Tyson been to my master a few times one
time he came to your M Mike tyon yes we
were at the UFC fight in Miami and you
walked up with Trump typically rarely
nothing good happens after you hear
Allah abbar it's never like flowers and
roses and bunny rabbits
it's the Sharia law was one of the
conversations that if a country is being
ran under Sharia law and if you study
historically Muslims always want the
best for their country and that faith
has at its core the extinct
of others so you got to hate your
wife it's crazy tell us a little bit
about ahed so this Christian Missionary
got stuck into an Arab she day in and
day out preaching to him that you're
wasting your time pray five times a day
up and down up and down we needed the
dean Center to be here we are blessed
alhamdulillah and contributing towards
the cause of your creator we are here
hard at work you know we need a lot of
work to get this where we need to have
it I can't wait to have it finished
working hard to get the educational dawa
Center open so we can educate Humanity
on the most misunderstood way of life
out there yet the fastest growing Islam
so do your part and contribute donate
right
now asalam greetings of peace my next
guest Imam SJ waj is Imam of Masid El
takwa in
Brooklyn he's a prolific lecturer
Community activist the leader of the
Muslim Alliance of North America
former vice president of isna and he
became famous for his successful efforts
in fighting drugs and crime in his
neighborhood in
1991 he became the first Muslim to
recite get this the opening prayer of
the
Quran Mr Speaker it is an honor for me
to welcome to house chamber's guest chap
today the of rash
alajaj of Brin New York praise the to be
oh God the Lord and Church of all the
worlds praise the Lord to thee who
shaped us and covered Us in the Ws of
our mothers C us black and white Bri red
and yellow praise be Lord to thee who
created us from males and females and
made us into Nations and tribes that we
may know one another most gracious most
merciful all all wise just God he's here
with us
let in you
face we have
God and his final Messengers muhamad
peace be upon him this is our religion
Islam is
the I love you work
when I was ready to talk about it I
would only talk to I was explaining how
much respect I have for the faith
of welcome to the show the
show where did I recite it at Congress
Congress there you going you had to let
the people know where in Congress in
United States how are you doing too good
I'm grateful to Allah we just finished
the fast of Ramadan yes and I am really
grateful to Allah but I'm have to be
honest with you my my traveling is
nonstop mhm the month of Ramadan I was
in my Masid maybe three or four times
yeah nonstop alhamdulillah we were just
talking and you had an interesting story
you used to walk the streets of New York
even here Chicago with Muhammad Ali yes
yes well more more in New York New yor
New York yeah Muhammad Ali May bless he
was really the people's champ you know
um I remember one day we were walking
we're going to the United Nations right
everybody stopped him even the police
Muhammad Ali can I get your autograph
and um went into the United Nations
everybody you know hugged them and and
he was a very he was the people's
champion and he was very very much loved
and by the way he was very very funny
you know one one day he was on the plane
and and the flight attendant said Mr
Muhammad Ali please put on your seat
belt he said Superman don't need no seat
belt she said to him Superman don't need
no
plane so he put on the seat belt oh she
came back good huhuh and we were talking
about uh so you knew my my first teacher
uh Dr Amir Ali ah he used to print uh
the old
brochures and the da proch shures I know
I got them I got thousands from them and
Muhammad Ali used to come get those and
pass passed them out he wasn't shy about
doing that no no no but I want you to
understand about him passing it out he
did people ask for his autograph yes so
he signed him and then gave that to them
so Muhammad Ali was not not shy at all
about that he was the he was the
people's Champion yeah amazing I I
wanted to um I wanted to go ahead and
take this opportunity because um you're
somebody who's got a lot of experience
uh the tempo now and the atmosphere is
kind of um changed now with what's
happening in in Gazza and recently have
you heard of this uh pbd podcast it was
a friend of ours Patrick B David you I
don't know if you probably haven't heard
about it no right but um a lot of
Muslims are upset uh this is one of the
bigger podcast and he did go in the
direction of wanting to work together
with Muslims great and we were very uh
elated to to be a part of that I
actually met him went down and they had
this uh program couple Muslims couple uh
Christians and dialogue with the at that
time and uh but I want to go ahead and
play this clip here please okay and get
your reaction to it okay got people that
are radicalized by a certain faith and
that faith has at its core the
extinction of others
um anything that is an Infidel is
subject to Extinction um that's the simp
the way it is just to give you some more
context here so uh a week prior to this
you had another person who went into a
mall he killed six people five of those
were women even a child got injured uh
12 in critical condition they labeled
this mental health issue this guy was
obviously he had some mental health
issues now they labeled him as a Muslim
no the first one wasn't a Muslim got
second one nut job goes and does
something opposite to Islam this is this
this has nothing to do with Islam he
went out and he attacked this bishop but
now conveniently now they labeled it
he's a Muslim and he gets the sticker
it's terroris anyway we we you know what
if if people just read read the book
right read the book let let Give an
example right there are about 8 billion
people in the planet Earth before you go
on look so his main thing here is
anything that's an Infidel is subject to
exension he's pretty much saying anyone
who practice who's outside of Islam
who's not Muslim this is what I'm this
is what I'm going to I'm going to
address that right yeah you know so my
question to you please I'm sorry my
question to you is you're a veteran
you're an know the people you're one of
the original imams of America here is
this guy what what religion is he
talking about is he talk is this is this
what Islam teaches you he's not talking
about my religion okay all right he's
not talking about the religion of two
billion people on the planet all right
this is the point I'm going to make
right we share this planet 8 billion
people 19 6, 940,000 square
miles 2 billion Muslims 2 billion
Christians 1 billi1 100 million Hindu
500 million Buddhist 25 million siks and
about 13 million Jews and every one of
them have the right to practice their
religion as they seem fit Allah
mentioned
Quran if it was God's choice everyone
would have the same religion
so that's number one what does the Quran
the Quran is our book let's go to the
Quran and we sent down the Torah in it
his guidance and light and gave him him
who Isa Jesus the inil the
gospel in his guidance and light check
out check this verse out um Allah
speaking to the Muslim men permitted for
you to marry are the chase women of the
people of the
book number one number two permitted for
you Muslims to eat the food of the
people of the book why because they were
given the same
Commandments wow so it's it's crazy I
can I can marry a Christian woman or a
Jewish woman I'm I'm permitted to marry
them and you have Muslims who have but
he's saying look if she's not if they're
not Muslim you got to you got to uh
annihilate her how you so you got to
hate your wife
hogwash it's crazy I mean he know either
either he's crazy or he knows better I
think he's repeating the
islamophobia the talking points that are
put out there by the hate industry what
do you think let me tell you something
absolutely you know is know was
something interesting right we as
Muslims believe that the day of judgment
will not come until after Jesus
returns and it's him Jesus who will
destroy the Antichrist that's what we
believe in
you go and ask the name of Muslim
children Muslim male children it's not
all Muhammad yeah we love Muhammed we
have Muslims with the name Moses and
Abraham and Jesus and all the prophets
because we believe in all of them we
believe that Prophet Muhammad was the
last prophet that's
it hogwash like what you said hogwash
mhm yeah let's move on to the next one
okay so this is um but you see I don't
think Eddie I think is important to note
that we should be about dialogue boy we
should be about go ahead having
discussion and and
um I think this is dangerous though
because you have course it's dangerous
you have why is it dangerous it's
dangerous because it's misinformation
you're going to start thinking that this
is the way Muslims think about you think
about this 1400 years ago when Islam
started with the Prophet Muhammad peace
and blessing be upon him um people very
hostile toward Islam M and the prophet
peace and blessing be upon him and his
companions they they they they taught
the people they taught the people Islam
they had they had dialogue and this is
what we're talking about we're talking
about having discussions and listen
certainly you're going to find some
radical people anywhere yeah whether
they're in Islam or Christianity
Hinduism Buddhism you're going to find
people like that but is that the
religion mhm and that's what we make a
distinction there's a a a verse uh from
the Quran when I hear this I usually go
back to this verse is chapter 60:8 that
God Almighty Allah is saying the Creator
that Allah God Almighty the Creator does
not forbid you from dealing justly and
kindly with those who have not fought
you because of your religion or driven
you out of your homes right there this
kills this argument right here doesn't
it this nonsense that's being spewed I
think we give them too much platform be
honest with you m i i I agree with what
you're saying 100% but he I don't think
he speaks for the average American mhm
even those who don't accept Islam mhm
you
know even historically if you look at it
if you go back from let's say uh history
if you look at for instance from
salahu to Omar to the Medina Charter if
you look at when Muslims ruled Spain
when Muslims ruled okay now Spain or or
even uh
Jerusalem how was it between Muslims
Jews and Christians the relationship
Muslims had the upper hand at one point
if this was
true yeah I mean historically what what
do we see happening I think
that one of you know if I have one
complaint yes to about Muslims is that
we are not out there talking to the
people we spend a lot of time talking to
ourselves but we don't talk to the
people if the American people understood
what Islam represents what we teach they
would be they would be shocked it's not
what is not what they think at all um
and you know we can we can live in peace
with everybody and listen I have many
identities right
an
AF I'm African yes anad I'm black a
Muslim an Amun I'm an American
this is my country and I want the best
for my country and if you study
historically Muslims always want the
best for their country I like that yeah
absolutely let's go to the next part of
this interview or this uh podcast uh
with our friend Patrick V David and crew
and these are the co-hosts there and
this is the other one and let's have a
look at this and uh get your reaction to
this um this 16-year-old boy who they
believe to have said Allah abbar that's
what they're that's what Australians are
messaging me that and I'm just going to
come out and say typically rarely
nothing good happens after you hear
allahar it's never like flowers and
roses and bunny rabbits it's stabbings
and shootings and bombs but no
disrespect I'm just I mean that's kind
of what It's associated with but there's
16 you know Allah abbar means god is the
greatest you know and I think you know
there may be some Muslims who do some
bad things there's some Christians and
Jews black people white people do some
bad things right don't blame the
religion of Islam so what they're doing
is they want to you know take a few
incidences and they want to color all of
the Muslims the two billion Muslims the
same way as if this is what we this is
what we teach and they they need to be
honest and say by the way this not this
is not the overwhelming majority of
Muslims the overwhelming majority of
Muslims are peaceful wherever they are
whatever ever country they're in um and
let's be honest are there some Muslims
who do bad things absolutely are there
some Christians who do bad things
absolutely are there some Jews who do
bad things absolutely but you don't
condemn the
religion you used to be a Christian yes
and in the church by the way yes those
of us who converted from Christianity to
Islam we have an advantage over our
Muslim Brothers and sisters in
disrespect the prophet peace and
blessing be upon Him
says whoever believes in Jesus and then
Believes In Me will have a double reward
H you used to say hallelujah didn't you
of course I still say hallelujah once in
a while isn't that synonymous like
Hallelujah would be praise God yeah so
Allah praise God of course so what's
this guy talking about I have no idea he
said nothing good he need to be on your
show and you need to talk to him would
you talk to someone like this 100% of
course we need to have these com but see
the thing is like there's no one there
to give this push back and they're out
there and then people are listening to
this stuff and repeating it and then
people develop this fear now they get
start to fear Muslims and then this
leads to you now hating your neighbor
violence can happen and they're fueling
this this is in Prophet when the prophet
came, 1400 years ago the time that in
which and he lived is
called time of ignorance yes and he
transformed that whole society and and
he did it you know sometimes the people
fought against him and they fought back
but the the point is that there's no
compulsion there's no compulsion in
religion you can't make people to
believe um so but do we proze do we
invite we certain do is called the da
you know better than anyone else
inviting people to at least understand
our religion what the religion is all
about so when someone makes a statement
like that I mean Muslims like um he good
friends he's met Mike T have you ever
met Mike Tyson are you serious yeah so
he had Mike Tyson on his show we were at
the UFC fight in Miami and you walked up
with Trump and our place lost their mind
when you guys walk I don't know if you
and people don't like but Trump is the
man Trump is the man he his fan base he
have his supporters and they got to
stick with him to the end how has he
been to you over the years I never had a
bad moment with him did he the same guy
the same yeah the same show Mike Tyson
been to my master a few times one time
he came to your M Mike Tyson yes he came
to me after the CB I said M can I talk
to you I said yeah he said I really
enjoyed the CB yeah and one time he came
he said M I can't find my shoes Mike
Tyson he couldn't find his shoes could
find his
shoes yeah so uh Mike Tyson says allahar
when he prays
right God is the greatest God is greater
he's had khabib another Muslim you know
of course I can only imagine if somebody
just sees you maybe they don't recognize
who you are and they had one too many
drinks and they try to pick a fight with
you and what you tell them has that ever
happened there somebody doesn't know who
you are they're couple times happened
here in the US I mean this is a
disrespect but he said would all do
respect but this is a big disrespect
we're still laughing but this is I don't
pay a lot of attention to them I think
that we should have reasonable push back
yes reasonable push back reasonable push
back we should you know don't get overly
angry uhhuh because either they're
ignorant or they know exactly what
they're doing
right and and I always try to give
people the benefit of the doubt yeah so
some people they just don't know um I
didn't know about about Islam until
1975 really learned about Islam with the
death of Mr Elijah Muhammad I was in a
Nation of Islam um and got a chance to
really to to learn so most people they
don't know most Americans really don't
know about Islam they're beginning now
because they have Muslim Neighbors
Muslim teachers Muslim fellow students
and they're beginning to see Islam and
say oh wow this is really and you have a
number of Americans that are converting
to Islam like me like yourself and like
others that are converting to Islam we
didn't know what Islam was really
about let's go on uh so we covered two
we'll do one more one more from this uh
pbd podcast uh we're going straight to
one of the top imams in America Imam SJ
wahaj to see are they on to something
or it's something that we don't know the
Sharia law was one of the conversations
that if a country is being ran under
Sharia law you would be killed because
that's what the laws are and here's one
of the most open honest guys that's
being interviewed and the interviewer is
almost blown away this isn't Canada I
believe yeah and he's like wow I
actually appreciate the fact that you're
being straight up honest watch this
right here go ahead Rob what happened to
a gay couple in Palestine sir what what
would happen to a gay couple in Gaza
executed According to Islamic law Islam
doesn't endorse gism Islam doesn't
endorse homosexuality just like Canada
doesn't endorse a lot of things so would
you like to see Sharia law in Canada
replace Canadian law at some point it
will you know because we are we are we
have families we are making babies
you're not your population is going down
the slum right in by 2060 by 2060
according to P Research Institute your
research by 2016 Muslims will be the
biggest religious group the world over
what are you going to do then are you sh
even then well you know what are you
going I'm very appreciative of the
honesty we don't usually get that one
day we can have a Muslim majority Nation
here in Canada right in your face
right seems like they found some guy on
the street they paid them they always do
that you know something interesting
right you know we off of time you talk
about Muslims you talk about the Sharia
you talk about law you know it's
interesting for the first 16
years Allah never even mentioned
alcohol right you know you know
um if in fact when Allah first revealed
was first revealed in the
Quran the way he put
it they're asking you the people asking
you about you know
intoxicant um and Allah says well say
there's some there's some prophit and
some things that's not and and the thing
is not so good and then um finally one
of the companions would drinking alcohol
wasn't prohibited at that time and he
led the prayer and he messed up and then
Allah said do not approach prayer while
you intoxicated until you know what you
saying and then finally Allah
reveals leave it alone it's Haram it's
not permitted a the wife of the Prophet
said if Allah had first revealed Thou
shalt not drink alcohol the people would
have said we would never give it up see
I think sometimes Muslims make a mistake
let the first thing you invite them to
is the Oneness of God that's what you
you're not you our religion is not a
religion of Thou shalt not do thou sh
not do certainly there's things that's
prohibited that's not my point but my
point is when you're going to talking to
a new person about Islam you talk about
you're talking about God made make him
have an appreciation of God Allah
and not not you can't you can't do this
because Aisha said that if Allah had
first revealed that they will say I
never I'll never give it up I'll never
give up invite him to the absolute pure
monotheism yeah and then after a while
then you you you will stop you you would
stop because once you understand once
you appreciate what what that this is
not good for you drugs is not good for
you alcohol is not good for you
committing adultery fornication is not
good for you and then because of your
love for Allah God then you give they
give these things up let's go ahead and
shift now so we cleared this up okay
well let's touch upon this so he's
pretty much saying and um I like to give
the example that Sharia because they
make it seem like this is the Boogeyman
coming to get you but we know the Ten
Commandments that's God's law the sh
could we say shake this is the um Sharia
Sharia in the Arabic B you have uh I
believe like 200 some times it's
mentioned in the bible sh right this is
God's law of course yeah but people what
they do is they take what is is uh the
Pino code is like 1 2% of the whole what
is it around that that much you know
better than me yeah so then they focus
on that it's just like uh if martians
came from outer space and then they want
to know about America and you're telling
them about electric chair you're telling
about gas you know uh uh death by lethal
injection you know you're talking about
the Pino cold instead of talking about
all the all beautiful things that
Constitution has to offer ex exactly so
I mean this is not being genous this is
not being um correct with people I think
be honest with you I think we give too
much attention to these kinds of people
to be honest with you yeah because you
know they're on the fringes you know and
um they're trying to make a lot of
noise um and you find out that many of
these people don't have good intention
yeah see with us see we can
respect the the religion of Jews and and
and Christians yes and and Hindus and
Buddhists and and the rest and we can we
can live together in peace you know we
we're not going to you know we're not
going to force you to accept our
religion there's no such thing there's
no such thing in Islam as you making
someone uh become become a Muslim
Crusades inquisitions did that yeah was
you know and then you know one one of
one of one of the things is interesting
um Peace and blessing be upon Him may
Allah be pleased with her
said that um she asked her husband was
there day more difficult than the Battle
of Ood uhuh Ood was a battle where the
Muslims were
winning and um but they disobeyed the
Commandment of the Prophet peace and
blessing be upon him so what was going
to be a victory became a defeat and 85
Muslim men lost their lives including
the prophet's um uncle Hamza right so
you that you have 85 Muslims that died
and uh the prophet's uncle died and
Aisha is asking her husband the
messenger of Allah has there been a day
more difficult than that he said yes
when he went to an area called Ti what
was he doing inviting people to what was
going to benefit them the Oneness of God
and they threw stones at him ran him
away he was bleeding and when he was
going away it was a sunny day and all of
a sudden there was a shade and he looked
up and was the angel of the mountain he
said I'm the angel of the Mountain uh
and Angel giel and said here is the
Angel of the mountain and God has seen
what your people have done to you just
give the way way the word and they would
rain down mountains on them and the
prophet said no he said I pray that
someone from their loins will become
Muslims and or who believe in God the
the almighty so here was a time that
these people in the Battle of Ood were
the Muslims
lost look who became
Muslim right um Abu sufyan har who was
the commander he became Muslim KH the
commander of the right flank he became
Muslim um uh um Abu
J Abu Jah commander of the Left Flank he
became
Muslim the commander of the calry he
became Muslim so these people fought
against the Muslims who defeated the
Muslims many of them became Muslim once
they understood and appreciated what
Islam was they became Arabs no they
became Muslim what does that mean a
Muslim Muslim is one who submits their
will to do the will of God can you say
that's the Lord's The Lord's Prayer
where you have Oh Our Father who are in
heaven Hallowed be thy name thy will be
done yes is that Islam one God yes yes
of course submitting your will to the
will of God 100% that's what a Muslim is
yeah I think that it's this you know
that that period was called period of
ignorance and I think most people they
just don't know I think I always felt
that when when people know better they
do better Yeah by and large all right
the next clip I'm going to show we're
going to take a turn and we're going to
talk about Jesus we're going to let the
bishop talk about Jesus for a second
okay and then I want to get your
reaction and what you now believe about
Jesus contrast to what you what you
believed before while you were Christian
so let's watch this clip okay so uh
before I show this just give you some
some context uh
the bishop was the one that got attacked
and again we condemn this uh this was by
the same Bishop here now this is the
bishop that's actually criticizing the
bishop that got attacked you'll see why
okay uh this is one of the head Assyrian
Bishops in Australia okay and the other
one's also from Australia so this is
what he he has to say about the bishop
okay and much of what he's going to say
you'll probably be like we agree with it
and then you'll see why he's saying it
and then we'll contrast that with our
belief in Jes I think I I'm using this
as a teaching moment about Jesus all
right so please those who refer to him
as Bishop of Assyrian Church of the East
be careful don't commit that mistake
because we'll come at you legally I can
promise you we'll come at you legally I
have no habit of talking about people
but only I talk when I see someone
talking
ill about Christianity this man his name
is he calls him himself Mar Mary but his
name is Robert
schimon he is not a member of the
Assyrian Church of the East he's never
been member of the Assyrian Church of
the East we do not recognize his
teaching we completely forbid him from
entering into any of our
churches he was ordained by the ancient
Church of the east by Metropolitan
maraku then he was defogged it means he
was
suspended from his church now he doesn't
belong to no church it came to my
attention he used the word holy
Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of
the East immediately when I saw that we
sent him a letter through our lawyers we
said hey be
careful you do not belong to the church
you cannot use this
church now let's see what he's going to
say here I just want to hold the baby
Jesus in my
arms
because I want to
pinch his fat thighs
you know the baby when it's so
cute especially when they are a little
bit fat
so you have layers of layers of layers
on their on their thighs and the arms
here I want to hold them as a baby
because I will definitely make him cry
by pinching him kissing him and spoiling
him and and everything
like and then I can
if I go to hell after that that's
fine I carried him as a baby
[Music]
la and then he would make a poo poo and
then he would go like that at
me it's okay I'll wash man if I could
wash him
oh he
tried to lower
Christianity to unbelievable level that
is never happened in the 2000 years of
history of Christianity you talk about
him in this way that he wants to pinch
him to make him
cry this description of the
child is abhorrent it's just
unacceptable in
today's society no one even can pinch a
child to make him cry you'll be arrested
of
abuse but for him it doesn't
matter he wants this child this Christ
God to make him
cry but the worst of all he says even
even if I go to hell it doesn't matter
he spoke
about hell as if he's going to a
picnic Ed be honest with you I think
really we PID too much attention for for
silliness it's silly silly to make a a
lecture about that silly man just teach
the truth you know I think he's become
one of the most popular Bishops in
Australia which one the one he's talking
about are you they're making him a
living martyr now really because of this
what happened this attack we condemn
obviously so now you have this Christian
and he's the head of Australia and the
Bishops there they're condemning this so
now how do you view Jesus and I think
Islam solves this debate like you know
between them they're making God into a a
human being and he's talking about
washing washing Jesus washing go pretty
much you see it's too silly for me it
it's it's very silly right you know we
believe uh in Jesus you know um
absolutely one of the great prophets we
don't believe him to be God or the Son
of God we can argue about that in
another day yeah but I think that to
give this man a platform I I think
really is a waste of time I think that
the bishop can do other things you know
they can teach the people the truth and
again we have no problem with you know
people preaching what they believe is to
be the right the right religion it's
fine you know we we we differ in some
areas um you know we there's to us God
is one right you know he's neither born
nor does he have children so that you
know so we can have an honest discussion
about that and we can agree to disagree
but I think that really
that's it's silly to me so now when you
were a Christian did you at that point
what was your belief at Jesus that time
because many Christians they struggle
with Trinity they struggle with like
okay you have God the Father God the son
which one am I praying to how were you
where did you fit in at that time you
know what's funny right I remember I was
seven years old yeah and living in Mary
projects right Sunday morning getting
dressed to go to church uhhuh and I said
to my mother why we got to go to church
anyway uhhuh so my mother took a belt
and she hit me a few times then he said
now you understand I said yes ma'am but
I didn't understand so that was the
theology that Jesus was the son of God
and and and we believed it only because
it was said right now my mother made me
and my brother go to church me and my
brother got an award for 100% attendance
to church what does that mean it means
52 times a year Sunday we went to church
you I go to the Masid almost every day
when I'm in town almost every day all
day long um so most people don't have a
real Foundation of what what religion is
alhamdulillah that that because Islam
came and came to correct the mistakes
that people made some people made
mistakes theological mistakes and and
one of them we believe in making Jesus
into a to a god no doubt about it Jesus
raised the dead by Allah's permission
cure those who were blind and and the
leopards Jesus did all of that but I
think some times people maybe they went
a little bit too far and called actually
Jesus praying to Jesus is only one we
prayed to that's that's almighty God we
we say Allah in Arabic language so I
think that there's some room for
discussion many Christians many of them
have become Muslims you have a
lot of course have you seen that also in
your your MOS there in New York of
course because it kind of ends this
internal struggle you have the fitra the
inate nature to worship the Creator but
now you make him part of his creation
you make him a human being and now you
have this like you're saying this
silliness yeah that you're over here
bringing God down to a level of a child
and you're describing him it's
problematic once you make human
beings you know Gods is problematic
Allah mentioned in the Quran he says to
Muhammad peace and blessing be upon
him I'm a human being just like you
Jesus was a great great great great man
but he was a human being and and we just
I I don't know what else to say you do
you love him of course you love Jesus
what yeah of course I love him too I can
tell you let me tell you something in
New York I live in New York right we
have a Mas called Masid Isa IB Mariam
named after Jesus um there's a Masid
State Street called Masid D named after
the prophet David you know what the uh
you know we have a five buildings there
at the um the dean Center uh the dawa
Center Educational Center is the first
bu uh building the second building is
the
musjid and you know what the name is
what Jesus Islamic Center okay there you
go see you can't you you we may have a
different theology but you can't deny
that we love Jesus MH we love him and um
not just by naming our children after
them nameing our m after him our schools
after him but we genuinely love him but
we only worship one God the Creator
there's no this there's not to the same
God that Jesus worshiped 100% yeah and
and and you can't how can you be the
Antichrist if you love Christ if you
love Jesus the Messiah exactly right
yeah see you you can say Muslims have a
different understanding about Jesus but
you can't say we don't love Jesus M you
can't say that we don't respect Jesus
that's one thing you can't say say be be
honest you know the Muslims they you
know they're good people but you know
they don't they don't view Jesus the
same way we view him okay I accept that
you know in the end God is going to tell
us he'll tell us where where we were and
who who differed but I think that it's
important for us to have dialogue yeah
that's what I love about you um Eddie is
that you believe in having dialogue yes
absolutely you know because um if we
don't you know we fight and there's no
reason to fight yeah and uh come talk
with us I always say often come talk
read the book like you said read the
book pick up the Quran read it right we
actually give it away for free you go to
the Deen show.com and people can go
there we give it out for free we have we
have a number 1800 662 Islam 4752 ask
your questions how many of these qurans
have you given out oh man this is uh
thousands I mean over the years I mean
we've been doing now since uh 06 so may
Allah bless you brother I think that
what you do is incred
alhamdulillah and uh you're one of our
first teachers so so alhamdulillah I'm
the I'm the little guy aldah the little
guy so tell us uh before we
conclude so what was it at the end going
from being a Christian then the Nation
of Islam then to Islam and then you had
also uh you were friends with uh
Muhammad Ali what about Malcolm did you
meet Malcolm no um Malcolm I love the
Malcolm by the way and my mother would
tell you that when I'm when I'm in the
house as a teenager 14 years old I'm
quoted Malcolm back during slavery there
were two kinds of slave there was a
field negro and the house negro so so
when Malcolm was assassinated I think it
was something like 14 years old so it
wasn't until interestingly enough um
when I was a freshman in in College New
York University that's I had my first
experience with the nation of ISL some
of the brothers from the Nation of Islam
came to my my school it's interesting
that no muslim ever came to my school
but the brothers of the Nation of Islam
did and they will sit down next to us in
the cafeteria how you doing my black
brother and then they would talk to us
about about Islam me and my best friend
a young man named Andrew we came to New
York University together and we both
joined the Nation of Islam at the same
time so I think that um the Nation of
Islam did some great things Malcolm did
some some great things and by the way um
according to the FBI every year 350,000
inmates become Muslims 350,000 50,000
every year and they in you know we have
Muslim chaplain I know a lot of them and
I've been to 50 states you can probably
guess the two states I I didn't I didn't
visit you can probably guess Hawaii you
would say Hawaii and Alaska okay that's
the two ones you were thinking right and
every one of them I went to every one of
those prisons that I went to every one
of those states that I went to brothers
would say im s we listen to your tapes
in prison ask me how many of my tapes
did I put in prison not even one how did
I get there and I think that I I learned
the lesson that we have to engage the
people yes the Nation of Islam I
personally knocked on thousands of doors
inviting people to what I thought was
Islam thousands of them so the brothers
in the Nation of Islam maybe you know we
have some differences in ideology how we
understand the religion but they were
committed I would like to see the
Muslims as committed as the brothers and
the sisters of the Nation of Islam were
committed so I didn't meet Malcolm um
loved him um and the rest is history and
then you made that transition
Christianity Nation of Islam to Islam
yes what was what was the thing that
finally did it for you that you actually
crossed over and you accepted and
Malcolm did the same thing Muhammad Ali
did the same thing you one of the things
you know I I um I play basketball yeah I
played for my junior high school I
played for my high school and I played
for college yes and when I played for
college I was pretty good I wasn't great
but I was pretty good right I was known
for two things uh prolific Defender and
outside shot you know the shot in the
corner for me is like a layup right but
inter interly enough when I went to NYU
the captain of the basketball team was a
Muslim Jerry 10x and so we we sat a lot
and we spoke and once he explained to me
what what again what we thought was
Islam but I think at the at the the the
root of that was the love of ourselves
you know if you look at the movie
Malcolm X in the beginning um the um the
actor who played Malcolm X
his hair was we call K straight hair and
black men used to straighten their hair
and and why it was the imitation of
white people but in
1964 1965 James Brown had a song said
Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud and
black men no longer straightened their
hair they had afro me um when I joined
the Nation of Islam had a big afro it
was so big you can land a helicopter on
it that's how big it was right
men wearing daiki black men wearing
daiki black women changing their hair
not looking like white women um and even
the names at that time took on African
names took on um Islamic names and
things like that so it was like a
revolution for me I still respected the
Christianity still respected the
brothers and sisters from the Nation of
Islam and yet alhamdulillah um Allah has
guided us to Islam
I'm grateful ain't mad at nobody you
know but I'm willing to share a religion
with with whomever so what would you say
in conclusion now to our friend Patrick
M David and the uh people who are fans
who've watched this program now they're
listening to us and and we have the uh
one of the uh main Muslim imams here of
America we refuted some of these U
blunders uh a lot of these uh false
statements that they were making and in
an essence of Building Bridges and uh
talking dialogue what would you say to
our friend Patrick like the fans out
there I do think you know one thing I've
I've learned to do over the years to
respect people's opinion I I differ with
you and we should have dialogue that's
how we grow and I I love what you do you
know and I think others should um have
some have some dialogue and I think that
sometime listen maybe one day they
become Muslim you don't know M there
people who who used to criticize Muslims
in Islam now they're Muslims themselves
so I'm saying and I'm not naive to think
everybody going to become Muslim
everybody's not going to become Muslim
but it's fine that's why I started the
beginning of this talk when I mention
what Allah says in Quran permitted for
you to marry you're married you
permitted to marry to chase women of the
people of the book that's enough to say
oh okay oh yeah you can't eat any food
because our book said this same thing
and people will be shocked once they
read the the Quran and compare it with
the Bible there many things that are
very similar there some things different
here and here and there um but I do
think Ed that is important Eddie that
it's
important dialogue you know and and
argue in the best way not in a very
negative way but you know say listen I
get it I understand your point this is
what we say in the end we we learn to
respect one another and you got to
remember doing and as I alluded to ear
ear during the time when Prophet
Muhammad was here there a lot of people
who were hostile to Islam became some of
the best Muslims he
said the best of my is my generation
this is a generation that was called so
that should be a it should be a hint for
the Muslims that what we should do is
not going around beating people but
going around sharing our faith with
others and I think that if we do it in
the right way you'll be surprised people
some of them will become Muslims some of
them won't but at least they will say oh
okay good you know there was a a Jewish
rabbi years ago he used to come visit me
in my mastered every week Jewish rabbi
Jewish rabbi right prominent I never
said his name publicly and he said one
day he said um
Imam I tell my Jewish friends about you
and I said Rabbi I tell my Muslim
friends about you had a very very good
understanding he come to me and when I
went to go get my haircut at the barers
shop a couple blocks from my Masid and
we we spoke and I asked them um once I
said Rabbi I'm going to ask you I want
to ask you a Frank
question how
could you
justify taking the land of people who
who already occupy it he said ma'am I
have to be honest with you I can't
I just can't do it wow some people they
know some people they they won't say but
they know so I think that our our
responsibility is to to have Frank
conversations with with people and um
and leave it like that I've heard this
hadif you've uh it's an authentic
statement from the last of M son to
mankind PR Muhammad peace and blessed be
upon Him comparing himself to a
brick and I've heard you um
often share this Hadith you got to
remind me because I where I'll start it
off and you finish it I like how how how
you go into it where the Prophet
Muhammad peace and blessing be upon him
he was making reference to a beautiful
beautiful a yes people go around looking
at this building and it's beautiful and
they said look at a building this
building he said but there's one brick
that's missing and the prophet peace and
blessing be upon him said my similitude
and the similitude of the prophets who
came before me is like a man who built a
building perfectly built together
beautiful but one brick is missing I'm
that brick right so really is to teach
us again how very similar we are and I
think that's that's that's been my theme
today that the theme of the uh of the
religions in essence uh the same
especially the you know so-called
Christians so-called Jews and the
Muslims you know we are called people of
the book so we have we have a book and
and the book that they have we also
respect and love we call it the book of
Allah the almighty the Torah the inil
the the gospel and and and the Torah
especially because that's the Quran
talks about it the prophet spoke about
them and um and then he says um um he
uses the word sometimes Oru which means
hope he says I will have more followers
than any other Prophet um in the day of
judgment he said to his people I hope
that you have the people of Jen so
there's not a you know a a paradise for
the Jews and a paradise for the
Christians and a paradise for the
Muslims is one paradise we believe that
we understand that we accept that you
know and and I think that
there has to be more dialogue and kudos
to you again for all of your your
efforts your sincere efforts you know
you don't beat up people I mean some
some of Muslims beat up Christians like
some Christians try to beat up Muslims
you know but I think that we have to
have a you know a better spirit and I
want to commend Imam W Muhammad he was
like that he was very good in Interfaith
and discussion you know I don't know
some Muslims don't like it some
Christians don't like it some Jews don't
like it I always believe that we should
have dialogue always absolutely 100% yes
Shay thank you very much thank you very
much for spending some time with us um
uh when I'm looking at you I I I I
remember and we can end here I just
wanted to ask you this question um you
had me thinking about the time you were
moderating and
Ahmed you had my guy tell us a little
bit about ahed so this Christian
Missionary got stuck into an Arab she
day in and day out preaching to him that
you're wasting your time yes praying
five times a day up and down up and down
you fast for one whole month and you
straight jacket your life you don't
drink you don't gamble you don't need
the pig and on and on Allah is not
hungry for that you want salvation you
believe that he sent his son into the
world and he died for your sins and
salvation is yours God Almighty he came
down to earth and he died for your sins
believe and be saved and the chief began
to cry like a woman who's lost her
husband he started to cry
acting actually he's acting so he said
you know I just got the sad news
that the Archangel Gabriel he died so
the priest says you fool Angels don't
die so the Arab she says and you fool
you telling me that God
died you spend a lot of time with him
right a lot of time yeah in fact every
once in a while every almost every year
I go to back to South Africa so people
that was dealing with Ahmed did that
invite me from time to time but ahed
that was the DEA yeah that wasn't my
style yeah but he was he was very good
he knew the Bible very well and um he
converted a lot of people a lot of even
a lot of Christians but again um we have
a different kind of style yeah now one
of our shakes Dr Jamal badwi when he he
don't even call a debate when he have
discussions with Christians and Jews
it's different from Ahmed Ahmed that
hidden you know hit hit you hard and the
Muslims love that oh Ahmed did that um
but I do think one one thing that I've
learned over the years I appreciate
differences of opinion I have no problem
with that I have no problem with people
not accepting what we say in fact I I
welcome people to criticize us to to
take take a look Muslims may do a lot of
things wrong but Islam is right yes you
know Christians may do a lot of
bad things but the message of those
prophets were right and so I think it's
we're trying to get it together and uh
hopefully we can hopefully we can live
together the beautiful thing about
America is that people of different
faith can live together one block you
know we have we have people in all kinds
of persuasion all kinds of religion and
that's a good thing and that's the the I
think that's strength of America that it
can accommodate people with different
faith I think that's a good thing thank
you thank you for spending some time
been here with us sh thank you thank you