Like Winning Highlights and Key Takeaways

I'm just marrying the woman that I'm in love with. Like people are like, "This is a huge This is a channel. You can't say these things. I've got away with a lot worse over the years. I promise. No, you can't say things like that." Now we're joined by a truly inspiring couple. Two brilliant British Pakistani voices who have shaped journalism, comedy, broadcasting, and storytelling in their own powerful way. And first we have Nam Aslam, an accomplished broadcast journalist and presenter whose career spans some of Pakistan's biggest newsrooms from GEO, A R Y, Sama, GNN, Express. Yes. And she's currently with

Islam channel hosting lifestyle and conversational shows. And she's known for her sharp interviewing uh her calm on-screen presence and her commitment to uplifting Pakistani journalists abroad. And alongside her, we have Ataf Noaz award-winning. Atif Noaz. We have Atif Noaz. Oh, please forgive my English. Award-winning stand-up comedian, actor, writer, broadcaster, and cricket commentator. You've seen in him on BBC. Uh he's toured the UK with hit comedy shows, written a documentary, screened at the Canes and contributed to the Guardian all while becoming one of the most recognizable voices in British Pakistani entertainment. They're talented in individually but together

they're a powerhouse of creativity, culture and also storytelling salam. Please forgive me for my English tongue. I'm getting around these. That's all right. Welcome to Salam. No, thank you so much for having us. It's nice to be It's always nice to be back in the same room as Chef Zarka because every things smell really nice. You know, you know, I had the great pleasure of being on, you know, hosting a show on Islam channel for like six years and for a lot of that time I got to enjoy like I gained weight week by week because I was always eating Chef Cook's food. So,

it's lovely to be back. Thank you for having us. Alhamdulillah. But it's great to have you guys and you know you're both packed with you know so much uh you know experience behind you and doing such amazing things and together uh a power couple is also tell us a little bit about if you don't mind sharing is how did your paths cross uh are you going to well it's up to you well I tell you what I can tell you how our paths crossed I mean I think many years ago because I'd started working in cricket in addition to my sort of comedy and film and TV stuff and like NM I think she you know she post she was hosting a cricket show at the time in Pakistan [snorts] Um, and so she found me on social media or something. So she followed my Twitter

specifically for that's what it was called at the time. That's so Twitter just to find like information about what's going on cricket wise and stuff. And then you know as out of courtesy you know senior journalist you follow them back and stuff like that. So I followed her work and then it wasn't until way later till sort of Israel's bombardment on Palestine are post October 7th uh that like Nam started doing a show like two hours a day on Islam channel three hours I beg you pardon. So get that right. 3 hours um a day and I watched it and I was really just blown away by like there's so many people who now in 2026 feel comfortable talking about Palestine and now it's almost like the fashionable thing to talk about in 2024 [snorts] you could lose your job your career you

could lose everything you lose your social media follow every anything that you've ever cared about you lose it because you speak up for Palestine and this girl 3 hours every day fearlessly just advocating and uh you know like and then I'd look at her social and she was posting about it 24 hours a day and like you know it's wonderful but I also just sort of worried about her I was sitting with my mother watching the show cuz we watch Islam channel u more because you know my mom is more comfortable with udu and so um you know like she you know she was like this girl's amazing I hope she's got some support in her life and I thought does she have some support in life so I reached out and then we talked

a little bit and then decided let's get married a basically Palestine connected us so We give it to Palestine. Free Palestine. Mercy of Allah as well. May um may Allah bless your marriage. Amen. And uh inshallah keep you guys together forever and inshallah great things are going to happen. Tell us a little bit about your love for comedy and how did that come about? You're you're a funny guy. Are you naturally funny from the beginning or how did it So here's the thing, right? I'm not naturally funny. So alhamdulillah I've

been blessed with many talents but humor wasn't one of them. I wanted to be an actor when I you know that was my kind of as a kid well I wanted to be a cricket player but I realized very quickly that weren't gonna happen. So I decided let's be a let's be an actor and I went to train and I became an actor but I wasn't finding great success. It's one of the most challenging industries as you can imagine. And then I sort of slipped into comedy like you know it was there was an opportunity I took it. I realized very quickly that I didn't have a natural talent for it. So I'm going have to put in a lot of time. I always tell people for seven years like my first seven years of doing standup was rubbish. Like

honestly just you know just like putting the time in trying to get better trying to own my craft. Uh I was you know sitting with a dear friend of mine recently Mani who's also a very talented comedian. And I say to him I'm so jealous man because you were born with this skill. Like there's so many male and female comics that I meet all the time who are just phen like they have funny bones. You know what I mean? I had to really learn that craft, put the time in. It took me seven years. That's after seven years I did my first solo show. Alhamdulillah. It was a big success and that put me on my path. But I treat it very much as a craft, you know. It's not um it's not something that I think like I

just got it. I got to sit down. I got to write. I got to take my time. I got to work on things, develop things, build things. That's something. I think he is very humble. But I must say he has very like fresh and very um pleasant personality. Wherever he goes he uh takes his light with him. So every he just becomes a reason for everyone smiles. All right. Fine. I'll take it for dinner. Don't worry about it. He has the funny bones. We have some photos of your wedding coming up.

Alhamdulillah. Subhan Allah. Yeah. Look, we So, just before we answer that question, we have got your marriage pictures up on the screen. This looks like something out of a magazine, doesn't it? It's absolutely stunning. Well, it kind of was cuz like, you know, Nam is such a huge celebrity in Pakistan. Like, there were people I you know, the people coming to the like I've never been to a wedding where guests were being asked for more selfies and photos than like the married couple cuz like there were so many celebrities and like she knows everybody like it was incredible. I remember the local news as well. Not even the local news, national news was reporting on the wedding. They said something

like, you know, acclaimed broadcaster Leela Muslim marries some British guy. But like it, I mean, there's no coincidence these photos look so nice. It's because, you know, like we got this phenomenal um like photographers and things like that. And uh and you know, like it was a real like big event and I wasn't you I'm just marrying the woman that I'm in love with. Like people are like this is a huge channel. You can't say things. No, you can. Yes, you can. I've got away with a lot worse over the years. I promise you.

No, you can't say things like that. But nam you look absolutely stunning and you are a really incredible woman and beautiful woman and yes, you are very lucky. You know the interesting thing many younger girls would be saying oh you can't have it all. You can't have this successful career and also be married as well. So how do you both kind of balance such a successful careers with married life? It is very difficult like uh it's difficult every day because we both are very strong very blunt personalities. We are opinionated but uh still because we are like normal people and educated we navigate our way by conversing with each other by um putting

ourselves uh um putting each other uh first but I think it's difficult but still we are navigating it I think so. Yeah. Look, I mean it's different cuz like occasionally people like the sort of conventional age people get married is in their sort of early 20s, right? Particularly in sort of Islamic culture and uh you know like and certainly Pakistani culture people they get you know 12 13 No, I'm kidding. You can't say of course I'm just I was just a joke. But like we were full grown adults by the time we got like properly. I was 40 years old by the time we got married. I was 35. So I'm glad you said it. I didn't want to say it. So like the point is at

that point we've now formed, you know, you formed you're not growing together and you've grown, right? So you already formed your opinions on everything. You've already formed the way you think about things. You formed the way you want to do your life, the way you like your routine, all of these things. So it is incredibly challenging to actually try and meet somebody else's routine a little bit. But if you care enough about, you know, your marriage, your relationship, your partner, you'll make those efforts and concessions. But also, you'll do it mindfully. like you'll know like you won't have unreasonable I'm not going to expect Nem at this point in life to now

all of a sudden want to go to cricket matches every single day or you know like it's you're going to have be very reasonable about your expectations with people and also just you know like prioritize your partner make them special make them feel special but don't dep prioritize yourself ever like the things that make you make sure you fixate on them cuz that's what she loved in the first place from a women's context I would say he's an extraordinary man he's not like someone else. What's going on? It's all true. I can't deny it. Sorry. She's a journalist. You can't lie. I like how you have with someone else.

He's so understanding. He respects women. Not only to him or like in any relationship to him or colleagues or sisters, every woman on this universe, he respects them. He understands them. He never judges anyone. So I think that's why it is becoming convenient and easy. Well, you're very sweet to say that again. It's just, you know, like I grew up with a very strong mother, you know, and um she was the nucleus of the family. She still is the nucleus of the family and you know, she's always like everything my dad did, she was right there with them. Everything they achieved, they achieved together. It was never a case of one taking it back. Mom did everything. So I kind of think

women can do everything, right? Because my mom did everything. So I think it's there's absolutely no coincidence that I find myself in a you know a strong woman you know somebody with ambitions with goals who wants to achieve things in life and I want to just watch her flourish and you know now she's in this new role general secretary you know I call her madam general secretary sometimes just for fun but like she's you know she and you know she won an election it was really intense like there's things that we probably can't get into here but it was really intense and like she showed a lot of willpower and determination it is a very male-dominated environment that and you know like sadly a lot of the people

conduct themselves in a way that I wouldn't find becoming certainly not in my work as a broadcast or as a journalist. So, um you know, she's she's got an immense spirit and I'm very proud of her for getting that position in you'll do good things for that community. Oh, amazing. What a lovely couple inspiring us. I'm so inspired. I'm just like feeling the love in the room. Everyone received Baraka for watching this. I hope that those who are single will wait 35 years for Yeah. Do you critique each other and correct each other all the time and say how you could do things better? Yeah, all the time. I think it's very important and like you got to respect each other's critique as well and like I think she's better at it than me cuz

like you know particularly when she's managing things like I'll give her some advice and she's very good at like you know that's I think I'm a little bit more resistant because she'll be like why do you do this? No, I know what I'm doing but actually you know what that's a good idea but it'll take me a minute. You know I respect the criticism coming from him because I know it is coming from a sincere heart. You cannot take criticism from a thousand people on internet. Uh you can't take that seriously. But having someone who knows your job and who could give and help you a criticism or a feedback that will help you grow.

Uh I really appreciate that. And never try and make a criticism. It's always like feedback or just critique just like if I was going to make this better, what would I suggest? And it's all, by the way, this is advice for married couples. It's always unconditional. So you can never give somebody advice and say, "Now take it and you must use it." It has to be like, "Look, this is what I think. Do whatever you think is best, but this is what I think." And then leave it to them to work out what suits their thing best. Like I've seen people get I've seen a lot of couples actually get very insecure. Oh, I told her, but she didn't use my idea. And I said to her, oh my god, listen, grow up, right? She's she's a person. Let her make her decision.

I suppose this is how you collaborate with each other in your careers. So can you um tell us a little bit more about how somebody who's watching is inspired by both of your careers. You have two different careers but it's all about it's public facing and it's also about speaking as well. So how could a young person get into journalism? Um and then maybe hear from yourself at how could a young person get into the world of comedy and commentary. I think everybody should come into journalism. every person who believes in uh truth, who believes in women rights, inequality, uh for freedom of Palestine, for minority rights, uh everybody who's against racism, if you can uh say those

things out loud. Um if you have that confidence, you should come forward. We need uh competent people. We need people who have sincere intentions. Yes. Because I would really stress on sincere intentions. There are a lot of people who are journalists now but their purpose is not journalism. They are not here for uh to serve the community to serve humanity. They are maybe here for some eyeballs. So if you have a sincere heart, you really want to create some uh difference in the society. uh you really uh want to serve people your community or people around the world or like minorities then you should definitely come and join journalism

and how could they get into journalism I think uh let's have uh let's start by taking a degree yes and understanding what it is about understanding the media ethic um and then if you are talented um now you don't have to go to BBC your Sky News anywhere you can just start um from your own YouTube channel. It is this simple. Uh if you really want to make a difference now and that's it. Tell us it how if someone watching today uh you know inspired by yourself how could they get into commentary or comedy? You can't man it's over. Now you can look com sorry comedy listen commentary is almost impos I don't know how I did this. If you ask me how you got into it I wouldn't know how to answer you. It was

just a sequence of events that Allah blessed me with and I can't even imagine like if I had to you know reverse engineer it like how I would get into com cricket commentary. It's such a closed club. If you've not played international cricket for England, you don't usually get men or women, you don't usually get that opportunity. So, I see I still, you know, I mean, I'm so grateful to Allah for giving me that because I love cricket. I've loved it my whole life and I get to be that right there, you know. Um, and now I get to share that with my wife, which is really cool. And I often think actually, you know, I often think like, you know, it's it's not morbid, so stay with me. But like if this was it, if like I that

was it for me and I didn't have, you know, if this was what Allah had written for me, that's I'd still be very grateful because I've got to experience things that like 0.01% of the population will get to. So, alhamdulillah that uh comedy is very easy. Now, it's so easy. I'm almost jealous of the people who get into comedy now cuz back in the day, you have to go to these really seedy, gross places with sticky floors to get like 5 minutes of open mic space and, you know, prove yourself. Um, it's very easy. Right, right, right, right. Find yourself an open mic. There's a million of them now in London. And there's even Muslim friendly open mics that you can go to that are really easy and you don't

need to compromise anything. And uh just do it. Just do the thing. See if you like it. Listen to how people respond. Think about it. Record yourself. Watch it back. Listen to it back. Edit and go back and do it again. Edit and go back and do it again. And then you're a comedian. Yeah, that seems so hard to be a comedian. Yeah, really hard. Especially the technical and the scientific side of it, like the actual techniques of it. Okay. Well, now we are going to have a quick couple test and we're going to see and test you both how well you know each other and so it is going to be a quick rapid round. So don't think too deep and you also have to you both the

question is to both of you. So you have to try and say for each other. Oh, so she's going to tell you me and I'm going to go ahead. Yes, absolutely. And you got to be quick otherwise you know we want it to be honest and open. All right. So let's go first. What is your partner's go-to drink? Uh, can I take the name? No, but just say the thing. The kind of drink, not the brand. Just the Energy drink. Some energy drink.

Okay. Uh, tea. Mhm. Okay. Is that right? Yeah. Fantastic. Uh, what is one talent your partner has that most people don't know? God, it's quart to 12 in the morning. Wait, guys. Um, what does she Yeah. Uh, she is, um, very good at making me smile. Okay, you can pass me that when we just made it right now. Right. Okay. Uh, you guys have to be really quick with your answers. All right. So, what is the one thing that instantly annoys your partner?

I think he's um that is her his quality and um weakness as well. He's very sensitive. Okay. Is a phone. Oh my god, I wish I could throw that thing in the ocean. I hate it. So, tell us now, what food does your partner crave on a stressful day? That was easy. Um, lasagna. Oh, yeah. Nailed it. And for her, bindi. Bindies. Okay, that's okra there. Um, oh yeah, sorry. Okra, I forgot. Sorry. Okra. Yes, we're on our channel trying to English. Uh, where would your partner go to for the perfect holiday? Uh, he go to Japan or Los Angeles.

Uh, I'd go to Japan. Yeah, nailed it. Uh, she's going to Baklan. And what TV show can your partner watch on repeat again and again? Uh, for you, you could watch Oh, you watch loads of thing. The news. The news is what I'd say. Probably. Cricket. Yeah, that's that's incorrect. You know which show I could watch on repeat all the time? You want to know? Good Evening London, which is her show. Well, that's cute. Uh, okay. So, what's the first thing your partner does in the morning? Um, he's a very like he's the most unhappy or annoying in the morning and I'm the most annoying at night.

Grumpy in the morning. So, you're grumpy in the morning and you're cranky at night. Okay. Um, what is your partner secretly scared of? It's a bit deep, isn't it? philosophical scale of um uh I not really afraid spiders. He's afraid of spiders. I'm not afraid of spiders. I like spiders. Actually, I find them quite cute. Uh actually, when I was a kid, I was afraid of spiders. Yeah, very much so. Yeah. I don't think she's afraid of anything.

Is that true? That's true. Next question. That's true. Okay. Wonderful. Um so, what outfit does your partner wear when they feel confident? When they want to feel comfortable, when they want to feel confident. Yeah. when you want that boost of confidence. Go to Okay, I like that. Jeans. He loves blue jeans. I love faded blues. It's my thing. I love that. Okay. So, what sport does your partner enjoy watching most? We know what the answer. If it was Billyards, it would surprise you, wouldn't it?

We both enjoy watching cricket. Okay. Yeah. But he's a like crazy sports enthusiast. He can watch anything. Snooker, badminton, tennis. He knows about everyone, everyone in the sport, in any sport. Just ask him those questions. We have to go to the next question. We have to make them faster, right? You need to be quick. We got to be quick. We can't respond. What phrases or does your partner say all the time? I'm afraid. Oh, like I'm afraid I've got some bad news. I'm afraid so. Like some very British. And uh asalam alaikum.

I like that part. And next question. What city does your partner love the most? I think he likes Los Angeles. Oh, Tokyo, baby. Tokyo. Tokyo. Okay. And Lor. For sure. Okay, guys. This be quick, right? So, what habit of your partner makes you laugh or drives you mad? Phone. Uh, phone. She always makes me laugh though. She does. And you know, when I'm really like mad and annoyed and I'm just like sulking, she'll say or do something like just to make me and I'm like, you know, when you don't want to

laugh, when you're mad, I can't help but laugh. She does that all the time. I love that. Alhamdulillah. Describe your Wait, she didn't get to say. Uh, what was the question? What part what habit makes you annoyed? What habit makes you laugh? Okay. So, I think he tries to make me laugh whenever I'm upset with anything. So, that works every time. That's very sweet. Whatever he uh does. And he has a lot of annoying habits. So, well, let's go back to the right because we're running out of time. So, we got one more to go. Uh so, describe your partner in one word quickly and let's see if you agree.

One word, strong, honest, cute. Alhamdulillah. Well, thank you so much. No. Well, Artif and uh Nam, thank you so much for being here. It's been such a joy to speak to you guys and it's been so much fun and it's such a lovely aura as you said, you know, that the presence that brings, but together you guys both are advocating for. Can I just say one thing very quickly? I know we're running out of time, but like I just want to say look, there'll be couples watching this who go through difficult times. I just want people to know that we just like every other couple in the world have difficult moments and things like that as well. So nobody's life, everybody's life looks perfect from the outside.

There's challenges there as well. So whatever difficulty you're going through, may Allah give you ease. May Allah keep us together and happy together as well. Amen. I mean, absolutely. And uh what a lovely message there to end on for now. But we're going to quickly go to the kitchen and just get an update with Zara. My update has been over long time ago. I'm just waiting you long time ago. I'm waiting for these lovely guests to come and um enjoy this food. Inshallah.

Fantastic. Shall we would you like please do your guest? Uh, all right. Go for it. Well, have a taste you can go be joining me soon. Please allow some to be left over. Okay. This looks incredible. We can put this here and we can And what do you get this here? Oh my. They're not all for you at Are we going to have a competition? Who? Yeah. Take it easy. No, I can't. I don't want to have some too. I don't know. just you can add the cheese if you wish to if you don't.

He likes cheese. I do like cheese. Okay. So, that's why I just I left it. So, just uh be generous. Whatever you want to do. Two, one, go. Let's do it. Oh my god. Let's show them. No, no, we're not competitive. Not in this. This is to be said. Listen, this is a treat. I've enjoyed so many of Chef's Circus. We can share that one. No, go on. You have your own one. I'm not sharing. We have to leave something for them. No, we don't.

Listen, there's a fried chicken shop around the corner. Enjoy it. My treat. We're going to be going to Chef Zak House later. It's delicious. It is. Yeah. Why don't you come join us in Udu? Let's do some cooking in. She's going to pinch your chef. There. There you go. I've got a job offer. This is super mah. So good. Chef Jup. I watch your Tik Tok and Instagram all the time trying to find recipes and stuff. I can never make it. I always end up ordering in.

Yeah, I know. Do you cook? Um, I only like uh cooking lasagna for him. Okay. Yeah. And things that he likes. Yeah. Okay, that's nice. Um, so this recipe is actually really quick. Anybody can make it and I try to do like quick recipes and uh hopefully tasty recipes. Atif is just 10 out of 10. Alhamdulillah. Thank you, sister. 15 out of 10. Alhamdulillah. And that now brings us to the end of the show. We will be back on Monday morning, inshallah. Yes. And remember, Islam channel is here for you 24/7 across all platforms. So join in on the conversations. Share your thoughts using the hash salam Britain.

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