the dean show peace be with you welcome
to another exciting episode of the dean
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already my next
guest baptized at a young age of 11
accepted this Dean in 1991 shortly later
and then not only accepted it went on to
get a master's in it get ready to meet
Mr Joe actually Shake Joe here on the
dean show we'll be right
back the
the is
the this is the dean
show peace be with you am
alaykum Mr show Joe Shake Joe some
people call you Joey uh only my
grandmother and my aunt Mr Joe Shake Joe
how are you doing I'm great just Joe is
fine my good friend um Dr Brown yes you
know him yes he actually some time ago
uh he had told me he was good friends
with you and that I should get in
contact with you and alhamdulillah I
didn't have to look far you actually
ended up in Chicago yeah we just ran
into each other yeah you see you see how
Allah makes things happen alhamdulillah
all right alhamdulillah so tell us now I
mentioned when I opened the show baptism
yes now that's what you do when you're
from the Christian Catholic religion uh
well most Christians will will baptize
Catholics baptized at Birth um uh
Protestants usually will baptize later
in life because it's a choice you have
to choose to be saved uh so around the
age of 11 or 12 um I was attending a
Southern Baptist Church in the
neighborhood that I lived in in
Charleston South
Carolina uh and um I just decided that
that was a thing that I wanted to do
Jesus got baptized and I needed to get
baptized too and so I uh asked the
pastor if he could do it he said yes and
get my parents' permission and I did
they allowed it but they refused to
attend uh and then uh he convinced them
to at least you know attend and and then
that was that was it I continued in you
know Vacation Bible School and Sunday
school and all that good stuff uh as as
a kid what does it mean get us more
familiar with a bapt AP ISM what does it
mean you said Jesus was baptized what is
that how do we look at it from Islamic
perspective well
so or John the Baptist um was was known
for baptizing people was a symbol of
washing away their sins and for them
kind of kind of like when one of us
takes shahada and so it was this renewal
of life you go into the water you come
out a new person you're washed of your
of your sins so the concept is there in
Islam as the prophet told some of his
companions
do you not know that Islam wipes away
everything that came before it so the
idea of baptism is the same except that
of course in in baptism they say we
baptize you in Jesus name and it's this
dedication to the life of Jesus so I was
inclined to that because I was the kind
of the churchgoing one in my
family now you you said you're from
where where were you born again I was
born in Detroit Michigan but you were
speaking some other language I was
speaking Arabic yes but you're not Arab
I'm not Arab no what's going on here
that's what everyone wonders okay
because I we're trying to connect
especially airport we have a lot of not
yet Muslims out there and they're like
okay he's not one of us he's the other
what's he doing speaking he's not
speaking English anglosaxon he's
speaking Arabic he's an Arab right what
do you have to say so I learned uh
Arabic um after I accepted Islam at the
age of 15 when I was kind of churchgoing
as a kid off and on going with neighbors
and things like that I always knew that
the Bible had been written in a language
other than what was revealed in you know
it was written in Greek and Latin but
Jesus wasn't Greek and he wasn't Latin
he was he was a middle eastern he and he
was Middle Eastern person he spoke
Aramaic so I wanted to learn Aramaic and
then when I heard about Islam and I
became Muslim and I said what language
is the Quran written in they said it's
written in Arabic the original language
it was real in it blew me away it's like
this is great I need to learn Arabic so
I started attending Sunday School uh at
the Islamic Center of northeast Florida
U there in Jacksonville Florida that's
amazing so that's so first you wanted to
uh you mentioned something that uh Jesus
was Middle Eastern so he wasn't many
people in the South or you know in some
of the churches they have a man with uh
blue eyes blonde hair that's not the
reality well we don't necessarily know
exactly what he looked like we do have
um a Hadith from the
prophet explaining that he was a brown
skinned person with curly hair came down
to his uh uh his shoulders he had broad
shoulders the description very much fits
what we would consider to be Middle
Eastern so he was definitely not
Caucasian definitely not European in
origin even there's what you're saying
uh to the same thing it's in the Bible
mentions more of a dark uh complected uh
uh person yes yeah okay so then the
other thing is you wanted to it just
like someone out of their sincere
Earnest desire they want to get close to
God so now they want to go back and look
at these scriptures and speak the
language to get closer to God that Jesus
would have been speaking which was
Aramaic then you come to Islam now the
sister language is Arabic is Arabic yeah
and you actually go on to study and you
get your master's degree is this right
yes yeah so I started Sunday school I
actually learned the Arabic language in
the United States um to read write and
speak uh I have to give uh you know uh
thanks to Allah and then thanks to one
of my first teachers the Alish who was
the IM of the Masjid at that time kind
of gave me the fundamentals and I was
able to run with it and uh and then I
then then later on in 1999 I went to
Medina did my bachelor's master
and then have been you know working ever
since but hold on what's going on you're
baptized at 11 what are you doing in
Medina at what age is this now 24 25
what happened here yeah so you know
accepting Islam at the age of 15
finishing up high school you know as the
beginning of the 10th grade year people
told me you need to go and learn Islam
you need to go to the Muslim world uh
there was a an elderly brother named
Curtis shabaz may Allah have mercy on
him you know he sat me down he was a
cancer patient uh and and and he he
would drive all the way to the Masjid
with his wife and be so weak he couldn't
even come inside the door so he would
direct the car in the direction of the
and he would pray in his car so I used
to go out and sit with him in his car
and he said look you have to go and
learn this Dean and take it back to the
people uh so I want you to you know go
to overseas so I started applying for
everywhere applied for AAR uh you know
Medina alhamdulillah eventually I got
into Medina but I'm talking about
someone right now not yet Muslim you
know our brothers in humanity uh many of
the Christians who we never want to
disparage on but they're like hold on
was he not full of the Holy Ghost uh if
you don't accept Jesus as your lord and
savior to die for your sins you're going
to Hellfire so you they're saying you
took a wrong turn now you you maybe you
found the
Antichrist have you heard some of these
things yeah you know so you know in I
believe it's in Corinthians it says God
is not the author of confusion so Faith
should not be Faith should not be confu
confusing um you know the devil cannot
stand on a on a on a on a an a uh or
Foundation cannot stand on some people
by the I forget the scripture about I
know which one you're talking about you
know which one I'm talking about so you
know this idea that it's the Antichrist
Islam is from the Antichrist or the
devil doesn't make sense because Islam
preaches against the Antichrist and
against the devil so it necessarily
couldn't necessarily be from that origin
yeah so what had you leave because you
got baptized that's a serious and and
again why do people at what age why do
you what describe the baptism what what
what's done here you just dipped in the
pool and now you're born again so
there's there's uh there's water that's
usually blessed by the pastor the priest
uh and then you wear all white uh garbs
much like a thob that Mar that that
Muslims would marry I that what Muslims
would wear and then you um you you uh
you go into the baptism pool and the
priest will hold a cloth over your mouth
to protect your nose and mouth and then
hold you by the back of the head dip you
into the water and he'll be saying you
know prayers and and blessings and then
bring you back up and then you'll say
you know you're baptized in jesus' name
and you have started a new life you know
you you're not going to be a perfect
person but you've started a new new life
okay our audience wants to know we're
going to find out like what is it that
really at the end you end up went from
baptism and what was it that triggered
you to come over to this way of life
that actually Jesus lived that Moses
lived that Abraham lived we got a lot
more to talk about with Mr Joe Shake Joe
here on the dean show don't go anywhere
Islam says love all mankind that's why
we're sharing this message because we
want the best for you and we want the
best for all mankind please subscribe to
the dean show follow us on our official
Facebook and Twitter pages in The Links
below please also help support the dean
show by making a donation in the link
below back here on the dean show okay so
now before I even get to that you know
we're talking about a a subject that
many people are apathetic towards you
know religion they think it's something
weird um many times you have a lot of
weird things mystical things associated
with it why is this subject so important
everyone needs a a you know everyone
needs a moral code to live by um and the
thing is is that human beings are
limited in our comprehension in our
knowledge so we can't do it alone and if
we recognize that you know tracks on the
beach mean someone were W was walking
there waves in the ocean means you know
that that there's a current stars in the
sky you know all of these things should
it not tell us that there's something
that made all of this and that made us
and so if we want to know how to live a
moral life to the fullest I'm not saying
that people that don't have faith can't
be moral but if we want to live a moral
life to the fullest then we need to know
what the creator of the heavens and the
Earth wants from us and and that's why
you know religion is important How about
if someone said can't like science
dictate my moral
code science is empirical science is
about uh is about the Gathering of facts
it does it's not philosophy it's it's
it's not uh it's not ethics um and so it
you know you can live you can uh work
within a certain amount of facts but
that doesn't that doesn't necessarily
mean that you're going to use those
facts or that data that's in front of
you correctly uh we know that the Quran
is a book that's tamper free tamper
proof revealed over a span of 23 years
it has a challenge you know if you want
to disprove that it's not from God do
this this and that it's based on
reasoning rationale cause people to
think Ponder so you know a lot of times
when you talk to people of other
religions that talk about I had a dream
you know this came over me right um and
a lot of weird things right is that what
happened to you is that why you came to
Islam did you see some something in a
dream did something weird happen to you
what was it about Islam that had you
come over so I was uh I was um uh at
home with my older sister and uh I went
to her room and she had a magazine and
she said here you know read this
magazine do something with your life you
know older sister uh and in that
magazine there was an article about a
girl who had accepted Islam she it was a
reader column so she wrote about the
most amazing thing that happened to her
in her life and uh and it was becoming a
Muslim and so I read that article and I
had never heard about Islam before uh I
had heard about Arabs being from Detroit
but I had not heard about Islam so it
piqued my interest and I went to the
encyclopedia this is pre- internet
School libraries public libraries trying
to find information so I spent that was
when I was 14 years old so I spent the
time from 14 to 15 just looking for
information about Islam uh do you also
did you find that appealing at the same
time that you didn't have to leave this
love for Jesus that we also in our faith
we believe in love Jesus is one of the
mightiest messengers of God except we
don't worship him as a God that was
actually surprising to me when I came to
the Masid for the first time uh when I
went to the Islamic Center of northeast
Florida it was Sunday school time I was
talking to people and they were like you
know Jesus and as as soon as they said
Jesus I was like hold on am I in the
right place because I was tired about
hearing about the deification of Jesus
so I wanted to make sure that I was you
know I said Jesus worshiped God I only
want to worship God and they said yeah
don't worry that's that's what Jesus did
and that's what we do so you had so
going back you had a problem with that
your fitra what we call it now the inite
nature was rejecting this man worship
yeah I mean you read you read you know
all these stories in the Bible about you
know Abraham worshiped God and Moses
worshiped God and Isaiah worshiped God
and and and then you get to Jesus and he
worshiped God and then there was this
break okay now Jesus is the son of God
or Jesus is God or Jesus is son and God
which didn't make sense to me I remember
going to my pastor as a child and saying
if Jesus Is God and Jesus is the son of
God how can you be your own father and
he just patted me on my back and said
son you just have to have Blind Faith
and that was actually it was after um
baptism that's when I left the church I
started looking for another church to go
to because it just didn't make it didn't
set sit well with me God is not the
author of confusion why am I confused no
answers it's a bottleneck don't think
about it if God endowed me with an
intellect I should be thinking about
what I'm doing that's uh that's a the
antithesis to a myopic way of thinking
now just being restricted to maybe what
your parents are on just following
blindly culture and society and you went
against the odds because now you went up
against society and the norms and but
you were sincerely earnestly wanting to
know the truth and even though you're
going to probably catch some heat for it
did you I did a little bit yeah yeah uh
my my my my my parents were not really
sure what it was I was into um you know
my friends at school were kind of
strange but I my real good friends are
friends until this day yeah yeah uh we
know nowadays what are some of the most
common give me one of the most common
questions you might get asked when
someone finds out you're a Muslim maybe
an old family friend at a family reunion
or something like that or just someone
that comes in sees your white says man
this guy's not Arab or something but
he's Muslim I'm not Arab also I'm I'm
American born here right so what what
would uh what do they usually ask you I
think it's surprising to a lot of people
that they're you know they kind of they
associate Islam with being South Asian
or Arab and it's shocking to them and I
think it kind of breaks that that mold
of or that false idol of Islam being
foreign uh no Islam is just as is is is
a a a religion that has been here in the
United States for centuries and and will
be uh we mentioned Blind Faith the
pastor was a tone the priest tone you
just got to have Blind Faith yes if
someone says well that's how all
religions are you just got a blind faith
what would you and they attribute that
same thing to Islam what would you say
no I would say no um if you read the
Quran one of the things that uh that
that that really struck me about the
Quran is that and every set of verses
you'll find Ponder this think about this
contemplate this look in the heavens and
the earth look at the signs that God has
given think so there's this this this
enticement to to to use your rationale
and to use your intellect to to to base
your faith upon uh so but someone says
look uh you just you missed the boat
because now you don't have someone there
to carry your sins Jesus Paid the price
and you just left all that you're going
to hell for that what are you going to
tell them I would say that the that the
the the problem with thinking that
you're C you're you're you know even in
Christianity that's a very popular
notion but that's not even what
Christian fathers say many of them will
say that we don't enter Paradise because
of our sins or because of Jesus we enter
it because of the grace of God and as
Muslims We Believe very similar that but
we the thing is is that we don't we
don't say with certainty that we're
going to heaven or going to hell we say
it's the will of God because he created
us and he knows best how to judge us so
the idea that um I'm somehow U forced
out of Heaven because I don't have Jesus
to save me well who would save Jesus who
would would he call on if he called on
someone then I should call on that same
person and that's what he did I get
amazed you know the obviously the Lord's
Prayer yes would you say it's so similar
to the AL F I would yeah uh you know it
just call out how Oh Our Father who out
in heaven if you just say oh our our our
um Creator or um our Lord our Lord who
are in heaven how does the rest go uh H
be name come thy will thy will be done
yes was he doing Islam and was he a
Muslim Jesus yes yes of course uh how
when you first when you found that out
before we go to break how someone said
how is that that's impossible how was he
a Muslim doing Islam what would you say
well when you when you when you submit
to God you're a Muslim so everything
that submits to God is is Muslim because
Muslim means the one who submits their
will in their life to God beautiful
exciting I'm excited with Mr Joe no
shake Joe here in the dean show we'll be
right back with more don't go anywhere
Islam says love all mankind that's why
we're sharing this message because we
want the best for you and we want the
best for all mankind please subscribe to
the dean show follow us on our official
Facebook and Twitter pages in The Links
below please also help support the dean
show by making a donation in the link
below back here on the dean show now
many of us who live this life um we see
that things just kind of get played out
jaded real quickly you know you just
wake up it's kind of uh what's that
movie gopher's
day it was way back in the day it was
like he uh just keep uh repeating the
same thing over over Bill Murray movie
yeah yeah and and many people just keep
doing the same thing from uh Monday to
yeah it becomes monotonous monotonous
you know um but here uh I want to share
one one verse from the verbatim word of
God the Quran and I want you since I we
have an opportunity to be with someone
uh who studied in the Islam University
to to share your thoughts with us
because I often this is one of my
favorite verses from the Quran where the
Creator say saying in chapter uh 57:20
know that the life of this world is but
PL and amusement and diversion adornment
and boasting to one another and
competition and increase of wealth in
children like the example of rain whose
resulting plant growth pleases the
tillers then it dries and you see it
turn yellow then it becomes scattered
debris and in the Hereafter is a severe
punishment and forgiveness from Allah
and approval and what is the worldly
life except the enjoyment of the
illusion I mean I just you know coming
back also from those days where you just
live for this D what this is so powerful
what what how would you uh summarize
this this verse first thing that comes
to mind when I hear this verse is the
cyclical nature of life you can be in a
cycle that you think is never ending and
and I know that I've been there in life
where I didn't really know what the next
day was going to be what the next month
was going to be and and what I could
expect out of life you get to the point
where you think well am I going to live
to 30 am I I going to live to 40 I don't
know what's going to happen after that
whereas the example that's given in the
verse is
that what your experiencing right now
will end and you have to be prepared for
it so don't be duded into thinking that
this life is going to be forever and
that there's nothing after it you have
to be responsible for your own Deeds you
have to have uh accountability for
yourself and you will be accounted for
uh one day uh and and when you realize
that you realize that in reality you
know uh this life is not about the
material that you have but it's about
the meanings that you leave behind
usually when we hear these stories it's
really inspirational and I've
alhamdulillah thank God I've interviewed
so many people that have come over to
this way of life because it's a it's
it's it's a rational thinking man's DEC
decision that you make you don't just m
did you did you just make this based off
emotion or did you really I mean use I
took I took a year I mean a reading off
and on can you know I said to myself
well Islam seems like it came after
Christianity maybe something else came
after Islam I started researching
Shintoism and jism Sikhism and all of
the Eastern religions that I had never
been exposed to um and every time I
contrasted and compared Islam came up on
on top uh whether it was Justice whether
it was Beauty whether it was uh devotion
whether it was prayer whether duty to
parents uh Islam always came up on top
and that's what motivated me to become a
Muslim it wasn't the thing of saying the
certainty of just saying yeah I'm saved
in Jesus's name and then going out and
just whing out the entire week right but
it was I have to be a responsible person
in myself I have to be regimen I have to
be accountable for myself and when I'm
accountable for myself and you're
accountable for yourself then even just
from a secular standpoint society's
better off so you know Faith adds to
society in the sense that it gives every
person a regimen and a personal
responsibility so that they can be a
contributing member to the general
welfare of society and they'll get their
reward in the next life as well we
mentioned I asked you about Jesus being
a Muslim he obviously never heard this
word Christian um if you brought him
back today you know he'd be like uh what
are you talking about I was one who
submitted to the will of God that's I.E
a Muslim just like Moses AB they were
all Muslim Abraham same thing and they
were doing Islam uh Islam you said we
could say that this is also the
lifestyle they were living yes right
from the be we can put it all together
from the very beginning of the first man
Adam until the last and final message of
prophet Muhammad with all the prophets
in between of course how can we do that
how can we do that yeah because most
people when they look at Hinduism they
say okay this came before Islam they
think uh Christianity but when I tell
people look Islam when you define it
submission to the will of God it was the
first original religion well it's the
theory of History okay so we don't have
you know in in Islamic thought the
theory of history is that everything
started off with guidance from God and
then diverged from there whereas in
other theories of History they say well
everyone was searching for the truth and
they they all have variant Origins then
we say no the origin was one God has
always sent guidance to people and
that's why you'll find people that say
for example are from the Indian
subcontinent in other parts of the world
they'll say we have these indications of
the Oneness of God and there being
someone sent very early on in our
religious scriptures and then it was you
know uh uh people that came after that
uh priests and pundits and sadus and all
these that changed these type of things
or added or subtracted and that's why
you have the final Prophet Muhammad
because he came to to to as a Christ
Criterion for what had come before to
say this was right from it this was
wrong from it and now he the general
principles that you live by until the
day of judgment tell us now you
obviously you clim you were climbing and
you're still climbing the spiritual
ladder meaning that you're seeking
knowledge this Dean requires work and
effort how important is it for many of
the people who take it for granted they
don't like to you know stay at their job
position in school at a certain level
you just want to keep climbing but you
see like Muslims today they don't see
the value of seeking knowledge and
climbing that spiritual ladder right you
know it's um you you give a great
example many times we we Endeavor for
the best in our in our our line of work
we Endeavor for the best in in our
personal enjoyment but when it comes to
our faith then we wondered why we wonder
why we're depressed we wonder why we're
worried but if we if we if we do
Endeavor to be the best even as a person
of faith and E even in worshiping God
then we can start to free ourselves from
those negative emotions not rid
ourselves and that's completely
different thing uh two pieces of advice
one for now the Muslim the one who's
chosen consciously and and again Islam
is not something inherited you got to
make that conscious decision defitely uh
many have have still gone through the
rituals maybe their family you know uh
just brought them up but they still
they're they're confused many are going
towards this whole new trend it's these
Trends atheism new atheism right so the
Muslim who's tuned in and he's like he
likes what you have to say he's
impressed he's like what this guy you
know he's American born here was
Christian baptized went to study
overseas got his master's degree he's
lost he's confused what advice would you
give him I would say that no one can no
one can solve the problem or the Dilemma
that you have in your mind you have to
think what you're dedicated to the
problem is with many Muslims that take
their faith for granted they're many
times taking it as a part and parcel of
their ethnic identity their cultural
identity just something that they grew
up with and you have to say is if this
is part of me I should understand it if
I claim to be an engineer I should know
engineering if I claim to be a Muslim I
should know Islam and last piece of
advice for the not yet Muslim because
everyone has the potential to submit to
the will of God and that's all that
Islam is submission to the will of God
but he keeps seeing all these crazy
things that the media is showing him
he's scared right and you know what it
makes sense the pure monotheism and all
the other things what we're saying but
again all of these negative stereotypes
that he's got in his mind she's gotten
their mind what would you say to them I
would say remain open to the truth do
don't don't take things uh at face value
do your own research think about it
yourself you're an individual you have
your own mind and be open-minded to
learning about things and to becoming a
better person and when you do that with
with sincerity then God will guide you
we're out of time but tell us we got
some more time a uh about your book and
yeah so this is a simple zat guide uh
it's a book that I wrote for or you know
one of the five pillars of Islam is
zakat many Muslims are mystified by it
because it has to do with money and how
do you calculate it either you find a
pamphlet in the Masjid that isn't
descriptive enough or you got a
voluminous work by a scholar that's two
three volumes you don't have time to
read so I made this simple book with
worksheets that people can go through
step by step understand how they can
fulfill their duty to their fellow man
and giving back to the communities that
they live in uh besides sing sending
salams to to everybody out there to
peace you want to send peace to our
brother who uh uh uh Dr Lawrence Brown
have you seen him in a while I haven't
seen him in a long time so
yeahum we with peace peace be with you
thank you so much thank you and that was
Mr Joe Shake Joe here on the dean show
you can check him up at his website get
his book and also 100% compliance Sharia
wills and when we say Sharia man this is
the law that Moses bring this is the law
that all the messengers of God call
people to purpose of life why you're
here why you've been created you want to
know if you just popped up on the moon
what you were doing there so what are
you doing on this Earth just to attain a
lot of wealth and money and then what
you die just heard a story you know a
true story a man of million $20 million
front of the family he died he left all
you think he took any of that money with
he took he left it all behind so what
are you preparing for your
trip that trip that we're going to take
after we leave this life everything's
become a past tense been there done that
but see the intellectual person he's not
my myopic see he's not narrow-minded
he's thinking ultimately of what comes
for infinity and that's the next life
that all of these Messengers they call
people to think about to reflect over to
be accountable for what they're going to
do in this life and to attain the next
life by obeying the commands of God by
being good doing good and that's all
built on that pure monotheism that Jesus
was upon that Moses was upon that
Abraham and all the other Messengers
including the last and final messenger
sent to mankind who I'll end I'll end
with this story this this this authentic
Hadith where he described him as as a
beautiful Brick House beautiful man a
beautiful house that everybody was just
going around and and adoring they said
but look look there's just little piece
of a brick missing here wh why what's
what's with that he he said that's what
I represent he was the finality
finishing the completion of this house
this messengership and he's the last and
final messenger sent to mankind prophet
Muhammed peace be upon him get to know
him him get to know Islam get to know
the truth call us 1800 662 Islam and
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