[Music]
salace peaceful
peaceful
alhamdulillah which means peace be unto
you welcome to another episode of the
dean show you want to know about Islam
you've come to the right place you want
to know about Muslims you've come to the
source our next guest is the author of
some very unique books we're going to be
talking to him we're going to be talking
about how he came to Islam sit tight you
don't want to go nowhere with our next
guest coming up Dr Brown we'll be right
back on the dean
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show peaceful peaceful peaceful peace
peaceful peaceful
peaceful Dr Brown thank you for being
with us on De show us a treat my
pleasure pleasure Dr Brown or officer
Brown no no Dr Brown okay so the people
uh our audience uh just got to read a
little bit about you why don't you just
briefly tell us they got to see that you
had graduated you're a doctor you were
an officer a retired uh major in the uh
Air Force is this correct tell us a
little bit about this well I don't know
if you really can say retired because
that in most people's minds means that
they spent 20 years in the military yeah
I was 16 years 8 years in active
reserves and 8 years active duty but uh
the bottom line is that I'm an
opthalmologist I'm a specialist in
Cataract and refractive surgery I'm the
medical director of a major Eye Center
um during the last 10 years I've
authored a number of books uh about
Islam
I first became Muslim about uh 14 years
ago and uh in the first uh in the first
few years uh it was just accelerated
learning uh I got to a point where I
realized that there was
basically um an absence of literature uh
with regard to certain subjects and I
felt that that that that void needed to
be filled and that's what started me on
writing so over the last 10 years I
wrote a series of Five Books uh many
readers might know the first one it's
called the first and final commandment
um however I have now Rewritten that
into two books one is called misg goded
and the other is called called goded
those are basically volumes one and
volumes two of the first and final
commandment um the latest book the one
I'm most excited about is the eighth
scroll and the reason that I'm excited
and I feel others should be as well is
that that's actually an action adventure
it's a novel and uh it's a very exciting
very fast-paced book and uh it's a book
that people will read because they enjoy
it but at the same time they'll take
home a deeper
message uh now that's about it let's
talk about people are excited because
you mentioned the word excited I'm sure
they're excited to hear how you came to
Islam talk about this talk about your
past religious experiences and what led
you to Islam sure actually you know it's
uh it's kind of a fun topic for me um
because most people assume that I was
Christian before I became Muslim and I
have to correct them I have to tell them
no um I I was trying very hard to be a
Christian I had tried for many years to
be a Christian in many different ways
and it just never worked out for me and
I get a lot of funny looks when I say
that um but the the bottom line is that
what happened was that uh I started on a
a spiritual search
uh about 19 years
ago I had a daughter who was born with a
uh with what's called a coarctation of
the aorta it's a uh it's a lethal
problem meaning that a child born with
this condition most often dies and they
they usually die in a particularly bad
way meaning that they have open heart
surgery and then a few years later they
repeat the open heart surgery and then a
few years later they repeat it as the
child is growing they have to increase
the size of the graft and in the end
these children die so this was the first
time when I got the
news uh of her condition this is the
first time in my life I felt I had no
control I I couldn't do anything about
this situation every time before in my
life when there was a problem I dealt
with it on my own if I needed more money
I worked harder if this needed fixing I
found somebody or I fixed it myself Etc
ET Etc and everybody knows what I'm
talking
about when this baby was born her name
was Hannah she went straight to the
Intensive Care Unit her body from here
down was almost the color of my suit
closer to the color of your suit just
kind of a Dusky gunmetal blue because
her body was not getting oxygen her body
was literally Starving in front of her
eyes uh oxygen starved in front of our
eyes and and that part of her body was
was literally dying
and uh when I saw that like I said it
was the first time in my life that I
needed to turn to some um greater power
um I was atheist up until then I had
been raised in a family that was
basically Quaker one of the Protestant
sects but not
practicing and I myself had never taken
on any religion so I had to leave the
Intensive Care Unit because they brought
in in a team of doctors a team of
specialists in the field and uh while
they were doing their thing I just went
to the prayer room and for the first
time in my life I really prayed and I
prayed kind of the typical atheist
prayer there's a there's a prayer called
the prayer of the skeptic the prayer of
the skeptic goes like this oh God if
there is a God save my soul if I have a
soul okay that's the prayer of the
skeptic uh and most atheists when they
pray they pray in this way they say oh
God if you are there you know because
they're not quite sure and uh that's
basically what I prayed I just said oh
God if you're there I don't know if
you're there or not but if you are I
need help and uh I made a promise to my
Creator on that day I promised that if
he would save the life of my
child and then guide me to the religion
that was most pleasing to
him U that I would follow and that was
the that was the simple promise and I
and uh I was only away for maybe about
15 minutes 15 or 20 minutes but when I
went back into the Intensive Care Unit
my daughter was on the other side of of
the Intensive Care Unit when I entered
the door and looked across the room the
doctors raised their faces from my from
my
daughter and I could see right away
something had
changed uh their faces
were mystified as if they didn't really
understand what was going on maybe a
little bit
shocked
uh when uh when I walked up to them they
simply told me that she was going to be
okay and
um that she wouldn't um you know she
wouldn't
die and uh sure enough she went back to
being a completely normal child in all
respects I mean you know normal quirks
but but completely healthy she didn't
have surgery she didn't need
medication um just uh her condition
completely reversed and here's the thing
we had we had an ultrasound film of her
heart
beforehand and we had an ultrasound film
of her heart after and before she had
the problem I told you about after it
was completely gone Stone Cold normal
and the doctors I remember the doctors
sort of went through through an
explanation trying to make sense of it
to me trying to make sense of it to
themselves and I feel that they bought
that explanation but I remember standing
there looking at them just thinking you
know I know that explanation works for
you but it just doesn't work for me I
that's I mean I pray prayed this
prayer and I just have to believe that
this was the hand of my
Creator so I knew he had made good on
his promise and I had to make good on
mine so that started me on a religious
search and uh I was I thought I would
find the truth in Christianity I studied
Judaism first that led me to studying
Christianity I thought I'd find the
truth there for years years I tried to
convince myself I tried to become
Christian I mean I went to 7eventh Day
Adventist Mormon Quaker Southern Baptist
Roman Catholic Greek or Orthodox I I
don't know exactly how many different uh
sects how many different churches I went
to trying to find the truth of
Christianity and I always kept coming up
against the same thing I always kept
liking some part of it but having
trouble with others and when it came
down to the tenants of faith I would
talk to the priests and I would say well
how about this and they couldn't explain
it and how about that and they couldn't
explain that and well what about this
they'd kind of shrug their shoulders and
I would just say well you know thanks
anyway way and move on to the next
congregation um it wasn't until I found
Islam that all of my questions were
answered and it wasn't until I found
Islam that peace entered my heart and I
realized that this was where all of the
POS pieces of the puzzle uh came
together what were some of these I'm
sure the viewers want to know what were
some of these questions that you had
that weren't uh they weren't able to
answer when you were going to some of
these higher ups in the uh Church well
you find you'll find these as Central
themes in my books U but the simplest
ones were uh were simply that I didn't
find Foundation to the tenants of Faith
okay like for for example um the Trinity
uh it is not mentioned anywhere in the
Bible you nowhere do you find the word
Trinity um it was a doctrine that was
derived 300 years after the time of
Jesus in my simple mind I just thought
well if this were a true Doctrine you
would have thought that Jesus Christ
would have spoken about it
explicitly so I I would ask for
justification you know how do the
Christians
justify um the concept of the Trinity
and they would always go to uh certain
passages you know where Jesus was quoted
as having said you know I and the father
are one or uh there are three on Earth
you know the the Father the Son and the
Holy Spirit and uh I I would say okay
fine that's written in the Bible but
here are the arguments that cancel those
you know for example the trinitarian
formula the strongest evidence is is
this quotation about the Father the Son
and the Holy Spirit and that is not
written in the original manuscripts that
was a marginal note that that was
written by a scribe into the into the
margin of one of the manuscripts which
was later copied into the uh into the
scripture and uh so I would point this
out to priests and you know the
frustrating thing is I would talk to
them and they would finish the sentence
for me I I would say this thing that you
just told me it's not in the Scripture
it was a margin and they would say a
marginal note added by a scribe yeah
okay we know that okay well the next
point is and I'd be thinking Subhan
Allah if you know this is not the Bible
if you know that it's an
insertion an illegitimate insertion why
are you preaching it as if it's gospel
truth um there are many instances like
this and you can read about this in my
books but one of one of the biggest
things that Disturbed me was that I
believed in Jesus Christ as a man and as
a prophet so I would ask them prove to
me where Jesus Christ is God or even a
Son of God mhm and again we would we
would go through that explanation they
would uh they would say their peace and
I would say
look 88 times in the Bible 88 times
Jesus Christ calls himself the son of
man yes nowhere does he call himself the
Son of God nowhere now there are a
couple of places where it's mistr ated
mhm or it's spoken of metaphorically but
that is very different from literal
meaning and I I just pointed out that
out to them I said you know this place
here this is metaphorical this place
here this is mistranslation and again
they they would finish the sentences for
me they yeah yeah okay we know it's
taken out of context and so on and I'd
be looking at them thinking well you
know who's who's the one who's supposed
to know the scripture here you know I'm
a novice at this they're a priest um so
so now if somebody didn't do his
homework like you did you can see how
some we can see how somebody can kind of
get LED in a way that they want to lead
that
individual you know uh exactly I mean I
I think that the Bible itself is it's
difficult to understand MH um but there
there are some very simple lessons that
I think people can take home of it
and it's stressing those lessons I think
that brings out the truth one of the one
of the central lessons to me was that
you have to make a choice Jesus Christ
and Paul taught oppos opposite things
yes now you can you can Rectify this in
different ways but in a nutshell Jesus
Christ taught that God is one three
times in the New Testament he is quoted
as having said you know no Israel Thy
Thy Lord is one God okay one God that's
what Jesus Christ said okay on the other
hand Paul and the Pauline theologians
who followed in his wake developed the
concept of the
Trinity that's one point when it came to
the law Jesus Christ was a rabbi he
followed Old Testament law that's why we
call him Rabbi Jesus he taught Old
Testament law Paul came along and said
it doesn't apply anymore he canceled the
law Jesus Christ taught that he was the
son of man others taught that he was the
son of God mhm Jesus Christ taught atone
taught accountability that everybody is
accountable for their own actions again
he was an orthodox Jew it's written in
the Old Testament that no son shall bear
the iniquity of his father no son shall
bear his iniquity of the father and yet
the Crux of Christianity is that we all
bear the sin of
Adam how do you how do you make these
two concepts fit well Paul did it just
by saying justif justification by by
faith all you have to do is believe and
you will be justified in whatever you do
okay and it goes on and it goes on but
the point the point is that if you take
the teachings of Jesus and you take the
teachings of Paul these are opposite I I
haven't found a single instance where
they were the
same and this is why you find Paul and
James the uh you know alleged brother of
Jesus uh at odds with one another in the
Bible and it's also why we in our minds
should should recognize this conflict
and make a choice mhm you have to make a
choice if two people are teaching
opposite things you have to choose which
one you're going to follow yes now I
believe I believe we should choose to
follow the
prophet trinitarian church for the last
1700 years what they what they have said
is take these two teachings even though
they're opposites and put them together
and make them work mhm Jesus said God is
one Paul says God God is three so God is
one and he's three Jesus said the Old
Testament law applied Paul said it was
canceled so we'll take what the last
person said the last person said is
canceled so we'll kind of we'll kind of
try to make that work against the
teachings of Jesus so I take this the
top part of the suit that fits the pant
don't fit you know put it together it
doesn't fit at all well you know it's
different ways of looking at it each
person has to find their own formula but
but this is you know we're just talking
about what happened with me I mean just
looked at it and said that doesn't work
for me what works for me is he was a
prophet he's a man I'm going to believe
what he said I'm not going to believe
what the person who canceled his
teachings said and that's that's why I
could never accept Christianity Dr Brown
let's kind of reverse you mentioned
atheism and being uh from a family of
Quaker Protestants I think the majority
of people they can relate to this simple
thing as far as uh being in a Christian
household not practicing Christianity
and you know what many people just doing
their own thing and a lot of people
probably borderline agnostic how were
you living in that time were you just
doing your own thing until that moment
hit where you found out that I need you
know I'm not self-sufficient talk about
this I was living in the way that I
think a lot of um close Christians live
you know I mean people who are close to
Christianity but for one reason or
another they have not fully embraced the
tenants of one particular faith and that
is I I was living with with the golden
rule um do unto others as you would have
them do unto you and the opposite of
that of course is don't do unto others
as you would not want them to do to you
yeah uh so I was basically living
according to Golden Rule I was trying to
live with as sound principles as uh
sound moral principles as I felt I
could uh but I don't think that's such
an unusual experience I think I think I
think in America that's probably the
majority of people uh I think the
majority of people in America are in
this
position where they have foundational
beliefs that they hold on to but they
simply cannot accept the full package of
what they're being taught by any
particular church and what I mean by
that is just that they may have sound
moral values they may have sound
spiritual values um they believe in
certain fundamental things they believe
they believe in God they believe in His
prophets including uh Abraham and
Ishmael isaah Noah Moses
Jesus and they
see uh you know they see certain truths
in the biblical
teachings but then when it comes down to
the tenants of Christian faith they find
maybe points one and two and three they
can accept but other things they find
that they cannot accept so they're
searching they're searching for how to
make sense of all of this and that's the
position I was in until I became Muslim
uh it was Islam that to me made sense of
everything and it was trying to convey
that uh which was the reason behind my
books I always believed in continuity in
the chain of prophethood I always
believed with without it needing to be
explained to me I always believed that
Moses was a prophet and that Jesus was a
prophet I always believed that but when
I found Moses speaking of three prophets
to follow mhm and the Jews are still
waiting for those three prophets this is
no
mystery and then I Found Jesus Christ
speaking of one more Prophet to follow
it raised a very big question in my mind
okay Moses spoke of three prophets to
follow John the Baptist we have to count
as one Jesus Christ we have to count as
two and that leaves a third
and then you find Jesus Christ speaking
of a final prophet and a lot of people
are going to say where did he do that
where did Jesus Christ speak of the
final Prophet read my book and you'll
know but the point is this is why
Christianity is a Messianic religion for
for 2,000 years people have been looking
for the completion of the uh the
prediction and uh and that was the
question in my mind
Moses spoke of three we have two Jesus
spoke of the last one also who is that
last one when I studied the life of
Muhammad peace be upon him and when I
learned about Islam that that fit the
niche for me that made sense and that to
me explained the continuity of the chain
of Revelation up to its completion tell
us Dr Brown we went from atheism to try
to make Christianity fit to Islam they
want to know what happened how did you
st across Islam and accept all the
tenants and the teachings and now you're
a Muslim well uh basically I had all of
these unresolved questions in my
mind I believed in God as one God I
never believed in the Trinity I believed
in Jesus Christ as a man and as the the
man you know the second to last the one
who predicted the final prophet and I
didn't believe in him as God or Son of
God uh I believed in the chain of
prophethood I believed uh in the mercy
of our creator and I believed that our
creator would not leave mankind without
guidance and without definitive guidance
guidance that once a person saw it is
easy to understand and easy to make part
of your
life um I gave up on Christianity MH I
studied and studied and studied until
the point where I I felt uh uh I felt
hopeless basically I felt like I could
not find any Christian sect that
represented my beliefs and a lot of you
out there know exactly what I'm talking
about a lot of you out there are in the
exact same position you have studied you
have looked you have certain beliefs you
know what I'm talking about they you
have not been able to find a church that
that in its completeness embodies those
beliefs and I'm just I'm just telling
you that when I studied in Islam when I
learned about Islam read the Holy Quran
I read a book by Martin Lings called
Muhammad his life based on on the
earliest
teachings and those books just clarified
everything for me that's when I became
Muslim so Dr Brown now uh you're a
Muslim tell us you know many people they
assume that you know Muslim is someone
with a uh you do have a beard but a
turban someone from living in in um Arab
well you do live in
AR but tell us uh some of these
stereotypes some of these misconceptions
people have I'm sure you've dealt with
them but you know we look at you you're
a doctor you know you look like a a a
very uh well addressed a well um
intelligent human being you know who you
know wants what everyone else wants tell
us you know some of the misconceptions
that people have and how this is far
from the truth can you share some of
these things that you've come across
and I think I think the easiest way I
can put it is the observation of one of
my Muslim friends uh when they came to
uh when they came to the west and saw
how we were living in America and how we
were living in England they just said
everything's upside down and uh I can't
put it better everything I feel is
exactly upside down to my understanding
MH you know in the West in the west
Islam is portrayed with immediate a bias
that is no mystery to anybody who has
studied it uh we we were raised I was
raised to believe that Muslims were a
bunch of terrorists riding
camels out in the desert planning on
planning on how next they're going to
destroy western civilization and
uh and uh it it was only learning about
Islam as its true teachings are and
coming to know Muslims and living
amongst them that I just found out as I
said everything's just upside
down look you find good and bad people
everywhere you can't avoid that you find
good and bad people everywhere and it's
from the bad people it's from picking up
on the example of the bad people that
the media can spin things any way it
wants
to uh but the fact of the matter is the
vast majority of people in all walks of
life are basically good people um they
basically want the same things they want
to they want to go to bed at
night knowing that they have a peaceful
night ahead of them with you know in the
security of their homes that they're not
going to be attacked in any particular
way they want to wake up to a morning of
of Hope and promise where they can they
can go out and earn a a decent
livelihood for their family they want to
kiss their kids and send them off to
school knowing that that they're not
going to uh face any kind of uh
persecution or or um or or problems you
know either going or coming they want to
have a normal
life that that is the vast majority of
all Humanity you get a few bad people
the media grabs a hold of that and Spins
it the way they want to and what I found
was just that I just found that
everything I had ever heard was media
spin just trying to make Islam look bad
um and the real truth was that
uh I just I just found that Muslims were
my
family uh the vast majority of them I
felt have softer
Hearts uh better
manners
uh just just more kindness and more of
that uh Humanity that I was looking
for in the
West in the west to me things are
getting harder people's hearts are
getting hardened they're not as generous
with one another um the kindness the
kindness is is disappearing materialism
is taking over uh the tensions the
tensions
of of the rats race of life in the west
is controlling
people and I just found amongst Muslims
the exact opposite I I found these
things I told you and and more and uh
the living example of Islam the living
example of Islam is an example of
modesty it's an example of kindness
generosity
truthfulness and most of all it it's the
it's the example of submission to our
creator and that to me is life the way
it's supposed to be lived it's very
simple I'd like to thank you Dr Brown
for being with us my pleasure you can
visit Dr Brown at level truth.com uh
level truth.com or eth scroll.com.tr
of Islam and now from here if you've
enjoyed what we got we had to say
continue to come back every week here on
the dean show you can contact me if you
have any questions you can also contact
uh Dr Brown if you're interested in any
of his books and we hope to see you next
time here on the dean show until then
assalam alaykum peace be unto
you