Stand-up comedian Hasan Al-Habib is among seven celebrities participating in the eighth series of 'Pilgrimage: The Road to Holy Island', joining Ashley Banjo, Ashley Blaker, Hermione Norris, Jayne Middlemiss, Patsy Kensit, and Tasha Ghouri. According to Daily Express - Showbiz, Hasan Al-Habib described feeling ashamed of his Iraqi heritage for a long time because he did not want to be associated with the Iraq War. He tried to be as white British as possible when he was younger, but realized that being funny made people like him, which was valuable at the time.
Now, he leans into his Iraqi heritage in his career, even though he does not speak Arabic fluently and has only been to Iraq once. On the show, Hasan Al-Habib is looking forward to exploring big questions about life and existence. He took Ashley and Tasha to a mosque during the show, an experience that Tasha Ghouri felt emotional and found eye-opening, according to Daily Express - Showbiz.
I was aware of faith from a pretty early age. I was lucky that I was definitely aware of my religion before I was aware that people don't like it necessarily, or there are some people that are prejudiced against it.
How other celebrities reacted to the mosque visit and what other experiences occurred during filming are not detailed. The broadcast schedule for the eighth series and what prompted Ghouri's spiritual shift, as hinted in promotional materials, have not been announced.
I was growing up post 911 during the Iraq War, and that's why, for a long time, I was kind of ashamed of being Iraqi because I didn't like being associated with this war. I didn't like being seen as the face of this conflict, so I tried to be as white British as I possibly could, and I realised that if you were funny, people liked you, and that was an invaluable currency for me at the time, because people didn't like me.
Being Iraqi now, career-wise, it has been a really good thing. It's definitely something I lean into now, maybe even too much for someone who doesn't speak Arabic fluently and has only been to Iraq once in their life.
I'm really looking forward to the big questions and the searching questions that come as a part of doing this process. If you're a rational human being, you've got to wonder, what happens at the end of all this, or where did we come from? People spend their whole lives answering those questions. So to have this opportunity to do it with other people, I think is really, I'm gonna say it's a blessing.
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