Before I get into my personal
interactions and my conversation with
Charlie Kirk, it's where a Muslim talks
to a Christian in the hopes of good
coming from it. I feel it's very
important to remember the value of
peaceful dialogue and discussion,
especially in today's world. I never
publicly discussed my interactions or
the really nice conversation I'd had
with Charlie Kirk on my show before, but
now after his death, I feel compelled to
share my experience for the greater good
in the hopes of reaching the hearts of
good people and highlighting the
importance of striving for peaceful
dialogue and striving for understanding.
This is real important that we condemn
senseless violence. I want to express my
deepest sympathy for Charlie's children
and family and what they must be going
through. Now, I was introduced to
Charlie by a mutual friend who knew him
very well back on July 17, 2023.
We hoped we could meet in person to have
a constructive discussion about Islam.
The goal was simple dialogue,
understanding and education, peaceful
conversation, not conflict. Now, shortly
after that introduction,
as the goal was for us to eventually
meet in person, Charlie Kirk tweeted
something very negative about Islam and
Muslims. You can see it here in this
tweet. and I immediately reached out to
him and also did an academic response
with Imam Tam to address the
misinformation in his tweet and just
outright lies. Now, Charlie responded to
my email and we exchanged messages
respectfully. We even exchanged phone
numbers. So behind the scenes I was
talking with him over the email and
addressing things that he had mentioned
in his tweet. Now eventually we had our
first phone conversation
lasting around 30 to 45 minutes. I felt
it went very well. I opened the
conversation by sharing with Charlie a
little bit about my life and why I had
started the Dean Show. And it was
directly to help people like Charlie
Kirk to understand Islam and Muslims.
That's what the Dean Show is all about.
Clearing up misconceptions and helping
the average person like Charlie to
understand what we are all about.
Purpose of life, why we're here, why
we're created. And during the
conversation, I shared insights about
the Scoffield Bible and how its origins
have been used to divide Muslims and
Christians and to promote an agenda. So
we touched upon that also
dispensationalism.
Now the next part of our conversation,
this is what really really stood out to
me. You know, you have long
conversation, you can't remember
everything, but this was one of the
parts that I really really remember
clearly. And I'll never forget Charlie
acknowledging acknowledging to me that
he knew nothing about Islam and that he
had been taught to hate Islam and
admitted he was raised in a context
where many around him had negative views
about Muslims. This was clear. He he
told me this and and this stood with me.
Charlie told me he had many Serbian
friends growing up and sadly many Serbs
are also taught to just hate Muslims.
often calling Muslims Turks and if you
ask me I believe he was also affected by
this type of hatred. This is very
extreme element. There's this very
extreme element there. That's another
discussion. Just look at what happened
in Bosnia in 1992.
So it shows the effects how you can have
people of hate around you and this can
truly affect you. And I truly believe
this this affected him, his way of
thinking and his hate of Islam and
Muslims. So we got to be really careful
who we hang with and who our friends
are. So I asked Charlie if he had ever
had any Muslim friends or knew any
Muslims growing up. Charlie told me no,
but that he had met a couple Muslims in
college who were phenomenal individuals.
I'll never forget. He said something
along the lines of Eddie. I'm not trying
to trap or bait you. Something like
that. But I'm I'm asking because I
really don't know. He then started
mentioning something about the Quran.
What does the Quran teach about this or
that?
Some of the same verses, some of the
same things as normal things that come
up from Islam haters who misquote out of
context. You can see he was just kind of
digesting this from others and then he
was now sharing what he had this the
negative things he had learned. You know
from this you can gauge where a person's
understanding actually is but he truly
didn't know anything about Islam. So, I
explained some common misconceptions
about Islam, providing context to verses
that are often misrepresented,
quoted out of context. And Charlie was
very polite, non-combative, and seemed
genuinely curious. He asked questions,
and I aimed to be the Muslim friend he
never had, helping him understand Islam
in its true context.
We ended our conversation with the
intention to meet in person. After that,
I really didn't see him posting anything
crazy like before about Islam. He agreed
to appear on my program and I made it
clear we we could continue talking
privately but also extended the
invitation just in case he wanted to be
a guest on the program and he agreed. We
tried to set up the scheduling but that
meeting never materialized.
Later he told me that he couldn't make
it due to him just having a baby. After
I found this out, I congratulated
Charlie.
After some time, I I noticed some of his
public statements continued in that
negative direction like before,
spreading misinformation, lies, and
hate. And I responded to him always
academically,
always respectfully. We also discussed
meeting in Tampa to continue the
dialogue in person. So, I started to
engage with him again after a little
time out. And I genuinely believe that
meeting face to face with Charlie could
could have been very positive and
produced positive results because he had
been around people who were just feeding
him hate. And he had truly never really
like got together, sat down and
connected, broke bread with a Muslim.
And this would allow him to build a
deeper and proper understanding of
Islam. From my conversation with
Charlie, I learned something crucial. He
was taught to hate Islam. His
environment and friendships shaped much
of his understanding and he admitted to
having no true knowledge about Islam.
This is a reminder of how misinformation
and blind hate and prejudice can shape
even intelligence people. Now, as I
opened up earlier, look, I firmly
condemn the senseless violence
that has taken his life. It's horrible.
And those who condemn this senseless
violence should just as easily condemn
the same exact thing happening daily to
innocent children in Palestine.
You got to be consistent. Dialogue,
education, and empathy are the tools
that can prevent tragedies like this. I
hope someone from his organization,
Turning Point, or family will continue
this conversation with me. or if other
Muslims, knowledgeable Muslims who can
help them really understand Islam,
building understanding rather than walls
of fear. I'm sure that whoever from his
family goes through his emails in the
future, it'll be easy to find our
conversation.
Muslims are not the enemy. Islam is not
the enemy. Peaceful discussion is always
possible. And this is what we encourage
and this is what we we were trying to I
was trying to establish with Charlie
Kirk since 2003.
And I never shared this until now. I
hope in and sharing this now is to open
a door just as I try to do with Charlie
by inviting him to a peaceful dialogue
while he was alive. And through this
dialogue he can develop an understanding
and others of Islam what it's truly
about. Now and this is very important. I
mentioned this in the beginning. I never
made this public before. My conversation
with Charlie in public to the public on
my show. My intention in sharing it now
is to reach goodhearted people to remind
everyone that even when disagreements
exist, peaceful dialogue is possible and
understanding is achievable. So let's
choose learning over hate and dialogue
over senseless violence.
And when you're ignorant about
something, you're going to fear it. And
that fear can lead you to do
unreasonable things, including violence.
So, I invite you guys to take this gift
from me to you. You can go to the
deanshow.com and I'll get you a free
copy of the Quran from me to you. And I
hope this story encourages those
on his team and others to connect with
us and we shift from a trajectory of
misinformation and hate about Islam to
sitting down and having true dialogue,
true dialogue to build true
understanding with Muslims
and Islam.
Thank you very much. Peace be with you.
Assalamu alaykum.