Usama Canon – The New Muslim in Our Mosque is the Canary in the Coal Mine

Usama Canon
Share Page

AI: Summary ©

The speakers discuss the importance of conversion to Islam for personal growth and empowerment, as well as the negative impact of people converting to Islam on their lives and relationships with loved ones. They emphasize the need for everyone to take action to prevent harm and bring family members to their homes to avoid privacy issues and privacy legislation. The conversation also touches on the shift in priority for Muslims to bring family members to their homes and the importance of conversion experiences for their people.

AI: Summary ©

00:00:00 --> 00:00:02
			As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
		
00:00:03 --> 00:00:07
			Before saying anything, I want to sincerely thank
		
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10
			MCC for the second year, I believe, in
		
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14
			a row, inviting us here and being generous
		
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17
			enough and having enough foresight to essentially initiate
		
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20
			the invitation to have us come and to
		
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22
			share space and to have it brought together.
		
00:00:22 --> 00:00:26
			And this is slowly but surely kind of
		
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29
			becoming many of our home, even if we
		
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30
			live far away.
		
00:00:31 --> 00:00:32
			So we're very thankful for the support and
		
00:00:32 --> 00:00:36
			the love that was shown by this community
		
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39
			generally and by many individuals specifically, and also
		
00:00:39 --> 00:00:45
			by particularly, always very, very, should we say,
		
00:00:45 --> 00:00:50
			diligent in attempting to give us opportunities to
		
00:00:50 --> 00:00:50
			serve together.
		
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52
			So we're very thankful to you for that.
		
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54
			May Allah reward you and continue to bless
		
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57
			this community and increase it.
		
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00
			Prophet Isba' knows me from about the time
		
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01
			I had been Muslim as long as Iran
		
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02
			was.
		
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04
			So this is, it's fascinating to see all
		
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06
			of this happen because it's a story that's
		
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07
			being told.
		
00:01:09 --> 00:01:10
			That's not just our story, but it's the
		
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12
			story of the Prophets in general and an
		
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14
			extension of the story of our beloved Prophet
		
00:01:14 --> 00:01:15
			Muhammad.
		
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17
			So let's talk about that specifically.
		
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21
			New blood is very important to a religious
		
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23
			community, and I believe is very important for
		
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25
			the Muslim community for a number of reasons.
		
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28
			And because of the amount of time we
		
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30
			have, maybe just focus on a couple of
		
00:01:30 --> 00:01:30
			those.
		
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33
			And then if anyone has any specific questions,
		
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35
			we can talk a little bit about Talif's
		
00:01:35 --> 00:01:40
			specific approach to encouraging healthy conversion and helping
		
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42
			Muslims upon their conversion.
		
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46
			But it's important, one, as a reminder to
		
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49
			us as a community, that as much as
		
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53
			we experience and love the experience of practicing
		
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56
			our religion, it's a reminder that it's not
		
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57
			our religion.
		
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00
			And what I mean by that is if
		
00:02:00 --> 00:02:04
			we do or don't practice it, the religion
		
00:02:04 --> 00:02:05
			is going to go on.
		
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08
			And Allah reminds us in the Quran when
		
00:02:08 --> 00:02:17
			He says, O you who believe, O you
		
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19
			who believe, and this is very important because
		
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21
			it's an address to the believers, O you
		
00:02:21 --> 00:02:25
			who believe, whoever amongst you turns back from
		
00:02:25 --> 00:02:26
			their religion.
		
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29
			So it's not that it's addressing people who
		
00:02:29 --> 00:02:29
			believe.
		
00:02:30 --> 00:02:34
			It's saying whoever, whoever turns back on their
		
00:02:34 --> 00:02:38
			heels, leaving their religion, God is going to
		
00:02:38 --> 00:02:39
			bring a people in their place.
		
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43
			In other words, if you think that you
		
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47
			are God's gift to Islam, know that it
		
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49
			has nothing to do with you.
		
00:02:50 --> 00:02:50
			Right?
		
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53
			If you say, I don't feel like doing
		
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55
			this anymore, you're easily replaceable.
		
00:02:56 --> 00:03:00
			Allah will bring people in your place.
		
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03
			And then He says something very profound, He
		
00:03:03 --> 00:03:04
			loves them.
		
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08
			O you who believe, and they love Him.
		
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10
			So it's a reminder to all of us.
		
00:03:11 --> 00:03:16
			Convert, born Muslim, and whatever in between, regardless
		
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18
			of how you became Muslim, know that now
		
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20
			that you are Muslim, that you're blessed to
		
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22
			be Muslim, and you're fortunate to be Muslim,
		
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25
			but Islam will continue with or without you.
		
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27
			And it's interesting that this verse was actually
		
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30
			revealed before the passing of the Prophet ﷺ.
		
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35
			Because as soon as the Prophet ﷺ passes,
		
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37
			Arab tribes begin to leave Islam.
		
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40
			They begin to throw in the top, they
		
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42
			begin to refuse to pay the Zakat.
		
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47
			And Abu Bakr as-Siddiq initiates a campaign
		
00:03:47 --> 00:03:48
			to address that specifically.
		
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51
			Because as soon as the Prophet ﷺ passes,
		
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53
			they begin to leave Islam.
		
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56
			So it's foretelling the reality that there will
		
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57
			be people who give up.
		
00:03:57 --> 00:03:58
			And we're in a time when many, many
		
00:03:58 --> 00:03:59
			Muslims are checking out.
		
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03
			Many, many Muslims are checking out, or are
		
00:04:03 --> 00:04:04
			checked out, and new blood is very important
		
00:04:04 --> 00:04:05
			for that reason.
		
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09
			It's also important, specifically, it's like what Dr.
		
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12
			Asad Tarsim calls, he calls the convert the
		
00:04:12 --> 00:04:13
			canary in the coal mine.
		
00:04:15 --> 00:04:16
			What do we mean by that?
		
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18
			You know the miners, when they go down
		
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20
			into the mine, they had to make sure
		
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23
			that there wasn't toxic gas in the mine
		
00:04:23 --> 00:04:23
			with them.
		
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26
			So they would take a canary in the
		
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28
			little cage, and if the canary died, that
		
00:04:28 --> 00:04:28
			meant what?
		
00:04:28 --> 00:04:29
			Get out of the mine.
		
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32
			Because if the canary can't make it, that
		
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34
			means that the miners are going to die
		
00:04:34 --> 00:04:34
			right after.
		
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36
			And a lot of times, with gas, you
		
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39
			can't necessarily smell it, and you definitely can't
		
00:04:39 --> 00:04:39
			see it.
		
00:04:39 --> 00:04:40
			So a lot of times people would just
		
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41
			end up dead if they didn't know what
		
00:04:41 --> 00:04:42
			it was that killed them.
		
00:04:43 --> 00:04:44
			So they'd carry a canary.
		
00:04:44 --> 00:04:44
			Why?
		
00:04:45 --> 00:04:46
			Poor canaries.
		
00:04:48 --> 00:04:49
			Little murderers of birds, aren't they?
		
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53
			They die before the miners actually get sick.
		
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56
			But the convert is like the canary in
		
00:04:56 --> 00:04:57
			the coal mine of American Islam.
		
00:04:59 --> 00:05:00
			We don't really know some of the things
		
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03
			that are happening.
		
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05
			There's a lot going on that is beyond
		
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07
			what we realize.
		
00:05:08 --> 00:05:09
			If you hear about it in the news,
		
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11
			that means it already got to the news.
		
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13
			There's a lot of things happening in this
		
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15
			society that doesn't get to the news.
		
00:05:15 --> 00:05:16
			There's a lot of things happening that are
		
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20
			not even necessarily outward phenomenon, that are impacting
		
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21
			the reality of our experience.
		
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25
			So the convert is a canary in the
		
00:05:25 --> 00:05:25
			coal mine.
		
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27
			If you look at the converts and you
		
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30
			say, this is working for them, and it's
		
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32
			working to strengthen their iman, and to strengthen
		
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35
			their connection, and to increase them in knowledge,
		
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37
			and to make them people who are empowered
		
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40
			in their practice of Islam, and have been
		
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42
			afforded the opportunity to have a meaningful relationship
		
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45
			with their Lord, if it works for them,
		
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47
			it's going to work for future generations of
		
00:05:47 --> 00:05:48
			Muslims in America.
		
00:05:49 --> 00:05:49
			Why?
		
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53
			If you take people, John's family, as I
		
00:05:53 --> 00:05:54
			understand, are Greek immigrants.
		
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57
			It was probably two generations ago, or three
		
00:05:57 --> 00:06:01
			generations ago, one generation ago, they came here.
		
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04
			But John, how many times walking around school
		
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07
			do you identify necessarily as Greek?
		
00:06:09 --> 00:06:10
			But people that walk up and say, where
		
00:06:10 --> 00:06:11
			are you from?
		
00:06:11 --> 00:06:11
			You don't say Greece.
		
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13
			They think you're from a movie.
		
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16
			You guys don't even know that movie, Greece.
		
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20
			You don't identify.
		
00:06:20 --> 00:06:21
			You say, oh, from Fremont.
		
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25
			Meaning, John's an American kid who may have
		
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27
			descended from Greek ancestry.
		
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31
			So John converts to Islam, if it's working
		
00:06:31 --> 00:06:32
			for him, if he's learning about Islam in
		
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34
			a meaningful way, we've got to look critically
		
00:06:34 --> 00:06:34
			at that.
		
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36
			We've got to say, this is something that
		
00:06:36 --> 00:06:37
			works, because it'll work for our kids, regardless
		
00:06:37 --> 00:06:38
			of where we come from.
		
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42
			But conversely, if there's things that are rubbing
		
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44
			converts the wrong way, and not because they
		
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46
			don't have thick enough skin, or not because
		
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48
			they're just being sensitive, or not because they
		
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51
			were wimps, but because there's something really wrong,
		
00:06:52 --> 00:06:53
			then we've got to look at that as
		
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55
			potential gaps in the mind.
		
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58
			Because if the canaries are dying, then it
		
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00
			may say something very problematic about the reality
		
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02
			for the future people in this country.
		
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04
			And that's something that as a community, we've
		
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05
			got to look deeper at.
		
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09
			Because far too often, there's a dichotomous conversation
		
00:07:09 --> 00:07:10
			around converts and people born Muslim.
		
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13
			And there's almost a tendency to take converts
		
00:07:13 --> 00:07:20
			and make them tokenistic, representative, like trophies almost,
		
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21
			of American Islam.
		
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23
			And that's problematic, because that's not what it's
		
00:07:23 --> 00:07:23
			about.
		
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26
			It's about the new blood that represents what's
		
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28
			going to work for future generations in America.
		
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30
			What would American Islam be like?
		
00:07:31 --> 00:07:32
			Minus Sheikh Hamza.
		
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35
			Minus Malcolm X.
		
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38
			Minus Imam Morsi bin Mohammed.
		
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41
			Minus Siraj Mujahid.
		
00:07:41 --> 00:07:42
			Minus Ingrid Mattson.
		
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44
			She's a Canadian, but she's close enough.
		
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47
			Minus, and so on and so forth.
		
00:07:48 --> 00:07:48
			The list goes on.
		
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51
			It would be a very different situation.
		
00:07:52 --> 00:07:53
			I mean, simply put, I wouldn't be sitting
		
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54
			here.
		
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55
			I wouldn't have known Pervez.
		
00:07:55 --> 00:07:56
			I wouldn't have known any of the people
		
00:07:56 --> 00:07:57
			in the room.
		
00:07:57 --> 00:07:58
			If Sheikh Hamza and Imam Zaid wouldn't have
		
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00
			been there, we wouldn't have had the connections
		
00:08:00 --> 00:08:00
			that we had.
		
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03
			And that's just a scratch on the surface
		
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06
			of the impact that the new blood of
		
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08
			American Islam through conversion has brought.
		
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10
			So the canary and the coal mine is
		
00:08:10 --> 00:08:11
			really, really important.
		
00:08:11 --> 00:08:16
			And then finally, conversion to Islam is a
		
00:08:16 --> 00:08:21
			powerful testimony to Islam as a transformative power
		
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23
			in the life of people and individuals.
		
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26
			To even think about the fact that we
		
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29
			chuckle at, you know, I drank a beer
		
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31
			because I thought wine was prohibited.
		
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34
			People go, oh, that's, you know, that's, ah,
		
00:08:34 --> 00:08:34
			ha, ha.
		
00:08:35 --> 00:08:35
			It's funny.
		
00:08:36 --> 00:08:36
			It was funny.
		
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38
			I laughed, too.
		
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42
			But think about the fact that this is
		
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44
			an individual who may have grown up drinking,
		
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46
			and because of Islam says, you know what,
		
00:08:46 --> 00:08:47
			boom, I don't drink anymore.
		
00:08:47 --> 00:08:47
			Done.
		
00:08:48 --> 00:08:48
			Alcohol's done.
		
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53
			Any number of us who before Islam may
		
00:08:53 --> 00:08:57
			have taken relationships with the opposite * as
		
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59
			something light and frivolous that you can do
		
00:08:59 --> 00:09:00
			whatever you want, however you want with whoever
		
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02
			you want to do it with, becomes Muslim
		
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04
			and says, no, there's a certain way that
		
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06
			I'm going to engage the opposite * in
		
00:09:06 --> 00:09:07
			a responsible way.
		
00:09:07 --> 00:09:08
			And if it's not in the context of
		
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10
			marriage, forget about it.
		
00:09:11 --> 00:09:12
			Transformative, majorly transformative.
		
00:09:13 --> 00:09:14
			There was a brother that I know that
		
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17
			went to prison for robbery, pretty serious robbery.
		
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22
			And he became Muslim in prison and had
		
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23
			a similar experience to what Jonathan said.
		
00:09:24 --> 00:09:25
			He said, I heard the Adhan and it
		
00:09:25 --> 00:09:26
			shook my core.
		
00:09:26 --> 00:09:27
			Brother said he went to the prayer one
		
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29
			time and the person who recited the Fatihah,
		
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31
			he heard it recited, and it shook his
		
00:09:31 --> 00:09:31
			heart.
		
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33
			He knew Islam was true, became Muslim in
		
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35
			the prison, and then learned about Islam.
		
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38
			He gets out and he learned glazing.
		
00:09:39 --> 00:09:40
			You guys know glazing?
		
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41
			Installing glass?
		
00:09:42 --> 00:09:43
			He was a glazer.
		
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46
			He got a job at a glazing company
		
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49
			and eventually he got called for a job
		
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50
			at Bank of America.
		
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54
			And he was installing glass behind one of
		
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58
			the vault areas in Bank of America.
		
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00
			And he said, these people have no idea
		
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03
			that the same person who used to rob
		
00:10:03 --> 00:10:07
			banks is now installing glass in a bank.
		
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09
			And the only thing stopping me from doing
		
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11
			what I used to do is the fact
		
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13
			that I know Allah is watching me.
		
00:10:13 --> 00:10:14
			It's the only thing stopping me.
		
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16
			I'm still the same guy.
		
00:10:17 --> 00:10:17
			Like, it's still me.
		
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19
			And I still remember how to do that.
		
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20
			That's the scary part.
		
00:10:20 --> 00:10:21
			I'm not talking about myself, y'all.
		
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23
			This isn't like a pseudo-religion.
		
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27
			I have a friend, it really was a
		
00:10:27 --> 00:10:28
			friend of mine.
		
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32
			It's a facet, it's a really, really powerful
		
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36
			testimony to Islam as a transformative force.
		
00:10:37 --> 00:10:38
			I just got a call this evening before
		
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41
			leaving the office from a brother in Chicago
		
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44
			who said, I need your nasiha, I need
		
00:10:44 --> 00:10:44
			your advice.
		
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47
			And you never know what you're gonna get
		
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49
			when you're on the other end of that
		
00:10:49 --> 00:10:49
			call.
		
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51
			It could be any number of crazy situations.
		
00:10:51 --> 00:10:52
			I need your advice.
		
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53
			I called him back and said, how can
		
00:10:53 --> 00:10:53
			I help you?
		
00:10:55 --> 00:10:59
			He said, the killing in Chicago is just
		
00:10:59 --> 00:11:00
			too much.
		
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03
			There was 500 people killed last year in
		
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04
			Chicago.
		
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06
			200-something this year so far.
		
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08
			In the last two weeks, there was five
		
00:11:08 --> 00:11:09
			children killed.
		
00:11:10 --> 00:11:10
			Children.
		
00:11:11 --> 00:11:12
			A mother and her child.
		
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14
			He said, it's just too much.
		
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16
			And this is an individual who's already working
		
00:11:16 --> 00:11:21
			in gang intervention, already brokering treaties between different
		
00:11:21 --> 00:11:21
			gangs.
		
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23
			He said, but we've got to take it
		
00:11:23 --> 00:11:23
			to the next level.
		
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25
			And I'm just calling you to get your
		
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26
			advice.
		
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28
			He said, because from 8 p.m. until
		
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30
			2 a.m., the Muslims are taking over
		
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31
			the streets.
		
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32
			We're stopping this.
		
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36
			This is someone who himself spent well over
		
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38
			a decade in prison for killing a person.
		
00:11:38 --> 00:11:42
			But now because he's Muslim, he doesn't even
		
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44
			see it fit for him to sit and
		
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47
			watch killing happen indiscriminately without directly being involved
		
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48
			in stopping it.
		
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50
			And he's already involved in stopping it.
		
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52
			He has done more in a week than
		
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54
			most of us have done in our lifetime
		
00:11:54 --> 00:11:55
			in terms of real social justice.
		
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57
			But he says, I need your advice.
		
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58
			He said, because we met with the brothers.
		
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00
			And from 8 p.m. until 2 a
		
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02
			.m., we're taking over the streets.
		
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03
			He said, what's your advice?
		
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06
			I said, well, since you asked me, I
		
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07
			have two concerns.
		
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09
			Number one, safety.
		
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11
			He said, you don't need to worry about
		
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12
			that.
		
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14
			You guys know what I'm saying.
		
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19
			He said, I said, number two, a lot
		
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21
			of the brothers we're working with are just
		
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22
			off of parole.
		
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25
			And they're on, or they're on parole.
		
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26
			They're just out of prison.
		
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28
			And they can get violated.
		
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31
			He said, we have absolutely no intention on
		
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32
			breaking the law at all.
		
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34
			In other words, we're not going to do
		
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37
			anything illegal because I'm also thinking, you realize
		
00:12:37 --> 00:12:41
			Homeland Security, NSA, FBI, and any other number
		
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44
			of alphabetical acronyms are recording this call right
		
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45
			now.
		
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46
			From 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.,
		
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48
			the Muslims are taking over the streets.
		
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52
			What are people going to think?
		
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54
			They don't have to do anything illegal.
		
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56
			They're intervening to stop people from killing one
		
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59
			another, to go places that the Chicago police
		
00:12:59 --> 00:13:00
			literally won't go.
		
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03
			That's a powerful testimony to personal transformation, to
		
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06
			go from killing people to doing anything you
		
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08
			can to stop other people from killing people.
		
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11
			And that's why they say about those who
		
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14
			had a troubled past, kanu lususan fasadu hususan.
		
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17
			These are people that used to be robbers,
		
00:13:17 --> 00:13:21
			but they became from the elect of the
		
00:13:21 --> 00:13:21
			ummah.
		
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24
			Before Monica gets here, I want to say
		
00:13:24 --> 00:13:24
			something.
		
00:13:26 --> 00:13:27
			This is just to kind of create a
		
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29
			really authentic space.
		
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32
			The night that John said he wanted to
		
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35
			say his shahada, if I would have retired
		
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37
			after that night, I would have felt fulfilled.
		
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40
			And the reason is this.
		
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42
			You probably don't know all of this, but
		
00:13:42 --> 00:13:43
			he said, I'd like to say my shahada
		
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44
			on Sunday.
		
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46
			And we've seen the shahada, too, in our
		
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48
			day, so it's business as usual.
		
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52
			But we still get excited, so everyone comes
		
00:13:52 --> 00:13:52
			around.
		
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55
			I think you got there at like 6
		
00:13:55 --> 00:13:55
			or something.
		
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57
			I said, do you want to say the
		
00:13:57 --> 00:13:58
			shahada before class or after class?
		
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00
			He said, after class.
		
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02
			I said, as you like, whatever works for
		
00:14:02 --> 00:14:02
			you.
		
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04
			Then class got finished.
		
00:14:04 --> 00:14:05
			I said, are you ready to say your
		
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06
			shahada?
		
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08
			He said, no, I'm waiting for my mother.
		
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11
			I said, okay, we can wait a few
		
00:14:11 --> 00:14:11
			minutes.
		
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12
			So we waited a few minutes.
		
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15
			Then I said to her, I said, is
		
00:14:15 --> 00:14:16
			your mother here?
		
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17
			She said, no.
		
00:14:17 --> 00:14:18
			I said, do you want to wait for
		
00:14:18 --> 00:14:18
			her?
		
00:14:19 --> 00:14:20
			And he said in front of the whole
		
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23
			community, she waited nine months for me to
		
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24
			come out of the womb.
		
00:14:24 --> 00:14:25
			I think I can wait a few minutes
		
00:14:25 --> 00:14:26
			for her.
		
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28
			And all of the sisters were like, yeah.
		
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32
			Like in a moment's time, he redeemed half
		
00:14:32 --> 00:14:32
			of the species.
		
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34
			Because of that statement, right?
		
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37
			She finally, yeah.
		
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40
			And then he waited for mom.
		
00:14:40 --> 00:14:41
			And then mom came.
		
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45
			And she held his hand while he said
		
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46
			his shahada.
		
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49
			And I looked up.
		
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50
			I remember looking up and seeing Micah across
		
00:14:50 --> 00:14:51
			the room.
		
00:14:51 --> 00:14:51
			He's crying.
		
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53
			I'm crying, but I'm trying not to let
		
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54
			anybody see that I'm crying.
		
00:14:55 --> 00:14:56
			Mom's crying.
		
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57
			And John's crying.
		
00:14:58 --> 00:14:58
			Everyone's crying.
		
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00
			And there was this moment where I said
		
00:15:00 --> 00:15:01
			to myself, it's happening.
		
00:15:02 --> 00:15:02
			Alhamdulillah.
		
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05
			But there's two things I thought about.
		
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08
			The first one's more problematic than the second
		
00:15:08 --> 00:15:08
			one.
		
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12
			The first one I thought was, how come
		
00:15:12 --> 00:15:13
			I didn't think about doing that?
		
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17
			It didn't even cross my mind.
		
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20
			It didn't even occur to me, take your
		
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22
			parents with you to the masjid for your
		
00:15:22 --> 00:15:22
			shahada.
		
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25
			And the reason it didn't is for so
		
00:15:25 --> 00:15:29
			many people from my generation, our conversion was
		
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31
			part of who knows what part.
		
00:15:31 --> 00:15:37
			It was part of a social rebellion.
		
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40
			It was part of the proverbial rage against
		
00:15:40 --> 00:15:40
			the machine.
		
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42
			It was part of our revolution.
		
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45
			So I'm converting partly because I want to
		
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47
			agitate the situation with the power structure.
		
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49
			How would I take my parents with me?
		
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51
			I want to go and say, I'm Muslim.
		
00:15:51 --> 00:15:52
			Deal with it.
		
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56
			That's part of the 1990s generation ex-culture.
		
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58
			That's the first thing I thought to myself.
		
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59
			How come I didn't think about that?
		
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01
			And the second thing I thought to myself
		
00:16:01 --> 00:16:05
			was, if I had thought about bringing my
		
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08
			mother, or any family member for that matter,
		
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10
			to my shahada, I would not have had
		
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12
			a place that I could have realistically taken
		
00:16:12 --> 00:16:12
			her to.
		
00:16:14 --> 00:16:15
			Because things have changed.
		
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17
			Things have changed a lot.
		
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19
			Even in the 16 or so years I've
		
00:16:19 --> 00:16:20
			been Muslim, things have changed a lot for
		
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21
			Muslims in the Bay Area.
		
00:16:22 --> 00:16:26
			The idea that not only will we welcome
		
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29
			our friends and family members and neighbors and
		
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32
			our colleagues from other faith communities, not only
		
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34
			will we welcome them, but we will make
		
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37
			their accommodation and their feeling comfortable an absolute
		
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38
			priority for our community.
		
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40
			That's a significant shift.
		
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42
			In other words, it's not just like, yeah,
		
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43
			you can bring your friend.
		
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45
			It's like, no, bring your friend and they
		
00:16:45 --> 00:16:46
			will be royalty to us.
		
00:16:47 --> 00:16:48
			Let alone if you bring a family member.
		
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49
			Let alone if you bring your mom.
		
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51
			If you bring your mom, you have to
		
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53
			roll out the green carpet, right?
		
00:16:54 --> 00:16:55
			Green instead of red Muslims.
		
00:16:58 --> 00:17:02
			No, but that reminds me of a situation
		
00:17:02 --> 00:17:02
			I had.
		
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03
			And this is what I mean about the
		
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05
			canary in the coal mine.
		
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08
			My wife and the kids, one year, were
		
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11
			with my mother during Christmas.
		
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13
			And I was on my way to Mauritania
		
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15
			to visit some of my teachers.
		
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19
			And I called my mother, I think on
		
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22
			Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or sometime around
		
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23
			that time.
		
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25
			And she said to me, son, you'd be
		
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26
			really proud of me.
		
00:17:27 --> 00:17:28
			I said, why?
		
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30
			She said, we had a Muslim Christmas this
		
00:17:30 --> 00:17:30
			year.
		
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34
			And I know half of you in the
		
00:17:34 --> 00:17:38
			audience are going, because that's what I thought.
		
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40
			I was like, Muslim Christmas?
		
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42
			I didn't say that to her.
		
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45
			I said, mom, what do you mean?
		
00:17:46 --> 00:17:51
			She said, well, I know that the Fatima
		
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53
			Muhammad's favorite color was green.
		
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56
			So we only put green lights on the
		
00:17:56 --> 00:17:56
			tree.
		
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03
			And instead of putting an angel on top
		
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05
			of the tree, we put a star and
		
00:18:05 --> 00:18:05
			crescent.
		
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09
			I was just like, oh, okay, mom.
		
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10
			Left it at that.
		
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13
			I could have easily said, what?
		
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18
			Haram, bid'ah, shirk?
		
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21
			Not necessarily in that order.
		
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22
			Repeated it three times.
		
00:18:23 --> 00:18:23
			Mom, don't you know?
		
00:18:24 --> 00:18:25
			This is my religion.
		
00:18:25 --> 00:18:25
			My kids are there.
		
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27
			What are you teaching my children?
		
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29
			Trying to pollute the purist, huh?
		
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31
			I said, okay, mom.
		
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33
			And I left it at that.
		
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35
			Probably two years later, and my wife is
		
00:18:35 --> 00:18:35
			here.
		
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37
			She'll tell you if I'm making this thing
		
00:18:37 --> 00:18:37
			up.
		
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41
			Two years later, I was there for Christmas.
		
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44
			My father is a devout Christian, goes to
		
00:18:44 --> 00:18:45
			church.
		
00:18:46 --> 00:18:46
			He's devout.
		
00:18:46 --> 00:18:50
			My mother is kind of like, well, you'll
		
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51
			get it in the story.
		
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56
			And Muhammad, well, actually, I'll tell the story
		
00:18:56 --> 00:18:56
			in a different order.
		
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59
			Before that happened, this is really interesting.
		
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01
			I was cooking in the kitchen, thank God.
		
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04
			And my mother came up, she said, I
		
00:19:04 --> 00:19:05
			still have the star and crescent.
		
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08
			She said, would you put it on the
		
00:19:08 --> 00:19:08
			tree for me?
		
00:19:09 --> 00:19:10
			And that's outside of my comfort zone.
		
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13
			I personally, I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing
		
00:19:13 --> 00:19:13
			that.
		
00:19:14 --> 00:19:16
			Personal conviction, call it what you want to.
		
00:19:16 --> 00:19:17
			But what did I say?
		
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18
			I said, mom, I'm cooking.
		
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19
			I got food on my hands.
		
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21
			I can't do it.
		
00:19:21 --> 00:19:21
			She said, don't say it, fine.
		
00:19:21 --> 00:19:22
			So they did it.
		
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27
			Then, about 10 minutes later, my oldest son,
		
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28
			Muhammad, came to his grandmother.
		
00:19:28 --> 00:19:29
			He said, grandma, I'm confused.
		
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34
			And that's a conversation that many of our
		
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36
			kids, some of them in grad school, if
		
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37
			they had a space to really have the
		
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38
			conversation, they would say, what?
		
00:19:39 --> 00:19:39
			I'm confused.
		
00:19:41 --> 00:19:41
			If we're being honest.
		
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43
			There's a lot of people that are confused.
		
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45
			But when they're young, they're not afraid to
		
00:19:45 --> 00:19:46
			actually admit it.
		
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47
			He said, grandma, I'm confused.
		
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48
			She said, what, honey?
		
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51
			He said, some of us are celebrating Christmas.
		
00:19:51 --> 00:19:52
			Some of us aren't.
		
00:19:52 --> 00:19:53
			I'm confused.
		
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56
			It's going to look a lot like the
		
00:19:56 --> 00:19:57
			future of Islam in America.
		
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58
			Don't be surprised.
		
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00
			And she said, what?
		
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03
			Honey, your grandfather's a Christian.
		
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07
			But you and your brother and your sisters
		
00:20:07 --> 00:20:10
			and your mom and your dad and me,
		
00:20:10 --> 00:20:11
			we're Muslim.
		
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13
			Isn't that what she said?
		
00:20:14 --> 00:20:14
			That's what she said.
		
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17
			And I wasn't like, tap here.
		
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18
			I wasn't like that.
		
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21
			Because that was what she said.
		
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24
			Let it happen as a process.
		
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25
			And if we were to really look back
		
00:20:25 --> 00:20:28
			at the history of Islam, and we're not
		
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32
			Muslim-majority countries, if we studied the history,
		
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34
			we would see that it didn't just show
		
00:20:34 --> 00:20:34
			up.
		
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38
			Islam didn't just show up, that it came
		
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40
			little by little and began to integrate into
		
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42
			the society that it came to.
		
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45
			And there was a negotiation process between the
		
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47
			cultural realities of that country and what they
		
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50
			were experiencing and the Muslims as they came
		
00:20:50 --> 00:20:50
			there.
		
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51
			And the same thing is going to have
		
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53
			to happen here if Muslims are going to
		
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55
			have a sustainable presence in this country.
		
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58
			So having spaces where a mother can attend
		
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01
			her son's shahada and hold his hand and
		
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03
			then she blessed us with some words of
		
00:21:03 --> 00:21:08
			wisdom after his shahada, to me, alhamdulilah, that's
		
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10
			a sign that something very good is happening.
		
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11
			May Allah increase this in Africa.
		
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15
			I think the uncle's question was about how
		
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18
			I personally learned about Islam and experienced it
		
00:21:18 --> 00:21:23
			and then kind of how that translated into
		
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25
			understanding what Islam meant and what being Muslim
		
00:21:25 --> 00:21:25
			meant.
		
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29
			You know, there's like a long version and
		
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31
			a medium version and a short version.
		
00:21:33 --> 00:21:34
			There's not, I don't have like a tweetable
		
00:21:34 --> 00:21:38
			version yet of that story to try to
		
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39
			get it that short.
		
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43
			Because like when you heard John talk about
		
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46
			beginning to ask the question of the reality
		
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48
			of God, that's where it began for me.
		
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53
			And I was both challenged and blessed by
		
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56
			the fact that my household did not have
		
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57
			a standard religion.
		
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00
			My father came from a very traditional black
		
00:22:00 --> 00:22:05
			Baptist family and my mother was nominally Christian
		
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08
			and interestingly converted to Mormonism as a young
		
00:22:08 --> 00:22:08
			lady.
		
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11
			So she was a, what you call a
		
00:22:11 --> 00:22:11
			Jack Mormon.
		
00:22:11 --> 00:22:14
			She was a Mormon that wasn't particularly adherent
		
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15
			to her faith.
		
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18
			But she was interestingly, the Mormons, every single
		
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19
			time my mother got sick, it was in
		
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22
			the hospital or had a child or a
		
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24
			birthday, she had left the church 20 plus
		
00:22:24 --> 00:22:25
			years before that.
		
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28
			They still would come check up on her.
		
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31
			They'd know if she was in the hospital.
		
00:22:31 --> 00:22:32
			They knew she was there and they'd show
		
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33
			her in the hospital.
		
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35
			I don't even know how they knew, but
		
00:22:35 --> 00:22:35
			they did.
		
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38
			So I didn't have like a state religion,
		
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39
			so to speak, or a standard religion in
		
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40
			the house.
		
00:22:40 --> 00:22:43
			So asking the question of God's presence and
		
00:22:43 --> 00:22:44
			reality was a personal one.
		
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48
			The Nation of Islam was the first opportunity
		
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51
			that I had to look at anything outside
		
00:22:51 --> 00:22:55
			of standard kind of the Christian offerings.
		
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58
			So I first heard about the Nation of
		
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01
			Islam through my older brother, or heard about
		
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03
			it through hip hop music and then joined
		
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05
			the Nation of Islam and through his experience
		
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08
			of the Nation of Islam, met a Sunni
		
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11
			Muslim named Bilal, Imam Bilal.
		
00:23:11 --> 00:23:15
			And then he told me about Islam.
		
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19
			So when I left high school, I identified
		
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21
			as a Muslim, but I hadn't said my
		
00:23:21 --> 00:23:21
			shahada.
		
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24
			And Yahya Rodis and I went to school
		
00:23:24 --> 00:23:25
			together since like sixth grade.
		
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26
			So we were both on this kind of
		
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28
			spiritual journey traveling together.
		
00:23:29 --> 00:23:32
			And then in high school, we began to
		
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33
			meet Muslims.
		
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35
			And then we met Brian Davis, now known
		
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36
			as Mustafa Davis.
		
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38
			And he and I were at sushi one
		
00:23:38 --> 00:23:38
			day.
		
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42
			This is the media version.
		
00:23:42 --> 00:23:44
			But we were at sushi one day and
		
00:23:44 --> 00:23:46
			he says to me, I'm thinking about revisiting
		
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47
			religion.
		
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48
			I said, you should become Muslim.
		
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50
			He said, are you a Muslim?
		
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51
			I said, no, but my brother is.
		
00:23:52 --> 00:23:53
			He said, well, what do they believe?
		
00:23:53 --> 00:23:54
			I said, they believe in the oneness of
		
00:23:54 --> 00:23:57
			God, and they believe in Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu
		
00:23:57 --> 00:23:57
			alayhi wa sallam.
		
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00
			He left and went to Barnes and Noble
		
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02
			with the intention to buy a Bible.
		
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04
			Look, he goes with the intention to buy
		
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05
			a Bible.
		
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08
			And on his way into the religion sections,
		
00:24:08 --> 00:24:10
			comes to Eastern Philosophy and sees the book
		
00:24:10 --> 00:24:12
			Muhammad by Martin Lins.
		
00:24:12 --> 00:24:16
			He picked it up and he said that
		
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18
			all of the Abu Ibn, Abu Ibn.
		
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21
			This is really hard to give a lecture
		
00:24:21 --> 00:24:21
			while you guys got that.
		
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23
			I don't know if I'm going to concentrate.
		
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26
			Wait till that passes.
		
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30
			He said, all the Abu Ibn.
		
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34
			Confused him because the genealogy of the Prophet
		
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36
			ﷺ at the beginning of the lineages at
		
00:24:36 --> 00:24:37
			the beginning of the book.
		
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39
			He said, I was confused, so I put
		
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40
			it back on the shelf.
		
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41
			But right next to it was the Qur
		
00:24:41 --> 00:24:41
			'an.
		
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45
			And he picked up the Qur'an and
		
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46
			opened it to Surah Maryam.
		
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50
			And Ustadh Ali is here, Ustadh Ali Atai,
		
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52
			and I wouldn't even attempt to begin talking
		
00:24:52 --> 00:24:55
			about anything about the Bible while he's anywhere
		
00:24:55 --> 00:24:55
			in my proximity.
		
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59
			But I would say that coming from a
		
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01
			Christian family and coming from a Christian framework
		
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03
			to read Surah Maryam is going to rock
		
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04
			your world.
		
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06
			Because it's so crystal clear.
		
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08
			It's such a crystal clear conversation.
		
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10
			So he said he read it and he
		
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11
			wept in the bookstore.
		
00:25:12 --> 00:25:13
			And he took the Qur'an home with
		
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14
			him.
		
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17
			He said, but I didn't read anything else
		
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18
			because I was afraid I would find something
		
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19
			that I didn't like.
		
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20
			So I only read Surah Maryam.
		
00:25:22 --> 00:25:23
			I only read Surah Maryam.
		
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24
			That was Wednesday.
		
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25
			By Friday he was Muslim.
		
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28
			He went to the masjid and became Muslim.
		
00:25:28 --> 00:25:29
			And he came back to campus and he's
		
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32
			now the resident As-salamu alaykum, my brother
		
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35
			guy on campus with the kufi and the
		
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36
			beard and so on and so forth.
		
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38
			And then he took me to MCA the
		
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39
			day I became Muslim.
		
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42
			So it was kind of this feedback loop.
		
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43
			What happened in my heart?
		
00:25:45 --> 00:25:46
			There was two things.
		
00:25:46 --> 00:25:49
			One was clarity around the divine.
		
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51
			And what I mean by that is what
		
00:25:51 --> 00:25:54
			you heard John talk about his comments about
		
00:25:54 --> 00:25:59
			questioning the supposed divinity of Christ and then
		
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01
			understanding Allah as the only true one God
		
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04
			and experiencing that.
		
00:26:05 --> 00:26:08
			And then secondly, the universality of prophecy in
		
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10
			Islam, that Islam accepts the previous prophets and
		
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13
			the previous dispensations and the previous revelations was
		
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14
			very important to me because I didn't want
		
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16
			to do a religion that was the my
		
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18
			way or the highway religion.
		
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19
			If it wasn't going to be inclusive, I
		
00:26:19 --> 00:26:20
			couldn't do it.
		
00:26:21 --> 00:26:21
			So the inclusivity.
		
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25
			And honestly, my first introduction to the Prophet
		
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26
			sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was through the pamphlet
		
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29
			Muhammad in the Bible translated by Dr. Jamal
		
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30
			Badawi.
		
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33
			And unfortunately, I spent more time arguing with
		
00:26:33 --> 00:26:37
			Christian friends and peers with the pamphlet than
		
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39
			I did actually meditating on it.
		
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41
			Because, you know, people would like to use
		
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42
			those things for fuel.
		
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43
			But yeah, that's what it was for me.
		
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45
			Did that answer your question?
		
00:26:45 --> 00:26:45
			Yes.
		
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51
			When Islam started.
		
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53
			What do you mean?
		
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55
			That's the big question.
		
00:26:55 --> 00:27:00
			When Islam started?
		
00:27:00 --> 00:27:00
			Yes.
		
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04
			You mean Islam with a capital I or
		
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05
			Islam with a lower case I?
		
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07
			None of the above.
		
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09
			None of the above.
		
00:27:09 --> 00:27:10
			All of the above.
		
00:27:11 --> 00:27:12
			Yeah.
		
00:27:12 --> 00:27:15
			Islam with a capital I began with the
		
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17
			advent of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
		
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20
			Islam with a lower case I, if you
		
00:27:20 --> 00:27:24
			understand the framing here, began when Allah created
		
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25
			the heavens and the earth.
		
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28
			That everything in the heavens and the earth
		
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30
			is a mission to Allah.
		
00:27:30 --> 00:27:35
			But Islam in this most recent manifestation came
		
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37
			with the beloved Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
		
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38
			sallam as an affirmation of all of the
		
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39
			previous prophets.
		
00:27:39 --> 00:27:44
			But it's always been the way of Allah.
		
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45
			Are there any other questions?
		
00:27:46 --> 00:27:46
			Yes, ma'am.
		
00:27:47 --> 00:27:48
			Yeah, I just wanted to make a comment
		
00:27:48 --> 00:27:51
			to the gentleman over here.
		
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54
			One of the things when people who convert
		
00:27:54 --> 00:27:56
			to Islam meet, aside from what's your name
		
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58
			and where are you from, like, you know,
		
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00
			where do you live and so on, how
		
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01
			did you become Muslim?
		
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03
			Everybody has their own story.
		
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06
			It's our own fingerprint.
		
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07
			It's quite unique.
		
00:28:08 --> 00:28:11
			And I'd like to mention one thing that
		
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13
			I just got a phone call about today.
		
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15
			Some of you know my husband, Dr. Nazir
		
00:28:15 --> 00:28:18
			Ahmed, who translated the Quran into easy American
		
00:28:18 --> 00:28:18
			English.
		
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22
			Somebody had read his Quran translation on his
		
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23
			website.
		
00:28:23 --> 00:28:24
			This is in India.
		
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26
			He's in India still.
		
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29
			And the first day of Ramadan, that person
		
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30
			became Muslim.
		
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31
			That's in India.
		
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33
			And that's just the website.
		
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35
			So, what a blessing.
		
00:28:37 --> 00:28:39
			I've always wondered because I've had friends who've
		
00:28:39 --> 00:28:41
			been converts and I've met people who have
		
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45
			been Muslim for, you know, two decades.
		
00:28:45 --> 00:28:49
			And I would never ask them how they
		
00:28:49 --> 00:28:51
			became Muslim because I thought that at what
		
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55
			point does one stop being, you know, at
		
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57
			what point does one stop being a convert?
		
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00
			At what point does one, do you ever
		
00:29:00 --> 00:29:03
			feel like, you know, maybe I shouldn't be
		
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05
			asked all the time, like, hey, how did
		
00:29:05 --> 00:29:05
			you convert?
		
00:29:07 --> 00:29:10
			And I just don't know what's appropriate or
		
00:29:10 --> 00:29:13
			not appropriate because I figure the point is
		
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14
			that they're Muslim now and we have to
		
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17
			help them, help any Muslim, whoever they are
		
00:29:17 --> 00:29:17
			or whatever.
		
00:29:18 --> 00:29:19
			But just at what point, you know what
		
00:29:19 --> 00:29:20
			I'm saying?
		
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22
			Yeah, I mean, I hear you asking a
		
00:29:22 --> 00:29:22
			deeper question.
		
00:29:23 --> 00:29:25
			And it's almost kind of like when do
		
00:29:25 --> 00:29:27
			converts stop being trophies and when do they
		
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29
			become members of the community?
		
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31
			Because it's really not even so much what
		
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33
			you're asking but how you're asking it.
		
00:29:34 --> 00:29:35
			And I'll give you one gauge.
		
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38
			When people have names and they're not called
		
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41
			new brother, I'm not trying to be funny.
		
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43
			The new brother or the new sister has
		
00:29:43 --> 00:29:43
			a name.
		
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45
			Her name is Salih or her name is
		
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47
			Salma or her name is Su'aib or
		
00:29:47 --> 00:29:49
			her name is whatever.
		
00:29:49 --> 00:29:51
			And his name is Juan or his name
		
00:29:51 --> 00:29:52
			is Jeffrey or his name is Ahmed.
		
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54
			He's not just a new brother, he's a
		
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55
			person.
		
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56
			And this is what I heard the auntie
		
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57
			trying to highlight is that everyone has an
		
00:29:57 --> 00:29:58
			individual story.
		
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00
			I mean, you never stop being a convert.
		
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03
			The sahaba never stop being converts.
		
00:30:03 --> 00:30:04
			They were people who embraced Islam from a
		
00:30:04 --> 00:30:05
			different faith.
		
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07
			That reality never goes away.
		
00:30:07 --> 00:30:11
			They may establish iman as a reality in
		
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13
			themselves between them and Allah to where they
		
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15
			go from just being Muslim to being mu'min
		
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17
			as many of the sahaba did.
		
00:30:17 --> 00:30:20
			The sahaba did, obviously, radhi allahu akbar jami
		
00:30:20 --> 00:30:20
			'ah.
		
00:30:21 --> 00:30:22
			So then you become a mu'min.
		
00:30:23 --> 00:30:24
			But that's a reality only known between them
		
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25
			and Allah.
		
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27
			The social realities of being a convert and
		
00:30:27 --> 00:30:29
			having the majority of one's family being from
		
00:30:29 --> 00:30:32
			another faith community is never going to stop
		
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33
			impacting one's experience.
		
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36
			And if it does, it probably means that
		
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37
			they're out of touch.
		
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39
			And it's something that they should be really
		
00:30:39 --> 00:30:40
			worried about.
		
00:30:40 --> 00:30:42
			If they're not in touch with their family,
		
00:30:42 --> 00:30:45
			that healthy agitation isn't always there.
		
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47
			They're like, yo, there's some difference here.
		
00:30:48 --> 00:30:50
			But at what point does a person just
		
00:30:50 --> 00:30:51
			get to be a member of the community?
		
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54
			That's what I hear you asking.
		
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55
			And that onus is on us.
		
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58
			It's when we say like, mashallah, when someone
		
00:30:58 --> 00:31:01
			moves to the new community and say they
		
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03
			got a job at a company and so
		
00:31:03 --> 00:31:04
			they move to Pleasanton.
		
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05
			When they come to me and say like,
		
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07
			oh, you're new.
		
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10
			Oh, how's the job?
		
00:31:11 --> 00:31:11
			What do we say?
		
00:31:11 --> 00:31:12
			Oh, welcome to the community.
		
00:31:13 --> 00:31:14
			Mashallah, Friday night, Sunday night.
		
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16
			We're not weird about it.
		
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17
			Because they're just new.
		
00:31:17 --> 00:31:18
			So when someone's new, we don't have to
		
00:31:18 --> 00:31:20
			be like, oh, hi, new brother.
		
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22
			What's your story?
		
00:31:24 --> 00:31:25
			Just be natural.
		
00:31:26 --> 00:31:26
			This is your brother.
		
00:31:27 --> 00:31:28
			We're all Muslim.
		
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31
			And I think an even deeper question to
		
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34
			ask is, how many of our youth are
		
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36
			having conversion experiences that are born Muslim?
		
00:31:37 --> 00:31:39
			They're born Muslim in Muslim families.
		
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41
			I know Muslim families that don't even know
		
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43
			that their children are atheists.
		
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45
			They'll get up and pray with them, but
		
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46
			they don't even know that the kids don't
		
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47
			even believe in Allah.
		
00:31:48 --> 00:31:51
			So how many Muslim kids from Muslim families
		
00:31:51 --> 00:31:53
			are basically converts once the light goes off?
		
00:31:53 --> 00:31:55
			May Allah make it easy for all of
		
00:31:55 --> 00:31:55
			us.