assalamualaikum, 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 consider a trending new story, and we break it down from an islamic perspective. now, as the world watches on in the face of israel's genicidal onslaut against the people of gazza. one consistent theme which has stood out has been the unbreakable spirit and faith of the palestinian people. as thousands have seen their lives torn apart. homes destroyed and

their family members murdered and mamed. they have consistently south soless in allahhala and have declared their faith in and praise of him. and it's that spirit which has inspired masses of people around the world to learn more about and in many cases to accept the religion of islam. i'm a jew, i lost family in the holocaust. i 100% feel comfortable saying that what's happening now to the palestinian people is another holocaust. and there's still. of خلقنا والله بياخذنا والله يفعل ما يريد. palestinians are doing everything that was described job doing in the bible. i've not

seen any footage of palestinian people cursing jewish people or israeli people, these are people of god. i know these people were blessed by allah himself. yeah, hold faith is such an adominable hope. it don't give up about this life. okay, the only thing these people fear is allah, that's it. if this is the campaign to to get nations to. be islamic, it's doing it. i've been shocked to my core at the faith muslim people have. what is happening in palestine has opened my eyes to the beauty of islam? that's something that people don't get to see often. definitely not here in the west. into the bible, asking logical questions were not loud. when i read through the quran i see logic and divinity brought together. result of that is on social media i have seen so many people. picking up

the quran and reading it, through you know this entire thing with palestine, so many more people are learning about islam, so many more people are reading the quran, you got to have lot of people turning to islam soon, it's happening again, it's like all these people, i see quran book club, i see people deciding to convert to islam because they're like, well what, what is really going on here? i just bought my first copy of the quran, i got the quran, i started reading the quran, it's my day two in reading the quran, oh my god. seeing how these palestinians literally are thanking god, seeing the brave palestine people as they're losing everything, so much faith and peace while their families are being murdered, it states, we need a lot more empathy and understanding of muslims in the arab world. i need to know what you'll put in islam, okay? i need just from reading the second sura, i'm like, i get it. i understand why there's such a steadfast

faith to anyone that follows islam, being shown just how wrong we were about this faith and how rich, how like how deep and just the language of it, oh how fluid and beautiful it is, being lied to the western people, and i took my shahada, i feel tremendous peace, and i'm going to be reading it forever, joining us today to talk these issues through our to... guests, we're honored to welcome sister tamanna ali, who is a recent master's graduate in islamic studies and is a digital communications manager a london-based charity. her dissertation explored the impacts of social media on uk-based muslim converts. she also draws upon her own experiences reconnecting with her faith initially facilitated through social media, and also joining us, we are very lucky to have sister esmi, who is a london-based jewelry designer with experience in creative content design and social. media management,

she comes from a tamil christian background and has embraced islam over seven years ago with keen interest in islamic studies and muslim societies. to you both girls, thank you so much. for uh joining me today, so watching that video, you know, i got goose bunps um, hearing these people talk about how they've been inspired and how they're coming to islam. tamanna, you know, what, what do we have in the quran and in hadith that give this, you know, this strength to these muslims in gazza in the face of such barbarity and genocide? yeah, absolutely. well, thank you for having us on, um, and absolutely completely inspired by people's stories and... so inspiring to you, hear the different reasons why people are now looking into islam, accepting islam, um, so the quran and hadith offers so many lessons, guidance that likely inspire muslims in palestine to remain strong in times of injustice, so key themes are exercising patience and

perseverance, accountability and justice, prayer and faith and trust in allah, so um, i believe that currently no people, no community and no group group are exercising power um and faith as much as palestinians, as much as the people in gaza, in palestine, so if we take the lessons of allah, trust in allah, um, having observed the people in gaza, in palestine, on our screens and hearing and listening to their personal accounts, the key striking pattern is the unwavering and absolute conviction in the word of allah, his promise, um, in this idea that palestine will be free, um, so essentially what we're witnessing, um, is the absolute savagery and barbaric reality of the zionist occupation, um, and the u.s. regime,

so this massacre of palestinians that has taken place, um, entire groups and families are being wiped out, yet the survivors continue proclaiming their absolute trust in allah, you know, their... iman, the their belief in the quran, in the hadith, and stating and repeating things like, allah is sufficient for us and he is the best disposal of affairs and he is the excellent helper, so um, believe in allah's divine plan, in um, the their unfoltering faith is clearly inspiring millions of people, thousands of people, millions of people around the world, and um another point i wanted to mention um is the notion and call to strive for your rights and to strive in the way of allah, so that's another lesson that we um find that's deeply rooted in both the quran and hadith, um, so this very much ties in with um the

rights of palestinians to defend themselves, so spicing in the way of allah, defending themselves, um, one striking hadith: um in this regard attributed to the prophet, peace be upon him and his family um is if you see evil you should change it with your hand, if you are unable to do so then speak out against it. if you can't do that either then at least dislike it in your hearts, and that is the least of faith. so it's important to remember that palestinians are inarmered with absolute conviction and determination in standing up for what's right in justice and standing up for... um the cause of palestine ahanty, you know something that i really um resonated with there in that moment is uh the thing that you said about uh wants us to liberate ourselves from oppression, you know so many people, so many muslims and christians, it's the the idea of turn the other cheek, give 72 excuses, yes okay to a

certain point, but actually allah wants us to make that change, um, did you have something that you wanted to add to that? sorry and what i wanted to add to that was um when you're talking about having faith in allah, one line that i remember the translation of is um allah is sufficient for us and he's the best dispose of our affairs and i see that being repeated lot because when you're faced with um death and calamity um you have no one or nothing to turn to apart from allah and that gives people strength um especially. when you're talking about oppression, um, turning to allah, because that's the strongest thing that you can turn to, yes, it's incredibly inspiring to see muslims take you, sollis from their faith, especially in these challenging times, and tamanna, if i can come back to you, um, people are accepting you, islam from all over the world

based on what they're seeing, um, in gazza, as you rightfully mentioned, why exactly do you think that is? yeah, i think people are inspired and taken by the faithful. um, and others are like, yeah, that's islam, so yes, the palestinian struggle has certainly um sparked a global movement of people wanting to seek the truth, wanting. um answers about what's happening in palestine, but also the macro context is um sparking that internal crisis, like what is the true purpose of life and you know what, why don't why don't i know about this, the complexity or the the history um that has been laid out in the mainstream media is a lie, you know, it's so obvious what's happening and people are questioning um mainstream media, they're turning to alternative media outlets, um, they're watching - personal accounts and stories from people on the ground, you know, and we owe it so much to palestinian journalists, motors,

plestiah, bisan, abu, there's so many that you know, without them we wouldn't know what's happening, on the ground, without political analysts, um, and activists that are sharing their personal stories and challenging mainstream media, so um, yeah, to answer your question, um, people are genuinely inspired by um, the absolute conviction, uh, faith, resilience. the people in gaza, of children in gaza, um, i came across a post actually, um, that the children in gaza teach us the true meaning of life, and that resonated with me so much, because it really puts things into perspective, and um, really makes us question, like, you know, how much do we really know about not just what's happening in palestine, but islam in general, and our own beliefs and faith, where do we stand, where do we want to stand, um, on the side. of truth and or falsehood, you know, of injustice or justice, like where are

we, where do we stand in that? yeah, and i think um, you know, when we're talking about questioning the narrative, i think when people start to question the narrative that the mainstream media is portraying what's happening in palestine and even just generally how they did, how they um, portray muslims, once people start to question that, i feel like that's when people are like, okay, like i've been lied to, so "let me look into islam, i can talk from my personal experience, um, when i was just before i took my shahada, like the year coming up to me accepting islam, um, i remember there was a couple of terrorist attacks, attacks, sorry, one in london and one in france, i think, and um, i remember when it happened, when those attacks happen, there's also increase in hate crimes towards muslims as well, and i see like on social media muslims." trying to um defend themselves um talking against terrorism and um things like that and i used

to look at and be like why do they have to do that you know why do they portray muslims in such a way that uh muslims have to you know defend themselves and explain that the the religion is beautiful um and things like that and i start to become curious - i actually saw a post on instagram recently and it said um uh western media is making for uh islamocurious not islamophobic um and i think that's kind of what's happening people are looking more into it like you said with alternative um platforms like social media people are more free to to post the truth um compared to when i first reverted i feel like there wasn't as much things on social media um so i think that's kind of what's happening um people are looking into it definitely agree that the coverage of the... attacks on razza um are definitely shattering people's world view, and um, because they are now just

so like, oh my god, i've been lied to my whole life, you know, these stories that i've been told, um, oh my, what's the truth, that's what's taking them to islam, i completely concer with both of what you're saying, and what we did, i islam went to the streets of london to ask members of the public how the people of gaz have inspired them with their strength and indefatigability. yes, definitely, and i think it's almost an honor for me to be a palestinian and watch the palestinians in palestine represent the whole ummah, i mean the land of palestine was the first qibla, the direction of prayer, so they are fighting for all of the umah and actually they're worried about us, because god is in their care, god is protecting them, he knows how hard they're fighting, they're going to stand up and fight for the whole umman, fight for their own freedom, and they are going to... be sent to heaven, they are worried about us, they are worried about us, what will do, what will we do, we see the wrong, are we going to

stand up for it, this is the question, mean 100%, i think they inspire every single muslim, me and my friends always talk about it, like they're an amazing example for all of us and like i'm just learning more and more lessons from them every single day to be grateful for everything that i have that i the water, the safety security, i can pray in peace, i can do everything in peace, and they are struggling for like to have their basic basic right. so i'm just, i mean, if they're hopeful, we need to be hopeful, what i mean, that's what i'm learning from them, is they lose their family members and then they'll be like, alhamdulillah, you know what i mean, and they'll say, it's okay, this is. this is allah's plan, this is a lesson for all of us and it's just we can only hope to be as you know only hope to have the faith that they have 100%. it has made me want to learn more about my faith because they they still have faith even if whatever is happening to them and we might lose our faith if something bad happens to us, so it has made me stay

stronger in my faith. i think for me, i've always felt really really inspired by, i think what has has been happening on the ground in palestine in gaza, um, i think there's been decades of inspiration around people's resistance, people's desire to keep loving in despite of the violence that they've been experiencing for decades, so for me like i'm deeply inspired by that. i think it's amazing how they trusting garden, for for for all. really um, i don't understand the muslim faith, but i can see that it's it's real, such powerful words that we've just heard from the streets of london, um, and coming back to you, esmi, if i can ask you, what is it about islam that that allowed you to accept it, because you spoke about your curiosity, but what is it that made you accept islam? okay, so i grew up in a

christian household, um, i would say i wasn't super practicing, but we did go to church, we did rosary on fridays, that kind of thing, and at the time i believed in it, um, i also did have very close muslim friend, um, so i used to, basically around when i was about 16, i finished my confirmation, it's basically like when you get baptized when you're older, i guess, um, while i was doing that, i had this close friend and i used to go to their house for dinner and i used to ask questions. why do you guys not eat pork or um why do you fast and um her parents used to answer um and he always used to say her dad always used to say um you know christians and muslims were like cousins you know it's very similar religions uh but they always brought up the point that um um but you guys worship jesus and we see him as a prophet and

um i think that kind of stuck with me but i didn't look into islam. um straight away just because i felt like i was young, i was scared to as well because i knew that if moved that way um it would be more difficult because of my age, my family was quite religious at the time i would say um and then as i got older this was around 16 so as i got older i started to become more curious like i said um things that the media were saying about muslims uh me having muslim friends they weren't like the way that they were being portrayed um and then one incident. happened um kind of leading up to me, taking my shahada where um i had a friend of mine, who wanted a job at my workplace, long story short, the manager, the manager told her, she she wore a hijab, the manager told her that you the hijab is against the uniform codes, blah blah blah, basically didn't get give her a job because of her hijab, and my friend was

a bit like you know leave it, she was upset, she was like leave it, you know i just want to move on from it blah blah blah and um i was like no i can't i can't let it go um i was so angry and i think it was just a build up of um all the things that heard about muslims and the stereotypes and it kind of just built up and i just felt like it was unfair and i felt like i had to do something so i literally went into my next shift with a head scarf as a christian as a christian yeah i was a muslim then uh as a christian i wasn't looking into islam at the time i just felt like this was something had to do, like a political stand, yeah, like like a protest, and um, kind of came into islam like that, you know, how beautiful, um, and then i started looking into the religion, like why women wear hijab, other parts of the religion, like the core beliefs i kind of did it in a way where i kind of weighed up what each side believes and then decided what i felt was the truth, was the truth what i

believe, subhan allah, um, yeah, if if i can just comment very quick. the fact that you came to islam through learning about it not only through social media but you know your friends and the environment um and then uh and then acting you know this is one thing about islam it is uh coupled with faith and and action and and politics are they together and the fact that you know you kind of found that marriage there and it led you towards islam is stunning um in terms of social media because you're this is your research this is your work and inshallah it's something that you plan to publish um please talk to us about the impact of social media on people coming to the path of islam, especially in the context of, yeah, so um, you mentioned, it's my dissertation, i explore. the impacts of social media on mislim converts in the uk, esmi was one of my interviewes, thank you esmi for that, and um essentially um what

we're finding with social media and alternative media platforms is the ability for people to share their own stories, their personal accounts, to challenge uh mainstream media and the discourses around them, so um people others are witnessing those and um being influenced by a different take, a different perspective, narrative on you know what's happening in you, in gaza, in palestine, around the world, um, and the macro context is sparking um, internal crisis, so so the macro is influenced in the micro context, um, and the there is one theory that strikes me as relevant to this discussion, um, and it's because i've come across some... youtube adverts as well from the israeli regime um about this, so electronic colonialism theory or cyber colonialism, and um essentially um this is

obviously an extension of the traditional um colonialism concept, um, but it focuses on the control by certain countries over other countries and certain people over other people, so what social media is achieving and fulfilling is um having these alternative platforms um where um i'm sure you've heard the term as citizen journalism um people are sharing their stories and challenging mainstream media, so um with uh electronic colonism theory when it's exported from from a country to another country, it brings with it its political, economic, social, you know, um, cultural values and um, we're not seeing that. mainstream media take over now because people are sharing their stories and are connecting with those alternative media outlets so this plurality and diversity of content is really connecting with different

people um and hence why inspiring people like esmi, people um that we saw earlier in the video to look into islam to question um their previous beliefs and misconceptions about islam about muslims about their take on politics in palestine. in gaza and it's amazing cuz i know people personally who've um you know who had negative stance not a negative stance but they were quite neutral and balanced about the situation oh it's complex you know we don't we shouldn't take a stance um and you know we don't know the history we have to be fair to both sides but what we're seeing now on socials is the clear polarity the dichotomy between truth and falsehood injustice and justice so that's what people. connecting with and saying actually we're not dumb, we know the media has been lying to us this whole time, like we can do our own research and um we can find the truth for ourselves, so it's such

empowering um you know uh personal complex multifacet to journey that people can take, so social median in of itself um isn't necessarily the reason why people convert, but it's certainly a tool and gateway to access information and knowledge that you otherwise wouldn't. and to connect with people and communities that you otherwise wouldn't connect with, yes, and and um, because now we're able to see all this stuff, well people's world views being shattered and the truth, they're being, they've realized that they've been lied to all these years and that they're able to kind of like seek the truth, absolutely, i completely agree, as me, as as a convert, i know that you, you've been muslim for a while now, but as a convert, what infrastructure did you find lacking that should be um in place you know for for new muslim? coming into the faith so that they you know they hold to their islam. i think um, when i revert, there was like quite a few revert programs, um, happening at masks um,

and things like that, but i think the problem that i found or the thing that was lacking was the continuality, so they tend to target kind of very new muslims, um, but say you've been muslim like seven years like i have, i may not need that space, you know, but i might need a space for example. to help me make friends with other sisters or to get married, i think that's one big problem for for reverts, there isn't really um that many things to facilitate that, um, i think infrastructure that would help reverts along the way, not just when they just became muslim, but also later, um, also sometimes advice um as well, um, sometimes i'll have a problem, for example, let's say uh, how to deal with a certain situation with my family, and i'd go to someone uh, who might have been raised muslim and they'll give me like really

bad advice cuz... don't understand the situation or it's very every revert situation's very different, it's very multifted, everyone goes through different struggles like depending on your family, your circles, your stage of life, things like that, and um, i feel like sometimes the advice is just doesn't always understand that if that makes sense, as and for me as as a just as woman who is born muslim, i found that accessibility to shakhs or to learned people. sometimes be such such a mountain to climb, you have to call this number, they're not available, send this email, like you have to really fight sometimes to get uh to a stage where where you have regular access to a scholar who you connect with, relatable, understands your journey, but also sees you as um someone that they care about that they want to constantly you know talk to and help, um, so yes, um, i completely agree with you, and inshallah, inshallah, not only yourself, but all the people who are finding their way

to islam through the plan. the gazdans through their strength um inshallah they they also have the support that you are given um thank you so much for coming it was such an enlightened conversation and thank you uh for watching at home that is all that we have time for today uh join us again next week for another edition of eye on islam

press tv's news and brief four-day true has taken effect in the gaza strip, the first major reprevent seven weeks of conflict there. the seasfire began at 7 am gaza time on friday, the start of the truces to be followed by prisoner swap between israel and hamas later in the day. the head of the palestinian islamic jaad resistance movement says the israeli regime has failed to achieve its stated goals in the gaza wars ziad nahala also says the current prisoner swap deal with tel aviv will finally lead to another agreement that will force the regime to release all palestinian prisoners. iran's foreign minister warns that if israel continues the war on gaza following the truce. regional conditions will get.