this is the dean
the this is
thean this is the is
the alhamdulillah Alum peace be unto you
welcome to another episode of the dean
show and in the dean show Studio we have
shik Abu Toba who went from being a
Christian to a Muslim and you can go to
theen show.com we've done some shows
with him in the past and we talking
about his experiences his journey to
Islam Islam the simple message to
acquire peace by submitting to the one
God the owner of Peace the same God of
Jesus Abraham Noah Moses and all the
messengers of God including the last and
final messenger the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him so we're going to
continue on talking to him and having
him share his experiences with with us
when we come back here on the dean show
sit tight
this is the de the
[Music]
de this is the
D this is the this is
the this is
the this is the
show this is the de this is
the this is
the this is the D is
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theam
alayum peace be unto
you thank you thank you very much all
right you know we were uh continuing on
WE we've done some shows with you in the
past talking about your story how you
came to Islam people can go to theen
show.com and we did kind of like a
series where you know it's very
interesting talking with you and we kind
of went off on some other elements and
we discuss that kind of here there but
we still didn't get to the crust of the
matter uh where we left off you were you
joined the Marines and you started to
perform the prayer and then that's where
we kind of left off if you can just take
it away we just slide right into
it you
know when I was in Japan it's very may
sound strange when I moved to
Japan I started to learn more about
Islam you know I went to the Masjid in
Japan and the Imam there began to teach
me Arabic how to read
Arabic so the first letter he showed me
and I I accused him of being a
worshipper of Muhammad I went to the
Masjid and I said you know I want to
learn about Islam but I don't want to
worship Muhammad I said you Arabs you
worship Muhammad he was Arab the the
Imam and so he's like no you know I said
I said yes you do because every time you
say Allah you don't say anything but
then when you say Muhammad you say
s yes you know Allah has the one more
for you to say something after his name
like Allah be great is Allah and this
that and the other thing he said no
really Allah doesn't need anything he is
he's free of all need worthy of all
praise whereas the prophet Muhammad is a
man he's a prophet and he benefits from
our prayer you know we pray for to Allah
that Allah have mercy on him and give
him this High position so I immediately
started to understand something
different so I said I don't trust you
cuz remember I wanted to learn more
about the religion
so you need to teach me Arabic so I can
read for myself and figure this thing
out so he asked me my name my last name
is Robertson so he showed me the letter
raw this is raw in Arabic he wrote it
there he says see this and this line
above says a raw I said okay I can say
that raw and then the next letter he
showed me was ba so you like your name
and I thought he was going to do my name
he said can you say that I said yes I
can say that
he said this is a word you read your
first word it's a very important word I
said what is this word he said Lord this
word is Rob Lord and it touched me the
way he did it and it made me cry I was
like Wow Subhan Allah I'm reading and
it's the first word I ever read was R
you know and so that that had a lasting
effect on my intellect now I was in the
Marine Corps as you said and I was in
Special Operations I was part of an
anti-terrorist team so I know a lot
about what terrorism is and what it's
not you know
alhamdulillah so I was in a class and
during this class our team is was J
joint special ops capable so you have a
team of of force Recon a team of Navy
SEALs the team of Delta Force and we all
make one jck unit joint special ops
capable of doing anything so we're
having this class and the the screen
pops on and it says this is the first
type of terrorists and it was yaser
Arafat he is the political terrorist and
so we're taking notes down and then he
said here goes the next screen pops up
here's the next um terrorist this is the
religious fanatic and it was
aah so we write this down he's the
religious fanatic and then the this
screen pops again and it shows um
mufi and he is the military fanatic boom
and so the lights come on and they say
hey what are all these guys have in
common and somebody yells out there are
ragheads you know and so a couple of
guys Giggle and stuff like that and the
instructor he does it he says yeah
they're all muslim okay then he says do
we have any Muslims in here and I raised
my hand my hand went up automatically
you know he says I put my hand up so
they used to call me Rob cuz my last
name is Robertson he R Rob or Mr like
that so they say um what type of Muslim
are you okay that was the key sentence
that changed my life what type of Muslim
are you I had never thought about it
before I never considered that thing and
I looked at the screen and it's got the
religious fanatic the political fanatic
and the military fanatic those were the
only choices that I was given at the
time so I said I guess I'm the military
fanatic cuz we know we're all you know
military guys at that time and everybody
bust out laughing oh you're a funny guy
and they thought I was joking and I said
wow you know what type of Muslim am I
for real I wasn't laughing you know
because I didn't know how to really
answer that question I knew there was
more to it than the three choices that I
had and that became the quest that I was
on the journey that I was on to Define
what type of Muslim am I so the The
Logical next question is what type of
Muslims are there what are the choices
yeah yeah yeah let's let's take a break
we're going to we're going to continue
There what are the choices because
you'll see a lot of different you know
Ahmed you'll see the uh what else you
have the uh Nation the Nation of Islam
you have the different forms that Islam
has taken over the years you know so
this is a good point now and I'm sure
there's a lot of other people who can
relate to this and we're going to
continue this what kind of Muslim are
you now when we come back here on the
dean
show do not kill a woman do not kill a
child do not
you know going to different religious
leaders Buddhism Hinduism uh forms of
Christianity I even ran into people from
the Nation of Islam kill an old man do
not kill an animal do not cut a tree
down do not po the water do not burn
their
[Music]
homes back here on the dean show and
we're talking to Abu Toba and you hit a
point where what kind of Muslim are you
now before that you were learning and
you were almost at the point where
you're saying like look you know there's
no God but the one gu but you want to
kind of seem like leave this Muhammad
the out you know what I mean that's what
it seems like to me and we know that you
know there's no separation of two you
have the Quran verb and word of God and
you have the Sunnah the authentic I say
these aren't lullabi stories these are
the authentic Hadi sayings of the last
final messenger because he's the walking
Quran right yes sir so now you you you
are confused and many people are because
they don't have the correct knowledge so
now you have High you have Ahmed you
have I didn't start there yeah how let's
go from here so now I'm I'm I'm trying
to figure out what type of Muslim am I
and you I started to do some research to
figure out and I went asking people and
I started learning the history of Islam
in the United States and so you have the
those people like the Nation of Islam
well even before that you have Prince
Hall Masonry you have the the moris
Science Temple this group of guys who
saw them El as African and since African
was meant Muslim to them and they made
this group and then they started to go
for and they have problems in there they
believe they made their own Quran you
know and they make blasphemy so I said
oh these guys are way out I'm not going
to get myself involved in that group
right here then you have the Nation of
Islam who said that Elijah Muhammad
became the messenger of Allah from a
statement saying that he was you know uh
far Muhammad is the god in person I said
this is the same thing as Christianity
there's nothing different from that and
I let go of that and then there was this
thing with the worthy Muhammad
Ministries and that was really a more
afro centricide you know approach to
Islam and I said well you know to be a
nationalistic is not what Islam is
calling me to be you know I'm not going
to be a reverse racist in Islam I know I
want the proper religion of Islam you
know and I said to myself I my father
and my mother they weren't really too
happy when I accepted Islam and I love
my father and I love my mother I said I
would never make my mother and father
displeased or unhappy for something less
than the truth and so I would read the
Quran and and like you said I initially
said well I don't really I believe that
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah but I
don't know about these Hadith I don't
want to get involved in this this may be
just like the New Testament to to me but
then as I start kept researching and
finding out that no muhammmad is the
messenger of Allah and that that means
that we believe everything he said to us
you know and that we have to take sacred
law from him and obey his commands and
call everything that he calls Haram and
so I started to learn more about what
that meant can you equate it can you
equate it like if you were living during
the time of Moses he was revealed the
Torah and he was explaining to the
people how to implement the tan well
what happened is I learned in Japan this
happens in Japan now I learned the the
the Imam there made us do research
papers on the simple principles of Islam
what is a prophet that's what changed my
life with regards to the prophet
Muhammad Sall alaihi wasallam the
prophet Muhammad s alaihi wasallam what
is a prophet a prophet is a man whom
Allah reveals to him Revelation and
tells him what's going to happen in the
future what happened in the past and he
tells him how to rule the run rule in
the lives of the people now what's a
messenger a messenger is a prophet that
comes with a new legislation he comes
with a new book if you want to use an
example you have the prophet Moses and
and Haron whereas their brothers Moses
is a prophet and a messenger he has a
book Revelation and a Sharia legislation
to rule in the lives of the people where
Haron is a prophet but he's not a
messenger he prophesizes and he has
order or has the permission to lead the
people and teach them how to run their
lives but he doesn't have a new
legislation or a book that's revealed to
him specific giving any new laws so when
I learned about what was a prophet and
what were the rights of the prophets I
did two things I looked at Paul of saris
in Christendom and realized that he was
not a prophet and didn't have any right
to legislate okay second I looked at
Jesus and recognized that we don't
really have what he legislated in the
Bible at all and that made me understand
why the Quran was revealed and that the
job of the Prophet Sall alhi wasallam
was to explain the Quran and I was very
happy with that because then I started
to notice things that I had known in
Christianity that it said going a little
further Jesus falls on his face and
praise I said oh he's making Salah like
we do you know and I said wow I didn't
realize those particular things until I
started to learn more about the Quran
and how to offer Salah and these types
of things so I was able to bring things
together but then I still didn't answer
my question of what type of Muslim I saw
the Shia Muslims and they were beating
themselves in the backs and we were
dealing with them because we were
fighting them at at that time in the
Marine Corps so we see the Shia and I
said well this this is not the Islam
that I know about and they were saying
that Ali was the prophet of Allah and I
knew that was incorrect and they were
saying that different sahaba were not to
be listened to the this mentality so I
said okay we're not like this then I
heard about the ahmedia then I heard
about the the the the fuk you know cuz
coming from New York we have this
militant type Islam that was growing in
in the United States we called it the
dll Islam and a daughter Islam is was a
lot of the Afrocentric brothers who
started to practice Islam but it was
really heavily militant at the time and
this were our our fathers and and and
our um father-in-law so I said okay
what's missing all this afrocentricity
all this militance all this uh tasa
where is the Sunnah then like I said the
prophet Muhammad s became very important
at that time and so I realized that the
only way you can be a good Muslim the
thing that ties Islam and the Quran Al
together is following and emulating the
life of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam The Prophet Muhammad as as you
said he is the Quran walking this is the
last and final messenger sent to mankind
not Elijah Muhammad no not I don't mean
Elijah Muhammad the prophet Muhammad the
son of abdah okay so now you have to
follow him what about some people say
look you know we didn't get a prophet
sent to us and this farad Muhammad you
know and Elijah Muhammad and they sent
for the the African-Americans to help us
and they take him as a prophet well you
know what we tell those people is that
you know what's the difference between
that and Jesus and the idea Jesus Is God
as man you say father Muhammad is God in
embodiment of man the prophet Muhammad
different from all the other prophets
came
down as a mercy for all the people and
so different from Jesus Jesus said he
came only for the lost people the lost
sheep of the children of Israel whereas
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam he came as a guide for all
mankind for Chinese black for everybody
so you can't use that excuse No in fact
we find that the majority of the Muslims
aren't Arab yeah you know the majority
of the Muslims would be the the the
Indonesian Malaysian people and then the
African people and then the Indian
people you know so and then you go to
the Arab people and find the major you
know when we talk about Muslims you know
in in Con in in general but the mindset
is that the prophet Muhammad is only for
Arabs this is this is ludicrous so now
what happens next well
alhamd I I come back to United States I
studied for some years here and I was
teaching in the United States and then I
go back overseas for about 10 years I
lived in morania for 10 years I lived in
morania for about 6 years 6 years and
then I moved to Egypt what were you
doing there I was learning I was
perfecting my skill in Arabic language
and
okay law learning law and then I went to
Egypt And I memorized the Quran and then
after that my son he got sick he had to
have brain surgery so I came back to
United States and that was about three
years ago and um I've been here I opened
up school called The Fix fundamental
Islamic knowledge and Seminary I teach
from there I teach Arabic I teach Quran
memorization of the Quran and law I do
that now and you know I have a book
coming out called the black is Black
Sheep it chronical IES his whole journey
like that and that's pretty much what we
do and we do martial arts and I'm going
to beat you up when I get a chance go
downstairs in we're going to have to you
you know do a a program on that and
since you know that's one thing I didn't
mention that you're also involved in
martial arts somewhat a little bit yeah
alhamdulillah how long you been doing
that well actually I I've been doing
martial arts since the 70s since I was a
young youngster and alhamdulillah I do
system now called Al yeah which is just
you know the Islamic system of chivalry
Islam promotes people taking care of
themselves and especially for the the
the young adults and the old adults to
learn how to wrestle and that's what
martial arts is basically is wrestling I
heard you do martial arts yourself yes
yes you know what what what do you do
the uh Gracie Brazilian jiujitsu Gracie
wow Subhan Allah mallah I heard the
Gracie family is really tight very tight
very tight yes aldah well famous and so
he must be must be pretty good yeah
alhamdulillah alhamdulillah I got
involved with them and you know they
dominated the martial arts world you
know long time ago and was it Helio
Gracie the older one Helio Gracie and
then you have his brother Carlos Gracie
okay and I'm under Carlos Gracie from
Junior Senior I mean uh junior and I
have the lineage connected back to them
mallah that's that's a beautiful thing I
try to promote Brothers to go learn
martial arts from Muslims because then
you don't have to get involved in the
Sherk and the and the different things
that come along with some of the systems
yeah you know and people have to realize
that the Muslims are very involved in
martial arts and that's another form of
you know internal struggle yeah where
you're you're you're not fighting the
other guy but you're fighting to see if
you yourself to make your body respond
in a proper way that will benefit you
and training your body and disciplining
yourself and what do you think about
that you know how do you find martial
arts in that regard I think it's
incredible definitely a good way to you
know Channel your time in a positive way
a constructive way we'll see if you're
you're afraid or not do some martial
arts I'm going to get Eddie and do him a
karate chop inshallah we'll see how
tough he is when we get on the
mats and uh I might take you up on that
we're going to take a break and we'll be
right back with more here on the dean
show Muslim boy I got MB printed on my
ring I sing for my Muslim boy boys and
my sisters doing their thing for the
sake of him Allah when I'm in need of
anything I turn to
him success what he
BRS here with shik abuba and we're going
to bring you another self-defense tip
what do you say that's good I like
self-defense tips let's do it so this
week I'm going to grab you like this
what are you going to do now okay you
see he's grabbing me by my collar okay
and now from here I've tried to diffuse
the situation it's not working no ain't
no diffusing the situation now he put
his hands out I got to defend myself
okay so how am I going to do it and
suffer the least amount of damage
because again I tried to diffuse it's
not working okay so from here I'm going
to grab the wrist all right this is a
bent arm Escape if the arm is stiff this
won't work so it's a bent arm Escape I
grab the wrist okay and from here I'm
going to step through pop the elbow
up duck under free hand is going to come
over this is this week self-defense tip
with
Eddie Allah when I'm in need of anything
I turn to him Allah success is what he
brings Muslim Bel from South London they
don't even know what it means it's too
real for them I'mma put it on and Fick
for a reason they need to start thanking
Allah for the air they breathing don't
diss me back that's a waste of time I'm
already subit and I'm already on a
straight line I'm already one God
worship him alone do what he wants you
to do put your desires this thing inside
you that just wants this and wants that
and you just can't get enough you know
what you never get enough until the
dirt's in your mouth don't let it come
to that be sincere and honest ask the
one who created you to guide you is the
first step put off chasing all the women
and the good times and the parties and
this and that there's no one worthy of
worship except Allah don't wait you
never know if death would come today for
you or not
[Music]
back here on the dean show and we're
wrapping up we're almost out of time so
tell us now you had a long journey and
how could people now really benefit and
take home some great advice when either
they are Muslim or they just been kind
of going with the flow and you have some
new Muslims how really people can get to
practicing Islam the way that it was
revealed from the creator of the heavens
and earth to the last and final messeng
prop Muhammad peace be upon them so they
can implement it the way that is
pleasing to the creator of the heavens
and earth and they're not following
their lust and desires and making up
things as they go along what advice do
you have alhamdulillah you know that's a
good question
because alhamdulillah we have resources
in like Dr Bal Phillips he has his
website Jamal zob boo these guys uh they
have on the internet where people at
home can go and get online and ask
questions from people who have gone and
studied and acquired a lot of knowledge
and now they're able to give that
knowledge back you know I try to tell
the people don't get involved so much
with you know who is this person on it
and off it because there's a bunch of
people that get overly involved in that
as opposed to looking for benefit
learning the basics you know and then of
course you have the fix you can come to
the fix and learn from us there and
there's a lot of resources out there
that people can take advantage of and I
think if they just stick to the basics
the the basic principles of Islam trying
to find the answers to that they won't
have a problem learning what they need
to learn and stick to the Masid that was
the thing that changed my life going to
the Masid and learning that knowledge
precedes words and deeds you know people
are going to have to look out for our
show we're going to have to give some
since you're in the martial arts I'm in
the martial arts we can we can uh maybe
show some some safety def self-defense
tips and we'll do a show on this what do
you think in God
okay I look forward to having you back
thanks for coming thanks for letting me
come on your show thank you very much
for for coming out I really appreciate
it may Allah reward you thank you amen
and that's all the time we have and as
you've heard him say stick to the basics
it's very simple start off with asking
the one God the creator of the heavens
and earth in Arabic we say Allah in
Aramaic Jesus said Allah that one God
who created the heavens and earth and
everything in it ask him for the
guidance and then keep it simple keep it
simple go back to the basics if you're a
Muslim already you have the verbatim
word of God the Quran and you have the
authentic teachings of the last and
final messenger sent to mankind of
prophet Muhammad peace be upon him his
Sunnah his way the same way if you were
living during the time of Moses you
would follow what he was given and he
was the teacher he was the messenger
teaching you how to get close to God
same thing during the time of Jesus he
was the teacher teaching you how to get
close to God but today we have the last
and final messenger sent to mankind of
prophet Muhammed peace be upon him and
then you have his companions they
understood this way of life the best so
you have the blueprint the formula the
verbatim word of God the authentic Sun
of the last and final messenger prophet
Muhammed peace be upon him and how his
companions understood it they ate slept
live with the last and final messenger
this is a simple way of
life all the information is there you
just got to take the time continue to
come back here to the dean show and
inshallah you'll get to benefit and
we'll see you next time until then peace
be unto you