Interview Baba Ali - Your questions...his answers
Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,
The reminder was launch June 13th 2006 and Alhamdulillah 17 videos have been released since then. During that time span, I have had the opportunity to answer many questions via email and interviews but I often find myself answering the same questions so this I wanted to answer them in a way that all the viewers could view them....via video :) So here is your opportunity to be the interviewer InshAllah. If you have a question, please post it in the comment section and I will try to answer it via a video response. I want to try to limit the video to 5 minutes so I can't answer all the questions but I will try many of them InshAllah.
posted by Baba Ali @ 11:14 PM
62 comments
Looking to get married?
Visit Baba Ali's Muslim Marriage site
halfourdeen.com
62 Comments:
Are you married?
What does your wife think of this?
Do you have any children?
Did you graduate from a univerity?, If so which? and with what degree?
assalaamlaimkum wa rahmatAllah
just saw a few of ur videos..
Alhumdulillah they are good... off late i had been thinking that islam is vanishing from our lives... and that muslims today are just namesake muslims(that includes me) ... but after seeing ur videos i am happy that the muslims around the globe are bringing a reform in themselves.. Alhumdulillah Allah swt gave me taufeeq to change now and i am pleased to know that there are ppl taking up the work of spreading the message.. insha Allah in the near future i too intend to do so in whatever way Allah swt will let me.. i am an indian and i dont think i can be of any help there but if i can then please do let me know...
jazak allah khair
maybe we should keep the questions focused on the reminder rather than his personal life
so here is my question:
your topics are very random so how do you pick your topics?
[Interview Questions]
- what do you plan on doing next, and why?
- How are your relations with your family? Did any of them become Muslim?
Do you work on any other film projects?
Rumor has it that there will be no season 3, is that true?
Im so excited..will you actually answer the questions by video? Will everyone see them?
Ok...question time:
1) What can we do to help integrate all the Muslims and unite them as one Ummah?
2) How do u deal with racism when out in the public, eg on the bus/train etc...?
3) MashAllah, it must be difficult to keep down ur ego with such a success, how do u do this and is there any1 who guides you to help keep urself modest?
ARE YOU MARRIED :D
Seems u do 99.9% of ur work alone. Do you hav any plans to work w/ others? Instead of callin it quits, why don't u let others keep the videos flowin even if u r not in them? Lastly, i herad DawahWorks spun off from Ummahfilms or u all wer one group or sumthin...wateva. is this true??
Khobideh!
Salamlikoun bro ! i'm a brother from France and I wish Allah SWT will reward you in consequences of your implications.I want to have advises about the subject which is very important in west countries : how can we live our faith truly in non muslim countrie ? Can we take off hijjab for example because of pressure of the society or not pray the day and only the evenning because the day we are busy by work /school.Thus Baba Ali I 'd like to have a response to my last question :should be do everything to be more close with sunna (long beard,niqab black) or is it a bad way becausepeople won't be attracted by Islam ?Barakkahalou Fik.Ine el ahmalou bil niyyet...
Asalamualaikum Brother!
I was wondering how do you deal with people who....respond to your faith negatively? Especially your own fellow Muslim brothers or sisters? Have you ever been told to "chill" just because you didn't want to do something haram, but others didn't think it was that big of a deal? How do you react to those kinds of situations?
You didn't say what kind of questions we could ask soooo... how do you feel about eating disorders among muslimahs? Although it is a mental disorder in which someone with emotional problems experience, there is so much stigma about muslims having mental disorders that I rarely hear it talked about, even when I google it! What are your views on the issue?
This comment has been removed by the author.
salaam alykum,
Could you come out with videos specifically for non-Muslims that attract them to Islam? (like season one)
Alsalam alaykom,
May all your efforts be blessed by Allah. Great work. Do you know that the official blog of YouTube listed you as one of the staff picks on April-13th/2007
http://www.youtube.com/blog?month=4&year=2007
Anyway, my question:
Ever thought of organizing a campaign between the American Muslims (especially the youth) to encourage Islamic-oriented good manners that make Muslims a role model (as they should be) in the American society. It would be nice to organize this campaign. It could include Community service and sports events.
I'm sure - by Allah's will- that if you organize such a campaign you would make success and attract more people to Islam or at least introduce a more clear and sincere image of Islam.
Best wishes,
Sary Al-Assad
Amman - Jordan
What nationality are you?
Salamoenaleykoem brother
1)I had question about khilafah, thats something I hear a lot this days what those it really means? Some people say it is necesarry but is that really also?
2) from wich islamic organsiation are you from?
Djazakkallah ghair for the reminders insallah the persons how see it, will also practice it in real live of think about it and begin with reaserarch about islam.
Wasallamoenaleykoem
what your parents now say about your reversion. what advice you'd give to muslimahs out there who want to help but cant really release their own videos over the net due to hijab reasons (:P).
how many seasons will you do? Why dont you do a video on sects? are u into sects? have you ever been stalked or abused by your fans? do you sometimes hate your fans?
MashAllah i am extremely proud of you and the fact that you don't let your ego get to you (or that youre doing an awesome job covering it up!) ;) I say this because i know what it feels like to have a role model and then suddenly get bashed in the face by their airs. Not naming names! But we all admire you brother. keep at it.
Allah hafiz!
whose you inspiration? are you a fan of anyone? do you read ALL your fans comments :P? wats the most embarassing you've done? whats your deepest regret?
i hope these questions arent way too personal :P you dont have to answer them if they are!
salam alikum brother, may Allah azza wa jal reward you abundatly for your efforts. ameen.
my question to you is do you follow a specific madhab, if so which one and why.
may Allah bless you and your family in this dunya and akheera. ameen.
wasalam alaikum.
- abdulhamid
Alhamdulillah,your works are of great benefit to the muslims.Will you come over to Malaysia?..Will you co-operate with people from other country to widen this approach of da'wah?
Salam Alaikum
May Allah reward u 4 the great online "dawa" :) Ameen.
people, i think that some of u are getting too personal with the questions. LoL!
Salams brother
hope ur doing well inshallah
just wanna let ya know that ur doing a great job with ur videos. Anyways just have one quick question for u here from Australia, how did u come about making these videos? So basically what gave u the idea of starting these videos in the first place?
May allah reward u for ur work, if u need any assistance from Au. glad to let ya know we'r here :D
Ur sis in Islam.
assalaamu alaimkum
we can c ure personality thru these reminder videos...r u always a funny n jolly guy or is it just 4 the videos?
lol
Salams Brother,
Would like to congratulate u for contributing to giving Da'wa to the Mulsims and even non-Muslims if u are...neways i have more of a request rather than a question...i understand ur busy with ur family and other things too but i have a request that would it be possible for u to make a video about the followings:
*)Relations between Muslim boys and girls
*)The Sunni and Shia debate and EXPLAIN that the Sunnah of Rasulilah is correct-this is a tough one for u! if u want to chose to do it
*)Jihad-and i BEG U NOT TO USE HOLY WAR AS THE TRANSLATION! PLEASE it makes me jkfdshgjkdfshgjksdh! lol
This is also a tough one too lol
sorry
and
*)One about drugs/alchol/smoking/s-e-x and clubs ECT all the haram things please and target the youth! please i am one too...if u chose to do them its going to be hard because u need to watch wat ur going to say in every single one of the lol
sorry...but this is if u want ofcoures and the reason why i would want u to do this take is because ur appealing to the youth and u know how to get to me! because i am one and i think these TOPICS ARE BIG! NEWAYS SORRY for this long message and please respond and tell me what u fink...ok sorry for sounding demanding lol!
Salams B.E.N.R.I.A.S.A (UK)
Dear brother Ali,
I watched your all videos and they reminded me my responsibilities and also helped me to improve my english:)Even if ı'm living i a muslim country (99% according to statistics)ı'm suffering from the same problems you mentioned in your videos. As Kermit says "it's not that easy being green..":)Even your friends or your relatives don't understand you and it gives so much pain sometimes...Feeling alone among so-called muslims.
But your videos really gave me strength, and filled me with hope. I relized that we are not alone...
Thank you so much for your efforts.
For all these videos...
May Allah be with you.
Ps: I wonder that will you add english subtitles to your videos? Or if you have no time for it can you add them somewhere in the blog as text. I want them because ı want to understand the issues more clearly.(my english isnt very good and sometimes you speak very fast:)And ı believe that it will be helpful for people who want to translate the videos to other languages.what do you think about it?
Assalamu alaikum,
Thank you for making videos in funny (and useful) way! I would like to translate your game Mecca to Medina into Bosnian language, could I do it? (I'm writing to you from Bosnia and Herzegovina). Is there any possibility for you to come and visit Sarajevo, the capital of BiH. I think it would be very interesting to get know born European muslims here (for centuries and centuries we exist here, alhamdulillah, and nobody talk about us:) maybe because we are nor in the East, nor in the West, but between East and West). Anyway, we have the same problems you talked about on the videos, and I think it would be very useful for us to have translated game Mecca to Medina, and any other funny and attractive way of da'wah , so could we negotiate about the translation, and your coming to Sarajevo?
Is your first name Baba? or Ali? or is it a combined name?
Salaams -
Thank you for the reminders. May Allah reward you.
My questions are about your background. What is your ethnic/cultural heritage? Were you raised in a religious family? How did/do they view your conversion? What about your education? How is it you came to hit "record" and start the reminder series? How has the reminder series affected your iman? How has the publicity affected you and your family and friends?
I realize these questions are personal however I think they are significant because all Muslim experience is relevant in unifying the ummah-particularly in the west.
ok - what's up with the larry king cnn background? i was searching 4 u on cnn.com and didn't find anything.
great idea brother!
What are your future projects? I.E is the reminder series going to continue? Any other type of V-logs?
I dont have a question but i DO have 2 suggestions....
1)why dont you sell your videos on dvd? or atleast make it possible to download your videos! so that way people without internet connections (yes, they do exist! XD) can also enjoy your videos iA ^_^
2) could you please make the settings on youtube so that people can't leave comments on your videos? you can tell how many people will watch them by the no. of 'views'u get ryt? a lot of people leave realy nice comments but some are just abusive and hurtful, not just to the great work you're doing but also to Islam u_u
ok random suggestions done- keep up the great work ^^ w/salaam
is this the end of ummah films after season 2 and the ISNA convention?
Assalmualikum my dear brother in Islam. I would just like to say that you are doing a very good job with these videos they are really helping and because you make them funny as well it adds a little flavour to them! Mashallah may ALLAH (STW) grant u happiness.
Please would you talk about how muslim sisters could improve in everyday life...I do pray and everything but when people give out simple lecture's it helps me improve.
It's great to know that you converted to Islam! Alhamdulilah!
What do you do as a day job? You say you work in IT, what is it u actually do?
What camera do you use for filming the reminder series?
What software do you edit the films in?
Asalam alikom wa rahmatullah wa batakatuh
i just wana ask u brother ali...where is ur beard?....u know as a symbol of muslims on the net...( don't say u r not..as u r )..u should have a beard
forgive my bad english...i'm egyption
take care brother..
wish u more and more success
i'm ahmed nabeel just in case u forgot..hahaha ( JAZAKUMULLAH KHAIR )
salam alaikum
Ok to the person that made the beard comment... Look at him he has one its just clean cut so he can oh say... keep his job!!
ok that said my question is this...
Is it plausable that you will be looking for a volunteer crew to bring your reminder series to a whole new level?
I say this so you can rest and some of your subscribers may take over... If i had a web cam I would record some videos along the lines of " What are you thinking" for the men that run around dateing non muslim women and haveing one night stands while us muslimahs are left hangeing!! or "the niqaabi police" for those women and men bent on aqttacking hijabis without niqaab. and "the false hijabi" those women that cover but arent very religious in the fact that they wear it because their moterh wore it and dont even observe the religious practices!! (men would be mentioned too) ok sorry so long but i just wanted to really know if you would conjsider a multi national crew to mabey do the reminder in other languages and take over for you for a while so you cna get your rest!!
how old are you now and how old were u wen u reverted?? since you reverted were there any times u slipped??
Assalaam alaykum BabaAli
Jazak Allah Khair for all the work you have done for Islam.
I think you should make it clear to your viewers that you are not a shiekh or someone of knowledge to answer some of the questions you recieve. I know you are a brother giving naseeha to your viewers using sincerity and reminding them about Allah, and may Allah reward you for that.
ASA Baba Ali,
It's Preacher Moss from "Allah Made Me Funny." We're shooting our film (for real not a Muslim with a camera phone). I was hoping you would post our film trailer. We'll be shooting the film August 24th & 25th @ The Heritage Forum Theatre. We'd love to hear from you and possibly se you there. We're shooting for a theatrical release of this film which would be monumental, as we aim to give a good representation of our deen, and Muslim entertainment. Big upps to you. Check out the trailer @ www.allahmademefunny.com. We ask that you keep us in your dua, as we ask everyone:)
ASA,
Preacher Moss
"Allah Made Me Funny" The Ofjavascript:void(0)ficial Muslim Comedy Tour
Dear Baba Ali,
these days, teens and young Muslims are having trouble dealing with "teenage romance" and getting out of it, and staying away from it. Most young Muslims agree that the parents of the last generation or so had it easier for them since most schools in the Muslim countries used to separate girls from boys. In addition, there weren't places outside of school where girls and boys can hang out and socialize in a way that is prohibited in Islam (e.g. these days there are malls, movie theaters, clubs, etc.) Although they know its wrong to do many haram things like flirting, touching, and much more, occuring especially in the school atmosphere, they still fall into these devilish traps. I feel so worried about any Muslim, including me, who does these things because Allah is watching every action we do, and Knows what we are thinking, and Knows everything. So, with all your respect Ali, what advise can you give me, and all the other young Muslims out there, on how to avoid situations like this and staying away from them? If you would like to add more information to this topic on your answere, then feel free to do so because I'd like to get as much information as possible. Salam
Salam alaykoum
I want to congratulate you for your wonderful work. Your examples are just GREAT.
My question is indiscreet and I will understand if u chose to not answer it.
You said in one of your videos that you were persian. Do you come from a non muslim environment or an "ex"muslim environment due to political reasons.
P.S. I'm not judging your family in any way
Sara
cute little boy!
Asalamu Alaikum WR WB,
Hope you & family are well IA. As with most of the others i must commend you for your sincere efforts in reaching out to the muslim ummah. MA you have done an incredible job and truly inspired us all! We most definitely need more people like you in the world! May Allah give you every success in this life and the hereafter - Ameen.
i have a couple of questions if i may:
i assume you are married brother, and have a wife, kids etc... if so, how do you manage a fulltime job, family time, fam responsibilities, ummah films, travelling to events etc ??? what advise do you give to those trying to do the same, esp those with family committments?
Also where do you get you inspiration from, who are your fans in the islamic world? i am a big fan of yusuf estes, hamza yusuf, bilal philips, harun yahyah and of course you. To me you brothers represent the prophetic way, the middle, peaceful way, an approach, an example to simplifying our lives with islam as opposed to complicating it.
Lastly, on your website you mentioned that sisters may also make an appearance on future videos. is there anything in the pipeline? I think its really impt practising sisters are represented in a positive light and propopagate the word of islam rather than be stereotyped. There are many documentaries emerging but not many creative/humouress/light hearted but serious videos which could very well attract the masses.
Anyway, just want to say jzk, we tremendously appreciate all your efforts. keep up the good work but don't get burnt out in the process. you now have fans at your command so all you have to do is ask and reach out to us :-)Afterall we are one ummah!
Take of your self Brother!
Your sis in islam
p.s. apologies for the extra extra long msg! i doubt whether you'll even get a chance to read it, IA hope you do!
What does your family think of your reversion?
Are you married and do you have children?
Will you do any events down in the Los Angeles/ SoCal area?
Mashallah for everything you've done. GREAT.
Asalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah
Is Baba Ali a spin off from Ali Baba? Lol i know it's a persian legend, so i'm guessing that's where you got it from? And what's your real last name?
Wa alaykum Asalam
How do you feel about the discrimination of African American Muslims, in other "immigrant" Muslim communities?
As always there are cultural differences between Muslims, but often there are SERIOUS misconceptions about African American Muslims. It is just a little disturbing for myself to always have to combat those stereotypes. I was wondering if you could discuss this a little. I understand that discrimination is not allowed in Islam, but why do you think that African American Muslim's are often treated in such a derogatory way in Masjids and other Islamic arenas. And the idea that if you are not "Arab" then you dont understand Islam. Is it a case of the "Haram Police" again?
baba ali lives in los angeles
Salam,
Like everyone here, I deeply admire your work. May Allah SWT reward you greatly inshAllah SWT. One of the reasons I really love the videos is because they relate to all Muslims (and non-Muslims) because they are not associated with any sect. I do remember in one of your videos that you mentioned you were from Iran, but grew up in the U.S. and converted here. I am wondering why your Iranian heritage did not influence you. Did you every visit Iran after converting? I would assume a country with such dedication to faith would impact one's life. Has it had any effect on you and your reversion to Islam?
I look forward to more videos inshAllah SWT. Take care, wasalam.
This is just a comment. I feel that you (Ali) need to inform the people that you are not in anyway an Islamic Scholar to answer some of the questions put up here. Perhaps you could inform the people that there are tons of books out there that people can get actually read. The eight volume English set called Fatawa Islamiyyah is all Q&A's to the Scholars and they answer just about every possible question you can think of in those with Qur'an and Hadith as the proof's for their answers.
But that would involve actually reading, and this goes into the problem that the youth today don't read, the would rather click on the internet and watch a video. Thus, be entertained, and you know that Allah tells us not to take our deen as entertainment.
Perhaps you could somehow address this. Like instead of giving direct advice on what someone should do about flirting with people at the mall, you can give general advice along the lines of learning about Islam.
The reality is that if you have firm understanding of your deen, most of the questions would not be questions. The Ummah in general is in said shape right now, but this is because the Muslims have brought it upon themselves because they have turned away from Islam. When you read some of these questions, you can see they are from the youth, and it makes you wonder why aren't these youth learning about Islam from their parents?
Seriously, why aren't these parents teaching their children about correct understanding of Islam? The parents of today send their children to the Kuffar schools and colleges, then we wonder why the Muslim youth are having boyfriends and girlfriends and are out their doing what they are doing!!! The people of today are more worried about becoming a doctor or an engineer then they about pleasing Allah and seeking Jannah. And that is truly sad.
I can go on and on, but I am sure you get the point. In short:
BRING BACK ISLAM! BRING BACK ISLAM!
Sorry, I couldn't resist ;)
Assalaam Alaikum
I wanted to know what you think the best way is to deal with "mixed gender relations". i know how, in islam, unneccesary "meetings" with the opposite sex are frowned upon, but how would you not become involved in this without making yourself a social outcast in nonmuslim communities (like the united states where dating is second nature)? and also, how would you go about explaining the islamic point of view to a fellow muslim brother or sister about them dating? beacuse, the way i see it, with nonmuslims you can just tell them straight forward; they don't believe what you believe [yet, inshaAllah] anmd so they'll pretty much just listen to what you have to say and leave it. but i find thet when talking to muslims about things like this, they think you're just trying to be all pious and maternal about it, like you're just wayy more knowledgable than they are. which isn't the case; isn't there a hadith that says you should tell a muslim if they're doing something wrong so you can help them?
Aoa bro,
aww poor u haha so many questions!! lolz.. well i only have one:
What are your thoughts on Muslims [especially girls] who do not dress properly [i.e mini skirts, tank tops etc etc]?
take your time answering. i can see ur reli bizi lol. May Allah reward u greatly.
Wa-Salam,
Hira
as salamu alaikum brother.
I would sincerely like to thank you for your words of reminder; they help out a lot.
My question that I hope you can answer is how are we suppose to eliminate arrogance? It's a disease and it's not something easy to cure. Do you know any steps, whether big or small, that one can take in order to remove kibr from their heart?
Jazakamullah khairan brother.
Have a nice day.
As salamu alaikum
السلام عليكم
I hope you don't mind but I wanted to know what religion did you follow before Islam?
And is that cute little girl in the "Salah Distractions" video your daughter?...
I love your reminder video's...Are you always in such a happy mood?..I hope you are. And I pray that Allah's mercy and blessings be upon you as well as the Prohphet (saw) and his Ummah. Ameen
assalam y dnt u put dese on tv like islam channel every month? as alot ov people watch tv
how more seasons do think ur goin 2 mke or is dis d last 1?
does ummah film have any plans for future events in london?
Jazzakallahu Khairan...Barakallah fi. Wasalam
Asalam Alekoum
My sister-in-law converted to Islam couple years back. . . and it has taken her quite a bit of time to adapt to Islam. Shes prays mashAllah and fasts but somethings just she doesn't do correctly. and i dont want to discourage her by telling her "ur not supposed to do that or u should do this instead." you know? so i was wondering how long did it take you to accept Islam fully and get rid of bad habits and things you used to do? i know as muslims we get better everyday at our deen so i kno no one is a perfect muslim. I just want to know your point of view or any one else thats commented that converted because i don't kno if I am putting to much pressure on her. JazakAllah Khair
and KEEP MAKING THESE VIDEOS!
I enjoy watching your films. I am not muslim and stumbled onto your films by accident. Once I started watching I couldn't stop! Your films are very entertaining and send a good message.
I like others are curious to know more about you.
* are you married?
* what is your ethnicity?
* how old were you when you converted?
* what is your daily occupation
* and what would your message be to non-muslims about the islam religion?
I have to be honest when I say that watching your videos and seeing the passion you have for islam and the things you remind everyone about have made me interested in learning more about Islam.
Keep up your good work!
al salam alaikoom ali
Are you ever going to come to the bay area? if you do come, come to Oakland the boys out here really need to hear some of the things you got to say.
please come save them:)
Asalamualaykum warahmatulahiwabarakatahu
:)
im from the uk and i have jus recently discoverd your ummah films on youtube and your website and i have wached all of them. i jus wanted to say thankyou for making me laugh sooo much and for the messages you leave in them. wen i found out that there were no more ummah films to wach i was very down as i reallly really really enjoyed waching your films as they are hilarious and i like your sense of humour. the videos answerd sum of the thouts i used to have and i found them very interesting. when will you be making more ummah films?? plzzzzzzzzzz!! they are really good and beneficial!! u say that you chek your comments so i wil be exepcting a reply :)
thakyou brother
asalamualaykum.
Asalamualaykum warahmatulahiwabarakatahu
:)
im from the uk and i have jus recently discoverd your ummah films on youtube and your website and i have wached all of them. i jus wanted to say thankyou for making me laugh sooo much and for the messages you leave in them. wen i found out that there were no more ummah films to wach i was very down as i reallly really really enjoyed waching your films as they are hilarious and i like your sense of humour. the videos answerd sum of the thouts i used to have and i found them very interesting. when will you be making more ummah films?? plzzzzzzzzzz!! they are really good and beneficial!! u say that you chek your comments so i wil be exepcting a reply :)
thakyou brother
asalamualaykum.
sallamo alikom...is anybody there?
i ve read all the questions allhamdullelah,waiting to know the answers..so please for Allah sake can anybody tell me how to watch baba ali answers video?
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