Shaun King – Gaza the Promises of Allah and the Single Largest Building in the World Travel
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AI: Transcript ©
Good morning and Assalamu alaikum.
It's good to see all of you.
I am standing outside of the Hagia Sophia
mosque.
It's just opened up.
I've actually been here for a few hours
and one of the things that I love
about Istanbul is it's not a morning city.
I'm a morning guy and so when I
wake up early in the morning in Istanbul,
it's like the city is yours.
You can go all over and travel all
over and there's very little traffic and so
I've been up for a few hours and
I came here and took a private tour
upstairs.
I actually came here last night as well
in preparation to see you all.
I'm about to walk in and I have
a few things that I want to share
with you.
Okay, but first I'll try to show you
the outside but it won't do justice to
the scale of what I'm looking at.
Again, this is our wudu station.
This is several hundred years old.
This is where we would wash ourselves before
prayer.
I did wudu before I got here this
morning but it's a beautiful ancient wudu station
but above it you will see Hagia Sophia
which at one time and this is again
it's going to be very hard to demonstrate
the size and scale because I'm up close.
For about 1100 years, this was the
largest building in the world.
The Hagia Sophia church is what it once
was.
It was the largest single building known on
the entire planet.
Not for a year, not for a hundred
years, not even for a thousand years but
for 1100 years and when I get inside
I think you'll be able to really grasp
the size and scale of it inside but
there are so many caverns and tunnels and
so many different things for you to see
and I'm going to try to show you
what I can today.
What I'm mainly going to show you is
the inside of the mosque and I'm going
to tell you what I think is and
I want to be very honest with you
what is a very complicated history of this
place it's and anybody who says this place
doesn't have a complicated history is not being
honest.
I'm walking right now let me show you
right outside of the Hagia Sophia mosque is
a cemetery that has been preserved but these
are mainly Christians in many of these places
that are buried here and there are even
there are some Christian leaders and early leaders
of this that were leaders of this when
it was a church.
Remember Istanbul used to be what?
Constantinople and so when this place was built
it was the largest church in the the
largest building in the world but our prophet
peace be upon him he said to the
sahaba to his companions and many took this
to heart including our dear brother Abu Ayyub
and I hope if you have not seen
my video about Abu Ayyub please I'll link
it here in the description um this place
is deeply connected to Abu Ayyub and uh
it's it's it's beautiful it's it's amazing to
step into a place that is nearly 2
,000 years old uh in fact um it
just the floor just opened for us to
go in a prayer is not for two
more hours but there's a separate entrance for
Muslims than than visitors and so now that
the entrance is open for Muslims we're allowed
to go onto the floor and anyone who
is not a Muslim they have actually have
a very beautiful tour that they can take
upstairs and uh so this morning when I
got here anyone Muslims Christians or anybody who
wanted to tour the upstairs could tour I
toured that but it was just beautiful up
there um these minarets that you see uh
they're they are all around they were built
after this became a mosque but uh just
an amazing amazing place and I I have
a bit of a heart connection to this
place because in some ways I see Hagia
Sophia uh as a as almost a metaphor
for myself let me explain and and that's
why I want to be honest about the
complicated nature of this place when this was
Constantinople before a church was ever here this
place was full of pagan statues hundreds and
hundreds of pagan statues all over the place
there were pagan rituals that took place here
and so it was first not a place
that believed in one god and one of
the things that we have alike theoretically as
Muslims Christians and Jews is that we all
believe in one god and the truth is
if your theology is Jewish Christian or Islamic
there is only one god how we approach
that how we believe it but there is
only one god and this place used to
be a place for many gods and so
it was first established as a church and
then became a mosque I say that reminds
me of myself because I did not grow
up even a Christian my my mother she
had deep reservations about the church she was
she was twice divorced at a time when
that was frowned upon there were you know
like rumors about who she was rumors about
who I was about who my parents were
and so she she really rejected and felt
uncomfortable in this small town that we grew
up in I really was not raised as
a Christian I don't think I was a
pagan but I but I wasn't religious just
like the early beginnings of this place then
for most of my life until the age
of from 16 until five months ago the
majority of my life I was a Christian
and for many of those years for those
of you who didn't know I was a
Christian pastor and I was proud of that
and believed I believed I would be a
pastor my entire life and and so for
you know 25 years I was a Christian
and for five months I've been a Muslim
and so we're in this place that used
to not believe in one god then was
Christian and is now Muslim and in a
lot of ways I see that as a
as a similar a similar path that I
am on but this place has a very
complicated history I want to tell you a
I'm walking now into the main floor of
the Hagia Sophia mosque there's a separate entrance
for men and women and there are I
see a cat let me see if I
can show you if you know anything about
if you know anything about Istanbul cats are
welcome everywhere they're all over when I was
here inside of Hagia Sophia early this morning
I saw cats all over they were beautiful
beautiful cats and they were kind and friendly
they are like the the kings and queens
of this city they run the show they
go where they want they they do what
they want they're not bothered by you they
are not afraid of you but we are
now inside of the Hagia Sophia mosque I
have my camera on a wide lens but
nothing I could ever do could show you
the scale of what I'm looking at now
and what I'm about to show you behind
me is the entrance into the prayer area
it's it's beautiful I came here and prayed
last night but let me try to show
you just some of I'm in like a
lobby area the floors are thousands of years
old the walls are thousands of years old
let me show you so they have these
just beautiful lamps all over their inside as
well but the ceiling is painted with gold
you can see there a cross across you
know which is a symbol of Christianity so
this on this place has a complicated history
and they they haven't tried to hide all
of that in a second I have to
take as as is our custom we take
our shoes off before we our dirty shoes
before we enter into any holy space certainly
before we enter to a into a masjid
or or begin to pray for those of
you who are Muslims watching this I appreciated
this I'm about to put my shoes uh
each shelf has a container for one pair
of shoes with a number on it so
my number is 15 um tell me why
do I keep losing my shoes I lose
my shoes like every other day at every
masjid I go to I keep forgetting where
I put my shoes I'm always so excited
to go in and pray and I think
to myself I'll remember where I put them
but at least this place has a number
we should do that back home as well
but uh I'm about to enter into the
masjid if you if you saw what I'm
seeing right now uh it will take your
breath away and uh I'm gonna I'm gonna
turn my camera around and show it to
you and then I have three quick stories
I'm just gonna find a corner and sit
down on the carpet and try to share
these stories with you I'm gonna turn my
camera around it it will never do justice
what I'm looking at right now but let
me show you it's I mean just magnificent
um my right now you are only seeing
half of the height it goes up hundreds
and hundreds of feet just magnificent I've studied
the history of now every wall every uh
every mosaic just I wanted to be able
to understand it so that if you came
there are birds flying high inside here it's
it's just again it was the largest building
in the world for 1100 years just beautiful
um praying last night I I struggled I
told you I'm a sensitive man you know
already but I struggled to hold back the
tears at just the beauty and majesty of
this place and and then it dawned on
me uh the story that I share they
have uh ancient paintings of angels you know
they the angels have like somewhat European faces
that's because it was uh this was really
a semi-european at one point in time
when it was built uh these things that
we know of as as Europe those definitions
were created much later but just a beautiful
beautiful beautiful place um I was I was
upstairs earlier and being able to look down
on it uh it's just just magnificent sorry
if I'm making you dizzy but uh you
really need a 360 degree view of it
it's one of the largest most magnificent it
it it may be the largest most magnificent
building I've ever been in in my life
um it's gorgeous it's uh spectacular um I
will and after I finish the video I'm
going to pray here before I leave and
as a rule I I don't know I
I don't know if it's I don't yet
know if it's against our faith but I
I don't film myself or ourselves praying it
seems wrong to me it's a it's a
sacred time and not a show but I
do my wife and I and our daughter
we pray five times a day and uh
it's the most beautiful part of our day
every day it changes your life to pray
five times a day and I pray more
than five times a day I but I
I have five daily prayers that I do
along with two billion Muslims around the world
and then other times throughout the day I
may stop and pray I may pray when
I'm walking or when I'm traveling but uh
it's just outrageously beautiful here and I want
to tell you and talk to you about
the promises of Allah about the courage of
early Muslims and how that applies to us
okay um you know I was my first
job out of college a long time ago
can you believe I graduated Morehouse College now
almost 25 years ago like oh I'm getting
old uh but my first job out of
Morehouse was as a high school history teacher
and so I always find myself going back
to my roots as a history teacher I
taught history middle school and high school I
taught civics in middle school and high school
and uh that early career for me really
shaped my whole life I say this place
is complicated because it was the prophecy of
Muhammad peace be upon him the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him that one day Muslims
would open up Constantinople and it would be
a safe haven a home for Muslims and
no one no one on earth took every
word of our prophet peace be upon him
more literally more seriously than his companion Abu
Ayub he he was known for if the
prophet said it you do it if the
prophet walked it talked it ate it whatever
the prophet did Abu Ayub al-Ansari he
he wanted to do everything that our prophet
peace be upon him did and it was
a message from our prophet to the sahaba
to his companions to the early Muslims that
this city that was thousands of miles away
from Mecca or Medina that this wonderful city
Constantinople would one day be a city for
Muslims it it was I listened to my
entire statement here it was an outrageous prophecy
because it was so far from the truth
that to make such a statement is almost
setting yourself up for failure because no Constantinople
could not become that it was Constantinople was
the capital of the world in fact over
a thousand years after our prophet peace be
upon him said that Constantinople would one day
be open to Muslims would be ruled by
Muslims over a thousand years later Napoleon that
Napoleon and by that time this was very
much a Muslim city this was this Hagia
Sophia was a mosque at that time Napoleon
said that if the world was one country
if the whole world was just one country
its capital should be Istanbul Napoleon said that
not Paris he didn't say Paris should be
the capital he said Istanbul should be the
capital and so our prophet peace be upon
him he understood he understood early the significance
the importance of this place for Islam and
what I learned was that the Hagia Sophia
for hundreds and hundreds of years was even
a stop on the pilgrimage to Mecca in
fact in the 1500s and 1600s and 1700s
for people who could not afford to make
Hajj they would make their own pilgrimage here
it was seen for a while for hundreds
of years Hagia Sophia where I am right
now was seen almost on equal footing with
Mecca with Al-Asqa and Hagia Sophia and
millions and millions of people over time came
through here to celebrate to recognize its importance
in Islam and so our prophet peace be
upon him he understood how vital this place
was and so his companion Abu Ayyub please
go watch my video on Abu Ayyub the
companion of our prophet peace be upon him
when he was nearly 90 years old and
our prophet had already passed away Abu Ayyub
who outlived him on on earth when early
Muslims said we must fulfill the prophecy we
we must go and open up this city
to Muslims it was our dear brother Abu
Ayyub who said at almost the age of
90 who said put me on the front
lines I want to be found fighting for
the promises of Allah and if I die
so be it and I told you that
Abu Ayyub let me go closer that Abu
Ayyub fought in every single battle that our
prophet peace be upon him was in every
battle and the only battles he ever missed
in his entire life the only the only
wars the only battles he ever missed as
a Muslim he missed because he was in
another battle somewhere else this is documented this
is not legend this is documented history of
the life of Abu Ayyub that's why I
wanted you to know his story now what
I'm about to tell you is is likely
legend but we don't know Abu Ayyub made
it all the way from Mecca Medina Egypt
all the way to Constantinople and when he
was buried he was buried outside of the
walls of Constantinople because it was not yet
acceptable for Muslims to be buried inside of
Constantinople but it is said and we we
don't know for sure and that's why I'm
framing it the way I'm framing it it
is believed by many that the very first
Muslim to ever pray inside of Hagia Sophia
was Abu Ayyub many people stated that Abu
Ayyub received some kind of and he was
a Abu Ayyub was a traveler and he
traveled all over he was a wise man
a disciplined man that he negotiated an opportunity
to pray here in this space 1500 years
ago um if if that is true the
documented history of it is lost but if
it's true it's a it's a beautiful thing
but what we know and this is why
I wanted to tell you about the promises
of Allah whether Abu Ayyub was able to
pray here in Hagia Sophia or not there's
something beautiful about what happened Abu Ayyub he
followed the promises of Allah and as I
told you in my video about Abu Ayyub
Muslims were not accepted into Constantinople when Abu
Ayyub came here in 690 AD not in
the 700s not in the 800s 900s not
in the year 1000 not in the 1100s
1200s 1300s 1400s it was not until deep
in the 1400s 700 years after Abu Ayyub
came here over 700 years after the prophecy
of Muhammad peace be upon him over 700
years later Muslims finally opened up Constantinople and
it became a glorious home to Muslims and
it has been that now for the past
700 years why do I say that I
say that because sometimes you act on the
promises of Allah even if you don't see
them pass in your lifetime even if your
children and your children's children ten times down
still don't see the promises of Allah the
promise of God is always true and here's
the beauty you pursue the promises of Allah
whether or not they are fulfilled in your
life or not and so Abu Ayyub said
our prophet peace be upon him said we
will open up Constantinople and if there's a
chance it could be me even if I
die there in a place that was not
his home even if I die there so
be it I want to die attempting to
fulfill the promises of Allah I I Shaun
King I want to die fulfilling the promises
of Allah and if you die when you
die not if you we will all die
when you pass oh how beautiful it would
be for you to pass fulfilling the promises
of Allah and so in this space it
is in many ways an answer to the
promises of Allah it's a beautiful complicated space
but I want you to understand something you
don't pursue the promises of Allah just because
you yourself will fulfill them you pursue the
promises of God because it's the right thing
to do because you believe because you want
to live a life that walks in the
footsteps of Allah you want to be seen
fulfilling those promises I want me and you
to be seen fulfilling those promises in this
place is about the promises of Allah it's
just beautiful there were some some brothers up
here praying and so I didn't want to
get too close to the front while they
were praying but they've stepped away but out
of out of my own reverence I'm going
to lower my voice but I'm going to
get closer there is a there is a
step here yesterday when I prayed I prayed
all the way up on the front row
by the altar it's blocked off now but
anyone who's praying right now they are walking
up this step onto this carpet and praying
and so out of reverence for them I
won't walk up there now just because it's
a holy space and some brothers are about
to begin praying but it's the recitation last
night was just gorgeous you can see verses
from the Quran you can see names of
many companions of our prophet peace be upon
him written in Arabic script of to many
of us it just looks like calligraphy it
looks like art Arabic in so many ways
is so artistic but you can see just
the beautiful words of Allah all around the
Hagia Sophia it's just it's majestic it's beautiful
our brothers are are praying now and so
I want I want to step away and
I don't want my voice to interrupt their
prayers and I'm going to go go with
me okay I'm going to go set in
a corner and I want to talk to
you for for just a moment about Gaza
about the promises of Allah about what it
means for us as Muslims to pursue the
promises of Allah for us to live the
the words of the Quran um it's a
beautiful beautiful place I I saw them cleaning
it they they clean it so with such
great care um this is a world heritage
site it is one of the most magnificent
places I've ever seen in my life I
could not imagine there being many places more
beautiful than this I see a brother even
just resting uh at our masjid in New
Jersey uh we we embrace uh sometimes if
if you're tired between prayers lay down rest
rest in the mosque it's okay um I
am next to a a just a giant
marble pillar that is holding up the beautiful
let me show you um I here is
a a giant marble pillar that is holding
up the dome here that is just so
grand and uh here's another one of those
pillars and I'm I'm standing right next to
one you could just see how huge it
is compared to my hand but uh I'm
gonna sit down for a moment and I
I want to talk to us about how
the the promises of Allah apply to where
we are right now and this is a
message that I've I've only shared uh I've
never shared online before but I've I got
a chance to speak here in Istanbul earlier
this week and I shared this at a
beautiful university in Uskudar and I want to
share it with you I recently learned a
verse in the Quran and at first it
touched me because as a new Muslim I'm
I'm often searching for where where do I
belong in the faith what is my what
is my role as a Muslim and I
heard this verse and it immediately just I
mean it like squeezed my heart and in
it it says when you see injustice when
you see it first try to stop it
with your hands and if you fail to
stop that injustice with your hands then use
your tongue use your mouth use your words
first try to stop that injustice with your
hands with your body and if you fail
try to stop it with your words and
then if you still fail then feel feel
the the fury the frustration about that injustice
in your heart but it didn't stop there
it said and this this convicted me it
said first use your first listen to the
order first your hands then your words then
your heart and it said but the heart
is the least of these and when I
heard that I was immediately convicted because in
the world as Muslims and and really all
of us those of you who are not
Muslims and maybe you've made it deep into
this video for those of you who aren't
Muslims we often say you know my heart
is burning with rage about the genocide in
Gaza but the Quran the holy words say
that's the least of your options it's in
fact it says it's the weakest of the
three then many of you thanks be to
Allah many of you are using your words
and I'm I am glad that you are
burning in your heart with anger and frustration
and sadness about this genocide so much so
that you're speaking against it with your words
but that's not the order it's not that
is that those are that is not the
order of Allah the order is use your
hands and if you fail then use your
words and if that fails at least feel
the frustration in your heart but that's the
weakest of the three I ask you sisters
and brothers I'm not pointing a finger at
you I'm this applies to me and you
and all of us are you using your
hands to stop this genocide I I'm going
to speak very clearly to you now in
October it was towards the end of October
I I'm going to try not to cry
because this uh I saw something that was
uh it was awful I maybe it was
you know the last week of October in
the genocide we didn't know that it would
last so long but it was fully underway
they were killing hundreds of people in Gaza
every single day but the infrastructure was still
in place the hospitals were still operational and
I saw something that I had never seen
before and it was it was so awful
I saw a grandmother and she was in
front of al-shifa hospital and she had
a bag and it was a a *
plastic bag and she said this was all
that was left of her grandchildren I told
this story many times but I didn't want
to say publicly what she said because I
didn't want him to be condemned but what
I'm about to say it's not about condemning
him she looked into the camera with a
* bag full of of flesh and she
said um she said where where are the
Muslims I was not a Muslim yet but
I she said where are the Muslims she
said where are the leaders and then she
said where is Erdogan the president of Turkey
and then she said something that broke my
heart she said she said I love I've
loved Erdogan all of my life she said
I have followed his career and I have
seen him for decades excuse
me she said I've seen him for decades
say how much he loves us here in
Gaza but she
said she said where are you I thought
you loved us she said you have you've
called our names your whole career but where
are you and in that moment I felt
frustration with him and I asked myself yes
yes where is Erdogan why is why is
he not doing more I thought that but
I didn't say it out loud and then
I realized that he
is no different than me or you yes
he is the president yes he has a
military at his disposal so I asked I
asked my imams I won't name their names
but I asked the men who are my
teachers about the passage in the Quran that
says use your hands then your mouth then
feel it in your heart and I said
please brother how does that apply to me
and he said both of my imams who
didn't even know that each other had they
said to the to the effect it is
indeed first the responsibility of the leaders in
the immediate area in the countries that are
touching Gaza it is their responsibility to respond
first and they have failed and then it
is the responsibility of Muslim leaders of countries
that aren't touching Gaza like President Erdogan to
intervene and they have failed and then after
them after the the Muslim leaders of the
countries touching Gaza fail and the Muslim leaders
of the countries around the world fail then
it is the responsibility of the United Nations
of the International Criminal Court of the ICC
it is then their responsibility to intervene but
they have failed and Sean after the Muslim
leaders touching Gaza fail and the Muslim leaders
of nations not touching Gaza fail and after
the UN and the ICC fail then Sean
it is up to me and you to
intervene forgive
me I've never cried on camera before but
now we have failed I'm
sorry for you to see me like this
yes yes President Erdogan has failed
but so have me and you and
we we will have to face Allah
yes I've
I've tried to provide food and aid I've
tried we've raised millions of dollars and during
Ramadan we fed we provided I I raised
millions of dollars and that provided hundreds of
thousands of meals during Ramadan that was using
my hands in a in a way but
that's not what that verse means you know
it and I know it the verse said
if you see injustice stop it with your
hands how how shameful is it
I can hardly even look into the camera
how shameful that there are two billion of
us and we cannot get a bottle of
water into Gaza how shameful that our
forefathers were warriors and we are cowards it's
not okay it's not and if you've convinced
yourself that it's okay you're lying what purpose
is there that we be two billion strong
but our sisters and brothers can be suffering
so mightily and we watch and cry and
pray it's not enough prayer is with your
mouth it's with your heart in the words
of Allah say use your heart use your
mouth after you use your hands and fail
sisters and brothers listen to me it would
be better for us to use our hands
and fail following the words of Allah it
would be better for us to use our
hands and die it would be better for
us to use our hands and be vaporized
by drones and bombs and missiles than to
be so cowardly that we watch babies be
murdered that we watch mothers be slaughtered that
we watch elders be decapitated burned to a
crisp that we watch children right now in
Gaza at this moment Gaza which only has
two million people has more amputees than China
which has 1.3 billion people there are
more amputees in Gaza than China what are
we talking about who are we is this
just for show what is the beauty of
this place if it doesn't inspire us to
stand up for our sisters and brothers to
actually fulfill the promises of Allah I'm sorry
that you saw me this way I'm but
I I cry almost every day at the
shame of our inaction it's not okay they
are still asking for us I saw a
beautiful young girl just this week the only
surviving member of her family she must have
been 11 or 12 she's now an orphan
everyone else is gone and even she looked
into the camera and said where are the
Muslims are you a Muslim she's
asking for us she's calling for us yes
she's calling for Erdogan yes she's calling for
the crown prince and yes they're not coming
but are you not a Muslim do you
not have hands does blood not flow through
your body does your brain still work does
your heart still beat have you not confessed
that there is no god but Allah and
Muhammad is his final messenger have you not
said your shahada if so you are a
Muslim do you not pray five times a
day if so she's calling for me and
you and either either we will answer her
prayer or we're cowards either way one day
we will stand in front of Allah and
all of our good deeds yes they will
be listed but listen to what I'm about
to tell you I'll close with this I
am afraid that there are not enough good
deeds in the world to make up for
us watching a genocide acting cowardly and refusing
to intervene it would be better for us
to be like Abu Ayyub and pursue the
promises of Allah even if we fail did
Abu Ayyub fail no did he see the
promises of Allah fulfilled in his lifetime no
but did he pursue them and here's the
truth pursuing the promises of Allah can never
be failure no it's only righteous and one
day Allah will say to me to Erdogan
and we're no different we're Muslims he will
say Sean when you saw injustice did you
stop it with your hands did you try
to stop it with your hands what am
I going to say to Allah will I
lie how foolish he sees us I love
you please forgive my emotion you know my
my therapist told me she said Sean I
would be more worried about you if you
weren't crying I would be more worried about
you if you saw all that you saw
and it did not affect you the way
it does Sean the fact that you are
crying is a sign that your heart is
still alive assalamu alaikum sisters and brothers I
love you and I want you to use
your hands then your words then your heart
peace be upon you