Bilal Philips – Call to Islam
AI: Summary ©
The history and cultural significance of Islam is discussed, including the migration of Islam to various countries and the importance of learning Islam as a means of achieving a goal. The importance of reading and understanding the original sources of the Bible is emphasized, as it is lost and difficult to distinguish between the new Muslims and those who have made contributions. The need for a culture of Islam in the Muslim population is emphasized, along with the success of the online education program for students. The importance of educating young people to uplift the country is emphasized, along with the need for scholarships and privacy for young people to contribute to the future of the country.
AI: Summary ©
smilla salatu salam ala rasulillah
Allahumma linnen ion volna
Bhima Lambton was in Nirvana
assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullah
wa barakato. After extending to you the best salutation of time is a rotation of peace and love to people around the world regardless of faith with nationality. And this is how I welcome you again to another edition of culture Islam program that comes up every Friday on a wavy TV channel Saturday on online as well at www a wavy news.com wherever you are, you either get us on channel to stream live with us on WWE, a wavy news that's gone. This program is one that street Islamic issues. It's bringing at your side Islamic scholars from various fields of study. As Amanda has been given emphasis in Islam, we deem it fit to remind one another. In this book, I'm known to be called Islam.
I am Mohammed mujtaba. Stay with us Let's drive the next hour and take an Islamic tour in sha Allah. As always, I don't do this program alone. Hence with us today is an Islamic scholar born in Jamaica. He comes from a family of educationist both his parents were teachers and his grandfather was a church minister and a Bible scholar. But when he was 11, his family migrated to Canada. After so many years, he completed a diploma in Arabic and got to be from the College of Islamic discipline was sold in as the University of Medina in 1979. And later, his masters at the University of Riyadh and then a PhD in Islamic theology at the University of Wales in 1994.
This scholar taught Islamic education and Arabic in schools and lectured in various universities like Sharif kabu on Islamic University in the Philippines, presently, is a lecturer of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University in Dubai, and a German University in a German UAE has founded and directed many Islamic organizations including what is now known as discover Islam. And the fall in literature departments of dargle Fatah Islamic metalphoto Islamic press in such a UAE and also the founder and Chancellor of the Islamic online university. He is among the globally known Islamic speakers and lecturers of this time. There is no time to waste. There is no time for
holidays, says this man. When you realize how little time there is and how much work has to be done for Islam. degrades man is Sheriff Dr. Abu Amina bill Phillips Salam aleikum wa alaikum Salaam Morocco over cattle doctor Welcome to a wavy television Welcome to Sierra Leone hamdulillah my pleasure to be here I happy allows Give me the opportunity to visit Sierra Leone again this is the third visit actually Okay.
Well yours insha Allah we are going to learn a lot and increase our Islamic we need to know that Islam is not a part time job but a full time one. Which resignation comes only when you live the war and head for the year after inshallah we are going to get salary. May Allah give us a handsome reward. not wasting any time Dr. Milan Phillips and I need to be personal for now. We are you born in Islam?
No, I was born in a Christian family in Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica. Mashallah. So how do you come to me to snow?
Well, that was a journey, you know, of part of my life. As you mentioned, my family migrated to Canada. I grew up in Canada, and
in university, I got involved in politics, student politics, and from that, actually, I went from Christianity to communism.
Believing that communism had the answer to problems of the world and, you know, equality between people, and just distribution of wealth and all these other types of things, you know, but after being a communist for a number of years, I came to realize that communism really wasn't the answer. And that led me then to look elsewhere. And at that point in time, I stumbled upon Islam as a proper teaching, because I had come across Islam in the US, you know, in a group called the Black Muslims, or the Nation of Islam. And farrakhan is now the person in the US who continues to espouse those ideas, but they weren't true teachings of Islam. So I wasn't interested in them at all, when I found
real Islam, proper Islam, and I came to realize that all of the things that I was looking for in communism, and the things that I respected in capitalism, you know, which
communism and thrown aside, but was not really able to function without these things existed in Islam, the good elements of communism was there in Islam, and even, you know, the good elements of Christianity in terms of, you know, teachings of, of spiritual nature, which deal with being good, recognizing God in your life, and living a righteous life and these types of things. They're all there in Islam, Islam had a system, you know, a system of economics, a social system, it was a series of systems, it was that it could fulfill the needs of society from all aspects. So when I read enough and talked with enough people and became convinced that this really was the answer, this
is when I decided to become a Muslim, back in 1970 to 1972, before you were born, Indeed, indeed, before I was born, so Mashallah, since you're a Muslim,
that you've encountered, or things are just Well, well, of course, as a Muslim, you know, you're going to encounter difficulties myself coming from a non Muslim background, you know, adjusting to
Muslim practices, and, you know, learning them.
One of the things that drove me to study Arabic, formerly was because of the fact that my early in my first year of Islamic when I met Muslims from so many different places, I had a friend who was from Ghana, you know, one from Morocco, another one from Egypt, one from Pakistan. And each person had, you know, different twists, different understandings, different ideas, and that's what sort of drove me to want to go and find out well, what really is the original teachings, and also, these were amongst the trials that the new Muslim tends to face when he or she becomes comes into Islam, you know, that, that they may hear cultural Islam
as taught by the various cultures that they are surrounded by, you know, and it may become a bit confusing, if you don't find out or meet people who can give you a good clear picture of what Islamic teachings are. Okay, so the solution to that is to get in and study Islam as well. Yeah, and to try to get it from the source you know, because of course, you can pick up books maybe these books are also written by cultural you know, individuals writing it from their culture or, or their school of thought or whatever, you know, you need to, to get in if a person really wants to know, you know, what the teachings of Islam are, they need to get to the original sources, and read and
study and get a correct idea of what the teachings are. Okay, so how can one get to know these original sources? Well, now, you know, it's available in English. I mean, of course, the Quran as you have here, this is an English Arabic version of the Quran. The Quran represents the book of Revelation, which came to Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him. And it's still here, you know, you can now read it and see what was that revelation? Now, if I were to ask you, for example, as a Christian, can I see the gospel of Jesus, not the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and john, I want to see the gospel of Jesus, what was revealed to Jesus, nobody can provide
you with a book to get you, you know, to know the sources, where did it all come from? It's not available, it's lost. So I'm hamdulillah in Islam that's available. If you want to know you know,
What did the Prophet himself may God's peace and blessings be upon him? Say, what did he teach? How did he live his life? And how did he guide us to live our lives and you have books of Hadith, which compiled the various teachings that he gave, you know, accurately compiled, so you have access to where the religion and all the practices originally came from. So you can now compare between what people are doing today and what was taught, then, you know, have the law for the most part, I would say that the fundamental teachings, you know, the five pillars of Islam, praying five times a day fasting in Ramadan, Hodge, you know, giving Zakah, which is the compulsory charity, that hasn't
changed, that's exactly the same as it was virtually no change. But in terms of people's day to day, social practices, you know, there have been changes as Islam spread to different parts of the world, people came into Islam and brought in with them some of their own cultures. And then in time, people were not able to distinguish between what was their original culture, and what really was Islamic teachings. So this is some of the difficulty that the person who newly comes into Islam may face. Okay, I think the solution here is only for one to really get into the field of knowledge and learn Islam. Alhamdulillah De Guzman with us today is Dr. Bilal Philips is a globally known scholar, of
course, is no stranger to anyone in the world, because we are faced with his face, his poses lectures, and most of what he does Alhamdulillah we are having him today, right? In our studios at a wavy Wesley street doctor, and there's this thing. So many reverts people who come to Islam, they tend to achieve much more than those limits in Islam. We don't know the reason why.
Well, that may be exaggerated, you know, because perhaps, you know, the those who come into Islam
and who have made contributions, they're highlighted, you know, so a lot of focus is put on them, you know, so you hear about them, they're here, they're there, etc, people like Dr. Zakir Naik, although he's not a convert to Islam. But, you know, he's a person who awoke to Islam in his own area and other people like us investors, and Abdur Rahim green and you know, Yusuf Islam and others, you know, there tends to be focus on them. But, you know, among people who are born in Islam, there still there are many, many more who have made huge contributions also, you know, but so I wouldn't want to say that it's all coming from the new Muslims, you know, the new converts to Islam. What I
can say is, in general, maybe if you compare the average Muslim, to the average new Muslim, that in terms of the practice of the religion, the average new Muslim may tend to be more sincere in their practice, they're more, you know, careful to try to do everything and to do it, right. Whereas the born in Islam Muslim, he takes things for granted, you know, he's just doing whatever his family did, whatever his culture did, his people did. So he's not as careful. So he tends to be more careless, in terms of dealing with the practice of Islam. So this is where I could say there will be a difference. And it's natural, because the personal converts to Islam tries to find out what is
Islam. Whereas, you know, somebody who was born in Islam, you don't have to find out what is Islam you already know, Islam, you said, I, you know, my parents are Muslims, my, you know, my family, my relatives, my neighbors, everybody's Muslim. So I, you know, I'm Muslim by by association.
And a great man with also says Dr. Bill Phillips, the chancellor of Islamic online University, Dr. You've moved in places around the world, in what could be a comparison between
Islam in Europe and in Africa. Since you've been there on here also.
When Islam in Europe, you know, if you take Canada, you take you say the West rather than saying Europe, right, Europe represents a party in the West. So in Canada, where I grew up in and I've been back to most often, you know, the communities of Muslims there are a mixture of people from all over the Muslim world. So, you find
more, you could say acceptance of different and cultural
practices etc, people are more able to work with each other than underground where you might find, you know, countries fighting each other, you know, in differences between Iraq for example, and and, and Syria or Jordan and Quaid, people who may be involved in military struggles at different points, when you meet them in Canada, well, they're all this, they're all the same in the sense that we are a minority, we're in Canada, you know, you're not really an Iraqi anymore, you're Canadian, you're not really a Kuwaiti anymore. You're, you're a Canadian, and your Canadian ness takes precedence over your cultural backgrounds. So I would say that the communities of the west where Muslims are
minorities and major cities of the West, maybe some one of the largest minorities, you could say that they are more culturally integrated than in the Muslim world, you know, as we exist today, Muslim world tends to be divided up in Africa, you know, there are lines which have been drawn by the colonial masters which have separated our countries to such a degree that, you know, we have different passports, different national anthems, you know, we identify ourselves differently, even though you might even be from the same tribe, maybe half of your tribe is on one border and side of the border, and the other half is on the other, but you're looking at each other in different in
different ways. You know, so, I think that the the tribalism, the nationalism that may be found
in the African countries today, now, which keep people apart, is less present there in the western minority Muslim communities. So what would you advise Africans to do?
Well, I think the efforts to try to develop, you know, an African Union, you know, where, you know, you have one passport,
you are able to travel freely between countries.
infrastructure, roads, and, and railways, which allows people to move about the continent more freely. I think this would go a long way. And this is really what Africa needs, you know, because
the way things are now, I mean, we're suffering because of the divisions that existed, it's a product of divide and conquer, we were conquered and divided up those divisions, keep us you know, exploited as an exploited nation instead of a nation with all these resources, producing and and selling to the rest of the world and benefiting financially and developing their own society. We just are a service nation, we just provide our services provide our manpower, provider resources, and everybody you know takes benefit from it. Okay. Dr. Milan, let me take you back in your hometown to Jamaica. And we see we know Jamaica to be people of music people love something outside Islam.
Now, just from anywhere we see Dr. Bilal Philips a man who has done his in the field of Islam so much. We are in your legacy in Islam, Masha Allah, Allah would you it would be forever inshallah. So is Gemma collectors. Do we see it?
Yeah, Jamaica is as you as is portrayed, you know, it's famous figures will say in bolt is the fastest man in the world. And there is a female also Jamaican, who's fastest woman in the world and
you know, Bob Marley and reggae and, you know, tourism and all these things that that is Jamaica, no doubt. But Islam is spreading there. You know it when I accepted Islam back in the 70s. And I went out to Jamaica, you know, I could hardly find any Muslims in Jamaica at all. You know, I only ran into maybe two or three. You know, now there are 1000s and there are mosques all over Jamaica, you know, so, time has passed and knowledge and information about Islam is spread. Many people actually Jamaicans find Islam. In other locations. They go to the UK, they go to the US, and they come across Islam, then they bring it back to Jamaica, so a lot of it came that way. Okay. So in the long run,
we would see Jamaica inshallah, to be coping with Islam. Yeah, it will be. I think Islam will play a bigger and bigger role in the future of Jamaica. I mean, it's still a minority. I don't see it as going beyond minority
position is never going to become an Islamic State. I don't. I wouldn't expect that. But it's it's, it's a sizable minority that's growing and will have an influence, you know, in the future on the development of Jamaica. Okay, Dr. Miller, and there are so many propaganda going out there about Muslims, Islam, Islamic scholars on two occasions, one with Dr. Zakir Naik, wherein he was allege that he is having an issue with the duck attack. So, how are you? You did the scholars, Islamic scholars? How are you coping with the media pressure?
Well, the media, you know, is the biggest source of false information about Islam. You know, Islamophobia comes from the media, it's a product of the media, the media has created false impressions, fears, etc, you know, highlighting and, and over emphasizing minor issues, blowing them out of proportion. What can you do? What can anybody do? The only way is for Muslims to be more and more involved in media, you know, and I encourage people all the time Muslim communities to take part in media, too, right, become journalists, you know, get our voice heard. The internet is a major, you know, leveling field for everybody, because anybody can write anything on the internet,
you know, you know, and Hamdulillah, I have over 5 million followers on my Facebook page. So I, you know, when issues come relative to myself, I can say something at least 5 million people will hear it, you know, and they can spread it to another 5 million, whatever. So, that's my part. That's what I can do, you know, and being on programs like this, also to help clarify these false impressions, false information, which are out there. Okay, so what's your relationship with those colors, the doctor clinic enough to make the rest of them? Well, we're close friends, you know, the doctor is iconic. Of course, he said on piece TV, I do programs for pstv on a regular basis, you know, those
accusations against him are totally false. In fact, the media in India was forced to take them back and apologize and all these other kinds of things. But usually, we don't see the apologies and the taking back and all this we only see, you know, in the media when the attack comes, this is the problem, you know, but we're friends, we're close friends, we share programs, we do things together.
Okay, Mashallah Hamdulillah, we are having to deal with those guys on culture, Islam. Dr. Bill and Phillips is the chancellor for Islamic online university. He came on tour in several international law, we appreciate his presence. And we are looking forward to seeing him very frequently all the time, I could say, inshallah, a doctor. So since you came in Sierra Leone, what is your assessment? How do you see Islam here?
Well, there's a huge potential. I mean, Muslims are the majority in although there don't have really a presence, you know, in the, in the political, economic, social
atmosphere of the country, you know, they're very much in the background. And they do need to play a bigger role.
We have issues here, especially, you know, in the areas of education, this is why I came to Sierra Leone in the first place, was to promote my University's options for the disenfranchised youth of the country, whether Muslim or non Muslim, you know, but to provide for them the opportunity to get access to higher education, which they normally wouldn't have. So there is a huge need in the country as a result of, you know, what happened in the war, Civil War of the past,
as well as the Ebola and the effects of Ebola and wiping out families, you know, so many orphans are produced, having no means to fend for themselves. So there's a huge need in the country. And I felt that, you know, my university has so much to offer to the country that you know, it was obligatory on me to try to do something here some of my classmates when I studied in Medina University, and in Riyadh were from Sierra Leone. So
you know, I made contact with them. Since
I've been barking and hamdulillah. You know, there's there's a lot that I hope to accomplish here for the betterment of the society as a whole.
And particularly for the Muslim community, and in the area of education, in uplifting the overall consciousness of the Muslim Ummah, here, you know, to prevent the possibility of groups like Boko Haram or Shabaab or any of these other types of groups, from arising here, who arise where there is a vacuum, where there is ignorance, they play on people's emotions, and draw them into acts which are against society, acts of terrorism, etc, all of it in the name of Islam, but they can only succeed where people are ignorant, where people have a knowledge of Islam, they have a background, then they are not able to promote their ideas.
So Hamdulillah, we we've had that, let's say Islam and politics. Now, for instance, in Sierra Leone, most of our Islamic scholars tend to shift far away from politics, thinking it is evil, it is something that will take them off Islam, what would be your advice in that?
My advice would be that, you know, a righteous Islamic politician, you know, is needed, that people can see that
one can be a politician and be an honest politician, you know, looking after the needs and the rights of people, you know, and be known, you know, as the incorruptible, the uncorruptible politician, you know, that's what we need. We don't need Muslims will come into politics and be corrupted by politics because then you're just like everybody else, you know, so we need because that is the example that the prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him left. He left for us the example of of honesty and trustworthiness he was known as, I mean, the trustworthy the honest. So we need to bring that aspect of Islam this aspect of character back into the forefront so people
can respect Muslims again. Okay, so we don't need to stay back live in politics with the non Muslims No, that is foolish. It's foolish because you know, politics is the running governance running of the country and Muslims being a majority should play an active part should be you know, represented in the government you know, by their numbers or representative numbers should be there to be able to express their points of view but we do need to have you know, honest and reliable politicians. Okay, we do need to have honest and reliable politicians. So Dr. Bilal Philips Masha Allah we are having him live at the wavy studios Wesley Street. inshallah we are going out for a break. Let's take a
look at this video a very interesting one that would send a message to you that we will discuss later on in sha Allah, stay with us. We call to Islam and
inshallah,
Islamic online university,
changing the nation through education.
Register now and get started. Visit www.io u.edu. GM for more details.
Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Welcome again, the program is called to Islam. And so the result is the man himself Dr. beeler Phillips, globally known Islamic scholar and Chancellor of Islamic University, Dr. without wasting any time, you know, the chancellor of Islamic University. How does this come about?
Well, Islamic online university is a product of some years of my own development as a university professor, founder of Islamic Studies departments in the UAE, setting up my own university also in Chennai, India, and
working with universities in the Sudan
that culminated in the online presence of university level education, which was missing. There was a vacuum. There are a few universities available but not accessible to the masses of the people. So
when I realized that the need
was a global need. I'd been working locally, I'd worked in the UAE for years. I was in Qatar working there. Also on the university level running university programs. I worked setting up the university in Chennai in India, you know, these were all localized. So all you can eat in India was sort of national, but I wanted to go international, I wanted to be able to reach a much wider audience. So the online route was the is the only route it was clear ahead of me that I needed to take that route.
capacity.
Right now we have 260 plus 1000 students, 260,000 students, you know, we have average about 100 new students signing up with us every day, every day. 100 students Yes. Mashallah. So throughout the people sign up.
Throughout the year there, as I said, every day, 365 days a year, we have an average of 100 students joining so we have approximately 36,000 new students who register every year. Sure. So what causes Do you offer
we're offering
not only Sharia, because of course, when people hear the name Islamic online university, they see Islamic they think, oh, there must be studying Quran and Hadith in Arabic. You know, it's Islamic Studies, Sharia This is what's expected? Well, it is true, we did begin with Islamic Studies. In fact, when we started University in 2007, we started it as a free diploma. You know, we offered a free Diploma in Islamic Studies, just to spread general knowledge around the world. And we've kept that three diploma program going, because until now, I mentioned we have about 260,000 students, but really 254,000 of them are in the free diploma. Okay, there's only 6000 students who are actually
paying fees for for undergraduate programs. So what you asked me about was the different programs we're offering. So we offer Sharia, and we offer it in English medium. This is what's unique, because you can find others childcare programs available in Arabic online also. But we're teaching in English medium being the global language. And added to that we teach Arabic students after learn Arabic also, but it's basically an English medium. And we started off as I said, with the program for Sharia or Islamic Studies. However, in 2014, when our first batch of students graduated, and we had for the first time in history,
university graduation online,
where students receive their certificate, you know, valedictorian addresses were given guest speakers where there are 1000s watched as students graduated online. So we made history on that day in 2014. At that same time, in 2014, we added three new courses in one bachelor's in education, bachelor's in psychology, and a Bachelor's in Islamic banking and finance. And in 2015, we added also a Bachelor's in Business Administration and a Bachelor's in information technology. And this year, we're adding also a Bachelor's in Arabic language for teaching Arabic to non native speakers of Arabic.
So in the clear context, I will use not limited to museums. No, it is open for any and everybody. Okay, are there several unions? Yes, we have some some hundreds that have registered already. You know, and in the
so we had a graduate
from St. Louis, we had with a one one graduate, and he had the lie he was accepted in university in Russia is currently doing his master's there in Russia. Mashallah. So, are you having teachers also from Sierra Leone? We have some professors from Sierra Leone in our courses, and we'll be hiring a number of others because we know before when we hired we hired just for Islamic Studies, whereas now we're looking for professors in other fields in Mass Communications, for example, because we want to start that up next year mass mass communications and in public health. We also want to launch courses in public health. Okay, Mashallah. So, how would you compare Utah the standard universities
around the world
well, it
is among what we may call the mega universities, in that we have, you know, over 100,000 students out who our number is actually 260,000 Plus, right. So from that perspective, we're in a small group of universities that may be called mega universities. But beyond that, we are unique in the sense that all of the courses that we teach, are taught from a comparative perspective. We're not taking from the field of education, for example, just whatever is taught in conventional universities, whether here or in the West, we're taking that looking at it, judging it, analyzing it, comparing it to what Islam teaches, etc. so that the students will get a feel for what that particular discipline
has to offer society, and to be able to choose what is the best way in which that may be delivered? So we have a comparative, you know, critical thinking approach to our studies.
Meaning you just don't have a causes for the sake of offering you scrutinize them the perspective of Islam, yes, martial law. So as you're planning the future
for IOU here, you know, we are in the process of
gaining accreditation in the country with the TC where we've already gotten the accreditation from the NCT VA,
which is for offering the diploma and certificate level courses. We're now working on the next level. And we plan to partner with other educational institutions around the country to be able to bring university education into high schools, you know, where where you have high schools where students are graduating, and they are in other parts of the country like Bo or whatever, they don't have a means to come here to, to to Freetown or they can't afford it. You know, that we want to try to develop learning centers in such
Institute's institutes, where the students can just continue their education into university level education using online study. Mashallah, as you've said, IU is among the mega universities. So what does it cost me if I want to live you? Well, I owe you is also
perhaps the lowest costing university in the world.
The lowest the student pays only $70 per semester, registration fee, not per class per semester, that's $140 per year. That's $560 for an accredited bachelor's degree in the fields which I mentioned, Mashallah, this is a blessing I use a blessing Mashallah, we thank Allah for sending for us Dr. Bilal Philips, because he is doing his in the field of Islam. And in other issues around the world. We appreciate that so much May Allah handsomely reward you. So if one could want to contact people from within Sierra Leone? Are you having any contact here whom are working on your behalf? Yes, we have
an eight Stuart Street. We have a branch office that is being set up there. We're on eight, Stuart book history. Yes. And we have a representative here, who is the Registrar of the campus that we're developing there. And his contact number is 076847100. You may be contacted on the number or zero double 8027334 so we can get further information. Through those numbers. We're setting up a full operation there on Stuart street over the next couple of weeks. This the place should be in full operation, and we welcome people to contact us. Or as you saw in the ad, that that came previously about the semicolon University. You just have to go to the online site and register. Because we are
accredited in Somalia. We are officially accredited by the Ministry of higher education in Somalia. You know, our name is
Within the list of UNESCO recognized universities, accredited universities, okay in Africa. Mashallah. So Dr. Bilal Philips time is against us now, what would be your final answer? Well, my final words to the people of
Sierra Leone, to uplift this country through spreading education knowledge, which will help to develop a more productive youth oriented society. Because we know that
theory on like the other countries of Africa have a preponderance of youth 60 70% are young people, which is quite different from the west where it's the opposite way around. This is an advantage for the development of the country, but the youth need to be properly educated, so that they can contribute to the development of the Sassa society. So we need to all put our hands together, you know, and help with those of us that have means need to provide scholarships, and help these young people, you know, uplift themselves and uplift the society along with them. So that's my final words and and also for those of you that have misunderstandings about Islam, and you know what you've been
fed in the media, find out yourself from Muslims, just sit down with them, discuss with those people who have some knowledge and get clarity. You know, we because what we are about in Islam is what everybody is seeking a peaceful and
secure country where we can raise our families
in the best way respecting each other and working together for the overall future of the nation. Okay, that was Dr. Bill Phillips nimona himself the man from Jamaica materi known scholar now meaning your source doesn't matter what you can do matters most Alhamdulillah we hate to end this program would have enough shown we have to stop here Till we meet again any other Friday Masha Allah Subhana Allah Hammadi hamonic National Law, nostril fuuka one or two
Islamic online university is
changing the nation through education.
Register now and get started. Visit www.io u.edu gm for more details.