this is the
de this is the
de this is the dean
show alhamdulillah Alum peace be with
you the dean show every week here to
help you understand Islam and Muslims
the most misunderstood way of life
except you know what it's it's the most
misunderstood but this is a phenomenon
that it is the fastest growing way of
life in the world that's right we got
white Muslims african-amer am Muslims
Chinese Muslims and today we got a
Latino Muslim coming on the show his
life is like a it's like a modern day it
was like a a drama an action-packed
movie and he's here to share his
experiences with us so sit tight right
back on the dean
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showan is
the this is the this is
the
the is
the this is the
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the is
the this is the
[Music]
the is
the this is the Salam peace be unto
youum Puerto Rico oh you remember
that how are you my brother
alhamdulillah good just want to break
the ice a little bit you know you're on
the dean show I'm really excited that
you're here Daniel Hernandez correct and
Abdullah is your name now yes or I mean
I mean this is this is a myth itself
let's start off you don't you don't have
to change your name when you become a
Muslim don't correct you don't have to
do that do you no I don't you you I mean
so you're you're Daniel Hernandez Daniel
Hernandez but people can also call you
the the Abdullah the servant of God yes
now you weren't always uh being called
by this name I mean let's back it up a
little bit uh I'm very excited for us to
have you on the show you come from a
Latino background Puerto Rican yes
correct what's the difference between
Colombian Puerto Rican Mexican what you
speak the same language right we speak
the same language just the dialect is a
little bit different you know we compete
you know because of the music as well
you know they have salsa we have salsa
we say it's ours no it's ours and we you
know there's a little tug of war
historical yeah but I mean you can
understand each other right yes we can
yeah how do you say house in Span in in
in Puerto Rican house Kasa Kasa how
about in Puerto Rican same Kasa Kasa so
it's just little little dilet yeah yeah
okay great uh so now tell us uh tell us
a little about yourself well I was uh
raised in in in in a Catholic household
my mother used to be a a nun uhhuh and
she used to uh be in a Convent and teach
more than 50 students and then she
decided to leave the convent and got she
got married with my dad and she had us
she brought us up always very religious
you know doing the the the catechism in
our own house uh always teaching us to
pray before eating before sleeping uh
you know always always keeping the
remance of
God and she also gave us the freedom to
um to choose she didn't impose life on
us uh so I was the smallest one of my
brothers and I always like to make the
challenging choices how many brothers
did you have I have two more the me and
two other brothers sisters also no only
brother two brothers correct and then um
I happen
[Music]
to you have a low
self-esteem always trying
to
just uh convince myself you know because
I had the bad experience in in in some
schools where I had a dream and the
teacher would tell me you're not you're
not going to make it you're not going to
be that the teacher would tell you that
yes so it will crush my spirit and so
then instead of why would the teacher
say say something like that you know I I
don't it was the the teacher was
teaching in an environment where she's
not familiar with she's from a different
environment but she will come because
it's her profession she's like she's
kind of bitter also you know and and
it's like so what I did instead of
making it easy for her to teach I made
it difficult for her oh I see you're
Troublemaker now so yes I you know I
didn't I used to feel goody about it but
it was something that it hurt me and
then
you know through life you know other
experiences led me to
just make the wrong choices you know
then I started playing
basketball I started playing basketball
in high school you know and some of my
friends had issues so they would before
the game start drinking yeah alcohol and
so on and I I would you know hesitate
cuz I wasn't into it but there was some
factors that made me say you know let me
just let me just try it now how old were
you at this time when you when you
you're about to have your first sip of
alcohol yeah no no this I mean I had
tried it before but this one was for
like I really wanted it before I just
tried it cuz it was peer pressure yeah
you know but this one was like I wanted
to try it now you want to be going to be
a man now yeah like I was like like 17
that I wanted to do it yeah and it
wasn't it wasn't it just it was a slope
going down the hill so I would we will
go we will be in the games intoxicated
and the games turn into chaos yeah so I
ended
up going further than that and saying
you know I wanted I saw that you know
the most of the in my community of the
of the of the Latinos that I know you
know they either drop out of school or
they're just you know working in in in
in jobs and not getting a degree so I
mean friends that I know so I felt bad
about this I I wanted to be proactive I
said I want to do something about it you
know I always I always like the
inspirational movies you know like like
like movies like Malcolm X yeah like in
these these inspir like the movie um
South Central on the guy goes to prison
and then you know in prison he reforms
his life and then comes out to the
community and and so I wanted to do
something like this so I I started
looking here and there you know what
what group you know and then I said okay
you know this group is is towards this
ethnicity or this nationality I became
curious you know and I wanted to be
proactive so I I saw this group and I
joined it because I I I now was this
some charitable organization you're
talking about or or was this like change
the world organiz or what was this like
Mafia what was this no it was an organ
like named an organization but really
you know it was what what the media
portrayed to be it was a gang oh so now
when I introduced the show I said you
know uh we're going to talk to this
brother whose life was kind of like a
what I say what I say you know like a
live U uh action thriller so now things
get really I mean when you're talking
about gangs you got shootings you got
killings you got drugs were you heading
down that way this is where things get
exciting yeah they they they got they
got they got crazy and tell us a little
bit without going into details you know
so because there's a lot of people out
there that think this is cool you know
we part of Familia now so they think
this is the way to go not knowing that
you know what you either end up in jail
or dead so we don't want people to go
down the direction so they can connect
with you who are actually high up in the
ranks weren't you and and some of the
some of the crazy things that were going
on I mean well the most the most uh did
you ever a shot at no I never shot at I
I did had no did you ever get shot at no
no I never got shot at I never never
shot I mean I had there were times where
things were going to take place but it
was something that I had the feeling I
wanted to do it just because I was loyal
but somehow it never went down and you
know I had I know that there you know
within the organization there were
people that I had a friend who who was
very educated but by the of Allah you
know the destiny of Allah he happened to
be raised without a father in a shelter
yeah but when he was in high school he
was a valedictorian yeah but he ended up
in the streets so now you know he's my
he's supposedly my brother in this group
and he um
he needed a place to stay so I told him
to stay in my house yeah you know but
there were things that happened you know
uh it I'm going to say things that
happen in one year span and this is
where there's that that turn where I
come in contact with Islam let's let's
hold right there it's saying we got to
go to a break and hold your place we
right back inshallah God willing sit
tight we back with more here on the dean
show I just want to say very simple
message one of the beautiful about our
religion of Islam is the emphasis on
Direct ritual and prayer to God directly
there is no intermediary the lights will
go on after the party and the party will
end it's very simple and very clear
there are no superstitious rituals no
strange incantations time is running out
we might not make it till tomorrow and
this is something that we need to think
about back here on the dean show with
Daniel Daniel my brother see people
don't you know they don't understand
that there's a Brotherhood here we
worship one God him alone not what he
created and we we pray together we we
fast together we do good things together
and we're brothers isn't it you could be
from China you could be from Japan you
could be from Puerto Rico and we come
together in Islam and we're brothers
isn't that beautiful yeah so again I'm
excited that you're here with us now
before we we get into this uh Islam
where you took a turn and and you know
simply for for our our brothers in
humanity uh the not yet Muslims I call
them people uh who potentially like all
of us have this ability to submit to God
and this is what Islam is calling you to
submit to the one God not to a man or a
woman not to a messenger or a saint but
the one God who created all these things
isn't that right so tell us now before
you you took a turn in in this Beautiful
direction again you were experiencing
everything that the average person was
experiencing was there any Joy
fulfillment peace in any of these things
that you were experiencing see the
the one of the things that I would I
would ask myself when I when I got into
this into this uh
group I began to ask myself what's my
purpose in life so I was say okay I'm
going to I'm going to make money so then
I was I will I will go down that route
you know trying to you know make as much
money as I can you know the the quicker
the better so then I ended up having
money but still not being content so
then I said you know I might if I find a
partner you know I might be happy so I
go in here you know start going you know
and I was raised with my parents and my
parents you know they gave me they
showed me a model and when I
you know I see that the the the what the
prophet taught us how to be a husband is
is similar to the way my dad dealt with
my mom you know they were married 30
plus years so I saw this so whenever I
even I try to have a girlfriend I felt
that this wasn't right I wanted marriage
I wanted something like real but I said
let me I want that feeling so I began
going with girls and I I still didn't
feel
content then
I said you know then then then peace no
no peace and happiness no always saying
okay then let me let me just you know be
loyal with my friends and you know have
fun play basketball you know hang out in
the in the streets after basketball you
know let's go you know like drink some
40s and so on and still at the end of
the day wasn't happy dead end every time
the there was always a limit the
happiness is is like an illusion
yeah like like like a like like chasing
Mirage it's chasing a mirage exactly so
then I began to being in this group you
know some
members will do
things and still represent or carry like
the uniform of the whole
organization then they end up giving us
a bad name so all of a sudden I'm coming
at of my house and the cops come snatch
me up put me in the car you know come
with us I'm like what did I did I just
woke up oh you robbed this house I said
I just woke up so they did it you didn't
do it you're you're getting pinned
because of friends uhhuh cuz you're
hanging with them you're Associated
you're affiliated with these bad
elements and now it's it's it's coming
back on you so so sometimes you know
there will be you know robbery will take
place you know sometimes just for fun
okay we let's say somebody you know we
we want to take something from someone
we do it but whenever that was done I
always felt guilty I always felt like
you know if I took this this person's
money you know that could be for their
family that could be for the kids so I
always felt guilty you know and then I
began asking myself you
know what is you know what is going to
happen today is am I going to die today
am I going to go to jail today you know
is my mother going going to get hurt as
she's walking with me just because I got
a label and others are are not are
misrepresenting this group you know and
and then it became like a majority and
then the people that I trusted the
people that I trusted that I look up to
they ended up you know I I I'll tell you
the story briefly I I happen to be in
the Puerto Rican parade in New York
singing Puerto Rico yeah you know and
two two of my friends that I I thought
they were amongst the Lo the loyalist
they were with me and then the next day
I'm in work I see them in the news mhm
they got killed dead they got killed
they're not walking Earth anymore they
got killed finished why Wow by
who from the same Circle the same gang
the people that are some of the people
that I trusted the same family the
supposed family they so one of them
the the the interesting thing is that
before that happened remember I said
there was a friend that was living in
the street and I told my mom to please
let him stay in my house this friend the
one that that lived in the
shelter one of those people that killed
my friend had told him okay that the
Quran has
wisdom so now the Quran which we know is
the verbatim word of God gets mentioned
here gets mentioned yes so that friend
of mine when he's staying with me in my
house now who said this now the one that
got killed the the one the one that is
inil that's in jail right now doing 35
to life because of he was reading it in
the in the in in the outside no outside
yeah so he advised my other friend and
that he told him that the Quran has
wisdom so me and my friend when he was
staying in my house we we went to the
library public library and he was
interested cuz he was he was a reader
yeah see I was more into basket
mhm and he we got like five books out
and then finally in in New Jersey we we
we reached our limit but we came across
the Quran it's like okay we can't take
it out now I said don't worry I got it
so I ended up taking the Quran from the
public library and we we left it in my
house it wasn't red but one then my that
D friend moved out
and then that's when my friends got
killed and some incidents happened that
made me really like think about life
then I happened to be out with some
friends the result of hanging out of you
know drinking loyal saying you will die
for your for your brother you will die
for your friend but they might not be
ready to die for you so what happened
was I ended up end up going to jail
because of my friends again so so it was
all this being in in there just for one
day made me really think and
say you know I I want to be home I want
to be I want to wake up at whatever time
I want and go into my refrigerator and
eat whatever I want wake up at whatever
time I want I don't want to be in here
so I said you know what I'm GNA I'm
going to change so that thought led me
to when I came out of of jail the only
one that bailed me out was my mother
which not not your none of my friends
gang M your friends no and even though I
was in position nobody you had some rank
still they didn't come and get you
nobody came to help me nobody came
except your mother except my mother the
one that every day was stressed out
worried about me so when I came
out I began to ask God for guidance so I
went to I went to different churches and
I started collecting
Bibles and then as I'm in my house
reading I remember that I had the
Quran now I had know I had known a
little bit about Islam but I wasn't
interested in it through basketball
because uh when Michael Jordan retired
you know I used to love the Bulls and
then I'm like what who's going to be my
favorite team now so then I you know I
picked the Knicks because it was local I
could see the games so then also it was
in the finals the Knicks versus Houston
so my brother liked it Houston and then
as I was observing the game seeing
hakeim alijan fasting in the playoffs
yeah you know was really impressive and
then another player that I really like
his style play that I I try to emulate
was uh Mahmud Abdul from Denver who his
name used to be Chris Jackson so I came
in contact a little bit about with
information about Islam but
um after that when I decided to uh look
into the truth and read the
Bibles I opened the Quran and I said you
know I'm just going to take whatever
benefits me and I'm going to leave it
you know whenever it says Allah I'm just
going to say God CU I don't know what it
means I'm not used to saying Allah yeah
so then as I'm reading and I read the
first chapter you know at a time when I
would go to my room lock the door
prostrate and cry saying God you know me
better than myself show me the right way
and I will not look back I will leave
everything behind show me the right way
and I and I will not look back that's it
meaning to to my previous lifestyle
let's hold off right there don't lose
your place we got to take a break we'll
be right back with more my brother
Daniel your brother here on the dean
show sit
tight on the outside everything looks
good you see the $100,000 cards you see
a lot of diamonds you see a lot of
females and they think that this is you
know this is a life this is this is like
you know Paradise right here on
Earth it's not anyone's job to go into
someone's heart and change their heart
your job is to tell people what the
truth is and the reality of it is while
we're sitting here while I'm sitting
here constantly paying for the disease
The Cure was
free back here with Daniel
letting us in on your
story coming in from doing what just
everyone is doing here just you know
chasing the material thing money's not
bringing you happiness this family the
gang is not bringing you happiness you
witness some of your good friends who
got killed by this same
organization
confusion uh chaos and now you're ready
to get serious and you get the Bibles
and you get a Quran and what happens now
as I was
reading I said you know I'm going to
look at these books with no Prejudice
I'm just going to look and seek for
guidance so at the same time I would
pray sometimes I would you know I would
want to go outside and and and and drink
but I'll say no I'm going to I'll I'll
stay in the room I'll read you know and
then I will feel I felt better you were
serious now I was I was I was actually
having an internal battle with myself so
as I as I spent
sometimes reading the Bible and I came
across the Quran and the first chapter
of the Quran at a time when I'm like who
am I going to ask for help who am I
going to worship so then I said as I
read the the the the verses in the first
chapter that
said you alone do we worship and you
alone do we ask for help I said that's
what I'm going to do and then I read the
the commentary and it said the first
step is to look for the way and it's
difficult
and the Second Step once you find the
right way is to accept it and the third
after you accept it is to stay in the
right way so I said you know I'm I'm
going to stay so I I be I continue
reading so I spent nine months reading
the Quran
consistently but what happened to the
Bible or or I I I was comparing yeah but
there was one thing that turned me off
when I went I decided to go to church in
the in the middle of the day to pray and
what took place is that it was
closed so I got upset I'm like why is it
closed if somebody's in need at any time
of the day and they want a place where
they could concentrate and worship it
should be open for somebody that you
know somebody could be on the verge of
maybe committing suicide yeah that
option has to be there so I said you
know what that's it I'm not going to go
to church so then I just continued
reading um the Quran and the good thing
that this Quran had some commentary with
with Biblical verses so what I would do
is whenever Biblical verses came up I
would go and refer to the Bible to see
if it was what it was saying was true
and I spent nine months reading the
Quran and then I said I'm Muslim
whenever I read a verse that said you
know like read the qu uh fast I would
fast until I had pain I didn't know when
to finish so I would fast if it said
pray I would pray and go give give
charity how would you pray how would you
do these things I would just make I
would just make
frustration with with my intention and
that's it I didn't know how to but I
just had the intention and I was taking
the the Quran as an order so whenever
it's it had a command I would try to
implement it and this God this creator
that you were
seeking uh guidance from did you have a
mental picture in your head was it
through a human being a saint what what
were you thinking when you were saying
God guide me no I I knew that there was
a Creator an unseen Creator unseen
unseen Creator who has the power to do
everything Beyond human comprehension so
I I I just trusted it you didn't go
through Jesus or through
Muhammad Moses none of no as I read the
the the
Quran it became the the the the doubts
and the unanswered questions that I had
before became came answered which is you
know the the the belief in Jesus so I uh
through reading the Quran it became
clear that he was a messenger of God and
he would and and he will come the second
time and and I accepted it it became
more understood so in in after 9 months
in u 11 years ago I accepted
Islam and decided
to serve God and serve Humanity through
the service of God so I continued
learning and it happened to me that as I
was I began reading the
Quran my my mom sometimes will listen
the English translation and it was a
blessing that in two years later my
mother accepted Islam the mother that
you mentioned earlier that was a nun
correct and she accepted Islam she
accepted Islam yeah and then uh four
months later
my dad accepts this your father
alhamdulillah alhamdulillah and then
after I I I I became
Overjoyed because uh God answered my
prayers for them to be guided not for me
but for themselves and they were guided
and so then I you know I made the
intention to just work and teach people
Islam you you also went down to to study
more the Arabic language and to learn
more about about Islam you actually went
to Egypt correct as I as I was in in the
process of teaching like new Muslims
about Islam under the guidance of the
local Imam then I I went to Egypt to
study Arabic so I could be able to
understand the Quran so I could
internalize the meaning and be able to
teach my children my my my wife and
children the Quran um I have three
children and my wife alhamdulillah she's
expecting any day now and alhamdulillah
before I went to to Egypt I had a great
gift from Allah that he guided my
brother your brother also alhamdulillah
my older brother and
now you know after being in Egypt
alhamdulillah for almost four years I
was blessed with meeting good brother so
I met uh brother mujahed Fletcher from
Islam in Spanish and alhamdulillah you
know we shared the same goals of
helping the the the Latino Community you
know and educating them about Islam so
in coming back to the States you know I
joined them and with the Islam and
Spanish project and we only have a
couple more minutes so there are I hear
there's a lot of Latinos coming to Islam
is this true correct correct there there
is over there is around 200,000 as a
recent study yeah and I think I don't
remember the exact University name but
it was a recent research that was was
done in the year
2002 there was a study that said it was
like around 40,000 but now it's
increasing and we were blessed today to
be in in to have an an open house here
locally and tomorrow we're going to have
another one you know and mallah we had a
good turnout you know and and and uh we
had an event called the Islamic
roots in the Latino culture
now tell us for those Latinos that are
out there also and this whole there's a
lot of people uh from from this
community that are Catholic right you
got all the saints and you know going in
the confession box and here Hail Mary
and do this and this confusion I spoken
to a lot of Spanish people also and
they're confused this Trinity this that
and the other and and and and now they
come to Islam worship one God the
Creator alone and you leave all this
confusion alone it's simple it's
rational it makes sense and you know
they can connect with you more because
you you you speak the uh theage the
language say something to the Latinos
out there that are also in this state
they're looking for peace money can't
get it you can't buy a six-pack of Peace
talk to them and try to get them
motivated and they can where they can
look you up where you say Islam in
Spanish you could say something talk
talk to them in Spanish yeah the
[Music]
Isam is Islam in
Spanish audio
books C
gra
Quran so you basically what did you say
let me I said that you you can go to uh
the website and get these ww ww. Islam
span.org and you you have access to all
of our audio books for free yeah online
and and even on on YouTube we have a a
section called Islam Espanish TV so all
all of our videos are there and people
have access to to to see it for free
just to benefit from it and make make
Dua for us pray for us I'm really exced
excited we were coming to a close
translated I'm going go from English to
Spanish there's only one God worship him
alone not his creation tell him in
Spanish talk to
him that's it thank you very much thank
you very much may God Almighty the
Creator Allah reward you for being with
us and inshallah this was so short we're
going to have to do a part two so next
time you come in town we're going to
have you back in thank you very much and
that was our brother Daniel went from
looking for peace in all the wrong
places but he found it in the way of
life that was lived by all the
messengers of God you heard their names
before Abraham Noah Moses Jesus Christ
and the last and final messenger Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon them they all
lived Islam they all taught this
beautiful way of life to acquire
peace that's what we all want and that's
what we all need and how you going to
get it opening up that six-pack chasing
that young lady that's not your wife or
that young man no you can't buy it you
need to submit yourself entirely to the
one God the one God who created this
whole universe and everything in it the
one God that Jesus prostrated to and you
could prostrate to him too right now
just like Daniel did it he cleared out
any images of God every false notion
that was out there about God he cleared
it out and he asked the Creator
earnestly Guide Me Guide Me Guide Me
that's what you got to do do it in
Spanish do it in Chinese do it in
manarin whatever it is just do it do it
and then from there be courageous enough
to submit and follow the truth and come
back here every week to the dean show
you can go to the website islamin
spanish. org if you have some of your
friends who are out there who want to
learn more about uh this beautiful way
of life but they don't speak English you
can for your Latino friends and brothers
direct them there they have cd
audios and remember to pick up the dean
show DVD make copies of it share this
message of peace with the world we'll
see you next time inshallah God willing
until then peace be unto you