Ep 17: Juice of Empathy

A new episode is here!  

• Samia summarizes what has happened because Samar is blissfully unaware.
• They discuss Preacher Moss’s response.
• The importance of how an unsavory situation is handled is discussed.
• Samar ends with a story of a tenacious customer she used to see (and tries to remember the recipe for the elixir of life!)

Get comfy and let’s chat!

LINKS:

SAY SALAAMS

Matcha Talk Website

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See you next time,

Samia + Samar

Basic Breakdown:

Samar and Samia begin this podcast by sharing a review they received from a previous episode while reminding all listeners to leave a review on the podcast and they will be giving a shout out. 

Samia shares the situation in the current events where Hassan Minhaj, a muslim comedian, where he made a clip that has blown up certain communities.  Previously, he had made a skit before where he calls out the brown community and Keith Ellison making dua but not serving the community.  He then made a skit where dua was the main focus and it came across as him making fun of dua, an act of worship. 

They discuss Preacher Moss's response and BLM movement on instagram backlash against a big muslim influencer who was not fast enough.  It is contrasted by both situations and their responses. Samia says that it is not about feelings but by how Allah tells us to challenge those feelings and address a difficult situation. 

Preacher Moss's appreciative response was beautiful, says Samia, while the other response was full of anger.  He mentions how prayer was stolen from us, the black Americans, and how this act effected the black community.  

They both discuss his approach and how it is better than the two. We should be loving each other and treating each other with love in response to the honor that Allah ﷻ has bestowed upon each believer.  The cancel culture for a believer does not make sense to Samia. 

Samar shares how social media is perceived by other people where it is very important to some and less important to others.  When a person has a platform, they should be responsible for how it is used and it can be very important to some people.  If Allah ﷻ has given you a show, then be responsible.  Although he is also on his spiritual journey and we can not be a judge on that at all. 

They both discuss the way it was handled, Hassan Minhaj's way of reacting and Preacher Moss's way of reacting and their approaches.

Samar mentions that people are lacking in empathy where people need to try and imagine what an individual goes through/is going through. React with empathy to all situations - not coming at it from a light hearted manner but rather come at it from a heart-hearted manner.

Samia shares her new podcast listen, Thinking Muslim Podcast, where Imam Dawud Walid talks about Prophet Muhammad ﷺ giving people amnesty and giving them a do-ever.  We should be giving them a chance and then when they now-know, then hold them to account. Wrong needs to be called out but we have an etiquette for it and as Muslims, we have standards, while understanding the rights of a believer over a regular human being and a regular human being has a lot of rights.

They discuss Imam Ata Allah's quote that "Whoever honors a believer it is as if he has honored Allah."  That is also including the way we honor another believer in online comments.

Samia said that It is best to remove yourself from a situation if you do not agree with something, if you are a laymen.  Then if you find yourself in a position to make a difference, then follow the sunnah and do it properly like Preacher Moss found himself to be. 

Samar says that it all comes down to empathy and only Allah knows what a person is going through and you could be hating on a person with such a level of iman which you don't even know.  She shares another perspective where people having the wrong conversation and missing the big picture. 

Samia shares her western henna community experience situation which blew up because racism was mishandled due to them not having diversity on the board.  Samia shares her initial reaction of not understanding anything at all and learning how much benefit she was taking from a group where the black henna artist were feeling disenfranchised and left out.  This was a growing lesson for her where she did not understand she was benefiting from racism. 

They discuss diversity and where is the best place to have conversations.  Empathy grounds a conversation because it leads to a change.

Samar ends this episode by shifting to positivity and sharing a story about a customer who wanted something very specific recipe for her juice.