Khalid Yasin – Islam America 2 Of 2
AI: Summary ©
The National Industrial Security Service discusses the purpose of the life Foundation, which aims to encourage Muslims to join the Islam movement. They stress the importance of history and the presence of history in political and political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political political
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh these brothers and sisters in Islam welcome back our honored guests
to the finale of our evening,
Islam and America. Now presented to you by Cher Khalid Yasin Shahada seen a former American Christian is the executive director of the purpose of life Foundation, a premier organization dedicated to the work of Tao inviting others to Islam. He has studied the Arabic language in Medina, Saudi Arabia and Cairo, Egypt and has had many mentors and teachers who tutored him in the jurisprudence of the Sunnah. The film of the life of the Prophet peace be upon him, Islamic history and the memorization and recitation of the Quran. In the past 10 years, the purpose of life Foundation has delivered more than 5000 persons to Islam and additional 1700 since the September 11
attacks. Shahada team delivered a lecture in Saudi Arabia in 1994, titled The purpose of life, which resulted in 43 persons accepting Islam on that very night. Shia holiday has seen constantly towards the world delivering lectures in that except aimed
at removing distortions about Islam and Muslims, conducting our training courses and providing new Muslims with a specially designed Islamic training program. Shahada dr scene is committed to raising the consciousness of the Muslims to fulfill the responsibility of Dawa and the establishment of the Islamic revival. Concluding his lecture we will have our question and answer session for all those that have questions. The cards and pens are available in your envelopes. And the speakers will come out and you can address the question to whatever speaker you would like and present the questions they'll be recited by me and answered by our honored guests without any further ado, share holiday
in Alhamdulillah, Hamden, Catherine for Eva Mubarak and Fie,
hungry Lai salatu wa salam O Allah Seder, Mustafa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
wala Allah, Allah, he was happy he was what he was about.
Dear brothers and sisters, guests,
neighbors, relatives,
fellow Americans,
we honored to have the opportunity to address you this evening, and we're so elated, that every seat is full.
And if it doesn't seem like every seat is full, they are
some of the seats have filled with people and perhaps the rest are filled with angels.
Because the prophets last them said no people gather together in any places, reciting from the book of a law or remembering Allah subhanaw taala or gathered as we are gathering here for the purposes to please God, but that Allah He dispatches angels to send, to spread over them and to give them
greetings Have mercy and, and, and Sakina. To grant grant them feelings of repose. And that Allah subhanho wa Taala. He He is what those angels say that is those angels will go back up to the throne of Allah and recite the names of those people who are there. And not that a lot needs those angels to do that. But he has dispatched them for that purpose. So we are very pleased and we thankful to Almighty God that any few or many people came to hear this presentation. The people assembled in this auditorium this evening have come for different reasons. I know that some were attracted by the unusual theme Islam and America, it is unusual. We could have said Islam in America, we could have
said Muslims in America, we could have said Muslims and Muslims and America, we could have said many things. But we said Islam and America because Islam is a noun. And America is a noun. Both of those nouns need to be qualified. The other thing is that we wanted for the first time we want to initiate
a movement, a conceptual movement to put Islam and America in the minds of every American Islam and America. Not Islam versus America, America versus Islam or with some kind of controversy or some kind of antagonism? No, we wanted to say Islam and America because we believe that Islam is good for America. And we believe that America has some very good prospects for the Muslim world. And I hope to expound upon that in the course of my discussion this evening. I know that some people who came because they were religiously or politically motivated, and that's okay. Still, yet others are genuinely concerned or curious about the Islamic
Faith, or they have some very strong feelings about the future of America. All of those reasons, are good reasons for being here this evening. Invariably, most of us here are Americans of varying persuasions. That is the main reason why we launched this particular campaign because we think that there are enough Muslims that are conscious Americans, not just Muslims who have become Americans from the definition of citizenship, but conscious Americans who believe that they have a right to question and they have a right to participate in the direction and, and in the legacy and in the future of this country.
For myself, I'm a Native American, born into a poor family of Christian background, I decided to embrace the Islamic faith about 42 years ago. It is my faith that drives me to make these comments this evening. But it is my citizenship as an American, that makes me feel obliged to do so.
I have to admit that most of my adult life, I was justifiably conditioned to be angry at my country.
A country that brutally enslaved my forefathers, and designated their descendants whom I'm a part of, to a perpetual cycle of poverty. That's their plan, but a lot of plans better.
Yet, as I traveled the world and grew older,
I was able to see and appreciate how truly fortunate I am to be an American. Now, some Muslims may not feel like that, and I don't care if they don't feel that way. I'm expressing what I feel, I think, after traveling the world and visiting more than 37 countries, I say for myself, that
I feel truly fortunate to be an American. In fact, I am grateful to Almighty God to have the best of both worlds, that is to be a Muslim, and to be an American. With that statement, I want to begin my presentation on the theme of Islam and America.
Now, I have to admit, the task is challenging, and loaded with controversy. Yet, in my humble opinion, serious and constructive dialogue has to be initiated.
Because Islam is and will continue to be a central issue in American society. No one can deny that. And no one is able to reverse that.
The two speakers before me have done a wonderful and effective job of identifying the values and the sources of both Islam as a faith system and America as a society. They have also touched upon some of the critical issues and challenges facing Muslims in the American society and American in general.
If someone were to comment, that there are a lot of serious problems facing Muslims in their own countries around the world, I would certainly agree, and I think those same problems in the Muslim countries inevitably, impact upon us right here in America, Muslims will condemn the American foreign policy.
And Americans will condemn the Muslim reactions to that foreign policy. But I ask,
Where will this cycle of blaming, and this blanket of atmosphere or this blanket and atmosphere of denial, where will it lead us?
Because the real issues, and the real problems facing this country have nothing to do with necessarily the American foreign policy, or the Muslim reaction to that.
If we examine the source documents of this country, and what I mean by the source documents of this country, which serve as a mission statement for the founding fathers in the early pioneers and visionaries of this country, the source documents are the Declaration of Independence, the the Bill of Rights and the preamble to the American Constitution. And I advise and I encourage every Muslim who is an American, I advise you to reread the Bill of Rights to reread the preamble to the American Constitution, to reread the Declaration of Independence. And if you haven't read it, and you're an American citizen, I say Shame on you.
Because we have to judge a nation, not by its buildings, and by its progress and by the things that we see we have to judge a nation by its source documents because that is what they claim and that is what they said, and that is what they have documented to say this country is built upon.
We have to judge a religion by its scripture. Not
by the people who say they follow it. And we have to judge America by its source documents.
We will have to be in denial, or we would have to be dishonest if we did not arrive at an agree with the conclusion that based upon what we see today,
what we are experiencing today, and what was written in the Declaration of Independence and what is in the preamble to the Constitution, and what is in the Bill of Rights, we would have to say today that America is in serious trouble. Using the analogy of a house on fire, it is absolutely futile for the inhabitants of that house to begin blaming each other or arguing about who said the fire.
I can also use another analogy. America is like the Titanic. It went out on a virgin voyage, full of arrogance and pomp and glitter. Of course, America's virgin voyage is 230 years old. But yet and still America is still to the world on its virgin voyage, full of pump and pull pull of glitter and arrogance, and not thinking to themselves, that they have set their boat out on the ocean of the world. And so the Titanic, the Titanic went out. And what happened while they were enjoying themselves while they were full of pomp and glitter, and while they were dancing and singing then and thinking about where they were going to go in about this beautiful boat that they were on. Lo
and behold, it hit an iceberg.
So history tells us that when the Titanic hit the iceberg, within two and a half hours, this ship
that people said was unsinkable. it sank in two and a half hours, and only a few people were saved. I say that America is a ship out on the ocean. It has hit an iceberg. And it will sink very soon unless the people that are part of this country, straighten it up.
Unless we straighten it up unless we correct it. Because America has hit an iceberg.
Let me go through a few things. To emphasize my point.
As of September
of this year, the United States of America has $8 trillion in national debt. Now, if you don't understand what $8 trillion of national debt means, I'm going to give you some ways that if you were to divide the national debt by 300 million people who are the population of America, it means that every American citizen that is born, that is living right now and will be born this year, is born
with $30,000 of debt just by being an American. Now on top of that you have the debts that you will concur as you live, and most of us have at least 50 or $60,000 additional debt to that I say America is in trouble.
American public is crippled with two epidemic diseases, which the government has chosen to exploit rather than to eliminate those two diseases are alcoholism and gambling. I want to give you some statistics regarding that. 90% of the Americans drink alcohol and nearly 15% that is 45 million a problem drinkers.
There are nearly 5 million teenagers in America who are problem drinkers in the United States and over 100,000 people die every year directly related to alcohol.
The average American Gamble's 8000 of their hard earned dollars every year.
50 million Americans gamble every single day, and more than $50 billion
is spent annually in America on gambling. Now, if you want to understand what kind of revenue that is, and why the government took over gambling about 15 years ago, let me tell you why.
Because $50 billion is more than the combined profits of US Steel,
General Motors, General Electric and 100 of the largest companies in America. That is why the government took over gambling, and that's why the government will not stop it. And that is why 50 million Americans gamble at least 8000 of their dollars every single year. In the USA, one in every five Americans will die of a smoking related disease. 420,000 people die every year from cigarette smoking. I said 420,000 people die every year from cigarette smoking. Not that many people died in World War One. Not that many people died in World War Two
tobacco companies in the USA contribute
To 5 million deaths every year worldwide, that is more people die from tobacco worldwide than all the drugs, all the alcohol and all the wars in the last 30 years.
crime statistics tell us that there are 2 million inmates in prison throughout America. That means one out of every 150 Americans are in a prison today.
murder, *, robbery, *, child molestation, I don't have to tell you about that.
I don't have to tell you about child molestation and * in America. And shame on the churches in America that they themselves have been silent about this issue. And in some cases, they have been the direct perpetrators of
child molestation extortion, white collar crime, drug trafficking is increasing in this country at an alarming rate. I say America is in trouble. There are some 650,000 forcible rapes in America to understand this 59,000 rapes take place every month. 1900 take place every day, at take place every hour. That is why we are sitting here today. 150 rapes have taken place in America already. And before I finished, another 80 rapes will take place in America. And also that means 1.5 rapes take place in America every single day, every single minute. Only 20% of these rapes are officially reported and prosecuted 62% of all pregnant and parenting adolescent girls in America have
experienced molestation or * before their first pregnancy. I say that America is in trouble. Domestic Violence cost the American public 5.8 billion every year for direct medical and medical care services. That is 85 to 95% of all victims of domestic violence are women. So when the Americans want to talk about women being second class citizens and and the statute about women in wearing the hijab and you know, women are backwards and we are oppressing women, I say, compare the statistics. And be honest, let's bring it out in the open. I said
5.8 billion every year is spent in America for direct medical and medical care services for the 85 to 95%. Of all victims who are women of domestic violence in America, nearly 6 million women are abused every year.
The leading cause of injury for American women
is domestic abuse. There are over 75,000 child abductions in the USA every year, two out of every 10 girls and one out of every 10 boys in America will be molested before their 13th birthday. More than 750,000 molestations were reported to the police and entered into FBI National Crime computers in 1993 alone. 2000 children are missing in America every day. There is a growing trend of mass murders by children the age of 15 to 16, who,
for no apparent reason,
decided to bring high powered automatic weapons to their school and with premeditation, with planning,
murder their classmates, the school staff, and then after that killed themselves I say that America is in trouble. Seven out of 10 children 10 years old and up listen to gangsta rap and play video games which conditioned them to kill curse, disregard their parents social authority or moral parameters for every hour of schoolwork that American children do. They are listening to CDs, iPods, watching videos, and playing video games for six hours for every one hour they do classwork in America. The * business in America is 10 bill is a $10 billion industry, which equals that of the movie music and sports industries together. DirecTV alone makes nearly 500 million a year
from adult content on their network. * dominates the internet. If you typed the word * on the Google search engine, you will get 180 million hits just for that one time that you put the word * there on Google. I say America is in trouble. A very immoral, dishonest and imperialistic foreign policy has made the USA one of the most hated countries in the world and the most polarized country
At home, civil liberties are being compromised in favor of a 21st century global police state. This is the new initiative of a group called the New American Century, America is in trouble. The majority of Americans have inadequate or no medical coverage and most Americans who are senior citizens will spend most of their lives the rest of their lives living below the poverty level on social security and pension checks. Although they have invested 40 or 50 years of their lives to support the so called American dream. In the year 2006, hardly 15% of all American homes can say that the family eats dinner or breakfast together.
Isn't that a shame?
15% of the American homes
only 15% can say that they eat breakfast or dinner together.
Where has the breakfast and dinner, dinner table gone? It has been replaced with McDonald's Burger King and Pizza Hut.
In fact, most families rarely sit together at all. Except to watch television occasionally.
With 63% of marriages ending up in divorce after two and a half years, with 26 million abortions every year. Think about that 26 million abortions in America every year.
And with same * marriage being force fed upon Americans, that is whether we like it or not.
It is projected
that 8% of the marriages in America 10 years from now will be same * marriages.
Therefore I say the traditional family in America has all been disintegrated. The bottom is falling out of America. The core American values found in every court and inscribed upon every currency In God we trust. I wonder who we are and what god they're talking about.
It has vanished.
And we live in a country
where it's okay for young people to have promiscuous *. It's okay for promiscuous * to be promoted in the school. But yet we're living in a country where prayer has been outlawed in the school.
The church, the synagogue and the mosque are silent and sterile, in the face of a very blatant and aggressive campaign of hedonism. And if we don't understand what the word hedonism or Hedden ism is, it means the in ordinate
commitment to the fulfilment of physical pleasures,
the death march towards an all consuming devotion to pleasure.
And an overwhelming commitment to the acquisition and amassing of material wealth has brought with it the consequences of a pathological immorality and intellectual arrogance. And morality is the absence and the denial of the consideration of the human obligation towards Almighty God. And morality is the chief symptom of rebellion and rejection of divine mandates and the
human tendency to disregard the fact that they are not the rulers or the creators of themselves.
The American society is sharing
and manifesting the same symptoms of ingratitude and deviation, as other great civilizations in history before them have displayed before their pathetic and dramatic demise. I say that America is in trouble. Yes, America is the leader of the world. It has the most powerful economy, the most powerful military, the most powerful, sophisticated, technologically and scientific institutions. It has produced the most powerful and prolific transnational corporations. And if Ford to its citizens, most of them the highest guarantees of civil liberties, yet, it is facing perhaps one of the most challenging tasks in its 230 year history. America and Americans must decide whether they will
respond to the voices of conscience whether they will respond to
the divine scripture of Almighty God. They are diversified voices
calling for a change in the society and a mall reformation. And in my humble opinion, all of these voices must be listened to, even if we don't agree with their overall projection or platform, we have to listen to everyone who is calling for moral reform of this country. And I have myself personally, in the last six months,
I have read and listened to at least 30 or 40 of the major voices calling for reform in this country.
And I have personally evaluated their diversified opinions. And many of them I have chosen to respectfully but strongly differ with people like pat robertson and Jerry Falwell and Robert Spencer and David Piper and people like this. I have decided to respectfully differ with them, but they do have one of those voices.
I also have listened to people like Noam Chomsky and Robert Pilcher and George Galloway, the so called New socialists and I have glean something from them, but I say to them, you have to come back to God. It is not just about the society. I have listened to people like Dr.
Zaid, shackled, and brother,
our Imam Hamza Yusuf and and others who have presented and intellectual paradigm for America on the basis of morality. And I say, we have to listen to all the voices and we cannot reject any I have listened to Brother Ibrahim Hooper, the voice of the people called care. I have listened to them. I've listened to them carefully. I've listened to Muzammil sidiki. I've also listened to our president, what's his name?
Oh, Mr. Bush.
I've listened to many of these voices. And I have evaluated their diversified opinions. And as I said, I have chosen to respectfully and strongly differ with some of them yet, I realize
that most of these voices consider themselves to be a part of the Moral Majority of this country. And I say that this country has a moral majority. And it is not just all Christians, or not just all Jews or, or not just all just Americans who have those kinds of backgrounds, Muslims form a part of the Moral Majority of America, I believe that most Americans, irrespective of their conditioned prejudices, and human shortcomings are basically decent, and moral minded and hard working people. I choose to appeal to all of these people of the Moral Majority. This is what my message is about. This is whom I'm directing it towards. For the most part, I am suggesting that we, the Moral
Majority of this country, the Americans who are concerned about this country, the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, the Buddhists, the Hindus, and anyone who has a moral platform platform and is concerned about this country, I'm suggesting that we engage in the business of mending moral fences. I think that we each need to begin mending the fences of our personal lives, our families, our neighborhoods, our particular congregations, our, our particular political constituents. And inevitably, we need to begin mending the moral fences of the American society. To do this, we must overcome religious, intellectual and political bigotry and political chauvinism. We must allow and
encourage everyone and I say everyone to reform and repent, we have to leave room for everyone to reform and to repent, whether those incarcerated and though and whether those incarcerated or those in the free society whether those in the ghettos are those on Capitol Hill, whether those in the church, the synagogue, the mosque, or those in the street, we must be aware that there are evil persons and terrorists in the government, and demoss in the synagogues and the churches.
They use their political and religious camouflage to assassinate leaders and assassinate their characters. They are the ones who profit the most from war and human suffering. They are the war mongers and they are the modern day Crusaders, and they are the political and religious vampires and parasites of our nation. I believe that the religious institutions and religious leaders in America for the most part they have failed America.
They have failed America, because they have not come together and put together a moral alternative for America. They have only put together a platform for their particular group or their particular constituency or for their particular church. No, I say that's not enough. nor can the Muslims be satisfied by simply saying that we are Muslims, and that we follow the Quran, and that we follow Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, no, we Muslims, who are living and enjoying ourselves in America, we have to put together a moral alternative for America. And we have to take into consideration the participation of all of the people who consider themselves part of the Moral Majority. I say that we
must insist upon the true voice and message of Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, I say that we must insist upon the true voice and message of Moses, we must insist upon the true voice and message of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them. Now I cannot speak for the followers of Jesus Christ or les slim, I cannot speak for the followers of Moses or les slim, but I can speak for the followers of that final prophet and messenger of Almighty God, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that is because I am a Muslim, and scripture and and I can say that the scriptural morality
that is in the Quran.
And the scriptural morality that this nation is in need of is found in the Quran. And I can say that the systemic morality that I can offer to my country is what I have found in the system of Islam. And I can say that the human example of morality that I can offer, the people of America is the profound character of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that is why I have embarked upon challenging
the American people. And I have embarked upon the challenging task of placing Islam and America as the subject as a consideration and a proposition, because I believe that America is a house on fire. And I believe that America is in trouble. And I believe that following the graphic analogy, of the people in the house, cannot afford to waste time blaming the graphic analogy that America is a house on fire, the people in the house of America, they cannot afford time to waste time blaming, accusing and arguing about who set the fire. No, first and foremost, all of us who are concerned Americans, we have to put our collective moral resources together to do what to put out the fire. I cannot
speak for Americans of other persuasions, but I can confidently say that the Quran has the water to put out the fire of immorality in America. And I can say that the Quran has the medicine to provide the healing that America is in need of. And I can personally say that the court has the nutrition to provide the new strength that the Americans and America needs today. Now there are those who will tell you and who will say that Islam is a pariah for the American society. They will say that we Muslims, we are terrorists, they will say that we are fanatics. And they will claim that we are extremists, and they will even dare to compare us with historical fascism. Mr. Bush, shame on you.
You have shown
the highest level of ignorance and disregard for the Islamic faith that any president of this country has ever shown. And you have shown your own ignorance even of history of the or the or the English language Shame on you.
I realize that they will claim that their sole nature is to protect America from a clear and present danger. They will preach their hatred of Islam in the name of God, and they will slander, insult and vilify the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam and the Islamic faith also in the name of Jesus. First of all, I say and I think that you will agree with me that this kind of behavior, slandering, insulting and vilifying historical and religious personalities. I think that this kind of behavior is not only ungodly, but if I might say it is also unchristian. Furthermore,
it is totally unAmerican and unconstitutional to suggest that some American citizens should be denied a voice in participation in the social and political process of this country simply because they are Muslims or because of their
For the record,
we want to say that there is only one core and for the entire world of 1.6 billion Muslims, Christians and Jews, you cannot say that.
And it is the most widely read and in demand book in the world. And if you don't believe that, go to your Google gaggle Giggler, whatever you like and check it out.
called Waterstones called Barnes and Noble. Call the top libraries in this world, call the top booksellers in this world and ask them what is the most well read books in the world and which book is the most in demand in the entire world, they will tell you if they are honest, it is the court.
It is the only Sacred Scripture that has produced and sustained a functional civilization with clear guidelines for the executive, the judiciary and the legislative branches. For the record, we want to say that the life character and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam, has been documented in greater detail than any other world personality in recorded history. Therefore, hundreds of highly trained biographers, historians, and lay persons have had have had open under the unabated opportunity to comprehensive and objective research for their purposes to examine the life and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him. For the record, Islam as
a faith system evolved to a status of a sovereign political state only 23 years after the first revelation of the court and started in the year 610 ad. It remained as a sovereign political state,
under the guidance of the court and and under the guidance of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam until the last part of the 15th century. That means over 800 years, the Quran provided this world with a sovereign political state, with an example and a paradigm of the executive, the judiciary, and the legislative branches for the world to see.
That sovereign political state included two thirds of the entire world at its height. It should also be noted that it was the same Islamic civilization that gave birth or Renaissance to the European civilizations who were previously experiencing what is popularly referred to as the very dark ages.
We don't need to defend the Quran. We don't need to defend the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam or the Islamic faith from the people who slander, insult or vilify, neither will we reciprocate their foul behavior, their hatred and enmity towards Islam is a very complex historical pathology that is best treated with honorable disregard and avoidance. We do however, challenge anyone.
We challenge anyone who cares to accept our challenge to open public dialogue on the authenticity and the viability of the code and in today's world, or the phenomenon, or the moral example of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam. We think that this is the most dignified way to resolve prospective and perceived conflicts and misunderstandings. We want to make a call to any American intellectual or any American leader, or any critic of Islam, or anyone who was slandering or vilifying Islam or the Prophet Mohammed, salaam, slim, come out of your Roach closets come out in the open, come out and sit down with open and clear dialogue, bring your evidence and bring your
proof and then also bring your moral alternative for America. For the record, I urge every Muslim to exhibit the very best manners to be tolerant and to be moderate with all people under all circumstances. And in response to all issues. Islam is against all extremism and fanaticism, which inevitably aggregates aggravates and exacerbates all human conflicts. Islam as against all forms of terror, whether wholesale terror perpetuated by nation states, or retail terror perpetuated by angry and frustrated individuals.
nation state terror has claimed 43 million lives in the last 300 years.
nation state terror has claimed 43 million lives in the last 300 years.
Visual terror, as it has been defined today. Since 1948, individual terror perpetuated by angry and frustrated individuals have claimed the lives of 68,000 people. Now you tell me, if that is not a description of wholesale terror, and retail terror.
For the record, I urge every Muslim to be socially responsible and visibly engaged in presenting the welfare of this country, and all of its citizens, all Muslims.
It is immoral, it is unfair. And it is negligent for you and me to be in this country, benefiting from its resources, eating from its institutions, seeking refuge and asylum from its government apparatus. It is unfair, it is immoral. And it is negligent on the part of us not to have a genuine concern for this country.
All Muslims, not to do so is to be selfish and clearly ungrateful for the assets and the liberties available and reasonably guaranteed all Americans, so therefore, it is Muslim Americans and other Americans who have to look at this problem and join their hands together. I didn't say join the religions together, I said join their hands and their resources together. And we challenge any and all fellow Americans to compete with us in our responsibility towards decent, dignified and mutually productive citizenship, and genuine concern for the welfare of this country. We encourage every American to read the code and with an open mind and an open heart.
Removing if they are able every prejudgment and every preconditioning and every subjectivity. I encourage every American to read, assess and compare the life, the mission and the message of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon them. You should research examine and critique until you are able to make your own conclusions. Use the same criteria to compare and measure all other historical personalities in the world, past and present with the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them and see what conclusions you come up with. I believe that when the Quran is read sincerely, and when the human example of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is reviewed
sincerely, and when the facts concerning Islam are known, without misconceptions, without distortions,
the misconceptions and the distortions that are disseminated by ignorant or ill mannered Muslims or non Muslims, the results will be what we are witnessing in America today.
Since September 11,
a date that America wants to carve and burn into the consciousness of everybody in the world, as if nobody died before September 11. And nobody died since.
But if America wants to use September 11
as a benchmark,
then let's use it as a benchmark.
Let's look at this statistic.
Since 911, Muslims have been splattered and battered, their countries have been shattered. Muslims have been debased they have been disgraced Muslim lands have been abused and went into and raped and robbed and stolen killed and innocent Muslim dogs have been kicked down and thrown into prison and Muslims have been talked about in the worst circles and and the worst man is all over this world. The headlines are full every single day of spurious
and
filty. Regards towards Muslims.
In fact, you can't think of the word Islam you can't think of the word Muslim without thinking of at least three or four or five other filthy adjectives like terrorism fanatic extremists, so focus on when you think Islam you think dark you think dirty you think somebody's gonna rob you kill you capture you. That's because
we have been ourselves become hostages of a very prejudiced administration, which has corrupted the American media
But in spite of that, the evil people, the corrupt people, they plot and plan, but God also plans
since 911, five years, over 200,000 Americans have embraced Islam
just this year, which is not over yet. 78,000 people have embraced Islam. The two brothers who just spoke before me.
They remove the persona, and the stereotype that many people think that the people entering Islam, they are African American, or they're Hispanic or they're from the ghetto or they are disenfranchised or they are dysfunctional, or they are they are, they are well, our brother uses comes from a middle class family from Boston.
Our brother, Dr. Dirks,
comes from a rural community in
Kansas.
They are as much Muslim as anyone in the world.
And they are as much American as any American.
And they are part of the phenomenon of people that are entering Islam, in spite of the conspiracy against Islam.
I believe that America desperately needs and deserves a new moral alternative to reform and repair its spiritual vision, to revitalize and inspire a national initiative to arrest and resist every diabolical and parasitic element that promotes and profiteers from immoral enterprise. I believe that America and Americans, we don't need to look forward to find that alternative. The alternative is here, right in your face, and we must seize the opportunity. Today,
we must begin to speak about Islam and America, without antagonism, we must begin to speak about Islam and America without anger, without prejudice, and without animosity. Islam is not the enemy of America, and Americans are not necessarily the enemies of Islam, as many on both sides of the spectrum would want us to believe. I believe it has been demonstrated that Islam is good for America, and that America has shown from its industrial
productivity. America has shown that it has much to contribute to the Muslim world. The Muslim world can learn much from the institutional morality of America, the institutional values and resources of America, but America has much to learn from Islam. There are the MENA elements of the Muslims and non Muslims, who would have their own personal and ideological agendas. And who will oppose and attempt to frustrate this kind of Proposition.
They want the conflict to continue.
They want the war to continue. They want a Muslim holy war, if that's what they call it, and they want a Christian Crusade, if that's what they want to call it, they want that because that is the only thing that will justify their narrow agendas.
I say
we have to oppose
these narrow types of crusades, we should not be deceived. And we should not be discouraged by these kinds of adversaries, either from the ranks of the Muslims of the ranks of the non Muslims. I say we have to embark upon this mission in order to foster and cultivate a strong and lasting relationship between Islam and America. Our relationship consisting of complementing values, compounded resources, and a nation of people committed to moral reformation. We believe that this relationship is critical, not only for the American society, but this relationship is critical for the modern world which America has so much impact upon.
I'm not calling for a one world religion,
or one world state.
I'm calling for America and the world to look at Islam. Why? Because it is sent by God. It is a
message sent to America by God, the handwriting is on the walls, and Muslims are in every place in America, America will not be able to say that the message of God, the message of the Quran, the message of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them, oh, the message of the example of Islam did not come to them, it has come, it has arrived. And Americans need to listen.
I asked the Almighty God to be a witness to what we have proposed here today.
And to approve our sincere intentions. We asked the Muslims and non Muslims who are here today to ratify our proposition and to transmit this message to their families, their friends, their colleagues, their neighbors, and their co workers.
Dear brothers and sisters,
we are honored
to have had this opportunity to address you.
I speak on behalf of message international and the Islamic Information Network. I speak on behalf of the two speakers who spoke before myself. I speak on behalf of all the Muslim leaders I believe in America, I speak on behalf of many Americans that I have spoken to, we are asking you to be a part of this proposition and to look for and to speak for
this kind of Proposition. We are committed to giving this kind of a presentation all over the Northeast. And then after that, we will move to the southeast. And then after that we will move to the Midwest. And we will move to the northwest and down to the southwest until this proposition has reached every major city in America because we believe this proposition is what Americans need. And we believe this is the proposition that will put Islam and America on the front. And that everyone will be able to examine it for themselves. And everybody will be able to make their own determination, their own critique. And this is what America is about receiving information and
digesting information and making decisions for themselves.
There will be a question and answer period.
And I
would encourage the non Muslims to ask the most critical question that you would like to ask because this is the time to do so. The other thing is that
we
invite you to go to our websites.
We will provide you with all of our websites so that you can go there and visit and see the projects that we are working on. I specifically invite you to go to the websites so that you can get a transcript of the lectures that we're giving here today, because each one of the speakers were required to present to make their presentation in the form of a transcript. Because in many cases, speakers come and speak to us, but we don't have any reference of it later on. So one of the things that we're doing, and this series that we're going to do all over the country, is that we're going to be inviting different speakers, and not always Muslim speakers, we're going to be inviting
different speakers to come and make a presentation to the American public on a subject of Islam and America. And we're going to ask them to do it in a transcript form so that when they finish, and people go home, if people have questions and respond and reactions and opinions about what they've had to say, they can go to the website, they can download it, and they have the transcript of it right in front of them. Also,
we say that every new non Muslim that is in here in the room tonight. This was really more for you than it was for anyone else can I see the hands please of the non Muslims who are in the audience tonight, please? 1-234-567-8910 1112 1314. So there are maybe some 1415 and according to our list outside looked like it was about 30 maybe some left and maybe some just don't want to raise their hands but the non Muslims that are here tonight, we want to say to you that you were our target population.
We spent over $50,000 this month targeting non Muslims.
We put up billboards, we put an advertisement in new york times we put an advertisement on 1010 wins. We put an advertisement on the what is called channel channel one. Is that what it's called New York one.
We we sent out posters and postcards and announcements and everything and we spent all that we were able to spend to target non Muslim neighbors, colleagues, coworkers, we
love
In 25, or 26, Islamic centers this month, all over the tri state area, asking encouraging Muslims who worked with who lived next to who go to school with who benefit from who take money from, who interact with every single day, non Muslims to just ask them, purchase the ticket and invite a non Muslim. And if you don't have the money, invite a non Muslim, and we will give them the seat for free.
I feel a bit ashamed
that the half a million Muslims that live in New York City, I said a half a million.
Neither are they concerned
or motivated
to present Islam to America.
But we're not discouraged.
Because it's not about quantity. It's about quality. And we're about networking and team building.
So I think that God has blessed us with the amount of people that came.
And we will get a team that will broaden our team, we will get people that will volunteer and we will get leaders that will commit themselves and we will get non Muslims who will also join us and we will get a lot of dialogue back and forth together. So we will broaden the platform. And we will learn a lot more when we get to Brooklyn College that will accommodate to 2500 people.
And we will get better when we get to Jacob Javits Center where we can address 15 to 20,000 people. But that's where we're going. Because we believe that this thing is critical for America, it is critical for the Muslims, and it's critical for the non Muslims.
And I
would like to ask,
because at the end of the day, as they say, in the UK, we say the bottom line in America.
The bottom line,
what we want to convey to the non Muslim Americans
is that we think that America and Americans need to come back to monotheism.
They need to bear witness that there's none to be worship except Almighty God. We believe ultimately, that if they were to come back to monotheism, if they were to come back to Scripture, if they were to come back to the mall example of profits, and in particular, the final prophet Mohammed Salah Zim, that will lead them to the Islamic conclusion.
We're not saying that all Americans should be or need to be Muslims, we're saying that that is our proposition.
But minimally, we're asking him to be our allies. In this moral proposition. I asked the non Muslims who are present here this evening.
How many of you,
in your gut feeling in your heart agree with this moral proposition?
Can I see a show of hands 1-234-567-8910 11 almost all,
that's a good sign.
Because if you believe in the moral proposition, in general,
that it means that you are headed down the same path that we are headed, and that your voice will start to blend with our voices. And one day, you may even pray as we pray. And you may even think as we think you may also decide to conform yourselves to monotheism,
you may make that commitment
to bear witness that there's nothing to be worshipped except Almighty God, you may be willing to make that commitment that Mohammed, that final prophet of all the other prophets of Almighty God, with that mold example, that he is, in fact, the prophet and messenger of Almighty God, you may be willing to accept the premises of Islam. And that is a proposition within itself. And I would ask,
Is there any non Muslim in the room this evening?
That would accept the premises of the Islamic proposition?
Can I see a show of hands please?
Any non Muslim that will accept the premise that there is nothing to be worshipped except the Almighty God. And to accept the premise of the moral example of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him? Is there any non
Muslim that would accept that proposition One.
One.
Please, if there is please raise your hand so I can see it 234
Okay, those three or four?
Would you just because we have five minutes? Would you just come up here with me please, for a minute, please. Now if it's a lady, I don't want you to have to come up here and be in front of all these men, you don't have to, if it's a lady that that has that commitment, that she could just come sit in that seat over here, but the others, please just come up here with me for a moment, just please join me, if you have a problem coming up stage, just come up front here sitting at front row. You know, if I told you people that who made that commitment that I had some money to give you, you would mind come up on the stage
just comes down.
Now, I just want to make it clear that that I asked this impromptu. This wasn't part of the agenda. This wasn't part of the plan. We're not Jehovah's Witnesses, we don't knock on doors and knock on hearts. We're not trying to save the world. All we're trying to do is convey the moral premise of Islam and tried to call Americans back to their moral responsibility. But we cannot just simply talk about morality, and not offer people the key and the door to enter to collect the treasures of Islam. Because Islam doesn't belong to Arabs, or Asians, or Africans or anyone. Islam is the treasure of the Almighty, it is a treasure that he offered the entire world. So whenever I go and
talk, and there are some non Muslims there, I always ask them to share in the treasure of Islam, because I feel then that I have conveyed my I have fulfilled a part of my responsibility. Now it is my experience that whenever non Muslims gathered to hear this kind of talk, usually
10%
they accept.
It always happens. 10% always responds, this means that Muslims, we're not doing our job. Because we have on the list about 30 non Muslims that signed that receives a free ticket and came in. And how many people do we have here?
344. So this is proof. These four people are people just like you and I.
We never we didn't talk to them before. We didn't set nothing up. We didn't offer them any money.
They didn't come here specifically with the idea to embrace Islam.
But I think that if we Muslims were to become unselfish, and insensitive, and concerned about the American people and the American society. And not just with whether people want to become Muslims or not. I think that you're going to find that people just like what's your name brother, Rashid, Rashid, and Michael, Michael.
Carlos.
So
these people, I want them to recite with me, the kalama
the words that allow each one of us to share the treasure of Islam. I want them to recite this calendar with me. And I want everyone here to be a witness of that. Okay. And I'm going to say this kalama in Arabic. And after that, I'm going to translate it into English. I said in Arabic the same way when you go to a doctor and he writes a prescription for you and send you over to his cousin, the pharmacists.
He writes a prescription in Latin, is that right? And you don't know what it says but you trust him. So I'm going to say now because I want you to trust me, but I'm going to translate it for you.
Okay, it is the saying of after me. La Ilaha
La ilaha
illAllah
Muhammad
Rasulullah
ash hadoo
and La
ilaha
illallah
wa de
la sharika lahu wash hadoo
anna Muhammadan
Abdu who wore a Zulu Salah last
Holm alayhi wa sallam, you said, In the first part, there is nothing to be worshipped except Almighty God. And that Muhammad is the Messenger of Almighty God.
Everyone here except that,
then you said, I bear witness, I openly testify
that there is none to be worship except Almighty God that He is one without any partner. And I bet witness and I openly testify that Mohammed is his obedient servant and Messenger. And you said Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. Do you accept that? Okay. Well, any one of you Christians before Christians, you come from a Christian background, Christian background, Christian background, about yourself, brother, family, okay. So I want you to say after me, because it's very clear for us to know that we don't worship Jesus. And we don't say Jesus is God.
That I bear witness, I bear witness
that Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the word from God,
and a spirit sent into men
and that she was pure.
Okay, Muslims.
We want you to greet your new Muslim brothers and your Muslim sisters.
I want to thank brother Rashid. And I want to thank sister Teresa and brother Carlos, and I'm sorry, brother, my brother Mike. Okay, I want to thank each one of you.
Before we leave tonight, we have a room not the upper room.
But we have another room, you please come downstairs and be our guest in that room. And if there are non Muslims here who didn't come forward, please, before you leave, come join us in the room downstairs where we can have a little bit more one on one discussion, and follow up on the issues that we're talking about and you guys can go back to your seats inshallah.
I would, I would ask the average st Muslim sisters please, to sit next to sister Teresa and escort her
escort her to the room that we have for our further and special discussion. I also would like to say at this point, that it is extremely important brothers and sisters, the message international is a unique organization. It is a young organization, but a very dynamic organization that has embarked upon a commitment to make sure that every American who wants a copy of the code and that we put it in their hands and put it in their houses and we are delivering 6000 code ends every month. And we are finding that out of those 6000 code ends that we are delivering every month we are finding that 600 Americans are accepting Islam from those 6000 call ends every month, we are also finding that we
are distributing 10,000 of the books called the know the messenger sallallahu wasallam. No the messenger of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings upon we are delivering 10,000 of those books every month. And we are finding that some people who receive just this book called know the messenger so a lot of them they are accepting Islam just from that. So Muslims we are asking you and we're asking the non Muslims who are sitting here tonight, we're asking you to show your appreciation your support for the message international now a graduate of the University of Oman quarter in Mecca and one of our scholars, we thank him very much for taking the time him and Iam
alameen for coming. Thank you so much inshallah. Brothers and sisters. We will complete the this session and move on to the questions and answers. I want to thank you very much for your patience and for your tolerance for salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
We're going to begin in sha Allah The first question, sir brother Youssef says, Mr. Brandon, what triggered the conversion to Islam for you.
I meant to cover this in more detail. I got to talk about my talk. So I'll cover it briefly.
For many years before I even had anything whatsoever to any interest in Islam, I have been studying the Gospels than before New Testament gospels that survive Quran you can just help put the book into the right structure. So I made this agreement with the publisher. And having made that commitment, I said, Well, now I'm going to write this book about the Quran, I better read it. And that was, that was the beginning of my journey to Islam. I've found myself coming back over and over and over again to the message of the Quran is very magnetic, very powerful, speaking to me personally, about my relationship with God. And there's a verse in court
It says something to the effect of this. Other people know the exact wording I that I'm paraphrasing here, the effect that in the in the verses of the Quran, you have a way to determine what's true and false in the previous scriptures. And this was my direct experience is that the verses in the New Testament that I felt certain had to be authentic, both from my own personal interpretation and the work of some of the best scholars in the world, aligned perfectly with the message of the Quran. And that was why it was a very powerful experience for me. And that's what changed my life was no individual that gave me doubt about this. It was initially it was the Quran, why don't Muslims stand
up to the media, when they misinterpret the Islamic faith? I
I for what to do. But you also have to appreciate that the most of the media has some selectivity in who they cover.
And it's been my experience that
the media has not always been very good or very faithful, in providing equal time to Muslims, to explain what Islam is actually all about.
So I think there are people out there who are doing it. But the media simply is not choosing to cover them, how should a non Muslim father be treated, who says he is not interested in coming and curses at it, but yet seems
to ask to always ask questions about Islam. I think that Father,
the father of that person, who has that experience, you have to be patient,
a child from a non Muslim family, who starts to read Islamic materials and starts to associate with Muslims, and starts gravitating towards a faith that many people are conditioned to think is terroristic or,
or to be extremist or fanatic or whatever, I think that's going to cause a bit of concern and trauma on the part of those parents, even if it is not justified. So I think that if we look at the early Muslims, they experienced that also. So I think that we should be patient, and understand that when you start talking about Islam and coming to Islamic events, and associating with Muslims, and you're a non Muslim, from a traditional Catholic family, or Buddhist or Hindu family, you should expect your family to take you out for dinner and congratulate you and say how great it is, know, be patient, and bear with them. And when your father or mother says things like that, be kinder to
them, reverse it on them,
do better chores in the house, do better, have get better grades in school, start show them that your interest in Islam is actually causing you to be a better human being. That's that's the way I would approach it. And that's what I would how I would advise you to approach it. And the bottom line is, be patient
should be seen as a Christian, I'm afraid to offend Jesus Christ by going directly to God, I feel I'm not worthy enough. Can any Can anyone elaborate on that feeling? And how I How can Islam fill up that feeling?
Well, just think about this, Jesus Christ, when he was asked about his performance of miracles, and how he did that. He, in one, on one occasion, clearly said, I can have my own self do nothing. So Jesus Christ absolved himself of being the receptor of prayers. He absolved himself of having any power to perform miracles. He never called himself God, he never asked to be worshipped. And when somebody called him good, he said, Why does he call me good? When there's nothing no one good except the one that is in heaven. So I mean, I think that if you really want to tune into Jesus Christ, make sure it's the right Jesus Christ, because there are people who lie on Jesus. And there's people
that misrepresent Jesus. And so there's two different or three, four or five different Jesus's in the world today. You got to make sure you find the Jesus of Scripture, and you're following the Jesus, who is the historical Jesus, who prayed towards God, who fell down on his face and worship God, and who said that, when he was asked by the people,
oh, Rabbi, teach us how to pray. He said, Our Father, who art in heaven, you know, Father from a spiritual
meaning Our Father who art in heaven, not not his personal Father, you know, hallowed be thy name, not my name. Thy kingdom come not My Kingdom Come on earth as it is in heaven. You see God's rule and and God
presence and God's domain and mandate is over the heavens and earth. Give us this day our daily bread. So he told me, he eats bread and his mother eat bread. Okay, he drinks water and his mother drinks water. So after you eat enough bread and water, you got to urinate and defecate so God didn't urinate and defecate, and then you just keep going with the Lord's Prayer. And you will see that Jesus Christ, the son of Mary was a man of Prophet and a messenger who prayed towards God. And if you want to follow Jesus, you got to pray exclusively to God. Will all my previous sins be forgiven? If I convert to Islam?
Yeah. Before brother used to answer that question.
I just want to make sure that that question was not asked by someone who already became a Muslim. Because if it wasn't, then after we asked the question, did we want that person
to come up here? Yeah, we want that person. You see, because we want to clarify that issue, and He will answer it very clearly. But we want to make sure that hamdulillah maybe that's another person who didn't want to come forward and wasn't clear. But they are almost like sitting like on the edge to collect this treasure called Islam. So brother use please. I did extensive research on this question before accepting Islam? And the answer is yes.
All of your sins will absolutely be forgiven.
Not all your debt.
Because you owe money, you can come into Islam and then you don't owe nobody.
But if you accept Islam, the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him said that accepting Islam eliminates and negates all the sins that you have done that between you and God.
Now, if there's something you did against people, you need to go to them and apologize and make amends. But whatever you have done between yourself and God, by accepting Islam, your slate is completely clean. And yes, God has forgiven you. That's what the brothers said, Shahada. What is one major difference between Christianity and Islam?
Is that it? What is the major? What is one major difference? Well, I think there's a major difference between Islam and Christianity. Islam insists upon the absolute
worship, recognition and submission to Almighty God without partners, whether those partners be
from from a point of idea whether those partners be from people or substances, any partners or for that matter, prophets or angels, that's one major difference are the other major difference, I think, between Islam and Christianity is that Islam takes its sources directly from the Quran. And directly from the example of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him where Christians take their sources from almost everybody and everything. If I could elaborate on that, there are several basic areas of disagreement.
But they're not that many actually. One is what is the nature of God? unity according to Islam, Trinity according to traditional Christianity. Secondly, what is the nature of Jesus? humanity according to Islam, combined humanity and divinity, according to traditional Christianity. third major issue is the crucifixion event. According to Islam, Jesus was not crucified. According to traditional Christianity, he was fourth major difference what was the mission and ministry of Jesus? According to the Quran, it was limited to the children of Israel. Traditional Christianity says it was a worldwide mission and ministry. The other disagreements would have to do with the status of
Muhammad as a prophet, Islam obviously saying yes, traditional Christianity saying no. The status of the Bible as divine revelation.
Islam basically saying, Wow, some things have been tampered with
traditional Christianity saying this is the word of God. And finally, what is the status of the Quran? Islamic course upholding the Quran as divine revelation, Christianity refusing to see it as such, who announced the coming of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi Salaam and what is the prophecy of Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam?
If you look at the Bible as it has been received today, there are numerous passages which Muslims will look at and say
Well, that's obviously describing Prophet Muhammad.
Christians, quite frankly, will often look at the same passages and say I don't see it. One of the things brother Yusuf and I were talking about earlier today is what when you look at biblical prophecy, you know, so I'm a clinical psychologist by training, so I'll use this analogy. It's a lot like looking at a Rorschach inkblot. People tend to project onto it, what they want to see. But as far as there being a clear, definitive statement, which is unambiguous that everyone can agree on. Is that to be found in the Bible? No,
not as we have in the Bible today. I'd like to add that the second half of the question was, what prophecies did,
Muhammad peace be upon and make is actually a fairly extensive list of of
signs of the end times which it makes rather sobering reading, if you feel like tracking it down. And that's certainly worth worth examining. I don't have the reference for you. But it's it's quite compelling. There's also a prediction, quite startling in Koran, about the victory of the Byzantine army, the victory of the Byzantine army over the Persians, which was
fulfilled to the letter after is revealed to the Prophet peace be upon him. Yeah, I'd like to come back to something here too, and, and at the risk of becoming too academic, please forgive me if I do.
prophesy Prophethood profit. These are words that are used very loosely, in the English language. If you go back to the root word in Arabic, Nabil for profit in Hebrew navvy, both go back to an earlier language, the acat Acadian language, the word Nabil, in the Acadian language, what it means literally, is to speak for, that's it to speak for, and a religious sense to speak for God. This is what a prophet is someone who speaks for God, and the original etymology of that word, there is absolutely no implication of foretelling the future.
Going back to the question about the prophecy of Jesus Christ, peace and blessings,
peace and blessings of God be upon him, I'd like to say that there is what I would consider to be a reliable reference. Although there is no
consensus among Bible scholars or Muslim scholars about this year, in one of the books that were expunged, or not accepted by the Catholic church called the Apocrypha, there is a book called The Gospel of Barnabas. And that book
is available.
And it is considered by many Bible scholars and historians to be a book of reason, reliable scripture and giving the accounts of the life and message of Jesus Christ. And if we were to consider that book, one of the expunged writings from one of the actual disciples of Jesus Christ got Barnabas, he was a actual disciple of Jesus Christ. He was called blind Barnabas because he was blind. And he was one of the people that met and walked with Paul and introduced Paul of Tarsus to the other disciples who rejected him, Paul, so if you read the Gospel of Barnabas, there is unequivocal clear
references to the Prophet Muhammad peace investment upon them, which is part of what Barnabas recorded from Jesus Christ and God knows best. Why make one religion look better than the other? I don't think it's a matter of one religion being better than another or one prophet being better than another. It's a matter of the evolution of God's
revelation to mankind. Almighty God's sent Adam as the first man and Prophet, he sent the Prophet Muhammad as the final prophet. All the other prophets and messages came in between, he selected some of them as prophets only, and he prayed and he sent others to be messengers and prophets. The difference between a messenger and a prophet is that a messenger comes with a book from Almighty God and a prophet only comes with
some other characteristics, limited to
performing miracles because that is how he proved his relationship with Almighty God. So it's not a matter of better than our preferred one.
over the other, it is more of the case of that each Prophet came to his people. And then and then after that the message was either lost or it was contaminated. So God sent another prophet, and another prophet, and another prophet, until he sent the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon them to either confirm what had come before or to deny what came before, and then to finalize and seal the prophethood. And to finalize and seal the revelation, and to finalize and complete the system called Islam. So this, I think that it's just a matter of, if you had a computer when they only had a Pentium one, it's not matter. You're saying what better. But I think today, if there was
a Pentium five, you wouldn't have no dispute.
So maybe that's not a good analogy.
So the Prophet Muhammad peace invested upon is the final prophet, the final messenger, the Quran is the final scripture. Okay, and the Islam is the completed message of Almighty God to the whole of mankind. So I think that you would probably like to have what is final, final complete? Okay. And direct from Almighty God, that's the issue. Where do you stand in the statement, America, love it or leave it, you know, that if you have a family member, and you love that family member, deeply, you you don't express that love, always in terms of expressing love in different ways at different times, depending on the relationship. And I guess I would respond to it by saying that you can love
the country deeply. And there's a great tradition in our country of loving America deeply, by pointing out areas that there's a challenge, and helping to help address those challenges. And there's a lot of areas that we talked about tonight, where
America has great promises, beautiful aspirations, and the the most free exercise of religion on the planet. And that's wonderful. It's beautiful. We honor that and respect that. But if you have a family member who has a pathology, you you have to love to express the love for that family member who has a pathology by helping them see a doctor. That's how you do it, compare their religions make one religion look better than the other.
So the question is, if we pray, we pray the same guy with different names. Why do we have to have different religions and this is another thing we're talking about earlier today was a very beautiful verse in the Quran that says that if Allah tala had wished he could have made mankind all one being all one nation, but he chose to do otherwise. And since that's the case, we want to compete in the doing of good deeds and the attraction of blessings. So that's it. That's, I think, one answer from the Koran. I also want to go on record as saying that the dating of the Barnabas gospel is kind of controversial, and it's it's a matter of scholarly debate. Want to pick up even further on that?
Because there are a lot of extravagant claims made for the Gospel of Barnabas by Muslims, who have unfortunately confused two different books, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Gospel of Barnabas, there is no mention whatsoever anywhere in Christian literature, a mention of the Gospel of Barnabas, prior to the galatian decree of the early sixth century,
all the other references from urine as etc, are to the Epistle of Barnabas, which is a totally different book.
If Jesus is a part of Islam and the prophet of Islam, police, then why was he Jewish?
I don't know who asked the question. But, you know, why was the Jewish Jewish in what sense?
Jewish, on the one hand is an ethnic term. On the other hand, it's a term of religion. Certainly Jesus was one of a long line of prophets, who were sent to the Jewish people, both as an ethnic group and as a religious group.
Many of the prophets that I mentioned in my opening statement from the Bible, Elijah, Elijah,
Jonah, etc. Islam accepts all of these as prophets.
And yet, from modern use of the word, we would say they were all Jews.
So there's, there's nothing unusual in Jesus, having been a Jew, and still being a prophet of Islam.
Perhaps that confusion is that you're dating the start of Islam with the first revelation
Given the Prophet Muhammad in 610, whereas as I noted in my opening remarks, from a Muslim perspective, Islam is a series of revelations that began with Adam.
And then continued on as the shake was saying, in a progressive evolving revolution, a revelation with additional revelation being pasted the spiritual development of humanity.
Yeah, I would also just like to say, to the person who asked that question, and others who may be deliberating with this,
we don't have a problem in Islam with the ethnicity of prophets. And we don't have a problem with the ethnicity of people. And so the issue of religion, and revelation and ethnicity,
or Jews becoming Muslims, or whatever is not an issue with us. And as a matter of fact, I'd like to point this out, which is a very unique characteristic of the court. And
the court n is a book that discusses over and over
the understanding about who is God.
This question he mentioned about the, the issue of the the person of God, who is God, how do we worship God? How do we witness God? What are his characteristics, what are God's
attributes, then secondly, the Quran is preoccupied with discussing the stories of the prophets over and over. And then of course, then the Quran also discusses laws that will lead to the refinement of human behavior that will help people to reach their final destination in de akhira. Now, in regards to the stories of the prophets, the Quran is preoccupied and filled, for the most part with stories about the children of Israel. I mean, you would think that it would be so stories about the, you know, the people about around the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon But no, a God wants to emphasize to us over and over and over this whole stories and issues about the children of Israel,
and the name that comes up in the Quran more than the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon them more than any other name is Moses. So
one should read the Quran and understand that Almighty God is not preoccupied with ethnicity, in conveying to us his message. And as always,
if you were a Christian, and wanted to convert, should you experience that passionate rebirth, if you convert to Islam? Look, I think that and I'm just going to say, say, say this in a kind of like a graphic way, you know,
you know, if you enter the tabernacle church, or, you know, when he's born again, whatever, you know, you want to join, whatever you you may have to testify here, you know, roll around, or whatever it is, and then after that go in the back and go into a pool of water.
But we don't have that in Islam. We don't have this kind of dramatization and the emotional thing that takes place, and there's no ritual, it's a matter of having conscious acceptance of the revelation of God, and conscious acceptance of the character of prophethood. And a conscious exception of the morality and, and the and acceptance of entering in agreement with God. So that entered an agreement with God is called Islam. So when you enter that agreement, it is preferred that you enter that agreement in public. Why because part of that agreement is a social agreement. And the people who witness it are people who will assist you and will witness for you. But there's
no other dramatization. I mean, I mean, those people who became Muslims who ever want to become Muslims, you might get some money, you may not.
But there's no lights gonna come down and I'm gonna flip over mine, you're not gonna look out your window tomorrow and see a tree going up to heaven.
But I do think that you're going to start to feel a moral transformation in your life. Now. I think that itself is great and wonderful and profound enough. What else do you want? You may have to ask Steven Spielberg?
Yeah, I would add, I think there is a personal definition that takes place. And metaphorically. Yes, that could be considered a rebirth of sorts, but not the public drama. Yeah, it's a personal redefinition. Good. I like that one. I'll use that again.
I like that shape.
I have been attending Islamic events for years. There is never a female on the panel. Why can a female Muslim from the audience also answer what no females you
Let me add, however that I have been on many panels, Muslim panels where there have been females
and Alhamdulillah Praise God. I think the presence of a sister on a panel, or as a speaker, adds a great deal to the presentation at times, and is especially important in counteracting certain stereotypes that may exist in the minds of non Muslims. If you don't mind, brother, I'd like to just say something that to the person who asked that question. First of all, we have to admit that part of the personification of Islam in the world today
happens to be attached to culture. So a lot of the Muslim countries today, they project their culture into Islam. And they have most of them are different to women representing them in public. But that has nothing to do with Islam. But let me speak about it from an Islamic point of view.
Most Muslim women themselves would differ, sitting in front of a group of people because it just puts too much exposure upon them. And we have to accept this sensitivity. Why? Because our Muslim woman
is like our diamonds, our goal, our certificates of deposit, you know, our documents that we want to keep protected. You know, those are pearls and hours. And nobody invites people to their house and just put a gold and silver and say, check this out?
No, so I'm using this analogy that our women did, they are our protected species, if you want to call it that. We protect our women, our wives, our chil our daughters, you know, our sisters, only from that point of view, not because they have inferior stature. Now, I would say that there are some sisters, who would be more than willing to be on this panel and to sit here. But it's just the way that it was selected. There were three speakers that were selected to speak, and not because we are chauvinistic, or anything like that, that was just done like that. And because we were the three that gave the presentation, we're the three that are sitting here. But we will promise that in the
future, we'll keep that sensitivity in mind. And the second thing is the person who asked that question, we will give you a reference to some lectures that will be being held in the future and some that had been held where women were present.
And I just want to say this, not that I agree with it. There is a national organization in America today that selected to choose a woman as their president. I mean, you know, I want to just remain neutral on that issue. But just for the for the record,
that women are very much involved, and in many cases on the front line of Islamic events, conferences and organizations. I just want to add that it's it is a fair question. It's, you know, to my way of thinking we should be doing more to get the sisters involved in these kinds of events and hope we do so.
In the interim, check out what people like Ingrid Mattson have to say check out what people like Yvonne Ridley have to say there's there's very, quite a quite a lot of array of different voices in that spectrum. And the there's plenty of people out there to check out what my wife got to say.
I have the name of Catherine Bullock to Sister Catherine Bullock.
In Islam, how should I husband treat his wife? And how did prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam treat his wives?
Well, I think that anyone reading the
the documented life of the Prophet Muhammad peace invested vaanam
and reliable zeros on the Prophet Muhammad SAW same can go right to
the narrations of his wives themselves,
of his daughters.
Okay. And so take it from the women themselves.
If you want to know how the Prophet peace and blessings upon them, treated his family members, his female household members and go to Muslim women
and ask them read what our Isha rhodiola wanna read what she said about the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings upon him because she lived with the Prophet peace and blessing upon him nine years before he passed away, and she was only 18 at the time that he passed away. So this is a phenomena. Okay, the other thing is ask
Anyone what Khadija is the
real deal on her what she thought about the Prophet peace investing upon them, that she dedicated her life,
to the support of the Prophet peace investable, ask his daughter, Fatima, you know who is married to his, his, his,
his nephew, Ali, Abdullah asked Fatima
about the Prophet peace investment upon them. And then asked Muslim women who themselves tried to model themselves after the Muslim women who were companions of the Prophet peace and blessings upon them. Just to, to say directly, the Messenger of Allah sauce him said, the best of you
is He who is best to his family, and I am the best of you. So the prophet SAW some exhibited the very best conduct to his family, his wives, and his daughters and his children. And so we're following that example. And I say, look for in history, any historical personality, or any Christian or any scriptural personality, that treated and dealt with and left a legacy regarding his the women better than that of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And in his farewell sermon, the thing that he pointed out, and he spent a lot of time on his farewell sermon was admonishing the Muslims, about the women about the treatment of the woman. So I say that about our
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing upon him as a matter of history and documentation. We just had one thing just in the nature of full disclosure, because it needs to be said, and when it happens in a public setting, I feel like I have an obligation to say it, husbands, Muslim husbands have an obligation under the Sunnah to help with household tasks and chores. And that was part of his example, it's when the world began to follow.
I worked with Osama to advertise CNN, so hard to
handle is great.
The turnout, I definitely learned a lot.
But I've learned a lot about Islam, I never really had bad misconceptions about the religion.
But just learning how it relates to Islam, and
I grew up in a very diverse household. So we were always very accepting to other cultures and religions. So for me, it wasn't
a problem
at all, I think that on the other.
Further, I think that it was it's great when you put an organization together, or when an organization comes together to educate, you know, I always thought that that was important. And so any educational seminar, I'd love to work
well, when I had sat down with them, and this might be a little embarrassing. A couple of weeks ago,
there was references to Jesus Christ. And so I wasn't aware that in the Quran, there is a message around Jesus Christ. And for me, I learned that
you know, there's definitely a lot of things when I learned that off the top of my head, and I'm not sure I can vocalize them now. It's been very interesting.
I've been wanting for some time to
see
some actual expression of love is actually about. You don't learn of course, anything from from the news media. That isn't a place for free, in depth discussion of anything, really a lot of cases and are much, much less religious beliefs and moral guidance.
I would I was
introduced quiet by some discussions with a Muslim friend,
Pakistani friend, and
we've had some very interesting discussions not not only among, or between him and myself, I shouldn't say that I'm a mom, I'm a Protestant, Christian.
The, but it was a discussion not only between myself and a Muslim, but also we got
Hindu and a couple of Jews
from a few different different
perspectives. And it's, it's very interesting, how many places we disagree but but the extent to which it's, it's not so important, in some ways, at least certainly not in the way that that it would affect how we
treat each other.
The respect with which we treat each other.
And you know that
that one thing is probably the single most unified
Five aspect
that we're required to do to work with regard
as report the most important responsibilities. So
there were a lot of things like exactly, especially the treatment of women.
Because you do hear stories
in the Middle Eastern countries where a lot of women don't have rights, and it's good to hear that that's not condoned by the crown. And it's not being done by Muslims, you know that
and that they do have rights. And at one point in time, you know, they were allowed certain things that were non Muslims allowed. So I like that part. My friends that are Muslim are
very open, very inviting.
And I think I need to have a better awareness of people who are other from other places, other cultures and other religions. That's what it is about. That's what being you know, all embracing is about and I think a lot of people need to do that.