This is the dean
the show. This is the dean
show. Alhamdulillah. Peace be with you.
Those are greetings of peace. That is
what Muslims use. The same greeting that
Jesus greeted his followers with. We're
greeting you with that same greeting
here today. And there are a lot of
misconceptions about Islam, which is the
fastest growing way of life in the
world. today, yesterday and tomorrow and
it will continue to grow because people
are coming to that realization that life
is short and you know what I in a state
of confusion I don't have the answers to
all the questions that are out there but
Islam provides me with all the rational
logical evidences to prove that it's
indeed from the creator of the heavens
and the earth but there's some
misconceptions out out there about Islam
so we've been invited and you're invited
too we're inviting you to be our guest
because with all the different
stereotypes and false fallacies. One of
them is that, you know, there's a lot of
radicalization going on out there in
these places of worship, the mosques.
That's right. So, we're going to take
you on a tour to see, is this a mosque?
Really? What's going on in here? Is
there hate speech going on in here? Is
there is this a private bomb making
factory? How does it look inside a
mosque where the people worship? Where
the Muslims worship? Let's go ahead and
take you take you on a tour. Come on.
With Eddie here, your guest, your host.
Come on.
So, okay. So, we're walking around. This
is where the Muslims gather now. So,
let's just be a little bit careful.
Okay. So, to come in here and there not
too many around right now. Let's go to
the right here. Come on. So, you walk
in. You got some pictures on the wall
here. This is Dr. Isette. Okay. Some
calligraphy. Come over
here. Follow me. You're getting a
firsthand look
into the house of worship. Okay. We call
this God's house. What it means is that
people come here to worship God. And
this is the prayer area. As you can see,
there are no statues. Okay? I'm take my
shoes off. You take your shoes off and
you come on
in. And this is where people put their
forehead on the ground. There are no
pictures. You know, you walk in some
places and you see all these statues and
icons and it just gives you a creepy
kind of feel. You know, you should be
doing that. But this, it gives you a
good feeling that you know what, you
just come here and you just put your
head on the ground. You just worship
God. That's it. Just God. The same way
Jesus put his head on the ground. That's
what the Muslims do. And a Muslim is
simply one who submits to the will of
God. And you see this area. This is
where they gather shouldertosh shoulder,
foot to foot. The black, the white, the
Chinese, the German, the Italian, the
Polish, they all come
here as brothers in humanity and they
worship God. They worship just God. This
is it. This is a prayer. Let's continue
on. What else they got here? Maybe they
got something else that they don't want
us to see. Come
on. Okay, this is just the washroom
here. You got a little shoe area.
Okay. Wow, this place is very nice and
clean. Alhamdulillah.
Okay. See if we can find a tour guide.
Okay. When you stand to pray, pray as if
it's your last prayer. That's deep
because you never know when death will
approach. So, every Muslim should be
praying his prayers as last prayer.
Young man, how are you? Peace be with
you. How are you? Good. I'm I'm fine.
Alhamdulillah. Now, uh what's your name,
sir? I would would you be so kind as to
give us a little bit of a tour here from
the from the mosque? All right. All
right. So, you know, we're we're trying
to show You were in the prayer the
prayer room. That's the prayer room.
Okay. Okay. Have you seen this? Okay.
What is this now? This is an old
picture. Mecca. Mecca. All right. Mecca.
It's very unique actually. That's the I
I think the 70s. Is that the first house
of worship built by Abraham? Yeah. This
is it right here. Do Muslims worship
this black box? Ah, no. No. That's just
the the first house of worship. The
first mosque. This is a mosque. That's
the first mosque. It is basically the
first mosque. Yes. Haram, which is the
sacred mosque. Yeah. Um it's a masjid.
Yes. Okay. So, no worshiping that. You
worship the creator of all this. Of
course. Definitely. That's where people
go for Hajj too. And that's where where
Ibraim and his son Ishmael actually. And
they they built they're the first one
who built that house there. And as uh
you see Mecca, this is the old city of
Mecca. And this is the original city of
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. That's where he was born.
Okay. So, Prophet Muhammad, he was a a
prophet like Jesus, Moses, Abraham.
Absolutely. And he was he was the last
prophet. Yeah. The last prophet. Like he
said, all prophets are like brothers
born into different mothers. Yeah. This
is the
the show.
This is the
dean show.
This is the show. This is
the show. This is the show. This is the
show.
This is the dean. This is
the show. This is the show. This is the
Dean Show. This is the Dean Show.
Welcome back to the Dean Show. We're
here in Texas at the Clear Lake Islamic
Center giving you an inside look at one
of the mosque in Houston. So, we started
out going into the front corridor. Now,
if you can take a look, this is we
showed you where the Muslims pray, where
they prostrate. There are no statues,
pictures, any weird things on the wall.
They're just devoting worship to God,
just worshiping the one unseen creator.
And in this particular mush also, you
can see they have a nice lounge setup
with Wi-Fi. That's right. So, it's
very beautiful in here. This is Shik Wid
Bassoon's
masid.
And this would be something that if
anyone wanted to open up a masid, this
would be something
that one should copy because not only is
a masid a place where you come and
worship, but where communities gather
and they come to get together and get to
know each other. So he's seen he has
seen such a success here that the
Muslims and our non-Muslim friends
brothers in humanity are welcome to come
in can be a part of this that now they
know each other better because they sit
around and they talk and they hang out
instead of going out to the coffee shops
and the kids getting in trouble. You
have a playground here. The kids can
play in the playground. We showed you
the playground and you also have this
very
nice atmosphere here. A nice ambiance.
They show different movies,
documentaries, have different lectures.
It's beautiful. Let's go meet some
Muslims. Come on. There's some people
gathering over here by some beautiful
paintings. So, we're still in the
mosque, the masid. And if you can
see now, I wish we can find
the the artist who, you know, that
that'd be a nice thing to find the
artist who who actually uh painted these
wonderful paintings. I'm here. Uh-oh.
He's here. Hey, alhamdulillah. All
thanks to God. How are you, sir? What's
your name? Uh,
Ables Ablesh. Now you're the one
responsible for these beautiful this
beautiful artwork here. Uh all made with
my hands. Nice. All right. Mashallah.
Can can you tell us now is the Arabic
calligraphy? Can you tell us now uh
define what do these say and what are
some of the meanings here behind them?
Okay. First of all, all of them except
one are a present to the mosque. I did
them and give it to the mosque as a
present. This one here
is which means by reminding yourself by
God by mentioning God in your heart your
heart which is
agitated calms down. And this is the the
beauty of remembering a heart. uh
remembering God. This one here is the
saying
of
Mus where he
said this is one of the greatest prayers
I like from the Quran which says God
open my
heart make it easy for me make me
um eloquent so that they understand what
I say. This one
here means all of you Muslims unite and
attach yourself to the robe of God. This
is how you get the strength. When you
are united, you are strong. When you are
divided, you are weak and can be
conquered.
This one
here is the English translation here,
but I read the Arabic
here. father for you. I painted that
when they attacked the prophet Muhammad
by the
cartoonist and this is a uh his love is
in our heart and you can see the heart
here and we give it to him. Now let me
ask you this you know for some people to
comprehend that it's it's very difficult
but when you name you you mentioned
Moses there. Yes. And we also people now
they know that we as Muslims some might
don't know for those that don't that we
love Jesus. So anyone who is it true
that anyone who insults Jesus, Moses,
Abraham, that would be an insult to
Muslims also because they're beloved to
our hearts too. Is that right? Uh this
is what in the Quran all of them are
equal in the eyes of God. And there was
a story when the prophet was in Medina
and a Muslim tried to insult a Jew there
because they were living together there
about Moses. He said, "No, you are
absolutely wrong. He is my brother. He
is as respected as I am." Moses. Yeah.
Moses. Okay. So, we love Moses. We love
We love all the prophets of Muhammad.
Yeah. They are equal equal in the eyes.
They're equal to
Muhammad especially. But the rank is a
little bit different. Yes. But they are
all gods. All from God. Yes. To human
being. Beautiful. Let's continue please.
Okay. This one here from the Quran
also means take care of your parents.
Take care of your parents. Right? Take
care of your parents. And this is an
essential part we should really realize
now. They were they give you all what
they had.
sincerely without expecting anything.
Unconditioned love. Yes. So this is what
I think is a valuable
uh quotation from the Quran. Yes. Now I
like I like this one here. This one is
really profound here because you have a
a boat here. It says forever. What is
that? A Bentley or a Rolls-Royce?
Rolls-Royce. You got some gambling going
on. You know gambling is not allowed in
Islam. Okay. You got some drinking. You
got some uh partying going on here,
money, and some would say that's like
bling bling in modern terms, you know,
and you got some uh is that the the the
the devil, the satanic forces, wine.
What's going on with
this? Uh what inspired me to do this was
Enron. Enron. Oh, when I when I I am
from Houston, so I lived that scandal of
Enron and that what is reminds us in the
Quran means you keep collecting things
until you die. This is the the
the weakness of the human being. And God
reminds us that one day we'll die. And
that's why I made this painting to show
the
indulgence of things and the injustice
because you cannot collect all this
money without injustice and then self
pleasures and that's why eventually see
here he is he's rich he has the stock
market he has real estate real estate he
has money money and a house got the
house and on his boat he write forever
like he's going to live forever to live
forever and and the he's guided by the
devil to do this to do the the sins the
sins so you got that could be drugs
alcohol yes womanizing correct gambling
gambling and then he dies and then it's
done it's done does he take any of this
with him that's why he said here is
written from the Quran also yes writing
here My money did not prevent me from
dying. I'm not going to live forever. He
couldn't buy his way out of the grave,
right? And did not prolong his life one
second. When his time comes, it's done.
And then he will be punished not only in
the year after, but also while in grave.
Here is the snake and the crocodile
here. The snake and crocodile are a
symbol for the punishment. And you get
in in the grave. The grave is if you are
good, you'll be rewarded. Your grave
will be lighted. The angels will
accompany you. Say you are not alone. We
are with you. If you are did bad things,
then you will be punished in the grave
and until you day of judgment. This is
really beautiful. Tell us for our
brothers in humanity, the not yet
Muslims, because we really want them to
understand us because Islam today is
misunderstood. So tell us, would you if
some of our brothers from in humanity
came in and wanted to see some of your
artwork, see the mosque, are they
welcome or does Islam teach you to hate
those who are not Muslim? Islam is based
on love, peace, and justice.
Uh and the word Islam is peace part half
of it is peace and justice is the you
know this man didn't do justice for the
world. You have to be just to yourself
to your family to your society to the
world and that's Islam. Anyone wants to
come to the mosque and see this is
welcome. The mosque is anyone anyone any
religion or no religion. Yes. Come in.
You know it's it's God's house. Is not
my house. It's God's house. It's God's
house. Yes. And he welcomes all his
people who created whom he created. when
you hear a couple more questions just
before because you have I'm definitely I
mean we're very impressed with this and
a person such as yourself who's over the
years gained so much experience and when
you see a lot of the misconceptions out
there people talking about Islam like
it's something that's barbaric that you
know Islam teaches terrorism and
radicalization of the youth does this
sadden your heart what do you how do you
respond to this that really saddens my
heart
But I have to blame also the Muslims for
not portraying Islam the right way. Uh
some bad
apples destroyed the whole crop. Yes.
And I really uh people should not look
at this bad apples. Look at Islam. Look
at the history of Islam. Learn. That's
why I I
I published a book called Islam in the
eyes of an artist showing how Islam is
beautiful, how Islam is p is peaceful,
how high level of meditation and
elevation of the soul in Islam all in
paintings and transl and the English
explanation next to it. So
really uh Islam needs a lot and we are
we should educate people and people
should seek
knowledge. Ignorance is the best enemy
to anyone. That's right. Ignorance is
the best enemy to anyone. So we need to
clear up all this confusion by getting
ourselves educated and come visit here
at Shik Wal's Bassoonis Masid here in
the Clear Lake Islamic Center.
Dr. Isat.
Yes. And he'll give you a tour of some
of his beautiful paintings. And if you
have any other questions, you know, stop
by and visit us here. That's right. Come
and visit the Muslims. Come and learn
directly from the Muslims and get to
know your neighborhood Muslims, those
who have consciously submitted to one
God. And that's how we get peace. And we
wish you peace. Thank you very much.
Thank you for visiting us. We were
very rewarded by your visit. Thank you
very much. Thank you.
I am not afraid to stand alone.
I am not afraid to stand alone. If Allah
is
my afraid to stand
alone, I am not afraid to stand alone.
If Allah is my Messiah, I am not afraid
to stand alone.
I am not afraid to stand alone. If a
lies by I am not afraid to stand
[Music]
alone and if we're going to worship
something, I figured I might as well
worship the creator instead of any of
the creations.
Now in upon investigating all the
religions I remember finding out the
meaning of what Islam is, what a Muslim
is. Those who surrender theirel to God
is a Muslim. Those who surrender, submit
to God, God's will. That is it. Islam
was pure. It was just you just pray to
God, your
creator. Allah,
there's another young man here. And I
think yesterday we we were going and
having a tour and we want to continue.
We're almost done here. She Iraim, how
are you, man? He took me by surprise. I
wasn't expecting that. You're also one
of the imams here. Ah, yes. I'm the
administrator also for the Clear Lake
Islamic Center. Yes. Now, now we saw the
we we we got to see the the prayer area.
You know, one interesting thing is there
there's no statues. There's no pictures.
What what's going on here? Well, ba
basically u statues and and images in
Islam are not permitted and um it
is since the early days of Islam when
the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
you know destroyed all these statues
that were around the Cabba. So that was
something that was forbidden and it is
like taking the religion back to the era
of Abraham. He's the first one who
destroyed these statues. So definitely
we will not have him in our massid and
not any masid in in the whole world will
have any statues. It's all about the
worship of the one God of the one God
Allah the same God that Jesus worshiped.
Jesus would would have broke some
statues too. No statues and we're not
talk promoting breaking statues out
there but we're just symboliz
symbolizing the the worship of the the
one God pure monotheism. This is what
Islam is based on. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Uh Jesus himself in the
Bible said that you should worship only
one God, the God in the heaven. That
that is the only God that deserves to be
worshiped. And actually I I heard in in
a lot of your interviews that people
translate the word Allah into the only
one true God. That's a description.
Allah is the only one true God. But
Allah also means the worshiped one. That
is basically the the meaning of the word
Allah. He is the worshiped one. Meaning,
you know, he's the only one who deserves
to be worshiped and that's even embedded
in the meaning of Allah. Now, you got to
learn a little bit also more about Islam
and the key pillar only worship the
creator. Let's continue walking around
this house of worship.
As we said yesterday, this is a
community hall and it is it is set up in
such a way where it is a family uh
friendly environment where families can
come and actually we have everything for
all the family here. We made it where
the sisters can enjoy themselves there.
So you separate here you have the the
men with the men, the women with the
women to make them feel more comfortable
and also if a family like a father you
know parents and their children can sit
around and you know discuss something
and you know eat something together we
have the provision for that. The boys
with the boys the women with the women.
Yes, definitely. I
mean it it it may sound that you know
we're u it's it's like society we're
dealing with society with all its uh you
know factions and all its elements. So
basically any people can come enjoy
themselves in this uh in this facility
Muslims non-Muslims and they can come
and just you know enjoy you know
socializing with Muslims in this
facility in such a way that it is not
even about religion it's about
neighborhood and and being friendly to
your neighbors and being welcoming and
that's that's the attitude that we have
in this place actually. Okay so what
else do we have here now? Oh, we um just
like I told you, we have a you know uh
we saw the playground yesterday, right?
The play. Did we see it? Did we see it?
Okay, we can uh
Yeah, we have a playground, an indoor
playground for the kids. Wow. Subhan
Allah. Now, this is now this is a masid,
right? Now some people might think like
what are you doing? You got a like a
play pen here. This is not a play pen.
This is like a mega size play center in
the masid and hey but what if someone
hey that's and someone says man this is
some kind of bida. No it's not actually
this is very much encouraged by the
spirit of Islam. You know you want to
attract the kids to come in here. You
know they go to McDonald's and what
happens at McDonald's? They eat
unhealthy food. I'm not against
McDonald's, but that's the reality is
that they, you know, so we bring them
here for a healthy environment. You
know, their parents can cook their food
and they can come and eat it here. The
children can play like we have two kids
here playing. Um it's at a time where
where not many kids are in the masid but
yeah it's to attract those kids and to
have them attached to the masid and uh
you know see their parents go to prayer
and come play here and then you know
it's it is something where you know
attach the you know connect kids to fun
you know we're going to the masjid we're
going to the mosque to have fun which is
very good and later on they'll find out
that you know they're loving the place
of worship and they know the purpose of
it more so than just having fun.
Although having fun is nothing wrong
with it. So alhamdulillah that's this is
amazing. This is this is one of its kind
and we hope that those who are thinking
about this when I was Yes. This is
amazing. So we want to inspire you. We
want to really motivate people who are
thinking about making a masid that they
incorporate this into the masid. This is
wonderful. So what else? I heard you
actually you got a get get fit a fitness
a fitness center in the mosque. Amazing
simple fitness rule. So now if you got
need some you know greasy biryani or you
know some hamburgers you shouldn't be
eating you know with all the greasy
stuff and you you you want to change
your eating patter healthy and now you
want to look good and feel good you know
the best way is to make the salot you
know that's that food for the soul but
now you got some training for the body.
tell us what thought process went behind
this to make this happen. Well, well,
basically this is something that is it's
like a dream. You know, a lot of u
especially the the sisters who come to
the masjid, you know, they want to have
a place where they can do it alone, you
know, without any male interaction and
they can just come and feel comfortable.
So we found that this I mean the masjid
can provide this for the sisters and
basically you know we have it where it's
four days for the sisters three days for
the brothers and they can come and enjoy
them themselves in a way where you know
fitness is is something that is
recommended in Islam you have to be fit
actually and you know like you said you
know prayer can do so much but it cannot
really shed the fat that you have. we
add to it something that Allah has
blessed us with which is you know to be
active and and to be fit and to find
ways to uh you know burn these calories.
Oh, amazing. Amazing. Tell us now,
alhamdulillah. All praise to God to
Allah. And so, a we got that out of the
way that our brothers in humanity are
welcome here. They're not yet Muslims.
They can come in here anytime.
Alhamdulillah. Yeah, we're open for all
the, you know, all the neighborhood.
Anyone can come here. And actually,
we've had many of our neighbors come
here and and, you know, enjoy the uh,
you know, the environment and use the
facility. uh we had students who would
come and study. We had uh faith groups
and we we've arranged actually uh
interfaith activities with churches in
the neighborhood that they can use the
facility and we can go also there and
use their facility. So this is like
that's how it is in America you know we
have to work together we have to live
together and just like you have an you
know a Christian neighbor that Christian
neighbor can come to your wor place of
worship and see how see what you do
actually in your utmost intimate moments
with Allah subhana t with your creator
for those people that that try to you
know depict Islam as something that
is out there to get you it's the other
it's about, you know, creating mischief
here in America and, you know, it's like
the boogeyman is coming to get you. You
hear terrorism, Muslim. What do you have
to say to those people who are confused
about Islam? Well, there are so much
that you can say, but I think the best
way is to reach out to the people and
and do rather than say and just show
them, you know, by example. Come and see
us and see what we do. We're part of
you. We're part of the fabric of
America. Muslims are the integral an
integral part of America. You know,
they're they're really good citizens and
they have, you know, contributed to the
society in so many ways. And
unfortunately, when they contribute to
the society, they are known by their
individuals, but they're Muslim and
their faith encourages them to be good
to the society and to be productive. So
what I say is not everything you hear in
the media is you have to really be
critical in what you hear in the media
and you know think for yourself and go
visit your neighbor the Muslim neighbor
and ask him if that's true and they will
show you hospitality they will show you
come to our places of worship to social
gatherings and you will see who we are
for what we are exactly yes yes that is
excellent tell us the last point I want
to ask you is for the Muslims. Now, we
want this to be an example of what a
masid can be. It's not just restricted
to the five daily prayers that bringing
community together the way you guys
have. You got a gym here, you got a
playground for the kids instead of the
kids going to Starbucks or this cafe,
that cafe and getting in trouble out
there, you know, they come and they
attach their heart to the house of God,
to the house of Allah. But sometimes you
have, you know, those you have some
people and we want to soften their
hearts too. Some of the people that
don't get the youth involved and they
sometimes close this door and make it
difficult for the youth to be involved
and to prosper and to grow like you guys
have. What advice do you have for those?
Uh well, you know, to begin with this,
you know, when we started here as a
Muslim community in America, we were
like immigrant families who came here
and we kind of like did not change the
mentality that we came with. And we just
wanted our places of worship the same
way we used to have him back back home
in whatever country we came from. And
this is not really healthy and it's not
really even, you know, productive in a
society like America. It's a very fast
growing society and youth they have so
much exposure to other things. So you
have to really be competitive with
whatever the out there that is
attracting our youth and our youth those
are our children and and we seeing we
see them I mean be they Muslim,
Christian or Jews. We have the same
problem. All these faith groups have the
same problem with the youth that they're
running away from religion. And we want
them to really come back to religion and
see that there are certain things that
you can incorporate in your places of
worship that attract the youth and
there's nothing wrong with them. And you
can be competitive. you can show them
the better way of life, the better
alternative to whatever is out there
because whatever is out there is there
to make money and they don't really care
about you know the mental health of your
child, the physical health of your
child. In a place like this, we care
about this social health, mental health
and physical health and religious and
spiritual health. And so what I say is
we have to really change that mentality
and start learning more from our youth
what they really want. And exactly this
is the product of the youthful thinking
of the leadership in this community you
know like Bassuni mashallah he has a
really great you know insight and it's
because he's been in contact with so
many youth that he is able to really you
know uh realize the things and the dream
that they have. So this is just part of
the solution. We're trying to solve this
and we advise our brothers everywhere,
those who build their massagid, please
don't pay so much attention to just
decorating your masid rather than making
it functional with great facilities that
you know help and and serve and cater to
every member of the family and every
member of the society actually.
That's amazing. Don't spend all the time
arguing about the minouette, how big
it's going to be, 50 ft, third or the
dome, this design, that design, you
know, broaden your your mind. Open your
mind and do some of the things. We're
giving you an example here. Let the
uncles, we call them, work with the
youth work together so we can grow
together. Exactly. Well, that's I mean,
one dome may cost about $100,000 to
make. With $100,000, you can make, you
know, a gym double this size. Yes. you
know, where the youth can say, well,
it's better than the dome. I can't
really do anything with the dome. I
can't climb it, but I can do something
with this here. So, you're really
putting your money in a goodful use. I
mean, in useful uh uh purpose. Yes. Yes.
Thank you very much. Peace be with you.
Thank you so much. May God Almighty
reward you. I thank you for coming here.
We appreciate your uh your efforts.
Thank you very much. Alhamdulillah.
Thank you, Sh.