People, Places, Books and Events that Hit like a Bus.
Tags: New York, Halal, 911, Muslim, Hip Hop

I naievely took the shot of what I thought was the Manhattan skyline on Sunday 9th September 2001. I hadn’t heard of the twin towers they were just two tall skyscrapers for me.

In life there are people, places, books and events we experience that are like being hit by a bus. A plane even. Where you are stood now in life is not just a series of choices. Environment and destiny are also at work. And though you may think that you are the seeker as Rumi said “What you seek is seeking you”. In my case I’m stood in a halal abattoir where my organic livestock has just arrived and we will be doing zabiha shortly.

This is the first in a series of posts looking at key influences that lead to me setting up a venture sourcing organic halal and freerange produce. The brand (to be announced) will be launched March 2022.

The planes went in two days later on the Tuesday. It was 2pm I had just woken up to a load of noise outside (yes I was a late riser) a far cry from my 4am starts these last few years since working on farms and in abbatoirs.

It was quite pandemic like actually. Tourists with rubble all over them having just arrived back with their lives, panic buying in the supermarket below, the army patrolling and when I looked up the sky was a ghastly thick black smog of death.

I’d been living and working in between the Bronx and Harlem to catch the sights and sounds of the birthplace of hip hop. A pilgrimage of sorts. I was a big fan. Fresh out of my teens it was that age you believe you will live forever. I look back at this time and realise there were many strengths and transferable skills developed which helped me in my personal and business life thus far.

I was also able to empathise with the journey my parents had took from Pakistan to the UK. The challenges of navigating in a culture that views you as an alien almost. The immigrant state of mind that kicks in for survival. But my trip was far easier than my fathers. I was a “Brit” a “Manc” from England UK. No language barrier and no climate or culture shock overall.

NY was such a diverse place. You could be walking 5th Avenue and bump into all the legends. Jay Z, Pharrell, Prodigy and they were so humble in person. Kids freestyling on the street randomly and poetry open mic nights. I met a Palestinian duo called the Hammer Bros. Beards up to the waistline and a kufi was their “look”. The brothers could really control the mic. It was an all embracing city pre911 even if you were Muslim rappers nobody batted an eyelid. We became friends.

Muufti was one half of the Hammer Bros he picked me up that evening and we made our way as close as we could into Manhattan. 21 blocks from ground zero had been cordoned off and you could smell jet fuel in the air. The main hospital where bodies were being taken in had all the worlds media. Muslim families were being cornered by the cameras to “explain” themselves. A lot of apologetic responses were made. We were so vulnerable as a community and it was sad seeing our elders almost bullied in front of the cameras.

I was at an impressionable age and looking up to pop culture had took me to NY but I left forced to rediscover my own faith heritage and community. I had socialised with my work colleagues for months in NY before the attacks carefree. Post 911 on finding out I was Muslim there were questions like “your Muslim?” And comments like “You motherf***ers are crazy!.”

911 changed the Muslim community forever. Even if you didn’t want to be Muslim the world would remind you you were. If you didn’t practice the faith the world would remind you of what havoc those who seemingly did practice are wreaking on the news. Even if you were apolitical you had now been politicised whether you liked it or not. Every Muslim has an experience that revealed how much more visible they were to the western hemisphere post 911.

All the innocent lives lost that day were truly tragic. A horrible day for humanity.

In the 2 decades to come the war on terror caused casualties equivalent to 300 911’s. The last I heard in 2003 Muufti had left NY to study in Makkah.

If anybody knows the Hammer Bros I’m referring to do connect us, as they say in NY “holla”.

My worldview would never be the same again and over the next 15 years it set about another journey but this time within. One of self discovery and purpose that ultimately culminates so far in a venture to provide a higher standard of halal meat to the muslim community.

Mohammed Kashaf Sultan

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