Shaun King – The single most special place in all of Europe is in the middle of Istanbul Travel
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AI: Transcript ©
hello, good to see all of you I
have so much to tell you and I'm
starting as you may know I've talked about
this I'm starting for the first time in
my life to do a YouTube channel where
you actually see me and if you know
anything about me personally I'm actually a shy
person I normally hate to be on camera
me and my dear brother professor Khalid Beydoun
both of us would rather not be on
camera but with all of my platforms being
penalized or banned or removed it's just caused
me to rethink something and I had a
conversation with some Muslim employees at YouTube and
also at TikTok and both of them spoke
with me about doing a travel show and
this was all the way in January and
when I first heard it I was like,
what?
do you know me?
do you know how serious I am?
what am I going to look like doing
a travel show?
and what I learned I never watch travel
shows on YouTube what I learned is that
there's some of the most watched, most engaged
shows what they told me, they said, Sean
there are no travel shows from the perspective
that we think you could bring that was
almost 7 months ago and I've been thinking
about it for the past 7 months my
family is now in Turkey and I am
in a place I could cry I may
cry multiple times filming this video one the
genocide in Gaza has made all of us
deeply emotional I've been very public about the
fact that there have been times over these
past 9 months where I have screamed and
cried, rolled on the floor and cried I've
had to go to a bathroom or put
my face into a pillow so that my
wife and kids could not hear me and
so I was already a sensitive man and
because I'm sensitive, it's why I do the
work I do but I'm in a place
here in Istanbul that I feel like Allah
has knitted my heart to the place where
I am today and so I actually came
here first this is my third time here
in 4 days that's how much, now I'm
here all by myself it's my third time
here in 4 days that's how much I
love it I love this place so much
I'm about to tell you all about it
I love this place so much that I'm
going to try to come here every day
I'm in Istanbul for the next month we're
traveling out of Istanbul a few times but
every day I'm in Istanbul if I can
be here even just for 5 minutes, I
will so we're in a place right now
that may look very festive almost all of
us who are here are happy in some
kind of way for a lot of reasons
but there's something very very special about the
place that I'm about to show you right
here, in Istanbul while the city is 99
% Muslim this is a place where many
devout Muslims come in a lot of ways
to to make our own kind of pilgrimage
because here in Istanbul I've learned so much
about this just over this past week here
in Istanbul one of the companions of our
prophet peace be upon him Abu Ayyub is
buried here this was his final resting place
in Istanbul and I was so curious like
how did this man who was in his
90s and was a companion of our prophet
peace be upon him how did he end
up in Istanbul?
why is he buried here?
and my thought was did he die in
Mecca?
did he die in Medina?
and he was moved here?
no, the story is much more profound than
that you know, my dear brother my imam,
Dr. Shadi from New Brunswick Islamic Center back
in New Jersey I love him so much
you know, he told me, he said Sean,
I think where you are I think it's
the most special place in all of Europe
it may surprise some of you say, I
thought you were in Istanbul how could you
be in Europe?
well, half of Istanbul is in Europe half
of Istanbul just the city, half of the
city is in Europe half of the city
is in Asia we're on the European side
right now this is close to where I'm
staying so it's easy for me to get
here I love it so much that if
I could move here, I would if I
could move to this property, I would that's
how much I love it in part, if
you know me I'm a new Muslim we
became Muslims during Ramadan and so I've only
been a Muslim if my math is right
for almost 5 months so I have not
been able to make hajj I have not
been able to make umrah and so this
place is the closest I've been to our
prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him the brother
who was buried here Abu Ayub Al Ansari
was a dear dear companion a part of
the sahaba of our prophet and I can't
wait to show you what's here and if
you know me I'm actually people used to
know me as the guy on Instagram I'm
not on Instagram but more than anything else
I'm a father I'm a husband but I'm
also a historian, my undergraduate and graduate degrees
are in history and so when I travel
and go places a lot of what I
hope to show you is the history of
that place I'm also obviously going to be
talking about the politics of that place and
I want people to be able to see
a deeper part of what's going on and
today I'm going to show you as much
of it as I can and I really
want you to learn and understand just how
beautiful and special this place is so as
you may know our prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him he was alive on this earth
he was never able to step foot here
in Istanbul and in fact during his lifetime
this place was not called Istanbul instead it
was called, do you know?
it was called Constantinople and he told his
companions he told the sahaba, he told he
told the Muslims of the day that one
day this city, Constantinople it was a prophecy
that one day this city would be opened
up to Muslims and indeed it has been
obviously and the dear brother here Abu Ayub
I'm going to go in and show you
all about it let me, I have a
I'm doing all the filming myself okay and
so I'm going to turn around and show
you just what I see I'm in a
courtyard right now and this is outside of,
there are just wonderful shops, there's a beautiful
energy here this is a very Islamic audience
and crowd because of what this place is,
there's a beautiful mosque that I'll take us
to I'll go there to pray here in
just a few minutes but I want to
show you, I'm going to show you around
and show you just how beautiful and special
this place is again this is my this
is my third visit and we brought you
know our whole family is here with us
and so we brought our daughter our daughter
Tay who just very recently became a Muslim
we brought her here yesterday, my wife and
I were here maybe the day before that
and I'm going to be able to show
you his final resting place and I want
to tell you about Abu Ayub if you
don't know who Abu Ayub is it was
Abu Ayub who invited the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him into his home in Medina
it's actually a beautiful story um the prophet
for all intents and purposes was a refugee,
he could no longer stay in Mecca Mecca
was, the people of Mecca at the time
were were abusive and so many harsh things
happened to him there and so as he
went to Medina on a camel as you
would he said to the people everyone there
in Medina they welcomed him in so many
ways everyone wanted him in their home, they
wanted to host him and host his family
but the prophet peace be upon him said
I'll allow Allah to use the camel and
wherever the camel stops, Allah will choose that
place to be my home, that's a beautiful
way to do it, to say no I'm
not choosing the rich man, I'm not choosing
the powerful man but I'll use a humble
camel and Allah will use this camel and
wherever the camel stops it doesn't matter if
it's a hut, a tent doesn't matter where
it is, wherever we are that's where I
will call my home and the camel indeed
stopped in front of the home of Abu
Ayyub and when the camel stopped there Abu
Ayyub was so touched and so thrilled that
the prophet of Allah chose to be there
or that Allah chose the home of Abu
Ayyub and it's just a powerful thing, he
was overwhelmed with joy and he welcomed him
into his home and in about 690 forgive
me I've done a crash course on Abu
Ayyub here over the past few days forgive
me if I have the date not exactly
correct in about 690 they decided to our
prophet peace be upon him had already passed
away but the companions and the Muslims of
the day wanted to fulfill that prophecy and
wanted to open up Constantinople to Muslims and
Abu Ayyub who was in his 90s said
I want to be on the front lines
it wasn't that he was a fighter he
was 90 years old but you have to
understand Abu Ayyub was one of the few
people who could say he physically was a
part of every single battle that our prophet
peace be upon him was a part of
and so there was no way that the
Muslims of the day were going to go
to Constantinople and he was not going to
be a part of it even though he
was in his 90s that courage that bravery,
it touched me when I think about how
desperate all of us are to see justice
happen to Palestine, to Gaza to the West
Bank, to Jerusalem to all of the land
may we have the heart, the spirit, the
energy of Abu Ayyub who even at the
age of 90 said put me on the
front lines and that is even this week
has been my prayer to Allah please show
me how to be on the front lines
for our people in Gaza show me how,
how can I be on, how can you
who are watching this, how can you be
on the front lines how can we be
like Abu Ayyub and Abu Ayyub made that
trek from Medina all the way to Constantinople
a very, you know they didn't fly, I
mean this was a very enormous trek to
go from Medina to Constantinople after he was
here we believe for a few months he
passed away and was buried here and did
they win that battle no, they didn't in
fact, they didn't win the battle in 690,
not in the 700s 800s, 900s, not in
the year 1000, not in the 1100s 1200s,
1300s it was all the way in the
1400s you know 700 years later, 7 centuries
later that Muslims finally opened up Constantinople and
Abu Ayyub who passed away in 690, buried
here, is a testament to the prophecy of
our prophet Muhammad and the promise of Allah
that sometimes when Allah makes us a promise
you physically may not see it with your
eyes but Abu Ayyub knew it would happen
and so there's some things that we may
not get to see but it's still a
promise, it may not happen right now so
let me show you there's some beautiful things
here, some things I had never seen before
as a new Muslim let me show you,
for instance I had never seen that we
could do Wudu outside like this and we
just found it, this is like an ancient
Wudu station and you see our dear brother
here is washing his feet for those of
you who are not Muslims you may not
know, but before we pray we wash virtually
our entire body and there is a private
Wudu station for women behind me, this is
right here is a Wudu station for men,
I was able to wash here, before I
go to pray I was able to wash
everything but my feet so I will wash
my feet here let me take you in
to a very very solemn place, I'll have
to speak quietly because this is the tomb
of Abu Ayub and when we go here
it is the tradition that we greet our
dear brother Abu Ayub and say Assalamualaikum Assalamualaikum
Habibi and greet him and it is this
is where I could cry because it is
our belief it's our hope that on the
day of judgment when we all face Allah
that Abu Ayub will be able to say
to Allah that, let me just show you
that Abu Ayub will be able to say
to Allah that this sister, that brother this
sister, that each of them, yes Allah I
heard them pray they believe in you I
wonder if it's even this possible that Abu
Ayub the beloved companion of the Prophet, who
welcomed the Prophet into his home I have
three stories in a minute that I'm going
to share about Abu Ayub to you, I
have to show you this special place first,
but if there's even this much of a
chance that on the day of judgment Abu
Ayub who was called the beloved of the
beloved of Allah that is, the Prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him, was beloved by Allah,
but that Abu Ayub was beloved by our
Prophet peace be upon him the beloved of
the beloved the beloved of the beloved, that
if on the day of judgment there's even
this much chance that Abu Ayub I'm holding
my emotion could say to Allah O Allah
I saw Shawn King I heard him I
heard him say the Shahada and I heard
this I witnessed this if there's even a
remote possibility that that could happen that I
want to be a part of it let
me show you we're walking now into the
tomb of Abu Ayub there are also some
very special things here that I want to
show you it is custom before we go
in to take our shoes off just as
we would do in the mosque or anywhere
else and so I want to show you
one second so you know, I've never you
know, I've never been to Mecca, I've never
been to Medina, and so some of the
things that I'm about to show you it
made it real for me in such a
profound way and I can't wait for you
to see it so I have my shoes
in one hand and the camera in the
other let me show you so we're walking
in now to the tomb of our dear
brother Abu Ayub Al Ansari he was a
part of the Ansar the men and women
of Medina who cared deeply for our prophet,
there are some things here that are very
very important I'm going to speak quietly and
reverently there's a case right here there's a
rope line that we can't go past just
for security but in the case there are
and these have all been there's a verification
system in Islam just as we verify the
the Hadiths there's a verification system for relics
here that belong to the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him there are hairs from his
beard there are leaves from a tree in
his yard and I have so much more
to tell you but first let me show
you our dear sisters and brothers here are
praying to Allah thanking them for Abu Ayub
thanking them for the companion and his love
for our prophet peace be upon him and
so it's a very reverent place you can
see the beautiful mosaics on the wall and
here are several relics that I was telling
you about including hairs from a beard there's
several different things that belonged to the prophet
or were peace be upon him or were
near the prophet and so when you're here
it's a place of deep reverence and so
let me show you our sisters and brothers
are praying and so I want you to
see this and my hope is that eventually
you'll be able to see this for yourself
and experience it so
here beyond the gate is the tomb of
Abu Ayub and I will say much of
my prayer silently but I want to say
so you can hear it Assalamu alaikum Abu
Ayub Assalamu alaikum Habibi peace be upon you
and just a beautiful beautiful place we have
security we have we have a brother here
doing a recitation and here our sisters and
brothers are praying and reverent they're reflecting and
many of you I'll show you I'm not
yet able to read the Arabic script but
for those of you who can I just
want you to see the script okay and
for many of you who are unable to
travel here I just want you to be
able to share in this moment with us
all right it's a beautiful beautiful place there's
so many stories about Abu Ayub that I
want to tell you there are three that
I have to tell you right away okay
but just a deeply deeply reverent place before
we leave just one last time just beyond
these walls is the resting place the temporary
resting place of Abu Ayub I say temporary
because one day we believe that we will
meet Allah and we will be here no
more so I'm putting my shoes down and
I want to show you around and in
just a few moments I'll I'll show you
the masjid and it's just a beautiful beautiful
place and we don't step our feet on
the carpet or in the space but just
a beautiful beautiful place and so because one
of the companions of the prophet peace be
upon him because one of the companions was
here so much has built up around this
area and so behind me is just a
beautiful beautiful mosque I'm going to go in
there later and pray I won't film the
prayer but I will show you the masjid
and outside of here we now have a
a cemetery of let me show you if
I can flip the camera one second we
have a wonderful cemetery and one of our
tour guides was able to teach us what
the symbols mean on the tops of each
on the tops of each of the markers
each thing means something different it could mean
that you were a leader or a scholar
it could mean that you were a teacher
it could mean that there are markings that
that tell us whether or not it's a
man or a woman if you spent a
lot of time in the mosque if you
were known to be a student of the
Quran and so all around let me show
you all around where I am there are
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of graves from
the 1400s 1500s of scholars of imams of
teachers of those who all loved Allah and
loved our prophet peace be upon him and
it's just a beautiful beautiful place are you
familiar with Abu Ayub you know when I
first became a Muslim I heard all about
Omar I heard all about Hamza of course
I heard all about Abu Bakr I heard
all about Aisha I heard all about so
many important men and women and yet I
had not heard of Abu Ayub I have
not yet read all of the Quran I'm
just now really learning all of the stories
just the beautiful rich narratives of the prophet
peace be upon him and his companions but
Abu Ayub is special and oh that me
and you could live the life could have
the heart of Abu Ayub let me show
you this is this is right outside of
the tomb of Abu Ayub and I hope
that many of you are able to read
and understand what that says forgive me for
not being able to just yet but we
my wife and I and our guides we
took a tour of the cemetery as well
but I want to show you inside of
the masjid but before I do I have
a couple wonderful stories about Abu Ayub and
what a man what a man first when
he had a chance to welcome the prophet
into his home he he was so humbled
that he wanted the prophet peace be upon
him to have whatever rooms he wanted do
you want to be on the second floor?
do you want to be on the first
floor?
do you want the master bedroom?
do you want the guest bedroom?
whatever you want it's yours and he welcomed
him into his home not for days not
for weeks not even just for months but
for several seasons of that year and eventually
the land that is now I just saw
this picture and a beautiful beautiful sermon from
my imam and my dear brother Sheikh Omar
Suleiman just a century ago the actual home
of Abu Ayub still existed I regret that
it does not exist today it was taken
down to make room for new areas to
be built in Medina but the pictures still
remain and the picture that I saw of
the home of Abu Ayub it is literally
almost touching the prophet's mosque and it is
right there so in Medina at the prophet's
mosque the home of Abu Ayub was just
right there so if I'm standing in the
home of Abu Ayub the prophet's mosque would
just be right there like it's right there
and it's there because the land that was
given to the prophet and his family peace
be upon them Abu Ayub gave them that
land imagine all of the blessings on Abu
Ayub because of all the wonderful things all
of the blessings that have happened in the
prophet's mosque on land given to our prophet
peace be upon him by Abu Ayub my
dear brother Imam Omar Suleiman in a series
that he has called the first which has
taught me so much I'll try to link
it here under the video because everything I'm
telling you he would tell you but actually
a whole lot better and in a way
that's a whole lot more skilled than I
can there are a few stories that I
want to tell you one is a beautiful
amazing story Abu Ayub was outside of his
home and saw that both Muhammad, prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him and Omar and Abu
Bakr were all hungry and he invited them
all into his home to eat and they
were living very very humble lives our prophet
peace be upon him and Omar and Abu
Bakr they were humble men they had not
eaten meat in months and Abu Ayub literally
slaughtered a lamb and began preparing the meal
for them and one of the first things
that our prophet peace be upon him said
is please hold on I want to give
my portion to my daughter because she has
not eaten like this in months and I
would rather her have this than me and
later in a meal that Abu Ayub had
prepared for four people that meal that was
designed for four people this was the miracle
of our prophet peace be upon him almost
200 people were fed by that meal just
a beautiful beautiful thing and so it was
one of the early miracles of the prophet
peace be upon him that when Abu Ayub
prepared the meal it didn't just feed four
people but it fed nearly 200 people including
the prophet Mohammed peace be upon him and
others and so what a blessing I'm here
with some brothers hello hello salam alaikum I'm
Sean King yes I'm Sean yes good to
see you yes yes what's your name yeah
good to meet you yes salam alaikum I'm
Sean yeah good to see you I'm uh
I'm telling my I'm telling my family and
friends and others about the story of Abu
Ayub yes yes and uh for people who
people who aren't able to travel to Istanbul
I want them to know just the beautiful
story of Abu Ayub yeah absolutely yeah good
to see you brothers yeah thank you brother
yes so um you know just yeah salam
alaikum good to see you salam alaikum what
is this yes um I'm I'm telling people
the story of Abu Ayub and just you
speak English a little I'm just I'm filming
me telling people the story of Abu Ayub
and um because a lot of people aren't
able to make it here to Istanbul and
I want them to see the tomb and
the mosque and I'm telling them the story
of Abu Ayub can you tell him okay
from the United States from New York New
York yes yes yes very good I've uh
I've only been a Muslim for five months
you Muslim yes yes yes so uh yeah
I'm very happy and I'm just wanting to
tell people um how beautiful Abu Ayub was
yes yes
my name is Sean King yes yes yeah
thank you brother good to see you salam
alaikum yeah you have a nice day bye
thank you salam alaikum this is um this
is the beauty of Islam we're strangers but
uh you know when they're curious because they
see the camera but um everyone here is
so happy and we we trust each other
and uh we're wanting to uh they're just
wanting to see what is he filming what
is he talking about um a dear sister
from Gaza recognized me I wouldn't film this
but recognized me just earlier and uh she
began crying and uh telling me thanking me
for my support and uh several people who
were not Muslims and did not recognize me
um came up and was like are you
famous they thought I was uh they asked
me they said uh why did she cry
when she saw you and uh they said
are you famous and they're like uh are
you a singer I was like no if
you ever heard me try to sing you
would know I'm a terrible singer um but
we are here in the area of Abu
Ayub um not just to celebrate Abu Ayub
but to celebrate his devotion to Islam to
uh celebrate his love of our prophet peace
be upon him and so Abu Ayub fixed
a meal for Omar fixed a meal for
Abu Bakr uh fixed a meal uh for
the for the prophet Muhammad peace be upon
him and it was a meal for four
people but it fed nearly 200 people this
is a miracle from Allah and there's so
many stories uh another one that I loved
um Abu Ayub inside of the masjid heard
people speaking ill of our prophet peace be
upon him and he literally grabbed a man
by the collar and and dragged him out
of the masjid you will not speak ill
of the prophet in this place you will
not and uh one more story um Abu
Ayub Abu Ayub this is actually in the
Quran um we have things in Islam called
hadiths these are sacred texts that have what
we would uh like what I would call
provenance like documented verified proof of scholars and
witnesses because there are many stories that cannot
make the hadiths they have not been verified
but those that can be verified are and
um there is a story that's not just
a hadith but is actually a story that
made the Quran which uh is our sacred
text and in that story uh someone was
speaking ill of uh there's a beautiful cat
that just walked past me someone was speaking
ill of our dear sister Aisha our mother
Aisha and Abu Ayub asked the woman he
said uh is the thing that you're saying
about her and the thing that everyone is
saying about her is that something you would
do and the sister said no of course
not and this thing had gone viral like
the equivalent of being retweeted and shared and
Abu Ayub said to the sister would you
do the thing that you're saying our sister
Aisha did and the sister said no of
course not and Abu Ayub said but she
is a better woman than you are so
if you would not do it and Aisha
is a better woman than you and surely
you will understand how that math works the
math doesn't work at all that if you
would not do it and Aisha is a
better woman than you she did not do
it it was a lie gossip and gossip
is dangerous they've turned on the lights which
have given it a bit of a glow
here but Abu Ayub I told you fought
side by side with the companions the Sahaba
in every single battle without fail every single
battle alongside on the front lines alongside our
prophet peace be upon him he was there
not just in battle he was there in
conflict he was there in controversy he was
a comforter a provider a friend oh to
be called the beloved of the beloved what
better compliment could you imagine that Allah sees
you as the beloved of the beloved oh
I if if I could have a fraction
of that dedication and devotion that we see
from our brother Abu Ayub please I want
it I'm just going to show you this
will be my final moments as I close
I'm going to show you inside of the
Masjid and then I'm going to turn the
camera off and pray alright love and appreciate
all of you it's a beautiful beautiful place
I'm sitting down to take off my shoes
it's just a special special place to know
that our brother Abu Ayub Al Ansari that
he had the faith the dedication the courage
at age 90 that many of us don't
have at age 20 at age 30 at
age 44 at age 44 that at age
90 he said I want to be a
part of fulfilling the prophecy of our prophet
that peace be upon him that the Constantinople
will be opened to Muslims and that this
has been a beautiful beautiful city for Muslims
now for hundreds and hundreds of years yes
it's had it's like any city it's had
it's ups and downs it's challenges it's highs
it's lows but there's so much beauty and
so much history here I'm going to show
you inside of the Masjid and then and
then I'll say goodbye okay and it's going
to be a call to prayer soon and
hopefully you'll get some of that as well
okay let me show you it's
so beautiful here here in Istanbul there's so
many just beautiful beautiful Masjids that are some
there's one Masjid here in Istanbul that can
seat 65,000 people and so this compared
to those may be small but it has
it has an energy and a spirit because
we know that it is it is built
in many ways to to celebrate Islam to
celebrate our prophet peace be upon him and
to celebrate one of his companions brother Abu
Ayub Habibi just gorgeous and right now our
sisters and brothers are just reverently it's not
prayer time yet and our sisters and brothers
are just sitting here reverently in many ways
waiting for the call to prayer and it's
special Islam is beautiful at the root of
let me show you my face peace is
at the root of our faith anybody that
says anything else is lying it's a beautiful
beautiful way of life religion should be a
way of life ideally but Islam is a
way of life it's not a Islam is
not a service you go to Islam is
not a box that you check but it
is a way that we live our lives
and it's changed me deeply in these wow
just these few months you know I'll say
to you something for those of you who
stayed around you know many people recognized me
here in Istanbul even just right before I
started filming someone said Sean we miss you
so much on Instagram and for I miss
being able to be there to do what
I did but and at first I was
bitter I spent over 10 years building not
an account I built a community of 6
million people from 150 countries and it was
some of my life's work I raised millions
of dollars for causes and charity and at
first I was hurt and I was bitter
but now I've grown to think differently about
it I've grown to think that when I
lost my Instagram account it removed so much
noise from my life good noise and bad
that I was able to hear and listen
and reflect I don't know that I would
be a Muslim today had they not taken
that account away Alhamdulillah because they took that
account away I was able to consider who
am I where am I what am I
and who will I be for the rest
of my life I don't trust myself enough
to believe that I would have ever become
a Muslim if I had never lost that
account I would probably still be on Instagram
chugging pushing I was working day and night
sharing stories translating messages but they removed something
what they did was unjust but if you
know Allah Allah can even use injustice to
do something beautiful and people started telling me
they said Sean you may have lost 6
million followers but you gained 2 billion sisters
and brothers all over the world Mashallah I
would make that trade 100 times out of
100 if someone said to me today Sean
you could either accept Islam or be on
Instagram which would you choose it's no choice
I'm choosing Islam I'm choosing Allah I'm choosing
the message of our prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him I'm choosing to learn about the
companions of the prophet like Abu Ayub that's
richer deeper better than an Instagram account with
100 million followers I would rather be a
Muslim than own Instagram I would rather be
a Muslim than own Meda this is no
trade at all I won I they meant
it for wrong but Allah used it for
good sisters and brothers I'm going to get
ready for prayer and I'm going to wait
here for a few moments and for those
of you who want to stay while we
hear the call to prayer I will continue
filming but I would like to even begin
getting myself ready my heart and mind ready
for prayer I love you all I appreciate
you if my time is right it's about
46 minutes I don't know how to edit
videos so I'm doing it all in one
take it won't always be like this inshallah
one day we'll have editors and one day
maybe there'll be a cameraman here on this
channel but for now it's me and a
little camera that I have in my hand
and but I'm happy in my soul I'm
happy in my heart in my mind I'm
happy in my mouth I'm happy because we
are with Allah the only thing that I
the only thing that breaks my heart is
that there's still so much suffering and pain
and evil and ugliness in this world and
I think even now as I pray I
will be praying for our sisters and brothers
in Gaza I'll be praying for you I'll
be praying for our sisters and brothers in
the West Bank I'll be praying for our
sisters and brothers in Sudan, in Congo I'll
be praying for oppressed people everywhere, for Kashmiris
for our Uyghur sisters and brothers I'll be
praying for the Ummah and please I ask
that you also pray for me and that
you join me in all of these prayers
for oppressed people that Allah sustain them, provide
for them please Allah give them strength, give
them provision give them freedom and I will
say these prayers with all of you, okay
let me show you I'm going to take
a seat and I'll show you around and
then I'll be silent and when the call
to prayer begins I was told it's best
not to speak Salam Aleikum