Why Do Muslims Love Andrew Tate?

This is the transcript of an interview between the Washington Post’s Maham Javaid and Nabeel Azeez, founder of MuslimMan™. Maham interviewed Nabeel for a piece she’s doing about Andrew Tate’s appeal among Muslim men and Muslims in general. We’ve edited the transcript for clarity. Watch the YouTube video for the unedited interview.

Interview Transcript

Maham Javaid:

When did you first hear about Andrew Tate, how long have you known about him and how has he impacted your life?

Nabeel Azeez:

Bismillah alhamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah. Andrew and I have known each other online for several years now. We move in the same online circles and network. We grew to be acquaintances and I met him once when he came to Dubai. Sometimes we chat over WhatsApp.

How has he personally impacted me? He inspired me to take up boxing. And when I decided I was interested in boxing I asked him if he knew any coaches that he would recommend in Dubai. He gave me two options. One of them was a friend of his, Tam Khan, who you might know because he’s very vocal in support of Tate. The other was his former training partner from Storm Gym in Luton, where he started out, and that’s who I ended up choosing is my coach, Roman Wehbe. Together, we’ve now done three fights so far and I’m about to do my fourth fight. It’s white collar boxing, which is not such a big deal but it’s a big deal to me. And so, that’s the most direct impact Tate has had on my life.

Besides that, he’s encouraged me to be more ambitious, expect more from myself, work harder and become more competent in general. All-round, it’s a positive impact he’s had on my life.

Maham Javaid:

Could we dig in a little deeper? How has boxing made a positive impact on your life?

Nabeel Azeez:

Well, I’ll give you a very easy example. I’m in my forties now. And as you get older, cardio tends to become a little bit more important. I’m a gym bro, all I did was lift weights. So, just from the cardio aspect of boxing alone – it seems like an exaggeration, but it’s not – I would say that Tate probably added several years to my life, possibly even saved my life from a lot of potential diseases down the road, like cardiovascular issues and things of that nature.

And then there’s the innate male desire that all men have to be competent at combat, to be able defeat other men in combat and just to be combat-ready in general. All men have this inclination and so it helped to realize that need by taking up boxing. All men aspire to it but few go through with it. Andrew Tate’s online drill-sergeant persona encourages a lot of men to go outside their comfort zone, expect a lot more from themselves and attempt to achieve that.

Maham Javaid:

Can you tell me what appeals to you about his content? And can you also tell me what appeals to you about his style of delivery?

Nabeel Azeez:

So, that’s an excellent question. I think that men in general are attracted toward aspirational role models. And Andrew Tate, whether you like him or dislike him, no one can deny that he has achieved a lot of the things that people want to achieve in this life. Whether that’s success in business, whether that’s his physical dominance in being a world championship fighter, whether that’s his relationships with women, whether that’s his confidence and his charisma, people are attracted to aspirational figures, male or female. And so that is what has attracted men to him, and women as well, because I see a lot of content online from women who are also of Andrew Tate.

His style is certainly not for everybody. One thing you can say about his style is that it is polarizing. There’s no middle ground when it comes to Andrew Tate. You are either going to love him or hate him. Either you’re going to say, “F this guy, who the hell does he think he is?” Or you’re gonna say, “Where the hell has this guy been for all my life?” And that is the reaction that I’ve seen online. There’s nobody who’s lukewarm towards Andrew Tate. And that is by design. His delivery and his style of speaking, that is deliberate. And I think if he was a little bit more tempered with his style and messaging, we wouldn’t be talking about him today.

Maham Javaid:

That’s so interesting because someone else I spoke to, he’s also like a follower of Andrew Tate’s, and the takeaway was it’s his rhetoric that appeals to people and it’s also his rhetoric that attracts trouble. You’re saying the same thing in slightly different words, and I feel like this is something I haven’t read before, so I’m excited to kind of showcase it.

Nabeel Azeez:

It’s by design as well. It’s not that he’s doing it by accident. Andrew is somebody who never does anything thoughtlessly. As a trained chess player and as a trained fighter, everything that he does is calculated. And his manner, his online persona, his demeanor is calculated to have this effect on people.

Maham Javaid:

Is there a connection between the appeal that Andrew has, the fact that young men gravitate towards him and the current state of the world as it is right now. Would he be this famous, say, 20 years ago?

Nabeel Azeez:

That’s also another excellent question. So I think it’s a combination of a number of things. It’s the idea that men in general don’t have aspirational figures to look up to. This is also why people like Khabib Nurmagomedov are so popular as well. So it’s the confluence of…

• Andrew being an aspirational male figure, being so successful in multiple domains

• Social media algorithms feeding into high energy, polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it type of content

• Where we are as a society; everything is polarized, even things as simple as – well, they’re not really simple, but – male and female gender dynamics

• Andrew Tate’s team’s deliberate plan to influence his social media presence

…that has created this effect. In general, men would be attracted to his message. But then when you layer on the polarizing nature of his message, who he is as an online persona, the polarization of a lot of the issues that he’s speaking about, whether that’s gender dynamics or politics or capitalism, things of that nature, and finally the way that algorithms feed into our biases, all of those together are what has caused his rise.

Maham Javaid:

So what you’re saying is, and correct me if I’m wrong, that his message is attractive, that’s a given. The content is something that’s attractive to men. But the fact that he presents it in a polarizing way is what makes it even more attractive.

Nabeel Azeez:

In order for people to decide whether or not they’re attracted to your message, first they have to notice you. And that’s the reason why the vast majority of advertising is wasted, is because people don’t notice it. So, first you have to get noticed. Once you’ve gotten noticed, then people can decide whether or not they like you or hate you.

His message is a positive message. If you look at the material that he’s put out of late, like the 41 Tenets of Tate, which you can find on his website, it’s 100% a positive message. And if he didn’t put it across the way that he does, people wouldn’t notice him and people wouldn’t be able to decide whether or not they like him or hate him.

Maham Javaid:

If I could veer the conversation a little bit towards the Muslim community. Is it a misconception or is it true that Muslim men are more attracted to him than men from other organized religions? Or do you think this is just people are giving more attention to Muslims?

Nabeel Azeez:

I think that the Muslim man angle became more prominent ever since he converted to Islam. I think that Tate’s message is universal and it can be absorbed and applied by men and women of any faith. I referred earlier to the 41 Tenets of Tate. There’s nothing in those 41 tenets that goes against any religion. In fact, those would be considered praiseworthy by any organized religion.

The Muslim angle has only become a major talking point since before he converted. Tate was praising Islam quite vocally. And then after he became a Muslim, obviously there’s that aspect of him being a Muslim convert, that is even more appealing. And so it’s not just that Muslim men are attracted to him. Men in general, whether they have faith or they have no faith, are attracted to Andrew Tate because of his message of positive masculinity and striving for masculine excellence.

Maham Javaid:

So in your opinion we shouldn’t say, or we couldn’t say that Muslim men are more drawn to him than men from other religions.

Nabeel Azeez:

Well, I would agree with that in general. However, there’s also the aspect of Tate being Tate, coming from the life that he used to live and then becoming a Muslim, obviously that has an appeal to Muslims in general, not just Muslim men, Muslims in general. You know, there are stories all over the place of Muslim women being so happy that Andrew converted to Islam and Muslim men becoming more involved in their faith, things of that nature.

The convert story in general is something that a lot of us have a soft spot for. A friend of mine, Nick Verge, converted to Islam as well and he’s getting just as much love from from the Muslim community as Tate is. And that’s because we all have this love in our hearts for somebody who converts to Islam.

Maham Javaid:

Why do you think Andrew Tate gets a lot of love from the Muslim community? What would be a simple answer to that?

Nabeel Azeez:

I don’t think there is a simple answer because of how complex an individual Andrew is. And if you think about his background, who his parents were, how he grew up, how he lived in a homeless shelter as a child, how he built himself up from nothing. From living a life of profligacy, a “haram lifestyle,” to Allah guiding him to Islam. The metaphysics of it is something that’s almost miraculous to behold.

You’re a Muslim as well, so you understand this, it’s Al-Qadr, Divine Predestination. Everything is written, right? So, everything that Andrew has done and was and is led up to this point. And Allah wrote in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfudh, the Preserved Tablet, that Andrew Tate was going to become a Muslim after the life that he’s lived. And so when you ponder that and you ponder the metaphysics of it you really can’t say anything other than Alhamdulillah, Praise be to God, or Subhanallah, Glory be to God. That aspect of it, alone, I know you said you wanted a simple answer, but it’s sort of mind boggling to comprehend.

Maham Javaid:

Is there anything in Tate’s messaging that is negative or that could be perceived negatively that we should be cognizant of?

Nabeel Azeez:

I think that’s an excellent question and I truly believe – and this is me as a religiously observant Muslim man speaking – I truly believe that there is nothing negative in Andrew Tate’s message. I referred to it twice now, the 41 Tenets of Tate. If you consider his codified message that’s written by his own hand, there’s nothing negative in it.

Also, as Muslims, we practice something called Husn Adh-Dhann, which is giving people the benefit of the doubt. In formal debate it’s called the Principle of Charity. And so our goal is to interpret the words of a person in the best possible light. That’s the problem with the internet, people will take something that you say and get the worst possible interpretation out of it, and then base their judgment on that. That’s something I don’t do and a lot of Muslims don’t do, and we shouldn’t be doing it as Muslims. So, husn adh-dhann, principle of charity, if you listen to what he’s saying and you consider what he’s saying in context, there’s nothing negative about Andrew Tate’s message. In fact, it’s all positive. It’s positive for men, it’s positive for women, it’s positive for mothers and fathers, it’s positive for sons and daughters, it’s just a general positive message to work hard and strive for excellence.

And Muslims, we have this concept called Ihsan, right? That’s striving for excellence in all things. Andrew Tate is sort of the epitome of that, and so is his brother Tristan, striving for excellence every single day. Just the other day he was doing a Twitter space and giving an informal, impromptu exegesis of a verse of the Quran about showing gratitude for God’s blessings and he wasn’t even aware that he was doing it!

“And when your Lord proclaimed: If ye give thanks, I will give you more; but if ye are thankless, lo! My punishment is dire.” [Surat Ibrahim 14:7]

It’s in his nature to be a hardworking, upstanding individual who’s striving for excellence every single day. To be the best version of himself possible. And that message is universal, not just for men but for women as well.

Maham Javaid:

So the clips of his that have gone viral about women – you know, people often call him a misogynist – would you say those are misperceptions? They’re out of context?

Nabeel Azeez:

I would say that the reason that they go viral is because they’re taken out of context. When you look at the long form content that those clips are taken from, there’s no potential for them to be misinterpreted or misconstrued unless you are coming at it from a perspective of trying to take the worst possible interpretation of the statement. If you come at it from the perspective of husn adh-dhann, principle of charity, it’s a positive statement overall.

And, of course, his manner of speaking doesn’t appeal to some people, and that’s fine. People are allowed to have their own tastes as to who they prefer as public figures and speakers. But if you’re honest with yourself and you’re objective, and you’re perspicacious and you’re self-aware, the message is positive.

Maham Javaid:

Thank you so much, Nabeel. It was a pleasure. I hope that I can do justice to this and it’s balanced. It will be, I don’t have to hope. But yeah, I’ll let you know when it’s out.

Nabeel Azeez:

It’s my pleasure, Maham. Thank you for inviting me to do the interview and I look forward to reading your piece. God bless you.