Shaun King – Why Im now glad Meta banned me from Instagram. 100s of you asked me to post this clip

I'll say to you something for those of

you who've stayed around.

Many people have recognized me here in Istanbul.

Even just right before I started filming someone

said, Sean, we miss you so much on

Instagram.

I miss being able to be there to

do what I did.

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've raised millions of dollars for causes and,

and charity.

And at first I was hurt and I

was bitter.

But now I've, 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 was, 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 and it was, 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.

MashaAllah.

And 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 Ayyub.

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

Meta.

This is no trade at all.

And so I won.

They meant it for wrong, but Allah used

it for good.

And so 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, I'll continue filming, but I would

like to even begin getting myself ready, my,

my heart and mind ready for prayer.

I love you all.

I appreciate you.

This is, 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.

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, uh, but I'm happy, uh, in my

soul, I'm happy in my heart.

I'm happy in my mind.

I'm happy in my mouth.

I'm happy because, uh, 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.

Uh, 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, please Allah give them strength, give them

provision, give them freedom.

And, uh, I will say these prayers with

all of you.

Okay.

Let me show you, I'm going to, 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.

Salaam Alaikum.