00:00:01.340 - 00:00:18.350

[Muzammil Waris]: Yeah. Hi. So today we have Abdul Rahim Shaikh with us. Who helps run a Youtube channel by the name of We All Blessed. We will start off with some introductory questions then we will discuss issues pertaining to the Youtube channel. So Abdul Rahim Shaikh, Mr. Abdul Rahim Shaikh, how

00:00:18.350 - 00:00:35.860

are you today? [Abdul Rahim Shaikh]: I'm good. How are you? [MW]: I'm good. Enjoying the cold weather? [ARS]: Yeah, it's getting better now I guess. But yeah, let's see. [MW]: Yeah, it's windy today. It was better a couple of days ago but it's a bit windy today. [ARS]: Yeah it's getting into the plus now.

00:00:36.240 - 00:00:56.250

It was in the negatives a few weeks back. But yeah, it's getting better. [MW]: Should we start? [ARS]: Yep. [MW]: Okay, so would you please give me your full name and your pronouns if you feel comfortable sharing. [ARS]: Yeah, my full name is Abdul Rahim Shaikh. So I spell that A-B-D-

00:00:56.250 - 00:01:15.810

U-L-R-A-H-I-M. And my last name is Shaikh, which is S. H. A. I. K.H. And my pronouns are he and him. [MW]: ....some clarity on your identification if you don't mind sharing such as race, gender or any disabilities you might have. [ARS]: Okay, can

00:01:15.810 - 00:01:29.580

you repeat that? Because like it feels like you're going away from the microphone. So like like the first part of that was cut off. [MW]: Could you provide some clarity on your identification if you feel comfortable sharing such as your race, gender or if if you have

00:01:29.580 - 00:01:50.670

any disability, disabilities. [ARS]: Yeah. So my race. Well I'm from from Pakistan, I was born there and then I immigrated to Canada like pretty early on and like maybe when I was around two or three years old. So when I was rather young and sorry what did

00:01:50.670 - 00:02:15.610

you ask? Yeah. My gender identifier is a male. [MW]: and if you have any disabilities. [ARS]: Any disabilities, no no disabilities thankfully. Thank God or I'm grateful for that. [MW]: Okay, thank you. So do you consider yourself a member of the South Asian diaspora? [ARS]: Yes, I do.

00:02:15.610 - 00:02:35.690

I'm Pakistani. So that's uh there's Pakistan, there's India, there's Sri Lanka there's Bangladesh. They're all considered within the South Asian community. MW]: You're Pakistani, right? [ARS]: Yeah. [MW]: Where in Pakistan may I ask? [ARS]: I'm from a city called Karachi. That's the largest city in the country. It has a population of around 20

00:02:35.690 - 00:02:55.270

million. So it's quite a large city. In comparison Canada has a population of around 35 million. It might be more now, maybe close to 40 million. But yeah, the city is quite quite big and yeah. [MW]: I'm from Karachi too. [ARS]: Really. [MW]: Yeah, then I don't know if you

00:02:55.270 - 00:03:11.880

know, you know Federal B area? [ARS]: Yes, I have some family from there. I was from North Nazimabad. You know where that is. [MW]: Uh my mom's side is the Federal B area and my dad's side is in Korangi Karachi. [ARS]: Yeah, I think that's pretty far away.

00:03:11.890 - 00:03:26.560

[MW]: Industrial area of Karachi. [ARS]: Yeah, same. My dad's side's from somewhere else. On my mom's side from somewhere else. But yeah, always within the same city but it's pretty big city. So you know like staying within the same city doesn't mean much if you say within like you

00:03:26.560 - 00:03:49.550

know within Milton or something. That, that might mean something. Might mean close together but not within that city, Karachi. [MW]: Exactly. So do you mind saying what year you were born? [ARS]: Yeah, I was born in 1999. Yeah [MW]: [indistinguishable]. So you're born n 1999?

00:03:50.040 - 00:04:08.780

[ARS]: Yes, 1999. [MW]: So how old are you now? [ARS]: So now I'm 21 uh and my birthday is in the month of November..... Yeah you keep cutting off a bit like I don't know if you're moving away from the mic or I don't know just

00:04:08.780 - 00:04:30.150

for your own like uh I can I can figure it out, you should do what you say but like yeah your recording may not come across as clear so. [MW]: I'll try to be close to the mic as possible. What was your childhood like? [ARS]: Yeah my childhood was ah

00:04:30.160 - 00:04:45.120

well it was pretty good. I had a pretty good upbringing, good family, good friends. Um Yeah I was born like I said I was born in Karachi then we came here on uh you know pretty young when we came here around three years old and then

00:04:45.130 - 00:05:03.670

we went back and forth and then we finally kind of like For the most part settled here when I was maybe, 6-7 and then yeah I went to school and then um I actually fun fact about me, I went to up until grade uh three I

00:05:03.670 - 00:05:23.600

believe. Grade three, and then what I did was I went to um religious school, I'm Muslim. So like we went to a school where, or I went to a school, me and my brother where we would memorize our our Holy Book, which is uh you guys probably know

00:05:23.600 - 00:05:41.350

what that is for the viewers watching the Koran. Just like, it's like the Muslim equivalent of the Bible. So there's millions of people around the world that memorized it. And so that's what I did for the next three or four years. So yeah. [MW]: Was that with school or

00:05:41.350 - 00:05:56.560

with a part time or full time? [ARS]: That was full time. So I would do that full time pretty much like just like regular school hours and then I would, you know, to keep up with my studies that, you know, so I wouldn't fall behind when I

00:05:56.560 - 00:06:14.760

get back, when I go back to school, I would, my dad would tutor me in uh you know, in the important areas like, you know, math, English, whatever, like Yeah, For a few years. [MW]: How many year, 3-4 years? [ARS]: Yes. 3, 4 years around that time. [MW]: Okay,

00:06:16.040 - 00:06:34.350

so can you describe what your education experiences were like? [ARS]: Uh, are you talking about within that, that school... [MW]: Within and within like maybe in high school maybe. [ARS]: Yeah. So um so, I mean just like, you know, you maybe don't remember a lot from when you were like,

00:06:34.940 - 00:06:46.850

I don't know, uh under seven years old. So like, like I said after grade three I I did that and then that was where I kind of like a lot of my childhood memories are from. So you know, I made a lot of friends there.

00:06:47.740 - 00:07:01.880

Um Still friends that I talk to til this day, so I did that for 3-4 years and I went back, I finished grade eight. Uh then I went back to high school in grade nine. And that was kind of new for me because I haven't

00:07:01.880 - 00:07:20.270

been to school for a while, right? But I adjusted quickly and um you know, I didn't fall behind, so I'm grateful to my dad that he um tutored me um especially in in a in the area of mathematics because that's something you can easily fall

00:07:20.270 - 00:07:33.360

behind in. Anyone in that field would would agree with me on that. So I did that and and in a great nine, I didn't find it too hard to keep up with the studies even though I didn't go to school for 3-4 or maybe even five years.

00:07:34.840 - 00:07:56.760

[MW]: How did you cope? [ARS]: So yeah, in high school uh like I said with the academics, um it wasn't too difficult. Obviously there was there were some struggles here and there um you know, cause like anyone out of school for 3-5 years. It would, I would assume

00:07:56.760 - 00:08:12.080

that's natural, but you know, um it was it was a different environment for me because I didn't really know anyone there. So you know I had to make friends kind of like um uh just people that are people I wasn't, I wasn't familiar with

00:08:12.080 - 00:08:25.470

and whatnot. So people that you know already had friends, had friend groups and whatnot, it was kind of a bit of a challenge for me but I adjusted and I went to, I actually went to two high schools, most people just go to one

00:08:25.470 - 00:08:44.910

but I want to two, I went to a Catholic school at first for a year and a half and then we actually moved so then I went to just like a normal like public school in uh like a Peel Region public school and that was where

00:08:44.910 - 00:09:02.350

I am uh kind of a finished finished off my high school. [MW]: How were your experiences in the Catholic school? Were there contra---? Were there anything, was there anything contradictory to your beliefs as a Muslim? [ARS]: Um Well as a Muslim, there obviously there were some things that

00:09:02.350 - 00:09:27.360

were different but generally Muslims are uh for anyone uh any Muslim Muslims that may be watching um uh Christians and Jewish the Jewish community there uh their in our religion Islam uh itself that the Christian [indistinguishable] are close to us right? Uh so there

00:09:27.360 - 00:09:43.920

were... [MW]: They're people of the Book right? [ARS]: Yes it's called in Arabic, it's called Ahl al-Kitāb which means basically People of the Book. Kitab means book. Um So yeah, they're known as, you know, people that are close to us and like what not. So when even uh in

00:09:43.920 - 00:10:02.500

the Catholic school that I went to, we had to take a religion course. So that was something, you know, really interesting. I actually wanted to take that. Um You know, it's like, you know, comparing contracts, contrast and you know, like, what's it called? Uh huh. Because

00:10:02.500 - 00:10:14.660

I was the only Muslim there, right? So like, it would be kind of different, right? So it would be like, you know, we would have like a nice discussion back like here and there. So yeah, it was there was, I wouldn't say contradictions, there was more

00:10:14.660 - 00:10:31.920

like um there were more, you know, just differences basically. It was nice to make those comparisons. [MW]: Can you tell us what high school did you? High schools you went to, the names of the high schools. [ARS]: Yeah. So the Catholic school, Iona Catholic Secondary School and then I

00:10:31.920 - 00:10:54.500

switched to Lorne Park Secondary School. And that was in um Iona Catholic secondary I went for grade nine and grade 10 the first semester and then I switched over to Lorne Park for for the rest of my high school like journey. Pretty much.

00:10:54.510 - 00:11:11.960

[MW]: I forgot to ask you how your experiences, memorizing the Koran was like. [ARS]: Yeah, so it's uh what kind of, it's it's not easy, but you know, just like anything um anything worthwhile isn't easy. So it was something that I had to commit my time and effort

00:11:11.960 - 00:11:27.850

to. Because there's around 600 pages in the book. In in in in our Holy Book, in the Koran. Um so memorizing all of them and that too in a different language, not in English, it's in Arabic that too in a different languages, you know, anyone can

00:11:27.850 - 00:11:46.150

like who've done it can kind of uh kind of like tell you that it's not easy and what also I would say, I would actually argue even more difficult than memorizing it is um remembering it right? So people who memorize it are known as uh hafiz

00:11:46.640 - 00:12:05.680

and the plural of that would be huffaz. Yeah, that would be H-A-F-I-Z. And then, so that will be one singular and then plural would be H-U-F-F-A-Z. Yeah. So for huffaz who who, you know, memorize the Book. Um they

00:12:05.680 - 00:12:21.230

will tell you that it's uh you have to constantly be reading it over and over again. Like otherwise you're just gonna forget it. Just like anything just like any skill, right? You have to brush up on it from time to time and you have to, you

00:12:21.230 - 00:12:38.870

know, keep it in your memory afterwards, just gonna, you're gonna forget it basically. [MW]: If you're comfortable ask, answering this question you may do. So uh I have a question related to this. So did your parents uh support you in this quest to memorize the Koran or did you

00:12:38.870 - 00:12:54.940

want to, do you want to do it yourself? [ARS]: It was, I would say it was there was a bit of both. So my parents did initially put me into it, but I am really grateful for for them doing so because I throughout the process and even

00:12:54.940 - 00:13:11.470

now I really liked it. So um yeah, they supported me throughout the way and obviously I was motivated on my own. Obviously there was there were there were you know, times of difficulty but that's just like, you know, with anything just like uh you know, just

00:13:11.470 - 00:13:28.080

like with the university or just like with starting your own business or whatever it may be. There's like obviously times of difficulty but the overall general kind of like feeling that it gave was, you know, like positive. [MW]: Okay, thanks for sharing. So would you mind sharing

00:13:28.080 - 00:13:46.900

what your parents did? [ARS]: In that time period or what do you mean? [MW]: No, like like their work? [ARS]: Yeah, my my my dad is uh is a is a biomedical engineer. Um He's been working at the been working at the same company, so he's like, he's been there

00:13:46.900 - 00:14:13.280

for a while. He's one of the top like executives at that place. And my mom is, she's in the education um field, so she's a teacher. Um and yeah. [MW]: What languages do you speak as, did you speak as a child? [ARS]: Yeah, so I speak obviously

00:14:13.280 - 00:14:30.460

I speak English and I speak Urdu uh which is uh similar to Hindi which is very similar but it's not the same. Urdu is very similar to Hindi. And then I also since I like I said I memorized the Koran, I um I read

00:14:30.460 - 00:14:52.680

Arabic, I understand a bit of it but I'm learning to slowly learning to speak it. [MW]: What the rest of your family, what like, what languages do they speak? [ARS]: Yeah so they would also uh pretty much the same uh English obviously uh oh and Arabic a bit

00:14:52.690 - 00:15:13.050

here and there. So yeah. [MW]: How do you define your relationship with your immediate family then versus now. [ARS]: Then. What do you mean exactly by then like how many years ago. [MS]: Uh like we could say like when you were memorizing the Koran. [ARS]: Yeah so I mean

00:15:13.540 - 00:15:30.710

if anything stronger, a better relationship but that isn't but that doesn't mean that at that time it was weak, right? So um just like any any positive family environment, it gets stronger over time for that time. I'll feel good but over time it just gets stronger and

00:15:30.710 - 00:15:59.150

stronger. So Yeah. [MW]: Yeah. Can you recall any instance instances of injustice or discrimination happening around you during a childhood. [ARS]: Um No not any I can recall. um I do remember in when I was in grade two. Mhm. Uh what happened was exactly I was in grade two

00:15:59.150 - 00:16:14.530

and I was I don't remember the exact incident but I was uh and this is obviously you know I'm gonna obviously defend myself but like I wasn't in the wrong, the other kid was um. But you know I got in trouble. We had we had

00:16:14.530 - 00:16:29.930

this thing we had this kind of system of uh in our school where uh you would you would uh if you did something bad you would flip a card right? And you would flip a card. [MW]: Yeah I had that too in grade two I think. [ARS]: Yeah so it would be like

00:16:29.930 - 00:16:42.700

a yellow card or something like that, like a yellow card, you know you know like in soccer when you get a yellow card? [MW]: When you get a red card you get sent off. [ARS]: Yeah then you're like I don't know I don't remember the exact thing if you want

00:16:42.700 - 00:16:55.900

to call it punishment of course. [MW]: But we had 2-3 warnings. Yeah before actual suspension or whatever it was. [ARS]: Yeah exactly. So it was something like that. So I I ended up getting the yellow card and what not even though it wasn't my fault but that's all I can

00:16:55.900 - 00:17:14.270

remember otherwise it was pretty positive. I know people can uh they may uh I think that or you know I'm not I'm not going to assume but in my in my time in the when I was not memorizing the Koran there was obviously you know people

00:17:14.270 - 00:17:32.350

are human, they make mistakes so the teacher might have you know like said something here and there but that was that was kind of like I can say the best part of my childhood, right? [MW]: Next question will be answered that question. Next question

00:17:33.140 - 00:17:47.950

until that time say elementary and high school? Can you think of anything that was a major influence on your life as you think back? Anything that motivated you to pursue such direction in your life? [ARS]: So what time period were you asking exactly? [MW]: Elementary and high school.

00:17:48.440 - 00:18:06.310

[ARS]: Elementary and high school. Yeah. So in my elementary years, well like I said, I don't remember much from elementary because I only went until grade three. So I mean there's still there are still a lot of things that I could think of that affected affected me

00:18:06.310 - 00:18:23.160

in a positive way. Just it's just that none of them are can be on the top of my head, but one for example is um you know, like I had I had a lot of friends there or I had a few specific good friends there who

00:18:23.160 - 00:18:42.110

I still talk to till this day and actually those uh people um I'm now running a business with them, right? So it just, you know, that's it, our relationship goes back all the way to the grade two, grade one. So like you know, you have a

00:18:42.110 - 00:19:01.640

positive environment and what not, you know, you you do things together eventually, you make money together, whatever this, right? So that was one thing from elementary from high school, like I said many, many positive experiences from there. I actually um, I actually got into, you guys

00:19:01.640 - 00:19:17.710

know what cricket is? It's kind of similar to baseball. Do you know what cricket is? So it's like, you know what the hand ball type of game, right? [MW]: Yeah, I play it. [ARS]: Really? What do you play as? [MW]: The batsman. [ARS]: There's like a batsman there's a bowler, I'm more

00:19:17.710 - 00:19:33.710

of a bowler. But anyways, um, that's what I actually got into cricket and then I actually started playing that a lot. Um, one guy actually funny story, um, I was actually called to tryouts from one of my friends and he assumed I played, I played

00:19:33.710 - 00:19:45.200

cricket like I, I played like properly, but I was just like, okay, he's calling me, you know, I'll go there tomorrow and try it out. But then he's like, then he found out that I don't actually play. He's like don't you play, I've seen you

00:19:45.200 - 00:20:00.150

play. I was like no, I've never played, I've never held a bat in my hand. So he was kind of shocked. But that, that was actually, I'm pretty sure in his eyes, I paid off because him calling me to the tryouts because within a few weeks I picked

00:20:00.150 - 00:20:15.150

it up and then, you know, I started being like the, like the star player and, and because of me we actually like went on to like the playoffs and whatnot. Obviously we didn't win. [MW]: That was for your high school team or like what? [ARS]: That was my high school

00:20:15.150 - 00:20:32.050

team. Yeah. [MW]: High school team in what school? [ARS]: Yeah that was Lorne Park. [MW]: I was in the Erindale cricket team back in 20, 2009, 2008, and 2011. We made it to the semis both years. But we lost, we were last in the semi finals both years. [ARS]: Who

00:20:32.050 - 00:20:49.970

did you lose to? [MW]: We lost to a school in Brampton. In grade nine we lost to North Park and then in Grade 12 we lost to I think was Gramley both Brampton schools. [ARS]: Yeah, because cricket is played there a lot, I'm pretty sure, right. [MW]: They're pretty good. [ARS]: Yeah, because there's a South

00:20:49.970 - 00:21:09.830

Asian community is pretty big in Brampton. [MW]: Going back to, I got reminded of another question when you, when you were talking about elementary school in your Koran memorization school, how many students were there? [ARS]: Well there were three classes obviously was very tight and like, You

00:21:09.830 - 00:21:25.590

know, everyone knew each other and whatnot. But even within that there was three classes and every class had maybe about 20 kids. Right? So like it was very tight and like you knew the teacher, the teacher knew you and very good relationship with them and you

00:21:25.590 - 00:21:41.050

know, you knew all the kids as well. [MW]: So yeah. So do you have any, are you still friends with some of them? [ARS]: Yeah, I'm friends with a lot of them. Right? So because you know when when you have like the same kind of uh we all have

00:21:41.050 - 00:21:56.250

the same like what can you say like goal right to finish memorizing the book. So um we did that so we have the same goal and we all had a common uh path and common interests and whatnot. In high school. Yeah it's similar. You want to

00:21:56.250 - 00:22:09.320

do good in your courses to it but it's like it's a bit different because some people don't, some people may not want to go to university after, some people may want to you know they just need to finish their high school right and or they want

00:22:09.320 - 00:22:24.490

to do this or they want to do that right? So yeah it's similar but I would say that when I was doing when I was memorizing the Book it was it was a lot more like tight and a lot more you know. [MW]: I'm expecting most of

00:22:24.490 - 00:22:44.330

them memorized the Koran too. [ARS]: Most of them. Yeah pretty much all of them, pretty much all that memorizes it and yeah. [MW]: Uh any responsibilities that come with memorizing the Koran? [ARS]: Yeah there are many responsibilities because now as a memorizer of the Book you are

00:22:44.340 - 00:23:03.460

in a way how can you say you were inheriting the knowledge that you have memorized? So it's kind of like if I want to think of an analogy um let's say there's a limited amount of books in the world and whoever memorizes them you know the

00:23:03.460 - 00:23:20.850

book is kind of with them right? So they are there, they carry the book in their in their mind. So if if one day, all of the books were to, you know, be destroyed or whatever the case may be, uh those people, those memorizers uh

00:23:21.340 - 00:23:39.500

will still have it and they would still, they will still have it in their in their minds, they will still be able to write it down. So never truly like lost if you will. [MW]: So, I have another question related to memorizing the Koran. So

00:23:39.500 - 00:23:58.270

does memorizing the Korean give you the privilege to become the imam at a mosque? [ARS]: Yes. Uh a lot of the times the, you know, just like with anything, there are requirements for for certain positions, you know, just like you would go for a job interview. There are requirements,

00:23:58.270 - 00:24:14.950

right? The same with being an imam of the mosque, which by the way, if people don't know what an iman is, an imam is the one who leads the five daily prayers. And uh [MW]: In a mosque, right? [ARS]: Yes, in a mosque, he's the one who I

00:24:14.950 - 00:24:32.440

would say if if uh to draw to draw a parallel, he's kind of like in a church, there's like, you know, like a priest who kind of leads the, I'm not sure exactly sure not to be disrespectful to [indistinguishable].

00:24:32.450 - 00:24:52.770

you know, he he leads all that, right? So just like an imam similar, so yeah, you restrict that. Yeah. It does, it does uh uh you know, give someone kind of the ability to go and do that, but it's not like uh 100% like absolute requirement,

00:24:53.240 - 00:25:17.110

but most imams are uh they are memorizes of the Book. So. [MW]: Uh moving on. So life after high school, can you share what you did after high school? [ARS]: Yeah. So I went to uh I still, I still am going to McMaster University. Um I'm studying computer

00:25:17.110 - 00:25:38.250

science. I'm in my third year now. So. Yeah. Pretty uh Pretty. It's going pretty, pretty nice. Like I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Uh [MW]: Computer science is your major? [ARS]: Yes. So I want to hopefully, you know, go into some sort of software job after I graduate,

00:25:38.250 - 00:25:57.640

which shouldn't be too long. Hopefully after a year I should be done. And Yeah. [MW]: What are you minors? [ARS]: My minors? Yeah. So uh my minors in, in the university are a minor in math and that's all I'm doing for now. A minor in math and

00:25:57.640 - 00:26:14.770

I might maybe do minor like physics or I know a minor in statistics for for the field of computer science is also something valuable. So I might, I might, you know, do that. That's something I'm thinking about. But for now it's just a major computer science

00:26:14.770 - 00:26:30.980

and a minor in math. [MW]: And uh what were your parents? Was your, what was your parents attitude towards education, professional career? [ARS]: Yeah. So they were supportive. My dad was the one who actually kind of in grade, I would say 11, Grade 11. I didn't

00:26:30.980 - 00:26:43.170

know what I wanted to do. Just like most people like I don't know what I wanted to study in post secondary. Uh which are to be honest, that is most people and I'm sure most people can agree with me on that. Um He's the one who

00:26:43.170 - 00:26:56.370

kind of like um gave me the idea of like why don't you, you know, look into computer science into programming and software whatnot. I had no idea what it was. So then you know, I started looking into it in grade 11 then come grade 12 I

00:26:56.370 - 00:27:11.650

kind of uh you know, started thinking about it more so then that's what I went for and yeah of course they were supportive and you know, it's like a, it's a it's a bright industry. So like, you know many, many jobs are coming out every day

00:27:11.650 - 00:27:30.360

in that field. [MW]: Can you recall any experiences of racism or other discrimination at any point of your life you find particularly memorable? [ARS]: Yes, I can um one time I was a gas station. Uh I don't know, just getting some candy or whatever I was doing.

00:27:30.360 - 00:27:43.820

I remember what um or I was getting a slushy rather I was getting a slushy um you know like a cold drink, right? So like it's kind of hard to hold. So what I was doing is that I was getting a few tissue papers to just

00:27:43.820 - 00:27:59.870

kind of wrap around um around the cup so I could hold it and you know my hands wouldn't like fall off you know freeze freeze to death. But um what the the cashier he like, what are you doing? I was like I'm just getting some tissue papers

00:27:59.870 - 00:28:17.690

to hold, cause its cold. He's like and you know what he said was obviously clear like incident of racism. He said this isn't this isn't Islamabad, this is Canada, you know Islamabad is a city in Pakistan. So you think... [MW]: He actually said that? [ARS]: Yeah, he said that. So

00:28:17.690 - 00:28:32.450

then I was like kind of like because you know here and especially in Mississauga in Canada, you know uh I'm very grateful. There's there's not much a lot of racism I think in the States there is quite a bit more so like you know, I was

00:28:32.460 - 00:28:46.260

yeah, here's pretty which is which is obviously very good, very inclusive environment. But I wasn't used to that because that's something I never really heard before. So I was just kind of caught off guard, I don't know, I didn't I don't know what to make of it.

00:28:46.260 - 00:29:01.280

I just got my stuff and paid for it and you know went. But yeah, that's one thing I can remember off the top of my head. [MW]: As an immigrant. I understand that you migrated from Pakistan? Could you share what your process and journey to Canada was

00:29:01.280 - 00:29:16.280

like or how old are you when you migrated to Canada? Yeah. [ARS]: So like I said I was two or three years old. Something like that. I don't obviously I don't remember exactly the specifics but I do remember here and there, you know some faint memories uh

00:29:16.290 - 00:29:32.530

being on the plane and like you know stuff here and there. But obviously I don't remember like specifics. But my parents would tell me stories of like uh you know uh maybe I was like something of like when I was 3-4, 3 or four or five

00:29:32.530 - 00:29:49.550

years old. They would tell me something like you remember that? I'm like no, I don't think I really remember. That would be kind of hard for me to kind of to recall that right. So yeah. [MW]: Did you visit Pakistan? [ARS]: Mhm Yeah I I visited visited uh

00:29:50.340 - 00:30:06.020

Here like the last time I went was a while ago to be honest it was in 2015 And the time I went before that was in 2008. So not like a lot. We don't go a lot. But especially now because of Covid. Right? So you know,

00:30:06.030 - 00:30:22.470

yeah we can, we can, we can, well we can't technically, you know, you were still allowed to travel. People are still allowed to travel. [MW]: Connect remotely right. You got to connect remotely, online. [ARS]: Yeah. But what I'm saying is we got we we can't travel travel technically. But

00:30:22.470 - 00:30:37.740

it's just like you know, we should be responsible citizens and realize that um that you know this this uh this virus, it's something that you know, we should just kind of put aside our our like you know, we want to go to this country, want to

00:30:37.740 - 00:30:58.680

go there, we want to do that, we should put that aside for a year and you know, let's just let us all settle down rather than traveling around. [MW]: How is discrimination in Canada compared to Pakistan? [ARS]: Discrimination in Canada, like I said is very little right as obviously a very

00:30:58.680 - 00:31:20.890

good thing means people here like welcoming and whatnot. Um Pakistan son. Um I'm not 100% familiar with it, but I'm not sure [MW]: You haven't lived there much? You haven't spent a lot of time there. [ARS]: No, I haven't. So I mean there is like there's

00:31:20.900 - 00:31:41.660

no no countries free of discrimination. Um but I'm not too sure. I can't really comment on that to be honest. [MW]: So what area of Peel Region do you live in or have lived in? [ARS]: Yeah, so I live in a Mississauga, so south in Peel Region. [MW]: For your entire life

00:31:41.670 - 00:32:02.700

while you're in Canada? [RS]: Yes. Uh almost pretty much the entire life uh Mississauga, and kind of the Mississauga-Oakville border. [MW]: Can you define the experience in Mississauga in one word. How would you describe it? [ARS]: I would describe it as...one word. I would just say positive. That's

00:32:02.700 - 00:32:22.870

it. [MW]: Does religion or spirituality play a role in your life. [ARS]: Yes, it does. Like I said I memorized the Koran when I was from Uh like I started at like around 10 and I finished at 13. So obviously there was a reason I did

00:32:22.870 - 00:32:42.770

that uh because my religion plays a major role in my life. So yeah, even now, right? Um we as Muslims we pray five times a day, one in the morning, early morning before the sun rises, one in the uh like a noontime, right? At

00:32:42.770 - 00:33:04.540

noontime one in the afternoon, like late afternoon one right after sunset and one in the night. So Yeah, that's about five times. Yes. [MW]: Five. Yeah. You like to complete any community or charity work. [ARS]: Can you repeat that? You feel like you complete any community or charity

00:33:04.540 - 00:33:24.450

work? [ARE]: Yeah, I do. Um um right now because of covid kinda hard, right? But before that there was my uh my local mosque, which is known as the Isna, I. S. N. A. I did a lot of work there um and you know just help out help

00:33:24.460 - 00:33:41.540

out whatever was needed of me. You know, we should all be in our, we should all be helping out in our community doing volunteer work and whatnot. So yeah. [MW]: What do you find to be the greatest accomplishment of your life? [ARS]: Greatest accomplishment of my life.

00:33:41.550 - 00:34:00.130

I would say. Well I'm still young? I'm only like 21 so so far I can say my greatest accomplishment is um one of my greatest accomplishment I can say is definitely like you know this keeps coming up great but like memorizing the Korean that was actually

00:34:00.130 - 00:34:14.010

something that I I I hold high because that that took a lot of time and effort uh took a lot of dedication. There were so many times, there are so many times where I wanted to quit um but I was like no let me let me

00:34:14.010 - 00:34:30.430

let me let me just power through it. So I would say that is that is definitely something that I can say is one of my greatest accomplishments up until now, but you know like I said I'm only 21, so uh many more accomplishments to come. [MW]: You did

00:34:30.430 - 00:34:47.090

the night prayer [indistinguishable]. [ARS]: Can you say that again? [MW]: Do you lead the night prayer in Ramadan? [MW]: Yes it's known as uh I see, I see you did your research but uh it's it's known as uh Taraweeh and that is yeah, it's a night prayer

00:34:47.090 - 00:35:03.390

after the like I said, it's after the fifth prayers of uh normally you know how like I said there's five prayers, there's the the last one is called Isha, the five prayers outside of Ramadan and they're also within Ramadan. Um that one is uh

00:35:03.400 - 00:35:24.600

yes, I do lead that yeah. [MW]: Those are, those tend to be pretty long, right, about an hour? [ARS]: So it depends on uh where you go who you pray with. But if in the in the Grand Mosque in Mecca, The Grand Mosque, they take

00:35:24.600 - 00:35:42.770

up too 2-3 hours? I've never been there, but I know they take pretty long, so it depends on where you go. [MW]: The goal is to finish the Koran from start to the end. Right? [ARS]: Yes, that's the goal. That's usually what most mosques are going for. So since there's 30

00:35:42.770 - 00:36:01.600

nights Somewhere like 29, 30 nights. That would mean that since there are 30, also 30 parts in the Korean um that obviously means like one part per night or sometimes some places do it a bit more, But generally it's like one part per night. [MW]: So what does

00:36:01.600 - 00:36:22.240

activism as it term mean to you? [ARS]: Can you repeat that? [MW]: What does activism as a term mean to you? [ARS]: Activism? Well, I would say it definitely has some connotation with being in the community. Activism, you know, being active in the community, helping out for the community,

00:36:22.830 - 00:36:42.700

um looking out for it um in whatever way that one can uh contribute, whether it's financial, you know, some people they have more money, right? So they can contribute financially. Some people they have some skills that they can contribute with those skills, some people they just

00:36:42.700 - 00:36:57.520

want to volunteer right, which is obviously great, any any sort of help is great. So they can do through that? Some people are maybe physically uh physically they're like, you know, a bit more like physically dominant, So, you know, they can maybe contribute through that? So,

00:36:57.530 - 00:37:15.360

you know, if there's any heavy lifting involved, they can do through that, Right? So that's what I say, activism is for me. [MW]: Would do you consider yourself as an activist? [ARS]: Yeah, I do. Um I try to help, not just in my community, but you know, in

00:37:15.360 - 00:37:30.270

my in my uh in my household, uh, in any way I can. So I definitely do consider myself an activist. And also I consider myself a pro activist. I don't know if that's a word, I just made it up anyways, uh pro activists, you know, you

00:37:30.270 - 00:37:52.930

do you do stuff before rather than being reactive and I try to be proactive, right? So, um rather than things let it letting things hit you and then you, you know, the plan to counter them, you make your plan from before, and if it happens, that

00:37:52.930 - 00:38:15.260

plan is executed. [MW]: So how do you define your role in the household? In your household? Um Yeah. [indistinguishable]. How many siblings do you have? [ARS]: Yeah, I have one younger brother and one older sister. Yeah, I'm in the middle. And we all are age

00:38:15.260 - 00:38:30.240

caps are like, pretty much like, I'm like three years older than my brother, I'm three years younger than my sister. It was like, you know, quite linear if you want to call it that. [MW]: Man in the middle. How do you define your role in

00:38:30.240 - 00:38:56.250

the household? [ARS]: Yeah, I would say, um I'm a contributor and help out wherever I can. Yeah. [MW]: How do you find that others in your family and close friends define your role in the household or community? [ARS]: Yeah. My I feel like my view of, of myself is

00:38:56.720 - 00:39:20.740

Yes, right. Which is, I guess a good thing. It's quite similar to how others view me. So they would say the same thing contributor helping out wherever he can and yeah. Mhm. [MW]: Has your perception of your purpose in this world changed as you've gotten older? [ARS]: Yep.

00:39:21.320 - 00:39:41.210

Yes, it definitely has. Um it's a very relevant question. That's something that we all should ask ourselves. Um let's see, I can say that, you know, of when you're younger right. So you you have a you have desires and ambitions according to your age, If you're

00:39:41.210 - 00:39:54.770

10 years old, you want to become an astronaut. But if you're now 20 years old, you you you you know, you have things that are more like, obviously nothing wrong with becoming an astro. But like, you know, that's every kid's dream. But now if you're 20

00:39:54.770 - 00:40:15.850

years old or 30 years old, you have ambitions of changing the world or helping people in need or, or, you know, starting your own business or whatever the case may be, right. So obviously change, that's you go through your stages in life? [MW]: Mm. So what is

00:40:15.850 - 00:40:39.760

one piece of advice you'd give to yourself in your youth knowing what you know now. [ARS]: Um, I would say just be patient. Yeah, I would say, you know, be patient because if you're patient, a lot of things just happened themselves right. So yeah. [MW]: If you have to put

00:40:39.760 - 00:40:54.100

a name in one word in this chapter of your life. How would you define it? [ARS]: All right. Can you repeat that? MW]: Put name in one word in this chapter of your life? How do you define it? [ARS]: If I had to put my name? So its cutting out that's why...

00:40:54.100 - 00:41:12.720

[MW]: You have to put to name in one word this chapter of your life. [ARS]: I would say. Um, um, yeah, I would say let's see. I would say a turning point. Yeah, that's what I would say because I feel like, You know, you're not not only did I transition

00:41:12.720 - 00:41:28.870

from my you know, teens to my 20. So, but but also in terms of like everything else because I'm almost done university so I'm going to be entering the workforce and whatnot. So in terms of almost everything I would say it's like a turning point. [MW]: Anything

00:41:28.870 - 00:41:51.380

else you would like to discuss with that with us that we have not touched on? Talk about the Youtube channel right now. Do you want to talk about the Youtube channel right now? [ARS]: Yeah, let's start with the Youtube channel. [MW]: Now I'm gonna ask you just one question about the Youtube

00:41:51.380 - 00:42:12.750

channel then we're gonna talk about religion. Issues with race and religion. Then we'll move on to discussing your Youtube channel. So can tell us about Youtube channel, We Are Blessed. [ARS]: Yeah. So it's a channel by, uh, me and my friend run. Um, uh, we, we

00:42:12.750 - 00:42:30.040

started it around, I'll say, I think four years ago, something like that. And we talked about relevant issues. And, and we relate them back to obviously, like I said, I'm Muslim, so we relate them back to, you know, our, our religion, you know, today, nowadays there's

00:42:30.040 - 00:42:48.320

a lot of misconceptions, misconceptions regarding Islam. So we're, we try to relate them back to our religion and you know, try to clear up any misconceptions, right? So that's, that's kind of in essence what, what the Youtube channel is all about. And yeah.

00:42:50.180 - 00:43:07.230

Pardon? [MW]: How did the youtube channel start? [ARS]: How did it start? Well, if you're asking for like a light bulb type of type experience, I wouldn't say it's like that. It would say, I would say it's more of like a slow progression. You know, you know, if

00:43:07.230 - 00:43:17.560

something comes into your mind one day, you're like, let me try that. You don't really, you don't really think much of it and then you start thinking a bit more and more and then, you know, finally you make that first video and said, you know, you

00:43:17.560 - 00:43:32.420

get the 1st 1000 subscribers and you know, you get 10,000 subscribers. The channel by the way right now is there are 11,000 subscribers. So you know, that's just how it goes, right? It's kind of like a snowball type of um effect. Start small and get

00:43:32.430 - 00:43:49.690

bigger and bigger, but it's not like a hard type of, you know, one day I'm just gonna, I'm gonna make a whole Youtube channel and I'm gonna get a million subscribers on it or something like that. [MW]: Uh What is your role in the Youtube channel? [ARS]: Yeah.

00:43:49.700 - 00:44:11.390

So uh me and my friend we uh We kind of like pretty much share 50/50 of it um in terms of doing the work um you know, he's more of, he's more handy with cams and whatnot. I'm more handy with, or more proficient with, you know, what

00:44:11.390 - 00:44:30.420

topics we should do and how should we do them and you know, the structure of the video and whatnot. So yeah, you know, we help each other out wherever we can in terms of the Youtube channel. [MW]: Uh huh. Mhm. Any religious upbringing that you deem significant or life

00:44:30.420 - 00:44:54.300

changing other than the fact that you memorize the Koran. [ARS]: Yeah. Well I would say that the fact I memorized the Koran actually made me more religious. Uh that was something that like I can say is uh Uh not 100% but it's something I can say um

00:44:54.690 - 00:45:08.480

started it all in terms of like, you know, uh being more, you know, being more religious than what not, that's something I can say because you know, I realized, okay, why am I doing this okay, I'm doing this for this reason and okay, fine now this,

00:45:08.490 - 00:45:22.930

this obviously has um, you know like responsibilities, I need to, I need to, I need to do, I need to carry out and what not right. So that was, I would say something that started it all. Before that all, you know, I was like I said,

00:45:22.930 - 00:45:40.810

I was like nine. So I mean before that what kind of no one really has many accomplishments at age nine and no, no one really has many ambitions at age nine. So yeah. [MW]: You want others to know about your religion. [ARS]: I want them to know that

00:45:41.690 - 00:45:57.850

that just be careful where you take or I don't want to say be careful because I don't want to use the wrong word, but I would just say, you know learn...if you want to, if you want to learn soccer right, you're gonna go to Ronaldo right? You're not

00:45:57.850 - 00:46:10.050

going to go to Lebron James right? So the same thing is if you want to learn something, if you want to learn Islam or you want to learn Christianity or whatever it is, you're not going to go to, don't go to the media, don't go to

00:46:10.050 - 00:46:25.860

the news, right, go to the mosque or go to go to a scholar of Islam right, you want a little Christianity, go to a priest go, don't go to uh an anti like Christian platform right, that's just, but I feel like that that that's common nowadays.

00:46:25.860 - 00:46:45.370

People if they want to learn you know Islam they go to the media, they go to the new right and that's where a lot of misconceptions arise from. [MW]: I heartily agree with your statement. Yeah. So how does it religion changed your view on your

00:46:45.370 - 00:47:09.880

surroundings from P. L. To the west in general? How have your surroundings shaped how you perceive your religion? [ARS]: How have they changed my perception that they well my perception was always uh kind of the same of it. But obviously I realized what others other people's perception

00:47:09.880 - 00:47:24.180

of my religion was and you know um you have to kind of understand what what they think about your religion, you know what they think about you as as a Muslim. So that was something that like you know if someone if someone comes to you with

00:47:24.180 - 00:47:37.020

a lot of hate you know because because you're a Muslim you can't reply to them with the same hey like if they're if they're if they're Jewish or Christian or Hindu or whatever, you can't say to them if they say to you, your religion is this, your religion is

00:47:37.030 - 00:47:51.510

that, you can ask to them oh you religion is also this this and that you know you're not gonna get anywhere that you have to you can't respond you can't fight hate with hate, right? You have to respond with kindness. Yes you

00:47:51.510 - 00:48:13.690

have to respond with wisdom. You have to respond with kindness and whatnot. [MW]: So has your perception of perception of religion changed or altered in any way while being affiliated with your Youtube channel? [ARS]: Um well, the perception of my religion, I mean, maybe to some

00:48:13.690 - 00:48:30.590

extent, but there's nothing I can, nothing I can say significantly because I always, like I said, I always had the same perception of it. Um, and but if anything is, you know, it's made me kind of like stronger in my own, my own like practices in

00:48:30.590 - 00:48:54.490

my own religion and whatnot. So yeah, I can say that. [MW]: This might be a repeated questions. But mm how is life upgrade life or upbringing in Peel impacted your beliefs or religion and how practicing you are. [ARS]: In terms of my own religion or I didn't hear you.

00:48:54.490 - 00:49:11.670

[MW]: Your belief in your religion. [ARS]: In terms of belief. Well, like what do you mean in terms of my conviction in terms of like, what do you mean? [MW]: Yeah, conviction. [ARS]: Yeah. So, I mean, well before I say this, um obviously like the hate out there, that

00:49:11.680 - 00:49:26.640

that doesn't mean that everyone is like that, obviously there's like people educated people and kind people out there, who know what Islam is about um if anything, you know, when you're faced with hate or when you're faced with negativity about something that you stand for, that

00:49:26.640 - 00:49:39.900

forces you or that that that makes you kind of look into like what do I really believe in, what do I really stand for that really, that, it forces you to do that, right? So if if anything people, if they come to me with hate, I

00:49:39.900 - 00:49:54.570

look into my religion more and if anything it just makes me stronger in my own faith, right? Rather than uh weakening me, it makes me stronger, right? But like I said, not everyone, most people, especially here in Canada, and most people are very nice, there's no

00:49:54.570 - 00:50:18.070

like really hate um just talking like a theoretical level. [MW]: Mhm. I think there are a few anti Muslim people who are speakers in Canada very few, not not that many. [ARS]: Yeah, there are a few, like, I mean just like there's always bad apples in a basket everywhere,

00:50:18.760 - 00:50:36.770

but yeah, that's something great about Canada, there's, you know, it's very like welcoming environment. [MW]: I remember back in Toronto, I think a couple of 10 years ago maybe there was uh race or racist if you want to call them racist, he was saying that the Muslim

00:50:36.770 - 00:50:52.580

kids shouldn't be given the privilege to pray Friday Prayer in the in the schools. [ARS]: Yeah, I think I remember that. Yeah, I mean that's what I'm saying, you know, like a there are like some people here and there who who want to spew hate. Um but

00:50:52.590 - 00:51:12.690

you know, the people with positive positivity and what not, they just overshadow all that and you know? [MW]: Yeah. Have you ever felt discriminated as Muslim? [ARS]: As a Muslim? Um, well uh I'll be honest, no, not really. I can't remember anything off the top of my head. But

00:51:13.860 - 00:51:31.610

no, I haven't really been discriminated as the Muslim, which I'm very grateful for. [MW]: Is it difficult being a Muslim in Peel? [ARS]: No, very easy. There's there's so many mosques. There is around, I would say in Peel or if you, even if you just talk about Mississauga

00:51:31.610 - 00:51:49.660

there's around, I think there's somewhere around like 15 mosques just in Mississauga. If you look at Peel, Brampton and obviously Caledon but mostly Brampton, you know that's where most of people live in Peel is Brampton. In Brampton, there's probably another 10-15 mosques. So just in Peel there's like probably

00:51:49.670 - 00:52:10.180

around 30 mosques. So very easy and like I said, welcoming environment, not nothing in Peel, you know. [MW]: Great. What future do the Muslims and Peel look towards whether some areas they look to improve in? [ARS]: There were some areas. Well I will say this like um

00:52:11.850 - 00:52:35.070

you know, educating people on what the what Islam is and you know, just clearing up misconceptions and whatnot and just, you know, educating people and telling them that Islam is and what you may think it is. [MW]: How has Covid changed the way you record or plan your videos?

00:52:35.080 - 00:52:54.280

[ARS]: Uh, um Yeah, well, you know, we follow the standard like procedure system as a responsible citizen, but it hasn't changed a lot because a lot of the times they would just do it outside on like, you know, like a grassy field or something, you know where people

00:52:54.280 - 00:53:10.270

aren't present, like a soccer field for example, you know, like an empty soccer field. You would have, you would do it there. It hasn't impacted a lot. But yeah, you know, here and there has brought up some difficulties. But for the most part pretty much the same.

00:53:12.050 - 00:53:33.190

[MW]: I have a cold right now and [indistinguishable]. [ARS]: Parson? [MW]: I have a cold right now. So like it's getting in the way of your comments. Okay, okay. Listen, what is the story or meaning behind the name of your Youtube channel? [ARS]: We All Blessed. I don't

00:53:33.190 - 00:53:45.900

know to be honest. It's just something we came up with. We I guess, you know, if you want to like think about it, we all blessed. We're all like, well we should be all grateful. I guess. It's just a name to be honest. So there's no

00:53:45.900 - 00:54:02.130

like big like meaning behind it. But yeah, if you want to call it that like, well this meeting, we're all grateful. Everyone should be grateful. Whatever. [MW]: What kind, what kind of comments or feedback have you got on your videos? [ARS]: Uh, mostly positive. I mean that's shown

00:54:02.130 - 00:54:21.670

by the fact that we have over 11,000 subscribers. Um, but yeah, negatives here and there obviously, you know, hate comments and any any content creator on Youtube. Content creator will tell you that hate comments, even though people say don't let them affect you, do affect you. So

00:54:21.680 - 00:54:46.900

you know, negatives here and there. Uh but mostly positive. [MW]: Regarding the comment that has resonated with you or made you change or improve your channel. [ARS]: Yeah, a lot of times we always get positive feedback, positive criticism, constructive criticism, where we're like, okay, yeah, that definitely is

00:54:46.900 - 00:55:09.420

true and we should definitely improve upon that. Maybe whether it would be like, you know, camera angles or uh you know, cut scenes or or you know, even like uh the frequency of our uploads, anything, you know. [MW]: Who is the target audience of your Youtube

00:55:09.420 - 00:55:29.360

channel. Do you have anyone in specific? [ARS]: Target audience? No one specific to be honest. We just want people who maybe who may not like, who may have misconceptions about our religion, about, about my religion, we want them to watch it, right? But anyone obviously like

00:55:29.370 - 00:55:53.190

we make all types, all types of content, comedy, skits, um informative videos, um all types of things. So it's really anyone to be honest. [MW]: What do you hope to achieve with your by your Youtube channel? [ARS]: Uh Me and my friend, we hope to

00:55:53.190 - 00:56:15.240

achieve um people especially in Canada, Especially like more, even more specifically within Toronto, within the GTA to clear any misconceptions about Islam. You know, because like I said there are a lot of misconceptions due to the media, but that's our goal. We wanna we wanna

00:56:15.240 - 00:56:42.330

accountable with positivity and and authentic like you know what Islam actually stands for not just like yeah, basic stuff right? [MW]: What's some of your favorite Youtubers and why? [ARS]: Mhm. My favorite Youtubers um to be honest. I don't really watch Youtube much. So what um....like

00:56:42.340 - 00:57:04.700

I do like, you know, I do like to watch, what can you say just some, you know for fun videos like there's like a channel Mr Beast. You guys probably know another thing. [MW]: Mr who? [ARS]: Mr. Beast. Um He uh you know, yeah, I know people

00:57:04.700 - 00:57:18.540

say like you know, he's for kids and whatnot, but like The content he puts out, no one else does that right? He gives away like $100,000 just like that. So I mean no one really does that right there and then he's a good channel. There's

00:57:18.540 - 00:57:37.720

so there's many others. I can't really think of them right now. But Yes, but he's a good one. [MW]: Do you know of other Youtubers that talk about religion or Islam maybe. [ARS]: Yeah, but but to be honest, I, you know like I'm a big believer and ah taking by a word,

00:57:37.720 - 00:57:48.180

so I don't like I said right, like if you want to learn soccer, you're not gonna go to Lebron James, you're gonna go to Messi, you're going to go to Rinaldo. Same thing here, if I want to learn more about my religion, I'm not going

00:57:48.180 - 00:58:06.120

to go to, Youtube, I'm gonna go to sources that, you know, I'm gonna go to my local mosque. I'm gonna go to um, uh huh, you know, an Islamic scholar, whatever it is. Right? So I, in terms of learning, you know, more of my religion from

00:58:06.120 - 00:58:24.930

Youtube, I don't do that. But you know, here and there, there's like a few um, uh, Youtube content creators, Muslims. There's one called Alibawah. It's called A L I B A W A H. You know, he, he does, he does a lot of similar stuff

00:58:24.930 - 00:58:49.470

to what we do is a good one. Yeah. [MW]: You guys ever collab with another Youtuber? [ARS]: Um, yeah, yes, we have, there's one called Omar Esa. Um, my friend, he has done a video with him. I wasn't in that video, but he's done a video with

00:58:49.470 - 00:59:09.920

him. We don't do many collabs to be honest. We like to kind of stick to our own thing. But yeah, you know, you don't do, we do, we do, uh, venture out to different, you can see different, uh, different videos, different types of videos. [MW]: What areas

00:59:09.920 - 00:59:33.380

and obstacles did you have to overcome overcome to grow your Youtube channel? [ARS]: Um, well, it takes a lot of commitment and dedication. So you know, sacrifices and also estimating dedication, which means sacrifices, which means, you know, if I wanted to publish this video by tonight,

00:59:33.380 - 00:59:50.510

for example and my friend calls me over, I can't, I'm like, sorry man, you know, I made a commitment to myself, I got to finish the video by tonight, I gotta finish editing it and you know, yeah. [MW]: What are some reasons why people should subscribe to

00:59:50.510 - 01:00:12.980

our Youtube channel. [ARS]: Um we make, like I said, we make all different types of content and we make content specifically towards the clarifying any misconceptions that anyone may have and if anyone, anyone watching uh wants to even reach out to us personally, you can even message us on our

01:00:12.980 - 01:00:29.380

instagram. It's literally just we all blessed official and yeah, literally any questions you have about the channel about, about Islam and anything you can, you can ask us and we'll be more than willing to, you know, give you time and give you, give you a proper

01:00:29.380 - 01:00:49.770

answer. [MW]: What are the other social media platforms, are you guys on? [ARS]: Instagram is the biggest one. There's also like Tiktok um and facebook and obviously Youtube, so Youtube is the biggest one, but the other side was instagram facebook Tiktok yeah. [MW]: Is the most popular one Youtube? [ARS]: Yes, that's

01:00:49.770 - 01:01:11.640

where, that's where it all started. [MW]: Mhm. So do you think your channel, we are blessed is improving the Muslim community by watching your videos? [ARS]: Yeah, I do actually. Um we've gotten a lot of like um positive feedback from a community leaders uh here within Peel. Um

01:01:12.010 - 01:01:34.150

you know, saying like I see what you're doing, it's nice, you know, keep it up. So I definitely feel that there's positive, positive impact towards the community. [MW]: How's We Are Blessed helping the young community, especially teens? [ARS]: How helping them in many ways. You know teens, they

01:01:34.150 - 01:01:50.450

go through a lot of struggles, you know, we're here to motivate them and here to, just, you know, tell them to keep pushing, right? Don't like whether it's whether it's in your studies or your religion or your whatever keep pushing, you know, because the the teenage

01:01:50.450 - 01:02:11.480

years are or something that a lot of people struggle with, right? People go into depression, people go into whatever people, you know, so we're here to just help them with that. [MW]: Yeah. What are future plans for We All Blessed going forward? [ARS]: Yeah. To be honest, just keep pumping content, keep

01:02:11.480 - 01:02:32.220

you know, keep getting a larger reach. Especially here within the G. T. A. And yeah, that's that's all for now. [MW]: How do you plan on growing the channel? [ARS]: Well just you just gotta, you just gotta release more content. Like if you want to, you want, you want to

01:02:32.220 - 01:02:51.630

grow the channel, you just gotta release more content, release more relevant content. Um Do more, uh you know, think outside of the box, all these type of things. That's how that's how you grow as uh any any sort of platform. [MW]: Do you have any goals in in

01:02:51.630 - 01:03:13.710

mind pertaining to your Youtube channel? [ARS]: Yeah. Next goal is definitely 100K subscribers. Um We passed the 10K mark. So 100K. It seems far but 10K also seemed far. So yeah next goal is definitely 100K. And then, you know, right after that, you know, I'm

01:03:13.710 - 01:03:38.320

going to say obviously a million and then just keep going forward. [MW]: So what kind of topics, themes do you plan to discuss in your upcoming Youtube videos? [ARS]: Mhm. Well, like I said, we take relevant content recent, like recent recent news or recent events happening here within

01:03:39.100 - 01:03:54.390

within the G T. A. And obviously, you know, like a worldwide, if there's something major that happened, we'll talk about that too. But especially here within GTA something, you know, something, something's happened or something out of the blue has happened. We would talk about that

01:03:54.390 - 01:04:14.560

and like I said related back to our religion, Islam and you know educate people on clarifying any misconceptions and whatnot. [MW]: Is there an event or discussion that gave you the idea to start to feature the Youtube videos. [ARS]: Can you repeat that? [MW]: Was there an event or a discussion that gave

01:04:14.560 - 01:04:30.910

you the idea to start to feature the Youtube videos? [ARS]: An event? Well, no, like I said, it wasn't like a light bulb type of thing is more like slowly slowly, you know, you see other Youtubers, you see other Youtubers doing this stuff and you're like, oh,

01:04:30.910 - 01:04:46.700

I want to do that too. So you know, you mm hmm Obviously then you start like you start thinking more and more of it and then you start making the first video than, you know, that's how it will go through it. [MW]: I was watching one of your

01:04:46.700 - 01:05:05.230

videos on your Youtube channel where you had an event at a mosque, I think it was called the Masala maybe. Can you describe that event please? [ARS]: Yeah, so I know what you're talking about. Um well all we did was we invited some people over into the,

01:05:05.230 - 01:05:23.770

into the Masala and you know, with the um people, you know, people who are good at speaking and all that, they just gave you like, you know, motivational talks and what not and inspiring ideas and you know, we had some food and you know, it's a

01:05:23.770 - 01:05:43.150

good time. [Indistinguishable]. [MW]: Do you think We Are Blessed can help young Muslim converts by giving the company and helping them learn about the religion. [ARS]: 100%. I definitely do believe that that's what we're, that's one of the

01:05:43.150 - 01:06:03.230

things we're going after. Uh not just uh we're not just making videos. We're also open to people like if they want to, you know, literally just talk to us, you know, even just that. So definitely yeah. [MW]: Have you had a negative experience of filming for

01:06:03.230 - 01:06:24.930

Youtube channel? [ARS]: Yeah. Um not necessarily like extremely negative, Maybe the worst was like, you can't film here or something. Something that was okay, sure. You know, well, we obviously left and found [indistinguishable]. [MW]: You didn't experience any hate? [ARS]: Well, like I said hate comments yeah, but

01:06:24.940 - 01:06:44.840

in terms of like, you know, actually actually like, like while making a Youtube video, someone passing by and experience some hate. No, I wouldn't recall anything like that. [MW]: Do you look up to any Muslim or non Muslim Youtubers for ideas? If so who and why? [ARS]: Uh one

01:06:44.840 - 01:07:06.800

of them I mentioned earlier, Alibawah, that one, he's pretty good. Um He definitely we do get a lot of ideas from him. He has a lot of original content. So you know that that definitely helped. [MW]: How has your content changed over the course of your

01:07:06.810 - 01:07:29.180

of your appeared on Youtube as a Youtuber? [ARS]: Say that again. [MW]: How has your content changed over the course appeared on Youtube as a Youtuber? [ARS]: How have I changed as a Youtuber? Uh Well obviously you have to try to stay relevant. So I mean, you

01:07:29.180 - 01:07:49.850

know, you have a general channel, like you have your general ah yeah, vision for your channel, but you gotta stay relevant uh with whatever is happening, right? So whatever whatever when any any any like anything that's happened around, you know, like I said the GTA

01:07:49.850 - 01:08:12.800

Mississauga but then, well we like do our own intake and comment on that. [MW]: So what improvements would you like to make to you, would you would you like to make to your channel? [ARS]: What improvement? Um uh Improvement? Let's see, I mean right now it's

01:08:12.810 - 01:08:28.840

going pretty good, but obviously, you know, there's always room for improvement. So, you know, obviously, you know, higher quality, I mean, to be honest, our videos are pretty high quality if anyone wants to check them out. But obviously, you know, like even higher quality videos, even higher

01:08:28.840 - 01:08:52.960

quality editing and camera skills and whatnot. Um That's that's all I can think of off the top of my head. [MW]: So what advice would you like to give to Youtubers that make content regarding Islam or any other religion for that matter? [ARS]: Yeah, I would

01:08:52.960 - 01:09:12.320

just say that, you know, I keep coming back to the point of learn something from um from the proper source, right? You want to teach Islam, go to an Islamic scholar or you want to teach Christianity. Go go to a priest, you know, whatever the case and you want

01:09:12.320 - 01:09:26.400

to you want to teach, you want to teach business. Don't quote a math professor about a business professor. Right? Just go to the go to the authentic source. That that's my advice. [MW]: So that was the end of my questions. So do you have anything else to

01:09:26.400 - 01:09:43.900

add anything that was left out, maybe? [ARS]: No, I think I think you you pretty much asked it all. [MW]: [Indistinguishable]. I'm very thankful for the opportunity that I had today [indistinguishable] fact that religion has came to life. Thanks for your time again.

01:09:44.570 - 01:09:45.680

[ARS]: All right, thank you. No problem