hi this is Baba Ali from ma films I'm
here on the dean show and in a few
minutes I'll be talking about my story
to
Islam
alhum welcome to another episode of the
dean show thank you for tuning in we got
some great news when we come back he's
going to be telling us his story how he
went
from living according to his desires
which led him to doing some funny and
unique things crazy things to the
submission and to surrender to the one
God we'll be back with our next guest
Baba Ali here on the dean show you don't
want to go
[Music]
nowhere
Allah there's only one God and muhamad
is his messenger
Allah there's only one God and Jesus was
his messenger Allah
I don't know why I did that maybe maybe
it's just to break the
ice how are you brother alhamdulillah
how are you doing alhamdulillah all
praise is to the Creator who's given us
this ability has United us to be
together again here on the dean show I'm
happy to be here Baba Ali it's going to
be some fun today inshah inshallah so I
was introducing uh the uh trying to
introduce the topic but it's very unique
because you came to into Islam and you
mentioned something about witchcraft I
didn't know how to I've had guests come
over from Christianity from this ISM
that ISM but is this actually was this a
religion uh you can say it was somewhat
of a religion because it's actually
called a religion of wiah and when you
don't have guidance you really have no
guidance and I resorted down to trying
to find something to clinch on to and I
start putting rocks around my neck and
believing that these rocks and these
Pebbles had just like the people way
people used to worship idols that these
things can actually give me something
and uh well let's talk about your past
now let's get right into the topic this
is very interesting for for me and for a
lot of our viewers because I'm we never
covered something like this and I'm sure
there was is this a big uh uh what was
it can it be a called a cult a religion
is a big following there's a lot of
people practicing this and it's it's
it's it's strange it's a strange world
you have uh people who write books in
Blood and and they they have spelled and
you have people who wear elims and think
that these things will actually bring
them good things and unfortunately you
see some of this cross over to people
who are quote unquote religious yeah
follow Superstition all this stuff is
all nonsense by the way yeah and when I
came to Islam I didn't I didn't I
finally was enlightened and saw the
truth but I realize that these things
mean they have nothing they can do
nothing for you well let's back it up
tell us how did you now were you're
obviously um you know usually as we're
taught that everyone is born in a pure
state in a pure state that if you left
that child to grow up alone that he
would grow up not worshiping the Sun the
moon or you know witches or whatnot but
usually this is nurtured and he gets
kind of influenced by the surroundings
uh uh that are around him what were your
surroundings while you were growing up
were there witches around you or were
there people this called or what were
you were you born in in into a family
that was predominantly what my family
was predominantly secular uh-huh so they
really didn't practice any type of
religion whatsoever yeah and uh this is
why they said basically you can do
whatever you want to do as long as you
get good grades yeah so that's like just
a typical yeah you know what you want to
worship rocks go ahead worship rocks as
long as you get your A's that's all we
care about yeah and unfortunately they
don't realize that these things are even
more important than my education
education is very important but at the
same time the way your behavior your
attitude your the not just this life
more importantly the Hereafter yeah no
one thinks about the after you always
think about this D they think about
success is in this D but the real
success is in Hereafter that doesn't
mean you ignore the success in this life
but unfortunately many parents who are
secular they don't think
about giving you the guidance for the
next life yeah so now you're growing up
and now you're a teen at around what age
did you get into this freaky stuff I
think it was about the age of like 18
uhhuh about 18 years old and I'm like
just looking for something just bored
looking for something cuz I had no
religion nothing I just knew there was
some there was a God but I didn't know
what the answer what the truth was just
like many people who are looking for the
truth out there that's how it usually is
right yeah yeah so and there the first
thing I found so I clinched on to it and
tell us go on this so I start taking
these rocks and putting them around my
neck thinking these rocks are going to
benefit me and eventually it came to a
point that I realized that these rocks
are the creation and either you have a
choice of worshiping e either the
creation or the Creator and I said these
rocks can't even save themselves how are
they going to help me and I put those
rocks down I said I need to start
looking for the truth so and that's why
I started my quest of looking for the
truth tell us some other ways of life
that you came upon that you were and
what were the things that you were
looking for so that person who's also
sincere and he's wanting to know the
truth he can kind of take a shortcut
instead of taking that long way around
to learn from some of your mistakes well
first of all I said to myself okay if
the Creator is unlimited and he's all
powerful and he's perfect perfect then
his religion must be perfect so let me
start looking at all these different
people who say oh our religion is the
truth because everyone you speak to they
say oh this religion is a truth and this
we're sent by God and blah blah blah so
I okay I'll give everyone the benefit of
the doubt let me try everything out let
me see what what's out there every time
I came into a study of Religion every
time I found a mistake or I found an
error or I found It's Been Changed by
man I put it to the side mhm I mean how
can that be a religion from God if has
mistakes in it yeah also I realized that
okay if if God like for example they say
oh God couldn't die or God is a statue
and then if I can break your God then
that can't be God yeah so I said okay
every time I find a mistake I put it to
the side eventually I came
across the last religion which was left
with which was Islam and it's
interesting how I got to that point
because at the time where it came for me
to uh look into Islam my father got onto
his uh uh
heart attack and he was in the hospital
and the doctor said he's going to need
triple bipass surgery and that surgery
was unsuccessful so they told us he was
going to die so I'm sitting at usia
hospital and uh sitting at my basically
my father's death bed and I was supposed
to go to a winter camp to learn about
Islam and my mother said don't go stay
here because this is more important M
cuz your father can pass away you can go
to your little quest in the future yeah
and uh I told my parents okay I'll day
and as I sat there next to my father on
watching him on his quote unquote
deathbed I realized that this can be me
cuz when you go to a graveyard they
don't die when they're old they die in
all types of Ages they have infants they
have toddlers they have teenagers they
have people my age they have people who
are old it's all these no one knows when
death is going to come so I told myself
I can be dead if if Islam is a truth let
me go at least investigate it because I
can die before this guy passes away yeah
so I told my mom I'm changing my mind
and I'm going to go she was completely
against it and I
went and when I went there I was just
had zero idea what Islam is about zero
took my girlfriend to Islamic camp with
me but before that you had investigated
all the different ways of Life Buddhism
and this looked at way of life and that
way of life whatever whatever was out
there yes and it just from the face of
it it just didn't fit yeah I came from a
science major yeah when you look at the
Bible it says the the Earth has four
corners yeah basically this is the whole
argument between the Earth is flat and
the Earth is round the it that's wrong
yeah yeah it's is not flat I mean the
scientists were fighting it and the
church was throwing these people into
prison it's and now they realize oh yeah
maybe it's not flat well Muslims we knew
this 1400 years ago that it's not flat
and when I found the scientific miracles
of the Quran that was amazing to me I
mean if you any science person they
always always science versus
Christianity and this is always a debate
trying to discover child they're always
debating it even when I was in junior
high school they're debating
Christianity or what they call creation
creationism versus science but Islam and
science they don't conflict M I mean
some people yes you come up with
theories but that's not fact but fact it
doesn't conflict with Islam yeah and
that to me was amazing and the Miracles
within the scientific Miracles was
amazing to me so that's one of the first
things that I caught my attention when I
started looking into Islam in that
winter camp now before we go on and we
talk about how finally you were
overtaken or you found that this was
indeed the truth let's talk about
quickly some of these other ways because
now if somebody came to you and was
talking to you about God being a man for
instance like some people today they
take you know one of the greatest
messengers of God as a man yes did you
ever come and have a dialogue with
someone about this to talk to them and
say why this didn't make sense to you
yes there's actually a person knocked on
my door and they were you know knocking
on my door trying to preach the message
and at that time I was still searching
and uh I hadn't really stud the Quran
too much but I was just starting to get
into it and the guy knocked at my door
and said um I'm here to spread the good
message and Jesus is coming and blah
blah blah so I said okay and he opens up
his book I said do you have any proof
for this because I'm actually looking
for the truth and he says yes let me
read you this passage and I said before
you read it to me who wrote this passage
he says well this is written by so and
so I said wait a second are you 100%
sure he says well I think so let me he
looked up in the back of it and it shows
some of them they know some of them they
don't know some of them are question
marks I say is this the original
language that this book was revealed in
says no it then it was translated to
Latin then translate to English and me
having English as my second language I
know that when you translate something
from another language to another
language it loses meaning and I said
first of all the book is not you're not
100% sure who wrote it two it's been
translated and said has the book been
Chang he say yes it's been changed as
well you're asking very good questions
guys start thinking like you know what
these are very good things that you're
talking about and these guys knocking on
my door he says well what do you think I
said you know what I don't know I'm
still looking for the truth too so so
what have you come across when you're
truth seeking I said the last book I'm
starting to get into is the Quran so
okay what is that about so we start
having this dialogue with each other and
I tell him that so far the Quran that
I've been looking at so far just just
before I even look at the text there's
only one version of it even though
there's different people have different
ideas there's only one version of the
Quran in Arabic and that's it and the
book has not been
changed and the book has the same style
all the way from beginning to end and
said wow this is very unique so yeah so
by the time the guy left he I'm go look
at into the Quran so so he came knocking
on your door trying to preach to you and
try to have you come over but he said
I'm go look into the Quran and that was
it and the diog ended I'm like okay I
guess I'm going look into it too and we
just ended up and it was very nice
conversation wow this is amazing how
about the idea that now somebody and I
heard you talk about this before I
forgot exactly how you explained it but
the idea that someone is coming to die
for your sins yes you made an analogy
about this can you talk about this idea
you know if you take it situation like
let's say I have one of my co-workers I
work with he says you know XYZ came and
Jesus came and died for your sins and
you have basically green light I mean
everything's okay I said if we thought
the same way if we thought in this the
world thought this way that someone has
taken care of everything it's like
giving you a credit card and says you
know what no matter what you charge your
bill will be paid for imagine what type
of chaos you would have in this Society
if people didn't know that they were
going to be accountable for their deeds
that someone else would be taking care
of everything for you it'll be complete
chaos you know what I killed somebody
but it's okay Jesus will forgive me and
you know what so and so I did that but
Jesus will forgive me you know what I
have this temptation to cheat on
somebody or cheat him in business or
cheat on a woman or cheat on this but
you know what Jesus will take care of it
because he died for me because I'm
sinful and he will take care of it if
people had this mentality imagine how
much chaos there will be but Islam
teaches the exact opposite says no one's
going to take care of it you will be
held
accountable everyone will be held
accountable if you do good you get good
if you do bad you get bad this is what
we the society teach you don't go to the
court and say you know what I kill
people but guess what I know the judge
who take care of it imagine how that
would be yeah so to us it's like when
you go to court it says what did you do
did you do this yes did you uh you're
going to be accountable for it if you
did good you get good if you did bad
you're going get punished for it and
that's what Islam teaches us now that
just makes sense it goes down easy goes
down well easy to digest tell us now
you're at this Camp you said yes okay
tell us what happened now so I go to the
camp and it's uh interesting because
what happens is uh my uh girlfriend's on
one side I'm on the other side and men
and women are separated we never seen
men and women separated before mhm and
uh I've never seen this before yeah this
is all new to me and uh and we see I sit
at a table for for lunch and dinner and
my table surrounded with all these
people with different color faces
because when you go to high school you
go to college you see everyone the
Hispanic people hang out together black
people hang out together white people
hang out together the the guys with the
in punk music they hang out together the
guys who play basketball they hang out
together by default just like animals we
segregate based on our color or find
some type of simple bond to connect with
we we know what we're all from Persia
we're all from here and when I went to
the camp I realized wow these people are
all different and they're all hanging
out with each other so I asked them you
guys must know each other for like 10
years now right it's like no we just met
yesterday wow and I was like wow there's
something unique about these people MH I
want to know more what bonds you guys
together and he tells me uh Islam and I
quickly learned that we don't have a
choice of what color skin we're born in
your skin is white I'm darker I'm more
barbecued and uh there's people who are
black people green yellow we no one
asked us what color of skin you're going
to be born in what where you where do
you want to be born in what language you
want to speak so that's a very very weak
bond for us to connect ourselves with
but we do have a choice of the ideas we
want to carry and when you Bond two
people together with the ideas to carry
that makes a strong bond and that is
what I saw and seeing Islam implemented
by action and not just by a bunch of
words or a pamphlet that's what amazed
me and made me want to learn more about
it now you asked a very important
question when that person individual
came to your door you said what's the
proof what was the proof for Islam that
also had you along with this convinced
there was couple of things there's one
the the linguistic things within it um I
was amazed on
uh the Simplicity of it what Islam
taught be good to your parents you know
some of the religions yes they do teach
Sim similar things don't be bad do good
blah blah blah but some of things were
just it was just amazing how things just
clicked and made sense you know the
until recently we we had a black
president this was a very big deal in
America wow we choose a person with dark
skin they don't talk about his
intelligence Which is far more
intelligent than the last president they
don't choose talk about this just a very
fact that his skin pigment of his skin
is a little bit darker than our skin
this should be a very big deal that look
how far we've come MH you go back to
Islam and what Islam taught it got rid
of racism by the time of the uh second
khif which is equivalent like the second
president here yeah and by that time the
a person who was a slave in Egypt was a
governor in Egypt and this was a black
man
it wasn't a big deal didn't make the
newspapers didn't make the all this in
the history books Islam came to teach us
and to Enlighten us to go away from
these animal instincts of animal desires
and animal mentality to come us to
Enlighten us to raise raise us to make
us better than everything else to not
follow our desires but to follow our
creator inshallah and that's what amazed
me okay so what happens now now you're
amazed you're convinced I mean did you
have to go get dipped in a pool what
happened was there some big big ceremony
mean did you have to jump some ropes
hoop I told myself if I ever find the
truth I'll follow it and this means if
you have to sacrifice things that you
desire yeah and I likeed my girlfriend
very much uh but this thing was much
more than just a girlfriend I mean this
thing was more important than this is
the if I found the truth I said if I
were convinced that this is the truth I
will follow it and I was convinced and I
said I'm going I told my girlfriend that
look I can't be girlfriend boyfriend
anymore cuz I want to do things
islamically and islamically look you
take responsibility it's not okay you
know what you just go around this girl
with this girl with this girl you want a
girl you can have a girl but you have to
accept the responsibility of taking care
of her providing for her feeding her you
know and if she has a child you take
care of that you take care of your
responsibility again accountability is
here no more you know what who cares do
just think about me me me now I have to
think of my Creator and make sure I
please him and by pleasing him I have to
take care of my wife my children Etc so
I told her I can't have girlfriend
boyfriend relationship anymore and that
wasn't easy for her so I told her this
is over the relationship is over unless
we get married the relationship is over
from there I my friends some of my
friends I came with uh they came to just
check out what I'm learning about and
told them look I used to be Persian but
I'm not Persian anymore I'm Muslim now
MH which what that means basically is
that not that okay I can take away from
where I'm born it but that culture part
of the culture that I used to practice
that that will conflict with the
something I'm not going to practice
anymore the mentality that men are
better than women you know and we have
this pride of my country is better than
because our Persian ancestors all the
stuff is out the window now you know now
people are people this is like it's like
a clean slate it cleared up my mind it's
like you put these glasses on that you
can actually see now and I've been
blinded for all this
time and that's it just enlightened my
thinking so what did you have to do to
become a a Muslim to become Muslim is
very simple all you do is give your
which means I bear witness that there's
no God but Allah and Muhammad peace and
blessings upon Him is the the final and
last messenger that's it the same God
that was from Abraham Jesus Moses and
the final Prophet is Muhammad and we
accept all the prophets before him and
the messages before them but our book
for us as Muslims and for not just
Muslims for the whole world is the Quran
and to follow it it will give you
success in the Hereafter and inshallah
that is more important than anything
that we can gain here in this D tell us
before we come to an end in a close that
for you living the typical Life as a
youth getting involved in a lot of the
things that are out there yeah you know
you stopped you started to really Ponder
and think about more important things
you started to actually search for the
truth many people they don't want to do
that they're not thinking about death
they're not thinking about the Hereafter
what advice would you give someone
because you're very young and at that
age you were younger when you accepted
the truth for somebody who is at that
age that you were to give them some
encouragement advice to really think and
stop and know it's not all about the
nightclub it's not all about chasing to
get the rims on the car it's not all
about chasing the women and the good
times what advice do you give to
somebody like this to top in
thing you know the the thing that we're
there's so much stuff that we're not
sure about in this life I can go study
all as much as I want and I may not even
get my degree at the end I may be my
life may be taken before that I'm sure
many of us know people who didn't know
the death was coming for them you have
situations where you struggle for so
much that you think is so important
something so so important for you and
you get it and you're like that's it now
something else becomes so so important
and then you get that and that's it
everything in this life is so temporary
and something is so important today
becomes nothing
tomorrow but Paradise is forever
and I said to myself I'm not sure about
a lot of things that's going on in this
world but one thing I am sure about and
no matter what religion you are no
matter what if if you're atheist or
whatever one thing is guaranteed
guaranteed is every soul shall taste
death everyone's going to die do you
know what's going to happen when you're
going to die are you 100% sure you know
what's going to happen when you
die because unless you are 100% sure you
better start investigating I'm not
saying just look into what Islam said
look Islam TS to think not to blindly
follow look at all these religions
compare them see look at the systems of
life and you'll be amazed I mean it's
very clear it's not very complicated at
all it's very clear and hopefully may
Allah subh Enlighten you and make you
towards the right path in now there's
something telling us because you did say
and it's the third one we caught some
Arabic words you're going to have to
Define them they heard Islam they heard
Muslim and you just said Allah you got
to Define these words a the word uh is
Allah means one God it's Arabic way of
Arabic word for one God um it's very
clear um the word Islam is submission to
one God it's and this is the religion
that Muslims practice which is Muslims
are the ones who submit to
God that's it simple simple is is simple
it's never complicated people think you
know this whole uh if you got to be
someone who is religious or you follow
this GC conscious lifestyle that you
have to be some weird person that you
have to be someone locked in the room I
mean most people I mean you hang out
with me I go play basketball I go do
this I go do that I have a normal life
but I I do everything within the
boundaries of Islam and that means like
if I'm want to go have fun I do it I
don't have to do without alcohol without
drugs without this if I want sometimes I
do stuff that's against my own desires I
want to go do something and my parents
will tell me I don't want you to go now
before Islam who who cares I'll go do it
but after a s I realized I'm responsible
of listening to my parents and they they
raised me they took care of me and Allah
subh wants us to listen to our parents
as long as it doesn't conflict with
Islam I have to listen to it so
sometimes you you have to follow
something you don't even desire but you
do it with the hope that you will gain
reward for it in the Hereafter inshah
what are some of the misconceptions that
nowadays you travel a lot you're all
over the place that you've seen that
people have about Islam I think a lot of
people un fortunately because of you
know the media like Fox News and all the
stuff you see on television they have
this they put people on TV that are
unfortunately very very small fraction
of what's out there and uh they they
they get this people that may not may
know very little about Islam and they're
the ones who are The
Voice they're the loudest speakers and
they give the voice and they give the
misconception what Islam is really about
the best way to find out what Islam is
really about is to find a practicing
Muslim and go ask him and that will
clear everything up don't listen to the
media don't listen to the movies that's
all the stuff is for entertainment and
to get people into fear and all that
kind of stuff real is to see and just
like you do in real life if I want to go
see what a vegetarian does I'll go hang
out and ask a vegetarian why do you guys
eat
veggies so you go see a Muslim say how
come you guys do this and how come you
do that and ask the person who practices
it because a practicing Muslim not just
some guy who his name is
you know Ali just because his name is
Ali doesn't mean he's many of us are
born to the religion but not necessarily
convinced of it yeah now tell us we got
a couple minutes left some of this
wonderful work you're doing you travel a
lot you're all over the place tell us
some of your projects that you got going
on well I have a a few different
projects I do I do one video is called
umah films u m m a f i l ms.com and
that's where I put up videos trying to
clear up some of the misconceptions of
what
we Muslims born people who are born to
Islam are doing this Incorrect and
alhamdulillah when I mean alhamdulillah
all praise is due to Allah that Allah
showed me Islam before he showed me the
Muslims and the reason for that is
because sometimes you see Muslims doing
stuff that have nothing to to do with
Islam which is really uh one of the main
reasons that people have a lot of
misconceptions of what Islam is about
yeah absolutely yeah so I that's why
it's better to study the text and see
what Islam teaches rather than hey uh
Muslim I see this guy doing something
strange I wonder if that's what Islam
teaches like force marriages some
Muslims practice this whole Force
marriages things and has nothing to do
with Islam it's actually Islam forbids
it and if you look at the Islamic text a
woman can doesn't get married her
marriage is not valid unless she
approves of the person she's married
getting married to yeah so and that's
one project and I have board games Baba
Ali games.com and I'm inventing board
games that both Muslims and non-muslims
can play and I have a project called
half hardine which the logo I'm wearing
and uh I try to help people find each
other for
marriage thank you very much for being
with us here on the dean show thank you
very much for inviting me had a great
time thank you and thank you for tuning
in to another episode of the dean show I
hope you got to benefit we're here every
week trying to help you understand Islam
and Muslims and we look forward God
willing to have you back again for
another episode of the dean show next
week until then assalam alaykum peace be
unto you
[Music]
sh
[Music]
for
[Music]
sub for
[Music]
sh for
[Music]