I was raised as an atheist when I was 15
I started asking questions why are we
here I wanted a simple life so I read
the Bible again and again and again some
bits like a hundred times I went to
several churches and what I saw they was
not practicing what was written in their
book like you have the Bible the Old
Testament and then the gospels and then
you have this whole bunch of other stuff
which seems to say a different message
to all the stuff that's in there before
and it seems to put a Different Twist on
it and it wasn't Jesus saying these
things peace be upon
Him Islam is not for just a bunch of
intellectuals it's for everybody it's
not just for the Imam it's for the whole
of humanity worshiping him the way he
told us to worship him I checked out
Islam I believed it was the truth and
alhamdulillah became a
[Music]
Muslim in
aldd May the peace mercy and blessings
of God Almighty be upon you I'd like to
invite onto the stage brother Omar
Dexter from the UK
[Applause]
brother Omar Dexter comes from Derby in
the United Kingdom he reverted to Islam
approximately 6 years
ago he graduated in physics from
Nottingham University in
1998 brother Omar worked in the
automotive industry for companies such
as BMW Jaguar Land Rover and Ford as a
scientist and
manager after returning from Hajj 3
years ago
he became the vice chairman of his local
mosque in rugby UK he's involved in
various charity work and also many
consultative roles he enjoys exercise
especially mountaineering and amateur
gymnastics and also having spent some
time with him throughout the conference
I can attest to the fact that he also
has a very cheeky sense of humor so
inshah I'd like to invite for his talk
today which is entitled how I came to
Islam by Brother Omar
start and you've said i' got a cheeky
sense of humor thanks for the
introduction now the question I think
you all one to ask to start
with here's what's the hardest thing
about coming to Islam see the prayers
the fasting the
Hajj if it's compulsory upon
you the truth is is it's eating Curry
for breakfast that's the hardest thing
there's nothing else there's no other
hardship in Islam
alhamdulillah first of all I'm honored
to be invited here to speak I feel a
little bit out of my debt
alhamdulillah Islam is not for just a
bunch of intellectuals it's for
everybody
it's not just for the IM it's for the
whole of
humanity
alhamdulillah mashallah that's what
Allah would
want what does God want for us he wants
the best of things for us he wants us to
be United on the truth worshiping him
the way he told us to worship Him living
together in peace with each other
inshallah and people think so hard about
marriage looking for
Perfection too fat too thin two eyes two
ears how much more should we consider
the Eternal resting place of our soul do
we want to be in Paradise for an
eternity
AA and Paradise for
eternity
inshallah do we want to be in Hell a
place of Torment torment for an eternity
it's quite a while me
the stakes couldn't be
higher okay then I'll give you the short
version of my
story I checked out Islam I believed it
was the truth and alhamdulillah became a
Muslim not what it's not fair I'm being
heckled now from the audience
alhamdulillah that's more like it that's
what I wanted
masallah I was raised as an
atheist now that means that you don't
believe in any
God and to be honest I was a very
naughty
boy I was always fighting and coming
home with letters from the school
complaining about me but my dad he was
like the Kung Fu instructor so it was
okay he' just say did you win say yeah
said that's okay then no
problem it was a life of melting things
letting down tires
ding knots in things and you on like a
wet towel you know where you can like do
this and make it like a whip it was like
that as well I said it was very
naughty but I don't do that stuff
anymore maybe except for the towel only
above the
waist and uh while it's on camera I just
want to say
Mickey I'm so sorry about your swimming
drunks it was me so insh Allah will
forgive me now said it
inshallah I did what I thought was
right and that was based upon my
personal
opinions and what society around me
found
acceptable looking back now it doesn't
seem like a very smart move I was never
a trouble starter but always seemed to
be like the trouble
finisher and it was not necessarily a
proportional response as we see today in
the world Little Things big
response $5,000 bombs being dropped on
$5
t0 not a proportional
response not the price is an
issue anyway what I saw around me was
very
bad and I question
Society all they telling lies drinking
alcohol girlfriends instead of
wives so many people people breaking
their
promises and not caring when they broke
their
promises there's one thing to say
inshallah with
intention and another one to say out of
habit with no intention it's a
difference when I was 15 I started
asking questions the kind of questions
like why are we here and I think around
the world a lot of people do this I was
not the only
person I wanted a simple life
and I wonder why the world was in such a
mess so I read the
Bible and I didn't want it to be true
when I started I just thought I'll check
out religion with an open mind but I was
really looking for a simple life and
thinking if I can eliminate religion
alhamdulillah it's one less thing to
worry about that's what I thought before
I read
it but I was also seeking for guidance a
set of Standards is it just me who did
what I
thought but I thought was right based
upon my opinions which were probably
based upon the society around
me it didn't seem very
smart so I read the Bible again and
again and again some bits like a h
hundred
times now I'm not like Dr Zaki Nike I
can't tell you the chapter and the verse
but I pretty much know what's in there
so don't if it comes to any questions I
don't think we got time today but
another day if it comes to questions
I'll just talk in general so the detail
stuff somebody else does that
inshah and I got very scared I got so
scared because I realized I've been
behaving in a way which was not
acceptable to God and it was not on no
more Tower whipping letting tires down
it's my fault I got have to pay the
price as well as the melting stuff and
the knots
I did believe that the Bible contains
some truth even though upon reading it
and I was the kind of person that reads
it like I've got a calculator with me
and it's saying various numbers and and
it's not quite matching up and I'm
typing him in and seeing if it makes
sense but even with the
contradictions and
inconsistencies like Parts which don't
seem to match I still thought it was the
truth I thought I can't ignore this book
so I reformed my
character and at the same time my family
they had a spiritual
awakening I thought I can't ignore this
book so I reformed my
character and at the same time my family
they had a spiritual
awakening it's like somebody had just
switched on a light
I started to well I did well at school
before but I was less
naughty I didn't go to school much but I
was less
naed I never got involved in a church
because I went to several churches and
what I saw they was they was not
practicing what was written in their
book they seem to like you have the
Bible the Old Testament and then the
gospels and then you have this whole
bunch of other stuff which seems to say
a different message to all the stuff
that's in there before and it seems to
put a Different Twist on
it like like it's come from somewhere
I'm not quite sure where like someone
seem to invented
it and it wasn't Jesus saying these
things peace be upon him it was somebody
else they just don't seem to be
following their book it says in the
Quran if only the Jews and the
Christians would follow what's written
in their
book so I started college and I was
unhappy
I dropped out I
quit I was looking for something better
I just wasn't
satisfied have you ever heard the
expression the grass is always greener
on the other side is it just from the UK
or everybody hear that
one
ATA it means you think there's something
better out there than what you've
got so I wanted to travel the world and
going to find
it so I thought hang on hang on even
though I've dropped out to college
I'm supposed to be a smart and clever
the teacher said I
was when I went to school so I joined
the Merchant Navy I thought I'll find a
way of getting paid to travel the world
I thought
alhamdulillah and it started with one
month's PRC training at the Glasgow
College of nautical
studies now really it was like fire
training sea survival water stuff that
sort of thing
basically they put me in a burning box
and then tried to drown me and then said
I was
ready now this
institution is based in a place called
Scotland anybody heard of
Scotland
AA based in the very northern part of
the
UK but the part of the Town it was in
was very
dangerous in one month there's that
three bodies found dead bodies not just
like people falling asleep three dead
bodies found within 100 yards of my
room the locals would come to the
windows and they got balls at the
windows on the ground floor
alhamdulillah was on the first floor
they have machetes poking through the
bars and knives it's in Scotland in the
UK in the dangerous part of town it's
changed now it's different the police
used to patrol it twice a day with
helicopters it was the kind of area
where people drive around it not through
it
people walk around in
gangs it's good to be a good runner and
a good fighter at that time because we
don't know which you're going to
need it felt like survival
training and it was good for what good
training for what was to come so I left
the UK from
Liverpool heading for the Caribbean I
thought I leave all this behind
alhamdulillah nice and
warm winter coming
I thought I could manage in the
Caribbean over the
winter I was on a 28,000 ton container
ship now the Merchant Navy it's not like
the military they haven't got guns and
stuff maybe a flare
gun they carry cargo around the world so
it's not like press
ups for my colleagues is more interested
in
drinking it just didn't feel
right anyway we cross the Atlantic Ocean
and at the front of the ship when you
look over there's these like fish mid
ocean they jump out the water and fly
and it was like sort of Glide for a bit
and then back in the water it was very
exciting never seen anything like
it just a feeling of excitement and
freedom like I left behind like what I
saw was a load of problems not my
problems society's problems and I was
ready for a fresh start new place never
been there a load of new places and I
got an open mind
with a positive outlook very
optimistic it was getting warmer every
day we was going through different time
zones setting your watch as you cross it
the Atlantic every
day I was heading for the Caribbean
South America and Central America it was
very exciting there's so many places
I've been to and I've forgotten most of
them so if I get some of the details
wrong of specific places forgive me I
don't want to be sued by like Haiti or
Venezuela or
something so I start off in Central
America it was in
Guatemala I thought what a humble people
they're very friendly but always it's
like eyes down minding their own
business I thought what a great place I
could like it here I could move here
only later I learned of all the mass
murders there that a genocide that
happened there not long before the
people were
grieving and I went to South America in
v Venezuela half the town was on fire
but I told it's normal you expect this
it's South
America I was with
Tony from
Tobago my
workmate it was very very hot maybe not
just because half the town was on fire
it was just hot so we got an orange
drink and in all fairness it did look a
bit like a hand grenade it's like you
know like a round bottle but it wasn't
it was orange juice
now the first warning there was a boy
running up a hill like very steep like
this like he's running for his life and
I turned around expecting to see a tiger
or something but it wasn't we don't have
tigers in Mumbai and the next thing
there's
gunfire pistol shooting I know what this
sounds like I used to shoot
pistols but that was before I was a
Muslim don't do that
anymore
alhamdulillah next thing I've got a
shotgun pointed at me and the guy's 8 ft
away from me roughly I didn't measure it
but it was too far to grab the gun and
too close to run so I just
froze I think he thought I got hang
grenade that's why he singled me out
with the with the shotgun it's
like didn't feel very safe the only
thing going through my mind I just
thought it's too late to pray it's too
late we don't know when that moment is
coming
when we will be the end of our
life one time I fell
overboard and I shouted I'm out stupid
thing to say I should have shouted help
it's like I'm playing Cricket or
something but you don't know how you
will react when that moment happens and
something happens so unexpectedly you
don't know how you'll react and that's
how I reacted I thought too late to pray
I felt like I was not ready to die like
I got things in life to discover and
work out why I was
here anyway he looked at me in the eye
and he paused cuz I'm a bit taller than
the average in South America like like
like this not like pygmies but a bit
shorter than me and he paused and he
turned and shot somebody and then he
shot somebody else and somebody else and
somebody else and somebody else it's one
of these guns with a like
this and later on I found my family back
home in the UK I said did you hear about
the war gone off in Venezuela all this
stuff had
happened I asked about news
reports and all it said was no it just
said student demonstrations in
Venezuela that's all it said five people
was killed that day with shotguns you
imagine how many people are
injured I had the realization then the
other news
stories they exaggerated some little
things and made a big deal of it and
they minimized other things that they
they thought was not
important it felt like the media was so
unreliable like they want to sway
people's opinions about what's right and
wrong and it felt like a big lie and I
just felt sick I'd become very
discontented with the world it was like
an epidemic more places I went to I
thought what a miserable and sinful
State of Affairs how much of the world
is like this
this maybe God was drawing my attention
to the worst of attributes showing to me
the worst of
things that's not to mention all the
bribery and the smuggling and the
Pirates there wasn't too many but it's a
little
story the drugs
Torpedoes magnetized to the bottom of
the ship to take across the Atlantic for
drug smuggling so the diver would come
down the other end and take it off
I started to learn what the world was
really
like that's not to mention the Sharks
that's another story as
well and I just despaired about the
world but you see the recipe for this
awful
situation it was alcohol and adultery
that's what was going
off Allah says to us stay away from
these things not just don't do it he
says stay away from them
don't come near to
it like alcohol don't buy it don't sell
it don't go in alcohol environment don't
carry it onto the subject of
adultery
Brothers as we know eyes down if you're
not married get the intention to get
married nobody said inshallah are you
all married
then stop shaving your beards say insh
no that's just for the
men sisters eyes down as well properly
dressed inshallah mashallah Mumbai I'm
very
impressed lots of pther
alhamdulillah you can tell where the
Muslim areas are by the ladies not the
men I'm sorry guys please
beards Allah knows
best so back to the sisters help the
brothers he down
make a firm intention to get married if
you're not already married make a firm
intention to stay married if you married
inshallah now back to the Caribbean
another place was
hati the home of Voodoo black
magic obviously in Islam all magic is
forbidden it's a test from Allah and we
have to stay away from it So eventually
I'm back in the UK I got the child
frightened there but I called it a W
statue on the Customs form I thought I
get in trouble time to get out the
Merchant Navy I thought I had enough all
the places I thought I'd go to and see
something better no it was worse even
worse than what I'd saw
before but I got to get the captain's
permission to leave because in Islam we
have to keep our promises and
responsibilities very important after
some time had
passed I did some menial jobs and after
so many broken promises in
society I became obsessed with the
glitter of the world fancy caruse Rolex
watch striving in my career looking for
promotions aspiring for
positions workaholic not alcoholic
workaholic wasn't that bad told you was
a good boy it seemed like the more
people around me that lied the better
they got
on if they get the promises to the
important people and broke the promises
to to the the small people the
unimportant people the better they did
I hated its
attitude sometimes it seems like if he
told the truth you was hated for
it I was not contented at all I
understand why so many superstars commit
suicide because they see what's above
them and they start to reach the Heights
and you see there's not much
left obviously suicide forbidden in
Islam but I was on a business trip went
to Dubai I saw the best attributes of
the Muslims
basically I was happy to become a
Muslim very very happy because look at
the attributes of the Christians this is
what the Muslims are doing so I'd like
to share the rest of the story some of
the time maybe
inshallah for listening did you enjoy it
[Applause]