Suhaib Webb – Allahs Guidance and My Early Studies

AI: Summary ©
A man named Suhaib Webb describes his history as a Muslim man and how he found out about Islam through Christian teaching. His "medical person" and "will" were also discussed. Later, a man named Malcolm X found out about Islam through a friend's Christian teaching and eventually sold a book of pamphlets for a price of $16,000. Later, a man named Speaker 1 found a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a small book of pamphlets and eventually found a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard and eventually sold a man who had a turban and a beard
AI: Summary ©
As I said, my name is Suhaib Webb.
I became Muslim, actually, in 1992.
I'm not Bosnian.
Everybody asks me if I'm Bosnian for some
reason.
I'm definitely not Syrian.
People ask me if I'm Syrian as well.
My wife's Lebanese, but I'm not Syrian, alhamdulillah.
And I became Muslim at the age of
like 19 and 20, more or less, around
that time, in Oklahoma.
I'm originally from Oklahoma.
And I became Muslim through a number of
things.
Number one, as a young person, my mother's
very religious.
My father was very religious.
My mother didn't like to eat at restaurants.
She's like old school, you know, like auntie
style, except on Sundays after church.
I used to have to wear suits to
church, bro, like Shirvani, but the white style.
And it was there that I began to
learn about theology.
And there, like when I was around 8
or 9 years old, after studying about all
of the Old Testament prophets, they introduced Jesus,
and then like Jesus is God.
So I remember saying to them like, well,
the other prophets didn't worship Jesus, so like
what will happen to them?
They didn't worship Jesus.
So very early on, I had like some
natural sort of contradictions I found with Christianity.
Another problem I had was like in the
white church, Jesus looked like Shawn Mendes.
You know, in the black church, Jesus looked
like Chris Brown.
And in the Latino church, you know, he
looked like whoever, man.
And so I was just like, man, this
is like idolatry.
Because I had black friends, so I would
go to black church, which was a lot
more fun.
And, but like God was black, you know.
So that also made me confused, right?
But for me, even at a young age,
the fitra was telling me like this is
Watania.
Like this is idolatry.
And then I had a Muslim friend that
I used to hang out with after school
in Oklahoma City.
I played basketball for Blake Griffin's father.
Alhamdulillah.
I went to what would be kind of
like the Dunbar High School of Old DMV
area to play basketball, but injured my leg.
And then I had this really good friend
who was Muslim.
And so that was really the first time
that I was able to ask questions.
Before that, I read the autobiography of Malcolm
X because I had an assignment my freshman
year in high school.
So I was a DJ.
So I thought Malcolm X was a cool
name because it rhymes like breaking necks, cashing
checks, fools I wreck, Malcolm X.
So I was like, man, it rhymes with
everything, right?
So I had no idea who he was.
So I was like, I'm going to get
this Malcolm X book.
And read it and then became aware of
like, you know, like the dangers of America.
The lie very much is told in this
country, especially about people.
The white supremacy and its history as it
played out in this country.
And then more importantly, the end.
That's why I encourage every young Muslim, especially
as young Muslim men are looking for sort
of like masculine kind of direction.
My father wasn't there.
My father was a guy that's there, but
not there.
You know what I mean?
He's in the room, but he doesn't talk
to you.
So sometimes we look for masculinity in areas
that are unhealthy.
But as a Sunni community in particular, our
model for masculinity within broader America is Al
-Haj Maraka Shabaz.
So you should read his autobiography and it
will really touch you in ways, especially as
a man.
I know at that time I was looking
for like a role model, so to speak.
And he was just so brazen and unapologetic.
I was like, this guy's amazing, you know.
We're the devils, but this guy's awesome, you
know.
And it also challenged me as a young
white American to wrestle with some of the
demons and exercise some of the demons that
we're not taught about.
That we don't know about.
And then I went to an inner city
high school and I had people on my
basketball team who were on food stamps.
I had people on my basketball team who
had to borrow money from me to eat.
And so experiencing that duality along with Malcolm
and then meeting my friend who was Muslim,
I really walked into that situation ready to
talk about Islam.
And I'm going to be honest, we used
to smoke weed together after high school.
He was Muslim, right, quotations.
And it was in those moments that I
had real conversation with him.
And so he was finally, he told me,
man, you just need to read the Quran,
man.
You just need to read the Quran, bro.
So I went to the library, I got
a copy of the Quran and I was
actually producing music for someone who was very
much into the nation of Islam.
And he was telling me, you're the devil,
you got blue pupils, the sun's going to
eat your head out.
Just all kind of crazy.
I was like, man, we're in trouble.
He's like, that's why you sunburn.
You need vitamin D.
But then he wanted me to DJ for
him, which was ironic, right, it's kind of
strange.
So I finally went to the library, got
a copy of the old Yusuf Ali Quran
that was printed backwards.
I don't know if anyone's ever seen that
one.
It's like the old one, it's like this
big.
And I remember I was young, like 15,
16 years old.
And I started reading it, but it was
backwards and I couldn't understand anything.
So I thought, yeah, I guess we are
the devil.
Can't understand the Quran, you know.
Then I figured out it was printed the
wrong way.
And I started to read it, and then
really, it was that period of like three
years of just reading the Quran.
And I used to hide the Quran in
the restroom, sorry.
Because my mother would make me like lahman
mashweeyan, you know, like, my life would have
been over, man.
She found Muhammad's Bible in the house.
And then towards my senior year and my
freshman year in college, thank you so much,
I actually met a Muslim for the first
time.
I was involved in a drive-by shooting.
So, you know, when you go to jail,
you become a wali of Allah, you know.
Like, that's where you make real dua, you
know.
And I was a blood in a crip
ward.
So I had on red shoes, red shirt,
and everyone was wearing blue.
And they're like, that white boy's a blood.
And I was like, oh, no, I'm not.
I just like read, you know, simply read.
It's my favorite artist.
And I thought I was gonna get rolled
up on and then I started making dua,
like, if you're Buddhist, guide me to Buddhist.
If you're, you know, Yahweh, guide me to
be a Yahud.
If you're this, guide me to this.
And then finally I said, like, if you're
Allah, like, take me to Al-Islam.
Then I got out.
Alhamdulillah, I was a minor, so they couldn't
keep me.
Long story.
Don't worry, mothers, I've been fixed.
And the first thing that happened, I was
like, I have to go back to that
Muslim man that I met.
He had a turban and a beard.
He was from Brooklyn.
Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Basir, he's died.
He died in COVID.
May Allah accept him as a shaheed.
And so, like, I felt like I have
to go to this guy, man.
Again, the need for a male role model
as well.
So I went to him.
I used to sell mixtapes in the swap
meet.
I don't know if you have swap meets
in Virginia.
I know in D.C. you do, like
Iverson Mall.
And at that time, he gave me some
pamphlets.
The first pamphlet I ever was given was
the Ikna pamphlet, Islam at a Glance.
And so I took that home.
I had the Quran, but I didn't understand
the Quran, right?
Like, you need some tools to sort of
understand it.
I read Islam at a Glance, and then
I got a book, a small book of
Ahmadiyyat.
And that was it.
It was a wrap.
And I thought I was Muslim.
I had a girlfriend.
This is crazy.
And I wouldn't eat pork.
We used to say no pork on my
fork, strictly fish on my dish.
And then she was like, why don't you
eat pork?
I was like, because I'm Muslim.
This is crazy.
May Allah send you signs.
And she said to me, there's no way
you can be Muslim.
So I thought it was because I was
white.
And she was like, no, no, you don't
live right.
Like, imagine a non-Muslim man.
She's like, you live foul, bro.
Like, you live foul.
I'm like, I mean, hello, right?
We're kind of like engaged in foulness, right?
And then I was like, what do you
mean?
She's like, my uncle's Muslim.
It's not just not eating pork.
You've got to stop smoking weed.
You shouldn't have a girlfriend.
There's no tribe before you buy it in
Islam.
She started giving me like a khutbah.
You know, I wish I had it recorded.
It's like, I'm not bad.
You know, she started going hard, man.
But what she said made me think like,
oh, I'm like a hypocrite.
Because one thing I want to tell you,
at least from my perspective as a non
-Muslim, is we think Muslims, at that time,
we thought Muslims were uber committed.
Like, there was this guy named Salim Salim.
We couldn't say his name, so we called
him Salim Salim in my high school.
And he had a sister.
And they were like, don't talk to his
sister, man.
Her dad will come and kill you, boy.
Like, we had this image that Muslims are
very committed to their faith.
We actually respected it.
So, she gave me this mawa'idah, you
know.
And that made me realize like, oh yeah,
like I'm a hypocrite.
So then I went back and talked to
that man.
And then alhamdulillah, I became Muslim.
You know, at a young age.
After I became Muslim, I finished a degree
in education, which means the life of poverty,
alhamdulillah.
Especially now, now with the new administration.
And then I had a teacher from West
Africa, named Sheikh Ahmed Diay, who I studied
with for 10 years.
I speak Wolof, alhamdulillah, like this much, which
is the language of Senegal.
And I memorized the Quran with him.
And so I studied the major, small, like
major Mutun, we say Mutun.
Small text with him I had to memorize.
And then I went to Egypt, in Al
-Azhar, and I lived there for 7 years.
I went to high school again in Egypt.
I had to take shahada again in Egypt.
It's a funny story.
I went to the university to get my
papers, and they were like, William Webb.
Like, fi'alan fa'eel.
They were like, who's William Webb?
I was like, I'm actually Suhaib.
He was like, la maktoob hina ee.
William.
William.
Al-Mad Webb.
So I was like, yeah, you know, I
came from Obamastan to study here.
And he's like, no, but you're not Muslim.
I was like, look at me, man.
He's like, no, no.
I was like, I memorized the Quran.
He's like, no, no, no.
Manfaash.
William, la yomkin.
So I had to become Muslim again, you
know.
I took shahada.
I said, alhamdulilah, aladhi hadani lidinihi maratayn.
I got to take shahada twice, alhamdulilah.
So I became Muslim, and then alhamdulilah, I
came back and served.
I worked at Dar Ifta.
I was there during the original, real, organic
revolution.
I was on the ground.
One of my teachers was killed.
Then I came back, and I continued my
studies after sharia in the qiraat with Shatabiyya,
which alhamdulilah, I was able to study and
still doing exams now on that.
And now I'm here.
I live locally.
My wife is from here.
I have no choice, alhamdulilah.
Free babysitting, alhamdulilah.
Because her whole family is here.
She has 84 cousins.
I have four because I'm white.
Total cousins, alhamdulilah.
And so I'm happy to be here.
But I thought it's important you know something
about me.
You know, if we're going to teach and
learn together, we should know each other.
I have four kids.
I have a 23-year-old, 21-year
-old, 5-year-old, and 2-year-old.
It's insane, mashallah.
If I had a mixtape, it would be
called Diplomas and Diapers by I Am Broke,
alhamdulilah.
And I was in Boston for a number
of years, three years, alhamdulilah.
And then in NYU, I taught for six
years at NYU and worked with Imam Khalid.
And then came back here because again, my
whole extended family is in the area.
But I've been like on the DL, just
chilling with my girls.
Being a dad girl is like the best
thing, alhamdulilah.
So what I was asked to talk about,
are there any questions you have for me
at a personal level before I get started?
Yes, sir.
How did you...
Could you put the mic closer to your
mouth?
Sure, sure.
Which MedHab did you feel like was the
most appropriate and how did you decide that?
So in the era that I became Muslim,
in the 90s, you didn't have like, we're
Generation X, which means we had no choice.
You know?
So I didn't choose a MedHab.
The resources that were around me were Medici.
My teacher was from West Africa.
But then later on in Egypt, we were
trained in five MedHabs.
Like when I give answers, I don't give
answers just with a Maliki MedHab.
Because that would be very hard for people.
So I study also Hanafi, Fiqh with a
Mufti from Darul Ulum Karachi.
If you're familiar with that, with Mufti Taqi
Othmani.
But my personal practice is in the Maliki
school.
Any other questions before we get started with
the topic?
Was it okay that I did this introduction?
I just want to get feedback.
I think it's important you know somebody if
you're going to spend time with them, right?
And you can appreciate a little bit more
about where they're coming from as well.
Alhamdulillah.