Yusha Evans - Why I Hate Social Media | ReRooted 18

my name is Musa Edna and that's what's that you should Evans this is rooted and here's what's coming up next social media I believe is like a huge arm or a wing of giving us an understanding of how close the time of adage Ellis you don't know me you have no idea who I am and I think people who saw the fuse first view podcast I did and reflections had to take a step back you know I mean maybe there's a way more way more going on and I wanted to do that for a reason I wanted to show people that just because persons are public speak you see them on global platform traveling the world don't mean that their life is you know cream puffs and rainbows you know Medina's on the top of my list okay I mean you could you can drop me off there and I could be homeless for the rest of my life and I'd be satisfied okay so let's see a side point Medina but my my favorite place is to travel around I'm not saying this just because I'm here or UK and Australia until I got banned and the reason being is because dude how's things things are always well mashallah tuberculous it's amazing to have you here you are one of the people that we wanted on the show for a long time masha'allah been discussed in the office messages were sent and I'll handle a you finally had these people that we've been trying to get and it's a it's it's very varied it's a difficult process but alhamdulillah finally here to benefit from everything in Sharla that you have to offer it's my pleasure way I'm gonna need to pick your mind on a lot of things but before that you're someone that Allah Mubarak you've been involved in the devil seen for a very very long time now yeah can I say over a decade it's probably over a decade over a decade Allah Akbar so I'm sure you know new face to people people have seen you before it cetera you've done many different conferences worldwide work with many many different there are different people been in different environments and many of the different continents as well with your Dawa so a question that I would like to ask because I know that when you come on podcast you often talk about very different topics Islamic topically cetera we're gonna do that as well first question I want to get aside with though is how does study cherevin's spend his spare time spare time what is spare time what is free time it doesn't know I don't have a whole lot of it but you know when I when I do have free time I number one I've said this now enough times that most people who have seen any other podcast or seen my podcast or seen anything else they know that that by nature I'm an introvert yeah it's my it's my bass state okay so in my free time I like being at home I like being at home with family you know I'm not an out and about person all the time I'm not a socialite I'm not a social butterfly I I don't like crowds I don't like big gatherings that I likes more small intimacy so for me free time is home doing something productive or something that helps take me out of I don't want to say the dowel mode but out of that personal public speaker mode you know so doing something with my you know kids taking them out to the park you know I have hobbies like I like I like tinkering with cars you know I like building things I like sports so you know in in my free time I try to find things that are going to kind of Center me again you know that give me some balance so it doesn't seem like I'm always on the go I'm always in the public eye I have to have a reprieve from that if not I start like shutting down inside as an introvert I I need my own personal space of time I need to be able to even spend time by myself yeah cuz I very rarely get that chance you know just to have time on my own so I you know I have a number of things I like to do I'm just a normal person at the end of the day yeah so I have certain hobbies that that that I like to do that might not necessarily be called you know part of the whole religious idea that people have of you but that's problematic in the first place you try to speak about that in many occasions but I have some normal activities I like to do that's that's kind of what I want to like kind of zoom in on so those so those normal activities away from the kind of religious kind of side of it well for example could you give us like some examples of like what's the main thing you enjoy doing when you're at home and you want to kind of like go into a different space a little bit what's like the main thing I go to my garage and I think ER will your car with either with my car or some other project that I might be working on interesting you know I like I like building things working with my hands you know it's it's just something that's kind of innate me from being a southern boy born and raised yeah is it that we like to do things on our own like there might be some projects in my house that I'm gonna do like okay I couldn't find a bookshelf that I like so I'm gonna build a bookshelf you know that that's my type of thing yeah you know and so I might be tinkering with something like that in the garage building something or you know creating something with my own two hands it's it's something that I find a lot of satisfaction in interesting the reason I wanted to actually kind of like speak about these sort of things you just mentioned like right before we started we could see like there's the coffee cup on the table you love your coffee I like all a connoisseur of coffee how do you like your coffee plain I like espresso for fight milk in nothing else nice oh I'm simple like that but being a connoisseur it's about the grade the greater of this person or the way that it's made the way the the the milk is heated in steam yeah there's a process behind that I don't think I'm on that level yet because I've recently just started taking coffee a little bit seriously so I'm still one like I don't know the Starbucks okay I don't know if that's good or bad or like caffeine it's a bit of a burnt coffee I take this shortcut I have found a very good Nespresso machine that I use but I foam on milk and stuff like that okay it makes I don't have the time in my life to have like a full-fledged espresso machine and and and work that yeah espresso makes some good products we're not sponsored by them by whoever but they make some good products that will it'll make the espresso well for you to start off with I can see myself getting an espresso machine in the future because because of how interested I've gotten into coffee its simplistic an espresso machine it's just it just works it's kinda like the Apple of coffee it just works you know I mean really yeah like that it just works they're not cheap you know I mean but I've had mine expresso machine is like to use and it just works you know I went from the same thing having like Starbucks every morning or they have something called a caribou in in the Midwest to now make him my own coffee every morning and not only does it if it better experience cuz I think I make better coffee yeah this is a lot more cheap so that cheaper it's a lot more economical than a five dollar coffee at Starbucks every morning interesting so like you just said like about being from the Midwest and stuff a Volvo I've always as like a child had this like him and I think a lot of us growing up we had this kind of thing especially in the UK where we look at America and like the Americas in general as something kind of fantasized in the sense where like it's different everything's bigger over there when you go like everything the whole vibe it's different it's like what kind of all cultures it is different look towards so recently I was in Toronto not know obviously not part of America but like kind of North America right North America North America Canada and America are quite different as well they're quite different but it was different for me because that was my first time in in that sort of area yep of the world and Hum Dil I've had the privilege to be in different areas Africa Asia I've been like Malaysia like they're very different places Switzerland see in the Alps alhamdulillah but like when I went when I went to Canada it was truly like a very different experience so like you have brothers ordering coffees that are like this big hmm like and I was like bro how are you gonna drink that buy it so then I bought this is normal this is how like medium or like this our lodge yeah they have extra lodge they took me to Me's yeah and it was like it was it was really really good so like the whole vibe that I found over there was very very different even with the cars the way the people are the culture and the reason I actually wanted to start the podcast talking about these sort of topics is because I find that a lot of the time when people see people like yourself allahumma barik like a public speaker they don't see us as a person yes I can start I was like to teach you you're always talking about the Deen these aren't bad things obviously but like they see you as this person that like if they sue you like being serious about your coffee or like tinkering in your garage it's like it's not normal yeah what's this person do you become you unfortunately public speaking has become one-dimensional okay if that if that makes sense like that that's all there is to them people will see their videos and be like that is there that is there their standard that's the way they always must be okay I've had some I could tell you some stories of the ramifications of that ridiculous like that's just all people see from you you're not allowed and and I don't want to say you're not allowed to be normal because you know that's that is normal like you're where the problem is we've equated religiosity with protection yeah I mean that in order to be religious you must not have any thing other than Dean you know I mean like that's it yeah you can't I mean I I went to a Masjid before I don't want to say where I don't know how anybody but I showed up to give a youths lecture this really youth Holika okay youth and I was wearing jeans and a hoodie it was even and it was an Islamic hoodie hoodie and the brother who picked me up the Imam was like are you ready I'm not yeah yeah he's like where's you thought I'm notnot wearing thumbed is going is and he couldn't wrap his head around on the way there he's like I have a thumb in my office to put on if you want to him like no look at the dress yeah yeah and then he even stopped me and told me he said I wish you would have worn a throw because people see any explain that people see you in a certain way like all these youth and all of us we've only seen your videos I've only seen you online you know and and you're almost always an authority and stuff like that so this is what they expect from you and I'm like how does what I'm wearing it's not impermissible have any bearing on what I say you know how is that going to just because I'm wearing a throw or I'm wearing jeans and a hoodie how does that change what I'm about to say it would be no different it's just that standard that you're put to know but like which I despise yeah I hate it it's one of the reasons why I've considered dropping out of social media many times well had taken a year off social media because people hold you to a standard you can't live up to hmm and if you know yourself personally like I know myself personally I cannot live up to that standard subhanAllah in this the struggle of trying to can be detrimental to you I can end up destroying myself internally yeah trying to hold myself to a standard I know it's unrealistic because this is what people expect that's and one of the reasons I did a reflections podcast that's crazy to open up that side of me to say hey look Here I am subhanallah take it or leave it do you know why I find that crazy because because of how you're seen and it's the same thing here but like you know what you just described there's like your younger brothers like very young brothers who are on social media who are going through the exact same thing and I'll go step further from what you just said the story that you shared which is people don't understand the way these things worked because if you now like like rocked up to a talk and your dress like that 100% some kids are gonna look at that and they can actually take that inspiration yeah because they're gonna relate with that there's something people gonna relate with like look at this person he's dressed just like me however he it's it's as if he's he's actually living in my world kind of thing but he is that person that I want to be like yeah he's practicing the Deen it's hard to get everybody around that though because there's kind of certain standards there's kind of like a list okay you're a public speaker this is your list that you must you must always be wearing a thumb you must always be talking about religion you cannot you must live in the back of a Masjid eating rice and daal and curry you know you must you must not have anything that is worth any value you know it's almost like you have to be you know a lot hit you're almost like you have to this is has to be your line yeah you can't make mistakes that's number one you cannot make a mistake if you make a mistake we are going to you know publicly lash you and bash you for it for a decade you know so it's that standard is becoming problematic cuz that's not the world we live that's not reality of any human being you know so to hold people and especially people who clearly are not scholars most of us public speakers we are not even on the level of scholar we're not even on that road if that makes sense not only are we not scholars we're not even we're not even in the field we're students you know and and maybe you know barely passing grade students at the very best we love what we do and we try to help other people but you're now trying to hold the standards that you would hold someone you know who is like right below the NB a-- - it's just not realistic not realistic you can't you can't have a flock you can't make a mistake you can't do anything and that's why I wanted to start the podcast like this because I know for a fact that you're one of those speakers because there's like a list of those big taboos because that are seen and that's just because you've been around for a very long time I've been at it for a long time yeah so you so your name is up there like with with a long Mubarak if I can say like some of some of the speakers that will get invited to some of the international conferences and stuff like that as you already know I'm here yourself as you're in that yourself so speaking to someone like that on a level because it's the same thing that I would do with any other speaker just like yourself I would want to talk about okay what do you lack as a person let's bring your personality or how air because we're always hearing about the Deen stuff and whatnot and what you're expected to say but like no one expects you know yourself to come on a podcast and talk about the type of coffee you love or you like this person machines it's like building motors from scratch yeah it's all in some people think that you not allowed to have it was kind of it's like the human aspect because when we when we read about the prophet sallallaahu Leo sallam and his character we know everything about him and and we know about the things that he was interested in like the prophet sallallahu sallam expressed wrestling wrestling perfume perfume you like perfume use into perfume you know we have some of the brothers here and I liked horses into perfume he liked nice writing animals yes he had a very nice one yeah you know expensive like he liked decent things and it's like the reason I'm speaking about this now is that for example myself this certain shops that I like to shop like I really like Uniqlo I like a lot of my clothes from Uniqlo I like I like coffee as well like very recently though you know say some things people gonna judge me for my coffee judgments as well but like these things that us as human beings us as people who are seen as in the dawa the that we do that you do as well that you do as well in normal human beings links from this were especially equality even the prophet alayhi salaatu wa salaam said one of the blessings of this linnaeus to be given an expensive house like an open house i you know like a lot of space in your home like that's that's a blessing yeah which anybody who's been in if you ever been into people who have like these big area open homes listen it's a blessing it's peaceful it's tranquil you come home but you know it gets it gets lost in translation hmm a lot of that you that you normally have to choose one or two you can either be a person of the Dean or you can be a person of the dunya and it shouldn't be like that cannot do both yeah chick is pick a side especially few want to get in the dour you wanna get in a dour take a side you know I mean are you are you gonna go down this road you gonna go down that road you can't do both there's no middle and no middle ground and and and do you think that I mean like bring it out to normal people I'm making a little bit more relatable do you think that that's because do you think that that results in university students start looking into dating to feel a bit scared but I like this stuff that I do and it's not as silly haram but I'm really really attached to certain things that I like hobbies that I like yeah I give all that up to be religious yeah I don't to be religious and be like this guy that I see he's just wearing a hat all the time in fact the religiosity is not defined properly hmm so like how would you define really is your city then religious you're just religion Islamic perspective of course I don't want to get into like terminology and say I'm giving any rulings and of course I to be religious is more of a state of mind in a state of being a state of the mind in the heart you know and because state of mind and heart and actions there's always going to be a little bit of difference because we could all commit sin even the best of us who leave any other cut off every son of Adamson's so you know knowing that religiosity is where your heart and mind is you know kind of like the the statement that you can possess the world but don't let the world possess you yeah you know I know people who are very well off in the states I know some brothers who masha'Allah October Allah you know they they have huge homes Ferrari in the garage you know I mean but this brother is on his Deen you know I mean he's someone who I would look at in in in say masha'Allah he reminds me of allah subhanho wa taala our conversations together are about the Deen but on the weekends we can go out racing you know he's he's showing that you can have so religiosity is more of a state of of of heart in mind you know that that I am living a life to please allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala my heart is attached to the deen of allah it is not attached in this world but yeah i so like certain things you can be religious and have both it's it's like okay do i like to have a nice fast powerful car yes if I got into a wreck tomorrow and it was destroyed would that change what's in here and in here if not it doesn't possess me it's just a possession that's a good doesn't affect me I have no recent Lee you know people know about my cars and the fact that I had a show B III get rid of it recently okay to downgrade life and you know my my daughter started school and you know we want to go down to one car so I got rid of it it wasn't a thought okay it's time to do something else until we get settled in some area and then I'll go back to looking at that hobby again because it's always gonna be in me fine sell it it's not you know I mean some people if you're attached to but I go I gotta get rid of but no I'd hate to see a gonna didn't affect you like I don't care about that you know it was fun while you know while I was able to do it but it was it's just something to take my time it's not a it's not something that has any piece of me you see like me personally I find that so inspiration or you don't understand it doesn't matter because because like just like just like yourself there's certain things I'm interested in as well you know like technology certain types of clothing etc and trying to be well-groomed and stuff like that and one of the things that you just said which which I think really hits home about this is that that that's the concept of jihad in Islam that's the concept of being detached from the dunya yeah the present mean don't have exactly don't be tethered to it that's the key part because it's like there was companions like Abdul Rahman with all flick Kaufman being a fan with the alone home on that list is very long yeah - we had it all yeah and and and the end they had wealth they had they had that and and they dressed good however they would give every single penny of it away without a second you yeah yeah because they weren't attached to it wasn't the be-all and end-all it was a means to an end and and that's where concepts like minimalism come into play and this were like I'm very passionate about stuff like this because I find that a lot of these modern-day concepts I don't know if you with this but you find modern-day concepts and like trends coming up and so many of them go back to Islam yeah so many of them are included within Islam and I'm a person who likes minimalism I don't like to have a lot of things yeah I don't like to have a lot of positions I get I get claustrophobic very easily when when my house becomes cluttered yeah like if and this is where you know family and me and my wife and kids we we have a little bit of disagreement on if it was from me and let's just say you know I could have things echo what I want them they'll be very little it'd be minimal clinical like a doctor's office when you walked in you know because I'm I just like things that way and it's all part of you know now being attached having the possessions of a traveler you know things that I nature doesn't mean you can have nice things travelers travel I travel for a living and I like to travel with nice things I like to have a nice luggage you know a nice computer to work on and get things done but if you lost all that if your baggage got lost would you break down and cry destroy your day and yeah when you extroyer your day would you be displeased with a loss of Hannah or Tyler why'd you take this stuff from me you know it's different I want to give an example la gives a lot aches I want to give an example of someone beloved to me that I was actually on holiday with and and they lost their passport hmm they lost it possible while we were on holiday and I wanted or I don't to mention where we were but we were in a country where getting another one's hard yes yeah very hard so basically you're stuck here and you're probably going to miss your flight like you're basically doomed up until you know you can fix your situation this person one day lost their passport they were smiling and they were acting like it's fine we went to a restaurant we ate we went out we they we were normal when we ate they offered to pay and they tried to pay and fought to pay and it was as if nothing happened nothing happened and I was thinking this is where I pondered a solution I thought to myself if I was in that situation I would be going nuts right now stressed stressed how am I gonna get home I'm not gonna see my mom coming eat right now yeah like uh how can I eat what you talking about eat pay you pay like world is coming to an end my world is coming down and and I feel like this is where Islam this comes back to one of the conversations we were having off the protocol this is where Islam truly liberates people it teaches you principles and principalities where where if things happen to you this is how you deal with things yeah it all goes back to and it goes back to to hate this is part of Rabia understanding that a lot is Rob he's in control man he controls like that that's it if if I spent ten years building a nice expensive house and it burns down the first week Allah is robbed and I've seen people that's it who truly implement their knowledge another example one of my one of my good friends he's a graduate from one of the Islamic universities they semuc university of medina and he's an imam and his father passed away may Allah have mercy on him and in a very sudden way in the Red Room and he was put in a situation where he has to take control of his family now hmm and I went to his janazah and I was emotional and I was like auntie like on the verge of tears and stuff like that do you know when I looked at him do you know what he was doing hmm he was laughing like we're burying your dad yeah like and you're smiling and you're laughing and you're like with your friends and you're like it's okay like no problem like and I was like this person like look at this person you know like he's truly and like knowing an insensitive way by the way like our having a laugh but like he's smiling he's there for his family he's strong and it shows how Islam because that's from Islam and Islam has made him someone who was like a real man like he's he's strong for his family he's there for his family and he's able to take control yeah he's able to take control you spoke about traveling I mean I want to move a little bit into that as well what would you say the favorite your favorite places that you traveled to it's it is a cliche question and always you know Medina's on the top of my list okay I mean you could you can drop me off there and I could be homeless for the rest of my life and I'd be satisfied okay so let's see aside wait Medina but my my favorite place is to trouble now I'm not saying this just because I'm here or UK and Australia until I got banned and the reason being is because of the Brotherhood you understand that there's Brotherhood I don't like London tell you straight forward I don't like it it it screams against everything that is my base nature I don't like cities I don't like hustle and bustle I don't like a lot of people I don't like crowds I just not like that I live on the outskirts near a cornfield in Minnesota well I like to be on the outside but I like London because of the Brotherhood in the food the food's not too bad but the same way in Australia Australia there's a lot of I don't want to say Australia because most Australia is uninhabited but you know New South Wales you know which is like Sydney can bear a male boar and all that area the Brotherhood because that's something you don't find very much in the States there's a lot of Muslims there's a lot of dua there's a lot of organisations that don't work together interests it's no there's no Tarawa and there's no helping each other there's no Brotherhood if that makes sense okay you know and in my personal life a lot of times I end up becoming I have been a popular loner if that makes sense I know a lot of people and a lot of people know me yeah I relate with that I don't have very many friends oh really what my circle is it's so small you know like if you sure you relate with this then like if you will think that you you must have like a million friends yeah that's how people think like me like to if if I want to go out there's literally I'm thinking on top of my head one two three four four people I can call yeah I'm on that level we actually have more people I'm on that level with here in London yeah anywhere else in the world crazy you know that I could come here and be like yeah let's go and hang out and grab some like that but you know I I know tons of people tons of people know tons of people think they know me yeah but I don't have you know I keep my circle extremely small so yeah I would say London is and I also come here like four or five times a year so so I don't think we can have a conversation with you and not talk about Dawa because something you've been in for a very long time however I want to speak about from a little bit of a different perspective so the person you are today the things that you've seen travel would see in the world a llama buttock spoken in for thousands and thousands of people many of us of what your videos benefited from jazakallah heron what is one thing if you could go back ten years that you would say to study you sure evans 10 years ago what is that one thing that you would say to yourself 10 years ago 10 years ago would be the year that the video how the Bible led me to Stan yeah that's like the yeah there was one that was recorded by the way 10 years ago if I could talk to me 10 years ago what you saying to yourself I don't want to be too extreme the thing I probably would have now the thing I probably said to myself was stay unknown really stay unknown try to find a way to get yourself involved in the Darwin making progress making change holistically without having to have your name attached to it why because I don't know if the trial struggles fitnah of being known is is worth the benefit that comes along with it I don't know especially if there was a way and you could do it without having it be you hmm you go what I'm saying without having you to be the brand because that's the problem with being a public speaker is that you were the brand mm-hmm you know in order to push your your your data out its relied on your personality it's relied on your brand yeah you're not do it like I'd like to be able to be like The Wizard of Oz behind the curtain you know I mean being able to make things happen for the devil make things happen for the Dean without having to be the personal front man for it that's very interesting because I was speaking to one of the CEOs of one of the leading organizations here the organization and the CEO isn't known so it's not said humza but he this CEO is not like not like people won't know him like he'll be walking down the street you won't nobody recognize Alma Bravo just with his wife but inside a street and he literally said to me if there's one thing that like basically he expressed to me that I loved about me is that I'm doing that WA and it's on a big scale but no one knows what do I don't know what happen yeah if they saw me they won't know you like you have to interview me this is the CEO of oh wow that's that's what I would say if I could go back to ten years ago me I would say do I would want to be where I'm at now as far as helping people but have done it from a behind-the-scenes level I don't think people understand how being in the public eye affects your family as well it affects every facet of your life like affects you okay and that's not saying it won't I'm not here saying it you know just to try to put across a friend or be humble it's not I actually despise it yeah honor on a very deep level this is probably the most disgusting and my household is my despise meant for acclimate or being known you know I cannot stand it and that's one thing I would have changed if I go back 10 years yeah I did change that and I'm still looking to change that I'm still looking to find other things like with this path the Peace Project stuff like that to where we can continue to do good work and I can fade I think and I can fade back a little bit you know I mean not be the public front or face for it whatsoever because being known is it is a travesty what what's your main reasons for saying that because you're speaking about very like like it's like I despise it what reason because number one it plays with it plays with the intent number one always it's it's always a struggle to keep your intentions well are you doing this because you sincerely want to do it for the sake of Allah or you know is it for followers number count you know I mean are you are you swayed by you know how many likes you're getting on your post how many followers you're getting on social media how many views you're getting on YouTube how many subscribers you're getting you know the intention comes into it not only that but everybody thinks they have a right to you you become public property I feel like I've lost a majority of my own possession of myself because people think if you're a public speaker we have the right to know everything about you we have the right to know every part of your life we have the right that dig through your life we have a right to question you know parts of your life and and we also have a right to call you to account in a public manner for anything that we we see ask you were out of place or mistake you perverted way of thinking so super well when you look at it's literally perverted because when you write any any of our names any of our names or people who have like known in in the public like its cousin even like famous he's just like half known if you write his name you know what you're gonna see next to in the first thing wife yeah you can say 100% this guy's wife this guy's kid did you type in Lucia Evans is one of the suggestions use Evans wife same suggestion for me you should Evans extremism you should have it's never good and it's like people people are just so like nosy they want to know what's going on in your life they want to know like what you're doing how much money you make how much you get paid for that what's this what's that etc and all he's wearing a nice jacket who paid for that you know I mean you know we saw him fundraising for a Masjid three months ago it must be taken he must be taking you know fundraising money it's just like you have to justify everything in your life yeah I and that's not me it's it's not only is it not difficult it is the antithesis of Who I am I am a private person extremely reclusive if you'd have known me before the public thing or even before Islam like I strove to remain unknown the quiet guy who sits in the corner and observes you know I'm that's just that's just who I was I wanted to go through life never being noticed but you know with what you're saying so you should I feel like they could I feel like these people like yourselves who need to be in a public because we we've created the society we've created this society of of people that are dying dying with emphasis on the deihi dying to literally be in front of cameras I know be on social media have followers and I've warned all of them and that I've seen coming up in the past and it's and you know this cuz I said with you guys yeah yeah I mean was like eight years ago seven years ago yeah to give that context I mean so you should use a coherent set with myself and some other brothers years ago yeah in East London I still remember as well I'm pretty sure it was in East London is an easel and then we were several grow and then we're I think the second time was a Miko Miko okay yeah Westfield yeah and and you you gave us advice and you said to us you stay in your lane that's it should you stay in your lane and don't try to do this dipper come gnome yeah yeah and and and and it's any it's crazy because that the way in which you're feeling right now is is a way is is is is is something that I've fought before as well and it's like when you get married your wife feels it as well she starts to feel it yeah of course then like jealousy hits like I don't want to start to like talk about the things that some of these people go through in the Dower like so and so this sister is jealous of your wife because she married you yep she wanted to marry you and it's like you get like ridiculous things happening ridiculously nobody knows about these things like magic no one understands these the evil eye is real yeah and that's real and it's something that as a public speaker it's like I have to be on constant constant vigilant guard against it evil eye is real that's why I don't post my kids on social media and I'll post my wife I don't post I don't post what I'm doing in my apartment life I never record films and videos inside my home you know I mean like there's just certain things that I try to keep a bubble around that this is my private life you do not get the exclusive right to have access to my private life just because I'm a public speaker you know you said evil eyes drew I was thinking about this today I was literally on a social media and I was scrolling through and you know I literally thought on the train on the train to work today I thought to myself so pan and LA if you really believed you're a Muslim but if you really believed and I was thinking about these people that even I is real has said Israel I said is envy jealousy is real if you believe that black magic is real and you believe jinns and jannat there are evil genes in jannat out there are real if you believed all four of these things are real and more I'm sure the list goes on you wouldn't post that no you will no post you'd be scared to post that and I was talking to my mom about this last night it's crazy how all of these conversations is the color of Allah are coming together especially for me because she was expressing to me how like you're not doing a scar yo you're gonna be messed up like I mean I won't ask you about this I've carved awhile before receipt leaving the home you know how have you heard about any if you could share some examples of stories of people who have been affected by problems in their life and serious issues because of not paying heed to what we're talking about right now I couldn't give you any specific examples no but I do know that there are people who reached out to me who I can tell me they're going through things like that who when I go and look at their social media and stuff like that can see that there was probably some correlating factor because if you only Ana and and and take this with the grain of salt grain of salt social media I believe is like a huge arm or a wing of giving us an understanding of how close the time of at the jail is because we know that the system of the gel is going to be a system of deception that's it that's how he's going to rule his through deception his whole his whole system is based on being decieded they're being deceitful and deceiving people and tricking people and making them think that what's up is down and down is up and left and right social media is that 280 that is the description of social media is a pure deception nothing is ever what it seems to be I guarantee you that there is probably a zero point zero zero and then some number after that percentage of social media accounts that have any genuineness to them even mine none of ours are genuine because we're only posting the good things we're only posting we're picking and choosing parts of our lives to show you to paint a picture and that's never reality nobody's social media is reality so what I've seen it lately I was sitting back thinking that we are not far away from the gen because people are envious of each other on social media they they're hating on each other on social media they have you know envious and jealousy and none of its real you were envious over a person based on their social media account that's not real you're envious over a falsehood that's not who I am I know of someone who is 100 percent envied because of their looks masha'Allah Mubarak very good-looking and stuff like that and they plus ur like excetera themself all over social media yeah and can you imagine how shocked I was to to to hear that this person is insecure of course I would be look I know they're like and but it's like when you look at them you think what-what are you it's cute for like you like and and this is this is an even as someone on social media I know exactly the same because guys you're looking at this brother or sister you're looking at them happily etc you never you don't know who the people who are online talk to each other you don't know they're going through a divorce you have no idea what they're going through you don't know that he's cheating on her you don't know that she's not even like that you don't know like there's so many things you don't know it's our input when people like I have people message me saying that you know brother your sister you show you such an amazing person how do you know that how do you know I'm an amazing person you don't know me always seeing your videos what if I am judged as a human being based on some videos you've seen on YouTube number one I'm insulted that you think that's all there is to me I'm that I'm that shallow comes back to all there's no depth in me that I'm like I'm like you know this thing like that's it sheet of paper yeah you don't know me you know I mean don't don't and it's not because you're calling me amazing it's just for the fact that you think you know me yeah you have no idea who I am and I think people who saw the few first view podcast I did and reflections had to take a step back you know I mean maybe there's a way more way more going on and I wanted to do that for a reason I wanted to show people that just because persons are public speak you see them on global platform traveling the world don't mean that their life is you know cream puffs and rainbows and this person's private life they swear at their wife they abused their wife not only that but I've tried to teach for many years that the doroth are tested that most attested the most haunted hardest on the shaitaan I know has made a public enemy of me because of these YouTube videos so comprising all you're doing is helping Shaitaan come I'm even harder you know so that's another reason why I would like to stay back from the public I on just go go bother somebody else you know I mean because they come 8:00 they come at those who are in the public eye worse harder than anybody what you just said is so true the Duat are tested the most and they'll keep coming and he keeps coming here he gets better with different issues with different problems with with with finances with family with them etc and whatnot and you even find some people who do know about this they say why is it that this guy is religious and he's in the devil what's he going why is he doing that for why is he struggling with that for excetera man you don't know like it did these people as you said a public enemy number one and it goes with both things in the beginning we spoke about good things that you don't know Hobie's know a person you don't know yeah that the end too in the same way you don't know the bad of a person is struggle and it comes back to the hadith of the Prophet Salla Monson and where he expressed to us don't love someone so much when they are gonna hate them yeah and don't hate someone so much one day you're gonna love them be a balance person and it literally comes down to that and understanding this is key to understanding the way in which social media works I believe social media deceives people every single day from the perspective of wealth from the perspective of our when I get married my wife needs to look like that or happiness yeah what what wedding what happiness even when is happiness to you yeah oh it goals everyone wants to do the same thing no I think you know to be honest with you social media has been one of the biggest travesties of the modern world it's interesting you know a point that just keep the world would be a better place without it that's my bestie flat-out opinion let's deep but like you know I've been in the dour before and after social media okay that's how I can maybe have a little bit more insight on that exactly I've been around before yeah you know I remember YouTube coming about and me and Yusuf Estes being some of the very first people to ever put Islamic videos on YouTube I remember having a Facebook when you had to have a DD you account because it was only for college students you know I remember this I remember a time before iPhone in the Dower you know I mean so it's different it's it's more easy now that has been made a whole lot more easy I mean look what we're doing right now and this is you know can reach 10 million people next week it depends what you use use it for but I don't know if the good outweighs the bad yeah I don't think so of social media yeah it doesn't I think it doesn't hundred percent it doesn't honestly think the world would be so much of a better place the the way the way out it the reason I'm so sure it doesn't is because how many people are there doing good work and Dow online okay fine you know there is a lot how many people are they doing crazy stuff much more how many haram web sites are there much more how many how many pornography websites are they alone well the problem with social media is like as is the access the accessibility like you know there's a reason why I like putting our YouTube videos cuz you're gonna stick the video on YouTube and step back okay social media is almost like you're putting yourself into the global community and they feel like okay he made a post this morning look at that breakfast I can message him right now you know you shouldn't be eating that it's hirama or you were drinking with your left hand even though the the image was mirrored you know or it shouldn't be you know posting your blessings or just how are you like everybody feels like they should have access a brother Brahim McCarthy made a mention about this not too long ago you know about trying to that we should be able to teach people how to approach not only scholars but doing public speakers like people just randomly will video chat me random okay I'll go on my social medias like 20 missed you know I mean people find my number cuz I've had the same number for like 15 years and these call me on was on on whatsapp or FaceTime you on on randomly FaceTime me on on my phone my site who is the facetiming yeah but I have absolutely no idea I don't even recognize you know I feel you you become you feel like public property and almost it almost feels you almost feel violated if that makes sense I remember I I feel violated I couldn't respond to someone's message and they started swearing at me that's that's like this the least of things that I've had but I I've honestly sometimes feel violated like my personal space is violated you feel like you should have the right to do so because you're a public speaker yeah you you owe us to have constant access to everything about your life so you know when even when we think about the sahaba and we think about pious predecessors right of ours in our tradition in our stomach tradition we even know their mistakes yeah we even know their mistakes we know about mistakes of people of the past of course but people don't know our mistakes today with you because they can they will never let you live it down the Muslim community is the most judgmental okay judgmental harsh and unforgiving religious community on the planet there's no doubt about it in my mind we are the most judgmental against each other the most you don't find any other group of people religious group as judgmental about one another as we are as much leyland colors we have it is ridiculous and we don't let things slide there's no there's no path to you know like I talked about youth a lot because I'm very involved in the youth is that we have to allow our youth and I talk to this a lot amongst the elders the uncles and auntie's you have to be willing to allow the youth of today to make mistakes they need to have freedom to make mistakes how are they ever going to learn if you're expecting them perfection you learn things sometimes we coddle we we we coddle are our youth way too much I grew up quite differently you know that if I kept wanting to grab a put my finger in electrical outlet you know rather than you know now parents are going to build like a fortress around the outlet so the kid can get to it my grandfather was like eh let him touch it he'll do it once yeah I mean let him touch it he'll do it one time you know on that even my upbringing my dad subhanAllah let people in my mother so people in my family used to criticize my parents because he's 12 years old why are you letting him go out like that why is he coming home at this time why why is he for example going to school in East London when you live in Northwest London why is he doing that he's going by himself yeah and literally my dad uh when I think about them now it makes sense to me but at the time it didn't make sense my dad literally let me make mistakes he have to like I'm going out to make a mistake mother Cecilia he's gonna learn from you have to build on the Hahnel I love him that just made me realize things myself yeah it made me realize things myself and that way it gives you your keen it gives you strength in what you believe it gives you strength as a person and it also experience yeah and curiosity it kills the cat it cured the cat right yep curiosity won't kill you yeah if you know a lot you've been there done that he's experienced it exactly what's the problem with them the Muslims aren't really forgiving with each other like that when it comes to make especially that the bar is raised for public speakers you're not allowed to make mistakes you understand it almost comes to a point to where you have to feel on some level a hypocrite this has been a struggle for me as well yeah I felt like the hypocrites because I know I'm I'm flawed I know I make mistakes I know I make mistakes sometimes bad mistakes but I'm not allowed to ever allow anyone to see them I have to hide them like like I'm hiding bodies you know I mean like I'm hiding murder victims because if anyone finds out it's the destruction of your Dawa and in thinking that way to me feels like me feels like a poverty I'm not hiding this for the sake of Allah you know I mean I'm hiding this for the sake of what I do it when you and I don't want things become a drama for my family when you read the Quran like for me I don't know if you experienced this like while going through things like that but when I would read the Quran and do a diet like if you can be actually born other ayats what I'm gonna phone you read you read ayat about one of your own you read ayat for example laziness is only mentioned twice in the Quran and both times is talking about about in the mana 15 I'm gonna 15 now when I would when how I do stuff like that and I'm online and stuff like that and I would read I added like that they would really affect me because I think I feel like this is talking about me I feel like this is talking about me hmm I literally feel it and it's not you know sad you should is one thing humility humility is well because some people might think you're being humble and there's another no like this is real yeah it's not being hum was being realistic she's like me being real and yes the an aspect of it is definitely good that your relational Quran with yourself so you can change etc what no but an aspect of it is how have we created our societies well I won't ask you a question our direct question we've spoken about social media we've spoken about these issues that happening as a result social media what's the solution there's a 16 17 year old watching us right now 18 year old he's on Instagram every day he sees fashio he sees crazy things he sees guys that I've got gold diamond watches and whatnot and he doesn't have that they got perfect lives by the looks of it that he doesn't have that well what's the solution okay the solution is not get off social media I know a lot of people like to say that just get off social media that's for the that's for the few and like very few people can accomplish that people like we start in and stuff like that like envy that guy's life you know I mean but he's not gonna go there so we know our youth and I gotta come off social media this should be realistic so my advice was to look at social media the same way you look at a TV show or a movie you know that it's fantasy it's fiction you know I mean it's not it's not real interesting so take it with a grain of salt like that like okay you see a brother out it's flashing gold and diamond look at it just like you're watching a rap video you know you don't own that you know I mean you know that's not the reality when the camera goes off so look at it take it with that grain of salt and I think we've learned from some some issues that have happened in the recent past that everything is not always what it seems on social media 100% everything is not always what it seems and I'm just going in it with that understanding that your life because the problem is I don't even understand this psychology to begin with is that we look at how people can sit and look at other people's social media and think it's a reality when you know good and well your own social media is not a reality you're holding other people at a standard you don't even hold your own self on social media you know you only post what you want people to see and so take it with a grain of salt and know that that's just a snippet of somebody's life in a presentation of the way they want you to see them that way they want you to see them just take it as it is just take it as it is don't don't get wrapped up in it do not become envious of somebody on social media mmm that's not the reality and you know that that's Eve even if you know that person quite well you'll know that their social media is only snippets of the good in their life so take it with that with that grain of salt look at it as it should be it's it's fantasy it's fiction don't get caught up in it don't get caught up in it sometimes that don't don't don't let it have any effect on you to be honest with you actually I would love to be able to go right now today and delete every one of my accounts it would be like they're like being released from prison but I also know that it would affect the work that I do so I'm always caught in this very weird spot yeah where there's been so many times I've been ready to deactivate all of it every single bit of it actually went off social media in back in 2016 for like nearly a year just posted like once a month just random stuff for like a year I was going off Instagram I mean I only do reroute I'm not really even now for the last couple years and you know when you you know when you go off it you realize even more yeah even more you know when you're in something fun you don't see it as much when you come out it's like you know much more free time that I have in my life and how much more peace in my heart I would have if I didn't have social media I probably wouldn't know much was going on in the world but sometimes that's not a bad thing you know they say sometimes ignorance is bliss ignorance in certain areas is bliss you know even the prophet alayhi salaatu wa salaam said during the times of fitna like he talked about the craziness that would be going on in the end of these and the Companions asked them what we should he do he said go away from it go even if you have to go by yourself just to be away from it so ignorant in some cases upon reducing list which rounding it withdrawn we're jumping in headfirst literally you wake up first thing and don't lie to yourselves the people were watching it what's the first huge social media ichika instagram ichika what's up you check your facebook etc and that's how it's become hey I would love to get off of it you know I mean or I'd love to you know when it's love to me if Mincha were in a pub you know we could if we could mass get out and just not even be recognized you know this reminds me of one of the scholars of the past his name was abate even I'll cause him I will be they'll cause him in Salama his name was he was one of the first scholars in qira'at and in the science of the quran and he mentioned something he went to a doctor so when he went to this doctor he wasn't well so he went to his doctor and his doctor said to him you're gonna die you're all gonna die basically you're you're in your last stretch basically and how long have I got left and he reminds you of what happens today with issues like cancer and stuff like that the doctor said to him you've got 10 years left of your life and you know what he said he said al-insan fear Allah that mankind the human being this is a scholar this is a scholar the human being is heedless up until he is hit with a calamity mm-hmm I've been here with a calamity oh boy everything comes into your picture then yeah it's like gotta get it together one of the great scholars of the past we call him share call Islam even taymiyah know him Allah if at the end of his life you know guys you know how we realize this when we look at people who done amazing things and what they say some of the reports about bin taymiyah you know we will know them he memorized the Quran I like the age of seven or something row around nine hundred books he was getting fat hour around the age of eighteen seventeen etc he's doing this he's doing that etc lived his life wrote many many many books off the top of his head when he was in prison all of these things but look at what this person said some of the last words that he said before he passed away were I regret that I didn't spend more of my life with the Quran and like calamities of the this came the who said it but the famous saying that a calamity that brings you closer to Allah is better than you know better than you know the the gifts from a law that distance you from him yeah you know most of us don't become awake to that time anyway until something bad happens but but I guess that's what the it's like I was speaking to one of my one of my friends his father is a very successful businessman masha'Allah and he's like the people that you described who very successful but they're they're people of the hood they detach from it and they give charity in the bulk law mubarak and stuff like that and you know what he said to me he said to me a good businessman learns from he learns from his own mistakes he said but the best businessman learns from other people's mistakes ya learn doesn't have to do it himself yeah and and and when you think about like that I mean right now we have the choice I mean we're listening to some listen to this to declutter our life from the perspective of social media from the perspective of I mean if you think about many people are depressed they're anxious etc if you walked into her room today like right now if we imagine it we walked into our room today and it's full of clutter everywhere we've all seen it you walk into your room it's clutter hasn't been clean in like two months your clothes are everywhere you can't find anything the frustration that brings you that's exactly what you're doing with your head yeah that's what you're doing with your head with social media that's what you do in your head it's a lot of clutter and it's not so much that you have to declutter it yeah declutter the attachment we're not telling everybody to live you know a life of you know nothing you know that you have to wear less googling willing dirty clothes and you know have to look a homeless person no the point is the the attachment the attachment to it how much space you need to ask yourself the things that I have in my life whether they be possessions or things that you like or you know how much space do they take up mentally and emotionally which will translate to spiritually how much space are they taking up you know because they should really take up a very minut space in your heart and mind because they're things they come and they go you understand they're come and they go for me like I like I like building cars but for me it's not about the car itself it's a position it's for me it's the the experience that I the state of mind that I get in you know the the fact that I'm able to take chunks of metal and turn them into thousand horsepower machines you know that to me that feels like an accomplishment it strengthens my mind it but at the end of the day once I've done that and I know this because once I'm done with that and I can't tinker with anymore I'm usually ready to get rid of it like not Ani because the experience is gone you know so things let things if they're not enhancing your life if they're not there just possessions you know there's a good position to just collecting things it's what they say about rich people they're rich people buy things until they can't buy them anymore than they you start collecting most rich people have collections of something you know they've bought all of them you start collecting them they take up space and you know they have maintenance and it becomes a burden you know let these things become burdens to your life if so walk away take a break deactivate your social media for a week and see if I'm exists see how it makes you feel hmm you know to see how it makes you feel some people who become stressed and anxious and and if that's the case you really need to step away like you really need to get some hang on this like for me the stress and the anxiety comes from the social media not so if I if I turned it off it would just be like well literally I would do so that's interesting I think a lot of people might be like that but they use don't know they don't realize it you know yet another thing and probably the last thing that I wanted to speak to you about today of silesia was about new Muslims do you feel like there's enough support for new no so not even close I want to run you by an idea so IRA and Hum Dil are some of the work that we do involves empowering new Muslims by spending time with them on a grassroot level courses etc different things now alhamdulillah like in the end of December way we're looking to do an event we're looking to do an event it's called science okay so it's gonna be like a big event in Sharla and this is gonna be a conference but the marketing for this conference are gonna be a little bit different with this conference I know for example one non-muslim friend he's a music video director he's directing music videos for some of the biggest eyes in the world and and he's very interested in Islam this conference is for people to bring their non-muslim friends and then for events like yourself to bring their non-muslim family members to this event and you let the people who have been giving the doll or give them that were in a very subtle way so explain to them the basics of Islam etc etcetera what do you think of the idea it's a good idea yeah I mean it's it's not something I don't think anything's been done on a grand scale like that before so yeah so that's what we're thinking of doing we're thinking of basically having an event where people come and they bring their friends and you know you know very well I mean more than most people one of the biggest struggle is when it comes to Dawa that people find is oh so-and-so said this to me how do I respond to this yeah how do I respond to that hardware respond to that so here what we're trying to do is we're gonna cut all of that out we're gonna bring you the people who do the Dawa the people that you see people like what are the Hamza etc who deal with different issues different niche issues Christianity atheism etc and clarify those things for you in the flesh inshallah inshallah so an advice I wanted to ask you for advice as someone who was once a new Muslim yourself what is the most important thing when dealing with people who are not yet Muslims and people when they do take that first step of taking this jihad on what's the key thing that we need to be thinking about the key thing that a new Muslim needs is attachment okay an attachment to three things okay attachment to Allah okay that can't be stressed enough and this was not only if I experienced and seen it and felt it and seen it again and again and again it's also taught to us by aisha radi aallahu anhu or aloha when she said if allah had revealed the verses of helen haram first people would've ran but what he did was reveal the verses of Jenna and not so that the people's hearts would become attached to Allah therefore whatever he told them after that they accepted it Sanatana so attachment to Allah because that makes a person practicing Islam much easier you not to force them to do something they're gonna want to do it themselves so attachment to Allah attachment to tawheed in the deen attachment to the religion like what I mean by attachment is get them involved in some regular structure learning program whether that's you know on their own self-study online in person whatever they need an attachment to the Dean because you can't survive without it as a new Muslim you're gonna get dragged right back into the life you already know and number three is attachment to the community they need to be integrated into the Muslim community and not integrated in the form that they need to choose to either you can be a Pakistani or you can be an autumn you know I mean you can wear a Thor you can wear shorter kameez or you know I mean accept it accept it in the sense that they become one of us you know they become part and parcel of the community they get invited to brothers homes would uh need they have somewhere to go you know and get married they can get married you know they need to be integrated so those three attachments are key if they are weak this person's not gonna survive as a Muslim if their attachment to Allah is weak of course that's clear they just think gone they're gonna be gone if they don't have attachment to the religion they they could have attachment to Allah and not attachment to the religion and be misguided they could end up being you know extremists you know I mean they could end up being caught up in in in movements and crazy stuff because they don't have any attachment grounding to understanding what the religion is really about they have zeal of attachment to Allah but it's misguided they can they can easily those types of people can easily been influenced and we see that some of these deviated methodologies focus on new Muslims because they know that well that is so profound and subhanAllah so you should use a colloquy and honestly for coming on the podcast I really think that this is a topic that we can explore in so much detail and we definitely look forward to having you and again but thank you so much for coming on the podcast brothers and sisters on that now we have many many more guests just like I said you shall lined up for the podcast inshaallah so make sure you hit the subscribe button down below and also make sure you leave your comments in the suggestions down below rather your suggestions in the comments down below and listen to reroute on any of the major podcast platforms out there insha'Allah we're on Google podcasts up a podcast Spotify and SoundCloud until the next one take care of Salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah peace [Music] you

Channel: iERA

Views: 68,948

Keywords: yusha evans, rerooted, iera, musa adnan, dajjal, social media

Id: bfTpFhpvwtQ

Length: 64min 19sec (3859 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 17 2019