peace be with you welcome to the dean
show we got a lot of ground to cover
today's tattoos Donald Trump knock on
with knock on with and the five top
questions you'd want to ask or a former
Christian who's Imam now is getting
asked here on the dean show don't go
anywhere we have an exciting show for
you peace be with you assalam alikum IM
Issa how are youum
and May the peace and blessings of God
be upon you as well Isa now that's named
after someone who's very familiar to the
majority of people who are maybe tuning
in not yet Muslims named after who Jesus
Christ peace be upon Jesus now what do
that have to do if I mean I opened up
the show and we got a lot to cover how
did you end up with the name were you
named before Jesus or Esau before you
accepted Islam no uh my given government
name is actually Matt and not Matthew on
the birth certificate and when I became
Muslim I started learning Arabic and I
realized that Matt in Arabic actually
means he died so I was like this name is
a little bit maybe difficult to go over
if I ever travel to the arabic speaking
world so I decided to go with the name
Isa which means Jesus which is a good
thing to bring up when I'm introducing
Islam to people who don't know about it
in this particular part of the world
that's very very interesting because
some people right away were clearing up
a misconception because some people
think that Muslims are the Antichrist
actually we love Jesus so much and
you're a living example that you named
yourself after his name right um
actually in the Bible in the book of
First John uh the writer of John says
that anyone who declares that Jesus is
the Christ who's come in the flesh is a
spirit of God and anyone who says
otherwise is a spirit of antichrist so
for me as a Muslim now having come out
of Christianity I still affirm that very
fact that Jesus is the Christ he is the
Messiah now we open we got a lot to
cover we'll get into the Donald Trump in
a minute and we'll get into the tattoo
because you're actually an IM Imam now
you went not just from being a regular
Muslim so to say but you stepped it up
and you really took on with the studies
and you became an Imam tell tell us
about this briefly well I mean uh I
maybe not the Imam in the traditional
sense um I started off um as a what you
would call Muslim coordinator which is
actually kind of a good definition for
Imam in English at uh private university
in North Carolina and uh it was after I
had completed some Arabic studies and
and essentially for an entire year there
I led Salat Juma the Muslim Friday
prayer service and counselled the Muslim
Community there and took care of the
holidays and all that good stuff and
then uh eventually around the time I got
married um that job ended and I had no
work and I applied at this organization
called alforon foundation and they were
basically looking for a traveling Imam
which means that youd have all the
responsibilities of an Imam you have to
lead prayer you have to give Friday
sermons you have to give lectures and
all that stuff but you never have to
stay in one Community very long just a
weekend so so uh tell us it's very
interesting you know people would say
okay this guy is born in America right
and you a former Christian yep so I'm
sure you get a lot of questions asked oh
yeah ask you so we want to know the F
five t five top questions that someone
might ask you as to you know as when
they hear that you're actually not
Muslim can you share one of those with
with us please um yeah I mean I get all
kinds of question questions everything
from you know I guess theological
questions to personal questions but I
guess I can just start with a personal
question a lot of people ask me like
what made you want to be a Muslim and um
I you know it was really a a three-
tiered process uh the first step was I
actually met a Muslim um which
interestingly enough I kind of grew up
in a whitebred world and I didn't
encounter a lot of people who weren't I
guess like me and uh all of a sudden uh
one of my older brothers uh came home
one day and told us he was Muslim which
was kind of strange because he he was a
former missionary uh you know studying
to be a pastor and so he was kind of the
first Muslim I ever met that I guess
revealed to me their religion I had
probably met Muslims before that and so
uh I watched him and watched his
practice of the religion and and learned
about it first then he challenged me to
read the Quran and that was the next
step um when I opened the Quran I had a
very unique experience with that book
even in the English language that I had
never had with any previous book and
then finally it was through the
experience I was having reading the
Quran that made me interested in who
wrote it because back then I'm thinking
someone wrote it so I went and learned
about the prophet Muhammad may God's
peace and blessings be upon him and that
was it for me once you learn about him
and you learn who he was and what he was
able to achieve with the little means he
had um and the fact that you know 1400
some odd years later there's still
almost two billion Muslims on Earth
following you know the religion that he
brought um that's a pretty powerful fact
for me what what's another common
question maybe not uh personally to you
but some in the daa possibly someone
wants to learn they have misconceptions
about Islam you traveling a lot what's
another common question you get asked um
I get questions about uh we covered one
now yeah yeah especially so specifically
from Muslims I get questions about uh
when it comes to daa like how can I
convince so and so to be a Muslim and uh
I always try to you know sit them down
and explain to them what the goal of daa
or inviting to Islam really is it's not
necessarily that we need to have in our
hearts that we want to change so and
so's religion or any of that kind of
other stuff but more or less that we
want to deliver the message of Islam to
them and then you know God Almighty
changes people's hearts so I explained
to them that uh you know the first thing
the prophet Muhammad peace and blessings
be upon him ever did in his daa was he
established himself in society as an
honest upright person before he ever
called anybody to any religion and so
the first thing that you want to do
anybody wants to do when they're telling
someone about their way of life is is
they want to have the good character and
honest and upright reputation that the
prophet Muhammad and all the previous
Messengers had now what happens if
you're in a situation that you are
you're building up to that to becoming a
better human being you got a DA
opportunity but someone said you know
what I'm not there yet I don't have the
best of character should that be an
excuse not to go ahead and pass along a
brochure pass along some good
information no because the prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him
he made it very easy for us he said in a
sound he
said which means to convey from him if
only a single statement like one verse
of the Quran or one of his prophetic
hadiths and so you know we can all do a
little something um but it is important
of course uh to to understand that when
you're involved in daa to to understand
the first steps would be to have that
good character but no no one should say
that just because I'm not a perfect
Muslim I can't talk to someone or give
someone information about Islam do your
uh family members have have they been
receptive do they do they ever ask you
like why do you have a beard now no
because I had a beard before I was
musard before actually the one thing I
that I learned in Islam was to cut the
mustache I used to always like let my
mustache grow and it would really bother
me when I would eat and so when I became
Muslim it's you know part of our our
following of the Prophet Muhammad to
trim your mustache so now I I keep that
consistent you know Styles change Trends
change and we see now yesterday what was
in you know it's faded out but you can
see now people are the the be we don't
do it because of that but the beard is
if you know is getting hip now well
that's a good thing I think you know I
mean I believe that a man should have a
beard I mean God Almighty gave us facial
hair for a reason uhhuh that's true yeah
yeah but you're right the styles do come
and go so yeah uh and we see all the
prophets Jesus had a beard Moses had a
beard all of them had beers and it's
interesting you know being in the
martial arts or uh someone who is in the
sport you'll see or uh a fan of um some
of the other martial arts someone's
preparing for a fight they want to bring
this this masculine side out of them
next next do you know he's got like big
beard he's preparing to get mentally
ready for his match right right exactly
so we're going to we're going to before
we go to break uh you were also involved
into entertainment industry was that
also as a Christian before you were
involved what other the things were you
doing before Islam well I mean you know
I I definitely was born and raised as a
Christian and spent time you know going
to church and going to Christian Camp
and all that good stuff but around the
age of 13 is when I got kind of
interested in in entertainment world and
I started playing the bass guitar car
and uh that opened up all kinds of doors
for me and I spent a long time an entire
decade in the entertainment business uh
both performing being a stage hand
recording records um you know I even got
to you know be a basically a sound guy
producer at live concert venues um I
worked with famous people I used to work
with Jay-Z's engineer um who wanton a
gram you for one of his records so I did
a lot of interesting stuff uh we're
going to take a break we got a lot to
talk about we want to be efficient with
the time so were trying to get some of
these questions in also along with your
story then I mentioned Donald Trump
people like how's he getting in the mix
of this well we got that to talk about
ask a question uh people are asking
about tattoos we got Imam here so we
have a lot to talk about don't go
anywhere we'll be right back please
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The Links below please also help support
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the link
below back here on the dean show so now
you're in the the whole world of
entertainment Works uh opens up you me
Jay-Z how do you get in what did you
mention about J you said Jay-Z yes I
actually I used to work with with one of
his Engineers that engineered uh his
album uh well I don't necessarily need
to mention the name of it but it uh it
was one of his records and he uh we used
to work together whenever we would go
out into the uh the live sound world so
I got to work with a few famous people
you could say now did you end up somehow
because we see another growing Trend and
we get a lot of questions asked here to
the de show we usually you know um try
to direct them to people of knowledge or
whatnot but the thing is now uh we know
in Islam that there is uh especially
when this world opens up of
entertainment people are looking for an
identity so they put a tattoo here put a
tattoo there put a tattooed everywhere
right but you ended up you at the end
you didn't get no tattoos at the end no
I I don't think I was ever interested in
having some sort of permanent picture on
my body yeah that just never appealed to
me yeah uh so what would you now as a
you know a person that you go to a
community and people they relate with
you more because you've grown here you
understand the culture and the times and
someone's just like maybe they're new to
Islam and they they start bringing up uh
you know what I tell usually people is
that you know Islam is so flexible that
uh yeah you want a tattoo you have
actually the temporary tattoos that you
could do in the henna exactly right so
what would you tell someone now they
they uh they're thinking of getting a
tattoo and that's maybe right there that
borderline accepting Islam and say how
would you answer this well yeah I mean
actually what you brought up is an
excellent point and one of you know the
the scholars I heard him answer this
question the same way he said that you
know we have these temporary tattoos in
Islam you can change the picture every
month and then eventually it's going to
fade away and so you never have to make
that long-term commitment and it can be
you know whatever you want and you know
my wife seems to really like them also
so yeah it's temporary but now many
people they end up why do you think
people go gravitate towards getting
these tattoos I don't know I mean I I
I've had many friends throughout my life
who have them and they get all kinds of
strange things tattooed them from demons
and dragons and people's names and you
know and I've also met people who got
them a long time ago and they're kind of
faded and runny and so I really I just I
don't know if it's just some way like
you said of having a personal
identification marker on you that
distinguishes you from other people I
think actually now when did you feel
once you found this Islam the gift of
Islam that you actually now you
discovered a whole new world and you
discovered yourself and many people if
they would look into Islam that these
doors of trying to open every door but
usually it's the wrong door you know you
you get into tattoos drugs all sorts of
crazy things searching for something and
usually it's not there but with Islam
did you find what you were missing what
you were looking
for yeah actually if I had to describe
my life before being Muslim it was very
much a journey from one you know uh one
physical pleasure to the next just
trying to like pass the time feeling
good you know and the entertainment
industry is great for that because music
is you know a type of drug really and if
you know people would really study it
they would understand that you know it
affects the same parts of your brain
that actual drugs do and
um you know so when I became Muslim it
was the first time in my life and I
always describe it like this that that
someone turned on the lights in a dark
room and that room had been dark for 25
years of my life and when the lights
came on I didn't know what I was looking
at yet but I could see and I didn't want
the light to go off and you know almost
seven years later today I understand
what I'm looking at and I certainly
don't want the light to go off and I
would also like to see that light turned
on for other people because there's a
lot of people who were like me who spent
those many years of their life in
essentially Darkness that's the best way
I can describe it you know I think about
that sometimes when I'm searching for
something in the dark and you can't find
it and it's something it's maybe it's
it's it's actually a handspan away
somewhere but you cannot find it on the
floor wherever it is and I usually think
about that I say look you know what
about going through life in that
Darkness yeah I mean it's uh for me like
I said I mean I was always grasping at
something to like just you know make me
feel good you know with my life but
really there was just inner yearning of
understanding like what on Earth is the
purpose of life it can't just be you
know to you know make good music or be a
good citizen or you know be a a good
neighbor a good husband have three kids
in a house and a dog and you know those
things are just can't be all there is to
life and those these actually would be
people end up taking at the means as the
purpose because having a family be one
of the means to the ultimate goal of the
pleasure of the creator of the heavens
and earth would you say all these things
are not excluded in Islam some of the
things but people end up taking uh these
things the means the ultimate goal yeah
exactly and and Islam you know a lot of
people don't understand this but you
know it's an Arabic word and so let's
demystify it today for your Audience by
saying that it means surrender and
submission to the will of the Creator
and it's through surrendering and
submitting to the will of the creator
that one finds peace and I've heard you
say that many times and that's a a great
way to describe it because essentially
what you find in Islam is that God's
will is encompassing of everything but
the human he has the problem to deal
with of either submitting to that will
or rebelling against it and even in
other world religions like the DA they
talk about the da running through
everything and the more you surrender to
the DA the more easy and peaceful your
life becomes and this is kind of similar
not exactly the same to what we have in
Islam except we're surrendering to the
will of Allah God and so through doing
that you know you actually become more
in peace with the world around
you and uh and there's a very beautiful
Hadith from the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him where he was sitting with
his companions one day in a funeral
procession passed by by and he said out
loud relieved or relieving and the
people asked him they said oh messenger
of God what is relieved and relieving
what do you mean he said when a
righteous servant of God is taken from
this world they are relieved of its
hardships and trials and they enter into
the mercy of God but when a disobedient
servant of God dies they are relieving
the people the land the animals and the
Trees of their wicked Behavior so from
that I've really come to understand that
to be a Muslim to be someone who says
they've surrendered and submitted to the
will of God is to be in harmony with
everything around you and to be a
benefit to everything around you that's
deep that is deep uh before we go to
break give us one more common question
you could asked maybe from your family
when you first accepted Islam give us
something before to we did we've done
two already the third one about the
beard didn't count I asked that so give
us one more okay so so on that same
point when I first became Muslim uh a
lot of times you you encounter a lot of
different cultures and so you at first
you don't really know what the
difference between Islam and culture is
so I used to put on um all these like uh
what they call them the thob and Kies
and all kinds of different things and uh
people would always ask me about them
they're like oh what's with the hat
what's with the clothes one time I went
with an Imam to a farm for the edel adha
festival where we sacrifice an animal
for the sake of God and I remember the
preacher that ran the farm he said you
know why is your leader in a
dress so you get a lot of questions
about clothes and why people have this
and that on so you have to explain to
them the difference between culture and
Islam beautiful we're going to take a
break and then who does Donald Trump
when he comes from the doctor and he's
feeling great and he has great health
who's he thanking and who should we be
thanking and we're going to be
discussing the other then we got two
more questions here left on The Dean
show with former Christian
Entertainer uh and more here on the dean
show don't go anywhere we'll be right
back please subscribe to the dean show
follow us on our official Facebook and
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below back here on the dean show with
Imam Isa named after one of the
mightiest Messengers that was sent by
God calling people to worship god did he
ever say he was God not that I'm aware
of I don't think in any version of any
kind of Bible we know there's many
different versions of the Bible have you
I mean you're proficient with the Bible
correct um yeah I mean I grew up as a
Christian and I actually still read the
Bible on a regular basis I'm kind of
into comparative religion so kind of
like zacher Nike yeah a little bit I'm
I'm uh a huge fan of his teacher Ahmed D
may God have mercy on his soul yeah so
now you you you don't have you found an
explicit statement where Jesus ever said
I am the literal Son of God came to die
for your sins I'm God one in the three
in a trinity have you ever seen this uh
no actually the most explicit statement
I've ever seen in the Bible from Jesus
Christ peace be upon him about
particular salvation like what it means
to be like in good shape on the day of
judgment is I believe in John 173 where
he says this is salvation that they may
know you the only true God and Jesus
whom you have sent that's deep yeah that
that reminds me of the the shahada like
there's nothing worthy of worship except
the creator of the heavens and the Earth
and then that messenger who was sent
that that time was Jesus now it's
Muhammad peace be upon him and
interestingly enough on that point the
prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said
that anyone who says the shahada right
there is nothing worthy worship except
God and that Muhammad is God's servant
and messenger and then adds to that that
Jesus is God's servant and messenger
that he is the spirit of God that he is
the word of God bestowed upon the womb
of Mary that paradise is real and that
the Hellfire is real anyone who says
this according to the prophet Muhammad
will enter Paradise through any gate
they wish and the sub narrator the
Hadith says even though their deeds may
be few that's deep yep okay we're going
to take you to a clip everyone can see
of Donald Trump and we let them watch
this I actually saw a doctor I had a
physical the other day and they said you
are really good well yeah you can all
hear it would you like to hear it um I
would I would do that anytime yeah very
good knock on wood knockwood knockwood
okay now you saw Donald Trump he's
running for president right and he was
asked commenting on his
health and now what would you do if
someone came to you now and maybe you
saw this person second time third time
just accepted Islam and you asked them
hey uh uh Steve so how's everything
going he said man thank God is going
good or he didn't say he said you know
he said yeah thank God is going good he
doesn't knock we pick up some habits
from the past how would you address this
um well I mean depending on how long the
person had been Muslim I may let it
slide at first or something like that
but I guess maybe eventually after some
time in past I would just mention to
them that you know whether they knock on
that wood or not it really wasn't going
to make a difference cuz the wood's not
controlling the universe exactly yeah
you know um but these are just these are
cultural superstitions that Americans
have just like any other culture you
know we do all kinds of things like that
and KN on wood is a very famous one and
it doesn't surprise me that a
presidential candidate would do
something or say something like that
that kind of tells us a lot actually a
little bit but a lot he didn't actually
even say thank God and knocked he just
think he knocked on wood uh when I
looked into this uh long time ago I saw
that there was a I believe it was a
Scandinavian tree God that people used
to knock to wake up to pray to did you
hear anything like this before uh no I'm
not I'm not aware of the origins of that
particular uh Superstition but I I've
heard and seen many guests on your show
talk about some of the other ones yeah
so so um so again I'm sorry so how would
you so why why is it why is this so I
mean because someone asks us how you
doing and and we give all the reverence
and thanks to the same one that Jesus
did to God Almighty you know why is this
so important you know we can see people
like they they they end up you know uh
doing many of these superstitions and
they don't even think about it um why is
it why is this uh something that you
know um uh is so prevalent nowadays well
I mean you know when you don't
understand that that Allah God Almighty
is controlling everything and running
everything and that his will is
prevalent in all things at all times um
you can easily fall prey to these kind
of super itions because you know you
you're you're ingrained as a young
person to think that if I don't do this
certain act or I don't knock on wood or
whatever it is that something really is
going to happen and and you've convinced
yourself of it and even if if most
people are questioned about they'll say
they don't really believe in it but then
why do you do it in the first place and
it should be something that we just
recognize about our own selves and say
to ourselves is this even something
necessary and it's just the same thing
that the Quran presents you know as an
argument to the uh the first people that
the prophet Muhammad came to the the the
tribe of qur you know they they they
only do what their fathers taught them
you know it says that so many times in
the Quran and the Quran asks the
rhetorical question even if your fathers
didn't have any knowledge of God you
know it asked them questions to make
them think and reflect on what they're
actually doing in life and you'll see
someone will claim I I don't believe um
like we don't that someone is purely an
atheist right because everyone is born
with that Nate nature to believe in the
Creator they cover it up but even
someone who will claim to be and an
agnostic atheist for instance they'll
have a bunch of these if you look at
their life they'll have a bunch of these
these rituals that they do these
superstitions a good luck you know
t-shirt when he goes out good luck soup
uh suit throw some uh what's that over
his back salt and he he got he has to do
that otherwise it's his bad luck well
you bring he won't get no good luck yeah
you bring up a good point actually one
of the most powerful verses in the
entire Quran for me I don't have the
reference for you right now but it had
to do with uh God talking about how when
people are at Sea on a boat and a storm
comes all of a sudden like when things
get really bad and they're thinking that
their life is about to end they will
call on the only true
God please help
[Music]
me everybody will and I knew that I knew
that from living life that that
statement was true that when it really
came down to it even people who claim to
have no faith whatsoever when push comes
to S push comes to shove and their life
is is is in threat uh then everyone will
all of a sudden be conscious of that one
creator that made everything we got two
more we've done three give us two more
one more uh two more uh common questions
did you get asked um I get a lot of
questions about how my family reacted to
me being Muslim um and actually uh the
good news for me was that uh my my
brother had already become Muslim so
they already kind of knew what Islam was
but for him him uh he encountered a lot
of uh initial abrasive attitudes for my
family because you know Unfortunately
they were like the rest of us they
didn't know anything about Islam and
unfortunately a lot of people have been
Mis introduced to Islam by the
television set or the radio or the
magazines and so a lot of his initial
explaining Islam to people was just kind
of uh demystifying common misconceptions
but when I came along I remember the day
I came to tell my mother that I was was
Muslim and I put on a kofy and met her
for lunch and I said you know Mom I'm
Muslim and she said well whatever makes
you happy that wasn't exactly the same
reaction that she gave to my brother but
so that was four we got one last one
final one of the we call it the top five
but uh that you remember of people
asking you common questions now that
you're Muslim well I'm going to give the
last one to you you get to ask me a
final question then uh there's a lot of
islamophobia out there and people are
scared they see you maybe you fly and
you get hassled the airport a lot of
people do because they're trying to
practice this this pure way of life pure
monotheism not trying to harm anybody
being a benefit to society and I'm sure
you've been asked this have you uh
people thinking now that you've accepted
the other and they equate you and Islam
with terrorism what would you say well I
mean I would just tell them that you
know uh Islam is a gigantic tree right I
mean there's almost some say close to
two billion people on Earth and out of
that tree we have bad apples we have our
mentally ill we have our misguided and
ultimately Muslims Are Not Angels we
weren't created to be perfect um and so
we do sin and we do have people who do a
lot of bad things and we are a huge tree
so sometimes it appears that many of us
are doing bad things but the reality of
it is I would highly recommend anyone
who has these kind of suspicions of
Muslims to actually get to know one and
that's why I teach the massaged the the
Muslim houses of worship all over this
country whenever I'm able to do
something like meet your Muslim neighbor
which is to invite your neighborhood to
come and meet you and sit down and eat a
meal with you and you'll find that those
misconceptions will dissipate very
quickly uh we got to go but if someone
out there not yet Muslims whoever uh an
organization University they like what
you had to say and they want to learn
more about Islam and Muslims how would
they get a hold of you uh you can get a
hold of me personally through the AL
foran Foundation I'm part of the AL
foran Foundation division called foran
project which distributes the Quran in
English and Spanish for free all all
over the country you can go to foron
project.org and then also there you can
click on the daa training at foron
project.org and there you will find meet
your Muslim neighbor and inshallah you
will also find my contact information
there thank you so much may God Almighty
love reward you for your wonderful work
and all of us am mean thank you so much
no problem and thank you for tuning in
And subscribe if you have not already we
had a lot of things that we covered
tattoo you're anxious you want one hey
look look into what is there to this
life is it just about getting tattoos
partying rock hard and then what you
fall asleep with a hangover and you're
right back at it throughout the whole
week to the next weekend no and then for
those now you you learn that there is
something in Islam temporary tattoos
right because you go and rent a car you
don't just go and put the rims on it and
give it a new paint job and no no this
body is just a gift from God and we
can't just do whatever we want with it
we're going to be responsible and who do
we thank for for this look we don't take
thank a tree or knock on a piece of wood
knock on wood we thank the one who
created this whole universe and
everything in it the one Jesus thanked
the one he called to God Almighty that's
it AR Allah and then we saw another
individual who has also made this
conscious decision that yes indeed this
way of life from the Creator the
submission to the will of God Almighty
alone is the truth and he's accepted it
and you see the peace now that he's
living the purpose because he found it
and you can also find this all you got
to do is ask ask ask the one who created
you in a world of confusion what will
set you TR free the truth but you have
to ask the owner of Truth the one who
created you and if you have any other
questions call us at 1800 662 Islam meet
your Muslim neighbor meet your Muslim
neighbor he gave you some information
how you can contact the organization
they also give you a free Quran that's
what they're all about and we'll see you
next time subscribe if you haven't until
then peace be with
you