This one’s different. No edits. No cuts.
Just the full conversation—raw, unfiltered, and exactly how it unfolded. Reflections started as a monthly video series—part commentary, part Da'wa, part cultural autopsy. Sometimes scripted, sometimes sparked by an argument before we even hit record. Recorded in my studio, we’d film for over an hour, sometimes more. Then I’d sit with the footage, sift through the tension, the gems, the laughter, and piece together 7 to 10 minutes that felt honest. But what you never saw—what this video shows—is the full rhythm of how we actually talked.
2013 was full of talk about “assimilation”—panels, conventions, op-eds. But we wanted to get under the language, beyond the theory—how do you “assimilate” into a culture that’s already yours?
This video is uncut. Usama thought I had something to say. I thought he did. And like most of our talks, we started in the middle and worked our way toward meaning.
He could always take something dense and turn it into something digestible—without dumbing it down. Just made it make sense.
We used to end these with something hopeful. I’d always ask him to leave people with something positive—a light to walk away with. I'd ask for this no matter how heated or heavy the conversation. At the end of this one he mocks me for it رضي الله عنه.
Watch until the end (bloopers)
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