MARTIALFORCE.COM

PRESENTS

AN INTERVIEW UPDATE

SABUMNIM

TAREK HUSSEIN

DEC / 2013

The environment gives the fighter a reason for Martial Arts

By Eddie Morales

Martialforce.com

Online E-Zine

Martialforce.com: Do you believe that everyone in regards to fighting is a product of their environment?

TAREK HUSSEIN: I have stated many times that I personally believe with a strong conviction that Martial Arts doesn’t make a Martial Artist, the environment does. I absolutely believe the atmosphere; environment molds and shapes the spirit. All the physical aspects of combat means nothing if the spirit can’t be tailored to fit the practitioner. When you are in a constant environment that hardens the individual, it just doesn’t make the physical stronger, but the spiritual and mental characteristic of the fighter. The environment gives the fighter a reason for Martial Arts, because Martial Arts should be a way of living and a mental state, code of ethics and budo.

In Egypt I’ve seen street kids as young as 12 years old with a killer look on their face, not because they are violent, but because they know everyday they wake up they have to survive in order to live. They are not granted anything; they literally must fight in order to make it through the day.

On my second day of arrival I woke up to a knife fight outside the neighborhood amongst two teenage boys that had to be around 12-14 years old. The boy tried to steal the other boys load of potatoes he had to sell, so they were involved in an altercation. That is the type of environment that produces a real fighting and warrior spirit. I am not condoning fighting or street fighting, in an environment like Egypt, people don’t just wake up and say I want to street fight today, fighting is just a part of life, a part of living, a character trait of a man which can be seen through out the history of time.

In a place like Egypt, especially depending on the area your living in, you have to be constantly on the alert for thugs and criminals that want to prosper from your lifestyle. However, as much as I believe the environment shapes a fighter’s spirit, I also believe it is more important upon the individual.

For example, I grew up in a privileged area and neighborhood, but I became the exact antithesis of where I grew up in. Instead I emerged myself in my own world, which were Martial Arts and I always stayed true to my beliefs even if all my surroundings was the opposite of that ideology. Through my own self-knowledge, self-freedom and self-existentialism I was one not to become a product of my own environment but the exact opposite, which I pride myself of to this day.

Martialforce.com: What are the differences you have encountered from your training in Egypt and the United States?

TAREK HUSSEIN: As relating this answer to the above question, we were talking about the environment and how the environment shapes the spirit. When you are in an environment that is a constant bud atmosphere, the training you accumulate from the physical you acquire through the mental and spiritual. Training in Egypt is old school, rugged, brutal, and real. The respect that is shown the discipline, that is how Martial Arts is supposed to be represented universally. From my experiences training my whole life in the U.S.A. as well as Egypt, the contrasts are, in the U.S. the essence of Martial Arts is not understood. Everything here in the U.S. that relates to Martial Arts is business, non-effective, sport concentrated or just brutality and violence. The U.S. lost the concept of the meaning of what Martial Arts are about. They understand the technical and physical aspect, but the philosophy and the tenants and moral code of Martial Arts has very much lost it’s way in the western world. In terms of the physical training, all the methods of training that are conducted in Egypt are viewed to be illegal or that of child abuse in the U.S. I agree with the mindset that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and in a country like Egypt, that is the exact mindset on any Martial Art masters mind.

Martialforce.com: Do you believe everyone should study or at the very least understand the workings of other Martial Arts styles?

TAREK HUSSEIN: Absolutely. We are in a generation that constantly is evolving, combat has evolved to a point where every fighter has to be proficient in the different dimensions of combat just in order to be relevant. Martial Arts is everything, using every part of your body to fight, including your mind and spirit. But we must not forget the meaning of Martial Arts. Martial Arts are fighting to live. If you want to just be a fighter and learn as many styles as possible to fight that is not Martial Arts. Learn the art, apply the “Do” and live the life… To me that is Martial Arts, and that understands the workings of other styles, because at the end, Martial Arts are all universal. No matter which style you practice, the common theme of all Martial Arts is a personal growth and personal self-cultivation of the mind body and spirit.

Martialforce.com: What predominant styles do you train when in Egypt?

TAREK HUSSEIN: Kung-Fu (Full Contact). Kung Fu in Egypt has a rich history, with the basis of Full Contact Kung-Fu the hard fighting style being the most popular, however the modern Wu-Shu soft style has a large following due to the federation, which has been established in Egypt. When you go around and ask about the old day stories of the top fighters and street fighters in Egypt, they always tell you out of all the styles and world champions Egypt has produced in Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Karate-do and Tae Kwon Do, the most dangerous fighters on the street were the Kung-Fu stylists. Kung Fu in Egypt is wild; it’s freestyle and has no rules when applied for actual combat. Kung-Fu in Egypt has been very strong, both in the underground community and the professional sanctioned community by the federation. Ibrahim Il Toney is credited of bringing Kung-Fu or at the time known as “Chinese Boxing” to Egypt, as he learned Chinese Boxing from a Chinese master. He soon established his own teaching and club in Egypt in the early to mid 70’s and masters such as Yeyha Fawzy were great pioneers in Kung-Fu. I have trained and met many of the greats of Egypt for Kung-Fu including Ahmed Kenawy, Ahmed Gado, Ashraf Monkey, and countless other champions and Kung-Fu legends.

Martialforce.com: Can you give our readers an example of the training?

TAREK HUSSEIN: The best way to put it is it’s simply old school. We are training on the street, in the dirt, kicking trees with our shins, fighting full contact with limited to no rules, hard body training, iron shirt training, breaking rocks and bricks, using makeshift concrete weights for strength training. Just old school. I can’t describe the training that well because I just lived it. When I trained my focus was 100% in the training that my state of mind was just geared to my movement, never had time to reflect or think, just absorbed the essence of it. It’s like a dream where when you wake up you remember all the details of the dream but an hour later everything else is completely oblivious and you don’t remember it anymore, yet you still feel it… That is how training is to me.

Martialforce.com: What did you learn through your experiences and training in Egypt?

TAREK HUSSEIN: I’ve been to Egypt many times since I was a young child and I always cherish the time I’ve spent there. Through all my experiences I’ve had through my times in Egypt, the one thing I will always take back with me is the culture. The culture and the moral aspect of what life can be like when you take out all the monetary and materialistic aspects of life and you just strip down to the bare essentials that life was supposed to be comprised of. Courage, dignity, respect and values. Sometimes I feel it’s the places that are not modernized that really hold the true principles of life. Then again wherever I may be, modernized or not, Martial Arts will always be apart of me regardless.

Martialforce.com: I have heard that Martial Artists challenge each other to fights in Egypt. Is this true or just rumor and if yes, what are your thoughts on this?

TAREK HUSSEIN: This is true indeed. I remember hearing many stories from my own instructors who grew up and did their Martial Arts training in Egypt. Many of my instructors actually partook in challenge matches not just in Egypt, but also in the U.S. One of my instructors challenged the two most renowned Shotokan instructors at the Gezira club in Cairo and beat them both. In Egypt Martial Arts has a budo mentality, so as a Martial Artist, everyone just has that warrior ethic and warrior spirit. It's not a wrong or right mentality, its just Budo. If you're involved in Martial Arts, there is a strict code of Bushido and if you have the mentality of a warrior or budoka, combat is evident.

Martialforce.com: Recently you have been traveling to different countries, can you explain your recent travels?

TAREK HUSSEIN: I’ve been traveling throughout Egypt, France and Norway to conduct international seminars in Mixed Martial Arts and Full Contact Kick-Boxing. In Egypt, which I will be holding my fourth seminar in the upcoming months, the Full Contact Kung-Fu and African Kuoshu Federations invite me. In the summer I was invited to France and had the great opportunity to meet up with a French Tae Kwon Do legend, Jo Dalton. Recently I was invited to Norway by the Kampsport Institutet to conduct a training course for the students and to instruct the MMA and Kick-Boxing team. I have been very fortunate to travel to many countries and fulfill my passion as an everyday life. Just to be able to travel the world because of Martial Arts has been a dream come true. I plan to expand my base more throughout Europe in the future and hope to bring the modern style of combat to the continent.

Martialforce.com: You are recently involved in an upcoming action film, can you give us more details about it?

TAREK HUSSEIN: Yes, I’m involved with the upcoming action film, Bullets, Blades and Blood. This film has been almost two years in the making, and filming has almost wrapped up. I’m working with a good friend former Kick-Boxing champion and the producer, Robert Parham. The cast includes former world champions in boxing and mma such as Tony Lopez, Shonie Carter, and Tim Lajcik. As well as Hollywood producers and actors including Art Camacho who was a director for Steven Seagal films, Chyna McCoy and T.J Storm just to name a few…

I’m making my film debut as a villain, playing the role of a hitman/bodyguard. All I can say is that the fight scenes will be something the action and martial arts film genre hasn’t scene in a long time and it will be something new for action cinema…

Martialforce.com: What are your personal philosophies when it comes to street fighting and self-defense?

TAREK HUSSEIN: Personally I feel it’s everyone’s ultimate goal as a Martial Artist to be able to defend oneself effectively in any situation. However I also believe that if you avoid any of these types of situations, which is an even greater accomplishment as a Martial Artist or person in general.

My philosophy on self-defense is very simple. Everything in life is about what state of mind you are in. The state of mind is the transcending factor on what happens in the physical. A clear state of mind is an awareness and a sense of knowing where the danger is presented ahead, so you can avoid any type of those situations simply by not being in an atmosphere that poses a threat, that being physically, verbally, or just emotionally.

If however the situation finds you unexpectedly and you are faced to deal with it, the best defense if you have to fight is to escape the situation or deescalate the situation. Too many people are concerned about training how to fight, while very few are trained how to avoid and deescalate an altercation. Street fighting for me is always the last resort. When I reflect back to my younger years I was engaged in that type of action, an action which I outgrew and don’t care for much anymore. I only fight if I absolutely have to defend myself, and most of my experiences when it comes to fighting have not been in the U.S.

Martialforce.com: What do you think is the highest level to achieve in Martial Arts?

TAREK HUSSEIN: To have no level. That is the highest achievement. Everything in Martial Arts, if it enters you and you fully understand the essence of what it’s truly about. If you are a true Budoka you will understand my statement. To those who don’t understand, that’s the excitement of the journey they will partake through their personal training.

Martialforce.com: Who would you like to have trained with if you could train with any Martial Artist dead or alive?

TAREK HUSSEIN: Would have to be Bruce Lee and Mas Oyama. Personally I believe they are the two greatest. When I make the statement greatest, I’m not talking about in fighting or in physical. Personally I believe greatness is an aura one composes, it’s a state of mind and intellectual ability one possesses, and it’s an inner self, which they can personally impose to anyone or everyone.

To me, Bruce Lee is one of the greatest minds of Martial Arts. I would just love to see how he thinks. Believe it or not it’s not his physical or technical ability that impresses me, it’s his ideologies, philosophies, and viewpoint on life and how he can manifest feeling through Martial Art. He is the very few people in history that comprehended that Martial Arts are a manifestation of the spirit through an expression of the physical. That’s why he is great, his mind.

Mas Oyama because he was a Samurai to the fullest. Everything about him was Budo, he was Karate-do. When you look back he created some of the greatest students of all time, every one of his students were a product of Oyama’s harsh physical training and mental discipline. Those two have been the ones who inspired me the most when I was young and made me strive to become better than myself.

Port Said Egypt Judoka

Training with Egyptian Judo champ, Mostafa Elsheikh

Martialforce.com: What was your motivation to continue to pursue Martial Arts for all these years as a career?

TAREK HUSSEIN: I don’t do Martial Arts as a career and never will, for me Martial Arts is a lifestyle. It’s my way of life. It’s my stubbornness, it’s my essence, it’s my principles, it’s my philosophies, it’s my ideologies, it’s my sacrifice, it’s my being. Everything I do good or bad, right or wrong, is Martial Arts.

When you love something and you connect to it, when you become divine to it, it becomes a passion, so you don’t need motivation anymore because it enters inside you and you begin to live it. It’s cultivation without being cultivated because when you’re in the moment, going through the physical training for all these years, it just turns into a spiritual energy.

Whenever I’ve trained since when I was a young child or to now, I have no thought in my mind. I just absorb the essence of what it is about. Whenever people ask me to train at any time, I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I must feel it, everything about Martial Arts when you reach the true understanding of it, it’s about feeling. Even Bruce Lee said in Enter The Dragon, don’t think, feel. You have to feel it in order to absorb the truth from your training. People that can just train at any time in the physical, just train for the sake of training. I train for the sake of living. There’s a big difference.

Martialforce.com: What do Martial Arts mean to you?

TAREK HUSSEIN: It shouldn’t be a meaning, it should be a way… For me, it’s a way of life. It’s my Samurai Life.