konichiwa yep exactly exactly once
really determined and wanted to be a
monk so you were a buddhist at one time
yes i was i don't know if you know you
uh hussain yi
do you me he also was a buddhist did you
ever meet him
yes yes you started thinking about that
at the age of 14 what triggered
buddhism which i wanted wants to be
among
those believers in the same religion
fight against each other so what kind of
religion is that
and then told me to think by yourself
there was a father we got a muslim
one who has submitted to the will of god
that's what a muslim is all the way from
japan don't get caught up with just the
word here thinking like oh muslim
terrorist arab no this is a man who
at the young age of 14 he wanted to know
why he was created
why he where he was going when he's
gonna die and what was he living for
and he went from being a buddhist and
seeking the truth
because that was closest to him in his
vicinity
to actually finding connecting with some
muslims
and being gifted a quran to being here
with us here on the d
show we'll be right back with our
brother from japan
how things in japan yeah from that the
things here
uh continuing to covet is getting uh
settled
little by little yes people are living
start living uh
like previously or of course we all of
them are wearing masks of course
konnichiwa is that how you say it oh yes
for
daytime yeah for daytime how do you
translate peace be with you
assalamu alaikum in japanese
what really struck me about your story
was that at such a young age
14. i mean we say young age but many
times you know when you go back in
history you see that
young men at that age they were totally
different they weren't stuck just
playing xbox all day
you know stuck in the basements many
just doing things that they shouldn't be
doing
and not even reflecting about why am i
here what's my
purpose what am i living for you started
thinking about that at the
age of 14 what triggered that
i i thought that's very normal or
natural thing for
anyone any uh young people who are the
age of you know
people is the to ponder upon
why am i here what am i living for
this is so special it is right isn't it
but don't you find it odd that many
people like you
say that okay that you find it that's a
natural question to ask
you'd want to ask but many people do you
find it odd that many people they just
yeah the answer for that which i thought
of
is that because you know uh leaching to
that answer
is very difficult so people just you
know tell themselves forget about it
then you know go after the joys
and then you talk about that you thought
that that answer was because it was
close to home and the majority religion
is that right was
buddhism so you were you were did you go
towards becoming a buddhist at one point
yep exactly exactly once really
determined and wanted to be
a monk so you were a buddhist at one
time
yes i was before impressing islamists so
tell me
is it true that i remember i don't know
if you know you
uh hussein yi you me he also was a
buddhist
did you ever meet him yes yes mashallah
when i interviewed him one time we were
talking about this we went into
buddhism and he talked about buddha
himself what uh
uh what's his actual name the
the goat yes he talks about possibly
that he might have been
a prophet of allah what do you think
about that yeah possible
possible and then people or i mean
british people
would be happy when they hear that
but many of them and so i was
misunderstand if someone tell if some
muslim tells that
gautam or buddha might be
a prophet they end up you know
convincing themselves
okay then i'm i'm fine to you know keep
being
no no no no yeah that's the same thing
when you look at the true
message of jesus isa alaihissalam moses
musa when you look at when you go to the
core of their message
it was tahid pure monotheism calling
people to be muslims those who submit to
the will of god and
practicing islam submission to the will
of god so when you studied
his life is there any connection with
what people are doing today were
actually worshipping him and
or they have they gone far away from his
core message
yeah it's it's totally opposite to what
he preached
for he never you know tell people to
worship me it's kind of what we see like
in christianity we don't find i mean
this is all respect
this is all with all due respect to our
christian friends and neighbors in fact
you see the the
very interesting history of the buddhism
statues
you know they they start with the uh
footprints you know the footprints then
gradually
the the ankle and the you know
the knees and it gradually completes
the statue well this is amazing because
when you go deep into what we have left
of
the bible you see that nowhere ever did
esau lay some jesus peace be upon ever
say
that i'm god worship me so similarly
when you look here
same thing you don't find what we have
today in modern day buddhism huh
so this is the interesting thing also
that you now you had like most had
a very negative image of islam talk to
us about that
yes uh well because all the
while i was uh you know teenagers late
teenagers
all the news which comes through the tvs
and so on was
like the news of the war between iraq
and the iran
and you know the iraqi war whatever
those
all those horrible aggressive
news about the muslims so anyone
you know who don't go deep into the
realities
behind the scenes you know they end up
you know concluding themselves oh
they are very uh you know violent people
and fanatic to their religions and so on
that's how i was
as well same thing was this before 9 11
or after before a lot before 9 11 yes so
this was even before 9 11
yes yes now what was like i mean we know
the
media a lot of them here but was it the
same are they just parroting
the same thing that the media
here in certain parts of the world the
same thing in japan they were
spitting the the negative image media in
japan
is like a copy of the media best same
thing
yeah very very similar it's almost the
same but what was kicking it off before
911
what was what were they pushing out
before 11
give us some examples of things that you
heard about islam that obviously weren't
true
uh so as i mentioned like the example of
the war between iraq and iran it's it's
a war between
the same believers same i mean muslims
so
anyone who sees that news the uh i mean
how come how in the world
the the believing those believers in the
same religion
fight against each other so what kind of
religion is that and
things like that now now the japanese i
mean question because a lot of this
stuff is coming
from this side of the world were they
smart enough not to some like you not to
fall for the negative
lies and misinformation and propaganda
now of course sure some people should
question themselves but the
unfortunately most of them are quite
happy enough
within their you know their societies
with their life
styles so they don't really you know
bother themselves to
go deep into the the
truth between behind the scenes yeah
tell us now
japan this is where this sad and tragic
event happened where you had
two of these bomb hiroshima nagasaki
this is where it
happened in japan correct yes give us a
little bit of history of this
just in a nutshell what happened
happened during this time and how many
people were killed innocent
innocent people yeah sorry
i don't know about i mean i don't
remember about the numbers but the yeah
so many people
you know got killed so naturally i think
as any non-japanese would think about
because of those hiroshima and nagasaki
japanese must have been hating americans
on
things like i mean as natural you know
feelings of
human beings however very
uniquely or very ironically uh
only you know very limited very limited
people
hate america i mean they all most of
them are following american cultures and
so you see how america uh
succeeded in brainwashing japan into
japanese
yeah that's why i gave that example
because you see what people are they're
good at doing it's dividing us
separating us islam brings us together
like you you're my brother
over in japan we've never met but we
give each other that greeting of peace
peace be with you
and then you come over and stay at my
house minimum of three days i gotta take
care of you how's that
it's the truth right and we've never met
but there's that bond there's that
there's that that connection right away
so tell me sheikh what was it that
changed your perception
about islam and i'm just gonna make a
disclaimer because some people
tuning in and they think like you did oh
islam here we go those terrorists this
that and the other but islam obviously
as you know is just calling the human
being not to submit to money to jesus to
buddha to anything except the creator of
the heavens and the earth the one god
that jesus worshiped that's the god that
we're worshiping so what changed your
perception
about islam uh
seeing and knowing the realities of
muslim life through muslim life
as in as i was exaggerating the
importance of
the point which islam do not separate
between the
practicing faith and daily lives of the
activities because all those you know
the
buddhism which i wanted once to be a
monk
and other other ladies religions
christianities or whatever many
religions in the world
they do separate those two right
uh so ever since my ego woke up
a walk and then searched for the true
religion
i wanted the in a true religion which do
not separate i mean
which is complete way of life so i found
that in the life of muslims
and uh alhamdulillah i was lucky
fortunate enough to
to find some muslim friends while i was
in australia melbourne
as an exchange student yes was it a hard
transition now because
at that time you're still a buddhist yes
i was buddhist yes
did you have to astonished uh
you know by listening to the sayings of
the friends and how i mean how they were
so
confident in the truthfulness of islam
when they were talking about islam
they were so confident which annoyed me
a lot i mean how can you be so sure
that the the truth gives you that
confidence doesn't it it
we shouldn't make us arrogant but proud
that we're upon the truth that this is
the truth the huck from the creator of
the heavens and earth
there there is there's not that like in
the back of your head is it really no it
is hundred percent
and that's what have you make a great
sacrifice i mean you're an intelligent
person i mean
you have a lot of credentials to show
for it you know and you i mean you got
to go against a lot of odds like many
people i've interviewed you
really have to put islam to the test and
scrutinize it take an analytical
scientific approach which i'm sure you
did
before you submitted in islam
i'm sorry i i couldn't er follow the
question it was it
you had to make sure 100 that it was the
truth obviously so you did your homework
you did a lot of homework how long did
it take you before you concluded
that this is the truth not man-made very
short time
a very short time a period just i i had
to
you know go beyond them come across the
final line
of uh acquiring the enough confidence
to overcome the possible future
challenges
for my life i mean as an individual in
anarchy
the because i because i was in
the position of having a very vice
viewpoint against islam
you can say like one of enemies of islam
so i could easily you know imagine how
people would react to me if i were to
embrace
become a muslim so i had an
anxiety you know for that
yeah so in order to come across just
that
anxiety i needed a week of time but now
only because i i could fully convince
with the
uh concepts or i mean what islam teaches
about
the the relationship of god and people
and
everything so that was only a matter of
coming across the the barrier of you
know
getting the confidence now besides the
kind nature
the hospitality that you experience from
this family they also did something they
didn't just stop there
they also did the da'wah not just with
their behavior and character but they
gave you a gift
it was the quran and you were astonished
because the person that gave you
the quran he said read this for yourself
and think
for yourself tell us about that
yes so that was the beautiful approach a
beautiful way of approach
to let other the one who
you know you want to give the message to
think
by themselves because there was another
i mean
they had a brother i mean who was
younger i mean
older than me uh he approached to me in
the way of
pathway you know persuasion yeah and i
did not like it
from the same family this is from the
same family yes yes
okay yes
the one who gave me the the the
must-have the copy of the
quran and then told me to think by
yourself the
who was there was the father of the
family yeah the past waiting
approach was their brother but that's
that that we can derive so much wisdom
from there i mean benefit look look it's
a father and son team a family like not
only exhibiting the true nature
of how muslims should be kind hospitable
right it doesn't matter muslim
non-muslim they welcome you in their
home they took care of you
but also they did the da'wah they shared
the message with you
yes yes and do you feel now that
from there that what he told you to do
would you advise other people right now
tuning in he said
read this book and think for yourself
don't think like
fox news or this news station or this
islam hater wants you to think
right think for yourself after reading
this book
was that a powerful statement would you
would you advise others to i mean just
copy that do the same thing what he told
you would you do you give often that
same advice to other people
not straight away after establishing
after building the personal
relationships that's the
very important points yeah not just go
and knock the doors of others or the
visit i mean of the
meet people and then straight away give
the books or booklets or whatever
no no no i don't recommend this wait in
japan
at least in japan oh japan here we have
different types here in america you got
like the
the bus stop dawa one minute you got
something
then you got someone your neighbor maybe
take some time get to know them
right so there's different version but
how is it in japan you said that
japanese really like to to read here
we've lost reading many people
lead sorry they'd like to lead but
with their choices yeah not
they don't like to be things that they
were given ah
okay so they do take them
very proudly but most probably those
booklets or whatever
goes into the rubbish unfortunately i
have to give the example because you see
there is a lot of good cultural you
don't i mean obviously islam didn't come
to just eradicate all the culture
in a certain culture correct so we see
things
in the certain japanese culture and i
often make this
example uh that now we can't living here
push
our culture on someone else but we
obviously
when you go into a japanese they don't
shake hands most right
so we continue that same thing out of
respect for the for the
for the women we don't touch what we
don't have the right to touch correct so
tell us about that you also have the
taking off of shoes which actually here
this is a normal culture
even though you got 500 some you know uh
is important that you're you just walked
on the lawn you know the grass and they
sprayed it with you know chemicals
and you're bringing that stuff in the
house come on people but in
japan it's shoes off right and no
shaking
tell us about that and open the case
their foods are clean
so this this is this is something what
else tell us more about the japanese
culture things
that you can share with us well
uh samurai what about the samurai is
this the samurai
some huh right vision might somehow is
legend
so you don't find some right now there
is but you have the samurai
i teach martial arts what do you do i i
do uh
gracie jiu jitsu yeah wow
oh masha allah see uh see now when you
look you have
there i believe jiu jitsu is also
practiced there you have i i
this this many people know martial arts
let's say the samurai there's certain
qualities of honor
respect dignity didn't these martial
arts they had this code of ethics this
code of conduct
yes yes yes yeah they do they do so is
this also not
very ironically to us uh people faith uh
they take you know practicing martial
arts and others
as the as their way of life so they
satisfy
with it you know not and then don't
don't go for
searching for the you know father truth
oh further they stop there
right i try to connect these different
things these qualities
you know like you have this and this
islam teaches this to have noble
character
dignity honor all of these things are
there in islam obviously it's on the
footing of the
pure monotheism the tohit the nature of
japanese people they are
they are native religious people
uh maybe many of them are
not aware of that but you know they
aren't
very religious however as i mean that's
why they they have a sense of you know
uh being grateful
to everything around surrounding and
everything
that's connecting them to the creator
uh is another issue so
lucky you the people of america you have
the you know
common background of you know the
prophets and the
you know the one god yeah so
the distance between you know two is
quite different i hear what you're
saying tell me you have like
eight between 80 and 100 masjids in
japan
yeah do they we found that this is uh
one of my best friends dr sabi ahmed he
runs the gang piece
and and i work and collaborate with him
and he says
like many others that one of the most
effective tools of tawa are the open
houses
we need to open the masjids for the not
yet muslims to come
how are those from those 80 to 100
masjids are they open
do they have these open houses like
we're trying to
get people to do more here
yes some of them very limited numbers of
masjid uh
masha'allah doing such open house
way and like the one tokyo masjid is
very
uh i mean it is beautiful enough uh
even to be a sightseeing place so
then they have a you know sightseeing
tour and others so
they awaken all the ordinary non-muslim
japanese people
every day and the other other one the
one for example
in okachimachi in tokyo the downtown of
the tokyo
masjid salaam also which uh
many many times uh that chef saying he
visits
yeah anyway they have uh yes uh
open house atmosphere
but unfortunately all the majority of
masses are quite
uh you know how do you say uh
isolated or you know blocked within
themselves
limited within themselves we got a
couple of minutes they're signaling that
we've got i'm really enjoying talking to
you
i really am uh just to cut thank you
just
just a couple more questions we saw you
giving the shahada shahada is when
someone finally recognizes what the
purpose of life is they testify what's
in their nature
that i bear witness that there's nothing
worthy of worship except the creator of
the heavens and earth and muhammad just
like jesus moses abraham the other
messenger was the last final
prophet sent to mankind we saw you
giving someone a the shahada helping
facilitate this
in in this in this masjid there do you
see more
more japanese waking up to this truth
and coming to the true purpose of life
in japan
alhamdulillah numbers of you know new
muslims in japan
are they in daily basis increasing
alhamdulillah
but the challenge is you know let me
repeat
the follow-ups for us yeah we have that
same issue yeah yeah follow-ups very
very important right it's easy to get
the
shahadah everybody comes hugs kiss and
then you forget about the person
yeah so we'd like to appoint like a
guardian angel somebody to be with that
person right to help them learn to pray
to help them to establish the five
pillars of islam yeah
sheikh tell us what other advice i mean
do you recommend people to is it easy to
get a v to come to
to come visit japan could people come
visit you at your masjid
yes yes come around yeah you're in the
main masjid in tokyo correct
you're in the main masjid in tokyo
no not not really your main masjid the
the the
you know the it's a camille masjid
what's imam is
the the masjid of japan muslim
association it's in the center
in yes in the middle object tokyo but
the the biggest masjid in tokyo is the
tokyo jamie which is under the turkish
government
i see okay well your masjid is called
kamiya masjid
no gotanda gotanda masjid yes gotanda
yes
okay sheikh thank you very much
inshallah we can continue
soon next time maybe a part two thanks
a lot thank you salaam
so this was the japanese imam went from
being a buddhist
at the young age of 14 was seeking the
truth
and then he got to hook up with a muslim
family
and then the tao was given to him the
truth was shared to him he was given the
gift of the quran
i advise you i implore you
in the most sincere and humble way if
you are not yet muslim out there because
i say not yet muslim because everyone
has the potential to submit to the
creator that happens in earth and that's
what a muslim is
to read the quran a good translation of
the quran is a living miracle put it to
the test it has a falsification test
in there if you do if you believe it's
from other than the creator
find one contradiction do such and such
and such
memorize and preserve it's authentic has
not just calling you to
to believe in it blindly but it has the
evidences and proofs
besides that it tells you where you're
going when you're going to die what you
need to do to get to paradise and avoid
the hellfire too many things to list
he did the homework he accepted the
truth
and he shared it with here here with us
on the dean show
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