[Music]
muham all Praises are due to Allah we
thank him when we seek his forgiveness
we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of
our own souls and the evil of our own
Deeds whomever Allah guides no one can
lead him astray and whomever Allah leavs
astray no one can guide him I bear
witness that there's no deity worthy of
being worshiped other than Allah he is
alone and he has no partners and I bear
witness that Muhammad s. wasallam was
his last messenger and servant U my
brothers and sisters in
Islam may Allah subhana tala reward all
of uh you today for coming out to listen
to our story and bless uh Allah bless
this community with success in this life
and the next a mean uh our story is uh
not uh you might have heard many people
talk about their coming to Islam uh ours
is nothing you know anything uh you say
exciting to talk about we just want to
you know pass on a little bit of what we
experienced throughout our research and
trying to find the
truth um M me myself I was born in uh
New York in
1977 and I lived in New York for
approximately 11 years and throughout
that time uh I live with my parents
alhamdulillah uh they came they
immigrated from in
1969 uh they came like many of uh our
the parents here today who came to this
country to try to find a better life to
try to you know improve the the life
style of their family alhamdulillah uh
my parents were very spiritual
especially my mother uh she was the one
who always encourag me and my two
sisters to go to church and I remember
going to church uh you know every Sunday
up to the point I was 7 years old uh
became the alter boy the alter boy is
the one who carries the cross for the
priest in the beginning of the
procession and assist him uh during the
uh the service this is something that uh
I was very active in
uh going to Catholic School uh my
parents put me in Catholic School to
keep me out of trouble keep me away from
uh the streets out there in New York
trying you know to make uh their son you
know someone who's respectable and you
know not have him to be down with the H
as they would have said it back in those
days um alhamdulillah during that time
um my father he felt the need to come
back to New York after paying $1,000 a
month in rent and then he compared it to
Houston Texas you could get a
three-bedroom apartment for 400 he all
the finances was you know intelligent
today let's go down to Houston because
it's cheaper to live and it seems like
it's better also in uh uh in general
just a general environment is better for
for the children so my parents moved
down to Houston Texas uh when I was 11
years old when I came down to Houston it
was a different makeup that's started to
affect my mentality in New York you know
when you have friends you have friends
are African-American hispanic white
mixed together but I've sensed a
different kind of mentality in Houston
that it was African-Americans by
themselves white people with themselves
and Hispanics with themselves it was
really segregated so a lot of times when
know people ask me where you from you
know and and come at me really rough
like I'm from New York and they be like
ah okay what that meant was that they
they knew that I wasn't going to be uh
like them meaning I wasn't going to just
stick around with one group of people I
was going to mix with the different
people in the
school I remember
though always being asked you know man
why are you hanging out with you know
this white guy why you always hanging
out with this black guy you stick with
your own I was like our own I mean our
own is everybody I I'm down with
everybody so this was the mentality of
the people in the community that I lived
uh both of us we grew up in and this is
when gangs started to come about in the
early '90s in in Houston so
alhamdulillah by Allah's permission
during that time period I went into you
know my sports was into football and I
kept out of any you know the gangs and
alhamdulillah Allah saved me from that
but at the same
time I remember that our own little
football team was our own crew because
we stuck
together and after a period of time I
started to ask myself you
know my faith I was having issues with
my faith I remember looking back at a as
13 years old asking myself I'm not
satisfied with what I was going to
church in I wasn't satisfied living that
you know going to church didn't make
sense to me and at the same time dealing
with the environment that I was dealing
with I started to ask myself is this the
truth it's Christianity the truth and I
stopped going to
church and during that period I started
reading and I came across uh books on
Islam and I remember meeting the first
Muslim I remember he was a friend of
mine he became Muslim at 13 years
old and I remember asking him you know
why are you changing your religion at
13 so I believe it's the truth and we
will see him I remember around as time
when you know late in the afternoon we
were playing football playing
basketball you know he was like I have
to go pray and for us to see a
13-year-old kid from where we grew up go
pray we were like pray and we would we
would you know we would as street lingo
we would clown him you know we'll make
fun of him like how you going to go pray
it's time to have fun time to pray but
alhamdulillah he stuck it through so
when I started to research what he was
believing in I said to myself this might
be the
truth and Subhan Allah that summer
before my nth grade year I went to New
York and me being 14 years old by myself
getting sent to my favorite uncle and
auntie who let me do whatever I wanted
in Flushing Queens New York with all my
old friends who are older than me it was
for me there was a time of my life I was
going to be free and I remember going
there and Subhan Allah walking in the
streets of New York
City and seeing people coming through
saying what you know what's going on
what's up you know and people giving
salams to each other and I asked my
friend you Muslim like n this is how we
talk here in New York cuz it was an end
thing to do in New York that's how
people say give Salam to each other you
know they'll say certain words like
what's up a you know that's how
non-muslims even speak so I remember
asking him so if you're not Muslim you
know why did you give him Salam he said
no Islam is an interesting Faith you
should read the book of of Malcolm X so
I remember reading the autobiography of
Malcolm X during that time period And I
said to myself without a doubt this is
the truth and but the only way I can
become Muslim is I have to be like
Malcolm
X so at 14 years old I'm not going to
give up all this partying I'm not going
to give up all this fun to be like
Malcolm X it's too much this was my
understanding of being a Muslim you have
to be straight 100% it's black and
white but Subhan Allah Allah didn't got
me at that moment and I had to go
through serious issues throughout My
Teenage life in order for me to see that
I needed
Islam because when I was 14 years old 15
years old going to New York coming back
to Houston and I remember the
environment that we were dealing with
the movies that were coming out at the
time movies that were called boys in the
hood New Jack City Menace to Society
this affected the way that we were
thinking plus the music that we were
listening to it's something for many of
the youth today a lot of the young
brothers and sisters here who may hear
it but we actually lived it because we
could relate to what they were talking
about we could relate to sitting around
with our friends and all of a sudden one
of our friends just start beating on
somebody for no reason and laughing
about
it we can be we were in cars where
somebody would just get out the car and
mug somebody for no
reason this was the darkness that we
were living in we had no
guidance but we felt being together was
a sense of Brotherhood but we were
living this we will wake up in the
morning listening to the hip-hop to the
rap and it will bring us in a certain
mode if I feel like I want to be a tough
mode I will listen to C A Certain you
know artist if I'm to be in a relaxed
mode I would listen to something else I
want to put in my car with my Buick
Regal dropped with my 15 woofers driving
to my school and I want to what me what
what mood I want to be in today I put in
that CD or that or we didn't have CDs
back then tapes and we're old man Subhan
Allah Subhan Allah I can't believe it
thinking about now we're saying that
we're old but a lot of the things that
we were doing we still see people doing
today and a lot of our friends friends
did never left that
lifestyle so going through high school
doing so much you know bad to myself
evil to myself evil to others not
respecting my parents not respecting my
elders after going through that
lifestyle I remember being 19 years
old clearly it was clear and I was at a
party and it was the day that a American
Terrorist
homegrown he bombed the he he had a bomb
in the the at Atlanta Olympics in
1996 never forget it everybody was
partying I was just sitting there
watching
TV and I remember seeing the chaos that
was going on on television and then I
was looking around my in my
environment and I remember the last time
I ever touched alcohol alhamdulillah and
I put it down I said here's everybody's
having fun having a good time careless
people here are going crazy they're you
know they're falling on on top of each
other panicking and I ask myself is this
what's it all
about is this is this what my life is
about is there something more than this
it can't be just this either I'm going
to go deeper into
darkness the women are going to get
older the drugs are going to get harder
you know the lifestyle is just going to
lead me to something that is not
pleasing to my parents not pleasing to
myself I was really talking to myself
that
night and I said to myself I got I have
to make a
change because after going through all
the things that I went through brothers
and sisters and not trying to glorify
what we
did we did a lot of bad stuff to people
and to
ourselves
I mean really
bad I mean we used to plot on doing evil
things and after a while you start
asking yourself I can't I can't be like
this so alhamdulillah this was in July
of
1996 when I started to ask myself I need
to leave this alone and I need to step
away from everybody all my old friends I
have to leave
them so
alhamdulillah when I was looking into
Islam I said I'm go back to that
religion I know that's going to rectify
me started reading a little bit more
about it but I still I remember driving
around the city looking for a mosque and
it wasn't Allah's will to find it at
that time I was driving around I
remember there was one da Center that it
was never
open always knocking on it but always
looking I was searching at that time and
I remember working at a in a video
store and there was a friend of mine or
there was a friend it was a guy who came
in the store with his nephew
and my birth name is Christian that's
what my parents named me the Christian
that became
Muslim and that's what my mom and sister
always
say um so there uh he looked at my on my
name tag he was like
Christian so I'm looking at him with a
real mean look like what's guy calling
my name that's a good Christian name so
I'm looking at him like okay and I'm and
I'm looking at him he looks kind of
Greek kind of Europe maybe this guy's
Christian he wants to call me to to
Christianity and I'm not I already knew
that that wasn't the truth so he goes
what religion do you follow so I really
started getting upset I didn't want even
look at him I was just trying to you
know uh you know check him out and get
him out of there I didn't want to deal
with that I said my parents are Catholic
he said but what religion are you and I
don't know why I said it but I felt
maybe it was cuz I wanted to debate
somebody I said I want to be a
Muslim he he looked at me crazy his eyes
were bulging he looked back at his
nephew and they were saying something in
a language I didn't understand at the
time of course it was Arabic they were
saying Subhan Allah Subhan Allah they're
like we're Muslim so I'm sitting there
like okay
like what do you know about Islam and
I'm like just read about Malcolm X so
they were just in shock because they had
just started practicing their Dean and
at the time I remember talking to him
little by little during that that time
period we realized that we were we lived
in the same neighborhood in in uh in New
York we went to the same High School in
Texas but we never met each other but we
had acquaintances and Subhan Allah that
day Allah subhana T you know wrote it
for us to meet and then thing that
always affected me in that we'll speak
about a little bit more tomorrow from
the brother and he was young I was 19 he
was
20 he would come to my job to see how I
was
doing that's he would only come to see
how he wasn't trying to preach to me he
would just come to see how my day was
going so us coming from the streets
usually when someone is coming after
once or twice they want something we
become suspicious like what does this
guy want from me why is he coming to
visit me cuz this is not something that
we
do so one day I said to him look you
know it seems like you're interested in
about telling me about Islam so let's go
sit down and I remember had a close
friend of mine who's the one of the
older brothers older friends that I used
to have back in jahia I said look I know
that we talked about Asam let's go
together and talk talk to him about you
know our our you know our interest in
Islam alhamdulillah that brother was
really nice he would take us a different
Mass we would talk to different Elders
of the
community and then I never forget it one
day he calls up October 13th 1996 he
says it's Isa time right after around M
time he calls he said look I think that
you guys are ready I said I don't know I
still want to read up a little bit he
goes look man you believe Allah is one
yes Muhammad Muhammad peace be upon him
that's what he said was the last
messenger yes then that's it come on
I'll take both of you to the mosque so
you know he picked us up we went to a
big white mosque called mamia in Houston
Texas and we come in the mosque and
there's over 200 Indonesian and
Malaysian and Indian Brothers
of so all these men with turbin on big
beard
and we're sitting there coming with our
earrings with our pants sagging we're
like man they're going to just look at
us crazy so we go there and it's time to
pray okay we just go along we pray Isa
with him then the brother his name was
am Allah he tells us go sit in the back
of the mosque so we're looking at each
other like we don't even know how to
become Muslim we're like are they going
to ask us questions so we're like uh
what what are the five pillars because
there something Hajj and fasting and
this the thing that we pay money yes
prayer and we were just trying to figure
it out cuz we we didn't know what was
going to happen then all of a sudden 200
plus men come sit around us and we're
looking like my God this is just weird
just looking at all these men with big
beards just staring at us like what are
you going to do you know alhamdulillah
the
imah You Beautiful brother IM he sits
down in front of us and he you know ask
us basic questions and do you believe in
in Allah's you know is the only God and
that the prophet s wasam is the last
messenger we said yes aldah we took the
shahada and then he asked us oh do you
want to take a name you know a Muslim
name and I said you know actually I want
to my mother named me Christian after
Jesus Christ so I want to call you know
I want to be called Isa and then they
look to my my my man my friend Terence
and they said what about you and he was
like you know people say that I'm
handsome guy so I want to name myself
Yousef you know so and I remember after
that standing up hugging over 200 men
men crying it was just different for us
and I remember this young kid jumping up
and down hey you have to take this
earring out you have to take this
earring out and my man am Allah was like
pushing him out the way and we're coming
out the mas and was just like a whole
different world you know Allah subhana
wa T fulfilled filled that that void
that I was having for all this
time and alhamdulillah by Allah's
permission uh you know I got married 8
months later to a sister who accepted
Islam in the high school that I
graduated inah in Houston we have over I
think 40 msas high schools that have
Juma uh in in Houston Texas and the high
school that I graduated from was the
second one second MSA 1996 and she
accepted Islam there so I married her
and alhamdulillah um after that my
father accepted Islam my sister accepted
Islam um my cousin accepted Islam and
alhamdulillah friends that we knew my
best friend you know he accepted Islam
after he saw me he was like yo man I got
this new pager and I we have Pages back
in them days you know and I got this new
CD and he would come at me and like so
we're going to go out tonight and I grew
up with him and I was like nah man I
don't do that no more he's like what's
up with you and I was wilder than him I
said look man I'm Muslim now man and he
was just looking at me and he just got
scared he wouldn't talk to me for about
two months because he couldn't believe
from few months ago you know I was
wilder than him doing crazy stuff and
all of a sudden by Allah's permission is
all from Allah it went cold turkey on
everything never just forgot everything
didn't have any uh want to go back to
that
lifestyle so alhamdulillah uh after you
know talking to other people alah he
accepted Islam and from there
alhamdulillah Brothers by Allah's
permission I had the opportunity uh to
go study in the Islamic University of in
Medina uh and uh it was a beautiful
experience taking my wife and children
over there as well uh meeting people
from all over the world uh gain a lot of
experience uh I met many beautiful
Brothers uh like when I see the brother
Muhammad here and I look at him I really
I tear up because I love his brother for
Allah's sake that brother Ahmed Ki and
Ahmed bow those are the two brothers
that I love so much because uh when I
look at them I have uh a Dua that my
children especially my son can be like
them you know I know they have their
faults and especially ahed if he hears
probably watching this video he probably
going to be you know oh my God no you
know he knows how I am but the the
manners the manners that those Brothers
have is beautiful and um and uh and one
of the reasons I came here is because I
wanted to uh really inform or and
encourage you brothers and sisters to
make Dua for them and to be there for
them and Mentor them because uh there
not many brothers who come from uh
Medina and or whatever Egypt or studying
overseas to come back to a community
that wants good for them and wants to
they they want to help the community and
they also are open to suggestions and
mentorship they're open to that alamah
building that kind of relationship with
the brothers over there it was a
beautiful experience and uh
alhamdulillah coming back here to
America 6 months ago um uh I started you
know as mad always picks on me
everybody's going 70 I'm going 20 maybe
I'm going 30 now miles per hour I'm
trying to pick make up the pace make
please make Dua for me and and trying to
improve in that situation and U
alhamdulillah now I'm the director of uh
social and educational uh services for
Islam in Spanish and uh hopefully Allah
opens the door soon that I can begin my
masters in counseling uh to better
myself and hopefully you know be a asset
to the community and so this was my
short story on becoming a Muslim and
what the thought processes and what I
went through not too much detail because
uh I can't talk about certain things in
the Masid but uh alhamdulillah uh may
Allah reward you all and bless you all a
[Music]
mean well alhamdulillah it's a it's it's
really an honor to be able to spend
alhamdulillah this weekend uh here in
California with uh such a beautiful
community alhamdulillah of been able to
um perceive a little bit of what what's
taking place here in Southern California
and alhamdulillah I really um uh it's
commendable I would say because going
back to Houston we have uh
tried uh our level best to be able to
inshah implement some of the things that
we're seeing that are happening here and
inshallah may Allah bless youall
inshallah I give you all success in this
life in the
next
um my name is mujah Fletcher and I'm
originally from Columbia and South
America my parents came to this
country when I was 8 years old my father
was an agricultural engineer back in
Colombia he worked with an agency that
was connected to the government of
Colombia in regards to
development of
Agriculture he taught people who were
illiterate in the mountains on how to
plant crops and so on and he taught
people at University level my
mother she came from alhamdulillah a
good family my grandfather was um in in
a very U honorable level I would say in
in regards to having a governmental job
and when we came here to
America I
remember going to the very first school
when I was 8 years old I didn't know any
English and I remember the kids were
making fun of me and I realized and I
saw that a lot of what I experienced in
Colombia going to
school was the fact that over there we
helped each other out even in second
grade because I came here to go in third
grade if I didn't know something the
person next to me didn't know something
before going to the teacher you would
actually work it out on your own amongst
your classmates and I remember coming
here and I didn't even know English and
I would try to ask people around me and
I didn't know who could explain to me
and I remember the teacher coming and
and just being upset and saying a whole
bunch of things so they put a kid that
knew Spanish in front of me and he
translated for her and he said uh she
said not to talk to anybody except her
her and if you need help just go to her
and she didn't know any Spanish and so I
told them I said I don't I don't I can't
talk to her and she said well you know
don't
talk that was my first experience in in
school in third grade I remember going
home and um now I would categorize that
as a culture shock I went home and I
told my parents I never wanted to go
back to school here I was 8 years
old and uh my parents from that point
on didn't really know the
reality of that situation in the years
to come and I mentioned that
because the rest of the years as time
went by and I did learn English not only
did I learn English but I learned the
ways and I learned the environment and
in public school growing
up you kind of become a chameleon you
know you blend in eventually and and
then you
realize what's categorized as good and
you want to be better at
that and from my parents' background in
Colombia they always had a high standard
for education and they always pushed me
to many things that I didn't see in the
environment going to school here in
public school when I was in sixth
grade three movies came out as the
brother mentioned same movies actually
boys in the hood was filmed here in
Compton Los Angeles New Jack City was
filmed in New
York and I believe Minister Society was
also filmed here in
California these three movies portray
the Gang
Lifestyle and we never seen anything to
do with gangs in our school until these
movies came
out and the music that came along with
it so I remember the majority of the
people in our school were either
African-American or
Latino and I remember one day seeing the
the African-Americans
Gathering and I began to realize that
the Latinos as we would say back in
those days were getting jumped meaning
an individual would go in the restroom
and five African-Americans would just
beat him up for
nothing and we realized then that they
had formed a gang and we didn't really
understand what that was growing up my
father taught me how to box and taught
me self-defense and he taught me to
respect people and he taught me Sports
soccer and so on and I knew there was
not there was not even the chance in my
mind that someone would come and violate
me because of being brown or because I
was Latino so I thought it wouldn't even
affect me later did I know the same
apartment complex I used to live in and
walk to school from back and forth the
gang was in my apartment complex So
eventually they got closer to violating
me as an individual and when that took
place I basically defended myself and
and pretty much beat up one of the main
guys in that game well this led on a lot
of retaliation so a lot of people came
and since there were a lot of Latinos
they kind of came behind me and all of a
sudden the Latinos said you know we have
to come together you know for
self-defense and because we were from
Latin America Central America from so
many different places you know from
Colombia
Venezuela uh Costa Rica Guatemala so
many different places we titled that
Gathering and us coming together
asilia meaning the
family what went on after that was a
series of events that led to people
dying people ended up in
prison and there were serious
issues the police got involved there
were
profiles and I might there there's there
was no intention whatsoever for any of
that to happen for myself or for many of
us but that was just the climate that we
were living
in when my parents found certain
things at home when I was about the age
of 13 to
14 I told them that if I didn't have
those things there we wouldn't be
protected if someone came and tried to
break in the house or tried to do
anything to me or to them and they
couldn't
understand the repetitive cycle of my
parents not understanding led me to make
decisions at a very early age that were
critical to
survival it wasn't a gang it wasn't a
game it wasn't about showing off it
wasn't about being cool it was about not
[Music]
dying one of my friends was so Under
Pressure one of my best
friends that he pulled the gun put it
gun to his head and he
shot he was he rather die than be living
in that state because you never really
knew who would come behind you what
would happen and the worst thing about
it even is that he didn't die the bullet
came in through one side left out the
other and they had to cut out part of
his brain so he became like a vegetable
So at around the age of 14 15 I was
going and visiting
hospitals and seeing people another
friend of mine lost his right eye from a
shotgun blast from a a driveby
shooting and all my parents thought
about is when is my son going to be next
people used to call my mother at 3:00 in
the morning telling her that they were
going to kill me and all of these things
were happening and I don't understand
how to this day I was an honorable
student I had Straight A's and B's while
all that was happening because of my
father's determination my mother's
determination for me to uphold the best
level of
grades eventually at the age of 16 where
there was an attempt after several
attempts basically to take my life I
basically defended myself and by the
next day my parents Shi me out to
Colombia to South America I hadn't been
there since I was eight all of a sudden
when I went down there I thought you
know if I didn't get killed back in
Houston I'm going to die in
Colombia cuz Colombia the way it's
portrayed in the media it seems like a
very dangerous place right drugs and
many things and to my surprise when I
went there I had baggy pants and the
whole mental attitude of you know who's
out to get me and a lot of
psychological ways of looking at life
from a defense mechanism when I went
there and I saw my family that I didn't
really know since the age of eight I
started realizing that these
people were the best mannered
people the the the the nicest the most
caring that that I've been around I mean
my parents were that way but it was just
father and mother I didn't really have
aunts and uncles when I went to the
house where I stayed there were from my
aunts all the way to my newborn
cousins and seeing the attitude of the
people in Colombia and how they got
together in regards to community you
could see people saying hi to each other
when they passed uh by each other on the
streets and I started realizing that
there was no real issue of threat there
was no gangs there was really nothing
and you know a teenager over there was a
kid he didn't know anything to do with
anything that I
experienced so alhamdulillah when I
realized
that um there was a good environment for
me to be able to develop myself I I
became an English teacher at the age of
16 and I was
teaching from kids in montau school all
the way to retired
professionals and that that gave me a
good experience because I dealt with
people from all different WS just
because I knew English and I I would
make in one hour what a minimum wage
worker made in 8 hours over there and I
was 16 years old I became very
independent I bought myself a
motorcycle and um living in Colombia at
that age being able to go up a mountain
and be in a natural Spring River by
myself and eat fruits from trees that
was something I could have never
imagined living in in a place that was
nothing but concrete the concrete
streets so I became very kind of
inclined to nature natural in school
alhamdulillah in a private school out of
like 60 students in my class I was
second in class or first in class so
education was at his best level they
wanted to drop me two grades because the
education here in America was below
standard in
Colombia and after I lived that for
about 2 years I never wanted to come
back to
America my parents told me to come back
because I was already ready I changed my
ways and so on when I came back the same
way I mentioned when I got here at third
grade and I felt like I had a culture
shock coming back when I was 18 years
old I felt like I didn't want to go out
anywhere
for 6 months I wouldn't go anywhere
because I had a feeling like the youth
here even in college now that I was in
college didn't really have the true
meaning of what life was about I felt
like the nature and the Simplicity and
how the people were living in Colombia
was the way to live it didn't have to
deal with materialism it had to deal
with family values it had to do with
respect to Elders a lot of different
things that were missing here from what
I saw growing up
eventually when I was in
college little by little people started
asking me to go here and go there and
usually a college student is just asked
to go to places where there's drinks
where's there where there's girls where
there's this where there's that and
little by little even though I didn't
want to I started falling back into the
same environment which is just the
makeup of living here in America just as
a regular person you go out you
socialize and so
on um
eventually I fell into another stage of
Life which was about getting money so at
a very young age 19 20 years old I had a
Land Cruiser I had an Acura Legend I had
a very high top paying job and I was on
my way to just dropping College because
there was a chain uh I'm pretty sure you
guys had it before here Circuit City
there was a u you know uh electronic
store basically and they paid commission
and I was the number one salesperson
basically in the city of Houston out of
like 420 something people and at the age
of 1920 I would make sometimes even
$5,000 a month and as a youth just
having cars and living that fast life
other things started kicking in being
Colombian the issue of drugs is very
simple it's very easy people just bring
something through and they say this is
just what it is So eventually I realized
that I didn't want to live that
lifestyle and I was fed up no matter how
many things I had no matter how many
friends supposedly friends cuz in that
lifestyle you don't really have true
friends no matter how much I had around
me I would sit back and think there has
to be something else to life this can't
be it because if this was it then I'd be
happy and satisfied but I'm
Not So
eventually I went back I remember
telling my father I was sick of living
and I was tired and fed up and and I
couldn't figure this out and um he told
me that he'd been searching for for
something greater than this life for a
while and I'd seen him coming in and out
of different religions and all my life
he always taught me since I was little
there's only one God I never prayed to
Jesus in my life my parents even though
they would categorize themselves as
Catholics my father had questioned the
issue of the Bible many years and he
would always tell me you find your truth
because I'm seeking for
mine and there's there's only one
reality really is that there's one God
how you get to that one God you find way
I'm trying to look for
mine so I remember I went to him and I
told him I'm sick of living I'm sick of
this and that and I had my own apartment
and I was I was thinking I need to go
back to school and I need to get right
and I felt like I want to leave back to
Colombia I didn't really know I was at a
crossroad and Subhan Allah one day I
told him I said I want to start reading
about different religions and my father
started giving me books about different
religions I remember studying cabala
there was a a Mexican guy who went and
studied actually in Israel and cabala is
ancient Jewish mysticism and I began to
get interested in that there at that
time she was Colombian a person who I
knew since I was 12 years old she seen
me go through everything and now she was
also SE seeking for something and we
were together in this I remember going
into Buddhist temples and sitting down
with the main monk and asking him what
do you think about life what's Life
about I remember going to the Hindu
temple in the middle of their service
and sitting and and saying who is the
main person here him you know some
individual what does this all mean and
what do y'all think about life I
remember going to different churches and
asking about the same verses in the
Bible and getting different
responses and nobody could really pin
down what things really meant and so I
started feeling as if this is not the
way to go I started looking into zen
Masters which is like like a Eastern
Philosophy from from the Chinese thought
I started reading all kinds of stuff and
eventually one day after I left the club
I was with a guy who I've been KNN for
years and he held the liquor he was
drinking in his hand and he said I can't
believe I'm still drinking
this I said what do you mean cuz I've
always known him to be that way and he
said I can't believe I'm still drinking
this after having gone to
Mecca when he said that I felt the level
of concern was different something about
him feeling guilty would intrigued me I
said what is Mecca he said Mecca is
where the house of God is I said hold on
you know I read on religions and
philosophies there is no religion I've
ever come across that says that God has
a house on the face of the Earth and he
said no no no this place is a place of
worship it was built by Abraham and
isma I said those are prophets of God
and he said yeah Islam is a true
religion of
God that simple
statement was so clear and it rang true
even though I didn't know but it was
direct Islam is the true religion of God
then I said listen everybody says their
religion is true and he said look if you
want to talk about this I'm not the
person right because he's not living it
he said you have to talk to my mother
who used to be a Christian nun in
Italy and after leaving the convent
later on and marry my dad she accepted
Islam she talks to people nowadays that
have doctorate degree in Divinity and
they have become Muslim and many people
are becoming
Muslim I had no clue what all that was I
went on with life and I kept partying
and going out and in the back of my mind
I would think that's something I got to
look into and Subhan Allah even though
we kept living life and we kept going
out and everything every once in a while
he' just be like have you looked into
it no no not really and he would say you
know you got a responsibility now man
you have to at least look into
it and it it would just hit me I mean
this would be like sporadic every 3 six
months that he would say something like
this and eventually I remember wanting
to go and speak to his mom and I was
intoxicated and I went to his house and
he said man you can't talk to my mom
like that man you got to come here clean
you can't come drinking stuff you know
what I mean said okay so one day I came
clean I remember his mother
coming and she was
covered and I remember extending my hand
how you doing maam she said she didn't
shake my hand I said oh she don't like
me I've been hanging around with her son
all all these years she knows what we're
about
right
so it's interesting because she said you
want to know about Islam and she was
very happy did you want to know about
Islam I said well I guess you know I
just read all kinds of things and she
said let me ask you this do you like
science do you like mathematics when she
asked me this I didn't know what that
had to do with religion at all cuz we we
don't make the
relationship but alhamdulillah because I
studied trigonometry and physics in
Colombia I gained an appreciation for
the science and I said yeah I mean I you
know yeah and she said I want you to see
this video and she put me in a room and
she turned this video on from Jam um
Jamal
badawi um and it was the Quran and
modern
science when I sat there I was like God
this guy's smart
man God he speaks so articulate and he
has good manners I could see a lot of
different things
and when hearing about the whole issue
of how the embryo was formed in the womb
of the mother and and and certain things
about the solar system and and the the
Seas not being mixed not mixing so many
things I was I was shocked but at the
same time I didn't understand much of
what I have to do with God other than
the fact that he created this which I
already believed and she gave me a Quran
alhamdulillah and I began to research
and read the Quran I
remember going and studying computer
programming and computer programming is
nothing but code and I remember having a
hard time sometimes with coding and I
remember the only thing that would clean
my mind and get me thinking clearly
again was when I picked up the Quran
would read for like 2 or 3
minutes and I would come back and open
and everything would be clear I said
there's something about this
book eventually as I kept going out
partying and all these sort of things we
got in a big fight with a whole bunch of
uh security guards outside of a club it
was like 20 against
20 and I was on top of a guy hitting him
and a policeman came behind me and with
a flashlight made out of iron he broke
my head
open he fled the scene I couldn't even
get a badge number there police
brutality I tried to
sue but um things just weren't right I
knew I knew I had to get my life
straight and then when I was thinking
about embracing Islam and really feeling
like I really liked it I wanted to go to
a mosque so I went to a mosque and
alhamdulillah the people I saw the good
in them when I went in they weren't
judging me they weren't looking me up
and down who are you where do you come
from what are you about and they they
were just very cordial you know how can
we help you please sit here what do you
need and so on and I began to ask
questions and over a period of like one
year I would go back and forth with this
one IM almost like debating with him
like what you're telling me right now
doesn't make sense because X Y and Z
right and he'd be like well look into
this and look into that and you may
consider this may consider that so I
would run back research whatever he said
then come back almost like a year going
back and forth in the midst of thinking
like you know I'm just going to keep
going on with my life I flipped over on
my car doing like 130 on the
freeway I flipped over and my sunroof
was
open so when the sunroof was open and it
ended up being on the concrete so a lot
of the Sparks that were coming out and
the sun were being right
there if my head would have gone there
be finished done because the whole car
is smashed I without thinking put my
elbow down and I flipped myself and
stood on one hand and then grabbed my
other friend's head as it was about to
go in that hole as we were sliding 130
mph down the freeway upside down I
remember looking like I I was just
saying it's okay it's okay it's okay
it's okay it's okay all the way until it
stopped and when it stopped I remember
looking out through the back rear window
and I saw like this bright light and all
these boots of people coming into the
car and I said this is it I'm finished I
thought I'm done you know I'm dead right
you see the sort of things in the movies
like someone Subhan Allah the bright
light was from the construction that was
being done on the freeway like that big
bright light and the boots were from the
construction
workers I felt like I I lost my life but
Subhan Allah when when I crawled out the
back and I saw that I I just had a big
scrape and and that was it I even came
out without a shoe I realized right then
and there I I have to get ride with God
because I'm going die I felt like I was
going to die very soon and it
was it's too many signs too quick and it
was happening and so I remember being at
a at a graduation in the Masid when um
some people graduated from studying
Arabic or something and I was there and
I was looking at the environment and so
on and I had had my runs with some
certain Muslims like before I I I think
I was going to embrace Islam before like
6 months before but I was in the Masid
and I remember praying making the Salah
and feeling like you know I want to see
what this is about and I remember a
Muslim who' been seeing me studying it
he came up to me he said so did you
Embrace Islam and I said well not not
yet and he said why are you praying I
said
I just I want to pray you know and he
was like but you you know if you don't
Embrace Islam you're going to
[Music]
hell I said what I said you don't even
know me
man that sent me back like 6
months because of
the you know the the the attitude I I
feel like and and certain things that I
would see from Muslims I would ascribe
that to Islam and I would think if this
is a true religion that individual
wouldn't be doing this if that was a I
remember a guy smoking a cigarette in
front of me trying to tell me about
about Islam I said tell me where it says
that in the book cuz I've been reading
this book and he turned the cigarette
off said man if you become Muslim you'll
be a better Muslim to me God you know
and that to me was too contradictory and
I said it can't be the truth because if
it were the truth people wouldn't be
acting like this and that that set me
back I was studying Islam like trying to
find out where all this stuff was and I
couldn't find it alhamdulillah
eventually after all these setbacks and
and things that were happening to me I
went and I remember a guy told me
uh you know so you haven't embraced
Islam I said no and he said you know
we're going to a trip to
Florida and it only cost like $80 and
we're going to be there for 3 Days in
the middle of like 3,000 Muslims I said
really and you know I love I love
traveling and uh he said yeah you want
to come and I said yeah why not and I
was the only non-muslim we rode a bus we
rode it was three buses and we left from
M mosque and I was the only non-muslim I
remember every Muslim wanting to come
and give me
Shah every one of them wanting to come
and tell me about not to pray to Jesus
and I would never pray to Jesus and I
couldn't understand why people kept
coming and I say listen in the Quran it
says that there's no compulsion in
religion right don't come impress me
it's whenever I want to oh but brother
listen listen I've been told I'm going
go to the
Hellfire you understand I have my
situation with God and that's how I want
to keep it right subh this gathering in
Tampa Florida an individual brought
another individual by the arm and this
guy was literally crying and he said
this guy here is going to talk to you oh
and he was just crying you know and he
said this guy's from
Colombia cuz he knew I was from Colombia
he said this is the guy that's going to
get you
right and so I said okay and the guy had
a long beard and so on and he was from
Colombia and we sat Subhan Allah and we
talked for like like 3 hours and the
time the majority of the time we were
talking about Colombia and he L the
country I love the country we know
there's a lot of setbacks and I was
coming up with so many different things
that I found within Islam that if
Colombia is a country were to implement
it would be a solution for the
country and then he looked at me he said
you're telling me you're going to give
me solutions for a country and you don't
Embrace
this that's where I had to you know I
just I looked ins some heart and I said
man I can't keep living like this so I
said all right I just don't see how a
few words can do something you know that
is I mean anybody can just say a few
words you know I already believe that
there's nothing worthy of worshiped
except when God and Muhammad is
Messenger I know that that's the way a
person says they're Muslim but I don't
want to claim to be a Muslim and then
there are certain Muslims that are doing
certain things that I feel are like
hypocritical I grew up with certain
people around me doing certain things
and they categorize themselves as a
Muslim if I become a Muslim I may be put
in a category where I'm looked at as a
hypocrite he said man it's not about
that it's about saying these words
because it's a key to enter
Paradise I said well I need a better
place in this man cuz I'm not happy here
said all right we started walking it's
so funny because the one guy that was
like teaching in that Masid when he told
him I wanted to embrace Islam he got so
kind of nervous like just give him give
him sh over there he didn't want to do
it in front of the people and I couldn't
understand why I was like and I said do
I have to do it in front of the people
and the brother was like no no but it's
good it's good and the guy was like no I
don't know what it was and then some
other brother that was on the bus with
us when he heard he came all the way to
the front he said come here brother and
he grabbed the microphone and when I
said the
shahada alma witness is as if all this
weight came off and then
it was like as if I could hear better
see better and I felt so light and I
felt like everything made sense and then
all these strangers lined up dressed
like in
pajamas and you know from different
colors and speaking different languages
and chewing on a little
stick you know and and these people just
came hug me some would cry give me uh
you know little bottles of oil and and
you know little little stones to you
know and I mean I I we never and you
understand where we come from a bit I
never had all these men hug me crying
and kiss me that that doesn't happen out
here growing up right and all I knew is
that it it was love and it was it was
okay because uh I it I felt something if
they if I feel something they feel
something when I walked outside of the
Masid I remember looking at the sky and
of course the the weather and Florida is
beautiful and the sky was Bluer Than
usual the the the green and the and the
leaves were just bright and the one
thing that I wanted to do is is call my
mother and tell her to tell her thank
you for even having
me that's the level of thankfulness I
never felt that in my life and I knew
the sort of difficulty I put my parents
still because I'm the only
child they
suffered and after that they I
said if this makes me feel like this I
never need another intoxicant in my life
because you take intoxicant because you
are
empty when I got back my parents saw
that I wasn't going out I wasn't taking
the calls from my friends the girls
would call and I I just didn't want to
deal with
anything and they were like you left on
this trip and came back
brainwashed
you're so peaceful it's
scary what's wrong with you what did
they tell you what did they do you know
like I I joined some cult or something
and they knew I was looking into all
kinds of stuff so they were like we
don't know if he's spinning I mean he
may be going crazy or something and I
was like you know all my life you've
been telling me you know why do I you
know why do you always have to go out
why do you have to be drinking why do
you have to be staying out late and now
I'm not doing it and now I'm
crazy that's weird I don't I don't
understand that
alhamdulillah my father because he'd
been searching I told him what I found
is worthwhile that you look into it 3
months later he accepted
Islam my girlfriend when I came back she
knew she wasn't my girlfriend because
she was also looking into Islam and she
knew a Muslim if he's serious or she's
serious they marry they don't play all
these games
and as soon as I got back she looked at
me and she said I respect what you did
you know and a week later she accepted
Islam and a month later we got
married
aldah some of the gang Rivals people
that I really I mean we were out to kill
each
other some of them have accepted
Islam some of my friends that were in
the game one of my best
friends that I knew a certain night when
there was an attempt on my life if he
would have been there he would have shot
somebody because I personally shot
alhamdulillah I didn't hit someone but
he would have shot and there may have
been some some casualties he accepted
Islam he has five kids now he's a
Muslim
people like my little brother-in-law at
the age of 16 embraced Islam my
mother-in-law embraced
Islam my wives Aunt before dying from
cancer embraced Islam my mother embraced
Islam and on and on and on I've seen
alhamdulillah many people Embrace Islam
my cousin just embraced Islam about
about month
ago I went to Colombia to visit for the
first time with my daughters I have a 4
and a half-year-old daughter and a
2-year-old daughter I went back to visit
in Colombia and just in our visit to to
our family members 14 people accepted
Islam and some other friends and people
that we
knew the project Islam in Spanish that
was briefly touched
upon inshallah I I I recommend that you
guys come out
tomorrow I believe it's after 1:00 from
1: to 5: 1:3 1:30 to 5:30 to 4:30 okay
we have a DA Workshop and don't think
it's a
academic uh you know approach to Da it
is a very simple approach to Da based on
what we experienced because we went
through a trial and error to get where
we're at it's not easy for people to
accept Islam find their place in the
Muslim Community alhamdulillah be able
to go overseas I was blessed with the
ability to have gone alhamd and studied
uh in Egypt especially the Arabic
language the Quran it
after going through all of this and
dealing with people on the ground our
family members after September 11th
brother Isa and myself were put in front
of the cameras you know I embraced Islam
3 months before September 11th I
remember 3 months later as a new Muslim
standing in front of a church in a
church 500 people congregating and
telling them about
Islam the sort of
response that happened after September
11th made my development quick dealing
with people people of knowledge
alhamdulillah and being able to ask
questions and all of that has led to a
lot of trial and error and we realize
especially with the Latino Community
It's the Last Frontier it's the last
people to actually get this message of
Islam due to the uh the issue of
language we came up alhamdulillah with a
solution and we started making audio
visual material and our material has
gone all over the world now our website
is the number one website with audio
visual material with over 300 audios
more than 300 videos we have a
television show in Houston on a weekly
basis we have an online radio station
and all of this you'll hear more in
detail of why it happened but really it
happened because of my
dad he pressed me to make that material
because he said how can Islam be
Universal and there's nothing in
Spanish how could the Muslims have lived
in Spain 800 years and there's no books
left and his whole challenging and due
to the fact that I studied multimedia he
said if nobody else did it then you have
to do it and alhamdulillah we've done it
together we worked and in fact my father
we use his voice he's the narrator for a
lot of these audio books that we make
alhamdulillah brother Isa just joined us
in this project and now we're on our way
to opening up a center called
Andalucia social and educational media
center and we hope inshallah at the end
of tomorrow's um series of talks in
regards
to Da but really what do non-muslims
really think and experience and what the
new Muslims really think and
experience then we'll finalize with why
this project came about what sort of
alhamdulillah things have happened and
and and where things are going so far
and uh inallah we appreciate your time
and I guess if you guys have any
questions if there is time we can
address
them