One Foot In The Sink | Muslim Lifestyle Podcast

Shahed Amanullah is a serial entrepreneur and a Silicon Valley veteran. In 1998, he founded Zabihah.com, the world’s first Halal restaurant guide. He is the co-founder of Zakatify, a social initiative in partnership with PayPal which turns your annual Zakat giving into social experience for Muslim communities and beyond. Shahed has also co-founded Affinis Labs, an award-winning social innovation firm that helps clients tackle global challenges through entrepreneurship. Shahed served as a Senior Advisor for Technology for the US State Department and has also briefed President Barack Obama several times on efforts to bring together Americans and the global Muslim communities. In this episode, we talk about Shahed’s entrepreneurial journey, his passion for creating companies with a social impact, inspiring global Muslim tech communities under the Obama administration, pros and cons of current trends within global Muslim businesses and exploring the concept of the ‘by us, for them’ business model. We enjoyed our

Muhammad Aurangzeb is a Data Scientist, an associate professor at University of Washington and the founder of ‘Islam & Science Fiction’, a website dedicated to sci-fi stories, novels, movies with Islamic themes Aurangzeb is a Data Scientist at KenSci, a US based, artificial intelligence healthcare start-up dedicated to predict your future health. Aurangzeb is one of the few Muslims in tech that is committed to determine the impact of artificial intelligence on Islamic principles and how these principles and ethics can be coded in to future technologies such as the autonomous vehicle. We talk to Aurangzeb about what is artificial intelligence, the influence of AI in our daily lives, why the application of Islamic principles (Fiqh) and ethics should be applied to AI technologies and how Muslims can contribute towards a future with Muslim lifestyle compliant technology We had an insightful and fun conversation with Aurangzeb using the autonomous vehicle, AI Hajj and the hand-slaughtered vs. machine-slaughter

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is an engineer, award winning social advocate, author and broadcaster. Yassmin advocates for the empowerment of youth, women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Yassmin started her working career as an engineer on oil rigs in Australia where she was a rare sight on the rigs – a hijab-wearing Muslim woman! At age 16, she founded the non-for-profit Youth Without Borders and by 24, she had released her memoir, Yassmin’s Story. She also appeared as a presenter for Australia’s ABC TV channel. In 2015, Yassmin gave a popular Ted Talk about the unconscious bias which has led her to now build a career around challenging the unconscious bias. Yassmin's work and leadership have been recognised with many honours including Young Australian Muslim of the Year in 2007. In this episode, we discuss Yassmin’s unique experiences of working on remote oil rigs, her fallout with the Australian media, finding strength to deal with a very public backlash, what is the unconscious bias and so much mo

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

Mohammed Ali is an award winning artist, curator and creative producer. He is regarded as a pioneer in the Islamic street-art movement, fusing street art with Islamic script and patterns. He has been awarded an MBE for services to Art. Mohammed began as a graffiti artist, painting Islamic inspired street art. He has since evolved his work towards combining street art with live performances, installations, digital projections and moving soundscapes. He has created truly immersive experiences for audiences throughout the world, from street canvases in New York,  Amsterdam, London and Melbourne, to intimate performances in the Vatican. His work serves as a bridge, bringing together communities divided by culture, faith and ethnicity. In 2008, Mohammed founded ‘Soul City Arts’, a global arts movement bringing together artists, activists and communities with the goal of transforming society. In 2013, Mohammed was invited to the Vatican to present at a TedX entitled “Religious Freedom Today” where he painted a str

Shazad Younas is the founder and CEO of Muzmatch. In 2014, Shahzad quit his job in banking to pursue Muzmatch full time after seeing friends struggling to find a partner. Today, Muzmatch helps Muslims around the world find their perfect marriage partner. The Muzmatch app operates in 190 countries, has over 500,000 members and has had 15,000 successful matches. They have disrupted the Muslim matchmaking market place with their playful approach, high quality offering and engaging content. Today on the show we discuss Shazad’s inspiration behind starting Muzmatch, how it has helped thousands overcome common issues in Muslim communities, the importance of using the service with good intentions and how easy it is for people to use the app to find their perfect partner We had a great time speaking to Shazad, hearing his story and understanding his desire to make a difference whilst helping people. If you liked this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcast Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Andr

Tez Ilyas is an award winning British comedian and actor who started comedy in 2010 as a hobby. He is regarded as one of most celebrated rising stars in British comedy. After studying biochemistry at university, Tez went on to work as a civil servant for a decade. He was told by his friends that he was quite funny, so he started to speak at open mic events in London and soon discovered that he was quite good at stand-up comedy! In 2015, Tez left his job to pursue show business full time and achieved phenomenal success with his debut tour, Tez Talks, followed by his own series on BBC based on his show. In 2016, his highly anticipated follow up show, Made in Britain, debuted at the infamous Edinburgh Festival Fringe and went on to sell out every performances. In 2018, Tez toured with his latest show, Teztify, which he also performed at the prestigious venue, Live at the Apollo. Tez also appears on the hit BBC show, Man Like Mobeen, where he plays the character ‘Eight’. On the show today, we talk about how Tez s

Mikhail Melvin Goh is the founder of Have Halal, Will Travel (HHWT), a media & technology company offering resources and tools to help Muslim travellers plan their perfect trip. In 2016, Mikhail discovered Islam and in turn, experienced the extra precautions required and lack of services a Muslim traveller faces when travelling the world. The Singaporean native was motivated to provide a solution for the struggle, so he teamed up with his wife and friend and founded HHWT. Today, HHWT content reaches over 8.6 million Muslims a month. They are redefining the Muslim travel market with highly shareable social content and technology products to recommend the best things to do, eat and places to pray. On the show today, we discuss Mikhail’s journey to Islam, spreading peace via travelling, holiday trends and often overlooked Muslim-friendly destinations! We really enjoyed speaking to Mikhail and his genuine desire to spread peace via travelling. Our LaunchGood collaboration for this episode is with the ‘Middle

Amal Kassir is a Syrian-American, international spoken word poet. If you asked Amal to describe herself in 3 words, she would say ‘Story-Telling Activist’ Amal has spoken in 10 countries and over 70 cities in venues ranging from youth prisons to orphanages, universities to refugee camps. She is widely known for her famous Ted Talk, ‘The Muslim on the airplane’, which has over 3 million views on Youtube alone! The Denver-born poet has lost countless members of her family to the violence in Syria in the last eight years. Amal feels that it is pertinent to write about the injustices to her people in the form of spoken word. In this episode, Amal shares with us her story, where her passion to speak about injustice stems from and why she channelled her energy towards poetry, to speak about the ones who are not spoken for. We also talk about the art of storytelling and how you can become a better storyteller. Amal shares an experience of failure and what she learnt from it and also provides some useful tips on enga

Peter Gould returns to share his reflections from his recent journey to Hajj in 2018 (1439). Peter provides a powerful reflection based on his experiences , encounters with diverse pilgrims, looking at Hajj from a designer’s perspective and talking about some of the gadgets he came across.  He also shares his views on the importance of creating a community, how he created a community of global creative Muslims, and the power of creativity within the youth and what we can do to empower it. We had a great time hearing Peter’s Hajj stories. We think this episode will inspire you to start thinking about planning your own journey to perform the Hajj Insh’Allah! If you liked this episode, please give us a 5 star review on Apple Podcast Find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook If you want to get in touch, e-mail us at info@onefootinthesink.com

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 hav

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 g

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! If you liked this episode, please give us a 5 star review on Apple Podcast Find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook If you wa

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

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 If you liked this episode, please give us a 5 star review on Apple Podcast Find us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook If you want to get in touch, e-mail us at info@onefootinthesink.com

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

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

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 hav

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

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! Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss out on future episodes! If you liked this episode, please give us a 5 star review on Apple PodcastFind us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook If you want to get in touch, e-mail us at info@onefootinthesink.com