this is the
theum our next the next part of our show
is actually the dean show we're very
proud to have brother Eddie rovic Here
Eddie is the founder of the popular Dean
show he's the host and Founder The Dean
show is a Muslim film company that that
strives to provide authentic information
on Islam from the Quran and Sunnah and
absolutely stays away from all
uh negative and extreme topics or or
positions in Islam that are not based
upon the Sunnah and we're very happy to
have brother Eddie here tonight to have
the dean show live from the New York
City Muslim Center and as part of the
foundation for Nows and development like
to invite brother Eddie up to the
stage this is
the this is is the this is
the is
the this is the
the this is
the this is the is
the is
the this is
the this is the whoever lives on
something he will die on that
thing and whoever dies on certain thing
will be raised upon that thing so what
are you living
for and what are you living on so from
the right to the left introduce yourself
introduce yourself and we'll begin with
me throwing some questions at you so
okay my name is z here I've been taking
uh classes at the foundation uh since
the associate degrees program has opened
up uh back in 2010 and and I have to say
it has been a blessing um I used to make
Dua back in college that when I
graduated there would be something that
I can go and learn the religion um a lot
of us don't have the opportunities to go
overseas and um you know alhamd as soon
as I graduated the associat degrees
program opened up so very happy about
that alhamd my name is Karim Hassan uh
similar situation I've been uh a student
of the foundation for some of their
courses weekend seminars and I started
becoming a full-time student at their
associates degree program which also as
zaka mentioned in 2010 alhamdulillah
I've been here ever since uh it's been a
great blessing from Allah now in the
video we saw it talked about getting
hooked how did you get hooked up with
the program it's actually a funny story
how this all began uh me zacha and I we
actually used to help volunteering wait
did you say zacher n zaka and I
oh so zacha and I we used to help
volunteer for the foundation uh I
originally learned about the Arabia
program this Arabic program because of
uh he had a status up I forgot which
source it was either was Facebook or
Twitter so I asked them about it uh
Having learned about it we decided to go
into it and we weren't really into the
other courses yet so once we came and
started volunteering we started sitting
down in the courses and we were hooked
right off the bat it was actually funny
uh we were just focused on Arabic and
then one day we're like let's just sit
through this class and we were like all
we can't miss any of these classes again
yeah like that huh just like that you
got bit by the good bug we did
alhamdulillah so what what are some of
these courses you guys um so since we
began we've taken numerous courses um La
last semester we took a course God
hooked based uh based on addictions that
you know people can face we took the
thick of Salah learning exactly how to
pray exactly like the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam prayed um starting from
the beginning we took a course on the
the the Hereafter we took of course on
the preservation of the Quran and Sunnah
we took the F of purification we taken
Imam Na's 40 Hadith we've taken Family
Matters which was a course on family
development husband and wife relations
we took tap um alhamdulillah and now you
know for this semester now we're taking
uh he is the names and attributes of
Allah um course and alhamdulillah it's a
it's a great blessing what's the
methodology of the academy that they use
that really also interests you that that
keeps it flowing it's not is it boring
do you sometimes the C really you
mentioned that you got cooked and it's
interesting so what's the methodology
that the teachers use just to keep you
coming back for more and for more and
for more and you're here now talking
about it and you want more yeah yeah
alhamdulillah it's completely different
than any other uh Islamic educational
experience that I've ever had um you
know we're sitting here in a class which
has been continuously given it's a
continuous procedure where we're coming
every single week to learn alhamdulillah
we have students that are dedicated to
do this uh on top of that the
instructors M they're very intriguing
they're very grabbing they're
intellectually um you know you're
engaged intellectually in the classroom
setting you're not just stand sitting
there and the instructor is not just
standing there you know talking as fast
as he can and you're not just jotting
down notes you're actually sitting there
the instructor asks you questions and
grabs your attention the whole class
sits there trying to figure out the
answer and by the end of the class
you've actually learned without even
without even realizing it so it's a very
entertaining process also you're always
constantly like mind you know I call
them brain candy it's it's it's it's a
fun experience brain candy I yeah yeah
alhamd and I would definitely say
something that separates you know what
the foundation uses in their methodology
is the the ability to have interaction
the interactions with our teachers and
that a lot of times you know I've taken
previous Islamic courses we didn't have
the freedom to just ask our instructor
right away a question or we didn't have
that connection with them alhamdulillah
here we do have that you know we have
the numbers of our instructors if we
wanted to ask them something we go to
eat with them it's it's it's a whole you
know one greater picture so the
instructors are cool oh yeah alhamd very
cool the best okay any memorable moments
that you guys had that you'd like to
share with the audience um yeah there's
a lot dating from the 2010 when we when
we took the Hereafter one of our classes
in the middle of the semester the
instructors actually brought out a
wooden casket M and put the wooden
casket out so the reality you know of
death hit us right there people actually
got in the casket you know it's kind of
a scary experience that's a memorable
moment yeah Subhan Allah it it really
was and you know going through the
semesters um when we were doing Imam
no's 40 Hadith you know we have theith
of the Prophet sallallahu alai wasam
where he says every joint in the body
you know give its due
so the instructors brought out a
Skeletor a skeleton model one student
had to go up to the skeleton and start
counting the joints so he was counting
them on the hand he reached 30 40 and he
only had the hand Subhan Allah so you
know to to really realize the the Hadith
and understand its meaning you know we
were able to see it visually let's let's
let's back it up a little bit you talked
about the casket yeah okay and how did
this work out so they bring out the
casket we were sitting in class we had
no clue that the casket was there okay
this was a surprise yeah no no one had
any idea it was just like the setting
this is the future box that all of us
here there's no disagreement no matter
what methb you're on doesn't matter no
matter where you're coming from black
white Chinese non-muslim Muslim we can
all agree that we're all going to die
any disagreements no okay so talk to us
this I mean this is what this what this
is what woke me up death the reality
that we're all going to die so we better
be in the best state by developing our
be ourselves to be the best that we can
be according to God's will not our
desires so it Des cribe that moment you
see the casket it was uh suffocating it
was so small I were like what the hell
you see it on you actually got in it uh
yeah it's a very tight space you watch
on TV you know uh these people with huge
caskets they are all dressed up but this
is not what happens you know in reality
the casket is very small once the
cover's closed it's like it's Pitch
Black it's uh you have no breathing room
and that's what's going to happen to us
and you know one thing that really
caught me was that let's say when you
know someone we know passes away we have
in our mindset that we're going to go to
the G Graves we're going to be seeing
these things when we're sitting in the
middle of the class and this was brought
out it was just like that like
everything came to a halt and that's you
know possibly how our death could be the
entire class was was very surprised and
it was a very scary experience for the
entire class I remember students you
know like stepping away because they
were in shock they're like what is this
and um did you get that feeling you know
you go to the gym you you go to the gym
to get the pump the good feeling you
know the blood's flowing and you start
feeling like okay you know energized so
we look for that feeling some people
they go to the nightclub to get that
feeling that high all those you know uh
useless feelings a lot of them you know
uh chasing your your your your your lust
and your desires and you do drugs to get
a certain feeling alcohol to get a
certain feeling then you got the
negative side effects right what was
that feeling was did you feel the
feeling that feeling of reality it was
like a wake up that's exactly how you
can describe it that that's exactly how
you can describe it a feeling of reality
a wakeup call it was just a scary moment
it was just like your heart was keep a
few beats just by looking at that now
someone says man why these what do these
guys are crazy what are these guys doing
bringing a casket what are they teaching
what what what are the benefits of this
I would say that the benefits are for
the Muslims to come to the realization
that they will pass and to make sure
that what they're going to do before
that is going to be favorable to them on
the day of judgment so we want to
prepare we want to be the best human
beings absolutely absolutely and we want
to worship the one who created us not
his creation and do good deeds
absolutely and what what motiv Ates us
is death right because that day of
judgment is coming it's either Paradise
or that hot place we don't want to be in
the Hellfire yes next question tell us
now you know this is what I love because
the Quran the verbatim literal word of
God the story is over and over and these
ain't lullab we tell our church these
this is these are um things that Inspire
us true stories and over and over ibraim
Alis Abraham Noah Jesus their work their
daah calling the people to submit not to
themselves of the creation but to submit
to the Creator the da so is there any
training of because again it's because
we Islam says love all mankind so we
love mankind that's why we need to share
the purpose of life so is there any
training for dies for people now to get
out there because it's not about you
know learning this and just keeping it
to ourselves you got the antidote and
people need the
medicine is there any training to how to
deliver the message of purpose of life
to the people in need I would say that
there's two major parts to the
foundation that we have here which is
knowledge and development so we the
students we do obtain the knowledge here
and you know the sh and our instructors
the the the students here we call them
super students and these super students
are taken to the side under the wing you
know for example under Sheik Shaquil
under his wing and personally trained on
a one-on-one basis and you know this is
done so that we can help our communities
we can start calling people to Islam you
know starts within ourselves we have to
start developing ourselves and once
we're at that State where we can help
others we begin to do that you know for
example um in our mjid
here the last three weeks the last three
Fridays each jum was led by a foundation
student each of the three kudas we're
given by a foundation student
alhamdulillah this is a facility and
this is a program where we're able to
get the knowledge and put it into
application not only for us for the
community and it's not something that we
come to get a class for an hour and we
go home no we actually use this
knowledge and we develop ourselves and
our families and our communities and you
know alhamd you can't find this anywhere
so alhamd this is a great blessing let's
I just want to add one more thing was uh
he once said that um he gave us the
example of far and he was saying that
Allah subhana T you know gave him so
many tests and so many chances and he
softened our hearts with that with that
comment stating that you know nobody we
know can equal to the evil of who
claimed he was God and so that's how we
should interact with our with
individuals you know you know no matter
how many times we feel like oh they're
not listening to us or they they you
know we don't care um we our hearts
should be soft softened and so that's
what we get both aspects also um
personally wise uh training us to be a
little bit softer towards uh anybody
we're speaking to um uh implementing
good adab and um just as kareim said uh
giving good da I'm going to move on to
you talk to us about this Arabic program
that's there you you signed up for it
why did you sign up for it okay so the
Arabic C program uh we started back 20
are you an are you Arab yes Arabic I'm
not Arabic I'm from the subcontinent and
um before Arabic you know you're from
Bosnia no no the subcontinent India no
no I'm from bos oh you're from bos
okay all right so uh with basically AR
you know I I believe like everybody uh
who's interested in Arabic uh they go
through probably a few phases uh when I
started off I started off with
self-study you know maybe I can learn
Arabic my own I have to you know I can't
afford this I I have to dedicate my time
Etc but that doesn't work out then you
go move on to something you try like a
university level Arabic and fine you
take semesters of University level
Arabic what do you learn you know you
learn how to say hello how are you you
know I have a house here I'm from here I
go to this school but uh you don't know
how you open up the Quran you know maybe
one word you know like what that's all
you would know and so that that
curriculum is not it's not focused on
learning uh the the Quran or
understanding the Quran and as Muslims
that's our goal why do we learn Arabic
you know Arabi wouldn't be considered a
language to learn if it wasn't for the
Quran and we want to we learn Arab just
to uh to understand the Quran to please
Allah and to get closer to Allah and so
that's why why once I when I start
taking ax program the program itself is
focused on um 8 by the time you finish
85% of the Quran you have to understand
it you will understand inshallah and and
from the first from the first um uh what
do you call it uh from the first day
from the first session when you learn
those words and you uh review the words
and you just feel an attachment to those
words to the Surah that has those words
and when you recite the Surah you are
very you're very happy you're you're
just just like this feeling in your
heart like I understand what Allah is
saying to me and it's not just somebody
else's words it's Allah speaking to you
so that's the reason why aric say it's
working it's not it's not an intensive
at a mid where again you don't you walk
out forgetting almost everything you
learn this is something that's
continuous on a weekly basis and it's
not it's not um suffocating it's you
take your time and you learn mhm I like
it's not suffocating yes why not just
relax we have a few more questions we're
almost out of time I'd love to spend
more time with you guys we almost uh we
have another guest we have to bring up
but in in the short time we do have tell
us why not just rely on the translation
you have y Ali muhamed sah International
absolutely like you mentioned all these
uh the translators one of the reasons
why is like for example if you if you
have a painting and you painted a
picture or you take a picture of
something beautiful and you call me up
on the phone you describe it to me it's
not the same thing as me uh being there
in person and seeing that object right
so it's the same thing with the
translation of the Quran the Quran was
uh sent by Allah subhana wa tala and it
has two purposes it has the purpose of
guidance and the purpose of um of a
miracle so what can the translator do
can they can they translate the miracle
of the Quran they really cannot and they
cannot translate uh the guidance to the
full extent they can do what they can in
in their abilities so what we're really
seeing in it's not really the Quran it's
really the interpret interpretation of
somebody who who knows how to translate
the Quran so in the back of your mind
you kind of lose that connectivity with
Allah you don't realize that Allah is a
speaker but speaker is pixal or the
speaker ISU the speaker is um M Khan so
it's not the translation itself it's not
considered the Quran that's most of the
agree and just by reading the
translation you don't have this
connection it's not the same thing the
name of the software that you guys use
talk about this for a moment okay so
it's basically a web application where
you can access it from any laptop any
internet access your phones also can
access this and most of the work is done
at home where you access uh the whole
thing is based on a movie so you start
off with a script which is basically
your words that you're memorizing right
so you memorize the words then you get
evaluated to see if you learn and and
during the time of evaluation they ask
you you know in English what is this
word you have to type it in oty so not
only are you learning how to say the
word you're also learning how to type
the word and learning how to type within
a keyboard um once that's done uh you
move on to the dialogue or the the
script uh person uh uh speaks paragraphs
to you stating this is what's going on
and basically all these words that are
used in this dialogue are from the Quran
are from select Surah so that's how you
learn the words that's how you become
connected to the words and um once again
once the dialogue is done you get a set
of questions you get evaluation and the
questions are not like oh you you can
rephrase the question to get the answer
it's actually abstract they'll ask your
question what's going on in the
situation you have to reply back in with
the correct answer so that's basically
you go in steps and you do this a few
times and by the end of it when you're
done you're get evaluated by a mentor so
there there's now there's two aspects
you're a student you're a Mente then the
person who's helping you who's guiding
you through this is the mentor uh
basically what happens is again you go
at your own pace at home you don't have
to go there's no pressure there's no
rush but once you're ready to move move
on you uh you you contact your mentor
and you get evaluated and then you move
on now the way this system works
especially well is if you get stumped
you have somebody you can contact uh you
can also contact the rest of the
students via Forum um the uh that you
can contact the instruct the mentors by
text cell phone they're all moderated
but it does its job so you're never left
alone um and it's just like I said
you're never alone and it's always a
constant learning process and you guys
busy with I'm sure absolutely we uh
we're busy we have you know it's not
like we have to dedicate an hour every
single day to to do this you have a time
Gap you go ahead and do it it's not time
consuming it's really fun and you know
instead of watching TV that's what you
can do yeah so you guys are making time
I'm sure you got your wives and your
kids and everything and you guys still
well neither one yet for both of us but
inshah Allah bless you you guys not
married yet no where's shail he's got to
work on making this happen I mean
everybody's getting to see you guys so
we got some velopment process yes in may
Allah bless you with righteous wives and
children I just wanted to add one thing
before we go um a lot of the stuff I
want to ask Allah to bless the people
behind the staff the developers the
mentors also they spent a lot of their
time they spent their blood they sweat
they teer into this program and it
really shows because the students really
uh learn from this so want to in in the
last minute that we have 30 seconds each
what would you like to say to those that
are stuck at home playing the Xbox and
many who are just wasting their time and
not realizing the import importance of
purpose of life not really reflecting
and sometimes you know uh they come to
Juma maybe Ramadan rolls around and they
get involved and they step back but then
they see you guys young guys you're not
you know the you know 60 years old doing
this you guys are young guys you're
motivated you know you're excited how
can you how can we get them excited just
a few words talk to us okay so basically
um for the xboxer out there it's fine to
play Xbox but listen you got to dedicate
time for you know there's a certain time
for certain things um one one of the
things is you're going to feel an empty
feeling in your life you know you're
missing something and that's what the
Xbox is there it's kind of trying to
fill that void if you want to fill that
void it's it's it's Allah it's not the
Xbox so fine you want to entertain your
friends your family that's okay but at
the end of the day you have to focus
that you have to realize you're going to
die you're going to see Allah and what
are you going to say to him when you get
there you know you have to have
something to back you up beautiful great
advice and I I would say you know to the
brothers and sisters perhaps struggling
out there no one is telling you to be an
IM no one is telling you to be right
right off the bat a community leader it
starts off small so start off small do
something consistently and inshallah
from this you know you can develop
yourself may Allah reward you bless you
and Grant you the best in this life and
Hereafter thank you very
much is the
show is the the
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