Imam Talk Podcast #01 – Mufti Muneer on Studying Knowledge, Community Leadership & The Way Forward

A lot of brothers, they will say different things about the college about Saudi by Medina. I didn't see most of that stuff. I was living like in dreamland, you know, you had a choice between this set of books or a box of papers. Yeah. And

she called with the book. That's right. Sometimes people imagine that they can simply approach the Hadith, like open up a little hottie and pick one Hadith out of it, and then just run with it. Many people they think that it's a modern day thing people have been abusing the text. Sacrifice is the name of the game, different land, different country, you know, things are very different. You can't seek knowledge for stingy, selfish purposes. Bismillah Alhamdulillah Satsang sola. Welcome back to Imam talk, where we sort of bring to light sort of the Imams perspective about personal leadership and community life. And we've got a very, very special guest needs no introduction, multi Muhammad

Munir Philly's own

and you know, somebody who I've tremendously for the amount of time that we spend together, which is very little, I've benefited tremendously from you. Exactly. So I'll ask a lot of put it in your scale and I mean, comic continue to continue to bless you and the data that you do, I mean, you to qualify for the kind words I mean, and this is, honestly, this is I mean, it's the first time we've seen each other and it's yours. Yeah. So I mean, this is like a wonderful excuse.

For a union. That's right. That's right. That's right. And that almost is relevant to the topic at hand. Because you know, once you come back to the states from abroad, or studying whatever program or study you're doing, you know, a lot of us get overburdened, and a lot of us put our head down and then do our thing. And it can be difficult. It can be difficult to kind of even keep the same relationships or friendships. Yeah, that it was that we had before that maybe we thought that we would have.

But we'll get to that, I guess, but But first, maybe if you could give us a little bit of insight into your path to community leadership. Was this something that you had planned way out? Was it something that sort of was thrust upon you? Or was it something? How was your How did you end up finding yourself on the path to becoming a community leader in America? Understood, understood? Play Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim. Thank you, once again, I really mean that hamdulillah for the invite for reaching out, I'm glad to be your guest. And I'm happy that you're my host is akmola hydron. To you and your whole team. And may Allah continue to bless you and keep you upon the path. I mean, Milazzo

has a lot of people who benefit from you even more. I mean, when I was younger, I would say is I think it's fair to say that

I always like adored and like, quote unquote, idolized the Imam position. You know, as a young youth Juma was always special, you know, the hotbar and hospital hijra, you know, the turban, the beard, everything, just the the Hata Imam looked how he carried himself, you know, the respect the love that he got, you know, what I'm trying to say, and just the concept of, you know, like, that was, you know, amen. In the community, it was nothing higher than that there was no peak or, or, you know, perch higher than that. Amen. That was, you know, the spiritual guide of the community. He's responsible for the people's souls by laws permission. And, of course, there are other

responsibilities, physical, mundane, you know, worldly responsibilities that the man has. So that's something I think I always looked up to when I was younger. And when I started seeking knowledge and taking it like, seriously, and like really becoming like, you know, infatuated, and obsessed with him, and Darwin, tolerable Ill like, seriously, I still was in high school. And I consider myself a student of knowledge. And I was studying, I was learning what I had a teacher what I was teaching myself, and that's what I knew. That's what I wanted to be in like nothing else. And, you know, obviously, from the books that you memorize, and you start off with, you understand about, you know,

acting upon knowledge and calling people to that knowledge, propagating that knowledge. So, I think a bit of it is my own personal dreams and ambitions. And I think a bit of it is just knowing the responsibility. And the only reason why you're seeking knowledge on this level, we're talking about, you know, high octane, we're not just learning the basics, you're studying systematically, you're memorizing books, you can seek the knowledge for stingy, selfish purposes. So being

someone who gives back to the community on any level, whether it's an Imam, or local resident scholar to different titles, different terms, different hats, people where I don't think there's a choice and not to jump the gun. But if I can say, any violation or infringement upon the sacred knowledge and this culture is the attitude that many many younger brothers they started getting like, I'm not I'm not dealing with that. I'm not I'm not an amen. I'm not I'm not a scholar. I don't know. You know, I go overseas, shy away from the responsibility and even look down upon it. I've seen brothers look

Not upon it like being an imam is a you know, a lowly thing right? You know, I'm a scholar, I'm a this graduate I'm gonna this candidate I he can lead the slot and read sort of Zillow, Zillow and IDs. You know, my qualifications are above that. I've seen this, and I've heard this. And if it's not scoring in it, then brothers fearing it, and, you know, getting becoming afraid of getting caught up the administration wars. Okay. Right. The Nyssa the women scandal hit me to this and that, you know, you get them trying to say, being refuted. Jealousy, all of the different obstacles and pitfalls of Dawa, I've seen brothers shy away from it, and which they think they can study overseas

for 678 years, and just live a comfortable life, the rest of their life, you know, and I'm not taking shots at anybody or talking about any of them. So in general, so that was something that I felt was was erroneous, it can't be done. You don't have a choice. Even if you're not a formal Imam, you have to take some type of leadership responsibility with what Allah's origin has given you. So that will be my answer. Personal and part professional. And if there's one thing I think that's a benefit to extract from, from what you said, not every community is the Imam treated like that, like the community you grew up in. And so it's, so sometimes it's some communities that Imams look down

on. Oh, yeah. And he's not top dogs, right? Yes. employee. That's right. And so I want to highlight for the viewer, like, look at how what happens in a community when you treat the Imam like that, when they have that authority, and they have that perch. That's right. You create this aura around us, right, that people gravitate to not in some sort of cultish, like, Whatever way but in a way of aspiration, Oh, yeah. Now you got young people that want to pursue that path, because they're communicated to not explicitly but implicitly, they're communicated to that that is something to aspire to. And that's something to Jim, that's, that's a beautiful extraction. No doubt versus just,

you know, he just somebody who just paid by the Masjid. Yeah. And they control him versus, you know, looking up, like you said, you know, having a living example of a role model to be like, yeah.

So let's talk about I mean, you you referenced that or alluded to it, you know, when you start this journey, especially if you go abroad, sacrifice is the name of the game, what were some of the sacrifices that you found, that you were forced to make, or you were up against, or some of the things that you were tested with? And your thought about, and before you before you came back up, first and foremost, as a family. as fact.

You have family members, you know, I'm not gonna tell my wife and children told my like, you know, mother, father, brother, sister, you're gonna have people I had people that were very supportive. I'm talking like, very supportive. You know, I've mentioned this before my mother, you know, she was, you know, directly pushing me Mashallah. And she was telling me don't listen to anyone.

This is for you. This is what a law gave you a law. Bless you. Do you don't listen to no naysayers. And my father, my late father, may Allah have mercy upon his soul. He was more indirect, more subtle. He was more of a in the beginning, he was more of a naysayer. And he was more of a critic and a skeptic, making sure that I had everything lined up. Like are you sure about this? Did you think about this? Are you ready? Did you prepare about this? And, obviously back then, and you know, you might feel a little static, but now you appreciate it? Yeah. Because he was getting me ready not for the roses and the hugs and the kisses. That's right. But the real world and the world that is

unpleasant and unforgiving. So you know, he got me sharp he sharpen, you know, my mind. And he pushed me indirectly, I had other family members that were very supportive and other family members that were skeptical, and friends that are like, Oh, no, you know, bla bla, bla, bla, bla, you gotta wait, don't go yet such and such such and such. So I think, and dealing with many other younger brothers, that's one of the most common problems is I want to be a scholar of Islam, professionally, but my family says I have to be a doctor, I have to be an engineer, my family says, I have to do this or why he went overseas with those people, they don't like you, whatever the issue may be. So I

think that you gotta be willing to,

you have to be willing to sacrifice whatever it is in the cause of him. And from that is, you know, the relationship with certain people. And obviously, we don't want to, you know, cut off the, you know, the ties of kin. But you get the point like, definitely, you got a fork in the road. So definitely, family relationships, of course, money. You know, I'm trying to be devoted, I think any college student is going to be you know, if he's full time, he's going to be you know, in need of wealth because you're not working that much. But you're talking about going overseas 1000s of miles differently in different country, you know, things are very different. So, just being patient with

with having little and not working and spending all your money on

Books. Yes, we did, you know, recklessly. I mean, it was literally, I can tell you stories you wouldn't believe. You know, and I hope that I, when I got to Medina, I caught, you know, some of the good old days as they say, even if it was the telling about the real good old days in which building up a library was a must. So, you know, we we spend money on books, man was times we didn't have food. You know, it was times in which, you know, you had a choice between this set of books or a box of Pampers. Yeah. And

she caught with the book. That's right. It's a no brainer, you can catch a packet. Yeah. So be impatient upon poverty. And number three, definitely friendship, friendship, like the family, you know, you want to have friends, people that you thought were friends or homies or whatever, and anything could separate you jealousy, someone envies you, you may be someone, two way street human being, or the concept of, you know, you may differ. And, you know, you see things differently. You know, you grow you mature, you didn't keep in a real you this you that youth him, your friends and you got to split weights, and that friend may turn into an enemy to you, you know, I'm saying that's

all a part of your growth and your maturity. And if you're not willing to sacrifice everything for tolerable and it isn't, but so far, you can go That's my philosophy. You got to be willing to pay whatever is necessary if you really aspire to do something and leave an impact a crater in the ground, versus just a didn't

burn your boat. Yeah. And Cortes 100% There's no going back to Spain, we the conquered him, or we die. Yeah. And it's just as simple. What were some of the, you know, when you go abroad, and so just for for reference for the for the audience, so you went to Medina, or you went a couple other places for I went to Medina in 2002. I was 18, fresh out of high school. And that's a story in itself, where my grandma and my granddad, you know, they asked me what I wanted to do. I have money saved up for college, they save money from my education. And this was, you know, right after 911.

Like, it was like, hot, fresh. Yeah, you know, and I said, I said, Don't go to Saudi Arabia.

She's like, What?

Excuse was Saudi Arabia was not you Sure. And I remember, as I said, in the master bedroom on grandma's house, the TV was on and yeah, she was on TV, CNN, BBC, you know, this one, everything was turned in Iraq, Afghanistan, and stuff was getting ready to really like change. So she was like, you don't see what's on TV like Muhammad? I say, Yeah, I'm gonna go to Saudi Arabia. So it smacked in the face. He was like, okay, like, and she basically said, like, look, you've been a good grandson. You know, you haven't brought us problems and drama, like, you know, a lot of other teenagers and most of the teenagers do, you know, few bumps and hiccups in the road. But you you're pretty solid,

guys. It's your money. No problem. You know, she she said, we respect that we don't have to agree or not. But if as long as you stay positive, you take the money, you do whatever you want. So I have money from that. I had some money that I saved up from working. I was a barber cutting hair at the time. You don't mean and I just went to Medina. Then I came back and I went to Yemen for a year and Hamdulillah. And I was getting very comfortable in Yemen. I was going to stay in him. And actually, what year was that? This was a thing. Maybe 2004? If I'm not mistaken. So Medina, the first year was 2002. I came back and oh three, I stayed in America for maybe a year, give or take. And then I went

to Yemen. And I was gonna stay in Yemen, actually, because I was benefited tremendously. I was learning. And when I went to give me names like Hadith, yeah, you know, the Arabic everything was just flying. But then I got the phone call that I got accepted in Medina, because I had made over a second time. First time I 2002. I applied, then, um, you know, the list came on, I didn't get accepted. So I was heartbroken, literally, you know, it was my dream. I was like, crushed. You know, I'm saying I cried that day. It was in the summertime. There's like, No, you didn't make the list. I'm like, Man, I was 18. I did an interview and all Arabic No translator. You know, I'm like, I

should get in. I should be drafted. Right? Yeah, I didn't get drafted. So I was heartbroken. I was crushed literally. But that didn't stop me. I kept studying and kept staying busy kept staying positive. And actually, I wasn't the man when I think I was 19. If I'm not mistaken, that next summer.

Then I went to Yemen for year. After making an omelet again. I applied a second time. And then after a year in Yemen, about nine most got the phone call. I was accepted to Medina. So I was at a fork in the road. And I had to make a decision stay in Yemen. And you know, Yemen is Yemen. I wasn't in the worst part. What I definitely wasn't like a paradise. It was Yemen was gritty, you give them trying to say so. In order to get your feet established. You want to take some time.

I'm so in the middle of establishing everything. The call to come back. I had to leave Yemen, go to America did go to Saudi. So I had to pray and I had to like, you know, think about it. So

I asked one older brother, and he lost his life when he got murdered. May Allah have mercy on him. He was there in Yemen studying, he was old, he was studying. And I asked him one night, I said, What do you think I should do Sheikh staying in or go to Medina? And he told me frankly, he said, Man, follow your dreams. He said, Don't even think about it. Yemen is good. It's nice. Just don't even think about it. Go to Saudi, go to Medina don't even waste any time. Pondering, do you. And then he rekindled that that dream that I had, so I left him and went back home. And this was before the you know, the virtual age. Everything was you know, paperwork. Yeah. You had to go to DC. You know, I

remember the lady's name.

Or before her. Yeah, our salah. You see what I'm saying to you? I think her name was Fatima. Okay, a faulty Qureshi. I think her name was she's, there's always only one. So when I was here, so you had to deal with her directly. And everything was in paperwork, it was no email. Well, none of that. You know what I mean? So I went and got the visa. And I went to Saudi, and it took long and I got to Saudi later. And I joined colleagues and a hadith 100. I know language program. I want to call it two days, maybe two, three weeks later, and I'll sit in the back of the class. And I was killing it. First year, raising my hand raising my hand raising my hand. And on the other guys, I was the only

American in my class. Um, I don't think you know, any Westerners in my class. There was another brother from Canada, but he was in another room. I was like, the only like Westerner in my class. So I kept raising my hand people look on this guy. You don't say we didn't see him? He didn't come from the beginning. He's answering all these questions. He's, he's, you know, people started like, what is this guy? So, you know, I made friends and the eagle Hamdulillah. So back up just for one second, the first time you were in Medina, so you this was not your official capacity those students. So what was that, like? You were just like crashing and then studying on yourself. You'll hear? Well,

it was a bunch of brothers there that were students. They were in a language program. They may one of them was in a college, and they their wives were in America. So they were all bachelors. So a bachelor pad, it was a bachelor pad. And they were from Philly, you know, I'm saying May Allah reward those brothers. I mean, I'm definitely indebted, you know, to those brothers.

And I knew a couple of them or whatever. And basically, I went, I came made aamra. And you know, we all linked up. And my visa, you know, my mentor, you know, Sheikh Musa, may Allah bless him. He asked brother Jamal, may Allah reward him well, it was his apartment. He said can multi state so Jamal was like of course like, What do you mean? Yeah, you can stay and um, I had an owner visa but I was like

this Mala

would you got to take it? That's right. You know, I'm saying so I didn't have no visa. My visa expired and had no you know, no stipend. We spent all our money on books. Yeah, you know, a couple of Dobes some food here and there. But you know, the money ran out. Yeah. And we was just living like literally just live in. You know, I'm saying so I will go to the university in the daytime when my visa is still was good. I visited the language program a few times set in a couple of classes. Things were different back then. But I couldn't study in the university. And I went to the profs Masjid in a local masjid and I'm not I'm not praising myself nothing just keeping it real. I would

stay up at night. I was nocturnal. And I would just teach myself and I would you know, the stoma tapes now not see Yeah, so I will have a transcribing machine and I will write down all of the tapes, all the lectures of the machete all night long. And I will benefit from the lecture, I would improve my hand speed my writing skills, and I just would teach myself what I couldn't find a teacher for. So that was for about maybe nine or 10 months. I returned in the summer we had to leave we had to you know we had to get out to your apartment or whatever the case may be and and put together some money for ticket and you know, as I was leaving

before I had left on chef Musa he said to me, he said listen, listen to me. So when you get in the airport, he said just listen to me. They want to look at your passport and say what what Shabbat

was What is this? You're like six, seven months pass. You know? He said don't argue with him but just tell them cuanto AUTOMOBIL el wala is example say I was seeking knowledge don't say nothing else. So I was in an airport. I believe it was Jeddah the guy who took on passport share their * like you know what you know and obviously stuff was very different. It defines things you know, it was very loose things are loose Lucia by very different will La La Vie my swear Lacina I said to him those exact words. I said well, la he come to Atlanta and close my passport. So go ahead, just like that. So, a lot made it easy.

Yeah, so um, that year in 2002, I was 18. I didn't have, you know, no formal study, like school or like, you know, stipend and nothing. I was just doing my own thing. And I was just trying to seek knowledge. I was hungry. And that's what I wanted to do. And that's a tremendous benefit. I think anybody who's listening, one of the most common questions I get, I'm sure you get as well. How do I start? Right people? Who are they have aspirations to study Islam in a systematic way, in a rigorous way. And, you know, you just start, you throw yourself into it. That's right. Take the leap. Yeah, exactly. And it is it is sink or swim. And you got to be, you know, maybe greedy is a little bit of

not the right word we want but opportunistic. That's right. Right. And and if you get the chance to go somewhere, or do something or whatever, you got to be willing to sacrifice and take that leap, and you're only going to benefit small window opportunity. That's right. Yeah, exactly. And because people don't realize how much has to align, right for in order to be able to study abroad, because how many people went abroad, and then you know, their father got ill, or whatever something happened, or they're responsible, they're responsible for dependents and things like that. They have to come back early. Your window of time, I almost compare being a tall, it's almost like a

professional athlete. There's a lot of similarities. And that's one similarity is that there's talent, that's one thing, but then there's also opportunity, there's who, you know, injuries, injuries, exactly. That's right. You know, there's some people out there who are, you know, maybe better than LeBron or crazy or whatever, but it didn't happen, that's gonna happen for some reason, right? And so if you find yourself in that position, where you got the opportunity, you got your health, you don't have anything holding you back, you got to take the die. That's right. That's right. You have to exactly because you is, it comes in, and that's it. Exactly. And the other thing

that your story, I think alerts people to is how many soft skills or maybe, let's say, how many skills are involved with talking about and that people don't, it's not on people's radar. You know, people think that learning Arabic, for example, is just about okay, you, you can sit in a in a lesson, and listen and understand, okay, that's one skill, being able to take notes fast, which is one skill, being able to type up an essay in Arabic is another skill. And, you know, at least when we are coming up, you know, nobody's necessarily handed holding your hand and telling you, it's like, Well, you got to work on this skill and this skill and that skill, you almost have to be very

proactive, and be like, well, how can I be more well rounded? It's like listening is one thing. Writing is another thing. Typing is another thing like basketball. Yeah.

Yeah, that's right, rebounds, the free throw shots, assists, all of that is a part of the legacy of this, this, you know, this to garner this, you know, power forward or whatever, you know, it's much more than just scoring, you know, what I mean, endurance, fourth quarter overtime, and the code, shorter players that oblique, they can't get that to, you got to hone it yourself. And you might be in a situation where, okay, you're not around big Messiah, you know, top dogs or whatever. So you, you know, some people, they might get discouraged and feel like, well, I can't necessarily do a certain thing, but stuff like that you can do no matter where you are. That's right. I mean, it's

like building those writing skills, building those listening skills, building those even now typing, you know, it's something that is, is something that, you know, there's always something to work on. That's right. That's right. Oh, you could be in a room on any any location is between you and yourself? Absolutely. Nothing I want to ask because one of my experience of going through the you know, is that I had a certain understanding or preconceived notions about Islam or what what studying knowledge would be like. And then once you meet the reality, you know, you find out that it's maybe a little bit different than what you thought. Did you have any moments like that? Was

there any sort of like before and after or things that you thought were important that you learned were not as important as you thought, or things that you didn't weren't on your radar? You didn't think that they were important. And then upon study, you figured actually, they're really important politics. But that came later on. I remember, I still was in a bachelor's program.

And I had a neighbor. He was from Yemen, as Gustin and knowledge, and he was trying to get into the master's program. And, um, he ran into some difficulties. And he used to talk, you know, he's the, you know, he wore his emotions and stuff on his skin, so he would always, you know, this happened to me. So he's like, Oh, they didn't let me get in it. And I got this test. Oh, you know, so he made a statement once we sit outside our apartment, and he was angry, he was very angry. And he said, Well, Allah, he, he said, like, somebody told me, either Allah Terrell Messiah foothold in Madras there. He says, If you want to see the sheiks who they really are, go to the postgraduate, you know,

studies go to the Masters go to the doctors and you really see the machete, sorry, you know, get what he was saying. And then do my journey. You realize that and it's not about talking about nobody, or speaking down against nobody or praising myself just saying what it is. You understand the importance of politics is like sports, or show business, the show versus the business, the talent versus the political financial this

The entry the palace entry great battles aren't one necessarily on a battlefield. Yeah, but they're one in an office. That's right. The office that That's right, you know, I'm saying so, you know, you learn how you got to maneuver and how you know, these, these these scholars, they're human beings, and they have the ups and downs of other human beings. Now, knowledge we read the stuff we fantasize they're supposed to be superhuman, right? Right. The Taqwa the fascia that the water, but humans are humans. So you learn this to maturity, you go straight. This is my work. This is my paper. This is my book, everything should be good. But to say, No, you got to do this. Talk to this one. Meet him

here. I say how you doing? You gotta really butter up the toast. Again, I'm trying to say, but I'm like, What do you mean, I wrote it. Everything's a whole lot of butter needed. Yeah. So you, you realize that I definitely realized that a little too late. And again, you get I'm trying to say no to certain things. I didn't realize I just like I'm not I'm I'm not doing that man. I'm here to study. I'm not here to butter, no toast, you get I'm trying to say but at the end of the day, I'm through maturity and through growth, you realize that a human being as a human being, and you can never ever have so many or too many expectations for human being. So this is something I think I

learned. Other than that, um, I was happy. A lot of brothers, they will say different things about the college about Saudi about Medina, I didn't see most of that stuff. I was living like in dreamland, you know, the knowledge, the benefit the bookstores. Um, and I'm just another thing I will say I was very naive, very naive. I didn't know that the jealousy and the envy was that rampid like that between the students? Yeah. And between that.

That's another level. Right? That was something that surprised me. Yeah. Because I had heard about the, you know, the students. And so I steer clear and cut my nose clean. And I just kind of kept my head down and did my thing. But I started seeing the jealousy between the unimat as crazy and not everybody humbly love but you see it surprise, surprise, shocking. And then you find out that a lot of the reputations a lot of whatever, at the end of the day, it's just jealousy. Absolutely. Not an issue. Absolutely. It's just jealousy. That was That was shocking to me. Yeah. And that would that's what turned on the probing light for your mistakes was my envy of you. Yes, exactly. That's right.

You get I'm trying to say why was I pulled over and stopped anyhow, except because of the profile. You get. I'm trying to say so the envy and the nastiness of the interviewer you'd like what Shakespeare say, you know, to greet our monster cat, vicious fangs and claws. So you see that it's like, whoa, like, I thought we was all you know. Right. Cool. Ready to be ready to be team? Awesome, right? We share in one plate of literally,

not even

yogurt. There's a batch? Yeah.

One day we starving together and the next day, a time is this and he's like, whoa, so that that definitely was a shock. It was a wake up call. And it just got me to sharpen even more. He's be sharp when I ask you something that's that's I haven't asked anybody else. But since you know, we both experienced this reality. What do you think about the format of the education over there? Is it the fact because it strikes me that you know, Islamic University of Medina and other universities that are comparable? A very western model? They don't teach you a clock, they don't teach you to Ischia in la colina, right. It's like except for a little bit. Is there something that we're doing

wrong? As, as an OMA when it comes to the holistic education of human beings? Or is this just normal? We just got to deal with it. This is you know how it is?

I would say so that's very good question. And many people have fallen victim to this problem. And they went to different sides of extremism, the universities, the formal study is nothing right, right, right, trash. And then there are those. The world is based off of universities, you can't just be sitting in a circle to shake is not going to teach you he's not going to evaluate you your grades, etc, etc. So I think first and foremost, a student of knowledge must have a try threefold.

He has to have three main tiers of his game plan. Tier A is the hillock the circles, the traditional way of singing in Tier B is the university the formal studies GPA, school grade, etc. tier three is the library. Yes, sir. Your personal reading no shares no mentor, just you and the books. I think if you do all three with the DUA, and last or fifth I don't think I don't I don't see is possible for you to lose. But if you take one, you get you know the benefit from it, but it's not going to be complete. Yeah. So combined arms element, right. land, air and sea

mechanized warfare is not just people on the battlefield with clubs and swords. But as Navy aerial, all three and they're all in coordination with each other, right? Yeah. When we talk about how warfare changed, this is a metaphor how warfare changed, in which there is a coordinated strike, there's reconnaissance, the guys on the ground are moving based off of the intel from the sky. And the fortresses or the positions were battered down by the artillery of from the sea, the big guns, yeah. So you sitting with the machete learning from them, and what you get the actual knowledge, you see the o'clock you see their positions, but you need the school because we live in in 2023. You

need that formal education that white collar education you do need that you need that you need people to evaluate you. There you go. That's that's one of the biggest benefits, no doubt. And you need teachers that sometimes aren't as you know, nurturing. You know, you might you might, we had different guys that were they were doing their masters. Yeah, there were young young whippersnappers. Or you find some guys I remember this, but like, I remember man, I had, we had one teacher. He was a sheikh from Egypt, the doctor from Egypt, who's a tafsir, a tafsir scholar, and a first day he came to coincide with us where the first day he said, and to me says you guys are

nothing, just like that. He says, You guys, you think it is critically, he says You're nothing. And I'm gonna show you that you're nothing. Just like that. So everybody's not gonna be more be and you know, Come son. Right. Right, right.

Yeah, big leagues, there you go. So sometimes those different teachers and professors that may have issues or different dispositions that's needed. And last but not least, you got to be in the library, you got to make bath. And this is one of the biggest jumps that I had to make from bachelor's to Master's, this the Mushaf, they told us that it's not just about HIV than it is about research bath. Another, you got to prove why this is a logic to your own research. So I think if you do all three, of course, there are problems. Brothers coming from the language program. I never studied the language program formally. But a lot of people a lot of people will complain. And they

will say they went from anime non Hindi to tentative Robbie. Yeah, that's something tall here sat us down when we first got there. And he was like, You're not going to just survive based off what the MA gives you? Yeah, you gotta have your own. You know, your program. That's right. And you got to supplement and do stuff outside. I mean, for I mean, I went through Shinya and you're gonna die so much dead? Right, like McWhinney diet too much. Right? And ain't none of us was the most that he didn't right. So, you know, he was like, so you're gonna finish two books. And fifth before you get there, you know, in the MMA head and has some coverage. So that's right. That's right. You're not

just signing up for a marathon tomorrow. Olympics women exact from the kiddie Pong. Yeah. Or whatever. Yeah. So ya know, very, that's, that's very important. Yeah. So I think it can be done. But you got to work hard. And I think that

the student as much as the student is in need of the teacher, the teachers needed the student. So just like you're looking for this more, or be, you're looking for this, you know, old fashioned mythical shake that you read about in the books, those some of those Musharraf, they're looking for those old fashioned students that are dedicated, that are devoted, and they they realize no doubt that their time is near. And they're there. It's like a wealthy person. That's generous. He wants to give them money, right? He wants to he wants to donate it, but the right I can't tell you the right. Yes, the right cause. Yeah, so the diligent student, I think he's always going to find that you

know, that that father, grandfather type of scholar that is going to take him out of hand and teach him and guide him. So I think it's about how you carry yourself. And if you're with the wrong crowd, or if you don't have your head screwed on tight enough or is totally unhinged. You will become a victim and a statistic. Yeah. Now we've seen this panel. Fortunately, if you let's let's transition or pivot to okay, you're coming back now.

Community Life Community Leadership, you know, there's also another transition there. There's also sort of an imaginary of what it's going to be like and then there's the reality of what it is like what was one thing that sort of again, like you you had some sort of imagination and the reality was something that was different when you started being responsible for for things you know, you're stateside Um, well, firstly, I always was doing dollar you know, we were doing classes with bazoo translate and stuff you know, before we went overseas, so I had a little more preparation that's that's first and foremost I think my I was a bit more tempered you know, I'm saying that as far as

some other brothers that literally went from zero to you know, you want to bench third string quarterback to Super Bowl ran for two minutes. You

You got to drill. Yeah, you got to, you know, make that drive to score. So I had a lot more preparation than other brothers. So it wasn't like I was totally like green 100%. But as far as the things that I did had an alert, I did have to learn in the field and experience the transition mentally, you got to mentally prepare yourself that you're still a student of knowledge, you're still studying, but at the same time you aren't. Right. And no matter how humble you are, you have to realize to an extent you made it. Yeah, you finished, you graduated successfully. Your studies aren't over by any means. You have to, you know, keep seeking Him you have to learn more, but on

paper for money, you know, the guy you got drafted, you're in the league now. Yeah. You know, it's a lot to improve and enhancing your game. Excuse me, but you're not you're not in college anymore. You're you're you got to Jersey with a cat. Yeah. So you got to accept that. All right. And that's, that's hard sometimes, because you're taught and your drill to be humble. Yes. And low and low. And it's not about being high and puffing yourself up. But you you have to carry yourself as leader. Well, that's an interesting thing, too. Because I think a lot of people I've had this experience as well, we underestimate sort of the need for authority, right when we get into a community. And we

knew in Saudi, right that the humble game doesn't always get you respect. No. But we didn't necessarily expect that also stateside. Right. So you know, we're like very very hypersensitive to putting on airs or putting us in a position we know, we're not in danger of kibow. And there's another extreme that's, like, there's another extreme is that, you know, if you act like you know, like, you're nothing on you, then actually you create a vacuum, and you get trampled upon and trampled upon what people with no training with absolutely no idea of the talk, no crushed to think that they know what it is. That's right. That's right. That was something that I, I wasn't ready

for, that's an ongoing struggle to this very day. To this very day, you humbling yourself And subhanAllah I mentioned this in the way of the disciple, you know, my personal like, you know, manifest or whatever my my training main for seeking, I mentioned this, and I call this the titanic struggle, the titanic struggle, and which, even though Payam may Allah have mercy on him, he said, What happy go to toe all the a lateral in Africa Pimenton that is humility is that you find no worth in yourself.

But you know, at the same time, this is my food. This is my this, this is your most knowledgeable person in the building, right? And there is no discussion about that. You give them facts. It's not. It's not kibble, it's just fact there are people so how do I carry myself with the knowledge, knowing the danger and the power of them, but at the same time, I'm nothing, I'm a servant. I'm a slave of Allah, I'm a sinner. I'm a poor servant, nothing else. So that's the struggle, and which you have too much of it. You fall into the pride and arrogance, and you know, it's over once you once your head as well, I was done. Yeah. Or you fall into being weak and incapable. I just, you get

what I'm trying to say. And which you people look up to you, they're coming to listen to you. I'm down, I'm depressed, I'm thinking about suicide. I need to see you living good, right? happy smiling, I need to see you representing yourself as a Muslim conducting yourself. And I need to see you speak with confidence and passion. So that in itself, that's a major, a major battle of the knifes, you know, a psycho spiritual, you know, Battlefield and which humbling yourself, but at the same time, you are a leader, and people need the leader to be strong. That's right. And they need a leader to have strength. And I remember years ago, I was reading the novel, and the novel was about

is my naval warfare, you know, the US a nuclear submarine and the captain and his crew. And they were in you know, a very perilous situation. And, you know, you have the the skipper, the captain, and you have the XO, you know, the the assistant. Mm, right. He's next in charge. So I remember, if my memory serves me correctly, the skipper was younger than the XO. Okay, so they were in a very bad situation. And the crew, one of the crew members, they asked the captain, and he basically, you know, he said, I don't know what we're going to do next. So all right, they went to the, you know, the captain state room and expo said, Can I have a word with you, sir? He said, sure. He says, you

can never ever do that. What you just did. I won't tell you this in front of the man but you can never as the captain of the ship, you can never tell the crew you don't know what's next. You got to make something up. You got to figure it out. You can't show them you're that type of weakness. Because they're only holding on because of you.

Alright, so you get the moral of story. So the concept of of leadership like you said authority, but at the same time, not transgressing the boundaries, being coming full of yourself and thinking that you're someone special.

and looking at yourself as a servant of the people, but at same time, people will check you. And they'll challenge you, especially in New York City. And that's another discussion with regards to the age. You know, I'm relatively young. Obviously, when I started, I was even younger, and the little here I have not, I have nothing. So people are looking at you young. So if you're younger than you know, you're this, you're that, then you have the difference of race. Okay, you got people in New York City and multi cultural multi, you know, people from all around the world. So this brothers from West Africa, he's from Yemen, he's from Bangladesh, this guy, he's a black American,

this is a white American, Hispanic American, this person is from Iran, they're gonna challenge you. And they hear you quote, business sale, man, and they want to disrespect you. And if you show that weakness, if they smell if the sharks smell blood, you're done. Yeah, so it ain't about arrogance. But you got to say, well, wool, you're not going to disrespect the knowledge. That's right, this is sacred is bigger than me and you, you're not going to disrespect it. I may take it, you know, a little bit, but you're not going to disrespect it. So sometimes you got to

check a little bit, not too much. Not too much of a heavy hand. But sometime, you got to say, Whoa, slow down. Don't come over here. And you know, saying this, you don't do anything, you just study anything? Where you come from means nothing. And you know, so it's a challenge. Yeah. And it's not, it's not, it's sometimes you got to constantly ask a lot to give you a balance, and to help for a little while, um, what are some of the institutional challenges that we have in America and New York City and queens, when it comes to how we go about this thing, the machine, you know, like, we see a lot of people complaining about messy politics, we see a lot of people complain about, everybody

wants to split off, make their own mess sheet, and you got a lot of people who want to collaborate, the youth want to have more empowerment, but they're not empowered. We got a lot of sort of everybody has a hand in the soup, so to speak. What are some things that you see that we struggle with, that we need to work on when it comes to institutionally

tie it first and foremost, I'm a big I'm a big fan, and a big supporter, a big proponent of the pop culture. And what I mean by pop culture is an acronym P O P purity of philosophy. I think that's the biggest challenge, we have to have pure philosophy. And if we're too weak to do something, or too scared, or things are different, the philosophy has to remain pure. This is the Orthodox pure original teaching, nothing is not negotiable, not how we apply it. Bura had my chakra exceptions, those solid fake no problem, but we cannot desecrate these sacred laws. And I think that's a big problem with different institutions. Because of the difficult situation they're in, they end up

having tainted philosophy, quote, unquote, they're, they're also they, they're, they're tainted. And obviously, there are 1000 examples of this, you know, LGBTQ XYZ, etc. You give them trying to say how we did with the situation, practically, but this is what we believe, right? It's like there's a, in the other night, we were talking about this, at mass center was like, I told people up front, I said, this is not going to be a pastoral discussion. Because if you come into my office, and you're struggling with something, I can treat you in a pastoral way, I contend to you, you can be like one of the flock, and I'm the shepherd. And that's a relationship. But when we're at the level of

discourse, and we're at the level of ideas, and I'm at the level of like you said, the knowledge like, this is what Islam is, then I got my knives out. Like, we're like we're talking about now it's warfare, it's like we're talking about this is what it is, and we're gonna defend it against outside threats or whatever. And that's kind of the terrain we're on. And it seems like there's a confusion of those two spaces. Yeah, it seems like people get in front of a camera, or they go on YouTube or whatever. And they got the pastoral sort of approach. But that doesn't necessarily work in front of a random anonymous audience. When they're looking for leadership. They're looking for clarity, and

clarity, honestly confused as to what Islam actually says. So yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a big problem. Number two, I would say, Jay Lea,

a lot of Jay Leah, you know, we look at that the narration of a Buddha or the Allahu Anhu. And, you know, a lot of misconceptions concerning that narration did it without disrespect, Bilal, or did he say, you know, is one of the early companions? Right? Okay. What's important is I thought he said something that was wrong. Yeah, it was it was bad. And the Prophet sallallahu Sallam he said in Nicaragua alone, fika Jaya Helia tune. Just stop. pause the tape now. You are a man that has Jaya Helia in him. I suppose. That'll be funny. Yeah, one thing he was angry. Let's say he had an excuse. He gave me an excuse to be alright. We got through a fight. What did he say to me? Well, what did he

call me? I call him something back and a prophet. He said that about him. So just think about the JD that we have in us. Whether it is an issue of age. I'm older than you

You're younger than me. I'm from this race. I'm from this background. I'm from this state wherever the same race, but I'm from this block you from that block. That's Jamelia and all of that filth. It finds its way into the messages and the centers, the Eagles, the greed, the prejudice, the discrimination. The concept of you know, the whole feminism, discussion chauvinism, you know, you're a woman, so automatically such and such such and such Islam that says none about sex here. It doesn't it's not until my imam or call the Islam says nothing about that. But you just, you know. So that's a problem. So the J here, it has to be removed. And of course, we know that there's always

going to be some j here, the promise of something tells us the four things from Jania there will always be my OMA, but the J Lea cannot be allowed to rear its ugly head when it wants to it has to be scared and afraid on the side. That can't be systematic. Yeah, people are going to be have their prejudices and you know, it's like, you know, when it can't be allowed and support it. Yeah. So no matter what call we have of unity and cooperation as long as we have that that filth that we're not trying to rinse off and get rid of. We want to be victims to Jaya Helia and in different types of Jamia, you know I'm saying like said nationalism, tribalism so many different isms that exists in

the messages and in the schools, and in the centers that defeat that they puncture our tires, and tire is fully the psi is perfect. Ste flat tire. Number three, I would have to say that many people suffer from a proper

Islamic financial and economic

system. And what I mean by proper is, you have people who have a lot of money, but the money isn't Islamic, right? Or people who they're trying to be so Islamic and pure and this and that they have no money. And money has to be at the forefront of of everything. And living in Saudi This is one of the lessons that you should learn. Jamie Islamia is based off of what money that cash cow big fat ever, then which gives endless amounts of milk. Yeah. So where did that come from? And if whether you like it or not, yes, your studies that you did in Saudi, if it wasn't for that money, you wouldn't have that scholarship. So the concept of the businesses the entrepreneurship, the funding,

the investments, being clean, from the Haram doubtful dubious things, because even if you have a meth head that is lawful to use this type of money, or to get this type of money, you're gonna find detractors. And I've experienced this, you're gonna find people that have skills and talents says I don't want to deal with them. Because they're dealing with such and such. Yeah. And that person is needed in the community. So there has to be a system in which the money is aren't invested, spent saved, whatever, properly and strongly. And that is going to support the masjid and prevent the people from having to bake Yeah, and prevent them from having to compromise. And that's a big

problem that we have compromising because of money. And a chiffon, we know is one of his biggest tricks. And this is why Allah azza wa jal linked, well, maculicola agenda, we'll insert OLALIA. Dune, and then after that, he talked about what risk food I don't need you to pay. Right, you know, and a lot he mentioned this in the Quran, do they have a debt that is heavy on their backs? Are you asking them to you ask them for money, and once they're in debt, so the financial situation right now, not with all but with with many, many communities I've been to many is very messy. It's very messy, lack of transparency, you know, people controlling wealth and running masters like political

centers, instead of running a massive like a mash it with the necessary political. Right. You know, so the ratio, yeah, and there are many, many other things as well. We're talking about some of the meshes that you are connected with personally, what's one thing that you're proud of that you think that your mesh does well, that other machines could take note of integration? With regards to culture and race? Definitely, what do you do to facilitate that? Well, first and foremost, I try my best to

work on my Jamelia and I try my best to remove and stifle that and, and not to look at people for any other reason or standard except for what they are their their character. You get them trying to say so in my Masjid in many parts in New York City, literally you have people from around the world, from Bangladesh, Yemen, Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, you have people from Palestine, Jordan, you have people from, you know, Mexico all over. So it's New York City, as it says New York City baby hits New York.

I get I'm trying to say what are the values of New York, the different people who came to this city, poor immigrants with literally nothing, literally, Ellis Island, you studied history of Ellis Island and the millions of Irish and German and Italian immigrants that came to the island and diseased, poor, dirty magic had nothing 20 3040 years.

Look what they established. And one of the reasons why they established that is that they knew the importance and the need of integrating is essentially, we're not back home. And this is this is New York, things are different. And we have to mix, we have to cooperate, we have to do certain things. So I think that's one of the things I can be proud of is that in our Master, we try our best I can praise. And I can't claim perfection, but we tried to move that stuff to the side. And we try to work with the people that we have to work with whatever their race or their culture may be. And we try to let the knowledge and that the Sunnah and the teachings, let that be the thing that binds us

and links us together. Yeah, what I'm trying to say. So it's not easy to ya know, it's a lot of it's very, very sticky situation. You know, that's one thing I picked up from shakeup bullish and Schumpeter, he used to, I never saw him saying anything negative about any place. And in fact, whenever he would meet somebody from a certain place, the first thing out of his mouth would be to pray something about that person's place. And that was something I benefited tremendously from because, you know, you start falling history, politics, you know, like, whatever, there's, there's intrigue going on all over the world. But sometimes somebody feels a certain way, if you bring that

up. And a real easy way to just disarm tension is just like, you know, he, yeah, he had some Iraqis visited him. And he said, All of now who is the Iraqi Allahu Akbar? That's right, that one little thing, just little thing. And you see it just like the face and the whole demeanor. It just like disarms, and I think someone's native language, you say, Hello, even a word. They'll smile, oh, you know, Spanish, you know, such and such. It's, so it's powerful, you know? And, you know, I think that for Muslims, we have so much diversity, like more than, like New York is like, is a thing, but even like, wherever you go in the Muslim world, you know, or let's say, in North America, the Muslim

community, like we have so much diversity, diversity that Christians will pay good money for. That's right, that's right. Or a college university, if they're putting out their promo brochures or whatever, they will pay money for the diversity that we have, right? But a lot of times we don't have that sensitivity, where we're trying to actually learn, well, Bangladesh, well, where's that? You know? And it's like, What's the capital of Bangladesh? Like, what how do they get basic stuff, basic stuff, like just to show that you take interest in your brother, your sister, where they come from, you know, and things that shape them. That's a really, really important thing. So that's

something that your communities doing well, once of that you will love your community to improve on

for their many things, many things.

I would just say to just take everything more seriously. Take it more serious. Yeah. And then and then consistency. And and, you know, you can't be a Ramadan Muslim, you can't be a Muslim, you can't be a Jew or Muslim. Islam is 25 825 hours out the day, eight days out of the week. 24 711 went into Muslim owned, that's what that means. never allowed that to come to you, except that you're prepared. So that's in the community, but definitely, you know, the hustle and the bustle making money. Like I said, the proper the people say route, money is the root of all evil. And I've read a tough theater that, you know, a reputation of that statement. One person said, No, money is the root

of all evil. mismanagement of money is the root of all evil. So people they miss manage money, because they're working, they're going to school, they're going to college, they're paying bills, and they're pampering their children. I work so hard for my son to have everything, but that may be too much. Yeah, take the hour off, sit in the masjid, right, give your soul a break. See how good it feels. Because there's no end to it. That's one thing you know, like, and you move in different circles, you see different people and people that are different pay scales than myself. There's no end to the justification no for making more money and putting more money especially to your kids.

And that seems like a way that shaitan actually often approaches people because he knows that you'll give everything that's right. So now one fund becomes another fund this school because it can keep on going there's no there's no end to it. The house. Yeah, that's why it's enough.

And the dunya is just keeps changing and growing. So just take things more serious. Seriously, and, you know, just

for the students if they're gonna watch this, you know, my students that have different brothers and sisters that I've taught and trained over the years I'm teaching and training is to be more dedicated to be more dedicated and don't quit. You can't give up. All I do is give a small little mountain to your cup. The rest of you got to fill up and you got to take it legacy Seriously, just like we had take it seriously. So if I had to say anything.

So one thing that I've seen in our community, okay, sometimes people imagine that they can simply approach the Hadith like open up a little hottie.

Pick one Hadith out of it and then just run with it.

Obviously this is your specialty and this is your area is interpreting Hadith or applying Hadith that simple yes or no why or why not? Understood? Excellent question, very important question. And so twofold answer. It is it isn't. They are no question about it many Hadith which are that simple, and that plain, which you don't need to be a scholar or specialists to understand and to practice them for sure. And there are other Hadees which are technical, and Hadees, which are a part of as you said, stories behind them. And we have just like in the science of Quran we have s baboon Newzoo reasons why the verses of the sutras are sent down. We have s Babel root was Babel toddies. Two

reasons now not too many people notice. One Why did the Prophet say these words, whoever makes a sunnah in Islam, whoever brings this, it isn't from piety to fast while traveling. As an example, there's a reason why the Prophet said a context and then we have Sebulba tidies is why the Sahaba be passed on the Hadith. After the prophets death, the sahabi told one of the tambien or another sabe about us Hadith. A perfect example of this is when he went to visit Agnes or the Allahu anhu, in his in his home, his costume and our embosser, and a complaint about her judge, and what he was doing and how he was a butcher and bloodthirsty and killing righteous or a man, people that were, you

know, big, big people who would just, you know, have no value of consideration for their blood. And he told them that the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he said, this bureau had settled Coney Island hold, he said, be patient, until you meet me at my pond at my hold. And he told them that the process that I'm said, a time will not come, except that the year that follows is worse. So an extra Delano he had a reason why he passed on that hadith now why the Prophet said it. So the moral of the story is is not that hadith are the specific wordings, but just to show you is that there are Hadith that have context without a question and have histories behind them. And some people can misuse them. But

it isn't a new thing. And many people they think that it's a modern day thing people have been abusing the text. And I think this is one of the most consistent

types of behavior in human history is abuse of authority that has high and above monotheistic or polytheistic religions. The gods have told me it's the best motivator, the seer says this. God Himself told me the Virgin Mary came to me. And people get it twisted and blame religion, the ego it's about actually no, it's just that it's such a powerful motivator, no question that everybody is going to want to abuse it. So first and foremost, is this in the Scripture? Is this in the sutras did the did the yogi's or the you know they did did they say this? That's number one, it is it is fabulous, oh sutras was the context that the previous in the following passage. So that always has

to be the twofold step. What did the Prophet actually say this? Did he quote what you're saying, show me oftentimes people who make up our deeds, or people, they'll chop up a hadith. So number one, number two is the fifth of the Hadith. Is it a narration which is clear and plain, the province otherwise Sutton was asked what is the most frequent reason behind going to paradise? He said toquilla He was no hook, forever law and good character in the nose scholastic interpretation for that new character. Yeah, and fair law. And he says what he was asked what is the most frequent reason behind people entering hell. And he said, I'll firm who will forage the mouth and the private

part that's plain and simple. But there are other narrations which are technical, and we share other Hadees, conflicting Hadith, etc. So there are things that need to be detailed, for sure. And you can't just run off of a cliff of a one thing that you read, there's no doubt about that. However, many people, they have this attitude, that the default is their opinion and desire against yours. For argument's sake, we're both ignorant, right? I don't know the Hadith in Bukhari and Arabic. Nor do you so why are you telling me my interpretation is wrong? And we're both ignorant right now. You're a graduate, you're a scholar. That's a different story. Let me listen. Let me humble myself,

but you're a cabdriver. And I'm a fruit seller. Yeah. Right. Who has the you get the point? So many people they have, you know, what we call full cups, proverbially speaking, and putting off an assumption, assumptions. And oftentimes, they're the Hadith masters even though they're ignorant like the one who's misquoting the Hadith. So that's, that's a big problem. I'll even be talking about the one who the narration states one day he passed by a man and the man was, was giving some type of Dawa. Whether he was telling the story he was you know, giving some type of exhortation to another man, so out here on the lawn, and he asked him, he said, I limped to NASA from animal

Sophie. He says, Do you know the texts which are abrogated and the texts that have been

Do you know do you know this concept and oh soon? And the man said no. I know the Lord who said Hello Dr. Wa Lecter. You are ruined and you will ruin others. So many of the automat of the past they spoke about Omar bin Abdulaziz he said hello mineraI matter of Carnaby Hadith accom he says take a little bit of Raji FIP in opinion and human intellectual you know, to understand how to use properly so I think that the Hadith or the pearls, and the pearls have to be pure pristine and pearls. But you need a thread string them together. No doubt about that. Or your watch the face if you watch mother of pearl nacre they call it okay very popular material for for jewelry, but the

stones have to be set. The jeweler has to come in what put it all together, you just can't take the raw clam or it's just put it on your wrist. And then there are other things in which you can you get the point I'm trying to make. So I think it's a detailed discussion. And it's a big problem. And the last thing I will say is one of the worst things that can happen to Islam, that people miss representing the Prophet sallallahu sallam, and giving the Messenger of Allah Islam a bad name, through their bad character and their ignorance and their impulse in haste. And this is one of the most basic teachings of Islam as in Pablo Kohli while Anna knowledge must confess your zeal, your

enthusiasm no matter how good it may be, it can never ever come before the proper fit the proper knowledge of whatever you're talking about whether it be a Quran, Hadith, Sera, etc. will go on and of course more details are needed for that. But that's perfect. That's for me all on one. It was wonderful having you in today bought a coffee. Kamala Hayden May Allah accept it from all of you guys. Sorry you guys get back safe inshallah hopefully this won't be the last time you know if and when in the future you guys come you let me know ahead of time I would love to host you guys inshallah. Inshallah somebody come Rahmatullah who would have canceled a wise man once said, Fortune

favors the brave Fortune favors the brave No guts, no glory. Lie you know in your article just said you can obtain knowledge by relaxing and chilling fortune. People call it luck. People call it house people call it no see whatever word you want to use. Goodness, prosperity winning. It only comes to people that aren't scared that aren't afraid that are willing to take risks, calculated risks most of the time, 80% of the time, but every now and then you got to go out on a limb and a little crazy without no calculation. And that is how you get the fortune bitten in like a toddler.