asalamualaikum, peace be upon you and welcome to eye on islam, the show where we look at current affairs through an islamic lens. each week we evaluate a trending new story and break it down from an islamic perspective. muslims around the world are engaging in a month of worship and fasting, but they do so in the shadow of the ongoing genocide against of the people of palestine. in this week's episode, we'll look at what actions muslims and others have been. taking and will

continue to take during the holy month of ramadan to support and campaign for the people of ghazza. first we take a look at some of the actions that have brought the attention of the world to the crimes of the zionist regime. the past five months have seen a number of actions taking place around the world in support of palestine against the zionist entity, and those are expected to continue throughout the holy month of ramadan. in years gone past, they've been campaigns. during shahara ramadan surrounding dates, asking believers to ensure the dates they have for their iftar aren't israeli. this year, the islamic human rights commission's check your dates campaign takes on extra significance as they've released list of date brands that are certified to be palestinian. the zinanis regime regularly labels their stolen dates as jordanian or from the west bank or sells them on the supermarket brands without all is mentioning

the country of origin, so the campaign urges believers to constantly ensure that they're checking their brands. other campaigns are focusing on exerting financial pressure on the zinis entity and its supporters. barkley's bank in particular has come into focus as campaigners call for a boycott of the british financial institution due to the more than one billion pounds they've invested in the zionist economy. another major company which has come on the fire has has been starbucks who sued the workers union when they declared their solidarity with palestine. the global coffee giant has been targeted by protest and boycots ever since, severely hurting the company's bottom line. while painting of the man behind the balford decoration, lord balford, was destroyed by campaigners at the university of cambridge. perhaps the most impactful actions have been undertaken by the palestine action group who have managed to bring to... or holt the

activities of number of facilities belonging to the israeli weapons manufacturer elbit systems, forcing them in many instances, to close down their factories completely. all these actions and so many more of heaped immense pressure on israel and its supporters across the world, highlighting their barbaric and savage nature, stripping away any vestage that they are in any way a civilized or moral people. now joining us on the show this week to discuss the importance of activism against oppression, especially during shah ramadan, our two very special guests, we're joined by fatima merchant who has years of experience in organizing demonstrations for causes in of palestine, nigeria, yemen and others. she has been an avid campaigner for human rights and is the co-host of the liberated voices podcast. we're also joined by brother ibrahim abul assad. ibrahim is a uk-based palestinian research. photo journalist and activist salam

alaikum to you both, thank you so much for joining us on eye on islam, sister fatima, if i could begin with you, what has been your experience of the muslim reaction in the uk, particularly to the ongoing genocide in gazza? well, as we know that this didn't start on october 7th, um, there has been a huge shift in attitudes, particularly within the muslim communities, um, i think it's clear to see that instead of it be seen as more of a political issue, it's now become one that is seen as humanitarian as it should be, um, especially with the lead up to, and now alhamdulillah, we are in shahr ramadan, um, it's become more mainstream within the muslim community as it should be, there is still a lot more that could be done, absolutely. um, ibrahim, uh, there is lot of variety in the actions uh, to be taken, we've seen you, from cultural events to boycott campaigns, in your opinion, what are the most effective ways to... campaign against the

zionist regime during this holy month, first and foremost, i'd like to say happy ramadans for many people watching, um, to answer bluntly, to mobilize and campaign out. outside these arms factories that make the weapons that are used to kill palestinians as well as many oppressed people across the global south and as well not just these arms factories but to apply pressure upon all the pressure points that zionism has here in the uk. now what is that? universities, they have a substantial amount of deals with companies that create weapons as well as components or have different types of investments in occupied palestine. so what we really need to do now is up our level, up our game when it comes to applying pressure upon these pressure points, upon these institutions that are zionist that work towards israel's effort to occupy, israel's effort to kill, israel's effort to displace israel's effort to main

palestinians from the river to the sea. mean, just quickly, you mentioned obviously universities, what what could some students do? let's say there was students watching this, what are some effective things that maybe they could do in on? campuses, well not just students, but everybody needs to know the political climate that we need to operate in, now it being students, we need to know what is a zionist organizations, what are zionist organizations that are present at campus, on campus, and one organization that every single student and pro-palestinian advocate needs to know about is the ujs, the union of jewish students that works towards demonizing and effort criminalizing palestinians as well as students are literally ad for the right belonging to the palestinian people. very important point is that nina friedman who was the former ujs president has spoken on video and event full of ujs alumni. she clearly says not my words, nina friedman's words, that the ujs alumni

have members in the israeli military, the israeli political office, different um buocracies within israel, so how is the ujs not? clearly an extension of zionism here in the uk, students need to know who the ujs is, anytime that you see a ujs event, you go to your local power sock, you inform them, you go to power sock such as that you see in soas, university, that you see in ucl, as well as that you see in countless other london-based universities and non-london-based universities and demand that any event organized by the ujs or zionist organizations should not be held on our campus, no absolutely. um and fatima, i would say uh, just before we, move to some of the spiritual dimensions, do you think muslims have been doing enough? i mean, do you think that as as a community in general, we see the young generally are more maybe mobilized and active and on campuses have been doing stuff, do you think maybe we could be doing more?

absolutely, you should be doing more, especially as a student, you've got that position where you can be doing more, um, within universities um, there is so much opportunity to stand. especially because these are the institutions that are complicit, you know, and um, essentially you're paying the university, and the university is paying to kill, so um, absolutely, you should be doing more, um, the students should be standing up, not just um, in the ways previously discussed, but um, there's this campaign of of silencing going on, uh, wearing even the palestinian badge or um, having any sort of... political standpoint um can be demonized, although it's not legal, yeah, so that's where you need to understand that if it's not illegal, yeah, don't be intimidated, don't do it, and i guess you've we've spoken already about some the physical, material actions that we can take, what are some of the spiritual actions

or some spiritual dimensions to this struggle that muslims can engage in specifically during shah of ramadan? absolutely, so as we've seen in raffa, um, "the children, they look up to the sky and they don't know whether it's dinner or or death, it's a devastating situation, and so when we are fasting, usually we think, okay, we are doing this for patience, we are doing this to have subur, to find that inner peace, these palestinian children, they've been doing it for months now, yeah, and if we can't empathize with them, not just a material level, but a spirit." spiritual level then what are we doing? we need to look within us and as we are fasting we need to find that that um spiritual side within us that empathizes with these kids in gazza that empathizes with the struggles that these people can't have a break from there is iftar

there is nothing mean grinding up animal feed subhanallah and here we are thinking that we might have dates from israel and and who cares yeah it's horrendous so when you're doing your when you're doing you're fast, when you're going about your daily life and you think, oh, i'm hungry, oh, i feel thirsty, find that part of you that connects with the rest of the ummah a spiritual level, yeah, and and uh, quickly, do you think that we muslim sometimes underestimate the power of dar? like uh, maybe some people say, oh, pray for the people of palestine, but actually it's a power, it's the weapon of the believer as far as we, 100%, as much as we must always pray for the people of palestine, um, we should also must make an active duty in for example, making sure that we are not breaking our fast on israeli produced dates, that was produced on stolen palestinian land, of course we should always pray for the people of gaza, but we should also make sure that we are not. in line with our actions are in line with our prayer and they don't contradict cuz frankly is very bitter sweet,

very bitter sweet that we're breaking and we're surrounding by our loved members, our family members, well palestinians are surrounded by the rubble of their homes, eating animal feed, breathing in white phosphorus for breakfast, it's disgusting and quite frankly is harrowing and i think what we saw recently seeing uh uh in london invite genocide enabler rushi sun, my opinion is quite disgusting, because i don't think any individual that has advocated for the killing of any people regardless of their religion or regardless of their race or creed for profit, should be welcome anyway, yeah, whether it be this room, my house, your house, my religious center or your religious, absolutely, absolutely, no, no, absolutely, thank you, now with the large scale crackdown, as we've mentioned, touched on on student action. on campuses across the uk ion islam attended a pro-palestine fundraising event a london

university and heard from the students directly as to why they planned this action specifically during the holy month of ramadan. in my opinion um doing being proactive and standing with justice or standing for justice rather is inherently islamic um and so i think it's something that we actually need to do um regard it being well with regards sorry to it being public or private um "i i think what we're doing here today isn't necessarily something that you need to be a muslim to do, um, even though we said it's inherently islamic, um, if people differ to that, then you can turn around and say, well, look, this is humanitarian course, um, and i don't think anyone has any valid basis to use uh, how public or private their religious beliefs are to stand with what's right, i'm first year law student, i'm also president of the sjp society, students for justice and..." and we're here today because we've seen that individual efforts aren't

enough, we need more combined effort, so that's why we've come, we've like coalitioned with different societies and we're trying to make like a big scene here so that we can really get our message across, um we've tried our best to communicate with the university, express how unhappy we've been that they've been neglecting the issue of palestine, they haven't they haven't shown enough attention to it, they haven't... respected our requests, we've asked them to raise the flag like they do for other causes, they haven't um respected our request basically, so we're going to try our best to put a scene here and display the flag everywhere possible and keep chanting free palestine, we feel to point pushed to have to do something, um, there's now a coalition of societies started off as two or three societies, but we're now, i think 15 or 16 societies in total have come together, so it's clearly... something which is supported by very broad and a large um element of the student base um and there's

even academic staff, members of staff who have voiced uh their solidarity with the cause as well and the fact that they want to see things that are different um but we've heard they've been outright scared to do so uh one member of staff earlier today came and slapped this a wall um and actually told us we had a conversation with him afterwards he was genuinely scared he was trying to his identity um and he was a jewish member of stuff and which goes to show that this isn't just a muslim cause um it's it's a global cause it's a humanitarian cause and i feel like i said when we started this obligated to to speak out um and i think most students most students are starting to see that as well now uh fatima we just saw some footage from event there uh a london university and i think one of the things that came through. from that event is attempts to intimidate students on campus to maybe make them feel

like they could be harmed in their you know studying or their prospects or some kind of consequences could come upon them um what advice would you have to particularly the younger students in terms of how to face down these attempts at intimidation whether it be by uh you know extremists on campus like ibrahim was talking about in the union of jewish students or even members of staff of course well first of all well done to those students that put action in place, that is what we need. um, you cannot uh feel intimidated by these people because they have no backing, there is no um, there is no ground for them to stand on essentially. for the younger students in particular, you've just now entered into a space where you've found this this new, this new found power, um, and you need to recognize that as as a student, lot of student activism is is undermined, but actually it plays huge part in getting things done, in changing the way people see things in even in legislation, so

it is so important that as a younger student look to those that are older than you, in perhaps higher years or even alumni and and see how they've interacted with the difficulties they faced um, because this isn't something new, we know that this issue has been ongoing, so there are sources and resources out there where you can look to, and you should find power and solidarity with the students that you're with, because now you're no longer just one, you're part of a bigger hole, yeah, yeah, you have a critical mass, just to add on that note, i think to... "the students that are watching to one organization and one movement definitely worth following and also asking for assistance if you do feel any trouble on campus is yffp youth front for palestine based in the north of england in manchester as well as pym britain that is based in london because they are youth lead they themselves have gone through many of these

very similar experiences on the back of the ujs's efforts to demonize and criminalize anything" think of anybody calling for the rights belonging to the palestinian people, so those two, what that organization and the palestinian youth movement are amazing avenues to get in contact with if you are experiencing any form of trouble on campus and you need to speak to somebody more experienced that can help alleviate the situation, just um sorry, sorry on that note, i think it's really important actually that students remember that they do have their rights and as ibrahim was saying it is so... important that you are educated in that sense, so when you are holding these actions, um, don't be intimidated because you have rights, so make sure you know them and therefore can use them, sure. um, and ibrahim, i would - want to come back to the question of uh, you ramadan and in terms of religiosity, what would you say to those who say that actually people or or or muslims

shouldn't be uh concerning themselves with political matters in general or even during this uh special time of the year then? and i think it contradicts lot of my own personal beliefs and as well as lot of beliefs of the muslim community when we see injustices unfolding across the world. i think um, i myself as human being, i myself as a muslim, i myself as a ibrahim cannot just sit there and continue to digest my food, while palestinian boy is starving and has been starving for over 150 days and looks to the sky and doesn't know whether that's food coming from the above or if it's a bomb raining to steal the life of his mother, his brother, his sister as well as his father. "i think it's shameful, i think shameful, nothing, nothing, other words to put in between. i think there's much more that muslims themselves as well as the muslim community, the muslim community are amazing in terms of what they have done for palestine, as well as we need to take it many more steps further, um, sister fatima, we've

seen uh many reports of the british government's attempts to try to redefine extremism in order to maybe try to tap." down support for palestine amongst people in the uk, muslims and non-muslims who have come out to support palestine, do you think that'll be successful in their attempts? they've tried, they've tried and they've tried again and we're still on the streets, so whilst yes we can see they are having an impact, people are starting to understand that it doesn't matter what they say or how many times they try to redefine extremism or how much they try to broaden it or how much they try to snatch you into this loop of. that loop or this label or whatever, what actually matters is is whether you are able to continue going out, so as long as we have that right, and as long as this is democratic, democratic um country, you will have that right, so don't be intimidated, and i mean they they'll keep trying, they won't stop, they won't relax,

but neither will we, um, do you think that'l be successful uh, ibrahim, but also do you think that... that it's a sign of their desperation that they're trying to crack down in this way, that they may be are worried about how much uh the narrative has changed and especially the young generation, i just want to take it very quickly somewhere else, in america there's a debate going on and expected to be passed very soon that tiktok will be banned, yes the main driving force of this, nothing to do of course with china and everything to do with the fact that the adl, the jewish extremist organization is worried that the younger generation who get their news from tiktok are seeing things how they are, and think this is what's reflected in government policy here, they're so panicking, especially that younger people are not supporting israel anymore, that they're trying to do all of this ban protests and call people extremists to try to because of how successful these actions are. 100% um, just before starting off, i think the only extremist thing is what's coming out of the cabinet office and coming out of the fact that he is supporting an entity that is

committing genocide and actively spoke about their genocidal intent, i think with the question regarding tiktok is very interesting question because we no longer have two camps where it is the left and the right, instead it is the old and the young and the old will soon die and the young. continue to get old and the young do have the dominant view that paleside should be liberated from the river to the sea because they are seeing the injustices and their mind hasn't been tampered with institutionally by going through the ages of life, so i think that is very telling. i think what is very telling is the fact that protests our right to protests is what allowed us to have the establishment the national health service here in this country. it was working class men going to go out to fight. in world war ii, coming back without a leg, without an arm, without any form of service, health-wise, taken to the streets, demanding their right, given that i

thought blood sweat and tears for your country, the least you can do is accommodate me in terms of healthcare, that is how we had the nhs, that is the same people that boris johnson wanted us to clap for at 8 o'clock, and you are now saying that you want to strip our right from protesting, when you are when protesting literally gave. something that this country regards itself as one of its great its greatest achievements, national free health service, and just to conclude, i think we shouldn't get lost in everything that's been taking place post october the 7th thinking that's happening in a vacuum, because just like how it didn't take place on october the 7th, their attempts to criminalize palestinian activity across western europe did not take place post october the 7th, this has been an effort to criminal... our right to protest before last year, and we see it accelerated in places like germany where organizations are unable

to receive state funding if they support bds and was soon on the trajectory to see that happening here in the uk, so none of this should be seen to have happened in vacuum, whether it be the events that led up to october the 7th or the events that led after october 7th, and just very fine uh fatima and maybe actually i want to pick up on that last point that brother ibrahim made about funding, so there are attempts and the been actually legislation passed in many states in the us where you wouldn't get access to you know funds and uh contracts or other other access to public money if you support bds or you're anti-zionist is not a good thing though, i mean what we really want is our communities to be independent from the state right and not be reliant on the state because we've seen many of those who do take money from the state. 'uh you know to promote narratives like prevent and others have actually been very compromised, so in the long term isn't it good that people divorce themselves from being reliant on these you know kind of authoritarian western regimes?

think i want to just flip that its head quickly because the way we look it is so important, when you are given money by the state, the state doesn't give it to you without its it's you know expectations exactly so now rishi is pledged 17'. million to the security of of mosks and and muslim faith-based schools and and whatever of the next four years, what does that, what does that come with? that's not just coming out of nowhere, there is a reason that it's coming out now, and there's a reason that it's this amount of money, and there's a reason that it's based to the muslim community, when the muslims have been vocal, now it's suddenly time to fund them, to silence them essentially, when you know when we're all happy and... in our place and and the muslim community is more worried about um spiritual issues rather than perhaps current affairs or or the idea of you know prevent is something

to help us all and it's not biased or whatever well when you're silent and you're already within their pocket they don't need to buy you to put them in your put you in their pocket does that make sense so it's it's so important that not only are you scared you shouldn't be scared of not receiving funding you should be scared of receiving. yeah, exactly, this has been my position, because what are the strings that come attached with it? thank you so much, sister fatima and brother ibrahim as well for your time and your excellent contributions, and uh, thank you at home for watching, it's all we have time for today, but you can join us againuh next week for another edition of iron islam.

information about palestine abounds on social networks, many times without context. they do not allow us to go deeper and understand all the dimensions of a catastrophe that is drag'. on for centuries. daniel hardway, chilean mayor of palestinian origin, opens a window to palestine. to understand in depth the present cause of the palestinian people, exploring its history and future prospects. do not miss a window to palestine.

this week on expose, we touch upon the western narrative of the parliamentary elections in the islamic republic of iran as it centered around made up tales about iranians abstaining from voting in protest against the government. in the meantime, most opinion pieces published by well-known. mainstream media rejected the idea that iran is democratic country essentially recycling tired stories and narratives with no fresh perspective. also this week we cover social media reacts to the famon brought on by the ongoing zinus israeli genocide in gaza as well as the air drop churade of aid and expired food on gaza residence. right here on expose, the truth is just a revelation away.

تحب تصيب المستوابه تشتغل احكي مهندس مهندس مهندس شو معمر مو معمر مهندس هاذ الاطفال انا بدي يعني نتعلم اللغه وفوت اولادي مدرسه. وانا بدي اشتغل بمهنتي يعني ايه بس تعلم بدنا الامن والامان اكثر شيء الاستقرار عندنا هواي احلام اكيد احنا ما تعقت بالعراق نتمنى نلقاها بالمانيا اولا من جانب الشه