in peace. Welcome to the Dean Show. If
you haven't subscribed already,
subscribe right now. We have an exciting
show for you today. You know, the
fastest growing ethnicity in America are
the Latinos, Brazil, Brazilians included
in this. And you know what way of life
they're gravitating towards. When we
come back, we have our next guest is
going to fill us in on why the Latinos
are loving this way of life. provides
the answers to why you've been created,
where you're going when you die, and
that satisfaction that you're looking
for in the heart that's empty. It fills
that void. And Latinos have figured it
out, and it goes back to their roots.
That's right. So, when we come back here
on the Dean Show, we got an exciting
episode. We're going to answer this
question. Don't go anywhere.
This is the [music] show.
This is the show.
This is the [music]
show. This is the show.
This is the show.
This is the
show. [music]
Peace be with you.
I I think we gave it away. I was opening
up. I said, you know, left it as a
guest. Guess which way of life? But
people are looking at you. Maybe you
think, you know, we with the greeting,
maybe people figured it out with the
beard or
Alhamdulillah. Maybe. So,
so what is it? What is this way of life
that when Latinos, Brazilians included,
when they look back to their roots, like
the African-Americans, they want to
connect, they go back, they want to
figure out their heritage, they go back,
many of them like Dave Chappelle went
back to Africa and Kinte, he's calling
on God Almighty, Allah, and they figured
out this is our roots, Islam.
Latinos, same thing here.
Same thing. You know, it's a beautiful
thing. Um, a lot of Latinos what they're
doing now is they're they're
rediscovering the roots. They're reading
about Islamic Spain. And even for
myself, you know, doing some research,
you find that Muslims dominated Spain
for 780 years, almost eight centuries.
And you look at your name, then your
name like Medina, last names like
Medina, even Guadalupe, like my last
name, Alvarez,
Banal Kasar. you'll start asking
yourself where these names come from and
and a lot of a good a popular thing to
do nowadays is kind of trace your
lineage. A lot of people are doing that
with those DNA tests and stuff and
people are discovering, you know, a part
of my heritage traces back to Spain and
it don't even make sense, right? Because
the Spaniards when they came to um to
this part of the world uh to colonize,
they had Muslims with them. You know, we
seen Columbus um Columbus came when u
with ships that were originally owned by
Muslims, right? And they had Muslims on
there who were guiding them, directing
them to come here. And so you people are
starting to rediscover the fact that
mashallah there's Muslims or or part of
my heritage is from Islam and it starts
triggering like an interest to want to
know more about what is Islam. So it's
it's a beautiful thing there that people
are rediscovering re reconnecting with
who they are.
Now I mentioned so Latinos are the
fastest growing ethnicity in in America.
Correct. And statistics show in in the
census they uh they done a study and
they're finding out that Latinos are the
fastest growing population in America.
And the beautiful thing is within that
they are also the fastest growing
population within Islam. Many many
Latinos are leaving their former former
religions primarily Catholicism for
whatever reason and they're connecting
with Islam. And alhamdulillah, I had the
opportunity to, you know, research it
myself and there's numerous reasons why
they're reconnecting or they're they're
discovering Islam.
So, it's definitely amongst the Latinos,
Islam is the fastest growing religion.
Yes.
And you actually you looked back into
it. You discovered all these things. You
also came from a what background?
Um, my family is originally from
Ecuador.
Yes. South America.
But they were they were of the Christian
faith.
Yeah. My actually my parents are were
Catholic. Catholic
and they raised me as a Catholic. Um and
alhamdulillah they've they've after
studying and started learning about
Islam, they've also embraced Islam too.
Yeah. We spoke we had your story.
Yeah.
Some time ago. And so you went through
this journey.
Yeah.
And how you do you feel the more you
look into this, the more Islam is
providing all those answers, those deep
questions that people really seek out
the purpose, what's the purpose of life,
you know, um why am I here in this
world? Fills that void in the heart.
Absolutely. I mean, as the majority of
Latinos, uh, they're raised Catholic,
like we said, and they're taught the
belief in God, their belief in in God,
that he's one, that he is the creator,
he is the supreme being. But then
there's something else within that that
kind of throws a tangent. The the belief
in the trinity and the saints and how do
you kind of correlate every single
aspect of that religion and still make
sense that it's you there's it's
monotheistic and for myself and many
Latinos it doesn't make sense. So when
they when they're introduced to Islam
and the fact that Islam actually
encou or actually teaches true
monotheism meaning worshiping God alone
there's no other associates no nothing
else with him no other partners they
start telling themselves what I was
taught originally as a child through
Catholicism this is the true
implementation here you another example
is uh the Virgin Mary
she's depicted as a woman with a veil
when you look at any other religion In
in America, you rarely would see that
except in a Muslim as in Islamic
practice with the Muslim with the Muslim
women wearing hijab. And as a matter of
fact, my grandmother would tell us that
when she used to go to church in
Ecuador, they were required to wear a
veil. And so when she saw that my mother
started wearing a veil, she started
seeing that, wow, this is the tr this is
where they truly practice that which
they taught. You know, there's so many
other aspects um of family values. Islam
teaches encourages family values. For
example, when Allah mentions and worship
Allah alone and be kind and be kind to
your parents and don't ever raise your
tone towards them and show them mercy
the way they showed you mercy as a
child. The Quran mentions this and
families in Latino families are very
very close. I mean, your neighbor is is
taught to to be your cousin. you you you
you're you basically treat them as your
cousin. You bring them into your and so
when they see that the family values
especially in this time where society is
trying to remove family values I mean
it's very rare where families now meet
at a table to eat in Islam it encourages
that that love and that respect and and
that admiration for each other in a
family. So when Latinos see that that's
part of Islam they're drawn to that. I
mean, there's so many other things,
language, there's so many things that
you can talk about that um that re the
reason why Latinos are starting to
discover Islam as the the true way of
life, you know. And another example with
language, it said statistically it said
that about 4,000 words originate from
Arabic in and Spanish words originate
from Arabic. for example like uh along
al cotton in Arabic um for example uh
algebra algebra alra you there's so many
things like even when I discovered like
where my name came from Walupe a part of
it is wii valley and lupe which is a
Latin word for for wolf it it blew my
mind I was like wow this is who who we
are and many people are doing that and
um it's just an amazing feeling when you
when you find that connection you know
so really it's just going back to to to
the original way.
Original way.
That's it. The pure organic original
way. When you go back and you look back
to your history, the Latinos look back,
it links back to Islam.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, and it
makes sense. You know, as we mentioned,
Muslims were in Spain for so long. They
left their influence. If you if you ever
vacation in in Spain, you see massage
that are now have been changed to to to
churches because of the change in the in
in the in the government, but they're
still there. Their influences are there.
Arabic writing is all over the wall. So,
when they're rediscovering that, they're
asking themselves the question, okay,
well, where else what else is there? If
maybe my ancestors, my great great great
grandfathers were Muslim, then what is
it about Islam that you know that that
um that the reason why they practice it?
Why? Why is it that they did that? So, I
want to ask myself and many people are
doing that and they're coming into
Islam.
We got a lot more to talk about. This is
an awakening of the mind and the soul so
we can really be upon the truth and we
can really get that peace that we're all
looking for when we get the purpose in
life, why we're here, and we're
discussing the fastest growing ethnicity
Latinos and the way of life that they're
drawn to because it's in their roots.
It's in their history. We'll be right
back with more here in the Dean Show.
Don't go anywhere. Please subscribe to
the Dean Show. Follow us on our official
Facebook and Twitter pages in the links
below. Please also help support the Dean
Show by making a donation in the link
below.
Back here on the Dean Show and we're
talking about the Latino roots. Now, I
say Brazilians included. They're
included in this bunch, right?
Yes.
Cuz they're one of my favorite groups
also. You know, we train you also train
the Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Yes.
And we have a lot of uh really nice
people. They're also Latinos. the um
Brazilians and I want to there was
actually interesting picture H Gracie
you've heard of him yes
people are seeing it right now he's
actually in a th
and he's in front of a masid
and it says he's seeking the blessings
of God
yeah and I've gotten a chance to talk
with him he's a fabulous individual and
some people's faces you know they it
just lights up it's like the fra inside
that God has placed in all of us right
that spiritual chip and when God's name
is mentioned
You talk about the pure natural way
because Islam is just it just makes
sense. Worship the creator, not the
creation. You're not worshiping any of
these saints, dead people in the ground
doing these strange superstitions, weird
stuff that push people away from
religion,
right?
Correct.
Absolutely.
So they get drawn into this. Do you also
have this experience?
Absolutely. And uh this is one of the
reason it's a big reason why Latinos are
are embracing Islam. You know, there's
uh it's that direct connection. There's
no no in between. There's no
intermediary, you know, there's no
asking other people uh for help and you
know, for example, confession and stuff
like that. So, many Latinos when they
discover the fact that it's just you and
God and you can ask him for whatever
help you need, you know, you can ask him
for forgiveness and it's just direct
your forehead on the ground and that's
it. That's what people are looking for.
Latinos are a big part of that. Um
because they have that sense of faith.
They have that sense of faith from their
upbringing. And the fact that they
discover that they don't there there
isn't any need for hierarchy. You don't
need to be a scholar or or a leader of a
of of a masjid or of a mosque to have
that direct connection. It just be me
and you, the normal guy. Having having
that direct connection, that deep rooted
connection. It's a satisfaction to the
soul. For for sure. That definitely that
definitely connects. Now did you also
some people have a an infinity now they
they a deep love for Jesus peace be upon
him
and they don't know that it's a pillar
of faith to believe in Jesus but now can
you distinguish because people are they
grow up in the Latin countries believing
that he was God literal son of God
right
what do you say about this
when um when I'm talking to Latinos and
um and we're speaking about Islam you
know letting them know about Islam and
we bring up the topic of Jesus because
they ask how do you what is your
relationship with Jesus? What um how
does Islam view Jesus? And we simply
tell them I follow Jesus' example more
now than I did before. I love him more
now than I did before. And then when
they ask, you know, how is that
possible? And we share with them the the
story of Jesus from the Quran, from the
Islamic point of view, and they see that
there is a correlation with what they
know, it's a it it draws them in. And it
draw it's in it's an attention grabber.
It draws them in and want wanting to
know more. And especially when we
explain to him explain to them the fact
that we believe that Jesus was a
messenger and prophet and we clarify
from our point of view the the
understanding of of this this concept of
the tr trinity. As Muslims we don't we
don't believe in that because we don't
associate Jesus as part of God or or one
of of three. We believe him as a man who
came with this message just like all the
other prophets and messengers. And for
the mind, it's simpler to grab. It's
just an easier concept to understand.
And they begin to because they already
have that love for him, they realize
Muslims also have that love and they
actually play the part, you know, and so
they begin to draw more into into that
aspect and and learn more about Islam.
There [snorts] was a famous football
player, a soccer player that just
accepted Islam and he gave his 13
reasons of why he became Muslim and he
said Islam actually u guided me well uh
he actually what would he said exactly
what was it that Jesus
um led me to Islam that's what it was
Jesus led me to Islam so then he gives
examples when Muslims see each other
they greet each other how Jesus greeted
peace be unto you the example you gave
of his mother blessed mother wearing the
the veil
and more so the worship of only God
alone that's also in the Bible but then
someone says why don't I just follow the
Bible and just leave off the things that
I don't like from there and stick where
I'm at
right well when it comes to the way the
way I tell people and I had this
conversation actually with a coworker
the other day is um
there's no doubt that even even
Christian scholars will say that the
that the Bible historically doesn't is
not a proven fact. It's not it hasn't
been preserved just the way the way the
Quran was had many authors and some
sometimes you don't even know who the
author's name was. So for someone an
individual to take that book and say
this is an authentic book. It's very
difficult to and no Christian scholar
will admit to that fact. They say it's
just divine in divine inspiration,
divine words. Um, it's it's something
for the soul, but we don't want just
something to have that that's based on
faith. We want something that's concrete
too that's based on facts. And with
Islam, you get best of both worlds. It's
a matter of having faith, but you also
have the factual point that gives you
that shity that this is a religion from
God and it has been preserved. And a big
example is [snorts] the story of Jesus,
the story of Mary, Moses, and all these
historical figures that you find in
Latino religions, whatever faith they
follow, they they find that and they
begin to ask themselves, well, let me
look into Islam. And alhamdulillah, many
many are accepting Islam.
It's the updated version now.
Updated. It's it's just a continuation.
It's as some people say, it's it's the
last chapter, right? It's the it's the
last end of it. And it's a clarification
for those questions that many people
have. The common person will ask
themsel, you know, well, what about what
about the Trinity? How do you explain
that? And if you're left just with with
with someone telling you, well, you just
have to believe. For me, it's it's hard
like you can't just I can't just
believe. If and and know I used to tell
myself, if this is God's divine word,
his his religion, the religion
everybody's supposed to follow, the
universal religion, then why is it so
difficult to understand? Why isn't it
just clear-cut? When you look at Islam,
alhamdulillah, it's, you know, 1 plus 1
is two, 2 plus two is four. It's clear.
It's the way it is. And um and many
people who give themselves the time, who
open their minds and hearts to it, they
will understand that fact.
It's the way of life that has no more
updates to it. It's been, you know, you
get the phone, the iPad, it keeps
updating, updating, and if you want to
go back to a private version, you can't
even use it anymore.
But Islam, there's no more update. It's
the seal. It's the seal. It's it
but and and it's it's a beautiful thing.
And you know, one one great thing is um
from many Latinos is that there's a
balance. You know, Allah says in the
Quran that uh verily we have made this
nation a balanced nation. So there's no
need for you to be a specific title,
have a specific title like for example a
priest or a nun to have a level of
religiosity.
you know there you don't have to go to
extremes and abandon the world to to be
very religious. No. Islam they teaches
us balance. And for Latinos when they
realize wow I don't have to be extreme
in my belief. I just have to worship God
alone and do what he has commanded. My
five prayers my fasting pay if I can the
the charity make you know if I can
make the pilgrimage if I can. And then
that is enough for people. and they
begin to realize that
because of that balance, they want to
embrace that. That's that's a true way
of of being able to connect with Allah.
And I'm I'm sure you're starting to have
an infinity to this. It makes sense.
Absolutely.
It makes sense. It's common sense.
Worship the creator, not the creation.
Deep love for Jesus. But he was a mighty
messenger. And never ever did he say in
any version of the Bible, worship him or
take him as a literal son of God. He was
a servant of God, calling people to
worship God. That's it. We got some more
to talk about with you on the Dean Show.
You're not going anywhere, are you? I'm
going.
We'll be right back. Inshallah. Don't go
anywhere.
Please subscribe to the Dean Show.
Follow us on our official Facebook and
Twitter pages in the links below. Please
also help support the Dean Show by
making a donation in the link below.
Back here on the Dean Show. Now, we
originally started talking about the
roots.
The Latinos have roots in Islam.
Yes,
African-Americans have roots in Islam.
Humanity has roots in Islam because the
first man who was created, Adam, he was
neither a Jew or a Christian, but he
submitted himself to God. Abraham, he
didn't submit to anyone in creation. He
didn't even hear in any of these
religions. But when he was told to do
what? Submit to the will of God. That's
Islam. Isn't Is that not what it is?
Absolutely.
So, let's go back a little bit to Spain
where now you had the Muslims. They were
actually the superpowers of the world.
Yes.
And can you take take uh because most
people it's a very amazing uh topic and
and and many people don't know about you
know the the comfort that Jews and
Christians and humanity was really you
know at a different level at that time
right you know it's um historically and
we know as Muslims that after after the
uh the death of the prophet peace be
upon him many of his companions took it
upon themselves to start propagating the
message of Islam and they took it to all
the four corners of the earth And not
too long after his death, the about 70
80 years, Muslims took it to Spain and
it was led by a man named Tarbin Zed.
And he took the he took Islam to Spain.
And with the purpose of course of
spreading Islam and we know Islam, we
said Islam is peace. Islam is
surrendering to Allah. And when you see
the uh the impact that Islam had in
Spain, 780 years of of uh of governance
and the amount of contribution that
Muslims made to that society, I mean
medicine, agriculture, irrigation,
engineering, I mean you have everything
that came from that education,
universities um during that period when
when other other uh ethnicity or other
religions were in the dark ages. I mean
you had uh uh the society flourishing
and the people who were within that
society also benefited Jews and
Christians that were living within that
society. They benefited from that as
well and they lived amongst the Muslims
for almost 800 years in peace benefiting
from those riches that Allah had
provided them because of the faith that
they were establishing there. And um and
even after the the the the caliphate or
the tapifas they fell for whatever
reason you know they the the Christians
they came and they took that over um
still you'll find it that Fernadan and
Isabella when they sent Christopher
Columbus to the Americas they sent them
with Muslim ships ships that were owned
by Muslims Muslim navigators using
Muslim tool Islamic tools or Muslim
tools that were for for navigating. And
when they came here they came here with
Muslims. So what happens if if Muslims
also were here with with Columbus and
whoever else was here obviously they
begin establishing their cure their
culture and their customs etc. So Islam
has, you know, dipped his hand dipped
its hand in in everything,
alhamdulillah, by Allah's will. And
that's one of the beautiful things. And
and many people don't know that. Many
people don't realize how how impactful
Islam was for 800 years. And the level
of peace that it brought to anybody,
whether you were a Jew, Christian, even
a even non-religious, you didn't have
any denomination and Muslim. So it's an
an amazing thing. And when people
realize that, they can see true Islam at
its at its essence.
You have some Latinos families because
it's spreading so quickly,
they end up seeing their daughter who
was out there being promiscuous. She was
at the nightclubs. She was doing all
sorts of things, maybe the son also.
And you know what? They really didn't
raise havoc. But now she came home and
she don't want to live that life
anymore. She don't want to be used and
abused by men. She don't want to just be
be a sex object, sex toy. And now she's
covered her modesty. They see this as
something strange. She's they see her
bowing down her head five times a day.
And now they start to, you know,
correlate the two and they see like,
look, Muslims, my daughter, oh my god,
how do you say oh my god in Spanish?
What's going on? Terroristo, what's
happening here? Right.
Have you seen this?
Absolutely. And it's and I think it's
just of u it's due more for to negative
information that is fed through medias.
Um you'll find that many many Latinos
who embrace Islam they go through that
and for example and when I told you
before I when I accepted Islam was
through a difficult during a difficult
time the nation was going through a
difficult time on 911 and my dad was the
same way. My dad, he said, you know, why
convert now? Muslims are are are being
harassed. Why go through that? And many
women who go who embrace Islam and are
leaving those old lifestyles of fun and
games and amusements and drinking and
partying, all that stuff to a a life
full of of peace and and the fact is
that they embra they embrace it fully,
covering themselves. Um the parents,
yeah, they they tend to not understand
it. Um and more so it's just a lack of
education. And I think it's a great
opportunity for us to share with them
and teach them about Islam. But no doubt
that you find that there.
Um, you know, but it is what it is. And
I think it's just a great opportunity
for us.
So a good example to a true story is
where this actually is happening
and in one case particular the daughter
starts wearing the modest dress. Her
character starts getting better. She's
not coming home late at night anymore
and she's developing herself to be just
a better human being because that's
obviously what Islam teaches.
Now, we know that there's a lot of
temptations out there, struggles. So,
she starts to slip up. She starts going
back
to some of her old ways and she ended up
taking the hijab off.
Yeah.
She was at peace when she was practicing
praying. Now, whatever happened, she
kind of drifted off. the parents now are
actually they're not Muslim but they're
begging her to go back right
to where she was right and she kind of
stuck in between two worlds now you know
uh this the the the lifestyle that's
calling but she's miserable now
right she's very unhappy and obviously
because you know when when you leave the
medication for the soul when you
disconnect your heart from its maker
become sick again you get
you become sick again
yeah but my point here was the family
now in the beginning how do You say that
again. Oh my god.
Adios.
Adio. Adios. Or they're like, "Oh my
god." But now they've seen it in action,
Islam in action, the right way. They
want her back where she was in Islam.
You know, and it's it's interesting that
you say that. It's because in the
beginning when
when they reject her wanting to be a
good, righteous Muslim is because of
those things that are unknown. But then
when they see her falling back into
those
into the wrong path, obvious Latinos in
general, they know what's right and
what's wrong. Even just general, it's a
general rule in humanity. We know what's
right and what's wrong. Lying is wrong.
Stealing is wrong. We know that from
just our own natural disposition that is
wrong. And Latinos, the hard part is
they don't want them to leave their
cultural, you know, upbringing. I don't
want you to be Muslim because then
you're going to break the family ties.
But in reality, actually, Islam closes
them. and it's just a matter of they
think that they're not going to be able
to be part of that that that social
spectrum again. A big issue uh you know
they they don't want to partake in that
fun or anything like that. And it's and
it's amazing how a family member or
family members when they do see them
slipping they like put them back on
check to put to to get back on the right
path you know. Um, and again, I think
the most important thing in this
opportunity for the sister and for the
family is to have other Muslims, Latino
Muslims share with them about Islam, you
know, teach them about Islam so that a
situation like this doesn't happen.
You've seen families take uh kick their
kids out because they embrace Islam. But
it's an opportunity for us to open those
doors of communication, educate people
about what Islam is, and hopefully make
sure that, you know, things like that
don't happen. You know,
your organization, before we cut out,
tell the world a little bit about what
you do and your organization, how they
can get a hold of you if they want you
to come out and speak at an event for
Latinos.
Well, we started a a small nonprofit
organization. It's called Ablamos Islam.
And uh we we've been doing this for for
quite some time focusing on increasing
the resources um about Islam in Spanish.
So everything we do is strictly in
Spanish from translating um articles,
providing articles, videos, uh classes
like we're doing here at um at a local
masjid and even offering uh books for
children. One of our biggest projects is
creating resources for children, Latino
children. And as a matter of fact,
during Ramadan, we had a great campaign
uh raising some funds through donations.
We were able to send children's books to
about 10 countries um 10 Latino
countries so that they can have those
books for their Eid. And so this is one
of the things that we're doing, the
small little um task that we've we've
embarked on. And if they want to know
more about it, they can visit our
website at uh www.ablamosislam.com
or ablamosislamnos.com.
and they can email us at ablamos
Islamgmail if they want to know more
about it and if they want to help. Um
we're open for suggestions and comments
and we're trying to do the best we can.
Thank you very much. How do you say
peace be with you in Spanish?
That's what it's
it people of peace calling people to
peace. Thank you very much.
And there you have it. The roots that we
want to go back to the original roots.
We talked about African-Americans going
back to Africa. their roots ka kinte he
called on the creator Allah and that
religion he was upon was the submission
and surrender to the creator not the
creation now we talked about look the
Latinos fastest growing way of life in
the world is Islam and they're a part of
it they've clicked on common sense tells
them this more so the heart connects to
this right and what stops most people
from really taking the matter seriously
look if you end up somewhere on the moon
you want to know why am I here
what am I doing in this world just
taking all of the material things that
are out there and just piling up money,
money, and at the end it's like a
monopoly game. Think about it. You're
chasing all the money, but at the end
when the game is finished, that money is
worth what? It's worth nothing. You
leave it all behind. So, it's time for a
spiritual awakening. You've had all the
fun and games and toys of this world,
but the heart is empty. Islam fills that
void void. That's right. And you got one
shot to get it right. You can't just do
it like Burger King your way. It's God's
way. It's the creator's way. We will
inshallah I'll see you next time.
Subscribe if you haven't already.
Continue to tune in to the Dean Show.
We'll see you next time. Until then,
peace be with you.