[Music]
alhamdulillah peace be unto you welcome
to the dean show you know what we're
about trying to help you understand
Islam and Muslims and alhamdulillah that
we have come this far bringing you a new
show every week we like to thank
everybody that's been supporting us
continue telling your friends and your
family about the show so we can continue
to grow inshallah God willing it's
always great when somebody accepts Islam
when they have recognized who their
creator is that he's unique that he's
nothing like his creation that he's
absolutely one it's a beautiful moment
and last week we got to witness that
with Chris and we make Dua for Chris
that uh God Almighty keeps him
steadfast and and makes it easy for him
today we have another brother who
accepted Islam and we're going to meet
him we're going to check it with him see
where he's at and and then we'll come
right back so you can uh hear his story
on why this gentleman chose Islam as his
way of life we'll be right back on the
dean
show hey hey guys I'm going to finish my
training do my prayer and get back with
you with the dean show
alaykum brother peace be unto
you some nice moves over there you
throwing this guy around like nothing
huh how long you've been training
martial arts uh going on about 2 years
now wow you enjoying yourself huh oh
it's great great workout great
environment I love it yeah yeah all
right great well we brought you on the
show not to talk about martial arts and
how uh tough you are but we want to talk
about how you bumped into Islam can I
say that Islam find you you found Islam
how did this happen talk to us tell us
about uh this uh Journey that you took
and now that you're a Muslim yes I think
I thank God for being Muslim uh been
Muslim about 11 years now uh what do
that mean real quick just so you know
some people tuning on for the first time
said muslim oh man they're going to
think you're a terrorist or something
what does that mean when you say Muslim
Muslim is one who who who consciously
acknowledges God and consciously wants
to follow God's laws in their life and
submit to God meaning through their word
and deed every day of their life through
every aspect of their life not just
prayer or giving charity but
interactions with people and different
things yes you're not you're not a
terrorist are you no no why would I be a
terrorist okay good just to clear that
up because uh a Muslim can't be a
terrorist these are two oxymorons right
of course exactly okay so we got that
out of the way now so go ahead tell us
how you bumped into Islam tell us real
briefly uh how this came about uh
basically I was a teenager U trying to
look for some purpose in my life trying
to look for various things um that I can
do with my life and had a friend of mine
in in the school who was fasting and um
I was curious about it cuz he wasn't
eating or drinking so I thought this was
very strange why why is he not doing
this so it told me a a little bit about
it and I still was I still very hesitant
very timid very um uneducated about
Islam but um so he heard me to other
people got some knowledge information
about it uh started learning about their
rights and rituals and different
practice they do and they CAU my eyes
something I felt was uh rational I felt
was uh practical to my life would help
me would benefit me and I jumped into it
and I feel great about it and uh I feel
peace I feel like U I know who God truly
is he's not a he or she um just praying
to the one Soul Creator and um it's
something that I uh grateful for and I
feel thankful for every day of my life
okay let's back up because what led you
to becoming a Muslim what were you
before you accept up to Islam what were
you born as I was born as a a Christian
uh born as a Protestant Christian
baptized uh through the church uh
through the name of you know ideally the
savior of Christ uh after a while I
started going to kalala church uh
started confessing my sins uh doing
communion uh different P rights and uh
rituals of Catholicism so I was born as
a Christian uh not really practicing not
really adhering to the Bible as far as
why why weren't you adhering to the
Bible uh I felt the time that uh there
was prayer there was um giv to people
who needed um there were certain basic
things as far as believing in uh Jesus a
lord you believe that Jesus was your God
was God uh I did somewhat yes and
somewhat no uh the time I felt that
um there was a god there was a Creator
but I did not feel I had to go through
you could say a third person as far as
praying through the innocence of Jesus
that didn't make sense to you no no okay
it didn't and at the same time um I did
acknowledge Jesus and respect him uh as
far as the many things that he done
which are u in the Bible that coincided
with the Quran uh finding out later was
a surprise to me uh so being a Christian
at the time was not really um staunching
it you can say but at the same time I uh
did believe in the Creator and I believe
in basic morals uh that I should try to
follow uh in my
life okay so you were born Christian you
started uh uh you were somewhat
practicing not practicing but some
things didn't make sense like Jesus
being God correct okay that's good
because as Muslims we believe that Jesus
was one of the mightiest messengers of
God you cannot be a Muslim unless you
believe in Jesus so this is something
shocking when many Christians hear this
they hear like what they believe in
Jesus you know they uh respect him they
love him and you know a Christian should
be Christlike right so did you feel you
were Christlike at all I felt just
particularly Christlike on Sundays on
Sundays yeah just Sundays it wasn't like
um uh everyday thing for me I guess some
people would say that's a personal
choice you could have you know followed
that every day but I felt at the time
too
um I guess how how was it benefitting me
as far as me trying to uh delve into the
Bible and um read it and absorb and
Implement what I uh read uh from the
Bible um but at the same time I just
could not um accept uh the fact of
praying through Jesus because Jesus in
the Bible I found out he never said to
pray directly to him to pray just to the
Father in Heaven which so tell me now do
you feel more like you're following
Jesus Christ peace be upon him more now
that you're Muslim than when you were a
Christian oh most definitely most
definitely some examples uh some
examples when I was reading you know in
the Bible uh Jesus said pray on seasonly
meaning a parable or analogy meaning
praying constantly it was just uh a
Sunday prayer
uh was this is prayer when times of
Despair when times where things were
hard are not going your way or you had a
lot of stress a lot of
problems um is praying all the time
acknowledging God and thinking about God
uh and that's something which I felt
more Islam um coincided with me I'm
doing I think another example too um as
far as um not eating pork uh Jesus never
um told his followers to the disciples
to eat pork uh which Muslims do not also
eat pork as well and also um turn your
cheek uh Love Thy Neighbor uh just some
basic things which I felt um I need to
uh wholeheartedly follow and not just
give lip service to and Islam showed the
more rational and more practical way of
doing that Jesus many people get
surprised when I tell them Jesus was
doing Islam because Islam means
submission surrender in peace to the
creator of the heavens and the Earth and
that's what he did his whole life he
called people to be a servant of God he
went a little further and fell on his
face and prayed to God that that's in
the Bible you you came across that huh
yeah actually that's that's interesting
point um I did come across that but not
until afterwards yeah uh like I was
mentioning I was a Christian born as
Christian but not um uh I didn't
research specifically um ways of prayer
you could say I knew there was there you
had to pray to um at the time Jesus but
at the same time I felt that how could I
pray to Jesus if he himself in the Bible
pray to the Father in heaven for example
in the New Testament in the garden of
against me he says my Lord my Lord why
thou forsaken me u in the Bible um it
mentions Jesus falling on his face and
praying when I found out afterwards U
being a Muslim when I did more research
in the Bible which um Islam you know
encourages us to have an understanding
of other religions I was shocked because
I was never praying like that and no one
ever told me to pray like that so it was
something that um uh praying to Jesus um
I felt that I um as a uh thinking person
uh should not do that I should pray
solely to the Father in Heaven which is
the creator which we call God is Allah
that makes uh sense and I'm going to
tell some people right now something
else is going to kind of be shocking to
them if I tell him right now that Jesus
actually was Muslim many people freak
out right now say what come on man look
but how was that Jesus was a Muslim
Jesus what did he do and all the
messages of God they submitted they
surrendered not to anyone created but to
the creator of the heavens and earth and
that's what Muslim means Muslim is one
who submits to the will of God right of
course so now we learned a couple things
with uh our brother Rob who accepted
Islam is that Muslims love Jesus we
respect him no muslim is a Muslim unless
he believes in Jesus all right so with
that said I hope you guys uh benefited
just from half of this we're going to
take a break and we're going to come
back and ask you a few more questions
here on the dean show inshallah assalam
alaykum with we'll see you in a
few
e e
Alum peace be on to you welcome back to
the dean show I hope you guys are paying
attention here today we have Rob Rob
thank you again for being on the dean
show oh no problem no problem at all
okay we're not done yet we want to ask
you a few more questions Rob so now you
accepted Islam you decided that this was
a way of life from the originator the
Creator the sustainer of the
universe God Almighty so now how is this
Islam submission surrender to God how
has this benefited you in your life and
how do you feel it can benefit others
well basically Islam has been it for me
I feel more uh at peace and um I feel
person more responsibility uh being
responsible being a person of
responsibility towards myself as far as
trying to stand on the right path um
being a person of my family to helping
support my family uh social environment
uh to help the environment and also
Islam has benefited me is that I'm a
person of um uh I guess positive will
now my will is more positive and I feel
that I can really uh benefit people and
uh help people and now you always from
talking to you before you always didn't
have this positive outlook in life you
went through a stage now that you were
actually contemplating suicide is that
correct can you briefly fill us in uh
well that point in my life I was a very
low AB in my life uh parents had a rough
situation I had a rough time dealing
with people uh my family uh took some
narcotics during that time uh didn't
really have a strong sense of God
um a strong sense of purpose in life and
I started to create my own purpose I
started to do things that benefited me I
didn't care about anybody didn't care
about my own family I said what's it's
me me me me it's all about you yeah and
uh even I at the time I was fulfilling
certain um things that I wanted it was
just temporarily and even if something
else came I I would go after that I was
like just like a you could say a
domesticated animal like if something
was this way I'll go that way if
something was that way I go that way you
know I'm saying that's how a lot of
people are living now like wild animals
unfortunately I mean chasing I mean I
don't want you know depict myself as
that but Islam gave me a sense of focus
even the Quran the very first verses
guide us on the straight way the
straight path and that path is so
fulfilling it's so you you can't money
can't buy it you know yeah so you have
this uh now contentment now you you have
figured out what's the purpose of life
you have structure you have A system
that you follow that's bringing you this
peace yes definitely how do you you also
mentioned that you you didn't stop there
you still had some doubts in the
beginning and you started to investigate
even other uh religions tell us about
this also yeah that's correct even being
a Muslim I took the U the witnessing of
Faith which is called the shahada uh
bear witness that there's only one God
and Muhammad uh peace be upon Him is the
messenger of God um who talked about
prior Messengers which we believe in a
Kuran like Noah Abraham Moses Jesus
um I was still not so completely on
Islam I mean there wasn't a stamp of
approval that this is the complete
religion so I I sought other ways I
looked for other things uh did my own
personal research in the Bible more than
even before I was a Christian there was
some like some doubt still lingering
like why all these other religions why
so you wanted to get some confirmation
of peace of mind right so I went to
various synagogues churches went to
Native American um uh Center uh went to
Buddhist temple Hindu temple even the B
High Temple but uh when I saw those
things I said Islam is the most rational
one God you know one God so I have to do
my research um rationally it was just a
a belief for me now it was something I
had to prove to myself to get assurance
that this is the right um not just
religion cuz um the things that Islam
talks about prayer charity fasting there
are another religions so someone can say
I'm Muslim I'm doing that but also just
the the way of life Islam talks about as
far as uh being a a way of life uh
something that I can practice in my life
daily and that I can benefit other
myself first and foremost and then
benefit other people and that's what
Islam encourages uh through the Quran
and also through Muhammad's life example
like his wife said um they asked her how
was Muhammad they said he his life was a
walk in Quran so that's something I
would like to follow do you think every
human being should read the Quran I
believe so oh yes most definitely why
not just read it but um try to um think
about it like God says in the Quran like
if this book was from other than him
there'll be differences in it there'll
be discrepancies there'll be um things
that are not right with it but but the
book has proven itself that there's no
um differences there's no
differentiations there's no congruities
with it there's coincides with nature
coincides with science coincides with
everyday Reales uh human conditions and
it's a great book it's an instruction
manual on how a human being should live
his life
correct and we should understand that
there are a lot of things that we just
can't figure out on our own we need
God's guidance oh most definitely what
are the benefits now not just in this
life but what is your goal now if you
strive to submit to surrender in peace
to your creator what has he promised
you uh well basically I guess individual
level he's promised U Eternal uh Bliss
Eternal Paradise uh I think personally
though here now people can say okay
that's fine but what about here now we
have so many problems here uh Islam does
not shy away from that Islam says to
help your environment to help the living
conditions of the poor people of racism
of uh sexism of inequalities that are
present every day all over the world not
just in America or any other country um
so Islam also tries to bring peace here
now not through terrorism not through
bombs not through extremism uh these
have no place in Islam uh just only
through following peacefully the will of
God in your life and then uh sharing it
with other people CU a Muslim is
supposed to share and care and not uh to
coers others to following him tell us
for anybody that is listening to you he
can connect with your
story what advice do you want to give to
somebody who has realized that listen I
don't have all the answers I need God's
help but you know what there's so much
confusion out there every religion
saying that it's the way it is correct
how does somebody know and confirm that
this is indeed a way of life the way of
life from the creator of the heavens and
earth what advice can you give someone
to stimulate them their mind to
investigate this further I think
basically the person should understand
that their life does have a purpose um
if they're thinking about suicide if
they're thinking about uh why am I why
are things so rough for me me why am I
having problems I just want to get rid
of this taking your life is not an
example taking your life is the wrong
thing which I was thinking about before
I even found Islam I was like there's no
point in all this what's the point of
everything uh I think being a Muslim has
helped me to uh realize that my life has
value I'm here for purpose uh mainly to
uh pay homage to my Creator and to help
myself and and the people around us cuz
we're all in the same Earth together and
we should try to make this world a
better place and uh it's Islam gives
that example and it makes you happy uh
even if things aren't the best for you
uh no one said life is fair or easy uh
Islam understands that but um K yourself
and think having these thoughts um these
are things that Islam uh denounces does
not encourage and encourages uh respect
friendliness and to live in a peaceful
environment including with the animals
to give to the animals uh to give to
your environment nature not to litter
and to be a model great human being
yeah well Rob I'd like to thank you for
being taking the time to be on the dean
show where we're trying to educate the
masses on this wonderful way of life
thank you for sharing your story with us
no problem no problem at
all thank you appreciate it and I'd like
to thank you the audience for tuning in
every week and for those of you that
have joined us for the first time I hope
you have gotten a benefit and to learn a
couple things one that Islam means
surrender
submission to the Creator the one God
alone and that you worship the Creator
not his creation and like I say if you
can dig that then you can dig
Islam and Jesus we love him but he
wasn't God Jesus called people to
worship God and no muslim is a Muslim
unless he believes in Jesus so there are
many more things that you can learn but
you got to come to the source like
you've done today you got to have a
humble heart and an open mind
and the main thing is I tell people that
I cannot guide you no muslim can guide
you God is Almighty is the one that
guides so prostrate yourself pray like
Jesus prayed put your face on the ground
and ask him Guide Me Guide Me Oh creator
of the heavens and the Earth and start
to search have an open mind at humble
heart and the truth is there it's one
just like there is one God there is one
human race and there is one way to get
to this creator
and to attain his satisfaction to be
successful in this life and in the
Hereafter Paradise is a great reward and
we are struggling and we're striving and
it would be a waste of of a person's
life if tomorrow you die and you didn't
find out what your purpose is so with
that said I we can go on and on but we
have plenty plenty of topics that we
like to cover on the dean show you can
go on the Deen show.com check out our
video section check out our other shows
email me with with any suggestions
comments I'd like to thank you again for
tuning in and and giving all your
support alhamdulillah that we've
continue this long and inshallah we're
going to continue to bring you a new
show every week on The Dean show we'll
see you again Salam alikum peace be unto
you