[Music]
22 years in the military yes 22 years
all my life i've been active with the
church so the people of iraq they
literally they invited us into their
house
to sleep there because they were so we
were literally sleeping in our grave
the biggest fear for me in becoming a
muslim
was my own fear go there my head's going
to get chopped out this is that you were
welcome and like you made a great
example imagine if the mexican army came
here
in iraq and i read that quran cover to
cover i thought
wow this is the most beautiful thing i
have ever read in my life
maybe about five feet from where you're
sitting
and it was the only one that didn't
explode uh-huh so what would you tell me
something like this jordan peterson deep
down inside
i couldn't believe i never believed that
issa was god
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22 years in the military went from being
a marine
air force army and
was on his way to become a christian
deacon he's here on the dean show
mark how are you brother ah salaam
alaikum
now what did we just say oh masha'allah
it's uh what did we just say
readings of peace it's may the peace and
blessings of god almighty be with you
isn't that amazing i tell you you know
that's it touches my heart
because coming from the catholic faith
catholic christian tradition
that's exactly what they tell you is
when you greet somebody you greet them
with the peace the the love and peace of
god
it's not just something that when you go
to church you just say the church no
it's something that you take out of
church every time you greet somebody you
greet them with your
the love of your heart and and that and
that's what we have we have that as a
living example we say that every day
peace be with you i always get excited
when i greet my new guest
i tell you it is it's such a beautiful
it's such a beautiful greeting
especially when you think about it
may the peace the mercy the blessings of
god be with you
yeah you know it's just it carries so
much to it we can talk about jesus
greeting for hours but
i get excited with people who have
accepted islam and now they're uttering
this beautiful statement statement that
jesus also
uttered and all the other prophets which
is continuing that legacy but
you were actually so is it 22 years in
the military yes 22 years
22. there's some pictures people are
seeing now you yes
you were from the marines yes yes from
the marines
spent eight years in the marines uh
during that time i ended up doing
two tours in iraq back in 2003
2004 and 2005 in my unit i was with the
bridge company engineer bravo out of
philadelphia
u.s marine corps and we ended up we were
one of the very first people to
cross into across the the iraqi border
uh going into iraq making our way all
the way from basra nazaria
all the way to aku to baghdad we made
our way up to
ramadi takrit
these are towns these are cities we were
we actually went into
the the birthplace the home of saddam
hussein
yeah and uh into his palaces and
everything so yeah
yeah we were one of the the very first
very first across the line
is that when it was really just it um
you know it was uh it wasn't
bad to the point where we had so many
the the suicide bombers and the roadside
bombs
um you know the initial initial fight
was the organized military and
you know it really it really struck me
uh
profoundly because all the people that
we came across
um the the kids they were coming out to
the streets the people
they were greeting us you know we had
little children holding up pictures
signs of like you american flag you know
yeah go america
all happy and excited and uh subhanallah
we got to play uh even soccer games with
them granted they
completely kicked our butts those iraqis
they know how to play
they know how to play a good team you
were getting a good greeting it was in
the beginning
oh yeah that was in the very beginning
and the people were so amazing
it's um because the group we were with
we were moving so fast
so fast through iraq we didn't have
enough water we didn't have enough food
so um so the people of iraq they
literally they invited us into their
house
to sleep there because they saw we were
literally sleeping in our grave we would
dig a hole in the ground
just like a grave and that's where we
would sleep and so they saw this and
they invited us literally to sleep in
their homes
they saw we didn't have food they gave
us food from their from their
from their dish they gave us the water
to drink just the hospitality it's it's
unfathomable you know i think about it
in terms like what would happen if
another country like mexico or canada or
somebody
if they invited the usa like would we
greet the mexican army invading texas
and saying oh please come stay in our
house here
have food from a no you know it's so
that kind of hospitality it blew my mind
away
how did that change um all that changed
didn't it
every time i've been there i have found
nothing
but the most kind generous heartwarming
people
you know and they say it's the few it's
the one percent
who ruin everything for the majority and
that's uh
you know that's the real shame is you
know people don't understand
you know the the the people of wreck the
the love the kindness that they have
it's uh it's it's something special like
you don't see this anywhere else
and so you know it's something that
actually got me to think and when i was
in iraq i was like
i have to learn more about these people
this is this is this is something
special so i thought to myself
what better way to learn about a people
than to learn about them through the
religion
because you learn the religion and it
will explain the culture it will explain
the laws
it will display in everything about them
so when i was there i actually went
and bought a quran when i was there in
iraq and i read that quran cover to
cover i thought
wow this is the most beautiful thing i
have ever read in my life
just completely blown away about it and
so much so i even bought some prayer
rugs because i thought they were just so
beautiful just to have them as
decorations
little would i know i would never even
think about
20 years later i would be using that
same quran to read from i would be using
that same
prayer rug to be able to pray on every
single day
subhanallah the the color of allah it's
it's
it's beyond comprehension it's beyond
comprehension now
let's back it up what had you come to a
point that you were like okay i want to
go to iraq
so so going to iraq it's a it's a really
funny story right so
uh you know and just like a little bit
more so like so when uh like when i was
a little child
um growing up i was like fourth fifth
grade and
uh in geography class and uh we were
studying the world in world religion
and they showed a picture you know
they're talking about the middle east
and saudi arabia
and then they showed a picture of mecca
in the kaaba i was like
oh my god that's the most beautiful
thing i've ever seen in my life
subhanallah it's just beautiful and i
just raised my hand like a little kid
like
i want to go there i want to see it it's
so beautiful
and i never forget the the teacher was
there was a beautiful sunny day
i was sitting right on the side right by
the window i'll never forget it to this
day
i look and she goes i'm sorry mark
but only muslims can go there and my
heart broke i almost
i started crying there in class and so a
few years
later you know uh they had back in 91
they had the first gulf war and all my
life i'd been very active in the boy
scouts community service
i was like you know what seeing these
american soldiers you know fighting for
freedom
defending the people of kuwait it's like
wow you know i want to be like these
people who defend america
who serve you know serve the people
protect the people
do good you know go out community
service so
one day in high school i get this phone
call
and i hear this man on the phone hi i'm
sergeant pabrowski from the u.s marine
corps
uh curious if you'd be interested to
come down talk to us if you might be
interested in the marines
i thought to myself i'm like well i have
no idea who these marines are
i'm like i just know there's a military
i didn't know there's air force there's
army there's navy i didn't know any of
that it's just okay it's military
so it's like sure so i didn't want to
tell them like feel bad and say no i'm
really not interested
i was like you know what okay i'll go
there i'll listen to the guy he'll give
me the spiel and i'll be nice and like
oh thank you so much but i'm really not
interested
yeah little did i know they'd be coming
back to my house
and my parents would be signing a waiver
for me at 17 years old
to go and join the marines and they're
like mark what are you doing this is the
marines of all people of all groups
you're going the marines they're gonna
kill you
and he's like no no no nothing to worry
about
then never go overseas yeah don't worry
no events and sure enough course 911
happens
and the whole world changes yeah
so yeah so it was uh really having
so you did three deployments yeah so
three deployments two with the marines
and then
after uh after i served eight years with
the marines i decided you know what
it was time for a change because it was
a difficult life it was tough it's hard
on the body
um you know it was for me constantly
being shot at
you know having to see you know many of
my good friends get killed and die right
in front of me
in iraq it was um it was hard
you know it was uh it was hard yeah it
gets sad because you'll hear a lot of
people you know talking about that part
of the world
but it's like they've been blown back
into the stone age you know it is
it is so um it's unfair but what you and
also a lot of misconceptions
like thinking that okay if i go there my
head's gonna get chopped up this is that
you were welcome and like you made a
great example imagine if the mexican
army came here
would you welcome them in your homes
like when we when we had
peace time we were you know downtime
when we were you know had time with
we were going up with the kids we were
playing soccer games with them
we were going we were literally building
schools we were going and building brand
new
modern modern technology schools for
them
tell me so at what point did you start
going down that
road of going to christian seminary
trying to become a deacon
so was this during during the military
so i'll tell you yeah so what happened
is there was
there was a very pivotal moment in my
very first deployment in iraq
and we were being shot at every single
day
we were having bombs go off next to us
every single day i had a bomb land
maybe about five feet from where you're
sitting
and it was the only one that didn't
explode and had it gone off
i would have been i would just come home
in pieces would have been in pieces
and in iraq i was convinced there was no
possible way i was coming home alive so
you saw it you saw it yeah there
and it just didn't ex it exploded but if
it would have exploded
that you wouldn't be here on the deal no
i would be in a thousand different
pieces
they wouldn't they would not have enough
they wouldn't have any pieces to put in
a body bag so what are you thinking at
that moment
so after i cleaned my soiled pants
it was i mean literally 24 hours a day
seven days a week non-stop everybody's
trying to kill you
everybody's trying to kill you for me
my mind was i was set i was going to die
so you know what i just i said please
dear god
please god please just let me live long
enough to see
one more sunset just one just one more
sunset
and if a bomb lands on me if somebody
shoots me if i die
alhamdulillah thank you allah you gave
me that
that beautiful gift of just seeing that
sunset in the middle east
and i would cry i would cry i literally
i would bawl my eyes out crying and
begging god please
just leave me just let me live one just
a little bit more time
just long enough to see that sunrise
because it's so beautiful
so beautiful there in the deserts of
iraq so beautiful i said please i beg
god please let me live long enough
just to see that sunrise and and if you
kill me right then and there if i die if
i get blown into a thousand pieces
i at least i can die in peace because
god gave me that last gift
that last wish and so there was one
moment
where i was in the south of iraq and i
was walking to my post
and it was just after uh
fajr um and the sun was just
just about to come up uh to rise above
uh the horizon and the school the sky
had this beautiful brilliant
colors of reds and blues and oranges it
was just if you've ever seen the sun
rise in the
the desert it's just the most beautiful
thing that you could ever possibly see
so in this moment for whatever reason i
can't remember i stopped
and i looked down and here we are about
three four hundred
miles inland from any water about 400
miles in
i look down and i scoop up the scoop up
the earth like this
and i look in my hand and all i see
are hundreds of these little beautiful
sea drills and seashells
like you were standing at the beach all
of this life
like right there in my hand and in that
exact moment
i i had this feeling like isa alaya
salaam
musa alaya salaam prophet muhammad saw
islam felt like they were literally
there
like i could feel their arm go onto my
shoulder
telling me everything is going to be
okay
don't worry you'll be okay
nothing's going to happen and that exact
moment
that in that exact moment absolute peace
and tranquility was this like a dream or
no this was walking to my post
instantaneously
all stress all everything all gone
just absolute peace and tranquility
uh and it's it's something that i i
can't even begin to describe
but at that exact moment all my life
i've been active with the church
my father was the music director my
mother was very much involved with
religious education at the time
in the the methodist church my father's
in the catholic church
you know so we're very very much
christian uh oriented
so at that moment i said you know what i
have to give more
i want to be able i god i have to thank
you somehow
i have to give the rest of my life i owe
you my life
my life i could live a thousand times a
thousand times over
and not one all those thousand
would not be able to to give enough
thanks
just for this one life god has given you
is that what led you now
so that's what led me that's what i said
you know what
i have to do more i got involved with
the the diaconate i got involved with
the church i became a eucharistic
minister
i became an acolyte so you were a
minister
yes yes very much so very much so uh i
started teaching
religious education deacon is above the
minister yes yes you're on your way to
go
yes increasing the ranks yes so in fact
uh deacon
is actually the first official level
of ordination in the catholic church
it's the first
process of ordination so you have deacon
and then you're ordained as a deacon
and then you are ordained as a priest i
see so
minister deacon priest yes so all
priests start as a deacon and then when
they finish
their finish the seminary then they're
completed with uh they're ordained as
the uh as a full-blown
so now you're a minister and what are
you thinking so i'm thinking i'm like
you know
here i was i was serving doing god's
work uh
but i had something inside i had
something that was really troubling
deep down inside i couldn't believe
i never believed that issa was god okay
let's stop there
because they just did a new survey
that you do have today this is recent 52
percent of christians or more don't
believe that
jesus was god did you read that survey
oh
evangelicals this is the reason i just
spoke about it i also
don't believe that he's god yeah so
that's part of our nature to kind of
reject that
god is a human being you were you were
as a christian minister
you were having trouble with that
exactly because what kind of feeling
what do you
you know it was a it was a deeply
unsettling
i was deeply unsettling deeply
unsettling
deeply unsettling how could i
as an ordained deacon as becoming
ordained
as a minister of god how could i be
teaching a theology that i did not
believe
that's hypocritical so you so you're
believing in the oneness of god
that monotheism absolutely but you're
having a problem now with the trinity
or it's you know it's a whole factors
saints using saints's intercessors
asking praying to a saint to pray to god
no
look at the teachings of jesus looking
the teachings of isa alaihissalam
never ever did he say pray to him to go
to god
never did he tell anybody he never said
pray to me and all pray to god no he
said pray to lord your god
pray to him alone pray to no other
you know if you look everything says
pray to god alone your lord your god is
one
it's there don't make idols and i think
myself
well i look in the holy land people go
and they see these these
these relics and they they kiss them
they venerate them they they pray to
them
you know and i'm thinking to myself
you're praying
you're making idols you're so what
happened to god
why are you not praying to god why are
you putting so much
emphasis on jesus when you should be
putting that same emphasis into god
because it yes jesus did miracles but he
did them
with god's permission he did them by
god's
grace you know he he wasn't
he didn't just do it by himself did that
come off as more
feeling more natural now would you say
this makes total sense
it did it did and um you know what but i
it was such a is such an untroubling
feeling
and you know uh alhamdulillah i had this
uh wonderful friend of mine a sister
from indonesia
um uh my sister uh ayunda
who actually just recently uh got
married and is expecting this december
but yeah but uh so she and her family
i was talking one day and said you know
i'm supposed to be going in the
diaconate
and i forget how we we were talking
about something and i never spoke about
religion you know
she's muslim i'm christian you know so
we never really talked much about the
religion but you know what it was
bothering me so much
i don't know what it was but something
inside of me felt compelled
to talk about it and i was like you know
what
something's really bothering me you know
it's like i'm supposed to be going into
the diagonal i'm supposed to be
preaching all of this
but i don't believe it and you're
telling this too and i'm telling this to
my
my muslim sister um you know
and she was like well you know
everything that you're describing is
exactly
what islam teaches so this is a muslim
that you knew that yes
okay you're expressing your concerns and
exactly so
a friend of mine who i've known for many
years wonderful wonderful family
uh muslim from indonesia living here in
the usa
and uh were you at ever at any point
trying to convert her towards
christianity
no no no never never because it's
respect yeah it's a respect you know
it's um especially
how can you convert somebody to
something that you don't believe ah
good point and so now you're telling her
this and she what does she say so
so she says well you know what mark
everything you're describing
is exactly what islam teaches and what
islam believes
and it was like it was a moment where i
stopped and thought for a second i was
like
you know what i've read the quran cover
to cover
you know but i know you read the quran
now oh yeah i read the quran even before
so you've read it by now i read oh yes
because i heard you wanted to get to
know the people so now you went
towards the book that they followed
that's a great piece of advice for
everybody watching right now i mean if
you want to get to know
what muslims believe and that's it read
it read it
read the quran it will it will help you
understand
everything behind the people the culture
the customs it helps you understand
something have you heard of uh it just
comes comes to my mind because you have
a lot of intellectuals out there have
you heard of uh jordan peterson
oh the name doesn't reading about yeah
yeah he uh he recently um
he got sick you know i think he's
getting a little better
but for people like him like jordan
peterson or others
i mean they're highly intelligent but
then sometimes people end up talking
about they get out of their lane
and they start talking about islam and
they haven't even read the quran
yes or a good translation of the quran
or sat with the muslim
so what would you tell them something
like this jordan peterson
someone who's intellectual if you want
to know the truth
you have to go out and search for the
truth yourself
don't rely on cnn don't rely
on a political office
that runs the country if you want to
know the truth
go out and find out take the quran the
quran
is is the source of islamic knowledge is
this it's
the source of all of our religion it's
the it's everything it encompasses
everything if you want to learn
go out and read read the quran go to a
masjid
go to a mess don't be afraid they may
look at you weird like
can i help you uh you're here for
something but you know what
they will be the most loving inviting
people you could possibly imagine
when you tell them yes you know i'm
christian
i'm jew i'm atheist i'm hindu
i'm buddhist it doesn't matter when you
go in there and say you know what
i don't know much about the religion all
i know is what i see on cnn the news
and i would like to learn some
information about what it is
subhanallah they will be like
oh please yes come come please
here can i get you some coffee would you
like some water
here let me get you some information i
have a shake here
i have an imam here we'd love to of
course what can we do for you please
you're always welcome anytime yeah
that's not that's being academically
sound because i mentioned his name
jordan peterson
and because there's many people know him
but there's many people like that again
they get out of their lane they start
talking about islam they got an opinion
they form the opinion
of some fake news right exactly some the
wrong information
yeah now you used to 22 years in the
military intelligent individual was
a christian minister about to be a
deacon and you went against all odds now
you hear the dean's show
as one who submitted his will to the
creator of the heavens and earth that's
it and uh
go ahead finish off with yourself yeah
so it's uh i mean you have to go out you
have to go
don't be afraid because you know one
thing i can say
the biggest fear for me in becoming a
muslim
was my own fear my f a fear that didn't
exist
i was fearful of the unknown
i was fearful i was thinking religion
people
don't change religion nobody changes
your
you don't change your religion you are
born a religion you live a religion you
die by that
it's a false pretext yes yes it is you
know and it's
that's kind of like the the mindset and
i see that even with my own family it
breaks my heart like especially now the
muslim
they're still christian it kills me
because there's so much rooted there
in traditionalism this is traditionally
the way it has been
this is traditionally the knowledge that
i know this is what i practice i've done
this for 50 years 60 years 70 years my
parents
you know for for them to to think after
having spent an entire lifetime
following a religion
and then to say you know what i think
i'm going to change my religion
it's not normal so you so you're talking
to your friend and
the friend is telling you well
everything that you believe this is now
in islam so what happens from there so
from there she was like well you know
what
how about this why don't you come with
my family
you can come with my father my brother
you can go to a masjid
and you can go see what a joomla prayer
is and you know
all of my years all of my years i never
not once
ever stepped foot in a masjid even in
iraq uh because we're always armed we
always have our
our weapons with us and that's one thing
you do not ever do
let's stop right there let's stop right
there for again another good point one
we just covered read the
i'm trying to be uh we're gonna make
this really um
efficacious to the best of our abilities
so for jordan peterson and others
you mentioned read the quran get around
go visit a masjid and go to a jummah
ask
oh of course of course absolutely no
problem yeah so um
so i was like you know what i had never
been to one i have no idea what one is
i don't know anything about it i just
know it's their
sunday prayer on friday that was it
that's all i did
that's it that's all that's all i knew
literally you go there you
i don't know what they do i don't know
how they pray i don't know anything
i literally i just know you're nervous
going for the first time
um alhamdulillah
okay yes i was nervous yeah even though
even though i was with people who were
like they were my comfort blanket yeah
yeah i won't lie i was still you imagine
can you imagine i've asked this
you know i've asked people who who came
for the first time they were said you
know they were
was that shooting bullets or oh sweating
bullets shredding bullets
oh but afterwards they had just great
things oh
visit hamas just visit visit with the
muslims instead of talking about muslims
and
cursing muslims and standing outside
with guns in front of mosques uh-huh
come inside have yeah
yes coffee in fact i'll explain
something that highlights that so
beautifully in just a minute right yeah
we're finished so i'll finish this part
first so
so um i said okay so i went with them
first time ever going in you know so i
go inside and i say sit with them
and subhanallah i will never for the my
life i will never forget
that juma prayer that first one because
it
was the most beautiful sermon i have
ever heard in my entire life
and it was all about the sanctity and
the preciousness
and the value of life and not just human
life
the life of animals respecting the trees
that we have on this earth that give a
shade
that give us wood to build our houses uh
having love and respect
and care for the water that we drink
because so few places actually have
drinkable water right
and the whole uh the whole jummah the
whole
sermon that he gave was just on how
beautiful and how respectful it is that
we need to be for life
the fake news that many it's ironic that
you have
groups of people who will call
media channels which we also agree with
they have a lot of
propaganda nowadays and it's fake news
right yes but now those same people
will go ahead and believe all that
garbage when it comes to islam
so now they will think that islam
muslims don't value human life
but you are seeing witnessing the best
sermon in your life that's talking about
the sanctity and value of life as soon
as you walk into your mosque
did they know you were coming so if this
nobody knew this is not nobody
had a clue it was just show up and
they're like
you know of course everybody's like oh
okay they have a guest
you know so i was dressed normal nice
clothes you know like i would normally
for
you know like a sunday mass you know
just nice you know not like baggy loose
or anything
but just nice and yeah so nobody really
picked up much
and uh listening and it was the most
beautiful thing i had so afterwards
right
so they asked me so so what did you
think about the you know the prayer
and oh and when it came time for prayer
they're like okay
don't worry about anything just kind of
stand here next to me
and just kind of try and follow along
just kind of do what i do just kind of
fit in and you'll be good don't worry
about a thing
so i said okay so they were talking in
some language i didn't know
anything i knew a couple words from when
i was in iraq so i know like
salaam alaikum and that was about it
yeah
peace be with you yeah yeah exactly and
the language that they're speaking i
mean it's
it's a sister to the language the
original language that jesus spoke
because jesus did not speak
english he spoke aramaic yes arabic
arabic arabic then you have
ancient hebrew all those are connected
you know semitic languages
exactly they are all of the same root
language it's just like
english french spanish italian they're
all
latin based they're all based out of the
latin so
it's just the same you have the hebrew
the aramaic the arabic
they're all semitic languages these are
these are these are the
the the languages that many of the
revelations were revealed in yes
right yes exactly so now okay so what
happens now so you leave the the masjid
the mosque you get to experience
also the prayer how was the prayer when
you saw the prayer so was this the first
time you were so this is the first time
i actually ever saw a prayer
and when the prayer finished i said is
that it
it was like five minutes i was like
where's the rest of the prayer where's
the standing up where's the bowing
where's the
going front and back and you know
because christians we have all this
you know as catholics we have all these
traditions and things that we do and
they're like no that's it that's it we
come we listen to sermon we pray
uh pray a few raqqa and that's get back
to work and back to work
but now when you were seeing people pray
like did it remind you at all because
you have passages
in the bible showing how jesus would
fall on his face and pray
to the creator and now you're seeing
muslims fall on their face and pray to
god
one of the most beautiful things that i
found in it was
when you go down and you put your
forehead
on that ground there is just
something about it that you have just an
overwhelming
closeness with god an overwhelming peace
that comes up
that when you when you're down there and
your head is on the ground
and you are down there in submission to
god
there's um you don't want to get back up
you just want to stay there in that
position it just there's something about
it that you you just
you just want to stay like that now
there's also a prayer that's recited
17 times a day it's the opening of the
quran it's kind of if you
compare it to the lord's prayer
it's i always tell christians i mean the
lord's prayer is calling you to oh our
father you can say our lord
god who lives in heaven hallowed be thy
name thy kingdom thy will be done that's
what thy will be done is islam islam
means to submit your will to god
exactly the opening uh prayer you heard
that for the first time there
and now and now you've actually because
you've been a muslim how long
uh about two and a half years now 23
years almost three years so
yeah i want people to hear now from you
can you can you just can you recite the
uh
oh yes yes listen everybody listen to
this bismillah
alhamdulillah
[Music]
[Applause]
just listening to that's like food
medicine for the soul
what did you in a nutshell what did what
it for the person like wow
you know they're listening to this for
the first time like man there's like
what is he what did you just say
you know what were you saying what is it
what does give us the translation
there's there's something so magical
because even not knowing a word of what
it's saying
it brings such a a peace to you
it it it touches you it brings you like
there's nothing about this we just went
over your history 22 years
in employment what but you're you have
memorized what people
this is a living miracle to this day the
quran
people are inspiring to memorize bits
and pieces
chunks and the whole thing itself and
you're living i tell you
you're a living testimony that now
you've you're memorizing the problem
you're reciting it here you know what's
it what's incredible too like one of the
most
incredible things i don't even know how
where to begin right so if you think
there are about 2 billion muslims i
think about 1.8 right now going
up to almost 2 billion right of those
there are hundreds hundreds of
millions of muslims who have memorized
the entire quran
from beginning to end in the arabic
language
arabic i've seen children as little as
eight and nine years old
who've memorized the entire thing they
can recite it's
it's mind-boggling hundreds of millions
of muslims
now we're talking about evidence this is
evidence well you know because islam is
just not about
faith blind faith you have evidence that
leads a person to accept
this way of life this is one of the
miracles and one of the evidences what
is so
incredible about that right is i think
how many people little children who have
memorized right
i think about the the bible how many
revisions of the bible do you have
how many different editions do you have
how many different languages do you have
most of them none of none of them
actually fit perfect and they're all
translations
are you struggling struggling with this
while you're a minister oh
well you know also because you struggle
with the the trinity
you know and and jesus being god this
point that you mentioned
authenticity yes and struggling with
this also
even you know even you know going into
the seminary
they teach you that the bible is the
the greatest resource of literary
collection types you have mythology
you have tales you have history
you have science fiction you have
you have poetry you have all of these
so some of it's supposed to be
metaphorical
some of it's supposed to be historical
some of it's just supposed to be
an uh like an analogy you know
and there's a real disconnect
to it you know uh fables
you know and you know it it doesn't make
sense
it doesn't make sense you know you i can
understand to a point okay
you're trying to educate people at a
time in the past
say okay well in the beginning there was
this one person
and then god took a rib and made
this other person but that's really not
what it means
it just means that humanity started you
know in a very small group
and we evolved and then as we evolved we
came in bigger numbers
it doesn't make sense you know how can
you know they say behind every myth
there is some basis of factual
history and uh even i was just watching
the other day like on
uh this national geographic they were
talking about this
uh ancient city in uh egypt in the the
delta of the
the nile river and how they thought it
was just a mythological place that the
greeks and
romans and everybody wrote about but it
never really existed
and then just a few years ago they found
no this city really did exist
it was just underneath the ocean and
nobody thought to look there
and then i'll let you get back to your
story this beautiful thing is the
concept
has always been the same that god
almighty sent messengers
and they all called people to submit
their will to the creator of heaven
that concept of submission to the will
of god islam has always been there
so now in that time of jesus he was
obviously calling people not to worship
anyone other than the creator of the
heavens and earth that's islam
yes that's it and that concept also of
submitting the one who submits to the
will of god being a muslim just like
when god almighty says in the quran
uh abraham was neither a jew or
christian but he was one who sincerely
purely submitted to the will of god as a
monotheist
so now now tell me when you go back and
let's let's let's um tell me you
i had you recite this the opening
chapter of the fatihap and
pretty much uh what for the viewers
you're pretty much praising the creator
that happens in the earth
you know the owner of the day of
judgment you alone we worship you alone
we seek for help guide us
on a straight path yes and now you hear
that
how much later after that did you
where did your story go from there that
you finally ended up taking your shahada
well that's uh that's a really great
part and i love i love talking about
this one right so
so i was like well you know what it's so
amazing so i really want to learn more
about the religion you know i really
want
i really like that i want to learn more
she said okay
if you if you're really serious if
you're really serious and you want to
learn more
go find your local masjid go to your
local masjid
and ask to speak to the imam there and
just tell them
you know you're you're a catholic uh you
went to a joomla with your friend
and uh you liked it you're interested
you want just want to learn more you
just want to learn more and that's it
um so i said okay you know what i really
want to do that
so that's exactly where i went on the
internet i found my
local masjid and uh so
i said okay you know it was like the the
the next week on the friday for joomla
they said okay you know what i'm gonna
go there and i'm gonna
you know i really want to learn so what
happened is
i went to a local masjid
and it was completely empty and i'm like
well wait a minute where is everybody
i'm like i'm looking at my clock and i
check i'm like yeah well it's supposed
to be here
so it's like and i go inside and there's
somebody in the back
and can i help you can i help you well
what do you hear what do you want i was
like oh okay
so i was like yeah i'm here for joomla
and he's like nah you missed it sorry
it's over
i was like oh okay so i just turned
around and went home
but i was like i was really depressed i
was really upset like i really wanted to
go
learn so i did one thing that i never do
before
i've never done before i went on the
internet and i typed out a message to
him and say
hi you know i'm so-and-so i went to the
masjid today but
there was nobody there and you know i
really want to learn
i'm curious i'd like to learn a lot more
about the religion
and subhanallah that evening about 15
minutes before
evening isha prayer which is you know
the last prayer of the night
so um so what happened is i get this
phone call
and say hi i'm brother tarek
received your message on the internet um
you know
i heard you were interested and you went
to the master but you said there was
nobody there
i said yeah yeah i went there was nobody
there he's like oh okay well did you
you know i was there i was you know
there were a whole bunch of people i
said no no it was empty it was empty
he said oh well where did you go and so
i told him where he went he said
oh no no no no that's a completely wrong
place
that's a whole totally different
religion you went to the wrong one
so i said oh okay thanks
allah saved me again from making uh you
know another mistake
so i said okay so he gave me the correct
address so i was like all right so
i went around he's like well we're about
to start in about 10-15 minutes
uh when you come over you can join us
right there i'd love to meet you in
person we can definitely talk some more
i said okay that sounds great you know
what i'm gonna do it because i really i
really wanted to learn so
i go there masjid and uh you know
i'm not sure how it is here in chicago
but typically in the you know back east
you know it's
when you know prayer is supposed to be
like you know nine o'clock
usually about 905 910 everybody actually
starts showing up
but um yeah so i go there and there's
like one
one other person inside and somebody you
know so i go inside and i'm like okay
well i don't want to disturb this guy so
i'm kind of like
looking around like all right what am i
here for
and this other guy you know he's really
tall thin and he had this
big beard to him and me
i'm like thinking oh my god this guy
is gonna kill me i'm like i'm gonna die
i'm like where's the exit
if i kick this guy just this way i can
bolt out of there he won't be able to
catch me and i can
hold you know what's out of this place
right
and so he goes so i'm i'm like i'm
terrified i'm like hi
i'm here for evening prayer i'm
terrified
so he says ah okay he goes are you here
for shahadah
and so i spoke to the guy on the phone
before
but i couldn't remember his name i
couldn't remember it was brother tariq
i just knew it was some person so i go
uh yeah i'm here for shahada he goes
ma he gives me this great old big
hug and everything i'm like oh thank god
this guy's not gonna kill me
and he's like wow that's so i'm so happy
for you you're here for shahada
i'm like yeah yeah i'm here for shahadah
and uh you know he's like ah everybody
this guy's here for shahadah
i don't think i'm like yeah yeah i'm
here for shahada i'm like wow
i'm thinking about something like
shahada man everybody loves shahadah
shahada is like a rock star like what a
popular guy i love shah
like shahada man he's like i got to find
this guy on the internet or something
like that you know you really didn't
know what they were saying so i had no
idea i had no idea what shahada was i
had no idea
so a few minutes later brother tara
comes in he says
hi you know i'm brother tariq you know i
believe we spoke on the phone earlier
you know you know i'm so glad to see
that you came here
and uh you know this is really great and
everything and uh you know
can i ask you you know by the way it's
uh you know happening here that um
somebody said that you were interested
in shahada that you want to
you know shahada and he was like and he
kept talking except islam pretty much
well yeah and so he uh he kept talking
and i didn't
he was talking so much that i didn't
have a chance to even answer and he's
like and so
so it's like you know shahada right you
know that's your testimony of faith you
know
you testify that you want to become a
muslim you know you testify that there's
only one god worthy of worship
uh and that's god alone and that the
prophet muhammad sallallahu asab
is the last and final prophet and
messenger of god and he's like
are you sure you really want to you know
become a muslim testify that you want to
become someone i'll say yes yeah i
wouldn't do my shot and become muslim
and then i stopped i said oh my god
what did i just say i was like start
reaching to take those words back out
from my mouth
subhanallah god put those words in my
mouth and i had
no control to take the god just said yes
you're doing your shahada it came out
i have no idea how it happened because i
had no intention of becoming
i just wanted to learn about the
religion but subhanallah subhanallah he
asked me if i want to become muslim and
i said yes i want to
take my shadow to become a muslim just
like that and so we
we prayed evening isha prayer and
following isha we
we came up in front of the community
there and uh
i took my uh shahada right there in
front of the the east brunswick islamic
center
uh the entire community and um what an
amazing feeling
what an amazing feeling and the looks on
everybody's faces
you know it's just filled with so much
happiness like
you know that just love like real
sincere true love from the heart
it's not like when you go to like
another church and people oh welcome you
know welcome to the community
no it's like it is a genuine sincere
love from the heart
like i love you like you are my family
you are now
my family like such a genuine love
any regrets oh my regrets
i never have regret never never
because regret means i don't trust
the will of allah i never have a single
regret
there are things i would be do different
if i have a chance to do them again
but never for one moment do i ever have
a regret
it has been the most beautiful blessing
of my life and
alhamdulillah from that moment now i
love i go out i give
dawah i educate people throughout the
entire united states i travel the world
educating people about the religion of
is islam
it's just the most amazing thing on the
earth it's the most amazing thing that
you do
you didn't just stop there i mean you
continue to get educated and this drive
i can see this passion
passion in you to share to share this
message out there and that's that
message of
moses abraham jesus the last of us
muhammad of inviting people to the
purpose of life
and have peace with the creator of
heaven and earth and that's by
worshiping him on his terms not his
desire that's islam submission to the
will of god
tell us where those people are out there
and they just been bombarded with the
fake news
and they're patriots to their country
and they've seen another patriot to
their
to his country who served 22 years not
only in the marines
air force army and now
you accepted you were seeking purpose
you were a minister
about to be a deacon now you're here on
the dean's show yes yes
what advice do you have for them to
clear up this fog these misconceptions
what advice do you you know what there's
so many misconceptions
that you know i wouldn't even know where
to begin but one of the things
that i would say especially for the
muslim community for the muslim
community
is there's a lot of stereotype about the
us military
in thinking that the u.s military in the
united states is
anti-muslim it has an anti-muslim agenda
and i have to tell you that couldn't be
any farther from the truth
because i spent the last two and a half
years in the us army
as a muslim and i prayed every single
jummah
i prayed every salah the entire office
where i was
working all in military uniform
everybody would stop
working when it was time for me to pray
my salah
everybody would stop and remain silent
so i could pray completely undisturbed
without any distractions
and subhanallah i was allowed to grow my
beard in the military
most most muslim militaries it's
prohibited
you can't have a beard in a muslim
military
but the united states you have every
right
to wear your beard i could wear my imam
in my military uniform i had absolute
protection there is no
organization that has more respect for
muslims and more protection for muslims
than the u.s military there is none not
not even
an islamic country gives those rights
and protections
to its to its muslims the way the usa
military
does so for those who think that it's
anti-military
that is absolutely not true absolutely
and if
anybody in the u.s military tries to
even make a problem or question it
they immediately get reprimanded
severely
for how causing any issue so
the the stigma that people have about
the military is completely false
and i would say don't listen to the news
don't get your is information about
islam from
from cnn from fox from the white house
go and get it from the people and don't
whatever you do
don't look at other countries as
examples
of how islam is because what you see
in the government is not the religion
of islam islam is a religion
that respects every human life if
one person one single person the death
the
killing of one person as is if
you killed every human being on earth
there are what eight and a half billion
people on earth
one person one life is equal to eight
and a half
billion people that's the respect that
islam has
so when you see things you know people
being chopped up
and dissolved in acid and whatnot this
is not the religion of islam
when you see people getting beaten and
all these atrocities
that is not the religion of islam that's
the same thing you turn on the local tv
news and you see you know
children's heads in the freezer that's
here in our in our lovely country you
have also that's not america that's not
the constitution that's the same example
so you have
christians who are doing crimes that
doesn't represent christianity
same way you have a fringe element yes
that
it's unfortunate but the media tries to
prompt up as if they're exemplary yes
uh muslims but that's not the case of
course in fact if you look even just
this past couple weeks
there is the this uh usa paramilitary
uh terrorist group that had plans to
invade
i think was the wisconsin michigan uh
the the
governor yeah here right here at home uh
this christian
militia group wanting to execute all of
these people
but and you see in the news oh this
homegrown american terrorism
they don't say christian terrorists they
don't say
uh catholic terrorists they don't say
baptist terrorists no homegrown american
terrorists
so don't think muslim terrorists
you know don't think don't put the
religion don't get the religion
mixed up with the mistakes of the people
thank you so much it was really great
having you on the d show oh thank you
very much nice
hearing your story
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