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

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 0.99

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 0.98

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 1.00

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 0.82

00:05:48.300 punish the minorities and for them to convert to Islam or killing them or punishing them in another way is 0.94

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 0.97

00:06:01.820 countries around the world, that they are based Muslim countries. And today, we see this happening 1.00

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 1.00

00:06:22.060 that want to receive education. We see them hunting down the minorities. But Christians really is the 1.00

00:06:28.780 canary in the coal mine. The minute that you see persecution happening to the Christians is 0.79

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 0.93

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. 0.98

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, 0.52

00:07:49.340 but I'm not really politically correct. I believe it's a white guilt. So basically, 0.72

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 1.00

00:08:12.380 our Canadian government speaking about minorities in Afghanistan, they never mentioned the Christians. 0.98

00:08:18.140 And I think it's really white rubbish, politically correctness that in our Canadian society 0.97

00:08:24.060 and the politically correctness, just to make it clear, it's not just in Canada, 0.98

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 0.97

00:10:12.460 7,000 years, they raped them, they used them as sex slaves. It was the most horrible crime that we 0.94

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 1.00

00:11:02.060 refugees and only 900 Yazidis. I mean, it's just, it is based on politically correct, purely politically 0.98

00:11:10.460 correctness and, and, and voting system, you know, the Yazidis is a small little group, so nobody care about 1.00

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 1.00

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 1.00

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.

The Candice Malcolm Show - December 23, 2021

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

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