Curious Christians visit our Mosque – Look what they learned

suppose the it's cloudy out there you cannot see the sun right how do you think muslims will find out there is an app for it there is i start in the name of god the most beneficent and merciful and welcome and greet all of you with the islamic greeting of assalam alaikum do you know what it means anyone it means may god's peace be you know it may god's peace be upon all of you and the response to the greeting is that means may god's peace be upon you too that's what we muslims greet each other when we meet each other and those from the christian faith will be surprised to find out that that was also the greeting of jesus who we consider him as a mighty prophet in the gospel of john chapter 20 verse number 19 when he went to the upper chamber the very first thing jesus said to his disciples is peace be upon you so welcome to the mosque my name is sabil ahmad i am one of the volunteers here and i used to teach sunday school here and since my kids are off today they're all here to help you out they're in the back all right and my wife is there her friend is there if you need any help you know in your stay here they would be the one to help you out this mosque is called the muslim community center mcc this is called as the mother mosque of chicago how many of you have been to a mosque before okay just three four of you right what do you think happens in the mosque besides the five prayers what was that it was the cat yeah the cat means we also gave a charity to the people who are poor the needy the homeless so besides the five parades we also have a dynamic range of activities we have the saturday school we have the sunday school we have blood drive and food drives and clothing drives we have evening schools we have women only program we have how to recite quran program we have hispanic muslims who have been new converts to islam special program for them and in the lobby there's a list of maybe about 55 different programs all right so it's a it's a community center not just only for the muslims every mosque is supposed to cater to the bigger population to the greater community so many non-muslims they also come there our friends our neighbors our colleagues they also come there to benefit from the many many educational spiritual services of the mosque so this mosque is one of the 130 mosque in the chicagoland area so can you estimate how many may be in the u.s anyone nobody googles now right come on about three thousand and there are 125 full-time islamic schools in the usa and population of muslims in the usa is approximately close to 7 million to 11 million so what we do what we will do right now is okay so this is the timeline of our stay here first and foremost uh we are going to start off with lunch or brunch right secondly as soon as you are done with it or as you as you take the lunch and sit down we will start the presentation and then what can i ask a question yeah so about the food i didn't know uh the other groups i don't know how we like i ordered for my group so i don't know how much is there for i don't know did you order for yours too awesome so is yours coming toward this is all combined together i guess it's painful okay so what we can figure it out we'll figure it out sure sure you know what uh as we say in islam right food for one sandwich is equal to two people sandwiches right so i mean this is a way that we can show our you know human spirit our brotherliness our sisterliness right whatever is there may god put blessing in it correct and i'm not a miracle worker i cannot multiply the food right all right um so what we will do now is we will go for the food there's a bottle of water up there take the water grab the sandwich and please come back over here if anyone wants uh to have a paper to write your notes your questions any which way um i would just leave it here so feel free to usually it's my habit to write down the important concepts because according to the research if you just listen passively you will only retain approximately 18 if you write it down the retention rate goes to about 38 and if you gen then recite it and share with other people the retention rates goes to like 60 70 80 percent you know it's odd that no one wants to sit in the front why is that it is always like this right even in the classrooms and no one wants to sit in the front room oh you have more food oh okay i was given the signal that if you guys want to take a second some of you feel afraid all right so go ahead and please take the sandwiches quickly let's start because we have to end at 12 50 then we will go to the mosque area to the prayer area at 12 50 sharp inshallah all right okay again i welcome and greet all of you with the islamic reading how did the islamic reading go by the way you guys know it now assalamu alaikum may gods peace be upon each single one of you now it is my tradition that i start off with echoes apart quiz yeah you guys ready for it yeah yeah come on all right here is the very first question now there is a major misconception especially in the washington dc that muslims are new to the country we are foreigners we are immigrants and we don't belong here now when do you think muslims started to come to the usa what century yes sir 18th century means 1700s is that your final answer all right actually that's not the right answer sorry okay how about if i tell you that according to new york times muslim presence in the usa is there since the 1529. yeah about 500 years okay what do you think maybe some of the achievements of muslims in the usa you know living here for 500 years besides inventing the falafel and the hummus what do you think they may have contributed i would not be happy if there is no contribution right go for it anyone would you like to take a shot everything everything really i would be happy they were about many many actually i don't know the number many muslims who took part in the revolutionary war alongside george washington for the freedom of the country and they say and they sacrificed their lives so in 1975 a stamp was taken out to recognize the contributions and the sacrifices even of their lives by the muslims in the revolutionary war in the civil war there were many many muslims approximately 300 who fought alongside abraham lincoln for the for the freedom of the slaves and the unity of the country in fact the first country that recognized the independence of the usa was none other than the muslim country of morocco you guys like ice cream cone you're not getting it today sorry right but the fact about the ice cream cone is in the in 1904 world fair in saint louis there were many vendors one of the vendors was selling ice cream and the ice cream was a hot item and pretty soon he ran out of the ice cream cups next to him was an arab vendor he was selling arab desserts so what he advised to this vendor ice cream vendor is why don't you roll your sweet bread in the form of a cone and put the ice cream scoop on the top and that's when the ice cream cone was invented the next time you eat the ice cream cone thank the muslims [Music] can you name the most mentioned prophet by name in the quran the quran has names of about 25 prophets and messengers who do you think is mentioned the most in the quran by name raise of hand yes sir jesus he's mentioned 25 times but there are many more prophets mentioned more times than jesus yes sir moses all right give me a big hand you got it wonderful was that a guess you googled it okay good i'm just picking money sorry you know can you imagine the greatest prophet of the old testament the greatest prophet of the jewish faith is the most mentioned prophet by name in the quran and the second most mentioned prophet by name in the quran is none other than abraham peace be upon him jesus is mentioned 25 times adam is mentioned 25 times and muhammad peace be upon him he's mentioned only five times by name so many times i shared this with my christian and jewish friends if the quran was coming from the mind of muhammad peace be upon him why didn't he mention himself the most why somebody else a prophet who came like you know 3000 years before his time okay here is one more question who is the only lady mentioned by name in the whole quran all right he got it given yes good job [Applause] was that your answer too all right very good from him yeah like right that's what i thought you know can you imagine not the name of muhammad peace be upon him wife mother daughter believing ladies of the time no none of them are mentioned by name but a lady quote unquote a jewish lady who came 600 years before him and he never met her she is mentioned 32 times in the quran with honor and respect and prestige and 18 times in the new testament by the way all right so in fact there is a passage in the quran chapter number 3 verse number 42 chapter 3 verse number 42 in which god is saying so an angel was sent to mary and this angel is saying to mary oh mary god has chosen you and god has purified you and god has chosen you and honored you above all the ladies so that is the honor the respect that mary has in islam in fact when it comes to jesus there are many many miracles mentioned about jesus in the quran which are also not there in the new testament by the way you know when mary as a virgin when she became pregnant and she delivered the baby she brought the baby to her people and they started to accuse her you know how can you do something like this you know fornication and adultery and all they started to accuse and started to call the names so at that time mary she was silent there was no dna test right no scientific test that she can say you know what this is a miracle but at that time baby jesus who was one day old he started to speak so this is there in the quran chapter 19 verse number 30 and jesus he said you want to know baby what does the baby say right no it must not change my diapers right so baby jesus this is what he said this is the translation that i am a servant of god god has appointed me to be a prophet and has given me a book and has honored me to respect my mothers and to pray and to give charity as long as i live so those were the very first words of jesus mentioned in the quran as a miracle then other miracles of jesus are mentioned in the quran in many many passages scattered all over the quran that he healed the lepers the blind the sick that he gave rise he gave life to the dead so what exactly is islam i will give you four points right and in between the four points if you have questions you can raise your hand you don't have to table the questions until you know end of the presentation so the very first the most important concept in islam is the absolute oneness of god so that we say that god is only one in one not multiple persons not multiple godhead not multiple idols so we say that god is absolutely one and he has many many wonderful attributes he is the creator eternal sustainer powerful merciful forgiving loving guiding creator so there are many more than 100 attributes mentioned about god in the quran so the oneness of god is mentioned many many times in the quran one of the times is in chapter number 112 in which the translation goes like this they say he is god he is allah one and only he is eternal he is needed by all he begets not nor he is begotten and there is none like unto him so this is the absolute oneness of god saying that he does not have a father and he does not have any progeny no sons and daughters and there is no one who is like god in the whole universe so then what god said there you know after he created adam so the story of adam and eve is also mentioned in the quran very similar to the story in the old testament in the in the book of genesis but there is a slight difference between the story of adam and eve in the old testament compared to the story in the quran so god ordered adam and eve that do not eat from this tree from this fruit but then we know that somebody deceived them and they committed the same so according to the bible who committed the very first sin eve right so so the slight difference between adam and eve is that between the quranic and the biblical version is that according to the quran both equally adam and eve they committed the very first sin equally the second subtle difference between our christian friends and jewish friends and islam the muslim says is that after they committed the same according to the quran chapter number two they both asked for forgiveness and god forgave them that means they repented to god oh god please forgive us with all sincerity they repented the quran says that god forgave their sins so in islam we don't believe in the original sin we believe in the original goodness that every child is born with a clean slate with a pure heart innocent with an innate nature to only worship the one creator so then god appointed many many prophets many many messengers all throughout the land so this is point number two right point number one is the absolute oneness of god point number two is the prophethood and the messengership of prophets and messengers so it says in the quran chapter 16 verse number 36 that god has appointed prophets and messengers and their job was to invite people to only worship on god submit to one god so that submission to one god in arabic is islam worshiping him alone following his guidance if a person is doing that we say that that person is a muslim so again tying this concept to all the prophets we say that adam was given the message of submission to one god that means the message of islam we say that abraham was given the message of islam means that he should submit to one god and he should invite his people to submit to one god noha and abraham and moses and solomon and david and ishmael and isaac and jesus and muhammad peace be upon all of them we say they came with that same message so we say that all the prophets were muslims even jesus is mentioned as a muslim in the quran so that's concept number two the concept of prophethood concept number three would be that humanity we need guidance the creation we need guidance so god has given many scriptures in the past so the quran mentions four actually five scriptures a scripture given to abraham given to moses given to david given to jesus and the last scripture given to muhammad peace be upon all of them so it's a fundamental belief of muslims that we have to respect and believe in the original scriptures given to all the prophets and messengers however when it comes to our guidance we say we go to the last scripture that was given through muhammad peace be upon him for all of humanity that is the quran so the quran has many many important themes in there it speaks about the oneness of god quran speaks about the purpose of life is that we should worship god and help out humanity and the creation quran speaks about the solutions for humanity's problems drug problem alcohol gambling breakdown of the family structure racism homicide suicide any problem humanity is going through the quran has solution for it so quran along with the example of muhammad peace be upon him they found the two sources of islam so quran and we say the sunnah sunnah means the example of muhammad peace be upon him how he practiced the quran how he implemented the guidance of the quran upon himself his family and the society the quran and the sunnah sunnah means the example of muhammad peace be upon him right so that is the third important concept in islam which is god's guidance through the scriptures and the last and the most important and all of them are important would be the concept of the hereafter that all the humans all of humanity the whole creation is going to pass away only god knows the time the day but after we pass away it says in the quran many multiple places that humanity would be brought back to life so there would be a day of resurrection on the day of resurrection all of humanity whoever lived they would be standing individually in front of god and god would be asking certain questions two of those important questions would be that what kind of belief that you have and what kind of deeds that you have done means believing in the absolute oneness of god and doing good deeds according to the scriptures those would be the criteria according to the quran for a person to receive god's mercy and be eligible to go to paradise it's not just the deeds by the way but also god's mercy comes into play and obviously islam very similar to christianity also believes in the hellfire you know just like suppose if any child goes to school does not obey the teacher does not complete the assignment doesn't obey the policies there would be consequences so the quran also says that there would be consequences for a person if he or she does not obey god and follows god's commandments there is hell fire so these are the four important basic concepts in islam so what i would do is i would open the floor for any q a or any topic that you want me to touch or go into detail we have approximately 23 minutes for q a yes ma'am um if people are nearly dead okay so the question is if people are good innately good where is the evil came from right we say that there is a guidance of god and then there is a misguidance of satan and is a misguidance of own human shortcoming so god has given us a free choice so he has made us innately good but he also has given us the choices if we make the wrong choices obviously if we may suffer humanity may suffer as given some people are making the right choices and those who are making the wrong choices they can be one of the reasons for evil in the world but then the follow-up question can be that suppose if a person makes the wrong choice what is the way for repentance in islam right so in islam we don't have any mediator that we go through we don't have unlike catholicism we don't go and uh confess for the sins to the imam of the mosque there are four or five basic steps a muslim has to do for the sin to be taken care of number one the person has to acknowledge that they have committed the sin that's really important secondly they have to come sincerely to repent to god number third when they repent to god they should not repent through any mediator not through muhammad peace be upon him not through any saint any idol any jesus peace be upon him we go and repent directly to god number four would be we should be making a commitment not to commit that sin again and number five do some good things extra good things you know just to wash away that sin and if we do that god says in the quran chapter 4 verse number 1 1 6 that god is willing to forgive all the sins all the saints but there is only one sin that god says he's not going to forgive if the person dies with that sin which sin do you think is the unforgivable sin in islam if the person dies with that yes what's that mean yeah i was looking at you not apostasy by the way but apostasy is obviously a sin too but uh you guys know it yes murder is also a big one of the hinest saints the unforgivable sin would be blessed okay so so the muslim brother he's saying associating partners with god means committing shirt so if a person says that you know what there is god but you know this person or this idol or this human is also having the attributes of god so that is associating partners in islam so if a person associate partners and does not repent and comes and worships only one god and dies like that worshiping or associating partners that is the only unforgivable sin in islam all right uh and you had a question someone around this area yes since you said you haven't touched part as well i was like like here and then okay fine so so the question is about the hadith so within the umbrella of islamic knowledge all right this is islam 101 here within the umbrella of islamic knowledge you have the quran which is the word of god the primary source of islam and the second source of islam i mentioned is the sunnah which is the example of muhammad peace be upon him one would be the actual sayings of muhammad peace be upon him what he said what he approved what he disapproved those are collected in different volumes quran is one volume and these are collected in different volumes and these are called as the book of hadith yes ma'am in christianity there's a lot of different traditions within the idea of christianity and lots of different like variations on what the basic doctrine is does islam have that as well lots of different ideas on what the original scriptures mean interpretations okay so the question is in christianity there may be different denominations and sects would there be something similar in islam different interpretations yes and no no because all the muslims around the world we are we hold fast to the basic fundamental beliefs of islam the variations that we see would be the matters but not as fundamental for example all the muslims around the world we have the same concept of god that all the muslims say that god is absolutely one doesn't have sons and daughters and uncles and hands no multiple persons within godhead one in one all the muslims but our christian friends they may differ about the concept of god for example our jehovah's witness friends they may not agree with the concept of trinity but our catholic and protestants they say that concept of god is trinity our unitarians they say that god is not god does not have a son nor is a triune concept so you have three different denominations three different variations when it comes to the quran all the muslims around the world we have only have one quran one version of the quran if you pick up a copy of the quran in india or in iran or in saudi arabia or in the u.s in arabic they would be exactly alike so one version of the quran but our christian brothers and sisters they may have different versions of the bible for example our protestant brothers and sisters they may have a bible that has 66 books our catholic friends they may have a bible that has 73 books about greek orthodox they have a bible in which there are 78 books in there so muslims are united again in the book when it comes to who is muhammad peace be upon him all the muslims are unanimous that he is a man his flesh and blood he is a prophet of god he's not son of god is not divine is not part of any trinity out there when it comes to how muslims pray we face which direction what do we face when we pray right yeah so in mecca is the kaaba which is the holy the most ancient house of worship that abraham built along with his son ishmael so all the muslims around the world we face the same direction so when i was in india i used to face the western direction so from here we face the north eastern direction correct but then how would you know that which direction is suppose if i'm traveling from here to michigan to your school for example if i stop at the resting place how would i know that where is mecca how do i where which place should i face suppose the it's cloudy out there you cannot see the sun right how do you think muslims will find out there is an app for it [Music] there is right so all the muslims are united by this facing the same direction we are all united by the by the concept of the hereafter so yes there are some small differences you know when we pray should we put the hands here or hands over here or put it to the side but those differences are not a fundamental deciding factor for who would be admitted to paradise i hope that answers the question thank you good yes sir jeremy yourself yeah thank you yeah i have a question you talk about the unity um and maybe it's just all the food i'm eating but do you is there a could you speak a little bit about the sunni shia split and maybe how there are some things that both sides may believe but then also what they may disagree about is that okay yes yes that's a good question there's kind of a follow-up to your question that what about the sunnis and the shears where are the commonalities and where can be some differences so first and foremost it's really important that where did this god started when muhammad peace be upon him when he was alive okay when do you think muhammad peace be upon him was born what year approximately 570 he started to receive revelation when he was 40 years of age through angel gabriel obviously coming from god then he passed away in the year 632 so when he was alive he was the head of the state and he was also a prophet but after he passed away the muslims have to elect a new head of the state not a new prophet because the quran says in chapter 33 verse number 40 that muhammad peace be upon him he's the last and the final messenger so after he passed away there were two groups of people one group they want to elect abu bakr as the very first caliph the second group they want to elect ali as the first caliph means the first head of the state it so happened that by the democratic process the major group they won and their person abu bakr he became the very first caliph he was the most eligible and he was eligible to by the way so the split was not because of theological reason initially it was because of political reason number one number two you know in the quran the follower of islam there is only one name to them it is muslim it says in chapter 22 verse number 78 that the follower of islam is called as a muslim so what about some of the differences so the major difference between the sunni part of the muslims compared to the shia would be that we say that the successorship should be to the most eligible person but according to our shia brothers and sisters what they say is that it should be in the lineage of muhammad peace be upon him so that is kind of the major difference but then what about some infighting right the many many not centuries but at least decades of infighting i would say that that is mostly because of the geopolitical nature of the of the area oil greed money uh land power these are some of the factors by the way you know just like our christian friends unfortunately they have fought for many many centuries you know that hundred year war it is not because of christianity or the bible it is just a human shortcoming just taking out a few differences and making a big deal and then fighting the different denominations and different sects so it is a human shortcoming and many foreign powers unfortunately they were fueling the fire right we were supporting what initially iran or iraq and then russia was supporting iran and then they became a proxy fight so these are the factors and islam it says in chapter 3 verse number 104 that all the muslims they should hold fast to the rope of god which is the quran and not make divisions in there so in case if you see some muslims making divisions it is their shortcoming and we should not blame islam for it yes sir i used in the sense that he brought like the sunni shias like i'm like what about i guess when i'm now considered like what about the sufis okay what about the sufis right so now within the umbrella of islam there are many groups they may call different names based upon their understanding of islam so there is one islam that's the most important thing there is no sunni islam shia islam sufi islam bahabi islam there is one islam a slight interpretation would be different so when it comes to our sufi brothers and sisters they emphasize more on the spiritual side of islam they may stay in the mosque they may have their rituals of reciting the names of god connecting with god so they are more into the spiritual aspect of islam but when you look at muhammad peace be upon him he was a dynamic person he had spiritual connection with god but then he also used to implement the uh the the commandments of god in the society so when it comes to the neighbors muhammad peace be upon him he said that you're not a full believer if you eat your full and if your neighbors are hungry so we as muslims you are supposed to be yes connecting with god spiritually being the most certain times but out there in the society and joining good for beating evil fighting racism taking care of minorities building the society better these are all part of being a muslim and not just the spiritual aspect of islam you had a question yeah so in the bible specifically the old testament we have a lot of verses that speak about violence toward people and violence towards cities and such we have a lot of contexts okay so the question is the old testament speaks about fighting violence killing people the quran has passages about fighting but every single fight in the quran has to be about self-defense for example chapter 2 verse number 1 9-0 god says fight in the cause of god for those who are fighting against you means somebody's coming to compromise your life your liberty your freedom your land your family your property god has given a you know god-given right to take up arms and defend yourself so let me complete the verse it says in there fight in the cause of god for those who fight against you but do not go do not go to extreme because god does not love the extremists so as a last resort islam gives the permission to fight but even in that just fight we are not supposed to go overboard and do things that you're not supposed to but then your question can be what are some of the things that we should be limiting ourselves with it says in the quran chapter 5 verse number 32 that taking one innocent life is like taking the life of all of humanity that's how careful muslims are supposed to be in a just war forget about any time but even in a war we are not supposed to touch kill or harm any non-combatants if they're doing that they're going against the passages of the quran so in case if you see some muslim in some country out of their ignorance they are killing non-muslims minorities forcefully converting people you know oppressing the women they are going against the clear-cut teachings of the quran then muhammad peace be upon him and islam teaches that the etiquettes of war no non-combatants so there is no carpet bombing in islam there is no hiroshima nagasaki in islam really important and we cannot destroy the crops the resources the water resources electrical resources any resources even of the enemy population and if the enemy inclined towards peace the quran says in chapter 81 verse number 6 you also inclined towards peace means drop your weapons shake hands sign a peace treaty that's what islam says you know let's not judge christianity by what the crusades may have done or the or the spanish inquisition or the slave trades or the genocide of the native americans they are done by the so-called christians we should not blame the bible or christianity in the same way all of you our non-muslim friends we should not blame islam for what some misguided people may be doing some bad apples of the society if they are using the word jihad or sharia or freedom and allahu akbar and if they are killing innocent people we should blame them we should condemn them they don't belong to us but islam is a faith of peace with wonderful guidance i hope that's really understood by all of us right yes uh what about uh your opinion on for instance the battle of badr or uh the quraish you know how how the prophet i mean i understand how like the muslims you know we i understand your opinion on that what about the prophet himself like how he treated the crash okay fine so the question is what about how the prophet treated the quraysh in one minute we have to go by the way all right historical battle so really quickly muhammad peace be upon him he was preaching islam oneness of god in mecca for 10 years actually 13 years then some people did not liked it some people liked it some people embraced it but there were many enemies who were polytheists so they eventually came after his life and he had to go to madina so the non-muslims in mecca they took away the property of the muslims they tortured the muslims they killed some of the muslims and they came to do assassination on the prophet himself so he moved to he moved to madina even to madina they did not left him alone they have battle after battle the very first battle was bothered so in that defense battle that's when the war took place because they wanted to destroy islam muslim and the true islamic state so what we will do is we have more q a by the way awesome questions especially you and you and all of you but i want this side also to ask questions yeah okay so the ladies our sisters you can join the two or three ladies in the back just just raise your hand too all of you raise your hand the sister join them they will take you to the ladies area the man you can go with me and brother imran and the two volunteers the men we will go to the main hall we will sit on the area for the men with that again thank you very much we'll come back again here right after the prayer before we go inside the main prayer hall one of the etiquettes would be we take off our shoes so they're shoe racks but important make sure where you left your shoes there would be amongst one thousand pairs of shoes all right good luck

Channel: Sabeel Ahmed

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Keywords: dr. sabeel ahmed, gainpeace.com, latinos converting, who are the muslims?, women in islam, ask a muslim, islam vs christianity, sabeel ahmed debate, ruben israel, non muslim listening to quran, revert to islam, converted to islam, sharia law, christian music 2020, quran recitation really beautiful, surah rahman qari abdul basit, converts to islam story, sunni shia debate english, sharia law pakistan, quran in english translation, christianity in china, what is islam religion

Id: geEfypCBKK4

Length: 41min 42sec (2502 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 12 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Engichemistry]

Wow, brother is very knowledgeble and smart. Enjoyed the speech. I liked that he was very understanding, unfortunately some of the speakers can be overpassionate and soubd too pushy. The brother delivered islam perfectly. I liked his style 👍may Allah be pleased with him🙏