[Music]
dang greetings of Peace assalamu alaykum
we are in New Jersey filming in front of
a live audience and we have an
incredible topic as we always do now for
the University audience people sometimes
they come to the university they come to
the school and you know what you can
relate to this when you're studying hard
but then you have maybe a friend who can
help you Excel or that friend can help
you maybe cut class and then you end up
drifting off and then you end up
flunking out but what about flunking out
on a bigger scale and now you end up
failing the test the test that the
creater is testing us with so we're
going to be talking about this very
important topic how not how to pass your
exams at school but also pass the test
of life with my next guest when we come
back here we got a surprise for you he's
been on the dean show before he's back
with us again with our brother I won't
tell you his name until I come back sit
tight don't go anywhere here on the dean
show Salam Alum this is
the this is the
the is
the this is the
[Music]
this is the
the
the this is
the this is the this is
the
[Music]
the peace be with
you how's
so most people they know you they
remember we did a show with you Wesley
yes and uh this was uh talking about
your story on how you came to Islam
correct how you been since then aldah
everything has been well alhamdulillah
everything is great now just recap for
those that haven't watch that show that
we did just in in a condensed version
tell us a little bit you know about your
story uh you know how you ended up
coming over to Islam from the your
previous life um real brief uh basically
I was born Christian uh parents first
generation in this country um when I was
around hit my teens early teens around
seventh grade I started to stray um
stopped going to church my grandmother
and aunt were the most religious people
in my family um they were the ones who
used to take us to church and keep us on
task um but once I H seventh grade I
started drinking partying as I basically
increased in grade and age basically it
became worse um until I hit maybe about
17 18 and basically I had cra crashed
hard I was crashed my car drunk I got
into fights and almost was killed um
after being jumped a few times um and
life just progressed to get very to get
worse um around 1920 I joined the gang
called Zulu Nation because there was a
young man who lived in my house who was
a foster child by the name of Edgar um
who was part of this gang he took us
there introduced us uh to this gang Zulu
nation and there we met a brother named
Abdullah aiz who I came home from prison
who was also Puerto Rican and he invited
us to his home he said can you bring me
to to my house and you know when we got
to his house he invited us up for some
tea and some biscuits and cookies and
stuff like this and he began to talk to
us about the concept ofed the Oneness of
God and after hearing that concept going
back to him a few times or several times
and talking about this concept ofed the
Oneness of God we ended up realizing
that Islam was the religion that we
definitely wanted to choose and the
religion for us and we became Muslims
would you say that this person that you
got around now this was a good friend a
good companion someone that helped you
now uh explain to you what the truth was
so you got around some good company I
got around semi good company semi good
company and the reason I say that is
because I think he knew many of his
shortcomings coming home from prison um
and because he knew his shortcomings and
he wanted good for us once he gave us
the foundation and he knew that we had
the foundation and then he gave us the
tools so that we can go on and continue
learning and growing but and then he
removed him self from the picture
because today when I think back at that
point I feel that he wasn't ready to
take on that responsibility of
leadership for us I see yes so people
can relate I was talking about when I
opened the program that when you're
studying hard in school you can have
good friends that encourage you and
they're good companions they study with
you they push you and then you end up
excelling but on the flip side you can
have some bad friends and maybe now
they're more concerned about going to
the Frat party they're more concerned
about doing other things and now you end
up flunking out right but then I
compared it to the test of life so we
want to talk about in this episode the
value of having good company and really
you know what Islam says about this and
how you now as a Muslim how youve
benefited from obviously being around
the right company yeah well the major
thing that comes to mind is a Hadith or
narration by our beloved Prophet may
peace and blessings of God be upon him
where he said
he said Let each one of you beware of
who you be friend foreverly a man is
upon the religion of his friend and we
have a similar saying amongst you know
just the people of here in America right
tell me who you who you hang with and
I'll tell you who you are right birds of
a flock fly together and it's a true
statement um and this particular
statement as a Muslim personally helped
me a lot because when I accepted Islam
my company at the time was bad company
right we would go out drinking together
we would go out smoking together we
would go out fornicating together we
would go out selling drugs together and
this is what I was accustom being around
so when I accepted Islam and I became a
Muslim nothing really changed except
that now I believed in a new faith I
changed my belief from worshiping Jesus
which I really never worshiped Jesus cuz
I had a problem with it but now to
worship Shing Allah God Almighty himself
but when I realized that in order for me
to change I had to change my company and
it wasn't until I changed my company
that life began to change for me and I
began to see something sweeter and
something better at the end of the road
MH now is it true that those people who
are of good company those same friends
that you have that you befriend in this
life it reminds me of Hadith where the
Prophet said that you know a person
would be with whom he loved
yes so now if you're hanging around with
people who are not reminding you of
Allah your mission in life your creator
you know they're reminding you more
about you know some of the bad things
that are out there you know where where
do you think where's the end result of
that as opposed to the end result if you
have people reminding you about the
purpose of life you know Salat you know
uh Hajj you know and all the other you
know beautiful things that we should be
doing so what the opposing opposing well
you if you have that person who's always
calling you to good then naturally
you're going to end up doing good right
cuz the prophet gives another example he
says that good company is like being
around the musk seller the person who
sells sweet musk you either come to him
and you buy something from him and you
benefit from it or you leave from his
shop smelling good right or the evil or
you be with the evil person and he's
like the one who makes the sword the
blacksmith right you either your clothes
get burnt from the fire being jumped off
or you leave with this bad odor right
and this is what it's like in life and
one of the most important things that
comes to mind for me is a scenario a
true scenario and that I and I'm a
teacher so I always use these scenarios
to try to educate my students a scenario
of a college student um who went to a
college who didn't have a big MSA so she
didn't have a lot of Muslims around her
and the only company she had were
non-muslims so naturally they want a
party they want to have fun and she
didn't want to feel left out and because
she didn't want to feel left out they
told her come with us to a party one day
so she goes to the party and at the
party she's drinking soda juice she's
not dancing with men she's not jumping
around in the party she's not drinking
alcohol she's trying to hold on to her
faith but she's a little ignorant of the
scenario that she's in so when she's not
paying attention and of course her
friends are part partying and jumping
around and dancing and having fun while
she's watching she's not paying
attention to her drink and they put
something in a drink and her friends are
not paying attention to her now her
drink was spiked The Men Who spiked her
drink took
her they raped her all night long three
men after this alhamdulillah all praise
is due to God that they were caught
because they recorded it but when they
called her father the police officer in
the morning and her father got the call
and said we have some bad news your
daughter was just raped and molested
last night her father caught a heart
attack and died on the
spot something that now this young woman
has to deal with a bad choice perhaps
going out with these friends who were
leading her to something that wasn't
good and an outcome a cause and effect
her father dying not only her being
molested but now losing her father on
top of
Subhan Allah this is a true story now
and this is this is something now that
from this you know experience we can all
benefit to help you know us to not fall
in these traps we got so much more to
talk about we're going to go ahead and
take off from there when we come back on
this story I got some questions to ask
you here on the dean show don't go
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please also help support the dean show
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[Music]
below welcome back to the dean show and
now this story you're talking about so
let let's go ahead and diagnos this
again so this was a a um uh a woman
Muslim Muslim woman she ended up um
going to she was called by some not so
good friends to go to a party correct
and at this party you know some men
actually put some drugs in her drink you
call they spiked her drink that you call
it correct and it's kind of just so how
see this is sometimes people they look
at Islam as being too stent and strict
right but how now can people relate
because usually it's the end
consequences that people don't think
about it right so there are some you
know as they say you know a doctor can
tell you you know his ounce of
prevention is better than the pound of
cure because once you got the ailment
the disease it's hard sometimes to get
rid of it right so would you say that
now a lot of times these guidelines
these perimeters are set by the Creator
so you don't end up going outside in an
area where you can end up having some
real harmful to you to that it's going
to happen to you so would you say all
these things are set from Allah out of
his love for us definitely out of his
love his Mercy his generosity his
kindness because ultimately he's the
Creator he's the all knowing right the
all wise he knows why he sent these laws
to us he knows why he sent these
regulations to us and definitely they're
far wellbeing sometimes especially the
youth they don't realize it and
sometimes Unfortunately they have to
realize it through a tough situation
like this but then you have the opposite
side of the card like he was talking
about where maybe it was there there are
youth who go out and they partake in
these evil acts she wasn't partaking she
was just ended up a victim but then you
have times where the youth partake in
the evil acts and then maybe they end up
dead maybe they end up in jail right and
the prophet he
said that indeed all actions will be
judged by the last one that you've done
so now imagine that you go out and you
make that wrong decision and you die
doing that decision you die fornicating
you die on drugs you die drinking you
die party when your lord has been so
merciful to you and given you a message
given you a book giv you guidance so
that he can try to guide you to his
paradise guide you to his kingdom so
that you can live there and reside in
peace and Tranquility in love with the
King himself Subhan Allah it's amazing
now let's say you have Fatima in front
of you right now or you have Muhammad
for instance you know you have a brother
or a sister and they're possibly in the
future maybe they end up in this
predicament where they have someone
who's enticing them who's tempting them
and saying come on look I'll pay for the
door I'll pay for the drinks I'll pay
for the gas just to get them to this
party right which is common in
University settings many people just go
to college for the experience what would
you tell him what advice would you give
him I would tell him stay away because
yes yes it sounds like fun yes it may be
fun for the
moment but at the end of the day we
exchanging it for Eternal
Bliss over Temporary Bliss and why would
you give up something that's Eternal for
something that's temporary right this
life is temporary it's going to go away
the only thing that we're promised in
this life is death right all of us are
going to meet it and when we meet death
then we have to meet our creator and
when we meet our creator we're going to
be for what we've done and the Injustice
is only against ourselves so yes if you
hold on develop ways to have fun right
some people think that Islam as Muslims
we can't have fun right but who said we
can't have fun our creator didn't tell
us we can't have fun we can have fun we
just have parameters and we don't have
the same type of fun or what people
think is fun right getting drunk is not
fun right you wake up with a hangover
you wake up with a headache something
maybe like me one time I got drunk I
cracked my car I almost killed myself
right these are consequences right so
sometimes the Muslims just need to be
more creative and develop ways and be
leaders because they have to have the
identity of I'm a Muslim and I'm proud
to be a Muslim and I don't need to
follow you in order to be to have fun
but I can go ahead and be the leader in
that and insh T if you don't want to
join me then that's your loss because I
believe that I'm the most wor worthy
friend that you should have now she says
that look you know she's having a hard
time because all the boys keep telling
her they're teasing her at school oh
you're so beautiful just take it off why
you wearing this or other girls who
aren't wearing hijab say look you're
you're giving up your youth you're
beautiful God Made You Beautiful she
show your
beauty what would you
say you're
Diamond all right do you go out and
leave your diamond on the table for
everybody to just look at it and be able
to take it from the table
no that that that beauty is for you
right and beauty is not exposing
yourself right if you have to expose
yourself to find beauty then there's an
internal problem you may have a problem
with yourself maybe you don't think that
you're beautiful right because you find
a lot of people women who have to expose
themselves you'll find that it's it's
two it's two-sided right they expose
themselves because they think that they
have to expose their beauty but and then
when the man looks at her he go goes she
goes why why you disrespecting me well
why are you showing yourself to me that
way why are you so surprised right I
just seen a video the other day they did
a video with a woman who went walked the
streets with her clothes off and every
hey Mommy can I talk to you come here
you look good one man walked with her
for a block right and when she covered
herself up everybody respected her no
one said nothing to her to prove that
when you cover yourself and you cover
your beauty that you're going to get the
respect that you deserve but when you
fla yourself flaunt your body then
they're only going to seek after that
and not what's up here in your mind yeah
they've actually they've uh done a study
we're actually showing some images now
where the women who actually wore hijab
and these are statistical scientific
studies that they've done they actually
have a better self-esteem yes yeah so uh
before we go to break now that's
interesting you read my mind I was going
to ask you about this video because I
actually went viral yes so you had
non-muslim women do it they had she was
out there for 10 hours right and exactly
you had just men just whistling you know
taunting and this was during the day but
now you're walking at night some the
last guy was going with her for about
five minutes wasn't he yeah just kept
walking with her and all he has to do
now intoxicate during the night just
push her in alley and that's it it's
over that's it it's over but then there
was some Muslims also who did the same
experiment and and then again
reiterating at the first point taunting
whistling and whatever obscene remarks
but then had the the lady put um the
hijab yes right not showing the uh
revealing everything and nobody said
anything to her nobody said a word to
her it was just simple respect everybody
seen her and kept on walking no
whistling no taunting no a baby and who
wants to be talked to that way who wants
to be talked to that way you want to be
respected for who you are you want to be
respected for your mind for you and you
want people to love you for who you are
and not for maybe something that God has
blessed you with of beauty we're going
to be right back with more here on the
dean show don't go anywhere please
subscribe to the dean show follow us on
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support the dean show by making a
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[Music]
below back here on the dean show and now
you hit it dead on now you uh spoke
about the importance of good
companionship and is this kind of where
when you have those good friends like
when you're slipping now your Good
Friend helps to pull you back yes right
as opposed to now you're slipping and
you got bad friends and they they're not
pulling you back into the good Zone they
push you into the the bad Zone yeah they
further dra they're dragging you further
underneath yeah and I'll give you a good
example um of another Muslim
unfortunately a young man maybe about
1920 um hanging out with the wrong crowd
and his friend steals a car at
gunpoint and comes to pick him up the
Muslim boy knows the car is
stolen he jumps in the car a little
while later the cops catch them they get
him down in the precinct right the
normal behavior separate the two of
them hey I have your friend in the other
room tell me what really happened and
we'll make a deal and the Muslim guy
he's thinking my friend is never going
to tell on me so I'm going to hold off I
don't have anything to save they go in
the other room and his and his
non-muslim friend the one who stole the
car at gunpoint he said he did
everything he was the one who took the
car gunpoint but he was the one who did
it but he was the one who did it he took
the deal the young Muslim boy is in jail
to
today that company Bad Company wrong
time wrong place with the wrong person
and now he's paying for it and this is
the case this is what happens over and
over and over and over again you know
and that was why when I realized I had
that Epiphany I was sitting on the porch
in my house with my friends smoking
marijuana drinking beer right and I'm
Muslim I got a coofy on my head to
distinguish myself as a Muslim and it's
night
time and I begin to look into the sky
and I said if I don't change how do I
know that this is not going to be the
last time that I'm going to be here
living on Earth that this moment maybe
God to take my life and this is how my
life is going to end hi with these
Knuckleheads right I told them get up
and leave get out and they were like a
you get drunk you get high you don't
know how to act I said no this is the
first time life has ever been clear for
me you need to get up and go and when
they left I made the house the Masid I
began going to the Masid on a daily
basis and the my friends in my company
became the
imams the brothers in the Masid all the
way up to today that I can say that some
of my best friends are Scholars of the
religion Allah has replaced all of the
evil with people of knowledge people who
if they see me slipping they're going to
call me to what's right and help pick me
up they're not going to say yeah come on
let's continue doing bad and if I fall
more than likely that bad friend he's
going to leave me there and he's going
to keep on going because he doesn't want
no part of it but that good friend he
sees you for he's going to pick you up
or he's going to sit there with you to
find out how can we resolve the
situation all right now you've also
you've also traveled you know overseas
to study Arabic you're also at the
mishkat University uh and you're almost
you've almost completed it correct
correct this is Islamic Studies correct
got to be in Islamic Studies Mah
alhamdulillah so now let's say you have
three Muslims and they're you know we
know Islam is the fastest going way of
life in the world today and and you have
new Muslim and now you have some friends
that brought you into Islam let's give a
live example they're Muslim they've been
a Muslim for for a while you're a new
Muslim now and now it's been several
years you don't you know you come in you
don't know much but now you're seeing
that these are Muslims but now
unfortunately
some are indulging in things that they
shouldn't be indulging in let's say
these they're they're cursing they're
swearing you know they're not adhering
to many of the guidelines at what point
but you they kind of helped you along
you know maybe they even helped you take
shahada you follow me at what point do
you say hold up I'm not really taking it
to the next level right I'm not
increasing my Iman you follow me uh my
my character is not getting at also at
that next level what do I do you're in a
tricky situation you know you've grown
attached to them but you're seeing that
look you know they they're they're not
helping me improve to a level I should
be at you know honestly the the easiest
answer is you may have to change your
company no matter how you may not like
it but in order to make that change
sometimes you just have to change your
company Allah says in the
Quran we would never change the
condition of a people until they change
what's in themselves first so sometimes
you have to change you first and
sometimes when you realize right as a
Muslim we should always be looking at
ourselves on a monthly basis on a daily
basis on a yearly basis this was
something that the companions always did
they always did self-reflection
retrospection where am I compared to
where I was at yesterday and if there's
no development then I need to check
myself I need to figure out why there's
no development I need to go ahead and
start problem solving right and and when
you find out what's the problem right
away you take it and you remove it out
of the equation because that's the only
thing that's going to cause you to grow
so what should you be now monitoring
you're with in the company that you're
with your Iman should be going up
shouldn't it your IM your faith should
definitely be going up it should be
increasing I'm not saying en llarge
spurts but it should be steady it should
be going up steady yeah it shouldn't be
decreasing now well the what it goes up
and down but I'm talking about every
time you get around a certain people now
you feel like you know you ready maybe
lose your Iman yeah that's a bad sign
that's a bad sign right so around the
company that you're with they should be
reminding you about your creator you
should be in good zicker circles but um
if you're in a company now that again is
indulging in sin indulging in things
that are displeasing to the Creator
that's where you probably want to
distance yourself want to start
distancing yourself and like you said
the prophet wasam he said that IM
increases and decreases it's like a
roller coaster right so you go up you
come down you go up you come down but on
those Peaks that you're coming down you
realize I need to go back up again right
and you catch yourself so that you can
start going back up again and that's
where you have to just go ahead and
start making some of those changes
example you go to a certain person's
house and they're watching for instance
uh peace TV they're watching the dean
show they're watching some good lectures
Iman starts to go up that's right right
you you start feeling really good no
negative side effects but now you go to
the other person's house and they got
MTV they've got the music awards they
got the Daytime Nighttime dramas a lot
of cursing going going on and you just
you know you forget about and you just
contrasted on D and now you know you're
seeing 50 Cent The Bling blings out
there and you know you start forgetting
about your respon Salat passes you
follow me so this is time split and you
have two choices you can split or you
can first advise right cuz you realize
that there's a situation right yeah and
you can advise and tell the person
listen if you want me to come over if
you want me to hang out with you if you
want to be together I want to hang out
with you you my boy you my man you're my
homie whatever you however you want to
say it you're my brother right and I
want to be together with you I want to
hang out with you I enjoy the time that
we spend together but I don't want to do
this we can do something else right
because this here I think is just going
to get us both in trouble and we need to
be that you know I mean that that aid
for one another you help me I help you
and if they accept it then you've done a
good deed now you get the reward for him
leaving that as well right but if he
says no you corny get out of here if you
want to leave then just leave then you
say okay man you know it really hurts me
it really bothers me that that's the way
you feel but you have my number anytime
you want to hang out and you don't want
to do this give me a call and I'll come
through and we can hang out and in and
then maybe that'll cause him to be
affected with somewhere down the line if
you guys really have a good relationship
like that cuz at times sometimes people
are in the beginning they're stubborn
right but some sometimes they reflect
after a while and say you know what
Abdullah he is a good dude and I do want
to spend time with him I do want to hang
out with him all right I can give up the
MTV I can give up you know I mean
watching those late night noas you where
the women are half dressed right so that
we can get together so you just have to
make that choice man I I would first
suggest give that advice try to help
change your brother into a better
situation even if he's not a Muslim you
can still do the same thing I do the
same thing with my family you want me to
come by no drinking you want me to come
by no smoking weed I come by and hang
out what you do after I leave that's
your problem but when I come through
these are my expectations and if you
meet them I come through and we hang out
we can spend time together cuz I love
you right so and most of the time my
family my friends they say okay come
through we want you to come through you
want you to hang out and after I leave
they'll go ahead and party and they'll
do whatever it is that they want to do
but while I'm there we'll go ahead and
have our fun the way we need to have fun
without those things involved beautiful
because you're either getting dawa given
to you or you're giv the good daa so
monkey see monkey do for sure yeah so
you want to be doing good right that's
right yeah alhamdulillah and the end
reward now is okay you're a good company
and hopefully God willing if you're at
the University wherever you're at you're
going to end up excelling you're going
to definitely Excel and even greater
than that is that narration that you
said where the Prophet said that indeed
you'll be with those whom you love this
doesn't exclude the prophet if you love
The Prophet and you follow him and you
obey him and you practice what you're
supposed to practice from the teachings
then you too can be with him in the
paradise on the level that he's in
inshah enjoying his company as
well a person will be with whom he loves
but now if you love The Prophet s wasam
you love the Creator you'll be you'll
see your creator in Jenna you'll be with
the prophet Jenna but now you'll pass
those exams hopefully with good company
but now we talked about before we go
failing the ultimate test now we're
being tested in this life isn't it Bad
Company you have a great chance of
failing the test yeah and if you fail
the test is something that you can never
recover from you can't go back next
semester and retake the course all over
again retake the exam try to boost your
GPA back up once you failed failure
means death and Punishment in the grave
when you meet your lord and your book is
given to you in your left hand instead
of of your right hand because in your
right hand mean that you've done good
and your left hand it means that you've
done evil and you stand there for that
judgment and your lord tells you you
failed and now because of your failure
after me sending you so many messages I
basically gave you the answers to the
test and you still didn't use the
answers that I gave you for the test and
you still fail the test when I provided
you with the answers and the only
outcome now is Hellfire because of it
instead of paradise and Bliss that's
right thank you very much for being with
us advising the audience and those who
aren't here with us today hopefully God
willing we can internalize this and take
benefit from
it and you got to hear the beautiful
advice good
companionship because this companionship
that helps you remind you about the
purpose of life why you're here when
it's time for Salat you you have that
brother or sister reminding you to pray
instead of now those people that you're
with you start forgetting about the
ultimate goal in life and you start
missing the Salat you start staying up
late and you miss fuder and you start
drifting off and then you end up at the
end in places you shouldn't be and you
heard these incredible stories now
really sad and devastating and now they
take you away and it just takes one
traumatizing event like this to ruin
your life so if you're in these
situations where you have
companions that aren't helping you Excel
to become a better person each and every
day maybe it's time to separate and
maybe come back when they're ready cuz
maybe they're not ready now so you
advise to good you call to good and if
they're not accepting to call then you
got to move on to those who are going to
help you to develop to be the best human
being that you can be and inshallah and
we can all be in Jenna together we'll
see you next time here in the dean show
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next time until then peace be with you