what we're talking about about khabib
had an impact on him let's go get into
this clip and and i saw khabib fight his
last fight right
and something really caught my attention
[Music]
they have a true belief in in one guide
as i know now was habib
norman megov again muslims nobody is
perfect but religion like islam is
perfect
the first one had me teary-eyed and the
second part had me smiling the whole
time oh man when i heard it it would
break it would break me until this day
man
invitation and come down
this
was born and raised in the suburbs of
detroit michigan he commenced his
studies at the age of 10 in toronto
canada where he went on to memorize the
entire verbatim word of god almighty the
quran he completed his memorization of
the holy quran by the tender age of 13.
and then he went on to study in
the seven year intensive islamic studio
program in toronto canada
and he continued his research and
studies in
and up until today
where he is the co-founder and
instructor of mifta institute
let's bring on our next guest
how are you alhamdulillah
for having us on the show
so we're going to be uh talking is going
to revolve around
someone you know i just started off with
um i i really went away because that's
uh
what i've been doing for some time now
you know teaching martial arts and i
went on to uh study uh gracie brazilian
jiu jitsu but i kind of went away from
watching a lot of these uh you know a
lot of this fighting and stuff like that
the ufc and whatnot but then uh i had
some uh family members they invited me
to watch one of these fights and uh
they're like you gotta check out this
guy his name is khabib i didn't know who
he was
but then what intrigued me was and they
knew i would get excited after i saw
what they already saw him doing and that
was after one of his fights he made
sajdah shukur right for those that i
know he was uh taking the highest part
of man and he was bowing down you know a
lot of these fighters they're just like
you know you know praising themselves
all about the ego but he humbled himself
and he put his forehead on the ground
and and then he was like raising his
hand up and saying alhamdulillah pray
this like hallelujah all praise to the
greater the heavens and earth and i was
like alhamdulillah
and that really
got me excited and you know to uh kind
of you know learn more about him and
then i start sharing that some of these
things with the muslim community
and that's uh kind of how i got started
there uh yourself
i mean i think you know for for
for for me and for us uh and i'm not
sure if we were if i am a fan of the
martial arts community or even you know
watching any fights but similar to your
story you just
the enthusiasm
that this brother brings
within his career through the lens of
his religion
uh it's it's an embodiment that teaches
us that regardless of what your career
is regardless of what you are doing from
nine to five it can still in so many
ways be a form of da'wah
and the beauty of da'wah is that it's
not always direct it's not always
extremely vocal in in front of you a lot
of times that was such that it happens
in ways that are subtle but those subtle
ways of dawa can sometimes be the
strongest ways of peopling people
towards allah into becoming better
humans and like in every generation
there are individuals that perhaps not
might not be scholars or or imams i'm
not saying that only scholars or imams
can be forms of inspiration but we also
have people such as the likes of the
great muhammad ali
or
the great the likes of junaid jim shaita
who used to be a musician and he changed
his life in different ways and he became
an inspiration to many and in our time
one of those personalities may be
our brother khabib nurmagomedov where
through
the skills and talent that allah has
given him he uses that to refer back to
allah and i find it quite interesting
about eddie and everyone for that that's
watching that a lot of times when we're
able to be given something and we're
when we're when we reach a certain level
of of superiority or excellence in our
fields
many a times we refer that excellence
back to our education
our families our culture ourselves
used to say that i have received that
which i have received because of myself
it's not because of anyone else
but some individuals are such that when
they reach that that new height they
reference it back to their deen
that it was my religion or this
tradition that taught me this this
discipline it was this tradition that
taught me how to be respectful to my
co-workers it was this tradition that
taught me how to be humble even at the
moments of great success like the
prophet
when he entered into the conquest of
mecca so just to understand that this
was a city that his grandfather had
built
him and his companions are persecuted
for years 13 years they are forced to
leave he comes back after eight years
and now he's coming back as the person
who's been given the keys of the city
but his head is so low
not walking with the shoulders high and
his and his chest broad is with uh with
the utmost humility that a person can uh
can absolutely possess and and
externalize so for me it was and for i
think a lot of us especially the the the
muslim audience that's watching and even
the non-muslim audience is watching a
lot of us were attracted to him
not only because of his excellence uh in
on the mats it was because of his
character that he embodied pre-imposed
the fights
uh and you can only fake it for so long
that you know alhamdulillah or no it has
to be real it has to be genuine and then
that genuine love becomes contagious
if it's not genuine and if it's
per se fake though it can have an effect
and we should still try our best the
prophet taught us allah
that if you can't cry then you fake it
so the idea is that his love and his his
level of enthusiasm and his
pride him prioritizing
that form of life was something that is
contagious
and it benefited everyone it sent shock
waves through believers that if he can
do it not if he can be 29 and all
because not all of us can be that no not
all of us will be questioned for that
but all of us can be humble
all of us can be kind all of us can be
loving all of us can
can repel evil with good right to
whatever level and extent that we can so
i guess perhaps it was that realm of
this and that aura of his that attracted
the most of us i'm not saying that you
know
some of the fights that that that we
watched some of my friends have me
recorded um you know they recorded me
while he won and those recordings can't
get out because you know we're really
into him winning and his victory was
great for us it's not you know it's not
a bad but it just feels good that our
believer our brother is able to also not
only receive victory in the but also
receive some form of victory in dunya
though we know that it's a smaller
victory and the greater victory will be
the victory of the akh that we all are
striving for so that's that was the
inspiration behind even being introduced
to khabib um it was never i don't think
it was ever a dream or a plan to be able
to uh host him but that's hopefully
that's part of inshallah the journey of
everyone getting closer to allah
if i went too long i apologize no not at
all so i want to get your reaction to a
couple of these clips
so this is exactly what we're talking
about so the next clip you're going to
see this is a clip of somebody i'm going
to show you two one and then you'll also
for the audience you'll see some of the
things that he discusses about islam
prayer one god etc etc so we're going to
get into these
clips and just get your short reaction
to it so people can also get a feel for
what we're actually talking about so
this next clip here is from a mexican
cartel member okay
this is post him being accepting he
actually accepted islam and this
what we're talking about about khabib
had an impact on him let's go get into
this clip and and i saw khabib fight his
last fight right
and something really caught my attention
[Music]
when at the end of his fight
alhamdulillah
everything god gave me
[Applause]
he would always give glory to god you
know
[Applause]
and i started like looking up because
the only the only thought the only thing
i knew
about islam was that like what what the
west showed you
what what they what they try to
show teach you about it like that
they're a bunch of terrorists
when i when i started hearing the recipe
like uh
recitations of the holy quran
like my heart was looking for something
was looking for something real man when
when i heard it it would break it would
break me until this day man
what's the number one most important
thing for you and should be for everyone
khabib
number one important most important for
us
stay connect with god you always have to
pray you always have to stay humble and
stay
focus and stay connected with god
what happens for you khabib when ramadan
comes around
when come ramadan this is everything for
me i don't think about fight i have to
say ramadan i because i believe from one
god and this is my religion
religion for me number one
[Music]
what's your plans now khabib
keep going and make history inshallah
khabib do you feel that anybody can stop
you
when allah with you nobody can stop him
what do you want to say habib what's
perfect
nobody in religion is like like muslims
nobody's perfect but religion like islam
is perfect
what else you want to say khabib for the
deen show audience
without god we cannot do nothing
everything is nothing you know number
one
believe on your one god
thank you khabib this was fun
nice having you but we're looking
forward to having you on the real show
the dean show
what do you say brother let's do it send
me the location just send me location
thank you so much guys
take it away
but i've never seen that clip of uh that
uh mexican brother
um breaking down because of his reaction
to khabib um you know
you know returning back to allah after
his fights and just saying alhamdulillah
you know it's unique sometimes it's the
smallest things i can have the biggest
form of da'wah it's the smallest thing
just saying alhamdulillah just saying
assalamu alaikum just
saying you know jazakallahu whatever it
may be
there's a lot of power in these things
doing sajdah has a lot of power albeit
we should be careful perhaps and where
we pray so
making sure people don't feel
uncomfortable but praying
and in places that people can see us
also has an effect on them it pulls them
towards if there's a magnetic force
in the purity of prayer there's a
magnetic force in the purity of quran
there's a magnetic force in the purity
of allah right
so whenever we
have any of those pure elements within
us
it it doesn't attract people to us
because of our personalities we are all
dull people it attracts people to us
because of that purity and if we lose
that purity then we have nothing left
right the the honor of a believer is
dependent and contingent upon him
honoring his religion
so that's uh a few thoughts on that
beautiful video and i can imagine
there's probably so many more
people who've just seen his videos and
felt closer towards islam and closer
towards god and reminds me of malcolm x
and even muhammad ali people usually
just pull towards islam through
different ways and different crowds
perhaps not the crowds that we're all a
part of it it hits a different
wavelength right
i'll give you another example uh
probably there's so many out there but
these are just uh ones that i could
testify to that was one another one this
is actually one of my students muslim
brothers who are listening up there look
how important and how eloquently by the
reggie he's mentioning this
he was going to a jujitsu classes
run by brother eddie and the muslims
there and he saw the muslims they took a
break and they were praying
and by the regime was watching them so
first and foremost we should not be shy
when the time for prayer comes we should
pray who knows other people can be
watching and get motivated
number two brother rajiv you said that
you got motivated by brother kaveep
he does not swear when he won
directly he bowed down and he thanked
the theater right
yes
yes yes
all the time all the time
so it's really important we should not
be shy it doesn't matter how high how
low wherever that we are
we should never be shy to convey the
beautiful faith of islam
not just by our worth but also by our
actions
and we he got to see us the context of
it was he got to see muslims praying
he'd see us praying you know in my
academy we'd stop over you know to
decide you know we make salah it's time
to pray it's time to pray we gotta go we
gotta stop all the fun and gains it's
time to connect with with your creator
so he would see that in the academy my
my
my my muslim brothers were
were praying
and then he would also you know get
asked some questions he would meet some
other muslims and
they would give him some things to read
et cetera et cetera but he's not muslim
yet
and it comes to this now check this out
it was exciting
but the main thing that really that
really brought my attention
and how
much peace that one can have in their in
in their life
and
um they have a true belief in in one god
as i know now was um
uh brother uh habib
norman magov and uh ufc fighter
you know oh brother
right
that's yes yes
yes that's that that has brought me to
where i am
now
there was something missing you know
there was something missing so i guess
that
i'm older now
i can
go my own path
and
i believe that
this is the path and the journey that i
should take
and and
and is this is this the way that habib
carries himself
you know um he's always given
uh praise to to allah i always give
praise and and
he would say inshallah if
according to allah's will
that he'll be victorious
i'm here at victory
um and and and how he's humble and and
and in pakistan and
and his father you know teaching young
kids and taking care of the community
and
other
other muslim brothers you know coming
together and embracing and and
it's it's it's beautiful go ahead take
it away what do you think
that's giving me an example i'm just
glad that you were able to grab these
clips
first time seeing um these clips as well
and
you you understand that
these clips uh just confirm um your
thoughts that
what we do
and what is seen by people around us
um though it's not
direct da'wah it has an effect and and
enhances the responsibility that falls
upon every one of us
to show
the the purest image of our religion and
i like what the what khabib said the
clip that you played
where you mentioned is anyone perfect he
said no one is perfect but the religion
is perfect
that this is the day that i have
perfected and completed this way of life
there is no other way of life that is
perfect in every level in every at a
societal level at a political level at a
personal level at a communal level it's
a perfect way of life but all of us are
flawed so we may have certain defects
that doesn't take away from the beauty
of our religion and someone like that
who's been given uh you know so much
been given so much success in this world
in his own career it's very easy for
that to get to your head you know and
even small forms of success can get to
someone's head
and i think
from what we can see in muscle from our
interactions with them and the team like
there are people who are still very
humble and we can see from their videos
they're still connected to allah
connected to the people
and that was one of the main reasons
that we even wanted to host khabib
bring him to the states is really i mean
he comes here all the time it's also
because we want our audience our youth
muslims and non-muslims to see that this
person
reached mount rushmore of his career
like he reached the top the pinnacle the
epitome of it
but he connected that level of success
to allah alhamdulillah
though you know
but eddie you you fight man you can tell
you work out you you do your thing masha
allah
i mean sometimes even you know at our
own level it can be like oh man
i can do it myself i have enough
strength i have enough energy i have
enough talent but for him to keep
referring back to allah
is a great form of dawah and now people
in our communities our circles know
about him right so it's our job to take
it from there
and move it forward the baton has been
passed on to us he he has he has planted
the seed of da'wah in people's minds and
hearts and it's our responsibility
within our own circles to fertilize that
seed by watering it right and let that
plant grow and hopefully people turn
towards islam or turn towards islam in
due time but but also become better
people in their own ways
um those are my reflections on those
videos i mean there's so much more that
can be said about
khabib's effect on society as a whole i
think i don't think there is
a muslim athlete who has a stronger
impact in the world than habib uh
especially in regards to
them embodying religion i mean there are
many athletes that are out there that
must affect people
but specifically in this specific in
this layer or in this uh in this way i
don't think there's many people like
that
yeah this this is actually uh one of the
team team members here love you
this one's here our brother
good disney brother
this
yeah so you mentioned team members yeah
actually there's one yeah you i don't
know if you met him
he was in your gym
yeah he was training there he was uh
with us for some time there in chicago
and actually he was supposed to you know
i wanted to make sure because him also
he's someone you don't get to see
training much but he was he was somebody
this is people no he's like you know a
beast himself he was somebody well
that's what we say somebody who's really
tough you know what i mean so i trained
with him personally and i was about to i
didn't want to in the beginning but i
was about to i just wanted him because
for those that know about gracie jutsu
one part of it is self-defense is so
important so i was going over you know
much of the self-defense headlock escape
this that and the other and i wanted him
to because i felt he was held back he
should i was going to promote him to the
next level but he ended up leaving
chicago and that so that was something
really interesting
but uh so now in that video in the first
one
khabib said send the location he set the
location now so let's talk about that
before we conclude
of the location that you guys
alhamdulillah
you guys were able to go ahead and put
this event together uh can you talk
about that
yeah i mean of course the event the
event was uh is is
allah allows events to take place in sha
allah with ease um the the the idea to
bring him is to bring people to
two words um you know a good call a good
a good well a a a good initiative
and for all of us to benefit at whatever
level and there's some goodness that
comes from it
it's not simply to gather people it's
not simply to build hype that happens
that happens by default it's to benefit
one another inshallah that's the goal
inshallah he will be coming this is the
first time he's done something like this
in north america so inshallah hopefully
people are able to come they're able to
enjoy they're able to benefit they're
able to i'm him you know close up and in
person
and benefit benefit from his story in
his career and where he is now and
throughout this career the only variable
that has not changed is his religion
right other things have changed and
that's the most important common
denominator that keeps you at a level of
success in a level of contentment so
hopefully inshallah the event is taking
place at our campus
in michigan uh near detroit michigan the
city is called warren
and it will be taking place um that we
have an auditorium that fits about 2 000
people
it's almost sold out i think we have a
few hundred tickets left so if you want
to come on site you can go ahead and
purchase tickets on our website or slash
khabib and we also have opened up
because people were asking the online
you know viewing if they could watch the
entire event online alhamdulillah that's
also been done so you can also join
online just watch and just be a part of
the event i believe is something which
is
almost historical like we're to be able
to host him at one of our own
events and allow allow ourselves to
speak to him in a way that we can kind
of get to know him at a personal level
and inshallah we'll have other things as
well there'll be other small lectures
other few you know
grand recitations and poems that are
recited to keep everyone emotionally and
spiritually
to benefit everyone emotionally and
spiritually inshallah so i'm i mean i i
mean i was probably the most excited
when
they decided to come and i know everyone
in the team is excited everyone in
michigan is excited and everyone in
america is excited but you know
personally i'm very excited to be able
to be part of this part of this event
simply because
we can see him and speak to him and
benefit from him and hopefully he's able
to see what we are doing in our country
in america that even in america
hopefully there are people that are
trying their best to preserve their deen
so he's able to see that inshallah and
we're able to have a good
back and forth and inshallah it can be a
relationship that continues to grow and
uh that's the goal alhamdulillah
you're coming so you gotta tell people
you're coming as well yeah sure i look
forward to uh inshallah being there with
you you guys and uh we got the location
so inshallah we're gonna accept the
invitation and come down
february 25th is the date you put that
in your calendar it's a tuesday if
you're from chicago ohio or even new
york it's a close flight it's not that
in this close drive come down enjoy the
event together inshallah we'll have you
know hopefully a beautiful event in
every aspect everyone is watching pray
for the event that it goes well goes
smooth no one gets sick everyone stays
safe you know those are the things that
we're also worrying about
everyone is able to come with ease and
leave with ease
families are able to enjoy there's
babysitting that's available there's
food that will be there all of it in one
place insha'allah so if you can't come
on site come online inshallah
eddie for for hosting me
giving me the opportunity to speak about
the event in uh our journey and
inshaallah i'm sure that we will be
seeing each other more often insha'allah
in sha allah may allah reward you
thank you very much
thank you khabib this was fun
nice having you but we're looking
forward to having you on the real show
the dean show
what do you say brother let's do it send
me the location just send me location
thank you so much guys