The Sahabah were New Muslims – Direct Access #06

Sajid Ahmed Umar

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Channel: Sajid Ahmed Umar

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Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Vina standing on a Sunday on a Sunday Mahatma Vienna Vienna Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa seldom at the Sleeman kathira Elijah Medina Abed, rubbish rally sadri westerly Emery. Wow look at me Lisa Annie Yakubu Kohli, my dearest brothers and sisters as always, we begin by praising Allah subhanho wa Taala. We praise Him and seek his assistance and guidance and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and the adverse consequences of our deeds. We testify the rooms of Allah guides and unconvince guide and whomsoever He says guides, the nun can guide and we request praises and blessings upon the final

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messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I bear witness that there's no one with you of worship besides one Allah and that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is His Messenger. to you all, I greet you with the greetings of Islam, the greetings of peace and the greetings of the people of paradise. Salaam, Allah here alikum warahmatu, who wabarakatuh May the peace and blessings of Allah subhanho wa Taala be upon you all.

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My dear brothers and sisters in Islam. The greatest legacy that the world has ever experienced, is indeed the legacy of prophethood which is one based on the truth based on justice, and based on mercy. Amongst several several of the virtues. This legacy brothers and sisters in Islam came with the advent of Lu alehissalaam. And Allah subhanho wa Taala transferred it from his shoulders, to the shoulders of other men, the shoulders of one man to the shoulders of another man to the shoulders of another man, up to a point. And that was with the advent of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This legacy is a legacy of our it's a legacy of removing mankind from darkness and placing them into

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light. It's a legacy that ensures mankind enters paradise, a place that no mind has ever dreamt of. No eye has ever seen. And no ear has ever heard of. This legacy is one that is executed with great wisdom for Allah subhanho wa Taala. He instructed Musa alayhis salam and his brother Harun alayhi salam, to call for your own to Allah subhanho wa Taala in a gentle way. And Allah subhanho wa Taala. He sends down as a mandate in relation to this day our in relation to the protection of this legacy, the instruction of calling to Allah subhanho wa Taala with wisdom for Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah said, or lsvt big a bill hikma call to the way of your Lord with wisdom. And this legacy acid before

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went from the shoulders of one man to another up to Muhammad Ali Abdullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the final messenger and the seal of all prophets. As a result of this legacy, brothers and sisters in Islam, people entered the fold of Islam and with the advent of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam in terms of his oma, do we find the first generation of new Muslims? And if this legacy is about calling non Muslims to Islam, with great wisdom, in a gentle way, upon justice, upon the truth and upon mercy, then Subhana Allah, How is the situation of this legacy with regards to those who have accepted Islam with regards to those who are new Muslims? Allah subhanho wa Taala told us about

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our messenger Muhammad, Abdullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that he is the most perfect example for us. In all of in all of our affairs for Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah said, naka de Candela confy rasulillah he was sweating Hashanah, that indeed, in the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the best and most perfect example.

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That means when we look at the situation with the first generation of new Muslims, we must look at how the messenger Salallahu alaihe

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wasallam was with them. Today's episode, today's direct access episode is related to Islamic morals, manners etiquettes, the responsibility of a Muslim towards new Muslims and no doubt for us to understand this topic. Well, we have to go back to the first generation, the first generation of new Muslims, those who are nurtured by the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they were taught about Islam from him. And then upon entering Islam did he nurtured one thing that comes to light brothers and sisters in Islam, when we take a cursory look in the books of history in the books of Sierra, the books of history pertaining and related to the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam,

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is his great wisdom in how he dealt with the first generation of new Muslims. He placed into the balance of considerations, their unique circumstances before Islam, and the circumstances upon entering Islam. Thus we find Subhana Allah with regards to those who were in positions of leadership, and they came from their own facilities in their own places he would spend on them, and they would go back to their people, and they would instruct the people to enter into the fold of Islam for Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives a giving of a person who doesn't feel poverty, La ilaha illa Allah, then we have the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam treatment of those who

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came into Islam, without any financial standing or material well being. We see he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam granting them an abode in mosquito Nebo. And over there, they would be fed, and over there, they would be taught, and through this the Prophet sallallahu alayhi. wasallam is teaching a Subhana Allah, that when it comes to a new Muslim, it's not just about bringing them into the fold of Islam or guiding them into the fold of Islam, but also nurturing not just the spirituality, but also the emotional well being, and also the physical well being, and also the intellectual well being that ilaha illAllah. This was his way sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with regards to others, for

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example, those who are Bedouins, who didn't come from the city life and weren't used to the city life and they had unique ways and unique values when they came to inquire about Islam and our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam taught them about Islam, they would say is it upon us to do anything else? What do we have to do? He would say pray five times a day. They said we would pray five times a day and not do anything more. They said what else he said you should fast the month of Ramadan. So he said we first the month of Ramadan and nothing else. And then they took on the other obligations of Islam and said we will not do anything aside of these obligations. And the Prophet

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sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said to them that if you do this, you will enter Paradise, no doubt insha Allah even though we know brothers and sisters in Islam, Islam has prohibitions. Islam has important voluntary acts of worship that if you carry on not being true to those voluntary acts of worship, you could be liable for being sinful for going against the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But here we see the wisdom of the hour of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and his treatment of new Muslims in full view for us to take guidance from. This begs the question brothers and sisters in Islam, you and I, in the 21st century Subhanallah we spoke about the first

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generation of Muslims. What about the current generation of new Muslims? We spoke about the first generation of new Muslims. What about the current generation of new Muslims? What is our relationship with them? What is our attitude with regards to them? are we drinking from the sooner the rich son of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and adopting the greatest of wisdoms with regards to them? Aside of this, do we wake up during any day, in our month or in our year and think that Subhanallah we do have some responsibility upon us towards new Muslims? Have we taken care of that Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam? Or are we going to be a means of that

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shouldn't have been a forgotten one. Many a time brothers and sisters in Islam. We see some time Allah, the happy moments when a must and then Muslim enters into Islam, and through this they become a new Muslim. When this happens, brothers and sisters in Islam, the masjid Masha, Allah erupts with praise the praise of Allah subhanho wa Taala they glorify Allah subhanho wa Taala they are grateful to Allah subhana wa Allah to Allah and I believe we all sin, we all sincere when we do this, but brothers and sisters in Islam, is this the relationship that we have with the son of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam where it's one of instant gratification or instant show of gratitude.

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And then when it comes to the long game, we are nowhere to be seen. When was the last time we thought about inviting a new Muslim to our home for the eat meal.

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The day overeat or perhaps for the Juma proceedings on the day of Juma, whenever have we tried to take the the son of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, in matters pertaining to how we pray the Salah, and how we go for Hajj and how we observe the camera, and so on and so forth to them or felt it as something which is a responsibility upon us to do something that drives us to learn so that we can deliver as well. These are questions, critical questions, we have to ask ourselves, brothers and sisters in Islam and Hamdulillah, Islam will always rise, it will never be risen upon, and Islam will always spread when in law Hill hemmed in Alhamdulillah, we have numbers coming into the fold of

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Islam. But as we celebrate these numbers, we also have to look at the numbers that are leaving the fold of Islam and ask ourselves, what can we do to stop this from happening? Or is our lack of action, a reason for this happening? What are the sensitivities that new Muslims in the 21st century have today? And how can we be in assistance to them? With regards to those sensitivities? If we're unable to teach ourselves? Are we able to sponsor an institution that teaches and use our wealth as a form of means for the development of the new Muslim? Are we able to raise our hands and make dua for them in the least we should all be doing this and this is another question that we should ask

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ourselves. When was the last time we raised our hands and asked Allah subhanho wa Taala to grant steadfast to the new Muslim Subhana Allah? These questions and more are questions that we need to be asking. As I said, brothers and sisters in Islam Today's episode is one dedicated to

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the new Muslims. And to help us with this discussion. I have a dear brother, a dear friend and a Dear student brother Abdullah Shetty.

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Some of you may know him Masha Allah Guevara kala, especially for those who are living in the United Arab Emirates. And for those who don't. Our brother Abdullah Shetty is someone who accepted Islam in 2008. And since then, Allah subhanho wa Taala has used him to be a means of other people being introduced to Islam, and a means of other people entering Islam. And not only that, brothers and sisters in Islam, I bear witness that Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah has also used them as a means of strengthening that a man of born Muslim Subhan Allah subhanaw taala. And this is, this is really the potential of a new Muslim. If we as a community come together and complete the sulan the teachings

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of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam with regards to them. For those who don't know, every second of youth and adult Islamic development that I have managed to complete. In Dubai, Allah subhanho wa Taala has used Abdullah Shetty, my dear brother and student as a means for this. He was a student of mine, I believe, since around 2010. And then he got in touch and he said, I really want you to come over to Dubai, to teach the Muslims here, and Subhanallah The rest is history. It's 10 years of me, visiting Dubai and being involved in community development, both adult and youth development. I think together we did the first English proceedings in the park and the first English

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tafsir on a boat as well. A lot of fond memories that hamdulillah that we have together. He was a means for all of this May Allah subhanho wa Taala accept from him and Mila Savannah, who Allah grant him steadfastness. And may Allah subhanho wa Taala continue to make him a beacon for the home of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I mean your blood let me let me bring brother Abdullah on brother Abdullah, can you hear me? Welcome salovaara deliver a cotton. Mashallah. Hello, Abdullah, we hear you loud and clear. It's really wonderful to have you with us in this episode of direct access. And I did announce to our brothers and sisters in attendance, that our episode today is

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dedicated to two new Muslims and we've titled it that the Sahaba were new Muslims as well, like hamdulillah. You are someone who went through the experience you entered into Islam, and you've been through many experiences, both with regards to yourself and others. And I think you have a lot of value to bring to this particular discussion. Firstly, firstly, brother Abdullah, if you don't mind kindly, can you tell us about yourself so our viewers can benefit? Tell us about yourself? When did you accept Islam? I did announce 2008 but perhaps you can correct my information if it's incorrect to add some more detail to it. Why did you accept this and what was I mean, obviously, the Why is is

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is clear for us. But what was the tipping point for you? You could share that information this would be we'd all be grateful Allah bless you.

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First of all, indeed all pray praises you to Allah has given me this opportunity to be with you shake here. It's a pleasure talking

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Seeing you Mashallah, after quite some time, and also lucky lucky for the exaggerated introduction, I just introduced myself as a new Muslim with a long beard that I think

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bless you and keep you humble Abdullah

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it up, it is long, it is long.

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there myself, my name is Abdullah Shetty. So it is my surname, I became Muslim in the year 2008. I come from this place called ob, it's in the southern part of India. And my journey of Islam is a long one that will take a lot of time, but I'll try to summarize it in short sentences. A lot of people ask me, why did you become Muslim? So the shortest answer I give them is, I became Muslim, because I loved Hinduism. So now that's a surprise for a lot of them hearing it for the first time. The reason being,

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this is what I tell every non Muslim out there, if you really love your religion, look into it, research about it, be sincere in your search for the truth. And you know, try to look into it with an open mind. I believe by the mercy of Allah, you end up being a Muslim, and this is what has happened to me.

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So I started exploring religion at a very young age, trying to get some answers to questions, questions like, why am I here? What happens after that? You know, where are we going? What is the purpose of life? These are questions which everybody has, but they tried to suppress it, or they don't you know, when you're on a journey to find answers to these questions, so I did, and it took me through different religions. And eventually I ended up becoming an atheist because I could not get my answers. And I never looked into Islam. for a lot of reasons, I had a dislike towards Muslims, mainly because of the media, mainly because of the things that we've seen on TV. And I

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always thought that Muslims are the so called terrorists, they are against cleanliness. They beat up their women, I had some crazy ideas about Islam. And also because I come from Hinduism when we have somewhere around 330 million gods. So I assume that Muslims should be having at least say 30 because, you know, we're living in India, I've seen Muslims going to the grave, then you see the star and the moon, then you see Kaaba Prophet Mohammed Quran. So there was this assumption that Muslims at least have 30, Gods Pamela. So I never looked into Islam for a lot of reasons. During this phase, what happened was, I met a friend of mine in the university,

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a good Muslim brother, and we used to do all the crazy stuff together. And one day, he just brought up the topic of religion. And he said, Do you know that Muslims worship the one true God, and for me, that was like, breaking news. I've never heard of this statement ever before. I always assumed something opposite to that. And then he went on explaining who this one true God is. So for quite some time, what I did is because he's bringing up the topic of religion, let me go forward and try to convince him about Hinduism. So I started doing my own research about Hinduism, and other religions. Because for me to be convinced about something to be correct, I need to be convinced that

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what I already have is not the right one. So I started doing my research, the more I studied Islam, the panel, what happened was, the more I was getting convinced, but then generally, there are two things that stops somebody from accepting Islam. One is the ego and one is the society. For me, the society, I do not care, I was already the one I was the stranger of the society, I was already doing crazy stuff. I was the black sheep of the family. I was not in the right direction. So I did not worry much about the society. But the ego inside me was a bit strong. I was like, How can I be wrong? If Islam is correct, I'm wrong. You know, millions of Hindus around me are wrong, my whole

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family is wrong. So this he would not let me speak the truth. So I was telling him, okay, you know, you Muslims do this, you Muslims do that your Prophet did this. In my heart, I was being Islam is true. At what he did is he got me a copy of the translation of the Quran. And he said, read. So I took for the intention of trying to find some false and trying to, you know, point out this fall so that this guy can become a Hindu. But then some of the more I read, it was like, you could feel that lightning strike inside you, because you feel that these words cannot be written by a man sitting in the desert 1004 years back without Google, any without any internet. So the more I started reading,

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the more I was convinced, so my ego could not last in front of the streets for more than three months after three months. Pamela? That's when I told him that you know what, I agree that Islam is true, and I want to be a Muslim, and I was 17 back then. hamdulillah so this is the beginning of the journey.

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Mashallah vartika lowlights is really heartwarming. Abdullah, I know you've, you've summarized it, you've really you've packaged it, and summarized it really, really well. And I'm sure many people who are listening in have a desire to hear more details. Have you written about this anywhere on your social media pages?

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Is there more detail to your story that people can read about? Or have you have you presented this previously in a video

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I have not released the video and so I'm working on releasing the video the intention behind the video primarily is for my family my extended family I know some of them are watching this video also

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send them the links and she has asked them to come online watch this. I want to I'm working on making a video so that my family knows why I made this decision. So that will be a lengthy one inshallah. And if anybody wants to follow that you can connect with me on social media on I am Abdullah Shetty, and inshallah once it's ready I'll be sharing door that Inshallah mashallah Mashallah Now tell us about the the Shetty ability people. Whenever I mentioned, I'm traveling to Dubai and you are hosting me they always say the shanty families are well known families and influential family. Is this true? Or do people is it a misconception? Tell us about this. So Shetty

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is a very small, you can see a clan, I don't know how you word it, but it most of them are well off. Most of them. They are into the hotel industry and alcohol industry and other sorts of business. They're also based in the UAE, I tend to meet some of them and they get offended with my knee. They're like, okay, you become Abdullah, that's fine. But what do you still retain our name? So I tell them that one is Islam always, you know,

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takes your identity back to your family, your father. So it's a good thing. And the second thing I told him that if Islam had allowed me to change it, I would have changed because ultimately, it has a hint towards the caste system and Islam there is no place for caste system. We are all equal in the sight of Allah. Nobody better because we're born into a particular family. Everybody's the same. So yes, you're right. They are quite influential in their interview. You said they say like this is an insult. What What do they mean by that? Because you became a Muslim Abdullah Shetty so they're like, you know, Shetty. We are Shetty. We you know, we have this affiliation towards this clan. And

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this is you know, our practice and

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it's a Hindu clan.

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And you add Abdullah next to it, so they feel that what we're doing this and this has been a To be honest, it's been a lot of conversation starters for our money. So I give my card and this is Abdullah Shetty. I would the doctor I go to the bank, everybody's like, what is this your name is something immigration. So they stopped me like what is this? What's wrong with you? So I sell them especially an icebreaker. It's an icebreaker. You have 20 minutes to listen to my story. So this is definitely a nice icebreaker. Masha. Allah, Masha, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah protect you, Abdullah. Now obviously, I've been working with new Muslims since as you know, since or more closely since

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2013. And whenever we have a new Muslim in the new Muslim Academy, you know of our program, new Muslim Academy.

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I always try and speak to them like I'm speaking to you and try and get more insight into their background and I feel this will help me teach them better. And this in the introduction, I don't know if you've got the introduction to today's

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direct access episode I mentioned this at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he he tailor made his approach with the new Muslims based on the context before Islam and upon entering Islam. So whenever I have these discussions, obviously, the discussion goes into the surrounding family, especially one's mother, one's father, how did they take it, you became a Muslim. And different people have different stories, some people, their parents are okay, they're a bit worried. They thought, you know, the child is going to become an extremist. And then the child explains things and it's peaceful. But also, in many cases, we find situations where they kicked out of the home that is

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owned.

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So what was your experience with you with with your parents when when you accepted Islam? Did you tell them straight away? Did you keep it hidden? or What was your approach? And

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how did you if Well, first, let's identify how you approach was then we can see what we can share with other new Muslims who are following as well. Okay, so what happened in my case was sick the friend who gave me now, he was very nice in explaining to him to me, and that's where it all ended in the sense that I had no plans of doing anything else no plan so you're not actually announcing to the world or no plans of doing any changes except for the fact that we decided we just stick to the heat will not to shirk, everything else carries on the same way, but they say that allows the rest of planners so what happened in my case was, I had an accident. And this accident is where I would

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say I really took the Shahada because I didn't even take the Shahada. There was no he didn't even ask me to do it, or he's being nice to me, or he forgot the concept. But there was no maybe the first shot I would have read was while I was praying, or maybe when I came to the UAE and they asked me to fill it fill the form for the certification and do the official Shabbat. Okay, that's interesting. So, you believed in your heart, but he never made he never made you announced it on your tank. Correct. Okay. All right. But you Okay, then you said but a time

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came when you did, eventually,

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I started praying without that actually. So in the prayer, you have the Shahada. Yes. But the Shahada is a manifestation of that which is in your heart. So at that time you believed in one Allah, you believe that Allah has angels. So it wasn't something that you found irrational. You believe that a loss in profits, if you send profits, then it's rational. It's rational that he would send the book. Because even in today's life, we know we have curriculums and we have teachers who teach these curriculums. You believed in the final day, there's a reckoning. This was not foreign to you. You believed in fate, brother.

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Okay, so all this was he explained it to you. It was in your heart, it was clear.

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And you started praying? Yes. You just

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did he?

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Did he teach you how to pray?

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Yeah, I used to pray next to him. So he was the one who initially taught me how to do it.

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So what happened was, by the way, I'm sure many of our viewers have this question. Where is this brother? Now? I want to keep his name.

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secret, but I mean, okay, but he's alive. Alhamdulillah he's, well, he I'm sure he's attending the live stream knows. My blessing. We McAfee Mashallah. You

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could go ahead. Yeah. So, because of this accident, it was a head on collision with the car, I was on a motorbike. And I was taken to the hospital and they said, I have to be in the bedrooms for three months. It was something very serious. And that's when it struck to me that if I had passed away from this accident, what would happen to me, you know, I understood that Islam is true, but what do they really do and written? any, like, Allah says, In the Quran, many, many places, do you believe and do good deeds, but I just did the last half, you know, you see a lot of Muslims that are, as we say, they say that, you know, it's in my heart, it's in my heart. So I was on the same

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man, as you can see this, you know, believing I really did not act upon it. But when I had this accident, I felt like I really understood what is the purpose of life, the purpose of life is to worship Allah and invite people towards worshiping Allah. But in the hospital, I do not tell this to my mom or anybody else. They had an idea that I'm experimenting with religion, but did not know about Islam as such. And so also like an opportunity to be in the hospital and spend some time with my mom. I was not close to her till then I was a spoiled brat and always out of the home. This was the first time I'm with her Mashallah. And she sees that I'm in the hospital. I tell my friends to

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get some books. So some of the Muslim friends they got some books and some Muslim friends Mashallah they started visiting me in the hospital regularly. So she's wondering, your own religious are not coming to see you everyday. Why are these guys coming to see you every day? So I use this opportunity smaller to explain to her What is Islam and Muslim as a third person. Now, if I had spoken to her as a first person shooter immediately cut me off. I said, That's it, you know, we'd have nothing to do with you. Walker initially walked away. But because I was trying to do it as a third person, she's like, I am like, these are Muslims. They believe in one God, they don't worship

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grace or anything. No, they worship the one trauma and I'm trying to tell her, and she's like, okay, listening, listening, because you know, her son is in the hospital, he cannot work. So he has nothing to do. She cannot be angry on me. He's like, listening, listening. After three months, Pamela, I started walking with crutches. And I told her mom, you know what, I want to become Muslim. By then what happened was her heart had become soft towards Islam, and Abdullah, and she seen Muslims firsthand, and she knows what their beliefs are. So she's like, okay, go do it. But don't force us, you know, don't get forced me or you know, anybody else. And she felt that this is just

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another experiment I'm doing, you know, maybe there's a girl in war, maybe, you know, usually they say that if you look into Islam, they think it's because of a good or maybe just experimenting, like how he's been experimenting with all these religions so far. So she's like, Okay, do it, but don't, you know, forces. And then I tell her, I have another request that sometimes take me for prayers, she used to also sometimes take me to the prayers in the mosque. So during this time, there are a lot of supportive Muslims in the community. And then there was Muslims who are a bit scared, they're like, if you come to the mosque, you know, it might be an issue we might have in the Muslim clashes

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and you would cause problems for us. So I decided I'll leave my city and I I found an opportunity in the UAE and go to the UAE in the real estate field. So I came here.

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When was this was 2009 I think

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a year of being a Muslim or

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I just moved here and for me, at that time, it was not really about your your, you know, work or anything. It was about fine coming here and seeing the mosque, just going to pray, learning a few things here. And it was all exciting for me. Personally, what happened was, I was in touch with my mom, and I used to talk to her regularly and one day she just said something about Islam that I had not told her so I know that she does not have Muslim friends and she does not have access to Islam. So I'm like, how do you know about this? So she's like, you know, I've been trying to see what's changed my son from such as you know, as a spoiled brat to who you are your friends change your

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behavior, change the views, change

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Islam esteem juice. I want to know what scene so more than my dog I think it was her just trying to do some research and she figured out that Islam is

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on the phone the same day with me and my sister.

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When was that Abdullah? So when did your mother take your head? That was probably a year after I moved to the UAE 2010 right. She was in India, she was in Egypt. And then by the way, I've met her brother Abdullah mother and Mashallah, she's a phenomenal human being, and very dedicated to her faith as well. We are blessed. Mashallah, go ahead, Abdullah. So, my sister at that time, she was so nice. She just loved Islam, but she had this thing of not liking Muslims. So she's like, I love Islam, but I don't like Muslims. What do I do? So I'm gonna take the Shahada because Islam has nothing to do with your question liking towards certain Muslims that you experience. And she was

00:30:54--> 00:31:02

trying to generalize based on her certain experience. So she took the Shahada, and Pamela that was like, after Islam, I would say the best day in my life.

00:31:04--> 00:31:04

You know,

00:31:06--> 00:31:44

are you close with her? Or? Yes, I was close to her. Michelle, when it was closed. So what happened was within a few weeks or so, my father passed away. So now I was not close to my father, because he was into the alcohol industry. And we never got along really well. But before he passed away, I got a chance to speak to him on the phone. And I tried to say the Shahada to him. And I was very new to Islam. So I just managed to save the first dose of the Shahada. So, and at that moment, I didn't even think about the other half of the Shahada, which is to testify that Mohammed Salah Islam is the final messenger, and he passed the divorce. I do not know his case, I leave it to Allah, I do not

00:31:44--> 00:31:54

know whether he is a Muslim on the Day of Judgment, I'll figure out what happened to him. But I was very close to what about the discussion prior? Did you have much of a discussion about what Islam is? Not much, not really much.

00:31:56--> 00:32:12

But what happened was because my mom and sister become Muslim, my father passed away. And I was scared that you know, my mom and sister might think that Allah, sorry, their previous gods are testing them, because, you know, my father was all healthy and fine, and suddenly just passes away overnight. So I was scared here that this is a test for the man.

00:32:13--> 00:32:48

He wanted me to come back home to burn his body now and slavery cannot burn insects, I will not burn my father's body. So I refuse to go back. And I'm worried about my mom and sister and I think eventually people will figure out that they also become Muslim. So I decided that we let's wrap up our life in India and just bring them over here. So hamdulillah they within a few weeks or so they came here to the UAE what happened was for them, it was a new start. So they came here, they want to learn the Quran, they want to swallow Islam, they want to meet Muslims, it was a fresh start for all of us together, Muslims ever since and,

00:32:49--> 00:32:50

and

00:32:51--> 00:32:57

so you know, all of them. And now I learned from them to be honest. And

00:32:59--> 00:33:09

you know, I've done live in just there's a few highlights from your story. Firstly, obviously, your proactiveness you know, you you entered Islam proactively.

00:33:10--> 00:33:26

inshallah You are God, you have no doubt you are guided by Allah subhanho wa Taala. And if the wisdom wasn't with you, then Allah placed that wisdom with you in the sense that you didn't tell your parents and then this accident happened. This was from Allah Subhana, whatever Allah does, he does good. And it was a means of panela your mother,

00:33:27--> 00:34:11

learning about your Islam, but also through action, because one of the key things you highlighted was the character of the Muslims around you. And Islam is spread through what people see before what they hear. Right? And we know in science, it's it's a fact that the speed of, of light is faster than the speed of sound. So people are going to see you before they hear you. Before you tell them about Islam, they will see Islam, and obviously she seen a situation that wasn't normal. And she's trying to understand how is it that your family is not seeing you, but these people are seeing you What's the connection here and you said the connection is Islam, this is what Islam teaches. Also,

00:34:11--> 00:34:59

your character changed. So your mother perceive she's perceiving it, she's viewing it, she's she she she has a practical demonstratives case in front of her to benchmark Islam against as opposed to reading and hearsay. So, this is another important point that is taken from the Subhan Allah, how we do our to people based on our character, right, not just based on what we tell them, that they need to understand who align is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, before we speak to them, about who Allah and His role is sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but also the practice though the wisdom that you you know you put into place and then no doubt the kodra of Allah to COVID this accident happened

00:34:59--> 00:35:00

and through that, maybe if it

00:35:00--> 00:35:34

Didn't happen. Who knows whether you would have told your mother wouldn't you? You know, you might have not handled that that was a means for her Islam. But then also Pamela, your proactive nature in hell, she was a new Muslim, when she became a Muslim, she was a new Muslim, your sister became a Muslim, she was a new Muslim. And you are now taking on the role of I mean, you're a new Muslim, but there has to come a time when we say we delete the new from the Muslim and say you're a Muslim. Right? So you are now a Muslim, welcoming new Muslims into Islam, like when Abu Bakar was a new Muslim and now he is welcoming new Muslims into Islam and freeing the slaves and being proactive.

00:35:34--> 00:36:07

And when you explaining this, this sort of vision came to me that tamela you took proactive steps to protect the man of your mother and your sister as well as the safety as well as the ability to learn about religion and then you proactively brought them over and hamdulillah like you said, I've met your family and no doubt the fruits of that effort that you did, they are clear for everyone to see me Allah subhanho wa Taala, Crunchyroll steadfastness so much more. So kind of like to take from from your story. I would say that, you know what, Mashallah, you from the you know, you are fortunate, you're fortunate.

00:36:09--> 00:36:36

Not every new Muslim story is the same, you know, some of them really get tested because of, of the religion. I mean, Mashallah, you were practically thinking that when your father got ill, you are worried about the man of your mother and your sister because they might, or your mother, particularly because your father was healthy, he suddenly became sad, as already ill and then he passed away. And there is that belief in the previous religion, that this is a test from the idols, that this is what you've done, and now the punishment is taking place, and no doubt it could have

00:36:38--> 00:37:12

difficult consequences. So Allah subhanho wa Taala, firstly, protected the amount of your mother but using you as a means as well. And also the fact that so Pamela, you know, when you lost your father, it didn't cause you to regress in terms of your own faith. And you mentioned the timelines, and I'm asking you about the timelines, and you're highlighting 2010 that was practically the time when you were pulling me over or no, you, you, you you studied with me online, or you, you began the process of trying to, you know, study with me online. And then I think, in 2013, I started coming over, and we started doing much over there.

00:37:13--> 00:37:31

Tell us about your day after the Shahada. I know we have an idea. Now, you didn't physically say the Shahada, but the shadow was there, and you had the beliefs and the tenants were with you? If I were to ask you, what would the three best things that happened to you when you took the Shahada? And what are the three most difficult things? If there's a three?

00:37:34--> 00:38:10

The three best thing I think the first one would be, when I think about it, it is like this guy who's dedicated his life to finding this treasure that's hidden, and then he suddenly comes across across it. So that is the happiness that I experienced when I understood what is the purpose of life, the fact that you have to worship alone, and you have to not associate any partners with him. And the fact that he sent you the Beloved Prophet sallallahu sallam, he's given us the Quran as a means of guidance. And so knowing this was like finding the treasure, and like the man who found the treasures, and all that, so that was the biggest blessing and the biggest form of happiness that I

00:38:10--> 00:38:14

experienced. The other thing I would say, is the fact that

00:38:16--> 00:38:50

because when I became Muslim, I was 17. And the most liberating fact I found in life after being Muslim is that when you wake up in the morning, you wake up with the intention to please Allah, you don't have to worry about pleasing people around you, you don't have to worry about materialistic stuff, the things around you don't control you, you know that you have to please Allah in that process, you will do things that will please other people. But that that is like the real sense of freedom that you can see when when when you are a teenager especially. So that was something that really, you know, helped me in the initial years of Islam hamdulillah. And I think the third thing

00:38:50--> 00:39:30

that would be is that after being Muslim, I got to meet other Muslims and get to know Muslims, right from our beloved Prophet sallallahu sallam, to Muslims in today's time, you know, who inspire me who I meet on daily basis, and who I really look up to, and who have made me feel that the bond of a man is more stronger than the bond of blood relationships, Pamela So, and people like yourself here and other people I meet on a regular basis, you know, who always inspired me to basically build Jana and not build this dunya. And always constantly think of the hereafter. I think this these three are the blessings, I would say, I experienced a Porsche.

00:39:32--> 00:40:00

With regards to the difficulties that I experienced, I think in the initial year, the biggest difficulty that I believe a lot of new Muslims go through is myself, for example, when I used to go to sleep, the fact that you might wake up next morning, and your parents might not be there and you might not meet them ever again. It is very scary and very painful shake any it's not something that a lot of bonuses might relate to. But the fact that if they don't die on the seat of a human and they don't understand Islam,

00:40:01--> 00:40:19

To be able to any lever that is very hard. So I used to struggle sleeping, I struggled thinking about this. So this was a very painful thing, but I hamdulillah accepted by the way, and Allah is the most merciful, who guided my family also towards Islam. So this this is I think, one of the difficult things I've experienced.

00:40:20--> 00:40:56

Apart from that, I think the second thing would be coming across Muslims who struggled to understand though he then did any, they don't practice talking, I'm not talking about other aspects of the religion but though he is particularly, it is very sad when I meet people who try to, you know, like, convince me otherwise that there is great worship in Islam and there is other forms of wrong acts like shirk, especially from Indian subcontinent. Because this defeats the whole purpose of Dawa, that we try to do, we try to tell Muslims and there is one God and at the same time, their neighbor they see is a Muslim, and he goes to the grave and worships his grave or does some other

00:40:56--> 00:41:00

crazy acts of worship. So this is fine. This is very difficult.

00:41:01--> 00:41:04

Any I have encountered, especially when I was in India?

00:41:05--> 00:41:45

I think the third thing is the fact that I had to leave my place up and my people and my family. Yeah, I will take this opportunity to thank my family, to be honest, a lot of other viewers. I know, we're from Hinduism. The families have been really bad with them, and they build them really hard time. But my family, my extended family, especially on my mom's side, and my cousins, and some of them who met me, they've been very nice to me and my family, they we visit them every two years. And they've been kind and they've supported the decision. I know that they don't like it. They don't agree with it. But they've been nice. So I love you I've been and I say that if there is a new

00:41:45--> 00:42:01

Muslim, you should not be worried because one of the best places maybe after McCann, Medina for them to settle down and focus on work and digging and everything, balance of life. But at the same time, I do miss my people and my family and you know, my place because ultimately our home is home. So these are the three things I would say.

00:42:03--> 00:42:54

In DD Abdullah, Mashallah, again, there were many gems then. And you rightly said the bond of a man is stronger than the bond of blood. But obviously, you know, sometimes it a new Muslim needs time to appreciate that. And that appreciation comes when the Muslim community themselves step up and become a community to the new Muslim, to show them that we are related through faith. And that faith doesn't see ethnic background. It doesn't see the language that we speak, it doesn't see the culture that we adhere to. When we bleed, we all bleed red. So we share the same father, we share the same mother but on top of this now, we are bound by the connection of faith and it's when we as Muslim

00:42:54--> 00:43:22

community step up brothers and sisters in Islam for the new Muslim now, Abdullah, obviously he's he mentioned the UAE and he, you know, he's thanking the community of the UAE and how they were a means for him. Right. So no doubt this had a role to play in keeping his Eman steadfast they were of that we wouldn't say you know, they were a substitute because that's his family. They, they they acted upon the role that Allah subhanho wa Taala

00:43:23--> 00:43:53

placed upon them because they were also they are from the home of Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wasallam Well, me Luna well, Mina to bow to him earlier about as Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us that the believing males in the believing females, they are helpers and assistance to one another. And that includes assisting and helping the development of each other's email including financial ability material, well being financial standing also

00:43:54--> 00:44:13

helpers and the sisters towards developing one's knowledge and also helping and developing the new Muslim to become part and parcel of the Muslim community whereby they are normally seen as new Muslims. Right so this is an amazing point that you said amongst other points now I've been putting up as many messages as I can on the screen.

00:44:15--> 00:44:22

From Mashallah many viewers we have viewers watching from YouTube, from Twitter, from Facebook as well.

00:44:23--> 00:44:24

And on

00:44:26--> 00:45:00

on Facebook, Mashallah we have people making dua for lokhandwala to strengthen you and take you from strength to strength people highlighting how inspired they are as born Muslims from your story, and they feel the need to do more for ally and his Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from what you have shared. So this is May Allah subhanho wa Taala place it on your scale of good deeds and keep on making you a beacon of light for dama mubin han on Facebook, he says. He says First of all, I love you both for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala And may Allah preserve you both

00:45:00--> 00:45:17

Armenia moving and May Allah subhana wa tada love you as well. He says no hanworth Allah protect you both from the evil eye and May Allah keep you and your family steadfast May Allah make you and your family from the people of the highest paradise I mean you're up thank you it will be and will this pan with Allah grant you the same year mobian and gather us

00:45:19--> 00:45:24

I mean Europe, Abdullah Mashallah the messages are coming through and we

00:45:26--> 00:46:04

bless all the attendees for everything that they are sharing. I mean, you know, the difficulties that you highlighted as I said, you know, if a Muslim community plays their part and becomes a community for the new Muslim there are a lot of the difficulties you you highlighted would, would cease to be difficulties but also Masha Allah, Allah, one of the thing that you said, one of the best things you felt when you accepted Islam. And I can tell you this is a thing for one Muslims today, in my time since I've been involved in developing communities now for over 15 years, and will allow him to further follow on a global scale. In many countries that I go to many cities that I

00:46:04--> 00:46:32

visited many Muslims from Muhammad Sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam that I meet, they struggle with this whole thing, this concept of, you know, handing over their self worth to the views of other people. You mentioned an important point that one of the best things that you felt when you accepted Islam, was that Subhana light doesn't matter what anyone thinks about me is what Allah subhanho wa Taala thinks about me and this brought, you know, a level of peace to you, can you elaborate further on that.

00:46:33--> 00:47:08

So basically shake a lot of teenagers around me at that time, even myself, we were living life where we had to reach up to certain standards, keep up in a certain style, dress a certain way, look a certain way, speak a certain way just to impress people around you. And that not necessarily would make you happy from within. But when I became a Muslim, Pamela, you, you realize that all you need to do is please Allah and I love loving people's heart, any like any, what's more easier, any to please one person to please a million around who have different ways of thinking that by pleasing the only one

00:47:11--> 00:47:48

the only one who deserves to be worshipped, it's a different liberating feeling set. So if teenagers out there who struggle with depression, peer pressure, if they understood this concept that they need to please Allah, then any the life becomes easy, because you don't really have to worry about what somebody else is thinking about you. You can just wake up every day and know that this is what I need to do. And the beauty is with Islam. It's not that Islam is a religion where you know that there is God and just do whatever you want. No, Allah also sent us the messengers, he gave us guidance. So you know, he's told us, what do you need to do to harness pleasure which will in

00:47:48--> 00:48:06

return, get you the pleasure as people around you. So it simplifies life to a great extent check. So this is, I think, a big blessing that I felt in Islam, which a lot of people out there are missing out on spamela. Now, I mean, this this is from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the hadith of Abu huraira, the Allahu Allah which is in sale Bukhari and Sahih Muslim,

00:48:07--> 00:48:40

in which he says that if Allah subhanho wa Taala loves his slave, he called the Jew breel. And then gibreel goes to the heavens and the angels through the levels of the heavens are interested in understanding what Allah is going to say to gibreel and Allah says, I love so and so and commands you blue to love him. And as you breathe, he sends the angels of the different heavens seek this instruction, what did Allah say is Allah said he loves so and so and told me to love him so they said, we'll also love Him until the creation of the heavens love this person and that overwhelming love settles in the hearts of the people on earth. And so you know, you Mashallah tomato cola?

00:48:40--> 00:49:03

Amazing. I mean, do you remember who taught you this narration that early on, that helped you? Was it the same brother or did you read it somewhere? What is the means of you learning a hadith like this? This would be like a needle in the haystack kind of Hadith for a new Muslim Pinilla. You latched on to it, and you felt this is one of the best things of Islam I just please Allah, and you know, the rest will fall into

00:49:04--> 00:49:20

what helped me shake is the brother who did that to me. And when it came to Islam, I think he knew though he properly he knew who allow us he's not you know, a lot of fish issues. So we never discussed about all these things that would have distracted me from understanding the the core concept of the heat

00:49:22--> 00:49:39

around topics that he was aware of, if you don't have knowledge or you know a shape maybe I would have asked him a million questions and he would have tried to get an order of information from him. But because he knew it, and this was what he was aware of, that's what we always spoke about so that

00:49:40--> 00:49:44

this is a very good point I've done line for the lesson is listening in.

00:49:46--> 00:49:59

You know, what I've done was highlighting although it happened to him, I look let's, it's the father of Allah subhanho wa Taala. But he's saying that the brother was, you know, he was well versed with one aspect and not the other aspect and this was no disservice because

00:50:00--> 00:50:33

It's about prioritizing, and about focusing on the universal values, rather than overwhelming a person who's interested in Islam or a person except it's alarming you overwhelmed and now you have to some people say you have to change your name, and you need to change your clothes. And you need to stop this and you need to stop that and you lay upon them 101 conditions and rules and regulations and it overwhelms them cause them to hyperventilate, and causes them to even if they remain Muslims, it causes them to fail to experience the sweetness of a man. Right. And

00:50:34--> 00:51:09

in the introduction to this, I mentioned to you all the wisdom of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and how he took into consideration different people's contexts. But the common denominator irrespective of concept was the fact that he focused on worship one Allah there is no one worthy of worship besides him. When it settles in the hearts everything else is easy. And even when we look at the way the Quran was revealed, that I shall have the law and he says, that if the first you know, command revealed was about leaving alcohol and so on and so forth, people would have not listened but Allah subhanho wa Taala revealed the command towards worshiping one Allah subhanho wa Taala. And

00:51:09--> 00:51:35

if we look at the major tenants of the faith, the Pillars of Islam, when did Salah become compulsory like we know it today in Medina 13 years after the death of after the advent of the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam zeca after the Hajj came after that Ramadan, the second year after after hegira So, we see that the the first 13 years of the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was focused and dedicated to

00:51:36--> 00:52:05

you know the concept of belief in one Allah, belief in Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam being the Messenger of Allah, it was focused on good character. And it was focused on belief in the Hereafter, the major universal tenants. And this is clear when we look at the Macan versus the verses that were revealed about Allah subhanho wa Taala, before the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam migrated to to Medina. So this is a quick lesson that we can share from what Abdullah is saying that, you know, there wasn't some,

00:52:06--> 00:52:10

any structured effort, it was sort of a natural

00:52:11--> 00:52:30

synthesis and transformation taking place where the focus was on understanding who is Allah and worshiping one Allah and so on and so forth. And like this, the fitrah becomes engaged, because we all born right. And we all born with the knowledge that was kind of a Tallis, our Lord, but our environments

00:52:31--> 00:53:08

affect that knowledge. And then the message of the messenger is simple. Why? Because the seed of that knowledge is within us. All the messenger is doing is instigating a recalibration, instigating a recalibration, and this is where the focus needs to be brothers and sisters in Islam. Now, we're not saying Islam isn't complete Islam is complete as the Allah subhanho wa Taala revealed during the final hedge of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam during the Hajj, the farewell of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, but what we're saying brothers and sisters in Islam, is that we can take from the staged revelation of the Sharia

00:53:09--> 00:53:38

lessons in our interactions with new Muslims, right, in terms of prioritizing what to say to them and being sensitive to their reality before Islam, and then upon entering Islam. And I think that was a good thing, Abdullah that, you know, a lot of the focus around you was on to hate and like you said to hate one Allah one Allah, one worshipping one, Allah, and like this, everything else accordingly fell in place. Do you have anything else to add?

00:53:39--> 00:53:40

That's it.

00:53:41--> 00:53:44

All right, Allah bless you. One thing that

00:53:45--> 00:53:51

I think everyone should hear about, I mean, I did mention how you were a means of my power in Dubai.

00:53:52--> 00:54:40

And you are a means not just of me of many other students of knowledge coming to Dubai and being involved in youth and community development, youth and adult development, bringing people closer to the son of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, and that are related to helping people see their potential, that are related to helping people see what they can be as opposed to being too focused on who they are. And right now you are the head of digital power over there in the UAE tell us a little bit of your power enlightened, you know, the listeners, I know you in the hotel industry when you came to Dubai, that was your way in, but then, you know, I want you to explain to them how you

00:54:40--> 00:54:51

left it for to be involved in the space, what was the motivation and some of the activities that you were involved in and tell us what you are doing right now, please.

00:54:52--> 00:54:59

So when I moved to the UAE, I was into the real estate and hospitality sector, but the heart was always towards

00:55:00--> 00:55:27

Though and learning about Islam and talking about Islam, because it is like when you're walking on a path and you find a pit and you fall into the pit and you come out of it, now you really want everybody else to, you know, be aware that there is a pit on this road. So the same way when Allah blessed me and my family with Islam, I really want to share this message with everybody around me. So that's how a lot open doors for opportunities to volunteer with an organization called kalama. And

00:55:28--> 00:55:35

when I was volunteering, that the person working there had to leave back to Saudi and that's how long I've been in the door and I joined there and then

00:55:36--> 00:56:22

had it in your heart and opportunity came to me in the right places. Every time I taught my life's need to be shoukry Abdullah Rafi, now a frustration of gratitude. So do the sugar is a frustration of gratitude now, go ahead. And then we met we invited you We did a lot of amazing events Pamela Sierra of Sora new on the yacht eat in the park, we did new Muslim retreat, and we did some events with the government for all caf. And we traveled together to Oman and a lot we even recorded climate video next to a waterfall so like if your doors on the line after that after six years of being with kalama hamdulillah I'll open another door which is the place where I'm working which is called

00:56:22--> 00:56:57

Islamic Information Center. And this is where I've been for the past few years and the center Mashallah their focus towards new Muslim support and non Muslim The sokolova was more towards community youth and adults in born Muslims and Lv lectures and the place I'm with now is more towards new Muslim support and non Muslim law in the UAE myself a lot of people don't know about this about the UAE and when they think about UAE they just think about the buildings in the tourist places, but masala Yanni in terms of that, they are one of the leading countries in the Middle East and you yourself are tense dismissal.

00:56:59--> 00:57:19

And allow open this this basically I would say is like a putting me in the right place, opening new doors for me just to be part of hire of other people I want to say myself that I could not be a student of knowledge or, you know, she could not go and study Islam stuck on a structured way. But I feel this is how Allah

00:57:21--> 00:57:29

basically gave me a blessing of being part of this where I can you didn't want and benefit myself more than anybody else.

00:57:31--> 00:57:33

Mashallah devarakonda you know, I remember

00:57:35--> 00:58:13

before now, before you got involved in this dedicated effort towards non Muslims and new Muslims that your desire to actually be dedicated and focused to bringing non Muslims to Islam and the new Muslims and at that time, you obviously were focused on looking after the amount of born Muslims there's a lot of the programs were dedicated towards the Muslims, although there was an effort to add Kadima as well, towards new Muslims and Subhanallah, even that Allah subhanho wa Taala gave you and now this is your full time endeavor. And you actually now tapping into what is the future, which is the digital, the digital power and artificial intelligence and we've had this discussion over

00:58:13--> 00:58:27

time and Mashallah, you are now off implementing ideas Alhamdulillah you know, Abdullah, a look, a lot of the comments are about how inspiring you know your story is, and to the listeners to my brothers and sisters who are listening.

00:58:28--> 00:59:05

It's important that you don't let this inspiration slide, you know, it's important that it shouldn't be short lived, it should be inspiration of value that, you know, after this broadcast, you actually sit down and have a thinking moment with yourself and really, really ask yourself, where you going and where you came from? And how is your journey actually going in terms of where you're actually heading to? And how can you improve it? These are real questions that we really need to ask ourselves. And this is the only way that we can benefit from the inspiration if we are feeling any inspiration now that it's about getting things done abroad, I'm told a story is beneficial. But I

00:59:05--> 00:59:20

mean, you know, behind the story, there's painful moments, there's moments of patience, there's, you know, moments of hard work sleepless nights. I know some of the that our programs we ran very intensive,

00:59:21--> 00:59:59

you know, executive operation that he was involved in to make it a success, and to do it with a son, and so on and so forth. You know, right now it's obviously narrating it, but it comes off the back of, you know, 10 years of transformative moments. So it's important that each and every one of you, you know, think about this and think about specifically what you can do to bring people to Islam or closer to Islam and what you can do to help new Muslims How can you can champion the new Muslim initiative how you can revive the son of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in how he made the new Muslims or sadaqa jariya for him, you too can make the new Muslim Southern

01:00:00--> 01:00:35

progeria for you imagine if you teach a new Muslim sort of prophetic, or you sponsor an institute that teaches them and they read Salah for the rest of their life reciting surah, Fatiha and Salah, imagine what you will see on your scale of good deeds on the piano. This is something we don't think about this is this is the real return on equity and return on investment brothers and sisters in Islam. We you know, we teach our children, we teach new Muslims. And we got to ask ourselves, if the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was here right now, what would he be doing with the non Muslims? What would he be doing with the new Muslims, right? And based on this develop, turn this inspiration

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into actionable, achievable points slowly but surely, but at least we develop ourselves to being part of the solution, you know, our times panelized is really flying through. And we can actually feel it that we spent this time already on call. But one of the things that I wanted to discuss with you and we've discussed this, and this experience is is is is a real one.

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I mean, you've Mashallah, you've had, you know, your journey to Islam is unique, and your journey after Islam is unique. But as we we both agree, others haven't had it that easy. And one of the things we see today, especially with those who start doubting Islam after becoming a Muslim, earlier, you said that when you you know, when you were young and becoming a Muslim, the elders would think there's some girl involved. But if we flip that today, we also see in certain countries, we have first hand experience whereby a female accepts Islam, and then she gets married as a second wife. And she does this without understanding of it. And a lot of the times they say we did this,

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because we thought we were gonna be taught about Islam. And the process is one of oppression, because the rights are not being given. And they're not being treated in the way that they thought they would be treated, based on the values that they understood Islam to have, and so on and so forth. Abdullah, since you've had first hand experience with this not that you have, you've done this yourself, but you've had many, you know,

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new Muslim females who have gone through this difficulty and relate to their stories. What advice can you share with our listeners, regarding this point? So there are two aspects to it. When it comes to newsrooms and marriage, what is the brothers they struggle to get married, because somebody takes a house, everybody's happy, they hug him, and they do nice for the first one week, but when it comes to actually giving the notice to a new Muslim, they fear that What if he goes back, so the brothers really struggle to get married. And on the other hand, we have sisters who, because they want to get some sort of support, or, you know, get any basically get married, they do it in a in

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hurry or in haste, and they agree for a lot of any conditions to be waived off. So this has caused a lot of problems for sisters, conditions just to enlighten the listeners. So, for example, I know of cases, my sister said that it's okay. If the husband does not provide housing, it's okay if the husband does not provide certain aspects of support, because as long as he marries me and you know, he takes care of my Deen, she doesn't realize that she's being taken advantage of because she's very nice when additional days. And

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the guy also knows that she is a new Muslim. So her family, her brothers are not going to get involved. She's, it's just maybe the cardi was going to be a witness on behalf. So she gets taken advantage of. So this is the other issue. Then the third issue that I've noticed is a lot of brothers and sisters, maybe sisters more come with a baggage. Sometimes baggage that they bring from Julia could be feminism, sometimes the baggage that you bring from China could be other aspects that ruin the marriage. So there are a lot of issues with the new Muslim comes with that baggage. Correct any case issues. So the last thing would be that the born Muslims are all excited to support new

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Muslims when it comes to mounting assistance, especially if she's a Western. So they will be like okay, let me just do this, you know, to support her but they don't realize that marrying marriage itself is a responsibility. But on top of that you're marrying a new Muslim. It is an added responsibility because now you are responsible for her. Understanding the deen may be teaching a prayer rudo and, you know, she has to learn everything from scratch is like taking a baby and you're teaching them right, right? Correct. So they fail to understand what they're getting into and they Hurry and then they ruin lives for themselves, their families, sisters, sisters feel oppressed and

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they go back to their old religion. So I think one of the things that is really needed shake when it comes to new Muslims, I would say is keeping Madison concentration and many other aspects is mentorship and guidance. This is where a lot of new Muslims struggle to get like in my life sake, I would take this opportunity to thank you for being there toward a lot of phases that I went through. You will witness for my marriage my sister's marriage you I remember you giving not a shout out saying there is a new Muslim brother after the seminar you said

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As a new Muslim mother was not married. And, you know, I would recommend that you have daughters who are not married. And those things mean a lot. Because ultimately, at that point of time, who do you have as family, there's nobody in this, nobody is going to look out for you. So you really played that role as a mentor. So imagine a lot of new Muslims, they get mentors like this, it is does not necessarily need to be a shake, it can just be a brother and sister who's, you know, with them throughout this journey is guiding them supporting them, maybe just asking a shake for guidance and conveying it to them. So mentorship, I think, will play a major role in solving issues, even when it

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comes to marriage, because they get into marriage without consulting without, you know, being guided towards making the right decisions. So mentorship, I think, is something needed. However, when it comes to new Muslims. And that is why you see in this era, the professor was always there as a mentor for them.

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Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, it's also about the born Muslims being comfortable as Muslims, you know, sometimes

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you get the impression that, you know, somebody doesn't want to be made guilty, doesn't want to feel guilty, because when you see a new Muslim with so much zeal to learn Islam, and you think I'm a born Muslim, and I'm not really there with it. And I say to my brothers and sisters in Islam, you know, don't let the whispers of shavonne cause you to, to lose opportunities, sometimes the new Muslim is an opportunity to trigger your own development in in your faith, right, your own relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala. And it is it is about, you know, stepping up. And as we said earlier, if you you know, if you can, if you you know, be a mentor, you can be a mentor assist organizations

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that can act in this capacity financially, with time with how you can volunteer, in terms of the expertise that you have, you might be a specialist in, in, in law or in medicine, or in any other sphere, you can bring this expertise and channel it into championing the son of the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam. In that capacity with regards to the marriage of the marriage in general, I think you you highlighted important points that we should consider that if someone is interested in marrying a new Muslim, then understand that part and parcel

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of your paradigm, when getting into this marriage is to recognize that, you know, you have to be a teacher, in some capacity, you have to be the first teacher or you have to think about coming up with the strategy that will be a means for this person to learn about the religion, this is number one, because they have that expectation from the marriage, this is part of their consideration. A lot of the times when they agreed to marry, it's not just pure love marriage, or because he's a handsome person, or it's also about you know, this is going to be a means of me, developing my religion, learning my religion, and providing the environment for me to do so. So that takes us to

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number two that make sure that you are ready to provide provide the environment for them to flower as a Muslim, and what kind of sorta cottage area that will be for you. But imagine if you do the opposite, and you're a means of them leaving Islam, right, because you rushed into this process, then how would it How would you standing in front of Allah subhanho wa Taala beyond the day of kamma that you are a means of someone leaving Islam, right? We all go in to drink insha Allah from the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and we have to ask the important question. When we meet him on the day of gamma. How do we want to meet him? Do we want to meet him once he's smiling?

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Or do we want to meet him once? He said we're crying because we didn't walk in his footsteps after him. sallallahu alayhi wasallam so much has been said brothers and sisters in Islam. I'm aware that it's Muslim time in the UAE and our brother Abdullah has to leave for Salat

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for the Muslim prayer. We did hear the event. So I will allow you to take leave.

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Abdullah also wrap up the session with our our viewers is really phenomenal having you and you know you are someone who is special to me. And I love you for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala and ask Allah to grant to you and your mother and your sisters and your family. I asked las panatela to grant you all better than you all dream of in both worlds. I mean your except your your your deeds, and to forgive your past and to inspire your future and to keep you steadfast and keep you being a means. For DOMA Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in Europe. I mean, you're lucky to have saved for this opportunity. May Allah grant you more than what you were made to offer me

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for economic, Masonic Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.

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So brothers and sisters in Islam, here we are with this discussion, honestly, it was a lot of you have said it was the man boosting Honestly, it was the man boosting for me as well.

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You know, you guys asking about resources in terms of resources. We have a wonderful project the state of the art project for new Muslims. It's an online project.

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And it's free as well.

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If ever you are a means of anyone accepting Islam, or if ever, you know of a new Muslim who wants to further their knowledge of Islam, I would ask you to take note of what's on the screen right now and encourage the new Muslims to join the new Muslim Academy, www dot new Muslim academy.org. It's a state of the art borderless program in the English language, designed specifically for the new Muslims in in taking them through the most important things they need to know after they take the Shahada, okay, it's not it doesn't overwhelm them. It doesn't aim to overwhelm them. It's all about taking them slowly but surely through baby steps in a professional way, you know, the program. You

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know, when I say free, don't mistake it for cheap. It's not cheap. It's free online, because we have donors who are sponsoring the running of the program. But the program takes the highest care in terms of all his productions, the highest k in terms of excellence with regards to all these productions to give a seamless experience to the new Muslims. So this is one way brothers and sisters in Islam, that you can step up and be a means for a new Muslim. Don't forget to raise your hands and make dua to Allah subhanho wa Taala to bring Islam to the non Muslims and for Allah subhanho wa Taala to grant steadfastness to the new Muslims, and ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to make

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you a means for a new Muslim or for new Muslims. Last week, we spoke about fostering and adoption. And we said also make dua to Allah subhanho wa Taala to make you a means for an orphan. If you can't take the whole package, then in some capacity, but the main thing is in the least brothers and sisters in Islam as the home of Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you and I have it at the front of our hearts and our minds that in our day. We are asking Allah subhanho wa Taala for the new Muslims of the Mohammed sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for the orphans of the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam we are asking Allah for causes that were beloved to the Prophet

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sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and we ask Allah to make us a means of,

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of revival for forgotten sooner of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, indeed, the first generation of Sahaba were new Muslims and he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a means for them and Subhanallah we are Muslims today because of them. Probably Allahu Allah humoring me Allah subhanho wa Taala gather us in Jenna with them in the highest gender, you know, for those with them. I mean, you're open and I mean, brothers and sisters in Islam. This brings us to the end of today's

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episode, I'm just going to quickly scan the messages that we have here. Someone's asking,

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does this qualify so the cottage area Yes brother Hussein family indeed. it qualifies as sort of cottage area every good that we do or we are a means of other people doing is with Allah subhanho wa Taala Allah in Allah Allah you do. Remember that machining Allah subhanho wa Taala does not let the you know the good deeds of those who do good become lost.

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You know, we will see this on our skills of good deeds on the day of karma brothers and sisters in Islam, even if we have forgotten that we were a part of it. Allah subhanho wa Taala. Never, ever forgets. So brothers and sisters in Islam, we Allah subhanho wa Taala bless you all, and inspire you all and we always panela to Allah bless us all and forgive us all. And we have lost Hannah who Allah gather us many times again in this life, to learn from the inheritance of the prophets of Allah, Allah he was telling me he preserved preserve us in his obedience, I mean, and then May Allah subhanho wa Taala gather us underneath his arm from the day of the AMA and, and in alpha dose, just

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as how he has gathered us here across the waves of the internet. I mean, your brand I mean, I love you And for the sake of Allah, and until next time, Salam OVA aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.