Why did a Black & White American PLUS A Mexican & Filipino Accept Islam

Up, Ada Illa Illa. Allah in look at all of you guys, and I see everyone is just such a gentleman. Everyone's very I can't even explain it. There's no word for it

he's explained, like, oh man, like, what am I have a lot to do?

Oh man, I just remember super intense the owner of it was Muslim and I will see him praying that certain times I was it goes his office with a question and he'd be in there praying what I loved about Islam is that, you know, me being around them. They, they never, you know, the Dow is just the way how they, they interact with people. And I'll tell you what, I'm really excited. The dean center is becoming a reality. Allah was pulling the resources together, making this dream a reality a mega data center in the United States, Allahu Akbar, this is the future and it's happening. We've got the location, but now we got to get the work going. We got to build the Masjid. We got to build the data

center. We need you to donate now. Not for me, not for me, but for that masjid, for that house of Allah that Allah would be worshipped in. We need to build that Dallas center where people can come from across the world and come and get trained in how to give Dawa and non Muslims in come and learn about Islam. We gotta get this done. Everybody donate, let's do this together. It's happening. Allahu Akbar is none greater.

Than Smilla hamdulillah Asante go

in the house chef of the man

rather off man. Because much so we go from Cali to the jungles of Indonesia, to Chicago jungles of Chicago.

Chicago. You feel at home here? Don't you have the love Chicago? I love the people of Chicago lay any. I can tell you how happy I am. To see all these young brothers the zone faces that came out. All the events have been packed. And you know, we have a lot of haters out there a lot of people that want to stop the Dawa. A lot of people that are jealous from the community from outside from around the world. But this is a sign that they can't stop the Dawa. hamdulillah Are you seeing this more and more the youth that are coming back to the deen in the deen are really strong in the deen Hamdulillah we have full your team we have full belief in the words of the Prophet peace and

blessings be upon him.

And also Allah salAllahu alayhi salam, the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him told us that this religion will reach everywhere that the day and the night reach every household mud or firm this religion will reach it. And we're seeing this prophecy of this true prophet coming through in our time. In the earlier times, it would be hard to imagine that a message would reach every house. You know, even if you had missionaries and you had people going around, they wouldn't reach every house. But with the internet with YouTube with tick tock with Instagram with all the social media platform, whatever evil may be there but from the good of it. Islam is reaching every house

and we're seeing it the youth are standing up instead of wasting their time watching fail videos and watching you know prank videos. They're using their social media for Dawa. I've been around the world recently I was in Malaysia, I was in Thailand, you guys can see the videos and people everywhere that would never have run into Islam. Because of all of you who share the videos, who make clips, who put on your whatsapp statuses, who make Instagram reels because of you. They come up to me and so I want to become Muslim. I saw your video. Islam makes sense. You know, every household is learning about Islam. Subhan Allah you wouldn't know the week Allah Akbar.

There you go. For the Not Yet Muslims out there, you know, and they say, Oh man, what did these guys say? And now what do we say Allahu Akbar. We say Allah is the Greatest, you know, the same way that you find in the New Testament, Jesus saying the father is the greatest, you know, like you find in the Old Testament about God being the most high. We believe as Muslims, that Allah, the One Creator, the one who sent Abraham, the one who sent Moses, the one who sent Jesus, the one who sent Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon all the prophets, that he is the greatest, the only one worthy of worship. And this is something we're proud of. And when we pray, we begin our prayer by saying

Allahu Akbar, when something is good, we say Allahu Akbar. And you know, if it's time for battle, we say Allahu Akbar, tell me this. So now, back to this fulfillment of this prophecy. You were in literally in the jungles of Indonesia, in a place that now you couldn't get to with a car and the mess

He was even reaching there. Can you talk about this Hamdulillah we praise Allah, ourself, we're nothing. Me you. I mean, anybody who thinks that their own intelligence or their own intellect or their effort is anything doesn't recognize the greatness of our Creator, we thank Allah. I went, Indonesia. And we went to an area where missionaries had gone out, you know, people talk about all Christians can't preach their message, you go to Indonesia. When I was there, there was around 3000, Christian missionaries, Mormons, Joe witnesses, every different type Catholics out there, trying to misguide people openly with visas and everything, we went out to one area, and these missionaries

went out, and that video is already online on the one message foundation channel, you can see it, they brought alcohol, they brought cigarettes, it didn't come to improve the society. They brought hills with them. And they went to this community in a faraway remote area, Indonesia. And they told them, we're going to build you English language school, and they lie. And they talk about these tricks, but they lie.

And instead, they built a church. And they brought money in they they made videos got money from the 700 Club and all these different Christian preaching organizations, I don't even know their names. And they start to bribe the people with alcohol with cigarettes. And this town that was 80% Muslim, they, they tricked them, their kids brought them into church, and converted them to leave Islam. You know, all these people had left Islam hamdulillah me and some of the local brothers who were reverse themselves, we went out there, we started doing Dawa, within a week out there and hamdulillah those people, they left those hills, they told the missionaries we don't care about your money, we don't

need it, we didn't pay them. We didn't bribe them. We don't go out and bribe people, we don't go out and give alcohol, we told them you have to give up these bad habits. Because these things harm you. Islam is there to improve you Hamdulillah you can see the video, the chief of the village he took the shahada, then we went out around the village and in big groups, we gave out shahada that Hamdulillah 200 People became Muslim there Hamdulillah, the entire village 90% More, or even the ones that weren't Muslim before we came Muslims. We went out to the areas that are in the jungles, in the jungle, I mean, insha Allah, that video will post soon, we still haven't posted it.

These people you can't get to them. It's not like you just drive up. You drive up as far as you can. And then there's a four day hike. And you know, I mean, I didn't go all the way in because for the hiking is not for me.

I was like we'll do that another time. We got to work out first. And I got to grapple with you a little bit.

But we went out to those areas to the outskirts of those areas. And we met these people who till today live as if they were cavemen. I mean they walk around naked. They're cannibals. I mean, can you imagine in our day and time in Indonesia, this the importance of that? Why do we have to do that work. And these people, they have no concept of marriage. These people, they if they see a woman and they force a force, they don't, they have no concept of right and wrong. They still live in trees. If they see you, you're not from them. They'll just shoot you the arrow and eat you up. So this is seriously they'll eat you. So this is a very, I mean, I was shocked that it till our time we have

people like this. But Alhamdulillah we spoke to some of them, some of them that already became Muslim. We interviewed them and they don't speak the Indonesian Bahasa language, they have their own language. So we had to have like a translator for our translator, and Hamdulillah. They talked about how their life changed how they improved with Islam. Christians also go out there. I mean, they they put that work in, but they don't improve them. They give them alcohol, they give them cigarettes, they just tell them put on a cross. Jesus died for your sins, keep doing what you're doing. I mean, you see him still walking around naked with a cross on God does that help you right? But hamdulillah

the ones that became Muslim, you'll see videos Inshallah, soon on the one message foundation channel, they were memorizing Quran you see them clothed, some of them took the shahada with me out there. hamdulillah and we train them to understand right from wrong. I mean, for them, they didn't even consider incest to be bad. And what's strange to me is a lot of what I saw that I was shocked at is where society in America is heading. Right. You know, in America, we're we're getting more and more naked, and we're getting less and less morals, the idea of marriage and man and woman, all these things are being attacked. So we're not progressing. We're digressing. They know the pronouns

over there.

And you can choose whatever you like if people love

it

But alhamdulillah by the will of Allah, we had many of them that became Muslim and many more that are becoming Muslim, and inshallah intend someday to go back and hike up all the way in there and speak to them and by the will of Allah, all of them are going to enter Islam and they're going to leave those evil habits in Islam makes you the best version of yourself. Islam improves you, Islam changes you. And that's why Alhamdulillah everywhere in the world, Islam is growing. The future is ours. But there's there's no question. The future is ours. The only question is, are you going to be a part of the doubt? Are you going to be one of those haters sitting around backbiting and looking

for faults and making excuses? Or are you going to be a part of Islam reaching every household? For us? We don't do it for money. We don't do it for fun. We do it for the one, the only one that deserves to be worshipped Allah, that's why we do it. That's our mission. Missionaries they put a lot of work in. And when they do, they do more work. The Mormons, job witnesses, they do more work than us. Catholic Charities go out to Africa, they do more work than us. But they're not doing it for God. They're doing it for their monetary gain. That's why the Mormon church Church wants 10% of your check. You know, those Mormon elders, I saw them in Utah, they'd be living large, right? That's

why you look you look at the Pope, you know, talking about you know, all this stuff about being close with God, go look at his cars, look at his houses. Where does what job does he work?

We're I'm out here, I work a job. And I'm here last week. Last weekend I was in Dallas, went home, I had an audit, you know, may Allah reward my family for their patience. I mean, had to go work 12 hour days had to earn my living to feed my family because I don't take a penny not from IMF not from the Masjid. You can ask the brothers organising this trip. I'm not taking money, why? We don't do it for that. We do it because we believe in what we're preaching. And that's why I challenge all these Christian apologists and all these Christian debaters and this hammer times and mad dogs or whatever they are, right, go cancel your Patreon it's your go give up your money and then come in debate and

then see if you're really doing it for God. Subhanallah it's one thing I was talking about this, but we have a live example of special special guests now this is a prize unplanned, unplanned, unplanned Allah, Allah plan, he's the best of the best of flowers. So we have this young brother Bobby, that we'd like to invite up come up Bobby

How you doing Bobby?

Nice to meet you too. So Bobby, tell us a little about yourself

my goal here in Chicago more on the north side.

I never really had too much of a religion background here. It was more so

I thought about like an idea just for my parents but

I really love being here just because of the fill is more so it's very warm, welcoming feeling.

I feel like I have a lot of brothers here already this my first day being here in a mosque at all. And

it just really makes me feel better as a person. They've every time I read the Quran every time I do research on it and try to be BNP wanting to

just so so it was all guys I was just like thank you all for, for having me here. And also it's just being so so so welcoming. hamdulillah you're our brother You're welcome. And we were just talking and I just the first time I've met brother Bobby, you know,

we just came into the masjid and first thing he learned about Islam from watching the omet videos so all of you that are out there sharing the videos promoting this you guys are a part of the reward for this will be with you. Secondly, you know I really liked something we were talking about earlier when we just met before the prayer when you were talking about other religions just being a coping mechanism or you kind of just throw everything off you know you sin you do whatever and he said Jesus died from my sins you know, I confess that's okay, you know, but how you felt when you read the Quran? Tell us about it.

There was a lot for me personally is not a personal like drama yourself say and things going on with my parents and things that have my mind kind of full and just today I just read the front of my on my lunch break, as I've been trying to do daily as I'm at work and just as soon as I close it when the lunch was over, I just felt better like my conference was raised. Everything was was better and with the same things going on but, but better prepared by Biola bye buy gotta believe

yeah

that's beautiful. And that's beautiful and Hamdulillah you know one thing that's again amazing about brother Bobby that, you know, he didn't go grew up around Muslim he didn't, you know, Islam reaching like we were speaking earlier that Islam is reaching every household every one of the day in the night. Islam is reaching hamdulillah and I think that's wonderful.

Hello, I'm curious how long ago did Bobby? The you take your shahada except Islam hasn't done the shopping? Allahu Akbar was a beautiful opportunity.

Right? How's your question has been going great. Hi, what's your bed tell us in brief your background, briefly my background, I'm

half polish half Mexican, and then just

never grew up more of a lower class family, I suppose I suppose one ages trying to.

I was saying when I was younger, I suppose I've always wanted to kind of fit in and have brothers and this more of a family life, normal family feeling and and then I like a lot of I got into a was, was a job I was working, the owner of it was Muslim. And I will see him praying that certain times, I would go to his office with a question and he'd be in there praying with the lights off. So I would come back and not say anything. And I was taught to listen a lot about it. And he told me one of the three main things would is having love like the fellow person, being disciplined, being humble. And those are three things that I really, that I do already really value a lot and things

that I look forward to being more immersed in. And just these three things I want to keep being you know, I'm learning I want to keep being when I am a

peaceful person, like a loving person. And

as you mesh a little bit to things nowadays, the generous see and like and like me, like even younger before I was like does it mean like to like see it, like certain things online like some, you know, sexuality things and, and like it's never been something that I would love to see it in like all of them are facing certain things because the fitrah

in certain, you know, this is something one of the groups caller was talking about, that Allah blesses the human with an inner understanding of right and wrong. And that's why even when the people that you do whatever evil they do, they, if you look at them when they're doing if you catch them at that time, they'll they'll feel the shame. You know, even you know, these these strip clubs or whatever, they're always gonna have a backdoor. Why? Because they know what they're doing is wrong. The fifth Law tells them, but it's the heart that desires that overpower people. And that's the beautiful thing about Islam. We don't just say, Okay, I believe in Jesus, that's it. Oh, no, no,

no, we believe that we need strive and struggle with our shortcomings to the mercy of our Creator. We need to strive and struggle to be the best we can be ascribed to any particular religion in the past before your parents or I never fully subscribe, but I would do a little further sometimes. And I had a thought about like, I like I'd like to just gotten like sometimes.

Like, I would just like I was like, Oh, well I think like like I believed enough but I never started reading the Bible or anything like that to to get more into it. But like, couple of years ago, I was started doing prayers in the morning when we get on the knee and just saying things

to be better for me and my family and the people around me and then I think it's kind of a coincidence I would like things to get on my knee and then with the way we pray here and there.

And I will and I will I will put my head down and for my eyes and try to like fill it in. Because do certain things and

and just start to feel like things are filling process. Like I said when I started doing the Koran I just felt better like it is.

And the only thing to change was me reading the Quran was we we need something more humble. So now the big question any anything about the Islamic creed that you disagree with? Or does holding you back?

You believe there's one God?

Do you believe that God is the only God that deserves to be worshipped?

Yes, that is only God nonprofits. No saints, no monkey, no blue guys flying around if you work with NASA,

no cows.

Definitely no steaks, burgers and ribs. As then, maybe, you know, you could eat them up.

Now, do you believe that God sends us profits?

Yes,

Abraham Moses Jesus Muhammad peace and blessings be upon them Do you believe those rockets

shahada Arabic or English first famous question? Still every effort is

the hardest thing

you eat your veggies first

I still

love love La ilaha illa Illa Allah in

in

wha wha I shadow

and

Mohammed

Abu and do what so

Chicago you got to do better man

I gotta wake up the New York brothers with this

Yes, I bear witness, I bear witness there is none worthy of worship is not worthy of worship except Allah.

And I bear witness. Witness Mohammed

is the seventh and messenger of Allah. Allah

excellent man, this is, this is the greatest day of your life, you are a Muslim today Alhamdulillah your life has just began, you feel that peace. You felt that tranquility, you feel the past gone. Every sin, every mistake, every pain of the past is gone. You're like a brand new baby today. And we ask Allah to protect you and protect us and keep you steadfast. Now, there's going to be a struggle, right? shaytaan the devil and his minions from the humans and Jen are going to try to distract you from the right path. And you're going to have to fight it. And that's what life's about. You have today come back to the purpose of why God created you to recognize Him and to worship Him is the

greatest day of your life better than the day you were born better than the day that you graduated or got married or had kids or whatever. This day, you went back to worshiping the Creator, that was your true purpose of creation. Now, you're gonna You have great you have Chef Faisal here, mashallah is a scholar, he's more knowledgeable than us. And a great example, you can get connected with him. He's going to be lessons in the mosque, you're going to learn whatever bad habits you have, you're going to, you're going to slowly slowly work on getting rid of, to improve yourself to make yourself healthier, to make yourself at peace, and you're going to take this message to your family and

friends and community and inshallah Inshallah, next time I come to Chicago, you're going to be reading Quran with us and bring with us inshallah.

Anything else you want to say,

to those maybe watching maybe people like you are kind of on the edge?

Yeah, I just want to say thank you. And also, um, I think you can see how, no matter where you come from, that you can come to Islam and then be accepted and be loved and,

and be able to be the sort of a better path going forward, and they will affect you in all aspects of life and just have you keep moving forward and keep getting better and keep stepping on purpose and until you can keep and just keep being the great people you are, no matter who you are really.

This is the greatest day of my life, though. So thank you

and we had this young, another young brother,

somebody how you

actually took his Shahada? What was it about Islam that did it for you that you finally ended up understanding the purpose of life, why you've been created, and you end up taking that step? Taking a declaration of faith and the shahada, and you're here with us today

is our brother Julius, he took the shahada here, and this Masjid in this blessed mercy that the Quran, the message of our brother, Sheikh Faisal, Julius Alhamdulillah, took shahada this Friday. So Hamdulillah you see from this trip, Allah is guiding people

law.

I just don't like speaking in public. So this is really hard for me.

You know, once your brothers or I look at all of you guys, and I see everyone it's just such a

Gentleman, everyone's very, I can't even explain it is that a word for it, but it's just beautiful to see that, and I just learned so much from people that are just like this gentleman, right? You know, I'm just trying to learn from all of you guys, and I'm gonna be as as humble as I can and want to use.

Just, that's my time and like, just to learn what I can from your guys. So it's just trying to be as humble as I can about everything.

That's beautiful. And,

you know, again, this is something I think beautiful, was not to also look, look over this crowd. And you see over all walks of life.

You see people of different colors, different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different languages, different social statuses, and you don't see any differentiation, everything together under luck, as one humanity with one purpose. And this is why it's non growth. You know, we don't have, you know, churches, like you know, where I grew up, there was a Chinese church, right across from a Korean church.

And these these, you know, same type of Christians, a Methodist or whatever, but they were different, you know, they it was more like a social stuff. But it is down hamdulillah we're all brothers. We're all one. And that's why you see the message of the stamp is what unites mankind.

Anything else that you want to say just about how you've been feeling the last couple of days, and I just can't stop smiling. I told my parents this and I'm like, I just can't stop smiling. That's beautiful. Beautiful, man. Give me

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much.

There's we got another spreadsheet. Yeah.

I don't know if there's a couple of I mean, we can keep going. There's a lot of a lot of brothers here. There's one in particular that they come up. This is unplanned, unscripted. This is all it was amazing. I spoke to his brother. I was I was teaching.

And he came teaching jujitsu. And he came he does a little bit jujitsu. And I asked him, he just recently and he's gonna go overseas, he wants to study.

He asked him, How long did it take you to really figure this out? Some people take years? And you'd be surprised, and I'll let him take it from here. Come on, he knows right away who I'm talking to.

Good, have a seat.

Go ahead, introduce yourself and finish the story from where I

sit on Monday come everybody.

My name is Edwin.

Like, brother Eddie was saying, when I first

came to Islam, it wasn't anybody giving me Dawa.

I was actually at a, at a coffee shop. And it had a library in it. And something was telling me it was a lot. But at the time, I didn't know. Allah was telling me to get closer to him. Allah was telling me to find him

and didn't really understand it was a feeling. And all and I didn't know about Islam at the time, all I knew

was

the Bible. And so I was there. And there's a library and I always knew there was a Bible section. So I went there, got a Bible, and that's where it started.

And at the time, I didn't know that there was my Fitbit are telling me to to get back to Allah, and

have the 100 law. What I read in the Bible, it was I read a little bit of the Bible, but the part that I read was talked about how true knowledge begins when you begin to fear God.

And

I remember specifically, there were a few nights where I read those verses, and I just got really scared.

And at the time, I didn't know but it was like tug of war. And humble, I was very scared. And I was like there's something here, but I can never quite pinpoint it. Because it was always very like a motional Huzzah. Based in my family like a brother just you came up here. It's like, it's a feeling you can't really describe it.

And then 101 thing led to another one day I'm like on this journey now I'm getting closer to Allah.

And one night randomly, it was a Friday night, I'm hanging out with one friend who was a Christian, and randomly we got to eat, and actually a friend that I had grown up with since middle school. I'm a freshman in college. And since sixth grade, I knew this

was brother and he was Muslim. And it just so happened that he randomly showed up at that restaurant. And

we all just happened to go back to him.

My friend's house.

And we were there until like four in the morning. And I remember super leaving for the night Hamdulillah we just started talking about religion, I start explaining how I'm looking. I'm searching, trying to find God. And

at the time, I didn't.

I couldn't really understand what I was going through. It's very like intense, a lot of fear.

A lot of hope. But it was very messy. It was never really coherent.

And hum does our talking. And I remember specifically if I'm taking up too much time ago, and I remember specifically as I'm talking

at the time, a religion was, in my mind, just like a concept. I felt like, Okay, everybody does their own thing. There's Christians, as Catholics, there's all these different religions, but it also it's all the same thing. It just improves your life. And as I'm explaining this, and I'm talking to my, my friend, his name's Adam, Adam, Colombo. And

he started explaining to me he I remember specifically, I don't remember what I said, I said something and he goes, Oh, like, I don't believe in that. And he's like, as, as a Muslim, we believe this. And he started explaining it to me. And just the fact that he said, like, like, No, we don't believe that. And he started explaining, but it was very like gentle like, Oh, we don't believe that. This is what I believe. I was like, huh, and one thing specifically about him quick little sidetrack is I always noticed from middle school, very young, he was always different from everybody else. I was one of the loud guys just like being super obnoxious with all the other guys talking

macho, like, I always remember like, he was just always super quiet. He would never get involved. He wasn't allowed to go to school dances. Like, man, this kid is weird. All these sorts of things.

But I had I had respect for him because I was like, There's no way he's not like saying this or doing that. I was like, There's no way he's got to be like, I always thought that there was also another sister that I grew up with.

She was always the same, she was always a little different. Always quiet, never getting involved. Always super respectful, super humble, kept to herself. I always noticed this, but I never really put too much attention to it. And so that was that after that night with my friend, he gave me our shift number chef Kusama.

And

he gave me his number and he said, Look, I'm not the most knowledgeable, but if you want to learn about Islam, reach out to our chef. He's, he's really good with the youth. He's like our youth guide. He's like, Do you have any questions? Go to him? Hope Yeah. Okay, perfect. And that was that. It was super simple. He didn't really give me Dawa.

It was that simple.

And somebody left, I reached out to shekou sama.

We were planning a little meeting. And

I remember I actually went to the masjid.

And he was in a meeting, I was texting him that I was there. I was there for like 20 minutes. And I was like, Man, this is a sign from God that I'm not supposed to be here. Because I was there. I was super scared. I was jittery. I was like, I don't know what to do. I just left I was like, It's my excuse. Like, I waited here. 20 minutes took it. I was like, I'm out of here.

And at this time, I'm getting closer to Allah. And I'm looking at these various different religions. And all I knew at the time with Catholicism. So I went to a Catholic priest, and I start asking him questions.

And so I'm talking to him, and I explained to him, Look, I'm not here to become Catholic. I'm just here to learn more, trying to figure out which religion is the right religion. And then my friend Adam, out of nowhere, he texts me. He's like, Hey, I have a car and that's in English.

It's yours if you want. I was like, Sure. He's like, okay, come pick it up at this time. So I go.

And I remember parking. And I get really scared again, can't really explain it just scared just but a good scared like,

I don't know, just like adrenaline. I was just like,

it's scary. Because in my mind, I was like, What am I getting myself into? Like, this is something big, I could just feel it. So I'm walking up to his steps, he opens the door, greet each other. And then he has the Quran in his hand. And I remember he starts giving me like, the rules of like, don't put it on the ground or anything on top. And he's explained to him like, oh, man, like, what am I about to do?

Oh, man, I just remember it's super intense. And he gives it to me. And

I leave.

And at this time, there was a lot going on. I was working a lot. I was full time at school.

I was training a lot of jujitsu, there was just a lot I was like, hardly sleeping like days where I wouldn't sleep. I was just

Like all jacked up, I'm reading the Bible scared out of my mind. 24/7 don't know what's going on. I go home, I read the Quran. And as I'm reading it, I just remember feeling like, like, this is it like, This is it? I couldn't really explain it was just like, there's something here. I can't pinpoint it. But this is it says the truth right here.

And then after that, I stopped reading Quran as much.

That meeting didn't go through with the chef, come talking to his Catholic priest, and I explained the situation where I went to the masjid. And then I left and he was like, Well, it's a sign from God. Sometimes God gives you signs that it's not for you.

And,

and then this is where it gets really interesting. I think he goes like this. So I was my family. I was like, I'm from a Catholic family. But I never really understood the concept of the Trinity. I didn't know that Catholicism had the Trinity. I didn't know that they believe Jesus was God until I'm actually talking with this priest. And I started asking him questions. And I remember he slipped it in. He was like,

he said, Jesus was God in some, like, slick way. And I was like, Wait, hold on, like.

I was like, wait, what? And so he looked like mad, like, wait, what he's like, You don't know what like the Trinity. And like,

I told him, I was like a cat, like a born Catholic and all these things. And he was like, Well, you don't know what the Trinity is. And I was like, No, can you explain it to me, and so he's mad. He's explaining it. And we got to go.

So he explains it to me. And once he started explaining it to me, I was just like, okay, all right. And so I left.

And then

I remember, shackle, someone reached back out to me. And he was like, hey, Edwin, like, how are you doing? Do you still want to meet up?

Okay, I'm gonna do this. And so he's like, come to Juma on Friday, we'll talk

very soon when I was like, Okay.

And so before that.

I remember, I'm going to this Catholic priest. And now I'm reading code. And again, I'm watching a lot of lectures, I'm watching these lectures. And I'm like, why is it that they're so confident in what they're saying? Why does it actually make sense? And why does like the, like, what's the guy's name? The David Wood. It doesn't make sense what he's saying. It's like, it's like the loop.

It was weird. It was watching. It was like, Well, how many jobs pumped a lot. He was like, digging in on him. And I was like, man,

I was like, There's something here and I'm watching more videos. And I was like, this makes sense. Again, I was just like, this makes sense. So I'm reading code, and I'm watching these videos. And I remember

I read Surah Fatiha, and it just there was something there and I was like, I have to memorize it. So I memorized it in English.

And I remember

I promise. Before I knew what St. Jude was how to pray, I would get down with my forehead on the ground. I didn't even know I was facing the Kaaba.

I will recite Surah Fatiha.

And I just remember like,

I can't describe it. I was just like this, this is it. This is it. I could never explain it even now I can always just like this is it.

And

hum did lie at that point. I was like, like a Muslim. Like, I just need to learn what I have to do next. And

I remember the last time I went to go to the Catholic priests right before I went to the masjid

he was he had me read this verse in the Bible. And then we were gonna go over it and so we were going over it at this meeting, and he was taught he was like

basically, it was Jesus peace be upon him talking to a man with great wealth. And

and the man was like, What do what can I do to ensure I go to heaven to Jana and he go and Jesus peace be upon him says like, you have to be willing to give up everything like all of your wealth. And so the priest looks at me and he's like, that's what we're here for. Like, what aren't you willing to give up? For this for the religion for Catholicism? I just remember getting super scared inside like, adrenaline's pumping my heart, my heart's beating like crazy. And all I could think about was like the N slam, like, that's all that was going through my mind. I was like, that's what I can't give up. And that's when I knew like

Catholicism was not it didn't make sense. He's explaining the Trinity.

Also, I want to point this out because I think you guys will enjoy this when I had him.

Explain the Trinity to me. He got so frustrated that it didn't make sense to me. He's like, Well, it's just what we believe. Like, you just have to believe it. You say, Oh man, like, no, no, no. And so humbler fast forward.

I go to Joomla.

And at that point, I was like, I'm gonna be Muslim. But I was like, Okay, I had the same concept of like Catholicism or like, you have to do this, the

confirmation, all this sort of thing. And I was like, Okay, what do I have to do? And so I'm talking to my chef, and he explains, like, you just take your shahada that You declare, and he's like, we can do it right here in this room.

He asked me, he's like, do you want to take your job?

I can really do that, of course, has Okay, let's do it right now. And he wanted to wait until next Friday for Joomla to do it in front of the whole community. But he said,

We never know like, if something that happened before next Friday, if I can pass away or that sort of thing, so he said, it's always best to do it right here right now.

Okay, let's do it.

Oh, man, he can only imagine like how I was feeling again. I was just like, oh, like right now. Like how I feel. I'm like, scared, nervous, but like, hopefully, it's

well humbler. And he's like, Okay, wait, we're here. He runs out. He gets a couple of brothers. And I take my Shahada Hamdulillah, my shake starts crying, and I'll say, wow, like, I just couldn't believe it. Like, he was just being super genuine started crying.

I take my Shahada, all the brothers come up and start hugging me.

And I was like, I've never had this before. I've never had like, people that I've never met, just genuinely come up to me and show me love and show me support and tell me they're there. And you can feel it. They actually mean it.

Yeah, so hamdulillah In brief, that's, that's how I came to Islam.

I mean, I do want to say something real quick. And

it's hard to say this. People say like, when you come to Islam, it changes you, you become a different person, all of these sorts of things, right? The things everybody promises, like, if you do this, you're gonna become a new person, you're gonna see life differently. But man, my family and my friends, everybody can testify that I am a completely different person than I was. A month ago. I was a Muslim a month ago, but I'm a different person than I was a month ago. I was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, all of my life. When I came to Islam,

everything was so clear, so simple, everything made sense. I didn't realize it at the time. But yeah, when I was younger, I felt like I was always reaching for something like I was never really like satisfied. Like I was looking for the next best thing. Running jujitsu. I want to become a neuroscientist. I want to this is the answer. This is what I'm here to do.

And I was always so sad. Like, I'm going to be a heart surgeon. I'm going to be this.

But it never went through. Man like why? Why? Why? Why, like, what's happening? I was always looking for fulfillment and thing is the big reader. Oh, this book is going to change my life. I'm going to follow this book. Now this book is better. Just hopping from one thing to the, to the next, looking for something, not knowing I was looking for something just we're just confused all the time.

And when I came to Islam, 100 live. Life has just become super simple.

I understand that when you believe in Allah subhana what's out and His Messenger Salallahu Alaihe Salam, you will obey them wholeheartedly. You do good deeds. So your skill of good deeds is where's more than your skill of bad deeds. When you obey your parents. When you just listen to Allah subhanho wa Taala has written to the end and you profit and you follow Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam and the Hadith. That's it. You just follow that you do what they say and avoid what they say to avoid. You go to Jenna, you go to Paradise forever. I read in the Quran the other day and it's stuck with me. Allah gives you life. He gives you provisions. He takes your soul and then

He resurrects you for eternity to build the agenda. As a Muslim, it's that simple. And we're just here for the ride.

Like 100 Love never been so stress free. I've never been I've never felt this good. I've never gone through like the hardships that I've gone through recently. And like big ones small things that would normally just trigger me and make me mad. All I think in my mind is like cover a lot. This is what Allah has destined for me. Why am I gonna get mad? Why it's like, Allah has written this for me. Just accept it. And it's this clarity, this sense of like you're doing what you're supposed to be here for. It's just

Like you, it's hard to explain. You just feel like everything is in the right place all the time. You feel like, you know what to do you know what to avoid. And you're just going through life waiting to die. Like the thought of death used to scam you. But now I'm like,

man, like death can't come sooner. Like I want to go to Jenna.

But yeah,

pass it over to you guys

just another, we'll do one more. It's

too many.

All right.

Now this one will make it much we'll do a short one real quick. But this brother just surprised me in the film. And we've been talking to him. Let me guess. Let me get where do you think he's from? Philippines? Philippines come up with your Philippine

Have you met him? I just met him earlier. And I was thinking the same thing.

EJ the mother just stuff. Anyway, yeah. What's your ethnicity? Just out of curiosity? Well, Mexican, alright, cool. Say something Spanish. Come

on Aleppo is just too bad. You

know, what I grew up Mexican.

Long story.

Time, go and stop.

So give us the short version. We'll do the long version and other time. We're almost out of time. But tell us what did it for you. You surprised me today? Seeing you. You've come a long way. It's been years in the process. Give us the final what did it for you that you finally ended up accepting Islam.

Salam aleikum, everybody.

You know, I'm a little nervous.

Relax, you're amongst brothers. You know, I was put in spot I think

the only time I talked to everybody is when I'm teaching class digit. You know, that's how, that's how I found Islam. Because brother Eddie, I was as a student, you know, and I've been learning, you know, a slough for ever since I started actually, you know, just one thing that, uh, you know, what, what I loved about Islam is that, you know, me being around them. They, they never, you know, the Dow was just the way how they, they interact with people. You know, I think that's, I think that's what's important thing for me as well. Like when I'm doing our, to my family. Yes, I talk about Islam to them. But then, the most important thing is how we how we are with our parents. You know, I

took my Shahada last year. I'm the you know, and, and I just surprised brother Eddie, and everybody are relatively jujitsu, Lincoln Square. You know, I kept it super low key. No, I just, I didn't want to do it in public. And for me, it's just one I'm very shy. I, like, you know, just me being up here.

You know, Hamdulillah, you know, and when we brother was sharp, you know, I watch our film. I think that's one thing that helped me to, you know, like, what's what we, you know, what am I waiting for? I think that's the question that everybody's like, like, for us, we have the we have the belief already. It's just, when are we taking that step? I think for me is when I, when I took my Shahada. It's like, you know, I was already a Muslim for two years. But I just never took my, my Shahada, you know, Hamdulillah. I think though, the one that gave me that push is the brother Reggie, I don't know if it's here. You know, he took his shahada in December of last year. And then

I was like, man eats. We trained Jiu Jitsu, you know, what's what's stopping? You know, I think for me, it's just like, man, let's just do it. You know, so hamdulillah it's been over a year now, you know, so I'm still learning, you know, but inshallah we'll, you know, maybe in the deen show.

We'll talk the hall when I'm ready. You know, you've talked about the whole process of me becoming a muslim.

This beautiful, and I think one thing also

the Philippines, or many people may not realize was an entirely Muslim community until the Spanish came and not through good manners, through the sword into massacres and genocides and wars and procedures. They force Catholicism upon the people of the Philippines and even till today what

That means when you say thank you, what do you say? Cinema cinema. You're seeing set up to the Arabic word. Mandela is actually from Arab.

Until today, if you go to the Philippines if you go to the south Mindanao or Spanish were not able to conquer their Muslims and insha Allah Islam is spreading in the Philippines. And we hope that Allah, Allah without any wars without any front of his daughters and Crusaders and forwards, with good mannerisms and good luck in Dawa all Filipinos will come back to Islam and shout

out

thank everybody for coming out. Let's give a final tip it

was a pleasure Hamza, good to see you share facing again. We want to thank you. Allah bless you, a very good friend of mine for the ad from the deen show, who I've known for a number of years from the very beginning when he started I was among his early guests and mashallah our brother Eddie has been very active in promoting Dawa, spreading the message of Islam and he has now taken everything to the next level. Eddie has now after a number of years on the deen show taken the Tao of efforts to the next level, which is that of establishing a dour center for the USA. He is about to launch it in its fullness, but it has already started in Florida and he needs your support. This is an effort

which began already some months back and they need your support for spreading the message of Islam in the USA. So my brothers and sisters reach out to support him. We need your support. Now.

I cannot leave without giving you a gift if you're not yet Muslim and you're tuning in to see what these Muslims are talking about. And you'd like a free copy of the Quran. Go and visit the deen show.com We'll take care of the postage and everything and get it delivered to you and if you still have some questions about Islam, call us at 1-800-662-4752 We'll see you next time until then Peace be with you as salaam alaikum