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alhamdulillah by now you know that that
means peace be unto you this is a
greeting that all the messengers of God
greeted each other with they greeted the
people with and we're greeting you with
that same greeting peace be unto you you
won't find another group of people who
are striving more towards peace to have
peace with their creator to have peace
with themselves and have peace with
their fellow human beings those are
those who strive humbly to submit and to
surrender to the one God doing what he
wants them to do on his terms those are
the Muslims you could be a Muslim
anytime you can do it right now or after
the show but think about
this very important invitation one man
who we're going to be interviewing today
he accepted the call to submit and
surrender to the one God to do what all
the messengers of God
did and that's Islam submitting to God
on his terms now we're going to be
talking to James and we have a double
treat for you we have shik YF Estus he's
going to be interviewing this 85y old
man
who came to Islam who came to the
submission of one God realizing that you
know what I've been through everything a
lot of things different things and this
is where I needed to
be if I wanted to be successful times
running out we not we might not make it
to 85 years old we might not make it
till tomorrow and this is something that
we need to think about the lights will
go on after the party and the party will
end and you you will be alone and you
will have to be accountable for
everything you've done life is not all
about just chasing that man or woman or
that good time it's not all about the
baseball game and the basketball game
and chasing a position and getting a lot
of wealth and money there's more to this
life and it's up to you to be sincere
enough within yourself and to want to
know more that's the first step and then
to ask the one to ask the one who has
created all this to guide you and to
make things clear that only be fair if
you wanted it it'd only be fair if he
gave it to you wouldn't it now and he's
willing to give it to you he's willing
to guide you because that's one of his
attributes he's the most loving the most
merciful and he's the guide but you want
to want it first to be guided so we're
going to see how this man James was
guided and Shake Yousef Estus is going
to be talking to him and then we'll come
back so I hope you enjoy this week's
episode of the dean show
show Welcome to the dean show no I'm not
Eddie this is Yousef Festus welcoming
you to the dean show on behalf of Eddie
and all the folks here at the dean show
today's program is amazing and exciting
with a lot things happening one of the
biggest things of all though is an
interview with a beloved brother of ours
a Muslim who came to Faith of Islam in
just recent months and what's really
interested is about about this he has
spent more than 85 years on this planet
in investigating Faith finding out about
people and we'll let him tell his own
story that and more is all coming up
right here on the dean
show
alhamdulillah the praise to Allah and
we're now with our special guest today
we're with our brother James James yes
85 years of age I just hope I'm strong
enough to go through this interview my
throat has been giving trouble well I
was told that that's a brother just told
me that's the gift of Hajj is this
special voice we get afterwards we I
believe so well I'm I'm not alone in
this actually most of our companions in
the party are in the same condition so
we're here tell us where we are where
are we located well we're located in uh
jeda in a rather nice uh Hotel here not
very far from Mecca no not very far I I
I don't know how many Kil Kil kilometers
but um The Journey time was about an
hour or something like that it a lot
depends on the traffic yeah it does so
why would we you and I be here in a
place uh usually associated with Arabs
and uh that type of thing well we're
here um as a newcomer to the Muslim
faith I'm bound to come here if Allah
Wills during my lifetime at least once
and I've been most fortunate uh with the
people who have helped me come to the
position I'm in today and you're one of
them brother Yousef to have this
marvelous experience to come on the this
HUD it it really has been it's not been
easy for me because I'm not as young as
I used to be and I'm not really to be
quite honest used to a lot of crowds of
people but it's been worth it and I've
struggled on and i' I think I've
completed
everything as it should have been done
inshah that and more I I've been with
you right along and I'm sure that you've
done that and more inshallah and now we
would like to ask you a question through
your life now you're 85 years old
mashallah and this is many people never
attained that age but uh in your
experience could you give us a little
background some of the places you've
been things you've done well I I was
born in Scotland a long time ago I have
a middle class family my father's a
doctor and but I I they were overseas in
Nigeria and he was overseas and I didn't
uh really see much of him so I grew up
with Scottish Presbyterian Christian uh
relatives and they gave me the the the
background of of believing in God and
worshiping him and then complications
came on in that scheme later on I went
to Roman Catholic school and uh and I
was confused and never really adjusted
too well to to what was then a sort of
new religion to me and then I after they
5 years in the air force during the War
I went to now which war would this be
the second world war yeah second world
war sorry
1940s yeah 39 to 46 I think it's
finished at
45 after that I I managed to obtain a
job with a
large company in the Red Sea and based
in Aiden and spent a year in London
learning uh the business and went out
there and that was when I first came
into contact with with the people of the
Muslim faith mostly araban oh so you're
not a newcomer to meeting Muslims no no
I I worked with them we worked with all
all all kinds of people there of
different faiths but I learned something
about the Quran then and the Islam at
that time which would be about 1949 to
1952 when I was there and then after
that I came back to Britain for a short
time because my contract wasn't renewed
there I like to have stayed there but in
many ways alab was looking kindly on me
because um a lot of my friends didn't
survive the sort of breakup of the
colonial days in in in the British
colony to what is now and it's it's had
a a Troublesome background then I went
to Hong Kong for a short time working in
a business company there now were there
any Muslims in Hong Kong no I never met
in Muslims I was completely divorced
from any sort of religion really over
that time but uh and then I went to
Africa to the Central African Federation
rudia as it was then called now called
Zimbabwe and got a a a simple job which
is more to my suit uh with the uh Health
Department killing mosquitoes and you
were a mosquito killer I was a mosquito
killer and killing and and and dealing
with the the problem of sisis that's a
difficult word to pronounce Bill Haria
which um can be caught from going into
rivers so I worked for them for a while
and then they Federation broke up it's a
long story we haven't got time for that
and I transferred across to the veteran
department and worked in um TX fly
control very successfully until I took a
then the War years come on I wasn't
involved in any religious experience at
that
time and uh event eventually I uh got
back to to Britain but then went back to
Africa again but in the circumstances in
Zimbabwe today I came back to London
about 5 years ago I see so now you're
not a fly killer anymore not a fly
killer just on an individual basis
that's very true but then I I I I
thought um I thought to myself look
you're getting on an age now now you've
always believed in God but you haven't
been praying to him or worshiping him
for years so it's about time you got
down and did something about it now
nobody forced me but I always had a
feeling that
uh that Al that Jesus is
only a prophet one of one of Allah's
prophets and I thought that the Muslim
religion was the only one for
us so I decided so you already had this
embedded in the background of it it must
been it must have been it wasn't
something that popped up after seeing
being the rather um what I consider to
be appalling way the country G downhill
with so much promiscuity and greed
gluttony and what have you all the evils
that the Holy Quran tells us we should
avoid and fight so I decided to become a
Muslim nobody twisted my arm nobody
forced me but it was just through
other's intervention that
completely um almost not accidentally
but I was making a money transfer to
some poor Africans in South Africa who
were suffering I'm not a rich person but
I and through them through um a money
exchange shop an internet cafe which was
run by a Somali chap now I'd been to
Somali land and my brother had been a
doctor in somal land at one time so they
they weren completely strangers to me so
I realized that this fellow was quite a
religious Muslim religious Somali rather
should say and he introduced me to the
El manada al- Islamic Center in Parson
green and I went
down to see them one day and there and
then I was accepted I made the As
shadu the shahada shahada excuse me I'm
read that's all right go ahead and I
went and then I on the 10th of June
2008 and uh
it's been the best thing I've done in
your whole life now you're talking about
through your whole life what does this
stand out as the most I think I think I
think it I think it must be yes yes it
is certainly the most rewarding and uh
to be speaking to you today in this in
this place it's it's it's it's almost uh
miraculous is for me as well I have to
tell you that ordinarily when we have
guests I don't like to interrupt them
but I have to tell you something the
minute I met you I was so happy to make
your acquaintance and I prayed that
Allah would let us be together for this
HUD I'm so thankful to Allah for us to
get to be here for this the experience
that we shared together people we met
together things that happened some were
kind of comical some were a little tough
yes it hasn't it hasn't been all that
straightforward it it never is but as
you said to me I think on one occasion
when you saw me sort of falling with not
falling by the wayside in that except
but Falling Down you say but it's not
it's not supposed to be easy it's
something hard you know and so I sort of
braced my shoulders again and sort of
dug into that Scottish toughness you
know and then
survived it was uh I'm very very
thankful to you not only to you but to
all the brothers that have been in your
team here they've looked out me so well
without the strong arms and shoulders of
our brother from um Colombia and South
South Carolina I don't think I would
have made it on the last day which was
very very crowded but I managed to get
up close pretty close to the cburn this
I could hardly believe it I can hardly
believe I was there you know I'd seen
pictures of the cburn the old days in
Aiden and it seemed to be a small
building in in in the middle of the
desert and I arrived here and you you
know you can hunt it oh it was uh it it
it it certainly was an experience that I
I didn't expect but everything things
worked out very well it's not easy for
an 85y old person um we don't have to go
into the details there it's not easy but
um thanks to you and your and and your
team I I i' I've managed to survive we
say thanks to Allah that any of us
survived that is very true we want to
ask you now about the word in Arabic
it's called Ted or monotheism how
important is that I think it's very it's
very important it's very it's very
important to to
everybody irrespective of their sort of
time in in life but when you get old
doesn't matter what you've done in the
past you got to look ahead what have you
got to look ahead to you got to look
ahead to the afterlife which Allah has
promised us and to get there you have to
um belong to the Muslim faith follow the
advice and the rules and live the rest
of your life in the way that Allah and
the Holy Quran instruct you to
do uh this is easier for a person like
myself uh who's had a a belief in God Al
thir hasn't
been shown very much but has a basic
belief in God uh it's easy to to make
this
conversion uh it might be more difficult
for you to
convert people who have who don't
believe in anything or don't or worship
anything you're saying atheists would be
harder to come to them yes I would think
so very much that's been our experience
actually that the atheist is committed
to nothing but I think and going well
that's true but going back to uh going
back to Africa which have had a lot of
experience there most Africans and part
of Africa that I've been to I never had
any chance real chance of of of knowing
about about the Muslim faith or or
having anybody tell them about it and
they're very there are people that I
think would welcome some initiative
there because they they have a basic
belief in in in a God one of the things
we spoke about earlier is the ease of
understanding I guess the beliefs
because it's not difficult to understand
there's one God do what he wants you to
do but to implement it or put it into
practice this is where the difficult
comes the difficulty comes of course
it's with an individual it's um I of an
age now where they shall we say the sins
of the flesh are behind me now and I
haven't really been drunk of Martini for
a few years and I hav't I've never been
a gambler I don't believe in the stock
exchange and I don't have and I'm not a
greedy person in fact I'm struggling to
keep my weight down how I still live in
less than 3 lbs a day which is about 6
American dollars so you know but there's
not everybody can do this so I I
appreciate that it's it's uh it's it's
going to be hard
maybe some people uh it's harder it's
not about giving up a former religion
it's giving up a former uh i' think uh
worship of the material things oh very
much so they they the material things
that and as we've seen now I mean they
all falling apart of it but um the
material things I mean you only got to
go to a supermarket in London and see
that people in in in medical terminology
stricken with obesity walking out with
trolleys full of liquor and food enough
to feed an army of Africans you know for
about a month and uh this is just the
weekend of business and and so much
waste oh yes terrible waste I never
waste anything one of the things it's
nothing to do with my being a Muslim
it's just the way I'm built I waste
anything because uh you know we and if
you would if you had surpluses you'd
give them way to people who needed it
you know as I do I support a family in
in Africa that um for for many years now
and every year I go out for a couple of
weeks and I don't go over to zimb at the
moment but this year in April I'm going
back to South Africa and my friend will
bring the old pickup down the baky as we
call it down and and we fill it up with
food and take it back to his place and
go I'm hoping to go with him to see some
of his four children uh because I
haven't seen them for a long time but
that that's that's my interest in life I
don't I mean I live by myself but I I
look upon them as my family and it gives
me something you don't just sit and and
and do nothing but you can't do a great
deal if you're MK misin means means
being rather poor impoverished
impoverished yes
impecunious there whole we're going to
throw out all the big words oh gosh
yes let us now ask you to give us as you
did throughout the hjj the pilgrimage
that we shared together all of us and
there were quite a few of us together uh
we looked forward to hearing from you on
many occasions we would ask you
questions and now again we're going to
ask you to give us some advice well I'm
not very sure what audience I'm we've
got here just the World At Large
I I would say take a look at
yourselves are you living a good life do
you feel that you're Gooding life you
you would feel that you're committing
sin it's not sins that have been written
down or told you but something in your
heart in your body are you doing
something you think is wrong do you not
think you could possibly do things
better maybe maybe not be so greedy
maybe help other people maybe pay more
attention to God
Allah if you do that realize that he's
there looking after you and not that
he's there to care for you when you
leave depart from this life it's very
important and all the rules are laid
down think about him come to him and the
and and the best if when you when you
decide that it's time something will
come go and see go to your local mid or
mosque or Islamic Center find someone
that you can talk to in of your own
cultural background is better uh to find
someone like yourself that that they can
help you uh answer the many questions
you have and uh I I I I I tell you that
you will feel a lot better I feel a
great deal better when you've
accomplished this and come to terms with
Allah and certainly with all the people
in the last years of your life and if
you're a young person it goes for that
as well but and you're younger the more
advice you need from people much more
experienc than I have no experience I
only became a Muslim since in the 10th
of June this year so I'm unable to to
instruct you all that well but somebody
like our brother here Yousef will be
able to guide you in the right direction
and I advise you all to do this before
it's too late because people often say
to me why have you become a Muslim now
you know you can spend about an hour
giving an answer but I I give a
very rather frivolous answer I
say I want to be on the side of the
Angels when Allah decides to pull the
final curtain down in this place now you
think about that I advise you to get on
the side of the angels and don't leave
it too
late very good
advice very very good advice and for me
I I felt that it was personal to me as
well thank you so much James for sharing
the hjj with us and sharing your life
with us and especially thank you for
taking the time to be with us and and
give us this good advice we love you so
much and you're you're our brother in
Islam and we look to you like like our
father we love you so
much alhamdulillah thank you thank
you well that's our program for the dean
show for this week Eddie will be back
with you next week and until then we ask
that the words that our brother James
shared with us today will become a part
of our Lives influencing us properly
correctly that we can also have this
great relationship with our Lord to be
close to Allah and of also the teachings
of our Prophet Muhammad when he told us
that our relationship with Allah should
be reflected in our relationship with
the people and whoever doesn't thank the
people doesn't thank Allah so we thank
our brother James and all the brothers
that helped us to have our Hajj and and
we thank Allah subhana wa tala God
Almighty for giving us the toi the
success in having our Hajj and having
this program with you until next time
for the dean show I'm YF vus Salam
alaykum which means peace be unto
you and there you have it another person
sharing their wonderful story with us
James 85 years
old and I'd like to thank shik Yousef
Estus for helping us out with this
interview I hope this story that James
got to share with you is something that
will have an impact in your life for
those people who are still seeking the
truth wanting to know the truth after
hearing his story and watching some of
our other shows that you acknowledge and
you're ready to acknowledge that you
know what you're smart enough to know
that there is a crater behind all of
this that this universe and everything
in it did not just come by chance that
there's an orchestra Ator there is one
who is sustaining and maintaining it and
he is the most wise he did not just
create this all in mere play and
foolishness that I will have to go back
to The Giver of Life the one who has
made me and I'm going to have to answer
for everything that I've done in this
world especially what I believed in my
heart and that the signs that he gives
to an individual and to the Nations did
I accept his signs and this is one of
them know that you are intelligent
enough and it's in your very nature when
the truth comes to you that it's simple
to understand it's nothing complicated
it's a way of life that all the
messengers of God brought they all
taught the same way of life submission
and surrender to the one God he is the
most merciful he is the most gracious he
is the king he is the only Holy One he
is the peace he is The Giver of safety
he is the mighty he is the powerful The
Majestic he is the only true
creator he is the maker of shapes the
most forgiving the sustainer the all
knowing the all hearing the most high he
is the
protector he is the most wise the most
loving he is The Giver of Life and The
Giver of death
he is truly the self-existing he's truly
independent on of all and we are all
dependent on
him try not taking the air in that he's
given you see if you're truly
independent which you are not he is the
only one truly independent and he is all
powerful he is ever living the all
rich this is the one true God in Arabic
we say say Allah in
Aramaic the language that Jesus this
Mighty messenger spoke he would say
Allah in Hebrew Allah so it doesn't take
person with many brain cells to figure
out that the English
language Moses Jesus Abraham they never
spoke any of this they didn't speak
English they never said God so when you
put the pieces of the puzzle
together Allah Allah this is the god and
we just gave you some of his attributes
so you know that this is the one that I
want to worship this is the one that I
want to turn to who I want to guide me
he is the one the self-sufficient master
who begets not nor was he begotten to
whom there is no qu equal or comparable
who has no wife no child no siblings
this is the one God he loves you he
wants to guide you and he will forgive
all sins but you got to turn to him and
you got to want it we talked about some
of these other things earli in the show
that the lights will come on the party
will be over this life will end you'll
be accountable for your sins and you
know we got a lot of them we're coming
to a close all I want to say is that we
care for our brothers in humanity and we
want everybody to be in paradise and
Paradise is eternal why barter something
temporary which is this life for
something eternal
why would you risk Paradise for
something and a pleasure that's always
in the past tense I was here I went
there it will all end it will all be a
past tense in Paradise it just keeps
getting better and better and all you
got to do is one ask for the guidance
and when it comes to you submit to this
one God and strive to be the best human
being you can be doing what this Creator
wants you to do doing it on his terms
not your terms that's all we have for
today I hope that you got to benefit
continue tuning in every week to the
dean show and until next
time allum which means peace be unto you
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all