And I'm like, I'm up. I'm a practicing
Arab. I'm not practicing Islam. I'm
practicing Arabism.
>> You ask the universe what you want. You
get it.
>> With Mike Tyson's experience at one
point, why do I got to learn Arab
language to worship God? Why do I got to
eat like the Arab to worship God? Why do
I got to dress like the Arab to worship
God? This is not the worship of God.
This is the deification of Arabic
culture. you as a Christian and now uh
singing and dancing in the churches but
now
>> you don't believe that you're not your
ultimate fate is not going to be under
the ground in the dirt then as we say go
and do as you please
>> what's the primary difference now
between Islam and Christianity
>> go and pray go and give your thanks to
pray if he was God he wouldn't that's
what you're telling the kids
>> you know forget Jesus for now let's
let's
>> just make up stuff as you go along your
own religion
>> ask around ask Christian practicing
Christian, why why are you here?
>> Are are we talking about the universe
asking the universe? I was just thinking
the same thing.
>> Yeah, we dance around with Allah. So,
>> dance around with Allah.
>> Yeah.
>> At one point he's with uh Badu Jack and
they're praying together.
>> Uh the story was that they he was very
powerful. He was even some say bigger
than Mal could have been bigger than
Malcolm X
>> on his level celebrity too
>> because he didn't he didn't say like no
I don't want to pray. When they were
praying again he went to pray,
>> right? This is the de the
>> assalamikum Dr. Zaki.
>> How have you been?
>> Alhamdulillah my brother. How are you?
>> It's good to uh meet up with you again.
It's been a while.
>> It has.
>> So we were just talking catching up. You
said wow 30 years. It's 30 years passed
that quickly since you accepted Islam.
>> Yes.
>> You're a medical doctor by profession,
>> correct? Yes.
>> How have those 30 years been now? When
you reflect, you go back to the moment.
You're previously a Christian.
>> Yes, sir.
>> What denomination? Catholic, Baptist,
uh, Protestant?
>> Really none to be honest. I would find
myself at different churches depending
on what which family I was with, what
was going on at the time.
>> Depending what family you were with.
What do you mean? Well, uh, we didn't go
to church on a regular basis ourselves
in our household. So, if I was visiting
family,
>> oh,
>> that kind of thing. They may be of the
Baptist, uh, faith or something like
that. Sometimes I went to a Catholic
church. So, it was pretty much that was
it.
>> A lot of singing and dancing.
>> Some people are thinking collecting.
>> Some people are like, "Well, don't you
guys do the same thing in the moss?"
>> Right.
>> Singing and dancing,
>> right? Absolutely not.
>> Uhhuh. No.
>> But were you taking the fun out of it?
>> Well, there's a Islam came to change the
perspective on just about everything,
including fun.
>> Yeah.
>> So, we can't have no fun.
>> No, we can have fun, but we do it with a
different lens, right? Our our fun,
everything we do is is matched against
our ultimate purpose for even being
here,
>> right? So if we take uh our our purpose
for being here is to have as much fun as
possible before we pass away before
death comes and yes you know but when we
know what our purpose is and what's
waiting for us you know as Muslims we're
taught our purpose is to get to know who
Allah is the creator of the heavens and
the earth the one who's the most
merciful the most kind and to know that
we didn't deserve this we didn't ask to
be here but he gave us uh life and then
gave us the guidance as Muslims you
We're guided by Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. So, uh, and the Quran
and all all these things. So, when we
get to know and get aligned with why
we're here and what's waiting for us,
right? What's waiting for us back home?
We're all going back home to meet Allah
and hopefully in Jenna.
>> When you say Allah for the person now,
they think, okay, what do you what do
you mean Allah? Who is Allah? That's
your moon god. That's your Arab god,
>> right? So, uh, loosely speaking in our
language, in the English language, we'll
say God very loosely. God could mean
anything. Someone could say, "Oh, he's
the god of hip-hop." If he started,
>> he's the god of hip-hop,
>> right? You know, so somebody who
>> people say that.
>> Yeah. You hear people rappers all kinds
of things.
>> Wow.
>> So, but when we say the God, right?
Allah, the one and only by definition,
we're talking about the one who created
the heavens and the earth, the one who
sent down revelation, right? The one who
sent down prophets from time to time.
The one who sends down angels. The one
who's created everything that exists.
The one who has no beginning. The one
who has no ending. The one who was not
born. The one who will not die. Uh the
the compeller. The one who mends things
together. The one who's most
appreciative of every little thing. The
one who's all watchful of everything.
The one who can see everything. The one
who can that one. That's who Allah is.
And that when we look into those
definitions, we'll see no one will ever
be able to have those names and
attributes
>> inherently.
>> Right.
>> Beautiful. So, continue on from there.
When you said Allah, you you were making
a point
>> um
with
just
lost my train of thought there.
>> Yeah. You were talking about that.
>> Yes. I um
>> Oh, no. So, when you said um we're just
basically when we say who Allah is.
>> Yes.
>> That's who Allah is. We're talking about
that one.
>> And so, um,
>> redefining what fun is, redefining now
you as a Christian and now, uh, singing
and dancing in the churches, but now,
uh, I asked you, we people think, oh,
you don't do that in the mosque. Said
no.
>> Right. So, when we have access now to
who Allah is, we naturally have access
to his words
>> and his words is found in the Quran.
Like you said, tamper free, tamper
proof. Right. This is the original
>> uh words of Allah. And that's why when
you listen to the Quran, it sounds so
beautiful, so melodious, it sounds like
almost like it's singing. Um, you get to
know what it means, what's it saying,
that produces a certain level of joy for
you. And then when you find that
yourself, even though it's not your
native tongue, that you can through
God's help learn how to pronounce and
learn how to recite this Quran. That's
that's fun, right? So now we know why is
it why is it fun? because we know for
sure that it's being counted for us on
that ultimate day that's coming.
>> Mhm.
>> Right. So, we were talking about the
loss of our family members most recently
and uh even in our sorrow moments, we're
able to extract, you know, because if
you don't believe that you're not your
ultimate fate is not going to be under
the ground in the dirt, then as we say,
go and do as you please. If you honestly
feel as though you're going to live
forever and that you were given all
these good faculties without any
accountability, if you think that makes
sense to you, then do as you please,
live as you please. But that doesn't
make sense. And we're taught in our book
that we are definitely here for a
purpose. That purpose is to get to know
who Allah is so we can worship him
because we will inevitably meet with
him, right? We all belong to him. That's
where we're and that's where we're going
back to. Mhm. So what's the primary
difference now between Islam and
Christianity the way of life the
religion you were upon before?
>> So
>> because uh someone might say why don't
you just do the same thing and call
yourself a Christian
>> right? So there's nowhere in the in the
in the Bible for for instance that says
that we should uh worship Jesus that we
should carve him out and and and worship
him. Right? In our book the Quran we are
taught by every page to develop a
relationship with God Almighty. We're
called to have a relationship because
Allah is speaking about himself on every
page. And as Muslims, we believe in the
Bible, but we know and it's been
tampered with. We don't have the
original script, right? So in the way
that Christians practice, it doesn't
call us to have a unique relationship, a
direct relationship with God Almighty,
right? It tells us teaches us to
compromise that and have a a intervening
um factor if you will through Jesus
Christ, peace and blessings be upon him,
right? when whereas he didn't do that
himself he taught that to worship the
way I worship and I'm worshiping one God
right so when people are coming up to
him asking him to pray he's telling them
to go and pray go and give your thanks
to pray if he was God he wouldn't why
would he tell them to go somewhere else
to pray
>> pray in front of me pray to me he's
never said that and he would never say
anything like that
>> you know
>> what about if someone says no but he did
he did say I am the way the truth and
light no one comes to the father except
through me before Abraham was I am
>> right so his example his example is
what's to be followed and that's
consistent with our belief as Muslims
you know Allah God almighty has sent
down messengers and prophets to be an
example to mankind
>> right so and gave them particular
miracles so that they would be
believable so that not anyone could just
say hey I'm a prophet of God follow
Right? And so in the case of Jesus, of
course, he had special um knowledge of
the unseen. He had healing abilities,
right? Because this was the time during
um the time that he lived, the the
doctors were kind of like the experts in
society, right? So Allah always gives
the appropriate gift if you will
miraculous nature to the prophet uh in
in conjunction or in coordinates with
what's happening during the time because
during the time of the prophetat wasam
the language was the big thing the
Arabic language they had a lot of poets
there and so Allah gave him the Quran
the linguistic miracle that it is
>> so um but no back to Jesus you know we
always say for Christians
exploring Islam or coming to Islam will
love Jesus even more.
>> You'll love Jesus even more as a Muslim.
>> Of course, because you're knowing him
for the truth.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, you're learning about his
life, the way it actually unfolded, you
know, unadulterated the truth. You know,
another thing we find strange about the
Christian faith, again, not to pick fun
at any particular part, just making an
honest assessment
>> of uh being honest or not so honest with
our children. So, we're taught
throughout the year to worship Jesus,
right? And then maybe a month or two
before Christmas, we start rightly
worshiping Santa Claus. That's what
you're telling the kids.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, so forget Jesus now. Let's
let's let's so sit on Santa Claus's lap.
And how confusing would that be to a
child?
>> Where did Santa Claus come from? Like,
how does he fit into the Christian
doctrine? You know, he doesn't. So, um,
it's hard to really have a good time or
have fun when you delve back a little
bit and start looking at things
factually with the faith.
>> You have a lot of experience. 30 years
is a lot of experience. Many have a hard
time and you we spoke about this uh with
Mike Tyson's experience at one point
>> and how him being diff disenfranchised
with what was it at that point where you
were giving a hudba
>> a sermon at mosque in Vegas and I think
it was the one that he attended also
>> I don't know if he was there at the same
time or no no he wasn't and then what
happened was he was speaking about his
experience with the massagit masid,
something like that.
>> Yeah. Being disillusioned by some of the
activity that happens in the masid, the
isolation, maybe the cultural
differences, etc.
>> And converse generally, some have a hard
time adjusting and whatnot. And
>> and there's that statement, thank God
that I got to know Islam before I met a
Muslim. Have you?
>> Right. Right. Right. Right.
>> Because some Muslims obviously uh don't
do the best job at um living Islam
properly, so they just screw it up.
>> Right. Right. But it's it's uh it's a
two-way street, too, because some people
will say, "Well, if they were really
serious about being Muslims, they
wouldn't run away so fast." And we have
to be careful not to be um so
self-righteous and take the halos off of
our heads if we come with an approach
that way because
>> uh especially for us reverts who grew up
in this country, this is a jungle. I
mean, we're like 180 degrees. Even the
question you asked me, excuse me, about
having fun, it's like 180 degrees
diametrically opposed to what we think
is fun as a non-Muslim. As as a Muslim,
the perspective and everything changes.
But um but we should be a little bit
more kind and patient with those who are
reverting and not to be so much
judgmental because it takes time. And I
think the easiest and fastest and most
effective way to stay on course is is
doing what we just um talked about and
that's Allah and going through his
attributes.
>> That's a powerful thing because we can't
worship Allah if we don't know him.
We're praying five times a day. We have
to know who we're praying to, right? And
so this is the best most fruitful way
get to know who he is. get to know his
attributes, how he speaks of himself,
how he praises himself, and how this
book could not be of, you know, look at
the look at the language in there. Just
putting out a challenge, a open
challenge if anyone could come up with
even a verse similar to this and go get
all the help you can. No one would write
such, you know,
>> a book with that sort of language.
>> Absolutely. Yes. Someone might look at
you now and say, "What? Okay, you're
you're um from African-American descent
or your background American, whatever
the case, how you like to represent
yourself when asked.
>> But then someone say, "What? I have to
become an Arab? How would you explain
that?" And before you do, I want I I we
covered this a while ago with this clip,
but I think it's relevant for this
question. So, I want to first show you
this clip.
>> Okay. Okay. You might know this
individual and and just to dispel this
stereotype that he's actually
representing here and see how you you
would go ahead and um respond to it.
>> Sure.
>> Completely ignored black people's
problems. We completely ignored black
culture. We completely ignored the black
reality. It was all Islam. Learn your
Arabic. And I'm like, I'm up I'm a
practicing Arab. I'm not practicing
Islam. I'm practicing Arabism. Why do I
got to learn Arab language to worship
God? Why do I got to eat like the Arab
to worship God? Why do I gotta dress
like the Arab to worship God? This is
not the worship of God. This is the
deification of Arabic culture.
>> And that's why I walked away from it.
>> You know who Omar Johnson is?
>> Yeah.
>> You've heard of him?
>> Yeah, I heard of him. Never met him, but
I've heard of him.
>> So, what do you think?
>> Well, um, so he calls himself a
pan-Africanist. So, he's definitely a
national
>> pan-Africanist. Yes. For people that
don't never heard this word for the
first time, what does that mean?
Pan-Africanist. Those are people who
have taken Africa as their center uh
paradigm.
>> Yeah.
>> And throughout the world, wherever
African people find themselves, whether
they be in the Caribbean, in the east,
the west, Asia. So, we have an African
identity that's to be upheld pretty much
ideologically, socially, economically
has to look through that lens,
>> you know, regardless. And Got. So, but
he's he's a very intellectual person,
very smart, very well read, and his
criticism, I was just talking to
somebody about this maybe a few weeks
ago about Islam
>> is always about those kind of cultural
things that can be dispensed super
easily. Yeah.
>> Because as Muslims,
>> we are is taught very clear how we're to
practice and that is to follow the
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. He's the best of examples. And
so all the tenants of what we need to do
as Muslims, whether it be to pray five
times a day, he mentioned something
about the dress. Our dress is to dress
modestly, right? There's certain things
as a woman should be covered and certain
things as a man should be covered.
Outside of that, we dress conservatively
and um you know, and clean, etc., right?
And as far as food choice, again, these
are all common misconceptions because
people know that Muslim
>> Do you only eat biryani? No, that's Indo
uh as an Indian dish,
>> right?
>> Do you I mean,
>> so we have a
>> Do you only eat Arabic food,
>> right? No, of course not. Right. It's
like a lot of Arabs, you know, we're
probably the most diverse people on the
planet when it comes that functional
living.
>> Yeah.
>> Go look at Hajj is the best example.
>> Do you ever wear a suit?
>> Yes. Okay.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm a physician.
Some sometimes I find myself wearing
suits. Sometimes I, you know, I get to I
wear sweatuits if I'm going to train,
you know. There's not anything wrong
with that,
>> you know. But they they take a lot of
these uh and I understand it because we
were raised in such culturally
um aggressive environments that culture
and race were brought into our
environments despite the fact that we we
didn't necessarily want that to happen.
And so if if we're at the bottom end of
that stick, I can see the response.
Let's let's go at it. And that's a
never- ending battle. You can go and and
that's why it's not really fixing
anything.
>> And even to expound a little bit
further, Prophet Muhammad wasam in Islam
is the only system that's ever ever
destroyed racism and its fundamental,
you know, at its root and core.
You know,
>> did he say African spirituality?
something like that.
>> Uh, did he say that?
>> Yeah, he follows. What does he follow
now? He follows.
>> Yeah, some if he I don't know if he said
that, but it's something similar.
>> But I had to walk away because I saw how
we completely ignored black people's
problems. We completely ignored black
culture. We completely ignored the black
reality. It was all Islam. Learn your
Arabic. And I'm like, I'm up I'm a
practicing Arab. I'm not practicing
Islam. I'm practicing Arabism. Why do I
got to learn Arab language to worship
God? Why do I got to eat like the Arab
to worship God? Why do I got to dress
like the Arab to worship God? This is
not the worship of God. This is the
deification of Arabic culture.
>> And that's why I walked away from it.
And now African spirituality is my
foundation.
>> That's what he African spirituality.
>> African spirituality. So
>> yeah,
>> what is that?
>> I don't know.
>> It's one of those terms.
>> You just make up stuff as you go along
your own religion.
>> You can find you can find something to
fill in the blank for it or just define
it yourself. Mhm.
>> But the fact that you saying
spirituality
and knowing most people like him who are
well read like them, they know there's
something greater than us.
>> Mhm.
>> And so everyone wants to toy around at
the top. It's either there's only one
God or there's not.
>> God exists or he doesn't exist, you
know. And that's one of the ultimate
things I love about the religion of
Islam is that
>> we could toy around with certain things
but the re the reality is we have to
come to fundamental answer systems basic
questions that not many religions ask
around ask Christians practicing
Christians why why are you here you know
why did God create you who is God these
are basic questions who is God what's
his name
>> you know why did he create us
>> you know and um Islam is the only one
who answers these questions emphatically
with with evidence,
you know, very clearly. God is one. He's
not three. He doesn't have he's not the
child or the father, you know, he wasn't
born. Everything by definition that is
born must die.
>> Yes.
>> Right. By definition. So, and he he
doesn't die. He he wasn't born. Uh and
he and his traits that he has are
inherent parts of who he is. They
weren't given to him and they won't be
taken away from him. He's the allseeing
today. It doesn't mean tomorrow he won't
be allseeing. He's always allseeing,
>> you know. So, we can't fathom
um who he is in his truth, but we can
become of awe of him. We have no choice
but to become in awe of him the more we
get to know him.
>> I keep thinking about Mike Tyson because
we spoke about him a lot last time we
met. So, it's kind of um triggering a
memory bank here. And I also I saw
something that I wanted to discuss one
time. I put it in my to-do because I I
want someone sent me something from Mike
Tyson. I thought, "Okay, maybe now is a
good time." So, I want to show this clip
to you.
>> Okay.
>> Because we're talking about worshiping
one God, worshiping the creator, not the
creation, pure monotheism.
>> And maybe this can be of help to Mike
Tyson. How would you address this uh
subject if you were sitting with him or
if you know, hopefully we get this to
him.
get your reaction to what he says here.
So, he's describing his uh describing
his life with uh his former coach.
>> That was his job to create fighters. And
he told me one time cuz one time I said
some stupid stuff. I said, "Wow, I can't
believe I'm here, man. I come from such
blood. I'm from the sewage and I'm
here." And he said this. He said, "I
summoned you." I didn't understand the
universe.
If you're sincere
and you ask the universe for what you
want, you get it. He said, "I want you
going to be the greatest fighter since
the beginning of life. I have such low
self-esteem when I met cuz pastor always
say, I need you to look in that mirror
and fall in love with yourself. You need
to fall in love with yourself, but the
more you love yourself, the harder it is
for you to be mean." This man made me
the most famous person in the world.
>> What do you think? I I see people who um
you heard what he was talking about. If
you're sincere and you ask so someone
might think he's Muslim, you're Muslim.
Are are we talking about the universe?
Asking the universe for guidance,
>> right? No, we only ask Allah.
>> The creator who created the universe.
>> Allah creator of everything.
>> Yeah. What what do you think of that?
>> Again, that's that's a safe way. Again,
people dance around.
>> I was just thinking the same thing.
>> Yeah. We dance around with Allah. So,
>> dance around with Allah.
>> Yeah. just a simple thing that just you
know um you know
>> wow I was really I was thinking the same
thing people who get up in that position
now and they're scared to like you know
mention the creator
>> right it's it's um it's amazing you're
you're acknowledging and it's so easy to
acknowledge inherently part of us is to
acknowledge our lord you know Allah says
in the Quran if in some verse uh
paraphrasing if you found yourself lost
at sea
Mhm.
>> Right. You're on a boat and you're the
boat's tipping over and you know you're
the first going to say, "Oh my god, this
is what's going to naturally come out of
you can be a person who never worshiped,
never prayed." You hear people all the
time in natural disasters, a tornadoes
coming and people are filming it. You
always hear people in the background
saying, "Well, oh my god. Oh my god,
that's amazing." or for whatever the
expression is. You know, as superficial
as that may sound to the most serious
things, we all have an inherent
connection to reaching out and asking
for
uh our needs from an understanding
there's a power much much greater than
us and that everything that exists for
us Muslims, we call that that's a law.
>> And we want the best for Mike. I mean,
Mike, uh, I've interviewed also his
manager, great brother, um, brother
Abdullah, and he he has, um, great
things to say about Mike obviously. And
Mike Tyson, when he's around
practicing brothers, you can see him at
one point, he's with Badu Jack and
they're praying together.
>> So, I think, you know, company really is
important, right? needs to be around
good good brothers who remind him
because it it awakens
>> that goodness that's that's in him that
he originally came to but at the same
time this is uh this is just uh because
you know people who play this um word
game words are very um powerful and we
know in Islam it's we cannot joke with
these things like a man can say one word
and divorce his wife
>> say I was joking no it's no joke oh you
know what I meant no this is a word.
>> Yes.
>> Right. You can say one word and end up
uh being exalted to the highest levels
of Allah, but at the same time, you can
be thrown to the depths of the hellfire.
>> What do you think?
>> Absolutely 100%. Who's the universe? And
the same thing now with uh AI.
>> You know, we're paying attributing a lot
of these technological advances and
being praiseworthy of them. But what's
about Allah? You know, where's the
praise for Allah? Where's the
acknowledgement of who Allah is? Mhm.
>> You know, so we have to be careful that
that we don't attribute things um our
gratitude, our our sense of attention
and direction of thought and focus on
other than him.
>> Yeah.
>> You know,
>> the same way you can't say Allah the
creator is Jesus,
>> right?
>> Same way you can't say the creator Allah
is Muhammad, the creator Allah is the
son, the creator of Allah is a human
being, a saint and no, the creator Allah
is the universe.
>> Right. Right.
>> No. Allah created the universe.
>> Exactly. Right.
>> Very simple. Basic.
>> Very simple.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Very simple.
>> But I've heard this not just from him,
from others, just kind of people who are
celebrities and they kind of want to
stay neutral, so they don't want to
offend nobody. So be like, "Oh, I thank
the universe. What are you doing?"
>> A shik,
>> right? Absolutely.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. The universe hasn't even taken
credit for it.
>> No.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. So,
>> uh, so it was another interesting thing
before we conclude that, um, there was
another pioneer
that he was somebody, uh, during
Malcolm's time that you were telling me
about. He got incarcerated for a crime
that he didn't commit.
>> Yes.
>> And he's actually buried. Your mother is
buried right next to him. This is um,
>> Jamal Imm Jamal. J.
>> Yes. J Alamine. Yes.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. And he goes by the name
Rat Brown.
>> Yeah. H Rat Brown.
>> H Rat Brown.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. That was interesting that your
your your uh your mother and that it can
go even deeper. Your mother actually
also was a Christian,
>> right?
>> And towards the end of her life, she
actually took her shahada.
>> Yes.
>> She declared there's nothing worthy of
worship except the for those that don't
know what the shahada is, there's
nothing worthy of worship except the
creator Allah.
>> Yes.
>> And Muhammad is the final messenger. And
this would auto automatically include
Jesus as a messenger. We're not
excluding him, Moses, and uh Ishmael,
Isaac, Noah, Abraham, and the list goes
on.
>> Yes,
>> I love that how it makes uh you can put
a chronological order all the way to
that concept of submission to the will
of God all the way from the first man,
Adam. So, she realized the truth. She
accepted Islam.
>> And then, uh may Allah grant her ja. She
passed away recent. Uh that was at how
long? A few years ago?
>> Yeah. September 26th last year in the
fall. And um and then literally almost 3
months, 3 days short of 3 months later,
our brother uh J Elamine Jam
>> uh died in in jail in custody, been
falsely accused of murder of of a police
officer, my understanding it is. And the
proof was vehemently out there that he
was innocent. But despite all the
attempts to free him from custody, you
know, it was Allah's will that he died
in prison, a dignified death and uh he
spoke out, you know, it was as strong as
ever according to family, you know,
close family and friends. And so uh we
were delighted to hear that he was being
flown here because we know that his
religious uh background and headquarters
were in outside of Atlanta. And so, um,
I wasn't able to attend the the janaza
down in South Florida. I was out of town
on business, but when I went to visit my
mother the last time was around Mother's
Day, I went down there to give salams.
And I noticed looking over that his his
tombstone or his headstone rather, was
right there next to hers.
>> And I thought about my mom. I said,
"Man, subhan Allah. Allah wrote for her
some things that she probably didn't
even know about. But we never know what
dua is going to be answered.
>> You know, we don't know what small thing
that we will do that Allah will accept.
>> Mhm. you know, and my mom being a
immigrant mother from Jamaica, coming
here at a young age, raising four
children on her own and the life of hard
work that she undertook,
could have never imagined that at 83
when she's at the tail end of her her
life, Christian her whole life, and then
to take shahada at age 83
and shortly thereafter start to lose her
faculties of of cognition and ultimately
had Alzheimer's
uh disease of a high st of a high um
stage towards the end of her death. I
mean she became totally dependent on on
others. was a fiercely independent woman
who needed help to go to the bathroom,
needed help to eat, needed to help to
get cleaned up, you know. Um, and then
to die at home with her son, you know,
who she helped to become a doctor is
this is all gifts from Allah. We say
alhamdulillah for all of these things.
>> Amazing stories.
>> And u yeah, there were brothers and
sisters that came by. We were listening
to zikur. Brothers were reciting Quran.
My mom didn't know how to recite Quran.
She hadn't even got to uh pray fatiha,
you know, etc. the opening chapter of
the Quran.
>> But she's getting all of these rewards.
>> Subhan Allah.
>> Right. She's getting all and her janaza
was packed with Muslims, you know, men
and women who were some of them a lot of
them never met her praying on her. So,
if we can get this footage, if we find
it and we get it up of uh the Imm J's
Rat Brown, his funeral, that area, your
mother is right there. That's what a
coincidence.
>> Yeah,
>> there's another coincidence. Look at
that. It's amazing. They're buried.
>> Yeah, I have footage from mine. I've
sent it to you as well. I can see but
it's it's for a man of that stature and
the dean you know who sacrificed so much
you know it's nice to know that um you
know he's buried here and you know
>> I wanted to mention him because I most
people I didn't know about him
>> I didn't know much about him
>> then I heard from a few people you know
the obviously that this was um they what
uh the story was that they he was very
powerful. He was even some say bigger
than Mal could have been bigger than
Malcolm X.
>> And they wanted to suppress that.
>> Right. Right.
>> Did you hear the same thing?
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> And that um he was somebody also who was
speaking out vehemently against the
aggression, the attack on Bosnians in
Bosnia.
>> Yes. Yeah.
>> He was organizing protests and
>> Yeah. He was a strong strong leader who
believed in family, believed in Islam uh
vehemently and stood strong and spoke
the truth and
um and unfortunately this is what
happens or fortunately again we say
alhamdulillah on all conditions because
we have um we have documented proofs of
giants not just overseas but here in
this country of people
>> uh who are taking Islam seriously and
trying their best to advance
Yeah, if there's anybody out there from
his family or other historian, people
who who really know his life, please uh
get in touch with us. We'd like to speak
more on
>> about him, get to know him and uh thank
you for for mentioning
>> him, your story with your with your
grandmother.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh message to Mike Tyson.
>> Yeah.
>> Universe.
>> U please come talk to us.
>> Uhhuh.
>> Yeah. Come back to the dean if you
haven't left it already. I believe he's
a Muslim at heart anyway.
>> Yeah.
>> He's been to Hajj. He's been to Umra. I
understand it.
>> And uh it could just be like you said
the company.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, it could be the company. I
think a good person
>> get with Abdul uh Abu uh the boxer. Um
>> you know who I was going to say?
>> Abu Jack. Um
>> Hakee Elijah.
>> Hakeim Elijahan.
>> Basketball player.
>> Uhhuh.
>> Yeah.
>> Get with uh the brother Abdullah and uh
Abu Jack and get with the brothers.
>> Mhm. And uh this brother you're talking
about you got to be around good
practicing brothers
>> right on his level of celebrity too
>> because he didn't he didn't say like no
I don't want to pray when they were
praying again he went to pray right
>> right right
>> but then you get you get affected with
the people the environment you know you
you become like uh
>> um who you hang out birds of a feather
now you're hanging around with the
people who really you're you're more
concerned about what they're going to
say
>> right yeah
>> I think celebrity Muslims who are happen
to hold it will be a good guy for him
cuz they live a different life. Let's
face it, they're so used to the
celebrity aspect of their life. Who
knows how
>> you heard of Badu? Brother Badu Jack.
That's what it Badu Jack.
>> No.
>> Yeah. He's a really good practicing
brother. Good
>> good brother. He knows him. They know
each other.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. But when he's with those brothers,
then they pray, they call him, he's he's
right in line.
>> Draws right in.
>> That's companionship.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Alhamdulillah.
>> All right. Thank you. and we take a take
away what what uh what can you give of
advice to someone like yourself former
Christian Muslim for 30 years practicing
medical doctor so obviously you took a
analytical scientific approach you
really what was it about Islam that
finally had you accepted
>> ultimately I would say it's the prayer
just witnessing it um visually I think
the most superficial thing for me for my
heart to change was the visualization of
Muslims praying
>> you know it's just it just speaks
volumes
>> that everyone's lined up praying in the
same fashion you know going down to bend
down together standing up together
everybody moves
you know Allah has heard those ones who
praise him and right away he said
you know the the structure of the prayer
the connection it's you know it's it's
unique and when I saw it for the first
time my heart melted you know just from
the visualization of it not knowing what
was being said it's just like whoa
that's that looks pretty heavy
>> and then then intellectually I think
studying the human body bioysiology
biochemistry
you're witnessing things that
you know is is of a higher order you
can't come to any I guess you could come
to multiple conclusions but for me
thankfully Allah told me no there's only
one conclusion
Uh, I set all this up
>> and u and and this is just our bodies,
>> right? When we go off into an airplane
and we go up and up and up, we start to
see how meaningless, you know, we're
just little specks,
right? And if you keep going more, we're
even less than that.
>> Yeah. So, but even our bodies as as as
that be made what it is is that they're
still so complex, so full of many
perfectly
moving parts, reactions that seamlessly
work together in in harmony,
>> you know,
>> and there's trillions of us. So, I
think, you know, from that point of
view, it's
>> you couldn't help but get close to who,
you know, get to know who Allah is and
love him, you know, for that. for the
new converts, reverts, those who having
a hard time. You've you've got so much
experience now 30 years. You've kept
with it, but those who now use the
excuse or I understand they deal with
some Muslims. And you have on one side
Muslims who are just amazing, the most
honest, trustworthy people. You have
others like in any community who uh do
not set the the the best example and
they use that as now as excuse how
they've been treated. some masids,
whatever the case, you've been through
pretty much all of it almost.
>> Yeah, I'm hoping to write I'm hoping to
put together two manuscripts. One is to
introduce people to Islam kind of almost
to mirror what you're doing on this
platform, you know, and just inviting
people to Islam, come to Islam. And then
a companion one once you've come and
embraced Islam, welcome to Islam. I
think to answer your question is get to
know who Allah is. Just I can't
emphasize that enough. uh learn his
attributes, read the Quran, don't rush
yourself, really ask the questions, what
does this name of Allah mean? How can I
incorporate it into my life? How can I
be a better Muslim through this
particular name? And you you can't help
but be positive with that. And of
course, try to get in good study groups
with the people. Uh normally in the mid
there's a people of fudger, you know,
and those people are typically the w
people they get with. Fudger is the
first prayer of the day and so it may be
difficult to get up at that time and
make an effort but that says a lot about
the people who consistently do it
>> right and so even if you can't do it
with your work schedule try your best to
get into pray uh salat fudger in the
masid and even as well um at the
beginning and the end of the days but
you know find the good people who are
there regularly
um but for independent study independent
motivation to keep encouraged
is go to Allah
>> because you're never alone.
>> Yeah. And final question, people have
been hearing about this uh project, the
Dean Center. You actually uh now are
here. You've been getting hudba.
>> What do you what are your impressions?
What are your thoughts?
>> Alhamdulillah. That's what I mentioned
before. That was the that was the the
title of the hudba is because that's all
I could hear coming through my heart
when I saw this place. A beautiful
facility. lots of land. I think the
leadership that has been uh promoted
through the dean show and the platform
is emanating through here and that is
being inclusive and really getting the
word out on a bigger level that this
this religion is here to stay and it's
for everybody you know and um may Allah
tala preserve it may Allah tala give
maximum rewards to everybody who's
participated and continues to
participate. I understand there's still
a lot of work to be done. Um but the the
future of this place I feel in my heart
is going to be enormous you know
enormous.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you. Thank you Dr. Zaki. Thank you
very much. May Allah bless you. reward
you.