This is the Dean
Show. Alhamdulillah. Peace be with you.
I'm Eddie, your host, and you're
watching the Dean Show. Thank you for
tuning in to another exciting episode.
We're going to be talking about Easter,
its origins with the author of Holiday
Myths. Dr. Hakeim Quick who is a PhD a
historian and he's going to be a ask
answering some questions about Easter
its origins where it originated from so
you can be enlightened here on the Dean
Show. Don't go nowhere. We'll be right
back. This is the
[Music]
the show. This is the
show. This is the show. This is the
show. This is the show. This is the dean
show. This is the show. This is the
show. This is the Dean Show. This is the
Dean Show. Assalam allayikum. Peace be
with you. How are you? Alhamdulillah.
Fine. Fine. I'm doing. Thank you for
being with us here on the Dean Show.
People can go to the deanshow.com to
read about you. You're a historian.
You're an Islamic scholar. First
graduate, American graduate or Canadian
graduate. American from the Medina
Islamic University and and you got your
PhD from University of Toronto. Toronto.
So we're talking to an expert in this
area that
now Jesus peace be upon him who no
Muslim is a Muslim unless he believes in
Jesus the same way we believe in Moses,
Abraham, Noah and the last and final
messenger of Prophet peace be upon him.
There's some confusion over this mighty
messenger. Some people take him as God.
Some people take him as a literal son of
God and some people say that he died was
resurrected and they're celebrating
Easter. So people of consciousness that
are out there that you know what they're
wanting to know more. They're not really
you know settling with the whole trinity
and Jesus dying you know and for their
sins. So we want to talk about Easter
its origins and shed some light on the
confusion so people will have a better
understanding. Right. Talk to us about
this holiday Easter. Again uh it is
important for us to look at the two
streams. One stream is the stream
of monotheism and that is where the
great messengers of God of Allah
subhanaa tala came to the earth and we
know there was Abraham, Jacob, Moses,
Jesus, Muhammad so many of these great
messengers who came to the world and
taught the people that they should not
worship human beings. They should not
worship created things but they should
worship uh the creator himself. So did
they come with different religions for
different times? Like here God sent a
messenger said worship me as a a calf.
Another one said worship me as a man.
Another one said worship me as a woman.
Was was God doing that? One message.
What what what we see is that you know
the Quran is saying in the chapter of
the bee verse 36 and verily we have sent
to every nation a messenger that they
worship one god and stay away from false
gods. So, so the unifying factor in all
of the messages is tohed and that is
monotheism. The strict belief in one
God. It is the first and greatest
commandment where God is saying here, "O
Israel, the Lord your God is one." And
and this is the way it was with all of
the messengers. And so coming into the
life of Jesus Isaam from our perspective
and we see oursel again not as being
something new but as an extension of the
belief in one God. From our perspective
he was a mighty messenger of God sent to
the children of Israel. He came not to
destroy or to change the law of Moses.
He came to fulfill the law and he
received the injeil. He received the
gospels and because of his teachings,
although the teachings were so
lifegiving and the miracles that that
happened to him, he was actually
misunderstood and he was driven away and
the Roman Empire at the time saw him as
a revolutionary or subversive and
because of this uh he was under attack.
He came with a very straightforward
belief. He used to dress very simply,
sometimes wear no shoes, a very humble
person. Not the image that you get, this
godlike image that you get which is
really Michelangelo who drew his uncle
in the cyine chapel. It's not that
individual. This is a simple person even
described uh in some of the uh biblical
descriptions as a person with curly hair
and skin like burnt brass. Completely
different. Would he resemble like
someone from the Arabian Peninsula? Like
a Seemetic person from the from the
Middle Eastern area. That's what he
actually was. Not blonde hair, blue
eyes. No, that's Michelangelo. He drew
his uncle in the cyine chapel and then
everybody took the picture as being you
know Jesus Christ. But but Isaam, he was
a carpenter. So his hands were tough. Uh
his feet were, you know, tough. It it's
not the image that you get. It's a
completely different image. The
important issue, however, is the
message. And that was the straight
belief in one god. So where's the Easter
coming from now? What's now? We're
taught again, we are taught that uh
Issaam when he was under this pressure,
he gathered his followers together in
the last supper. Wait, someone's just
heard you say Isaam. And now our our
brothers in humanity are Christian. What
are you talking about Issa? We're
talking about Jesus. Ours is Jesus.
Who's Isa? What are you talking about?
So Issa is literally the Seemetic way,
the Arabic way of saying Jesus. So
because uh the English language wasn't
around, was it? Right. So, okay. So,
this is just a misprononunciation of the
word actually. Jesus. Yeah, Jesus. But,
but we'll say Jesus uh so people can,
you know, be sure what we're saying. So,
now Jesus calls his followers together
for a last supper, al and Allah God
brings down food on the table. They eat
from the food. Now, they have a sign
from God and within that Jesus prays to
God, "Save me by any means necessary."
So according to our understanding after
this uh last supper Jesus was
raised and the Romans
continued Allah knows best what happened
there's a lot of different reports
somebody was on the cross but according
to our teachings the Quran
says who said this is this the verbatim
word of God this is the last testament
saying they did not kill him they did
not crucify him, but it was made to
appear to them that they did. This is
Allah, the creator of the all that
exists, the creator of Jesus, Moses, the
one God. He is revealing this. He's
saying this. That's right. Because even
according to the traditions of Judaism
and Rome, um that you know the death on
the cross is the death of a criminal.
So, um it is like a lecture chair. Yeah.
It's even worse than that because it's
humiliation. Because when you're dying
on a cross obviously, you know, it is a
very humiliating thing for a person to
die in front of other individuals. So
the cross saying that this he was saved
from this humiliation. So So we believe
he was saved from the humiliation. The
point is he is raised. Mhm. Okay. He's
alive and he will return before the day
of judgment. So this is our
understanding. Some of the Christian
churches come later and say, "No, he was
on the cross and he died and then later
he was resurrected." That is another
debate within itself. The key issue
however is that originally Jesus was
sent clearly with the belief in one God.
There is no doubt about that. And the
belief in um focusing not on natural
things but focusing on the creator. Now
in Europe itself and other parts of the
world was sun worship. In sun worship
the people are following the movements
of the planets. They are following
reproduction and they're following the
seasons. So in the spring season called
the spring solstice. During that time,
winter has ended. And remember, winter
in the northern countries is death. It's
snowing outside. The trees are dead.
Animals hibernate. Nothing is around. If
you don't have central heating,
somebody's going to die in your own
family. So it's a time of death and
famine.
It's very dark out in the northern
countries, but when the spring comes, it
is a time of life. So therefore, they
developed a nature cult. And the goddess
for the cult, her name was Ostree or
Easter. And they believed that Easter
would wave her wand and everything now
turns green. So this is the concept now.
And that's the reason why people today
if you mention the word Easter they will
say bunny rabbits, chickens, eggs,
lilies, they'll talk about fertility
symbols, natural. They won't talk about
Jesus. They won't talk about you know
the Jewish law of Moses because what
happened is somehow somewhere along the
line the followers of Jesus what was
left of his message was incorporated
into the nature belief. So therefore
instead of death winter changing into
spring resurrection of nature it was now
the death on the cross and the
resurrection. So they amalgamated the
two so that those who worship nature and
the changing of nature they could
celebrate alongside of those who had the
the teachings of Jesus. So what this has
created is a confusion for those who
want to go back to the original message
uh and to be involved in pure revelation
and to follow the message of God. They
are confused between the the the
naturebased religions, sexuality is
pushed up in the front and between the
law of God where sexuality has its place
and where respect is there, society is
there and all worship is for the creator
of the heavens and the earth. Only for
the one creator, the one supreme being,
God almighty. That's right. Okay, we're
going to take a break and be right back
with more here on the Dean Show. One
God, worship him alone. Do what he wants
you to do. Put your desires, this thing
inside you that just wants this and
wants that and you just can't get
enough. You know what? You'll never get
enough until the dirt's in your mouth.
Don't let it come to that. Be sincere
and honest. Ask the one who created you
to guide you. It's the first step. Put
on chasing all the women and the good
times and the parties and this and that.
There is no one worthy of worship except
Allah. Don't wait. You never know if
death will come today for you or not.
[Music]
Ooh.
Ooh. It's a way of
life brought to us
by the
messenger, best of
mankind. Show us the
way to Allah's grace.
This is the
dean of the back here on the dean show
with Dr. Abdullah Hakeim Quick. We're
talking about Easter and we never want
to offend anybody. We're just trying to
deliver the truth and have people ponder
and think. So, you're an historian, a a
a scholar in this area. Tell us now, did
Jesus, peace be upon him, who's beloved
to our heart, did he ever call people,
you used to be a former Christian and
you investigated other world religions
and this one in particularly, do you
ever see him calling people to worship
himself as a god next to God? This is
what I found in the beginning that
really there was a contradiction between
the doctrine of some of the churches and
the actual sayings and teachings of
Jesus. Because when you look at the
sayings and teachings of Jesus who said,
"I did not come to destroy or to change
the law of Moses, but I came to fulfill
the law," you will see that he was a
strict monotheist. Because that's the
first commandment. And as the Quran says
itself, the last testament when it
speaks about Jesus and his mother, it
said they used to eat food. So by saying
they used to eat food, it means they're
human beings. So he was a humble human
being. He was a prophet. He was a
messenger. Miracles came. Uh he was able
to cure the the the sick, the the
lepers, make the blind to see. But he
always said, "I did this by the
permission of God. This is not me who's
doing it. I am a vessel uh of the power
and mercy of the creator." And that is a
difference between the two beliefs
because within the Mediterranean region
the Greek and Roman concept gave godlike
status to people or it made the gods
seem like people. So therefore when you
see Zeus or you see Jupiter uh coming
down to earth and getting angry with
people and then he has a human being and
his son is Hercules. So this is God's
intermingling with people. So that
concept was there in the ancient world.
Mithras the concept of Mithras who is
this individual who is the son of God
who comes down to sacrifice himself uh
for the for human beings. His sacred day
is the seventh day of the week which we
call now sun day. His followers used to
put an ashen mark on their head. He had
a communion made of uh wafers like bread
and wine. um these teachings existed.
They were not in the law of Moses. It
was not amongst the recorded teachings
of Jesus peace be upon him. And so the
amalgamation comes where the form of
religion where even the sign of the
cross is the symbol of eternal life that
was used thousands of years before
Jesus. This is amalgamated into the
teachings. And so what we're trying to
say is with all
respects for for people who are
searching for truth, we need to separate
those things that are folk fables and
folk culture from revelation. We have to
separate the two because we want the
revelation. We want to submit to God and
to be as pure as we possibly can and not
to be submitting to material things and
worshiping idols or worshiping uh nature
goddesses and whatnot. We we've gone
past this point. There are many people
who have gone past that point and they
want to know what did the prophets
actually say. So tell us now uh Dr.
Abdulhakeim quick for the person says
look you you mentioned monotheism. Well
we're monotheists too. We believe in one
god three father son holy ghost one god.
You believe in what god it's the same
thing. How would you respond to this? I
would respond to say that go back to the
ancient teachings of Plato and you will
see in Plato's teachings he believed in
a type of uh uh logos he believed that
there was the one uh uh reason for
things to be is like the father and then
there is the son and then there is the
holy spirit this actually came out of
Plato's teachings you will also find in
ancient Egypt they had Horus Isis and
Osiris uh the ancient Indians also had
this concept in Hinduism. So the trinity
concept was not a new concept. It was in
the ancient world. Uh again it has
nothing to do with the old testament. It
has nothing to do with with Jesus's his
teachings. But it is an amalgamation to
bring that concept in because strict
monotheism does not divide God into
three parts. Nor does God have the
ability or even want to change himself
into a human being and come down on
earth. This is part of the Greek Roman
mythology. It's not part of the of the
teachings that came to the great
prophets of monotheism. So what we're
saying is that we want to
separate folk culture from revelation.
We want to go back to the pure teachings
that would be in line with the original
teachings of Abraham, of Jacob, of
Moses, of Jesus, Muhammad, peace be upon
them, all of the righteous prophets.
That is the family of Islam. And we
don't see a difference between ourselves
and the original pure followers of
Moses, the pure followers of Jesus. We
are all originally coming from the same
source. And we will eventually go back
to the same source. Tell us now Shay for
the person who's confused. This is
making sense only worshiping the creator
not what he created. Submitting to him
on his terms, not your desires, your
opinions, your wants and everything.
Submit to God. But now does it start
with praying to God alone and asking for
guidance? Because see you see a lot of
people praying through Jesus and saying
look Jesus said that no one comes to the
father except through me or they'll pray
through the creation to get to God. What
what's the severity of this? Why why is
this is this something that god is going
to not be pleased with that this is
insulting to God and why would it be
insulting to God? Well, we have to
remember that the first and greatest
commandment of the 10 is that you should
worship one God. So this is the greatest
commandment and you'll see within the
teachings of all of the prophets that
the most important aspect is monotheism
tohed the belief in one god and sherk
polytheism is considered to be the worst
possible sin that a human being can
commit. Is that blasphemy? That's
blasphemy and it's polytheism you know.
So it's it's really serious thing. It
takes us out of the realm of the
monotheistic prophets. And so it's
really important for people of
conscience, of innocent uh people
searching people to pray to God
themselves. Make a special prayer to the
creator. Ask the creator to guide you
because guidance is really a personal
thing. Religion cannot be forced on
other individuals. It is not a debate.
Um it is not a certificate you get in a
university. That is something given by
God himself by the creator. So those who
are searching should pray to God. Ask
God to guide you. As we constantly say,
Muslims say constantly in their
prayers, guide us to the straight path.
Even though we are Muslims, we believe,
we submit, we constantly ask Allah to
guide us. And that is the most important
thing for people today. That is so
simple to understand. asking God
starting with wanting it and then asking
God almighty alone not his creation not
going through Muhammad or through Jesus
or through anybody but why do you think
it is that you know many people they
fall into this trap they fall into this
trap of calling on other than God they
feel like you know what uh we can't go
straight to God because we're not holy
enough our problem as human beings one
of our great challenges is that we are
tested constantly ly with our senses. We
taste, we see, we hear. And so therefore
material things, it is easier to worship
something material, something you can
see, something you can hear, something
which is visibly in front of you. And
that is the reason why sun worship was
always the greatest worship in the
ancient world because the sun is the
largest of the creation. The sun gives
you heat and life. And so people
naturally were geared toward the sun.
But when we get the full picture, we
realize that the sun is a creation in
itself that the universe was once one
unit and it was split apart. This is the
big bang theory and this is what the
final testament the Quran says in the
chapter of anah that this is the
creation. So therefore um it's easy to
worship the material things because
that's right in front of us. But where
the challenge is is for the greater
picture to see the creator uh who has
created the systems who has created uh
all the things that we see and all the
things that we taste. That is the
challenge on human beings. It is a
natural thing. The child when the baby
is born as the prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him said every child is born on the
fra in a natural way. The child cries
out to the mother. The child has a
natural belief that the mother will
respond that the creation is there um to
benefit him is a natural feeling of the
oneness of God in every child that we
believe is Islam. So every child
originally is a Muslim and that does not
mean they speak Arabic or they live in
the Middle East. This is something all
races, all nationalities, everybody uh
is a Muslim in the beginning and it is
their family that then gear them towards
their culture. If the culture is based
on sun worship, it is based on nature,
if it is based on worship of of the
dollar bill or the pound or the rupee or
the real, then that's the way they go.
If it is based on the worship of God,
then they are geared toward that. What
we say now is we are in an age of
information. We are in an age of
knowledge. So we need to pray to God,
investigate and and try to find the true
religion and ask God to keep you on the
straight path. We'll be right back here
on the Dean Show with more. Sit tight. I
just want to say very simple message. He
is the maintainer. One of the beautiful
things about our religion of Islam is
the emphasis on direct ritual and prayer
to God directly. There is no
intermediary. The lights will go on
after the party and the party will end.
It's very simple and very clear. There
are no superstitious rituals, no strange
incantations. Time is running out. We
might not make it till tomorrow. And
this is something that we need to think
about.
Ooh.
Ooh. It's a way of
life brought to us
by the
messenger. Best of
mankind. Show us the
way to Allah's grace.
This is the
dean dean of Islam
back here on the dean show with Dr.
Abdullahim quick and we're talking about
Easter and you're linking it back to
these had pagan origins right Jesus
never preached teached or called anybody
to worship him he never
ever
explicitly said that look I am God
worship or I'm the son of God okay some
people would say look before I go to to
my my main question people like we don't
worship him as god he's just a son of
god how would you respond to this again
it is how you use the word son because
really you'll see even in biblical uh
traditions that human beings are the
children of God. You'll see the children
of Israel called the children of God. So
in a sense because a human being has
something from the creator our soul we
are all children of God uh in in the
sense of the soul because it comes from
the creator. If you take it to an animal
level, the son is from the father. This
is an animal thing. This is where the
mythology comes in where the human being
is literally the son of the creator.
Like Hercules is half god and half man.
So this is this is a a mythology based
concept. It's a nature-based concept. So
that that's a different um you know play
on words. So people are using the same
word but they have a different concept.
Muslims we say we're all the children of
God. God is the father in a sense of
he's the creator sustainer. He is the
one with the most power the author of
the systems of life. So that is a
fatherly figure in a greater sense
metaphorically metaphorically but not
animal father. Animal father is the one
who had a sexual relationship with your
mother. That's an insult to God, right?
You you you're putting down God to be a
human being. And as the Quran said to
about Jesus and Mary, they used to eat
food. So if you eat food, that means you
was hungry and you're going to the
bathroom. You're going to go to the
bathroom. And that is something which
the creator is far above because the
creator is not part of our world like a
created being. That's the difference in
creator between alik and al- ml. The
creator is the one who is perfect and
who is the the creator of everything.
The creation is the one who who is
created, who has hunger, who has thirst,
who lives, who dies. That's the
creation. So the original religions of
all the prophet separated creator from
created. And so by doing that everything
is in the right perspective. When you
take the creator and make him created,
now we're causing a confusion because
God can get angry like a human being.
God can make mistakes. God can come down
on earth uh and and and cause confusion
and people lose their relationship with
the creator. They lose their respect for
religion. And this is what is destroying
belief in many people because they see
the gods as just uh you know larger
forms of human being who are desire
women and who want power and struggling
with each other. When we say allahel we
are talking about the mighty the
majestic who is perfect the creator the
one who has knowledge of all things. The
one who existed before human beings
existed before anything existed. We
cannot describe the creator. We cannot
put any uh uh human or natural physical
quality on the creator. That is the
teachings of the first commandment of
the ten commandments. That is the
teachings of the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him and all those righteous ones
who came from the beginning of time. And
that is the teaching I believe that
human beings need to return to in this
turbulent age that we are living in
today. Because we are worshiping money,
we are worshiping sex. We are worshiping
our tribe. We are worshiping power. How
many people want to be president or
prime minister or king and they're
fighting each other instead of
submitting to the creator? Instead of
looking at life as a test and trying to
assist each other and realizing how weak
and humble we actually are, people try
to be gods on their own. I believe it's
important for for Muslims and all people
of conscience go back to the sources,
investigate, humble yourself, turn to
the creator and realize that our life is
short and we are going on to the real
life that is after death. That's the
transition. And we want to enter into
that world having pleased the creator so
that we can be pleased with what is
coming in front of us. And that's so
eloquently and beautifully put. Thank
you so much. We're out of time and we
hope to have you back here on the Dean
Show. Thank you once again for being
with us. May God Almighty, the creator,
our love you. Amen. And thank you for
sitting through another episode of the
Dean Show. As you can see,
Easter really when you look deep into it
has nothing to do with the teachings of
Jesus peace be upon him who is beloved
to our hearts. No Muslim is a Muslim and
Muslim is simply one who has submitted
consciously made the decision that I'm
not going to worship the creation. I'm
going to worship the one creator. And
this is what Jesus brought and taught to
all of his followers that don't worship
the creation. Worship the creator. And
so did Moses, Abraham, Noah, and the
last and final messenger of Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him. And they
never taught or brought these ideas that
man has invented concocted that God
could be a man that God Almighty
is having sons and daughters and all
these other man-made inventions that the
prophets were free of. The prophets came
with that simple message, worship the
creator, not his creation. So you got to
listen to an expert, an historian,
someone who was a former Christian and
investigated all the different world
religions and came to that conscious
decision that you know what, Islam is
the way of life that's from the creator.
So I'm going to do what God wants me to
do. I'm going to submit to God on his
terms, not my desires. And this is what
we encourage everyone to do out there.
To learn more, you can also reach us at
1800662 Islam. And until next time,
peace be unto
[Music]
you.
Ooh. It's a way of
life brought to us
by the
messenger, best of
mankind. Show us the
way to Allah's grace.
This is the
dean de of Islam.