Fahim Miah, 17, and his friend Kennedy Clink, 20, wanted to see how members of the public in Cardiff would respond to a Muslim man being verbally abused for praying on the street.
In the video, Miah is seen praying on pavements and outside buildings. When aggressively approached by Clink and verbally abused, people nearby come to Miah’s aid. One man tells Clink to “leave him [Miah] alone”. Another woman says: “do not interrupt him while he is praying… He’s allowed to pray there, it’s a free country”.
Fahim told 5 Pillars he was surprised how people reacted to Kennedy in the video. He was not expecting such a passionate defence of his right to pray. He said the strangers defended him “as if they were members of my family”.
“The idea of unity and society sticking together to tackle discrimination made me make this video”, Fahim continued. “Not only against Muslims, but all around”.
Fast approaching half a million views, the video has made headlines in The Metro and Daily Mail. Miah was also interviewed on RT UK.
“I hope that the video will keep on reaching more people and have an affect on society and make them aware of the situation today”, Fahim expressed to 5 Pillars.
The 17-year-old A-Level student, who was born and raised in Wales by Bengali parents, told 5 Pillars race and inter-faith relations in Wales are generally “comfortable”. He said, “It’s very diverse and people are accepting of each other”. But he is concerned about the media’s portrayal of Islam, and people’s reactions.
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“Negative reactions only make things worse. People don’t have 100% control of what happens but they have 100% control of how to react to the situation”
Fahim has been making videos for a year and started posting them online in April. He hopes to turn his hobby into a career and has drawn inspiration from other video makers Adam Saleh and David Parody.
