Breaking Down Muslim Identity in the West | Muslims of the Melting Pot | Ep. 1

36 Bekeken· 24/06/21

TMJ News Network
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In anders

In this very first episode of Muslims of the Melting Pot, Mohamad, @ThatMuslimGuyy delves deep into what it means for Western Muslims to experience and grapple with multiple identities at the same time. As a content creator who covers religion and politics through the lens of comedy, Mohamad offers a compelling take on the unique challenges Muslims face when attempting to integrate into a society that doesn’t always represent their values.

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Transcript

[0:00]and welcome to the very first episode of Muslims of the Melting

[0:06]Pot total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States because

[0:11]it's the only religion that acts like the mafia they're not immigrants

[0:15]this Clash of civilizations and if they're not going to learn to

[0:21]assimilate I don't want to end this country but hold up that's

[0:24]not really who we are perhaps the American Melting Pot model is

[0:27]not an accurate depiction of the true Muslim American experience and perhaps

[0:32]the goal is not to mix but if it isn't then what

[0:36]really is to assimilate or not to assimilate that's the question I'm

[0:41]your host Sarah salimi and you are watching Muslims of the Melting

[0:47]Pot on today's episode I'm excited to be introducing our very first

[0:52]guest Muhammad he is a Palestinian Canadian Muslim who lived and grew

[0:56]up in Canada as well as the Middle East Muhammad is a

[0:58]professional chartered accountant by day and he does comedy by night on

[1:06]social media he goes by that Muslim guy and he uses his

[1:09]platform to educate people about Islam using comedy Muhammad thank you so

[1:14]much for being our very first guest and welcome to the podcast

[1:17]hey thank you very much and while they come stand out and

[1:21]thank you for having me on this episode glad to be here

[1:25]so first things first this whole podcast is centered around the symbol

[1:29]of the Melting Pot and before anything we're going to kind of

[1:32]give a little bit of a historic background of what the Melting

[1:34]Pot really is and why it's become such a characteristic or a

[1:39]symbol of the western lifestyle and we're gonna get right into it

[1:42]so to give a little bit of that history the term Melting

[1:47]Pot was actually popularized in 1908.

[1:49]so early 1900s there was a student named Israel zangwell and he

[1:54]was surprised not even American he was a Jewish British man he

[1:57]wrote a play called The Melting Pot and this whole idea behind

[2:03]the play was that there was a Jewish immigrant who came to

[2:06]the U.S after his family was killed in a Russian pogram and

[2:11]basically this whole play was about this idea of this Jewish guy

[2:14]finding refuge in this new land of Freedom the greatest Melting Pot

[2:18]were all the races of people are melting and reforming and God

[2:24]is making the American so he kind of coined this idea of

[2:27]the American through the lens of a Melting Pot and it was

[2:31]all about this idea of Americanization where all these immigrants are being

[2:35]molded into this new phenomenon called the American and so the idea

[2:39]was really about shedding your own culture and religion and assimilating into

[2:42]what's called This American Way so this idea of a Melting Pot

[2:48]then became a pretty big deal and has carried on to today

[2:50]and this conversation is really centering around that whole phenomenon so I'm

[2:55]going to start my my first question with you Muhammad is what

[2:58]even is this American way and is there such a thing as

[3:03]American culture what is what is American culture well that that is

[3:07]a very uh deep and loaded question of course and it's very

[3:10]nuanced depending on who you talk to I've only been to the

[3:15]states a few times here and there but just as a just

[3:19]as a disclosure the Assumption I'm making when making any of these

[3:24]discussions today any points that I'm making the assumption is that I'm

[3:30]speaking about practicing Muslims Muslims who want to preserve the religion protect

[3:33]their faith while living in what we call the West because I

[3:39]know the thought always the case I would say let's start off

[3:44]with the Melting Pot I know like in the United States The

[3:46]Melting Pot kind of comes from that concept of the scientific concept

[3:50]of melting Metals together at these high temperatures and in this case

[3:54]kind of melting together these different cultures and backgrounds and this produces

[3:59]a new product that is much stronger essentially being American or American

[4:05]culture in Canada I've heard it being described more as a mosaic

[4:10]whereby everyone somewhat retains what makes them unique makes them different but

[4:14]altogether you make this beautiful picture or this beautiful image in my

[4:21]opinion The Melting Pot it sounds great conceptually but in reality it

[4:25]might not be implemented as effectively and while some people don't mind

[4:30]figuratively melting into this figurative pot I think others are proud of

[4:37]their culture they're proud of their background they don't want to change

[4:41]but to be honest when someone says what does it mean to

[4:43]be American or Canadian one is American culture Canadian culture it is

[4:46]a very deep and nuanced Topic in and of itself because what

[4:50]is America are we talking about Native Americans the aboriginals are we

[4:55]talking about the European settlers are we talking about recent migrants anyone

[5:00]who holds a passport an American Arcadia passport or are we just

[5:05]talking about modern day American culture and what we see in the

[5:11]media Hollywood the American dream or is it is it something else

[5:19]I think to different people America or American culture or North American

[5:24]culture means something different so I think it would be very difficult

[5:27]for me to say what is American culture but from what I

[5:32]have experienced and seen a lot of it just comes down to

[5:37]I would say the first two amendments if if that's fair to

[5:41]say and that would be your freedom of speech you gotta have

[5:45]the gun nothing else you really hear about and as a Canadian

[5:50]to say we have the trucker blessing freedoms and the thing that

[5:52]you always hear about is the freedom of speech freedom to live

[5:57]freely and be whatever religion whatever you identify as and that's what

[6:03]you hear about so you would think that American culture North American

[6:07]culture or Western culture as a whole is all about the freedom

[6:11]of expression democracy living in a democratic country everyone is equal but

[6:17]then when you dig down and you actually start peeling off those

[6:23]layers or start realizing even that comes with its own set of

[6:25]double standards and hypocrisy depending on who you are absolutely and you

[6:29]mentioned the rights right the rights we have whether it's freedom of

[6:33]speech and expression the right to bear arms everything that technically is

[6:37]considered a right in this country you could even say those rights

[6:40]and the ways they're implemented are subjective and like you mentioned is

[6:43]it really the freedoms that we think we have do we really

[6:48]have you actually in your own content you create on your social

[6:51]media you've frequently addressed this topic of you know is freedom of

[6:55]speech really the freedom of speech can we really say anything and

[7:00]everything you've talked about islamophobia you've talked about the lines and the

[7:02]boundaries between hate speech and free speech so when you really look

[7:07]at a lot of these rights on a practical level like you've

[7:10]addressed extensively it looks very different for different people right and so

[7:14]in some ways you could say that the American that the Melting

[7:19]Pot is referring to is a very specific type of American unfortunately

[7:21]that is the unfortunate reality if for example if we're just to

[7:25]take a look at Europe and what recently happened in Europe in

[7:27]Sweden to be exact there's a Danish Swedish far right extremist leader

[7:33]who burnt a Quran or a copy of the Quran in front

[7:35]of the Turkish Embassy in obvious Act of provocation now had he

[7:40]just done this out of by himself the government could have said

[7:43]oh you know we don't it's his freedom but we don't support

[7:46]this but no the Swedish government gave him the approval and also

[7:53]used taxpayer dollars or whatever currency that you I'm certainly his Euros

[7:57]or francs or I'm offer I'm not educated enough to finish this

[8:00]joke but essentially they use taxpayer funding to either provide him police

[8:05]escorts to be able to protect him while he's burning the Quran

[8:11]white man freedom of speech why why are y'all Muslims getting all

[8:14]all up and unhappy about this whatever man it's a freedom of

[8:18]speech take it take it on the churn but then if a

[8:20]Muslim were to do the same thing would we be given the

[8:25]same currency what if you have Muslims because we also see this

[8:27]this makes the topic a little bit more nuanced if you have

[8:32]Muslims who also play into that narrative they're also the good guys

[8:36]right so I think it might be partially that it's it is

[8:40]the Muslims are the ones who don't have those freedoms but from

[8:43]what I see if you're a Muslim who plays into that narrative

[8:45]if you're a Muslim who says the things that fit well in

[8:51]that Melting Pot you are kind of also part of them because

[8:53]you've become part of that you've become another ingredient in that Melting

[8:56]Pot I think if you're a Muslim and you're doing it that's

[9:03]that's even worse because and it plays it all plays into identity

[9:08]politics it's like when you have a person of color and they

[9:10]make it into the Democratic party or the Republican party or what

[9:13]we have here the conservatives are liberals we're like yes representation no

[9:18]that person is just going to do the same bidding of the

[9:24]same group that you dislike that introduces the anti-muslim policies immigrant policies

[9:28]but now they're doing it with a different shade of color and

[9:34]they get away with it would you say then that Muslims who

[9:38]become part of this are doing more damage than the first group

[9:43]then you know that privileged white American which one do you think

[9:47]is doing more damage to this idea of a Muslim identity in

[9:50]the West if someone who is white and they are obviously spewing

[9:59]these islamophobic anti-brown interpersonal color into Muslim rhetoric you know oh that's

[10:07]the enemy right there that's someone we need to stand up to

[10:10]versus if it's someone wearing hijab or a man in a beard

[10:13]call it themselves um whatever and spewing the same rhetoric and now

[10:18]even people who may have been on your side they're like but

[10:24]wait but even Muslims are now Pro the Muslim ban so there's

[10:26]probably something to it and there's that causes more harm and controversial

[10:32]opinion but I'm not one of those people who sit down and

[10:35]go Trump was the worst president in the world I'm like no

[10:39]the Obama Administration was equally bad if not worse and the pro

[10:44]and that's the main problem and I think Loki said this in

[10:48]one of his um and one of us they are one of

[10:52]his work he said which song was it he said the agendas

[10:53]that changed with the race of your president well I'm glad to

[10:58]know you're endorsing Trump for 2024.

[10:59]so I'm playing where's my red hat where's my Reddit no so

[11:04]what I'm saying is with Obama for example everyone looked at him

[11:07]as oh the first black president very well spoken very charismatic we're

[11:11]good we don't need to pay attention there's no way he would

[11:15]stab Americans in the back and then the same cages that Trump

[11:17]threw kids in those were built under the Obama Administration but they

[11:22]went undetected when Trump came in everyone knew oh that is the

[11:25]enemy so people were able to stand up to him and get

[11:29]rid of the Trump ban more or less or the Muslim ban

[11:33]and you knew where your enemy was so that's what I'm saying

[11:35]some people it's in your face so you you know who to

[11:39]stand up to you know what to fight with others they they

[11:45]give you these nice words they really they they know how to

[11:51]sweet talk you and then they proceed to stab you in the

[11:53]back under the table that's the worst I I would argue that

[11:57]that's a lot more complicated because like you said if you see

[12:02]something that is that direct odds with your identity and who you

[12:05]are it's so much easier to take a stance against it but

[12:09]this leads us into the next question it's like this idea that

[12:11]even within the Muslim Community in the west and specifically North America

[12:14]there's different factions some people say it's like the moderate Muslims the

[12:18]liberal Muslims the conservative Muslims I think labels sometimes are not the

[12:22]most helpful but we do have to acknowledge that there are Muslims

[12:27]who are increasingly finding it much more convenient to assimilate into American

[12:31]society often at the expense of Islamic values themselves but my next

[12:38]question really hits us at this topic of what does it mean

[12:43]to be American or Canadian or what in a western country and

[12:46]Muslim at the same time while also being ethnic and cultural so

[12:51]you're Palestinian yourself I'm Iranian what does it mean to be American

[12:56]and Palestinian or Iranian and belonging to all these different identities at

[13:01]the same time how does that work so if I'm Palestinian you're

[13:06]Iranian is this podcast even legal this is probably a violation of

[13:08]the freedom of speech I can feel the resistance anyways as we

[13:13]get shut down yeah again a very a very interesting and deep

[13:20]topic but let me cover it this way so what does it

[13:21]mean to be American and then Muslim and having different different cultural

[13:26]and ethic background how do we make sense of all this well

[13:30]I would say being American or being Canadian shouldn't it allow him

[13:36]to have those identities or you would think so personally I would

[13:40]say that that should be the modern day definition of American or

[13:44]Canadian someone who can legally call themselves American or Canadian but of

[13:48]course we notice that other people mean we know that's not what

[13:52]it really means because if I tell someone I'm Canadian and they're

[13:55]like oh so where are you from from exactly but even before

[14:00]then they give you a compliment and that's your English is so

[14:03]good and then it just keeps going down that route so you

[14:07]understand that something says are you Canadian are you American we know

[14:11]we know what they mean where does The Challenge lie exactly what

[14:16]are what are those challenges that are really characteristic of having all

[14:20]these different identities in one from one end you have the law

[14:25]what you can and cannot do you have your and then from

[14:28]the other end you have your cultural background your religion your morals

[14:33]of value system and sometimes these things Clash will use the term

[14:37]Islam is not compatible with the waste I'm sure you've heard that

[14:42]before Sharia law Sharia law or Shania allow or Jude lau and

[14:45]you're like yeah okay dude calm down spell that for me exactly

[14:50]so I would say first of all the people who say that

[14:53]at these land is not compatible with the whales it's a great

[14:56]way to scare people it's fear-mongering but in reality if that is

[15:01]the case technically neither is Christianity Judaism or any other religion you're

[15:04]going to compare to secularism so what do you mean by compatibility

[15:09]I think one of those reasons is also because Islam offers a

[15:15]very objective way of life and it's different because if you look

[15:21]at Christianity mostly Christianity compared to Judaism but of course there's a

[15:24]range a lot of what their actual religions and scriptures are has

[15:29]been heavily modified and you know compared to the way that they

[15:36]currently live their lives so a lot of that core principles that

[15:38]are part of their faith has kind of been watered down into

[15:43]a very chill lifestyle that has sprinkles of religion here and there

[15:46]so I think Islam though what's different and arguably one of the

[15:49]reasons it's targeted so much is because Muslims increasingly try to stay

[15:52]you know firm on those principles the Quran has not been changed

[15:58]it's probably the only religion that where that's the case and Muslims

[16:00]really try to stick to those principles which for some reason comes

[16:04]off intimidating to the public 100 and in an ever-changing world of

[16:09]deteriorating morals it stands the one constant Islam refuses to change Muslims

[16:14]refuse to change the religion to please other people because who are

[16:20]we to change the word of God and that is where other

[16:22]religions have gone astray they've changed the word of God to meet

[16:29]their own objectives the political objectives of their leaders or just to

[16:33]appease appeal to a wider audience and that is what many people

[16:36]many converts Istanbul Weber and find attractive it's objective it's logical if

[16:41]you walk in with an open mind and not with pre-existing biases

[16:45]if you go in with an open heart and you actually listen

[16:48]it makes sense and because we refuse to change people are telling

[16:54]us to assimilate and integrate his life needs to be reformed and

[16:57]you're like actually no the solution does not need to be reformed

[17:00]just to please you but furthermore let me just uh I just

[17:06]have a few points I really want to talk about this and

[17:07]that is when living as a Muslim and being a minority in

[17:12]that non-muslim majority country or somewhat a mixture of a Christian somewhat

[17:16]secular state it does represent present challenges and it's not even it's

[17:19]it's not just one or two things that's really all aspects of

[17:22]life like something as small as owning property the loan from the

[17:27]bank is interest bearing or whatever this is Haram so now you

[17:31]have to deal with that situation and you have various options that

[17:33]you try to look into you have to get fetus that have

[17:37]to be issued to see how to deal with the situation something

[17:38]you may not necessarily have to deal with the venomous majority country

[17:42]then consuming and transacting alcohol again against cell religion assuming you're practicing

[17:49]Muslim yet almost every place the workplace every event every social every

[17:51]restaurant every store have alcohol so doing just not go out do

[17:57]we socialize at work do not socialize at work until we go

[17:59]out with residents environments it will be not do we stay away

[18:03]why can't it can't be done when we draw the line and

[18:06]then there's the the conversation that gets everybody canceled if you dare

[18:12]spell something incorrectly and that's the LGBT community we know as Muslims

[18:17]we do not agree with that lifestyle it is sinful plain and

[18:21]simple it is sinful in Islam yet how do we address this

[18:27]in this political and social environment whereby being anything you say that

[18:32]may disagree with that with the agenda with the community if you

[18:35]don't 100 unequivocally agree with everything you're labeled as a hateful bigot

[18:39]you can get canceled you can lose your job so how do

[18:43]we navigate that environment then we have the very politicians who are

[18:46]supposed to run this country or run out these countries in a

[18:51]democracy and yet they're spreading islamophobia as well anti-muslim policies be it

[18:56]the Muslim ban under Trump Bill 21 in Quebec Canada which is

[18:59]making it almost impossible to wear a hijab as a Muslim woman

[19:01]and work in a public sector the anti-separatism act in or acceptable

[19:05]bill in France which literally targets almost every aspect of a muslim's

[19:13]life and then you have Muslim communities being spied on vilified arrested

[19:15]violated by law enforcement so now as a Muslim almost everything about

[19:20]you is being attacked targeted you're being othered this will either make

[19:26]you closer to your faith to your religion and make you more

[19:29]attached to it or you might want to alter stop you want

[19:33]this world to go away anyone to look at me and you

[19:36]decide to one you don't you no longer want to identify as

[19:40]a mistake and then this creates the identity issues exactly and I

[19:44]think what you're saying is actually the core of why identity is

[19:47]so important the question of why should why should I care why

[19:51]can't I just live in this Society be a Muslim do everything

[19:54]they do and I think that really comes to the core because

[19:59]you mentioned for example schooling systems it's not just about how I'm

[20:03]living my life right now as a Muslim I might be able

[20:04]to get away with all of this in my generation but what

[20:07]about the Next Generation what about the kids I'm going to raise

[20:11]in this society as we're moving further and further into this moral

[20:14]Decay that's kind of become characteristic of Western societies and increasingly liberalism

[20:21]as you know a system itself where it's an increasing degradation of

[20:26]moral natural every kind of boundary just a boundary-less world where there

[20:31]are no rules and the opening rules that are there are essentially

[20:35]protecting a very small minority of people so do you think that

[20:39]Islam as an objective truth can ever fully integrate in a subjective

[20:47]system that we're witnessing in the West again it depends on what

[20:51]you mean by integrate and assembly so when people say you need

[20:54]to integrate you need to assimilate if what they're singing is you

[20:57]need to let go of your religion you need to let go

[21:02]of your beliefs you need to let go of your value system

[21:05]the moment you cross this border and the moment you come in

[21:09]you agree with us every single thing you must conform first of

[21:13]all I'll ask you who does because you have the atheist secular-minded

[21:17]Americans you have the Christian America the hardcore Christians both these groups

[21:27]American white talk about abortion where's the popcorn just talk about abortion

[21:33]those two groups did not agree talk about the LGBT community both

[21:36]two do not agree so as a Muslim I walk in who

[21:40]am I supposed to assimilate and integrate with exactly so that's my

[21:46]question now can you as a Muslim continue to live or can

[21:50]you as a Muslim integrate and assimilate into society well if by

[21:53]integrate and assimilate you mean number one you follow the laws of

[21:58]the country well as Muslims they have no problem with that as

[22:01]Muslims we are taught according to Islam who abide by the laws

[22:03]of the country you live in assuming they're not fully violating the

[22:08]rights of preventing you from even practicing your faith pay taxes yes

[22:13]fourth Crystal pay taxes because it's illegal not to even though we

[22:16]don't want to pay taxes we don't want to pay taxes but

[22:19]you have to how about being a productive member of society yes

[22:22]100 we believe you should be a productive member of society volunteering

[22:26]giving back to your broader Community your local community yes 100 are

[22:30]these not integrated being a businessman entrepreneur creating jobs not integrating being

[22:36]a doctor saving lives not assimilating doing then a construction worker to

[22:44]an electrician to a doctor to a media political analyst whatever running

[22:47]running for politics running for office all of these are not part

[22:52]of integrating and assimilating is the only thing to you integrating and

[22:56]assimilating the only thing is let go of your entire Faith system

[23:00]so that shows the hypocrisy that shows the double standards so I

[23:06]think it's it's broader than that too and you hit at an

[23:09]issue that I think really is important in this conversation and it's

[23:12]that you're not a problem or an issue if you're doing things

[23:18]for non-ideological purposes and I think it's that ideology that's the problem

[23:21]and this really kind of took an exponential rise following 9 11

[23:26]where there was obviously the war on terror and everything kind of

[23:30]came full circle in terms of as you mentioned mosques being spied

[23:34]on you know Muslims being spied on Muslims being the whole airport

[23:37]situation and the interrogations and everything so I think really what's at

[23:41]the heart of this is if your ideology doesn't match with the

[23:47]direction that Society is going you're not an issue if you are

[23:50]on par with that ideology but if you start to deviate from

[23:54]it then you're becoming a problem so where do we kind of

[23:57]back to this idea of you assimilate in certain areas like you

[24:01]said being productive as a member of society helping their Islam has

[24:06]no issue with that but where do you think that line should

[24:10]be drawn the lies should be drawn on where something is clearly

[24:16]unequivocally prohibited in a snow something that's clearly helpful so something as

[24:22]small as can I or can I not get support from the

[24:24]let's say I'm going out for a rally for Palestine can I

[24:27]get support by let's say the LGBT community there's an lgbtq club

[24:31]and they they're for human rights and they're like we'll support you

[24:36]for this Palestine rally perfect thank you but now that they have

[24:39]a rally for you know Pride Parade or whatnot and they come

[24:42]to you and they're like hey for tap we supported you for

[24:46]Palestine are you gonna support us or not talked about that at

[24:54]one point and they said like University students msas started realizing oh

[24:59]like how do we navigate this political environment the scenario that you

[25:04]just said it's something that whether it's msas or the current generation

[25:08]is every day dealing with in universities and job environments professional environments

[25:11]academics you know chills Circles of friends and family and you could

[25:18]argue that even though we can say yes Islam is an objective

[25:20]truth it's difficult when you apply that on a social and practical

[25:23]level because now you also have Muslims who think differently about what

[25:30]those laws and rules even mean in practicality I would say I

[25:34]would just add a little bit to that and I know there's

[25:37]I know a lot of Muslims who are like that I know

[25:38]some Muslims who even say you know alcohol's not even prohibitedness that

[25:41]bro come on bro like that's not what it's saying I want

[25:45]to tell you what it's saying like I'm sorry for like you

[25:49]know how much fear can you get with some of this stuff

[25:50]and they're like oh but it doesn't say don't worry it just

[25:54]says avoid it at all costs but it doesn't say the word

[25:55]caught on therefore I'm not you know someone Brooklyn it's just they

[26:00]just don't want to listen so I would number one say we

[26:04]need to speak honestly about these things we need to make sure

[26:09]there's no alternate agenda what are your intentions with this there are

[26:14]things that are clear abundantly clear throughout Islamic history scholarly consensus through

[26:21]the Quran through the Hadith the teachers are things upon him the

[26:25]way was understood by the companions they're very clear so the question

[26:31]becomes okay this action is Haram what from a political and societal

[26:35]standpoint from from getting political leverage can we or can we not

[26:43]associate with a group like that for a common goal like health

[26:46]care or putting pressure on Lobby putting pressure on these to stop

[26:49]these lobbyists to to protest these politicians who are who are pro-war

[26:57]can we or can we not so then that becomes the question

[26:59]can I run for politics well if Muslims are not running for

[27:04]politics who's going to represent Muslims as human and understand representation is

[27:07]on everything but you need to be involved absolutely I think what

[27:13]you actually mentioned there's I always hear for some reason it's always

[27:16]the extreme it's like some people are like oh well if you

[27:18]can't live in that society and fully Implement all of your principles

[27:22]then just move to a Muslim country and I'm like well that

[27:27]doesn't solve the problem whether you like it or not we're a

[27:29]generation of Muslims whose parents came to the West we were born

[27:34]here we were raised here in some ways this becomes a matter

[27:37]of Homeland we have our motherland which a lot of this generation

[27:42]is very heavily rooted in that motherland because of the upbringing they've

[27:46]had but what will happen to our next Generation whose parents were

[27:50]born and raised here and there's definitely less of that connection to

[27:54]the roots so that also becomes a whole different conversation of how

[27:58]do you navigate those do you also send them back home like

[28:02]we're just gonna Mass immigrate back to our parents countries or is

[28:05]it maybe it's not go and leave the country and maybe it's

[28:09]not fully assimilate and do everything whatever the American way looks like

[28:14]but like you said there has to be something in between you

[28:16]have to be a member of that same Society but as an

[28:21]individual who has a dignified and rooted and principled lifestyle there are

[28:25]red lines that have to be drawn or we don't even show

[28:27]that we're Muslim you have Muhammad you have abdulrahman who's called Abney

[28:32]and uh I don't know and ammo and I do go back

[28:35]many times actually yes but I make sure to let them know

[28:39]my name is Muhammad you can call me well if you go

[28:40]by Mo then I'm sorry to say but you're part of the

[28:44]problem sir you know on 50 of the problem the other 50

[28:48]is my personality anyways but but I try we need to also

[28:55]what I like to call micro scale micro level that will which

[28:58]is oh where'd he disappear to twice a day for five minutes

[29:01]oh I go pray oh what do you mean oh almost like

[29:06]five times a day well I mean like you mean like meditate

[29:09]meditate yeah something like that but five times a day for for

[29:13]my ritual but not religious and then you're allowed to do yoga

[29:17]Denver you know when you do it for God or brainwashed uh

[29:21]religious Fanatics yes Infidel but communication being able to show our faith

[29:29]because that is where it starts us being able to be involved

[29:34]in the local community the broader Community not just the list of

[29:37]community and showing our neighbors our community we are Muslim and here's

[29:45]who we are here's how we get back here's what we do

[29:49]so when they see what's on the news they go wait a

[29:54]sec I know mo Hammond and I think in the context of

[29:56]Muslims in specific one of the biggest steps I would add on

[29:59]to your points is when you have these discussions I think it

[30:02]encourages a lot more Muslims to be proud and Unapologetic about their

[30:07]faith where I don't have to for example hide the fact that

[30:09]I need to pray or I need I don't need to go

[30:12]to a corner and make sure no one sees me for some

[30:15]reason these are all somehow discomforts that a lot of times Muslims

[30:18]have because subconsciously they're like other people will view me as different

[30:25]and dangerous so I think these conversations should be like you said

[30:28]had more acknowledging that we may have differences but we can practice

[30:31]our faith unapologetically and I think that greater conversation provides for much

[30:36]more confidence in being able to you know practice our faith the

[30:39]way we would like to I think that in itself should be

[30:43]a reason why Muslims should be prouder for their faith because they

[30:46]aren't just going with the flow if there's like a new social

[30:48]Norm suddenly everything that was considered abhorrent a century ago is now

[30:54]completely fine that doesn't mean my moral compass should change that just

[30:57]means I should be proud that my religion has offered me a

[31:02]moral compass that doesn't change over time that remains constant and rooted

[31:06]in narration and scripture so to kind of close this I wanted

[31:10]to ask you one last question and end it practically what is

[31:15]one step that you and I or anyone listening to this can

[31:20]take to really address this issue of identity at its heart what's

[31:24]one step we can take to kind of break down this idea

[31:29]of Muslims in the Melting Pot and have those conversations we discussed

[31:32]are so necessary my final piece of advice would be from my

[31:37]experience number one be proud of your identity as a Muslim be

[31:42]it a Muslim Canadian Muslim American be proud of your identity number

[31:50]two The Importance of Being educated knowing our religion not just superficial

[31:56]level but actually being knowledgeable enrolling in courses going to harappa's at

[32:03]the Masjid to learn our religion to strengthen our faith and then

[32:09]number three understanding and this is a lifetime process understanding that they'll

[32:16]never please ever you will never please everyone be proud of being

[32:22]a Muslim and finally please Allah because no one else is worthy

[32:27]of pleasing and no one else will ever be happy thank you

[32:31]so much that was actually a really nice way to kind of

[32:33]wrap up the discussion we had and I'm I'm really glad I

[32:37]had you on the episode I learned a lot from you and

[32:40]I hope you enjoyed the conversation and I definitely look forward to

[32:45]having you back for other episodes for sure yeah no definitely thank

[32:48]you for having me this was a pleasure and I definitely look

[32:51]forward to future episodes and thank you all for joining us on

[32:57]this very first episode of Muslims of the Melting Pot we look

[32:59]forward to having you join for future episodes and if there are

[33:04]any topics related to Muslim identity in the west that you would

[33:07]personally like to explore let us know in the comments below foreign

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