The Muslims of O Block

do you guys have any stories of what you've seen in oock over the years I notic you had bare mace on you have you already used it I use it a few times be able to be a big brother to these brothers to be able to show them that it's more to just the streets who in t g yo I'm GLE man welcome to this place they call oock you see what I'm saying shout out to Muslim matics and my boy Tommy G come on [Music] do you think you ever want to go on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia I'm going to Saudi Arabia you are yeah I'm going me tou the Caro yeah yeah I'll be there Chicago's oock is one of the most notorious housing projects in the country oock has been home to many notable people throughout its history Chief Keith King vong Little Durk and even former First Lady Michelle Obama the apartment complex is located on 64th in MLK Drive on Chicago South Side it was built in 1950 to house the influx of African-Americans coming to Chicago during the Second Great Migration upon its opening it was celebrated as the first African-American co-op in the country and it was noted for having highquality and spacious units relative to the other low-income housing on the market as the ownership of the co-op went private in the 1980s the quality of the units began to decline and violence in the area increased as Jobs moved overseas and drugs flooded the streets in 2011 oblock earned his name in honor of 20-year-old resident OD Perry who was shot dead by a rival gain member from then on obl's inFamous reputation is a dangerous area began to spread around the country and it's since been known as one of drill wp's Ground Zero locations as of recently a new movement has been growing in obla Islam I learned about this from two Muslim YouTube channels and this got me connected to gleich an oblock Muslim spreading the word on his faith it brings the question is this the movement that can bring peace and safety back to the area let's hit the streets and explore this more [Music] More Money More Problems I ain't tripping cuz I want it all my head has beening my head folks we're on our way to the notorious oblock to explore a very interesting story that's been developing which is a large conversion to Islam by many of the residents and I'm curious to discover the impact Islam is having on oblock cuz to me you know you might disagree with a lot of things about religion but I do think religion gives you the old school Val values that people can agree on like don't steal don't don't covet don't lust things that can guide your life and are solid advice I grew up in a really religious family I attended a mega church when I was a kid Willow Creek South barington enormous place they literally have a shuttle bus from your parking spot to the front that's how big this church is while some Bible stories I find helpful or meaningful a lot of the Bible is hard for me to especially the Old Testament is really hard for me to like or enjoy or see why anyone would subscribe to it but as a kid I always saw my mom was deeply religious like she spends every morning reading the Bible studying and she's a cool Christian like she's someone I can go say hey Mom I just went to a jungle in Ecuador and I did IAS she doesn't judge you for it I really love my mom she's one of my best friends because I can tell her anything and she doesn't approach me with judgment I think there's a lot of value in good religious people in a society I don't know a ton about Islam so I'm intrigued to learn more also when you makes oblock with it man this is an interesting story coming fresh off the press so we'll see you when we get closer to oock first things first we got hot boy cooking I'm many off figgas mad keep look that's IED thatching it's kind of a intimidating place because it looks like a mixture of a place to live in a prison like you have fences with sharp little points it's all fenced in you have your own security force in O Block feels like a place like when you get in there it's hard to get out what's up brother don't film no not while we walking in I got to get to First cameras up like book bags or something get okay cool sounds good guys t-shirts are on the site right now flying off the shelves but even cooler the big dog got to eat sweatshirts they sold out in 36 hours last time get yours freshest thing on the market right now big dogs got to eat especially during Ramadan after the sun goes down you got to eat you know what I mean rep the movement get it while supplies last appreciate your support Tommy ji.com what's up bro good to meet you uhhuh tell us where we are right now man we going right here on King over that's where we F to go let's give you the backstory on GLE little did I know that he was one of King bong's close friends and he even had a song named after him called gleich place with 23 million views this is a track about home invasions and robberies and features a story where King vong hit a lick for $50,000 and went straight to gle's apartment with the loot whereupon V and GLE had a discussion about buying cars and guns with the [Music] proceeds I often try and do very little research on people before meeting so I can get an unbiased impression of who they are today versus who they were in the past so I was unaware of gle's relationship with vau when I met him today in oblock gleich is a fashion designer he's a rapper and he's the front runner of the old block Muslim movement let's meet the man what's up big how you good I yeah yeah that's my uncle he was telling me he had some brothers in Parkwood yeah I'm do live tell us what you got on right now there's a new that's new attire I haven't seen yet oh yeah I got my throw B my mus throw my kofy my Muslim chain was it hard to start rocking that cuz that's not typical outfit in this area I had to U get used to it people ask you a lot of question when they see you wearing that yeah they think it's a dress I don't take that lightly but it's a throw yeah what percent of people around here you think no about the Muslim movement 2 billion Muslims throughout the world are you really the biggest religion in the world yeah I'm do long how long have you been involved in it like 2 3 years right now it's Ramadan right now how are you feeling I'm good but I can't eat or drink I knew guys on my wrestling team that were Muslim wrestlers and so they would go an entire practice without eating or drinking and that takes a lot of discipline yeah it take discipline it's really a man thing man Over Matter last time I was here the security here is pretty tight yeah they tight right now they real tight so is that does that mean that O block has gotten safer everywhere all the same I'm saying it's just they got to tighten up their security so that's the type of stuff they do this arguably could be the most notorious project in the entire country that b hole right there that's bll hole but it's natural you you go somewhere else bull hole happy Robin on how are you what is Robin on mean to you guys mean a lot of things not just eating and drinking be be nice to other people yeah he's one of the guys I look up to too he make sure I'm good he feel me to care for other people didn't teach you that there's a lot of people on Earth that they have no food no drinks nothing so you have to think about other people before you think about yourself yeah alhamdulillah are there any um Arabic words you can teach the audience Aldan thank you how did you get the name gleich I never met a gleich before look R they just call me gleich they just made the name okay I'll run with is V looked at as a hero or a villain V is a hero yeah yeah but always looking at somebody but he a hero some people love him for who he was as a rapper some people like that guy was a serial killer nah he ain't no killer at all that's a good guy man he made everybody really start loving each I didn't realize gleich and V had been close friends when I asked this question but let me give you some background as to why I asked about vgh by many within oblock in Chicago vgh was heralded as a rap hero who broke out the mold of poverty and launched himself into Superstar got a drop on flexing his lyrics stood out for both his fantastic storytelling ability and the extreme violence of his words but some suspect his rapping was more than just storytelling in fact YouTube's Premier hip-hop historian trapl Ross has a detailed and exhaustive 3 and 1 half hour analysis proclaiming King vong to be rap's first serial killer and King vong himself literally put out tweets like man I'm just trying to kill and I can name five GDs I dung killed all this aside I wasn't here to speak with gleech about king vong or violence from the past I was here to learn about his story and about the spread of Islam through oblock did he hit the cameras now hit the cameras so we walk [Music] we we're in the Fortress now it's not easy to get in the oock huh how long you been here for quite a while it was a beautiful place it's like everywhere else how you doing man I'm Tommy are you guys Muslims too n they a Muslim people in in obock are thinking about joining what would you say are like the selling points like why should they join the movement I could just bring with me and they can you feel me get experience on their own you got to learn stuff to do it I can just tell you all you going to be M what is it brought into your life a lot of beautiful things yeah like what I got a business I got all type of stuff going on you see what saying before you were Muslim to now like what's change for you me discipline the way I act with other people do you feel like being a Muslim is helping you to treat other people better yeah you what I'm saying the way you act the way you dress the way you talk all and caring about others like you know I feel like especially for young men if we are disciplined there's so much we can accomplish in this life but if we're not disciplined we're kind of a I don't want to say we take up space but we're not what we could be so give me the tour Lou Lulu okay you guys are going to Lulu 11 n he going to Louis V man you come from like more of the rap World materialism is a high priority like Gucci bags Lou bags what does Islam think about all that I mean it's all right BR too much care for that where are we right now we at my mom house I'm going move out of here soon where do you want to move to move somewh nice you want to be stay in Chicago you want to move out of the city you want to move out of the state eventually it's to move out of Chicago yeah how many guys in this room are Muslims they are Muslim so what do you think about joining Islam or becoming a Muslim what do you think about it a real you better true this up do you think hey this is something I want to do one day or is it like it's not for me I don't know yeah anything the processes take time especially somebody like that is a big commitment it's not like you're just done with it in a day like if you commit to being a Muslim like that's a big new life change you know I grew up in a very Christian family but I've never felt called to dedicate my life to it you know cuz it's a you have to really change everything you do from that point on like yeah you can be Christian or whatever like I don't what they do like five like discipline like when it's time like I mean it depends Muslims are a lot more disciplined than Christians five times a day I would say like the discipline Christians like my mom every day when she wakes up she reads the pra yeah but what about the other people a lot of Christians don't do yeah when do when it's Islam like you know it's a way of life you have to own anything to be an Islam like do you have to buy Like a Prayer rug or anything like that no no I got a couple of them in the room though you want to show us it's one do something what happened in your life and you're like this is where I want to do discipline I was just doing a lot of stuff like want this made me get on anything I supposed to get on like for was my business and all that how' you hear about it really V Uncle King Uncle yeah King V Uncle then my other brother Sadi you he been around since we was little you saying is he from o 2 he's been around for a while you think the FBI knows about cuz I know Muslim groups in the past like when Malcolm asks Elijah Muhammad they had their eyes on that have you guys ever been visited by like any FBI guy asking about Muslims uh Poli anyways we don't wor about this I don't worry at all well I think if you're doing nothing wrong you got nothing to worry about I'm do Li that's what you said ain't nothing going on wrong you see what I'm saying what did your mom think about it when you told you're Muslim H she love it is it easier to get men to join or women or do you get both that join a little easier for um but a man to join but like you got to have the sisters around they got to really get a right feel you I feel like Islam's a lot tougher for a woman because there's a lot there's more rules for woman ain't nothing tough though ain't nothing tough you can do whatever you put your mind to do you think you ever want to go on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia the pilgrimage also known as the Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam and is something that every adult Muslim must do at least once in their life each year Millions journey to Mecca shedding titles and distinctions to stand as equals before God through rituals rich and symbolism Pilgrim seek spiritual renewal and forgiveness but the Haj is more than just a ritual it's a bond of Brotherhood and unity transcending borders and cultures it was on his pilgrimage that Malcolm X met Muslim brothers from all corners of the globe and where he Chang his opinion on race relations forever through the GoFundMe Link in my description we can fund Chicago Muslim Brothers on their trip to Mecca and hopefully be a small part of helping Chicago to be a more peaceful place please consider donating I'm going to Saudi Arab you are I'm going to mea touch all yeah yeah I'll be there you know that in Afghanistan in some places if you get caught listening to music they'll like beat the out of you yeah that's pretty insane isn't it that's in the city that's how it is so people that AR from here aren't hip to this explain that break that down a little bit more don't go in the wrong areas listen to The Wrong Stuff reality you can listen to whatever you want to you what I'm saying just with the windows up there's some music I listen to that I would listen to with the windows up cuz I'm a little embarrassed if someone were to hear me you guys ever heard of creed before no you're either going to love this or hate this I'm going to just show you a little sample I'm going to play like 10 seconds of a song you tell me you rock you're just chilling in the car driving home from the club you guys feeling this at all or no no like M we were just in New York and it's the same thing where you can only listen to certain guys in certain areas otherwise it gets treacherous really quickly yeah a lot of songs would be like a lot of disrespect towards other people neighborhoods you know what I'm saying so you wouldn't want to go in this area and play this what do you guys view is the impacted drill music good bad in between whatever the narrative the person take with it and they run with it that's on them we don't really too much care about that we can't change that as do you feel like you can go to any neighborhood and you're okay like does that give you more of like a no you always got to got to T of Cam up don't never get me wrong and what I mean by that you don't just go doing stuff you naturally don't do so how do you think Chicago would change if a lot more people became Muslims we could stick together like an IR fish we can get what we need and what we want and everybody can be all right so unite the people exactly anytime there's a movement of people that get United whether it's MLK JFK Malcolm X somehow that leader gets taken out you know what I mean mean the government really wor about that cuz it's like it's no point like all we doing is good stuff but the government fears when People Unite let's explore how the FBI has historically responded to Black political movements let's take you back to the 1960s when the Black Power movement was sweeping through the United States this originated as a militant response to the slow progress of civil rights reforms on a national level the rise of the Black Power movement alarmed the FBI under director jayar Hoover the FBI viewed the movement as a threat to National Security through a counterintelligence program called coint Pro a series of covert and at times illegal activities were used by the FBI to infiltrate discredit and disrupt black activist organizations on December 4th of 1969 the aggressive tactics of coint pro culminated in a tragic and controversial event the assassination of Fred Hampton the Black Panthers Illinois chairman in coordination with Chicago PD the FBI orchestrated a pre-dawn raid on Hampton's apartment based on detailed floor plans of the apartment provided by the FBI informant who had infiltrated the Black Panthers law enforcement executed The Raid while Hampton was asleep armed officers stormed the apartment and in the hail of gunfire that followed Fred Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark were killed forensic analysis later revealed that most bullets were aimed at Hampton's bedroom an Evidence strongly suggested that Hampton who had been Sedated by barbit likely slipped in by the informant was shot at Point Blank Range insuring his death the official narrative initially claimed that the Panthers open fire on the police provoking a defensive response however subsequent investigations and outcry led to a different understanding The Raid had effectively been a targeted assassination of Hampton their deaths were not just a loss to the black Power movement but a devastating Blow To The Wider civil rights movement and just one of the many examples that symbolizes the Extreme Measures our government is willing to take to suppress black leadership and autonomy whatever's going to happen is going to happen I'm on the right path and the people around me is on the right path so we don't worry about that inah what's important to you guys each other our kids our families like others others like that's one thing but it ain't the biggest thing when you're dead and gone is there anything that you will want to have accomplish or want your legacy to be like make sure all our people we like Father our kids they we want be we want to have them left with things and stuff like that business and stuff like that for a long time go and you and your people do you have to figure out which way Mecca is it's this way yeah how you know pull your com out and see which way you this way you can't PR that way I also say that G but you know could be another West who is it okay I'm Tommy what's up Tommy my boy nice to meet you man I like the throb too how long have you been rocking the throb and being in the Muslim I've been Muslim two years what happened in your life and you're like this is what I want to do by me being younger I was forced to Christi reality but I only used to like the music at church one of the brothers had talk to me I had a conversation and I was engaging in it before I even converted over to become Muslim I was looking into it before I get myself into something looking into it you know and then caught my attention so when I finally took my shahada open my eyes to a lot of greatness what is the Shahar the sh basically you conver no what do it take like to do a shahada is it just like a a statement out loud or what do you have to do to yeah you basically at the end of service Juma to recite it in English and what kind of church when you were in a Christian Church was it a Baptist Church um yeah how long was that service 1 Hour 2 hours cuz in Milwaukee I went to a few different Baptist Churches they would take like 3 hours so I had to retire that was too much for me yeah yeah it be long by like an hour in I'm like I just want to get up and like start moving start doing push-ups start running around and they just kept going and they kept going it just opened my eyes up to a lot of things that I really truly believed in cuz it's hard for me to get to believing in a lot of stuff no disrespect to no Christians or nothing I felt that certain things that was in the Bible wasn't describing the picture that they was trying to make is there anything you had to leave behind when you became a Muslim like anything you had to stop doing or do differently like now it's mon of Ramadan I had to leave a lot of habits a lot of bad habits I had to stop eating pork a lot of um favorite candies I can't eat no more everybody around you they your brother that's one thing about M they ain't trying to knock you down they ain't trying to down you or none of that you see what I'm saying no one's bigger than no one you hear me they treat you like brothers so question for both of you is like when when you did that publicly did you feel anything in your heart immediately after what was going through your head right after you did that man I just bur it over like man crazy I felt loved even around a bunch of people I never I didn't know what did your family think when you went back home and told them what what happened it was surprising but they loved it depending on how I'm feeling I might to go get a couple you know take about 50 people some food or something just how I'm feeling it's giving back part of his life it's beautiful I really do it on a regular like bad express way I brought like 60 pieces and gave him back how do you feel when you do that I feel beautiful I feel like there's something that you realize once you do start to give back you realize it makes you feel really good it makes the other person feel good like giving back is probably one of the best things we can do for sure just fed 2500 people man like 2500 man pull up right here do events with got everything like all it's not for us to that we are looking to receive anything back or anything we're really doing cuz Allah sent said to do this this is your clothing life that's me LC business owner whatever however you want to play however you want to take oh you got sweaters you're the first dud I've ever seen sell sweaters yeah Jack you see what I'm saying Mo sweater how can people find this brand think a DM 6 GLE heck you what I'm saying going had a website up and running what is the 31 mean on the sweater that's how many colors I play on drop that's a lot of colors I got two kids this for them though what is being a Muslim taught you about being a father or teaches you about being a father I really got to stand on business for them like you feel me I don't really care about none that's for me you what I'm saying over time as you grown up here got better worse different what's change this is what they make it bro they just it's it's perfect to me it's brutal and it's not what they think it is and what they say bro so what are you going to eat tonight what's you're done with your fast I prob it depends I might go to the MS to break my fast but if not I it's easy me I still eat regular stuff long as it's not pork or nothing like that so we're leaving o where we head next we going to the master man undisclosed location I ain't going to tell y that but y going to see when we get there this is not an easy place to come in and come out as you see look they got this unlocked you got to show an ID you got to go through a checkpoint this place is unlocked out man do you guys have any stories of what you've seen in oock over the years these the best people y'all need to run to y'all don't run to my people them don't look they go look they make sure everything's secure but I no you had bare mace on you have you already used it I used it a few times what was the situation you used it in ask your boy crowd get too crazy Crow control we be get man you want me to ask any questions no I want to be right here we can't be right long too long like statistically if you want to be involved in violence it's usually late night it's usually alcohol and it's usually people that know each other so if you don't cause any issues it's probably going to be rare that someone going to try to cause an issue with you oock is no different but huh obock is so bad like that is it yes it's OB so bad what makes you say that we had a fight there's a lot of fights here yes how often do fights happen around here one right the some at the park the park they shoot at the park so much a shootout yes where is that like I no I don't know how old are you I'm 11 I'm 11 11 I mean eighth grade oh 8ighth grade and what's 10 sign 10 uh 100 okay 20 + 20 yeah you tell me 40 40 hey keep starting hard all right brother okay have a good day okay okay we're hopp in the car we're going to follow them to the mask [Music] so we want to take a deeper dive into Islam and why it's attracting people to join it's the fastest growing religion in the world right now one way it's spreading in America is in the prison system so I'm going to tell you guys a little bit about that history right now since World War II Islam has steadily grown throughout the US prison system the morish temple and the Nation of Islam are the two primary forces behind this movement much of the momentum came after Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad and around 100 other members of the group were sentenced to prison for war World War II draft evasion and in their time at prison they began to spread the message of Islam through the 1960s Islam continued to spread through the prisons the two main factors driving this was the increase of incarcerated black men and the empowerment and popularity of the Civil Rights Movement furthermore the 1962 court case fullwood vers clumber ruled that incarcerated Muslims had a legal right to practice their religion the increase in prominence of Islam did come with challenges however many Muslim prisoners were denied by guards the ability to spread religious literature and the ability to meet and conduct religious services in one such case Cooper versus Pate refusal of access to religious tchs in Illinois Stateville prison was ruled unconstitutional and a violation of the freedom of religion by the Supreme Court these challenges would increase following the September 11th attacks the US Bureau of Prisons froze the hiring of Islamic Chapin following the attacks in an attempt to reduce radicalization among the inmates today Islam is the fastest growing religion throughout the US prison system with an estimated 80% of imprisoned converts becoming Muslim and an estimated 35 to 40,000 converts coming every single year one of the appeals of Islam is that the structure and Brotherhood of the religion is an attractive alternative to the danger and Chaos of the streets I always recommend three biographies to people Benjamin Franklin Teddy Roosevelt and Malcolm X those are biographies that I might read once a year of each of those guys just cuz they live such interesting and purpose-driven lives and so I want to focus on Malcolm X right now a lot of people think that he's a black separatist that he wanted to split black and white people up and for part of his life did when he was in the Nation of Islam then he went on his pilgrimage to Mecca and he saw white brothers from Chia he saw Middle Eastern brothers from Syria he saw people from all across the world and he realized we all are one we all can be brothers he died tragically just as his career was taken off that I think it could have made a positive difference let's cover his assassination Malcolm X is one of the essential characters in the story of the black Muslim movement he was born in 1925 and his life quickly became hectic when he was three his family had to move from Omaha because of threats from the KKK when he he was six his father's bizarre and tragic death convinced Malcolm it was the work of white supremacists his father's death drove his mother to insanity and led to her becoming institutionalized in a mental hospital Malcolm began to find trouble as a juvenile and his criminal activity led him to become a war of the state by the age of 14 he was assigned to a boarding school Under the supervision of a white family at this boarding school he excelled academically and socially and he developed aspirations to become a lawyer however his English teacher shot down his dreams and told him that as a negro he should set his sights lower on things like becoming a janitor or Carpenter experiencing a massive frustration with the white world he felt limited by he moved to Black dominated Harlem and began a life of crime he and his friend shorty ran a burglary ring and he supplemented his income with pimping and selling reefer outside of crime he became well known around town for his dance moves his zoot suits and he tore up Lindy hop dance clubs eventually he was caught for his crimes and sent to prison it was here his life Chang and he discovered Islam he joined the Nation of Islam and educated himself in prison by reading every book he could get his hands on and in doing this he emerged as a powerful and influential leader from the time he was released in prison in 1952 to 1960 he helped grow the Nation of Islam from 400 members to 40,000 as a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam Malcolm X advocated strongly for black empowerment and self-sufficiency Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad handpicked him as his right-hand man and sent him around the country to give speeches rally up the troops and grow numerous mosques his compelling speeches brought him national attention and his views often spark controversy his growing popularity eventually LED Elijah Muhammad to feel threatened and this later led to Malcolm leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964 it was then that he went on his pilgrimage to Mecca where he met Muslim Brothers of every color across the globe and from this he returned with a new understanding of race relations and a commitment to Racial equality and Harmony Malcolm X's life was tragically cut short in 1965 when a Nation of Islam member assassinated him many believe that the FBI had a hand in this he remains a key figure in the fight against racial Injustice and is a widely celebrated black hero how you doing how you doing finally to meet you man I'm excited tell the people who you are I'm sadik Ali man down here you at bar Imports at 321 East persan Road Chicago Illinois 60653 with my man Tommy G here this is sadik Ali long ago he used to hustle in the streets now he's dedicated his life to religion and runs a group called Muslim MX where he guides people on their journey in Islam if you like to get more involved with Islam in Chicago his link is in my description you have a very peaceful and relaxed presence about you I'm very peaceful and relax that's a good Aura to have it's Friday tell the people what's special about Friday Friday is is is our is our holy day Muslim holy day Friday Juma Friday H we all come together and it's the last Friday of Ramadan so it's kind of special everybody's going to be packed down here just beginning we start in about another 30 minutes or so people have almost made it the entire month doing Ramadan which is no easy feet that's hard to do what are the biggest challenges people face during Ramadan not eating or drinking water not eating or drinking water you know what I mean that's big B challenge but it's a good challenge because it's for Allah and the fast is for Allah cuz only Allah know if you fast people can say whatever they want to say but only God knows if you're fasting or not are you from Chicago I'm born and raised in Chicago Illinois how do Islam start to seep in O like how did let's go next door we can talk more deeper Tommy tell me about what's going through your head today it's prayer day today we're close to end Ramadan so tonight tonight l through l through color yes the odd night last T nights of Ramadan how many Ramadan have you been through before I made my sh when I was like 21 but I start I really started deing probably like a year or two ago so I said it's like my fourth one my fourth Ramadan what made you say this is something I want to do and become and want to be a part of that's a long story but I'm going cut it short for you I had I had a conversation with a Muslim man and he we just had like a lot and he encouraged me to go do research on my own and once I did it I went in and I just made my shahada you know I made my professional Faith so Beau a good Friday pray okay are there some uh basic phrases Arabic phrases that we can teach the audience today Alum that means hell that mean may peace and blessing be upon you is there anything else you'd like to teach theam alhamd mean all praises to Allah all praises to God I learned that a lot from khabib the fighter if you ever watch he would say alhamdulillah yeah alhamd but you got Muhammad Ali you know can't take Muhammad Ali out know I always think that's the legend you know I mean Muhammad Ali was one of definitely one of the best what brought you to this what made you decide this is where I want to dedicate my life to and bring other people into it what brought me to it is really man you know i' I've been from the streets all my life you know what I mean so I know the streets I know what the streets and what they evolving so with me coming from the streets and knowing everything about the streets and be able to be a big brother to the brother that I didn't have from the streets you know I mean when I implanted in the streets was just I had gaed out the mud I was just there you know so whatever I learned I learned on my own but to be able to be a big brother to these brothers to be able to show him that it's more to just the streets what do you think's making guys like little der say this is what I want to join after you've been doing after after person have de so much bad in their life you know I'm mean coming from the GS and the trenches of of Chicago after they seen so much bad and to be able to taste something good now of course you want to stick to that you know what I mean once you taste this and drink this man you going to want it you going to want it it's it's a very good taste how do you guys meet like you know little babies I've been knowing them since they was little soot comes here for Friday prayer then on Saturday he's out you know chugging a 40 and doing a music video with like hey I'm going to shoot up this guy shoot up that guy how do you coach him along the path T explain to the young I said imagine us that we on a boat okay and then you want to and you know it's hot on the boat we all on the boat and of course people want to test the water they want to jump in the water right the boat is a lie okay so you jumped in the water but if you don't keep your hands on the Rope of the boat what's you going to drown M right wrong right but long as I got my hand on the Rope of the boat and I'm dealing with the water I can still pull one weight one out until I really realize that this water ain't for me cuz I'm going end up dying if I stay in this water I'm going lose I'm going lose but if I get back on this boat pull back on this boat and do right then I can float so it's not like a zero some game you can be cuz that's the other thing a lot everybody is welcome yeah I don't care what they do how they doing they want to smoke weed drink like girls and kill shoot come yeah we want y'all to come once they taste this they going that's going to come up out on it's going to be like a detox it's going to flush right on just look at our brother right now you know what I mean take it back a year two two three years back and watch him and see where you at right now so who tell the people who you are my name got bro uh I'm formerly known as El got in Chicago My name got two times now everybody pretty much know me in the city for music for music okay for music Y and you said you just recently took your Shahar I just took my Shahar March 20th bro okay what brought you to that point what made you say this me um so you know I believe I believe you got good intent and you believe it's one God you you you Muslim you just got to figure it out you know what I'm saying so that's what I feel like it was for me bro so my brother Mafi he been Muslim so he start bringing me to the uh to the to to Juma to the mosque when he first invited you what was your impression I'm at home I'm at home I'm at the crib that's what it felt like we came every day we ain't even we don't even just come on Friday we we been here every day chill and God how have you seen Islam start to change or impact your life what have you noticed um my actions change bro I start holding myself accountable you know I'm saying I start taking wrongdoings more serious you know what I'm saying because I I I I know that it's real you know what I'm saying I'm making sure I pray five times a day at least trying to stand on that you feel me and just yeah bro it's just you know frequency energy bro like you don't want to at first like I used to ride home every night trying to decide whether I was making the right or wrong decision now I don't got to do that have you guys got any push back from family or friends of course tell me about that tell me about that I ain't going to lie uh it is every day but like like I always tell people I don't go around telling nobody to be Muslim like I'm not telling or telling nobody like you should be Muslim like we like to believe that Allah chooses us M everybody not going to be Muslim that's just the fact of the matter everybody not going to be Muslim I'm I'm going read this for you bro cuz you just asked us do do we go through what do we go through as far as our family and all this going against us right the book tell you as for those who persist in disbelief it is the same whether you warn them or not they will never believe God has sealed their hearts in their hearing and their sight is covered they will suffer a tremendous punishment so it's nothing we could do but P this de it's almost like when Moses goes to the Pharaoh and every time he tries to plead with the Pharaoh the Lord hardens his heart and he doesn't want to hear it but then eventually after enough suffering he does hear it man what I'm referring to is a story from the book of Exodus where Moses is called by God to free the Hebrews from the slavery of the Egyptians when Moses politely asked the pharaoh to free his people the Pharaoh decides he'd rather not lose the free labor force that was building his sick pyramids so he said no thanks Moses undeterred Moses levers the power of the Lord to unleash a scop and biological warfare of biblical proportions against the Pharaoh and his people there were rivers of blood a frog apocalypse Locust swarms and even three days of darkness but this was not enough to make the Pharaoh fo God hardened his heart and the Pharaoh stood on business but then Moses dealt a final blow of deleting all firstborn Egyptians from Earth and somehow God co-signed this plan and helped Moses spin the block against the firstborns it was only then that pharaoh agreed to free the slaves Moses then gathered his peeps parted the Red Sea like a boss and delivered his people out of Egypt all this to say hardening of the heart whether it's done by Allah or God is a common theme in religious text who are some other Muslim Heroes that you guys look up to Malcolm X Malcolm X tell the people about that cuz I think he's misunderstood I think in the media he's portrayed as a separatist he wanted to kind of separate black people white people but they missed the part of the story where he went to Mecca he went on his pilgrimage he saw white brothers from Chia he saw Arabian Brothers Saudi Arabia he saw people from all over the world usually the ending of everybody's story be the good part the good story you know I mean but our brother Malcolm X you know I mean he we we we I would like to say that man me personally I would like to say I'm one of the descendant of him you know what I mean that he he he laid the foundations for us to be able to have we doing what we doing right now I guess maybe where I want to go with this is like when people come up that can unite people about uh Martin Luther King Malcolm Max JFK they get taken out and so some people go get the conspir route and maybe it's true maybe it's not but let you say that another strong Islamic movement hit Chicago and there's some very strong leaders do you think there's any that you guys think you have to think like man is the government going to take me out or I told you we don't do no worry at the same time mean we know that people people are looking at us trying to probably thinking certain things that we doing we trying to put we we stopping boys that was out here killing one another do you think the FBI like has their eyes on this movement praise the Lord I hope they don't I pray that they don't have their eyes on this movement but if they do I pray that they look and see the good that we doing in and not the bad in it we just want to bring peace to our people okay so where you taking us next you know right now it's been up so pack over here man we've been doing a lot of di man a lot of people been coming down and um you know embracing Islam so right now y'all going to be Witnesses like the live Juma okay how long did it take to build it like this man really like be honest man like really like this year man we you know since we started our little da program really pushing the da like that it really got really got packed man a lot of people who came in and start coming down cuz it can take years to get something off the ground it's exciting to see a a lot going to make it easy a lot going to make it easy people want right right tastes good so what is happening right now right now you know the speaking he's giving something they called a k he's speaking is you know just giving us the knowledge of the dean and the IM is the teacher is the teacher kind is that equivalent to Pastor yeah you can say that but he's our leader he's our IM okay how important is giving back to Islam it's very important to give back you know that's what we doing right now we giving back we out here you know telling the people about Islam that's what we doing giving back to our people all people open is this Shia or Sunni Islam Sun the Muslim faith has two major sects Sunni and Shia after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 ad there was a debate on who should become the next leader of the Islamic caliphate those who pulled for Muhammad's friend Abu Bakr became the sunnis and those who wanted the leadership of Muhammad's cousin Ali became the sh sunnis make up the vast majority with around 90% of the global Muslim population here's how they differ during prayer Shia have their hands by their sides and sunnis keep their arms folded also during prayer Shia are mandated to touch their forehead to Natural material while the sunnis are not from an outsider perspective it seems like relatively minor differences separate the two groups but these differences have resulted in major power struggles a few years back in Iraq Saddam Hussein's bath party was highly repressive of the Shia majority and currently in Syria the country's Sunni majority are oppressed by the Shia dominated government whether it's Protestant vers Catholic the Packers vers the Bears Democrat vers Republican humans prove time again that we are tribal creatures okay so if I were to convert I'm going to ask a few different questions of what I have to what I can keep doing and what I can't do anymore let's start with the easy one pork and bacon no you can't eat none of that not good you shouldn't eat that period I told in the Bible let's go to another important one for ma can you still you know zero what leave that alone man it's hurting yourself can I be a Muslim and go record a drill music video where I talk about shooting all my Ops yes you can I can yeah okay can you have premarital sex as a my no you don't suppos to have premarital sex as a Muslim but you know like I said again if you come into the dean and you having premarital sex already just you know learn about that and then marry if you want to have sex he I have good news I can have sex cuz I'm married is there is there a brother here that has a story of prison conversion that we can talk about what did you go away for drugs yeah and how long into your journey in prison do you decide to change and seek a different path immediately when I get in there cuz you know I don't I don't I didn't like to do weird stuff you know what I mean play around like that so immediately I you know I got right on the business you know got TOS put my life together jail is not it over it wrap it up with that yeah apprciate you brother thank you so much man thank you thank you for thanks for what you're doing as we were putting the finishing touches on this documentary I found out that gleich was actually in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage to Mecca at that moment so I gave him a call and while the audio didn't record but what he did say over and over again is this is beautiful this is beautiful he was just contagious with his positive energy he was excited to come back to Chicago and spread the message even more so I'm excited that him and sadik got to go on this trip and I'm excited for the future of Chicago and the possibility of peace that they can bring into the city I do believe this is a life-changing trip again if you want to donate to the GoFundMe the link is in the description [Music] folks hope you enjoyed this episode you want to watch another here you want to subscribe over here see you next week

Channel: Tommy G

Views: 1,064,247

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Id: jnZu2DOMfY0

Length: 39min 46sec (2386 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024