Allah
[Music]
brothers and sisters we've all had loved
ones that passed away a mother a father
a brother sister a close family member
but one of the mercies of our Dean is
that with the right intention we can go
ahead and continue to do good deeds on
our loved ones behalf and what greater
of a continuous Good Deeds
than investing on their behalf in the
dean Center and Masjid and nagada Center
that will benefit generations to come
inshallah so click the link below donate
right now may God Almighty Allah reward
all of you assalamualaikum greetings of
Peace welcome to the deenshaw media host
my next guest Khalil Mitchell started
thinking about the purpose of life which
led him to start looking into Islam
around the turn of the millennium
and he became stronger in his
understanding of Islam properly when he
moved to the Norwich Muslim Community
where he himself witnessed so many
people coming to Islam and saying their
shahadas in Norwich especially in the
last six months now what is the shahada
what is so fascinating about Islam
even with the billions of dollars of
negative media propaganda that is having
these people like Khalil accept it let's
waste no time and bring out Khalil to
find out what's going on in the Norwich
Community and hear more of his story
and his final messages
show
how you doing my brother very well how
are you doing good good it's nice to
have you with us here my pleasure my
pleasure
so you're in Norwich yes Norwich UK now
many people of uh
um usually in Arabic an Arab descent uh
confused Norwich with Norway because
they call Norway Norge
so when I say Norwich they think I'm
living in Norway Norwich is
um Northeast of London
Northeast of London yeah all right yeah
I want to show you Anglia East Anglia
yeah so when I'm saying shahadas I want
to see people witness some of these
shahadas and then we can break that down
because that's what you ended up doing
similar to this and I don't know if
you're in any of these videos but I want
to show this and then we can kind of
Kick It Off from there so people can
have a proper understanding when they
say when they say shahada so many people
are taken to shahada what we're talking
about
foreign
[Music]
come on
Muhammad
rasulullah Allah
[Music]
at first I
so this is uh this is not you in the
video right with longer here uh it could
have been okay A lot thinner than I
asked now they are now basically yeah I
became Muslim 20 years ago so the
internet didn't really exist uh it was
in its infancy
um things were a bit more but you you
would have had to say and repeat what
these people were repeating and this is
uh the statement declaring that there's
nothing worthy of worship said the
creator of the heavens and earth and
Muhammad is Allah messenger and then
accepting Jesus was Abraham all the
other preceding Messengers him just
being the last of final messenger so
this is pretty much similar which I mean
you this is actually what you would have
been you would have done to enter Islam
and you're seeing a lot of this
happening well this a friend of mine
said there's something in the air in
Norwich in particular in the last six
months we've noticed many people moving
to the community
many of whom most of whom have become
Muslim but many generational Muslims as
well
but in particular there has been you
know it's getting to a point where on
average there might be a shahad every
every two weeks
so in my time in Norwich hasn't been
this type of
occurrence something certainly changing
now mashallah and we don't quite know
what it is and why the timing is such
but I mean I'm meeting a man tomorrow
who's gonna he's interested in the team
there's another man a week ago who
is I got somehow of his number and tried
to make contact with him he's interested
in in the dean as well
uh a girl approached us when we were
sitting outside the coffee shop after
Juma and said are you Muslims and I said
and we said yes and she said well I'm
thinking about becoming Muslim this is
all in the last two weeks wow uh so it's
not that Norwich is a particularly
unique Place although we have the
longest established community of people
who embraced Islam from a European
background in in all of Europe it's the
longest established community of see
people say reverts or converts we say
new Muslims you know it's the longest
numism the longest established numism
community in Europe
so uh but again there's no answer to why
people on the periphery of the community
are looking into Islam other than Allah
is giving them something but when we
look at you you're not Arab you're not a
Syrian you're not uh Asian your your
background is uh you're uh from the
you're born in in the UK yeah yeah born
in Edinburgh so you don't fit The
Stereotype no no no exactly I mean there
is a
cultural aspect to British Islam which
is not solely defined by race
it's very important to understand that
people who are born and raised in the UK
from whatever ethnic background have the
potential to find a British Islam when I
say the potential to find it there is a
certain form to it as there is a certain
form to Arab Islam a certain form to the
Pakistani Islam
so what we have in Norwich is a
particular thing whereby it's possible
for people who have become Muslim to
kind of find the Deen in some respects
and generational Muslims to find their
fitting in the Deen
and find it on their own two feet that's
really what we've got here
tell me you're in your previous life
before you started to look into Islam
what was uh what was your background
your parents uh raised you in what
religion or any religion initially
Christianity church until I kicked up a
first when I was about 11 years old I
went to church every Sunday
um and
ostensibly I fell into the world of
hippie them and self-discovery in in
teenage years and but the premise of
Christianity from a point of view of
understanding that there is a bigger
thing
the Dynamics of that bigger thing of
course differ between Christianity and
Islam that set me on stead to find
answers in some ways so
um several things happened to me when I
was growing up when I was younger that
kind of like was a large way of
separating me from the world one of
these things was the death of my mother
when I was 11. so this kind of in some
ways I look back on that as a
tremendously spiritual thing and I
didn't understand what spirituality was
it was it was Act of Separation you know
so I became Muslim when I was 26. it
took quite a long time of many years of
searching in between these you know the
event of childhood and and finding Islam
but it was quite clear for me on the
outset that the people I met didn't have
the same uh dynamisticity as Muslims the
Muslims had the answers
people were telling me this is what
happened before we were born this is
what will happen after we die
other New Age religions and spiritual
religions that I adopted by default
didn't go into the same type of detail
and they certainly didn't have the same
type of confidence
what else did you dodge into experiment
with besides so your parents were a
Christian what was it there that didn't
make sense you know the theology God
being a man the Trinity these kind of
things that usually we'll hear that just
don't make sense and then they'll go
ahead and just leave this and then go
experiment with other different uh
man-made religions uh so what was it at
that point at what point did you realize
okay I really my fitra my innate nature
my thoughts my mind my heart are not
with this I have to move on and look for
something else
I've never really described it as such
as the way you've asked me I suppose it
was kind of like a fairy tale
Dean with with fairy tale people hmm
didn't seem real it just felt a bit
superficial it was like Robin Hood
Sherwood Forest
stories of things that have happened you
know it didn't seem tangible the idea
that a prophet existed called ASA and
Jesus
and you know it didn't the way in which
I suppose the heart of the person
relaying the knowledge determines what
real knowledge gets through it's all to
do with the art so with the Christians
teaching me these things
obviously by the nature of Christianity
it's a Prohibition and connecting with
Allah as one thing
they divide ASA and the Divine spirit
and God into three separate
compartmentalized things there was
something that I didn't understand any
of this but now I look back at it it was
just it came from a kind of dead zone
you know whatever the the people I was
educated in Sunday school it wasn't
really a kind of
it wasn't that tarheed in the words in
every word that was said it was it was
just kind of fluffy so I ran away from
that when I was about 10 or 11. it just
kicked up a big protest for my parents
saying I don't want to go to church
anymore I then fell into teenage years
and that had his own series of events
and occurrences that some of which were
prohibitive uh in terms of finding truth
some of which were beneficial
but again within that Maelstrom of
activity of of teenage years I met
Muslims and the most that I met stood
out
the way that they express themselves the
way they explain things the manner in
which they conducted themselves
and certainly with one particular man
who would be the means through which I
found Islam
he answered all the questions that I had
pertaining to the nature of existence
what were some of those questions that
you had and that we hear this often I've
interviewed so many people over the
years and they have the same story that
they go to their priest and they go to
the rabbi they go to their learned
people and they have these questions and
usually it's like you just gotta have
faith you just got to believe or things
just don't make sense they come to Islam
all those questions are answered what
were some of those questions that you
can remember well it took place over a
year and a half period living with the
man that would be the means for me
finding Islam I love guys people but we
are means not happening so uh the types
of King I just come in this room and say
you know after having been aware of
some I don't know some something that
was made clear to me would say do
non-muslims at this time do non-muslims
go to heaven
and correctly
he he didn't really answer me in in as
much as he he said he all he said was it
increases your chances massively
increases your chances
the two ends of that of course are that
we cannot say that all non-muslims do
not go to heaven we cannot say that all
Muslims do go to heaven
but he didn't go into that type of thing
he just said it increases your chances
he had explained that the planets and
the stars I was idolizing and looking up
to and understanding had an influence
over my heart and he said it's Allah
that holds these things up Allah has the
higher power
the higher the power of the Stars if
they do have any I you know he said I it
might well be the the our powers within
different things gravity is a power so
the idea of gravity of Moons and stars
and different things affecting us
is logical he said it's a law that gives
these things the power whatever power
they might have over you it's a bigger
thing
the the this bigger thing and he often
referred to it as the bigger thing is is
there so I I with all these kind of
strange arcades that I had I kind of
bridged to over a period of a year and a
half to understanding
yeah you know so that was one of many
many questions things came up I'll give
you another example actually where
you see the thing that many non-muslims
understand is that there is a bigger
thing what they don't necessarily grasp
is Muhammad
that the means through which the
prophetic code
in the embodiment of Islam leads to this
Awakening of Allah
so one example where I did understand it
was where I was walking in the street
and
um there was like a a kind of uh opaque
plastic
sheet on the floor quite large
and and I and I could see it was you
know it was a pig so it was like a piece
of glass and I lifted it up and said I
just said to him I said somebody could
slip on this
somebody could flip on this and he
looked at me
with a kind of light and and said this
is what the Muslims do
this is what this is a Sunnah this is
what the I don't think he would have
gone into it but I mean ultimately this
is what the the template the prophetic
template of
Muhammad
you're refer you're referring to
removing an obstacle from the role that
someone can get harmed on and this is uh
this is illustrated by the last of
anonymous
that there's a reward even for doing
that
well I mean this is what he highlighted
to me yeah so he transposed in some ways
believing in Allah is one thing but one
has to understand the the the highest
the only way of arriving at that reality
is through Muhammad
and this is even that Muslims nowadays
are struggling with with adhering to
this the reality of Islam is not
memorization of texts
walking
so there's a reality to Islam there's
something in our beings that Allah gives
us or not as Muslims which is a kind of
reality to a prophetic reality
nura Muhammad
yeah I want to just uh elaborate on that
you know this is deep like the first
thing that you had discussed people that
question because it's on the minds of
many people what happens to the person
who doesn't hear about Islam let's say
the person is not officially a Muslim
but everyone in their nature is
submitting to something and they're born
on that fitra of believing in the
Creator so a person who's in the Amazon
the jungle somewhere Islam didn't reach
him but he's on the tawheed he's on the
pure monotheism he's worshiping God
Alone that person God willing will be in
Paradise but uh someone who maybe is
born as a Muslim is not practicing Islam
properly they think they've disinherited
it and they're doing everything opposite
to it they can end up in the Hellfire
is thinking with something special
we've got to watch out for this and and
it's it's obviously a sort of a human
attribute to think too much of oneself
even for me in Norwich with this amazing
Community if I start think attributing
anything to myself
regarding anything that happens there's
a danger in that so as you say nothing
is clear
you know we've no idea where we've come
from I no idea where we will go to
is this uh kind of juxtaposition of
never really having certainty but hoping
you know
one step with fear one step with hope
yeah and I and then you I mentioned this
Hadith by the prophet Muhammad peace and
blessed be upon him and now if I think
about that you know when people try to
malign Islam and they try to make it
seem like something violent barbaric
where why would a Muslim who's
instructed to move something harmful
from the road Muslims who greet each
other with peace you know Muslims who
are striving to worship the owner of
Peace the creator of the heavens on
Earth if they were looking to get a
reward for something so minute there's
removing something a nail an obstacle
whatever from the road why would they
want why would they want to put
themselves in a position to harm a human
being and as a human being and end up in
the Hellfire it doesn't make any sense I
mean I think most non-muslims understand
the extremist reactionary terrorist Dean
that uh is erroneous completely wrong
uh they understand intrinsically that
it's it's a misaligned Islam that
somehow the texts have been misconstrued
most people understand that and you know
it doesn't necessarily help when Muslims
jump up and say uh
the Quran has remained intact
you see from a point of view of people
that question the Muslims they they
think well you must be like the
terrorists
you see there's a chance of this kind of
thing happening so I I learned to
explain to people the the
um
the misinterpretation is the is the key
factor the texts are one thing but they
can be misinterpreted the texts have not
changed the terrorists don't follow a
different Quran
they they misinterpret the texts that
are there
how much were you influenced by much of
the negative like when I opened the show
I said billions of dollars are spent by
the Hate Machine pushing this propaganda
creating this fake
news that's out there how much were you
how much were you affected by that
before you accepted Islam or did that
keep you at one point of turning away
maybe and then coming back later how
much were you affected by that no I
learned to understand the power
structures that were responsible for
this tidal wave of information and I
learned to understand the Dynamics
behind that so this
narrative that is understanding of the
occurrences in terms of what's happening
in the world was a form of the dean I
was raised with and many Muslims don't
actually know what's going on in the
world they fall into this in you guys
funds this Democratic Republican thing
quite a lot you see and we've got the
left wing and the right wing thing here
so it's not really it you know it
Muslims uh in Britain who Advocate
joining the labor party
uh I I really missed the point because
power does not lie within political
parties and ostensibly the type of thing
you're describing was is indicative of
something a lot more powerful it's in
you know it's so-called unbiased media
well who's dictating what these people
are saying why are they saying these
things what power groups are behind the
media so it's very important to
understand that uh the so-called
democratic government isn't entirely uh
it doesn't contain power it doesn't have
absolute power there's other power
structures
then there's a danger you fall into
conspiracy
which we cannot do either
one has to look at the power structures
and how they got there historically
and obviously Finance
is a massive part of that so the man
that introduced me into Islam explained
Islam from a point of view of
the economic climate of the world and
the Muslims having the answer
economically
in terms of bi-metallic intrinsic value
currencies as opposed to these worthless
paper notes
this is the thing that got me activated
when the guy that brought me into Islam
explained to this very political man who
believed in the left but the true left
and didn't believe in the right he said
neither of them are relevant he said the
people that control paper money supply
have more power than these governments
so again not to go off in the tangent
but what I'm trying to say to you is
that in answer to your question I freed
myself of the propaganda by
understanding to some degree why these
people were
issuing these propaganda statements why
they were anti-muslim well and that
acted as a dire because it's only
through the Sharia that we understand
that the dean can be established in a
Civic manner
you know we when we hold that in our
hearts and it's not that we're trying to
overthrow governments of course we're
not trying to do that the the what we're
doing is by default trusting in Divine
Law and divine law has to be the
solution
you see to the world's problems so again
just to not to go off on the tangent too
much but all of these sorts of
backgrounds explain that I wasn't
affected by the negative media because I
understood a
where it was coming from why it was
there and B the Islam has the societal
answers as well as the individual
answers
there's some interesting notes when you
say these hot words you know that
sometimes strike a chord with people
Sharia I usually explain to them this is
like the Ten Commandments it was given
to Moses it's mentioned over 200 times
in the Bible this is divine revelation
from the creator of heavens and earth so
don't get spooked by certain uh words
that you hear when you get to know the
meaning then it's kind of uh opens you
up tell me what opens you up finally how
long did it take you now of an
investigation being talked to someone's
giving you dawa observing the Muslims
researching that you finally ended up
realizing that this is the truth I got
accepted there's different stages in the
UK prior to the man that I mentioned
earlier his name is Tariq and I
traveling to Syria
so the final thing was Damascus
now again that's if you want to look at
spin words that's a dangerous thing to
say now again people are thinking what
took you there what took you to Damascus
okay so a disclaimer uh if we want
disclaimers there was no terrorist
activity not going wrong with the the
overthrow attempted overthrow of the
nation-state Isis were not envisaged at
that point uh it was uh bear in mind
this was 2001.
uh we ended up going to say by default
because we'd initially envisaged going
to Pakistan because of uh tariq's
ancestry and his relatives out there
that didn't happen we were looking at
somewhere else to go we knew somebody
else had gone to Damascus and Damascus
sounded nice it just kind of had a
resonance to it you know it sounds like
a musical name you know it's got the
deep meaning and it's of course you know
historically it's got an important
relevance so for some reason or another
we both decided to go to Damascus and
said well we can go to Peshawar nwfp
we'll go to Damascus instead and we
ended up in Damascus and and then you
know the rest is history uh I quickly
engaged um I'd already started praying
incidentally it's something that you
might you already started praying were
you officially a Muslim had you taken
your shahada no no but you were praying
I started praying because I needed to
pray because I looked at everything else
that life could give me and I didn't
really need alcohol I didn't need other
things that the West was making
available for me to consume him I needed
to pray
so I didn't know how to do it so I
walked home uh in in that I was staying
in in somebody else's house I wasn't
talk and I were living together but at
that point we weren't and I just needed
to pray so I I found a compass in the
bedroom of the man's room whom I was
staying in and uh he wasn't there
um he was as it happens he was an
antiques dealer so there was conferences
and nice things lying around
um so I found a company I just showed
myself because I knew Muslims were clean
and and I put the tail on the floor and
I worked out hard to find Mecca and I
worked out where Mecca was before
becoming Muslim you know it's basically
South South East so and I put a title
down and stood there in my boxer shorts
and and just put my head in the ground
saying Allahu Akbar I didn't know how to
do the prayer I started doing that for a
week before even telling Tariq that I
was doing it immensely personal thing
you know finally connecting uh and then
he said we didn't he didn't congratulate
me didn't say oh well done he said well
you need to learn the prayer
so you know it became a thing what did
that mean to you at that time when you
said Allahu Akbar because someone
hearing it for the first time they're
like oh boy here we go these Muslims now
Allahu Akbar that's what they think of a
war cry you know these Muslims coming to
get you that's the term they use what
did it mean for you at that time did you
understand the meaning when you said
Allahu Akbar
the the bigger thing is greater than
what we have around us than ourselves
and what we see in front of us what we
desire the bigger thing is greater the
bigger thing is greater so this bigger
thing that determines all things
happening that holds every molecule in
its place is greater than whatever is
holding me back
that was the final thing just provided
prior to becoming Muslim I looked at
what was holding me back and I thought
Allah
so I applied the meaning of that
and I thought well God Allah is greater
than the thing that's holding me back
and that was right before saying shahada
that was in Damascus all right so now
you're you're wow this is deep so
finally okay you um your your thought is
Tariq he's saying now you got to learn
to pray before that now you're ready to
take your shahada you've been you've
pretty much you've done your
investigation it was it's in your heart
you're ready to go
no he didn't he didn't say I had to
become mismatol he knew it was something
that was there to do it was there it
just came from me yes it had to come
from and you know we met other Muslims
of who spoke English while we were out
there and you know one guy kind of put
The Frighteners on me by telling me said
don't don't jump right into it people
often go write in and write out again so
that kind of freaked me out a little bit
that wasn't something I needed to hear
he didn't mean to do that but that was
like a dent and then the light had to
kind of reoccupy myself in the in the
days following and I looked at the
things that were holding me back and and
said Allahu Akbar God is greater than
the things that are holding me back what
were just a couple of the things that
were holding you back people can because
I'm sure there's so many other people
that could be watching this right now
and there's something holding it back
and it might be the same things that
were holding you back family maybe
what's he or she gonna say worried about
others
it's a very personal thing but something
that does face man is this uh
fetishization of women
desire to do uh what everyone wants to
woman unhindered without any kind of
responsibility oh this is deeply
embedded in us so you just hit a spot I
was just listening to someone the other
day also and in an interview and he was
saying the same thing this is a
well-known personality and he was saying
look uh he was kind of insinuating that
he still wants to play with the ladies
well it's very profound and it's very
deeply embedded in men it's one of the
you know it's pre
alcohol-free whatever it is you might
have taken yeah I mean it's a deeply
embedded one that comes in through
Hollywood predominantly and yeah you
could say in some ways it's the
heightened uh heightening of desire for
the opposite sex it's a hiking of that
it's brought into an unnatural thing one
way of describing it is the the desire
for all women
um in this respect has been turned into
something spiritual
it's like it's like it's like an idol in
some ways yeah of course we Muslims are
love women and women Muslim women love
men so I think denying love you know and
the context behind that but this thing
has been knocked out of proportion it's
like you know this thing has come in
where you think every every new
girlfriend that you have is going to
provide some sort of spiritual
fulfillment
and and it's it's an idol and it's
somehow being encoded in US think of it
these things all these Hollywood films
we've watched you know even the
relatively innocent ones where the woman
kisses the man and all this wonderful
wagnerian music plays that is very
powerful spiritual thing where the man
and the woman kiss you know all of this
stuff isn't been put in ahead thousands
of times it's understandable that the
average unspiritual person might start
to think well maybe as a spiritual uh
love match I've got to get I've got to
find my soul partner and you know that
is the meaning of life
the meaning of life you see so you know
again
right up until I said shahada the idea
of just having this sort of romance
you know unhindered romance uh with
people and just you know ending up with
them in that way
you know in a deep way
um we won't go into detail but again
that was the thing that was kind of
holding me back this so-called Freedom
that that it's not really a freedom
because people have to be dealt with in
certain ways yes so Eric had to explain
to me he said look he said
translates as marriage but it's not
marriage in the way you see marriage and
I said what do you mean by that and he
said well okay it's not until death do
us part
you make the intention to stay together
with your partner
but if things really don't work out you
know it you have to separate
and and it was that kind of thing and he
said it's it's more similar to having a
girlfriend with a contract as it is to
marriage in the way you see it with your
uh warped Christian ideals or ideals
where you're forced to stay together so
marriage in the world you know nowadays
people don't even want to say they've
got a boyfriend or a girlfriend let
alone that's how much they shun this
idea of having any formalities to the
relationship yeah they want any
formalities to a relationship they want
this they might well stay together for
decades but they don't want this label
of uh you know this person you know they
might seem it's my partner you know they
want to say boyfriend or girlfriend and
when I grew up it was kind of like you
say I'm seeing somebody I'm seeing I'm
seeing her yeah with your girlfriend you
know but you wouldn't ever want to say
girlfriend because that was too serious
let alone wife so this is this
unhindered desire this unrestrained
element of Attraction that's been put in
our heads that is the item the
attraction itself it's the it's the kind
of thing of having it on tap
as it were I'm sure right now that's
something that a lot of people can
relate to that that desire now that
holds people back it could be desire for
alcohol desire for gambling desire for
all sorts for
um committing adultery Xena fornication
you name it the list goes on but you
said hold on God Almighty the Creator is
greater than this and you submitted and
you accepted Islam those are the desires
I subhana Allah there was other desires
I had to overcome I mean I realized that
was the last one and it's deeply
ingrained in men you know if you might
give up the things you shouldn't want
you know you don't your idea you're
comfortable with the idea of not
drinking yeah
um you know you're comfortable with the
idea of not doing these other things
that that kind of thing was the uh last
thing
um
that left me it was kind of coupled with
the the also one other aspect of it
again you can't really give up things
when aren't knowing where you're aiming
to so you you don't look at what you
have to give up you know the person that
tries to give up alcohol
looking at the fact they're not drinking
alcohol will never give up alcohol you
have to go somewhere else
and we put our heads on the floor five
times a day as a means two turns
somewhere else
so these things uh you know we're not
looking at the things we've given up
we're not looking at these things we're
not sitting in a room on our own looking
at the floor rocking from side to side
uh thinking uh about how I need to I
really want to drink we don't think
about the things you know so the uh the
key thing is where you turn to where you
turn two in other words you don't
reflect on what you're giving up look at
the context to where you're actually
going right so okay the example with
women
I met wonderful Muslim women
and I realize these Muslim women were
not like other women that I hmm and and
it wasn't necessarily one it wasn't like
I was wanting to mind one of them or
anything like that they were there and I
realized the Muslim women that I knew
that I'd met fleetingly you know we
don't you know I haven't really got to
know any
but they they had something that I
wouldn't be able to get
I wouldn't be able to go anywhere near
unless I was Muslim
mm-hmm
so do you see we don't look at the thing
that we
have to leave behind we look at where
we're going to we're looking at the we
look at the greatness that's the secret
of understanding
how to overcome certain things and how
to leave certain things that one might
feel that our emotional attachments or
feelings and
um thing you know we have a desire for
alcohol because we like the feeling it
gives us yeah well the feeling of the
prayer
of you know the calming feeling of the
price again it's it's not we don't think
we know we don't Advocate the idea of
like we're not getting drunk
you know we don't feel spiritually high
off the prayer
but it's a calming feeling that feeling
is where you aim and that when you are
married through the dean
uh the the the the light that comes from
that relationship
you know because it's a contract imbued
with
that's a contract through the Deen and
and your partner is facing Allah and
you're facing Allah and you you know
it's like this as opposed to people
being facing in different directions and
you know so that kind of thing is is the
the reality of it from a point of view
of you know you have to look at where
you're going and answer to your question
uh so before we conclude so we started
off Norwich that's where you're from and
you were witnessing so many people
accepting are these videos that we show
this is from Norwich also it's from the
essan mosque in Norwich ihsan mosque in
Norwich uh it's uh been there for 40
years it's the longest established
mosque set up by people who became
Muslim uh it it it's lasted longer than
other mosques historically like the
quillian mosque in Liverpool it's been
around for longer they were there first
and other mosques in the UK so go ahead
finish sorry yeah so we have a very
strong Islamic community and many of the
top Scholars you know
in America many of whom are from America
spent their formative years in Islam in
Norwich it was seen as a kind of when
you became Muslim you ended up in
Norwich you know 30 years ago there was
no internet there wasn't any superficial
interface where people could sort of
become part of something who became
Muslim so you had many Great Men of
Allah who who uh again are fairly
renowned nowadays the many of which
you'll you'll know many of them spent
their earliest years in Norwich and they
they were made into something knowledge
is a place of making people
the place of you know giving people the
dean
you can become Muslim but you have to
find the Deen
and Norwich is a place where this
happens and you find who you are and you
find your place in the world
many people nowadays who become missing
thing they've got to become a scholar
of course we have to learn the dean
we've got the learning elements but
they've got this kind of bizarre thing
or they want to become like you know
whichever Shake on YouTube this guy in
YouTube you know who this guy became
Muslim uh 40 years ago and I've got to
become like him
the secrets are allowed put in us that
are only found in the context of
community
and the community is not lots of Muslims
living in the city Community is
something completely Dynamic so we we
have an emir in Norwich we have an emir
who takes responsibility for everyone
we have
um
a community the women have their zone of
Engagement their men have their zone of
Engagement and and when you come in
you'll find your place within that
without even changing
you're not required to become something
else you know you'll find Who You Are
and and no matter who you are if you
enter into this community
you'll it's kind of like the pieces of a
watch
all the pieces are there before they're
put in they have to be shaped but once
the watch is there the watch is function
wonderful uh a Swiss watch that that
keeps the time so accurately all of the
elements are essential
but you know you could go in saying I
want to be the hands but everyone wants
to be that no you'd be something else
within the interface of the watch within
the sorry the the interior of the watch
that you'll you'll you'll become part of
that and that's what Norwich is about
it's very unique this place well I want
to thank you all the way from Norwich
come on Nadine show and sharing some
highlights of your story inshallah this
can be a motivation encouragement for
others we're also searching for the
purpose of life and they see all of the
ills the social ills that are being
pushed on them and you see how Islam
preserves this the most beautiful thing
about Islam is that the reconnection
with the creator of the heavens and the
Earth that pure monotheism and they can
go ahead and look into it just like you
did and they could be a source of great
peace and
prosperity for for them as has been for
you wonderful to meet you face to face
maybe if I'm happen to be in your neck
of the woods I can pop into your studio
and we can continue the conversation go
into other areas of discussion
that would be nice inshallah thank you
very much my brother thank you for
having me okay so we um thank you
bye-bye
I cannot leave without giving you a gift
if you're not yet Muslim and you're
tuning in to see what these Muslims are
talking about and you like a free copy
of the Quran go and visit thedenshow.com
we'll take care of the postage and
everything and get it delivered to you
and if you still have some questions
about Islam call us at
1-800-662-4752 we'll see you next time
until then peace be with you and if you
like this episode of the dean show like
this video
share this video far and wide and
support us on our patreon page so we can
continue this work thank you for tuning
in peace be with you assalamualaikum