this is
the greetings and peace welcome to the
dean sh your host we got a really
exciting show for you Obama just
recently gave a nice little talk at a
musjid we're going to be talking about
this and we're going to be talking about
the frenzy of fear that has been
perpetuated here in America and a lot
more on this week's show don't go
anywhere we'll be right back this is the
the
this is the
the this is
the this is the dean
[Applause]
show peace be with you alhamdulillah and
you also alhamdulillah we did theth
pillar of Hajj alhamdulillah Isam built
on Five Pillars worship know with the
creator of the heavens and earth
establish the prayer connect your heart
to God give charity experience tell me
uh how you been since then alhamdulillah
working hard transitioned from the
Department of Corrections as a Muslim
chaplain to working with gu us TV and
now working with the Islamic online
university been quite busy alhamdulillah
uh that trip was a very memorable one
indeed it was quite quite quite a
memorable one I think that was your
first H my second that was my second was
your second ion 2006 alhamdulillah and
that was 2008 I was honored to be able
to share that with you me too it was an
amazing experience alhamdulillah and we
went there seeking to connect with the
owner of Peace indeed that first house
of worship was built by Abraham right
and you have people from all walks of
life coming to commemorate to worship
one God and Malcolm X what did he say he
said you know you know the quote by
Malcolm about ending racism yes that he
when he got there he found out that his
brothers were from All Nations that he
he could no longer call the Caucasians
white Devils as he had been taught that
he had Caucasian brothers and African
brothers and you see European Brothers
asian brothers so this is our Dean this
is Islam you know it's a universal way
and and that would um Islam if
implemented it would end racism
absolutely all these benefits all of the
great things that are are there for
Humanity and Islam but now is a free
fear frenzy so you guys someone's out
there is like what are you guys talking
about you just sugar Cody Mickey Mouse
Co in this Islam Mickey Mouse in this
Islam No No you guys are violent and
extremist you want to just you know do
Jihad on everybody and this is the this
is the challenge that we as Muslims and
America and throughout the world faced
with today and that is to convey the
correct image of Islam and the correct
practice of Islam as you know we are in
a very highly politicized season and
environment where Islam and Muslims uh
have become one of the main topics and
unfortunately most of the Society do not
know the Real Islam they don't know many
of them don't know any Muslims or have
not had any interaction so they
naturally feed into the fear that is
brought to them from political leaders
from the election cycle uh from their
their you know churches or the media you
know that has given a bad impression and
and portrayal of what Islam is and who
the Muslims are what about the speech
President Obama this was an amazing an
amazing event that uh has certainly I I
I wish that more Muslims knew about it
and certainly more citizens of the
United States he was invited to speak at
the Islamic Society of Baltimore just
yesterday and CNN broadcast the entire
speech he spoke for about 45 minutes and
he spoke about the inclusiveness of the
American uh values uh and that we as
Muslims have and of course he didn't say
himself as a Muslim but that we as
Muslim have have a place here in America
that we've made tremendous contributions
to the society and so that we should not
be uh treated with bigotry or or any
kind of hostility and such a way to to
be excluded uh we hear some of the
political leaders are calling for
Muslims to be denied entry into the
country from other other countries all
of this out of fear you see so his
effort to reach out to the Muslims was
really very very courageous move on his
part and it was very interesting he made
a point that another president was
accused of being a Muslim too which one
was that Thomas Jefferson so Keith tell
me about when you took your oath of
office cuz it was on a copy of the Quran
and not just any copy well in fact it
was on this Quran that we have right
here before us and uh you know in fact
uh this Quran which is a two volume set
has the initials uh TJ inscribed right
here Thomas Jefferson and so you know we
we said this is what was your reaction
when you found out that one of the
founding fathers had his own copy of the
Quran ra I was gab smacked oh cuz they
had the Quran exactly he had to cop and
he said this was true that Thomas
Jefferson was accused of being a Muslim
so he felt he was in good company yeah
but you know that brings us to the point
about the fact that we are as Muslims
faced with the challenge of of
portraying and practicing our religion
with a correct understanding of Islam
and so it it makes it very important for
us as Muslims to to fulfill one of The
Commandments from our Prophet Muhammad
God's peace and blessing be upon him and
that say to to to seek the knowledge
that it is incumbent is an obligation
upon every Muslim to learn this Dean to
learn the fundamentals of Islam because
when we do that and when we when we take
our knowledge from the authentic sources
and from credible credible teachers uh
then this safeguards us against a
misinterpretation or incorrect practices
it safeguards us from going off into
extremes you see and and this is a big
challenge that we're faced with today uh
where
sometimes we we will learn something but
without the correct guidance in in
guidance in that process of learning we
will go on our own emotion and as a
result we can sometimes uh be led into
an extreme practice or an extreme
understanding and so this leads to
problems uh not only uh in in in the
Middle East where we see conflicts after
conflicts uh Muslims fighting against
Muslims and and and so on and so forth
but we see it even in our own
communities where you know we we we have
a great need to to Rise Above This and
to have Unity you also come from a
Christian background is that right
that's correct I you accepted Islam how
long ago I I accepted Islam in 1976 I
was raised as a Catholic I was an alter
boy actually in the Church Catholic
Church in Washington DC and and
alhamdulillah after I learned about
Islam you know it was no looking back
any regrets none whatsoever in fact for
me it was like all the pieces of the
puzzle came together you see and
alhamdulillah what one of the things
that has really uh stirred my love for
this Dean for this way of life is the
emphasis that it places on on the
knowledge in in in other faiths and the
faith that I was raised in uh we weren't
obligated to learn the religion we left
it up to the priests the deacons or the
Bishops the Cardinals the popes the
ministers and other faiths are similar
to that but in Islam each and every
Muslim is obligated to study his
religion to study his Dean and so that
he can practice it in the best manner in
the way that the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him has taught us to do so uh
we're here on the dean show with the
director us director of Islamic online
univers university you're currently um
representing the university here in the
states yes along with my my very able
assistant sister yasine Roland whom you
meeting shortly we we are responsible
for promoting the university here and
encouraging and raising the enrollment
uh for the University one of the
responsibilities that I've been tasked
with is also to provide the the uh
course of study to the inmate population
across the country all right we're going
to talk some more of that we got a lot
more to talk about Donald Trump making
some statements I want to get your
feedback on that and other politicians
now people want to get elected seems
like uh Muslims are the guinea pigs here
the scape coats we're going to be right
back with more don't go anywhere please
subscribe to the dean show follow us on
our official Facebook and Twitter pages
in The Links below please also help
support the dean show by making a
donation in the link
below and don't forget as I asked you to
do already if you haven't subscribe
right
[Music]
now back here on the dean show with the
US director of the Islamic online
university
and tell
me how would you respond and this is a
misconception that many people have and
then you have people out there who have
the microphone the platform Donald Trump
for instance and others who they'll say
look you know I was just in Malaysia I
was here and these Muslims are just
blowing things up I just left Indonesia
bomb bomb bomb bomb right we got a
problem I would I would encourage the
people themselves to do as Malcolm said
think for yourself don't let others
think for you and get to know the
Muslims get to know what Islam is all
about we have more than 2,000 mosque all
across the country we have perhaps as
many as 1200 or more Muslim schools and
we are your neighbor we are the
neighbors of of of the the society and
so we encourage them to get to know the
Muslims from the the direct interaction
and not leave it up to someone else
making an uninformed opinion just
because they want your vote and they're
feeding on your fear you see fear is is
an industry in itself as you well know
uh they they make movies that that
people spend billions of dollars just to
go and become frightened and so the
politicians know that and so they'll use
that fear as a means to feed into their
need to get voted to get elected and so
unfortunately as you mentioned we as
Muslims we're now the Islam is the
Boogeyman there's no more communism you
see so now the shift the focus has been
shiting
to Islam and Muslims as being the
enemy unjustly so because once the
people really find out that Islam is a
complete way of life about submission
and surrender to the will of almighty
God the same way that all of the
prophets and Messengers practice that
Jesus submitted and surrendered his will
to God Moses surrendered and submitted
his will to God Abraham Our Father peace
be upon all of them they will see that
this is none other than the divinely
revealed way that almighty God intended
for all beings to live now there was a
documentary where they follow followed
around some Muslims and if someone says
look no hold on hold on I just saw the
Jihadi next door I don't know if you saw
this documentary in UK how do you
address situation like that where you do
have elements you know are they
representing the true face of Islam and
this is unfortunate because this is
giving a bad reputation to uh Muslims in
the mainstream of Islam the the dean of
Islam teaches us to be
balanced to be a moderate
way the the way is that's not extreme in
fact the prophet muhammadu alhi wasallam
he he condemned extremism very clearly
he said that the extremist will be
destroyed and so when we see you see our
young brothers and sisters who seem to
be following this this extremist
tendency or this radical tendency they
want to condemn everyone that doesn't
think like them or believe like them or
practice like them even they'll condemn
other Muslims you see this this this is
a a serious problem that we have to look
at and study its roots study it it's the
causes why people may slip into this
Arena Dr shik Jamal Zaba has a very very
beautiful book on religious extremism
that addresses this topic in detail and
and and I think with the work that we're
doing with the university and trying to
bring up the correct understanding of
Islam and from authentic sources this
helps to alleviate and minimize the
tendency towards extremism and even
though this is a very small Fringe
element combating that is something that
you guys are doing Muslims I mean such
as shik B Phillips Dr B Phillips you
representing the Islamic online
university here and that's through that
uh continuing that Legacy of Education
yes because through education hopefully
this ignorance can be eradicated and
then we can go ahead and umly at most of
these extremist by educating them in the
proper way and and one of the things
that goes along with every act of
worship of the Muslim as you well know
is is the sincerity the intention and
and and so if a person tends to lean
towards
extremism you have to question the
sincerity of and his humility because
once you learn you realize how little
you do know but some people will learn
something and and they begin to think
that they are the big shakes or so on
and so forth and and begin to question
and condemn everyone and and this you
know also is a part of that that problem
so how important is it I mean for every
Muslim to be climbing I call the
spiritual ladder right we don't want to
be stuck in kindergarten first grade to
be seeking knowledge to to understand
the importance of taking the dean
serious and and you can't be serious in
the dean if you're not educating
yourself in the de exactly you know and
and and it's very important for us to to
not just do it on our own but to
to uh identify those Scholars who are
credible and authentic who are connected
to the prophet Muhammad Al in the in the
Traditions the correct traditions of of
of understanding Islam to study Islam in
a in a pro programmatic way in a very
disciplined way so it's not to be
scattered and and out on your own you
see where you will begin to make
judgments and make and make uh or commit
certain actions that may very well be uh
out of context so it is very important
and and indeed you know Allah tells us
in the Quran is the one who know like
the one who does not know you see and
and so we we are obligated to be I I
like to say that we are an um of
scholarship we are a nation of
scholarship that encourages the Muslim
to be educated because we going to be
held responsible for what we do and
that's why with I'm I'm so delighted to
work with Dr Bal and the staff of the
Islamic online university because we're
bringing education to the Muslim uh
Nation uh at a relatively nominal cost
tuition free you see uh there's no cost
per credit hour and we we're not just
focusing on Islamic Studies or Islamic
education or Arabic language but we've
also expanded our offerings to include
psychology uh business and finance
economics uh education uh uh information
and Technology computer science of
course in the Arabic and Islamic Studies
uh both uh The Graduate and the
undergraduate course offerings are are
available as well as the free diploma
program so there's really no excuse for
Muslims today to be uneducated and you
don't have to necessarily travel to go a
long way to to be a student of knowledge
it's very difficult sometimes to travel
these days you see and go and stay so
you can study right in the convenience
of your home uh with the Islamic online
university if you have access to the
internet or a computer and you don't
have to enroll in a graduate or
undergraduate course so you can take the
diploma course which we provided to the
inmates across the country uh free of
cost completely with no registration
cost and uh move at your own pace we're
going to take a break and then I think
we got a uh surprise we got uh the head
of the Islamic online university he
going to be with us on the dean show
don't go anywhere we right back please
subscribe to the dean show follow us on
our official Facebook and Twitter pages
in The Links below please also also help
support the dean show by making a
donation in the link
below and don't forget as I asked you to
do already if you haven't subscribe
right
[Music]
now welcome back to the dean show and
I'm with the director of the Islamic
onine University for the United States
and you've also worked many years you
still um helping people find purpose in
prisons yes how's that going well
alhamdulillah it's it's it's been an
amazing journey for me actually I
started working with the prisons as a
Muslim Champion early on when I became
Muslim back in 1976 and I'm happy to
have been a part of a class action suit
in 78 to actually get Islam uh Islamic
rights in the prisons where they could
have Juma and and other activities u in
in the state of Connecticut I served as
the full-time Muslim chaplain uh for
about 10 years in South Carolina and
also the contract demand for the federal
group present seven correction
facilities throughout the south east
that I would visit uh from Florida up
through Georgia and Carolina and now
working with the Islamic online
university Dr Bel has asked that we
provide uh the diploma program to the
Muslim inmates all across the country
and so alhamdulillah that's been we have
over 800 students now and alhamdulillah
this is uh this has been working very
very well we have over 800 students
registered inmates of of more than 300
now actually enrolled in the classes and
they receive the materials free of
charge there's six levels of study
Foundation of Islamic Studies uh moral
Foundation of Islamic culture the F tar
the the foundation the understanding of
the
purification uh also the Arabic reading
and writing it's it's a very
comprehensive course of study for the
for the Muslim inmates and we hope that
this will uh give them a sound
foundation so that when they do return
to society they will not only be good
sound practicing Muslims but they will
also be responsible citizens who are
dedicated to giving back to the society
because they're receiving this effort uh
free free of cost and no charge to them
how long ago did you accept Islam how
long has it been now in 1976 over 30
some years over 30 years yes and where
you are right now you're helping educate
you were someone who got educated you
found your purpose in life you saw the
proof and evidence that Islam provided
you come from a Christian Catholic
background you obviously looked at all
of the you know evidence you didn't jump
in this blindly obviously and now what
has helped you progress is seeking
knowledge you know dedicating your time
putting aside enough time to to um work
your heart through climbing that
spiritual ladder so what advice do you
have for the people watching for the
Muslims out there who now they've tuned
in and the heart is kind of uh depleted
right it's empty like the B phone
batteries you know depleted exactly and
then you have some not yet Muslims and
they're getting a different perspective
when they watch the dean show you know
the prophet sallallah Ali wasallam gave
us a very beautiful Hadith he said that
whoever sets out on the path to acquire
the knowledge of This Dean they're on
the path to Paradise until they return
so my advice is is to to stay committed
to increasing one's knowledge of of of
Islam in all of its aspects because this
is what's going to bring you closer to
Allah subh it's going to enable us to
fulfill our purpose more completely and
hopefully uh enable us to arrive at our
destination which will be the paradise
or Jenna uh in the in the next life
because this is only a temporary life as
you and all of us do all know yes and
then the the not yet Muslims who are out
there they tuned in for the first time
what advice do you have from them I I
advise them to to to give an open Keep
an open mind to to study uh Islam and
other religions and make a sound Choice
based on the evidences based on the
proofs because Islam is not just blind
belief as some other faiths are but it
is based on on proof it's based on truth
and so in order to allay any fear that
they may have they need to get to know
their neighbors get to know us as Muslim
many mosque are opening their doors for
open houses throughout the year where
they can come and find out that we we
are not these strange you know
ideologues that that are out to
terrorize the society or take over you
see we want to share the goodness that
almighty God has given us by following
the paths of the prophets uh in
obedience to our creator I heard we got
a surprise when we come back we got Dr B
Phillips to join us all right don't go
anywhere we be right back please
subscribe to the dean show follow us on
our official Facebook and Twitter pages
in The Links below please also help
support the dean show by making a
donation in the link
below Alum are you there Dr
Bal I'd like to give my greetings to all
of the viewers of the dean show with uh
brother Eddie and of course it's a great
pleasure to be back here with you again
after a number of years we've been in
different sides of the world so we
haven't had the opportunity to
sit and share uh more understanding
about the dean you know Dr B one of the
main things that we talk about here on
the dean show is the message of Peace
the message of purpose and we struggle
hard to combat any form of extremism
with providing the authentic knowledge
how do you personally contribute to this
struggle I am the chancellor of the
Islamic online university whose focus is
basically spreading authentic Islamic
knowledge to make this available as
easily as affordably as possible for
Muslims all around the world and for
non-muslims who want to know about
Islam Dr Bal please tell me more tell us
more about your University how long has
it been established how long has it been
functioning and how many students do you
have this
university has been functioning for
about
8 years
now and in that span of 8 years we have
reached over
250,000 students who registered with us
and taking different courses including
those who are taking actual uh degree
courses but the vast majority are taking
our free courses being offered mashallah
that's amazing so many students
alhamdulillah what's the essence of the
University the essence of it all is
about spreading authentic Islamic
knowledge in fact the motto of the
University itself is changing the nation
that is the Muslim umah changing the
nation through
education and the whole purpose of this
was to get people away from other
methods which people have taken on in
recent times uh in the name of Islam
using the the banners of Islam which are
not about
education they're
about Mayhem about
Slaughter uh Taking
Lives exploding
bodies blowing up
institutions
restaurants shopping centers all kinds
of
craziness which is being done in the
name of
Islam it's is really hijacked Islam the
vast majority of Muslims have nothing to
do with this at all authentic knowledge
is so important during these turbulent
times you have many people sadly to say
many uneducated Muslims also who really
are confused about Islam and the media
doesn't help out you have them
portraying Islam as being violent
because all they do is pick up on
stories of ignorant uneducated Muslims
who might do some
evil act that is actually opposite to
Islam the media has seen
to exploit this circumstance it sells
newspapers it uh catches people's
attention it makes people popular to
attack some group and blame everything
on that group before it was the
Communists back in the ' 50s 9 1950s Etc
you know Russia Cold War then after the
burlin war fell and Russia crumbled who
else now to blame Muslims the most
visible become the scapegoat the word
extremist is used nowadays A lot can you
tell us who is really an extremist the
extremists are those people who are
using methods espousing principles which
are not from the authentic way of Islam
Islam was never gained power in the time
of the Prophet it didn't gain power
through
violence the prophet may God's peace and
blessings be upon him could have
gathered the leading Companions of his
his disciples the leading who were ones
who were most you know Warrior likee
they were strongest and
right there in Mecca killing the leaders
of quan taking over Mecca and declaring
himself the prophet may God be upon him
as the ruler of Mecca and Sh as the law
but he didn't do that that wasn't his
way and to call to that other way is not
to call to Islam that is the Communist
way you know you could call it any other
way you want even the American
Revolution you know that was a violent
way but that wasn't the Islamic way I
agree with you that's definitely not the
way to share this beautiful way of life
with the world however what is the
correct way what is the right way to
share this message of Peace this message
of purpose that brings Solace
contentment satisfaction to the heart
what is the correct way and will you
share some final Thoughts with us
Islamic way fundamentally is educating
the prophet may God's peace and blessing
be upon him was an exemplary educator
all of the prophets of God were
Educators they were teachers they taught
the message of God
which guided Human Society put human
lives on the right path a path which is
beneficial to society a path which is
away from violence except were necessary
to preserve oneself one's family
one's
country so one does not say well we
cannot fight at any under any
circumstance no where it is necessary to
preserve ourselves then we fight to
survive but otherwise as the Quran says
there is no compulsion in religion so
Islam is about educating humankind to
the way of God to the deed
I really appreciate it thank you very
much for joining us Dr bah I'd like to
thank you all for listening to these
brief words of mine on The Dean show and
I hope to be able to share some more
with you in the future and the peace and
mercy of God Almighty Allah be upon
you and don't forget if you haven't
subscribe right now
[Music]