The Candice Malcolm Show - December 23, 2021


“I pray everyday for Justin Trudeau. I pray that he will resign” (Ft. Rev. Majed El Shafie)


Episode Stats

Length

18 minutes

Words per Minute

170.9104

Word Count

3,157

Sentence Count

191

Hate Speech Sentences

21


Summary

Majid Al Shafi is a human rights advocate and the President and Founder of One Free World International, a group dedicated to fighting persecution of Christians around the world. In this episode, Majid shares his firsthand experience of religious persecution and how he uses his story to help others.


Transcript

00:00:00.040 Christians remain the most persecuted religious group on the planet. Canadians
00:00:04.980 should pause and think about those around the world who would like to
00:00:07.880 celebrate Christmas this year but cannot. I'm Candice Malcolm and this is The
00:00:11.400 Candice Malcolm Show.
00:00:16.160 Hi everyone, thank you so much for tuning into The Candice Malcolm Show. I hope
00:00:20.160 everyone is having a wonderful break. I hope that you are getting together, able
00:00:24.720 to gather with your loved ones this Christmas. I know for so many Canadians
00:00:28.280 they couldn't do it last year. We couldn't travel, we had heavy-handed measures in
00:00:32.420 place where many of us couldn't go to church, we couldn't pray, and we couldn't
00:00:36.320 have loved ones over to our house. We were stuck in the in the bubble situation so
00:00:40.380 you could only be gathering with people in your bubble according to government
00:00:45.040 edicts in various jurisdictions around the country and I think that gave us a
00:00:48.320 little bit of a taste of what it might be like to be a Christian in other parts of
00:00:52.960 the world. You know we take our freedom of religion so much for granted that
00:00:57.240 sometimes it's even hard to wrap our heads around the idea that so many
00:01:00.660 Christians around the world cannot celebrate Christmas. They can't and we
00:01:05.080 often hear about persecuted religious groups and I don't know that people
00:01:08.240 always connect the fact that many if not most of the world's persecuted
00:01:12.800 religious people are in fact Christians. So I want to get into that a
00:01:17.120 little bit on the show today. I have a wonderful guest joining me. My guest today is
00:01:21.560 Majid Al Shafi. Majid is a human rights advocate and the president and founder of
00:01:26.440 One Free World International. Majid's human rights journey, his own human rights
00:01:30.780 journey, began in Egypt when he was forced to flee after being tortured and
00:01:35.080 sentenced to death for his conversion to Christianity. He eventually made it to
00:01:38.980 Canada and has since decided to devote his life to helping others. He uses his
00:01:43.180 firsthand experience as a survivor of religious persecution to help others.
00:01:47.140 One Free World International, his organization, is one of the leading
00:01:51.460 organizations advocating for religious freedoms and minorities around the world. They
00:01:55.780 have 28 branches and countries all over. They've helped individuals in Pakistan,
00:02:00.120 Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Cuba, India and Bangladesh to name a few. So Majid, it's such
00:02:05.540 an honor to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:02:08.540 Thank you for having me. Thank you. So can you tell us a little bit more about your
00:02:13.900 organization and what specifically you do? One Free World International is a human
00:02:19.000 rights organization focusing on the freedom of religion. Around the world we have
00:02:23.500 branches in more than 28 different countries. We're the lead organization in
00:02:27.840 Canada when we are dealing with the freedom of religion issues. Basically, our
00:02:34.140 organization fighting in the front lines, focusing on four different parts, which is, or
00:02:40.640 four different missions, which is basically risking missions to get the
00:02:45.900 rescue Christians out of the critical situation, humanitarian aid, and advocating on their behalf,
00:02:54.540 and helping them resettling upon their arrival to Canada or North America in general. Just to
00:03:01.740 understand and for everybody to understand, there is one Presque Christian every three minutes
00:03:06.940 worldwide. Just last year, over 165,000 Christians was killed for their faith. More than 200 to 300 million
00:03:14.700 persecuted Christians worldwide. They don't make it to the news, to the mainstream news, and they don't
00:03:19.900 hear their stories, sadly. We would like to focus on other minorities, but not Christians for some
00:03:27.100 reasons. That's our media. In One Free World International, we care about every minority. We care about every
00:03:33.660 human being that's facing persecutions, not just Christians, but everybody. The situation, One Free World
00:03:41.980 Detonation was created and exists because I used to be one of them. I was Muslim converted to
00:03:48.780 Christianity back home in Egypt. I was arrested severely. I created a human rights organization
00:03:55.180 there. I was arrested. I was tortured severely. I was tortured for seven days in the Egyptian prison.
00:04:02.060 They hang me upside down. They took my nails off. They cut me with a knife in the back of my
00:04:08.540 shoulder. I put salt and lemon in the open wound. They crucified me. They released three dogs that
00:04:13.500 they didn't attack me because God was with me. I saw God in the midst of persecution. And I know that
00:04:20.540 God exists. And as he dies for us, we will live and will die for him. So One Free World Detention did not
00:04:27.180 exist because this is my job. This exists because that's my calling upon my life. So when I founded One
00:04:33.500 Free World Detention is to fight for others that used to be in the same position like myself.
00:04:37.660 Wow, that's such an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. So can you walk us
00:04:45.900 through the state of Christians, specifically in the region that you came from in the Middle East?
00:04:50.860 Because when I think back to countries like Egypt, you know, hundreds of years ago, thousands of years
00:04:56.780 ago, they were a place of different groups living side by side. I know there was once a sizable Christian
00:05:02.620 population in Egypt. There was once a sizable Jewish population as well. So what has happened to
00:05:09.500 Christians and other religious minorities in Egypt and the broader Middle East and why?
00:05:15.420 Well, in reality, the majority of Egypt was Christians, actually. In the seventh century,
00:05:21.980 when a Muslim leader by the name of Umar Ibn al-As, he entered Egypt and he forced most of the
00:05:26.380 Christians to convert to Islam. And there was around 30 million Christians at the time. You know what I
00:05:33.500 mean? Now we are less, we are maybe 10% of the population of Egypt. So this is something that
00:05:40.460 happens all around the Middle East, where the Muslim extremism like to take over and, and basically
00:05:48.300 punish the minorities and for them to convert to Islam or killing them or punishing them in another way is
00:05:53.020 to force them out. We saw this in Iraq. We saw this in Egypt. We saw this in Iran. We saw this in many
00:06:01.820 countries around the world, that they are based Muslim countries. And today, we see this happening
00:06:08.940 in Afghanistan. Today, we see Taliban took over. And the first thing the Taliban is doing is basically
00:06:16.300 hunting down the Christians, hunting down the Hazaras, hunting down the women and children, especially women
00:06:22.060 that want to receive education. We see them hunting down the minorities. But Christians really is the
00:06:28.780 canary in the coal mine. The minute that you see persecution happening to the Christians is
00:06:33.980 immediately mean that every other minority will be persecuted as well immediately. And especially as
00:06:39.260 well, the minority female minorities, the right will be taken away immediately as well. So we see this
00:06:45.900 happening in Afghanistan and one free world international preparing a mission in a matter of few days to go
00:06:51.260 there in the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan in an order to help with the refugees and to help with the
00:06:57.260 persecute Christians to get out of Afghanistan if this is necessary.
00:07:03.020 Wow, that's incredible. I know Afghanistan was all over the news earlier this year and the sad story of the Taliban
00:07:08.940 taking over. I want to ask you, though, with all of this persecution happening, with all of this horrible treatment of Christians,
00:07:16.860 you mentioned that it doesn't really make the legacy media. When we in Canada hear about refugees,
00:07:23.260 we're often hearing about Muslim refugees that are being forced out of Muslim-majority countries,
00:07:28.220 but we don't often hear about the treatment of Christians. So I just wonder why is it that the
00:07:32.780 Canadian government and the legacy media in Canada and the U.S. and throughout Europe and the West,
00:07:38.700 why don't they focus on the plight of Christian people in this region?
00:07:43.660 I think it's a white guilt. I don't know if this is a politically correct statement to make,
00:07:49.340 but I'm not really politically correct. I believe it's a white guilt. So basically,
00:07:56.300 the West and Canada and the United States and so on, they are countries that build on Christian and Jewish values
00:08:03.020 according to our Bible. And I don't understand why Christians is not something like when
00:08:12.380 our Canadian government speaking about minorities in Afghanistan, they never mentioned the Christians.
00:08:18.140 And I think it's really white rubbish, politically correctness that in our Canadian society
00:08:24.060 and the politically correctness, just to make it clear, it's not just in Canada,
00:08:28.460 it's in the United States, it's in England, it's in most of Europe and Australia and so on.
00:08:33.180 I think it's a cancer in our Western society. We have to speak the truth. We have to
00:08:38.460 be proud of who we are. We have to understand that, you know, there is no race can be blamed for
00:08:45.340 every crime on earth. You know, we have to move forward and politically correctness is the very
00:08:53.260 cancer that will destroy our Canadian fabric and our Western fabric. And I think we just need to
00:08:58.220 get out of that and face the truth and speak the truth. I really appreciate that. I love Canada,
00:09:04.140 and I wish that more of our political leaders would be patriotic and proud of Canada. Yes, we have
00:09:09.980 errors in the past, we've made horrible mistakes, there's been bad policies and bad leaders,
00:09:14.060 but fundamentally, we're doing something right. And just the very fact that people are still coming
00:09:19.340 from all over the world to come to Canada, they're fleeing persecution to find safety in Canada,
00:09:23.980 that's a good sign. So I wanted to ask you as well, because I remember when ISIS was sort of ravaging
00:09:34.140 Syria and Iraq, and they were committing genocide against the Yazidis in the Sinjar mountain region,
00:09:40.700 and your group played a leading role, a pivotal role in helping those Yazidis, specifically Yazidi
00:09:46.380 women who were the victim of slavery. You helped them escape a tremendous, tremendous story, helped
00:09:53.020 them resettle in Canada. I'm wondering if you could tell our listeners and our viewers a little bit about
00:09:58.220 how you helped the Yazidis and what you did for those women. Well, when ISIS entered in the Yazidi
00:10:05.500 territories and Sinjar mountain and so on, and all of these areas, they was, they kidnapped more than
00:10:12.460 7,000 years, they raped them, they used them as sex slaves. It was the most horrible crime that we
00:10:19.660 witnessed in our modern history, falling in front of our eyes on the TV and the social media. And it was
00:10:29.820 horrible genocide. And our, our organization was on the ground immediately. We was able to rescue more
00:10:37.980 than 600 years. We was able to help resettling much more families here advocating on their behalf with
00:10:44.140 the Canadian government. The Canadian government that the liberal government that refused to recognize
00:10:49.260 this as a genocide three times in our Canadian parliament before the UN recognized it as a genocide
00:10:55.980 is the most horrible thing. And here, the Canadian government receiving more than 40,000 Syrian
00:11:02.060 refugees and only 900 Yazidis. I mean, it's just, it is based on politically correct, purely politically
00:11:10.460 correctness and, and, and voting system, you know, the Yazidis is a small little group, so nobody care about
00:11:18.460 their voting voices. But, you know, when we're dealing with the 40,000 Syrians, you know, you're, you're
00:11:24.940 satisfying the Muslim community per se, or you're getting them to, to vote for you once they are the,
00:11:32.060 the three years mark and so on. I, I, I think we have really to focus on the most vulnerable minorities
00:11:38.780 and to bring them here. You know, we're talking about, you know, Yazidis Christians, Baha'is,
00:11:44.780 Ahmadiyya's, Uyghurs, Falun Gong, Tibetians. We are talking about many minorities that deserve to be here,
00:11:52.620 to be rescued. And Canada is the land of the free, is the land of the refugee and the temple of human
00:11:59.740 rights. And I, I, I really encourage our government to do more for the minorities instead of being
00:12:05.340 politically correct. Isn't it funny, Majid, Justin Trudeau is more than happy to say that Canada commits
00:12:12.780 genocide. He, he, he even said that Canada is currently committing genocide against First Nations
00:12:18.540 peoples. And yet when there's, uh, overwhelming evidence of a genocide happening, uh, committed by
00:12:24.540 ISIS, uh, one of the most despicable organizations we've ever seen, uh, for some reason to your point,
00:12:30.460 there was three votes and, and, and they said no three times. What, what, I, I know you, you sort of
00:12:35.740 alluded to the idea of voting blocks and, um, you know, trying to appease a, a broader, uh, population of,
00:12:43.500 of Arab Muslims, but I mean, can, can, can, can, can you, can you help us understand why
00:12:48.700 the Canadian government, the federal government, Justin Trudeau, the, you know, the feminist, um,
00:12:53.180 the, the, the, the person who's supposed to be the champion of refugees, what, why he wouldn't
00:12:57.020 recognize, um, these awful crimes as being what they were, which was genocide.
00:13:01.820 I think Justin Trudeau is the only one can answer this question. Uh, but from my understanding
00:13:07.740 and from what I've been reviewing and just my humble opinion, anyway, I think if he did,
00:13:12.540 he will upset maybe some, uh, some sectors and in the Muslim religion or from the Muslim community,
00:13:19.820 because ISIS of course, standing for the Islamic state. And we understand that, that this is maybe
00:13:25.980 would not be politically correct. Maybe there is the international obligation for Canada to do more.
00:13:30.940 So he was worried about that. Maybe he was worried to upset you, uh, uh, of the Muslim countries as well.
00:13:38.060 I cannot really understand our prime minister per se. Uh, I, the Bible said, pray for our prime
00:13:44.620 minister, pray for our government. And we, I do this daily. I pray for Justin Trudeau daily. I pray
00:13:49.900 that he will resign quite honestly, just, you know, that's my prayer. The Canadian government,
00:13:55.660 we have to understand something. The Canadian government have to listen to Canadians
00:13:59.900 and we become the silent minority. Sorry, the silent majority. Uh, the Canadian government
00:14:06.460 have to understand and any government, I don't care if you're liberal or conservative or, or green or
00:14:12.220 NDP or whatever you are, listen to your people, you know, don't worry about politically correctness
00:14:17.980 right now. This is how the beginning of a disaster of picking away our rights. We see what's happening
00:14:23.100 in Brexit. We see what's happened in, in, in, when Donald Trump won the election in the White House.
00:14:29.740 It was the, the, the, the silence majority, you know, and many people will blame the right,
00:14:35.740 the extreme right wing for, for, for stuff like this. I tell them, no, blame the left,
00:14:40.860 that they just keep choking us and choking us and not listening to our voices,
00:14:45.740 that now we become the majority that become forced to be silenced. And, and, and I advise everybody,
00:14:53.100 listen to us. There is no left and right. We are all Canadians. We're all in the same boat.
00:14:58.060 Listen to our voice and see the, the true pain of the people. And then you will really become the
00:15:02.540 champion of the people. Well, amen to that, Majid. I, a final question for you. So, so you,
00:15:08.540 you come from Egypt. Uh, I'm not sure how long you've been in Canada for, but I'm wondering,
00:15:13.180 you know, it's Christmas and so many Christians around the world have slightly different traditions
00:15:19.500 and, and, and things that they do to celebrate. So I'm, I'm wondering if you can tell us a little
00:15:23.740 bit about, uh, you, your family, your community, what, what specifically do you do to celebrate
00:15:28.380 Christmas? Well, Christmas is the most sensitive time of the year for the persecuted Christians.
00:15:33.980 And many people doesn't know that, but the attacks on Christians actually increases tremendously
00:15:39.740 during Christmas time. So think about that while you are going around the tree, Christmas trees and
00:15:45.500 gifts under the trees and Santa Claus. And I pray and I bless everyone enjoying Christmas with your
00:15:51.340 family. Please enjoy. It is a precious, precious, precious time. But from December 24 until January
00:15:59.820 7, which is the, the, the Orthodox Christmas, you know, this is the period that Chris has been attacked
00:16:05.020 severely. And just last year, I think 26 countries, uh, Chris's was attacked during Christmas ceremonies
00:16:12.380 and 26 countries, especially in Nigeria, Egypt, North Korea, uh, uh, uh, Iran, uh, in, in many,
00:16:21.340 many countries that it's a long list of countries, uh, that been attacked Sudan. So we are expecting
00:16:28.540 attacks during this time. So the majority of time during Christmas and new year and all the way to
00:16:33.900 January 7, we really, our organizations are just focusing on monitoring the situation around the world
00:16:39.180 and presenting as much help as possible as we can. Okay. Well, I, I said that was the last question,
00:16:44.540 but I did have one final, final question, Majeed, for our viewers, for people watching who, who, who
00:16:50.380 really feel concerned, deep levels of concern and want to help. What, what, what can, what can we do
00:16:56.780 to help support the work you do and help support your organization? Well, basically the first thing I
00:17:02.300 will ask is a prayer. And, and I know that everybody say that, and some people mean it, some people they don't.
00:17:07.420 Don't prayer really make a difference more than you can ever imagine. I saw miracles happens because
00:17:12.300 prayers and people, when they pray, God listen, really listen, and he sees our heart.
00:17:18.860 The second thing, just go on our website, onefreeworldinternational.org or OFWI.org.
00:17:26.300 Uh, just go on our website. Uh, you found donation, uh, uh, section, give to the organization. This is
00:17:33.580 Christmas season. And I'm not shy or ashamed to say, give, and instead of buying silly gifts,
00:17:40.300 uh, and just throwing it in the garbage later on, give the gift of life, give, give the, give to the
00:17:47.100 people so we can able to help them, uh, to rescue them and be able to make a difference. Don't wait for
00:17:53.820 a miracle. Be one. Thank you. That's wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Majeed. It's, it's an honor to have you on.
00:18:00.300 Um, I, I hope that I, I encourage listeners to go and, and, and find that website, One World
00:18:06.220 International. We'll, we'll provide a link and, uh, give what you can. Majeed, Merry Christmas. God
00:18:11.340 bless you. Thank you for all the work that you do. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. God bless you.
00:18:16.940 All right. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.