The Interview

Interview between Mohammed & Rifhat Aziz & Kim Streets. 
12th June 2002.

Mohammed Aziz has lived in Burngreave for nearly 25 years. In the 1970s he worked for Laycock’s engineering firm, ‘at that time they gave no opportunity for foreign people. I said, ‘my future is not in sweeping floors. I’d be pleased if you would put me on the machine’. Mr Aziz was the first Pakistani-Kashmiri machinist at Laycock’s and worked there for many years before setting up business as a builder. Mr. & Mrs. Aziz have 8 children aged between 14 and 32 – their daughter Rifhat works part-time for Sure Start, Women on the Edge, and Sheffield Black Drugs Service. She says, ‘They were recruiting people who were out of a job, and they gave us thorough training. So you didn’t have to have qualifications, just a good knowledge of the area and people – which I had. I like supporting people, helping people, knowing that I can help somebody’. She has a daughter, Saleena, aged 6.

What is your idea of happiness?
Rifhat: My idea of happiness is seeing other people happy. If my family and friends are happy, then I’m happy. 
Mohammed: When you get peace of mind then you get happiness. How I get peace of mind is through my family being happy. 

What is your greatest fear?
R: My worst fear is for my daughter’s generation. It’s letting go of their roots, their culture, and their religion; do you know what I mean? I’m scared because of what’s around them, the way that society is. I want her to be brought up the way our parents brought us up. I know my culture, I know my religion, and I know the society I’m in.
M: My fear is the disintegration of the family. They are going their own ways – society is pulling them away.

What do you dislike about yourself?
R: Not having time for my family, my parents, my brothers and sisters. 
M: I should have given more than I have given to my children. I could not do it. I wanted to give them an education, at high levels. Wealth is nothing to me, it is something, but it is nothing to me. My children are my wealth.

What do you dislike about others?
R: Dishonesty, greed and selfishness.
M: Yes, it is dishonesty. Actually, these days wherever you go you will find this – dishonesty is creating the problem in all aspects.

What makes you sad?
R: The way the world is – all this war, people fighting and killing each other. Why can’t people just get on with their lives?
M: It’s actually the division in the world that makes me sad. The rich people are pulling the wealth from the poor. There is no justice in this world – that is the saddest thing.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
R: My mum.
M: My mum and dad.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
R: I use two words before and after I do something. That’s Bismillah, that’s in the name of Allah, and Inshallah – if Allah is willing. 
M: Bismillah for anything I have started from the very beginning – even any meetings, eating food, doing work. If I say, ‘I will meet you tomorrow Inhallah’, it means if I get permission from Allah. In other words, everything is not in my hands – I cannot do something unless Allah gives me the strength to do it’.

What is your greatest regret?
R: My greatest regret is not listening to my mum and dad when I was young. They had so much to offer me, which I didn’t take. Mum used to say, ‘education, education, education’, and I used to say, ‘yeah, yeah – whatever’.
M: My regret is this. The first is, I could not give my children an education – I am telling you this from very deep inside. The second thing is, if I have made a promise to someone and I cannot fulfill the promise, that is my biggest regret.

If you could have one wish what would it be?
R: I wish I could offer my daughter what my parents offered me in respect of sending me to mosque. My mum educated us in the Islamic way, she wasn’t educated in English, she couldn’t give us that education but she gave us the education of Islam. I really wish I could pass that onto my daughter – I wish I could do it the way my parents educated us.
M: My wish is that every single person on this earth should have peace of mind. If everyone had peace of mind there would be no problems.

What is your earliest memory?
M: When I started walking, I can remember I was in the field and I saw the little mice in the grass – and I’ve never forgotten them. They were tiny, and I was catching one and it bit me with its tiny teeth – and I think that’s why I remember it. I can see it now - it could have happened yesterday.
R: Can you see that mark on my cheek? I can remember when I was little and my eldest brother heated this key up and he goes, ‘come here, lets see what this does’, and he put it on my cheek – and that’s what that mark is. We were both young and we were playing.

How do you relax?
M: When I read the Qur’an and I pray. I feel away from this world – there is nobody there but me and Allah. I feel very, very relaxed - there is nothing else in my mind.
R: It is the same for me.

How would you like to die?
R: I’d like to die in wuzu (purity) and in the name of Allah.
M: I want to die as a Muslim

How would you like to be remembered?
M: With good memories – I want to be remembered in good ways.
R: As a good person.

What it the most important lesson life has taught you?
R: Listen, spend time with your parents and gain wisdom. Never judge a person.
M: I learnt that what I choose for myself I choose for others.

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