Episode 12 Black Friday It Up
Watch Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 12: Black Friday It Up
Sunday 23rd November 2025 / 02nd Jumada al Ukhra 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Listen to Level Up with Ziyaad, Nabihah, and Isa Plaatjes on Radio Islam International MW 1548
Episode 12: Black Friday It Up
Sunday 23rd November 2025 / 02nd Jumada al Ukhra 1447AH 14h00 - 15h00 (CAT)
Transcript
9 seconds
to dear listeners. Alhamdulillah, it's a new month.
15 seconds
We're getting closer to to Ramadan. Just by the way, it's the first day of the week and our favorite day of the week, y
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Aad. And right now in South Africa, it's just past 2:00 p.m. on this second day of Jumadra or a depending on what you
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say, 14:47 ah which corresponds to Sunday the 23rd of November 2025.
43 seconds
I'm Zi Plachis and with me are my co-hosts Nabia and Issa Plachis. Welcome
50 seconds
to Level Up, where we listen, learn, and grow, inshallah, with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's guidance and break down the
59 seconds
week's news and talk about what really matters to young Muslims today.
1 minute, 5 seconds
Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548.
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You can call in on 0185472 or you can DM us ones.com.
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That's I L O V Z A C O M E L O V E Z A C O M on Instagram.
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Today on the show, we're talking all things Black Friday. Yes, it's that time of the year again. It's almost the end
1 minute, 35 seconds
of the year. It's almost the end of November.
1 minute, 38 seconds
And I think with Walmart opening its first store yesterday in Johannesburg, Amazon recently launching in South
1 minute, 46 seconds
Africa and South African South Africa handing over the G20 summit to America
1 minute, 54 seconds
and obviously the rise of the Chinese retailers like um uh Teimu opening up their warehouse here in South Africa,
2 minutes, 2 seconds
Value Co. taking over a few Westpack lifestyle calling rebranding it as Value Co. lifestyle. I think it's going to be
2 minutes, 11 seconds
quite an interesting Black Friday this year. Okay.
2 minutes, 15 seconds
Um, so Issa will be sharing the origins of Black Friday. Nabia has a few Islamic guidelines for Black Friday, which is
2 minutes, 23 seconds
very important. Obviously, we need to always remember that we are Muslims first. So, Islam comes first before any
2 minutes, 32 seconds
uh materialistic or commercialism uh no matter what country we live in. And uh that's later on in the program. We also
2 minutes, 41 seconds
have a few honest tech reviews cuz obviously we talk about uh Black Friday um you know a lot of tech is involved as
2 minutes, 49 seconds
well but it's not those influencer type reviews where we just say you know everything is so good um so that we can
2 minutes, 56 seconds
get keep so that we can get invited to events or keep getting invited to events rather we don't really care about
3 minutes, 3 seconds
or receive products. Um yeah so let's just get straight into it. So I can remember uh Nabia when we started
3 minutes, 12 seconds
ilza.com as an online store it was about more than 10 years ago and because we were using a
3 minutes, 19 seconds
Canadianbased e-commerce platform it's called Shopify which is now actually very common. So back then 10 years ago it wasn't common.
3 minutes, 28 seconds
No nobody used it. Nobody knew about it in South Africa. We actually became accredited Shopify partners. uh so that
3 minutes, 35 seconds
we could assist people and we we we actually onboarded quite a lot of people. We built stores for them. We
3 minutes, 41 seconds
trained them as well. Um and now obviously it's easy for anybody to do it. Yeah.
3 minutes, 47 seconds
Uh but that was that was back in the day and and because it was Canadianbased um they suggested to do a Black Friday
3 minutes, 55 seconds
and a Cyber Monday sale. Um and obviously uh our customers were fairly new. Um
4 minutes, 5 seconds
there wasn't the hype in South Africa about Black Friday years ago. Black Friday wasn't even a thing. There wasn't even hype of online stores.
4 minutes, 13 seconds
Nobody even knew what um buying online was. People actually still used to send us WhatsApp say to us, can you uh
4 minutes, 22 seconds
collect the money when when you deliver or EFT or EFT? Um they were very skeptical at the time.
4 minutes, 29 seconds
So black and this was 2015. Yeah. 2015.
4 minutes, 35 seconds
Can you imagine? Can you believe how 10 years have Yeah. It's it's it's gone so quickly and
4 minutes, 42 seconds
you won't even realize that that's what happened uh 10 years ago.
4 minutes, 48 seconds
Anyway, so so um people were just, you know, like they were skeptical. They just they didn't want to to shop online
4 minutes, 57 seconds
and Black Friday and Cyber Monday was not even in their vocab.
5 minutes, 1 second
No, I can I can even remember we approached Chatau Ghetto and we said to them um
5 minutes, 9 seconds
because we we were on Yeah, we were onboarding a lot of um South African retailers. Well, a lot of
5 minutes, 17 seconds
Yeah. a lot of South African brands um a lot of handmade stuff. Um and you know like like locally made products and chat
5 minutes, 26 seconds
ghetto at the time before they were bought over by is it do Dr. Utka um they were still a South African based
5 minutes, 34 seconds
brand and um we approached them because at the time they were very affordable at the time that time.
5 minutes, 41 seconds
Yeah. Um and they were really good cake.
5 minutes, 43 seconds
So we said to them, you know what we we're putting all these products on our website. Uh do you want to be a part of it? we can deliver uh the products for
5 minutes, 52 seconds
you. We'll obviously start in Johannesburg because that's where we're based. But then, you know, through our um
5 minutes, 59 seconds
our contacts, can we say um around the country because we we we started actually uh delivering products overseas.
6 minutes, 9 seconds
Yeah.
6 minutes, 9 seconds
So, we could, you know, we had contacts where we could deliver in other other provinces as well. So, that wouldn't have been a problem. and they were like
6 minutes, 18 seconds
no you know people come to their store that's the whole vibe and everything and you know fast forward five years later
6 minutes, 27 seconds
which was 2020 when co hit and then they were like scrambling around because nobody was in their store and they were
6 minutes, 34 seconds
trying to basically uh put up their own online store and so that people could get it delivered and now more and more people get things
6 minutes, 43 seconds
delivered through an online store online apps and so on. And back then it was like mm- no market for that. Yeah. I
6 minutes, 51 seconds
really can't believe that it's been 10 years.
6 minutes, 54 seconds
Well, we actually talking about apps, we had an app. Yes.
6 minutes, 57 seconds
And nobody used it. So we actually in 2015 when we started I well we actually started before 2015 and then we
7 minutes, 6 seconds
changed the name. We're not going to tell you the name before, but we changed the we we launched the the the online store in 2015.
7 minutes, 14 seconds
But we were we were operating before that and we had um an app in 2015 that we created
7 minutes, 22 seconds
and even then even an app was not Yeah. Nobody was using it. So we just said you know what let's can this
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because um you know I think I think we were too too advanced.
7 minutes, 33 seconds
Yeah. to to before the time. And it's it's amazing. It really is amazing how in in just 10 years so much has changed,
7 minutes, 43 seconds
so much has evolved and become normal for what so many people were skeptical about. It's strange. Okay. And you know
7 minutes, 51 seconds
you you mentioned chet you know a lot of the businesses when we started um we wanted to put their um their their
7 minutes, 58 seconds
stores basically online you know put their products online and they didn't understand that concept you know they
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thought we were taking business away from them when in fact we were actually expanding their business. We were helping them to expand and you know
8 minutes, 15 seconds
reach a wider audience. Sure. I can't believe that. You know, that was 2015
8 minutes, 22 seconds
and people didn't understand it back then and now it's like, oh, it's like we've always been doing this. Yeah. I also remember you had this idea that was
8 minutes, 31 seconds
never done before. You um delivered the very very very first crispy cream donuts
8 minutes, 38 seconds
to people in Durban and Kan. Do you remember that? We were taking orders. Um I I think it was actually before I love city. We were called I live city.
8 minutes, 48 seconds
Yeah, we hadn't changed our name.
8 minutes, 49 seconds
We hadn't changed our name as yet. So, you know, we crispy cream came into the country. It came to Joberg. And then the people in Durban were complaining and
8 minutes, 58 seconds
then even people in Cape Town. And then we um you you actually went for a trip to Durban and you said, "Okay, I'm
9 minutes, 5 seconds
taking orders." And then people met you there and you at the airport at the airport. And you delivered the crispy cream donuts before, you know, Durban had a chance to have their own store.
9 minutes, 16 seconds
Cape Town had a chance to have their own store. And even Marrick and Jane popcorn, you you delivered it to people in Durban long before they opened up there.
9 minutes, 24 seconds
Yeah.
9 minutes, 24 seconds
Well, we even approached Crispy Cream to say to them, you know, like this is what we're doing. And they were like, no, you know, like they they actually, to be honest, they wanted to shut us down.
9 minutes, 35 seconds
Yeah. because um they felt that we were profiting from their donuts which we
9 minutes, 42 seconds
weren't we were actually just offering a service and service and that's exactly what we were doing and I mean they pay now ka companies who
9 minutes, 50 seconds
add on to that so I mean we started all of these apps all of these apps so we started this it was all before Uber Eats and Mr.
9 minutes, 59 seconds
And that's exactly the service that we were offering and they were like but now so we were just offering to pay for delivery. These people are adding on
10 minutes, 9 seconds
top of that and yeah paying adding for delivery as well.
10 minutes, 13 seconds
Exactly. So but anyway let's let's not get into that. We can talk about our innovative and pioneering things that we did in i
10 minutes, 21 seconds
love za.com. I think it's going to be a whole another program. Uh let's just focus on on Black Friday together today. Okay.
10 minutes, 29 seconds
Cuz it's this week.
10 minutes, 30 seconds
Yeah. So so yeah. So like I said there was no no Black Friday in South Africa
10 minutes, 36 seconds
um 10 years ago. Then about 3 or 4 years later retailers said you know what let's start um this thing. I think Checkers
10 minutes, 46 seconds
was one of the first to to get on board and they they had a few and at that time
10 minutes, 53 seconds
um Checkers really had specials. So So you know like Yeah. You know you would get your and it was a lot of household
11 minutes, 2 seconds
items. So it was more in America it's more tech based or electronics you know like people go wild for all their big TVs and whatever.
11 minutes, 12 seconds
But um checkers said let's focus on essentials which was a good thing because people
11 minutes, 18 seconds
needed uh cheaper dishwashing liquid or washing powder or bread or you know
11 minutes, 25 seconds
whatever. So so they focus on that and we focus more on our needs more than the actual ones.
11 minutes, 32 seconds
Yeah I think I think that's that's just like a South African culture basically.
11 minutes, 36 seconds
Um and yeah so they it it was quite successful but then co hit. M and then it just stopped that whole flow
11 minutes, 44 seconds
of Black Friday and people were at a loss for you know like what what do they
11 minutes, 51 seconds
do now? What um uh you know where where do they go?
11 minutes, 57 seconds
How's things going to work? There was social distancing. There was um you know like restrictions and whatever of going
12 minutes, 4 seconds
to stores and it just people didn't know what to do. And I can
12 minutes, 11 seconds
remember I think it was probably it would have been about 5 years ago, so 2020. Yeah.
12 minutes, 16 seconds
And I was actually on Radio Islam International. Alhamdulillah. They interviewed me about Black Friday. I don't know if we can get that clip.
12 minutes, 23 seconds
Um just to play it and you'll hear the difference in what we were talking about 5 years ago to
12 minutes, 32 seconds
what Black Friday is today. So let's just see if we can actually access that.
12 minutes, 37 seconds
A number of local retailers have announced that they will hold early sales ahead of Black Friday which falls on November 27th. This is primarily in
12 minutes, 45 seconds
response to the Corona virus pandemic with retailers opting to offer deals over several weeks instead of risking an influx of shoppers on a single day over
12 minutes, 53 seconds
a weekend. Joining us on the line we have bloggeram welcome.
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How are you today? Alhamdulillah I'm good. And yourself? Alhamdulillah, I'm good.
13 minutes, 7 seconds
All right. So, given the pandemic, what type of measures are proposed for Black Friday this year? How will it be different?
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Okay. So, we know Black Friday as this day on the 27th of November as you said where or weekend where retailers cut
13 minutes, 23 seconds
their prices drastically. Well, here in South Africa, the uh the manufacturers don't give them much leeway. So, we only
13 minutes, 30 seconds
looking at a maybe 40 up to 50% discount. Whereas overseas they look to maybe 80% discount on products. This
13 minutes, 38 seconds
year because of the pandemic there's and the fact that there has to be social distancing. We're going to be looking at
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um retailers looking at doing a whole month instead of just a weekend. So retailers like Macro and Game have
13 minutes, 56 seconds
already um looked at starting at the beginning of November and running specials throughout the month. They've
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also looked at um extending shopping hours. So instead of uh the normal 6:00 closing time, they might close a little
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bit later, maybe 7:00 to to get the the social distancing. So there's only a certain amount of people allowed into
14 minutes, 20 seconds
the retail stores at the moment. So to get the the numbers in, they would extend the the shopping hours as well.
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Are we likely to see an overall drop in sales as a result of of these social distancing measures and that kind of thing and also the economic crunch?
14 minutes, 39 seconds
There has already been a a huge drop in sales. Um the macro and and game have
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already uh reported a 1 billion rand loss uh through half the year and woolward say that they expect about 70%
14 minutes, 54 seconds
financial loss this year. Um the only way that these retailers can re recoup
15 minutes, 1 second
some of their money is to change the strategy. So everyone's looking at online. So, um maybe doing more online
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sales, uh driving the the change to, you know, like more of a delivery pickup point at the store instead of the people
15 minutes, 18 seconds
coming in. But, uh consumers love to come into the store. um surveys have shown that over 60% of consumers prefer
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coming into the store to purchase their goods in South Africa as opposed to um about 10 or 11% that actually purchase
15 minutes, 37 seconds
online. So um there is going to be a a re a huge um what what would we say a
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huge uh drop in sales but if the retailers focus on say the essential
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goods the um your you know your food items and that type of thing instead of
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the the larger appliances um and focus on on on those on specials on those.
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they could recoup some of their sales if they get the right volumes in.
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So in terms of uh Black Friday here in South Africa, anything else that our listeners ought to be aware of?
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Um I would say that uh the the listeners should um you know look out for for for specials. Um you'll hear them on the
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radio or see them on TV or in a magazine and and plan ahead. Um like I said there
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lots of people have lost a lot of income this year. They've either lost their jobs or taken a pay cut in their salary.
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So a lot of people would be looking at um like I said essential goods, food items and that and there are lots of specials running throughout the month.
16 minutes, 54 seconds
Some retailers have extended it for November and December. So if you if you plan well you could get some of the specials in December as well. Um social
17 minutes, 3 seconds
distancing. So remember that uh don't go in and there's a whole lot of people in the in the store. Um try and if you have
17 minutes, 12 seconds
the means, not everybody has the means to shop online. So that's another thing to look out for. But if you do have the means to shop online or um shop where
17 minutes, 21 seconds
you can go and just pick it up at a at a point instead of going into the store physically, try that as well. Um, and
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yeah, just enjoy yourself and don't spend too much money because we don't know what next year holds for us.
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So much for your time. Wow.
17 minutes, 47 seconds
5 years in the making. Can you believe that? Alhamdulillah. The interviewee has now become the interviewer.
17 minutes, 55 seconds
Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.
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Yeah. So, so you can hear the evolution of Black Friday over the years. Um, we were talking about it 5 years ago,
18 minutes, 6 seconds
people, you know, retailers introducing uh online. Uh, there was 10 to 11% of people that were shopping online in South Africa.
18 minutes, 15 seconds
That was 5 years ago. So, I was saying 10 years ago, I can't believe that, you know, whatever looks normal now wasn't
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normal. But even 5 years ago as well, you know, not many people were thinking about um
18 minutes, 29 seconds
buying from apps and you know uh going online and now now it's become a norm. Yeah.
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I mean you see these checkers 6060 all the time. Woolwarts pick and pay Uber you know like Mr. D. They you see them
18 minutes, 45 seconds
all the time through the day through the night. these guys are delivering stuff and um that
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that's just go going online. It's also we were talking about you know moving stuff from just one day or a weekend to
19 minutes, 2 seconds
a whole month and that's what retailers have done.
19 minutes, 4 seconds
Exactly. That's this this year as well because they're saying that um what would you say it's it's a month of
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Fridays because they've been actually um doing pre Black Friday uh deals and so on.
19 minutes, 21 seconds
Yeah. So, it's it's it's it's really evolved over the years, but I think um Issa has a bit of history of how Black
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Friday started and it has nothing to do with that viral post um that was going around a few years ago. I think it pops
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up every Black Friday where there's this myth. There's actually no factual evidence um about it where they actually
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talking about slaves were um sold at a discounted price to help with the the
19 minutes, 53 seconds
harvest after the American holiday Thanksgiving uh which falls obviously on the last Thursday of November.
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So that's not true. It's not true be because uh the the harvest actually had already happened.
20 minutes, 8 seconds
Remember thanks not Thanksgiving um holiday with the pumpkins. Um Halloween.
20 minutes, 16 seconds
Oh, okay.
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So yeah, so it's got those connotations and that's after the harvest. Um so Thanksgiving is like after after the
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harvest. So that actually has no no factual factual evidence. Okay.
20 minutes, 31 seconds
Yeah. So, um I think let Isa tell us the origin of Black Friday.
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I researched on Google what the meaning of Black Friday is
20 minutes, 49 seconds
because I couldn't find it in my dictionary. And so, Black Friday means the day after the US holiday of
20 minutes, 59 seconds
Thanksgiving, regarded as the first day of the Christmas shopping season on which retailers make many special
21 minutes, 6 seconds
offers. The origin is early 17th century, a school slaying,
21 minutes, 15 seconds
the sense Friday on which an examination is held.
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The shopping sense dates from the 1960s and was originally used with reference to congestion
21 minutes, 30 seconds
created by shoppers. It was later explained as a day when retailers
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account be went from being in the red inverted commas to in the black inverted
21 minutes, 44 seconds
commas. This year Black Friday is on the 28th of November 2025.
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Yes. Shukran and Issa. So um that is quite a lot of facts. So in 1869 actually financiers Jay Gould and James
22 minutes, 1 second
Fisk tried to corner the gold market by buying up gold to drive prices higher.
22 minutes, 7 seconds
But the scheme backfired and the gold market crashed on September 24th, 1869, leading the day to be called Black
22 minutes, 14 seconds
Friday. The terms used in relation to shopping, like Issa said, is the day after Thanksgiving, is most often traced
22 minutes, 21 seconds
to Philadelphia in the 1950s, where it's credited to police who had to deal with large crowds who throng the streets of
22 minutes, 30 seconds
the city before the annual Army Navy football game and took and they took advantage of sales. Most of the people
22 minutes, 39 seconds
traveled to Philadelphia and arrived on that Friday, creating a lot of traffic congestion. And according to the
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December 18, 1961 issue of the public relations news, a newsletter, it became customary for police to refer to post
22 minutes, 54 seconds
Thanksgiving shopping as Black Friday and Black Saturday because of the headache it created. The term was eventually adopted by retailers to
23 minutes, 3 seconds
signify the day when their financial records, like Issa said, would go from being in the red, meaning losing money, to the black, making a profit for the year.
23 minutes, 12 seconds
Oh, that's good.
23 minutes, 13 seconds
And according to some sources, retailers wanted to turn the negative connotations, which we just spoke about now, into positive ones by creating
23 minutes, 22 seconds
sales around the term. So, I think if any of our listeners would like to share anything to do um with Black Friday or
23 minutes, 31 seconds
if you have any Black Friday deals that you want to DM us so that we get a a good deal, um please send it through on
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our WhatsApp line. It's 0727861548 or you can call in on 01854702
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or you can DM us like I said at on social media. Um a little later in the program we will be sharing some Islamic
23 minutes, 57 seconds
guidelines for Black Friday. Nabia will be doing that. But let's go for a break and after the break we will be doing a few tech reviews inshallah.
24 minutes, 7 seconds
Tutoring, mentoring, homeschool assistance, concessions, facilitation and more.
24 minutes, 14 seconds
visit after grant academy the dawn of excellence
24 minutes, 23 seconds
and welcome back to level up if you've just tuned in we have been talking all about black Friday I shared the origin
24 minutes, 31 seconds
of black Friday and now we are going to continue our discussion about black Friday if you have any questions about
24 minutes, 40 seconds
black Friday or would like to share something about black Friday. Our WhatsApp line is open. The number is 0727861548.
24 minutes, 50 seconds
Or you can call in on 011854722. Or you can even DM us on.com.
24 minutes, 59 seconds
That's I ov zoom.
25 minutes, 5 seconds
So Black Friday was always, like I said, synonymous with electronics at ridiculous prices.
25 minutes, 12 seconds
And uh I think since we we use a lot of gadgets like personally as I love za.com
25 minutes, 20 seconds
and um we also review quite a bit and we thought we'll just share some of our experiences. I think we won't go too
25 minutes, 28 seconds
deep into it. Um there's always future episodes inshallah.
25 minutes, 33 seconds
Um but let's focus on a few things that people might be buying um at this time.
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So, we know there's let's let's stick to like cameras, maybe phones, I think. Um, uh, what's those? Earbuds or earphones.
25 minutes, 50 seconds
Not earbuds, but earphones. Uh, watches and maybe gimbals for those, uh, content creators as well.
25 minutes, 57 seconds
Even non- content creators love gimbals.
26 minutes, 1 second
You know, a a gimbal because we've been using it, alhamdulillah, for quite a quite a bit of years now. Um, it's
26 minutes, 8 seconds
become such a talking point and I really find it strange because it's been around for quite a long time now and we've been using it for probably about 6, 7 years.
26 minutes, 21 seconds
I think it was like 2021 when we had the DJI Osmo.
26 minutes, 27 seconds
Oh, okay. So, only four years. It seems like longer.
26 minutes, 30 seconds
Are you sure? It did seem like longer, but yeah. So, we've been using it um for
26 minutes, 38 seconds
for quite some time and every time I take it out, wherever I use it, and people are always like fascinated. They want to know what it is, what does it
26 minutes, 46 seconds
do, you know? I I can also remember when I go to some of the events, I try not to because I don't usually like to go out
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much, but um when I go for some of these events and I take this out, then you know people who aren't even, you know,
27 minutes, 2 seconds
content creators, they're part of like maybe um part of the people in corporate or uh uh
27 minutes, 10 seconds
I don't know, they don't do contra content. They're just like that is a very good idea just so that you can put your phone on there and not hold it all
27 minutes, 18 seconds
the time every time you feel like you want to record something or and I think I've even been uh spoken to by actual
27 minutes, 27 seconds
videographers and photographers who say, "Ah, cool. I love your uh contraption." And I'm like, "But yours is so much better."
27 minutes, 35 seconds
Yeah. because they using, you know, like the the the bigger rigs and now we're using this on a phone obviously.
27 minutes, 43 seconds
Yeah.
27 minutes, 43 seconds
And it's like, you know, they they have like this one that goes um on the camera, but it it
27 minutes, 51 seconds
like actually moves forward and goes with it. It's quite cool.
27 minutes, 55 seconds
No, so those are the uh like the DJI Ronins and stuff. So, those are the bigger um gimbals.
28 minutes, 2 seconds
Okay. But let's talk about the ones that the everyday person would use for the phones, the the cheaper ones. So, do you want to start with gimbals?
28 minutes, 10 seconds
Maybe. Let's just let's just start with gimbals. So, um so we use we were introduced Well,
28 minutes, 18 seconds
the first time I saw a gimbal, I was like, I need one of these. Because if you don't know what a gimbal is, it's
28 minutes, 24 seconds
actually a um it's it's like a tripod, but it's a stabilizer. So what it does
28 minutes, 32 seconds
is once you put your phone on, so if you think of a tripod, uh the tripod just basically sits there, doesn't move, right?
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Um where and sometimes, you know, depending on um where it is, you need to
28 minutes, 48 seconds
obviously get the tripod in an angle um where it can sit level. Mhm.
28 minutes, 55 seconds
Right. Now, the gimbal, you actually put the phone in and it does all that for
29 minutes, 2 seconds
you. It levels everything. Um, and it removes it depending on on on the the
29 minutes, 9 seconds
device that you have, you have software as well that can either track movement.
29 minutes, 15 seconds
Um, so for example, if you're doing like a sports event, it can actually, you know, like you can track a person or if
29 minutes, 22 seconds
you're doing uh content of a car, then it will track the car moving. So it moves with it and it records with it and it stabilizes the phone so that the
29 minutes, 32 seconds
phone doesn't, you know, like if you were to hold it in your hand and run after a person, it's not shaking. Um,
29 minutes, 39 seconds
and then obviously it's evolved. there's um now where you've got an actually an extender. So um instead of the normal
29 minutes, 48 seconds
height of the gimbal, you now can extend it. So especially for us who go to like these events where there's a lot of
29 minutes, 55 seconds
media and we sometimes push to the back because, you know, we don't have these big cameras or whatever, we can actually
30 minutes, 2 seconds
now um go over the hair. Especially with me being so short, then I can just
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pick that up and then I get a better view through the lens of the camera with this gimbal. Yeah.
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And I don't even see what's happening with my own eyes, but I can look up and then I can see from the the screen.
30 minutes, 23 seconds
Yeah. So, so that's that's basic that's that's it in in a nutshell. But we were introduced to the DJI um Osmo.
30 minutes, 33 seconds
Mhm.
30 minutes, 34 seconds
And we got a I got a refurbished one and um it it wasn't that much because it was
30 minutes, 41 seconds
refurbished. So refurbished is basically um a device that's been used before. So,
30 minutes, 47 seconds
it's secondhand, but um it goes to normally the manufacturer or an authorized dealer who like resets it as
30 minutes, 57 seconds
if it was new, right?
30 minutes, 59 seconds
And um so it's obviously got mileage, it's been used, we don't know for how long. Uh sometimes retailers will tell you, you know, like it's 2 years old,
31 minutes, 7 seconds
it's a year old or whatever, but it's refurbished. So, it's like in inverted commas, like Issa says, new, right? Um,
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and like Issa said, it was 2021 and we used that for like about 3 or 4 years and and and we used it like we used it
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used it like all the time for everything that we do for interviews for um covering events for content creation of
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cars of travel or whatever it is that we did. we like really use it till the point where it just gave up and it said you know what I think it was last year when it like
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gave up gave up and then we started I think uh this other thing it's called fuele
31 minutes, 50 seconds
3 also a n 3 like osmo mobile 3 okay yeah so um so like Issa said so we
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had the Osmo mobile 3 and then um we saw this uh on Teu the Fute Vimble 3 and we
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said you know like it's a similar price to what we paid for the Osmo 3 or 4 years ago um because obviously the Osmo
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mobiles they came out with the five the six or seven and I think they're on the eight now and um it just increased in
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price right I think now they're going for two or 3,000 rand and when we got um
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our one I think we paid like 500 rand for Um but the in terms of the actual
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device, so the DJI flawless, um the content looks like it was depending
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obviously on your camera like it was done on a professional camera. Um I'm talking about your phone camera. So uh
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you know like it moved like Nabia said with the flow and everything and it was it was really good and I think I got
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used to that standard. So when we use this Fotech VML 3 uh there was a lot of getting used to.
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Um one of the things was there's a little like hand grip that I used to put like the strap that went around my hand
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that was on the the Osmo which is not on the fut which made it much easier. So when I needed to just hold it and I was,
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you know, like moving to the next event or whatever it was, it made it easier and now I don't have that and I'm lugging this thing around. But it's just
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it's a it's a small thing, but when you're doing a lot of um content, it makes a big difference. That's one of
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the things. The app is not as user friendly or not not user friendly, but
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not as functional as the Osmo app. Um, in terms of the actual vimble, when you
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put the phone in, sometimes if it's not aligned, it's supposed to align itself, it it you can see that it's off. It's not level, and it actually makes a noise. It's like noise.
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Um, so obviously those are things that you need to take into account when looking at uh cheaper brands. I would
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definitely recommend a a DJI if you are looking at it, if you can afford it.
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It's one of the better uh brands. Well, we're comparing two brands um right now.
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We don't want to get into too much detail, but yeah, that's that's that's the gimbals. For the gimbals. Yeah. Okay.
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Um I think let's talk about cameras. Uh so, we've done quite a few reviews.
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We've done Nikon, we've done Fujifilm, we've done Sony, um and we've done Canon
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as well. And um Nikon for me, Sony, you know, very good
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cameras, right? Fujifilm, it it has its audience, you know, everything has its preference. Um I
35 minutes, 1 second
mean, everyone has their preference and and and I mean everyone follows a certain brand. You see that in in smartphones as well. You see them in
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cars. you know, so anything, uh, for us, for what we were doing and
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for the type of work that we were doing, I felt that the Canon worked best for us.
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Um, it wasn't uh, you know, like a professional um, camera like Nikon.
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Well, you you you do get those, but I'm talking about specifically the camera that we chose um, which was the Canon
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EOS M50 Mark II. It's mirrorless, so it's much lighter than the DSLRs lugging
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around. Um, you obviously you you don't have that. Um, like when we interviewing, it's cropped. The image is
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cropped. Whereas in a full frame, you know, you you wouldn't get that. Um, but it works for us. We work around those
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things. Uh, the quality of the sound is good. Even if we don't use mics, um, you know, you you get uh you you can get an
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adapter. So you can the lens that you use on your DSLRs, you can use on your um your mirrorless as well. One of the
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the huge things for me was the affordability of the Canon versus you know Nikon, uh Sony, Fujifilm, all of them.
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Um and obviously the affordability of the parts as well. So other lenses and you know accessories for Canon
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and Canon also offers um I think we had a free like service wasn't it? Yes. after sales services is awesome.
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They had a day where you could just bring in your camera. They um cleaned it, you know, like they checked everything was fine. Obviously, if there
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was anything that needed to be done uh extra like on any service um they would let you know and then you would have to add in.
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Yeah. But I mean that that was a free service that they offered and if I'm not sure if they still run it, but there's there used to be Red October and then
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they used to have really really good deals. That was Yeah, that was pre um Black Friday. So that's on the the the camera front.
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Um if you're talking about uh watches, smart watches, we've had a few Huawei. Mhm.
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Um that are longterm. Um, we've seen the other watches, we've tested the other
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watches, um, smart watches, but the Huawei that we had on long-term reviews.
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So, we always, you know, um, you see a lot of tech reviews and a lot of the reviews, like even other things that we
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review is just for like a period of 7 days or 14 days or whatever, and you never for for tech stuff, it is a few months.
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Not really. Sometimes it is, but um it's not often that we get it for a longer term, you know, like for 6 months or a
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year. you kind of need that longer term to be able to tell because I mean anything can happen after 3 months and 6 months
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and that's where we learned that um you know all is not well with some of the
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devices and one of the devices the Huawei watch I think it's a GT5 that I
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have um I I'm not sure if it was a really hot day or it had some reaction to I went on a plane or or whatever it
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was, but it actually burnt my skin uh while it was on and it took quite a few days for the burn to, you know, the burn mark to to go away.
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Um, and it it was very strange, you know, like other than that, other than that, I think your one was quite a good um is quite a good watch.
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It's just, you know, either you have a reaction to it or it was a hot day and you have a had a reaction to it. So, it
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was just that. So, just be careful about that if you do have sensitive skin. Yeah. My um watch what what is my one?
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It's it's a um Huawei watch for three. Okay.
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All right. So, um yeah, it's your your basic watch fit. It's it's quite good.
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It has the the capabilities that you need. It has the the the motivation that you need to move and
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exercise and so on. The only thing is with um the char with the battery life
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if you take your watch off which I do and you keep it off for quite a few hours which is actually um I don't think
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many people would do that because if they have a watch fit they'll keep it on their hand all the time so they can track every movement. But I'm just letting you know if you do take your
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watch off, if it come if it go if it stays off your arm for like maybe 3 or 4
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hours, it actually switches off where you have to um plug it back into um charging. Yeah.
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To to let it come back on. It's not It hasn't died cuz it'll come back on and it'll say, you know, 60% or 70% or
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something. But uh other than that, I mean, it's a watch fit and I I don't think many people would take theirs off, I think.
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Yeah. And I think the functionality is fine um on both the watches. So, it's not a bad watch.
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It's just obviously because it's Huawei, um trying to pair it, you know, with an Android or Apple device is quite
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difficult cuz we know the whole um you know, Google thing. Um so they have
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their own um apps but you know it makes it a bit difficult to you know like sync
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everything on your phone. Um yeah so that's in terms of of watches. In terms of buds I don't know what's what's your feelings but um or these ear pods.
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I don't like them. I will say outright I prefer the the wired ones.
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Uh I actually I don't like things in my ear. I like those like headphones.
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Headphones. Maybe like even like a wireless headphone would be nice.
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A wireless headphone. That does sound nice. Actually, that's that's a good idea. Yes. Um I prefer headphones also.
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Whether it's wired or wireless, I don't mind. Yes. I also I'm going to stick with Issa. Yeah. And And you?
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So, um I prefer the wired uh earphones.
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So, the reason being I uh grew up with iPod. Um well well actually before that
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you know we we had discmans and all those other things but um what's cassette what's those things called? Walkmans.
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Walkman. Walkman before disman.
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And yeah and um I really enjoyed the earphones that came with the the wide
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earphones that came with the iPod. Um, and obviously the the the iPhones because, you know, you you had one
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button that you could press that could pause uh whatever you're listening to.
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You could go to the next track by double clicking it or whatever. Or if you I think you clicked it three times, you could go back or whatever it was. But it
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was very easy. I even forgot forgot it now. Um whereas these um like for example the Galaxy Buds 2, I think it
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is. If you um press, you're supposed to press your ear to pause and sometimes you're pressing and pressing and it's
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not pausing or you're pressing and pressing to put it back on and it doesn't come back on. Um they fall out of your ear.
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Oh yes, definitely. That's why I don't like them. They fall out of my ear.
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It's just a lot of admin, I think. And then you um I remember once I lost the one uh earbud.
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Yes. The Galaxy Bud. Yeah. Pod.
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Yeah. Pod. And I couldn't find it anywhere. And because it's supposed to sit in this uh case
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case. And we just we eventually found it. Alhamdulillah. But the thing is you you know you go crazy looking for this
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one thing. Whereas if you have um it wired, you know that you can't can't lose it. That's so true. Yeah.
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I think um we need to wrap up. But before we wrap up, here are some grounded Islamic and practical Black
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Friday guidelines. Can I go through that? Yes, you can.
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Okay. Um, okay. We can discuss if you want to, but I'll just list them first.
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Okay. So, the first one is set a budget and make near. Buying within your means is an act of discipline.
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Then make a list of genuine needs and reduce impulse buying.
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Number three, avoid re ribbar or highinterest credit. Savings are not worth compromising your values.
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Number four, compare prices. Not every deal is actually a deal.
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Um, I forgot what number I was at, but the next one, give charity first. Even a small amount
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purifies wealth and softens attachment to materialism. And we know this. Okay, wait. I was supposed to just list it and then we'll talk about it. And the last
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one, remember gratitude. The best bargain is contentment.
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Yeah. So, um, those are all very good.
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And I I think I just want to add a few a few more. Okay.
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Um before we discuss everything, but one of the big things I think is asking for guidance.
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I know it might sound like irrelevant because it's a materialistic thing. Um but reading is or you know short dua
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that a short dua that says Allah make the best. I I'm sorry I don't know the exact translation at the moment
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because I didn't check it out but it's a dua that we make often when we trying to decide quickly not quickly but in a
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short space of time. So so for Allah to make the best decision for us.
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Yeah. So asking for guidance is very important because um like we said sometimes it's it's big items that you're buying. So, it's a lot of things,
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but even even smaller items, you know, you want to have baraka in whatever you're buying. You want to make sure that you're making the right decision
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that you're not um you know, just spending money um unnecessarily. Exactly.
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Um so, you know, you you ask Allah if it's good for me, make it easy for me, and if it's bad for me, then I will keep away from it, you know.
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Um and also no that one about the not every deal is a deal. I mean you know go you go shopping or you check prices check
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prices throughout the year so you know okay they are lying this is not this is not a deal this is what they usually
46 minutes
have on special or this is the actual price or they've inflated the price and now they've so-called dropped it.
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Yeah. So even even if you don't physically go to a store beforehand and take a picture of every single item um
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you can check in online or the newspaper whatever see you know like the deals that they had a month a few months ago or whatever it is just to compare to see
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you know like is it really something that I need to get now or will they have a similar deal in the future. So definitely, you know, also is it really what I need firstly? Is it what I need?
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And is it what I need right now or can I wait?
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Yeah. And then and then I think on on top of that, everything in moderation.
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We know that we taught that everything in moderation. So don't go and buy like a,000 uh toilet papers because you don't
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need that amount just because it's unspecial. Um unless you're reselling it, but I mean that also. Yeah. or even like four breads or 100 milks.
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Yes. Especially with food because food can go off unless you're giving away. Yeah. Um so everything in moderation.
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Don't And also don't don't fight over stuff. So I mean if someone else has got the last uh 60 rand then alhamdulillah
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it was not meant for you for you. Yeah. You don't need to say to them but I saw it first or you know like but 60 rand for a six pack of milk is a great price.
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Yeah I know it's not actually a deal. I was just using it.
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I think I think the best price is $79.99. Is it? I'm just letting you know. Okay.
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If if any of you want to know what's the best price for long life, a six-pack, one liter, six times one liter, the best price is $79.99.
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Inshallah, they'll make it something less. But And then you were talking about obviously going into avoiding ribba,
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high interest credit and whatever. So, don't go into debt, you know, like don't overspend.
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Um, whatever whatever it is. And like I said in in my previous interview, just go out and enjoy yourself.
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5 years ago, you said that.
48 minutes, 7 seconds
Yeah. Um, but on on the flip side, if you're a shop owner, don't inflate the price just to say, "Okay, now we're bringing the price down." Um, so don't don't scam the people.
48 minutes, 17 seconds
Let's let's just let's just say say it outright. Um, so don't push your prices up. Don't sell expired or old goods. I
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see a lot of retailers doing this where they they um actually, you know, it's just before expiry date and then they
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say, "Oh, it's a Black Friday special." No, you're trying to get rid of stock that, you know, like is about to expire or is actually expired.
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Oh god.
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And then Yeah. So just um you know, stay away from from those type of things. Be halal in your your dealings.
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Yeah.
48 minutes, 49 seconds
So that that's that's the most important thing.
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Okay. So as we step into Black Friday week, let's remember Islam doesn't restrict us from enjoying good things,
49 minutes
but it teaches us balance and moderation. So whether you shop or you skip, it's okay if you skip Black Friday
49 minutes, 8 seconds
deals or Black Friday month or whatever it is. um you don't have to you know partake in it cuz like we said um always
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needs over wants and especially needs what you need what you and your family need right now and may Allah grant us baraka in our
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wealth our spending and in our intentions and help us to guide us always inshallah in shukran to our dear
49 minutes, 35 seconds
listeners if you have any tips that you'd like to send through if you'd like to share any deals you are most welcome
49 minutes, 43 seconds
to and um if you liked our honest tech reviews um we will hopefully bring more inshallah to you and if you if you've
49 minutes, 52 seconds
got any like um tip uh reviews that you'd like to share you are most welcome to send them through to us we um during
50 minutes, 1 second
the week we're on um Instagram, Facebook X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok as well as
50 minutes, 7 seconds
threads on i love i o v e z a m you can have a visit on our website as well.
50 minutes, 14 seconds
It's eta.com. Once again, for joining us on this lovely Sunday afternoon, join us every Sunday
50 minutes, 23 seconds
inshallah from 2 to 3:00 p.m. right here on Radio Islam International. From myself, Nabiha from Zad and from Issa.
50 minutes, 30 seconds
Enjoy your Sunday and we wish you a wonderful week ahead inshallah.
