REMINDER TO LIVERPOOL’S HIJABI MODEL
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
228.25371
Summary
In this episode, I talk about the recent photo shoot of a Somali model, Halima Aydin, who has been in the industry for a few years now, and the mistakes she has made along the way. I also give some advice to other Somali sisters in the fashion industry.
Transcript
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Right now I'm in Al Shifa hospital which is located in Idlib city and funded by One Nation.
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On average, each patient that we're treating in this intensive care unit is costing 500
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So many children have died unnecessarily because we doctors don't have the drugs and the equipment
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People reading the Qur'an daily before you instructed me to download this app.
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I never knew that this app would have such an impact on people's lives.
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You can go into the description box, click the link for iOS and Android and build your
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As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh brothers and sisters and dear friends, hope
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If you guys remember about one or two years ago I'd done a video about Halima Aydan who
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was a Somali model, you know, who'd done many shoots for many different fashion magazines,
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And she talked about her compromising, how she was made to compromise her hijab and made
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I think it's a Yemeni sister, may Allah bless her inshaAllah, that basically she's done
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a photo shoot for, I think it's Liverpool, if I'm not mistaken, if it's Liverpool Football
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Club or something along those lines, I'm not really sure.
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And basically, the reason I'm doing this video, I just want to make some clarification.
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I'm just trying to give advice to any sister who's in the industry of modelling because I
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do know, from what I hear, that sisters, girls, they're into this whole modelling thing.
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They even maybe brag to each other, like, you know, I'm doing modelling, etc.
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I don't know why that's seen as a yardstick of success.
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But I'm just doing this video just to give an advice, just from the mistakes sister
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Halima Aydin done as well, so for my dear sister as well here, because I just saw this
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randomly on Instagram, and this was one of the comments that I saw, which is basically
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one of her friends, you know, congratulating it.
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She was like, okay, good morning to those on the other side of the globe, and good afternoon
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to us, and good evening, night, if you are on the other side of the globe.
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So this morning, I woke up to the most beautiful thing to see on social media, and that is,
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To all my Yemenis, Yemeniat, can we all please share her video and post it everywhere, and
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be gassed that it's one of our own doing this, and it's my sister's name, I am rooting for
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you and cannot wait to see you go further and absolutely smash it.
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Okay, there's a few things I just want to touch upon, because it's very important, because
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from this note, I understand, and in the photo shoot, she wasn't doing anything, I would
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say impermissible per se, yeah, there might be some kind of free mixing, etc.
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But from what I say, like, obviously, we assume the best, and it wasn't that she was addressed
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I'm just trying to make this as a bigger picture.
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I'm not here to necessarily have a go at her for that.
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I'm just generally saying, let's look at the bigger picture, guys, yeah?
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Here is that, and we see this a lot, it's not just with the Yemenis, it's like Somalis,
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be it the Kurds, be it the Turks, be it the Arabs.
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There's, like, this thing of, you know, when we see someone, like, for example, I think
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it was Idris Elba, I think it was Elba, I don't know what his name is, he was married
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to a Somali, and it's like, and the Somali community was celebrating this, and it's like,
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that's a kufar, if I'm not mistaken, if I'm not mistaken, what is there to celebrate?
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Like, and the same we would do in our community, if there's somebody who's doing something,
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and we praise it based on worldly affairs, and I'm thinking, what is there to be gassed
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Why do we feel so inferior, that we have to feel as if, if Nike came to me, and I was
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Like, this goes for brothers as well, who do things where they're modelling with girls,
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Why do we get so fixated, and so hyped, and gassed about these brands?
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Do you think in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Nike, Armani, Versace, Louis Vuitton,
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We need to ask ourselves these questions, okay?
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Are we doing it so we can gasp, brag, oh, look, you see me on Louis Vuitton, oh, you
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see me on Vogue magazine, oh, you see, what the hell is this?
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Once again, I am not having a go at the sister.
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I'm just saying, when we look at sister Halima Aydin's story, look, we can read it
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My mum asked me to quit modelling a long time ago.
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Sis was literally the only person who had the purest intention for me.
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The advice she gave me was deen over dunya, and her stance has never, ever changed, okay?
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So I'm giving advice to my dear sister who are watching this.
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Wallahi, you guys have so much more to offer the world rather than just your beauty, yeah?
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And not only that, when you go to these industries, shaytan has a plan.
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And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, do not follow the footsteps of shaytan.
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Because what happens is, is that it's going to be, is that it's going to come with a simple,
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mere, just photo shoot for Liverpool, or whatever it may be.
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And then from there, what happens is, you're going to go down the spiral route, what sister Aydin went through.
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Okay, look at this picture with her jeans on her head.
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Why did I allow them to put jeans on my head, when at the time I had only worn skirt and long dresses?
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She's saying, jeans is not something I used to wear, like, on my, as trousers.
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And this one, she goes, look, I went back to my hotel room and just sobbed after this shot.
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Because deep down, I knew this wasn't, this wasn't it.
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Also, a very common struggle when you are the first to do something.
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Like, what was that hideous green grass thing on my head, yeah?
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And this one, again, I had to delete this off my page because, honestly, this wasn't representation.
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And I am so sorry, I was too young and naive to see it back then.
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But at the same time, I justified it because, look, it's Vogue Arabia.
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But wrong is wrong, no matter how hard you can try to convince it.
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Sister, from this sister, Halima Aydin, to my dear sisters, whoever's watching it, who's in the modeling, yeah?
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And like I said, again, this sister didn't necessarily do something really bad, you know,
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But other than that, the point I'm trying to make is, this is a sister who's in the industry,
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and she's telling you, this industry do not give a damn about you.
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And if they're going to compromise your religion, if you feel yourself going to these photo shoots,
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be you a brother or sister, and you start noticing for yourself that you are compromising in your deen,
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in the context of salah time comes, you're even missing salah.
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Because Nike manager said, I'm sorry, yeah, you got a lot of photo shoots.
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Wallahi, that is the most dangerous thing ever.
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Because you deem Nike to be like, oh my gosh, Armani, how can I say to Armani, the manager of Armani,
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So, if you feel this inside your heart, wallahi, there should be big alarm bells.
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If you say no to these big names, and not at the cost of your religion,
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and once again, I'm not seeing the sister compromise a religion.
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If the biggest brand came to me and told me, I want to do this, etc.
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Like, if it was something permissible, I would say, okay, no problem.
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But if I realize it's something which goes against my religion,
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I don't care if they gave me a million pound check.
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The way this sister is being promoted, like saying, oh, for all the emanations we're presenting,
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no, we should be proud of this sister for observing the hijab.
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You know, I've said it once, and I'll say it again here,
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If anything, I want the girls to know Halima took one for the team.
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You know, I sacrificed my career so that they could feel comfortable to speak up in any setting.
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This is our Yemeni sister who is wearing the hijab for the sake of Allah.
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And we should bigger up further to saying that her journey with the hijab or whatever,
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should be the focus point that I hope she gets better at that.
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I hope she, you know, like, you know, I'm rooting for you
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and cannot wait to see you go further and absolutely smash it.
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And this person who wrote that, I understand where she's coming from.
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I hope she smashes it when it comes to their connection with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
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What I'm seeing is, why don't we use that when it comes to Islam?
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Why is it, why do we not look for recognition with Allah?
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And I'll just end with a verse in the Quran where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
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The worldly life is nothing but an illusionary enjoyment.
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Brothers and sisters, do not be deluded with this life.
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May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala keep us firm and focus
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and allow us to smash it with our Lord and the hereafter, inshallah.
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I have really, really, I'm not here to have a go at her.
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And I'm not just saying this because of, you know, whatever reason.
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I'm saying it because I didn't necessarily see you doing anything particularly wrong.
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But yeah, please, my dear sisters, genuinely to find your true value
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Till next time, assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.