Ali Dawah - January 10, 2022GANGSTER RETURNS FOR ALI DAWAH - KICKS OFF WITH MERCY
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
213.15651
Summary
In this episode, we speak to Ali about his experience of being approached by Mike the previous week and how he dealt with it. We also discuss the impact this had on him and the impact it had on the community.
Transcript
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So, we're here with, brother, what's your name?
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I'm Mike, for the first time I introduced this.
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Now, brothers and sisters, we just want to clarify a few things, okay?
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Actually, I wanted to speak to Mike the following week, yeah?
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Because I truly wanted to understand, because I felt as if Mike had some sort of frustration, yeah?
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There was something that he was triggered by, and I wanted to know that.
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On that day, he behaved like this, or I may have behaved a certain way towards him as well,
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and I'm just going to judge him on that, and I'm going to close the chapter.
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And that's why, if you remember, Mike, the following week when I came,
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he was trying to have a go at Hato and for her rubbish as well.
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So, obviously, you were still a bit maybe upset from the previous week,
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but tell us from your point of view what happened that day,
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and maybe some things that you may want to share to why he was a little bit hostile.
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So, first of all, I want to thank this brother here, right?
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And I call him a brother, because at the end of the day, we're brothers,
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for being a big man, for being a humble guy, just for being himself and approaching me last week.
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As he says, last week, I had a different mission.
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And really, that mission was actually influenced by the previous week.
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Because the previous week, what happened, people basically said,
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oh, this guy is anti-Muslim, he's anti-Islamic.
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And I said, wait, have you not seen me debating with the Christians before?
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So, I thought, okay, if you haven't seen that, I'll come and show you.
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So, that's why I then did, I came out specifically for Hatun,
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who I actually, I'm just a person that don't like bullies.
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And I've seen her do certain things, and I thought, no, I'm not going to endorse this.
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So, I thought, I'm going to just go, and I'm going to speak even louder than I did when I was with you.
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So, basically, now, he approached me last week, so I was on a different mission.
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And I still had lingering, lingering feelings from our previous interaction.
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Not because of him, because I'm not going to hold anger against him.
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And at the end of our discussion, I shook his hand, put my hand on him like that.
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But when I was getting certain feedback from, obviously, people supporting him,
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if you want to put it like that, who were coming at me with negativity.
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Someone said that they would slap you, which I didn't hear.
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So, people were coming at me with negativity after that.
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That made me in a position where, although I spoke with Ali last week, the second week,
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So, I give you credit, obviously, for approaching me.
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And I'll also agree with you and be honest that I didn't want to engage at that time.
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Now, in terms of what happened on the day, I will explain.
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Number one, there was something that happened on the day, literally minutes before the video with Ali started that was not included in that video.
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And there were also things from my personal life and my experience that made me resentful, suspicious,
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and, let's say, have a low patience of, I wouldn't even say Muslims, more like situations where I see maybe Arabs are picking on someone from my race.
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So, automatically, I was in a position where I wanted to fight.
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And then that came and involved itself with Ali, which had nothing to do with Ali, really.
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So, you can ask me what happened, because I've been speaking for a whole long time.
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What you say I can relate to, because you know why?
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Let me just take my grass off so we can have eye-to-eye contact.
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Me, personally, Mike, since I came to Islam, there is no one that has...
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But since I came to Islam, there is no one that has made me suffer as much as the Muslims.
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Now, you might be thinking, what do you mean by that?
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The far-right, some extreme Shias, not all, Ahmadis, Zionists, you name it.
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And I expect from them, because it's your enemy.
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But when you get hit from the back, it hurts more.
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When somebody comes and hits you from the back, it hurts more.
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So to me, when it came to marriage, I suffered racism.
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I was rejected based on not being a specific culture.
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And I'm saying to them, look, I'm a Muslim as well.
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So I've been beaten in that way, not literally, many times.
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Even in this very park, I've been oppressed by certain Muslims.
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You come here, name call, do a variety of other stuff.
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So I know where you're coming from to a point where if I, if there was any reason, if I was
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to leave Islam, it would never be because of the Quran or a hadith.
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If I continuously get bullied by the Mexicans, I'm going to have, be apprehensive towards
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I'm not going to have tolerance towards Mexicans.
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Allah says in the Quran, speak the truth, even if it's against yourself or your kin.
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That means if I know my friend came and my friend is my Muslim brother, let's say, and
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If I know he's wronged you, I would tell him, brother, you're wrong.
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I don't care if I know you, I don't care if you're my Muslim brother, I don't care
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if my mom and my family know you, you are wrong.
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Because this is justice and we need to uphold justice.
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So when you came to me and when I saw that, obviously I didn't know the full picture and
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I have to blame myself because I came shouting as well.
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If you remember, I came shouting, if you remember, do you get it?
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What happened is this, let me just speak quickly.
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So what happened was Lamin, who I'm going to apologize to as well because I
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Lamin was debating another man who's like Jamaican.
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He was not the most, he was not the, he doesn't speak like you, for example.
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He was struggling to actually speak words, let alone to speak his opinion.
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And what I saw from standing and watching him, it was never my plan to get involved.
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And what I saw was from me standing in the crowd.
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So while he's trying to, Lamin asked him a question.
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Number two, when he started speaking, he was stuttering.
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And then number three, they started mocking his accent.
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When I was on the street, I got a lot, they call me gangster.
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But, same way you would, you would defend a Muslim if they were being bullied, same way
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you would defend anybody, but especially a Muslim, if they were being bullied by other
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Even if I said, oh, I am whatever, I'm still going to be what I am.
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So when I'm there and I'm watching a black man being bullied.
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And then the next minute, I didn't even plan it.
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And I straight away, I said, listen, bro, stop.
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You don't need to keep trying to justify yourself.
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Let the man who is grilling you justify himself.
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Because right now, as far as I'm concerned, what I said, he's a black man performing for
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So what you then came in, at that point, there was a commotion.
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And then you came in not knowing what had happened.
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No, that's definitely your fault because you could have asked me what's going on.
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But that discussion, we moved from one location.
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By the time your camera, people set up the camera.
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So five minutes physically, I'm not like, ah, anymore.
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So as soon as we started, I just carried on from where I left off.
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I'm not going to lie, hostility in that moment.
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Because I was burning because of what had happened.
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Now, why was that burning because of what had happened?
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And I'm not going to go into details, but I've had my experiences of deep racism.
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With people, I would say, from a specific region.
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And that's what made me, in that moment, react the way I did.
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So I want to apologize to Ali in front of everyone for, number one, coming at him with
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He was, the only mistake he made, he didn't ask what was going on.
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But I did also come and shout as well, which we have left a bad taste in your mouth about
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I just, if I have to be honest, I just thought you was their captain.
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What I'm saying, I just thought these people that were doing that, we're doing that because
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So in that moment when we was actually debating, whatever, we were having a conversation, I
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didn't even really want to debate it because I was just like, more like, I was just continuing
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So when, at some point, someone, you gave me an example as to why Christianity and Judaism
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Straight away, someone is like, why are you talking?
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Yeah, and then I was like, I was like, then I said the wrong word.
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And then I was like, I wish someone would touch me.
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Because at that point, from when that was said to me, it became a different thing.
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Obviously, listen, I'll tell the camera, I don't know Jack.
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All I mean is, if someone's going to hit me in this city...
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So without longing it out, I just want to apologize again to Ali.
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I want to apologize to all the Muslims for coming across in that way.
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And as I say, I've got Muslims in my family that have spoken to me and they said,
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look, this behavior is not what we raised you like.
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And they said, look, we know you and the truth is this happened because of a resentment
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you develop of what has happened to you in the past.
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And, you know, that's all I can say at the moment.
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I apologize as well because at the end of the day, you know, sometimes we do come to the
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park and we have this, like, because it's chaos here, you know, stuff happened.
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We have pre-assumptions as well where we're thinking, okay, that person's shouting, he
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So I did come shouting back at you when you was having your first argument, which I do
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I'm against that kind of attitude of taking the mic out of someone because they're stuttering.
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But anyways, look, I really appreciate your humbleness that you've come and apologized.
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But I do really relate with the stuff that you shared with me off camera.
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Can I just mention something quickly before you go ahead?
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Now, on the subject of shouting, and I explained, because last week there was another brother,
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Muslim guy, that wanted to fight me because he said I was shouting.
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And by me shouting, I'm being disrespectful to the Muslims.
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And the way I always go away is I do something or I'm involved in something.
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And then later on when I calm down, I start to break it down.
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It's not because in the moment when he said that, I said, come on then, let's go for it.
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And I was all, but later on, it was bugging me.
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It's just that we want to show you that we really believe what we're saying.
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So, as I'm speaking, like the brother said, why are you?
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The guy said, well, why are you shouting so much?
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There's no bone in me that is disrespectful or hates anybody.
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As soon as I left you, it went out the window in terms of, like, deep anger.
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Obviously, when I started getting threats or in person, online, then that keeps in me
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You know, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, he said, I only came to perfect good character.
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And this is why I tell you, one of the biggest enemies to Islam are Muslims.
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Muslims, I always say this, and I'll say it again, because our attitude and how we deal
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with people, sadly, it causes people to have resentment.
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I'm not saying all the time, but sadly, as Muslims, the way we conduct ourselves can be
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arrogant, can be dismissive, can be, like, in a certain way where it leaves the base
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If I was not a Muslim and I went through what I went through, bro, I'll be honest with you,
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man, I would have a bad resentment towards Muslims.
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This is not correct, but it just shows us that how individual, all of us, have a responsibility.
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And I'll just end on that, no, brothers and sisters, inshallah, everybody, subhanallah,
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look, if somebody owns up to their mistake, that is a big thing to me, do you get what
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And with all this defraud and this nonsense, whatever it may be, we should stop this kind
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of attitude and learn from one another and take this video, inshallah, as a reminder
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for us to fix up because we have emotional impact on individuals, how we treat them.
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It was a pleasure, man, I really, really appreciate it.
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And brothers and sisters, hope you enjoyed this video.
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Please share it because I didn't know so people can now understand the context, what exactly
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happened, why it happened, and we can learn from that, inshallah.
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And we'll probably see more of Mike on Salaam Corner.
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Until next time, assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.