assalamualaikum my name is gibson i was
born in colombia bogota
around the age of nine i had many
questions about the purpose of life who
was my creator and that was my biggest i
wanted to know about more about my
creator
so i started a journey
at the age of nine from nine to
twelve
and that journey has taught me so much
you know gone through so many different
cultures religions
beliefs beautiful journey and then the
journey that got me to and then
islam
the journey in islam is even much more
beautiful than the journey before
and that's why i'm here
excited to share you with you guys
my story on the dean show i might
convert to islam right now
[Music]
so people got to see a little bit uh
here about
you your beginnings i mean you come from
a colombian background yes yeah and then
you ended up here in florida not too
long ago or some time ago for a while i
was born in colombia but i was raised
here i came out so you came a long time
ago yes so you were born in colombia
and then raised here in florida yes all
right weather's not too different how
from colombia and florida is it harder
over there there same thing depending on
the region in colombia but um bogota
specifically is is nice and cool they
call it uh spanish the nevada like the
the freezer yeah
you share something interesting with me
you said the people of colombia you know
people who believe in god obviously
they're religious
but they say the cr the church is
corrupt what's the statement yeah so so
my specifically my family and a lot of
colombians but specifically my family
um you know the people that believe in
god they're always saying inshallah in
other words allah
they're always saying
they're always having god in mind you
know wherever they go and everything
always mentioning god very god mindful
and driven uh people
but uh with the church you know a lot of
them they go to the church culturally
but they know there is
you know they feel like this is
something something's wrong and they
also like my family specifically always
taught me about the corruption of the
church uh like what the different
historical corruptions that they have
done the things that they did to the
indigenous people of our lands and
and
how that so like that understanding
always
with that always knew that
the the like god the believing god was
separate than believing in the church
you know but there's some christians in
other places specifically here in the
united states where i see it's equal you
know you have to the the connection with
god is with the church
you know but in colombia it's a little
bit different in colombia specifically
my family but in colombia generally yes
it's different where we don't really
connect the belief the belief of god
with the church yeah you know we have it
separately you know we could understand
that the church is corrupt but god still
exists but where you see some christians
here
um some christian friends where they
they find out something about their
church that is corrupt and then they
stop believing in god completely
you know
so you we'll get back to that but i want
to start off with the beginning you
talked you were mentioning that you
started off at a fairly young age
contemplating at what
what what kind of things were you
contemplating at that age at a young age
so about the nine years old um so like i
always say nine to twelve like
i'll go back a little bit further so at
a young age my parents always taught me
to pray always taught me to be a good
person have a good character
um
and then from there when i got to like
the age of 9 10 11 i started asking
questions i want to know more about my
creator who was my creator what are
really my beliefs so i mean we're
we're catholic per se like my culture is
mostly catholic so i was like okay what
are those beliefs what are what what
does catholicism say on paper not what
my parents say or anything but on paper
so i started asking the pastor i started
asking questions
and
first i at first when i wasn't getting
pushed away
um that was that was they would just
push you away don't don't don't question
anything don't you know just believe
and then the ones that did answer my
question sincerely i was like these are
not my beliefs like the trinity never
made sense to me you're telling me that
a god is a human
you know it's like telling me to draw a
square circle logically doesn't make
sense if you understand the concept of
god at that young age i didn't know it
was more like a feeling in the heart a
feeling deep inside like this doesn't
seem right but now i understand that if
you understand
god the creator
then the creator cannot be
a human he cannot be made out of he
cannot be
in in this universe in space-time or
matter
so you had a memorize a statement that
your parents
who
you were taught
to stay away from
smoking drinking
having uh you weren't even a muslim at
that time
you weren't practicing islam submission
to the creator not the creation that's
what islam means obviously for the
audience who just tuning the first time
and hearing these terms that we're using
and you were taught some a lot of these
um
good moral teachings
but and then also there was something
else there that you were taught what was
that prayer or something that you were
taught like to to ask god for what were
those things yeah so i one thing i
always ask god for and to this day is to
god to make me righteous and pious and
to show me show me the truth even if it
goes against me okay so this is
something that anybody now just tune in
they don't have to be muslim or anything
and they you know they can start with
that you know asking god directly not a
human being no one in creation but to be
righteous what was the other one your
parents highest pious and to guide you
to the truth even if it be against
yourself yes yes that's deep yeah do you
think that prayer that's what led you to
submitting your will to the creator that
has the earth islam yes of course
because through my whole journey so at
the age of around 12 i decided okay i do
not align with the beliefs of
catholicism i would still go to church
and stuff because again it was people
they still believed in some type of god
or anything you know there's a lot of
atheists and stuff i never appealed to
that i never became atheist if anything
i became more agnostic where i don't
believe what the catholics are saying
but i still believe in one god you know
and i still saw the example of of jesus
peace be upon him and and the other
prophets as a great example so i would
follow their example and also through
the guidance of my parents and
my family i stayed away from alcohol
from drinking from
from most things alhamdulillah like
uh thanks i thank god for for protecting
me from all that for for many years
and then
from there like asking for that prayer
that was god protecting me and guiding
me through all of that through high
school and
through my college years and through
through my life
and then i went through many religions i
went through
first catholicism then
it was like a seven year process
buddhism sikhism
some hinduism and i went back to
christianity judas judaism back to
christianity to the protestants the
orthodox the catholics learning the
history the beliefs the the the culture
of each religion and then seeing kind of
taking
taking the good and leaving the battle
of each one but each one all of them had
some contradiction
but all of them had some good as well so
i always took the good and those were
like the beliefs of not drinking not
smoking being good to your neighbor this
like those things i would take and keep
but the other things of oh this is god
like god is an animal or he's a plant or
you need you need an intermediate to
pray to your god or or just other things
that contradict it even historically
once i started studying when i got older
uh the historical
like claims in the bible and the
historical claims in like reality like
fact
um
they didn't line up either so i was like
well the creator of the heavens and the
earth space-time matter he wouldn't
contradict only humanity would
contradict themselves why would why
would the creator that is a creative the
cause and effect and everything between
contradict himself
you know so this is the logic that
you're using you're making this prayer
very important
praying to be righteous pious and forgot
to guide you to the truth even to be
against yourself because so many people
they recognize the truth comes to them
they recognize it it makes sense but
then they deceive themselves they cover
it up yeah yeah right and then they go
found their desires a position status
and they forget about the truth which
should supersede all these things yeah
so you were someone who was sincerely
looking for the truth and now were you
getting teased at one point because now
you weren't someone who was drinking you
weren't going to uh doing a lot of the
things having a girlfriend were you even
before islam were you getting kind of
bullied because of these things or
teased because of these things yeah so i
always had like i never felt american
enough for the americans and i never
felt colombian enough for like the
colombians i was
always in this weird middle ground and
again it's not that i i would get teased
maybe when i was really young but i was
always very firm like no this is not
what i do you know and i always thought
about logically like why like oh why
don't you drink oh because it bring it
brings
you see the chaos it brings to society
how it breaks families how
accidents how it makes you blind you
know a lot of people run to this
usually people
cause harm physical harm for them to
themselves because they're trying to
cover up for their mental and spiritual
harm that they have deeper inside so
they rather cover it up with physical
harm cutting themselves drinking doing
drugs
instead of dealing with the real problem
that is the mental or even spiritual
diseases they have inside you know but
if they fix that then everything is
fixed yeah you know so how did that do
how did that go at that time you're uh
obviously
you
in islam you have the clear guidance
that's telling you okay
this is allowed this is not this is
haram this is halal this is permissible
this is not you know out of god's love
this is what he he and his mercy we have
the guidance you know from going from
the smallest things going to the
bathroom to running a country and
running your family everything is there
in islam but it's beautiful that your
your parents still brought you up on
many of these uh
certain
moral principles
and so when islam came was it so much
more so easier to go ahead and accept
because you already rejected like you
said earlier god being three in one and
you know human being and these
man-made ideas about the creator
and then now here comes islam pure
monotheism the moral teachings are there
was it just was it easy or you still had
to take time
to investigate because you wanted to be
a hundred percent sure yeah so
accepting islam
was very simple it's very easy because
it was is what felt natural you know
it's what oh this is what i believe and
i find other people that believe this
of course i was always someone very
careful
of what i believed and i always wanted
to go very detailed
um
in
whatever claim anybody made so i just
wanted to make sure but once i had those
claims and i checked it off i was like
this is very simple each claim was like
very simple very straightforward you
know it's the only religion that
logically explains who your creator is
you know his allah your creator is the
creator of space time and matter
everything you see everything you don't
see
and you will only know of him
what he says about himself nothing more
nothing less you know what with that
concept he's not bound by his creator
creation he's not bound by space-time
matter that means anything that is makes
takes up space
it's made out of matter or changes or
even um
has a time
has a beginning or an end it's not our
creator
so all of these claims of all these
other religions energy a ball of energy
a human being
a a a spaghetti monster in the middle of
space none of that makes sense when you
actually understand you understand your
creator and then islam came with that
islam came with the prophecies that all
came true historically everything is
correct there's no contradictions
and third also it comes with what you're
saying it explains to you how to use the
bathroom to even how to run a country
and the best way everything in between
you know it is the best way of life the
most perfect way of life one is um
followed in a holistic
correct way yeah
what about okay so
there was no entertaining the idea like
many people go to university and they
have this crisis of faith i mean you're
also in the university and you see what
goes on the philosophy person comes on
and he's given his dollar right he's
pushing people towards atheism right
mocking religion and everything yeah so
at any point in time were you
entertaining the idea of atheism
and how did you if you were
if anything came up how did you battle
and get away from that yes so
yeah there was a lot of debates i've had
with like many atheists and i'll study
these beliefs and his philosophies and
again like
when
when you look at the universe and you
see how perfect it is
you know like for us it looks chaotic
you know but when you really study you
go into this cosmology you look you look
into biology you see how perfect
everything is and and how everything is
cause and effect
that's how our universe works our
universe works with cause and effect
that means that with
the universe expanding
and allah teaches us that
he he he began and he like he made it a
process for to begin meaning it's still
expanding there's still it's still going
and that's what we know in science as
well like everything that god proves in
the quran is
is proven to be
correct even 1400 years ago that we
found out maybe like 50 years ago but
otherwise like how do we know there's a
creator just look around you look how
did all of this come to existence
without
a creator you know so perfect so aligned
the the the law of gravity is not
different here than it is over there
it's all one
you know it all comes from one source
that is more powerful that we cannot
comprehend
because he's outside of our
comprehension because we only comprehend
in space-time and matter in our universe
he's outside of all of that he's
separate but he's the creator of
everything he's a he's in control of
everything but he's separate from his
creation the creator of everything but
we could not comprehend them a lot
that's where a lot of atheists go oh
because i cannot materially absorb uh uh
study him
then that's why he doesn't exist you
know i could study everything and i
could study all the universe i could
study everything materially but because
i cannot comprehend or study allah then
he must not exist but all the signs are
there and allah even makes it in the
quran he doesn't say
we could see him nobody he says go look
for my signs
his signs are all over in cosmology in
in mathematics in in the quran itself in
the claims it makes in the history in
the history and in the prophecies and
everything you know it's all there but
you just have to have a good heart to
see it you can't just focus on your
intellect your heart has to guide you
because your heart is what's connected
to your soul to your soul and your soul
is connected to to allah and the greater
being
so before you accepted this to this way
of life to dean
you didn't
come across
you know this path of going towards
atheism this wasn't something that you
entertained i mean i entertained i
listened yeah i would listen to everyone
you know and i listen but i was like
just doesn't make sense doesn't make
sense you know it just doesn't make
sense um
so you cross that out yeah cross that
off right away okay so then and then you
what what common thing
did you see because you mentioned you
went through all the different
uh religions you wanted to make sure
what kind i kind of did the same thing i
went through i opened up a world
religions book and i really i took an
analytical scientific approach and i
myself i wanted to see okay why is this
religion what about this one because it
seems like shaitaan you know
uh
puts out all this confusion
and now it's like you give up and you're
like man all religions they're all the
same i don't want to follow like the
common saying any organized religions
yeah right i'm a good person what does
good mean right going to the nightclub
and just like being good to your
neighbor or still like drinking on the
weekends and then what get in a car
accident kill somebody but you're a good
person so there's no clear guidelines
so what did you see in common
amongst
most of these man-made religions
i mean most religions
everybody
is trying to worship something even if
they know or not yeah you know everybody
is even the atheist
allah tells us that
meaning allah is the only one worthy of
worship
meaning that when i look at that i think
i think about it in the aspect that
our creator is telling us something you
know he says as wisdom in all his
creation and everything he says is
wisdom meaning
humanity will always need to worship
something
you know
and he's the only one worthy of worship
because he is our creator yes but
meaning all these other religions
they're worshiping something that's not
the creator you know so the similarity i
saw was that everybody's trying to
worship something and then yes some came
with you know like yes worshiping i mean
um you know feeding the poor
doing good to others
uh buddhism like the meditation you know
like like of being relaxed and calm
being balanced
um you know some of these things some of
these concepts are in islam but in a
balanced way some of these religions go
to extremes and stuff there's a lot of
similarities there's all the good things
from all the other religions are in
islam
and then
but islam
the main thing is that it has all the
truth
and everything in islam is the truth
and it also is the only one that is
worshiping
the true creator the other ones are
trying to worship the creation in
different ways that's what i saw also
creation worship the same thing you see
when you get to know the pure monotheism
to taheed and now you can go ahead and
use that as a litmus test you can go
ahead as a measuring stick to see like
you know where these man-made religions
are always going to end up going some
way in direction to worship the creation
instead of the crater that's the
beautiful thing about islam and
obviously is worshiping the creator not
the creation
right so let's go back to a little bit
so you're on your journey young age on
these moral teachings so you didn't go
down you know i did wanted to clarify
something was that
so a lot of atheists will question me
would be like what do you mean i'm
atheist i don't worship anything
no but
you do
you either worship money
uh atheism liberalism
or
yourself
you know like usually you worship
something either if that's anime or or
money or yourself or liberalism a
philosophy you're worshiping that it's a
form of worship perhaps a hundred
percent hundred percent
a soccer player
you can see someone if you if you follow
them in their life
and the person who is atheist like you
said because it's in our fitra in our
nape
is positioned to worship something so
the atheists will go around in his life
and he'll have all these events happen
to him and then he'll base it on well
how did this happen to you but not your
friend you got this position this job
it's oh it's my good luck my good
fortune they know having his
closet have his good luck shirt he'll do
the superstitions yeah and then if you
go back and you link it you go even
deeper you'll see that there's a in a
god uh a god yeah i think it was named
for the god of fortune for tuna right so
it's the whole life is about good luck
bad luck that's why they even have the
uh missing when you go up to certain uh
elevators the number 13 right yeah
so it there's always something there you
know what i mean oh you're worshiping
something but the greatest thing at the
end you're worshiping your desires yeah
you mean yeah that's dictating your life
so anyways back to this what about the
the idea because obviously coming from
the christian background the idea
and this is not ever to like disparage
on anybody's religion or anything but
these are just important points that we
try to highlight so other people can see
if they have things related to your
story at the same time because many
people do scratch their head when they
come to these things so the next thing
you you discuss the trinity
and that didn't make sense god being
three in one the idea that god is one
alone where they worship that means what
about the crucifixion what about god
dying for your sins jesus dying for your
sins did that play any role in your life
was that something that uh yeah
so the way like
at one point i like is when i heard when
i started studying more of islam the way
i kind of again
i did not believe in the trinity because
the the first one the father we don't
know maybe like maybe that that could be
the creator you know that could be allah
what they're talking about but the other
two they're part of the creation they
take up space and they're made of the
you know space time or matter
the holy spirit is spirits this is a
spiritual realm you know spiritual
mental realm physical anything that
takes up space time or matter
in those three realms it's not allah so
i eliminated it doesn't make sense this
is part of his creation meaning the way
i thought about it was like the father
and again i could be incorrect about
this but the father is
could be allah
you know our creator
the the son is his creation like um
like the prophets because they were
closer to him
and then the holy spirit is the one who
brings the message the way i see it is
angel jibril you know he's the injured
bro the one who brings the message but
that doesn't mean that they're that
they're all god their individual
creation of allah you know that's the
way i always thought uh what was your
second question uh the crucifixion but
going back to what you're saying don't
lose your place but when you because
that's what we would say the father who
art in heaven you say the lord who art
in heaven father now taking it to a
literal sin but understanding this
metaphorically yes the one who cares for
you who loves you the most the one who
is maintaining you you know all those
attributes of the creator but to take
god as a literal father like what
they've done like a man old man in the
no no in the sky with a beard you know
what i mean to give any kind of like
these uh physical resemblances you know
like uh people do and then they form
these concepts in their head but they
say
god there's nothing comparable to god
almighty anything you can conjure up in
your mind that's not god that's in your
imagination so let's go back what we're
saying the crucifixion jesus is dying
for your sins so
again
it contradicts itself even in the in the
in the bible
god
like
how did i even think about this it was
just
very simple it was
well
i know this is not god
second i know the church is corrupt so i
already came with a mindset of like
whatever they tell me could be wrong you
know and it's again more like following
the heart you know so from the beginning
i already felt like this is not right
why does one man have to die for all our
sins and how does this one man
dying
let others like how many christians will
tell me not all but some
that
if a man rapes if he kills
if he does anything wrong but he still
believes in jesus as a savior then he's
okay then what's the point of this life
what's the point of test it's just
there's so many contradictions and then
god himself says
like we know now in islam that
uh no man will burden the the
the sins of another
you know so
just
from the beginning didn't make sense but
once i started learning islam and i
didn't see any contradictions and then
again there were some things that maybe
i didn't fully know but i knew they were
wrong
like they weren't
they're correct like
there was something wrong about it it
was incorrect
maybe i i kept i stayed away from me i
didn't believe in it but i didn't know
how to speak up against it until i got
to islam and i heard and i was like oh
this makes sense you know
like there was many things that i kind
of held inside of me and everybody told
anyone i didn't believe this
or anything i just kind of had it inside
but then once um
once i got to islam and everything was
just
clear everything like oh jesus and i
heard for your sins because
jesus
um
no one needs to die for for
for the
for like the sake of others you know and
then also even in
the bible there's there's there's a
point where jesus comes back i believe
is isaiah isaiah 42. i could be wrong
isaiah 42 42 but i could be wrong it's
but in the new testament jesus comes
comes back to his disciples and he tells
they're all scared you know
and then he asked them why are you
scared
and he said oh because we heard
that that that you died you know we
heard that you died we heard meaning
this is another proof of the disciples
weren't there because they said they
heard
and then he said no
i'm
i'm i believe he says like i'm skin and
bones
touch me you know like he he
they they feed him and then they're like
oh my master and they hug him
like my teacher my master they hug him
and then that's where jesus goes and
tells him that he's leaving he's leaving
he's leaving
and that he will be back one day and
then he tells them that
there will be someone that comes after
him
that and you'll know him
they'll they'll come after him to guide
and you know him by the
because he'll be the only one to glorify
his name you know like muslims were the
only ones that glorify jesus name not as
god but as a mighty prophet as the
messiah
and he says you know him and his
followers by the fruit of their trees
you know so this is the prediction now
that jesus peace be upon him is talking
about he's foretelling the future of
another prophet coming yes and who was
his prophet
muhammad prophet muhammad yes not as a
god or a son of god but just as a
messenger yes yeah and he came with the
quran huh so what was it that
when finally in the last few minutes
that we have what was it that did it for
you that you finally were like that's it
this is the truth i need to accept it
i'm not going to be making up my own
religion by just you know saying i
believe in god i'm a good person you
know you went through the
the atheism you rejected that
what your parents were upon you know at
that time uh you
went above and beyond came to islam what
was it that finally had you taking
shahadah that you confirmed that the
quran is indeed the verbatim word of god
almighty and this way of life is the way
of life that god wants me to pee upon
allah yes so
what got me to to the end
so from 2015
about i knew allah was
my like my creator you know how to go to
prayer or to go to jamaa and i had a lot
of muslim friends that had amazing
characters they were always there for me
i guess would at the end but i had this
mindset of like oh you were doing all
this even before you took your shahada
before you came to islam you were
already like going to jumaa here and
there yes yes
and then the the reason why i didn't
convert then a reverb then was because i
was in the mindset like oh i want to
help everyone all humanity so i don't
want to be tied down to one religion
because that might limit limit me to
help out everyone else you know and then
but once i started learning more about
islam and then one of the juma someone
the the
imam said specifically he said
and to summarize he pretty much said
don't be a blind follower of the
community but also don't be a monk
you know be in the community be patient
and
if you want if you want to better the
community
to be part of it and the community will
benefit you
like society as a whole
so
with that said i was like i don't know
something that clicked you know
and then there was also other situations
in life where life was it was getting
harder once you get older the the
life gets harder sometimes i don't know
if i would have stayed been the same
if i would have continued not being in
religion not having that that that
community you know that uh support
system that the the islam like islam is
beautiful because of
the oneness of allah
all the things that prophet muhammed
teaches his character his compassion and
his honesty his justice how humble and
firm he was with everyone is even his
enemy
you know
and then also just the ummah comes with
the community that comes with the
support system
like i can't imagine like
being where i am without the community
you know so i feel like that was like a
point where
i realized also i need support and then
i could also help them in many ways
and i would have not gone the right i
might not be in the right path if i
continue just being on my own
you know and it was like it was it was
from the ego also like oh i don't need
to be part of a religion i don't need to
you know but once i was like no like let
me submit let me let me really submit
and yes i'm praying on this but also
part of being muslim is your belief your
intentions and your actions meaning your
actions also with your community yes you
know they have rights upon you and your
family and everyone has rights upon you
so it's fulfilling all those things
that's when i finally like accept it so
let's finish off with the uh amazing
news
that at the end of all this your mother
and father they also came to islam my so
my mother did
allah
and my father is is right there you know
inshallah very soon my my father would
be he's he's
he loves islam and he talks about it to
all his friends what's his name gibberto
i'd like to have you next uh on the
dean's show as we're talking here
inshallah you take shahada and we'll
have uh your father telling his story
that'll be amazing huh so we're talking
about it we've got your father
submission to the creator not the
creation
that specifically yes and
believing in one god
what else
uh submitting to one one god and one god
alone worshiping the cr creator alone
and not his creation
yeah so finish off so you said your
father was right there
oh he's like right there to to like
accept islam like again he's uh he's
always talking about it with his friends
he's always quoting
prophet muhammed he's coming to the
masjid and uh his sister's right there
you know it's
um travels a lot and everything so he's
he's uh i'm excited already i feel he's
right there yeah yeah yeah just in
charlotte you could be watching right
now i get excited with people it's very
simple you already believe in one and
only one god you believe in the prophets
that god almighty sent that jesus was a
messenger abraham noah muhammad just the
last and final messenger then you repeat
after us
allah
there's nothing worthy of worship that's
in your innate nature see
except the one who created you the one
god allah and muhammad is his messenger
and then you would automatically include
jesus abraham noah and with that said
um
how's your relationship with jesus now
what do you view him as like many people
think that now oh they hate jesus or
their you lost what is your relationship
with jesus now no i mean like even
before
islam like i remember i would ask myself
because i always upheld
jesus as
i didn't again i i didn't know who my
god was i knew there was one god
and i did have like a feeling like oh
this this is if
this is a prophet
then
like if there is prophets then this
would be one because of his character
and everything
yeah he said yes so i would always ask
in different situations like what would
jesus do in these moments and a lot of
christians do that still and to this day
i still ask like oh what would jesus or
muhammad sallam or or any of the
prophets do in these moments because
they're the best of example for humanity
and jesus is one of those mighty
prophets
we're out of time thank you so much for
sharing your story with us thank you
very much very exciting story i hope
inshallah this motivates you inspires
you and take this prayer that his
parents taught him you can go ahead and
run with that you're asking god almighty
to make you righteous pious and to guide
you to the truth even if it be against
yourself so if this is the truth it's
the way of life of jesus
the way of life of jesus not the worship
of jesus or anything in creation pray to
the one god pray to your creator ask for
guidance and if you like a free copy of
the quran go ahead you get it for free
at the dean show dot com and if you
still have any questions call us at
1-800-662-4752
and
we'll see you next time here in the d
show subscribe if you haven't already
until then peace be with you assalamu
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