When I Began QUESTIONING the Bible I LEFT Christianity

[Music] oh there's only one where is His Messenger oh there's only one bad Jesus one sweet messenger Allah like ingredients apiece how're you guys doing welcome to the Deen show and every week we're here subscribe if you haven't already to get the newest show sent to you with no exception we have another exciting show with our brother the golden child Hamza how are you really I'm doing welcome good luck I don't like a Ramadan bloody cancel out over long black teeth so you were the golden child I was at in a manner of speaking yeah so tell us I got the head to prove it's okay you came from are predominantly well that's interesting because in India it's predominantly either Muslim or Hindu right correct correct and then we talked about the colonization time when they came over and then the missionaries came and your parents can you go out from there yes so my family is actually they've been Christian for a few generations I think at least three or four and but I'm sure at some point somebody was was Hindu and then you know the colonists came and then they converted a lot of people over to Christianity so I'm a product of a few generations of colonial Evangelical Protestant Christian thought and ideology that's kind of my background of my parents background so how did you end up here on the Deen show what was it now about Islam that had you accepted well so holla it was a long road it was a long road but in a nutshell it was the Quran it was the overwhelming beauty of the Quran from the moment that and and I wasn't somebody that learned about Islam and then just immediately went to the Quran and started reading it it took me a while for the Quran to come in in front of my face and when it finally did and when I opened it I wasn't able to put it down I changed my life forever now was this one of those things that because you'll see some of these stories you know the person had some kind of dream right and that Jesus or someone came to him and that just changed their life you know it was was that something like that it's like usually a unique experience just for that person right not based on it much textual evidence correct yeah so my journey the interesting thing about my journey is that it wasn't a emotional experience for me and I did my best to kind of separate emotion from my decision-making process so just a little bit of background I mentioned my family's Christian they're not only Christian by the way they're wonderful people but they're not only Christian but you know they're very involved in the Christian community a lot of my uncle's are pastors and a lot of our family friends are you know have their own churches so I grew up in that environment where Christianity was not only but very prevalent it was I grew up in the church I grew up in the community and as you alluded to earlier as a golden child I was I'm the only child of my parents but in terms of our family we were highly respected within the community so I was I was you know doing well I had no overwhelming reasons to leave the beam but subhanAllah Allah guides people in different ways and the way that that I came to Islam was in stages the first stage of my life was where I was questioning Christianity and I know this happens to a lot of people but the more I would learn about Christianity I had questions in the back of my head questions that I asked my family like what questions what kind of questions things like you know um if if God had told God had told all the prophets in the Bible especially Moses peace be upon him that you know your God is one from the gecko and this was the understanding for most of the children of Israel and they practiced this for you know thousands of years and that didn't change until after Jesus peace be upon him left this earth and then somebody else came and and made a statement on his behalf which changed the paradigm from that moment onward so from that point everybody worshiped one God and and they knew that the one God had sent prophets after that they said no the Prophet that then Paul said the Prophet that that that God had sent the Jews Jesus peace be upon him he actually wasn't just a prophet he was actually God you know in in the form of a man and that really that idea didn't resonate properly with me I had questions about that I said why is it that you know God changed flip the script so to speak all of a sudden you know why didn't he just tell people from time of Adam all the way down that hey you know what I'm God but really there's a triune nature to me you know and you should worship all three that would have been a very simple message now when people go back and they go and they start digging into you know some of the earlier books of the the Bible right the Old Testament they try to connect that they try to make that correct that try and I've seen that I've seen that attempt and it's kind of a sloppy attempt in my opinion and and the interesting thing about it is that when they go back and they and I don't remember the verses off top of my head I used to at one point but I don't now but when they go back to like the books of Isaiah and Deuteronomy and they try to make the connections between Jesus and who they think or their understanding of God it they usually do one of two things first thing is they fail miserably and the second thing is they usually prove the reality of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon them you know because when they go back to like Deuteronomy 1818 when they go back to certain verses in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament you know they all allude the coming of a prophet after Jesus that he himself spoke about like in the book of Matthew he he spoke about the coming of another prophet who wouldn't speak from himself he would just do whatever God commanded him to do so and that's and and that fits the bill for the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him exactly so a lot of that was overwhelming evidence for me but going back to what I was saying earlier is that so when I had doubts about Christianity and I and I went and I spoke to some people at my church doubts in Christianity for people that are coming from that area of faith where it's just taken on belief what we say is absolute if your story doesn't fall in line with the story that's accepted it's usually rejected nobody really wanted to hear my side of things from my thoughts about things so what I started to do is I went on a personal journey to just read about religion so I lost faith in religion and especially in Christianity when when a lot of my family members they would claim that Jesus had spoken to them in one way shape or form via vision or dream whatever and they were all on different pages they had they all had different ideas about how to do things they couldn't agree on things now that necessarily in itself isn't a bad thing but that kind of made me that made me sour to to the faith that you know what you have these people who claim to be so close to God but at the same time God's giving them all different messages that's what it seemed like to me and it was a it was one of those things that made me decide that you know what I need to look and look into this for myself you know I up until this point I was just listening and obeying but I wasn't thinking so when I started thinking I started reading books I actually went away from Christianity and as I said I didn't come to Islam until much later but I went away from Christianity I started going down the path of just science because some of the things that I heard in Christianity were very outlandish that didn't make sense to me rationally things like a story of I think it was Joshua how he prayed to God to stop the Sun and then he just stopped the Sun and I was like well if that happened you know everything would have just collapsed and at the time I just couldn't wrap my head around those kind of ideas so I went into science I actually became atheist for a while didn't believe in didn't believe in anything just thought that there the science was the way to go science was you know absolute in the sense that we either knew things or we didn't know things there was no gray area or at least as I understood so I went from there and then I remember I read this book I can't recall the name of the person who made this quote but it stuck with me and it helped me get back into faith and that was a quote I think it was Thomas Aquinas something to the effect or it might have been somebody else but something to the fact that when you religion or faith is basically like for example if you had a tornado that that went through that swept through junkyard and then perfectly assembled us a working 747 jet you know that's what faith basically is like you know you're saying that the faith in science is producing these these results but it's not and so that kind of left a profound impact with me and I said you know what you're right I mean the way that we are now the way that our bodies universe how everything is designed it must have a designer it must have a creator things couldn't just you know automatically have come together and started working on you know we got a lot more to talk about and ask you about your family how they'd how they took it and now the title with the golden child because obviously you were really they were they were preparing you to come up in the church right correct yeah we're going to go from there don't go anywhere for the exciting episode with Hamza we're right back thank you my friends caring and sharing so like and share this video and support the Deen show so that we could continue educating and sharing the message of peace peace is acquired by submission to the will of God Islam with the world assalamu alaikum peace welcome back to the Dean show so what was your your name before you accepted Islam so my name before accepting Islam was Sunil it's a primarily Hindu name which caused a lot of confusion for people because I actually recently legally changed it to Hamza Sunil doesn't mean anything it just means I think it's the colour of blue yeah and and I think there was a lot of famous cricket players in India that were named Sunil yeah so my father you know he named that he named me that and so you know when I became Muslim I wanted to have my Islamic identity I watched the movie the message powerful movie powerful night to me Quinn Anthony quaint that's a classic yes everybody needs to watch that the message right the messenger the message it is the message the message as advanced an equipment wonderful movie I watched it in high school yeah just put your chest back in the two of them oh yeah two of those who'll write part 1 part 2 they are back in like 98 yeah before we had all this technology but a wonderful movie I saw the character of Hamza and I immediately connected with that character and it wasn't until and then I became Muslim in 2002 it wasn't until 2002 and somebody said hey you know if you want to choose a name for yourself this would be a good time and and I went through and I said you know this was this is the name Hamza I love the name I love the meaning I loved the message behind the name so and and it fits bit for me thumbs up so we got Hamza here so now your parents who was it that brought Islam to you who brought you two who shared who gave you Dow was anyone particular or will you on your own pretty much or did you have a classmate you have someone that you had conversations with and they start to you know bring up certain questions and had you thinking correct yeah so I did have a lot of good people around me from the time of high school a lot of good brothers and sisters that were part of the the Muslim Student Association at that time so you had some Muslim friends I had some Muslim friends but what really all brought us together with sports here a big fan of basketball we all used to go play sports and then afterwards you know they would go to these Muslim club meetings and they would do things like watch the message and do other things so I had good influences but like I said for me I'm not somebody that bases decisions off of influence yeah till this day I've never smoked a cigarette nobody has ever influenced me to do anything that I've never wanted to do myself so and my family had this concern they said who converted you to Islam who forced you to take this and I said nobody did I did I read I researched and I came to this beam because from my understanding this was the most perfect answer to life's questions to all of life's questions and they were they they couldn't wrap their mind around it they said no it had to be somebody so although I did have good influences in my life I had good people who I could conversate with but the reality was these individuals were you know there were teenagers they were young adults they they had their shortcomings they did whatever they needed to do so I never saw anyone and said hey you know what this is a inspirational figure but when somebody brought to my attention they said hey you're studying about Taoism and Confucianism and Hinduism and the other branches of Christianity why don't you look at the Quran you know why don't you look at some of the the meanings behind the common and so in that way I was approached about about Quran and Islam that's a very sensible thing to do I mean it was a nice story of a Muslim Christian and the Jew got together and they started talking about religion and the Jew says hey look we only I only believe in Jesus and I mean Moses and his commandments and the Christian steps up and says hey I believe in Moses but also in Jesus when the elevated models see the God and then they look at the bosom and the Muslim says hey I believe in we believe in Moses Jesus the last in front of my problem humming peace and blessings be upon him so this is in no way you know putting down Jesus and no way putting down Moses in no way you know coming and attacking or you know really just inviting people to look at what Jesus is real message was and look at what he was talking about another messenger because it's clear if you read it like you were that there was another messenger who was coming otherwise it's incomplete yeah it's in my opinion and I think in many people's opinion in Islam actually elevates Jesus because Christianity brought him brought Jesus peace be upon him at the same status of of I think it was one of the pagan gods that they had you know formed his backstory behind I forget the nearest Mithras so a lot of the things that present-day Christians do now is a result of Constantine and Paul and some of the people back in the day that had been made decisions that have nothing to do with people today they made the decision that hey you know what the easiest way for us to take a message that was meant only for the Jewish people and and Jesus mentioned that specifically in the New Testament I think when a woman comes up to him and says you know I have such a such problem can you help me and he said I wasn't sent here for you I was sent here for the children of Israel and and so they had to kind of figure out how to marry those two ideas that the fact that Jesus came for the Jews but then also for the Gentiles and and so then Paul and Constantine and whoever they got together and said hey you know what we're going to we're going to marry Mithras this this mythological figure that we have and we're going to and this real person that we have Jesus married their identity so I think Christianity brings Jesus down whereas Islam elevates him his name he is a prophet of Allah a beloved messenger to the Muslims and I'm sure to a lot of Christian's as well but at the same time when when you equate him next to God that's that's putting him in a tough position you know I mean I mean nobody wants to be the guy that's like oh hey you're on the same status as god I mean he's going to deny that on the day of judgment here which is what we firmly believe but that's that's a difficult position to be in what did your parents make okay so what was that there's a crossing point and many people don't want to cross that point right of no return because now you're the golden child correct right your family their name is on the line right social status maybe you got some big inheritance coming your way you're going to hear it the Kingdom over here right from from everything your parents have the money these are the kind of things people have to think about right right and Islam makes sense there's it just worship the Creator not the creation everything is so crystal clear but now the courage to step forward and to say you know what I'm going to follow this truth for us right or you're going to succumb to the temptation of look it's this is more important right I'm not I'm just going to kind of just keep blending in and just people abandon because correct what was that that thing that happened had you say you know what I'm not holding back I'm going to give birth to what's inside of me I'm going to come out and I'm going to accept that there's nothing worthy of worship except the creator of the heavens and earth and what Muhammad is allowing the final mentioned that's what someone else to do become a Muslim and obviously that would include Jesus Moses and all the preceding message you would just abandon them we just give them the proper do that they were mighty messengers not divine with God correct correct so that was the turning point for me or the point of no return to kind of understand that I had to take just a step back and that step back was that the way that I was raised you know I me and my family went through some difficult periods during my childhood and it got to the point where for me and my mom you know she told me you're my only hope you know I'm hoping that you grow up to be a good Christian son of mine so that you can get me out of all the challenges that I faced and so a lot was riding on my shoulders the family perspective I also had my uncles who were trying to pedigree me towards being intricate part of the church not saying that I had to be the next pastor or anything but definitely involved deeply in the church so a lot of people had a lot of Hope in me and what what made me change my mind is that if I if I had looked at this whole experience to an emotional lens I would have definitely never embraced this on so one one day I was sitting with one of my friends his name is Muhammad by the way I'm interestingly enough and he and I this is after I had gathered all this information about other religions as well as Islam and I knew in my heart that Islam is at the absolute perfect way of life it's what I want to do so now you're at that point I'm at that how far in to your journey is this is just a few months few years how approximately how long before you realize okay this is it this is what I've been searching this is the truth so I started around 2000 yeah and it took me about two years to get to okay so this is not something just like overnight no no you took your time I'd really critical thinking correct um prayer what you know were you asking God for guidance in yourself or is reflecting on on things that I knew yeah things that I understood to be true things that didn't make sense to me yeah I was trying to just put all those things together and kind of thread the needle to what was real and what was obviously not real so now you're here okay so you're about two years into investigating you know really doing some critical thinking and contemplating and so what happens from there yeah and not just contemplating but actual research research research I locked myself up in my parents then and just was reading books and you know I would do research on religion I was you're digging man I'm digging okay so I I went to UIC for the first couple years of my college 2000-2002 that's by the way where I took my Shahada but while I was there I was researching so much on the Dean that you know technical of not dropping out of UIC because this was so overwhelmingly profound for me but so fast-forward 2002 I'm talking with my friend Muhammad as I mentioned and he said one thing to me which I'll always remember don't don't don't lose your place your mama tells you something this is this is obviously a friend this is a friend of yours from the uit correct we'll be right back with more here on the D show don't go anywhere so you have two choices either be a slave to the creation or be a slave to the creator and submit yourself to him like all others no prophets and messengers did hope this got you thinking take the first step and start asking some fearly for guidance from your Creator thank you don't forget to share and like this video subscribe and do your best to help the Deen show reach its goal thank you very much I said I'll let go peace be with you back to the den show hamza in the studio golden child family comes from a staunch Christian background they were they were preparing you to be what like a pastor in the church er yeah I was being pedigree to be some type of figure in the church yeah but definitely from a very conservative Christian background yeah okay so where'd you left off now that Mohammad your friend Mohammad what happened from there so I was just having a talk with him I think we were just we had just gotten some food or whatever just having like a casual conversation so he says something to me that I'll always remember for the rest of my life and he said now that you have all of this information that you've amassed really from like 1998 is when I started really thinking about religion but 2000s when I researched religion and he said now that you have all this information what are you going to do with it because if you die in a state where you have all this information but you didn't act on it then God could hold you accountable for not making that decision so that was a very moving statement for me because that meant I had to take some action it wasn't just lip service anymore I couldn't just pretend that I'm so researching I knew where I needed to go I just had to have the courage to go there and so shortly after March 29th of 2002 I went to UIC and after their Friday prayer I went up and you know I had already arranged it with some of their people there and I took my Shahada got a lot of hugs it was a very emotional moment at that point but getting to that point I tried to use as much logic and reasons let's help people identify how to like pink picture you get up to what this is when someone finally acknowledges after research contemplation asking God for guidance and now this is the truth and this is nothing new this is what every messenger brought what is this yada what did you say actually so the Shahada is what is the declaration of faith it's a shadow under ADA height ahoo ahoo luxury color eyeshadow under muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh so that you're basically saying and it's a very profound thing and I'm and I moved just hearing it now yeah Tom it's a very profound thing because you're basically saying that there's nothing no one worthy of worship but Allah but you're not just saying that you're casting aside anything that could even be tried to compare to Allah and you're putting Allah above everything and then you're saying that from from the mercy of Allah he sent the final messenger the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to clarify all these misconceptions that were made about Allah and so that's why Muhammad is beloved to me and to all the Muslims because he came to really set the record straight about who God is and what God wants and how God wants us to approach him so for me it's a very profound statement when I met it when I made that statement I was nearly in tears and I wasn't here solid there's a verse in the Bible I believe it's in John 17:3 I'm not mistaken where it says this is like eternal that they may know you where this is alleged Jesus speaking says this is life eternal that they may know you now he's pointing you not me is that you the only true God and Jesus whom you have sent correcta Shahada that's how that's it this is this is that testimony that you're acknowledging that look the only one worthy of worship is not a man not a woman not a saint not a messenger not an angel not money not fame nothing but the creator of the heavens and earth the one who a of your life will give you death and the messenger that was sent at that time during jesus's time it was him he was the messenger Moses at the time you would say the same statement and then acknowledge that Moses of the teacher the messenger teaching you how to worship how to get to paradise right correct and Abraham it was the same statement his time and then now we have it our time problem Mohammed peace and must be upon the last and final messenger the seal of the prophets and you were doing nothing different saying that I wasn't the exact same thing and it was an honor headed to do it a person all their sins everything from the past day it's a fresh start thrust our house but did hell all hell break loose after that yeah it doesn't like it done real now it's real now yeah yeah and now you're tested the ones that God Almighty loves the most he test the most correct right so then all hell break loose in a manner of speaking yes now my parents were wonderful people I love them to death you know they had a very hard time with this I didn't I didn't initially approached him about it because I kind of had a feeling how they would take it I kind of hid my Islam at home I would when I flirt when I took my Shahada people friends from high school friends from college gave me gifts books the Quran copies of the hadith and I had put all these in a nice little cabinet in my in my den where I was doing all my research and so I hid my Aslam and I came home one day and I looked inside this cabinet and all those things were gone and I started just freaking out and I was like ah where's all this stuff so I looked everywhere and then I finally went to my mom and I said you know mom have you seen these things that I've placed you know around this desk and she she she knew what I was talking about and she said what things are you talking about and I said you know there were some books and some other things she was like yeah I found some things and I threw them in the garbage and my heart literally dropped to my stomach and I felt like the blood loss from my brain it was a surreal moment for me and I was just like oh man I mean she had just thrown the cold on away something that brought me to the Dean and I went through a different set of emotions but what I did was I left the house and I went to the Mudgett anytime I had any issues I would go to the Mudgett and that's that's a practice that I encourage and I'd do till this day I went to the Mudgett and one of the old Mudgett caretakers there or he was really the only one a wonderful man wonderful man his name is some he's a person and I will remember you know for the rest of my life we used to call him the movi sob it's something in order but his name is muhammad hafiz so then he came to me he said why are you looking so sad today what's wrong and I said I don't even know how to explain this to you but my mom just threw away everything that I did I owned about Islam especially the Quran and and I was in tears and so he looks at me and he kind of chuckles he was like he smiles and I'm thinking in my head like why is he smiling this is a very serious moment like I'm I've just lost a lot of things that I really am care about and I'm passionate about and then and then he said something to me which I'll never forget he says your mother may have thrown out the Quran which is a book which she could never throw out the Quran which is in your heart she can never extinguish that that light and that really it literally sprung me back into action it was the I felt like I had been knocked out and then this before the 10-count I was back up some anima I was back up and I was ready to go that charged me and it's still charging me for the entirety of my life so it's individuals like that that you know they have a profound impact on new reverted Muslims and they may not know it at that time you know and I always pray for that brother and his family but that really charged me to get back into things and to also give my parents the benefit of the doubt you know it can't be easy to lose your son to another faith something you know I have kids now myself if my child came to me and said you know I want to practice something else it would deeply hurt me too so it made me understand my parents perspective I didn't intend to you know hurt them when I made this choice I just knew that this was the right thing for me to do and I deeply and sincerely wished it you know they had considered it then and that they even consider it now so for me it's been a personal journey to really educate them about Islam we went back and forth that at one point they said you know we don't want to hear about Islam anymore and so now I make duaa and I try to be the best son that I can be hopefully those actions because I know that this is the of the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu not only talked about the good but you do the good in the hopes that people will see that good and and worship Allah now they had did they have a bunch of people like from because you had a large family of people who are prominent in the church people lined up to try to like you know maybe I think maybe he's possessed you know that works on exorcism on you they try to like common usually what you'll see happening is people will try to distort Islam to try to take them the matters of thick and things I dissing ambiguity as far as need some clarification where people can get confused and they'll start to attack but I know did this happen there was a lot of people from the go on BAM long attack yeah they were on the strong offensive they were from my family like I mentioned my uncle's are pastors some of our family friends are all pastors very deep within the church they all came you know lined up outside my door in a manner of speaking they would be intent of bringing me back to Christianity you know they told me things like you know God is a spirit it's it's they were trying to explain my question of why did God change the paradigm after Jesus and before Jesus it was all the same and they were trying to explain to me you know that God is a spirit and you know he didn't really communicate the completeness about himself but now after Jesus we know the completeness and they made a lot of attempts and you know all those attempts now I didn't really know much about the foundations of Islam I mean I knew enough of the Quran and I knew enough about Christianity to say Christianity is not for me as long as definitely for me I need to learn more but when people come to you and they accuse the Prophet Muhammad SAW some of of X Y & Z things that they consider to be crimes you know I didn't really have any adequate response for them so I had to just listen to all of this barrage of kind of insults to the religion while being patient at the same time and and then then going back and then I had to hit the books hard and learn what what are they really talking about is there any truth to what they're saying and you know you always have as a new Muslim you always have that fear in your mind that maybe if I turn this page you know there's something that I'm going to learn that's going to take me back but I had the confidence in Islam everything that I had learned I knew I was sound upon I knew that there was only one God you know that anyone else claiming to be God which Jesus peace be upon him never did and but anyone claiming to be God that couldn't be the right way my anyone speaking to God directly you know that he had he himself had not chosen I took them with a grain of salt like someone just saying look like many many people they'll do they'll say look God spoke to me I'm speaking of God today they're living they're saying that that's ridiculous it's it's intense because they come to you they have a lot of passion a lot of fervor and they sincerely believe that God or somebody speaking to them in one way shape or form visions dreams and for the most part the thing that I love about the religion of Islam the most is that we base our our belief on on facts and evidence facts and evidence that's very important that's very important too because and so the way that I look at it and my approach is this is that we know that God has sent messengers in the past and we know that this is the practice of God he sends messengers to people those messengers try to deliver the truth but invariably they get you know for a manners in a manner of speaking they get crucified in one way shape or form but the interesting thing to me was that Islam was saying that this didn't happen to Jesus but God saved him that God elevated him and that he will come back and then when he comes back people are going to come back to him and say you know we did all these wonderful things in your name and he's going to brush them aside so for me that was an interesting thing to learn about Islam that the way that Islam saw Jesus peace be upon him the way that Islam saw prophets in general that there were all messengers you know from God and the final messenger being Mohammad Ahsan that he came not just for a specific nation but for all of mankind and that was profound because it made me realize then that you know it's not a racist thing or a cultural thing or you know there's no class or anything associated with it it's it's for everyone yeah here's many ridiculous statements being made and I'm sure you're probably hit with them there they're just so ridiculous and if someone doesn't this I often bring my book I said look you got to read the Complete Idiot's Guide I never met this brother but I'm sure he's he's gonna we should meet one day I keep I keep pushing his book you got to be a complete I love the Complete Idiot's Guide to understanding Islam because you got to be a really complete I never want to you know a name call anybody but just generally speaking you really got to come be a complete idiot if you believe some of these things and just swallow it whole for instance that Muslims worship the moon right track that allows a moon God when you just I mean Allah says don't worship the moon real simple things of female female genital mutilation ridiculous honor killings I mean this is these are things you know there's no honor in killing innocent people basic things that you look into you know the basic teachings of Islam refute this with a little bit of knowledge at and and then another thing you know you see like did they try to tell you that the Koran was from the devil you know yeah I've heard that a lot it's crazy you know every book every page of this book has god's name on it the interesting is the devil wrote this and he's cursing himself because the quran is constantly cursed by the devil constantly telling you to be truthful the devil is trying to get you to not be truthful to commit all sorts of evil but everything in the Quran what is it calling you to to do good things to be a good human being yeah did you hear some of these things these attacks that started to come at you absolutely I heard all those and even more the one that was very interesting for me that that there's idols that so what people have done is they've taken some information about the history of Islam and then they've kind of melded that in with their own inclinations towards saying that Islam and and Satanism is related in one way shape or form so they've come to me and they said you know there were idols in the Kaaba before and you know that's what that was Muhammad peace be upon him is intent he wanted people to worship the idols and things like this and that couldn't be further from the truth we all know as Muslims that when Mecca was liberated first thing not a single person was harmed not a single plant or animal was touched or harmed and then what the first thing that was that occurred was all of the idols that were placed by Arab pagans prior to Islam those all those idols were removed from the Kaaba and the Kaaba is just a metaphorical place this is the place where we believe that Adam peace be upon him and then subsequently Abraham peace be upon him and his son built this house as a worship to the creator so this is this this is the symbolic and the actual first house of worship for for as Muslims understand it so it has a lot of significance and this is why and it's a unifying place of direction for everyone instead of people playing praying to the left or the right or whichever way they seemed fit we're all unified in one direction and we pray to the creator of the universal I I've heard a lot of things but they didn't hold a lot of weight they were they really don't and I I believe there's great wisdom in this that anytime something is a value you got to really put some effort into it you know most of the precious things are in the ground there's dirt covering it right there's LOM is a treasure so there's a lot of dirt around around and Allah is the creator god almighty is testing people's sincerity so are you going to some people it's are you going to go back to the club are you going to go back to that way of life that you were living before right of following your desires because now you're tested here right someone comes at you and now you like yourself you go and investigate you know these things don't hold weight because you obviously know the basic teachings of Islam but some people right they fail miserably on such a very basic test very simple that if you were to just research a little bit pray to God everything would have been cleared out after the desire strong many people now they get tests and they go back to the club they go back to the lifestyle that whatever it doesn't necessarily be the club but they go back to whatever they were doing following their desires absolutely you see that that is and that all ties in with emotions because desires emotions all these things are related and I'm just to make a comment on what you said earlier about people who practice these things in the name of Islam like female general mutilation and so many other killing knot and killing a lot of these things are cultural practices that have thrown dirt on Islam that really have nothing to do they have nothing to do with the religion of Islam it's just people have brought their cultures and ideas and try to you know insert them in wherever they see fit one of the things for me for example was you know growing up as an Indian one of the basic things is uh you know you don't get married until you have your degree and do all these things and and then sometimes people go until the age of 30 before they can even find a spouse and you know and and I see that as a cultural norm that's perpetuated on people that really causes people to go to those extremes of clubbing or doing this or that and committing sins but culture can be a very beautiful thing it can you know be an amazing thing but at the same time it can be a very destructive thing when it's implemented in the wrong way mm-hmm and I've seen that firsthand yeah so what was it now have your parents how they come around it's been it's been how many years now since okay 2002 it's been some time now correct right so you got your feet come to love firmly planted and Dean how was your relationship now because Islam calls you still to be the best son right towards your parents to really honor and respect your parents right like your mother was saying that she wanted some help and certain and she was expressing herself as long doesn't take that away but actually takes her to a whole nother level have they gotten to see that and has their heart softened at all you know if I had stayed a Christian and I know it's not good to deal in hypotheticals but if that were the case I don't know if I would have been a good of son as I am now that I'm Muslim not that I'm the best on I have my flaws and I have my mistakes but one of the things that Islam compels people to do is to be good to their parents and in in every manner except if your parents ask you to associate any partners to Allah to the creator of the heavens in the air so aside from that you know I've been as I mentioned not trying to talk so much about Islam but to show them Islam to show them the good of Islam you know really anything that they asked that I be there for them because you know I deeply cherish and love them for everything that they have done you know the amount of love and respect that one has for their parents this is explained thoroughly in Islam thoroughly in the Quran we're not even supposed to say speak loudly towards our parents in Islam as mentioned in the Quran so you can imagine that it this is the the level of respect we have to show and I feel like since I've become Muslim I've been able to show them more respect more care and you know and they're human beings and they're a product of their parents raising them a certain way in Christianity so I recognize all that and I try to approach them you know with the most care that I can possibly have how was Ramadan now this is uh you've been implementing another part again Jesus he called people to worship the creator Napa creation not himself there's no where anywhere this is all due respect with all due respect and sincerity that is not to put down you know any religion anybody but we when you critically think and you look at evidence it's clear that Jesus called people you know just look at the Lord's Prayer correct or father we say our Lord who art in heaven hallowed be thy name and if you just did that you called on the one Jesus called and asked for guidance God will facilitate a way and guide you to submission to the will of God Islam so you're not doing anything different you took the Shahada that's what Jesus would call what he called people to do to testify there's nothing where they worship except the Creator Jesus fell on his face and prayed to God you're doing the same thing that's right and Jesus right he called people to give charity that's the zakat again sounds interesting huh that's what we're doing the same way of life is all the messengers nothing different and he fasted Ramadan he did he fasts the same thing so you're fasting now how's the husband ongoing Ramadan has been going very well under law in in what I first became Muslim Ramadan was a bit of a challenge and not from the fasting perspective but from the perspective that Ramadan is usually a time for families to get together for people to mend relationships and to really to get together and you know celebrate that the Quran was given during the month of Ramadan but then also to recognize that there are less fortunate people in the community and to also give back to the community but overall to to increase us in faith which is the main message of Ramadan and when I was first Muslim I would you know it's different when you're the only one in your family doing something and everybody else is doing something else and then when you see you know I would go to my friends houses for Ramadan for EE they would invite me over to break fast with them and their families and although I was very grateful and appreciative of the opportunity to break fast it inside I was a bit sad because I couldn't do this with my own family and one of the things that I frequently prayed for is that for one day for me to have my own family that I could celebrate the joy and happiness of Ramadan with and that eventually one day in sha Allah even my parents would be celebrating Ramadan with us as Muslims times I mean and I make that do all the time so that was something that I wished for the longest time in halal now I have a wife and three children and family my own and and Ramadan is a wonderful time for us and and and I reflect back on those days when I was by myself you know eating cereal at home and then I think and I say subhanAllah if somebody had told me back then that you know what be patient one day not only will you have your own family but you will be amazingly happy I would have said that that that could be possible because I couldn't see that happening I didn't know how I was going to get out of my tough situation but hamdullah Allah has a plan for everyone and you know I'm grateful for Ramadan I'm grateful for the ability to fast and the great thing is now at the end of the month we all get together and even with my parents so it's a wonderful time for me guys it's very important I mean we take some benefit much benefit from these people who are really in a situation where they don't have to struggle like you did you follow me with their family and having all hell break loose like this you found me they are brought up in a Muslim family you know breaking iftar having a start together but many people they're taking it for granted correct you follow me correct and I'm sure that touches your heart also when you see the struggle that you had to go through what advice do you have for Muslims who are taking the Dean for granted ah please don't that's the first and foremost advice I mean it's easier said than done the Dean has to come from your heart it has to come from after understanding the Dean and and really wanting to change your life and and Allah says in the Quran if somebody sincere about the Deen that Allah will guide them to the Deen so just getting rid of all the superficial things you know getting rid of the cultural biases you know if you have if you know of people who are newly reverted Muslims or people anyone who's who I was going through some tough times you know invite them to your house to eat you know give them a smile this is one of the Sooners of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him one of the things that he used to love to do and he encouraged us to do which can really brighten someones day so that's my advice is you know don't take Ramadan for granted don't take being Islam for granted one of the prayers I always make for myself and I and I also pray for my family is that we we take this understanding of Islam with us all the way up until the moment we die that this is something that we don't ever take for granted not even for a second yes that's deep in for everybody watching in many of the not yet Muslims people are tuning in and the message makes sense worship the Creator not the creation there's some homework I want to leave you with there is a qudsi hadith where a problem Hamid peace be upon him is relating to it to us that the Creator Allah is saying that all of my slaves are misguided every one of us is misguided unless I guide them right unless God guide you you're lost you misguided so ask me God is saying ask me of my guidance that is something so simple as profound and there's brilliance and simplicity something you could do right now you can be that person watching and maybe your families at the KKK right and you're like man I'm not with that this makes sense I want to be unless I want to be like Jesus was one who submits to the will of God you can do it right now you can call 1 800 662 Islam you could be as someone who is coming from the strip club you can be someone who is from the worst of background done the worst of things there's always mercy there's always forgiveness because God is the all-merciful at all forgiving you just got to have a sincere heart ask God ask the creator for guidance ask him for forgiveness and if you have any more questions call is subscribe if you haven't already in tune in every week these are the things that we talk about these inspirational stories really touch the heart so if you are tuning in for the first time like I said do the homework that I told you to do and call us if you have any questions and we hope to see you every week here on the Dean show until next time peace be with you stomach let us follow in the footsteps of the greatest men who ever walked this earth the messengers that God Almighty sent like a bruh Jesus and Muhammad peace be upon them all we all call people to worship the Creator alone and not this creation take a moment now fulfill one of those qualities and next of giving towards the dower something all these great Giants did and call people to do help us reach our yearly goal from it out help you part of sharing the truth support the detail [Music] you

Channel: Digital Mimbar

Views: 38,023

Rating: 4.8743296 out of 5

Keywords: islam, muslim, muslims, islamic, quran, koran, allah, muhammad, mohammed, mohamed, prophet, hadith, sunnah, shaykh, imam, lecture, khutbah, khutba, ramadan, bilal philips, sufi, salafi, hanafi, hijab, nasheed, convert, revert, shahada, dawah, da'wah, maher zain, sami yusuf, atheism, science, atheist, qur'an, recitation, surah, afasy, religion, religious, deen, madhhab, shia, sunni, Christian, I LEFT Christianity, LEFT Christianity, QUESTIONING, Bible

Id: 7yvaUfiBcjg

Length: 52min 53sec (3173 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2017