One Foot In The Sink | Muslim Lifestyle Podcast

Peter Gould is a celebrated designer, creative entrepreneur and artist. His innovative, award-winning work is highly sought after globally and it has touched millions with positive, inspirational creative projects.

He has won several awards, launched his own apps & games, created popular online platforms, teaches workshops internationally, and has work published in several books.

In 2002, while studying graphic design, Peter embraced Islam. He began travelling abroad to the Middle East and fell in love with the beautiful old cities of Fes, Damascus, Istanbul and Medina.

In 2016, Peter joined Zileej as Design Executive Officer to develop a new generation of lifestyle brands, products and creative experiences for Muslims. Some of the brands that he has been part of are the 5Pillars game, Salaam Sisters and many more!

In part one of our chat with Peter, we talk about his journey to Islam, Islamic influence in design, unlocking your creative potential, design thinking and so much more!

We were honoured to have Peter on the show. He is one of the most influential thought leaders amongst global urban Muslims and has been an inspiration to us. It was great to hear his story, pick his brains and get our creative juices flowing!

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Zahra Shah is from the UK, she is on a mission to grow Iraq’s tech ecosystem and build talent among youth, so that they can solve local issues using technology.

Zahra is a Program Manager for Re:Coded, whose purpose is to provide opportunities for young people affected by conflict to enter the tech industry and become entrepreneurs.

Zahra is a ‘tech humanitarian’. She has previously worked at Gaza Sky Geeks, Gaza’s first accelerator and coding school, the UN, and various startups based in London and Amsterdam, including Groupon.

In this episode we speak to Zahra about her mission in helping displaced and conflict affected youth to enter the digital economy and become entrepreneurs. We talk about her work with the UN, how technology can help in solving many humanitarian issues, Gaza Sky Geeks, living and working in Iraq, women in tech, her tips for entering the tech industry and so much more!

We really enjoyed our chat with our fellow Londoner. We learnt a lot about how technology and a startup ecosystem can greatly benefit a generation of conflict affected youth to step in to the digital space, something that we didn't know existed before we spoke with Zahra

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Remona Aly is a journalist, broadcaster and commentator with a focus on faith, lifestyle and identity.

She writes for The Guardian and other media outlets, often promoting positive stories about Muslims in the West. Her articles range from The Great British Bake Off to burkinis, Ramadan to interfaith football, fashion and rock music!

As a commentator, she has appeared on TV and radio such a BBC, ITV and Sky News.  

In this episode, we had fun talking with Remona about journalism, how she ended up writing for a Muslim lifestyle magazine and then The Guardian, the work that goes in to researching a story, PR campaigns, trolls, dealing with word count and so much more!

If you are curious to know about Muslims in the media, portraying the right image of Islam in the media or getting a taste of behind-the-scenes of journalism, have a listen and share it with others who may be interested!

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Mohammed Faris is an international coach, author, speaker and the founder of Productive Muslim. Productive Muslim is a popular lifestyle blog which Mohammed started in 2007 to explore the question, “Can Islam teach us productivity?”

Today, Mohammed dedicates himself to deliver productivity resources and training aligned with Islamic ethics. He has also published a book, ‘The ProductiveMuslim Book: Where Faith Meets Productivity’ which is a culmination of things he has learnt along the way.

In this episode, Mohammed talks about how Islam teaches us productivity, the importance of Barakah and offers some tips that can be implemented in your daily life to boost your own productivity.

We really enjoyed our chat with Mohammed. He is very knowledgeable, and we can see why he helps executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs re-balance their lives spiritually, physically and socially to achieve peak performance in their personal and professional lives.

There are many take away from this episode, so have you pen and paper ready!

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As Hajj is around the corner, we decided to rebroadcast our previous episode with Sayfullah Nasir to inspire you on your own Hajj journey.

In July 2017, a group of 8 British Muslims embarked on a journey of a lifetime by cycling from London to Madinah to perform the Hajj. Cycling over 3,500 kilometers, across 8 countries and 3 continents, they reached Madinah after 6 weeks and raised over £250,000 to buy medical aid for Syria with the Human Aid charity.

Sayfullah Nasir is one of the ‘Hajj Riders’ and on behalf of the other riders, he shares the story of their epic journey.

He shares how the idea began, planning the journey, the outpouring support from the Muslim communities en route, obstacles faced and and so much more!

Original Broadcast Date: 18th December 2017

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Haroon Mota is a fundraising manager for PennyAppeal, a charity which raises money for noteworthy causes. He is also the head of Challenges at PennyAppeal which means he cooks up some amazing ideas for charitable causes.

Haroon is known as the Marathon Man after he completed running a ‘4 marathons in 4 weeks’ challenge, dedicated to his father who died tragically in a car accident. The aim was to raise money for a solar water power centre in Africa which has since been successfully built.

To date, Haroon has raised over £1 million via many different challenges such as climbing to the Everest base camp, London marathon, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, the Machu Picchu trail in Peru, Palestine Marathon and so much more!

Haroon talks about how he accidentally stumbled upon his current career choice whilst trekking Mount Snowdon in the UK and meeting a group of Muslim women hikers. He discusses how the act of doing good was instilled in him from a young age via the influence of his father and being sent to an Islamic boarding school to learn the Holy Quran. Today, Haroon dedicates his time in helping others fundraise for their charity campaigns and thinking up various unique challenges to push you through your limits.

On this episode we discuss the challenges of fundraising, motivations for overcoming barriers, how to get involved in charitable causes and so much more!

We really enjoyed talking with Haroon and being infected by his passion and enthusiasm for raising money for charities. So much so we ended up signing up for a few events in the process! Haroon is a real inspiration, he trains hard and works hard to raise money for noteworthy causes impacting Muslims around the world, he inspires others to take part in achieving their own goals as well as helping them raise money for charity. Haroon was recently presented with the ‘Good Citizen Award’ by his local Mayor, an award that he quite rightly deserves.

Rimla Akhtar MBE is the chair of the Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation and the first Muslim woman to sit on the English Football Association council. She is also on the Forbes list of ‘the most powerful women in international sports in 2018’.

In 2005 she captained the British Muslim Women’s football team. Since an early age, she has been a sports fanatic and today she champions inclusivity in sports, particularly for women from ethnic minorities to participate in sports that take in to consideration religious and cultural sensitivities. In 2007, she was part of a team to help overturn FIFA’s ban on the hijab.

Rimla shares her story on how she was influenced in to sports via her older brothers, being the only girl playing football with them. She talks about her experiences of being part of sports teams, wearing the hijab and standing out in sporting events, and participating in a world record game in Jordan.

We discuss how young Muslim girls can be more involved in sports, how they can get support via the Muslim Women’s Sports Foundation, advice on ensuring your modesty whilst competing and the remarkable impact of the footballer, Mohamed Salah from Liverpool FC.

We really enjoyed talking to Rimla and seeing the increasing trend of more Muslims taking part in sports and having a positive impact. Mohammed Ali left a lasting legacy as the most recognised Muslim sportsman. Today there are many amazing Muslims in sports such as Ibtihaj Muhammad (American fencer), Sir Mo Farah (long distance runner), Moeen Ali (English cricketer) and Sonny Bill Williams (New Zealand Rugby) player.

Nazia Nasreen is the founder of Ibraheem Toy House, the world’s leading online Islamic toy store. She’s also a mum of 2 children, a wife and an audiologist.

In 2014, Nazia founded Ibraheem Toy House whilst on maternity leave for her second child. She always struggled to find good quality Islamic toys for her daughter to make religious education fun. She decided to create her own online toy store and via word of mouth, this quickly spread and ending up being a full-time business.

Nazia shares her story on how, as an introverted and a shy person, she would attend networking events and, whilst being the only Muslim woman, she would volunteer to present her business and really throw herself outside of her comfort zone. She talks about running out of money and going back to her old job to raise cash, how her product inspired someone to accept Islam and why she wanted to quit and sell her business but instead Allah had other plans!

Nazia has an inspiring story. From selling toys on a single Facebook page to now having a team of people working for her.

We were inspired by her and proud to see a Muslim woman on top of her game!

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Fikra Yel is the founder of Ramadan Sharing Fridges, an initiative that serves the less fortunate community workers and labourers with free food and drink during Ramadan. 

In 2015, Fikra had a spare fridge and wondered what to do with it. She decided to put the fridge in her front yard and stock it with free food and drink for workers in the neighbourhood. It was also a great way of instilling the value of sharing in her children.

Fast forward a few years, her single fridge evolved in to a Dubai wide initiative where members of the community share a fridge outside their houses and stock it with food for the less fortunate. Today, there are over 150 fridges across Dubai, bringing communities together and breaking barriers. Fridges are stocked voluntarily by generous members of community multiple times a day.

The movement is now an annual event in the Dubai Ramadan calendar and is backed by many schools and large household names as corporate sponsors.

Fikra discusses how it all started, building a community led initiative, the true value of Ramadan Fridges.

Fikra’s story is so inspiring. She could have sold her fridge for some profit but instead decided to use it for a good cause. Her idea was unique. The initiative not only provides free food for the less fortunate, but establishes a relationship with them which would have been possible before.

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In the final episode of our ‘Ramadan prep’ series, we speak to Hiba Masood from Drama Mama about making Ramadan fun for kids!

We talk to Hiba about teaching children about Ramadan in a fun way, instilling the spirit of Ramadan into children, craft activities, creating traditions, tips on getting children involved in charity, how can adults who don’t have children make Ramadan special for kids and lots more!

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