This episode features a fascinating conversation with a Muslim dawah leader in Hollywood, Florida, who grew up in a Muslim family in the Caribbean but became so deeply immersed in Christianity that he received a scholarship to become a pastor and priest. His personal meeting with the legendary Sheikh Ahmed Deedat at age 17 in India, followed by becoming Deedat’s guest in South Africa, set him on a path of over 40 years of Islamic dawah that bridges the gap between Muslims and Christians in America.
From Cultural Muslim to Almost-Pastor to Islamic Scholar
Growing up, his Muslim parents barely practiced Islam — his father never entered a mosque and ran a bar. He attended a British-style Christian school, kept pictures of Jesus at home, and attended church every Sunday. The cultural Islam he saw around him pushed him further away from the faith. But when a group of South African Muslims from the Tablighi Jamaat visited the Caribbean and showed him genuine love and kindness over simple meals of mangoes, they slowly won his heart. They wrote to him every month, asking “are you ready?” until one day, Allah gave him the hidayah to accept their offer and travel to India to study Islam properly.
“I grew very much anti-Islam because of the culture I saw — it didn’t make sense to me. I was a seeker. When Allah guided me and gave me the hidayah, my dream was not to have people like me anymore that did not know Islam, that turned away from Islam by not getting the true Islam.”
Finding Common Ground with Christians
His mosque sits right next to a Christian church, sharing parking lots and building genuine interfaith bonds. His approach draws from Ahmed Deedat’s legacy of engaging Christians through their own scriptures. He points out that both faiths love Jesus, both believe in God’s mercy, and both await Jesus’s return. The key difference he explains with warmth is that Muslims love Jesus so much they pray to the same God that Jesus prayed to — a point that consistently amazes Christian audiences.
“We love Jesus so much that we pray to the God Jesus prayed to. You love Jesus and we love Jesus — the only difference is we pray to the same God He prayed to.”
Working Together Against Common Threats
- The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself established Hilf al-Fudul, working with non-Muslims of all backgrounds for the betterment of society
- Today, this mosque works with Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and other communities to combat the Church of Satan movement infiltrating schools
- Common ground includes protecting children from drugs, nightclub culture, and moral decay
- Sharia is widely misunderstood — it simply means living by the Quran, which the US Constitution already protects under freedom of religion
- Dawah operates at multiple levels: inviting people to God, inviting them to understand God’s teachings, and inviting believers to actually live Islam in their daily lives
