but as you can see in the background the
third time
my main man my brother in islam eddie
has invited me once again you kind of
look a little bit different to me today
than how we've been seeing you in those
pop videos is loon still in there
somewhere
loon is uh working his way out of my
system i ran into islam so much it was
no way i could deny it
i would be in certain cities and i would
hear the event being cold
and it sounds better than any record
i've ever heard
now
very excited elated we got a special
guest in the studio
we got our brother
from a previous life known as aka loon
i was in the past life this life now
here with our brother amir here on the d
show don't go anywhere be right back
[Music]
how's everything been i'll be live
everything's been good you know i've
been
home now for almost a year and a half
about 16 months i think to be exact
so i'm just
just living man for the for the people
who are tuning in you know for the first
time or are not really you know
acquainted with your background can you
just kind of give us uh some highlights
of you know who your past life as i
introduced it i know you don't like i
noticed myself also i i kind of you know
when people start talking about you know
some of the things in my past it's it's
something overdone with but yeah but i
mean people benefit from it so you know
i've grown
to learn to accept that you know
being who i was you know saying alone
formerly a bad boy records
you know it is a door
you know it's a door or a gateway to
getting to get acquainted with a mirror
so like for those who don't know a mere
or don't really know the changes i made
in my life and they can only you know
acknowledge me as
you know according to what they know
so i've learned to just accept that you
know what maybe this would be
a means to
you know
calling someone to islam or engaging in
a conversation is beneficial
so you know i'm not appalled by it yeah
i think it bothers me more when the
muslims caught me alone yeah yeah
all right so tell us uh who was loon
like for because you have a lot of these
now and what we learned yesterday from i
was uh it was interesting when people
ask you about some of these new names
that are coming up yeah you know and
there was one
i i don't follow any of this but there
was one he was just all over the news
his name was young dolph have you heard
of him he was all over the news no i
just heard about him you know when he um
you know returned to allah i didn't know
anything about him before that but you
know after death a lot of things started
unfolding from when i hear you know he
was pretty much you know a good genuine
young guy
and i think that
you know because my focus is the youth
even if they're not muslim you know
i really believe that we have to kind of
celebrate some of the young guys is
actually out there trying to do the
right thing it may need some guidance
some assistance
you know i try to look to those
individuals with some form of
consideration
you know and compassion but generally
you're not up on some of the most of the
new yeah
like i say you know
i've been approached
with um
you know some series of encounters with
music like preferably when i'm in a
barber shop
or something like that you know i can't
really regulate
someone's you know sound system
in the business you know where you end
up having to fight the whole barbershop
so
what happens is
you know just out of you know curiosity
sometimes like hold that
and they'll tell me the guy name
and i might be in a barber shop in
another setting and i hear a song that's
similar
to the last one everybody oh that's the
guy little such and said that no that's
other little little somebody else and
i'm like it's upon the law like you know
what
i'm not going to even attempt
to try to keep track
of how many you know guys that got
little before they named so
you know now young dolph
you didn't know who he was i didn't know
who he was it was on the news he was
going to get some cookies
and then he got gunned down
right and he was having a beef with yo
gotti you heard of this yo guy i i
really i'm a really i know i mean i know
who yo gotti is you know saying he was
he was around actually
when i was leaving the business yeah you
know so he's always been kind of you
know big in that area of memphis and
stuff and you know from what i hear he's
you know grown his career ticking off
but i really don't keep up with
you know
especially anything that got you know
this fitness i'll get to my point now
i'll get to my point
very important because this can be this
was a turning point for my life and many
people because many people become numb
to this
topic that i'm gonna
go into in a second so but you know
about the because you had young gotti
from when i was looking into this
because i did a little talk on it young
gotti and then young dolph
he was talking about i'm never going to
go out like biggie and smalls now that's
your generation right yeah those are
your boys yeah pretty much i was did you
know both of them i knew biggie i didn't
i didn't know pop okay biggie was on the
record label with you
well he was on bat boy before i was i
didn't get on bad boy until after big
die so he okay so and after mace left so
you know was he like a mentor to you
back in the day well i looked at him
biggie smalls now i looked at him more
as a peer peer
mentor would be somebody that actually
helps rear you
and guide you through certain things to
my opinion yeah and big never did that
for me but as far as inspiring me
at that time to want to be a really good
artist you know i definitely was you
know inspired by his talent at the time
but
and we hung out quite a few times before
things got really really big for him so
i watched hannah his transition into
being just a hungry artist and
transitioning to like a global star and
he always was the same guy he was always
laid back he was always cool i didn't
really see no changes and you know his
behavior was you know his character so
you know he was just a good guy to know
at the time okay follow along so you got
like biggie tupac so you know who they
are definitely right so now tupac
he's
i mean he was probably somebody who was
well known all over the world right yeah
absolutely i mean i think both of them
both of them impacted the world
you know from two different angles you
know big being a lyricist and
very very creative with you know his
skill
and tupac being more of a you know
revolutionary
and he kind of spoke to you know the
plight of you know african americans in
this country so they both had
very very powerful impact on the people
so
i don't think there's a person on the
planet
that
can familiarize themselves with the
hip-hop business and not know who big in
tupac is you said something interesting
we'll get to it but how long do you
think people grieved they're gone now
yeah okay
well i mean grievance you know
because you made a great example and
that's what so we had tupac biggie
they're no longer on this earth then
young dolph interesting enough he was
like i'm not going to go out like them
he also got into this you know beef with
someone he got gunned down so i had to
say and then
you mentioned something that had me
connect all this upon look at you
mentioned michael jackson yeah how much
time he spent
you know entertaining the people
and at the end they gave them two weeks
well i think
but i'll connect all these they're all
yeah but i was a little what do they all
have in common well the thing is
what i was alluding to in election
because the lecture was based around you
know the price of the worldly life yeah
and
us as muslims we understand that you
know this worldly life is just fleeing
from us you know that allah created you
know this dunya or this worldly life as
it means to test us you know i'm saying
it's also a means to provide for us
so you know you have as good as having
you have is bad
but the problem is with a lot of people
who actually chase the glory
and try to derive honor and all these
things from the worldly life by way of
the people
what happens is you know they invest so
much
into
striving or chasing
something that's fleeing from you
and then once you know you you return to
allah you die and never get to get the
full grasp of what you were chasing
the end result is the people may
remember you for a short period of time
and then that also passes
so what i mentioned about michael
jackson since i'm out of indiana i went
to visit you know
you know the house on 2300 jackson
street
and it just
brought a lot of things to my attention
about michael jackson one you know
there's a consensus of a lot of muslims
that actually confirmed that he accepted
islam before he died
and he went by the name of mikhail that
was a consensus how that he died yeah we
touched upon it last year he spoke right
michael jackson died as a muslim yeah
and for what i understand i think his
brother jermaine as well except for man
also
so the point i was trying to make is you
know michael jackson spent
his entire youth
all the way up to his demise
entertaining the people like his life
literally belonged to the fans
you know and
when he died i remember just this whole
you know
like this mass grievance
that just spread across the world
you had people out there with a billie
jean jackets on with the thriller
jackets just crying guys out there
moonwalking pop locking and everything
and then i remember like it was a
tsunami or something in japan
then after that you didn't hear nothing
else about michael jackson
so like when you look at how much
you know a person sacrificed
for the entertainment of others
and then once they're gone
they're really gone
you know and it's like it's on to the
next thing
and i and i looked at that as a
beautiful example to understand the
value of this worldly life and how
insignificant it is
you know to allah subpanel with the
islam
but how it should also be insignificant
to us
that we can't hold on to it we can't
take it with us
you know even egyptians tried
everything they try to take with them
you know in the afterlife is sitting in
a museum right now on display we can see
it
which means they wasn't able to take it
with them
so when you look at
you know the youth in general muslim
non-muslim they're all chasing something
that's fleeing away from them they're
all chasing something that's
insignificant it has no value when it's
all said and done
so
as responsible young men and men in
general
we have to start
looking at what's more
meaningful what's more beneficial what
has more value
not only in this life but in the
hereafter because as muslims this is
what we're striving for
we're striving for that final abode
that allah subhanahu wa the allah has
prepared for those who believe in allah
and his messenger muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
so this becomes our ultimate goal
so you know i've been touring
again on the line giving you know
lectures
trying to remind myself first and
foremost
but focusing mostly on the youth
because i see that they are a generation
that
really
you know is establishing their own
presence
they're not really expounding or
you know
elaborating on what proceeded they're
just creating their own existence
and it comes with a lot of you know
peers following peers
so
i have
made a comment about
you know something that's common when
you're young
you have somebody that else this young
for advice
opposed to asking elders yes yes parents
of people who preceded you that have
experiences and knowledge of things that
pass
you know your asking from one dummy to
another dummy you know how could i be
smart yes you know so it's like becomes
the oxymoron and i think that this
generation
is kind of stuck in that space of
trying to
you know extract
understanding from each other
based upon their inclination to the very
same thing
you know materialism
you know you know
fame glory you know all these things so
you know just
alhamdulillah i'm just
extremely grateful that allah guided me
away from these things
alhamdulillah so when you connect all
these
situations where you had these people
biggie smalls you had tupac before that
elvis presley madonna you had now you
had the young doll you mentioned michael
jackson kobe bryant you touched upon him
yeah kobe as well i mean kobe
once again
extremely dedicated athlete
played every game like it was his last
and when he and his daughter you know
passed away
you know it resonate in the hearts of
people all around the world
but there will become a time when
you know it'll be faintly mentioned or
faintly remembered
no saying meaning outside the immediate
family now that media family won't
always you know hold that spot and
always you know
exercise you know the uh the pain that
comes with that loss
but for us as fans and outsiders and so
on and so forth for just a matter of
time before we forget
and move on to the next thing
what i'm saying or move on to the next
grievance
you know and it just shows you how
temporary
you know this life is you know and that
we can only
you know celebrate
when we reach that final abode
that we are striving for
you know regardless of some people
believe that their path leaves them
there
so on and so forth but we know
you know as a fact you know that the
speech of allah is true what we read in
the quran is true
from the sunni and the guidance of
sallallahu asallab we follow the path
that leads to that and as long as we
hold on to that then inshaallah will be
from you know ta'ifa to mansour we'll be
from the victorious group
yes the hadith the prophet saw some
lasting final mister sent to mankind
said think often of the destroyer of
pleasures
death so we're touching upon this to
awaken some of the hearts that have been
kind of numb to this yeah now how numbed
up were you back in the day let's go
just take a trip back in time were you
ever when the topic of death would come
up
did you ever think about it if it was
brought up was it ever brought up and
what would you when it was brought up
you know right now you enjoy talking
about it obviously how was it back then
well the thing is
the way i viewed death
before islam
was
something that just
comes to an abrupt halt
i never really
looked at anything
happening after death
so like many people and i'm pretty sure
it's way more common than red that you
just try to live it up you just try to
live it up you know i'm saying until
that moment comes when you know that
everything is going to abruptly stop and
it's just going to fade to black
you know
so
i live my life according to that
understanding
that i'm just in this moment
doing any and everything i can
like literally like before i used to get
on the plane
i had to make sure i was high
you know what i'm saying like i had to
smoke some weed i had to do you know i
said because it might be the last time i
smoke you know say it might be the last
time you know anything
and i always used to think that way
always living in that moment
but now you know as a muslim
there's still some significance to this
living in that moment
because you're not promised tomorrow
you understand
but the difference is
what
i was striving for before
was just only leading to
destruction
but now what i'm striving for
same content
living in the moment
only
able to grasp or gauge what allah has
made tangible for me today
but having high aspirations for tomorrow
no one that is not promised though
so you try to maximize and make the most
out of today so there's a parallel
understanding from the past to the
present but it's just a different goal
different objective
no sense so i think that that's common
in human beings
that
you know fear and death
knowing that when it's over it's over
and a lot of people wish they can cheat
death which they can escape it
you know saying wish that they can
prolong life and so on and so forth
but when you understand like allah says
in the quran kulu neffs and that you
could tell
verily every soul will taste death so we
know that now so we're over it
you know saying it's inevitable
it's inescapable so once you come to
that conclusion at that point you have
to live
and you have to live according to what's
correct
because death is inevitable if we were
all given a date
you understand we would live a certain
way
knowing that we know our date
i know exactly on this date on this
month of this year
i'm going to return to allah so with
that being said i'm going to live the
best life that i can live
everyone would follow was correct if
they had that date
but the trial comes with the unknown
not knowing when that day is going to
come
you know and that's where the fear comes
in when people you know say fear god
or fear law
or you say oh he's a god-fearing person
a god-fearing person is a person that
knows that he's not in control of what's
inevitable which is death
no saying so you don't live in the state
of all of fear
where it affects your way of living you
live in a state of fear knowing that you
don't control the outcome
you know so this
actually
becomes the basis or foundation of how
you live
so you know this is what i was trying to
touch base in the lecture yesterday and
hopefully you know
allah made it a benefit for the people
you know and the benefit for myself as
well
yeah that should be something that
awakens the heart and mind to think
deeper than just the superficial life
yeah and often someone dies and you'll
see everybody sending the rips rest in
peace
and people have this you know
misconception that oh he just went off
to a better place you know what i mean
and this is funny because it's funny you
said that because like growing up where
i came from you know you would get like
a shirt made
with a homeboy face on it yeah everyone
would drink pull out liquor burn candles
just create all kinds of rituals that
have no legislative proof to support
that this is something praiseworthy it's
all emotion
right
and then not only that
like you
said you know
when this
inevitable thing reaches us
you know
a lot of times
people have a hard time accepting
once again was inevitable
so grievance becomes way way longer than
it should be
you understand
grievance becomes something that is so
you know burdensome to where people have
health issues
you know i'm saying they start losing
their hair
they start losing weight they start
losing their desire to eat and so on and
so forth and this goes on for years
sometimes because people have not
grasped the idea
that death is inescapable
it's inevitable
it will reach every single soul
you know
so you know like i said growing up it
was just
you know how we view death
was
it brought out a lot of things you know
it brought out
you know emotions that you tried to
you know honor and respect the person
that passed
it brought out opportunists
especially where i came from
you know he dies i mean his girlfriend
is available
stuff for the lobby like this is the
truth he's gone
so whoever you know his girl is that
means she's available
you know
i grew up being in funerals
where the person who's responsible for
the person in that casket
is present
kissing on that guy's mother
shaking hands to friends and family
and another thing i didn't understand
when i was young you know
being from a christian background
you know pastor will always say that
everyone is going to a better place
almost as if hell is empty
like no one goes to hell
everyone that dies goes to a better
place
you understand and this is what makes
people accept
death when they have no understanding of
it they believe that everyone qualifies
for this paradise
knowing that the the inhabitant of that
casket or that grave
may have done unspeakable horrific
things
in complete opposition to what allah
commands
or what is asked of him from his creator
but yet you'll have someone stand over
his casket while his mother is sitting
there sliding in the chair crying and
you know saying just belligerent
and you try to ease everyone by saying
he's in a better place now
like i've never seen anyone in my
previous life
stand up on that pulpit and say
this dude here is going to hell
this dude here is not deserving
of paradise never heard of it
and also
we know that this
final ending
is not known to man period yeah right
and this is something that's established
in every book that was revealed whether
it's the torah whether it's the gospel
whether it's the psalms or the quran
that this is an unknown thing
so to try to reassure
another creature
that their final ebola is going to be
an eternal state of bliss
you know this is some type of false
comforting
that's being offered to people who have
no real understanding of what death is
you know and how to prepare for it
because you have to prepare for
something that's inevitable
and that's why the creator sent
these revelations and we have the living
miracle the quran
and you touched upon this yesterday how
you were actually trying to guard
someone
you know someone who has this is for
anybody you know who now is watching
listening and they hear us mention death
one of their favorite artists musicians
you know from one of these people that
we mentioned they're like okay but you
know it's nebulous for a lot of people
they're confused right you know and
people end up making things up on their
own following their desires yeah but you
have this book that's been revealed the
quran and you mentioned something about
it yesterday how you were so envious you
know because you accepted islam
submission to the creator not the
creation and you didn't become remiss in
performing your obligations and duties
you started establishing the prayer you
started fasting their mother ramadan and
all the other things you know there's
rita you have it you have you know just
following the sun
you haven't you didn't just take it and
just half step you know what i mean uh
half in the dean half out right yeah you
sum totally like god almighty allah says
enter into islam hold harder
yeah and it's amazing to see that you
know what i mean
so the thing is by nature we're
followers yeah and i mentioned this as
well last night no sons father their
father it's the only example you have in
your household when you're growing up
that son's father followed his father
so it's by nature we follow
so
coming from the background i came from
whether it was the street or the music
you know
i never possessed the characteristic of
a follower
other than following my own desires to
achieve
what the streets had to offer or to
achieve what the music business had to
offer but as far as following another
individual's path for following another
individual's life or lifestyle so on and
so forth i've never been a part of it
and i think this is what fascinated a
lot of people that know me growing up
that i've never been a follower
even like being
you know under the you know the umbrella
of such a you know
impactful individual like sean combs
he's a mogul he's impacted the culture
with music
but even he wasn't an individual that i
was inclined to follow
you know
you know so it's like
when people see me accept islam a
religion of following
right this is a religion of following
we follow the quran
and we followed the sunnah meaning the
prophetic traditions
of muhammad ibn abdullah
peace and blessings be upon him
he was an exemplary character
when it came to business
being a father being a husband
military expert you know saying he was
all these examples
so that means that the religion is
complete you have a messenger that was
sent who covered all bases
cover all bases so the example is clear
right
so now we can enter islam wholeheartedly
we can internet wholeheartedly because
we have an exemplary character
sent to all mankind as a mercy
and his companions right
was an extension of all those fine
qualities and they're the ones that
conveyed the religion to the next
generation to the next generation the
most virtuous generations to what we
have in our possession today
so this is a religion of following
so when it comes down to us following
our innate nature to follow
what better
path
to follow than the path that's been
prescribed
by your creator who knows you better
than you know yourself
but
it's just sad to see the youth today
who
every once in a while i'm pretty sure
they have some type of connection with
their fit with their natural disposition
to want to do good
even like you mentioned a guy young dog
i didn't know anything about him but i'm
starting to hear after his death to hear
doing good things buying a lot of
property in the communities and so on
and so forth i know a lot of guys that
try to give back try to look back try to
help somebody because it's instinctive
to want to do the right thing
but
these things are more
self-serving
than subservient
because this is where the reward comes
from being subservient
self services is easy
it's easy to serve your own desires
it's easy to chase your own desires
but when you're following
this path that's been prescribed by your
creator and the messenger that he sent
then this is a path of subservience
doing things solely for the sake of your
creators pleasure
in accordance to the messenger that they
sent
it's a simple script it's a simple
path it's a simple life
you know
and when you mention prophet muhammad
peace and blessed be upon him was the
last final messenger sent to mankind
coming from a baptist background right
now a christian baptist and christians
obviously have this deep love for jesus
but now just to touch upon this you love
would you say you love jesus more now as
a muslim absolutely than before
absolutely because
we already know there's a lot of
additions and subtractions
in the bible that exists today top
theologists
pastors ministers all around the world
affirm this
even if the followers of this you know
practice this faith
deem it to be untrue the reality of it
is those who are most versed in
understanding the text that's present
today that there's been alterations
there's been things taken out there's
been things added so on and so forth but
the one thing that remains exclusive all
throughout the body
is god's right to be worshipped alone
without any partners without any
interceding
and then the messengership of jesus
you know what i'm saying becomes
something very very significant
and
you know gravitational for the muslim
because now
if you came from a christian background
and you had your confusion or your rep
you know your uh your doubts about
whether jesus is worthy to be worshipped
or follow
right
whether he's worthy to be worshipped
or is he worthy to be followed because
that's the confusion
his existence is not the confusion
we're not confused about his existence
you know saying but growing up as a
baptist my confusion was whether or not
he is to be worshiped or is he to be
followed
because we used to say statements like
what would christ do
so these are statements saying that okay
whatever he did i should follow him
right
because you can't say
to the one that you worship
what would he do
i don't know you know if my intention is
to worship but if my intention is to
follow him then i have to investigate
what he did what actions he performed or
what he implemented when adversity hit
in order for me to follow him so
becoming a muslim
it becomes abundantly clear
that he was one of the most beloved
messages to allah
you know and i can't be a muslim
unless i believe in jesus i can't be a
muslim unless i believe in his
immaculate conception
i can't be a muslim unless i believe
that he's the word of god meaning he's
the manifestation of the statement be
and there he was amen brother not the
walking talking believing speaking word
he's the manifestation of the statement
be
and there he was in the womb of a virgin
so now all this clarity
only increases your inclination to this
beloved messenger and knowing that today
even as a muslim i'm following his
methodology
you know saying so now my
love and appreciation for him has grown
and multiplied
you know and this is what brings a lot
of christians to islam
you know
outside of other other things that allah
choose to change the hearts
but when it comes to like
a studious perspective
or
you know analyzing you know saying
certain
doubts like i said or confusion
this clarity is what makes people
who come from this previous belief
come to islam
yeah let's touch upon that tohi because
as a christian a lot of christians you
know they follow along you know they
come in jump in sunday
and go through all the musical you know
instruments everybody's dancing slings
you know singing clapping and then you
know when it comes down to this trinity
right people are confused right but you
know my father died it did it you know
my parents and i'm just kind of blending
in you know what i mean absolutely so
you went through that also i'm sure and
you know a lot of people but when you
come down to the clarity of islam you
know for the person that this this is
the thing that did it for me really one
of the things along with the evidence
quran has the evidence that it's from
the divine it's not blind faith right if
you prophecies miracles there's no way
that this book can come from a human
being you know it's from the creator
so now when you look at you know the
pure monotheism right because the
trinity is confusing what you know like
which the father son holy ghost how did
this when you learn the pure monotheism
of islam well the thing is
the quran it affirms everything
every book that was that proceeded
so
now there's a bridge
you know saying it's not like you have
to discard
completely
everything that proceeded
that monotheistic command remains
in the torah it remains and the gospel
remains in a song still there still
there
i tell people you know like this is the
thing
when i have conversations with
christians
it's a lot more easier for me because i
was a christian yes so depending on
what's the basis of a person's belief
is it something that's been handed down
then the dialogue that you have with
this individual has to be very very
careful
because you're not offending their
belief
when it comes down to it you're
offending the one they got it from
understand
it's like you're calling my grandmother
a liar
this is where the defensiveness comes
it's not like you're using legislation
to defend what you believe you're
defending the one that you entrusted
with your belief which have faith
and
me contradicting that is as if i'm
calling them a liar
so this is where the you know the the
aggression comes and the budding and the
argumentation and so on and so forth so
when i'm speaking to someone who this is
their plight i kind of tread light
but i enjoy having conversations with
people who actually read the bible
because then it becomes easy to point
out all the exclusive statements that
still remain hero israel the lord thy
god is one
yeah love your lord thy god with all
your might with all your strength with
all your heart with all your soul
not one third for mary one third for the
holy ghost one third for the traveling
saint patrick one third for no no he
said oh
that's tohit yeah that means singling
out allah
or singling out god
with all of these different
characteristics and the lord's prayer
has islam in it or our father who in
heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom
come thy will be done this is islam
absolutely
and people don't really understand the
king's english anyway
because i'm going to tell you there is a
verse
when i was young i used to be in bible
study we used to also be in bible
studies yeah i didn't show you you did
your homework
i was in church six days a week six days
a week as a kid wow i left church
because of the actions of the people but
what always remain is those exclusive
statements and some of the
misconceptions that i wanted clarity for
for example there's a verse
in the bible that tells you call no man
on earth your father
but then we have a command
that says honor that mother and father
i'm a child that's confusing
right
because dads don't get nicknames yeah
when you're acknowledging who they are
in totality you're my father right so if
you're my father how could i follow this
verse that commands me to call no man on
earth my father
so now the investigation leads to the
king's english the king's english
father and son
linguistically in the king's english
means servant and master so now if i
convert the word into master now it
makes sense call no man on earth your
master
now i can honor my father
you know saying so little things like
this
is what get took him word for verbatim
as to be the word
but
thou shall not place no other god before
me
that's to heed
right
the word god linguistically means object
of worship so now thou should not place
no other object or worship before me
that becomes clear to me now
there's another verse in isaiah it says
you may know me and know that i am he
before me no god was formed
nor should there be any after me
for i am the lord and beside me there is
no savior
so now that clarifies who my savior is
the one who created me is the only one
that can save me
not jesus not
because that was muhammad
the old testament yes so this is before
the advent of jesus so now we cannot
take
this infinite wisdom and knowledge of
the creator and say that he made a
mistake
you know what later on you know i mean i
changed my
mind he's going to be your lord and
savior
now the only way to justify that would
be saying
that jesus is god
that'll be the only way you can justify
that because once you have a exclusive
statement well god is telling you that
besides me there is no savior
the only way you'll be able to justify a
created
being
to be your savior
is if allah
gives his divinity
relinquishes it and gives it to his
creation that would be your only way to
justify it
when you would go into the churches you
go to different churches you go to a
greek orthodox church they got a picture
of jesus certain color
asian church you have jesus oh yeah yeah
when i was growing up i seen it with
afro get out yeah jesus had an after
that jesus had an afro he's not an air
force
yeah i mean afro afro pick they had
spanish you know the puerto ricans they
had jesus you know jesus he had the nice
you know curly hair like so i mean this
was this is this is a symbol of hope
and belief and so on and so forth and
i'm not here to attack anyone no no no
no no it's just that through my
experiences
i've learned as a person who wasn't
searching for religion after i removed
myself
from the actions of the people of the
church yeah and when i learned
from the bible and whatever
misconceptions i had i could never get
answers i would ask because i mean if
i'm here present every day i'm studying
i think i deserve the right to get
clarity when i'm running into certain
things that are you know
not
clear
so that became a trial for me and then
like i said later on in life to be able
to find islam and be able to
find that everything that was revealed
before is affirmed in this book
i would have never been able to have a
conversation with a jewish person today
like i can i would never have an
opportunity or ability to have a
conversation with a learned christian
person
whether they're a preacher theologist
whatever i can have dialogue with all
these people one book no one can say
that like now they're listening
someone's watching said man this guy
wasn't a real christian
well if they say that i mean we're all
entitled to an opinion you know i'm
saying but
i don't think that anyone that followed
jesus during his messengership were
considered christians they were
considered muslims
they were considered
one who submits to the will of god
that's what muslim means it's a
universal term yeah that concept was
there yeah no one calls people to follow
jesus moses knights no one calls people
who follow abraham ibraheemians like
these terms never came until good
psalmist until
the advent of
a sub new medium jesus the son of mary
as we acknowledge him yeah you know
so now
god doesn't have a skin color skin tone
a nationality a zip code and islam is
clear mm-hmm
now this is we just did something this
is the living miracle see like we didn't
plan this pla you know this is like
you're reciting that you're not arab
this is what the language the sister
language to arabic aramaic we have it
preserved
so you can go ahead and uh go with
someone who's memorized the entire quran
and they can go in just like we did with
the whole back and forth see one of the
greatest
miracles that we have in our possession
today
and i'm gonna kind of say this in
closing is that
if we were to discard
every book
that's possessed
by
a jew
a christian
and the muslims
the muslims will be able to reproduce
another quran in ours
because there's hundreds of millions of
muslims who memorize the quran from
front to back children nine years old
memorize the quran from front to back
if you were to remove a single header
cut a single vowel
we would know
through reciters
you know what i'm saying and people you
know who memorize the question yeah
those other books would be lost
they'll be lost
because even if there is a single
soul that memorizes the whole torah from
front to back
it would never be to the magnitude of
the muslims because we recite the quran
every day
amazing every single day yeah
so to compile it once again and it's
in the chronological order it was
compiled you know saying the very first
time
we would be able to do that in hours a
couple more questions before we conclude
tell me now for people who are out there
and they because many misconceptions and
many people and this is not to disparage
on anybody's religion anybody's faith
but some people now they'll because of
the mass confusion they'll think okay is
he talking about the nation of islam did
you have an influence that farrakhan
have some influence over you uh you know
did uh are you talking about that's the
islam you're talking about because in
the urban areas you have the nation of
islam and they're doing some good work
you know to me helping get people off
the street you know giving the bean pies
and all that but now what would you tell
someone fair con for instance he might
be watching the dean show right if you
had to sit down with him you follow me
what
what would you say to the nation
you know is this the islam you're
talking about the thing is this
and i'm gonna give
the people just an understanding of what
it is first and foremost to be
african-american in this country
hundreds of years of disenfranchisement
you know i'm saying and continuously to
the day
being demeaned ostracized belittled so
on and so forth we always needed a sense
of belonging
and i'm saying
a sense of
unity
dignity honor all the things that have
been stripped
so what you find
from
my culture
that we will quickly
incline ourselves to anything that we
can forge that can give us that
whether it be
the nation in islam the black panthers
crips the bloods
gds whatever the case may be
we find ourselves by default
inclined to these
forged brotherhoods or unions that give
us a sense of belonging a sense of
dignity a sense of honor a sense of
purpose
but there's nothing on this planet that
does that for creation
better than islam
unity cannot be established through
nationalism it's been tried
history tells you that it doesn't work
feron tried it he tried to distinguish a
people and raise his own people
and the lord put that
plot or that plan to cease
hitler he tried it
[Music]
this is nationalism
doesn't work
subhanallah it doesn't work because you
can't alienate
a mass majority of people and try to
raise one particular group and say that
they're superior
when the law only mentions in the quran
believers and non-believers you don't
put race on anything it's either you die
a believer or you die a disbeliever
there's no ethnicity
and no one owns islam the adams happen
to be the smallest population of muslims
but they're the promotional vehicle for
islam so people tend to believe
especially us as african-americans that
that's out of religion
yeah because the book was revealed in
the arabic language that the messenger
was sent was the adam
but there's not a single messenger that
was sent
there was an english-speaking uh
messenger
and they did not come
you know saying to us particularly my
culture as a messenger
you know
so
the thing is this
i tell people all the time not to
confuse
islam islam the religion of allah
the religion is for allah
you know saying for the embedded of his
creation in totality not just one group
yeah don't confuse that with the nation
islam
don't confuse that with moral science
don't confuse that what the five percent
is don't confuse that with none of that
because instinctively like i said we
want to gravitate to people that look
like us
you know what i'm saying
and this even resides even amongst islam
we're not free from it
just because we appoint the religion of
truth it doesn't necessarily mean that
nationalism doesn't exist it's a human
deficiency
islam is free from that
this is a human deficiency
islam unites all walks of life
when you see the hard season when
there's five million six million people
making tawaf around acaba
you can find your people there somewhere
i don't care where you're from
indonesia malaysia indonesia the largest
population of muslims in the world you
never hear about this
largest population of muslims in the
world
majority of africa a lot of those
countries are predominantly muslim
countries
so when you want to chase your heritage
look back to the lands that you know you
your people where your ancestors came
from and you'll find that most likely
today is a predominantly muslim country
inshallah we can we can encourage people
like fair con if they watch you know
because they've they've made some great
steps forward you know what i mean
taking you know uh certain things and
incorporating them but now going to full
extent like getting rid of certain
things that totally you got this farad
muhammad you know what i mean to make
god into yeah i mean that that that
saying that this other uh what's his
name elijah muhammad was a messenger
yeah you know these things
inshallah most people who have come to
true islam they've seen through this but
inshallah we can get some some more of
them
you know a lot of guys and i like what
you said if you look into the quran the
sunnah and then the understanding of
those best generations who are living
with prophet muhammad how they
interpret it how they understood it you
can't go wrong
you can't lose yeah you can't lose that
is the correct methodology of islam is
the quran the sunnah and the edgema the
set up the consensus of the sellers and
what they agreed upon you know saying in
the most virtuous generations that
follow the prophet saw selam he said
the best generation is my generation and
those that follow them and those that
follow them so it becomes clear we
understand our religion we don't have no
problems with that i can look to you
you know saying what is your ethnicity
what is your nationality
huh
from bosnia why is two
individuals sitting here as brothers in
islam you're from bosnia i've never been
to bosnia i'm from harlem you know what
i'm saying and i'm pretty sure we walk
out the door we'll see someone else from
somewhere else it's muslim and so on and
so forth it's like you can't
make this up this is not a forged union
this is not a ford unity this is not a
fourth brotherhood allah says
only the believers are brothers only the
believers are brothers
not only the africans
not only the hebrews not only the
only the believers and brothers so as
long as you believe in your lord in the
last day you believe in his divine
decree you believe in everything that he
created you believe that he created
everything with purpose you believe that
he sent messages and concessions to
nations after nation at the nation and
finally after his mercy out of his mercy
he sent the messenger to all mankind if
you believe that then you fall into this
brotherhood that allah established
only the believers are brothers
last question now and then we can talk
about this work that you're also doing
tell me
you know people raising their kids we
touched upon this very important
and they're having these cards you know
the basketball players cards and then
you know people think it's not haram
brother what's the problem you know what
i mean and you have family members
with their kids and you see this and
you're like okay it's not haram i
understand what you're saying but now
the hearts are being attached to the
kobe bryants to this famous uh
basketball star they're you know
entertaining themselves you had a
brilliant idea yeah you know you know
the sahaba if you were to ask you know
the youth to name some of the best human
beings that lived the earth you know
what i mean so talk about this you know
the and then your favorite sahaba that
you attached your heart to one side
yeah and why you did that so touch on
these two things all right so real quick
to not get too winded about
you know this
um
re-entering
this very crucial
you know point of
understanding
islam better
whether it be for the muslims or the
non-muslims
is to know the companions
so as muslims
especially muslims that ascribe
themselves to being sunni muslims you
say we sunni muslims we say we follow
the salaf we follow the salah for saul
the pious predecessors now i'm saying we
follow ephitica tanagia you know saying
the save set
though for the monsoor the victorious
group
athletic
all these different terms
dowa to salafia we say we follow these
things we ascribe ourselves to being
upon the path of the most virtuous
generation of muslims who ever walked
this planet
how can we affirm that if we don't know
who they are
how can we affirm that if we don't know
who they are
so i believe there's been a very gross
negligence
you know saying outside of teaching the
quran which is primary you must know the
book of allah you have to know
you know saying and understand
with the understanding of the companions
you can't understand the quran the way
you want to
you have to understand it the way they
understood it
so in order to do that in totality
you have to also understand who they
were
so what i've been doing
is collaborating with you know
communities that i've been invited to to
give talks and get lectures and so on
and so forth
to start investing more time and
teaching the youth
about the greatest example they could
ever have
is the companions of the messenger of
allah saw allah
and attaching themselves not only to the
companions in general but finding a
single campaign that you have something
in common with
and using that as the barometer set on
how you're going to deal with things
based upon how he dealt with things
and it becomes similar to the rookie
cars we used to collect when we was
young
you know
and not only that
you know getting acquainted with
your companion that you
deal with today getting acquainted with
his campaign
so now that the attachment is not just
based upon our interaction on the
day-to-day you're also a reflection
right
of this companion that you revere and
love
so now it becomes a great connection
between my love for musa abhinumaya your
love for khalil waleed i learned about
khalid waleed you learned about muslim
and next thing you know we have the
strong connection that fortifies the
connection that we have as brothers in
islam
you know and we need to know who the
companions were
in order for us to implement the
religion the way they did so
it's something that you know i really
hold dear because like i said i'm
focused on the youth
i try to abstain from all of the other
issues that may plague you know the
dawah
you know whether it be you know
misguided callers whether it be people
of ignorance you know saying uh claiming
to be knowledgeable or whatever the case
may be or
issues that people have you know what
their men hatch
the youth
in my eyes becomes the victims of this
stuff
so why busy myself with the people who
are calling to misguided so busy myself
with the people who fall into innovation
and shut up and all these things when
the youth are the ones who are being
neglected
so my focus is listen
if the youth
can see me as one of their peers as
someone that they can trust with their
religion
to an extent
i'm not a student of knowledge i'm not a
island i'm not a scholar
i'm a lay person you know i'm saying
but i learned my religion to protect
myself
and if i can extend that to protect the
shabbat
then let's start by fortifying our
understanding of the religion so that
you can protect yourself
this is the objective this is the goal
you know
so
this sahaba program
i believe is something that's very
essential to
re-establishing the correct
understanding of islam
so we can substitute those cards and
have what's sahaba cards it's a habakkuk
that's sha allah anybody wants to you
know they actually have something that's
out there that's it they have something
that's available for purchase right now
but i think it's more of a surface
explanation of these companions i'm
trying to extend that to get you more
and more entrenched so inshallah someone
watching watching the program you know
who's innovative like this they can you
know get connected yeah this is free
this is islam i mean it's not it's not a
soul
brother of me this is a really good
project everyone yeah out there who
ascribes themselves to teaching the
youth to correct islam
you have to teach them the book of allah
you have to teach them the song of the
prophet saw you sell them and you have
to teach them about
the the rightly guarded khulefa rashidin
those that follow them in totality and
faith from the tavi and the tabitavi
these are the virtue of generations if
you're not teaching that then how do we
ascribe ourselves to being sunni muslims
because it's not a game
yeah you don't just jump out and just
say hey i'm sunny yeah and i just give
this example if somebody me and you are
hanging out
you know for 20 years you know my slang
you know
my uh my the context of my words you
tell me to go hurry up go break a leg go
bring me this you know what i mean now
take that a hundred six hundred thousand
years later and now you take that
literally and you're trying to figure it
out you know i said are you breaking
people's legs no hold on you tell them
hurry up you know what i mean yeah right
or you can give other examples so
they're the ones that understood they
understood the prophecy they understood
it yeah it's better than us today so
this is where there's a lot of you know
that in every single muslim work on this
planet they understood it exactly what
i'm saying so in other words it is their
way of the highway
yeah i'm really alive you may follow in
their way may allah guide you to that
which is correct may allah return you
back to which is correct oh just one
more thing he said something really deep
it was profound said you're trying to
bring me back into uh you know when
people ask you to come back and to start
doing some you know different types of
music yeah that's that's as as
brothers is just lost in the moment
they're not really thinking about the
welfare their brother america it's like
you can't invite me to go back to
drinking if i'm a recovering alcoholic
say no just drink non-alcoholic beverage
i'm like you know because like they got
zero alcohol honey
why would i drink a heineken right
there's going to be a gateway to me
drinking a real honeycomb why would i
drink a heineken that has no alcohol
right
no but it's halal heineken like i listen
okay i just came from there don't ask
your brother just go back i just came
from a war man i survived the war you
won't ask me to go back and fight again
come on stop for the lobbying
subhanallah you know but i understand
sometimes you know we're human beings
you know the muslims be caught up in the
moment and they have ideas based on how
they see you they only see me as artists
you know saying even non-muslims that's
what they see like you know when you're
coming back to you know why you drop
another album
i'm like listen man
i'm i'm pushing 50. just like the
jay-z's you know they're 50 they 50 i
think he's 52 like
these guys oh i ain't too far from here
this is a young man's game first of all
still asking you what you're dropping
out first and foremost
music
is haram you know i'm saying not just
haram for me it's hard for all of us
but for those of us that's weak and
still struggle with their inclination or
desire to listen to music or you
listening to some person who ascribes
himself to be a person of knowledge
telling you that there's a basis for the
permissibility of music and so on and so
forth
stuff for the law you just gave it to
him raw there's no you didn't sugarcoat
it why would i
you know say why would i compromise
my deen
right
at the expense of allah's anger to make
somebody else happy
that's not loyalty
we have a lot of
we have loyalty and disassociation right
loyalty is to allah is messenger and
disassociate with anything that
contradicts that you got to stand for
something or you fall for anything
you know i'm saying i believe that that
is the real characteristic and trait of
a man you stand for something or you
fall for anything that's exactly listen
so if you know for a fact that the
legislative proof that contradicts your
desires then you got to choose that
proof over your desires that's islam
that's where the discipline comes in
that's the thing that fascinates a lot
of people about islam
that i could stop right in the middle of
a basketball game and like you know i
gotta go salah i gotta make slide there
oh come on man every fourth quarter man
only two
i go pray
so what happens is two things either a
person going respect that
wait till i give a lie his rights but
they're not gonna pick me to play no
more and i'm cool with both
i'm cool with both
you could wait till i give a laws right
so i'll come right back and play ball
like i never left or don't pick me no
more
i could live with that
you know and this is what it is to be a
man we have to stand on what we believe
because once that stripped from you
you're just a vessel
there's nothing in there
if faith does not reside in the heart
belief does not reside on their tongue
and the limbs
actions statements so on and so forth
you're just a vessel you're in a way
and i choose not to be in a way
so
that's it and concluding we're out of
time
uh you want to touch upon you have some
projects you know giving back you know
to the absolutely
it's very important that people
understand you know the hunger crisis
not just in our country but around the
world you know and my partner and i
selma pond
we are the
founder and co-founder of paid meals
which is a mobile application
that's going to impact hunger in a
massive way with milao ta'ala inshallah
so basically it enables contributors to
purchase meals
for people in need
to register paid meals vendors
so these registered paid meals vendors
consist of grocery stores restaurants
food trucks food carts and certified
chefs
so basically if i see a person in need i
can purchase a meal for them
right
and they can go into any registered paid
meals vendor and redeem the mill
alongside their honor
their dignity
and so on and so forth
because that's from islam that we
preserve and protect the honor of the
people not just our own
we have to protect it the honor of the
people
so
people
associate hunger with homelessness
homelessness
is definitely
ground zero for hunger
food insecurity
but the majority of people who actually
suffer from food insecurity are the
people who barely live above the poverty
line
this is where i'm more familiar growing
up in the ghettos of america
that we don't understand families that
stretch one stick of butter for a whole
week or month you know i'm saying or
have to resort to all types of
alternative methods just to make it by
that's food insecurity that's hunger
you know but people always associate
hunger with homelessness
yeah they go hand in hand
but hunger is way more widespread
outside of the homeless population
and 40 of the food that gets wasted in
this country is in restaurants
you know so
there's a lot of statistics that would
definitely bring
relevance to the issue that we face
and that paid meals what we're trying to
do
is combat hunger by using technology
technology has helped shaped our lives
technology is here to stay
you know and it's becoming the very tool
that is utilized to provide some of the
greatest services you know i'm saying to
mankind outside of religion
so at paid meals we're trying to utilize
um technology to impact the hunger
crisis
one meal at a time 100 enough you know
and this is called
paid meals period nails yep thank you
brother
so anybody that want to donate
or contribute rather i like the term
contribute
contribute to paid meals
you can actually you know cash out us at
you know dollar sign paid mills
uh the zell account is paid mails at
gmail.com i think the venmo account is
the same
and
you know you could just go on my um
my page on instagram
you know at real loan to amir
and
you can scroll through my page and
you'll see all the information you need
on paid meals or you can go to the paid
meals um page on instagram and
definitely get access to everything
you know incorporated in our own
initiative to impact hunger
hunger is serious and it's something
that i truly believe you know
anyone and everyone that has the means
to give
should contribute to some
someone out there who can't fend for
themselves may god almighty allah the
creator of the heavens rewards you
preserve you thank you very much for
spending some time with us and sharing
many of your insights about your story
salaam from