How to Purify your intentions || Ali Dawah
Episode Stats
Summary
In this video, I talk about my intentions and how I battled with my intentions when it came to starting the dawah scene and the problems I had when I started on public platforms such as YouTube and social media.
Transcript
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Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh brothers and sisters and dear friends
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and family should I say we are one big family so today's video is going to be about me and my
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intentions the intentions problems that I had for example when I started the dawah the youtube
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for example when I'm on public platforms when I'm giving for example talks how I battled with
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my intentions and how I fought it and tried to better myself in the best ways possible so I
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thought I'll share it with you guys because a lot of people go through these intention problems
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and sometimes we don't understand the matter of intentions really don't understand it you know
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because which I will inshallah touch upon so basically brothers and sisters when I got
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into the dawah scene the youtube or whatever it is this that to be honest I wasn't really I didn't
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have it planned out I'm going to do videos I didn't me and cameras were not made for each other but
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as you can see they are my first love from now on so basically I got into it etc and one of the
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biggest problems that I had when I got into the matter of youtube and videos is for example one
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of the first things was for example obviously why am I doing what I'm doing you know am I doing it
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for the sake of Allah am I doing it for fame am I doing it for this or that yeah this is certain
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things that I had to question myself and I'm just being I want to be honest with you guys so you guys
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can understand and see how I battled it because I don't know I'm human being and obviously I've seen
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this kind of stuff so I'm going to share with you guys so the first thing was basically when I got
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there I needed to know why I'm doing what I'm doing so I questioned myself and I said look the youth have
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issues out there there the zina is a problem alcohol gambling drugs gang etc etc these are
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problems and these are problems that I want to help the youth in do you get it because I've come from
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a jahiliya and and I've seen these kind of stuff you get I'm trying to say even though alhamdulillah
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I've stayed away from alcohol drugs and certain things but nightlife clubbing and I don't mean it
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to exposing myself but I've seen it I've seen the damages that it brings so seeing that I want to
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convey it to my brothers and my sisters and friends in humanity to basically abstain from
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this stuff so I knew why I wanted to do what I wanted to do when it came to dawah dawah is something
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that I loved because at the end of the day I was lost Allah guided me and obviously we know the
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prophet said indeed none of you truly believe in until you love for yourself we love for your brother
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so because we have Islam we believe Islam is something really amazing for all of us so we want
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to share it so that's why I knew why I was doing so I questioned myself and I understood and I said
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okay alhamdulillah my intentions are good now what just because the intentions are good at the beginning
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doesn't mean it's going to carry on like that to the end because along the way you get bombs this
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that shaitan's on your case because if he sees you doing something beneficial inshallah Allah accepts
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it from us he will be on our cases so with me one of the things that I struggle with is for example
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releasing videos at the beginning alhamdulillah when we have videos that are reaching five ten thousand views
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we are happy that those amount of people are benefiting but as time went by shaitan will
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start to get to me and be like okay I would have moments where I will check a certain video and the
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shaitan will make me feel like oh only five thousand views or ten thousand views so what was happening
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was I was starting to realize why am I concentrating more on the views you get it so what it is is it's
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about reflecting upon it you know you can't say okay oh my gosh I'm a bad person for thinking
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I know you're human being you're going to think of certain stuff with intentions wise you get
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it so I understood that problem and I said okay what can I do to stop that so once I realized that
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and I said okay um because what happens is again that makes you when you look at the views in my
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head I was thinking okay need to do this video better or this and I was gonna hold on a second
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hold on a second why am I trying to do this or that to make a video better or reach further no no no
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so I realized the problem and I said how can I deal with this so I had my way of saying you know
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what from now on I don't care there's a lot of youtubers go through this as well you know like
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specifically from as muslims this is wrong we should not have this mentality we do our videos
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so people can benefit so basically I understood and I said you know what I don't care if I put it
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I set myself and my brain and I made a dua to Allah for him to help me and purify my intentions
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I said I'm doing this video because it needs to be done it's got it's got to be done I don't care if
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it if 500 people watch it a thousand people that's it from that moment on I understood the problem
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and I found a solution I said look I don't care if it's ten thousand uh five thousand three thousand
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views I don't care anymore I'm doing a video that needs to be done I put it out there I leave it
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I don't care so uh alhamdulillah I battled that within uh those uh techniques and tactics that I
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used and alhamdulillah um I've come over that uh and all praises and glory belong to Allah
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the second thing that I um the second thing that I had an issue was with for example um my video you
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know the black israelites the the um the black jews down to black jews which you can see in this
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corner when I was doing this video and this is something that I want to share with you guys
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is that day I wanted to get a haircut like like you know haircut um you know look nice but then I came
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to a realization of why um why do I want to get a haircut and why like for what am I doing the video
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because the video needs to be done and they need dawah and so people can watch the video and be
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benefited or am I doing the video just to look good for what so and this doesn't mean just because
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oh you want to look good means your intentions are wrong no but at that specific moment of time
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I thought to myself no for me to I knew my intentions were like not to look good this that
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but for me to have that doubt and think okay why did I why am I doing that I the way I battled it
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is this is me this is personal I said I'm not gonna get a haircut that day I'm gonna go looking
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ragu like like whatever I don't care so I went that day specific day and I just did the video
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as it is I didn't get my haircut see this is a way of battling your intention do you get what I'm
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trying to say because you're understanding the problem and just to prove a point to yourself and
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to other sponsors that look it's not about how I look or this stuff do you get what I'm trying to say
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so what I did was I went there I didn't get a haircut I didn't go and just wear like this clothes
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and once again I repeated this doesn't mean that on my videos I do try to look good in a way
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to be presentable not in a way of oh let the people did you get what I'm trying to say none
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of that so alhamdulillah that was the second problem that I had and this is how I dealt with
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it and this is what you can use as well which I will come to inshallah now the third thing is when
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I'm out in public people approach me alhamdulillah they like the stuff that we do me Imran brother
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Oyan brother Musa they like the stuff that we do so they just can't want to take a picture
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this is one of the things that is really hard because when people come to you shaitan is on
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your case when people come and approach me and say can I take a picture this that shaitan will
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come and make you feel like you're something special one of the ways that I found a way of
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combating this and this relates to exactly when I'm giving a talk is before I start my talk and
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I've realized wherever I am on tv camera whatever it is I like to start my talk by saying all praises
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glory and gratitude belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala everything that we do we do it with
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his permission so this helped me to reassure myself and the person opposite me so when
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somebody comes and says to me I watch your videos I say may Allah bless you make dua for
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me all praises and glory belong to Allah do you get what I'm trying to say so this was a way of
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me to convey it to him and say look all praises and glory belong to Allah because if it's not
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with his permission Ali Dawah Dawah man Oyan man or Musa man we are nothing we are nobody do you get
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it so this was alhamdulillah a really good way now I know a lot of brothers out there they say
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okay I have intentions wrong this that so I want to stop doing videos and stop doing Dawah no
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Aki because at the end of the day this is my advice to you if you're in the Dawah scene yeah
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there's shaitan is going to be on your case all the time if shaitan sees you doing something
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beneficial it's going to try to stop you from doing that now at the same time that can be a test from
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Allah to you so you just can't say okay I'll give up hey I'm not stop no no no no no you battle it
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you fight it just the way I gave you a few examples of how I do it you have to battle it
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and try to you know try to you know figure out ways of overcoming that instead of saying oh I
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give up a white flag no no no you have to battle it inshaAllah you know and one of the things that
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really I remind myself of is as you know the first three people are going to enter the hellfire is the
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one who read the Quran the one who gave in charity and the one who fought in the way of Allah
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these are the first three that's going to enter the hellfire listen to me carefully this is a
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hadith that really makes me think and reflect and purifies my intention I remind myself of that
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every time the first one is when Allah calls him and says what have you done for me come here
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oh Allah I read the Quran for you yeah he's going to say you are lying you read the Quran so people
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can say you know the deen you're knowledgeable person go to the hellfire number two the one he's
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going to say come here what did you do for me oh Allah I gave charity in your wealth in
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abundance and all my wealth Allah is going to say you're lying you did it so people can say
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you're a generous man so you didn't do it for my sake you did it so people can say ah you're this
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or that so Allah said take him to the hellfire the third man is the one who fought in the way of
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Allah Allah is going to say what have you done I've done this and that he's going to say you're lying
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you did it so they can say you are a brave man so these are the first three people that's going to
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enter the hellfire brothers and sisters so this really makes me try to purify my intentions as much
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as possible and deal with it so these were the main three problems that I had and another problem
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was basically um you know uh having special effects or these kind of stuff on my videos me
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personally I found that to be affecting my intentions so due to that uh you know like you know making the
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videos due to that I try my best to not have no special effects or these it's personal to me it's
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just something for I'll share with you guys now I hope you guys have benefited from what I'm saying to
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you and I don't want to finish there is we really need to understand our intentions because we have
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a narration from the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam uh from umar ibn qattab where he says that
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every intention is based uh sorry every uh action that you do is based on his intentions if I'm migrating
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from here to Scotland and if it's for the sake of Allah I will get rewarded accordingly to that
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but if I am leaving here to go to Scotland because there's a marriage proposal and I want to get married
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then my uh intentions are for something else even though you can make your intentions for that
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to be for the sake of Allah you can say oh Allah I'm going to Scotland to get married to complete
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half my deen and keep away from fitna alhamdulillah you can do that so do you get what I'm trying to
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say and this is really important and there is a saying which I am not 100% sure that uh one of the
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scholars uh back in the time said that the greatest thing that I have dealt with is my intentions
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fighting my intentions constantly is the biggest battle that I have had um so basically brothers
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and sisters when you are wearing the hijab right obviously not brothers sisters and brothers when
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you're growing your beard or whatever it may be if your intentions are for the wrong reason let me
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grow my beard so I can look nice let me wear my hijab because I want to look nice you need to
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understand that you are you will not be getting rewarded for that under their judgment if you come to
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Allah and say oh Allah I grew my beard or for example my hijab for you Allah will say no you did it
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because you wanted to look good you wanted to look nice you know you did it because of a fashion
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accessory you grew you grew beard so you can look nice to the opposite gender so what's going to
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happen is you're getting no rewards so you really need to understand and purify intentions why am I
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wearing my hijab why am I growing my beard why am I giving dawah why am I nice to people why
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obviously you should be nice to people you're hurt anyways but I'm saying for the sake of Allah
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so your intentions should be on point otherwise your deeds your actions nullified they don't mean
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nothing you know they don't mean nothing at all so brothers and sisters this is about it from me
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hope you guys have benefited inshallah and like I said once again that's the way I battled my
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intentions inshallah you guys have benefited me Allah grant every single one of you guys jannah
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and all praises glory and gratitude belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I am nothing I am nobody
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and I don't mean in a way to be humble we are nobody we do what we do for the sake of Allah as
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much as we can your intentions are never ever going to be hundred percent never try to battle
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them battle them inshallah that's about it from me have a beautiful day inshallah I'm going to have
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a couple of videos at the end if you're in a haram relationship and you want to leave your
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boyfriend or your girlfriend watch the videos at the end inshallah that's about it