Anas Sillwood was born and raised in England. Growing up he began to notice the materialistic nature of his surroundings and it felt like a “cold” and “empty” place. He was looking for a greater purpose in life.
Fortunately, he went to an ethnically diverse school where he could get a glimpse of different views of the world. He also noticed that in general people with religion seemed happier compared to those who lived their lives without one. Eventually, this intention to live with religion led him to Islam.
His love for Islamic knowledge was so intense so he migrated to the Middle East to study Islam. He visited Mecca for hajj during this time. It was then he envisioned a Muslim clothing brand to enable more beautiful and modest options for ever-growing Ummah. Shukr Clothing was born.
Biggest blessing in my life is a good companionship.
–Anas Sillwood
Show Notes
Shukr Clothing Website
www.ShukrClothing.com
Interview transcript
Maruf: As-salamu alaykum, this is Maruf. Welcome to the Muslims On Fire. Today, I have a brother, Anas. He has a very interesting story and without introducing him too much, we will deep dive into it and we welcome him and start from here. As-salamu alaykum, brother Anas!
Anas: Walaykumussalam. It’s a pleasure and honor to be here.
Maruf: It’s my pleasure. Even though we worked together but we never I guess we talked in person. That’s why I guess we are doing this today. I just want to, you know, some can you do this? Let me start with a little bit about yourself and about your main business. Then we go deep dive into know you better.
Anas: Sure. So first about myself personally, I was born and raised in North London, in England, a middle-class family with working-class roots. My father’s side was English. My mother’s side was greekcypriot refugees in the time of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. You know, my social environment growing up was colored by a diverse mix of people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
I had close friends with Benglies, Indians, Caribbeans, Cambodians, Irish Greeks, Turks, Pakistanis and the whole range. The school where I went to, was very ethnically diverse in London. My inner city schools where all the ethnic parents and their kids and even though I was in a more of a white background. That was the type of environment and I was Muslim at the time and having this wide range of friends and families of diverse backgrounds. We ended up having lots of deep conversations late into the night about, you know, God and religion and morality.
Maruf: Okay.
Aans: Materialism and human nature and so on you don’t need to intervene an awesome people.
Maruf: No. We’ll deep dive into those things but I think today we don’t know. I guess that one of the sugar line. You should put a line for those who may know this is one of the modest brands that sell Islamic clothing, but I guess so you decided that’s okay. We’re just going to ask this today. If you are like, you know, sometimes we can connect, you know, does Looking Backward, but if you look at your childhood back, I mean, what would you say? What kind of memories you remember and most importantly, what kind of things you may think that it is shaped you who you are today? What would you say?
Anas: Yeah. So I’ll get some bit more into detail than you wanted to search for something. I can give a high level summary data. So some English convert to Islam and the to the age of 21 and we launched and then I started learning Arabic and Islamic Sciences in the Middle East and in the course of Being Human in the Middle East, we don’t we started I started sugar when I was about 27 years old back in 2000, 2001, 2002 and you know My partner Jeff and Matt it join me and very soon after that. We were doing this for 19 years or so. So that’s kind of like the high level background.
Maruf: It’s good. Yeah, that’s okay. It’s just tell us tell us about your childhood like kind of like your upbringing as you always had initially just continually.
Anas: Yeah. Yes. I started to dive into the details and begin. So like I said, you know England for those, whose were not familiar, was very Materialistic and secular country most people have abandoned the religion and on normally Christian, but don’t really practice. So that was my family background and the background of most people that interact with and I found that a very empty cold place. And so I think a lot of them end up and I lost my brother had kind of place in my heart this desire to know the truth and find a purpose in life. And I wasn’t really satisfied with living as an irreligious person. The people like me didn’t like the life but I had to.
And so looking at people around me whether its family friends wider Society. I found that do it religious people would typically speak and quite empty and unhappy. Even if they were having fun, you know, early on in their life, my people do in their 18s and 20s or 30s. But the time they aged.
And that’s what all of the emptiness kind of manifested people were becoming more and more depressed and I thought to myself at that age. I thought and I saw this in my family because of family members. Somebody of my family tried to commit suicide who was close to me. And its openness of why I didn’t want to be like that. I don’t know, you know, just have fun in life, you know.
Maruf: What age were you when you have those kind of situation?
Anas: Maybe 18 onwards. You know, it was pretty heatless like most people. And I think you know from 18 onwards, when I really started to reflect about things and had all these discussions in my friends and research and thought about life.
And you know, kind of observance in society and I came to the conclusion that a religious life was definitely the way to go and the religious people. It’s a religious people that I was. Even if they were Muslims or Christians. I had met a number of Christians and religious people. Over all seem to be a lot more content and happy internally at peace and that impressed me.
Maruf: Basically, you mentioned that you you’re like diverse because London is a very diverse place, right? There are different nationalities. Isn’t that so? Did you have any friends like out of your inner circle what I mean? Is that like, you know English I said difficult to say, right? Because you disappear in London, is it you always diverse? What I’m asking is that have any friends from diverse backgrounds? It doesn’t have to be Muslim. It could be any other religion or it could be any other industry that just kind of helps you to be like making a more open. I would say.
Anas: Of course, I mean that growing up in this side, ethnically diverse schools where we had, you know, we had had a close group of friends about 10 of us. And we were in a couple of Banglies, some of the Indians, some Cambodian, Irish, Greek. So were from all different universes.
Some of they were Christians and some of them were Hindus and some of them were Muslims and some of them were Buddhist. So it was a very eclectic of friends that we had. And as everyone brought their conversations and their stories and their traditions to our discussions. And so we would help youth group spending a be up all night having these talks about like I said about the meaning of life and God and morality and material.
Maruf: I think that is very interesting. So this you know, those friends like you study together or you live in the neighborhood.
Anas: Yeah, I met them at school. You know if and friends that we scored end up being the ones whose were closest to you in the world for most of your life. And so these were things like I first met from Nature’s of my 11 to 16 and we covered on knowing, you know, on hanging out with each other for the next, you know more kind of formative period from
18, 19, 20 of age when you know, you kind of start to mature about think a bit more seriously about it.
Maruf: I think I mean we are now around when you said like around 18 something you saw. You actually looking at your you know, surroundings. And you are kind of begin to notice that you’re putting people I guess into different groups. So one is those without any religious background or practicing religion? I don’t want some grill that somehow they are practicing religion. And you notice that there’s a difference, right? There’s this one of them feels fulfilled. Other one is kind of empty and you were more inclined towards the religious group.
Anas: Yeah. Definitely. I thought.
Maruf: Why Islam like to have you end up with a Idlam like you could have go closer to your I guess Christianity or you know any other religion.
Anas: Yeah. That’s true. That was actually my first point of the investigation because I wasn’t familiar with Islam at that time. And so there was a lot of born-again Christians in my neighborhood who were kind of cool and trendy. They’re playing basketball and invite you to their churches and so on. I met with them and discussions with them and we read of the Bible and go to their churches and hear what they had to say.
But I think I had in the last good me this type of question in skeptical mindset. And so I would be all like always be our cable was that evidence for what you believed. Was there evidence for that? Look that the Bible is the word of God was the evidence for the earliest manuscripts. And I never get it will get a bit frustrated with my constant questioning that and finally they said well, just believe.
Maruf: Don’t ask questions.
Anas: I had to believe because you know, God has given me a mind. I needed to think about things and faith needed to be based upon more than just it was not jump into the dark. And so I got a bit disillusioned with that group. And so then I started some of my friends who were Muslim but weren’t really practice in before then started to have their own type of religious awakening and so introduced me to some Muslims who were active in a local mosque. We were in a world where I lived in Northland. Lots of humidity load and go there’s Pakistanis, Turkis, mixture of different.
That ethnicities and so I got to meet some of them and also at my University and so you know, I loved this new like a lot of good people blow, good Muslims of different type of persuasion outside of University and inside of each head City. And as speaking to them and in reading basic stuff about the Quran and reading sections of the Quran kind of dawned upon me that Islam is different from Christianity that it was actually based.
It had a rational basis to it that there was evidence that the Quran was the same parameters of beautiful. And the content of the Quran reading that I really in the eye was about the beauty of creation being a man of manifestation of Allah that He has created power in his beauty and signs pointed to him. This all had an impact on my heart.
Maruf: I see. So, I mean what you’re trying to say is like they could have answered your questions. I guess partly what I’m body muscles around you.
Anas: Yeah, exactly.
Maruf: It’s right, anyway.
Anas: You know is a big change.
I mean, it’s definitely a minute since I converted and started to practice. I noticed a big change in my life. In a sense of being replaced contentment and peace in my heart and I changed my mode. I found that I practiced and drew closer. I agreed with this internal peace becomes.
Maruf: I mean, we’ll talk. We’ll come back. In a moment, but I just want to get this back story. So actually you could stop there. You don’t just say Okay, I’m Muslim now, I’m just gonna go bad and leave. I think I was just getting a little bit about your background. So what you did. I think you went to study Islamic Studies. Is that correct?
Maruf: So I was very into my profession.
So, I didn’t know, I was at the London School of Economics cannon at the graduate degree there. Then the masses degree there and I was studying philosophy in the social sciences. And I saw the flaws like contemporary secular more philosophy and liberalism.
Western Nations and wanted to come up with a coherent economic response and you know and point of view but because I didn’t know.
It was exciting like, you know, I was severely limited and so I thought to myself that I needed to go abroad and learn Arabic. And I needed to learn a bit of the Islamic sciences and then I would come back and do a PhD or something like that. And then become a lecturer at University and help spread Islam the world Like a super.
Maruf: How do you work out?
Anas: So I came to the Middle East and I fell in love with the Middle East and to tell the truth in love with Arab country. I felt it like a level of beauty and peace in the society. It transformed my perspective of the Deen of Islam because I had been reading lots of stuff about Islam, but when you didn’t see it in practice, then it could be a bit theoretical.
When I came to the Middle East. I was blessed to live in a Land of sham between Jordan and Syria and despite the imperfections of Muslim societies. There was tremendous like Beauty which I saw in the hearts of the people here in their social practices. And their family life in the oval religion had colored their whole being which was based about a recognition of about smetana and so, you know, even despite people’s shortcomings. They had that as their basis was you know, what I’d experienced in the West Was that emptiness of not without this God consciousness. So I think I kind of fell in love with the place.
And so to myself what I needed to learn this Islamic sciences and it was going to take some time. I was just like doing the one or two years of Arabic and went back to do a PhD. And so I set out certain on a program of learning was an Islamic sciences and I spent you know about four years learning Arabic and that time it was like some of the basic Islamic sciences and that was my kind of go. But then at the same time I needed a form of income. And so I decided Launched a clothing company.
Maruf: So before you do that. I mean not everybody wakes up and say I’m gonna launch right clothing company, right? So I would like to know your back time. Did he have any background in clothing or how did you do that?
Anas: Not really. Accept that was a little bit of a fashion victim growing up all those into incidentally Street fashion and looking that way. And same with my friends and so I had an interest in it. And I’m a very visual person. You know you had people who were like audios, some people who were kinesthetic, some people who were inside of your head, kind of psychological type of break down.
Some of it visually oriented person. And so I think you know, that’s there was the only background I didn’t have any formal training. In fact, it was worth. That was partly what was the motivation and the second motivation was that I was very interested in dawa. And so apart from learning the science to teach that or do something the university. I was also sort it was a need to create the culturally relevant Islam in the west, you know, because Islam. Until then it was very foreign. Guess we had like two extremes back in that day talking like early 2000s. You had like three ethnic Muslims, especially in England their communities of Bengalis, Pakistanis. They couldn’t speak the local language.
I look very forward. They were not very good at our and then you had people who had kind of acclimatize as an adopted like a full Western culture and lost their religious background. But it was very hard to find people in between who had adopted the best what we had to.
But also maintained Islamic identity and I thought part of that was you know, at least in the realm of clothing was that we needed to have some type of clothing which was culturally relevant and which was like, he’s was Islamic in a sense of being modest and loose beautiful attractive. Also in a western, at the same time and it didn’t make two characters so same. You thought that you were outwardly that you look strange and ethnic and Islam doesn’t apply to that local people. So you liked the motivations.
Maruf: I see. I mean, I think will hurt on a few interviews, you’re saying that it was one of those spacious which was that you guys went to hatch right when you see these people all coming from all different places and you also mentioned the verse. So that is the most beautiful and he loves Beauty. There’s also I mean this is beautiful, you know when I heard about this. I am just trying to put I guess myself in your shoes, but I think it was about 20 years ago.
Anas:yeah, that’s about 20 years after that.
Maruf: It’s about. Yeah, 20 years ago is almost. So look, I mean that’s amazing. So you had some bigger – I understand like starting over there is not a small thing here, right? Let’s put it this way. I mean if you need to earn money, you could have gone out and find a job, but instead you do something.
First, you create your own company. Second, you wanted to do like you know, something with Muslims fashion. So the most valuable be understood. But why do you start a business? Do you have any experience in business before or learning?
Anas: And I’m not a natural businessman. I’m a bit of a reluctant businessman. And I don’t really like business either. So hopefully if I would much rather spend my time studying and learning and being like an academic and Islamic Studies. But I think, I was a bit independent and I didn’t like the sort of and some nine to five job and actually it was meant to be just a part-time wholesale business, might be taken up a couple of hours a day just as. This was the, you know, let me just produce hole cloth sale.
And I could interact with retailers in the west send them wholesale. You know, all’s like most installs in the west, you know at muslims stores that sell everything or anything. And so we could sort of those and it would take up and you know, couple of hours a day to us, at a time. I could spend studying. So this was how it went for the first year that we launched. It was a hotel business started to sell wholesale to various retailers in the west.
Then we found that they weren’t very good at pushing the merchandise, you know, these like genomics and Muslims stores weren’t very professional. And we thought it was a very popular response to our products. And so we thought we needed to do this ourselves and we needed to do it retail ourselves. And so we started off suddenly through and obviously, you know, the internet was kicking off and we thought it was launch, you know website and so we launched a website in 2002 in the states.
And very quickly it was there and we spent a weekend was like a number of these, you know, these were Muslims conferences events and there was a very big, you know, very popular response to our products sale, were increasing quickly. And there was a lot of demand we saw. And so it just started to snow born and take up more and more time and efforts. From two hours a day as a wholesale businesses became three hours a day, four hours a day, five hours a day, six hours a day and I saw my study time with decreasing. Yeah, and so I finally became what I didn’t have any time for studying.
It’s was just working out and it was a bit hard for me to do the job. Because I was not really a natural businessman. And my heart was more into studying but I thought that this was you know, lost Matata. This is what destined for me and if there’s an opportunity to be of admire or service to Muslims and provide them with some something which was needed in the Western. This was also a form of our and a need. And so you notice I would content myself with demoralize policeman CSS.
Maruf: Sounds good. I recently went to service. Actually, the second since we’re discussing with the shakes man. I’m like, he’s actually from South Africa and he was saying something about Abu Hanifa. And he had a business so, you know, he could sustain his family. And that time he dedicated his life to this projector. So let me ask you this.
If I remember, you mentioned, you were kind of find your word search, you mentioned that likes Islamic perspective and modern philosophy and did a response, right? Like this, what is way of style? I don’t understand. I just out of curiosity personally because I’m also going to college that all you know is also what I’m saying, and I’m just I was there many expenses. I just love studying it. So how far did you get there? Where are you now?
Anas: I mean, my focus shifted. Because when I was at University, I said a lot of philosophy. So the people that go philosophy and so I had some background in that. And then it was kind of obvious to me what the and opinions were of Western thought, you know, it was an enlightenment perspective that human reason could come up with its own morality and own values and organization of society.
And we didn’t need religion anymore. And a lot of ethical and moral problems because then you had issues like well, why should you be more why like, why should you point of being well. I mean if there’s no God in the picture then why couldn’t I just go out and steal rip people off abuse people, why couldn’t I kill somebody both wrong with killing somebody.
I mean according to it was like ear or you shouldn’t harm others, but why shouldn’t you harm others. And if you didn’t have good in the picture it were turns to self-interest. So the Western philosophy of philosophers would say we shouldn’t harm other people because if you harm to other people than they might harm you.
And then society would descend into chaos. But what if I could get away with it, you know, I could secretly murder somebody and I was quite sure that nobody would do the same to me. And I could secretly steal something and I could get away with it, you know, someone dissolved intelligent criminals in the world. And so it’s already have these problems with the river demo philosophy and it’s not and I think we were seeing that kind of Western Society.
Because ,people in the past, were kind of governed by a Christian morality, even if they weren’t necessarily Christian. And so they would still maintain more values even if they didn’t believe in the faith anymore. I think that’s breaking down for more and more. So we were seeing like a kind of more dissolution of society in the west. Especially, when it came to sexual ethics and things like that.
Maruf: Because he was speaking of this ethnic slog but one of the things I noticed that you guys. So when you guys put photos on your website, right you don’t usually show the face is just the product itself.
Anas: Exactly.
Maruf: Because in our DNA is, you know, fashion is all about image and personally, but that’s why you have all over the place, you know that, you know naked women trying to sexualize women trying to sell anything related.
And you guys could have cost to take a different approach. I know for sure it will affect your sales, but you did it anyway. I just want to deep dive into the. Just tell us.
Anas: This is quite passionate topic for me actually. Because it’s something ideal dilemma, which we had faced ever since the beginning of shukr and it’s become even more pertinent and relevant nowadays. There was always this tension between business and religion. Because especially, in the fashion industry, you can manipulate abuse human nature to make a sale, you know in a human that humans were attracted to beauty, we were attracted to sexuality.
And so if you show a picture of a beautiful woman or even beautiful man, he’s got a nice body who is showing her curves or showing part of their body, then people are going to be attracted to her and not just the opposite gender as much as men looking at women, but even women looking at attractive women. Then they feel I want to look at her.
I want to be as beautiful as her. I want to feel pretty. Because people who have a disability, you know, we have this natural desire to feel beautiful and different, if you had some self-esteem and so on. So this marketing and it could be reproduced. It could be very harmful because you know, it was a corrupting influence for the opposite gender.
When you look at that type of marketing was also corrupting influence of the same gender. Then you start getting in, you feel that you have all these insecurities and you know, what I would like to look like that model. But really my body’s not like her and I’m not as pretty as her and so then you start feeling insecure.
Then you didn’t kind of take the action to like boost up your self esteem. You need for a bit more makeup, or you pull your clothes a bit tighter around you do all these over things. So there’s a little bit deep psychology that goes on here. And even if we don’t understand the psychology, our Deen gives us the answers, you know, it tells us that we should be modest it shows us how to do, you know tells us that is standards to dress.
It tells us about really beautiful. So it should be done in fact in front of our spouses out in public. So we had all the answers in our Deen. And so we should always try to take that. Be careful. In this regard are not abused. Take advantage of human nature to make a profit because this is true. If we were to put up pictures of beautiful women or more suggestive poses has or something like that.
We would probably get better sales in a people would be more attracted to it. At the end of the day, we were trying to keep our a lot of focus on the afterlife. This is like which I had to keep everything within the balance of it and if Allah gives us success and risk as a consequence in. Alhamdulillah,if we were fossils, didn’t on the same. Because we checked this prison hundred. Allah will give us something even better.
Maruf: And yeah. May Allah increase you. I really want to think that this one of things I respect to the you guys that you want to put the faith into the station and it’s not easy. It’s just not by words. You have to do action. Financially but eventually you will get a better one in the long run.
Anas: Yeah. Alhamdulillah.
Maruf: So I mean one of the things like now we are discussing fashion and what is fashionable stuff? So what’s your thought on this so you see? this is what I noticed that some people might misquote me on this one. But when I mean that hijab right is this instance? The covering is modesty. It is only for women and men as well? But it doesn’t all came down to a very simple. Just crossed.
It would you know women put on their head, so even she is that unfortunately when I look Sometimes my sister’s right then. And they technically say it’s the job. I did put something but as you said when you look at them just unfortunately, it just provokes this thing, you know as a human nature. And in other hand, some people may be that you know, the other teams ready just the women dressed in a way.
Do you struggle with? I’m not promoting and I’m just telling you. Because I think it all goes to down to this one point. We look at them. Yeah, maybe their heads are not covered but you’re not promoting. You know, I think you know, when you look at them, you don’t see this, you know, what I mean, like to show up.
At least, look at this thing like challenges that where are we going with this? Like since you’re in Industry, I just want to know your thoughts on this. Where are we going with this? Are we just playing out his or just to get up some girl. But I will be forgetting that the whole purpose. Why we’re doing? What we’re doing?
Anas: Yeah. Well, I told you that this is very sensitive issues from exam and very sad and disappointed. The way, the industry, the modest or Islamic fashion industry has headed. Because I think we are just like kind of clean playing with loopholes and technicalities and saying it’s Islamic groups modest just because it’s kind of like a bit longer or we’ve got a head scarf on.
Really we’ve you know, if we’re honest with ourselves, we are just following mainstream fashion Hook Line & Sinker as they say. And we know, we have that especially when it comes to visual presentation and marketing. I don’t see that there’s anything different. There was some equipment model clothing companies were doing that mainstream companies that it’s still the focus on outward physical Beauty, beautiful women sexg, poses sexy expressions and you know, but if you have a hijab on your head or you know, it doesn’t really solve the problem.
And so, you know, we’ve kind of lost the soul of hijab and of Islamic modest clothing. The solar is over here in slave flavored to Allison Tana. We’re doing this because we want to worship Allah. So if we want to worship a lot and we will faithfully follow those instructions for the clothing being modest. Don’t know I’ll believe you define ourselves and doing it just for people that we meant to be doing it for husbands, wives and not for wider society.
And you know also part of the you know, the heart of the hijab is higher modesty. And in some modesty is an expression of one’s oval comportment and behavior and not just ones were closing. But it says that is not modest wearing tight clothing and even close, you know tight clothes in an agile be when it covers the whole body.
It doesn’t mean you have higher and more distinct. So I think we all need to kind of reflect about this. And anyone needed to take in and to make a personal choice to live up the standards that awesome to live up to. About the same time, you know, we don’t want to become as kind of course, is that harsh and critical and so on. We were living in very troubled difficult times, you know, secularism liberalism has you know, it’s the dominant ideology in the world. Everybody had kind of been influenced by these people who weren’t even the dean in today’s times in massive numbers. And people were struggling, trying to understand aspects with the dean. So you know, if people are still staying Muslim,
If people trying on a Islamic clothes that you know, we looked at the good side of things.
Maruf: So let me know when I look at you today. I’m glad that I look at you. As I said one of the examples that people with your team doing the things they are really passionate about what you’re really like at the same time. You guys are not only earning but also learning, you know, of course, we all have to make learning to provide a family you are making a difference, right? So would like you to share a couple of lessons from you during your lifetime? I guess then looking back and especially for the listeners. You know a lot of brothers and sisters who are listening to us.
And you know, they want something similar. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same thing. But you have dreams. They want to do what they want to, you know, pursue that. And then this is your monthly three examples that you are doing it and you are making, you know, because I think what I’m trying to ask is that what would you like to share two three life lessons? What will need a high moments or what you have done differently? What would you do?
Anaa: I think the biggest lesson that I placed in my life is given by as a good companionship good Sahaba of divine blessing. Meet with companionship of religious people like Scholars, religious people, righteous people righteous wife. And so when you’re in a company of righteous people who you look up to then.
That inspires you to do things better and especially, keeping in contact with the religious Scholars that Oliver who can advise you, guide you and can turn to them for advice Arsenault learn study with them, take religious guidance rulings. Then that needs to be yardstick. So definitely shukr we start every aspect of the business.
We have to discover about things. Is it possible? Is it permissible to take this type of photograph, coming take this type of photograph what that contracts between our workers? What about investment money? How about different types of franchises in whatever it may be? We’ve always gone back to the scholars.
And so I think anybody who and this is you know, this is part of our duty as Muslims are just is to learn their Islamic injunctions defect of anything that we are involved in. So it is going to be involved in a business that needs to learn, you know, there’s that we wouldn’t have got into that business that you’re involved in. And so you need to have Scholars, you know access to scholars in order to do that.
So I think anybody who starts a business or does anything in life, they need to find out you know what Allah, some data says about that area in order to live up to his injunctions. Because that is where we will have a success. So I think that’s the biggest thing I would say and unless I can occur is kind of outly and inwardly, I think we are speaking to ourselves first and foremost.
We need to work on purifying ourselves, our hearts, our intentions, our character and always having like observance of all sorts of our behavior our intentions, why we doing this, is this pleasant in our life and pleasant to Allah. And so again that comes about via good companionship having religious people when he’s around Scholars a spiritual guide whatever it is that inspires one.
But one always needs that improve internally and by doing so one keeps oneself in check. Because I think if one combines these two things I could send out word or following the Islamic law injunctions and inwardly purifying oneself. Then one will keep on the straight path.
But when you leave one of these two aspects and you end up going astray in one form or another. You can’t and so. Yeah, you may think that somebody could have a good intention. For example, I’m promoting modest clothes and promoting the job is really good. And it’s a good intention in all over world.
If you don’t study the circle, you don’t have contact with one and you don’t ask them and then you start using these at contemporary images of sexy women and makeup and take clothes and stuff like that. And you have seen hijab then your outward action is contradictory, consistent with your inward attention. So you always need both to use the outward and the inward.
Maruf: This is where you tell also integrate information, right?
Anas: Yeah, exactly. And so that comes about you know, traditionally more sense with study with study is when it would study the you know in one form or another by taken. And it’s the only opportunity is nowadays much for that is all designed and will discover all these Scholars and students of knowledge who westerners now as well, you know, there’s so many people that comes up with institute and online courses.
It is no excuse really to not so different back in the day. And I mean, 20 years ago, I was kind of hard even ones that there wasn’t many local Scholars available. You feel a bit disconnected from the cause of it. The ethnic type of teachers something like that was. Now you have so many things that I think. Everybody’s aware of what’s available.
Maruf: I mean, so tell us where is Shukr today? And you know, where do you see yourself in the future like five years, ten years?
Anas: So, yesterday, industry over the last 45 years. That’s going through a massive changes. There was always been like a increasing growth in the amount of companies that were involved in industry. But what happened in the last 45 years is that it became very mainstream.
You’ve had a lot of investment coming in a lot of interest in the industry. So you had mainstream companies who are producing collections that are targeting the Muslim market. And you’ve also helped like large within the Muslim Market. You also had like large marketplaces like Amazon type marketplaces emerge like in Turkey and Indonesia and other companies.
Yeah, so these companies are very big and it make difficult for smaller companies like individual Brands as Shukr. When you’re competing against like a mass market place, then it’s difficult. Just like Amazon. Amazon has an impact on all these like local small individual businesses. Because it’s so convenient to go to Amazon type Marketplace and buy everything you want from that.
So this is a challenge and so you know about you but then at the same time people always want like kind of specialist service, customization you want to identify the particular brand they like that. They’re like the ethics of that brand. They’re like that particular style brand loyalty. And so from that aspect, you know companies like Shukr can go on and you know still attract customer needs that wing.
Maruf: Absolutely. It’s not just you know for those some of the names that Muslims. Can you tell us a little bit, you know backstory about the name, itself and what it means?
Anas: Shukr is an Arabic word meaning gratitude. And gratitude is a tremendous virtue, which we can have as people, as particular, as gratitude for all the blessings that loss of data. And God has granted us, created us given us existence of life, health, wealth, money, family, food, friends, guidance, a connection to him, a possibility to be with God for eternity in the next life.
And it’s based on that there’s a famous ayaat in Quran that if you give thanks surely I will increase you. This is the inspiration for Shukr. That we wanted to try to be people of Shukr. Thanks to God for the lessons.
Maruf: So now you are like those who are grateful to him and increase all of us. So we get to show here on this high note. I think this is the highest note you can get, sounds good. So tell us where people can find more about Shukr, website or anything you want to mention. That would be the best time. We also mention, you know, put it on the show notes as well.
Anas:Yeah. We have a few websites seven different regions. We have a website for US, for UK National. I think the easiest thing is just to do a Google search for Shukr and then you’ll find one of our websites based upon according to your location is so Shukr. And you’ll find a website Charmy. We are all around the world. Wherever you are you can order and we were shipping and you’re receiving them in two to three days.
Maruf: It’s great. Thank you for your time, brother Anas.
Anas: Yeah, It’s a pleasure and an honor.
Maruf: As-salamu alaykum!
Anas: Walaikum assalam!
