Salamkum. Peace be with you.
Now, what did you just say? You said
something in Arabic. What's that all
about? That's uh peace be upon to you
also. Yeah, that's that's what the
greeting of all the prophets of Allah
and the mercy of God. Huh? Mercy of God.
Now, we're at a place where they're
talking about the most misunderstood way
of life in the world, Islam. You're at
this journey of faith. Tell us a little
bit about it. This is the third uh
conference uh the third year that
they're having this conference, Journey
of Faith. And the idea is to get the
knowledge out there to the Muslims and
even non-Muslims. Get the knowledge and
get an understanding of Islam and
benefit. Now, I heard that the
non-Muslims, the not yet Muslims, they
get in free, they get free food, they
get hospitality. Is this true? They get
the best hospitality. Even the speakers
like it's even too much. Like you get
kind of embarrassed. You know what I
mean? Catering to you. You need
anything? You know, the best hospitality
for the I'm I'm talking about more so
for the not yet Muslims. For them.
Muslims. Yeah. invited in to come and
eat with the speakers if they have any
questions, you know, any con concerns or
any anything. Feeding them, you know,
giving them snacks and refreshments,
everything. Now, give us be real with
us. Tell us, did you hear any hate
speech going on around here? No, no hate
speeches. No, just uh presenting Islam
in the clear clear-cut way, the way the
Islam is uh supposed to be presented.
And
inshallah. Now tell us Yaha. Can that be
translated as Jacob in English? No.
John. John, John or Yaha. Now, that was
one of the prophets of God, wasn't it?
One of the prophets of God, the son of
Zachariah or Zachcharias and the cousin
of Jesus, John the Baptist. That was one
of the prophets of God. Now, tell us,
you weren't always a Muslim. A Muslim
like Jesus, Moses, Abraham is one who
consciously submits not to a man, to a
monkey, but to the creator of the
heavens and earth. You weren't always a
Muslim. You were a Christian, raised
Roman Catholic and uh brought up uh as a
Roman Catholic. I started to even go to
different churches and investigating and
uh tried many of the churches and just
couldn't find anything that I was
looking for. Father, Son, Holy Ghost,
Trinity, salvation in the death of
Jesus, God coming down committing
suicide. Is this something that you
believed before? This is not what I
believed before. And that's one of the
reasons why I actually was attracted to
Islam and even when I was I found the
Quran in English translation, I found
Islam. I said this is what I actually am
about like this is what I believe
already. So you didn't believe in God
being a man. Now we love our brothers in
humanity and sharing his caring. So we
just want to clear up the confusion
because many people are confused about
this triune thing. And I've talked to
many of the DDs, people who have gotten
master's degrees in divinity, and they
couldn't figure it out. Can you figure
it out? There's something that, you
know, you were able to put together with
this whole Trinity thing. I couldn't
figure it out. And like I said, I even
used to read the Bible like, you know,
uh extremely concentrated on Jesus'
words. I wasn't getting that Jesus was
God. Jesus had uh was part of the
Godhead. Even stuff like that. Jesus was
a prophet. Jesus was a messenger of God.
you know saying that I and the father
are the father is greater than I things
like that like you know this is what I
was reading this is what I was getting
and when I found Islam
this is what I was all about already now
how did you stumble across Islam with
all the other religions why didn't you
become a Buddhist a Hindu a fire
worshipper idol worshipper how did you
come or did you try these out and what
happened and what led you to accept that
there's only one god there's no god but
god and Muhammad is the messenger
um actually it was uh some people say
probably kind of strange like I didn't
know any Arabs. I didn't know any
Muslims. I didn't know anybody was on
this religion. I didn't even know there
was an Islamic center in my city. I
started reading the Quran one day. I
found it in the library, the public
library. Started reading it and I
actually like said started calling
myself a Muslim for about a year before
I knew anybody before I met anybody and
I said this is what I already believed
like before about Jesus about about life
like about how God is who God is. Um,
now is is your life easier now since you
accepted Islam? Is it harder? Were there
challenges? Life is uh I think life is
in general like life is a test. We know
we know from the Quran and we know from
the the religion that life is a test.
This duny is a test. This life and but
you find something now. For me
personally, it was I found something
now. I found a meaning of life. I found
a purpose in life. Why? Why am I here?
And I found an end like a a an end to
the journey that after we leave this
life, it's not just all about like you
know going to the dust as some people
might say or even reincarnation and all.
No, there is a there is a a final abode
or a final journey that you're that
you're coming to
everything the this cup is in sincere
submission to the one who created it
because it's following the rules of
gravity. By definition, this is how we
can say that Islam has been here since
the very beginning of time. Anywhere the
Muslims went to, people embraced Islam
in masses, countries, nations. And this
is something that is amazing, never
happened on the face of earth. When
people saw a practical way of life of
being truthful, being honest, making
sense of everything that they do, they
worship and they buy and sell it.
I am not afraid to stand alone.
I am not afraid to stand alone. If Allah
is my Messiah, I am not afraid to stand
alone.
I am not afraid to stand alone. If Allah
is my Messiah, I am not afraid to stand
alone.
I am not afraid to stand alone. If a
lies by I am not afraid to stand alone.
[Music]
Now some people don't know about the
wonderful reverence that we have towards
Jesus peace be upon him. What do you
believe about Jesus now as opposed to
then? Mostly uh it's it's I still
believe the same thing that I believed
about Jesus even I was a non-Muslim. But
uh now we have more respect, more
reverence for Jesus as being the
Messiah, not the son of God and you know
that God had a child, God had a son, but
being the Messiah, being born of the
Virgin Mary, right? Knowing that he's
going to come back before the day of
judgment on the last day to this earth,
he's going to come back again. Things
like that. Now, tell us a few more
questions. Tell us, tell us is very
important. Some people think, you know
what, Islam, it's an Arabic word. Islam
is for the Arab. Allah is some moon god.
What do you got to say about this? Islam
means submission to God. Compliance,
obedience to God only and and only to
God. You know, not to a man, not to a
teacher, not to your forefathers, not to
some culture, not to some group and so
on. But your your your obedience, your
compliance, your submission is only to
God, the one who created you. Um that's
what Islam is all about.
And Allah is uh your creator, your lord,
the one who provides for you, the the
sustainer of the universe, the sustainer
of all of us. This is the one that
deserves to be worshiped. He is the only
one that deserves to be worshiped,
revered with that with that ultimate
reverence and uh uh submission to does
the religion, the way of life, the
complete compliance with the laws of the
creator of the heavens and earth, Islam,
to acquire that peace that everyone's
yearning for by submitting to the owner
peace, the one God. Now that you've
implemented Islam, has it improved your
behavior, your character? Are you kinder
to your parents, kinder to your
neighbors? What's been the outcome of
it? There has been a change in in uh
like I wasn't drastically like some way
before you know like a criminal and so
on. Alhamdulillah. All praise to Allah.
But there is a change. Whenever somebody
accepts Islam sincerely for the sake of
God, for the sake of Allah, there is a
change in their life. They become more
respectful of people, respectful of the
creation, of human beings, of of
animals, of everything, more respectful.
And there is that change. And anybody
who accepts Islam, and this is my advice
to everyone, that when they do accept
Islam, they will see a change. You know,
it may it may not happen overnight. It
may not happen even within days or weeks
but gradually there will be a change in
the person's life. For people that feel
that Islam is synonymous with terrorism.
What do you got to say? Islam cannot be
synony synonymous with terrorism. You
have to go back to the religion, the
Quran, the book that was revealed by God
to the prophet Muhammad. And you have to
go back to the Sunnah and the the way of
the prophet Muhammad and see how he
behaved with non-Muslims. see how he
behaved with with the people in general
with everybody and see then after these
actions of certain people even if they
have the name Muslim you know does this
coincide with what's in the Quran does
this coincide with what the prophet
Muhammad how he used to deal with the
people
so is it safe to say that Islam condemns
killing innocent women has nothing to do
with events such as 9/11 77 and all
these other things that the people they
see it on the media and they start to
link it back to Islam.
It's clear in the Quran. It's clear in
the way of the prophet Muhammad
wasallam, like I said, how he dealt with
the people. And it's clear in the in the
Quran of what you're you're allowed to
do, what you're allowed not not allowed
to do, like you know, innocent people
are not to be killed. And it's
specifically the prophet Muhammad
wasallam gave instructions and warned
against that. Now tell us for the not
yet Muslims, those who like what you
have to say, they're also confused about
the trinity, about God becoming a man.
And in no way are we trying to offend,
hurt, or
offend anybody, but we want to clear up
the confusion. So they like what you
have to say. Worship one God. Do the
good that he's told you to do. And you
know what? But they're a little
hesitant. You know what? You're
American. You are Christian. And they
can relate to you. What would you have
to tell them? A good piece of advice?
Uh, I would say look for the truth and
be sincere with it first. Open-minded
and and don't pay attention to the
media. Don't pay attention to everything
that's going on or everything that's
being said. You know, look for yourself.
Go and search search for yourself the
truth. Go to the Quran. Start reading.
Go to like some websites that you know
uh go to the local Islamic center and
ask. It's your right to ask, you know,
like what is this about? What does this
mean? Is this in in in your book or
where does this come from? And seek the
truth and open-mindedly and uh and
sincerely. Thank you very much. We
started with peace. We end with peace.
Peace be with you.
Barak means may the blessing of Allah be
upon you. And you too, brother. Thank
you, brother John. Brother Yaha. Thank
you. Thank you. And you got to hear it
here on the Dean Show. If you want
peace, go to the owner of peace. That's
the creator of the heavens and the
earth, the one God. Submit to him, not
his creation. Do all the good that he's
told you to do. Don't worship a man or m
or money or women or power. Don't
succumb to that. Don't succumb to your
lusts and desires. Submit yourself
wholly to the one who created you and
live a righteous life. We'll be back
with more on the Ding Show.
[Music]
There will always be someone that will
be there to say something negative. But
at the same time, there'll be someone
there to say something positive also.
Just hold on to the rope of Allah.
Everything in this universe rely on
Allah. The Quran says don't kill women,
don't kill children, don't kill the old
people, don't attack the civilians. This
is what the prophet Muhammad told us.
said that the prophet wasallam never
ever start a war against anybody.