00:00:00
Speaker 1: I want to actually– like you've gone through a bit of a positive life change. You've converted to Islam.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:00:07
Speaker 1: How did you find Islam?
00:00:09
Speaker 3: Brothers, it's been a really cool journey. I found it when I went back to Europe.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:00:16
Speaker 3: So I stopped drinking.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: Anytime I've stayed on the straight and narrow and taken out devilish behavior or bad things out of my life, I've always gone to a higher power.
00:00:27
Speaker 3: I've always felt.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: A spiritual connection, but I'd never grew up with a religion. I've read into separate religions over the years. I've read into Buddhism.
00:00:40
Speaker 3: For a bit, Christianity a little bit.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: But to be honest, when I went back overseas, there's a big Muslim community in Perpignan, close to Africa and Morocco and Algeria.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: There's a lot of.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: Families that move into the south of France, mainly Algerians. My wife is half Algerian. So the second year when I went back with a clear mind and a mindset to change, like I gave up the drink and I naturally always went to higher and did some soul searching. A good friend of mine over there that I knew before was a Muslim guy. Around that time, I started to also connect with my wife. It was only early days, but obviously she's a Muslim girl. Our friends locally were Muslims. So that sort of was where the curiosity started. I started going to the mosque with my mate and just started feeling peace, man. Like, to be honest, I'd go to the mosque. I started feeling.
00:01:47
Speaker 3: Peace in my heart.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: I started slowly trying to practice Islam I obviously started reading the Koran in an English version, obviously. But obviously being a white Western Australian, the Arabic side of things was a slow process.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: Of course.
00:02:06
Speaker 2: But, man, more than anything, it was the first religion or faith that I sort of felt where I felt a sense of peace.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: I loved the culture of Islam.
00:02:14
Speaker 2: I loved through my wife and our community and Muslim friends, I loved the way the Muslims.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: Treated family the way that they.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: The peace that a lot of the friends of mine were living with. And then obviously my relationship with my wife opened up the curiosity more naturally.
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Of course.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: But yeah, man, it's been a really good journey. And I converted about three, three and a half years ago now. As I said, it was slow steps at the start. But yeah, the whole transition gave me direction and purpose and Um, and the more I've grown into my faith, um, it's been a, it's been a huge North star, man. Like, um, a lot of my prayers have been answered. Um, as a person, my, my temperament and my, the patience in my life is, have had huge transformations and yeah, I just feel a sense of direction since.
00:03:11
Speaker 3: I've had, since I've converted.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's, it was a sort of funny, um, situation for me when i came back to australia at the start i.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: Remember yeah we had that little we met up as well and yeah i think you brought it up actually you brought it up to me yeah and uh i don't think you brought it up to the world no you didn't you didn't tell people that you converted yet no uh But when you did, how did you start feeling a bit more comfortable being here? Because obviously over there you're comfortable. You don't really know that many people there, so they're not going to judge you for it. But you know when you come back here being Mitch Pierce, the ex-NRL superstar, that you were going to get a bit of attention from it.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you say judgment, it's such a taboo topic, isn't it? Because it's something that I hate about the world and it's such a taboo subject of religion and all.
00:04:01
Speaker 3: This preconceived– judgment. But it's cool that you say it because I did feel that.
00:04:10
Speaker 2: And saying that, the whole transition and the– I haven't come out and spoke about– I've spoke about Islam bits and pieces. I think the journos have done a couple of stories. I think most people are aware that I converted. It's obviously a.
00:04:24
Speaker 3: Private thing, but I'm more than comfortable that people know.
00:04:28
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I suppose my fears at the start when I did come back were there naturally a little bit.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Um just to how people would.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: Perceive it um but yeah it's that stuff's way out of my mind now what i've found with faith for me uh it's been very organic uh it's given me as i said before it's given me direction and purpose um i know when you know i worship god and i follow principles and disciplines um my life has just been a lot more peaceful and happy and I met my beautiful wife. I believe that nothing's a coincidence in life.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: You know, I really believe that. And I've always believed that.
00:05:03
Speaker 2: Faith allowed me to dive into that even more.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: It's given you a foundation.
00:05:08
Speaker 3: It's given me a.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Foundation and the routines and the principles of Islam is something that really caught me. You know, you stop for your five prayers. The gratitude and blessings that I get out of that, you know, I've had some really amazing experiences where my prayers have been answered, you know, continuously and I feel being a human being and imperfect in every way, like we all are, I know that when I go away from what can get tempted in everyday life and get distracted, I lose my alignment.
00:05:41
Speaker 3: And that's why, you know, it's been such a.
00:05:43
Speaker 2: Good thing to find God and it's been an amazing transition, man.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Bro, I'm stoked for you. Like I feel if it's serving you and you feel a sense of belonging, you're getting nothing but positives, then like– what's there to regret, what's there to kind of like feel embarrassed about, what's there, you know what I mean? Like you should feel proud and like talk about your personal journey because you never know, there might be someone else out there that has gone through a similar situation like yourself. And like we talked about judgment, like I'm like you, like I don't understand how people are so quick to judge. Like you shouldn't feel embarrassed or no one should judge you for, you know, finding Islam and having that as a positive thing in your life. You know, I think there's, Good and bad in every religion. That's the reality of the world, unfortunately. There's good and bad in every culture. But, again, it comes down to the person, the individual. And, like, if you're giving off good values, you're respectful, me as a person, why shouldn't I, you know, be respectful back and just accept you for you?
00:06:48
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? No, definitely. And I think that's the biggest change.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: I've had, like, being, as I said, a white Western kid from Sydney and You're obviously Lebanese.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: So you've grown up and seen a lot of different perspectives.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: It's not as, I guess, out of the ordinary for me. I've got Muslim mates, I've got Christian mates, I've got all sorts of lives. But for me, being brought up in a Lebanese household and going to Lebanon, you kind of assimilate. It's almost like 50-50. We all live together in peace and harmony. But like you said, it's harder for you. And it's a bit more like, whoa, like it's a bit like a knee-jerk reaction, like, oh, my God, Mitchell Pierce is Muslim now?
00:07:31
Speaker 2: In saying that, brother, I never really got that much strange reaction. Like it was actually really organic. And at the end of the day, everyone's living their own life.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, you don't meet someone and straight away say, oh, what's your faith? I'm going to talk to you. I'm not going to.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: But that's something that, you know, I hate about the world. And I've been able to live in two different cultures, which has been amazing. A lot of my friends overseas are Arabic, French-speaking Arabics. Um, and, and there's so many beautiful different perspectives that they see the world than how I potentially live around different friends and family here.
00:08:03
Speaker 3: I've, I've always had mates from.
00:08:04
Speaker 2: All different cultures growing up and I've known Muslim boys and Christian people all my life, but the perspective changes is also been amazing, you know, just to see and learn and find yourself in that sort of face.
00:08:17
Speaker 3: But yeah, man, like, um, you know, so many.
00:08:20
Speaker 2: Good things has come into my life through the discipline of, of Islam and, um, I love speaking about it because I've just seen so many positive changes and it's made me a better man, a more accountable man, taken more responsibility and given me direction that I wouldn't say my life was ever unhappy or that I was lost, but I was probably searching for short-term fixes where I know when you've got a North Star and you're following your faith and being guided, purpose.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: Good things happen and it's only a benefit for people, man. Everyone's on their own journey.
00:08:53
Speaker 2: And, uh, you know, whatever it is, it's the guide you is meant to be, but this was my journey so far and it's, it's been, it's been good, man.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: Unbelievable, bro. Well done.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: Thank you, brother.
00:09:02
Speaker 1: How was it, um, speaking to your family about it?
00:09:05
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: So that was, my family were great. Like, um, naturally I had a little bit of a angst. I'm pretty independent in that regard. And, um, I'm not, I don't get too caught up with, with being controlled by what other people think with stuff like that, especially deep decisions. Um, But I got religiously married to my wife overseas. It was a pretty private sort of thing. That was a new experience for me, you know.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: That is so cool. Yeah, man.
00:09:34
Speaker 2: So like you can imagine it all happens fast as love happens.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: Life changes so quick.
00:09:41
Speaker 3: It happens so fast, man.
00:09:42
Speaker 2: But one thing it's made me realize without getting too deep on you is nothing's a coincidence.
00:09:46
Speaker 3: I agree. And when you get.
00:09:49
Speaker 2: Out of yourself and you trust– the God that's guiding you or however people want to perceive their journey, um it all sort of makes sense and yeah man i got religiously married which was a which was an amazing experience um yeah i won't lie in those early days even my missus laughed because her friends that you know that it was it was a funny experience gone from you know.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: Not being a part of that culture. Next minute you're getting religiously married. That's what I'm saying. You're in your 30s now.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: You've never been introduced to the culture. You have no idea what it entails. And then out of nowhere, like, you know, you find a connection and you're intrigued and you go in further and further and then boom, next thing you know you're fully committed. Yeah, yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: No, it is.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: As I said, man, I'm the happiest I've ever been and I've found peace with my family. I've got a beautiful wife, beautiful little daughter. And, you know, faith is a great guidance for us. As I said before, I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect. But, you know, I've found clarity in the faith, man. And I respect anyone's faith. And I think at the end of the day, you know, this space that I've tapped into now with Toddy around Reboot and helping the youth, it's, you know, everyone needs a direction and a purpose in life.
00:11:05
Speaker 3: And I believe that it's there for everyone. It really is.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: I think you've just got to clear out the shit. You've got to clear out the– the white noise, the temptations. Faith's a beautiful thing for that. It's not the only way for people, but it is a beautiful thing for that. But people have to find their own way. But, yeah, I think you find your peace when you get out of all that other shit.
00:11:25
Speaker 1: I love it, bro.
Speaker 1: I want to actually– like you've gone through a bit of a positive life change. You've converted to Islam.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:00:07
Speaker 1: How did you find Islam?
00:00:09
Speaker 3: Brothers, it's been a really cool journey. I found it when I went back to Europe.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:00:16
Speaker 3: So I stopped drinking.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: Anytime I've stayed on the straight and narrow and taken out devilish behavior or bad things out of my life, I've always gone to a higher power.
00:00:27
Speaker 3: I've always felt.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: A spiritual connection, but I'd never grew up with a religion. I've read into separate religions over the years. I've read into Buddhism.
00:00:40
Speaker 3: For a bit, Christianity a little bit.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: But to be honest, when I went back overseas, there's a big Muslim community in Perpignan, close to Africa and Morocco and Algeria.
00:00:50
Speaker 3: There's a lot of.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: Families that move into the south of France, mainly Algerians. My wife is half Algerian. So the second year when I went back with a clear mind and a mindset to change, like I gave up the drink and I naturally always went to higher and did some soul searching. A good friend of mine over there that I knew before was a Muslim guy. Around that time, I started to also connect with my wife. It was only early days, but obviously she's a Muslim girl. Our friends locally were Muslims. So that sort of was where the curiosity started. I started going to the mosque with my mate and just started feeling peace, man. Like, to be honest, I'd go to the mosque. I started feeling.
00:01:47
Speaker 3: Peace in my heart.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: I started slowly trying to practice Islam I obviously started reading the Koran in an English version, obviously. But obviously being a white Western Australian, the Arabic side of things was a slow process.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: Of course.
00:02:06
Speaker 2: But, man, more than anything, it was the first religion or faith that I sort of felt where I felt a sense of peace.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: I loved the culture of Islam.
00:02:14
Speaker 2: I loved through my wife and our community and Muslim friends, I loved the way the Muslims.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: Treated family the way that they.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: The peace that a lot of the friends of mine were living with. And then obviously my relationship with my wife opened up the curiosity more naturally.
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Of course.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: But yeah, man, it's been a really good journey. And I converted about three, three and a half years ago now. As I said, it was slow steps at the start. But yeah, the whole transition gave me direction and purpose and Um, and the more I've grown into my faith, um, it's been a, it's been a huge North star, man. Like, um, a lot of my prayers have been answered. Um, as a person, my, my temperament and my, the patience in my life is, have had huge transformations and yeah, I just feel a sense of direction since.
00:03:11
Speaker 3: I've had, since I've converted.
00:03:12
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's, it was a sort of funny, um, situation for me when i came back to australia at the start i.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: Remember yeah we had that little we met up as well and yeah i think you brought it up actually you brought it up to me yeah and uh i don't think you brought it up to the world no you didn't you didn't tell people that you converted yet no uh But when you did, how did you start feeling a bit more comfortable being here? Because obviously over there you're comfortable. You don't really know that many people there, so they're not going to judge you for it. But you know when you come back here being Mitch Pierce, the ex-NRL superstar, that you were going to get a bit of attention from it.
00:03:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you say judgment, it's such a taboo topic, isn't it? Because it's something that I hate about the world and it's such a taboo subject of religion and all.
00:04:01
Speaker 3: This preconceived– judgment. But it's cool that you say it because I did feel that.
00:04:10
Speaker 2: And saying that, the whole transition and the– I haven't come out and spoke about– I've spoke about Islam bits and pieces. I think the journos have done a couple of stories. I think most people are aware that I converted. It's obviously a.
00:04:24
Speaker 3: Private thing, but I'm more than comfortable that people know.
00:04:28
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I suppose my fears at the start when I did come back were there naturally a little bit.
00:04:33
Speaker 3: Um just to how people would.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: Perceive it um but yeah it's that stuff's way out of my mind now what i've found with faith for me uh it's been very organic uh it's given me as i said before it's given me direction and purpose um i know when you know i worship god and i follow principles and disciplines um my life has just been a lot more peaceful and happy and I met my beautiful wife. I believe that nothing's a coincidence in life.
00:05:00
Speaker 3: You know, I really believe that. And I've always believed that.
00:05:03
Speaker 2: Faith allowed me to dive into that even more.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: It's given you a foundation.
00:05:08
Speaker 3: It's given me a.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Foundation and the routines and the principles of Islam is something that really caught me. You know, you stop for your five prayers. The gratitude and blessings that I get out of that, you know, I've had some really amazing experiences where my prayers have been answered, you know, continuously and I feel being a human being and imperfect in every way, like we all are, I know that when I go away from what can get tempted in everyday life and get distracted, I lose my alignment.
00:05:41
Speaker 3: And that's why, you know, it's been such a.
00:05:43
Speaker 2: Good thing to find God and it's been an amazing transition, man.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Bro, I'm stoked for you. Like I feel if it's serving you and you feel a sense of belonging, you're getting nothing but positives, then like– what's there to regret, what's there to kind of like feel embarrassed about, what's there, you know what I mean? Like you should feel proud and like talk about your personal journey because you never know, there might be someone else out there that has gone through a similar situation like yourself. And like we talked about judgment, like I'm like you, like I don't understand how people are so quick to judge. Like you shouldn't feel embarrassed or no one should judge you for, you know, finding Islam and having that as a positive thing in your life. You know, I think there's, Good and bad in every religion. That's the reality of the world, unfortunately. There's good and bad in every culture. But, again, it comes down to the person, the individual. And, like, if you're giving off good values, you're respectful, me as a person, why shouldn't I, you know, be respectful back and just accept you for you?
00:06:48
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? No, definitely. And I think that's the biggest change.
00:06:51
Speaker 2: I've had, like, being, as I said, a white Western kid from Sydney and You're obviously Lebanese.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: So you've grown up and seen a lot of different perspectives.
00:07:01
Speaker 1: It's not as, I guess, out of the ordinary for me. I've got Muslim mates, I've got Christian mates, I've got all sorts of lives. But for me, being brought up in a Lebanese household and going to Lebanon, you kind of assimilate. It's almost like 50-50. We all live together in peace and harmony. But like you said, it's harder for you. And it's a bit more like, whoa, like it's a bit like a knee-jerk reaction, like, oh, my God, Mitchell Pierce is Muslim now?
00:07:31
Speaker 2: In saying that, brother, I never really got that much strange reaction. Like it was actually really organic. And at the end of the day, everyone's living their own life.
00:07:38
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, you don't meet someone and straight away say, oh, what's your faith? I'm going to talk to you. I'm not going to.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: But that's something that, you know, I hate about the world. And I've been able to live in two different cultures, which has been amazing. A lot of my friends overseas are Arabic, French-speaking Arabics. Um, and, and there's so many beautiful different perspectives that they see the world than how I potentially live around different friends and family here.
00:08:03
Speaker 3: I've, I've always had mates from.
00:08:04
Speaker 2: All different cultures growing up and I've known Muslim boys and Christian people all my life, but the perspective changes is also been amazing, you know, just to see and learn and find yourself in that sort of face.
00:08:17
Speaker 3: But yeah, man, like, um, you know, so many.
00:08:20
Speaker 2: Good things has come into my life through the discipline of, of Islam and, um, I love speaking about it because I've just seen so many positive changes and it's made me a better man, a more accountable man, taken more responsibility and given me direction that I wouldn't say my life was ever unhappy or that I was lost, but I was probably searching for short-term fixes where I know when you've got a North Star and you're following your faith and being guided, purpose.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: Good things happen and it's only a benefit for people, man. Everyone's on their own journey.
00:08:53
Speaker 2: And, uh, you know, whatever it is, it's the guide you is meant to be, but this was my journey so far and it's, it's been, it's been good, man.
00:08:59
Speaker 1: Unbelievable, bro. Well done.
00:09:01
Speaker 3: Thank you, brother.
00:09:02
Speaker 1: How was it, um, speaking to your family about it?
00:09:05
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: So that was, my family were great. Like, um, naturally I had a little bit of a angst. I'm pretty independent in that regard. And, um, I'm not, I don't get too caught up with, with being controlled by what other people think with stuff like that, especially deep decisions. Um, But I got religiously married to my wife overseas. It was a pretty private sort of thing. That was a new experience for me, you know.
00:09:31
Speaker 3: That is so cool. Yeah, man.
00:09:34
Speaker 2: So like you can imagine it all happens fast as love happens.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: Life changes so quick.
00:09:41
Speaker 3: It happens so fast, man.
00:09:42
Speaker 2: But one thing it's made me realize without getting too deep on you is nothing's a coincidence.
00:09:46
Speaker 3: I agree. And when you get.
00:09:49
Speaker 2: Out of yourself and you trust– the God that's guiding you or however people want to perceive their journey, um it all sort of makes sense and yeah man i got religiously married which was a which was an amazing experience um yeah i won't lie in those early days even my missus laughed because her friends that you know that it was it was a funny experience gone from you know.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: Not being a part of that culture. Next minute you're getting religiously married. That's what I'm saying. You're in your 30s now.
00:10:19
Speaker 1: You've never been introduced to the culture. You have no idea what it entails. And then out of nowhere, like, you know, you find a connection and you're intrigued and you go in further and further and then boom, next thing you know you're fully committed. Yeah, yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker 3: No, it is.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: As I said, man, I'm the happiest I've ever been and I've found peace with my family. I've got a beautiful wife, beautiful little daughter. And, you know, faith is a great guidance for us. As I said before, I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect. But, you know, I've found clarity in the faith, man. And I respect anyone's faith. And I think at the end of the day, you know, this space that I've tapped into now with Toddy around Reboot and helping the youth, it's, you know, everyone needs a direction and a purpose in life.
00:11:05
Speaker 3: And I believe that it's there for everyone. It really is.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: I think you've just got to clear out the shit. You've got to clear out the– the white noise, the temptations. Faith's a beautiful thing for that. It's not the only way for people, but it is a beautiful thing for that. But people have to find their own way. But, yeah, I think you find your peace when you get out of all that other shit.
00:11:25
Speaker 1: I love it, bro.
