ex-muslim or muslim leaves islam the big
businessman about lots of no no you
pretty much left Islam yeah you became
an ex-muslim by this time I've studied
the Christianity and studied Judaism I'd
studied Buddhism and looked at the
religion literally means to religion
eyes or swear allegiance to an ethos or
a cult the Bible itself doesn't say
anywhere call yourself a Christian God
died for my sins right so God died for
my sins you're so important that God
would send his son football is a
religion watching telly is a religion
you know Facebook is has become a
religion okay so when he died on the
Crucified did he actually died when he
got crucified yes he did he died on the
cross right so if he died on the cross
who was running the world says look well
I've heard those stories you know the
born-again Christian or someone he has a
dream and Jesus came to him and all of a
sudden its emotional so you had it's
more subjective this was for you you
couldn't answer the question so how long
can you first of all can you explain the
Trinity from the Bible know if a person
is looking for a scapegoat to get out
the back door they want to go to the
clubs they want to party she's like oh
the person's question was burning
question I'd like you to answer it as I
did with the Muftis in the mall Ana's
and the Imams etc if there was a if
there was a system or if there was a
religion that sent my god almighty
surely it's gonna be universal right so
you're going through them I'm you doing
this Martin you're going through one by
one yeah yeah okay I don't pray that was
my take you hear a lot of so now you're
blaming the book you're blaming I was
exactly blaming the show
so I'll make them guys I'm with brother
Nasim here we're an Oldham yeah
Manchester very very incredibly sharing
a story with us and I thought this will
definitely resonate with many people who
either they haven't established the
prayer they've taken the dish odda
they've made that declaration of faith
there's nothing worthy of worship except
the creator of the heavens and earth and
Mohammed is like Moses Jesus Abraham
he's the last and final messenger they
were the ones that precede him you know
how it goes but then you gotta implement
what comes next the Salah how many
Muslims out there going through the
rituals they'd forgotten about it maybe
they waned off and then they thought you
know what it's not working and you have
an incredible story you stopped praying
and then because what happened you saw
Muslims and what was it yeah and I
couldn't find the practitioners of the
beam so so first you were practicing
Islam so I was studying Islam those
practices around Hall were you I was I
mean ever since I was a young young kid
you know the parents brought you seven
eight years old yeah absolutely like
just like everybody else I was praying
when I was told to pray I was sometimes
shouted out I used to go to all the
massage it's and go to all the Darcys
and I used to be quite an active member
of some youth circles as well yeah it
was great when we were doing street
cleanups and exhibitions and show people
Islam but then when I became an adult
earnest and I saw in the society that
hung on these guys man they've got long
beards and white fobs and really
beautifully well maintained but they're
coming out of bookies and they come
what's a bookie okay a bookie is a
betting office betting office okay yeah
yeah so so are gambling they're gambling
yeah gonna be of carbs yes clubs and I'm
seeing all this and I'm thinking well
hang on how is it that's the manual of
life the Quran al-karim yeah this is
instruction manual revelation from God
Almighty unchanged unadulterated they're
reading this same manual of life but yet
the result is that they become
this yeah you guys understand that point
is making exactly so the it's completely
nonsensical so for me as a IT person if
you put in the right cord the right
result comes out yeah so if they're
really these books but they the result
is really bad and I couldn't find a
single practicing slim who was honest
who was loyal who knew the answers that
the answer to the questions I had I
couldn't find a single person but hold
on when Muslims came into Indonesia now
with gums swords tanks it's because of
their honesty their virtue their
integrity its spread Islam spread
exactly so what are you talking about
exactly but that was 30 years ago I
couldn't find a single so now you're
blaming the book you're blaming the I
wasn't exactly blaming the book the if
the result is this of this book it must
be something in the teaching right so
without saying that out loud I left now
I'm sure there's a lot of people out
there you're from Pakistan yeah anybody
parents parents are from pack so you're
born in Britain yeah yeah well I was
born Pakistan but my parents were old my
dad was already my grandfather's already
so technically yes I was I was affected
you speak British you are dream British
British yeah both my grandparents fought
in the British before the British Army
so I'm more British than British
normally there's a lot of people from
that part of the world Britain from
India from Pakistan and just you know
Muslims in general like that probably
can relate to that and then they go
ahead and point the finger outward
instead of looking inward and now they
like did what you did what happened next
subhanAllah well up until for quite some
time
I was always blaming either the book the
religion etc I was a businessman I've
always been a businessman I was a
businessman at the age of nine business
man making big money big money big money
bro money maybe you came a little bit
also so you felt like you're fishing a
statistic yeah and you like I don't need
this done I'm putting my head on the
ground fight today
Wow
possibly possibly so the business was
doing really well yeah really well I
remember I was in I one of my offices
was in Islamabad in Pakistan and I had
an office here one in Karachi etc all
over the show
I was in Islamabad and I'd I'd done some
research I I've been looking and
learning about the Quran again and
learning Islam again looking at but by
this time I've studied the Christianity
and studied Judaism I'd studied Buddhism
I've looked at Sikhism and Hinduism etc
and I concluded that you can't become a
Jew
you can't convert to Judaism so that
because that's not a religion it's say
well you got to be from your mom your
mother it has to be yeah that's why I
look Allah says call me yahood the
Christianity the Christianity you can
convert to Christianity however there's
so many denominations and there's all
this Trinity etcetera etcetera so that
really baffled me so you're going
through him I'm you doing the smart
thing you're going through one by one
yeah yeah okay and I didn't I didn't
look at Islam because I thought I knew
everything about Islam Yeah right so how
were like I was later to learn so I'd
gone through all the motions got all
gone through all that because I thought
this if there was a if there was a
system or if there was a religion that
was sent by God Almighty surely it's
gotta be universal right yeah it can't
be just for the white folk or the black
folk the Asian folk of the Indian folk I
went through all that I went into
Christianity thinking I'm gonna find
this is this is the box the biggest in
the world so you're still at this time
did you abandon prayer yes yes okay but
you're still searching you're still
searching this was around 2005 to the
singer it was all after 9/11 yeah so
this was me sort of looking for God if
you like or searching that chunk was
2007
I remember clearly I was uneasy I was
really young describe that feeling okay
so he's feeling uneasy and so now but
you looked at you looked at you're
looking at
Christianity what happened there did not
have you proceed forward was sir so the
complication there was that Hanlon was
God when Jesus died on the on the cross
was was God he was God reincarnated his
man he was God on earth he'd passed away
sudden so I went to the representatives
of the of the religion I went to the
priests and the Reverend and the
ministers etc and I said you went that
far yeah yeah I said I've got this
question
well this burning question I'd like you
to answer it as I did with the Muftis in
the Malolos and the Imams etc they
couldn't answer the questions for how
long can you first of all can you
explain the Trinity from the Bible you
know they couldn't okay alright so God
is the father or the father is God which
one is it who is what it was Jesus is
wrong a lot of people said no he is God
he's not God's physical begotten son he
is God but he is transformed himself
into a man and he's come onto this earth
okay so when he died on the crucified
did he actually died when he got
crucified yes he did he died on the
cross right so if he died on the cross
who was running the world
mm-hmm what's going on there with the
universe good questions you're asking so
and then then the second question was
that do you really feel
are you there cuz I don't forget I'm a
big businessman I've got lots of money
and I felt I was very very powerful very
big etc so I felt I could ask this
question I remember the community I have
the right to know this question so do
you feel it's that that you're so
important so God died for my sins right
so God died for my sins you're so
important that God would send his son or
come down reincarnated in flesh himself
to this earth and died for you because
you're so important do you really feel
that you're that important you couldn't
answer that question either so yes or no
can't give me any tangible answer or
response to that so I left as well right
okay now I don't think I think and then
I'll talk about the Bible itself the
Bible itself doesn't say anywhere call
yourself a Christian Eisel Islam or
assembly Maryam Jesus himself was not
Christian if he was Christian himself
and said I am Christian I'd like you to
be Christian then fine but Christian the
term Christian was a dogma teasing
demonizing term used by the Romans
against the people who followed Christ
you guys get there is very important
point yeah that wasn't a term that was
given to by to the Companions of Jesus
by Jesus himself he never said that he
said I am a believer I am one who has
submitted to God Almighty that's what he
says how if I have a look at it Oh
Johnny so I went through all this I went
through it and I was still uneasy
very edgy agitated so you went through
all these religions you went to this one
we just talked about and now you're
still you pretty much left Islam yeah
you became an ex-muslim
yes yes you officially an ex-muslim
officially I didn't you left this line
so we go but Title X Muslim or Muslim
leaves Islam becomes X Islam okay yeah
so I hadn't I hadn't actually officiated
anything like that but because I was too
scared to do that for my Mother's sake
my mother used to always say to me no
you're not doing it for them you're
doing it for yourself you're doing it
for yourself you never said I use just
the same question to my mother now my
mother was the only one who actually
represented any glimmer of Islam the
mother yeah really deep guys pay
attention here because how many people
are out there going through a similar
situation like our brothers so many so
many makes a little money gets a little
power becomes a little arrogant maybe
some questions unanswered to become very
uneasy and then I was I was agitated I
had a lot of questions for the Muslim
Imams Muftis etcetera I used to ask
there's a question I said so if I was to
accept Islam if I was to accept that
what you're saying is correct then which
denomination would I be
would I be sunni would I be Wahhabi will
Habitrail Braille video burn the
Naqshbandi Sufi
ee he Hadees or a stream of these I
asked the people okay
they couldn't answer that question so
then I said to them okay can you give me
what is the most profound element I know
sure how that is the number one pillar
the second pillar is Salah can you tell
me the purpose of Salah can you tell me
the purpose of Shahada
Allah Allah the creator of the world the
universe
he has sent you the elements to do the
the rituals or the or the tasks to carry
out but they also have a purpose nobody
told me this I asked them the question
they said no you just believe in you do
because we obey a lot coming to bear the
messenger hollows we're not to ask any
questions but hang on a minute I'd read
this grass and the Quran saying ask the
questions are you not the ones who
ponder are you not the ones who quiz are
you not the ones who do this are you not
the one to do this especially in today's
day and age I mean this is what you're
talking to schools you ask to be
skeptical you're asking quite you want
to know you want to get down to the
bottom of things that's not sufficient
that doesn't ease now what your mind
your heart when someone just says just
believe yeah that's right this is
actually what I found was that this was
the Christian concept yeah that that you
you are just to believe you can't
question this was a Christian concept
this was alien to me and with my IT
background everything had to fit I was a
programmer if the if the software has
been programmed correctly the software
the software will correct properly the
sister the program would run if the
program has not been programmed
correctly when the software is not
running well the program is not running
you look at the chord right we look at
the chord instead the chords got an
error we don't say that oh it's my fault
oh it's his fault this is for oh it's
the hardware that's not accepting it we
don't say that we we all we don't blame
the Creator who way the Creator we don't
blame ourselves we say no let's look at
the chord really maybe miss something or
the developers mix-up miss something we
never let ourselves be the blame
however he went further
I was asking the questions like the
purpose of the five pillars the purpose
of anything that we do purpose of the
car for instance it's a God every time
Allah says in the Quran Hakim Moussa
lava jato Zuka establish the prayer and
pray pay years ago I want you to know
what is this circuit and all right it's
2.5% of the eight categories fine
most purposely when I last went Allah
says in in in seong we we talk about
fasting in Ramadan he said the contract
a cool so that you may become half the
choir who got conscious similarly I was
asking the same question about Salah
gotta tell me no answer no answer up
until 2007 2007 I was in Islam but in my
office
and you can imagine this now I'm in my
office and we've got the window open the
window was like this behind it my office
is here
the windows open he's got this tiny
little aluminum frame if you can think
that my colleagues there my friend we've
grown up together and he said to me said
brother it's almost time for modelling
I'm gonna go down and pray come on
unlike everybody else at that time I'd
said to him I said no now you go on I'll
pray for me pray for me here like what
you generally do right
pray for me or say a prayer for me is
where but people will say ridiculous
things you know I'll pray when Allah
calls me to pray or like sends me a
special like he sent a book to everybody
right when he sends me a special
certified mail I'll come when he sends
his son to come and die for me so I said
go and pray for this all right I ain't
sure I'll pray for me as well etc and he
went and the window was open and I heard
this alone the call to prayer a long
wait but Allah as soon as I heard
I stopped I swear by Allah my heart
missed a beat it missed a beat a few
beats I was absolutely stopped
I couldn't believe by the time the
brother had finished Salah and he said
[Music]
his voice echoed through the whole
building he shook my wall to the goal I
was crying I was in tears
that was the cold and I ran downstairs
did my boo and pray for the very first
time a long time something happened and
I stayed there for two or three hours in
fact I prayed a shot
I didn't move my friend was really
shocked and he said to me said first you
don't come for now you don't want to
leave the mat what's wrong with you so
the the anxiety done easiness all those
feelings that you were telling about
that you described yeah were they still
there during that prayer during that
Maghrib salah and let you shine as well
and during the time I've sat there
everything had gone it's gone I mean all
gone you know there are there are people
there are probably I know in the States
over over 30% of people are on
painkillers anxiety pills and - unison
antidepressants here probably the same
study numbers 65 million antidepressants
were prescribed last year alone 65
million look at that and now you do to
those feelings those feelings you can't
get rid of and people are going to
psychiatrist psychologist and they're
not getting rid of that feeling but you
went you prostrate remember in Islam
submission to the Creator not the
creation when you pray you pray directly
to God to the crater not to any
intermediary not anyone in the middle no
one just to the one who created you
that's all you did you didn't do
something strange you're in worshiping a
cow or calf stick a stone a man a woman
a prime just the Creator you did that
the one guy you prostrate it to the one
who created you and
of creation and that suddenly that all
those negative feelings already draw
that all that my heart felt like a huge
weight had been lifted now whilst the
brother was leading the prayer the same
brother who did the Adhan and I'm crying
there I'm in the back
I'm tears running down my cheek and I
can feel my legs are trembling and I'm
thinking hang on why is going on here
that connection with the Almighty that
direct connection that bond I never ever
felt loved in my life and I prayed
before I prayed behind any man before I
prayed on my own before when I was a
young kid that was forced to do so
perhaps maybe times maybe oh you should
do it it is good nobody could tell me
the purpose as to why anyway as I was
praying and I felt this tremendous
weight being lifted look I've got all
the money in the world
I've got offices in different parts of
the world I've got a wife I've got
beautiful children I've got a house that
people dream of I've got cars that
people would think eighteen ninety
thousand pounds of cars 100 thousand
pound maybe hundred fifty thousand
pounds with the cars who wouldn't want
that I was young I was only in 2007 I'm
looking 30 ish 33 34 that kind of age
come on how many people have that kind
of you know money or success or whatever
they're Dima success and that's the
other thing that we could talk about
Chania Allah Allah I know a little fella
come towards success anyway I need you
to know the purpose by this time by a
Shah had finished and this weight had
been lifted
I now need you to know what a purpose of
Salah was because no one longer am I
gonna wait and I'd asked all them of
these at-ats the Imams the mallanna's
etc scholars and they all said to me is
to attain who shoot
and I'm a linguistic because I'm a IT
guy it has to be literal and I'm sorry
but that vocabulary is all wrong because
it's that is the result horeshoe or
attaining tranquility is the result not
the purpose of Salah the purpose is
something else anyway I started
researching within a couple of hours of
receive when Allah guides who can
misguide and when I love there's a guide
who can guide somehow I have searched
this question in and out
I open the Quran and I started
researching and researching and allah
subhanaw taala come across this verse in
the quran in the quran the verbatim word
of the cradle the quran now you find the
answer i find the answer and it says and
establish you in fact we could probably
google it now and find it and establish
your prayer in order to remember me so
now of course that's simple is it sounds
very simple establish your prayer in
order to remember me why is Allah saying
remember me because he calls us what's
the opposite of remember forget we're
good and he calls us the creature that
forgets in silence oh yeah in son yeah
are you a nurse or in son he calls us
the creature that forget so by nature by
default we forget and this Salah is so
that we remember
now this connects back to when you could
connect this what you're saying to when
you seek out to know the purpose of life
know why you've been created why are you
here this connects also with this what
you're searching exactly
so purpose of life purpose of so you've
got the purpose of life purpose of life
we're here to worship Allah subhanAllah
now that purpose of life fine we our our
objective is to attain general or the
result of that should be to attention
but then Allah samantha's give us a few
rules
a few pillars to abide by any love any
any system of life any system has rules
right
you can't go through the red lights you
have to go around the roundabout this
way you can't you can't turn left unless
you indicate you got to do this you got
to do that those are rules that you have
to do to follow the system you can't say
I'm a good British citizen but you go
through all the red lights you never pay
your parking ticket you never pay your
bills no fail your gas bill your your
route to your community your route to
your parents your neighbors you can't
say you're a good citizen of UK or
Britain I'm a good British citizen well
hang on who gave you the definition of
good British citizen citizen that's what
will you be asking right similarly I was
I need to know the purpose if you're
going to be Muslim verb muslim submitter
to the system of islam then you need to
know what their purpose is or the
purpose of those pillars or those set of
rules that god almighty sent to you
remember I'm I'm very detailed because
of the programming you know the IT
background perhaps perhaps you know it
maybe is too much but the the fact of
the matter is we need to know these
things
and that's when I side to learn and then
I went through the five pillars purpose
of this I don't think you know this is
the manual of life
I'm already I've submitted whether he
accepts my submitting so not I don't
know I've I've submitted
now I've submitted to the Almighty if
this is the manual of life and I've
accepted that this is the verbatim word
of Allah surrounds our our Creator then
verily everything else is in there as
well
it's been defined in there and then
after that the best practitioner look at
the life this is what my journey but how
my journey began I went through all that
I started looking at the purpose of the
God the purpose of Shahada the purpose
of CR the purpose of Hajj you know the
purpose of Shahada
subhanAllah look at this the Sahabi
the Sahaba went into a peace
and like you mentioned earlier Indonesia
within six months a year these are
people who are Shahada in the hearts
there was not a single household that
was left that Islam had not touched
within six to eight months a year max
the way they dealt with people the way
they spoke to people the way they
treated people the way they explained
things to people in detail the way they
traded there was not a single household
left in their region dice la midnight
tomorrow let's do that you think back at
that time he used to take them two to
three months to travel from one country
to another yet Islam spread from the
south of France to Indonesia within
fifty to sixty years because of the
people who carry the shadow in their
hearts they knew the purpose of Shahada
they knew the purpose of Salah they knew
the purpose of zakat
they knew the purpose of Hajj they knew
the purpose of all these things before
they did it they didn't just do it
verbatim like you are told at the allah
at e rasool we obey Allah and obey those
who absolutely we do that but it's not
blind faith you must look at it with a
critical mind and go through it in
detail
somehow Allah when I look back and I
think about Britain and I think the mass
migration started in the 50s but the
Muslims have been here for over a
hundred years and we've only touched 4%
5% while maybe 6% in the whole of these
hundred years we've only touched 6% of
the public
we're doing something wrong we don't
know what the purpose of these things we
define were drunk Islam Islam is not a
religion it's not I in fact it's a
dishonor it's a disgrace that we can
call Islam a religion an Arabic the
world with Dean Dean Dean venal Islam
Allah SWA Allah never calls it mother
mother hub means religions or opinion or
school of thought because religion
literally means to religion eyes or
swear allegiance to and
or occult so we more chili the way of
life exactly
so religion is a set of a set of rituals
that is adhered by that's one football
is a religion watching telly is a
religion you know Facebook is has become
a religion this is very very demonizing
to call Islam a religion Islam is a
system it's a set of rules sent by the
Creator
to the creation in order to find peace
and tranquility in this life and the
next it is a way of life it's a complete
way of life and that's how we need to
understand it the day that we as Muslims
the majority 2 billion of us around the
world accept that Islam is not a
religion it's a way of life and stop
practicing it and Muslim is a verb and
it's not a noun so we're not we can't
wear the t-shirt without he's got the
t-shirt we're mostly we're gonna go to
Jinnah
yeah the day we accept that everything
will change
so we have life that gives you freedom
freedom real freedom right yeah from the
shackles of the dunya to the vastness
what's waiting for you in Genda for
those people that are out there
concluding now the gems that we can take
from this is you didn't have mental
laziness you researched something I mean
if someone says look well I've heard
those stories you know the born-again
Christian or someone he has a dream and
says Jesus came to them and all of a
sudden it's emotional so you had it's
more subjective this was for you you had
an experience I can't feel that what do
you say to them well if they can't feel
that subhanAllah what can I say
have they ever heard the Quran being
recited properly no no no and I'm not
talking about but how many light or
bloody manicure do the people who recite
it 110 miles and I wouldn't think that
they're doing justice to the corral do
they have they ever heard the Quran
being recited number one number two take
the words of allah subhanaw taala and
listen to what Allah saying read the
translation because all be masters about
a big fine read the translation what is
the Creator your Creator don't forget is
not it's not just my
is your create what is your Creator
saying to you
in the revelation imagine that the
revelation that is coming is coming
directly to you as an instruction treat
the manual of life as an instruction
manual
something goes on in your house refer to
a lot refer to the manual of life look
in there look at the way that the verse
was translated in practice by the
prophets or a long way or so if we want
ultimately we want success in this life
we were successful in the hereafter if
we want that then the manual of life has
been sent to you the practitioner of
this manual has been sent to you study
them in detail study them in detail you
will find the answers yeah being sincere
I found them when people are genuine is
this year if a person is looking for a
scapegoat to get out the back door they
want to go to the clubs they want to
party she's like oh the person is like
recently there was a famous celebrity he
wasa leverty of someone who's on some of
the social media and now if you're not
fueling yourself with this Deen with
this way of life daily you're not you're
not implement you're just going through
those rituals but they're not helping
you to become a better human being
you're not internalizing rituals are
just rituals that but these rituals if
you put the proper fuel in and you put
your heart mind body and soul these are
they're supposed to produce an outcome
they have a purpose so it's not if
you're not taking the medicine and you
cannot blame the doctor so you need to
take what Allah has given us to take
implement it but you have a lot of
people like I was saying that someone if
you are you follow some of these people
out there and now recently some some
well-known sister she took off her job
right so now you end up copycatting her
you end up following her because that
was your teacher now you had the wrong
teacher you just focused on on YouTube
all day on many of the music out there
you know you haven't empowered yourself
with this deem and then you just you
fall over like a sack of potatoes you
know you just because that's that's
invested you invested your time in the
wrong things but what you did was
there's answers to these questions
you've got the answers
you investigated you you internalize
this Dean and Hum Dil ah you're here
with us today you came went from being
an ex-muslim to coming back into Islam
yeah yeah it took some effort so
concluding you were sincere you were
genuine and you did your homework
but you weren't working looking for that
back door because if you're looking
you're playing tricks Allah knows what's
in the heart of course so if you're
looking to take that back door and
escape Allah let you go he don't need
you I mean don't get me wrong I I did I
did used to ask rhetorical questions so
the Imams and the Ana's and the priests
etc II in order to belittle them a
little bit as well I hold my hands up to
that that was very early on but I
genuinely wanted to know that is there a
creator what is my purpose I wanted to
know if he has sent me some some
instructions to follow so I can give you
examples like good what Allah so Allah
calls it higher in the Quran so what is
the definition of good so the definition
of good for a human being is fluid if
we're going to write our own definitions
it's fluid definition so 40 odd years
ago they used to fifty years ago they
used to throw women old women into the
River Thames in Britain if they floated
they were witches
if they sank it was too late for them
they dead anyway but they were real
right they were real people
yeah that's how they used to do the
witch hunt right that was a good
practice in them days but that's not the
definition of good in the quran the
definition of God in the Quran is always
consistent and definition of
righteousness the definition of Salah
the definition of jion's not changing is
not change no and it's universal yeah so
my point is that if there is a word that
a las mahanta like god almighty has
given to you a word like salah a word
lights Agartha word like righteous a
word like anything else then the only
place to look for that definition is the
manual itself that God has used that
word not anywhere else to define good
well I'm a good person but I don't pray
that was my take you just say they hear
a lot of that yeah
I'm a good person i but I don't pray and
then well swell so hang on you are you a
good person how do you know what the
definition of good is so they'll say
well the good person is I look after my
family I feed them and I put the bins
out I take my kids to school
that's not a definition of good that's
not the definition of good the
definition of good is you need to enjoy
the good and forbid the wrong there are
two elements of being good there so I
could go on or late yeah but you get the
gist the the element is that you need to
refer back to the creator the manual of
life very important so hopefully from
this story it can resonate with many
people who are struggling with a lot of
the same issues and I'll take from the
gems from here and hopefully incorporate
and do what he did and inshallah they
can get some people back who have kind
of drifted off and those people who
we're also seeking to no purpose how did
they get here why they here where
they're going you can also find it in
this beautiful real life like you found
this brother thank you very much for
sharing it with us thank you guys also
Salaam alaikum