bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim
alhamdulillah
robb'd al-amin r-rahmani r-rahim Maliki
Yomi Dean but what does it actually mean
to be a Muslim what does it mean to take
your life and submit it to the will of
God because this is what we are saying
when we say it
so today inshallah I'd like to tell you
of my voyage from missionary to Muslim
now missionary and Muslim seemed these
days to always be at loggerheads with
each other so what was a missionary
doing looking at Islam in the first
place well to tell you the truth I
wasn't looking for Islam Islam found me
and so to try and explain how I
transitioned from to Islam or my
transition from Christianity to Islam
took place or I need to perhaps do a bit
of a background let's go back in time
and have a look what what happened in
the early stages of my life now
some of you may have heard my story
before and know how embrace Islam but
often when we we tell our stories or
many people who tell these stories and
how they've embraced Islam because of
time restraint they never really get to
tell you this to the full story so
inshallah today this series will deal
with my transition to Islam and in this
series we'll look at not only how I
became a Muslim but some of the deceit
and deception that is used amongst the
missionaries today to bring Muslims to
Christianity now there's a statistic and
whether the statistic is accurate or not
it's still one that needs to be looked
at and according to an Al Jazeera
television broadcaster some years ago
that over 6 million people from Africa
revert from Islam to Christianity now
this might be a shocking statistic and
you might think this is impossible to
happen but if we have a look around us
we see that all the time we see people
leaving different faiths to go and join
other faiths but the good news is that
Islam is growing a 2.8 percent so what
we see is each year a 2.8 percent we are
growing faster than any of the other
religions in the world again this is a
statistic that is probably will change
by the time you watch this and so we
have to continuously look and see what
new information has been brought up but
we do see that Islam is definitely
growing now while our six million people
leaving Islam for Christianity every
year in Africa well there are a number
of reasons one can be because they are
getting relief and help from Christian
organizations and the
help is only given if you convert or
revert to Christianity
the second reason there people may be
converting and such a large number is
because the teachings are not there in
other words we as Muslims are not doing
our job properly which means we need to
make sure that we have classes we have
educational facilities available not
just to teach the basic system but also
to encourage Muslims to say strongly
faith because no one would want to trade
down nor do want to go backwards they
would want to progress and so anyone who
is a Muslim and wants to go backwards it
would be the same as speaking to a
Christian and saying to a Christian
would you like to become a Jew of course
the Christian would not like to become a
Jew he sees Judaism as the first stone
well the first stone in the stepping
stone to success and the next step that
a Christian needs to take is to realize
that Jesus had come and so for
Christians it's very simple to know that
they're no longer under the Abrahamic
covenant banana the Covenant of Jesus so
peace be upon the Prophet ISA peace be
upon him Christians would understand it
quite simple it's quite a simple step
they see there they go from Judaism to
Christianity now from Christianity the
next logical step is Islam so someone
who is a Muslim wouldn't really want to
go backwards it wouldn't make any sense
but there are people doing it and the
only reason they can be doing it is for
one or two all the third reason would be
the reason that they are receiving
pressure from the community they are
living in whatever the reason might be
remarked never know and Allah knows best
but whatever the reason is we can as
Muslims make sure that we look after the
people that are Muslims and make sure
that they are practicing Muslims make
sure they understand why they have
committed themselves to Islam in the
first place but let's get back to the
topic on hand today and the topic on
hand is my transition from missionary to
Muslim so I was born of many many light
years ago for many of the younger
viewers that are watching I was born in
1967 in 1967 lots of interesting things
were going on in history I was born in
the 13th of July which makes it probably
for some people an unlucky day but for
me I think it was a lucky day Allah had
ordained this day for me to be born and
so I knew that there has to be a special
day because this is the day that I had
chosen for me incidentally one of the
people there was instrumental in me
becoming a Muslim was born on the 1st of
July and so I suppose being born in the
same month as him was was quite a
privilege for me
now in July of 1967 many things were
going on in the world and in Palestine
the whole issue of division of land was
coming to a loggerhead there's lots of
fasting going on in America the first
interracial marriages were permitted and
throughout the world there was great
upheaval because people were starting to
look for themselves and trying to find
themselves the hippie era was at its
highest peak drugs rock rock'n'roll sex
was at its highest peak people were
doing illicit things people were taking
drugs trying to find peace and harmony
in the world so the world was in one way
people were trying to find meaning
another way there was just it was a very
very destructive time to be alive so I
was born into this time where everybody
was worried about what was going to
happen do they have a future
when would somebody push the button it
would send off an atom bomb and kill
everybody in the world so there's a lot
of terror and fear in the world at that
time now when I was born I was born into
a family that were pretty liberal minded
which means they allowed us to make our
own decisions of life pretty young and
from a very young age I unfortunately
was the last one in the family to be
born and so for being the last one I
suppose I got away a lot more than
anyone else in my family did but one of
the things that I did enjoy was where I
went to school and my early school years
I used to go to school on the horse
every day now we lived in quite a rural
area quite a backward area and so I used
to take a horse and I used to go to
preschool every day on the back of a
horse so I learned to horse ride a very
very young age
loved horse riding I really had an
affinity a feeling that no this is a
beautiful animal and enjoyed horse
riding and even today I still do a lot
of horse riding so it's one of my
hobbies or sports and so as I used to go
to school I used to pass by people and
the motor cars or walking and I'd feel
so grand because I'd be on my horse and
when I went to preschool I had issues
that I didn't really understand one of
the problems ahead right on was that we
had to do a play at school and one of
these plays that we had to do it's who I
show that we had to do at school was a
story of Adam and Eve and my partner in
this play was I had to be Adam and so I
met the Eve that I was going to be
acting next to and we had all these
shepherds and all the other people that
had to be in this play and one of the
problems I had is
happy to ask one of the teachers did
Adam have a belly button and of course
she looks at me and said we don't ask
questions like that and I said why not
he said well this is this just act don't
worry don't ask questions like that
you'll know when you get older one of
the funny things is I never ever got
that answer to that question you see
from a young age I started to look at
things theologically I want you to know
the reason for things did Adam have a
bellybutton or not and if he didn't have
a bellybutton
that means you didn't have an umbilical
cord which means he was created so while
all the pictures that we see with that I
saw later in Christendom did Adam have
an umbilical cord marking or a belly
button so these were this was the
beginning of my theological inquiry and
so man many of you might think this is a
funny thing to ask questions about but a
belly button is an interesting thing I
mean why is a day why do we have one
many people that give me an explanation
some people will say that it's day where
you put your salts in while this thing
in bed watching a fool and you eat
celery so I don't know if it's supposed
to be something that you put salt in I
don't know if it's a place that you rest
your book on what it's there for but all
I decided it was something we needed to
have and of course if you understand
medicine it's so important because this
is how we get nutrition and food but
back then I needed a theological answer
I wanted an answer from the Bible and I
was what four or five years old when I
asked this question and I needed an
answer so this was something that I
needed an answer for so I never really
received one and so I left alone because
I realized I wasn't going to get an
answer from anyone in the preschool days
or my nursery school days so I left this
question unanswered so as I went through
preschool I learned that many things
that I didn't have answers for wasn't
going to get and I thought well maybe
they there's too many young people or
too many children around and adults
thought that this was not a question
that they should answer such a young boy
about you know many people kept lots of
secrets about many things so I thought
okay this is something that I maybe find
out as I got older in laughs so I left
the belly button thing behind me now my
parents thought it would be a good idea
for me to be the only child in the whole
family that went to a Catholic school
now any of you who know anything about
Catholic schools know that Catholic
schools have their own way of doing
things and one of the ways of doing
things is beating the children they
believe that if you spare the rod and
you will definitely spoil the child
and so the nuns or the the ladies who
looked after us in the convent were very
restrict on us now I remember the first
day of going to school I was very
excited had my uniform on everything was
prim and proper and I couldn't wait to
go to school and the first day as I got
to school there was a Catholic nun named
and her name was Rita I was her name and
when I got to a classroom to the front
of the classroom door she put her she
looked at me very sternly frowned at me
and she said sister Rita and I looked at
her Lord whoa she's got a deep voice for
a woman so I didn't worry too much about
it and I looked at her and she said it
again I looked and said no sister
Beverly and she said no sister Rita said
no it's sister Beverly so we had an
argument
so I looked through that I was very
confused I said no I have a sister my
sister's name is Beverly and she said no
I'm not your sister says that I'm your
sister I was confused the radio I didn't
know what to think
how can I have a sister that I didn't
know of and now I've only been
introduced to her and she explained to
me quite clearly that there's two
different types of sisters there's a
sister that is your God made sister and
there's a sister that is your biological
sister okay I got it no problem you're
my sister that God made for me and my
sister at home is another one that God
made for me but we can't explained in
the same way so I was lost I had a big
theological issue number two I had a
sister there I didn't know if it was
created by God not the same way as my
other sister who was created by God was
made so I had a problem so I went into
the classroom I thought okay let me not
rock the boat and me not have any
problems this is already going to be a
troubled you as it is he'll be SATs in
the class a few hours later a man walked
in and he said my name is father Bona
zdenka now was shocked now I really was
about to fall off my chair
now I had a sister that I never knew of
and I have a father I don't know of and
so when this man said he is my father
said but I have a father and he said no
I am your father I said no you not I
have a father at home and so the
argument went on and eventually
explained I am the father given to you
by God
like II have a father that you have at
home but he's different very confused
very confusing for a young boy and so I
got more and more confused and ask more
and more questions they didn't have
answers for it when we get back from the
short break I will continue telling you
of more of the confusion in the first
years of school now I was saying in the
last part is that I was introduced to a
sister there wasn't my sister and a
father it wasn't my father
but I was told by the church that these
were my father and my sister because God
had made them my father and my sister
but I was very confused because my
parents had told me that God had made my
sister my mother and my father for me so
we came very confusing so eventually
somebody during the play time one of the
rest periods in the school somebody came
to me and said during the break you know
this is not really your sister not
really your father these are just
priests and nuns and they are there to
to guard us and show us and I said but
why do we call them sister and father of
course they didn't have a valid reason
for it they just said well that's the
way it is and don't ask questions and so
once I had discovered that I was now
going to have an extended family of
sisters and fathers all over the world I
thought well this may be will be a good
idea I'm gonna have like lots of
brothers and sisters and fathers and and
all the rest of it so after the break I
when we finished our recess period in
the school and I went back into the
classroom I asked the sister if I have
any brothers because I've got sisters
and I've got a father
don't I have any more brothers and
mothers and of course I got a hit on the
back of the head and told not to be
insolent so this was the beginning of my
search into theology every time I asked
the question that made sense or a
question there they didn't have answers
for our good hits on the back of the
head so this is something I learned very
quickly don't ask too many questions
you're gonna get into trouble about two
or three weeks later in the first year
of school we were taken to church for
the first time and showed how the church
runs what we must do when you walk into
the church now the first thing that we
needed to do when you walked into the
church was do the following we needed to
dip our hands into a little bowl of
water and make the sign of the Cross
against our body and this was going to
protect us this was a form of ablution
that would be done every time we went
into the church now first of all I
didn't know what was so special about
that water that their daddy was in the
front of the church because they said if
you didn't do it the service wouldn't be
blessed so I went along with it and
there was no explanation no explanation
why what happens or what we're doing
while we're doing it so I went and had
this like a robot without thinking and
without having any knowledge of what I
was doing the next thing that came along
was that we were sitting in the chairs
in the pews in the church and we're
looking at the front of the church and
in the front of the church there were
two boxes a box on the left and a box on
the right with two doors no quite dark
little rooms and what the priest told us
when we're sitting there in front of
everybody
and inside the
in the church or the children were
sitting there and the priest would
explain to us what happens at different
parts of the church and he pointed
towards these boxes and he said this is
where I'll go I'll go into the left side
of the box and on the right side of the
box is where you'll go and when you
commit a sin or you do anything wrong
you'll come to confession and your
confess your sin to me and I will
forgive you your sin and your sins will
be forgiven
so I raised my hand which I know I
shouldn't have done and I asked the
priest why am i confessing to you
because you're not God and of course you
knew what happened then I got hit on the
back of the head don't ask questions
just listen so I listened the priest
went on to tell us that every time we
commit a sin and we do not confess that
sin to the priest and if we die we will
go to a burning living hell where we all
torture when we tortured and suffer for
all eternity with no hope of reprieve no
hope of salvation will be lost forever
so the next thing I did is raise my hand
again and I said when can I come and
confess and of course the priest looked
to me and said you're too young to
confess you first have to do your Holy
Communion you means you have to go way
to a certain period of time where you
could learn about the Church's teachings
and the church's doctrines and once
you've done your first Holy Communion
when you get to a certain age then only
can you go and to your First Holy
Communion and then only can you go to
from confession so now I was really
worried because what happens if I died
tomorrow does that mean I haven't had a
chance to confess my sins to the priest
and I'm gonna burn in this living hell
forever and ever and ever and so I was
very anxious and I went to the priest
and said please can I go to confession
he said no you have to first to your
Holy Communion and when I asked him what
would happen to me he didn't have an
answer because there is no answer so you
can see I had lots and lots of confusion
right from the beginning before things
that even started
so confession was a big problem for me
but the confession box became my new
home you see what happened when the
teachers got tired of beating me and
hitting me and pulling my hair and
smacking me for asking theological
questions they had no answers for my new
home became the confession box in the
church so what they do is they send me
to the confession box I'd locked the
door and they'd leave me there now the
confession box is a dark place there's
no light or anything so every time I did
something wrong was badly behaved this
became my new home so I spend a lot of
time in this confession box and it
became like I had Tom Shaylee I had
frequent flyer miles in the confession
box
and so while it's sudden the confession
box I think about questions I would
think about things that that I needed
answers for I think about for example
one day the priest told us that there is
a bottle of wine then he takes and he
pours it into a jug a silver jug and he
puts the silver jug on the altar and
there's a bag of bread that he opens and
he puts the bread into a silver bowl and
he takes these two things and he holds
him up in the course of the church
service and this is called communion and
the wine that we saw in the bottle that
was bought from a shop suddenly turns
into the real blood of Jesus and the
bread that he bought from a shop turns
into the real body of Jesus so the bread
suddenly somehow changed into flesh and
this water or this one it was mixed with
vinegar somehow turned into real blood
and so for me this was terrifying and I
just think how would people want to go
to a church where they're going to learn
to be vampires and and cannibals they're
they're going to be cannibalistic and
we're going to be eating human flesh and
again a drinking blood of a human this
just scared me and terrified me so when
I was asked later in whereas I grew
older and I did my first Holy Communion
or I was ready now to take communion for
the first time and go to confession for
the first time I made sure I was nowhere
to be seen
I ran for the hills ad and one not to
run to drink human blood and I
definitely didn't want to eat human
flesh even though they told me this is
spiritual blood and spiritual flesh
there was Jesus's blood and Jesus's
flesh I still didn't want any part of it
I wasn't going to buy into eating raw
meat and eating someone's blood and
stool today and tell you what when I eat
meat it has to be well well well done I
don't want to see any blood so one thing
the Catholic Church that really well for
me is teach me to eat my meat well
cooked and by the way I don't eat much
meat meat is not good for you can eat it
but eat it in moderation so as the years
went by the priests realized that I was
going to be a problem child and they
realized that this child is not going to
get it he's gonna ask question he's
gonna be rebellious his whole life when
it comes to theological issues and so
what happened is one of the priests said
I've got an idea for this child he's
going to become an altar boy now an
altar boy means I serve in the church as
a baby priest in a way so what I do is I
help her whenever there's a church
service I help prepare the altar and
pull the wine into the the silver
chalice I take the bread out of
didn't put it into the silver plate put
that on the altar sometimes during the
service you'd have to ring a bell you'd
be you'd be basically helping the priest
and whatever he needs to be done during
the service and so this was my new job I
became like a little mini priest mini me
and so I used to have a special effort
which looked strangely not very similar
to this but it was a gray one used to
have a big rosary around my neck and I
would go and I lack the rituals but I
didn't like what was being preached I
like the idea that you needed to be
committed that you need to do things at
a certain time and a certain way every
single week didn't like what was being
taught because I just found there was no
evidence heard no one was explaining
anything to me that we're just saying
this is the way it's done and this is
the way it'll continue to be done so for
yours I continued as and also boy in the
church I really believed in what I was
following and I thought this is
definitely you know something that I
enjoy doing something definitely I'd
like to learn more about but I had a
problem with the doctrines or the
lessons that were being taught now and
around about seven or eight years old a
headless dream and in this dream it was
a reoccurring dream because I had it
many times over and over and over and
our Sciences have done a study on people
who have reoccurring dreams and we find
that many people have reoccurring dreams
they say they're people who wake up we
just be before REM sleep or after REM
sleep when you go into your next sleep
cycle these are the people who are most
likely to have reoccurring dreams
whatever the scientific purpose might be
or the scientific reason might be for
for reoccurring dreams I'm not sure but
in this dream that I had this
reoccurring dream that had many many
times as a young boy I used to have this
dream that I always been I was floating
and many people have dreams of flying or
floating and have that experience you
know what it feels like a very strange
feeling but in this dream I dreamt that
I was floating up through different
layers of heavens and to me under the
heavens because they were beautiful and
was nothing like I'd ever seen here some
people say there are different levels or
different layers of clouds or whatever
but to me I knew very very clearly from
a young age that there were seven
heavens and as I went through these
seven heavens I could hear people
singing and they're singing in a
language all chanting in a language that
never heard before and or dressed in
white robes and all everyone looked so
happy and so serene and they were
chanting the same thing over
and over and over again and I didn't
know what it meant so I went to my
priest the next day and I said to the
priest of my church what is this dream
about seven heavens on discharging it
and of course the reaction was boof on
the back of the head we do not believe
in seven heavens is only one heaven and
so the whole way through life I had this
idea that there were seven heavens and I
had an idea that this chanting that I
heard had some type of meaning so I
asked a couple of other people from
other denominations of course they they
said the same thing within Christendom
there's only one heaven and I try to
find out what the meaning was I spoke to
a woman who knew Latin in my church and
I said - what does this lalalalala mean
and she said well she has no idea but it
must be lesson or it might be Aramaic or
it might be Greek she doesn't know what
it is but I mustn't worry too much about
that it's just a dream and leave it as a
dream so I continue to live through my
life and not worry about it and so I
want you to find it in a way I want to
define what this meant but I didn't
worry too much about it I left it so
this discharging the story and this
layers of heaven I really wanted it
really bothered me I really want you to
have an answer for it but not to the
extent where I gave up everything else
to in search of the answer for this so
it always it remainder that back of my
mind now as I got older and I went to
school left that left the Catholic
school and went into a normal secular
school with normal secular teaching I
found for the first time that I
understood what was going on in the
world and so I started to look at
politics now I come from South Africa
and so politics is a very important part
of our lives and a very important part
of our upbringing now I never knew there
was any difference to me to anybody else
because of the color of my skin or
pigmentation was only as I got older and
I remember one day sitting at the bottom
of my garden and I watched the the ants
moving from one nest to the other and I
saw the little red ants and the black
ants they were fighting with each other
and I think it was because they were
fighting over food or maybe they're
raiding each other's nests or whatever
the reason I don't know and the lady who
looked after me the lady who care was my
caretaker and looked after me my parents
weren't around
she was an African woman a Zulu speaking
woman from our country and she pointed
at these ants and she said to me this is
what's happening in our country and I
looked at her quite regularly like what
do you mean by this we said the black
hands and the red ants are
the black people and the white people in
this country and there's a Warren is a
fat going and I was shocked and I said
but why are they fighting and she said
to me because of the color of the skin
and I couldn't get a now didn't
understand that I thought how can people
fight because of the color of their skin
now I'm going to go into more depth
about my political understandings and
how politics had such a role to play in
my reversion or conversion from
Christianity and inshallah in the next
episode we'll continue to look at my
reversion and hard-to-place and looking
more in depth at how can apply to maybe
even you to you can think about how you
can be a better Muslim insha Allah but
I'll give you a quick recap grew up in a
family that allowed me to go to Catholic
school to start with and probably was a
good idea because it gave me some basic
routing and Islam and helped me to
understand that there's only one God
even though the Christian Church was
trying to tell me there was a Trinity or
more than one God I knew from a young
age there can only be one God so one
good thing that came from selling me to
a Christian school is that I started to
see truth from error so even though they
were teaching me doctrines that were the
church head I already understood from a
very young age that there was only one
God but anyway that didn't stop me
asking very difficult questions to the
people around me at that time like did
Adam have a bellybutton
why is it that we follow the the
teachings of the church and call people
priests and nuns or priests and sisters
when they're not really our biological
sisters or biological fathers so many
questions that came up remember our
worlds I spoke about having a dream
about the seven heavens with this
chanting that sounded like lalalalalala
and no one could give me any answers for
him at that time and then also spoke a
little bit about how I started to see
what was going on politically in the
world at that time now growing up in
South Africa I understood for the first
time there was a difference between the
pigmentation or people's skin and I
couldn't understand why it was like that
so from a very young age I became an
activist if you want and I try to fight
for the rights of the people of all
people regardless of what color your
skin was and so at a very young age
about 12 or 13 years old I started
getting involved in the underground
movements in my country and the
underground movements I'm talking about
is the African National Congress or ANC
I became a member of the South African
Communist Party at a very young age
even though I was a Christian and began
to see that there was a need for people
to do something about what was happening
in our country and so from a very young
age I was labeled as a leftist and I was
people used to say you know you forgot
your own culture you don't know what
your culture is and isolates people but
if my culture goes against the beliefs
that I believe then and my culture has
to lose out so then my culture has to
lose art and so wherever there's a
conflict between what my beliefs were
and what my culture said my culture had
to give away for the truth of the belief
and so I found their truths even till
today but we'll keep that for a later
stage but what is important that I
learned to this young age is that every
human being was created by God and God
does not make mistakes so if God wants
me to be born into a Greek family I
would have been gone born into a Greek
family if he wanted me to be born into a
Jewish family I've been born into a
Jewish family if he wanted me to be born
into a Italian family I've been born
into Italian family so I understood his
world this is the second lesson I
learned very very young was that
everything is in the control and in the
hands of God God has everything
everything is preordained everything is
predestined and many people are afraid
of this word predestined but all that
means is that there is a great plan and
master plan for your life it doesn't
mean that you because you were born a
Hindu that you remained a Hindu your
whole life this is where you started
this is your starting block this is what
was given to you however you need to
progress you need to move further one of
the greatest lessons in life is to know
that you need to search for the truth
and that the truth will set you free
where you look for the truth maybe the
problem you see some of us look for
truth in the wrong places
but let me get back to the topic at hand
and I'll bring that in inshallah later
in the series so politically I started
to have a look at what was going on in
because I saw what was going on
politically in my country and the
atrocities and the unbalance and the
injustice I started to find a problem
the same thing happening within the
churches for example the church I went
to was only for white people and only
white people were permitted to enter the
church and so I saw how can you preach
from the Bible it says that everybody is
one brother and we're all created from
one God and then had prejudice or racism
because of somebody's pigmentation of
their skin and so I felt to call
to try and find a right way of teaching
people what the Bible said and so I
started reading more about the Bible but
at this point I wouldn't call myself a
practicing Christian all I would say at
this point of my life is I found
religion interesting and I found it that
I enjoyed the rituals and the activities
that were involved in the church but not
to an extent that I would call myself
actually a Christian I wasn't a person
who really followed the Bible I just
found it interesting so what happened in
by the time I was 13 years old I was
away on holiday at one of the coastal
towns in my country which is beautiful
we have a beautiful coastline and I
learned to surf from a very very young
age so I one of those guys with the with
the surfboard under his arm in there
running along the beach looking for a
perfect way if that was me and so at the
age of 13 I used to be had a lot of time
in the water and one of my very close
friends him and I used to go down
surfing in the afternoons and one day we
finished up very late so we finished up
at about 3 or 4 or maybe even 5 o'clock
in the evening from surfing and when we
came onto the shore we heard these
people playing guitars and singing and
they were sitting in a circle so he
winds up in me like what are you guys
doing and they said no they're one
family that had come down to the to the
coast and there were Christians and they
were just singing some praises to God
now this was very interesting to me
because I'd never heard anyone say used
the word praises to God in a sentence I
see in the church that I came from we
were very very strict and very very
traditional and so I listened to these
people and they said well you can come
sit with us they're havin they're havin
a barbecue on the beach a bride's we
call it in our country and they're
cooking meat and they gave us some food
to eat and they gave us something to
drink and we were talking and discussing
things and they said you know what you
need in your life and we said what they
said you need to become a Christian you
need to have Jesus in your life
so I said somebody but I do have Jesus
in my life and they said no no you need
to make a commitment you have to say
these few words and if you say these few
words then you will be guaranteed a
ticket into heaven no matter what you do
in the future no matter what you've done
in the past no matter what you done in
the prison and we'll make no difference
because if you say these few words
you'll have a ticket that would
guarantee you citizenship in heaven one
day I thought wow the church that I come
from the Catholic Church if I died
without saying a confession to the
priest I'm gonna go to hell because
that's what the priest told me
here I've got a nice easy way out all I
have to do is say these few words and
I'm guaranteed no matter what I do in
the past no matter what I do in the
present no matter what I do in the
future my sins are forgiven and I have
absolutely no problem I have a
guaranteed place in heaven so the while
this is cool
so I said yeah yeah sign me up or give
me the pen I got my opinion let's sign
the contract and I'm quite happy to go
and so I did so when I went back to my
family and I said to him guess what
happened
I've just been guaranteed a place in
heaven what do you think their reaction
was the reaction was what you've been
speaking to these insane born-again
Christian people and they were very
upset about my parents were upset my
father was upset my mother was upset in
fact the whole family were in sighs and
I'm sure if we were in America at the
time they probably would have had
tortures and they would have had picket
pixon I'd be running down to set these
people on fire but in South Africa so we
don't do things as extreme as that and
so when we when they eventually found
these people on the beach they said how
can you do this to our child and put
these nonsense ideas into his head and
you know what do you think you're doing
and so they they apologized and they
said well we exist doing what they
believed they were told to do but there
was something about this that really
attracted me and so when I went back to
to our city where we came from I asked
my parents if I could go on a spiritual
journey I said to him I wanted to have a
look at other religions because this is
the first time I've come across any
other religion outside of the Catholic
Church and so I started my spiritual
journey but my parents said there was
one condition I had to take a chaperone
with me somebody had to come with me to
make sure that wasn't brainwashed like I
had been the first time with these these
guys on the on the on the beach playing
their guitars so the first church I went
to was a very interesting church and
this was the total opposite to the
Catholic Church when I walked into this
church as I started coming into the
entrance to the door I could hear people
singing and playing music and it was
electric guitars playing and drums
playing and organs playing and pianos
playing and people with tambourines and
girls singing and men singing all
together
oh wow this is like a Christian
discotheque although this is going to be
fun they're gonna have all sorts of fun
in this place when you walked in that's
all these people swaying backwards and
forwards and jumping around and speaking
in languages which is later found out to
be tongues which is suppose
a spiritual language that only certain
people in the world can receive and so I
thought wow this is very interesting but
I didn't really get attracted by the
music strange enough I didn't really get
attracted by the sounds of all the
different instruments playing but I did
get attracted by who was standing on the
stage whoa there on the stage with these
girls all these young girls half-naked
girls you know these shorts on and these
open tops and a little wow this is a
church you can you go to church and you
get all these these things to see and I
was I mean I didn't realize at that time
that this was actually a distraction
this would actually pull you away from
what you should be doing and so I went
to the church other while this is a good
reason to go to church if this is what
I'm gonna see in the church and
strangely somewhere along the line I
think Allah knew that my intention was
wrong and so he put this inside of me to
stay away from this church and so I
never went back to that church again and
my brother asked me who was a was five
years old me why don't you want to go
back to the church and I said I don't
know something inside me tells me not to
go back then and I think it was the
distractions the distractions from all
these young girls and the mixing of all
the people together so I continues going
each week to a different church from one
church to the next other this one was
too conservative or the other Church it
was too much happening or this one had
too much music or this one had too many
people scantily dressed whatever the
reason was I went from church to church
and this went on for a good part of a
year
so after this voyage that I went on and
on looking for places to find a home in
some way that I'd say well this is going
to be my new spiritual haven this is
going to be my church I came across a
group of people that were going to go on
a camp soon somebody through my school
said listen the church is going to have
a camp and they're going away for two
weeks in the December holidays now in
South Africa are longer school holidays
are in December because it's our summer
and in December is our summer and it's
really really hot so they give us off
like almost a month or maybe a month and
a half we have off from school so he
went on this church camp an honest
church camp they had little courses and
you could learn to the abseiling you
could do whitewater rafting you could do
all sorts of activities but they also
had lessons and every night you had to
go to this Chapel the chapel was open or
this church was open from about 3
o'clock in the afternoon and you were
there until about hoppers five and they
had lesson or teaching
and the one day I was sitting in this
church and this church was beautiful it
was made of the whole church was made of
gloss so you could see everything that
was happening on the outside and in the
front of the church where the priest
stood there was a backdrop of a
beautiful river flowing and I had these
willow trees that hung over the river
and you could see in the late afternoon
by 4 o'clock in the afternoon the
swallows would fly down and swooped down
and I'd pick up all the little insects
it were any other the waters edge and so
this was a beautiful setting it was the
most romantic setting that you could
imagine was beautiful it made me feel
clean it made me feel comfortable it
made me feel at ease and so at this time
I was about about 14 or 15 years old
already and so this was a beautiful
setting and I thought wow this is so
amazing and I remember seeing the mist
starting to come up off the water and
how everything was just absolutely
serene and perfect and I sat there and I
felt as calmness came over me a priest
walked in and he stood in the front and
he started to talk and the words that he
started to speak really seem to get
through to me now when we have the short
break when we get back I'll tell you
what he said well bismillah ar-rahman
ar-rahim assalam alaykum wa rahmatullah
wa barakatu welcome back and I was
talking the earlier part on how our
aversion to all my conversion to
Christianity took place and I was saying
how this I was in this church it was
made of glass high everything was
perfect the scenery was perfect the
willow trees were hanging over the river
the river was running bar the birds were
swooping that was absolutely beautiful
the Sun was on its way down so that
everything looked as purpley red color
was absolutely the most perfect scene
I've ever seen and then came this priest
and he stood in front of everybody and
he started to talk and everything he
said I hang on every word he said and he
said if you were to die today and he was
talking to everybody that was there if
you had to die today and God were to say
to you why should I let you into in my
heaven what would you say and so I
thought about what I would say and the
priest turned to me and he said to me
what would you say boy what would you
say and I said well I would say that I
try to do good and I try to do what is
right and I hope that all my good
actions overwork my bad actions all the
things that I did and he said there
wouldn't be enough no guarantee you
would get into heaven even if you did
all the good deeds in the world even if
you never sinned once in your life if
you died without saying these magic
words that I accept Jesus as my Lord and
Savior you're going to hell and while
that's a bit rough he said no that's the
way it is anyway I was caught up in the
motion and it's caught up in the feeling
I feel well you know this is probably
the right thing to do and so what I did
is I stood up there and I said yes I
want to become a Christian because I
didn't want to go to hell I knew from
the beginning from a little boy I didn't
want to go to hell and I knew I wanted
to go to heaven that I knew from day one
so I became a Christian in that day I
became a born-again Christian and so
there was no doubt in my mind that I
wanted this I no doubt in my mind did I
want you to be a Christian and so what
happened is the priest said to me listen
you need to read this book and he gave
me a Bible and I started to read this
book and it was fascinating I started in
the book of Genesis and I couldn't put
it down I just keep reading more and
more and what a really interesting book
you know what was fascinating about the
Bible to me it was the one of the nicest
theory books I've ever read and that's
why I can see why it's such a
best-seller you see because this good
story book should have a good
introduction it should have a good body
and it should have a good ending now
this book was there to captivate you to
hold you and maybe there was problems
that I had many right in the beginning I
found there were inconsistencies and
there were errors and there were
problems but there's a story book very
very good fantastic stories stories
about battles stories about fathers and
sons turning on each other and killing
each other how mother and daughter
turned on each other how father slept
with daughter all these strange thing he
was like watching Days of Our Lives or
or one of these soap operas that you
watch on television or I read this book
and it was loud it was fascinating was
like an adventure story but yes the
morals were a bit dubious and yes the
stories were a bit strange but it did
captivate me and I did read it and then
very soon I became the chairman of the
student Christian Association and I used
to start teaching people and lecture
people about how to be a stronger
Christian how to be a better Christian
I became an evangelist which meant I
used to stand on street corners giving
out books about how to become a
Christian I really believed in
Christianity I was totally committed I
was involved with the African National
Congress ANC and I was a Christian and I
was very involved in the Christian
community
in the African National Congress and as
I started practicing my Christianity
more and was involved in politics more I
had a problem with the separation of the
races and so I started a church when I
still had me I was in the past or
anything I was little schoolgirl we're
trying to bring different denominations
and different races together so we could
have groups to discussions together and
see what problems they were with saved
the black race to the indian race to the
white race one day a friend of mine
asked me to come to his church and I
went to this church and was the
seventh-day Adventist Church now the
difference between the seventh-day
Adventist Church and the Baptist Church
is this the Baptist Church believed that
the only way to get to heaven is by
saying these magic words that I accept
Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior sin day
Adventist Church believe that you need
to keep the 10 commandments as well as
say those words now there was a problem
because I leaned more towards obeying
the law and knowing that there has to be
some type of consequence for your
actions so I became a dual citizenship
person I had citizenship in the Baptist
Church and I had citizenship in the same
day Adventist Church nursing about this
is actually didn't have any problems
with it with mom with my day-to-day life
because seventh-day adventists went to
church on a Saturday and the Baptist
Church we went to church on a Sunday so
I could go Saturday and Sunday so this
shows my commitment I really was
committed to the Bible recommitted to
the understanding as much as possible
about Christianity I did every course I
did Master laugh I did the ee3 these
those who are Christians will know
exactly what I'm talking about when I
talk about these programs this is why I
was still at school I got involved in
after each work added missionary work on
the holidays
I was really committed to Christendom I
loved God I love God with all my heart
and I really believed that God was the
one and only and only the only one who
could control my life and and lead my
life in a way that would be successful
for me and so as the years went by I
decided that the the logical thing for
me to do was to go and study theology
when I finished school and so I had jobs
and I worked in and I would go and study
for a few years and then come back and
work again and study for a few years
because I paid my own way as I went
along and I studied the different
universities and different colleges and
different facilities and wherever I
could I study
as much as possible for about a 12 year
period I studied Christian theology
during this time I came across many
Muslims and some of the Muslims I came
across were people that I thought were
oppressed in other words I'd meet woman
I'd say you know you don't have to be
pressed anymore you can be free you
don't have to wear those clothes you
don't have to be downtrodden you don't
have to let your husband control Ian
obviously I had no idea what I was
talking about and then I'd meet young
boys and especially act 12 11 12 years
old now Satan you need to accept Jesus
Christ as your Lord and say that you
need to become a Christian so I go stand
outside mosque so I'd stand at the
entrance where children were going to a
mosque and try and preach them so I was
very determined to bring Muslims to
Christianity obviously I never had any
results but I tried I'd go to the Hindu
temples and I do the same things that
Hindu temples I go everywhere and I'd
preach to people and try bring people to
Christianity now this time I was a
pastor now I had a church that I was
involved with ours a minister of note in
the Methodist Church which means I would
go talk at different places I'd be sent
out anyway I went wherever they wanted
me to go and I go in and preach them I
was also a lay pastor and youth pastor
and the Baptist Church and the town that
I grew up in and I was a deacon in the
Dutch Reformed Church over in hair care
as we call it in our country and I was a
missionary so I was involved you can see
in many different ways I did sermons I
did lessons I did teaching in a number
of places and a number of our facilities
as you go to work at schools I go talk
at all sorts of places wherever it was
the time came where I had to go do my
national service in my country I refused
to do national service I was a religious
object ad and believed and killing
people the especially because there was
a racist regime it was in control of my
country and I wasn't going to shoot
somebody or kill somebody because my
government told me to because I didn't
believe in the government that I had
then but anyway eventually I was forced
to go and do my two years national
service and I took my two years national
service and during my two years national
service I served in the military as a
chaplain which means I was a spiritual
guard or spiritual helper as a pastor or
a priest in the military so it helped
people in need so I was a Christian
chaplain in the military and I'd help
people they were in need or had any
advice that they needed specially those
who are under stress and
who were sick or had been hurt and
confrontation or military operations so
I was deeply committed there was no
doubt none of my people would have
doubted that I was a Christian I was
deeply committed to Christianity
a deeply believed in everything however
I began to see cracks and the cracks
started to show from the day I became a
Christian because I found verses in the
Bible that just didn't seem to make
sense to me
verses that seem to jump out at you and
so show me clearly that Jesus could not
be who we claimed them to be that the
Ten Commandments were only meant for
people of the Old Testament but they
were also meant for the people of the
New Testament
and that the Prophet said were spoken
about all came with exactly the same
message and so as I started reading more
and more of the Bible I found myself
becoming more and more conservative I
found that I wanted a more traditional
form of Christianity and not a
Christianity that just said once saved
always saved I believe for example that
what was the points of Jesus's death on
the cross that Jesus's death on the
cross actually do anything you see for
me it meant that anything that means is
that I wouldn't have to go to a temple
and make a sacrifice of an animal but I
was still responsible for my sin I still
had to confess my sin I still had to
make restitution for what I've done
wrong so what was the point of Jesus's
death on the cross so the more I started
looking into the Bible war problems I
started to find that why would Jesus
need to die on the cross what was the
purpose there was no purpose you see
when you commit a sin you're guilty of
that sin so no matter how much blood
Jesus died for your sins for you still
guilty for that sin somebody still has
to pay the price now the Christian will
say the price was paid by Christ and so
as I started looking deeper and deeper
into the Bible the more I discovered
that many of these doctrines are
doctrines that could not possibly be one
day as I got further and further into my
studies and became more and more dubious
or doubted more and more what I found in
the Bible I was asked to do a sermon and
the sermon that I was given was on the
topic of male-female relations this was
to be the sermon that would change my
life forever because in preparation of
the sermon I was to find out what it
really means to be a Christian and what
it really means to be somebody who
searches for the truth and
let's the truth set him free you see for
me as I prepared this talk and as I
started to prepare the sermon it was
going to change me and shake me at to
the very very core now today we have
come to the end of this program and we
don't have enough time to go into the
next part but inshallah in the next part
of the series we're going to look at
what was it that I had to read this talk
on and what was that it shook me to my
core of my foundation what was it that
changed me that made me realize that I
had to change it made me realize that
there was a need to find truth and also
me truth nor the truth it could be
changed as the weeks and the days went
by but a truth that would hold true for
years to come they would be so strong
there to prevent me from going to the
left of the right by keeping on the
straight path the middle path the path
of truth the part of Islam so inshallah
when we meet again we'll get to the
crucial part of this bismillah ar-rahman
ar-rahim assalam alaykum wa rahmatullah
wa barakatu lillah illallah muhammadur
rasulullah I declare that there is no
other God worthy of worship other than
Allah and that the Prophet Muhammad is
the final Messenger of Allah so we've
been talking in the last two episodes
and this is the third one in a series of
Mark transition from missionary to
Muslim and if you haven't been able to
see the first two perhaps you can go to
peace TV online and have a look in you
may be able to see some of the previous
episodes there but if you have been
watching then you'll know where we are
but did it give you a quick recap I grew
up in a Christian family went to a
Christian school became a born-again
Christian got very very involved in the
church from a very young age 12 years of
my life has been studying the Bible and
studying and different books of the
Bible studying different doctrines
within the Bible was involved in many
missionary organizations missionary work
charity work so I was really really
deeply committed to the church but the
catalyst came when I was asked to do a
talk for a group of youth and the group
of youth was about I would say about
3,000 people they were expected at this
youth conference and the youth
conference was held and the subject
matter that was given to me was
male-female relations how far should we
go so what they actually wanted me to do
is to go and have a look for
the Bible and find out how FAR's should
boys and girls go when they date each
other you see in Christendom boys and
girls are loud today to get to know each
other hold hands so they'd be allowed to
be hold hands kiss hug touch each other
what will half are there to go or maybe
they're whole little pinky fingers
together what is it that they're allowed
to do what is it that they're not
allowed to do when it comes to dating
and so as I prepared my talk and I
started doing it I took a piece of paper
and I started to write down the topic
and I wrote on a piece of paper I wrote
their male-female relations and I picked
up my Bible and I started reading
through it try to find a verse that said
anything about male-female relations
several hours went past in my blank
piece of paper that was in front of me
was still blank I found no way that it
said male and female relations in other
words dating getting to know each other
engagements was permitted in the way
that we understand it in the church
today so I thought well let me have a
look what other religions have to say so
I took out another book called the
bhagavad-gita which is a Hindu scripture
which is more commonly used amongst the
hare Krishna movement or the
International Society of Krishna
consciousness they use it more and I
read through it and found the same
problem and one of the problems that I
found it it was because one minute one
of the gods was a male and the next
minute one of the gods was a female the
same God so though well this books I'm
not going to be able to use to me and I
put it down then I went to the Book of
Mormon which is the moment book and I
went through more mini books and
eventually I found that I had whole
stack of books in very few or if any had
anything to do with male-female
relations but behind me at the back of
me was a bookcase and on this bookcase
at the bottom left hand bottom right
hand corner of the bookcase was a white
book quite a thick white book and this
white book was still wrapped in plastic
which means I never opened it on the
side of it I had written the Holy Quran
and so I thought well let me have a look
what this book says so I picked up this
book and I opened it I don't know what
I'm gonna be able to find in this book
because I don't know my way around it so
I looked at the index and although well
let me look at relationships and there
was no such thing under the
relationships so then I looked the under
the other section I looked at mail and I
started reading all the verses they had
to do with mail now looks at the word
female looks at all the verses that had
to do with female and what I found was
actually quite amazing
first thing you must be terribly honest
when I talk about the
we're not open this book who is this is
basically the exactly the same book that
I have here now the only difference it
had a white cover on this one has a
green cover when I open this book
something fascinating took place I
didn't understand anything in it now you
might be surprised for me to say that
but you see what I said to you in series
1 in the series of this series that I'm
doing the episode 1 of the series that
I'm doing I said in episode 1 that word
I liked about the bob was when you open
it was like a typical storybook it had a
nice beginning a nice middle and a nice
end the Quran doesn't have that the
Quran is a straightforward book it tells
you exactly how to get from point A to B
the fastest way possible you see the
Bible when you pick up the Bible it says
for example if I had to tell you how to
get to the shop or had to go to a
restaurant in your town I will tell you
this would be the Bible way I would say
to you go about 15 kilometres along the
road in a southeasterly direction and
you'll see a shop on your left-hand side
which has a sign it says they open 24
hours a day on the left-hand side you'll
see a woman selling books don't worry
about you keep going about and so it
will give you a long long story on how
to get there with lots of distractions
along the way however when it comes to
the Quran it gives you that direct route
it will say go northeast 125 kilometres
you'll see a sign saying open that's
where we are and so what are what was
very difficult for me to understand when
reading the Quran was how blatant and
how straightforward it was without any
holding any punches it wasn't trying to
give a softy approach it was giving that
direct approach and so it was extremely
difficult for me to read because it was
so blatant it was like being punched in
the face every single time I read a line
someone who felt like I was up against a
heavyweight boxer when I read the Bible
it was like being against some child
throwing a feather at me it wasn't
hitting me it was just very very
entertaining so when I read the Quran it
was blatant it hit me it was straight
into the face it directly hit me and I
was scared of this book and so I put it
down after I just said okay well I'm
gonna look at his the male-female
relationships and I'm not interested in
any further this book is is actually
quite scary I remember recently somebody
asked me he said I would take the Quran
but there hasn't got a lot to do with
hell and punishment in it and I couldn't
lie to the person who say some more a
dozen so I said to him
well it has a lot more do's and dont's
in it and I don't know if that makes any
sense to you but next time you read the
Quran see how many dudes it has it has a
lot more do's then don'ts and if you
spend your time doing the do's you won't
have time to do the don'ts so you have
that's for something for you to join
that's going off the subject again but
one of the things that happened when I
read the Quran is that had very very
interesting information to tell me about
male-female relations and so I started
writing these things done but then it
also got me thinking about how things
are in different Christian countries in
the world for example let's look at
Christian countries complaints in Muslim
countries and so I started writing notes
about this as well so the day came where
I had to stand up before these three
thousand odd boys and girls and they're
all sitting in front of me some of them
were talking some imagery and
chewing-gum
something between gum and some of them
were reading books some of them were
drawing some of them were fighting with
each other you know our young people are
and I looked at this crowd and I looked
down in the first road there were all
these boys and girls sitting in front of
me and something came over me something
that I don't understand to this day
something that I can't fully explain but
I said something strange to this group
of people and I said to them I want all
the girls to move to the back and all
the boys to sit in the front now
remember I knew nothing about Islam I
had never visited a mosque I don't know
any of the traditions or the customs of
Islam this was purely what happened to
me I cannot explain why it happened it
just happened and so I separated the two
sexes
now I didn't separate the two sexes
because I thought the girls were lesser
than the men and the men were more
important I suddenly for the first time
saw what I saw
I actually saw what my eyes were seeing
and while I was seeing was distractions
and so I remember all the times that I
had been a priest or preached as a
pastor in the church or I had preached
to groups of people
how when I was preaching I look in the
front row and there's these girls with
their little skirts on or these woman
with their little skirts on and how my
mind would start wandering off about
other things things that I shouldn't be
thinking about how was thinking about
last four forts and I thought to myself
but I've been doing this while I've been
preaching while I've been trying to
teach the Word of God if the people in
the audience only knew what was in my
mind what I was thinking about how they
would be disappointed with me and so for
the first time when I stood be in front
of all these people and I separated them
I realized that I was separating people
form our impurity
yes it might be selfish yes people might
think I'm being sexist yes admire people
might think that that I'm a bad person
by doing this but what am i doing it for
I'm doing it should protect my own mind
I'm doing it to protect myself from what
from what would leave me naturally into
sin because if you can stand there today
well if you can sit at home today and
say that you can sit in front of a group
of people that are mixed mixed sexes
together and not have those thoughts and
not be tempted to look at the person
sitting next to you that's the opposite
sex or stand at the pulpit and look down
and not have temptation then there's two
things are they wrong with you one is
that you did or two you need to go see a
psychiatrist because there's something
seriously wrong with you because we all
have their temptation and if you don't
have this temptation you need to go see
a doctor because there's something wrong
with you all of us have these natural
feelings and we need to make sure we
don't put ourselves in these temptations
so from this Thomas well the first time
separated the sexes and so I put them in
in front and the woman we have younger
boys in the front and the younger girls
behind and as I started teaching and I
stood up on the pulpit and I was about
to speak what came out of our mouth is
l'm has everything to offer Christianity
but Christianity has nothing to offer
Islam when I had made that statement I
realized what I had said and I suddenly
realized that for the first time I had
spoken a truth that even I didn't fully
comprehend and so a stuck what I'd said
I'd really made the statement I already
said that it christianity has nothing to
offer Islam and Islam has everything off
to offer Christianity what do I mean by
that and it shocked me to my core that I
had said something that I had not
prepared nothing that I had thoughts of
saying she intentionally I thought what
is Christianity to offer Islam but when
I stood up there I realized we have
nothing to offer Islam the Christianity
has nothing to offer Islam and that
Islam is everything what is Islam have
to offer Christianity and I started to
talk to the young people and I said to
him look at the way the male and female
relations are in Islam compared to
Christianity we date we meet we sleep
around and we use the person and we move
on to the next one and we date and he
meets and you sleep around and we move
on to the next person the first time a
Muslim boy and a Muslim girl meet each
other is when they meet each other to
decide if they're going to get married
or not and this was done with
perón the chaperone will leave them
alone for a while and but he'll sit in
earshot so you can hear then you'll come
back and then the decision will be made
whether to be married or not this
marriage is now consecrated it's
protected by God God is now the one who
is in control and protects this marriage
so if their marriage is to agree to go
through then the marriage will take
place
it is blessed it's not getting to know
each other there's no steeping around or
anything like that this is a beautiful
marriage blessed by Allah blessed by God
and I said look at crime and punishment
in our country crime and punishment
you just get a tap on the hand for if
you do something and Islamic States
there's a very high penalty so this
penalty is is there to prevent people
from doing the crumbs so there is none
of this crime around what about how we
treat our parents and our families how
do we look after the society the
retirement villages and so I went off
the point off the point subject after
subject topic off the topic showing how
Islam and Christianity comparing the two
and how everything was different how
Islam was so much better than
Christianity and yet we want to go to
Muslims and say here take Christianity
this is what we want to give you and
what we have is use second hand no good
stuff yet Islam comes with the best the
nicest offers it to Christianity so how
do we possibly think that Christians can
offer Islam anything what Christianity
offers Islam is nothing and compared to
what Islam has to offer Christianity and
so when I'd finish this talk you can
imagine the reaction the first reaction
was this guy has been possessed he's
there's a demon that's taking over he
needs to take some time off and so what
happened is my church said to me the
congregation said to me and many of my
friends said to me you need to take some
time off so we're gonna take a short
break and when we get back from a short
break I will tell you what happened next
this creepy bismillah r-rahman r-rahim
assalam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa
barakatu welcome back and we were
talking about my final days of
Christendom so it came to a point where
the church said I need to take some time
off that maybe I was possessed maybe I
was tossing my faith or whatever so I
took a year off and during this year
that I had taken off from from
Christianity my brother and myself my
step-brother
all of my brother in Islam is so he came
with me and we went and we lived on the
coast near a coaster a closed tool area
and a coastal town and while we were
living in this coastal town I did a lot
of soul-searching a lot of thinking
right I didn't I pick up the cron I
don't know why I said the things that I
said but I just understood by what I
understood by Islam Muslims what I'd
seen in Muslims that's what I prayed to
a board across not so much what I'd read
in the Crone but it said in the back of
my mind and I knew I didn't want to
become a Muslim I thought no I don't
wanna become a Muslim but you cannot go
to Muslims and try and give them
something which they've got better than
we have that's what I understood as a
Christian and so this during this year
it bugged me a lot and I thought about
it and I thought well maybe I must just
like not think about they memorize just
ignore everything that I said and go
back to Christianity can say yes I'm
sorry what I said was wrong yes maybe
they are living a better people maybe
they have better rules maybe they have
better regulations but they don't have
Christ so maybe that's the way I should
just go back and forget about it so
during this year when I was thinking my
brother used to be fascinated with
animals and plants and birds and fish
and our house used to be like a zoo we
had every animal you can imagine we had
cats all over the place we had birds we
had fish everything and all of these
things needed to be fed so what we did
if we used to do a pilgrimage once every
two weeks into the city and that was
about 100 kilometers away they will add
7080 miles away so we would have to
travel about an hour into the town and
we used to go to the shop we would buy
food for the animals
now the shop that we went to was owned
by this bar two sisters and we're going
to the shop memory bar whatever and
every time I went into the shop this
woman would say to me she said sir
before you leave I just want to tell you
one thing and I say what and she'd say
there is only one God and so I'd look at
her and I'd there okay whatever walk off
every time I came into the shop the same
thing sir before you leave I want to
tell you one thing there's only one God
again and again and again should tell
you this was quite used to upset me I
just think yeah this woman she's crazy
in fact her nickname became one God so
every time I take my brother through
we'd go into the shop and I said Sam
listen I'll be back just now a convicted
us now from one God and there was her
nickname eventually one day around
February of 2002 of this voyage
backwards and forwards about a year of
theirs
a shop I went into a shop and she said
the same statement again she'd listen I
want to tell you something I said yes I
know there was only one God I said to
listen what religion are you because I
thought she must be a Christian or
something maybe she's a jar of witness
maybe she's a woman maybe she's a 7-day
advances I don't know what religion she
was and I thought she's trying to get me
to come back on the straight path again
and she looks at me and she said didn't
you know I'm a Muslim
I said what's a Muslim and he said yes I
said ah that sums up no wonder you keep
on with this one God one God thing the
whole time so I walked out of the shop
and I was quite upset a typical Muslim
they just blown up a building now they
want to convert people to Islam and so I
thought you know September the 11th had
to be the Muslims I did it had to be and
now this woman wants to die have
converted me to a terrorist religion ha
ha she's crazy so I just thought oh I'm
never gonna speak to this woman again
said to my brother we're never going
back to that shop again this woman's
crazy if you had told me I was going to
a shop where they were supporting
terrorism and never have gone to a shop
so as I walked out of the shop we were
going back to the corn as we gains back
to the class hits my brother no there is
some way else I would like to go to
there's a man that I used to debates
against when I was very young Christian
stall and his name was Ahmed Deedat and
he has an organization called the
Islamic propagation centre I want to go
to that place and I want to tell him
what for I want to tell him what his
religion stands for I want to tell him
that his religion is a terrorist group
tell him all the stuff and I want to go
see him I want to go I haven't seen him
for years I want to go speak to this man
very arrogantly I walked off we were
both marching down the road my brother
like not knowing what was going on
following behind me but he knew that
whatever I said he sort of followed and
he knew that like there must be some
wisdom or I was gonna go and do so as we
walk down the road and we got closer and
closer to this place to the Islamic
propagation centre South Africa I was
about to enter this building and push
the button to go to the third floor or
the fourth floor of this building I felt
a calmness coming over me one day I
couldn't really explain just a strange
calmness coming over me
each floor that we went up the next
floor to the next floor to the next
floor I fell to karma and karma and
karma by the time we got to the fourth
floor that anger that a head had subdued
and I felt more logic coming into me so
otherwise I'd have been very aggressive
when I got there I felt there was much
more logic inside my brain I was going
to do it speak from a much calmer place
so when we got to the fourth floor
went into the reception area and I said
can I speak to you ask me a debt or a
medida it is a column in South Africa
and I said well he's not here at the
moment okay when I got there they said
the an idea that had been quite sick and
hadn't been inand he's at home he's ill
he's been taken ill so he's no longer at
our PCR but if you want to talk to
somebody there's a man by the name of
Ford Hendrix and he'll be quite happy to
speak to you so my brother and myself we
went into the room where Ford Hendrix
was and he began talking to us and I
said to him like you know what you guys
you claim to be a religion or peace but
you go flower planes into buildings and
so he explained to me and he said to me
listen you know like in Christianity you
had Jim Jones yeah David Koresh you had
all these crazy people in Christianity
that did all these atrocities you had
elf Hitler was a Christian you had all
these people that claimed to be
Christians and murdered so many people
we had Stalin and all these other crazy
people in Christianity now we as Muslims
don't believe that all Christians are
like we know that only a small
percentage of Christians that they're we
know they had all Christians didn't
agree with the Second World War we know
that Christians didn't agree with the
First World War but now you can't some
paint the whole of Islam because of one
or two or three or ten or twenty
terrorists that have done these or even
if there were a hundred thousand of them
you can't blame the whole of Islamic
folders so well this actually makes
sense he sat and he showed me a story by
story and how stories that make the news
have been blown out of proportion
he explained for example that if a
Muslim man had to robber a person it
would be on the news tomorrow it was a
Muslim man Rob's person but if a
Christian murders and kills and main
somebody in in a city it says John Smith
killed the person it doesn't say a
Christian and he showed me how the media
had purposely twisted everything to make
Islam the new enemy how Islam had become
the new KGB had become the new Russia
and how before Russia it was the Germans
and before those Germans that have been
somebody else always had to be a bad guy
and at this point in time
Islam was going to be the religion it is
the bad guy until the next one came
along and they would not be the bad guy
so I understood that I thought okay well
this makes sense then we went through
verse in chapter of the Quran where he
started to show me the first chapter of
the Quran and he picked up the first
chapter of the crowning he opened he
said listen I want you to have a look
what the first chapter of it
one says and so I opened the first
chapter of the Quran and in the first
chapter of the Quran it says in the name
of Allah the most gracious the most
merciful and I read another while that
is that is amazing because what it
actually says as it says I am now
introducing you to who this book is in
the name of Allah the most gracious the
most merciful I'm going to introduce you
to the Creator so I said well this word
Allah I've got a problem with this word
Allah who is Allah why don't you just
call him God and he said well God is
Allah Allah and God are the same you see
the name God and name Allah I mean the
same thing they just translation so it's
the Arabic word or the Arabic word for
Lord or God and we say Allah and
explains to me how difficult the word
God is in English for example you can
have many gods you can have demigods you
can have female gods you can have male
gods you can have all different types of
gods sometimes when we say god we
actually don't know what somebody is
saying when they say that they said
where the word Allah it's only one name
can have all our only God's name can be
Allah a little wow that is amazing and
he said to me the Quran is like a home
page you know if you go on the internet
and you open the Quran the first chapter
of the Quran surah fatiha
it's like the opening chapter of the
Quran is like the home page if you busy
browsing on the internet and you come
across the home page you get that's the
basic it tells you everything that
you're going to find or we should tell
you everything that you're gonna find in
the rest of the book and so I started
reading off to alpha T and I said you
realize wow if this is what the first
chapter is going to tell me about the
rest of book this is going to be an
interesting book this is the teaser this
is the thing that gets you this is the
Edouard placement for the rest of the
book and hold if a lie is that clear but
if god is dead clever and that was to
make sure that the first page is the
page it's gonna catch you and keep you
it must be something to this book so it
started getting me to think then we
started looking at doctrines and so we
argued for about 10 20 30 minutes 40
minutes 50 minutes backwards and
forwards the Trinity does it exist
doesn't it exists is Jesus God who isn't
a god and he started showing me Paul and
Charlotte showing me all these different
writings and showed me the beauty of
Islam now during this time my brother
disappeared and I looked for my brother
and I thought now where is he gone and
then I looked for him he had disappeared
I went down the car
trying to find him I came and I say to
the guys like listen I know you guys are
Muslims and we have Christians but did
you by any chance throw my brother at
the top story of the building I'm sort
of joking but sort of serious at the
same time and they said no no no no he's
probably in one of the rooms so I went
around looked around and as I walked
down one of the corridors I see him
walking towards me and in his hand he
has a yellow card like this and a big
smile on his face and I said well where
have you been have you been gone for
like over a half an hour where have you
been and he said I've got something to
tell you and I said what he said I've
become a Muslim no how can you become a
Muslim that they brainwashed you we came
here to argue with these people now you
come here with a yellow card in your
hand and you say you're Muslim he said
yeah I became a Muslim what does guys
were saying what they said in that room
what Ford Hendrix said to me it made
sense and anything I could possibly do
is take the Shahada and I said what is
the Shahada so when we went back into
the room the way Ford Hendrix was with
three of us sat there and he said to me
the Shahada is when you say that there
is no other god but God and that the
Prophet Mohammed is the final Messenger
of God
I said well I personally I don't believe
in this whole prophethood thing so I
won't take that same part but I agree
with you in the first part in Ford
Hendrix set me down he said let me
explain to you the full details of what
it is and he sat down and he explained
to me step by step now immediately I did
instead okay it's all clear to me now
I'm gonna become a Muslim it took a
while longer because I wanted more
information now I'm not going to give
the secret away what was actually the
key that that turned me to accepting
Islam in the next episode we're going to
look what it was that actually turned
the key and opened paradise the hope the
way to me to realize that there is a way
to paradise and remember the rocky
fitting into the right lock will open
the gates to paradise the most important
thing in life is that you seek for the
truth and if you seek for the truth the
truth will set you free
it's where you seek the truth that is
important so seeker truth wide may be
found so I was saying one of the
difficult things for me is when you see
what happened my brother had just
embraced Islam and so when he embraced
Islam he came towards me and he said to
me listen I had become a Muslim and I
was shocked I said how can you become a
Muslim and he said to me you know you
must think about what these words are
you know I said I understand them I
understand the first part I've got no
problem with that but the second part I
have a problem with because I don't know
who this person is who there's Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him is that you
people are talking about and so he went
back into the office because now I
remember I'd be in office those who were
following the last three episodes will
know what's happening now but I was in
offices of the Islamic propagation
centre in South Africa and I was sitting
in the office of Ford Hendrix and he was
telling us about Islam and so while I
was there my brother disappeared went to
another room and you took the Shahada he
became a Muslim and so I was sitting
there arguing and arguing and arguing my
points and so when I came into the
office and we all sat down all three of
us sat down again and we spoke for the
Hendricks were smiling was so happy that
my brother become a Muslim and he looked
at me and he said to me listen what else
do you what answers do you need and I
thought well if you can answer ten of
these questions then I'll become a
Muslim and so I asked these 10 questions
and then you answer them I said well if
you give us to these next 10 questions
then I'll become a Muslim and he
answered those ten questions you know he
said well I said well you can also
another ten questions they don't become
a Muslim and so I knew I was never going
to become a Muslim I was trying to find
excuses so what happened then is he said
let me tell you something I know you
you're not gonna answer a thousand of
your questions you're still going to
give me another thousand questions let
me tell you something rather I'm gonna
tell you something now I'm gonna tell
you about the life of the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him and so he
started explaining however yours this
revelation was given to him how he
didn't distort it I didn't put his own
words and he showed me that in the Quran
is this consistency of language from the
beginning of the Quran to the end of the
Quran now imagine this book has been put
to him and you writing a book over 23
years and it's your own words don't you
think there's going to be textual
changes is going to be rhythm changes is
going to be style changes and I said
some yeah they would be because it
depends on how my mood was how I was
feeling and he explained to me that none
of this text has been changed so if it
was written by a man so don't you think
it would be like the Bible where it
changes from one character to the next
and you see one character fasting with
another character Paul fasting with
Timothy Timothy fasting with Barnabas
Barnabas fighting with this one and so
you see that incorporates it into their
writing he said none of that is in the
Quran and he said how the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him
lived a life of righteousness high as to
how the people hated him because of what
he did how people will try to prevent
him from doing what he did how they
bribed him and tried to push him away
from telling the truth and he refused he
just stuck firmly and so the more he
described this person the more I found
while this is a character that we could
actually all emulate this is something
that we as normal human beings near-net
Allah and Muslims should emulate we
should try and copy and so I continue to
arguing and I started questioning and I
said but what about all the wives and
all these things and as I was in the
middle of my topic my brother pulled me
on my shoulder tapped me on my shoulder
and he said listen stop talking and
start listening so I looked at him look
at the look back in a lot what is he
know and he said no stop talking and
start listening and I thought well okay
well let me listen where these guys here
say because you know sometimes when we
talk to people about Islam or somebody
talks to you about Islam what do you do
you sit there with a whole list of
questions that you have pre planned
before the topic is even begins
maybe you've been to a Muslim debate or
maybe you go to attend one and so what
you do the night before or the week
before your eyes had all these clever
questions do you think of questions that
might be able to trap the person for
example you might write a question that
says as a Muslim as you as a Muslim what
do you say about worshipping those who
have died in other words I may be a
saint someone who is a very very pious
person he's lived a very pious life and
he dies can you pray to that person now
if I say and a platform no you're not
allowed to worship a pious person half
the Muslim community are no longer going
to listen to me we're going to say huh
look at this person he doesn't respect
those who have come before he doesn't
respect the sacrifice they've done and
the other half of the community if I say
no you shouldn't will respect me so if I
say yes half of them won't respect me if
I say no
half of them won't respect me so
Christians are clever they come with
these questions and they write these
down and so they want to divide you so
that people will not listen to you in
the future now when people ask me a
question by the way on a question like
that I'll ask them what is the first
thing that you say when you become a
Muslim you say la ilaha il-allah isn't
that what we say at the first part there
is no other God worthy of worship other
than all
la so your answer is simple I cannot
change it I cannot add any other extras
I cannot start worshipping Jesus I
cannot pray to the Prophet ISA peace be
upon him I cannot ask Abraham to do
anything for me peace be upon him I can
only go through Allah there is no other
God worthy of worship there's no other
one then I can pray to another one I can
bow down to you no one else I can give
sacrifice to no one else I can get luck
from no one else I can get hope from no
one else I can find safety in other than
Allah so the answer is clear from the
Shahada it's clear there is none other
worthy of worship other than Allah so
for me that's a very easy answer but
this is what Christians come they come
up with these questions and they write
these down and they come with clever
questions and what they do they're there
to divide the Muslim community they're
there to pull us apart from each other
and so when I came into meetings with
with Muslims always ahead for some
amount of what I want you to say and not
of what they actually sing so when my
brother said stop talking and start
listening guess what happened the very
next words out of the mouths of Ford
Hendrix was and there are seven heavens
and in these seven heavens and I stopped
and thought wow any of those who heard
the first part of the series will
remember that I spoke about when I was
about seven or eight years old I had
this dream about seven heavens and
everybody I went to and asked him about
these seven heavens they say there's no
such thing there's only one heaven and
we're not asked them about these words
it'll be enchanted they said no maybe
it's a lesson or maybe it's Hebrew
nobody knew what these words meant that
I dreamt about and this was a dream that
had many years over and over and over
again so when I was young I had these
dreams about these seven heavens which I
had over and over and over again and
here is this man out of the blue after
my brother has said to me keep quiet and
listen to what this man has to say stop
talking and listen what does he say the
very next words out of this man's mouth
are there are seven heavens and he
carried on talking about the seven
heavens and I said wait wait just go
back you said there are seven heavens
and he said yeah there are seven heavens
didn't you notice I said no and he told
me about the layers of Heaven and Hell
how that there are different rewards and
and
for people and I said he realized this
makes sense not only had I dreamt about
it but it makes sense
how can Hitler if five minutes before he
killed himself has to suddenly say I
believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and
Savior suddenly being exactly the same
heaven as somebody who sacrificed the
entire life who strived who lived and
and did everything 24 hours a day to
live a good righteous life a good pure
life a good pious life and suddenly he
will be in exactly the same reward
exactly the same heaven this is
impossible how can somebody who lived a
pious life and but made one mistake at
the end of his life suddenly go to the
same hell as anyone else and so it
didn't make sense me but here this man
is telling me about these seven heavens
I said some you know I had a dream about
this a dream that I had over and over
again and all the people who know me all
the people in my family all my friends
all know about this dream because I used
to tell him about it and they all used
to think I was crazy because of this
dream that I used to tell them about and
then I said to him I had they would I
said to the sport Hendrix I said them
there was this other thing that happened
in the stream and in the stream
the sky was that sounded like something
like this there were these people
chanting they're all wearing white robes
and they were saying lalalala
and he said oh you mean la ilaha
illallah muhammadur rasulullah and I was
shocked I was what I was pale I'm white
now but I was watching in this and I was
pale and I couldn't believe it and I
said that is exactly what they said and
I see my brother had come to me and he
said he took ashada
and he said he declared there is no
other god but God and that the Prophet
Muhammad is the final Messenger of God
but he told me it in English I hadn't
heard it in Arabic yet and when I heard
this I said this is exactly what I heard
when I was a child I had this dream over
and over and over again of these people
going through these different layers of
heaven and they were chanting the same
thing lillah illallah muhammadur
rasulullah now I know you're gonna think
straightaway that this is a person who's
sitting and goes to mosque and he spins
in circles no I'm not I don't believe in
dreams and visions as being the answer
to everything because they must be
backed up with the Quran if you have a
dream and you have a vision or whatever
it is the hadith the authentic hadith
and the Quran must back it up you can't
just go and now override everything in
say I'm just going to listen to my
dreams now when I explained that these
dreams that I had remember I spoke in
the earlier episodes in the series I
said that scientists have now
that rim after people go into deep REM
or rapid eye movement sleep that they
have repetition dreams it's something
that happens the team that cannot
explain it scientists cannot explain it
but there's another type of dream that
you have when you're outside of rim when
you're outside of your rapid eye
movement dream where people have dreams
which are normally repetitive dreams
they take place during the cycle and
this time that this happens there's
normally around the time of one o'clock
in the morning two o'clock in the
morning three o'clock in the morning now
this is coincidental because this is the
time that we are told is Muslims to wake
up to pray our extra prayer and not
another one of the five times pray but
an extra prayer and this is when we pray
when we want Allah to show us something
when you want us to explain something or
if we need to understand maybe something
important maybe you want to get married
or whatever and as a child used to wake
up many many times around that hour just
wake up for an unknown reason and I used
to pray and I used to say God if you
they show me how can find you show me if
I can find the right path because I
don't want to walk the way I'm walking I
want to find the truth I want to find a
way that I can find how to be a proper
Christian because I I saw what was going
on the church as a Catholic I saw what
was going on I thought this can't be
this can't be the way all these strange
things that we're doing all these
strange sacrifices so I used to wake up
in the middle of night and I'd say God
if you they show me the truth
so in Salah when we come back from the
break I'll continue talking about this
this squeezing ah bismillah ar-rahman
ar-rahim
assalam alaikum WA Rahmatullah Baraka to
welcome back to the second pot and
before the break I spoke to her I
realized as a young child did I needed
to understand who God was and I used to
wake up in the early hours of the
morning and I used to pray that God
would reveal themselves to me and I was
a very young person and I wanted this
idea and I used to have these
reoccurring dreams and I never
understood that these reoccurring dreams
were actually answers I had no idea I
had no philosophy of Islam I had no
theology of Islam I knew nothing about
Islam so when this man told me for
Hendrick said the Shahada was lie lie
lala mohammed ur rasoolallah and that
there were seven layers of heaven this
was confirmation to me without a shadow
of that I had no doubts whatsoever I
knew nothing about the five pillars of
Islam
I did not know anything about the Koran
I did not know anything about the
teachings what was expected to be a
Muslim where I was needed to sacrifice
what I needed to give when he said to me
there are seven heavens and he explained
these words Lyla illa Allah Muhammad
Rasul Allah in Arabic not even in
English as here that's it I'm becoming a
Muslim right now and the guy looks at me
and the men looked at me they were there
my brother looks at me everyone looks at
me like but don't you want to know more
I said no that is enough that is the
confirmation I need because if it
confirms what has been put in my mind
from a child right through today it took
27 years 27 years from 7 years old 27
years later the words that were that I
heard when our 7 years old were repeated
to me and they're repeated me by humans
there was no way I could argue there was
no way I could say no that this is not
possible and so that day I accepted that
there is no other god but God and that
the promise that the prophet the
promised prophet that was sent by God
the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
is the final Messenger of God
I accepted her later I had it explained
why I had accepted that and so I looked
at why we what is expected of you as a
Muslim but one of the beautiful things I
have discovered when I have looked into
Islam when I started to look into the
Quran is that many of us think that the
Quran is full of don'ts and like I said
before the Crone is actually full of
do's and if we spend more time doing the
do's we won't have time to do the don'ts
if we spend more time doing things that
are Hollow we won't have time doing the
things that are Haram now I have before
me two books and then my country these
two books are books said young people in
the study and these two books are books
of how to do your driver's license and
inside these books are different road
maps they show you how you must drive
what you hai must there are different
traffic signs they have all different
markings in here and they say listen
when you come to a stop street you need
to stop when you come to a Cal the stack
that there's no more turn if it says you
must do a u-turn you mister u-turn if it
says you must you drive 100 kilometers
an hour 100 miles an hour you can only
drive hundred miles an hour in my
country and
shorts like that in all the countries in
the world we love these books because
what this book guarantees is that if I
learn and if I study these books and I
follow all the guidelines and all the
directions in here and I go write my
test and I passed my test I get a little
plastic card that says I have my
driver's license and I can drive anyway
and we want our independence we want to
be free and the only way we can be free
as we I have these little plastic cards
so for me I want you to be free and so
by studying the Quran and be reverting
to Islam I needed to do my driver's
license
you know what the postmark is in my
country for driver's license you have to
get 98 percent that means you have to
know it that well that if you get in
under 98 percent you cannot drive on our
roads we have to have all these rules in
your head but I noticed something about
this book all the young people in my
country can't wait to get this book when
they're in high school they start
studying this book already so they they
can get their driver's license
they're not terrified of this book
they're not scared of this book and I do
not say to me I'm not gonna follow this
book because it's full of knows and
don'ts but yet when I pick up this book
and I say to somebody would you like to
know about the crime they terrified of
this book and they say I don't like the
Quran it's too full of don'ts and it's
too full of laws and regulations and
it's going to take me so long to learn
it yet when it comes to this book which
gives you no hope no hope of salvation
no hope for the future no hope for
paradise people want to study that book
so my challenge was to study this book
and I started reading through this book
and I found that the Quran was
absolutely amazing it was a book that
was so far more satisfying than a little
plastic card that I could hold in my
pocket that says I can drive on the
roads this book showed me how to drive
on the roads of life showed me how to
take caution where I needed to take
caution it showed me how I can be a true
follower of God one of the things that I
found as well when I speak to people
about my conversion to Islam is that
often say to them get a piece of paper
and you can do it right now if you want
take a pen and a piece of paper and draw
a line down the piece of paper on one
side right Islam and on the other side
drag Christianity this is how easy it
was for me to decide whether Islam was
the road or Christianity was the road
look at the person of Jesus Christ is
described in the Bible look at the
Prophet ISA peace be upon
if we have a look at the Bible what does
it say about this man it said that this
man believed that there is only one God
and many times it says in the Bible says
the following that Jesus said our Father
which art in heaven he didn't say my
father he didn't say your father he said
our Father which means he believed he
was one of the human grace
he thought he was equal to humans in
every possible way he didn't believe he
was God so you can take it tick now and
say do the Christians believe that or do
the Muslims believe that the Muslims
believe that Jesus said that he is just
a prophet and that he wants to bring
everyone to God so he put a tick on the
on the Muslim side what did Jesus look
like did he look like the modern-day
Christians or does he look like the
modern-day Muslims and without even
thinking you know that he looked like a
modern-day Muslims he will had a beard
he wore the same type of clothes we did
he didn't eat pork he didn't drink
alcohol he was circumcised we know this
all from the Bible so you can tick all
those on the Muslim side and install on
the Christian side we have a blank
column we look at what Jesus taught the
Jesus of the Bible taught that we should
give to the poor the sick to the needy
to help people that we need to pray that
we need to prostrate ourselves and pray
before Allah this is all the things that
the Muslims do so we see the blank side
of the Christian side and the Muslim
side is full and as we go through more
and more of the characteristics and the
teachings and the behavior and the
ethics and the morality of Jesus we see
that they fill up all the side of the
Muslims and we still do not have one
side that is ticked on the Christian
side why because Christians have moved
so far away from the teachings of the
Prophet ISA peace be upon him
they've moved so far away from even the
teachings of the Bible so when you come
and you bring the Quran to people who
haven't even followed the own book it is
quite a difficult task for them to
follow one of the other beautiful things
that I found in the Quran and I'm sure
you will find it beautiful as well is
that 72 times in the Quran it says that
Allah is oft-forgiving most-merciful
that means if we come in true repentance
and we ask for forgiveness from Allah he
will forgive us you know that the string
of words oft-forgiving most-merciful
only found twice in the entire Bible
only twice an entire - Bible do you find
it and only once is that actually said
by Jesus himself the other time it is
said by somebody else so what we find is
that the Quran says 72 times that Allah
is oft-forgiving most-merciful
you know law and grace are the two
things that keep Christians and Muslims
apart you know many Christians say we
are saved by grace and we Muslim say we
are saved by Allah - obeying the law and
now what happens if we put these two
together we have the ultimate solution
to humanity the ultimate solution to
humanity is to say I need Allah
the grace of Allah is given to you it's
giving you the right to obey the law the
ultimate solution to humanity is simple
to say la ilaha illallah muhammadur
rasulullah it simply means there is no
other God worthy of worship other than
Allah and that the Prophet Muhammad is
the final Messenger of Allah you see
this is Grace this is the grace of Allah
saying you call to me I will give you
hope I will give you salvation I will
give you a future I will give you
paradise the keys to paradise now the
keys to paradise depend on many things
the keys to paradise depend on whether
you prepare to commit yourself whether
you prepared to surrender where you've
prepared to stop saying I'm in charge
and saying Allah be in charge I'll give
you a brief story there are people that
used to hunt summer and my father's
country and they used to hunt for ducks
and what they used to do is they used to
float pumpkins down the river and every
time the Ducks saw these pumpkins they'd
fly away because they thought these
pumpkins were something dangerous but as
time went by they eventually get used to
these pumpkins floating down the river
and the Ducks would go sit on top of
these pumpkins and so what the people
would do eventually they'd hollow out
the pumpkins and they'd put them on
their heads and they'd walk down the
river on the bottom of the water on the
riverbank and they'd be totally covered
by the water and they'd cut holes in the
pumpkin where their arse could see at
and then what do they do they go right
near the ducks and the Ducks think Oh
these are those pumpkins and the hunters
would pull the ducks and about the legs
under the water and they'd break her
necks and they're pulling down
today they are pumpkins floating down
the rivers of life and they're bringing
false religions and they're bringing
false hope and they're bringing a false
sense of security and when you're not
looking they will pull you under the
water and drown you and they'll break
your neck and kill you you need to
search for hope you need to search for
truth and truth can only be found and is
seeking none other than Allah Allah I
take the challenge today and pick up a
Quran and open the Quran with the very
very first
book of the Quran you don't have to be a
PhD you don't have to be a great master
to understand this book you don't even
need anyone to explain this book to you
you see the Bible the reason you have to
do so many Bible studies and courses and
studies of the Bible because we don't
want you to see certain books this book
you can start from the very beginning
and you want to know how to become a
Muslim get this part first this is in
the name of Allah the most gracious the
most merciful understand that who years
so the first part of the surah fatiha
the very beginning says who Allah is the
second part is why should you worship
him because he all praise and thanks are
to Allah the Lord and make that and the
Lord of of all he's the Lord of
everything he's the lord of the seen and
the unseen and he is the most gracious
the most merciful remember the that
Allah is the lord of everything is a lot
of mankind he's the Lord of of the
journeys the Lord of the unseen so
telling you who he is now why because he
is the most gracious and the most
merciful he is the owner of the Day of
Resurrection in other words that every
complaints when you're gonna you're
gonna answer for everything that you
have done so he is merciful and just so
in the beginning of the Kron if you want
to know how to become a Muslim you you
know what it means to be a Muslim read
the first chapter of the Quran and
inshallah you will know truth you'll
find salvation true salvation not
salvation it depends on some magic words
salvation it depends on security
salvation that depends on knowing why
you are doing what you're doing
lyla illallah muhammadu Rasul Allah is
the key the padlock is following the
leading following the teachings
following the ways of being a Muslim you
see for us it's different we have to
actually practice what we preach it's
not just saying we believe it's actually
practicing on that belief is the first
step in the step that will bring you to
true salvation true hope so from me Arab
Islam I look forward to speaking or
seeing you one day in paradise so seek
salvation why it may be found make the
Shahada from mihrab Islam until next
time assalamu alaikum