Salam alaikum weicome asila welcome back
it's great to be back
how you been I've been pretty good
hamdulillah
[Music]
there's only one Jesus was his messenger
from the LA I had a kind of a
spontaneous fortuitous meeting with
young brother from Detroit and I thought
it would really be impactful that we
discuss a few of the things that we had
I had discussed with him and this is a
young brother kind of relates to my
story coming up and seeing the kind of
things in life that I was living that
he's living now and getting out of it
was having like an awakening he's
experiencing the fruits of him and when
you start to see purpose but the one
thing in particular that he had
mentioned is now he wanted to find a
mustard to go to the one mustard that he
he went to he was asking question he
said they're very very rigid in their
very rigid nice and he was asking about
prayer he's slowly getting into praise
not praying five times a day it's kind
of off and on right and he said look if
you miss one prayer you're damned for
the hell he said they said and I'm
really scared him he said I want to I
want to love God I want to you know and
he's scared of Cohoes out of me then I
went to uh to about where we he called a
Bosnian mosque I think I said you don't
have to pray five signs a day if you go
to Jamaa from one zoom on to the next it
wipes away yourself so this is the
problem we have this polarization we
have these two extremes going on and and
what's really important for people
understand is everyone you know Allah
how do we have to understand how does
Allah deal with people how is he gonna
judge people and our example that we
learned from is the Prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him how did he deal with
different people
he didn't all of a sudden when you know
the first Companions when they accepted
Islam he didn't all of a sudden throw
everything on them and you're like you
know what oh you're engaging an interest
or you're still drinking or you're doing
this or you got a girlfriend or you did
some prostitution you got to get out all
of this stuff otherwise you going
straight to hell this was not the way
the Prophet peace be upon him dealt with
people he understood people's
circumstances he
understood their backgrounds he knew
where they're coming from and he used to
speak to them in that manner and what
happens is is that people they see
things in black and white someone enters
into Islam someone accepts Islam or
someone wants to come back to Islam
after all these years of being in you
know darkness being very far doing some
you know really stuff that they're gonna
regret later on we need to deal with
them according to their capacity so if
someone is not praying at all you throw
all five prayers on them and tell if you
don't do it you're gonna go to hell that
everyone is motivated that way right so
the thing is we need to go back to the
Quran we need to go back to the way the
Prophet peace upon them did and you got
to give good news and you got to give a
little bit of a warning too and that's
where the balance really lies so you
tell someone you know what you're not
praying five times a day you're not
praying at all
you start with one you know build it up
from there try do one do to do what you
think you can if you can do three you
can do four well they keep it consistent
for a while you know the Prophet peace
be upon him he actually encouraged
people he said that the most beloved
actions to Allah are those which are
done consistently even if they be few in
number so consistency is the key so the
thing is if this guy is not praying when
he just started praying once or twice or
something like that let him get
consistent in two and then build up from
there let him get consistent in four and
then build up from there but if you put
too much pressure on somebody and you
tell them you know what you put all the
rules on them that's gonna mess them up
and unfortunate is what a lot of people
do a lot of people do is as soon as they
take Shahada there they declared their
Islam they say la ilaha little I believe
that there's only one God I'm a Muslim
now they say okay you know what by the
way the next prayer is gonna be done in
two hours you need to memorize sort of
thought to how you need to memorize at
the Hyatt you need to memorize
everything in Arabic you need to know
all the prayers by the time the next
prayer is done that's not true that's
not the way that a lot deals with people
a lot deals with people according to
their capacity and their circumstances
nobody is gonna be able to memorize all
the prayer stuff in a few hours
nobody's gonna be able to adjust all of
a sudden it takes time and we need to
deal with people in that manner so this
is the problem the problem that people
in people in different muds what they do
is they don't look at the individuals
and speak to them on a dare
they need to look at them and say what
is the circumstances of this person
where are they coming from
what are they capable of and how can I
support them that's the key we need to
support them and give them good advice
with wisdom and it advise them in that
matter so even in a unique situation
where the person is bound to go to the
club they're bound to go you're not
changing their mind miss it
I'll make at least pray before you go
absolutely you don't know that you're
not that you're condoning them going
you're drinking you know like holding on
the side I'll tell you from just my own
experience you know I wasn't always
practicing I used to go to raves and I
remember the one thing I used to do very
weird I used to actually pray at a rave
all right and that's the one thing I
remember and that when I look back on it
I say you know what that might have been
the one thing that kind of helped me
come back to Islam that I used to
remember Allah like for a moment I would
stop and I say you know what am I doing
this right thing you know what let me at
least remember I'll live and I'm in a
bad place I shouldn't be here let me at
least just think about prayer a little
bit and I think that really did have an
effect on me so we should encourage
people you know if you're gonna go
anyways you're doing some Hara at least
do something good in the meantime
instead of calling them hypocrites and
all that encourage them and that just
may be the catalyst that will actually
change them bring them closer to Allah
subhanAllah that's actually what saved
me was that prayer and even leaving
that's interesting you mentioned the
rape I would leave the after party and
go pray it was like around that time and
I go pray flood you in the car
eventually I left or you kind of because
people get stuck between two worlds
right
chasing that life and then it takes time
to transition into absolutely this way
of life and I remember I would go back
and I would have experience and I'm
explained to him you know that that good
feeling of of connecting with your
Creator of doing the ebody the worship
and being around good people then you
kind of go back you think you're missing
something and I remember going back and
getting it's like God sending you a sign
and me getting stuck in an elevator like
what am i here I came back here and I'm
stuck it's like oh man and I started
thinking about the grave when I'm stuck
six feet under right you don't get a
second chance absolutely but it was that
prayer it was holding on to something
that finally got me out
that's that's a see we need to encourage
people you know a lot of people that
they'll discourage them thinking that
it's gonna encourage them you know the
vast majority people they're not going
to be motivated by harsh criticism so
you know someone's going and doing some
clubbing and then they're doing some
prayer and tell them you know do a
little bit extra prayer you know it
might help you it might help you get
through all of this but instead a lot of
people will go and say the opposite of
like you know what kind of hypocrite are
you what's the point of praying if
you're going to go there thinking that
all of a sudden that statement is gonna
get them to wake up and stop going to
the club and just start praying
but that isn't that's not the way people
are motivated generally very few people
are motivated with really really harsh
criticism so the way the Prophet peace
upon him used to deal with people he
knew who he was speaking with so every
individual was different if he saw that
there was someone who needs you need to
be really tough on him and he's gonna
change he would do that but there are
many people out there you go really
tough on them I'm just gonna alienate
them I'm just gonna go I say oh well
forget this you know I feel if I if you
think I'm useless you're saying I'm just
worthless okay fine I am useless I am
worthless forget all of it our goal is
to look at people and especially in
today's society in our culture people
like you know struggling with all these
things we need to understand their
struggles and let them know that you
know what you're not alone we're here
Allah is there connect with him and you
take a few steps and Allah is gonna come
even closer to you that's the key we're
gonna go ahead and take a break and
we're right back with more in addition
[Music]
Allah there's only one word and muhammad
is his messenger allah la ilaha illa
llah
[Music]
Jesus was his messenger back here on the
Dean show getting a real live example
something someone that I had just
connected with and inshallah the brother
sees this program and gets more
encouraged so he knows who he is and
we're discussing someone who I had a
great sit-down with yo yo show I had a
female companion and we were you know
sometimes you you you in your journey
you have others that are with you in
that journey and I got to talking with
that person before I get to that there
in reminding of what you said about
about gauging who you're talking with
and sometimes the tough approach
sometimes depending the person is a
little bit more like that reminded me of
they've been Tamia where he pees laboum
he had a statement talking about
sometimes when you have a rough stain on
you and you go a little bit rougher it's
not that you're trying to hurt yourself
right it's just you need a little bit
more you know a struggle to get that out
of it
so can we equate that with some
absolutely absolutely definitely applies
yeah yeah so how would you now what kind
of advice would you give to a person
who's coming over but there are certain
things we obviously know the prayer and
the first thing is to establish that
direct connection with your Creator the
other thing is that obviously you know
there is the five daily prayers all
right and not doing them when you want
gauging how do you now what do you
usually tell people then maybe a person
has a girlfriend maybe that person you
know how do you motivate them what do
you words of encouragement do you like
to kind of help to facilitate change to
help facilitate them moving towards you
know right the correct path what I tell
them you know it's they need to focus on
the priorities and they need to
understand what their priorities are so
the first and most important priorities
is having a clear understanding of that
we have a purpose in this life
understanding that the Quran is the word
of God understand that God sent us
revelation and how we you know
understand this message how we get some
of the doubts out how we get a clear
understanding that we're not just here
to just have
there's a purpose to our life that's the
first thing right once that becomes
clear if someone's struggling with you
know accepting all of that they should
start asking questions they should start
reading some things about some
confusions they had or whatever it may
be once they got that down their belief
in allies firm their belief in God is
clear their belief in the Prophet
Muhammad peace upon them is clear now
they start moving to okay how do I
connect with my Creator okay I'm going
to start praying okay but I'm not just
gonna do formulaic prayer I want to
connect with God so tell him you start
understanding the meaning of prayer
start understanding the deeper
dimensions the inner dimensions of what
prayer is gonna do because that's gonna
have an effect on you if you just say
the words only you still took some time
out of your life shall you fulfilled the
obligation of prayer but the amount of
benefit that you get is not going to be
at the same level right so what you want
to do the priorities once you once
you've got the faith down the basics of
belief down then you want to do the most
important actions the most important
actions are things like the five pillars
of Islam which prayer is one of them
prayer fasting giving your zakat and
going for a pilgrimage you know when
you're able to go and then staying away
from things which are 100 percent
clear-cut prohibited in Islam and what
you got to do is you got to focus on the
things that you know you can start doing
now so you got a girlfriend okay it's
hard for you to let go of her
okay can you talk to her can you
convince her you know what why don't you
consider Islam maybe this will be a
great opportunity or you know if you do
consider marrying her talk to her family
talk to her parents and ask yourself are
you ready to get married are you ready
to get married
are you actually put you have the
potential to get married right now or
you don't and then you start analyzing
the wisdom behind you know what well why
is this prohibited in the first place
there's got to be some wisdom behind it
so when you understand why Allah
instituted marriage and why he
prohibited having relationships outside
the more you reflect upon it the more
you understand that a relationship was
supposed to have a serious commitment
and that commitment is defined through
the institution of marriage I'm gonna
take this very seriously
some kids are produced to this I'm gonna
take it seriously my responsibility
towards my spouse it's gonna be very
serious right that's what marriage is
about so when you understand the wisdom
behind that now you're like you know
what it's not just like I want to have a
girlfriend I really like this
girl and I know a lot tells me not to
but I still want to do it now your
mentality starts to change and you say
you know what I see the wisdom behind
why Allah is telling us to do this I'm
struggling between following my desires
and doing what Allah is telling me to do
even though I know it's for my own good
now I understand it now you can actually
face that challenge a lot easier it's
like telling someone you know what
brother you know your health is you're
in really bad shape you need to start
eating better you need to start eating
you know healthier food you need to do
some exercise but they don't understand
the help that you know the health
problems that can arise from it once you
explain to them you know what that
type-2 diabetes that you have it can be
reversed if you just change your diet
you know all that all the problems and
all the issues that you're having
health-wise does you know whatever is
going on a lot of it has to do with your
health if you just make a change it can
potentially solve all these problems now
that person is more motivated you know
what it's not just about oh well we
should take care of our bodies because
Allah said so now it's like you know
what now I see the greater wisdom behind
it so what what I think's I encourage
people to do is the areas that they're
struggling and once they identify what
are the priorities in Islam what to
focus on first right and after you got
that down start to analyze the wisdom
behind everything because it's going to
help you through that challenge right so
if you're not praying at all right start
praying before you say I'm gonna go to
the machines for every single prayer
yeah it's maybe a 30-minute drive to
your local mosque movies 20 minutes
whatever it is start by going once or
twice or something like that once a day
and start by getting in every single one
of your prayers in month of Ramadan
if you can't fast all the days in
Ramadan start with a few and build up
from there understand the benefits of
fasting for your own self control your
own self-discipline even your health
benefits and now you become more
inclined you know what I can do this or
I need to do this even if I don't feel
like it and that's really what I advise
people to do they need to focus on these
things what is it what are the some of
the consequences of not taking this
seriously and neglecting these you're
your primary purpose in life I mean the
the most important consequences are
after worldly consequences I mean see
that God we have to go back to the basic
principle God created us
for a purpose there's a reason why we're
here and we are we have a responsibility
its life is a test it's just simply
that's just the way it is that's the way
Allah set it up and there's a wisdom in
that if you mess up on the test because
you were lazy because you didn't want to
study because you were distracted you're
not gonna be able to pass that test and
there's very serious consequences for
that right so Allah is gonna hold us
accountable for every single thing that
we believed right or wrong and every
single thing that we did good or bad
right he's merciful but he's also just
right so we need to make sure that we're
not you know we're not excusing
ourselves it's very easy to make excuses
for ourselves and not make excuses for
other people and it's supposed to be the
opposite you're supposed to make excuses
for other people because you're not
gonna be held accountable for what that
we know on the day of judgment for what
they're doing but you shouldn't make
excuses for yourself you should you
should always look and see it are my
intentions correct am I really doing
what I can to my maximum capacity no
there are there are some Muslims who you
know that some people accept Islam and
and I tell them I'm like you know just
take it slow and be consistent and
everything and then I see them like five
years later ten years later and I'm like
how how are things you know how would
the prayer and everything they haven't
even learned how to pray yes on the
first grade still still in kindergarten
right they're still praying oh yeah I I
pray like you know once or twice a day
I'm like you know when I gave you that
advice take it slow I mean this slow you
know like you wouldn't take it slow with
all the other things yeah you don't you
don't walk into a college a four-year
college to say you know what 20 years
yeah it's not a big deal you know
you take it very seriously because you
value it you realize the consequences of
not you know being up to par here we've
got to realize the consequences of
what's gonna happen you know we got to
be up to par there's a schedule some
people take a month some people take a
few months you know here and there it's
always a struggle everybody struggles
you know but the struggle is never more
than you can handle Allah promises is in
the Quran is that he will not test any
soul or any person more than they can
bear
so whatever struggle we're going through
we can handle it it's gonna be a little
bit of a challenge well we can do it you
take it slow you bet you be consistent
and you make sure that you're not over
excusing yourself and you know just
being lazy you just
you want to make sure you're doing it to
the best of your ability beautiful we'll
take a break we'll be right back back
here on the Dean show want to take a
little turn now and talk about something
that's been real dear to you you've been
talking lately a lot about some of the
Forgotten people who maybe made a
mistake in life we all make mistakes
some more than others and we have one
who's the most merciful the most loving
people change their ways tell me about
this awareness that you are trying to
create with people who have made a
mistake in their stuck and reaching out
and some of the prisons yeah I mean the
thing is there's a lot of people who are
in prison and a lot of them are Muslim
what we need to realize is the Muslim
population in prison is 15% of the
entire prison population I mean that's
more than double of what the American
Muslim population is so people know what
Islam is in jail we're looking at about
40,000 people every year accepting Islam
in prisons across the United States of
America 40,000 40,000 it's a very
significant number and that's probably a
little bit of a lowball number as well
right so a lot of people are accepting
Islam in prison so they've done
something they made a mistake somehow
they got into prison they got caught or
some you know probably a lot of people
commit crimes not everyone even gets
caught there's a lot of discrimination
going on there as well when they got in
there a lot of people some people make
mistakes of this way in life some people
make mistakes that way they're stuck and
what happens is they're oftentimes
forgotten our brothers and sisters are
oftentimes stuck there and you know I
get letters handwritten letters you know
most people don't get handwritten
letters at all yeah you know we got
emails being sent text messages being
sent almost nobody really writes a
letter by hand anymore
on a daily basis I'm getting mail in our
mosque
darlink outside program which is a
prison outreach program every single day
I'm getting letters requesting basically
saying you know Sheikh Mustafa I heard
about your prison outreach program I
want to tell you my story and they tell
me the story about how they got into
prison and how there's absolutely nobody
to help them at all they're requesting
can someone send me a copy of the Quran
something basic like that you know
saying you know what Ramadan is coming I
can't even tell what time we're supposed
to be starting our or our fasting
because I don't know we don't have a
clock we don't have any guidance we
don't have any scholars here to help us
there are some chaplains
you know in some prisons and all of that
but not up to par they have no access to
knowledge they have none of these things
and the thing is these people have been
forgotten and when they send these
letters to different messages
unfortunately unfortunately the vast
majority of the Islamic centers they
don't respond because they're just not
good at responding to their voicemail or
they don't have a secretary working
there or something like that so I get
calls from all around the country get
calls from different different cities
non-muslims calling me and saying we got
some you know some Muslim prisoners here
we heard you guys respond can you do
something so we said we got to do
something so we have this program where
we say okay you know what let's get him
some literature let's get him some
copies of the Quran let's get him some
some books and these people masha'Allah
they they devour Islamic books like
anything they ask for a translation of
Quran then they go I'm done with that
send them a copy of tafseer explanation
of the Quran we're given books on hadith
we give them books on Islamic law they
just keep reading everything and say can
you send me more and more and more so we
just keep on sending them more and more
literature we started with our
California Islamic University a
correspondence program so you know what
let them take some classes while there
while they're on the inside it's being
called being on the inside right send
them send them some classes these are 11
week courses that we teach University
style format I send them a course packet
they're done in one week and they send
it back and say we're ready for the next
course you know so I mean these are
people who are dead I mean they're
serious that they made a mistake 30
years ago Yeah right and now they're
stuck and there's nothing that they can
do about it or you or you comes you
either going to to graduate in prison at
becoming a better criminal be a better a
bank robber better
swindler whatever the case and many
people they end up coming out far worse
but this is a great initiative because
with Islam if you wanted to crease the
crime rate that's any want people coming
out with better character yeah being
asset to society yep then exact and that
that's what statistics show then they
should they show that there's a 75% rate
of recidivism which basically means
people who get released from prison they
get back into prison within five years
seventy five percent is the statistic
Wow
and they said the people who generally
don't fall in there the other 25% it's
because of the the strong education they
received while they were in prison
so education makes a place of big role
and that's just they're talking about
secular education imagine what islamic
education can do for them it'll
revolutionize their lives and it
revolutionizes the lives of people
around them that's why people are
accepting Islam you know there's not a
bunch of missionaries going into the
prisons and saying you know here's some
pamphlets learn about Islam
it's the inmates themselves who are
going and telling everyone but you know
what look at this Islam is gonna change
your life you need this and people
accept so there's somebody out there
just said no you're just making more
terrorists
no that's there's a toll there's what
there's no say there's this I try to
have to feed the trolls always you know
but yeah there are people saying that if
you look at the principles of Islam and
you look at the effects ask any prison
warden asked anyone who is actually in
the prison system they'll say the
best-behaved people in prison are the
Muslims the most organized the most
spiritual the people who do the best for
the entire prison they're the Muslims
you got gangs in there
you got people dealing drugs in there
you got all sorts of riots all sorts of
things going on the people who avoid
that because it's a very cliquish thing
there's like different groups in prison
yeah you're a part of the Muslim group
they're like these are the best-behaved
people these are the nicest people these
are the people who reformed themselves
right and they have a reputation for
that you don't mess with the Muslim
either because these are straight people
they don't want to play around there
ain't gonna do no drugs they're not
gonna sell no alcohol they're not gonna
you know cause problems or anything like
that they're here to worship they're
here to change their life they're
discipline people and that's why people
they're attracted to Islam in person
because they're like you know what they
realize I don't want to be like I want
to become like an animal you know I
don't want to be just living in my life
like this I i-i've I did that once I did
that twice I got caught now I'm here
it's time to make a change and they see
Islam makes that change so anyone who
wants to challenge it just look at the
effects of Muslims in prison that's what
really changes people that's what
changed Malcolm X that's what changed
you know countless thousands of other
people and that's what changes muslims
who come out now you can listen to their
stories and see exactly what difference
it made in their life in the last 30
seconds we have how can people get
involved we have we have a website
called link outside calm so they can
check out they can volunteer they can
help right we have pen pal
correspondents you know we need
donations to send them literature and
all of that average inmate minimum wage
is 14 cents an hour so they can't even
afford any books right oftentimes they
need all the Reese we need all the
resources we can get so check out our
website link outside comm if you can
volunteer if you can spread the word if
you can donate if you can help in any
capacity it would be a great thing
always a pleasure having any program
thank you very much Jacqueline okay
thank you
[Music]
hermit is his messenger of love
uh-uh
there's only one where Jesus was his
messenger