The Deen Show – Putin Kisses The QURAN Will Christians Follow – Serbian Atheist CONVERTS TO ISLAM
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AI: Transcript ©
We're seeing Putin, he's actually kissing the Quran.
So don't the Serbian leaders from here, like...
My father used to say, son, when you
die, there's nothing.
You know, they just put you two meters
down in the ground, the worms eat you
and that's it.
My father was a Serbian Orthodox religion.
I was looking a little bit that the
Trinity was something that I couldn't comprehend.
He's literally kissing the Quran.
What does that symbolize?
You're a great example.
We were just talking and you were explaining
your name.
You did right away a name change.
So people from these parts, if I say
Petrag, they would identify you as what nationality?
Probably Serbs.
That's without a doubt.
Without a doubt, yeah.
They 100% say this guy's not a
Muslim.
I was going on the streets of Sarajevo
years back and I had my guest, Marko.
And we were saying, Marko, guess what religion
he is.
And everybody was guessing Croatian.
Marko.
Croatian.
Marko.
Marko.
Marko.
Catholic.
So we did the same thing here.
We're in Mostar now.
You think people will go ahead and identify
you with Serb?
For sure.
Serbian nationality.
If you mention that name, for sure.
Now the name that is changed, they definitely
say it's a Muslim.
Let's get right into that because why did
you change your name?
Because you technically, you don't have to change
your name to become a Muslim.
Exactly, yeah.
I didn't know it at the time.
So when I was doing my personal research
and things, I was in my head thinking,
okay, so if I just change my name,
that's it.
I'm definitely going to become a Muslim because,
like you mentioned, when you identify somebody through
the name, I was like, yeah, when I
have the Muslim name, people will definitely know
I'm Muslim now.
Yeah.
That's what I thought.
That was my thoughts at the time.
Okay.
Obviously, people identify like the beard, the name,
all these things that are part of Islam,
but they're not Islam, meaning that there's something
even more important when you get to that.
Exactly.
We don't exclude any of these things like
the hijab, beard, all these things.
Okay.
But now, what led you to the point
that now you're like, okay, I want to
be a Muslim.
I want to worship the creator, not the
creation, that tohid, that pure monotheism.
That's the most important crux of the matter.
But even before you get to that purpose
of life, why you've been created, why you're
here, you started something clicked.
Why did it click?
Yeah.
Definitely, I was thinking a lot about what
happens when you die.
I was 100% sure it can't be.
Even though, like I mentioned, I came from
an atheist background.
My mother is Muslim, but she never prayed
or did anything like that.
There are communists here.
Whoever knows a little bit about ex-Yugoslavia,
they know it's a communist country, Tito and
stuff.
So everybody loved Tito, right?
I later on found out things how hard
it was for Muslims when they were living
in the time of Tito, right?
So yeah, I was definitely, it can't be.
My father used to say, son, when you
die, there's nothing.
They just put you two meters down in
the ground, the worms eat you, and that's
it.
There's nothing after that.
And as I grew up, I definitely started
to believe this can't be life.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
So that's another example, because your father was
Orthodox, Serbian, but he was saying when you
go in the ground, you're going to just
be worm food.
Yeah.
So he didn't actually believe.
Nothing, yeah.
Him and mother both were just believing nothing.
And your mother was technically Muslim.
Yes.
But that's another example.
She was born and raised in Muslim family.
When I say Muslim, they were not practicing
the Islam, right?
Yeah, so that's a really important point.
You can be born Serb or Orthodox or
Muslim, but at the end of the day,
you end up an atheist.
No practice behind it.
Yeah.
But you're now asking yourself, what's the purpose
of life?
You're thinking about death, the reality of death.
What happens from there?
Yeah, I was so scared thinking about death
for some reason, that it was like fear
would go all over my body.
I was so afraid thinking about it.
So I started to research a little bit
about religions, what they say about afterlife.
Is there life after this world?
Because somewhere deep in myself, I knew this
can't be it.
It doesn't make sense that you just live
and die and that's it.
What if somebody who dies, if he's a
little baby or 10 years old?
It doesn't make sense.
That's what I thought at the time.
And little by little, I started to...
I mean, I was already with some friends
who are Muslims.
Their parents are not praying all the time,
but we gather for the Eid most of
the time as kids.
Yes.
And I would go to mosque as a
kid to pray Eid, just because all the
kids were doing it.
I was like, yeah, I'm going to do
it.
So I was already praying.
I didn't know how to pray, I didn't
know what to say.
I was just going to Ruku and to
Sejda, just looking at somebody next to me.
And the other people would be like, oh,
he was in the mosque?
And they were happy for me and stuff
like that.
Me searching through all the books, the internet
and stuff, I found a couple of videos
that they say what happens when you die
as a Muslim.
For me, it was already enough.
I was gaining some hope now that it's
going to the way I thought it is.
I want to show you a clip here,
and I believe this is from an Orthodox
Serb.
So for those people, because that was going
to be my next question, what and why
didn't you go towards the Orthodox?
Because your father, even though he was an
Orthodox Serbian, why didn't you go towards that
belief and did you investigate it?
So I'm going to show you this video
and get your reaction to it.
And we're going to help people understand what
actually are the teachings also.
Is he saying that Jesus, peace be upon
him, is Serbian and God is Serbian?
Yes, something like that, yes.
Because that's what they believe, right?
Is that actually what they believe?
Yes, yes.
Same like Christians, they believe that Jesus is
God.
But here we have two things, that he's
God and he has a nationality.
Is that correct?
Yes.
I didn't even know that when I was
doing my research, that was the things that
were complicated to me.
This is one of the things that I
just actually found out while I was here.
I mean, obviously we know that people of
this faith, many, they believe, and this is
not to disparage on anybody's religion or anything,
we're just giving a contrast here and helping
people understand things better, because a lot of
times, the majority of people, they reject this,
because it's a part like you did, it's
not a part of the innate disposition to
worship a human being or anything in creation,
it's not part of the fitra.
But here, now, they're saying God has a
nationality, that he's actually of Serbian origin.
Yes, it's how they do here, like this
specific, Balkan is literally a specific place, so
everybody is like that.
Researching and listening this stuff before I accepted
Islam is, my consciousness just not only reject
this, because I just can't comprehend how, for
example, when I was looking into Christianity, how
God can be Trinity.
It doesn't make any sense.
And like you said, this is not to
insult anybody, it's just my personal point of
view at that time, I was like confused,
and more you ask on any forums or
you go to ask somebody who knows something
about Christianity, he's gonna say, you're asking too
much questions.
And I realized they don't have the answer.
Yeah, I even go above and beyond and
say this is out of our love, love
for Christians, Croatians, humanity out there, that we
want them to come to the same truth,
like you came to.
Exactly, it's literally...
This is not out of any hate or
malice.
Definitely not, it's just like if you be
a normal person, not limited, and open your
heart really to the truth, and when you're
alone or whenever you feel like it, if
you say, God, please give me the guidance,
I'm 100% convinced you'll end up like
me.
No Trinity, God is one, unique, and no
nationality.
He's not Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Allah, the Creator.
He's free from those things that people invented,
for sure, yes.
He's the greatest.
That's something when I, self-criticism I would
say, when I see that I'm doing mistakes
and stuff, I just realize how Allah great
is.
And that's what I like to do is
show for the Serbian audience, to the Croatian
that Islam transcends nationalism.
That you could be a Serb and you
become a Muslim, you don't have to change...
You don't have to change your name, your
last name, you don't have to change anything.
Your nationality.
Exactly.
Stay Serb, but submit to God, not a
Trinity or a God with a nationality.
Exactly, or somebody who's doing it for the
sake of the money, or to control people,
and this and that.
So just be God's slave, that's it.
That's beautiful, yeah.
So what was the breaking point, finally, that
had you go ahead, and so you start
asking what's the purpose of life, death is
on your mind, what happens when you die,
what happens next that you finally ended up
realizing, look, Islam is the truth.
So you went back and investigated Orthodox, Trinity,
that didn't fit, that didn't make sense.
Yes, I investigated almost everything.
Everything.
Hinduism, like every single religion I could think
of and find, I was reading, doesn't make
sense, okay, this is not it.
You really did your homework.
Yeah, like, this is not it.
Yeah.
Like I would take something and read just
a couple words, and I was, this is
not it.
Then this and that, and I was, like
I say, doing first, because my father was
a Serbian Orthodox religion, I was looking a
little bit that they have, you know, some
close stuff with Christians.
Just some different dates, for example, of the
Christmas, and this and that, a little bit
different beliefs.
But the Trinity was something that I couldn't
comprehend.
I was asking myself if God wanted us
to have a religion, and it's from him,
he will expand it to smallest pieces, so
you understand it.
If he's inviting you, you need to understand
it.
Yes.
Because you cannot just go blindly into something,
right?
You need to understand what you're doing.
And I couldn't understand, whatever I do, I
just can't understand Trinity.
It doesn't make sense.
And why would God die for me and
you for my sins and yours?
It's not somebody else's fault if I do
a sin.
That's what I was thinking, so it didn't
make sense.
And whenever I ask somebody or post anything
on any forum or internet, I was just
confused, so confused.
Do you think there's a lot of Serbs
or Croatians, others out there, people who are
not Muslim yet, that are also going through
the same struggles?
And then they get shut down when they
go ask their hires?
Yeah, maybe.
I think the problem is with the families.
The family's years are very strict, so it's
not a strange case if you say, oh,
I'm reading, if you say this to your
parents, like Croatian or Serb, that's, I'm convinced
of, like that you're going into Islam and
stuff, because, you know, the war in Bosnia
that happened with all the religions, with all
the people, the parents will say to that
guy, just go out from the house.
Oh, they'll kick him out?
Go out.
We don't want to hear about you.
You want to be a Muslim?
Go away.
What do you think, so then what led
you, you started to read the Koran?
Yes.
I was at the moment living okay life,
I would say.
People in Bosnia here, unfortunately, didn't educate themselves
high enough to understand Islam, right?
And I was one of them, so I
would, even though I would believe in God,
I would be working just to go out
on the weekends and drink and stuff, you
know, and smoke weed with the friends and
just do the things like everybody else is
doing, like, let's say, so if you don't
do that, you're not accepted in society today,
you know what I'm saying?
So I was thinking often about those things
that I'm doing that it's not right, it
doesn't make sense, right?
It's not natural for you to work all
day, for the whole week, and spend money
on alcohol or the weed or whatever you
want to do, right?
It just doesn't make sense.
So I started to feel sorry first, I'm
doing that, and I was like, yeah, Islam
forbids the gambling, drugs, alcohol, I just need
to, you know, do my research about that
more to see how can I stop all
that, and doing that research, I came up
to videos of Dr. Zakir Naik, and his
videos convinced me 100%, like, I had 99
.9% consciousness that there's a God, but
I didn't understand him, for example, why am
I without some things like good job or
I'm missing some money to take care of
my family and this and that, and some
guy that I know, he's a criminal, he
has the house, the car, and everything, I
just couldn't understand.
So when I started to read translation of
the Quran, correct me if I'm wrong, there's
ayat that says, don't worry about them, look
about yourself, it's curse of theirs, they're blind,
they just, shaitan made them that they think
that is beautiful thing what they're doing, right?
Yeah.
And I was like, wow, this literally creator
saying to me, you don't need to worry
about them, it's something totally different, and more,
I was reading like more answers I got
on almost everything.
The Quran is giving you those answers?
Everything, and I was like, I just couldn't
believe.
Yeah.
I was like, I don't know how is
this possible.
You think more people should read the Quran?
Definitely, at least, like I say, if you
really want to find the guidance, just read
the translation.
Beautiful advice.
I was speaking to one Serb, who also
accepted Islam, and for our Serbian neighbors, friends,
and Croatians, Islam just means to submit your
will to the will of God, and he
was in Belgrade, and he was giving out
Qurans in Srilica, in the language.
Yes, yes, yes.
He was in Belgrade, and he was saying
that people were receptive, they were very open
to taking the Quran from him, and it
seemed like they were pleased to accept it.
They were interested, yes.
Yeah, they were interested.
Yes, I think internet can be bad, but
there's also a good thing for Dawa, of
course, I say.
People see some things themselves now.
It's not that media can do their thing,
not anymore.
For example, you have people from Gaza right
now who are sending you videos of the
truth.
Nobody can say on the news now, oh,
there's a Muslim that's doing wars, and no.
It's everywhere in the world.
So you went from a family who turned
to atheism, you dabbled in atheism for some
time, searching the purpose of life, you read
the Quran, you investigate all the different religions,
you realize this is the truth.
What do you think if someone who got
one of these Qurans, if he served, for
example, if one of their parents found this
in their Quran, do you think they would
kiss it as a holy book or throw
it out?
What would they do?
And I'll tell you why I'm asking if
they would kiss it.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
I think if they're not Muslims, they definitely
start asking questions.
Would they throw it out?
Why you have this?
What is the purpose of this?
Are you reading this and that?
Those that are a little bit, I say,
heads, with their heads more into the world,
they'll probably throw it out.
The reason I ask you that, I want
to ask you if you saw this video,
and this is not an endorsement of any
person, party, or anyone, but it's just a
very interesting video because I believe that the
Serbs from here, they look up to certain
Orthodox Christians from this area, from this person
in this video.
We're seeing Putin, he's actually kissing the Quran.
So don't the Serbian leaders from here, like
Dodik and others, don't they respect him highly?
He's almost like their leader in a way,
sense.
Is it?
It is.
No, this probably doesn't make sense to them,
I guess.
He's kissing the Quran.
They should follow now and kiss the Quran,
no?
He's paying some respect.
Yes, yes.
If they would treat like that, yeah.
I don't think they will kiss it.
No?
No, I don't think they will accept it,
even read it.
I mean, do you think they'll have a
different perception now that, hold on, okay, this
is, he's literally kissing the Quran.
What does that symbolize?
He's showing an ultimate respect to the Quran.
Yes, like you mentioned, they should respect it
too, but they're not.
But this is their Putin.
Yes, yes.
I guess they don't follow the Putin.
It's just fake news.
Fake news, huh?
I thought that was very interesting.
So at least they should like, if they
don't want to kiss it, would you recommend,
at least open it up.
At least open it up and read.
Read the first page.
Yeah, see it for yourself.
Yeah.
I was amazed when you mentioned the first
page, when it says, this is the book,
there's no doubt about it.
No doubt about it.
What you just said, this is right there
in the first page of the Quran.
I was like, okay, let's see.
And the more I went into it, it
was, I pretty much got everything I asked
myself, I got the answer for it.
And I was like, yeah, I just need
to become a Muslim.
But like I mentioned, I didn't know anybody.
I didn't know how you actually became Muslim.
I told before that if you just change
your name, that's it.
Yes.
You become Muslim automatically.
Tell us a little bit about the war.
You were here as a seven-year-old
when the war started, and you talked about
being separated from your father.
Talk about the war a little bit and
how that was at that time.
So when it started, we were all together.
It was when it started in 1991, I
believe.
So I wasn't even finishing the first, is
it called first grade?
I don't know how you guys say that
in the States.
So we were on vacations and the war
started.
We were together, and our house here was
destroyed.
But we had another apartment that my father
got, and it's uncontrolled.
The area was controlled after the war with
the Croatians.
That was the area that was controlled by
them, right?
So since our house was destroyed, we went
there, and the people were still going on
the lines as soldiers.
It was not shooting.
It was calm a couple of years later,
but people were still going over there.
And when it started with the Croatians, my
father and my sister were in the Bosnian
army here.
So when it started, we were separated automatically.
They put the lines and barricades, and we
didn't know anything what was going on with
them.
And we had luck.
They were taking all the people who were
not Croatians from their homes, putting them in
the trucks, putting them in prisons.
And when they came to my house, my
brother was already without a leg.
He lost a leg in the war before.
And these five or six soldiers came into
our house and said to my mother, We
know that your husband and your daughter and
your son, they were all in the army
that we fight against.
Where are they?
And they started asking questions like that.
And my mother said, I don't know.
We don't know anything about them.
And in that moment, my brother is waking
up, and he's coming out of the room.
And the guy who was asking the questions
was actually his friend.
They went to school together.
And he said, Is that you, my friend?
And they recognized each other.
And we had that luck that he said,
Nobody will touch you.
I'll make sure that you're protected.
And they didn't throw us out.
Later on, he gave us the paper that
this family is under my protection.
Nobody can touch them.
So when I think now about it, it
was nothing but the mercy of Allah that
saved us over there.
Because everybody who was Muslim and in the
opposite army were cleared off.
I was walking as a kid alone over
there.
There were empty streets, empty apartments.
Everything was stolen.
So much clothes on the streets.
The army would just stay with a big
truck.
They would take TVs, videos.
The old VHS, if you remember.
The fridges, electronics usually.
They robbed everything, and they just left.
So we were basically there and just Croatians,
nobody else.
For those who really haven't heard much about,
don't know much about what happened here, why?
Why was there a war here?
I think because people, for some reason, didn't
like to live with each other.
Even though you're Muslim, Serb, Croatian, it doesn't
matter.
Some crazy heads thought, you know, we're going
to divide this country and take for ourselves.
That's how it started.
Thankfully, it didn't work.
Tell us, before we conclude, what other advice
would you give for somebody who's a Serb,
who's Croatian, who's whatever ethnicity is out there,
but they're also having a problem.
They're trying to fill this void in their
heart.
They partied.
They've done drugs.
They've had enough of the alcohol.
They've been to all the nightclubs out there
or anything else.
If they have a problem, how to do
it.
Anything else that you can imagine.
Some of them, they've experienced everything, but they
still have that void.
You were there.
You had a void.
The void is filled?
For sure.
For sure.
No doubt about it.
What advice would you give for them?
Definitely just to start reading translation of the
Quran.
I'm 100% convinced that you'll get your
answers over there and start from there.
But when you read it, read it with
an open mind.
Don't listen to the media and people say
that Islam is terrorism, the Muslims always make
problems, this and that.
That's just propaganda that is out there to
show people the opposite of Islam.
Islam is not like that.
Like you mentioned, Daddy, in Islam there is
no race.
It doesn't matter if you're black, if you're
white, if you're yellow.
It's just about worshipping one Creator who created
everything.
And it's for your own sake.
The Creator doesn't need you.
You need Him.
And if you just open your mind like
that and start searching and looking to fill
that void in your heart with love and
passion and to realize that really there is
somebody who created everything.
There is a life.
This life is just a test.
There is a life.
After this, you can't die anymore after that.
So you just need to think about it.
Do you really want, because of worldly things
like alcohol and drugs and clubbing and stuff,
to be in eternal fire forever?
When you have a choice to just take
a bath, take the Quran translation of it
and just read it with an open mind.
Don't think about what people say about Muslims.
Just read it yourself and start from there.
How about, what do you say to Muslims
who are, I've had experience, someone would say,
look, they have a picture of their great
-grandfather * on the wall and they have
the Quran up there and they're like, you
know, this is my great-grandfather.
But himself, he's not praying.
He's not implementing Islam.
Yes, but he would die.
One of the Ulema said here how education
is so important that there was a scene
in war when the Muslim guy wanted to
protect the mosque from the people who wanted
to destroy it.
He went on the minaret all the way
up with his kid and he's swearing Allah
to them not to touch the mosque.
But he's protecting his life and his kid's
life.
He is prepared to die, but he doesn't
know what to do.
So I would always say, thankfully now we
have so much materials over the Internet.
There's people who are organizing everything for us
that you can just go and listen and
learn.
Just try to learn and educate yourself more
about it because it doesn't make sense that
you call yourself Muslim and you don't pray.
Another thing we can take from this example,
I mean, when you see the Putin kissing
the Quran, putting it up, you have some
Muslims also, they'll kiss the Quran, put it
up, but never read it.
Read the book also.
If you're a Muslim, it's there for you.
It's for everybody.
Read the book and implement the book.
Live the book.
My wife sent me one interesting video today.
When they're explaining like when you read Quran,
just close your eyes and just hold the
finger on Quran and imagine your head.
This, that I have finger right now, is
something that God said.
This is words from Allah.
So when you start reading it, try to
understand what you're reading.
Yes.
Not to be like, oh, I'm just going
to read one page because it's nice.
You just need to start thinking about it.
And definitely my advice to people who want
to do research, start thinking with your own
head.
A lot of lessons here, from atheism to
seeking the purpose of life, from transcending nationalism
to coming to the submission of the creator,
not the creation, in Islam.
You're a shining example of that.
Thank you very much for being with us
here on the Deen Show.
Thank you so much, Eddie.
I appreciate you.
JazakAllah Khair.
As-salamu alaykum.
Wa alaykum as-salam.
So what we're doing now is we have
some volunteers helping us to get these hues
out.
With the hard work of Eddie, this is
more than just a masjid that's being built.
This is more than just another dawah center.
So we're transforming this from people worshipping the
creation to worshipping the creator.
Allah bless your efforts, Eddie.
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Until then, peace be with you.
As-salamu alaykum.
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