Affairs through an islamic lens. One of the biggest responsibilities that muslims have been endowed with has been to propagate islam and spread awareness about the causes that are most important to the muslims. Its also amplified by the fact that the world is under the spell of the zionist owned and controlled media empire which is uniquely hostile to muslims and islam. Evidence by their shameful coverage of the genocide in gaza and other issues related to islam. In this weeks episode we will explore what the responsibilities of muslims are in. Propagating the religion, defending the muslims and islam with the tongue, and clarifying the falsehoods of the global media. First we take a look at what the religion of islam says about these matters in the holy texts of the religion. The religion of islam is and has been from its conception, fast growing religion. One of the reasons for that has been the focus on propagating the religion or performing dower, literally calling others to the straight path. It is also a religion that. Calls its followers to correct misconceptions and falsehoods as well as enjoying the good and forbidding the evil. First we can go to the holy quran to learn what islam says about propagating the religion to others. In surah 41, ayah 33. Allah taala says, who is better in speech than one who calls to allah, does righteous deeds and says, indeed, i am amongst the muslims. In surah 16, ayah 125, allah also said, call to the way of your lord with wisdom and good preaching. Thus it is a direct command from god that believers must propagate the religion of islam wherever they are, and must do so with the best of manners and etiquecat. Also instructs the believers to enjoy the good and forbid the evil. You are the best nation raised up for human kind. You enjoy righteousness, forbid corruption, and you believe in allah. This concept of calling others to the. Right path and calling out wrong behavior or ideas is also found in a famous hadith of the Prophet Muhammad says whoever of you sees wrong being committed let him rectify it with his hand if he is unable then with his tongue and if he is unable then with his heart and this is the of weakest of faith and this is a theme which has been explored in a recent book released by the leader of the Islamic Republic of iran a duty on muslims in an age where social media and the Mainstream Media spread such damaging lies about muslims as well as others who find themselves in the firing line of the global zionism and its western government puppets, to discuss this important topic are two very special guests, were honored to welcome dr. Dr. Razza john vedadi who is a multiple Award Winning filmmaker based in london. Over the past 12 years, dr. Vadadi has directed, produced and filmed over 50 documentaries that delve into the west asian, Muslim Identity and culture, and he has also presented academic papers at numerous institutions across the world. Also joining us is the esteemed sister sahar jaber. Sahar has an honors degree in sociology and Communication Studies from mcmarsy university. She resides in lebanon where she studies at the islamic seminary. Shes founded figs and olives publications and islamic Publishing House aiming to provide reliable and impactful resources for parents, institutions and children in english. Assalamualaikum to you both, thank you for joining us on the show. Uh, sister jab, but if i could begin with you, we just saw in the video at the top of the show some of the verses that Allah Subhanahu wa taala has revealed uh for the muslims to understand their duties in propagating the religion of islam. What are your thoughts . First of all on some of those verses that allah has revealed. I think those verses stress on the idea and fact that the prophets themselves, their main role in this world was to propagate islam, thats the very. And the purpose of a prophet himself, and so what allah does is he does not stop at the prophet it is not possible that the prophet was the last one to propagate islam and then we should continue in our ways. What allah asks from us is for us ourselves to propagate islam, and so understanding this verse is that we have a response in ourselves to be a representation for allah, to be a representation on this earth, in the way of god. Lot of individuals in this day and age, especially because of the society were in, the feminine society were in, theyre very afraid to put on their their beliefs or what they actually uh think would be true to others, because they dont want to enforce anything, they dont want to enforce any religion, but islam itself says you need to propagate in the way of your actions, propagate islam, because thats the very essence of your purpose, whats to be a khalifa, whats to be a representation of god, absolutely, and um, there was another uh, well hadith actually that we uh upon in that video, which is the prophet saying uh that muslims, if they see a wrong, they should correct it by their hand, if they can and if not by their tongue, and if not then at least oppose it in their hearts, which of course is the lowest form of belief. What do you think are the duties of muslims when it comes to enjoining the good and forbidding the evil . When we talk about forbidding the evil and enjoining the good, the reason why theres Different Levels is because if you can do it by tongue, its the best of course to speak, but however we. In this day and age sometimes someone cannot accept and maybe even they will put some force on you in a way in which is unacceptable and so at that manner uh enjoining good and forbidding evil will even go towards your eyesight and so in a way in which you do not show them um that you uh are smiling or that you excell or accept what theyre saying imam jaf sada even says call the people towards islam without using your tongue to the point in which youre very representation in the workforce um in the community its a representation of what it means to. Be a muslim and in force people are then questioning about islam, we see for instance uh in gaza right now whats happening, so many are converting to islam because they are seeing not by words, not by the tongue, but by the actions, what it means to be a muslim, and they are being introduced to it in a beautiful way, absolutely, and dr. Vadadi as well, i would maybe pick up the same point with yourself, anything to add on that . I think also one one thing i always thought about is those people, who are muslim from the muslim, from the Muslim Community, and they dont have the connection to what were discussing in the sense that sometimes they accept injustice. Um, i think sometimes we have to remember that injustice starts in the heart, and so we need to reevaluate, thats why it goes if you cant do it by tongue, by hand, by tongue, then the heart, cuz initiating the heart, if your heart is not purely against oppression, doesnt matter what your tongue says, it eliminates from the heart, so thats why its important. That we go back to the root being the heart and those who are not eminating the against oppression they need to reevaluate their connection with islam and allah that something is not correct in their heart and if i can say with you doctor um you know youre a media professional youre somebody who has vast experience over decades i want to get your thoughts in terms of the global media how you know we know that they are controlled by uh zionists or those are sympathetic to zionists or fund by zionist capital um, how do they use that media to defame muslims and islam . So theres various tactics used by media to defame any any group, if we look at the muslim uh they use lot of uh tactics for example stereotyping and generalizing muslim activities and lumping it with small number of people that may be doing something thats uh wrong or or inaccurate towards islam then they start one thing they use is framing so they frame muslims in specific way, they use a military language when they describe muslims, so its a jihad when um terrorist act happens and its happens to be a muslim, but its a lone wolf or or or or a crime when its a nonmuslim, the they use a divisive to them and us, they dont accept our values, they dont, they come to this country, they dont, they want to impose their shariah to us, its them and us, so um, and theres also political motivations behind this, its not, so people always say uh just zionism, i think siyanism is one of the uh one of the puzzles and the jigsaw of antimuslim, so capitalism is also part of that, because what islam says is promote justice, and justice is everyone having a fair share in the society they live in, but capitalism is about, capitalism is about enriching a small number of people, and the concept of zinanism falls into that, its its used to uh bring a Certain Group of people down, unfortunately. Palestine but also used outside and its interesting because you know in the recent years we have got even more amplified buse you got social media now so theres people receiving their news or the information in their phones, but we see the same pattern repeating in terms of you, social Media Companies, Big Tech Companies kind of uh closing down on people or or clamping down on uh censoring voices, would you agree . So this concept goes back to for example what nome chamsky, the professor from america said that they manufacture consent, so before social media in the last 15 years became really popular, do we use it through newspapers and then tv, cinema, radio, and now we have those, but then top of that we have social media which is the one people more engaged with more and we know from many um articles and uh news that came out that the American Government is directly in contact with all the major Tech Companies so facebook, instagram to the point where fbi would give them requests to remove these accounts or shut down people who use these hashtags and so forth and so on, and we know all of us, i think all of us who watch this program would have realized now since what happened from september 7th. A lot of accounts have become shadow band, so you go in, you see a post that theyve put on and you want to share it, you cant, the option of sharing that account is not possible because the enforcement by anti um antimuslim uh groups has become so powerful that lot of accounts have been impacted by now, so social media may be supposed to be democratic uh its definitely more decentralized people have more yeah and especially as you said since october the 7th. It has been a case where um weve seen the Media Companies try to control it more, but still you know the propalestinian element does uh get through. Now i on islam spoke to people in london to ask them their thoughts on the responsibilities that believers have when it comes to these matters. Okay, its important and you can practice it in your daytoday life, and uh, you will do it by the people you speak to, through your actions, through your behavior, how you. Present yourself, obviously as for myself as a muslim, i wear the hijab, and how i carry myself in public, how i speak to my colleagues, my friends, even strangers in public, even people on the true might be watching what i do, all of that is a part of that and it will show um, its combatting how others might see us and i think it is important, its done that in that way little bit by bit every day, yes during this time its really important to do jihad tabin and to speak up especially with whats happening. Gaza and the genocide and everything thats been committed, so yes we do have to speak up more than ever. I think arguably is more important for the everyday muslim, even more so than say the important figures or the influential figures, because those people, the everyday person is the one whom the nonmuslims get their impression of islam from, and they form their idea of this is what the typical muslim is, arguably thats one of our. Most important duty those muslims in the west um and its a very important opportunity we have is to to bridge that gap to the nonmuslims and historically this was one of the most important forms of data for example the thing is since 911 we thought wed made lot of inroads in terms of the media in terms of representation in terms the media understanding our point of view and putting it forward what weve recently seen with gaza is that either that was fasad or its been tirely rolled back and theres been incredibly islamophobic outporing in the media a very. Onesided view, barely any sort of muslim or arab or middle eastern or global south voices being expressed except for example in al jazera and for a handful of other places, lot of journalists have been removed from their positions like mahdi hassan famously, so its been an incredibly difficult time, but its also a time where we are where we must fight back, where we must assert ourselves, assert our point of view, assert our narrative and champion our course, 100 s our islamic duty, whether its on the micro scale by informing your friends and family and by people that you know in your. Workplace or whether its on the political on the macro level, whether were joining Political Parties or joining political movements and joining protest movements and joining you know direct action causes where were shutting down um and blocking uh whats it called weapons factories and so forth, it is definitely our duty, especially because i believe theres a hadit the prophet forgive me if i misquote it, it is the duty of every believer he sees in justice to act upon it with their hands and if they cannot do so with their mouths and the lowest form of jihad is with their hearts, so certainly if were able to. We must insert ourselves in all these spaces to push forward our points of view and to stand up for justice and human rights. So its just a job we heard the opinions of some of the Muslim Community there in terms of their responsibilities, but in terms of yourself, what do you think are our responsibilities in terms of clarifying you misconceptions and lies that are pushed out by the global hegem . I think first and foremost we have to understand that we have a responsibility in the first place, many. Maybe assume that a sheich or someone thats active on social media, they can take on this role, but in reality it comes down to god chose for you a position in which you are in a geographic. Control systematic area for a reason, because you can have influence in a way in which someone else cannot, they are not equal, and so to have and recognize that you have the influence in the first place is necessary, then to understand that you have the language and the ability and the mechanism to do a form of in which other people cannot is necessary, and so in the media right now with the misconceptions are happening, this is no different in the time of sayidab in which she was going and fixing the. Conceptions that were happening against her son, against her brother, imam hussein, and we need to take on the misconceptions that are happening against us and be a leader and be a representative towards them, and so it is obligation of every muslim, it is necessary for us to be an active role to to recognize our abilities, what we have to offer, and then on that basis actually be an active member in society and dealing with it, and um brother, yourself, what do you think are the responsibilities of muslims and also ill go to the next . Question as part of that, do you think muslims are doing enough to fulfill those responsibilities . Um, i think theres always space to improve uh, we have started in the last 10, 20 years for muslims to be active in various fields, so if we can break it down into lets say five, engaging within media being part participating in media, creating media content, we have lot of muslims who are active on social media, but we have some muslims are active in uh the Mainstream Media, so you have momar who did a show and hes proud to be a palestinian in it. We had someone like rami, fortunately some of the shows like ramis one had some problematic elements to it, but you see more engagement, but this its not enough, theres still a need for it, theres the utilization of media, so we need people uh uh um active positive influences on social media who dont sell out if you know what i mean, thats very important, so if i if i can name a person for example, i would uh say uh syd hussain miki, hes a very good influence on social media, he sticks to his values. And it tries to avoid sending out to uh mainstream concepts. Community outreach, we used to do lot of programs like love muhammad which engaged with inter faith and intra faith, theres also the uh mosks opening up during uh ramadan, maybe that could be something that happens more often, not just once year for example, and also education and Media Literacy, i personally participate and love Media Literacy for our community so then they can engage with their children, i think thats important because we always think media is entertainment. We dont realize that ideology is embedded in media, so unless we can dissect it and take it apart, how do we explain it to our to our children, to our youth and to others, so its very important that we have Media Literacy as part of it. I think one thing always notice is especially in the uk, but maybe in other parts of the west as well, is while the media is hostile, the culture, especially somewhere like london is actually very pro muslim because there are a lot of muslims here and a. Level, theres a lot of micro influencing, so youll see you know nonmuslims who all of their friends are muslim in school and theyll either accept the religion or theyll be fasting in ramadan in solidarity with their brothers and sisters or their friends and so i think thats also as important as like the higher level kind of media work is literally influencing your own yeah your own people around your own communities a very like modular level um a sister sah just a maybe slightly related topic as as obviously a sister and a student of knowledge as well in in the house, what do you think is a responsibility for sisters, for women, especially in in these kind of responsibilities . So i would take it upon myself, i i never intended to be an active member on social media, i i never wanted it, it wasnt something i was aiming for, um, but my husband and i, who is also an islamic islamic seminary, we both felt like it was responsibility upon us to actually talk, take this role, be active members, speak on truth and actually represent islam and the hijab. And which suits uh us. Right now, lot of, as the brother said, lot of muslim influencers are sell outs, especially when it comes to females, they think that their role, theyve lost purpose of the hijab, and they think their role as an influencer is to be someone that advertises uh clothing, but you have a bigger role to advertise what it means uh to be woman in society, what it means to be member of uh zainabia, fatimia, with women specifically, the reason in which uh their role and responsibility through. Tongue is more important is because thats soly the role in which woman can perform, she does not have the right to go by arms, and so her form of is to go by tongue and to speak and to propagate, especially since woman has the ability to uh speak eloquently um in a way in which she can actually Impact Society more so um than others and so whether or not shes influencing those around her and her family members or in society. Moved in on this front, so specifically on social media, on instagram, thats definitely where i work the most in order to fix lot of misconceptions that we have towards islam, towards the hijab, towards femininity, our book publication is was literally created and manifested just for that reason, it was manifested because i was afraid if i were to have daughter, how would i teach her about the hijab in in a society in which we call woman a towel head or anything like that, so whats important for us is to actually understand that we have the ability to influence yeah um through our work in media and thats a figs and olive publications right okay we have to get that plug in there and yourself dr. Vedadi youre somebody that ive known for uh many years and youve always been at the forefront what are just very quickly some of the uh kind of projects and the work that youve done or are doing to this and things that i like to promote would be uh Media Literacy so if anyone watch this and is interested in the community to engage in media you see so we can empower parents, we can empower individuals and they can empower their children, which i think is always best the parents educate their children, im happy to work with them uh, we have some events happening in april, im happy to do more, people interested in publishing as sister said, also im thinking about uh bringing authors whove written interesting content, different world view from the east, bringing it to the west, and also people who may be interested in films, Film Festivals or. International Film Festival that promotes the concept of resistance to whats happening in imperialism, so these are things that im happy to engage with anyone who wants to reach out, they can use my name in social media, theyll find me, email me and im happy to work with them, and its interesting that you say uh, you talk about the importance of educating people about the media, i had very young education, my older sister when we were kids used to tell me and point things out in movies, so for example we watched back to the future and there was a very negative perception of libya. And arabs in the film and very young, we must have been, i was seven, she was nine, and she said look how they portray the arabs in the film, so i had the education growing up, not everyone might have that in the home, so its good that you are doing uh that work for people to understand the agendas behind some of this mass media, and before we leave, i know that both of you have prepared small pieces of poetry uh, so ill start with you, dr. Vadadi, this to read perhaps a bit of poetry that is relevant to this topic, so my my poem is from famous iranian poet. Question point from the 13th century called sati and it touches on the heart that we discussed and caring about the umah in general and he starts with and this is top of the un building, human beings are member of a whole in creation of one essence and soul, if one member is afflicted with pain, other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, the name of human you cannot retain. Thank you so much and sister sahar, so the. This poetry is uh off of shahit abantuda who is the sister of uh shaheed sadar. If it is said Old Fashioned you are, care not and stead fastly continue to be. Say i am the daughter of the message, from its light i get guidance. My shyness has not prevented me from the highs, it has not shackled my hands. No, and this veil hinders me not from my aim. Oh, sister, the moro is ours. Go on your path upwards. Oh, sister, the truth rises above, the cunning of the. Aggressors and in and sure this poetry really touches upon the idea that woman, her shyness, her hayat, her modesty, these are all representation of propagation for a greater truth, she is capable to do more than to follow what the western forces are to believe she is. Thank you so much for that poetry, sister and dr. Fadadi and thank you for your contributions to the show, sadly that is all that we have at time for this week, and thank you at home for watching as well, we will uh be joined by uh, yourselves and other guests next week for another edition of eye on islam. Ramadan in iran where ancient traditions blend with modern celebrations to create a truly unforgettable spiritual journey where everything comes alive with the spirit of the holy month, a unique experience like other. These and more on this edition of iran today. This week on expose, Benjamin Netanyahu vows to reject any calls to help the rafah invasion as he and joe biden intensified their staged public spat over zionist israels genocide in gaza. Now following the statement made by former President Donald Trump that there would be a blood bath if he is not elected in november. Leftist politicians and media personalities completely lose it on social media. And lastly, a recent political survey. Reveals that 50 of americans think trump is guilty and ought to be tried before the 2024 president ial election. Stay tuned for expos a. The truth is just the revelation away. This is forest. In todays show well be covering the growing. Popularity of cudsday and the frantic efforts of zinist extremists to undermine and sabotage it. Well, it tells you that the uh intend to intimidate, bully and harass any organization that gets in their way, and they intend to be able to occupy those organizations, so thats its been saying, these were organizations which did it off their own, but the designers didnt even have to lift finger, and somes some cases, because the organizations took each other to court. They contacted every. A nonbrown named person individual um back in 2017 saying you worked for an antisemite, how do you feel about it, but they didnt contact anyone with a brown sounding name, which shows uh where theyre coming from really, but yeah it really does take it out of you, but thanks to friends, thanks to supports, thanks to people like yourselves theyve gone through what you guys have gone through, you no that energy helps