#Memoirs: When I Was Studying In Syria... | Mufti Abu Layth

you know let me share a little personal personal you know years ago when i was studying you see because you get this just occurred to me because i want to share the other incident anybody who uh when when i was studying in damascus over 20 years ago so in the late 90s i was there and then i was there for probably 1980 99 then i probably came back in 2000 one or two and then 2003 something like

that so um you know the first time i was there i was there for a long while and damascus used to have this um back then they used to have this preposterous um tourist guideline or guidance from the government and that was that you know how you need a visa to go into a country so syria in that day and age need i don't know if it still does but it needed a visa to leave the country

[Laughter] but how are you gonna leave now so i'd never obviously i mean i was a i was just young at the time anyway i was probably just 18 and but i'd never heard of that and so i hadn't didn't collect an exit visa this shiratul

anybody believe me anybody that studied there at that time in that kind of uh era of pollable island seeking knowledge will know this that you need this and this was like a big deal when you needed to leave and you had to get this from there was this area called brahmke okay now everybody that studied at that time would know this and so when i was there there was uh imam zaid was there he was uh studying at jamaica this is the time um trying to think there was i think is in imam jihad or something he was there they were

uh was there you had um islam had come slightly after slightly after for the other time uh had come there were many many people at that time um that were that's that kind of the the paths that kind of slightly intertwined in damascus and everybody would have gone through this so uh so in this place in brahamka you had this magta battle hijra vulture was that and this office for passports and and visas and all this stuff

and you had to go there and i remember when i needed to leave i turned up and i had my flight on i think it was sunday and so i turned up on i think it must have been a friday and i turn up and and i said to the person look i need this visa and they're like oh and they make you you know they they treat you like absolute and you're just having to wait here then wait there and then plead with this person plead with that person go through the whole rounds and and you spent half a day there now eventually i i'm at this desk and this is the desk but this is the guy who's got my you know he's

supposed to just stamp this this thing and he says to me well um he says to me well why haven't you had it done already so i've got my ticket he says well you know when are you going i said look i'm i'm flying on you know whatever it was it was just in a couple i think it was on the sunday and he said oh you should have had this from before or you should have reported to us previously and according to this protocol or whatever and i said look i i don't know and i was ill or whatever it was i can't remember and the guy was he was like oh

he was like well tough i'm like huh yeah i need to i need to leave it's like well well you won't be able to and uh and i'm getting into this argument with this guy and it's taking time and we're so i'm getting so frustrated and i'm young as well and so obviously not as i don't i suppose i'm not as well composed as you know you develop patience as well in life and so i'm getting all frustrated and and he's exacerbating the situation and he's getting all uh you know i gotta go home

i got time for you and blah blah blah and all this stuff is going on and then i'm just so and i'm all these curses in my heart are coming up with this i'm thinking the worst of this person and ah and then i'm thinking i'm thinking the worst of all of these people and you see this is how a person's mentality shift you think all these people are like these they're all like

and it's going just ah and i'm thinking oh my god i'm gonna miss my flight now and then this is gonna happen and you know how am i gonna buy a new ticket and how am i gonna do this and then this other person just walks into the office who's about to sign out and he can see me this young frustrated man just standing there going oh and arguing with this guy and this guy arguing back and being telling me shut up and who the hell do you think you are and um and then that guy's you could tell he's he's kind of taken whatever they had this particular you could tell he's getting ready to go home grabbing his

stuff and he just stops and says he says and he said he kind of just taps the guy that look just just relax relax yeah why are you getting so worked up and he goes ah and then he looks at me he goes he goes what's the issue i go look i just needed my my visa to leave i've got a flight on sunday and he goes what's your name i said you know this and he goes he goes this is this he picks this paper because it's that that yours i go yeah because gets the stamp stamps because there you go [Laughter]

that was it and i was you know what i was so grateful to that guy i was like wow you know and i was just so honestly it just changed everything my whole perception but it's so interesting how our human perceptions go from extreme to extreme so rapidly somebody treating you like absolute dirt and you stereotyping you know stereotypically generalizing the whole all of the people and you're so oh i

can't stand these people i can't do this to somebody just a simple act of kindness and you're like oh my god these people are so amazing how fickle-minded we are i'm just being cognisant of that i thought i'd share that and just say that was just a personal story and