Suhaib Webb – Allahs Guidance and My Early Studies

Suhaib Webb
Share Page

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 ©

00:00:00 --> 00:00:02
			As I said, my name is Suhaib Webb.
		
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04
			I became Muslim, actually, in 1992.
		
00:00:04 --> 00:00:05
			I'm not Bosnian.
		
00:00:06 --> 00:00:07
			Everybody asks me if I'm Bosnian for some
		
00:00:07 --> 00:00:07
			reason.
		
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10
			I'm definitely not Syrian.
		
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12
			People ask me if I'm Syrian as well.
		
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14
			My wife's Lebanese, but I'm not Syrian, alhamdulillah.
		
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17
			And I became Muslim at the age of
		
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19
			like 19 and 20, more or less, around
		
00:00:19 --> 00:00:20
			that time, in Oklahoma.
		
00:00:21 --> 00:00:21
			I'm originally from Oklahoma.
		
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25
			And I became Muslim through a number of
		
00:00:25 --> 00:00:25
			things.
		
00:00:25 --> 00:00:29
			Number one, as a young person, my mother's
		
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30
			very religious.
		
00:00:30 --> 00:00:31
			My father was very religious.
		
00:00:32 --> 00:00:33
			My mother didn't like to eat at restaurants.
		
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36
			She's like old school, you know, like auntie
		
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38
			style, except on Sundays after church.
		
00:00:39 --> 00:00:40
			I used to have to wear suits to
		
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42
			church, bro, like Shirvani, but the white style.
		
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46
			And it was there that I began to
		
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48
			learn about theology.
		
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50
			And there, like when I was around 8
		
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52
			or 9 years old, after studying about all
		
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55
			of the Old Testament prophets, they introduced Jesus,
		
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57
			and then like Jesus is God.
		
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00
			So I remember saying to them like, well,
		
00:01:00 --> 00:01:04
			the other prophets didn't worship Jesus, so like
		
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05
			what will happen to them?
		
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06
			They didn't worship Jesus.
		
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09
			So very early on, I had like some
		
00:01:09 --> 00:01:13
			natural sort of contradictions I found with Christianity.
		
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16
			Another problem I had was like in the
		
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18
			white church, Jesus looked like Shawn Mendes.
		
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21
			You know, in the black church, Jesus looked
		
00:01:21 --> 00:01:22
			like Chris Brown.
		
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24
			And in the Latino church, you know, he
		
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26
			looked like whoever, man.
		
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28
			And so I was just like, man, this
		
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29
			is like idolatry.
		
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31
			Because I had black friends, so I would
		
00:01:31 --> 00:01:32
			go to black church, which was a lot
		
00:01:32 --> 00:01:32
			more fun.
		
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36
			And, but like God was black, you know.
		
00:01:37 --> 00:01:41
			So that also made me confused, right?
		
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44
			But for me, even at a young age,
		
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47
			the fitra was telling me like this is
		
00:01:47 --> 00:01:47
			Watania.
		
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50
			Like this is idolatry.
		
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53
			And then I had a Muslim friend that
		
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56
			I used to hang out with after school
		
00:01:57 --> 00:01:58
			in Oklahoma City.
		
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00
			I played basketball for Blake Griffin's father.
		
00:02:01 --> 00:02:01
			Alhamdulillah.
		
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03
			I went to what would be kind of
		
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06
			like the Dunbar High School of Old DMV
		
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09
			area to play basketball, but injured my leg.
		
00:02:10 --> 00:02:11
			And then I had this really good friend
		
00:02:11 --> 00:02:12
			who was Muslim.
		
00:02:13 --> 00:02:14
			And so that was really the first time
		
00:02:14 --> 00:02:15
			that I was able to ask questions.
		
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19
			Before that, I read the autobiography of Malcolm
		
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21
			X because I had an assignment my freshman
		
00:02:21 --> 00:02:21
			year in high school.
		
00:02:22 --> 00:02:22
			So I was a DJ.
		
00:02:23 --> 00:02:24
			So I thought Malcolm X was a cool
		
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26
			name because it rhymes like breaking necks, cashing
		
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28
			checks, fools I wreck, Malcolm X.
		
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29
			So I was like, man, it rhymes with
		
00:02:29 --> 00:02:30
			everything, right?
		
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32
			So I had no idea who he was.
		
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33
			So I was like, I'm going to get
		
00:02:33 --> 00:02:34
			this Malcolm X book.
		
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37
			And read it and then became aware of
		
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40
			like, you know, like the dangers of America.
		
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44
			The lie very much is told in this
		
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46
			country, especially about people.
		
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49
			The white supremacy and its history as it
		
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50
			played out in this country.
		
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52
			And then more importantly, the end.
		
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55
			That's why I encourage every young Muslim, especially
		
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56
			as young Muslim men are looking for sort
		
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59
			of like masculine kind of direction.
		
00:02:59 --> 00:03:00
			My father wasn't there.
		
00:03:00 --> 00:03:01
			My father was a guy that's there, but
		
00:03:01 --> 00:03:02
			not there.
		
00:03:02 --> 00:03:02
			You know what I mean?
		
00:03:02 --> 00:03:03
			He's in the room, but he doesn't talk
		
00:03:03 --> 00:03:04
			to you.
		
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07
			So sometimes we look for masculinity in areas
		
00:03:07 --> 00:03:08
			that are unhealthy.
		
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11
			But as a Sunni community in particular, our
		
00:03:11 --> 00:03:15
			model for masculinity within broader America is Al
		
00:03:15 --> 00:03:16
			-Haj Maraka Shabaz.
		
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20
			So you should read his autobiography and it
		
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23
			will really touch you in ways, especially as
		
00:03:23 --> 00:03:23
			a man.
		
00:03:24 --> 00:03:25
			I know at that time I was looking
		
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27
			for like a role model, so to speak.
		
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30
			And he was just so brazen and unapologetic.
		
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32
			I was like, this guy's amazing, you know.
		
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35
			We're the devils, but this guy's awesome, you
		
00:03:35 --> 00:03:35
			know.
		
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38
			And it also challenged me as a young
		
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40
			white American to wrestle with some of the
		
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42
			demons and exercise some of the demons that
		
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43
			we're not taught about.
		
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44
			That we don't know about.
		
00:03:44 --> 00:03:45
			And then I went to an inner city
		
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47
			high school and I had people on my
		
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49
			basketball team who were on food stamps.
		
00:03:50 --> 00:03:51
			I had people on my basketball team who
		
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52
			had to borrow money from me to eat.
		
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57
			And so experiencing that duality along with Malcolm
		
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59
			and then meeting my friend who was Muslim,
		
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02
			I really walked into that situation ready to
		
00:04:02 --> 00:04:03
			talk about Islam.
		
00:04:03 --> 00:04:04
			And I'm going to be honest, we used
		
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06
			to smoke weed together after high school.
		
00:04:07 --> 00:04:08
			He was Muslim, right, quotations.
		
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12
			And it was in those moments that I
		
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14
			had real conversation with him.
		
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16
			And so he was finally, he told me,
		
00:04:16 --> 00:04:17
			man, you just need to read the Quran,
		
00:04:17 --> 00:04:18
			man.
		
00:04:19 --> 00:04:20
			You just need to read the Quran, bro.
		
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23
			So I went to the library, I got
		
00:04:23 --> 00:04:24
			a copy of the Quran and I was
		
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26
			actually producing music for someone who was very
		
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28
			much into the nation of Islam.
		
00:04:29 --> 00:04:30
			And he was telling me, you're the devil,
		
00:04:31 --> 00:04:32
			you got blue pupils, the sun's going to
		
00:04:32 --> 00:04:33
			eat your head out.
		
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35
			Just all kind of crazy.
		
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36
			I was like, man, we're in trouble.
		
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39
			He's like, that's why you sunburn.
		
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42
			You need vitamin D.
		
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45
			But then he wanted me to DJ for
		
00:04:45 --> 00:04:46
			him, which was ironic, right, it's kind of
		
00:04:46 --> 00:04:47
			strange.
		
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50
			So I finally went to the library, got
		
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52
			a copy of the old Yusuf Ali Quran
		
00:04:52 --> 00:04:53
			that was printed backwards.
		
00:04:54 --> 00:04:55
			I don't know if anyone's ever seen that
		
00:04:55 --> 00:04:55
			one.
		
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57
			It's like the old one, it's like this
		
00:04:57 --> 00:04:57
			big.
		
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01
			And I remember I was young, like 15,
		
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02
			16 years old.
		
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04
			And I started reading it, but it was
		
00:05:04 --> 00:05:05
			backwards and I couldn't understand anything.
		
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07
			So I thought, yeah, I guess we are
		
00:05:07 --> 00:05:07
			the devil.
		
00:05:08 --> 00:05:09
			Can't understand the Quran, you know.
		
00:05:10 --> 00:05:11
			Then I figured out it was printed the
		
00:05:11 --> 00:05:12
			wrong way.
		
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15
			And I started to read it, and then
		
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17
			really, it was that period of like three
		
00:05:17 --> 00:05:18
			years of just reading the Quran.
		
00:05:19 --> 00:05:20
			And I used to hide the Quran in
		
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21
			the restroom, sorry.
		
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24
			Because my mother would make me like lahman
		
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26
			mashweeyan, you know, like, my life would have
		
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27
			been over, man.
		
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30
			She found Muhammad's Bible in the house.
		
00:05:31 --> 00:05:32
			And then towards my senior year and my
		
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34
			freshman year in college, thank you so much,
		
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39
			I actually met a Muslim for the first
		
00:05:39 --> 00:05:39
			time.
		
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40
			I was involved in a drive-by shooting.
		
00:05:41 --> 00:05:42
			So, you know, when you go to jail,
		
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45
			you become a wali of Allah, you know.
		
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48
			Like, that's where you make real dua, you
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:48
			know.
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49
			And I was a blood in a crip
		
00:05:49 --> 00:05:50
			ward.
		
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52
			So I had on red shoes, red shirt,
		
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53
			and everyone was wearing blue.
		
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55
			And they're like, that white boy's a blood.
		
00:05:55 --> 00:05:56
			And I was like, oh, no, I'm not.
		
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59
			I just like read, you know, simply read.
		
00:05:59 --> 00:06:00
			It's my favorite artist.
		
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03
			And I thought I was gonna get rolled
		
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06
			up on and then I started making dua,
		
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08
			like, if you're Buddhist, guide me to Buddhist.
		
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12
			If you're, you know, Yahweh, guide me to
		
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13
			be a Yahud.
		
00:06:13 --> 00:06:14
			If you're this, guide me to this.
		
00:06:14 --> 00:06:15
			And then finally I said, like, if you're
		
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18
			Allah, like, take me to Al-Islam.
		
00:06:19 --> 00:06:20
			Then I got out.
		
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22
			Alhamdulillah, I was a minor, so they couldn't
		
00:06:22 --> 00:06:22
			keep me.
		
00:06:23 --> 00:06:23
			Long story.
		
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25
			Don't worry, mothers, I've been fixed.
		
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28
			And the first thing that happened, I was
		
00:06:28 --> 00:06:29
			like, I have to go back to that
		
00:06:29 --> 00:06:30
			Muslim man that I met.
		
00:06:30 --> 00:06:31
			He had a turban and a beard.
		
00:06:31 --> 00:06:32
			He was from Brooklyn.
		
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35
			Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Basir, he's died.
		
00:06:35 --> 00:06:35
			He died in COVID.
		
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37
			May Allah accept him as a shaheed.
		
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39
			And so, like, I felt like I have
		
00:06:39 --> 00:06:40
			to go to this guy, man.
		
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43
			Again, the need for a male role model
		
00:06:43 --> 00:06:43
			as well.
		
00:06:44 --> 00:06:45
			So I went to him.
		
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47
			I used to sell mixtapes in the swap
		
00:06:47 --> 00:06:47
			meet.
		
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48
			I don't know if you have swap meets
		
00:06:48 --> 00:06:48
			in Virginia.
		
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50
			I know in D.C. you do, like
		
00:06:50 --> 00:06:50
			Iverson Mall.
		
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55
			And at that time, he gave me some
		
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56
			pamphlets.
		
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58
			The first pamphlet I ever was given was
		
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01
			the Ikna pamphlet, Islam at a Glance.
		
00:07:01 --> 00:07:02
			And so I took that home.
		
00:07:03 --> 00:07:04
			I had the Quran, but I didn't understand
		
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05
			the Quran, right?
		
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07
			Like, you need some tools to sort of
		
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08
			understand it.
		
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10
			I read Islam at a Glance, and then
		
00:07:10 --> 00:07:11
			I got a book, a small book of
		
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12
			Ahmadiyyat.
		
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13
			And that was it.
		
00:07:13 --> 00:07:13
			It was a wrap.
		
00:07:14 --> 00:07:15
			And I thought I was Muslim.
		
00:07:16 --> 00:07:16
			I had a girlfriend.
		
00:07:17 --> 00:07:17
			This is crazy.
		
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19
			And I wouldn't eat pork.
		
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21
			We used to say no pork on my
		
00:07:21 --> 00:07:22
			fork, strictly fish on my dish.
		
00:07:23 --> 00:07:24
			And then she was like, why don't you
		
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25
			eat pork?
		
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26
			I was like, because I'm Muslim.
		
00:07:26 --> 00:07:27
			This is crazy.
		
00:07:27 --> 00:07:28
			May Allah send you signs.
		
00:07:29 --> 00:07:30
			And she said to me, there's no way
		
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31
			you can be Muslim.
		
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33
			So I thought it was because I was
		
00:07:33 --> 00:07:33
			white.
		
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37
			And she was like, no, no, you don't
		
00:07:37 --> 00:07:37
			live right.
		
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39
			Like, imagine a non-Muslim man.
		
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41
			She's like, you live foul, bro.
		
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43
			Like, you live foul.
		
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45
			I'm like, I mean, hello, right?
		
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48
			We're kind of like engaged in foulness, right?
		
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50
			And then I was like, what do you
		
00:07:50 --> 00:07:50
			mean?
		
00:07:50 --> 00:07:51
			She's like, my uncle's Muslim.
		
00:07:51 --> 00:07:52
			It's not just not eating pork.
		
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54
			You've got to stop smoking weed.
		
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55
			You shouldn't have a girlfriend.
		
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57
			There's no tribe before you buy it in
		
00:07:57 --> 00:07:57
			Islam.
		
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00
			She started giving me like a khutbah.
		
00:08:01 --> 00:08:02
			You know, I wish I had it recorded.
		
00:08:02 --> 00:08:02
			It's like, I'm not bad.
		
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06
			You know, she started going hard, man.
		
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09
			But what she said made me think like,
		
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11
			oh, I'm like a hypocrite.
		
00:08:11 --> 00:08:12
			Because one thing I want to tell you,
		
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14
			at least from my perspective as a non
		
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16
			-Muslim, is we think Muslims, at that time,
		
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18
			we thought Muslims were uber committed.
		
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22
			Like, there was this guy named Salim Salim.
		
00:08:22 --> 00:08:23
			We couldn't say his name, so we called
		
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24
			him Salim Salim in my high school.
		
00:08:25 --> 00:08:26
			And he had a sister.
		
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28
			And they were like, don't talk to his
		
00:08:28 --> 00:08:28
			sister, man.
		
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30
			Her dad will come and kill you, boy.
		
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33
			Like, we had this image that Muslims are
		
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35
			very committed to their faith.
		
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36
			We actually respected it.
		
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40
			So, she gave me this mawa'idah, you
		
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41
			know.
		
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44
			And that made me realize like, oh yeah,
		
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46
			like I'm a hypocrite.
		
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48
			So then I went back and talked to
		
00:08:48 --> 00:08:48
			that man.
		
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51
			And then alhamdulillah, I became Muslim.
		
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53
			You know, at a young age.
		
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56
			After I became Muslim, I finished a degree
		
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59
			in education, which means the life of poverty,
		
00:08:59 --> 00:09:00
			alhamdulillah.
		
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02
			Especially now, now with the new administration.
		
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06
			And then I had a teacher from West
		
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09
			Africa, named Sheikh Ahmed Diay, who I studied
		
00:09:09 --> 00:09:10
			with for 10 years.
		
00:09:11 --> 00:09:15
			I speak Wolof, alhamdulillah, like this much, which
		
00:09:15 --> 00:09:16
			is the language of Senegal.
		
00:09:17 --> 00:09:18
			And I memorized the Quran with him.
		
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22
			And so I studied the major, small, like
		
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23
			major Mutun, we say Mutun.
		
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25
			Small text with him I had to memorize.
		
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29
			And then I went to Egypt, in Al
		
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30
			-Azhar, and I lived there for 7 years.
		
00:09:31 --> 00:09:32
			I went to high school again in Egypt.
		
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34
			I had to take shahada again in Egypt.
		
00:09:34 --> 00:09:34
			It's a funny story.
		
00:09:35 --> 00:09:36
			I went to the university to get my
		
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39
			papers, and they were like, William Webb.
		
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42
			Like, fi'alan fa'eel.
		
00:09:43 --> 00:09:44
			They were like, who's William Webb?
		
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46
			I was like, I'm actually Suhaib.
		
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47
			He was like, la maktoob hina ee.
		
00:09:48 --> 00:09:48
			William.
		
00:09:48 --> 00:09:48
			William.
		
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54
			Al-Mad Webb.
		
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58
			So I was like, yeah, you know, I
		
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01
			came from Obamastan to study here.
		
00:10:01 --> 00:10:02
			And he's like, no, but you're not Muslim.
		
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05
			I was like, look at me, man.
		
00:10:05 --> 00:10:05
			He's like, no, no.
		
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07
			I was like, I memorized the Quran.
		
00:10:07 --> 00:10:07
			He's like, no, no, no.
		
00:10:08 --> 00:10:08
			Manfaash.
		
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11
			William, la yomkin.
		
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14
			So I had to become Muslim again, you
		
00:10:14 --> 00:10:14
			know.
		
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16
			I took shahada.
		
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20
			I said, alhamdulilah, aladhi hadani lidinihi maratayn.
		
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22
			I got to take shahada twice, alhamdulilah.
		
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25
			So I became Muslim, and then alhamdulilah, I
		
00:10:25 --> 00:10:26
			came back and served.
		
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27
			I worked at Dar Ifta.
		
00:10:27 --> 00:10:31
			I was there during the original, real, organic
		
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33
			revolution.
		
00:10:33 --> 00:10:34
			I was on the ground.
		
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36
			One of my teachers was killed.
		
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39
			Then I came back, and I continued my
		
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42
			studies after sharia in the qiraat with Shatabiyya,
		
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44
			which alhamdulilah, I was able to study and
		
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46
			still doing exams now on that.
		
00:10:46 --> 00:10:47
			And now I'm here.
		
00:10:47 --> 00:10:48
			I live locally.
		
00:10:48 --> 00:10:48
			My wife is from here.
		
00:10:49 --> 00:10:50
			I have no choice, alhamdulilah.
		
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51
			Free babysitting, alhamdulilah.
		
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53
			Because her whole family is here.
		
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55
			She has 84 cousins.
		
00:10:55 --> 00:10:56
			I have four because I'm white.
		
00:10:57 --> 00:10:58
			Total cousins, alhamdulilah.
		
00:10:59 --> 00:11:00
			And so I'm happy to be here.
		
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02
			But I thought it's important you know something
		
00:11:02 --> 00:11:02
			about me.
		
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04
			You know, if we're going to teach and
		
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06
			learn together, we should know each other.
		
00:11:07 --> 00:11:08
			I have four kids.
		
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10
			I have a 23-year-old, 21-year
		
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12
			-old, 5-year-old, and 2-year-old.
		
00:11:12 --> 00:11:13
			It's insane, mashallah.
		
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15
			If I had a mixtape, it would be
		
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19
			called Diplomas and Diapers by I Am Broke,
		
00:11:19 --> 00:11:19
			alhamdulilah.
		
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23
			And I was in Boston for a number
		
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24
			of years, three years, alhamdulilah.
		
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26
			And then in NYU, I taught for six
		
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28
			years at NYU and worked with Imam Khalid.
		
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31
			And then came back here because again, my
		
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33
			whole extended family is in the area.
		
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34
			But I've been like on the DL, just
		
00:11:34 --> 00:11:35
			chilling with my girls.
		
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37
			Being a dad girl is like the best
		
00:11:37 --> 00:11:38
			thing, alhamdulilah.
		
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40
			So what I was asked to talk about,
		
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41
			are there any questions you have for me
		
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44
			at a personal level before I get started?
		
00:11:44 --> 00:11:45
			Yes, sir.
		
00:11:45 --> 00:11:46
			How did you...
		
00:11:46 --> 00:11:47
			Could you put the mic closer to your
		
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48
			mouth?
		
00:11:48 --> 00:11:48
			Sure, sure.
		
00:11:49 --> 00:11:53
			Which MedHab did you feel like was the
		
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55
			most appropriate and how did you decide that?
		
00:11:56 --> 00:11:57
			So in the era that I became Muslim,
		
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59
			in the 90s, you didn't have like, we're
		
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00
			Generation X, which means we had no choice.
		
00:12:01 --> 00:12:01
			You know?
		
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05
			So I didn't choose a MedHab.
		
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07
			The resources that were around me were Medici.
		
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09
			My teacher was from West Africa.
		
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11
			But then later on in Egypt, we were
		
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12
			trained in five MedHabs.
		
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13
			Like when I give answers, I don't give
		
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15
			answers just with a Maliki MedHab.
		
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18
			Because that would be very hard for people.
		
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21
			So I study also Hanafi, Fiqh with a
		
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22
			Mufti from Darul Ulum Karachi.
		
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25
			If you're familiar with that, with Mufti Taqi
		
00:12:25 --> 00:12:25
			Othmani.
		
00:12:26 --> 00:12:30
			But my personal practice is in the Maliki
		
00:12:30 --> 00:12:30
			school.
		
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37
			Any other questions before we get started with
		
00:12:37 --> 00:12:38
			the topic?
		
00:12:39 --> 00:12:40
			Was it okay that I did this introduction?
		
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42
			I just want to get feedback.
		
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44
			I think it's important you know somebody if
		
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45
			you're going to spend time with them, right?
		
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49
			And you can appreciate a little bit more
		
00:12:49 --> 00:12:50
			about where they're coming from as well.
		
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51
			Alhamdulillah.