[Music]
in alhamdulillah
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bad all Praises all thanks are due to
Allah alone therefore we praise him and
seek his help and seek his forgiveness
we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of
ourselves and from the evil consequences
of our actions the one whom Allah guides
nobody can misguide him and the one whom
Allah leaves to stray there is no one to
guide him I bear witness that there is
no God no IL worthy of worship except
Allah alone without partners and that
Muhammad Abdullah s alaihi wasallam is
the final prophet and Messenger to the
whole of mankind I apologize for
breaking up your um your program in this
way but it really is unfortunate we have
another program in West London uh
regarding Ramadan alhamdulillah which
starts at 4:00 and it takes at least an
hour to get there so this is why I'm
unable to stay for so long um
alhamdulillah I'm 37 now and I've been a
Muslim for for six seven about 13 14
years
alhamdulillah um when I was 17 years old
I shared a house with some people and uh
I was given a gift um a book I'm being
very brief here given a gift a book
which I had with me for some eight years
I had this book with me for eight years
and uh after eight years um I read a lot
of books and I decided alhamdulillah to
read this particular book and upon
reading the first
page uh I decided that what I was
reading was the truth was from God was
from Allah and at that point I wasn't a
very deeply religious person but I
believe that this was the truth and this
was from God this was from Allah and I
made an intention that to read it all
and as long as there was nothing strange
then inshallah I would become a Muslim
now Brothers asked me he
said this brother is by the way a Muslim
and he said to me what is it that
happened cuz he's asking as a Muslim
he's trying to understand what is it
that you as a new Muslim or you went
through what did you experience how did
it feel so on and so forth you know and
um I used to say it was like all the
lights coming on you know but this is
not really this doesn't explain that
feeling that you get so one of the ways
that I now use to describe it it is like
finding yourself with a very difficult
problem it could be for instance if
you're working on your computer and you
call a friend who's very knowledgeable
about computers and you can't make
something work and then he tells tells
you and then you all right I see yeah I
understand no no no I'm okay now I'm
fine that feeling of relief that feeling
of contentment basically when you
actually get and understand something it
could be for for brothers who refuse to
ask people directions when they're
driving when they're lost and you know
eventually do or eventually realize
where they're going and then start yet
now I see the signs I see where I'm
going after the frustration that you
felt of being lost and driving around
and seeing the same house on Accord you
passed three times ago and going around
and around in a circle you finally see
on from your instructions in front of
you ah and then this one yeah no I know
where I am now I'm going to be with you
in in 5 minutes or so that feeling of
relief when you finally found the
solution to a puzzle and this is what
really discovering the truth felt like
you just multiply that of course by a
million or how many other times you want
to multiply it by but that is really
what it is for the first time in your
life you give your soul
that which it desires you know we drink
when we're thirsty we eat when we're
hungry we sleep when we're tired but our
soul do we nourish it we nourish it with
battle all the time and for the first
time in your life you're actually
nourishing your soul with that which it
desires the truth alhamdulillah so
that's that would be one way of of
describing it now when I embraced Islam
um there was no no real calling to the
Sunnah no real calling to to anything
really specific we know there was uh at
my time there was no no Islamic
publication houses like al- hidea or the
ones that we know now you I mean Mah
there's so many Al Basher and she bal's
company and these uh what's the name of
it Dar fat fata all of these companies
they weren't around when I embraced
Islam um we you know we had bukar we had
bukari and Muslim from uh from Pakistan
and we had
ahmed's video tapes and tape recording
and we would head down to hide Park and
we'd knock heads with the Christians and
whoever else that was what we would do
you know just memorize a few verses I
mean I was I was down at hi High Park
like two weeks after I embraced Islam
you know this is how it was you know
Subhan Allah you know you just down
there man firing away and when I went to
hiy park Subhan Allah I met a group of
of of Christians and this group of
Christians were doing what they were
doing and stuff and amongst them was a
young Arab girl and you know I had a
very rose tinted or very very uh how can
I say strange concept of the Middle East
as I'm sure many people do who are who
are non-muslim or know nothing about
International politics that is any Arabs
a Muslim that was it you know there's no
such thing as Arab Jews or Christians or
anything else and um you know I said so
you know you're a Muslim and no I'm I'm
finin I'm from Lebanon I'm a Christian I
was really stunned and I said what you
must you're an Arab how can you can you
be a Christian this impossible and she
was with this group of Christians down
Hy Park doing their whatever they were
doing arguing with Muslims so I said
inshallah you're going to you know again
with my ignorance in I'm going to make
you a Muslim I mean you you know this is
how you speak when you first embrace you
don't know so I said inshallah you know
you're going to become a Muslim I'm
going to give you da and stuff and what
I would do is I would go away and she
would ask me certain questions regarding
Islam and I would go away and I would
ask people alhamdulillah I at least had
enough common sense to go and do that
and I would come back with the answers
and this went on for a period of 6 weeks
and alhamdulillah after six weeks she
embraced Islam and um I think two two
weeks later we got married and
uh well you know you know come on man
let's be honest you know let's be
straight Bros I mean you know you have
to check your intention when you go to
hide Park but you know all these single
Brothers all these single Brothers it's
like the only place you can go to meet a
sister you know this is what it's all
about this is the reality you know let's
be honest I mean let's be straight
sisters are down there you know brothers
are down there and inshah it's good and
but you're down there inshah of course
but boy if you can you know if you can
get married as well that's nice too
isn't it and it's quite bad really cuz
I've actually not been back since Subhan
Allah I mean not not in that sense
anyway and Mah this is this is our our
daughter Mariam my eldest girl it's my
boy on the end and now alhamdulillah I
have five children so so alhamdulillah
now the thing was as as those who are
familiar with hide Park how many of you
are familiar with hide Park here anybody
familiar with hide Park sisters familiar
as well okay so you know how it goes
down there hide Park is like a bit of a
Feeding Frenzy and it can be a dad can
go I mean I even heard recently uh a few
weeks ago of a brother using expletives
you know I mean using foul language when
talking to a Christian and Subhan in
some way trying to justify that so I
mean it's unbelievable really I always
say that you
know polishes his shoes and puts his TI
and says Sunday I'm going to hide Park
you know that's really because it's just
so so much Monk and so much bad goes on
down there by way of the manners and
adab of Muslims and of course Christians
and whoever else is down there but of
course mallah a great deal of good has
come and many people have embraced Islam
and I'm you know I'm alhamdulillah
Testament to that because I'm married to
somebody who embraced Islam after being
given da there but I used to go we we
lived in um cricklewood which is north
north London and I used to go on a bus
down edgear road which is like one very
long road it's quite funny because
edgear road you can go like from the
Arab part of edgear road then you can go
to the Irish part of Ed Road and you
know the black part of Ed Road and then
the the ethnic mixed part of Ed road
because it's such a long road right up
to the Jewish part of Ed roads so the
top is the Jewish part and then down
down down and the bottom end not the
bottom end but you know to the right
down hide Park Marble Arch end is the AR
part Subhan Allah and I would see out of
the bus window um socialists like
Socialist Workers who I'm sure you're
aware of and Christians and they would
be standing at their tables and
promoting whatever they were doing and I
alhamdulillah with a brother um abedine
Guillo his brother's in I think he's in
Dubai he's in UAE now and we said you
know we sat we had a meeting together
and um said you know wouldn't be a good
idea if we could get a table of our own
and just go out there and you know do
some da and stuff so we decided we made
a decision he went for umra and when he
returned we went and bought some
literature and bought some booklets and
stuff and we started to give daah and
then alhamdulillah other brothers heard
about this project and said they needed
you know assistance in doing it and we
designed a poster for the front of the
table which alhamdulillah she Abu am
modified for us because we used to have
there's no God but Allah on the front of
the post remember that one and she Abu
is one of our our uh committee members
and Sh members so he corrected it and
said there is no God worthy of worship
but the one true God Allah so this is
now how we change the poster and um we
designed the poster in a way that would
um would confirm a particular quranic
verse and a Hadith and this quranic
verse and Hadith is when Allah says we
drew forth all of the descendants of
Adam and took a declaration from them
saying am I not your lord they replied
yay yes verily we did this so they would
not say in the day of judgment we were
unaware of this will you punish us for
for that which our parents did whilst we
were unaware so this is the idea behind
the wording of the poster and on the
other side we' got the poster here so I
can show you and on the other side
inshallah we have you hold that side Bel
bel's my brother-in-law by the way so
you can roll it roll it roll all the way
out so this is the
poster stand up
Billy yeah so this is the poster here
and on the other side for those sisters
as well we have prophets of Islam and
the idea again is to show for instance
mam isaam so anybody who believes that
we you know we're muhammadans or we only
believe in Muhammad s wasallam this
shows and we've got you know prophets of
Islam hope I've got it the right way
around have I yes is it upside down yeah
no it's not okay and it's got peace be
upon them all at the at the end so
that's the idea of this particular
banner inallah and alhamdulillah what it
does is it stops people when they get to
you you know they already know what
you're standing for they know you're
Muslim so when they arrive at the table
alhamdulillah they know insh you're
Muslim and it stops them arriving there
and saying oh what's this about and then
being abusive now what we've now
introduced also Jan just pass me that
one please inshallah what we've now
introduced for the size of the tables a
brother had this idea and it a fantastic
idea if you hold that one up baby please
we've now introduced this one to the
sides of the table which is let there be
no compulsion in religion this is very
famous ayat 256 of bakar the the idea is
simply that when people approach the
table at the side they see this so this
idea of compulsion in religion before
they reach the table they can read
there's no compulsion in religion that's
the first thing they read and then when
they come to the front they then see the
front of the poster this is a way of
diffusing any any problems and if they
come and say you know which is very
common oh you know uh sometimes people
come and say oh could I do this in I
couldn't do this in Saudi Arabia you
know I don't know if anyone's ever heard
this kind of statement and they need to
of course be reminded that Saudi Arabia
is a theocracy this is a secular
democracy if it was a Christian State we
couldn't do it either but it's not so
you know it helps to to diffuse the
situation so the idea is this on the
sides and that one on the front
alhamdulillah and also we needed to be
specific about what our call was because
in the old days way back when people
would come to Islam but what were they
coming to then there used to be this mad
scramble and those days alhamdulillah
they're not active now alhamdulillah
they they've been
humiliated there used to be uh quite
active groups of Shia among some reverts
some reverts who had wanted to do mut
and uh you know wanted to have
girlfriends and so on and so forth so
many of them became Shia so they wanted
to have temporary marriages but they
just were following their desires and um
these guys were were active in actually
trying to get new people that Embrace
Islam to become Shia but alhamdulillah
you know we needed an organization that
was calling to the Sunnah now you had
gmass which is you know already were
doing their their at that time was like
the first conference they had but we
needed something inshallah separate to
that like on the streets inshallah doing
doing something where we were calling
non-muslims to Quran and Sunnah from the
word go this is a very important point
that you're calling them to Quran and
Sunnah from the word go and we also
wanted an area whereby the adab would be
different from hide Park so thereby you
know we we so we decided to do them on a
Saturday do the tables on a Saturday
which is the like the Eid of the kufa
and they're walking around the town
centers and stuff and they see you know
the table and they'll saunter over and
they'll have a chat and so on and so
forth I was given a Quran alhamdulillah
I read it I became a Muslim and
inshallah the idea was hopefully through
discussions and leaflet and booklet
distribution people would also do the
same thing that was the idea and
alhamdulillah now we've got sort of 12
years later and we
have we have now had over a thousand
people Embrace Islam
since we started the project 12 years
ago alhamdulillah so you know now
regarding the da tables what's very
important I need to make this point very
much to you brothers and sisters here is
people will often come up with this
excuse oh you know I don't have any
knowledge I'm not I don't have any IL
you just teach what you know you know
nothing more whatever you know tell them
about what you don't know as our sheh IM
Malik when he was asked the question
which he didn't know so tell him IM
Malik doesn't know so if you don't know
and you're humble and you don't like to
run around around in circles trying to
create some strange answer people have
more respect for you so if you don't
know just tell them you don't know
saying that no one comes up to you on
the table and says a non-muslim you know
sha in hisa said this but m m he said
that I mean they're not coming with FY
twisty very difficult questions they're
K they're just coming with stupidity you
know it's kind of straightforward it's
quite easy alhamdulillah to answer them
it's not like you know so Brothers get
confused they kind of Imagine people are
going to come to them with uh Fat Al and
you know say this point here and you're
going to be very confused no it's
straightforward these people are
non-muslims they are stupid questions
you be patient with them inshallah and
uh be kind and listen to them even
though what you hear is crazy sometimes
and in with good manners and good adab
you know you um you give them the
answer so that's basically the IPO da
table project it was just an idea an
opportunity to give Muslims somewhere to
to you to go out and give daah and
there's been no more important time than
the period of course that we're in now
the issue really now for Muslims is is
Islam every single week we know the
newspapers the television the radio
they're talking about Islam these these
call-in shows I advise you brothers and
sisters um John gaun show
94.9 uh radio London they have issues
about Islam call them up especially
sisters especially sisters call them up
and defend Islam
Nick Ferrari Show on in the morning
again call these shows up listen to them
and if they talk about the dean call
them up and defend Islam and if you're
able to do a DA table we're not a hisb
we're not a party we provide you with
the books the literature the poster the
chairs because it's good to sit down
when you do your da be comfortable and
happy and if you want any assistance in
that way uh contact brother zafur
inshallah and he will give you all of
the support you need we'll put put you
on to us and we can do it inshallah very
important for us to get out there and do
the da and give people you know the true
Message of Islam the reason why I bought
by the way my children is because I
don't have a DA partner like a brother
or sister I have my daughter my son my
brother-in-law those these are the ones
who do my table with me they have a
rotor once a mon once one you know once
once every Saturday it's either Mariam
or it's janed or it's bil these are my
da helpers they start the table with me
at 12:00 alhamdulillah and they finish
at 5:00 on a Saturday they do 5 hours
once one Saturday uh you know in a rotor
so to speak so you don't need to have
you know um you for those brothers who
can't find anybody grab a family member
inshallah you know grab somebody but if
you can do it contact us inshallah and
we'll assist you inshallah so that's you
know I apologize it's uh brief inshallah
but do the da do the da read study do
the da inshallah we've got to get the
message of Islam across to people we've
got to work hard inshallah so you know
may Allah bless you all of your efforts
may Allah accept your Ramadan fasting uh
and Ramadan and efforts of all of the
Muslims all
over oh all right a quick question or
two anybody Char
anything okay
94
94.9 FM radio London
shah3 Mah 97.3 yeah who's who who's
called any of these stations up anyone
here other than me text them come on you
called them up you text oh M you text
you called yeahi who did you which did
you get through and you were on there um
I just want to say though in regards to
Falling Up um I find that a lot of the
Muslims and especially because of the
presenter the way he Tes they're very e
it's very easy for the person to twist
and turn yeah and then they shake the
the caller yeah to answer the answer
that they want
so um I mean I've I've heard so many
Muslims bring bring in and say oh you
know yeah I don't wear hijab I'm a
Muslim and yeah yeah alhamdulillah so
how do you how do you come and then you
have the the other person brings in and
says whoever that Muslim that was
talking to you there yeah that she's
she's totally wrong she doesn't know
what she's talking about so then you
have this online battle yeah between the
Muslims yeah but brother in what I would
say is this first and foremost you do
have that but the non-muslims as well
you have them Pro and against you have
them you have Christians call it you
have ignorance I mean I'll give you one
example um I phoned in for the the last
European football championships and he
said you know we should all get behind
the St George's flag and I want to see
it on your cars and I want to see you
out wearing the t-shirts and so on and
so forth I said look I phoned in I said
I'm British and blah blah blah I'm born
and raised but I'm a Muslim and
basically for me this is a Christian
symbol you know and I can't you know I'm
a Muslim and I want England to win win
no problem we want them to beat whoever
they were playing we want them to win
the European football championships
sometimes it's way of given doubt you
don't need to be coming straight out and
say all just by saying a Muslim and we
want yeah we want them to win the
football but you're giving da in that
way but saying this is also a Christian
a religious symbol and blah blah blah
and blah and this this you know made
many people phone up in my defense and
said it's right and some Jews and many
Christians phoned in and said it is a
Christian symbol and you cannot expect
Muslims and so on and so forth to wave
it and so on and so forth so you do get
examples of ignorant people you do get
Jal people making these statements you
do but at the same time you get some
brothers and sisters making good points
so what you got to do is obviously be
prepared know what you're going to say
and just say that and nothing else you
know I'm going to say this I'm going to
stick to my script if he tries to play
fast and loose and try and twist you up
well that's how it is you got to I mean
yeah I'm not saying anyone just phone in
ignorantly know your stuff know what
you're going to say inshallah or which
is a good example the brother's done
here is text or email cuz all they'll do
is read out your text or your email and
there is no answering back so you know
you know they can't argue with you so
97.3 is Nick Ferrari in the mornings and
94.9 is John G in the mornings inshallah
also Vanessa PHS in the afternoon they
had a a discussion talking about the
rights of fathers and uh should fathers
be respected no matter what the
situation so this so This Christian was
on there and she said what if the woman
was raped but the the meaning the child
has to respect the father that's what it
was so this the woman on the show
Vanessa felt said what if a woman was
raped and the child is born does that
child have to respect the rapist you not
the Christian said yes the child must
respect his father she said but the
child was you know a product of rape and
you you must and you must and there's a
Jew there and they were saying the same
thing hamdah phoned up and said about
the Islamic P perspective of adultery
and the position of a father who was you
know and the position of a rapist and I
the of Omar you know this um when the
the father came to Omar and said my son
has broken the ties of kinship I if you
know know this and was very serious
thing he's broken the ties of kinship
and uh Omar ordered the boy to be
brought forward and he said your father
has said that you've broken the ties of
kinship and he said well now answer so
he said well I must speak the truth and
he said my father married a woman from a
tribe known for their luid behavior and
I don't want to say anything more than
that my father gave me a name which
meant black beetle and the children used
to tease me in the streets my father has
never taken me to a Masid or taught me
how to pray and upon this Omar said by
Allah to the father it is you who broke
the ties before they were joined so I
explained the I read this this
particular um and I also quoted from uh
Surah Al is regarding this speis of
parents and so on and so forth but gave
clarification she was she's a Jew and
she was agreeing with me so
alhamdulillah you know just just res
either text email or phone but this is a
very very good way of giving da you know
and leaflets in dentist surgeries how
many times you sit down in a dental
surgery and you see Watchtower from
Jehovah's Witnesses how many time anyone
seen it Jehovah's Witnesses leave they
go in there like that and then they
leave I came out of the station now I
came out of the station I was waiting to
be picked up the poster in front of me
Bible studies and blah I just want to
where's my scissors you know Allah but I
didn't want to you know I didn't want I
just want to go over there and take this
fig away so sisters brothers sisters
subtle hour a few leaflets on a on a on
a in a dentist surgery in a hospital a
few booklets here and there brothers who
drive mini cabs have some booklets in
your mini cab sisters have a little
booklet in your handbag you never know
how many times have you found yourself
falling into a discussion Islamic
discussion and oh man I would love to
have given somebody that booklet put a
few booklets in your bag take them
around with you you never know inshallah
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the brief background of myself is
predominantly family upbringing agnostic
with Christian over times agnostic in
the sense that God was indirectly
referred to but really seen as being too
far or too distant or unknowable
unknowable to you on your life and
really the Christian overtime were
simply coming from school education with
uh scripture lessons or family
gatherings at weddings or funerals in
churches this is when I started to work
at a school at grey stains it was a an
intensive English Center for students uh
first coming into the country
refugees and it was their exposure to
Australia and the Australian education
system and I found these Muslim Students
be very different from the limited
exposure at point in time that I'd had
to other students teaching them there
was they were polite they were
well-mannered eager to learn they didn't
see school as an imposition they were
Keen the older boys particularly the
older afani boys they seem to take a bit
of an interest in me and um ask me lots
of questions about you know what did I
believe you know was I Christian a
non-believer this that always
questioning me and so I just thought out
of curiosity I thought okay I I'll see
what this Islam is just just for my own
knowledge nothing nothing more than this
so I borrowed a copy of the Quran from
one of the the
brothers and I was surprised with what I
read I suppose I didn't really have any
ideas in my mind because I'd never
really investigated Islam before but the
thing that I remember sticking out to me
was the names of the prophets these were
something familiar very familiar to me
and um what I found out to be lat at the
core tenant about one God only this is
who you turn to this is who you asked
this is who provides this was very
rational very sensible very accessible
for me and so I thought well I don't
know maybe I'd taken a bit of a bait or
something like this I I wanted to find
out more still just just curious but my
curiosity was growing so I I contacted
this I got a number of this Afghani man
who was told to be knowledgeable and ask
him his English is good have a talk with
him so I I made an appointment with him
to talk to him at the the big must at
Orbin there and I met him with met him
there one evening and I can still
remember the feeling when I was waiting
outside just getting ready to go
in I don't know I wasn't
nervous I wasn't anxious I don't know it
was I was just like feeling a compulsion
to to do this and he sat with me a long
time that that afternoon and evening uh
ask answering my questions explaining
Concepts in Islam to meet many many
different things and um I'm very
grateful to this brother for all this uh
information and assistance he gave me so
I was able to meet with him a number of
times after that and he explained to me
that in order to be a Muslim it's quite
simple just to say
the and he said to me that this is the
beginning it's the start it's not the
end there is more but it's as simple as
this so I decided I said to him yes I'm
ready for this something something
clicked it was simple it was
straightforward for
[Music]
me and I can still remember this
afternoon the afternoon when I met him
at his house and we're going off to this
um Saturday evening class that he had at
the Blacktown Masjid with some Afghani
Brothers there and um you he just sat me
down and said you know you sure this is
what you want to do your you understand
everything here so that I he wanted to
make sure that I was under no Mis
apprehensions whatsoever I said to him
yeah yeah I'm
sure and a funny thing happened on the
way he was going to pick up another
Elder of the
community and I had hardly time to walk
through the door of this Elder's house
when I was rained with these sweets and
chocolates and he's kissing me and
grabbing me and hugging me and I had no
idea who this old man
was and it sort of scared me initially
and I really didn't have the nerve to
ask probably until about 2 or 3 years
later what was this you know what was it
that hit me these lollies and the hugs
and the kisses and whatnot and I got
told that don't worry this is just
something from our found culture they're
very very happy and pleased you done
something big and great but at the time
I couldn't understand what he was saying
I it was a big
shock and when we got to the Masjid once
again it was all very simple very
straightforward recite the shahad
publicly in front of Muslims this is it
you're a
Muslim I haven't had much opportunity to
meet many other RTS but I think one of
the more interesting ones I think I have
met was this uh Vietnamese brother one
evening at the mid he was just sitting
there very quiet very unassuming I
started to talk with him and he told me
that he was previously a professional
kickboxer I thought well okay this is
I'll just be very very nice to you and
talk very politely
and he he seemed so quiet and I wouldn't
have ever guessed this from him and was
sort of the same thing you know how did
you come to Islam how did you come to
Islam this that and he was telling me
that before when he wasn't a Muslim he
was um his big major professional B he
was in and he after the bout he finished
and he lost and it was this um Afghani
brother he for another professional
kickboxer and he was commenting to him
you know how his skill was and his
endurance in the fight and this that and
the brother said to him simply it's not
me it's just something from Allah and
this really apparently it just shocked
him cuz I think the impression he had
before as most other Fighters really
said you know it's all me it's all my
skill it's all this and apparently
that's what led him to investigate
further but in conclusion
to any any of the guests if we have any
or if you can advise your non-muslim
friends that if they're really
interested in Islam don't judge Islam by
the Muslims look and investigate Islam
keep your mind and your heart open keep
it sincere read about Islam from
reputable sources not just from
anywhere and don't delay if the
inclination is there and you feel it go
because Allah might never give this
opportunity to you again there's no
guarantee
and also when they Embrace Islam be
there for them or direct them on to
people who can give them a a community
that they can link on to and be
comfortable with they can ask questions
to socialize with do all these sort of
things so they feel comfortable because
they're developing a new Islamic
identity and their is slly growing