Two men from the Cape who once stood against apartheid boarded a boat for Gaza. They were seized in international waters, held in an Israeli prison, and sent home. This is their witness.

Former Ambassador Faizel Moosa and Mogamed Faeek Ariefdien sailed with the Global Sumud Flotilla on its Spring 2026 mission. In this Strong Believer special they sit with Shaykh Irshaad Sedick and tell the story the headlines could not carry. The decision to go and what it cost their families. The interception at sea. The brutality of the prison ships and Ktziot detention. The salah led under a rifle. The shouts they sent through the prison walls so the Palestinians inside would know they were not alone. And what sumud and sabr came to mean once they had paid for them in their own bodies.

The boat was stopped. The witness was not.

Guests:

Former Ambassador Faizel Moosa, humanitarian, struggle veteran, son of the late Judge Essa Moosa.

Mogamed Faeek Ariefdien, Cape Town stalwart of the anti apartheid struggle.

Host: Shaykh Irshaad Sedick, Isnad Academy.

⚠️ This episode contains accounts of violence and abuse. Viewer discretion is advised.

#Sumud #Gaza #Palestine #GlobalSumudFlotilla #Flotilla #CapeTown #StrongBeliever #Sabr #FreePalestine #icjosh

Chapter markers

00:00 Cold open: human trafficked in a container

00:57 Sumud and sabr: the opening

03:01 Meet the guests

04:53 Why we went: aid for the children

06:17 The 10,000 still behind: leaving the Palestinians in prison

07:21 Change it with the hand: the hadith that frames the episode

09:38 Raising the world's awareness

12:33 We stood on the holy grounds: redefining success

14:33 The power of dua in the cell

15:53 Was it a failure? Hudaybiyya and Fath Mubina

17:03 The decision: getting your affairs in order

19:46 Apartheid and Gaza: the same and not the same

21:43 On the boat: the spirit of the convoy

25:53 Dawah at sea: salah under a rifle

33:35 Shot on deck while his family watched live

37:08 The prison ships: containers, stun grenades, rubber bullets

41:00 Singled out as South African: the ICJ in the interrogation

43:00 Banu Nadir: destroyed by their own hands

50:19 Even the babies are terrorists

51:31 Whatever your passport says, you are Palestinian

54:09 The container, the boots, and the last kick of a dying horse

58:43 In the belly of the beast

01:00:17 Let them hear that we are here

01:02:14 Refusing to scream

01:03:50 What will you tell Allah?

01:05:33 Cyprus, the Western Cape, and the exit strategy

01:07:48 What you can do: Coke, coal, and the West

01:08:20 Wake up, Cape Town

01:11:25 The land convoy and the silence of Muslim states

01:14:36 Why I sail: I should have gone sooner

01:18:55 Seeing injustice at home

01:21:39 Closing: Surah al Nisa and a dua

In a time when anyone can upload an Islamic video and call themselves a scholar, Islam has always been carried differently — from teacher to student, across generations, all the way back to the Prophet ﷺ. That chain has a name: isnād.

ROOTED is Isnad Academy's flagship interview series. Conversations with South Africa's qualified Islamic scholars — the people who went to the source and came home. Rooted in tradition. Routed through the chain.

Our third guest carries the chain quietly. Hafiz Raees Mohamad memorised the Qur'an as a child, walked out of grade five to do it, and later travelled to Tareem, Yemen — where he studied at Dar al-Mustafa under the supervision of Habib Umar bin Hafiz. He is the author of The Road to Tareem, a book endorsed by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller as "a real gem." He holds a postgraduate diploma and MBA from Henley Business School, serves in an executive role at Old Mutual Investment Group, and is currently pursuing a PhD enhancing Michael Porter's strategy models using prophetic strategy.

He answers to "Brother," not "Sheikh." That is the conversation.

In this episode we cover:

• Why a Hafiz of the Qur'an and a Dar al-Mustafa graduate refuses the title of Sheikh
• Arriving in Yemen during civil war with no Arabic, no contacts, and one return ticket
• What twelve months in Dar al-Mustafa actually feels like from the inside
• The morning Habib Umar told him "I think you're ready to leave"
• Writing The Road to Tareem and the Uber ride that started it
• Why he came home without the turban, the lexicon, or the performance
• How prophetic strategy outperforms corporate strategy in real boardrooms
• The Mawlid in Madinah that proved Tareem travels with you
• Advice for the young brother in Cape Town who wants the knowledge but not the costume

Isnad Academy hosts South African qualified scholars and provides professionally recorded courses for the global Muslim community. Subscribe to stay connected to the chain.

00:00 — Opening: To Be Rooted, To Be Routed

00:43 — Introducing Hafiz Raees Mohamad

02:01 — Why "Brother" and Not "Sheikh"

04:08 — Who is Raees Mohamad in His Own Words

06:07 — The Decision to Go to Tareem

08:49 — Survival: Arriving in Yemen at Civil War

14:05 — The First Two Months Felt Like Two Years

18:21 — Writing The Road to Tareem

21:55 — "I Want to Come Home" — The Call to His Mother

26:39 — Speaking Arabic at the Mawlid

27:39 — Breakfast with Habib Umar

31:01 — "I Think You're Ready to Leave"

32:14 — What Tareem Actually Did For Him

33:55 — The Scholar Who Becomes a Businessman

38:21 — When Your Non-Muslim Boss Asks If You Made Salah

45:25 — Advice to a Freshly-Returned Graduate

49:13 — The Community's Traditional IQ Has Risen

52:54 — Tareem Without the Turban

56:20 — What He Holds On To, Privately

01:00:39 — The Spirituality of Tareem

01:02:16 — The Madinah Mawlid: Tareem Travels With You

01:05:53 — For a Young Person Considering Tareem

01:08:31 — Quickfire Round

01:09:56 — Advice to the Brother Who Wants This Life

01:14:23 — A Month in Dar al-Mustafa Will Humble You

01:16:38 — Shaykh Nuh Keller on *The Road to Tareem*

01:17:30 — Be Your Own Person

01:18:21 — The Book That Brought Him a Wife, a Scholarship, and a Career

01:19:53 — Closing

A practical, no-fiqh conversation about Qurbani with Mawlana Anees Kara of Maraisburg, Johannesburg. After nearly four decades in this work, Mawlana Anees brings the kind of practitioner knowledge that does not appear in any classical text or fatwa site: how to pick a healthy animal off the kraal, why some Qurbani meat tastes different and how to prevent it, the real difference between farm and home Qurbani, and the proper way to distribute meat with dignity.

This is a standalone episode for the Eid al-Adha season. For fiqh questions about Qurbani, please refer to my other content on SeekersGuidance and on the Isnad Academy.

Chapter markers below.

About Mawlana Anees Kara

Mawlana Anees graduated from Darul Uloom Zakariyya in 2009 and serves as the masjid's Khatib in Maraisburg. He runs K.A.Z Livestock and Game Meat Traders - a family project that has operated for over 36 years.

#Qurbani #EidAlAdha #IsnadAcademy

Chapter markers

00:00 Introduction

01:08 Meet Mawlana Anees Kahrah

02:25 Where to actually buy your animal

05:23 What an experienced eye looks for

07:59 Honesty in weight and pricing

10:54 Why lamb costs more than mutton

12:54 The two reasons Qurbani meat gets a bad name

15:25 Merino, Dorper, and the breeds question

19:31 Bringing your animal home and treating it right

27:35 Pros and cons of home versus farm Qurbani

30:54 Tasting wild, tasting bloody: the real reason

33:31 The post-slaughter process that fixes everything

36:55 Giving your meat away with dignity

38:47 The slaughter itself: knife, angle, technique

42:42 Aspiring to slaughter for the first time

46:38 Where to find Mawlana Anees

48:11 Closing dua