passionate here okay especially brothers
you don't know it's like every cell in
your body is alive
and tingling and ready and you know when
the holy quran allah talks about women
being on the verge of death that it is
this this this great wrenching of the of
the uh veils of reality i just felt
these veils going for you you are close
to something now you're close to
creation
um because because you're you are you're
bringing something into the world you
didn't create it yourself but you're
bringing it you're you're being enabled
to bring it into the world and you're
going to see something new and you're
going to be a part of this and there's
no getting and there's no getting away
from it most things in life now we can
negotiate
all right and unfortunately you know
sisters if you if you ever think about
having a caesarean section as like i'm
going to negotiate with this i'll have a
don't do it
don't deny yourself this incredible
experience unless of course obviously
medically important take your advice
take the advice of your doctors right
but but if you can do it naturally it's
incredible and
i screamed and it was guttural and it
was
you know and then when the baby comes
and and i looked
when you see eyes and toenails
and hands
and you know i didn't think
i have brown eyes i didn't make that
hair i just ate a bit and wobbled along
you know and did my best and here you
are and you're perfect
although
honestly birth is amazing
oh just let's stick on this for a second
i think it's really important that
anybody who is in this situation where
they're planning on it or about to have
a child i think everyone should watch
this documentary called the business of
being born i don't know if you got a
chance to watch that it's the business
of being born have you seen that
no i haven't i haven't so this goes into
the growing rate of cesarean c-sections
in the united states all over the world
where it's just skyrocketing it's become
a big business
you know so it goes back to to what you
were saying and there's this also
growing movement now of home births also
and also many people are going towards
midwives
uh
eddie can i just jump in here yeah um i
would not live are we uh
kind of live are we all like i was gonna
ask to take a pause because it's the
event
yeah sure go ahead all right it's just
uh you know
so they then for people that don't know
this is the muslim called a prayer liam
neeson when he was in turkey
he was first annoyed i always mentioned
the story uh when liam neeson was in
turkey where you're at
he would wake up hearing this this noise
is what he called it at first he was
very annoyed with it but then he just
got accustomed and then he said it was
like something penetrating his soul so
liam neeson he went came back to america
and he was sharing this story he was
just uh seemed like he was just glowing
in his heart you know attracted to it
which
uh the adan is what muslims hear they
call the prayer calling people saying
that there's uh in english i like
translating it god is the greatest god
is the greatest there's no god but the
god allah
muhammad is the messenger the final
messenger
there's nothing worthy of worship of god
come to prayer come to prayer come to
success come to success
and it was it would seem like he was so
close to accepting islam he got a big
push back which many people end up doing
so i don't know uh what happened from
there from our irish
i suspect that he watches your videos
inshallah and that he's doing his own
digging and there is nothing wrong i i
meet secret muslims all the time
subhanallah and it's the most amazing
experience i kind of really really
they're really precious though those
experiences people have different views
on it but we don't all have to be out
there if you're watching this
and you have taken your shahadah and
you're keeping it um
to yourself for a while for safety
reasons maybe go ahead and do that but
remember as well subhanallah that if
allah has given you this great gift
um
to be the person that others can come to
for for real spiritual advice to know
our faith to do the work of the faith is
is is is a part of the duty so don't
don't miss that opportunity but i've met
um i went to uh a
meeting of a sheikh in london
and um these were these these were
sufi's i think it's a friend of mine and
um there was a lady there and she had a
little skirt on to her knees she was
about 70 years old and a little kind of
beret
and i said hello how are you she said
assalamu alaikum i think
and i said oh welcome salaam i said are
you muslim she said of course i've been
muslim 23 years family still doesn't
know but allah knows and it's like
and you know i used to go shopping in
manchester
and sometimes these i remember this
kind of really rough and rugged girl in
a in a kind of jogging suit
um came up to me and my daughter sort of
went oh here we go and i thought all
right ready myself and she said salaam
alaikum and i said while they come
salaam she said have a nice day and i
said and you and it was like okay
so you know
and uh this is uh so what you what you
did we couldn't hear it but that you
took a break you wanted to this was uh
the adan and i was touching upon the
liam neeson incident
and just um
you're actually in
turkey so you get to hear the adhan
regularly now how was it when you went
to also bosnia were you able to hear
that
when you when you were when you were
there
yeah it's kind of it's a bit quiet in
sarajevo though do they turn it down
you know it's a yeah
it's not kind of as rare as as as a
ripping um as it is here i did i did a
pro i did a program on that like turn it
up or turn it down because you can uh
yeah so some people were complaining why
it was turned down
but uh
uh yeah so we're trying to get it back
up but you got you kind of got to hear
it right of course and how was your how
how was your experience in bosnia
one of the most pivotal experiences of
my life
um you know for me and my my daughter
alex we went together
we went for two weeks and we and we made
the intention we're going to pay our
respects to the muslims there um because
if you don't know you really should know
that there was a genocide
in the 1990s
um and it was you know appalling war
crimes visited upon the muslims in that
region and really uh we should you
should find out about it so i won't
i don't think i could sorry
i can't do it justice here but um it's
it's a it's an appalling part of
european history that's kind of skirted
over but we wanted to meet as well the
muslims there today
because who knew that there's muslim
europe
and now maybe you're watching somewhere
in the world and you're going
that's not true it's judeo-christian
uh um you know what
almost a quarter and one time a third of
europe were
majority muslims
and uh what's fascinating about bosnia
brothers you well know
is that there are churches and then
mosques and then a little road uh
between them and then a church and then
a mosque because although islam was
there for 800 years and is still there
the church has remained
what does that mean oh does that mean
the christians are allowed to pray oh
yeah
does that mean they lived side by side
oh yeah
and croatia
and then you know this this awful hatred
uh rose up but for me you know it's best
described as minarets in the mountains
which is a wonderful book by tariq
hussein brother tarrick hussein who's
written um about the balkans which is
kosovo which is macedonia
uh you know which is bosnia which is
albania and for me i i spent a long time
years ago in austria and i thought
that's probably the most beautiful place
in the world you know to be honest it
probably is
but when i went to bosnia i thought
goodbye austria
goodbye racists who don't like islam i'm
not coming back to your country nice
people too
i'm very beautiful but i now have bosnia
and so i want to go twice a year
inshallah
you like it that much huh yeah beautiful
beautiful second house
listen i'm looking for i'm looking for a
house there make no mistake second you
know it's like i i feel like i'm in a
portrait somewhere like it's just so
beautiful and serene did you get a
chance to visit the uh memorial site the
museum that they made there outside of
cerebelins
please uh go to my youtube channel um
lauren booth you just put it in and go
and look at my visit to srebrenica to
the memorial lab
you know it's one of the most horrific
places and it's uh i met a man there um
whose family you go into the um the
graveyard and there are hundreds and
hundreds with the same name hundreds and
hundreds with the same name he's like
they're all my family
subhanallah and yet
he managed for with his islam to to come
through it on the other end to to to
still be a creative person to still have
a family to still work for his people
and this is the resilience that faith
gives subhanallah
yeah there was uh when you see all the
different writings on the wall one of
them that stood out it was a u.n and
then translated united nothing because
they were supposed to be protecting
those innocent men women and children
but then they ended up the dutch ended
up leaving throwing a party
and they were hanging on they didn't
just leave you know you're being too
nice eddie i know you're there in
america with you being too nice they
disarmed the muslims
they demanded that every man and they
all had their own little old rifles okay
they weren't heavily armed but they were
hunters because they live in the
mountains
and they came house to house bang bang
bang bang bang and they searched the
muslim houses and they took the weapons
and when the serb um you know
serbian uh
genocidal army came through and their
muslims were saying please they're
coming then we know what they're going
to do please give us oh we can't we need
this piece of paper and they left them
to be massacred that's what happened
point of history
yeah and many people don't know that was
the greatest genocide after world war ii
and uh you had and this is the other
thing it's just a
because a lot of times we're told uh as
muslims you know we're put under the
radar if some lunatic does something and
they try to you know just defame the
whole religion of almost two billion
people but you never hear about these
techniques you never hear of this
movement there that was actually
connected to the new zealand killer uh
terrorist
andrew breverick
he was actually playing this chetnik
song
and this is a whole ideology that wants
to exterminate uh muslims there
you know there was a study sorry brother
there was a study done um
it's over on um blogging theology he's
doing some great stuff martial but he
did a video about um which are it was
the most murderous ideologies
and num the the ideology that has killed
the most through through the last uh
three four thousand years is
christianity i'm sorry to say
and then after that it's atheism
okay you look at marxism you look at
communism
right you you look at um the viet um the
v not the vietcong but um
[Music]
oh gosh um anyway you know the
communists basically in all of these
areas the millions and millions of
people that were killed and the atheists
and the and the wars over oil and then
after that i think it's number six or
seven is islam so so at the top
christianity 120 178 million atheism 125
million
um islam i think 23 million and one
death is too many okay one is innocent
death make no mistake this is not a win
a win-lose thing
we don't want anybody on this list we
want no more wars we want no more
massacres we want no more children dying
under drones
we don't we want no more women in
sarajevo having to walk side by side and
know that the rapist of their mother
or themselves is still free and wearing
a t-shirt saying finish the job wow
yeah and then when you look at were you
surprised you see the christian churches
like they're still standing after the
war you had hundreds of hundreds of
mosques just obliterated but this goes
back to the teachings of islam you know
and this is why you had all those
churches uh left
you know in their place
and this goes against the narrative a
lot of times so it's good you know
people visit and they get to see you
know this is like a modern day they say
european jerusalem they call it there
in bosnia where you have jews muslims
living together in peace
subhanallah just just visit there you're
right the jerusalem of europe is is uh
is bosnia it really is amazing amazing
martial
you know did you see that line they
literally have a line where east meets
west and you walked through bashia did
you walk through there the little shops
you feel yes
that's right yes we did
yeah yeah we had a photo there
oh it's just sensational subhanallah
yeah i i didn't get a chance to go this
year with all this madness but i i miss
bosnia ho i hope to visit someone some
amazing amazing country i think for
identity purposes me and my daughter
being uh converts from um britain
we felt really at home there and we felt
like oh okay for once we're not aliens
you know we're not aliens in
uh you know
in the muslim community who sees us as
weird and we get asked are you muslim no
i wear this for fun because i like being
shouted out in the street
you know i really you have to stop
yourself from being sarcastic yeah no i
i just put this on every tuesday for a
bit of a laugh with my friends yes i'm
muslim and then um you know of course
other people uh saying stuff to you but
alhamdulillah
we wouldn't change it for anything i saw
you did visit that masjid up in the
mountains there
that was very moving the um
it's called the war mosque and it was
where the brothers used to pray when
there were serb forces in the hills
and they were fighting for their lives
and their city sarajevo was under siege
for a number of years the people were on
the brink of starvation allahu akbar
and um and they had this beautiful
little mosque and i had the honor of
going there and with the brigades with
the surviving brigades and um
i'll tell you i hope you can maybe later
on if we edit this cut in some of the
scenes that i saw there because it was
so moving and they were so kind and so
sweet listen
muslims are sweet
when i wasn't muslim and i used to go to
muslim events
i felt
so
i felt like a big giant bully
who had no
uh
you know no no emotional compass
amongst a little a little playground of
very sweet children who are about four
years you know i was like 14 and they
were four in their innocence
in their sweetness
and
i still feel that way today allahu akbar
and you know if you have a good muslim
friend
you know you're probably experiencing
that too like why are you so nice why
are you giving everybody at work food
why are you looking after my mother when
i'm out when my own family won't do it
why would you run me to the airport
you know when my best friend says she's
busy
it's the teachings of the holy quran and
our prophet muhammad peace be upon us
who make us the good people in society
you should want more islam not less yes
absolutely and just to touch upon one
more thing before i go into my next
question
is that you have serbians this is a
nationality you know and a lot of times
because of this nationalism which the
last of other muslims said the mankind
prophet muhammad said this stinks you
know this is going to be a division
between people because you do have
croatians you have serbians
who have come to islam they have
searched out the purpose of life they
found that the quran is indeed from the
creator of the heavens and the earth
based on evidence and proof and they've
accepted and they've been welcomed
open-heartedly and those who
haven't that's we still live in peace
but now just as people ask muslims to
condemn you know such fringe elements
out there you do have amongst in that in
that community you have some
who
are extreme that now some
talk against that you know so it's not
labeling a whole a whole nation or a
nationality because islam is about
living peacefully with your neighbor no
matter if he's jew christian or whatever
the case so this is very important and
it goes back to
uh knowing your deen and sharing your
deen what you love to do which we've
kind of and i think
because i went to visit a chutney uh
in his church as a priest when i went
there you know there's the there's a
line of division between the republic of
serbia and it's to mention when you're
driving you can just go from one part
the federation of bosnia and then you
cross a line and you're in a different
part so it's kind of scary you're going
i went here at his church service and i
went there and i talked to him
i don't know if you got a chance to see
that you can see it on our facebook page
just reposted it and he had no idea of
many of the teachings of islam he didn't
know that we love jesus there's a whole
chapter named after his blessed mother
a mother so we also are doing a very bad
job at conveying the message of islam
and i think many of our problems come
from us not doing what our creator god
almighty allah told us to do what do you
think yeah i think it's kind of a tough
one because
on the one hand
we're sort of trained
to take
faith out of the public space
and that it's almost like a dirty thing
to talk about it's either dirty or
embarrassing
uh you know don't don't talk about it
over dinner we don't you don't talk
about politics and you don't talk about
religion and just keep it at the spirit
well when are we going to talk about it
uh when is that magical space going to
happen if it's not in our daily lives so
the more that we push those
conversations away the more
misinterpretations and disunity arises
i'm really glad you said that about
about serbia and croatia and because
these are nationalities they don't have
to be ideologies in the individual it
doesn't have to be like that
and so
you know we we pray for each and every
person and we want individual um
relationships but we do we also pray
that these ideologies end and that those
spreading hatred are are are sidelined
by their by their own communities
and because just as muslims we're called
upon to sideline those who are calling
uh who may be misguided and leading to
um
violence and misunderstanding will we
call on on you
on your community
you know if somebody is speaking to you
violently and saying god those muslims
they stink i wish i'll go rape their
women or why don't you go do this or
my very good close friend of mine she
had a hijab ripped off
a couple of days ago in leicester she's
traumatized the police did not come and
came and questioned her husband and not
the people who did it these are real
things that really shape people so what
are you doing in your community dear
viewer what are you doing to stop the
hatred when you hear it tell us more
about this what happened now was this in
the news was this something that was
just a isolated incident that happened
in your neighborhood now or with your
friend
was it something why did this happen so
she's a practicing muslim woman with
hijab
she's a convert
and someone just off the street randomly
came and just no they control they've
been so so they've been some bullying by
this gang of about five adults uh they
live in the same building and they've
been shoulder barging and you know
making comments was it go back to iran i
think they were saying to her some
random you know it's normally saudi
arabia i don't know why iran came up but
anyway they'd obviously read something
on the internet that day
and um so they've been bullying them and
other muslims in the bloc for a while
and this particular date it tipped over
and
they they pulled her hijab off and she
was actually on the ground looking for
it outside her home and her husband went
after them on his own which is dangerous
and there was a scuffle and then they
called the police they ran away laughing
they called the police and the police
questioned him
and said did you start the fight did you
do this and now they're so they're so
upset by their interactions with the
police they don't feel that they can
report it so we're still working on this
inshallah and um once you know sister's
ready uh when she's ready inshallah she
will she will but this is it's a fight
brother it's a fight because you're
upset you don't feel the police are on
your side and then you've got to get the
guts to go in and see them again
and be bullied by the state
and that's that's really is this like a
group like tony robinson like the edl or
something or these are some local thugs
or just local thugs
for a bit of fun bit of a laugh
so the police i mean they're still there
she has to still see these people and
there have there haven't been any
consequences they haven't been
charged with anything not even a knock
on their door not even knock on the door
has there been public outcry some public
pressure
from that
she we've got we've got um a group
called mend and we're in touch with them
uh muslim engagement um and we're going
to be speaking to them in cello about
this hopefully uh this can get out and
there could be some more public uh
pressure isn't the uh the mayor there uh
muslim
in london yeah yeah
but this is where where is this at
leicester this is the midlands there's a
couple of hundred it's about 150
maybe 125 miles away
yeah but this is but here's the here's
the issue brother this is normal for
muslim women it's like oh you get
spattered spat out never mind
it's becoming it's becoming more normal
in the uk it's getting worse rather than
better
it is what it is i've left
make no mistake i left
i left because
i'm afraid that that society is falling
apart and i wish i wish it well my
daughters are there my friends are there
my my family extended family are there
but for me as a muslim i felt it i could
it and it's not just about faith it's
not even just about ethics it's about
the the commercial material society when
you take away people's material goods
and that's what's happening now in the
uk that's what happened post covid
people fall apart and it becomes really
kind of dangerous and that um yeah
took me from that alhamdulillah yeah so
we got about five minutes left let's
talk let's talk about so you made hijra
and do you see a lot of people who are
actually
leaving and coming over to places like
your turkey i think we have to be really
careful with the term hijra for someone
like turkey because hijra is looking for
an ideal islamic state and that's not
fair turkey is a uh a dynamic and mixed
place to live and it's pretty much fifty
fifty percent secular uh with other with
other um religions here and still fifty
percent inshallah of people who are
practicing the faith so i i don't think
you can put it as hydra did i come to
somewhere by the grace of allah um where
where the van is called yes where there
are beautiful mosques yes where we can
do charity um you can do that in the uk
of course you can do that in your own
environment but where there's a
peacefulness in in wearing the scarf yes
so are you are you seeing how how was
life there compared to where you left
the uk
how was it for your dean how was it like
we just got to experience you just
stopping and hearing that
so i mean that's that's something
amazing sometimes you just don't want to
be the other
sometimes you just want to be yourself
sometimes you just you just don't look
at me in my hijab i want the hijab on to
be invisible when i'm out and that's
it's like a cloak of invisibility and
it's lovely when it works in the west
and you're invisible and as a woman
you're not stared at your comments
aren't made at you that's that's when it
is working beautifully and then when it
when it draws attacks that's when it's
uh something we have to
to wear with uh with with steadfastness
there's a big change right because
several years ago
there was also something there with the
hijab right in public places and now
it's also changed for the better oh gosh
in turkey well listen 20 years ago
president erdogan had to send his
daughters to america to study in the
hijab
because you could not have the hijab in
turkey so again that's another topic for
another day because it's huge there was
communism and there was secularism and
it was deliberately entered into the
muslim lands of europe and this
confusion reigned for a while and this
hatred and fear of what had gone before
and this forgetfulness and now
alhamdulillah
some stability inshallah we pray for
that
let's let's talk talk about real quickly
this 10-year itch
you know you know where we are now and
the importance of continuing to get well
grounded into dean
and then we'll go on to uh my last
question with this yeah
okay
uh i wanted to
speak
especially to people who are perhaps
converted you know
it's so important to keep on
learning this faith so it's so deep
eddie it's like you dive in to this
wonderful ocean
and then it's like you're almost
drowning because it's like i don't know
anything and i'm a sinner and and it
seems so overwhelming and that the waves
are washing over you if you've ever i've
tried to surf and it's like having this
big
you have you're getting dragged
underneath the waves of and
you know you forget about the beauty
because you're kind of overwhelmed that
that can be an experience but that only
happens continually
and then of course the pull back
where are my friends where's my fun um
and and you know shaitaan and the
temptations you know everybody's still
going to the bar
what about christmas it looks so bright
and tinsely and you forget about people
being bankrupt in january you forget
about the arguments over who gave the
biggest present you forget about the
drunkenness and and the fights that go
you forget because it's all tinted oh
let the slay bells ding a ding we'd love
it to be like that but it's not
christian it's nothing to do with
christianity and it is not peaceful but
all of these things for the convert
and for the born muslim are their
reality
so i keep
just
inviting myself to go back to the
beginning
go back to the basics i'm now by the
grace of allah learning arabic i am
doing the hard work
eleven years in
you know falafela falu
letter
uh trying to get the arabic grammar why
my aim is to read the quran with
understanding before i die
and i've studied a couple of books this
year in depth
um because the explanation
dear brothers and sisters is you start
working on yourself
you start really understanding your your
you know what your flaws are
in a deep way and the deepness is and
how do i please allah when i get rid of
those what am i meant to be doing it's
not just about undoing it's about
redoing
and for the pleasure of god so please if
you're feeling confused if you're
feeling lost
come find me on instagram i love to
recommend books
keep watching the dean show inshallah to
allah and keep learning your deen and
keep going back don't just make it a
part of life oh i do my five prayers or
maybe i do three prayers that's probably
enough you're gonna that's an easy way
to slide away and you won't get the
beauty
i want to just touch upon real quick
we've got one minute left you uh have a
new book and i'm really
impressed that you've made it and i
think we're lacking here the audio
portion of the book you actually have a
book but it's also an audio book format
and i encourage others because if you
ever go to audible and you just put it
in islam you have a lot of the hate
propaganda that's pushed through these
audio books so we really need to catch
up to get the right information out
there and audible audiobooks is a great
resource that we're lacking tremendously
behind and you are actually promoting
your book as an audio book correct
it's called in search of a holy land and
it is the these stories um it it's my
own journey but it's the stories of
muslims it's the story of palestine it's
the story of us being from birth to
death and all of those experiences in
between how do they impact us and how
should we react and what does islam
actually mean in our lives so i've
recorded it myself there's a lot of
laughter in there um i'm that's the
character allah ta'ala has given me
there's a lot of light and shade and uh
people have said that they cry and they
laugh in equal measure and uh that their
heart is is warmed um by the truths
their inshallah so in search of a holy
land you can find it on audible you can
find it on scribble.com and it's i kept
it really really super cheap
um sometimes these things are 18 18 i've
made it one dollar two dollars
because i want as many people as
possible to have access for it and wow
thank you very much for sharing some of
the highlights of your story
and some great experiences there that we
got to benefit from some advice thank
you very much
keep you close to him i mean
so what an amazing story amazing journey
and this is another proof upon proof
when someone is sincere
and they are searching to want to know
what is the purpose of life why are they
here and like she did
she got to experience the kindness of
muslims she thought that the quran was a
handbook on how to be a good person
so coming from a family
of
tony blair you know to being with
celebrities
and living that life to coming to
peace
purpose contentment what do you got to
lose by reading the quran which he
thought was a
handbook on how to be a good person that
spreads and tells us to go ahead and
have a direct connection with the
creator of the heavens and earth
believing in one and only one god
believing in jesus a whole chapter named
after his blessed mother mary there's so
much to go on i can go on and continue
continue but
read the quran
and continue to tune into the dean show
we'll see you next time here subscribe
if you haven't already hit that
notification bell until next