he was trying to give
that Morgan Freeman he hears your story
I'm just in time to hear what Muslims
believe is one of the most beautiful
sounds in the world the call to prayer
[Music]
asalam alikum greetings of Peace who
would think someone would go from
watching the prince of Thieves he says
you stole the bread it's a lie with
Morgan Freeman you know Morgan Freeman
who said the most beautiful sound they'd
ever heard with the aan one of the most
haing and beautiful sounds in the
world is the Muslim call to prayer and
playing a Muslim in that actual film and
then my next guest goes to playing
salahu as a non-muslim building mids now
the story gets even more exciting from
there where he ends up where we're here
right now he's here with me right now
where he did something amazing truly
amazing six months ago we're going to
learn all about it on this episode of
the dean show and we're going to give a
special invitation to Morgan Freeman who
said the most beautiful sound that he
ever heard wasan we invite him to the
most beautiful way of life out there
with a special invitation to him during
this program stay tuned don't go
anywhere this is
the is
thean is
thean asalam alaykum allum
how you doing brother good so we're here
in uh Bosnia and the name of this mid is
and I wanted to
sayum and also Alum to the whole world
you just wished greetings of Peace Alum
and you actually said that in BOS I'm
very impressed and they're going to be
also that you're actually learning bosan
yes yeah I try I try so let's take it
back now I started off with this prince
of Thieves where Morgan Freeman he's
actually portraying a Muslim in this
film yes yes and you were talking about
this was was this your very first
exposure to uh no actually actually as a
child my parents bought me an
encyclopedia yeah and in there I also
read about Islam and I don't know how it
actually happened but I just went back
to that page and just read it over and
over again and I saw the Ki and you said
it was one page yeah just maybe two
pages but just one section yeah so
you're reading encyclopedia and then
there is one maybe two pages about Islam
and you kept going back yes yes after
that comes the Morgan Freeman film is
that right yes tell us about that yeah
as a child I watched the Robin Hood the
prince of Thieves and there was a
character named azim and uh yeah he was
just really amazing because as a child
I grew up in the west and everyone was
drinking alcohol but back then already I
really kind of not liked people that
were on alcohol because they were really
loud and
rough and then I saw this movie and um
there was this character named azim he
was from he was like morish and he
refused to drink alcohol and I was like
what wow
why that made him like really amazing to
me and also at a moment they got into a
battle and he was praying and he just
didn't break his uh prayer he just kept
on praying and ignoring the battle and
that yeah that really amazed me and
that's from that film now with Kevin
cner and Morgan Freeman yeah so Morgan
Freeman he's portraying the Muslim in
there yes and he's like doesn't want to
drink alcohol he's praying they're
battling and that's really impressing
you I I noticed one part cuz I was um I
was trying to figure out what's the
angle of this film because I saw that
they were kind of like it was Kevin cner
and they were um someone was like they
were chopping off hands and the guy's
like oh for bread or something cut off
the Infidel hands no I took the bread
that's not true they're not interested
in the truth yeah we know that's not no
one's going to chop your hand cuz you
took some bread right uh so I was
thinking like what's the angle but what
impression did you get after watching
this film well uh because I was like
really young I don't really um how do
you say that I have a good memory of
everything that happen
in the movie but I only kept good parts
so those were the two good parts Morgan
Freeman the aim his name is he's staying
away from from alcohol and then uh the
other part is in the back he's still
praying he's still he kept praying and
and Roman H he was fighting some
soldiers of the sheriff and he just kept
praying and he was like aim where are
you come come come and he just kept
praying and I thought like wow he like
next level that's just how it felt what
religion were you at that time Christian
you were telling me about when you'd go
to church that at one point you lik the
stories of some of the prophets or
whatnot what were you saying but
something disconnected what was that I
just as a as a child I couldn't believe
like that a man could be a a God just
how could like God die but he can't die
because he say he's all powerful but
still he died so probably I lost
interest in the religion because of
because of this that was a disconnection
yeah yeah that makes sense a lot of
people they reject this it goes against
with the Islamic term the fitra the
natural way to uh make God into a man a
human being Jesus we love him as a
messenger as a prophet like Moses
Abraham and all the other prophets
Muhammad peace being the last and final
messenger wasam but this was something
that your F you rejected God being a man
is Jesus because they kind of claim they
have it's called toit to yeah pure
absolute claim it's toed but then they
have the Trinity and then it's like you
have to choose either this or that and
then yeah what about Jesus dying for
your sins it's also uh weird because I'm
only accountable for my own sins mhm why
would someone else uh die for your sins
so you understood this just even before
becoming a Muslim this was just
something that just logically yeah yeah
you put together that didn't make sense
yeah let's go back to morn frian I uh
when you mentioned this film at him it
had thinking about when Morgan Freeman
he was doing a documentary and he's
quoted as saying and if we could find
this clip we'll play it one of the most
haing and beautiful sounds in the
world is the Muslim call to prayer where
he's saying the most
beautiful sound that he heard was the
sound of the aan called The Prayer true
yes I if think even tried it to to do it
Morgan Freeman also tried yeah you saw
that he was trying to give
that
H I want us to also hopefully Morgan
Freeman he hears your story because he
he's at uh at um rip old age of 87 we
could die before we don't know when it's
written for us but if we go by by age I
mean he's he's about to check out so
he's 87 years old so if he listens to
this story we invite Morgan Freeman to
really because not only and these are
the signs like look at this like Morgan
Freeman he goes from uh visiting Muslim
country uh no before that playing aim in
the film a Muslim actually playing a
Muslim yeah and then he goes later to uh
um talking about the most beautiful
sound he ever heard was thean right and
also he obviously knows what Islam
somewhat is now and he's going to hear
more from when we're talking about it
yes here which story so not only can
Morgan Freeman learn but the rest of the
audience of your journey so you take it
from there and you're playing salahudin
a Ubi now the Freer of Jerusalem yes
tell us about that yes there was this
game I used to play as a kid it's called
Age of
Empires and you can actually it's an a
real time strategy game and you can
actually play as uh Saladin ayubi and uh
yeah it's about this conquest and uh um
in this game you can also build Villages
and you could also build musks and I
don't know why but I really like to
build musks out of all things you could
have been building you just find
yourself playing the character of Salah
yubi and you're building muss mos in
this game interesting all right so we
can see the pattern here so we see uh
from the um the first step here
rejecting the concept of God being a man
encyclopedia actually being gone into
some of the basic teachings of Islam
from just that one page and then moving
along to the film now we're here at the
game what happens next you go ahead and
you is this the time when you meet a
chin uh no it's a bit later I graduated
from high school and I had one uh chin
guy in my class and he invited me over
to a barbecue to celebrate that we got
the gr that's where you me the church in
now yes and there um his father he was
the first uh person that gave me dawa
okay so now this friend of yours his
father is educating you he's giving you
da yes it's the first true um uh real
person that really came with the the
message what do you remember from that
conversation but what I do remember is
his sincerity and the way he spoke and
um his his mannerism yeah you were
telling me you were at a ripo you were
at a young age around 17 or something so
you're there physically but mentally or
somewhere else yeah uh next is just a
really strange uh kind of loophole I uh
um I always had to uh cycle quite an uh
distance to school and I always used to
listen to
MP3 uh
music and uh in some I don't know how it
happened but I just found some Nashid
and uh also uh um a few music tracks of
from uh cat Steve
youf Islam now and he's also re some of
his old stuff yes some of his old stuff
A is for
Allah Badu yes also I and I I really
listened it I cannot even I cannot even
recall how many times and I just loved
it so much but I didn't I didn't know um
I I wasn't like planning to become a
musim or something like that but I just
loved it loved it really a lot yeah so
from Yousef Islam Cat Stevens the former
musician and then he started make some
Neds long ago you can see the power of
that ended up affecting you didn't have
all the musical instruments or anything
and it was just uh his voice and he was
saying uh A is for Allah nothing you
find yourself listening to that I loved
it I loved it so so much much I still
listen to it so by the way uh and then
there was another uh very famous Nashid
I don't maybe someone can go ahead and
translate it I think in the comments
we'll we'll go ahead and play this real
quick is this is this is this this was
one of the N also you just randomly
found yourself listening to these yes
yes yes so I don't know if uh for our
audience I don't know if this is um if
this is a translation this is one of the
comments here Allah today I feel
helpless but I know you always by my
side for this I'm grateful to you Allah
I don't know if this is a translation
but you didn't obviously know the
meeting but it's something about Allah
so what are you thinking like okay we
have these random events are you are you
connecting the dots yet no not yet not
yet not at all next uh I actually uh get
some um get to know some um Muslims but
they were not really practicing so uh
but still they taught me some things
like eat with your right hand and uh
what else uh don't don't eat pork uh
it's yeah so you met some Muslims not
really practicing yes not not PR some
were even getting high is that the ones
other ones okay so you got some you know
smoking the the uh marijuana or whatever
the case and but they're telling you to
eat with the right hand yes and what
else just things like to respect your
mother oh good good okay these are good
qualities now obviously were they were
they praying how did you know they were
not really practicing one was besides
the smoking of praying at all and one
was praying occasionally but just really
very rarely so I've seen him praying and
I already like wow that's but it had I
was mesmerized by it still had when he
would pray it had some kind of an effect
on you you yes okay cuz I was really
like what what is this W this amazing
and maybe secretly I thought I also want
to do this yeah yeah but I distance was
still yeah but the distance was still
way too large yeah way too long of a of
a of a jump right now okay this is a
point you see like you got Muslims who
shouldn't be smoking and stuff but still
the teachings of Islam some are there
being respectful to your parents uh
prayer occasionally but this is
important you see a lot of Muslims are
scared to pray some not all obviously
you see a lot of praying here but some
you know maybe they're ashamed Muhammad
went uh from Muhammad to Mo right he's
scared what someone's going to say but
you can see the impact of the prayer
just on you and them occasionally
praying so pray because it connects
other people the people like yourself
you're your fitra is calling your inate
nature like man I want to I want to do
that possibly huh the problem in the
Netherlands is that a lot of people um
they don't dare to pray after they
sinned because they are being called
hypocrite by others that also sin oh but
actually they should just pray and
always never leave the prayer absolutely
so okay so now we got another another
situation here you're meeting some
Muslims kind of giving you some daah eat
with the right hand all right anything
about the pure monotheism toed anything
about the was there anything about the
six articles of Faith the Five Pillars
worshiping the Creator not the creation
the messenger of course they told me
about pilgrimage to Mecca but that's
kind of f yeah okay all right uh that's
another lesson we can take just knowing
how to explain you know the the basic
concepts and principles uh the belief
system of Islam very important very
powerful yeah and so but what they did
know they were sharing with you that's a
good thing yeah so what happens next uh
actually meet a revert sadly he also got
high quite a lot but he actually showed
me documentaries and then I also got to
know Yousef Estus Yousef Asis
hellum I really uh I really admire you
and you one truly one of the uh greatest
reasons I also took my sh alhamdulillah
you went from learning all these things
and then you were telling me you went
through another phase of now exploring
some some spirituality like Buddhism and
Hinduism I I because that's your
background right s Lanka is also
Christian and also a lot of Buddhist
there primarily Buddhist majority so of
course it's like appealing but uh um
eventually even uh um God became like
little periods really shameful period of
atheism and then um you even dabbled in
atheism four years or four years you you
got to so you got to a point you're like
I don't believe in anything yeah yeah
yeah and I can imagine what happened
there that's kind of just like trying to
shut your conscience off so you can just
explore and do whatever you want you
don't feel guilty about it is that what
you think what it is what does
spirituality mean to you at that time
what do that mean cuz to me to me it's a
whole lot of nothing like it's just like
it's just a empty slogan really
spirituality okay empty slogan defin
just trying to uh create an identity or
uh uh to put uh uh some answers to
question marks but the answers didn't
come of course were were you did you
find s asking the question what is the
purpose of life why am I here yes like
for me it was like I always felt there
was something but I just couldn't
explain it yes yeah and then I tried to
find it but so how did you come out of
this atheism trap now that you fell into
um well one like one of my best friends
he actually got into Christianity yeah
and somewhere in the back of my mind I
always knew that Islam is the
Fulfillment of the word of Abraham
alisam
and Christianity they they it's an
attempt to actually put it to practice
but they I'm sorry they failed and my
and I told my friend if you if you're
interested in Christianity then you
should pick I said that well I didn't do
it myself I said they should actually
pick Islam because it's a
fulfillment and then uh from that moment
just it took me maybe a few days I got
back to watching videos of Yousef aers
and uh zakai
and before I knew it I just just like a
like a bullet in a gun boom I just kept
on uh reading and watching things on
YouTube your show of course
alhamdulillah you tell this Christian
friend of
yours Islam is the Fulfillment now it's
the completion like the Old Testament
New Testament Islam the Quran is the
last and final Testament sent to mankind
yeah and where you at now in this stage
after you tell him this how much later
until you end up in Bosnia and you
didn't end up in bosia once twice twice
tell us about the first time and then
the second time okay so the um so um we
both really got into Islam and we
thought let's go to a place where they
have like an Islamic majority and could
I have been turkey or Bosnia but Bosnia
is a bit more nearby so we went to
Bosnia yeah we came here in Saro and we
took an Islamic tour it was called Islam
tour but the tour was just about
architecture and a little bit about the
history how Islam came here so we felt
really
dissatisfied and uh very important Point
here so the tour was called the tour
wasl tour Islam tour so it was Islam
tour but more about architecture yeah
like mosques and wak but no dawa in
there no okay so this is good for
anybody from the tourism industry or
from the they if it's a if it's a tour
called Islam yeah explain Islam yes
exactly yeah you were disappointed in
that huh yeah very disappointed so go
ahead continue on so felt quite
disappointed and um uh my friend he
actually wanted to get a perfume at a
perfume shop and there was a man he was
uh doing calligraphy and he he also put
calligraphy on his bottles yeah and I
thought like H calligraphy he must be
quite deep into Islam else he wouldn't
be doing calligraphy so I asked him do
you know anything about Islam could you
tell me uh something about it and he was
like right
away um I'm working now but come back
after uh I close off and then I'll take
you to the musk and there you will meet
my
friend so we uh got together and we went
to the mosque but before we went
actually to the Mosk saw people praying
outside and I don't know what I was
feeling but I kind of tried not to
cry once we got here in this exact mque
um uh I had this feeling again and once
I actually entered there I just I wasn't
like really crying but tears were just
coming rolling over my eyes and I just
don't know it's really really
unexplainable feeling like and then they
uh um actually let us participate in the
uh prayer and I had a few more tears and
but you you didn't take jihada yet no no
no you're just having this uh feeling
from now just being around the mosque
and watching Muslims pray and they're
explaining Islam to you and you you you
just find yourself just tears coming
down yeah yeah we finished the prayer
and actually uh saw his friend and I
thought I expected just a friend of his
age because the man of the perfum shop
he I think he was around 30 years old
but it was an older man and he had this
sweet
face ever they call something like n in
his face I start crying again just not
like like loudly but just with tears
know rolling over my face again and he
gave me a hug and just emotional now yes
and they actually and then they took us
to this exact spot and they uh spoke
about is Islam and I refused you refused
to take shahada did they invite you to
take shahada to accept yes but you at
that time you said I refused I was
afraid I don't know what happened and it
was actually this spot right here we're
doing the interview right here yes so I
left and this is like the worst probably
the worst period of my life because I
was I went back to the Netherlands and I
felt so bad about that I didn't take it
already after leaving the gate year I
already felt bad like I did something
wrong then so right away you went from
feeling really good that emotional
feeling it was a good feeling was it yes
then the invitation was given to you you
rejected it you started feeling right
away the opposite yeah very interesting
really bad and um that was at August and
then we came back at April during
Ramadan and so this is your second trip
now okay yes and then I kind of already
knew what I had to do to say to take the
shahada so I uh actually the on the day
I came here I didn't take the shadow
because came quite late here and I
thought like it's not a good moment so I
took it wanted to take the day after I
texted this uh brother can I come to the
MOs can you take me because I didn't
know you can just go by yourself and or
do shahada anywhere you know so and he
said like no I have to take my family
for to ifar and we have to drive a very
long uh um way so I cannot take you and
I completely panicked like uh my heart
was beating like crazy and I just just
didn't know what to do and I said please
please can take me please I really have
to do it I really have to you really
have to take me and he was like okay
fine I'll I'll um take you but you have
to be really quick you have to go come
to the trm tracks and just quickly get
into my car so we were there and he was
like really rushing and he just opened
like come on get in and I got in and he
and and I thought okay fine he's going
to take us to the to the mask but he was
picking up his mother-in-law and his son
so they also got into the car and I was
sitting there and I just I was almost
unable to talk even though I just R the
feeling the feelings coming uh back to
me and yeah he just he just drove us
here to the musk and um I got out and I
didn't tell him I want to stick Shadow
by the way and I just came here to the
spot here there and I saw the the older
man again
and he was like hey how are you same
older man the same yes and uh I I just
just couldn't even know the the feelings
coming bit back I just couldn't talk
anymore and I said to him I want to take
my right now and I I took my backpack
and I threw on the the ground and also
the uh uh uh my my jacket my coat and I
was shaking I was like I want to take
Shad right now and he said do you want
to go to some place quiet I said like no
no I don't want to I want to do it right
now and then I took my shahada and I
just cried just cried and I unbeliev I
cannot I cannot describe the feeling
really uh for people who are wondering
they're not yet Muslims non-muslims out
there like what did they talking about
shahada for our friend Morgan Freeman
and others who are out there who will
get this message and particularly
because he he played Morgan Freeman
played aim in the film we're extending
an invitation to Morgan Freeman inviting
him to his Islam to explore it and to
accept what you did that shahada that
giving birth to what's already inside
every human being and now you just got
to uncover that treasure and it can't
give birth to it come out is the shahada
declaring that there's nothing worthy of
worship nothing in the universe nothing
on the earth except the one who created
the universe the one who created the
Earth the one that Jesus worshiped the
one that Moses worshiped the one that
Abraham worshiped the one that the last
and final messenger sent to mankind
called people to worship the one God in
Arabic Allah in Arab Allah and m is a
slave is his slave servant and final
messenger and when you say this shahada
you automatically include Jesus as a
messenger who came before him and Moses
and Noah and Abraham and David and Isaac
and Ismail and all the other preceding
Messengers because they were all in a
line of Messengers who brought the same
message submit your will not to your
desires not to a human being not to a
saint or an idol or a dead person in the
ground or Jesus or muhamad or anybody
but submit your will to the one God so
what would you say to Morgan Freeman now
he's going to hear your story God
willing and others out there who are
kind of on the fence they've also
investigated others who are just maybe
dabbling into this and that what would
you encourage them to do I would
encourage them read the um not um try to
uh understand everything with their
minds but try to to listen to your heart
because if you listen to your heart then
you will definitely want to say shahada
because it's the it's it will just
Empower you and make you um how do you
say that whole again everything will
just feel right like all the puzzle
pieces will fit together and you will
feel complete did you see at the end
everything from the first moment the
encyclopedia reading the one page or two
pages of that one page in encyclopedia
about Islam and then the the film The
Prayer the staying away from alcohol and
that film Robin Hood prince of Thieves
uh Morgan Freeman and then moving on to
Salah a yubi building mids and then
listening to the NIS and then the Chan
brother expl actually explaining Islam
to you and then the Muslims getting high
explain then the another you got all
these different uh signs and some people
educating you some people sharing
different experiences with all this
stuff the movie the film The Game and
everything all of a sudden boom boom it
all comes together all comes together
the the beautiful thing is it's just it
goes beyond your mind that's what I
would like to say like it goes beyond
beyond your mind and it's been recent
now it's been how long 6 months uh April
the 5th actually April 5th yes and how
do you feel how's how's how's the heart
feeling
now at East of course sometimes we we
stay human of course sometimes you can
get a bit agitated or whatever but I
really feel like there's a heavy weight
gone from my shoulders did uh can you
say that was there a void in the heart
was that void filled with Islam yes yes
alhamdulillah thank you thank you for
sharing that with us may Allah preserve
you keep you steadfast and May Morgan
Freeman Kevin cner from that film or
anyone else right now who's listening to
this may they benefit from it and those
Muslims who are getting high hopefully
they're not getting high anymore and
they get some good good deeds yes from
uh sharing the little bit that they know
thank you very much we'll see you next
time here on the dean show subscribe if
you haven't already sh you won't regret
it there you go say your shahada you
won't regret it say it after me and
there you go nothing's worthy of worship
except the one that created you Allah
and Muhammad is his messenger peace be
with
youum I cannot leave without giving you
a gift if you're not yet Muslim and
you're tuning in to see what these
Muslims are talking about and you like a
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until then peace be with you assalam
alaykum and if you like this episode of
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with you assalamu alaykum