asalam Alum peace be unto you welcome to
the dean show Salam Alum brother brother
Clay how are you alhamdulillah I'm fine
thank you it's good to have you here
with us here uh clay and you accepted
Islam how long ago about four and a half
years ago tell us uh for our viewers uh
how what brought you to Islam you know
it's uh one of those things I turned 40
years
old and I thought to myself half my life
is over I should get some better fire
Insurance the uh in my 20s I was a very
Evangelical Christian and uh kind of
lost interest in it looked around at
different religions in my 30s when I
turned 40 like I said this thought
occurred to me took about 9 months and
then another thought occurred to me
which was hey I have never known
anything about Islam except what they
taught me in fifth grade what they
taught me in fifth grade was this
quran's a big deal so of course I went
to the bookstore bought a few English
translations and started reading
them took them about a month and then I
realized this uh description of God was
distinct it was maniacally focused on
giving God all the power none of the
power was reserved for anybody else God
had all the decisions the decisions of
the good the bad the ugly the beautiful
however they were going to happen God
was managing everything and that uh that
description of God was so overwhelming
and overpowering that uh
praise God it took resonance in me oh so
I went and thought about that uh and
read and studied for about 18
months after 18
months I I woke up one night in the
middle of the night and it occurred to
me hey Subhan Allah I'm
Muslim everything that you already
instinctively believed was uh being
portrayed in this book everything I
everything
uh I won't say that because a lot of my
thoughts uh changed as I read the book
uh I read the book and uh it occurred to
me hey I'm not thinking right on this
yesu I'm not thinking right on that isue
uh this uh book is telling me a story
this is the way it is so I take the take
the book at face value and
uh went that way with my thoughts you
know it wasn't up to me how my thoughts
evolved Allah tala decided over time
that I would think that way and uh
praise God uh that I should have woken
up those 18 months later and uh
recognized that I what was the big
difference of how you used to live
before you said you were evang
Evangelical Christian back back what
does that me back in my 20s you know I
what's an Evangelical Christian uh
somebody who tries to interest people in
uh the mission that Jesus had may peace
and blessings be upon Jesus how was your
relationship with Jesus peace be upon
him now as opposed to
then uh at the
time I considered him to be
uh maybe maybe at the time you know I I
wasn't there some some Christians
believe Jesus is uh the Son of God uh I
can't say that I fully uh embrac that
thought even as a Christian but uh I
certainly gave uh a great deal of divine
rights to him in my in my thinking as a
Christian uh I was happy to see when
Islam uh started giving me the details
on Islam how Islam perceived Jesus I was
certainly delighted to see that Jesus uh
was portrayed as a prophet uh
and he's also called the Messiah the the
one who brings the uh Kingdom in and uh
this this this this took resonance me as
a a much more appr proposed story about
his life how did you uh deal with now
the crucifixion there's no problem
giving it up but uh one of the one of
the first Muslims I met uh during that 8
month 18-month period of study of Islam
told me the following idea he said look
Jesus is a prophet of God he should be
honored for him to be dying in a fashion
being nailing nailed to a cross is is
kind of uh it's an ugly way to die and
uh this is uh uh not a way
to not suitable for a a prophet of God
uh may peace and blessings be upon Jesus
uh that he should die that way uh did
most did you know back then that we have
such a great relationship that we love
Jesus that no muslim is a Muslim unless
he believes in Jesus did you know this
before as a Christian no I did not I did
not realize that uh
I I I think maybe I maybe I knew it at
some point I'll tell you that point
because it's a fun story uh I didn't
didn't didn't didn't I don't ever
remember re realizing the Muslims uh
gave such great respect to uh Jesus
peace be upon him the uh in the in my
20s when I was going to college U 18s
20s when I was going to college we had
this study hall in the basement of the
library this is at the University of
Arizona and there was this a very mixed
group of people we had one Muslim guy in
there who's part of our study all so we'
we'd study for a couple of hours
engineering and then we'd stop and have
a talk on politics or religion or or any
number of things and
uh after a number of weeks of this I
decided okay I'm going to let this
Muslim guy have it I'm going to I'm
going to bring this guy to Christ I'm
gonna I'm gonna get this guy to convert
to Christianity so I let him have it I
went up and down left and right you have
to follow God you have to obey God God
gave us a book you have to follow it and
of course I'm referring at the time to
the Bible the New Testament and uh he
listened very
patiently we parted and and and and and
and I just thought to myself well may
God grant him uh becoming a
Christian he comes back to me the next
Monday he grabs me by the shoulders he
says look I'll do anything you want you
want me to buy you a car I'll buy you a
car you want me to I at the time I had
acne I'll say take you to the doctor
I'll get you a doctor whatever you want
you want me to get you a tutor for any
of your classes I'll get you a tutor for
I say look I don't want anything from
you I just taught you about uh Jesus
peace be upon him and uh you know I want
you to I want you to follow him he says
look I have not made my Salah I have not
made my daily prayers in years when you
talk to me I feared God I started making
my daily prayers again
Subhan Allah so from then on I would uh
I would tell anybody well I converted uh
an atheist to Christianity I converted
uh Fallen away Catholic back to
Christianity and I listed a few other
people and I also converted a Muslim
that sort of baited them they said wow
you converted a Muslim to Christianity
said no I converted a Muslim to Islam
tell us a couple more questions before
we come to an end from the uh what the
media is portraying Islam
Today now that you are Muslim what's the
difference what look can you tell us for
those that are out there getting
educated through the me media is it
really what's being portrayed or is
there a different side to
it you know I want to say one more thing
about what I was talking about and we
can just finish up on that previous
thought
yeah Allah subhana tala you know the
Quran says Those whom God guides to
Islam nobody can misguide Those whom God
let's go astray nobody can guide so that
uh Allah subh T gave me that good deed
to talk to that man about uh God and
that he entered more
fully back into his worship uh that was
a gift from God yes uh I hope that uh
all the Muslims in the world get these
kind of gifts to have Allah subhana T
give them the gift to help each other
realize more fully AR I and practice AR
I better and better uh to answer your
question what do I think of the media
portrayal and how does it what was it
how does it how does it reflect how does
it how does it reflect yeah how does
this now from what you knew about Islam
before and what you are are getting to
practice today what is the world
actually missing out on what is a
different picture that is one being
painted by the media and now the other
picture that you actually get to see the
truth it is it is so sad so so sad that
people don't get a clear picture in the
news and the
media uh with that said if somebody
wants a clear picture inshallah I
believe they can find it it just makes
me very sad that we don't get a a clean
a clean crisp accurate betrayal it's
it's it's that it's that sad problem of
of the economics of the business of news
the business of
news dog bites man doesn't get in the
news man bites dog that gets in the news
so some C wants to say something dumb
Subhan Allah that's the business of news
they're going to put it on yeah somebody
says something
normal it's it's it's it's unfortunate
you know a Muslim a True Believer cannot
be a terrorist and a terrorist cannot be
a a True Believer that's the bottom line
very simple yeah so uh you know I wish
every news report that talked about
terrorists would begin with that but no
you know that that's that's the most
Central fact in Islam
it's a Pity that that's not the
beginning Point closing comments and
advice for any Christian or anybody in
humanity who's confused has had a
turning point his life and he's
searching for the truth read the Quran
get a copy of the Quran that has a half
a page of
commentary for every half a page of text
there's there's a few of them out there
buy two or three qurans each of them
with different commentaries in them read
it uh read it
carefully uh inshallah make Dua to Allah
tala that he will give you guidance that
he will give
you res that the that the Quran the
meanings of the Quran will take
residence you that you will be able to
see God for all of his beautiful
management of every atom of the entire
galaxy from the beginning of time till
now and from now to the end of time he
is managing everything that
uh Muslims perceive God in that way is
is is something that was just startling
to me as I was reading the Quran and may
God give you that same startling
Revelation recognition that uh God is in
fact doing all that all right it was
good talking you thank you very much
brother assalam alaykum I'd like to
thank everybody who is with us please go
on the website adens show.com we
actually have the Quran on there for
free you can read it check it out give
us your comments suggestions and we'll
see you again on the dean show asalam
alayum peace be unto you