de this is
the this is the
de this is the
dean alhamdulillah Alum peace be with
you thank you for tuning in to the dean
show I'm Eddie your host and every week
we're here with a new exciting episode
with a new exciting guest and with all
the Hocus Pocus mumble jumble that's out
there people misrepresenting Islam
so-called experts on Islam you know
where to come to learn about Islam you
come to the dean show where you get the
facts not fiction from True experts
people who have memorized the verbatim
word of God the Quran people who live
Islam people who are living this life
dayt day not people who are in it for
the business because you know there's
big business in bashing Islam nowadays
so don't get into following the hype
that's out there that's been created to
confuse you you want to get unconfused
you've come to the right place the dean
show we've done hundreds of shows we've
done so many shows on so many different
topics and if you just open your mind
you have a sincere heart and you sit
back and you go through some of our
archives if you're not catching us live
on the TV you can go to the Deans
show.com and we've covered so many
different hot topics on a lot of these
issues on a lot of this fiction that
people have put out there and you'll get
a better understanding and you'll see
that you know what Islam is not about
killing innocent men women and children
Islam is not not about oppressing
subjugating the women Islam is not about
all this hocus popus mumbo jumbo and
that's why people are accepting Islam
submission to establishing a
relationship with the one who created
you the one God submitting to him doing
the good that he's told you to do the
same way Jesus Moses Abraham and all the
messengers of God they submitted they
called people to have a direct
relationship not submitting or
worshiping the creation but
establishing a direct relationship with
the one
Creator it's a beautiful thing when you
find out the purpose of life and why
you've been created and our next guest
leading on to this week's episode our
next guest that's what he did he F
figured out what the purpose of life he
came from a Catholic background he was
in the Navy and he's here today to share
his story on how he came to this to
Islam
so don't go anywhere we'll be right back
with J Dean when we come back here on
the dean
[Music]
show
the this is the
[Music]
the
the this is the this is
the is the
this is
the this is the
[Music]
the back here on the dean show and we're
here with J Dean assalam alayum peace be
with
you and peace be back upon you J Dean
Jamal Dean was that always your name
well of course not uh I was brought up
here in uh the United States and I was
born with the name of James and after
accepting Islam I changed my name to
something that was more beneficial uh
Jamal which means beautiful and Dean me
which means the way of life so it's a
beautiful way of life of Islam now did
you have to change your name it wasn't
mandatory but the prophet made the peace
and blessings be upon him said if your
name is something that is uh has no
meaning and is uh
undesirable uh then change it to
something that would be pleasing to in
the sight of God and so this was a
personal choice that I took and uh Jamal
was very close to the word James so it
was an easy transition but it had
meaning and substance to it so as I said
before Jamal means uh beautiful and then
Dean means the way of life and I looked
at Islam as the beautiful way of life
that all human beings should follow uh
trying to worship the Creator now since
you changed your name did you also like
since you accepted Islam like have to
stop being American of course not uh uh
most people confuse this and think that
uh once you become Muslim that you
become this isolationist and uh that
you're separate from the American
society but uh most people do not
understand that Muslims have been here
long before most people in America and
so uh the Muslim values are here in
America they're part of the constit of
the United States and it is something
that that document would not have been
possible if it wasn't for Islam and so
actually it is actually enhanced my
being an American by becoming a Muslim
uh the rules this uh the different
things that we had to give up like the
bad things in society like alcohol and
uh premarital sex all of these things
that are very harmful to a human being
uh when you go ahead and become a Muslim
you you look at these things and you
start to correct these things and so
that's what I did I went through a
process in that and it took me time it
wasn't something that happened overnight
and as I got rid of all of these things
I started to become closer to my Creator
I became a good neighbor I became a good
father uh became a good son and these
things were something that God would
like and God would be pleased with and
so this made me a better American I I
would say tell us a little bit about
your life before Islam
we heard you used to be in the US
Navy um my life before Islam uh I I like
to say it was a life without guidance um
I I grew up as most normal Americans I
uh actually grew up in a small little uh
farm town with uh a lot of cows chickens
you know normal Farm Town uh very small
population very sheltered uh environment
uh wasn't exposed to many cultures many
different religions many different
languages so very sheltered Society um I
went through what most Americans go
through uh they go through a battle with
uh choosing their own friends when I was
younger and so I started following
people that uh were drinking alcohol uh
the whole club scene things like that
and so I went down that path but I saw
something in my mind that said that this
is not the way to live and so I started
to question there has to be something
more to life than this and so I decided
that I needed guidance I needed morals I
needed values and I thought that I could
find this in the United States Navy and
so after graduating high school and that
I decided to join the US Navy I traveled
around a little bit and I I did get uh
discipline uh alhamdulillah all praise
and thanks be to God uh but I did not
find the guidance in fact I found more
misguidance than what I found of
guidance uh after we would get done
being soldiers during the week we would
hang up our bootstraps and then uh all
of us would head to the bar and so we
would start drinking and uh we would
start uh chasing after women all of the
things that normal Americans do that
they do not realize that is very harmful
to their body and to their relationship
with the Creator and so even on the
weekends and that I was at the bar so
much I decided to start working at a bar
and so I used to be the one that would
check the IDS at the at the door uh kind
of like the bouncer of the club and so
that that's kind of where I went into
Islam um I met a woman that used to come
into the club um she uh she was underage
she had a fake ID I I led her into the
club um she fell down the steps one
night because she was so drunk and the
club owner uh who happened to be Arab at
the time uh also a Muslim but I did not
know this at the time asked me to get
her out of the club because he was
afraid to lose his liquor license afraid
to lose his uh Club afraid of getting
arrested and so I carried the woman up
the stairs put her into a cab with her
and her friend and I gave her my number
uh she came back to the club and that
and we ended up starting dating and one
day she come to me and she started
crying and she said someone is going to
my Mo mother and father are going to
make me marry someone from my home
country and I don't want to marry them I
said no problem I will go ahead and
marry you she said no problem there's
only one condition you have to become a
Muslim I said is that it no problem I'll
become a Muslim what is a Muslim like I
said before I was very ignorant to the
world and everything in it so I had no
clue what a Muslim was what Islam was I
had no clue what these things were
so she said it's very simple all you
have to do is you have to say there is
no God but God and that Muhammad peace
be upon Him is his last and final
messenger and then you are a Muslim so
she took me down to the the local uh
mosque and I took my shahada which is
the Declaration of faith and I became a
Muslim the sad thing is is the first day
that I became a Muslim was the last day
that I was at the mosque and we still
continued to do the drinking and
partying and going out and doing all of
these things that was against the
religion of Islam this way of life so
this is my journey and how I came into
Islam but it didn't stop there uh as I
started to read more of the Quran as I
started getting understanding of my
relationship with the Creator I started
to question things that we were doing
that were going in contrary to what
God's laws were and so we used to get
into a lot of fights about these cuz we
were kind of out a Crossing roads uh she
was heading out of Islam and I was
heading towards Islam and so at these
Crossroads and that we decided to part
ways and I continued my studying I
continued my path on Islam and started
to change some of the defects of
character that I had instilled in myself
from a lot of days of ignorance and
following my base desires and so when I
got rid of all of these things I was
able to focus more on what was important
in life what each of us is created for
to worship the creator of the heavens
and the
Earth and if we're going to worship
something I figured I might as well
worship the Creator instead of any of
the
Creations now in upon investigating all
the religions I remember finding out the
meaning of what Islam is what a Muslim
is those who surrender theel to God is a
Muslim those who surrender submit to God
God's will that is it Islam was pure it
was just you just pray to God your
creator I am not afraid to stand alone
if Li I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
Allah Li is by I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
a li I am not afraid of stand
[Music]
alone now you mentioned Muslim Muslim
club owner then you mentioned this woman
who's Muslim and you know all this seems
opposite Islam please elaborate on this
yes uh when I first came to Islam I I I
like to State this and many other people
have said this before me but it's 100%
true if I would have followed the action
of some of the Muslims and with the way
that they were practicing their faith I
would not have chose this way of life
but as I started to research about the
prophet May the peace and blessings be
upon Him of Islam and his message and
what he taught and how he was a
Perfection of the morals and characters
of a human being and I followed that
example and the example that he taught
to his
followers that right there makes it a
complete way of life God Almighty says
in the Quran he says today I have
perfected your religion for you not for
the Muslims not for for uh the Arabs but
for all of mankind and so that was what
I was looking for and that was what I
was trying to follow and that's why I
said when I look back on it and I see
that he was an Arab and he was owning a
club uh which goes against the religion
of Islam because he's selling alcohol is
promoting an environment where people
are committing illegal sexual
intercourse these sort of things that go
against the teachings of Islam this is
the irony that I I saw and so I started
following the practices that are taught
in the Quran and in the Sunnah the way
of life that the prophet May the peace
and blessings be upon Him taught to his
followers and so when I did that I saw a
change in myself and I saw a change in
the people that were surrounding me and
this is what why I chose the name of
Jamal de uh the beautiful way of life so
why would anyone want to accept Islam
with all the negative stereotypes and
stigma that's attached to it that that's
that's the question that uh is for the
ages there um basically we are in need
of God's help and he is in no need of
our help uh there is a famous Hadith
that reports that the prophet May the
peace and blessings be upon Him says
that even if you were the best of
creation the best of human beings the
best of the animals the best of anything
that God created you could not add to
God's kingdom and even if you were the
worst of creation say you were Hitler or
say you were someone that committed the
worst atrocities in mankind throughout
the history of time you could not take
away from God's Kingdom so when you put
that in perspective we realize that it
is to our benefit to worship the creator
of the heavens and the Earth it is no
one's benefit like if someone comes to
this way of life I get no I get no
reward I I expect a reward from the
Creator I don't expect a reward from
human beings but it gives you guidance
it gives you a way of life that gives an
equal balance to all things this is
known as the religion of the middle path
you can't go too far to the left and you
can't go too far to the right you must
choose a middle course and this middle
course is the way that was intended by
the prophets all the way back to Adam to
Moses to Noah to Jesus to the last and
final messenger Muhammad may peace be
upon all of the noble messengers of God
and this is what they tried to teach the
people they tried to teach them a way
that they could worship the Creator and
become Noble human beings and so this is
what I wanted to do and this is why we
we do this so much to spread this
message the truth about how to worship
God because it is human beings that need
God God needs nothing from them now tell
us did you take time to investigate
other religions and why not just follow
the religion of your parents good point
uh I was I was raised a Roman cath Roman
Catholic uh but my parents were
non-practicing Roman Catholics which is
the case of many Christians in America
they're Christian by name but not
Christian by practice and so uh I I like
to call them uh Easter Easter Christians
or Christmas Christians they would go to
the church only on Easter or Christmas
but the regular Services Sunday and
stuff they didn't care too much about uh
they were too busy working things like
this and so I had concepts of God I
always questioned uh about the religion
from the very beginning since I was a
little kid and I I remember going to
some of the Catholic church and asking
questions about the Creator asking uh
certain questions that that the nuns and
the priests they used to get upset at
and they used to say you have to believe
you have to blindly believe have Blind
Faith these sort of things uh what
normally in Christianity what they tell
you so I was wasn't satisfied with that
uh for some reason God Almighty gave me
an inquisitive mind and I started to
wonder and I started to reflect about my
place my my role in the creation of the
heavens and the Earth and so when I
started doing this I had more questions
that could that weren't being answered
in my faith so I started searching
outside of the faith I started looking
into different different isms different
religions I started looking at Buddhism
Confucianism started looking at Marxism
different philosophies
uh a lot of the Eastern religions uh
mostly because even in Christianity and
Judaism these are Eastern religions even
though they've been adopted and kind of
hijacked by the west and made Western
religions uh but the original languages
that were they were revealed in were
Eastern languages and same thing with
Islam um the main difference though is
in Islam I wasn't expected to believe in
something I couldn't feel I couldn't
touch I couldn't have tangible right in
front of me not like in judeo-christian
theology where I'm supposed to have
Blind Faith and to believe in the Unseen
without having any evidence in Islam you
are to
question these things and in fact the
creator of the heavens and the Earth he
encourages this the Quran is revealed in
an inquisitive way it makes you answer
the questions like for example God
Almighty will say in the Quran he said
is it you that creates the trees is it
you you that gives it sustenance no of
course not so what is the thing that
gives that sustenance what is the thing
that gives sustenance to all living
things it's not human beings it's
something greater than us it is God
Almighty and so the answers were there
every single question that I had had had
not answered through judeo-christian
teachings every single one of them I
found a clear concrete answer in Islam
and this is what pushed me towards this
and and to this day I still haven't even
lifted the pages I'm still just digging
into the knowledge and I see no end to
the knowledge of learning about the
creator of the heavens and the
earth now J Dean Jamal Dean why not just
staying with believing in Jesus that
Jesus was God the Son of God that he
paid the price for your sins what about
this the interesting fact is uh that
Islam is the only religion that requires
as an article of faith in order to be a
good Muslim to believe in the prophet
Jesus is one of the mightiest Messengers
and that he is in fact the Messiah which
the Messiah means the anointed one uh it
actually comes from the Aramaic word
that means Messiah which means to rub or
to anoint and so we accept that that he
is the Messi uh the Messiah and we also
accept his miraculous birth he was born
without a father to a mother who was a
virgin we accept this this is is one
part of our faith so we are we are
actually a lot better even than in
Judaism where they do not believe that
he is the Messiah so this is a major
part of Islamic teaching and we believe
in the message that was revealed to the
prophet Jesus May the peace and
blessings be upon him only the message
that he taught to his followers not uh
the message that is in the books today
because a lot of things have been mixed
into the word of the mighty Prophet
Jesus I tell I tell many Christians this
I said imagine imagine if we had
60,000 people witnesses that used to eat
with Jesus that used to stay with Jesus
that used to sleep around Jesus that
used to be around him imagine if you had
60,000 witnesses that were writing down
the words that were coming from his
mouth what kind of treasure would that
be it would be amazing but unfortunately
today we do not have that but we do have
that with God's final messenger Muhammad
May the peace and blessings be upon all
of The Messengers of God and so these
60,000 people were standing around this
Prophet getting his words getting his
message and clarifying how to worship
the creator of the heavens and earth and
so this is the beautiful thing about the
religion and so we accept Jesus as one
of the mightiest messengers of God may
Allah be very pleased with his message
and clear him of the atrocities and the
deification that many people do of the
mighty messenger Jesus today tell us
what were some of the challenges that
you face accepting Islam um of course
with anything when you want to bring
about change in that you're going to
have
challenges um God Almighty says in the
last and final message in the Quran he
says I do not change the condition of a
people until they change what is in
themselves and so there was a lot of bad
characteristics that I had inside of
myself that I had to wash out it was
kind of like taking out the garbage I
had to remove these things from myself
in order to purify myself in order that
I could worship the Creator properly and
in fact uh one of the main things that
Muslims do before they perform the
prayer is purification so this is the
act of Wu which is ablution where where
you're going to purify Yourself by
washing yourself and your body so you
can be clean before the eyes of almighty
God and so this purification process is
an ongoing effect of a muslim's life and
so the the more that you become clean
the more that you get out all of these
negative things the better person you
become the better father you become the
better daughter the better son the
better human being the better neighbor
that you become as a human being in
society and in general now on the regret
part there is not a thing that I regret
about choosing this way of life this way
of life is the one that was traveled by
all of the mighty messengers of God Adam
Noah Jesus uh Moses all of the mighty
messengers of God and it was very simple
message and it came and it was put the
final seal of all of the prophets with
the last and final messenger Muhammad
may Allah be pleased with every single
one of them because this is for the
guidance of mankind and this is not
something that human beings should be
afraid of we we have laws we have uh
const institutions we have things to
help the people and give them guidance
imagine if we had no laws and no
guidance it would be pure
Anarchy so why can't we as human beings
follow simple Commandments given from
the creator of the heavens and the Earth
do you not think that he knows better
than we as feeble human beings know of
course so he's trying to help you it's
not meant to be placed on you as a
burden it's been meant to put there to
protect you from the evils of the Human
Condition and so when you submit to this
which the submission is your whole body
and your whole self to the will of
almighty God and this is the definition
of a Muslim Islam itself literally means
one who submits to the creator of
heavens and the Earth and one that does
this process is known as a Muslim we
consider all of the mighty messengers of
God all Muslim from Adam all the way to
the final messenger Muhammad may Allah
be pleased with every sing single one of
them and reward them for conveying this
very clear message to all of
mankind Jamal Dean J Dean tell us how do
you feel someone can be convinced that
Islam is indeed the true from the
Creator and that Prophet Muhammad peace
be upon Him is indeed the last and final
messenger sent to
mankind now many people ask the same
question of the Prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him and all of the people
question The Messengers of almighty God
with the same questions that you're
asking
God Almighty himself says in the Quran
he said You shall know them by their
acts for one they come to give you
guidance morals and teachings and they
ask nothing in return this is how we
know the messengers of God look at every
single one of them every single
messenger of God lived very humble they
were very humble and meek servants or
slaves of the Creator they asked nothing
of the people and they tried to give
them morals guidance and support and
they tried to teach them
a way of life the prophet Jesus may
peace be upon him when his companions
the the disciples when they came to him
they they said yah Rabbi Rabbi or yeah
teacher teach us how to worship the
creator of the heavens and earth and
what did Jesus peace be upon him tell
his disciples he said the Lord's Prayer
which every single Christian knows Our
Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy
name thy kingdom come thy will will be
done as it is on Earth as it is in
heaven give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us as
you can see the mighty messenger Jesus
May the peace and blessings be upon him
he kept on referring to thy kingdom come
he didn't say my kingdom come and he
said give us our daily bread so he was
putting himself among the people each of
the messengers of God never made
themselves above human beings they put
themselves in the same shoes as the
people that they were trying to to
convey this message to same thing came
to the prophet Muhammad peace be upon
him the Arabs at the time they
questioned him and said why didn't they
send why didn't God Almighty send us
send us angels to give this message why
is he giving us a somebody this small
little beduan out in the middle of the
tribal region
why why don't he give us someone with
class and nobility someone that is a
better lineage than this man they
question him this and God Almighty
himself answered that question and said
it is I that chooses who The Messengers
are going to be not you and so every
single one of these Messengers had the
same exact message from the very
beginning all the way until the final
end and so this message is the one that
every single good Muslim tries to follow
what advice do you have for people who
are still living that life that you left
behind my best piece of advice that I
can give you is that
the soul of a human being is prone to
evil we like to follow the things that
we are attached to we like to follow the
desires some men for example desire
women some men desire wealth some men uh
desire children some men desire luxury
some men desire bling bling uh these
things that are part of the Earth but
when you die can you take any of those
with you no they return back to the
Earth while you go to a hole that's 6 ft
in the ground and so you can't take any
of this stuff with you the only thing
you can take with you are your good
deeds and so if you're stuck in a
position like this you have to
understand that if you die in this state
there is no hope for you but if you give
up these things and you try to correct
yourself and try to control your
desires then God will go ahead and give
you
support there's a famous Hadith that the
prophet May the peace and blessings be
upon Him says that all Allah God
Almighty he said that if my servant
takes one step towards me I take 10
steps towards him if he comes to me
walking I come to him running if he
remembers me in a company I remember him
in a company that is greater than the
company he remember which means the
angels and you know the nobility so if
you do these things if you take your
intentions that you want to find out
what the meaning of life is what my
purpose in life is and you want to come
from down here because this only leads
in misery it it may look flashy it may
look like it it's it's a complete
package that these people are happy and
that you want to have these things but
this is a deception because if you
actually go into the houses of these
people and see the problems that these
people have you would say I want no part
of this I know I've been to that side
and it was something that I was shocked
that that that is a deception it's a lie
and so these things you you're going to
have to get rid of anyhow and so my
advice to you is to seek out the truth
seek out what is positive seek out your
relationship with the Creator and he
will not fail you he will give you
Wealth Beyond your dreams if not in
financial wealth in spiritual wealth
where it counts the most what advice
Jamal Dean do you have for your old boss
who was a Muslim and the young lady that
you knew that was a Muslim and many of
the people out there who have this
background who are Muslim more by name
but not by action my my advice to you is
the advice that I would give to any
human being uh all in the same boat
these material things for example if if
you own a store and you're you're
selling alcohol and you're selling
pornography and you're selling
cigarettes and these sort of things you
may gain material wealth but at what
expense you're giving up your soul why
because you're you're selling things
that are harming human beings and so if
you're selling things that are harming
human
beings what kind of human being will you
be in the sights of almighty God you're
promoting someone's demise and so my
advice is to give up that I I know BR I
know Muslims that have owned these
stores and they used to make a lot of
money and then we talk to them we have
conversations about these things and
they give up these and they lose some
money they lose some money right off the
bat every single one of them but after a
couple months in that because of their
sacrifice because of they're wanting to
change what is inside of themselves God
almighty goes ahead and corrects their
means in other ways and so they get
blessings from other areas that they
never thought possible and so my advice
is to kick the devil out and go ahead
and start trusting almighty God he is
the one that is going to give you
sustenance so if all of mankind was to
come and give you sustenance they could
not give you sustenance except for if
God Almighty had written it and if all
of mankind came to take away all of your
substenance
nobody could take it away unless it was
written by almighty God and so they need
to turn back to what make them a Muslim
in the first place and they need to
follow the Quran which it is stated that
alcohol and pornography and cigarettes
and things that are harmful to your body
are against the teachings of Islam and
they need to go back to the very basics
of Islam and Trust almighty God
and that is the best advice that I can
give to anybody and for
non-muslims this right here these things
right here look at what it's doing to
the society around you look at what for
example like pornography what it's doing
to the society around you you you have
children that are having horrible crimes
being done to them you have a lot of bad
negative things that are being
corrupting the society Islam comes
around and tries to correct the so
social problem s that are in an
environment and so these things are a
benefit to you so control your desires
and if you give up these things if you
give up these things God Almighty said
he will go ahead and help you out he
will help you out in means that you
never thought possible and so take a
little uh sacrifice for the for the
meantime and get a better reward for
your sacrifice that's it we're out of
time if people want to have a tour of
the
mosque and they want to learn more about
Isam and they're in your area how can it
look you up um I'm very easy to uh reach
uh you can contact me at
www. uh cares C
A
mn.org or I uh do the dawa program for
the uh Minnesota with the Minnesota dawa
Institute in mesjid dawa located in St
Paul
Minnesota um you can uh find them on the
web um also Soo if you want to come to
uh Minneapolis uh I'm more than willing
to take you on a tour of any of our mths
and show the different teachings that we
are teaching the students uh we're
trying to teach them how to become good
leaders to become good husbands to
become good uh wives to become good uh
children and to work on uh getting
education in both Islam and also in uh
non-muslim education so they can become
prominent citizens in the societies that
they are in and this is part of Islam
we're to be good neighbors we're to be
good people and we're supposed to uphold
what is right and to forbid what is
wrong and so we need to step up to the
plate to help out all of our fellow men
inshallah God willing thank you very
much may God Almighty the Creator Allah
reward youum peace be with you