رحلتي إلى الإسلام: عبد الرحيم غرين - My Journey to Islam: Abdurraheem Green

[Music] [Music] today we are visiting brother abdurraheem green him Green has a very interesting story with Egypt we're going to go to him and listen to his story and find out how he took his journey to Islam please come with us [Music] you brother Brahim tell me about the beginning I mean what attracted you to Islam how did this journey begin well I mmm it's a bit interesting since there when my father when I was about 10 years old my father was posted to Egypt he was working for Barclays Bank International so I always said that open-door policy had started so my father went to do a combined effort with bond to care so they formed a bank together and started established that Bank in Egypt so I spent my holidays my holidays in Egypt but my school was in a boarding school in UK so I have to go back so you didn't move with him when he went I will I did for my holiday so my home was really in Egypt but my school which was what most of my life was was in was in England so I am and my school was a Roman Catholic boarding school so my mother originally she's from Poland and she was insisting that me and my brother were gonna have a good Roman Catholic upbringing so even before I was born I was signed up to go to this prestigious Roman Catholic boarding school called play school and forth College so I went between ample fourth college and Egypt and so it's not it's - it's comparing two religious traditions and also comparing two cultures I mean you know and and so that was my really my first exposure to Islam and Muslims and my impression was very good from the religious point of view I would I would see our cook we had a cook his name was Ibrahim very humble man in Cairo in Cairo's was dressed in his gonna be a very humble very kind very sweet very soft very gentle I never you know can't imagine him even shouting yeah yeah and and he was so kind to me and my brother really I could tell you amazing stories but but seeing him pray he used to pray always his prayers he would put his prayer mat the kitchen you know when the time when the event came he'll say his prayers sometimes we'd go in looking for you know coca-cola or sea lemon or something you know and uh we Abraham is praying I have to wait too so I'm watching him praying and there he is just standing there on praying and then I will go back to the Roman Catholic monastery and then I will see what they call praying with the incense and the moss and the cross and you know the Holy Communion and the singing and and this is my first real comparison in my mind between how a Muslim is worshiping God and how we will worshiping God in the Christian tradition and I said to myself surely this is the one you know the way the the Muslim man was praying seemed to be so simple just direct communication this person and God no rituals no fanfare no so this impressed me a lot and I would say also the other thing was the other thing was a more general atmosphere actually when I first went to Egypt I was frightened it scared me and the reason I realized it scared me in in retrospect is because people are so alive literally it's so the life the feeling of life is so strong whereas yes you can come to London everything is very busy but many times you go on the tube you will think your people are alive but actually they seem like they're dead almost like they are you know I call it the land of the Living Dead each to himself yeah and even like people don't you know so I think this this this vibrancy this this it scared me in the beginning but then I began to really appreciate now one of the things that amazed me I mean now my father as a businessman working in Egypt he found this frustrating but me I thought this is amazing like nothing seemed to upset anybody everything was inshallah Mahesh you know like taking it easy doesn't matter you know like somehow Allah is really amazing really you like that people don't like it but I can understand if you're trying to do business or you know you from the viewpoint of the Westerner who wants everything controlled i want this at this time i want this to happen then you know but from my point of view as a confused young man very disenfranchised with many of the things about western life seeing this attitude of not being worried not being bothered everything was if allah wills it it was you know this idea of having this complete faith and trust in allah that whatever is gonna happen it's gonna be okay cuz God is gonna look after everything I found this because it doesn't exist you don't find this even in the even in the Roman Catholic monastic school you don't find this but I found this in so these were things that had a very very big impact on me but I think the one thing that had the biggest impact was in my last few months when I was in Egypt I was working hold where you are now I'm 19 so we moved when I was 10 left when I was 19 this was my last year I had a gap here between finishing a-levels going to university and I got a job working on a tugboat in the Red Sea that was servicing oil rigs and it was a company that my father had sell had helped set up anyway to cut the long story short I'm sitting one day having food and not the captain but the one below the captain who the captain was German the vice captain I know that you don't call him vice captain but the the second inconsistence there's a special name of a special nautical term I don't know with the second in command of the ship he was a year ship and very well-spoken he sat down with me and started asking me about what's my religion so I'm telling him I'm a Christian and he said what do you believe and so anyway we had a long conversation it's going on 45 minutes and I'm telling him about Jesus and the Trinity and he's asking me all these very capable I only know it afterwards that what he was doing he was asking me all these very clever questions so when I was trying to explain to him so he says so how many gods do you believe in do you believe in one God or three gods know there's one God the Father is God the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God but it's not three it's three and one you know I said he said well what does that mean so when we had this discussion going on and on in the end he says to me so you believe that Jesus was God I said yes and he said and you believe that Jesus died on the cross I said yes so he said so you believe God died when you said that chuckling exactly the right word shocking I was shocked I did I maybe I didn't show it but inside myself I was like no I don't believe that I don't believe that you can stick God and across and kill God I realized that it was logically ridiculous and I think that was probably the day that I stopped really being in anyway sense or form a Christian I knew and I realized that the belief that a man is God any religion that told me that some human being is God or part of God or one with God was nonsense was not true and I think that was in a sense prepared me for the most important thing was when I read a translation of the Quran did you have that conversation in English oh yeah my Arabic was still so he was he was quite educated yeah oh yes very very much to conduct such oh definitely illogical no as definitely he was I mean very psychologically clever he didn't attack me he didn't attack my religion I don't even remember him discussing much about Islam and this is actually you know from from a point of view of understanding how to give dower you can't really convince some especially a Western person who has a feeling of great superiority unless you make him realize or her realize that there's something fundamentally wrong with what they believe they will never what what you say about what you believe will just go it will bounce off them because they say who you you're just a savage you're just you know this you're just a backward person right I'm sorry just says many people more than you imagine things like that but if you can make them think wow there's something wrong with my belief system then you've opened the door a little bit you know to put what you have to say he was very clever so that that triggered the conversion it triggered a whole process of thinking and searching and I mean I have over how long to be honest since I was 14 years old I was searching I was not happy not happy with Christianity not happy with Western life not happy with the narrative that my life was supposed to get a good degree get a good job to earn money so my children could you know go back to the same school I thought this must be more to life than this this can't be so despite having a very well-off background I wasn't happy and this was really what drove me the existential questions you know that that you know they call it existential anxiety you know what is life for so even when I was a teenager young teenager I was still thinking about these things but you know it's that type of conversation and that experience I had those experiences I had in Egypt I was only 10 so that had a very big impact on making me question even more deeply and looking so I looked through different religions Buddhism I practiced Buddhism for a bit I did a lot of yoga and meditation and different looked into different spirituality and spiritual traditions and I funnily enough I never thought of looking at the same I don't know why and and I I think one of the reasons was because at the time the Iranian Revolution had happened and my image of it now this is the crazy thing despite the fact that the people I knew who are Muslim were the nicest people I ever met in my life I loved Egypt I loved Egypt I loved Egyptians I loved the country I used to say if I had to there was a war between England and Egypt I'll go and fight honestly I loved Egypt so much I loved the people so much but despite that my image of Islam was Ayatollah Khomeini the Iranian Revolution yeah from television this is the power of the media on people's minds how it can control and manipulate them you know even when they the reality of the TV is almost more than the reality of an actual experience living it's it's someone needs to do some study on this so now we're what in the in the 80s now yeah in that conversation happened yes yeah and how what what was the process afterwards well the process was more thinking more looking and I reached the conclusion I actually reached the stage where I because I again I was I don't know why I never looked at Islam but I had I'd invented my own religion which was a mixture of sort of Christianity and Buddhism and I don't know but maybe some stuff was a kind everything you know put into into this religion and that was Terry was the worst of all it was terrible and then I thought that's it I gave up I said forget religion I just need money I need to make more money and the crazy thing was is that what made me pick up a Quran was nothing to do with religion it was to do with money I wanted to think how can I make the most money in the easiest way so I started thinking being a historian I started thinking of history I thought of the British and the Industrial Revolution I said that's too much hard work the Americans you know too much the Japanese all they do is what and I said oh those Saudi Arabians they've been sitting on their camels for thousands of years you know going Allahu Akbar they did know what did absolutely nothing and they've got all this money said that sounds like you know a good this sounds good and you thought it was because of their religion I just thought okay so what's what's their religion okay I didn't think it's because of the religion but I thought okay I'm gonna study this who had these people let me study so the first place I thought to look is their religion right so I thought ok was their religion all Islam oh and I know the Quran okay so then I went down to WH Smiths I took a translation Penguin Classics translation of the Quran and I started to read this translation and that was it for me I after one week of reading it I knew this book is from God I knew it I actually remember the moment I was actually remember I was going from Clapham Junction over the river to Victoria train station I remember the moment looking out on the River Thames looking back and saying if I've ever read a book that's from God it's this one yeah and that was it that was the that was the real change I then I knew yeah I had to found the truth that I had discovered what I've been looking for and and this was it well luckily you thought of the Quran because if you kept it to the Saudis or any others you would probably have been deterred from from looking into Islam like Muhammad Assad said I'll handle life and Islam before but I wouldn't say that honestly my experience I didn't know any Saudis anyway but you know my experience of the Egyptian people was a very very good positive experience like overwhelmingly good friendly laughs people laughing joyful people so my experience of them was very good to handle now you've decided to enter into Islam yeah what was your family's reaction to be honest it was very tough so it's very easy to enter into Islam but to change your life and Islam is a whole different way of life because the whole focus of your life is your connection with Allah how can it not if you're praying five times every day it means the whole center of your life is going to be this connection with Allah it forces you to break everything and to turn to him and have that connection with allah subhanaw taala so I found this to be honest very difficult it's a very big shift from doing a bit of yoga and a bit of meditation and you know when you feel like it to actually a disciplined spiritual practice and that's what really I found really hard and giving things up and stopping my you know my crazy world my jaliyah you know my wild life you know but Hum Dil I got there in the end there was tough I went through some big tests but I'll handle I got there in the end because at the end of the day my heart was just not happy I was so miserable I that was it that was the real thing I was miserable because I knew I'd found the truth but I wasn't following the truth that I had discovered and that's the worst place to ever be that's the worst place to be now as you said because Islam is a way of life and it shows on a person it affects his relations with everybody that surround him well with my parents when I know so this is why I was getting to the point that there's a different now they knew I was Muslim in the sense that I told them I'd become Muslim but they didn't take it seriously because I I said I'm a Muslim drinking alcohol and eating pork and like nothing changed about me it was like a philosophy you know but when I started to pray and when I started to change my diet and when I stopped drinking alcohol and I stopped doing you know things that changed everything when I finished with my girlfriend and so then it's like okay well you're crazy now and it's strange because my parents had Muslim friends from from Egypt they had people until that time they had people yeah but it's okay if it's the other yeah yeah so the scene to be fair my parents are quite open-minded well you know my father passed away hamdullah ten days before he died he took his Shahada so humbly yes the laughter years and years of really great al hamdulillah and the last video you can see people can see on youtube if they search they will find it you know about all about how my dad took his Shahada and so but my mom still she's you know Catholic and still very you know she's slowly made who knows all Allah guides he wants to died but at that time it was tough they were not accepting it you know they they accepted it because they're liberal the Western liberal you know it's like what you want to do with your life is your business but they were not happy what about the rest of your life I mean you probably had colleagues friends acquaintances I really found out who my friends were that I honestly I found that you know people I thought well my they didn't want to know me but there were other people who did not change one single bit in their attitude towards me so I have to say my brother al hamdulillah you know we still have really you know he never really changed maybe a little bit but nothing you know nothing really bad I would say and a few of my friends and Allah didn't change at all but most of the people apart from my family my family I would say generally a very good handle I didn't have a problem with my half-sisters and my niece's my nephews my cousins no one really had a big issue but some of my friends my I mean in the end of the day look they were they were my friends because what we used to drink alcohol together and we used to do hard on things which I wasn't there when when I wasn't drinking anymore and going to parties anymore what's the common interest you know you thought you were friends for something else but you realize then no it was just this these silly things that's not friendship really you know so I didn't lose anything when I thought that now when you started practicing Islam you were here in England yes yes was it helpful on the part of the Muslim community or you didn't have any connections because I I've heard some people say that initially they feel lonely the field yeah isolated I went straight to the London Central Mosque I that's the only place I knew there was a lot I didn't know regions and regions but I didn't know any other place I didn't know that even if there was another mosque in London I knew the London central Moscow driven past it so many times I knew ok I know there's a mosque there I went there hamdulillah straight who I found some good people I made friends with them they were very good to me and I had from the beginning alhamdulillah I had some very good mostly Moroccan friends Muraki and Algerian so but I had friends from really from everywhere hamdulillah and most of the people that I met there and the friends I made were you know really really good and looked after me and were very kind you know so I was very lucky that way I I won't say I haven't had bad experiences you know I've gone into masajid I've gone into in for example years ago I went into a mosque and you know this kid says what are you doing here you know is that I'm a Muslim he said well you can't be a Muslim you are a guru which means like and you know it means you're a white man you know you can't be a Muslim you're a white man so I I've experienced you know stuff like that but actually to be honest in the London so in the region's part mosque alhamdulillah my experience was was actually really good and you know from that perspective as being in you and then there was Yusuf Islam he had his circle there and a lot of you know there weren't that many converts but whoever was there they would go to this circle so straight away you were making you know whatever few converts that were there you were meeting them so handle I went to the right place really I think you know so I was very lucky I'm blessed that way now since then and until today do you see more people showing interest in Islam converting to Islam or is it difficult to tell no I think definitely I definitely there are and and that's just simply because there are more converts to Islam and I think that almost always a convert will take the issue of dower very seriously because they feel you know they feel that they feel what it was like not to have that guidance and unlike people like us who are born as Muslims we take it for granted we take it for granted you see so but when you've been in the darkness when you've really tasted that that lone in that emptiness you know of not knowing Allah and then hamdulillah you have that that life in your life in your life that life in your life that light in your life then you know you have to share it with others and especially because you have family that you care about you have friends you want them to know so I think because of this is very normal that as you get more people who are convert into it and they will talk to the people they know and and then yet so definitely I think Islam hamdulillah is is definitely growing in this country and actually you know some you may not notice there are people who are Muslim you'll never know they're Muslim if you saw them on the street you will not know they're Muslim but they handle if they are Muslim and they go to the mosque and they pray and they do everything but maybe they just don't look like how you think a Muslim is supposed to look like so yeah happen well this issue of a Muslim is supposed to look like something that's really a cultural thing it is it's not I used to walk around for years in a fob and a turban and I even had a stick you know in sandals and like Moses really you know I you know so yeah yeah I I look at it as a staged ham delay to be honest it helped me in a way in a way it helped me because it it sort of forced me to separate myself a bit and maybe I needed that in the beginning if I was to like I said you can't walk into a disco with a well you probably can but you can't look into a disco with a faux band you know a turban and you know you're not going to do it you know it means it creates that little bit of a barrier between you so yeah for four years I was there is this urge to have one's unique identity yes in the beginning yeah it's like you are trying to forge a different identity and it's a struggle to find it is a and I suppose in many ways I'm still having that struggle but it's it's a struggle lots of people have I mean across the board people have struggled with their different identities whether it's cultural identities religious identity sexual identities you know people are all struggling with these things it's one of the I think it's one of the big challenges of modern life and modern society is that we don't we don't have one clear-cut identity anymore so many people are you know struggling with many things and that's the the problem arises when we are told you have to choose and you cannot really make a choice because it's rather complex I like this the documentary makers panorama they were interviewing me once they said you know are you British or are you Muslim I said you know the Prophet Muhammad is like asking the prophets of awesome are you Arab or are you Muslim are you Mecca nor are you Muslim I mean it doesn't mean anything it's like I'm British and I'm Muslim and you can be British you go why exactly exactly so I'm British and I'm Muslim I don't look at it is look at that as a conflict the two things can come together why why can't they come together although we have to understand that there is a drive amongst certain right wing extreme right wing white supremacist Christian supremacist groups to link national identity with religious belief so this is happening in Europe strongly now you know in there some places in Europe that in order to be of this country you must be a Christian if you can't if you're not Christian it's like you're a traitor you've you're not only left the religion you've left your national identity as well so somes there there is a strong movement to link those two things we have to do something we have to be careful of I think well brother al Rahim is really has been a great pleasure it's been a pleasure doctor thank you very much and to me masha'Allah big pleasure thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Al Hiwar TV قناة الحوار

Views: 371,573

Rating: 4.9190407 out of 5

Keywords: قناة, الحوار, رحلتي إلى الإسلام, اعتناق الإسلام, التحول إلى الإسلام, دين الإسلام, الشريعة الإسلامية, من الضلال إلى النور, نور الهدى, دين الرحمة, رسول المحبة, رسالة الإسلام, القرآن الكريم, قصص, قصة إسلام, عزام التميمي, رحلة, مسيرة, محمد, الله, Alhiwar TV, Al Hiwar TV, My Journey to Islam, Azzam Tamimi, Converting to Islam, Muslim Convert, Convert, Story, Prophet Muhammad, Allah, God, Islam, Religion, Church, Mosque, Trinity, Islamic, Sharia, Abdurraheem Green, عبد الرحيم غرين, iERA

Id: ac0VOsw1vbY

Length: 27min 55sec (1675 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020