All
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Allah.
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Alhamdulillah. Asalamikum. Peace be unto
you. Welcome to the Dean Show, which is
a way of life we try to put out there
for everyone to see, helping you
understand Islam in Muslims. And we have
a special guest on the Dean show today.
The run of the world
brother. How you doing?
Peace be unto you. Welcome to the Dean
show. Thank you for uh coming on the
Dean show. Alhamdulillah. All praises to
Allah God. Uh I thank you for coming
out. How you doing?
It's my pleasure. It's good.
Everything's fine. I'm traveling around
and stopped off in Chicago and found
you.
Alhamdulillah. So, we brought you on the
Dean show today. We want to ask you a
few questions. We heard that uh you
weren't always
How long uh have you How long ago did
you accept this?
I became Muslim 15 years ago at the age
of 20.
At the age of 20. And before this, you
were
I was a Christian.
Were you a practicing Christian?
Uh not really, but I was raised in that
environment. I was somewhat of a
practicing Christian.
As a Christian, what did you believe? I
believed in the trinity. And
you know what this was?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Most
Did you know did you ever hear of the
Bible?
Yeah. My my grandfather was a preacher.
He founded a Christian college. So,
okay.
As far as knowledge, I had a lot of
knowledge of Christianity.
So, you believed in the Trinity?
Yeah. The whole nine yards. Original
sin.
Okay. Somebody died for your sins.
Yeah. The lamb of God, the whole nine
yards.
Okay. So, somebody would say like, man,
so from a point of view of literacy, I
was very literate. Yes. This my issue is
I didn't believe it, so I didn't
practice.
So, could somebody say, "Look, this
brother didn't know his Bible. So this
brother didn't know his Christianity say
that I went to I went to church three
times a week.
Three times a week.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. So at what uh point in your life
did you make a turn?
I would say early on as a youngster when
I first started learning about the
concept of the trinity and just not
being able to to digest that God could
be three or one of three that there was
a lamb who had to be sin to die for my
sins.
Who's this lamb you're talking about?
Jesus. Jesus. when I had studied even in
in the church basically the Old
Testament that God Almighty is the one
who forgives sins and he's the all
powerful magnificent awesome God. So I I
was like there are two gods. There's a
God of the Old Testament and there's a
new Pauline type God which appears in
the in in in in passages in the New
Testament.
So this started to not make sense to
you.
Yeah. Immediately it didn't make sense
to me. As soon as I heard it, it didn't
make sense.
Did you go up to your higher ups, some
of the priests? I went to my mother and
I asked her um you know we believe that
Jesus the son of God he died for our
sins. He's a sacrificial lamb. She said
yes. And I said and that's the key for
that's the key to salvation. Baptism is
the key to salvation. And she said yes.
Then I said well what about the prophets
who preceded him who didn't believe in
him. They didn't you know they didn't
you know Abraham prayed to one God.
Moses prayed to one God. Jesus himself
didn't didn't ever acknowledge that he
was God. He prayed to God himself. So
what's the deal? and she she couldn't
explain it to me.
Okay. Now from here what uh role did you
start to lead? Did you leave
Christianity? Did you go and start to
investigate other
most definitely we can say all religions
have a lot of beneficial things about
them especially in the area of character
and so on. So anyone who turns his back
from any tradition religious tradition
is going to is going to collapse
ethically for the most part. So I I went
into kind of a gang lifestyle, hip-hop
lifestyle, drugs.
I heard you were you were a DJ. Yeah.
Yeah. DJing and so on and so forth. Uh,
and became really immersed into that
that subculture at that time. Hip-hop
was definitely a subculture. It wasn't,
you know, like you see it now
everywhere.
So, tell me this. Okay. So, we got away
from the concept of of God being a
trinity. Okay. This didn't make sense.
And the whole thing was it difficult
because you had a one-way ticket. A
ticket now uh as Christians believe if I
take Jesus as my Lord and Savior, it's
finished. I got a free ride. How is some
for some people it's hard to disattach
because it's like that lotto ticket.
No, no, no doubt that it was a tough
decision to make theologically uh
because I was raised that way for so
long. So I actually took 3 years to
become Muslim. I didn't become Muslim in
in in like you know in a fly by night
thing. I sat down and read the Quran,
read a few books about Islam.
How did you get a hold of the Quran?
I went to the library and checked it
out. But was there something because was
there a stigma at at that time like
there is today about Islam that
again because of hip-hop I was pretty
culturally literate so I knew
what the Quran was by listening to
hip-hop.
So I knew that it was the Muslims and I
just wanted to go read it.
So something just uh you were searching
and there was always a feeling in the
streets that the Muslims were right.
There was a feeling.
Unfortunately that's changed now because
many Muslims are engaged in bad things.
Yeah. uh in all areas especially in in
the bad neighborhoods where they're
selling pork and beer and poison to
people that image has been kind of hurt.
But in those days we because of Malcolm
X specifically in his conversion we saw
Muslims as like our last anchor for like
salvation and to get ourselves correct.
We always said look man if you want to
get yourself correct go with the Muslims
over there.
Yeah.
They'll straighten you out.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
So this what happened? you wanted to get
straightened out or you were looking to
get straightened out or life was kind of
a mess or
I had success as far as material success
but internally I was very empty.
So I was you know asking myself why do
you feel depressed? Why do you feel sad
if you have, you know, girls, the money,
the DJ in the clubs, the the bloods, the
gang I belong to, everything is going
well, but why internally do you feel
this emptiness? And then I realized that
the only way to quench that spiritual
thirst was to race and discover who the
creator was.
Can God be a man? Is that possible for
God to be a man?
No, not at all.
Why is that?
Because God is unlike his creation. If
we make God like his creation, we'll
start to worship his creation. But the
one who has the right to be worshiped
has to be unique, different than
everything else. He can't be like his
creation because Allah says in the Quran
there's nothing like God. You cannot
make God's image. That's why in the Old
Testament it says do not make my image.
Don't try to make the image of God. So
if we make him creation, the first color
is question is excuse me the first
question is what color is he? What does
he look like? So, you go to a church,
for example, you see uh Ricky Martin is
God. You go to another church, it's
it's, you know, Barry White. You go to
another church and it's Axel Rose. Who's
God? So, when we make God a man, we
immediately create injustice in society
by making one man better than another
man.
And tell me now, you said that uh God
can't be a man. That's quite simple. And
in Islam, it clearly differentiates uh
God from his creation. Most definitely.
Okay. How about God having a son? Can
God have a son?
No, he cannot because the same argument
applies. If he has a son, then that
makes him like his creation. Then what
color was his son? What did he look
like? What was his shape? What language
did he speak?
Okay,
so immediately when we throw that into
the mix, we allow other human beings to
be injust to other human beings. That's
the whole doctrine of sham uh that you
see in the old testament where people
say that the black man is cursed or the
white man is cursed because they were
the sons of Noah and then Jesus came and
this led basically to some you know some
very sick uh ideologies and
philosophies.
A few more points and then we'll come to
a close. Tell us what is Islam? But
before that real quick you mentioned the
word Allah. What is this for someone
who's never heard this term Allah? What
does this mean? Allah is the Arabic word
for God and it's a little bit different
than the English word because it cannot
be given a feminine tense or a plural
tense. You just say Allah. You can't say
Allah like a woman or Allah's with an s
uh or an e s. And also it means the
absolute unique
possessor of attributes and qualities
which nothing is even remotely like him.
unique, awesome in his in his power,
extremely merciful. This is Allah. The
one who has the right to be worshiped.
The name itself means the one who has
the right to be woripped. It's his
right. Because we see people worshiping
things all the time, brother. Worshiping
drugs, worshiping cars, worshiping
girls, worshiping fame, worshiping their
bodies. When we work out, you see all
them guys looking in the mirror. You
just lifted weights. You know, you
didn't change, man. There's not that
much blood being pumped into your
muscles right now. But the idea of
worship is innate to the human being.
We've been created to worship. So if we
don't worship the creator will worship
something else and that leads to
destruction. So Allah the name is the
one who has the right to be worshiped
alone. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Makes perfect sense. Tell us what does
Islam say about this crucifixion and
this someone dying for your sins?
Number one, we respect other religions
and when we talk about them, we
shouldn't be rude or or or aggressive.
Absolutely not.
Allah says
in the Quran it says you are forbidden
to insult other people's gods.
Absolutely.
So when we're talking about this is for
the sake of information. But of course
as you know uh the Quran clearly states
that they did not crucify Jesus. They
did not they did not fulfill their dream
of crucifying him but it was only an
image or a likeness of Jesus. So we do
not believe that he was crucified. He
was raised to the heavens, peace be upon
him, and he will be sent back not as a
prophet or the son of God, but as a
human being and as a member of the
Muslim community toward the end of time.
What about this original sin or someone
dying for your sins?
We believe in original goodness,
brother. We don't believe in original
sin. We're not going to give a murder an
excuse for killing somebody. We're not
going to give a madman who goes out and
harms people or molests little children.
Recently, I saw a man, he killed a
nine-year-old girl. Uh that's why
terrorism in Islam is forbidden. is
forbidden to kill people. Those people
could not use as a as an excuse that
they were born into original sin. We say
no, you're born into original goodness.
What you do with yourself? And there's a
book now by a guy named Mark Hower from
the University of from from Harvard
called the moral minds. And he says
every human being is equipped with what?
With a natural moral compass which leads
them to be good people if they if they
develop that. So, we don't believe in
original sin. You know, if you owe money
and I owe money, hey, you got to take
care of your own your own debt. I have
to take care of my own debt. It's not
fair to blame you for my debt. That
would be injustice and God is not
injust.
Yes, we can go on and on with all these
and we're just trying to hit some points
to give you a a beautiful taste about
Islam. Tell us, brother, what is so
unique about Islam? Cuz we hear that so
many people, women are coming to Islam
even more than men. Is that so?
What draws people to Islam? What's so
unique about
I think one thing is first of all the
propaganda or the negative actions of
Muslims out there create in people's
minds the nightmare image of what
Muslims are and who Muslims are. But
once they get close to our community,
they, you know, they eat some chicken
bones with us, man. They hang out with
us. They see how we are. They see that
we're, you know, people from the
community. We're here working for the
good of America. We're not out here to
harm anyone or do anything wrong. It
kind of flips them out and that causes
them to say, "Man, these people are
actually really nice, decent people,
very loving people." concern people
because Islam is pushing us not only to
be good to our Lord but the other
important aspect of Islam is to be good
to his creation no matter who they are.
Once a Jewish man, his funeral passed by
the prophet as related by Imam Albkari
and the prophet stood up and the
companion said, "How could you stand
up?" He said, "This is a soul. This is a
human being." So when people see that
we're not the terrorist, you know,
archae that's on TV, the mad man that's
going to jump on a plane and do
something wrong or harm someone, you
know, they're shocked and then they want
to learn and they see, man, they believe
in Abraham, they believe in Joseph, they
believe in Mary, they believe in in
David and Solomon. I didn't know that. I
thought they only believed in some Arab
guy, you know, and then they don't want
to kill us. They, you know, they don't
hate the white man. So, they see all of
the true things about Islam, the
simplicity of Islam, to worship God, to
pray, to be good to others, and they
they fall for it, man. Cuz they say,
"Wow, this is the truth."
So, these things touch my heart and I
already know these things. I can imagine
someone who's really got a sincere
heart, an open mind. I mean, this just
goes down easy. Does Islam have anything
to do with terrorism?
Not at all. Islam does not have anything
to do with terrorism. And we we
categorically denounce without any any
reservation all acts of indiscriminate
violence all over the world in America
or in on any foreign land. Any any act
that's committed against innocent
civilians and innocent people is
completely forbidden in Islam.
Tell us what is
mean. The prophet said that a woman who
killed a cat, she tortured her cat. Like
now we have Michael Vic, right? He know
he's in trouble for torturing dogs.
Yeah, I was thinking the prophet told
the woman who tortured the cat, like the
woman who has this quality, if she
doesn't repent, she's going to go to
hell. If that's the case of a cat,
brother, what about human beings who
live around us every day? You said
prophet a few times and then you said uh
peace be upon him. What for someone's
like prophet? Who are they talking about
this prophet? Can you explain what this
is? Prophet Muhammad. Uh and all of the
prophets we believe had the same
message.
When did this man of greed? He died uh
uh he was alive in the seventh century
after Jesus peace be upon him.
This has nothing to do with Elijah
Muhammad or anything else. Elijah
Muhammad no parent ex Muhammad the 15th.
No none of that stuff.
This was 1400 years ago.
1400 years ago.
What did this man bring and what did he
call the people to?
He brought a mercy as as is mentioned in
the Quran. He was sent as a mercy to
humanity and he brought justice to
people. He brought equality to people.
He brought the message of one God to the
people. And he brought the idea that in
order to be a good worshipper of God,
you have to be also good to the people.
Both of these are combined. That's why
he said
the best of you in faith or the best of
you in character. So he didn't just
bring the pheriseical understanding of
religion, but he revived the message of
all of the prophets to serve God and
serve the people around you. If you can
fulfill both of those, you got it made,
man. So that's the main message of Islam
to worship your Lord with all your
heart. One God that's be good to the
people.
And be good to the people in general.
We're going to cut out just a couple
more questions. Tell us now for the
person that okay, he's born Christian.
He's born in this uh faith or whatever.
Like I said, we're trying to educate the
people because there's a lot of
distortion out there about Islam. But
tell us for the person that's you know
what, I'm going to take a little bit
from the Christianity. I'm going to take
a little bit from what I think uh you
know is the best way to get to God. Is
this acceptable? Because you see that a
lot of what do you call this?
If you pres if you prescribe
organized rel I don't want to be before
any organized religion.
If you if you prescribe ecumenical if
you prescribe your own religion for
yourself then you became God.
You become a God.
You're God because you're the one
dictating what's right and what's wrong.
But you have to submit. You have to
admit, look, there's certain things that
I just don't understand and don't know
and I need to rely on a higher power to
teach me how to serve him. But if I go
to the restaurant, right, if I go to the
restaurant and make up my own menu,
I'm not going to get served.
I might I might say I want look, hey, I
want some catfish deep fried with some
broccoli and some rice
and they don't serve it. So I'll be
sitting there all night long with an
empty plate. So although I might have
visualized in my mind something is not
reality. Reality is you have to submit
to what's on the menu. And what's on the
menu here is what God Almighty has
prescribed because he knows better. He
knows better than we do. We have to
forfeit that
in the Quran says does God not know more
than you about you about your situation?
He knows what's better for you. So we
have to forfeit the desires brother and
the arrogance and submit oursel to our
creator. And that's not easy.
Check this out. Another thing that's not
easy, all these religions claiming this
is the way. How do you get someone away
from all this? And how do you get
someone to to acknowledge that this is
actually a religion, a way of life I
like to call it, from the creator? I
have no problem with someone comparing
religions. Go ahead and compare. That's
fine. Go go go and and read. But for us,
we say very clearly, number one, the
message of Islam is clear and easy for
anyone to understand. Number two, the
message of Islam with regards to other
people is very clear and easy to
understand. Number three, if someone
researches the Quran, researches the
statements of the prophet, they will not
find one inaccuracy in the Quran or one
inaccuracy in the statements of the
prophet peace be upon him. And that
right there is enough to lead you. You
don't have in the Quran the gospel
according to this person and the gospel
according to this person. This is the
book of Allah.
Uh benefits before we want to know.
People want to know what's up. If I'm
going to submit, I'm going to give up
all the women and all the good times.
You know, I'm young, I'm strong, and I'm
ready to go. But now you're talking
about submitting and you know, leaving
all these good times. What What's in it
for me in this life in here?
Are those really good times? So that's
the first question. We used to come home
drinking wine. Thought we had some good
times. Got in right at 5:00 a.m. You
know, the club closed at 2:00 and you
felt like a wreck.
Yes.
Okay. And then later on in your life,
you you start getting sick cuz of how
you lived your life. So number one, are
those really good times or are those
just perceived good times?
There's a woman who goes to the club and
gets used by a different guy every week.
Is this really a good time? A woman who
walks around with no clothes on and
people are salivating over her like
she's a piece of hamburger meat in the
window. Is this really a good time? Look
at Britney Spears. Look at Lindsay
Lohan. Look at the finest women. So,
so-called finest women in America,
Beyonce. Look at their lives. They're
cracking in front of our very eyes going
to drug rehab, having problems with
their children. We pray to God that God
will help them to be good mothers. But
we're seeing in front of our eyes those
people who had the best of times. Are
those really the best of times? Those
are the worst of times. So, let's ask
ourselves, are these really the best of
times where we make our desires and our
passions of God? Those are not the best
of times. So by overcoming your desires
and gaining some self-discipline, you
gain a feeling that you never had before
of serving your creator.
For the person now that is penetrated
his heart and he's like, "What do I do
now? How does someone become a Muslim?"
How easy?
He needs to get in contact with someone.
But before he does that, all he has to
do is say, "I bear witness that there's
no God but God and that Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah."
In the Arabic,
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That's it. He's simple. Closing comments
for for our viewers.
I just want to encourage people to get
to know their Muslim neighbors to spend
some time with us and you'll see
inshallah, God willing, a good good
community, a very very beneficial
community for the people here in
America. And may God bless everybody.
Brother, I'd like to thank you so much
for coming on the Dean show. May God
reward you for for your efforts. Thank
you. We hope to see you again on the
Dean Show. I'd like to thank everybody
that's tuned in. Stay tuned for another
episode next week on the Dean Show.
Peace be unto you. I believe that there
is no God but Allah that Muhammad peace
be upon him. He's his messenger.
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