Roaming Ramadan #28 With Sonny Bill Williams

Welcome back to roaming Ramadan

lessons on the road.

This episode in particular is one of

the dearest

to my heart. I'm here with my dear

brother, Sonny Ben Williams for the first time.

We're both

from Australia. We live in Australia. We live

in Sydney. I live in Perth, but we

haven't met at all,

in in Australia. We just met here in

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and I thought to

see this opportunity

to bring him over to roaming Ramadan for

the first time. And, you know, for the

last time, Hajaabi, it was lovely to finally

have met met you. It's been an absolute

pleasure. Firstly,

It's my first time, say, everyone watching. It's

my first time doing a an event like

this,

and I couldn't think of anyone better for

us to to share the stage with with

than yourself,

The path that you want, your reversion story,

coming back to the deen, and

so what is You're kind of related a

lot. I wanna do stories. What I did

like

how you have achieved a lot in life.

All

of a sudden,

you didn't plan it. Maybe you were thinking

about it. You were

seeking something.

And all of a sudden, Allah called you

to this path,

and Allah brought you to Islam.

And if if I may ask you one

thing,

miss, about Islam that no other has been

that really captivated you the most, what would

that be for

you? I learned a lot from you. I

wanna I will highlight 1, but I wanna

see if you will know. Okay. I'll I'll

remind it just a bit. When I was

in search of purpose, my whole life was

came before what? Yeah. Trying to buy my

buy my house for all payment. Yes. I

achieved that at 18,

and then I had a what if what

and then it sent me on a path

for purpose.

Read a lot of books.

Went back to

church. All of these things happened. I think

probably to answer your question specifically, the eyes

that I

I make a few brothers.

You're still very close to me right now,

and they're the ones that taught me about

this thing. And it was from

just the their way of life.

The way that

they had

fear of their faith, the way they conducted

themselves,

their way of life was a picture picture

of what they were used with, and I

really respected that. And just that contemporary

and and solace that they seem to have.

While they each, I wanted to explain some

I wanted that. So I had the flashcards.

I had the the house. I had the

house. I had the money, the wealth. But,

I think I'd like someone to do that.

So that's it. You mentioned something about boundaries,

discipline,

and being a sportsman like yourself. You grew

up from being disciplined. It was training, eating,

and all that. So does that relate to

your faith, what is to Islam? 100%. I

not so much from this. Yes. We can't

going to try and beat up this.

As an athlete, I've had ups and downs.

As I've said, I've had ups and downs.

As an athlete to be the best player

in sports that I

yearn

for, you need boundaries.

You're the best man of faith, you need

boundaries.

And I found that

the more boundaries I sit,

the more calm I felt. So

and that's why I talk talk about it

a lot. And you see, you don't have

to, my brothers. This is a lesson for

you to learn. You don't have to be

a sheikh, a graduate from Al Zahra, a

graduate from Madinah, or anything like that to

to influence others positively.

Brothers only never claimed to be a sheikh.

But I think his his beard does not

stand it.

But,

but

using his story to empower others

and to invite them to look into Islam

is his niche. That's what he does.

Aside from that, he's also a bully. As

soon as he saw me, he wanted to

take me to the gym. He didn't know

that my back is broken

also.

We were talking one last thing and we

deduced a little bit of a lesson or

two from them and then

in the session.

And that is we spoke about books. Yes.

So you were into the rugby. The history

is known.

Why you loved the game,

ever since you were 15 or 18?

Since I was 5. Yeah. Since we were

5. Yeah. Since I was yes. So 18

is the the professional grade. Yes. 18 was

the But boxing came much later,

and,

definitely, something was coming

to talk to you about.

What you're doing, brother. The Haram, please? Yes.

You got a laugh. You got a tattoo

on you. Yes. But the culture of that

stuff for a while. How did you do

that? And,

I will offer a you know, it's a

bit of,

maybe to clarify some what's the misconception with

boxing?

But how did you deal with that, and

what is your plan in the future after

leaving pretty boxing?

I will

it's hard, Jeff, because I'm I'm real infinitive.

For the first time, when I became a

Muslim, I went to work. I went into

a bus trip, and if I had turned

me around, I'm away because of my heart.

It's a.

So I felt like something to be wrong

with to cut it off. You know? I

just want to pray. I I strove to,

just be the better person, be the better

man. And

I think

when it comes to certain things like boxing,

like, rugby,

shorts, or shingles,

it's

hard. You know, one at a time. And,

I just try

and

I try and focus on my relationship with

my crew.

Now

and now I understand and and,

you know, accept my intentions. Allah definitely is

overwatching all these struggles,

And and I think that's that's my whole,

I guess.

That's the path I work in this space

because it's so sensitive. Sensitive. I don't wanna

give rulings or no rules because I don't

know what you know?

In be honest. But I just try to

work. Islam the best way that I can

change. And

there's one thing very important about boxing in

particular. You told me something about boxing

in terms also of how it improved your

relationship with Allah or in terms of this

Oh, my, sir. Yes. I look at it

like this. I'm not

my

take on boxing per se is I'm not

fighting. I'm not training to go and give

someone a hand. I'm not training to go

and give her a hand. I'm not just

going to see that.

I'm training

to keep myself disciplined. I'm training

to. Shall I if it happens, I need

to step up and protect my family and

my and my kids and my children so

I can handle myself. That's why I'm training.

And, obviously, I fight and I get

And one day, Allah will will will take

you out of this

substitute or something. Wait. So what we wanted

to bring to people's attention is that you

don't know other people's struggles in the background

to start judging them and start putting, you

know,

the Haram

sign in front of the face every now

and then. Just pray for them and

that he came all the way from the

dark into the light of Islam. So this

is sufficient. The other thing is the the

recent subject many do have about boxing is

that we always say boxing is harm

in a very, very general terms. So boxing

is a big norm. What the prophet salallahu

alaihi wa sallam, prohibited my brothers and sisters

in Islam,

is hitting the face.

When your intention is hit the face or

when you hit somebody's face, that's how the

boss has said don't do it. But if

you are trained in boxing or any other

martial arts with the intention of self defense

to become strong, to strengthen your body, or

any emergencies,

then there is no any problem there. There

is no any issue with that. Now whether

the brother is still in moxing,

hitting other people's face or not, this is

something as we mentioned. We ask Allah

to protect him, Ask

Allah to grant him victory against his enemies,

whoever they are. And

whatever goodness the brother is bringing to the

community

must be separated. Final word, Kabir, to the

people. Love is for the sake of Allah.

Duas for me and my loved ones.

and give salah.

and give salah.