Shaun King on How Gaza Led Him to Convert to Islam | The Muslimi Experience with Boonaa Mohammed

and it was confusing for me to see someone suffering to see people suffering so much but still maintain this faith and I met I traveled to Dallas to do an event with shik Omar in late November and uh we went out and we had lunch but we sat in his car for like 3 hours and talked and I told him I said man I don't know if what I'm feeling is that I want to be like Palestinians or that I want to be a [Music] Muslim this episode of the Muslim experience is sponsored by nna relief Canada action for Humanity Amity Global foundation and Humanity this is Brother Bon Muhammad and we are broadcasting live from the Eid Bazar [Music] that is a real audience we are not adding that in post alhamdulillah there are really people here right now we're we're super honored to be here first of all in the Blessed month of Ramadan and doing something which inshallah is going to make an impact today uh we have a very special guest I'm sure most of you have been following along with this Brother's work mashah tabak I was such a big fan of the amazing activism of the voice and the amplification of the you know different causes that he was doing masallah um you know and then when I heard he became Muslim I was you know I'll tell you the truth I saw the video or the the clip from Valley Ranch I saw the whole thing happening and somebody sent me this picture and I said did he take a shahada yet without even knowing what was happening I said there's no way this brother is doing so much and Allah is not opening his heart so masallah I'm extremely excited to welcome our new brother to Islam Shan King everyone give me give Round of Applause wow wow wow absolutely an honor how are you doing brother I'm good it's my honor to be here and good to see all of you and uh I I love being here in Canada and so uh glad to be here and glad to be on your podcast alhamdulillah you know I don't know if you've traveled Canada but the only city in Canada that matters is Toronto so it doesn't matter I don't know if you've been to Alberta or we don't even consider those guys Canada we don't know what they're doing but alhamdulillah you're here with us today well I do know we just we were in Edmonton just this morning yes and uh any edmontonians here EDM okay my bad I was just playing around by my bad no listen uh Muslims in Edmonton have everything to do with why I'm here I I traveled and spoke in Edmonton just a few months ago and the brothers there in Edmonton had such an impact on my heart uh that it it it I would want to say it softened my heart my heart was already soft but wow they they really encouraged me to take these steps and so part of the reason we even went to Edmonton yesterday was really just for me to to tell them thank you and so uh W look at that and I just started off talking smack about Edmonton for no reason shots fired for no reason that's why I had to I had to defend their H I had to defend Edmonton because they've been so good to me but listen we've been all over Canada for the past few months and I just did not understand understand how many just Rich beautiful Muslim communities exist all over Canada so it's been beautiful alhamdulillah I was just playing around by way you know yeah yeah I gotta say that cuz the next time I go to Alberta I got to make sure I'm safe you know what I mean you got some crazy people out there too no I just kidding they don't have any crazy people anyways um you know it's beautiful actually I was I was listening to your your talk that you gave in in Edmonton yeah so I work closely with um an author Dr Mustafa kab who is the author of the clear you know he left a comment on my Facebook page yes and he has he knew how important he was to us because his the the clear Quran that he wrote and edited it has meant the world to my wife and I so I was I was so excited to see him and I didn't even I I knew very little about him and so when I saw his face I I was so encouraged you know he actually alhamdulillah he was an Imam in Toronto for for many years I didn't know that yeah he was an Imam at a a Masid here in Miss Saga Anatolia right the Turkish Masjid masallah so I worked with him actually on a project recently which is a dramatized audio book of the clear Quran so if anyone's had a chance to check that out Shameless plug go into the app stores right now uh Google and Android and check that out but what can you talk to us a little bit because I mean I it did it caught people off guard that you became Muslim but it didn't really catch anyone off guard cuz we were like it's just a matter of time you know when you're around Muslims and you're intermingling and you see the and you see like the mannerisms it's a thing that's hard to not love right so but can you talk a little bit about that Journey maybe with even the clear Quran like what was it like opening up as a Christian at that time right sure well so so let me let me even go back a little bit and just tell you some of my journey uh I almost always have to start with the autobiography of Malcolm X 100% And in the United States but around the world for Generations it was brother Malcolm that introduced Islam to so many many people particularly African-Americans and so uh I'm 44 I was just 15 when I first read the autobiography of malol X and my one of my good friends Calvin uh and I we read that book together at the time and we loved brother Malcolm so much that we were thinking like let's become Muslims what we really wanted to be was we wanted to be like brother Malcolm and so this is in 1997 we started getting permission from our school to leave school to go to J prayer on Fridays but we were so immature that we really just wanted to get out of school on Friday brother we've been using that excuse our whole lives brother I missed many a class for Jas in the past my father's here I shouldn't have said that stuff so we found out this is in this is in Kentucky in 1997 and we went to a mashid called mashid B in Lexington Kentucky and it so the seeds of where I am now they were planted a long time ago and and you know I told you just a few minutes ago people often say like well Sean how did you come to this decision for me more than anything else it was just the consistent presence of Muslim friends in my life that really caused me to be inquisitive about about Islam it caused me to it caused me to just say how are they like that and my two of my best friends not two of my best Muslim friends two of my best friends in the world are Sheik Omar sulaman who helped lead me uh with the shahada and uh and sister Linda sarur who was an activist in the United States and so both of them for the past 10 years they have been two of the most consistent reliable human beings in my universe and every moment I've had with him over the past 10 years has mattered to me and so I decided even a few months before I took shahada that this is what I wanted to do and so I started speaking to shik Omar and others uh just to see uh what this would look like for me and when I traveled to Edmonton uh some brothers in Edmonton gave me copies of the clear Quran wow and and and let me tell you what happened a few months before that I told my wife this is in early November I told my wife that I wanted to become a Muslim and my and I'm not shaming my wife at all she would say this publicly I I have nothing but wonderful things to tell you about her now when I told my wife that I wanted to become a Muslim my wife who had been a devout Christian her whole life uh she told me Sean I will never become a Muslim and it it hurt HT me a bit because not not her words but it made me think if I become a Muslim it might drive a wedge in my marriage I'm 44 I've been with this woman since I was 15 years old so I'm not I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize my marriage a few weeks later when I traveled to Edmonton I shared with some men including a local Imam there in Edmonton but I didn't know how to approach this with my wife and the brother told me something that was so profound he said Sean do not try to convince your wife to do this he said it's more likely that you will mess it up than anything else he said but I do want you to trust that Allah will guide her heart when I got home from Edmonton this is in early January just not that long ago I laid both of those copies of the Quran on my dresser not because I was like low key wanting my wife to find them I just didn't want them to get bent up in my suitcase and I went to I was so exhausted from traveling that I went to bed like at 8:00 p.m. when I woke up almost 12 hours later my wife had grabbed one of those copies she's a she's a professor a doctor yes she had already through the night she had already read almost half of the Quran Subhan Allah and when I woke up my wife said to me something that was so shocking she said Sean I think we should become Muslims it was round of applause go ahead it would be as shocking as you telling me in a few hours Sean I think I'm going to become a Christian when I heard my wife say it it sounds funny but I was I my first thought was who is this woman and where is my wife who are you who is this impostor in my bedroom who is this person in my bed that looks like my wife and sounds like my wife but now says she wants to become a Muslim and there's a powerful lesson there like most Americans most of what my wife knew about Islam she learned from places that you don't want to learn about Islam she if if what you know about the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him you learned from the news if if you learned it from movies if you learned it from social media it will be misinformation and my wife who's a an intellectual a voracious reader the first thing she said to me was Sean the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him he is not who I thought he was wow and she was just moved by his life and his example and she was also she thought that to become Muslim it meant you no longer had any reverence for Jesus and I think most Christians think that oh yes and and it was actually quite the opposite and when she saw that to be a Muslim still meant to have nothing but reverence and love for for the prophet Jesus uh it just it changed her and for the next 6 weeks she and I were on a really beautiful private Journey that that we didn't talk about publicly of just saying what would it look like for us to make make this big move in our lives and so 3 weeks ago today the Sunday before Ramadan we took our shahada and it's just it's been beautiful man yeah a round of applause man that actually is so beautiful Subhan Allah I can tell you that you had thousands if not millions of people making Dua for you and your wife yeah w i was one of them subh Allah we were making Dua that Allah would guide you because as Muslims the best thing we can ask for someone is hiah that Allah guides them and the fact that you know you were so Fearless in your activism and you know what the stance you took online which we'll get to and I you mentioned two people that I think you said you're two friends right two of my best friends yeah like you mis mentioned them casually but these are Heavy Hitters these are people that are you know we have a lot of respect for theur who you know we know is you know documented amazing activist done amazing work but shik Oman you and I have a connection because is like a big brother to me sure you know I've known him for over a decade he's he's a person that I've seen grow and I've I I Look to for leadership and example in our community I think he's one of the few people that like we really do take his leadership very seriously listen listen the the beautiful thing about shik Omar was that for the past 10 years he has been supportive of every protest against police brutality every issue of civil rights human rights sh Omar has been arrested you know protesting police brutality fighting against Mass incarc eration and so I grew to see him as as my brother and he never asked anything of me or of any of us and sister Linda was the same way both sister Linda and shik Omar fought for the civil rights of Black Folk as if it was the most important thing to them and so any of us around them first we grew to love them but then it causes you to say why are they this way what what makes them fight for us fight for justice in this way and if you ask either one of them they will tell you that it is Islam in their life you know 100% And you know and that's a beautiful point that you know Islam is the anchor in a lot of their activism um and that's a beautiful thing of course but for for for you like what was it about you know as shik Omar obviously we know you know the Palestinian people themselves you know that that what was it about seeing that resolve seeing the fact that you know homes are being destroyed buildings are collapsing and they are walking out saying alhamdulillah they're asking a lot you know they thanking Allah they're like what was it about that experience seeing that side of the Palestinian resistance that also kind of had that impact on your heart cuz it must have I mean for a lot of people around the world they see that and they're just like why are they like this how can they become people like that yeah I think I think there are millions and millions of people around the world right now people people who will hear this or see this people who may even be here or or our friends who are considering doing what I just did but for whatever reason they've convinced themselves it's not the move for them 100% And for the past six months of this horrific genocide I have been able to study up close not just through videos I I have hundreds and hundreds of friends in Gaza in the west bank and to see them experiencing what they're experiencing you can't separate their survival from their faith and I started seeing on October 8th October 9th October 10th men and women in Gaza speak of how essential their faith was to them in the worst circumstances you could ever imagine I started seeing men and women fathers mothers grandparents husbands wives children lose everything I saw uh a video that haunted me a a woman this was in just late October this had only been going on for a couple of weeks she had a garbage bag that was it was like a bloody garbage bag and she said this was all that was left of her grandchildren and in that moment she was she was staring right at the camera and continued to speak about her faith and how if if anyone who did this to her family thought it was going to cause her to lose faith that they did not understand her faith and I remember I don't I I don't know her name and I've never seen her sense I pray to Allah that she is still alive am mean I would love to tell her the impact that she had on me in that moment wow and I but I saw that story over and over and over again Palestinians in the single most dangerous place on the planet never curse Allah they may say why have leaders forsaken us they may say you why are more people not helping us but I never heard a single Palestinian say why has Allah abandoned us instead you will hear them say in spite of what it looks like we actually believe that this is the will of for us and it was confusing for me to see someone suffering to see people suffering so much but still maintain this faith and I met I traveled to Dallas to do an event with shik Omar in late November and uh we went out and we had lunch but we sat in his car for like 3 hours and talked and I told him I said man I don't know if what I'm feeling is that I want to be like Palestinians or that I want to be a Muslim and he said Sean he said what you don't understand is that what you're seeing that you love in Palestinians is Islam he said Sean what you see there is their faith and he said the resilience you see it may be particularly unique to Palestinians but he said you can't separate it from their faith and and that was a pivotal conversation for me where I said you know out loud to him and to others this is what I this is what I want and in December and January and February I was traveling in the UK and in Canada speaking and all of the men that were a part of our team were young Muslim men and I started to feel so they would pray five times a day and as they would pray I would just watch we would they would go to Juma prayer and they would leave me in the car and I started thinking like I'm not supposed to be in the car I'm supposed to be with them Y and it eventually got to the point where I told them after the LA I think we were we may have been in Montreal and I told them like I I won't I won't be in the car for any more times that you pray I have to go with you and so then I felt that it was urgent for me to make this change in my life and so it's it's been beautiful it's it's only been three weeks but it it feels like so much longer well you know you you have now just explored this whole world that you didn't know about and you have now one point whatever billion new brothers and sisters around the world so you know we're we're all you know very very fascinated and in love with your journey and story you know I I want to talk about social media cuz I know you know you you've obviously had quite a large impact and for you to be the introduction to the Palestinian cause for many people online right whether we like it or not many people were not talking about this issue you were one of the few brave people that really sacrificed your own platform to do so is there any like oh you know I wish I could have you know does it ever do you ever Miss IG that's my question do you ever miss having access I don't know I'm sure you probably have other accounts and you know your team might be having accounts but like do you miss having access having that voice having that platform well I don't I I don't have any other accounts and now Instagram has made it such that any accounts I try to create they delete them immediately and so they deleted I had an account from my podcast they deleted that I had an account from my businesses they delet they deleted any account associated with you and so at first it wasn't that I missed the accounts my Instagram account it that was almost 6 million people it was a community and and it took me over 10 years to build that Community less than I missed my page I had hundreds of private conversations of men and women from all over the world that like this was my primary way of communicating with them I had a uh I had a a conversation on Instagram with my wife and all of my kids where we just sent like goofy memes to each other and now my wife and kids still have that conversation they just have it without me and yeah and so like that's what I missed just two just two or 3 days ago it it occurred to me for the very first time that losing my Instagram account which Instagram was the center of my organizing Universe it's I had raised almost $75 million for causes for Charities for families I had advocated Round of Applause Round of Applause for that Mah but all of that was on Instagram and so when I lost it at first I grieved and I just two or three days ago it occurred to me that Allah used me used me losing that account to clear out a lot of noise from my life I have I have grown to think now that had I not lost the account I would probably still just be grinding it out on Instagram doing what I was doing and not be a Muslim I think losing it caused it caused me to have space in my mind in my heart in my life that I didn't previously have I am I am just now at the point where I say that I am thankful that I lost it because if if losing it even play a tiny role in me becoming a Muslim I'm glad I lost it wow and so round of applause no I don't I don't regret losing it I don't regret anything that I said I don't regret anything that I posted losing it was an injustice but Allah used that Injustice to draw me near to him and and someone said something to me I wish it was my I wish I said this cuz it's it's so profound there was to me at least but someone just said it on a comment they said Sean you might have lost 6 million followers but you gained a billion sisters and brothers all over the world so listen that's a trade I will make that trade 10 times out of 10 and so now as I look back on it I was bitter that I lost it now Allah has removed that bitterness now I look at losing it and smile because if if it if it helped me to make these steps and I think it did then it was worth it wow that is beautiful brother masallah I want to talk about you know of course your activism and of course this this cause of of the Palestinian people and what's happening the genocide in Gaza we have to call it a genocide because that's exactly what it is it is yeah um you've been working with a lot of noos a lot of different organizations you know we I'm on the back end we're working with a lot of groups raising funds trying to do whatever we can we're months into this conflict now you're obviously watching the news like all of us and I don't want you to make any predictions because it's hard we don't know but like where do you see this ending up like what is the end goal of Israel how do they think they can commit these atrocities and the world will for will forgive them and just pretend like nothing ever happened like where do you see in your mind based off history based off your understanding based off interacting with people like where do you how do you see this thing playing out so so let me just speak very earnestly and honestly about this everything that Israel has done is not about freeing hostages Israel has killed more of their own hostages than they have freed they these hostages are not a priority to them this is not about Hamas Israel wants the land now that's not me speculating leaders in Israel have said they want the land and I don't just mean random people on social media key leaders of their government have said that this is what they aim to do they aim to kill as many Palestinians as they can and to force as many others out of that land as they can and they mean to take it over if you look at any image of Gaza today it looks like a construction site of a company that came in to clear the land they are destroying everything they can this is not about anything other than power greed money and land and it's what we're seeing is evil what I you could pick any hour of any day of the past six months and it that hour will be the single most evil ugly hour you've ever seen they are killing a mother in Gaza every 45 minutes every 45 minutes a mother is killed they have now killed not a thousand children they have killed a thousand babies listen to me a thousand babies they have killed nearly 20,000 children before we got here just 30 minutes ago I asked a question and my question at first I thought the question that I had was to Muslim and Arab leaders in the region then then I said no no no this leader is for any this question is for any leader in the world and then the more I thought about it this question is for all of us the question is what could Israel do that would be enough for you what is our red line I remember thinking that if they killed a thousand people the world would be done with this now it's nearly 40,000 people what is too much 98% of Palestinians are now homeless are are we waiting for it to be 100% like what are we waiting for what are leaders in the region around the world are are we is there a number are we waiting for them to slaughter a 100,000 people and then we'll act are we waiting for it to be 500,000 people are we waiting for it to be a million my question and if if it was not you interviewing me but it was a president or a prime minister or a prince or anyone my question to them would be what are you waiting for but as I thought about it that question applies to me and you it applies to all of us here in Canada and I'm from the United States I think we have a unique responsibility to do something because it's actually our governments that are funding it it if you have ever paid taxes a day in your life in Canada you are funding this genocide I live in the United States and no one is underwriting the cost of this genocide more than my own country and so as Canadians as North Americans I think we bear a unique responsibility to not just protest and demonstrate but to ask ourselves to to ask a lot guide me and show me what I can do that could potentially stop this here is what frightens me I I'm a historian by training my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in history genocides never just come to a natural end there there are really two ways a genocide ends the genocidal actor kills everyone or someone stops them and so the question is are we going to wait until they kill everyone or are we going to find a way to stop them and what I know and it it pains my heart we are not doing enough our protests are not enough surely our Instagram post that's not enough whatever if what we were doing was enough it would be working but today was just as deadly as yesterday yesterday will be just as deadly as tomorrow tomorrow so we have to ask ourselves as a man not not just as a new Muslim as a human being I feel emasculated to watch what they are doing to our sisters and brothers and not stopping it it is no different what we're seeing is no different than there being someone in the back of this room killing children and we just say I hope they stop killing those kids what are we afraid of Are We afraid of the line that they tell us we cannot cross are we afraid of the Rafa border are we what are we afraid of I would I would hope that if our children our loved ones our elders were being slaughtered right in the back I would hope that we would have enough courage to go back and stop it but let me tell you I don't think we do I I am now questioning whether any of us would even stop someone right in the back of the room because we see on our own phones wonderful beautiful families slaughtered and all we're doing is posting it's not enough and my fear I I don't I don't even operate in fear I do not want to meet God God someday and have God ask me why I did not do more and that's where I feel we are right now and and it I'm not comfortable I'm very uncomfortable with where we are I'm thankful I'm I'm here today with an organization that I love action for Humanity action for Humanity is doing brilliant important essential work in Gaza unlike many organizations action for Humanity has offices and staff in Gaza and with action for Humanity we're not just building camps we're trying to build communities while they may be temporary the communities that action for Humanity are building not only have dignified restrooms they have a they have temporary places for people to pray they have a place for people to get Mental Health Services the communities that action for Humanity are building have have have a level of dignity they have a place for children to be educated even that's not enough we if we don't stop this there will be no communities for us to build and I I am I am very uncomfortable with our lack of effort and our lack of courage and if you listen to sisters and brothers in Gaza they are they are also asking why we're we're not doing more they're saying it out loud why are we not doing more and I think when we hear them say we we think they're not talking about me and you but they're talking about us they're talking about all of us and they are wondering if we call ourselves Muslims where is our where how are we putting our faith to action and you asked how will this end either we stop it or they kill everyone and 6 months ago that seemed Preposterous but Israel does not care about international law they do not care what the United Nation the UN Security Council just issued a binding statement saying there must be an immediate ceasefire and Israel said they do not care both Canada and the United States for for a change did not vote against it the international court of justice has said that this is genocide and it must end Israel said they don't care literally said we don't care what the international court of justice says or does Israel is the single least accountable Nation on Earth and it is in part because Canada and the United States defends them at every corner that they feel they can do whatever they want and so brother we we must Step Up in ways that we are not and not to be dramatic but there are days where I and I know I'm not alone in this there are days where I feel I would rather go there and die then continue to watch it in safety I I don't we are being unjust by not doing enough and there are days where I I just feel like I would rather be there and do anything I could and and die in the process than just watch it for one more day wow very very powerful words and you know a round of applause you know amazing it's incredible you know the sacrifice and and the the commitment that you've made to this cause and you know for all of us here you know for a lot of us the first time seeing you you know just know that we're all praying for you thank you you're our brother we love you we ask that Allah continue to bless you that Allah protect you keep you firm upon this PA path that Allah subh guide all those you love keep your family and your friends close and strong on faith and we ask Allah subhana wa tala allow you and I and all of us to be a means of positive change in in all around the world and we thank you for your time brother Sean King bless brother thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Muslim experience inshallah we'll see you all next time take care

Channel: Muslimi

Views: 84,572

Keywords:

Id: VFgZXPsnzj8

Length: 36min 5sec (2165 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024