uh I went to church whatever was going
on in the church I was involved in the
whole three and one I just never could
really get my hands around it but just
fell apart man I went home and and told
him hey dude don't let your eyes closed
thinking that somebody died for you boom
the tears just just exploded on the
highway you just start crying on the
highway driving a truck yeah
l ald
brothers and sisters we've all had loved
ones that passed away a mother a father
a brother sister a close family member
but one of the mercies of our Dean is
that with the right intention we can go
ahead and continue to do good deeds on
our loved ones behalf and what greater
of a continuous Good Deed s than
investing on their behalf in the dean
Center and mid and nadawa Center that
will benefit generations to come
inshallah so click the link below donate
right now may God Almighty Allah reward
all of
you asalam GRE and peace how you guys
doing very excited for this episode my
next guest who grew up in a Baptist home
being very active in the Baptist Church
as a teen something happened all of that
stopped later he returned and he started
questioning like most of us would do you
start questioning things that don't make
sense for example was Jesus God is he
black is he white God actually
die who's running the Earth Trinity got
three but one at the end he was like
just things don't add up doesn't make
sense then he ran into some people
saying we shouldn't see God as black or
white we should remove any racial images
from worship that got him thinking who
are these people now we want to find out
who actually borrowed him a
Quran and then his life started taking a
whole different direction he started to
read out of curiosity as he says and he
said he just couldn't put it down and
did you know this is the fascinating
part inshah encourages more people out
there because he not only did he pick it
up start reading it but at an age of 67
he memorized the entire Quran let's
bring out our next guest
this is
[Music]
the greetings to peace how are you I'm
fine man how are you
alhamdulillah so let's start from the
beginning before we get into talking
about how you actually memorize the
entire Quran at the age of 67 hoping
that we can memorize that we can
encourage more people to show that it's
never too late or too early to get
started and you actually grew up in a
Baptist home going to a Baptist Church
very active at a young age is that right
that's correct let's talk about
that okay uh I'm the youngest of four uh
with grew up going to church every
Sunday my parents were both religious
grandparents uh extended family you know
this was part of growing up you went to
church every Sunday it was in my
household was no such thing as I don't
want to go everybody went it's just you
got up you had your got your shoes
shined and all that stuff and uh you
went to church and I believed it and
like
that uh you know as a child you know you
trust your parents you don't think
they're teaching you something wrong so
you you know you go to church and like
that and that's what I
did otherwise you're gonna get the shoe
huh how about that you know about that
huh
yeah so you gotta get to church and so
you're going to church you're active
you're pretty active huh yeah I mean as
a young guy I was very active uh helped
with the Sunday school you know uh on
the Usher Sing whatever was going on in
the church I was involved in it and then
it came a point that you talked about
now that uh you said things stopped why
did they stop yeah I mean as a teenager
you know what I mean I guess you start
uh feeling your oats as they say and you
know you get away from doing things and
we just slowly gradually uh stop going
so much uh and then we just stopped
going at all just you know when we had
to or if it was holiday or something
like that I guess maybe my parents
didn't push it as hard as we got you
know
older and then you came back sometime
later how long after that did you
actually come back was there something
because and why did you come back was
there something missing a void you tried
to fill what was it yeah well there are
a number of things going on first of all
I lost my mother at a very young age I
was like early
20s and uh um you know this this was a
very difficult thing being the youngest
of four you know a mama's boy and all
that stuff
MH uh so I wanted
to also as a young man you know you want
to know things why am I here what am I
here for what should I be doing what's
right and
wrong um who said so uh why should I do
this you know if this guy died for me
okay then I don't need to worry about it
my my bills clean I can do whatever I
want so why do I need to do this why
should I do you know you want to know
stuff and you know uh going back to the
church as as a
adult you know you question things you
have questions you want to know this you
want to know that and you weren't
getting answers that made any sense you
know you just kind
of um as a child you just accepted
things as an adult you can think now you
start asking questions you know and it
didn't really make sense a lot of things
didn't add up um and that's you know you
just kind of just left it alone you know
that's that's basically what
happened that's interesting so you said
this guy are you you're referring to
obviously Jesus peace be upon him yes I
mean in the church the they teach you
you know the main thing they talk about
is what they call Salvation or in Arabic
you say
net uh that you know Jesus was born born
you had to accept this he died for the
sins of the world and you accept that
you go to heaven that's that so you know
growing up I just presumed that's what
everybody else did I didn't know there
were other things I presumed everybody
was either Baptist or Catholic or
Methodist or something like that I had
no clue that there was other
things uh then then later I'm learning
these things as a young adult you know
was there a picture of Jesus in the
church that you go yeah they have in the
church in the Bible if you open the
Bible up in those days the uh not only
Jesus Mary the Angels everything you
seen was white you know and you know you
just accept it okay that's you know
that's what you
thought um just as an adult you going
back you know you start looking at
things uh it just the whole thing that
that really got me um that I didn't
really accept was this the whole three
in one I just never could really get my
hands around it the trity you know you
you yeah you believed it because they
told you that but you never really
understood
it so when you back to the um picture so
there was a picture of Jesus in the
church what did they have that picture
in the church was it of uh what color
was Jesus um you know in the church
everywhere you see the picture of Jesus
he's a white he's a European guy you
know I I heard in many African-American
churches they have him as um brown black
yeah this this probably came later oh so
at your time they had the white jesus
yeah I mean I grew up uh I went to
church in mainly in the early 60s and
stuff I'm you I'm 67 so I come wow
that's that's interesting now because
now we see Jesus is black in the
churches back then no they had they
didn't no they didn't do that stuff back
then I mean those days
uh first of all everything was still
segregated you know when I when I was a
little boy things were segregated you
lived in a segregated neighborhood
segregated Church everything was
segregated the only time you seen uh
white people or something is when you
went to the hospital
or uh something like that or if you go
downtown or something like that but for
the most part everything was segregated
schools everything so in the church you
know they had the picture of Jesus is
still white and all this stuff blond
hair blue eyes yeah yeah light hair I
mean I guess blue eyes I guess I never
paid attention to his eyes but it was
just the regular white jesus that you
see you know in
the uh how long later after that did
they did they change the picture to um
uh I don't know what if they ever did in
the church that I went to I mean um I
think more of that stuff came later 70s
80s uh when they come up with other
things you know you came up with used to
have Christmas then they come up with
Quanza uh they had this was uh cultural
stuff yeah um so so now you get to a
point you ran into some some people
obviously some Muslims and they're
telling you look we shouldn't see God as
black or white we should remove any
racial images and that really stuck that
had you thinking how talk about that
yeah I mean I knew about Muslims in
general I knew about the of Islam put it
that way that's what was you heard about
it I didn't see it I just heard from you
know people talking or in the news or
what have
you
um uh but I ran into people in the
street and they would be oh you know we
shouldn't see God as black and white we
should this is bad remove the there was
a a program going on by uh a Muslim
Community uh uh in the late uh in the
early 80s by the late War
Muhammad uh may Allah have mercy on him
you know he uh they had a community it
was called um I don't World Community
Islam or something like that back in
those days they had a program out that
was that was designed to remove racial
images from worship so that's how I got
in contact with that I seen that and I
was like it was curious you know I was
like wow man you know this makes sense
we shouldn't see God as being black or
white
and the angels is white everything is
white it gives the white people a a s a
false sense of superiority and those
that are not white A sense of
inferiority so you know we should you
should you shouldn't that's that's not
correct and for me I'm thinking well you
know we were to misled about a lot of
other things what makes you think that
that you weren't misled about that too
so it made me think you know and you
start thinking well Jesus Jesus he was
come from the Middle East he's from a
Jewish Family people there are people of
color they aren't they're different
colors some are light some are dark but
they're like Olive colored or something
they're not just they're not
particularly
European and that's what got me going so
and I would hear people oh the Quran say
this oh the Quran say that I'm like what
Quran what is
it uh uh so I seen a guy one day he had
he had a quan he had a quan said was
that the cran yeah well can I see it
well this belongs to my wife brother uh
I'll let you borrow it for a week but
you got to promise to give it back so I
said okay fair enough man I just I'm
just curious I just want to see what's
in it you know you all I keep hearing
all this talk about it what is it so he
let me borrow it and I started reading
it just looking from the beginning read
the commentary introduction the old
Yousef Ali you know back in those days
this is uh early
80s and uh I just I couldn't put it down
it just uh it's like a magnet man
everything that I always wanted to know
I was starting to find the answers to
questions that I needed answered but
didn't know how to
ask um and it was easy a lot of things
that I thought or that I already believe
is this what was in the Quran you know I
didn't like somebody uh looking at my
girlfriend I didn't like somebody
dancing with my girlfriend I don't I
want somebody hugging her uh I don't
want my girlfriend going we going to the
swimming pool and she's going in some
little skimpy bikini and I'm like no no
Noah you're not going way with me
looking like that and you know stuff
like that these these are the things I I
always believe anyway I didn't like
it
um uh why we are here what are we here
for what should we who what should we be
doing who said so what's the standard of
right and wrong you said it okay where's
the proof for it who said so uh these
are the kind of questions that I came
that I was getting answered as I was
reading uh Yousef Ali and by the time I
I don't know how far I read but I I knew
in a week's time when I gave the guy his
Quran back uh I didn't need to ask him
anything else I knew this is what I was
going to be doing the rest of my life
and I made my business to get a Quran
then later I went to the mid and you
know told the guy I wanted sign up and
you know I didn't I had no idea how you
know make shahada or something like I
didn't know I just didn't I didn't have
a
clue uh I just knew this what I wanted
to do the only issue that that I didn't
know was how it meshed with Christianity
because I was a Baptist you know I
didn't know how the two meshed so that
was my only
challenge so that was it once you picked
up the Quran you got it it was borrowed
to you you started reading purpose of
life why you've been created where you
going with your di yes all of the the
morality
accountability yeah all of these things
just made sense the pure absolute
monotheism of Creator what we call it
all of this uh resonated with your fitra
your innate nature this is this is this
is the key Eddie U I wasn't impressed by
I mean Muhammad Ali was boxing back in
those days I mean I remember when he
when he changed his name he didn't go to
the Army all that stuff you know okay I
mean I didn't that didn't get big be
want to be a Muslim you know I mean not
any slight to him I'm just saying that's
that didn't get my
attention um and the nation and stuff
back in those days was
more like a like a black empowerment
movement or something like the Black
Panthers or something it wasn't like it
didn't come off as Dean it didn't come
off like you know what I'm saying it
didn't come off as
religion or what we call religion or uh
along those lines it was more like a
social movement and they were in a they
stayed in a lot of issues and I wasn't
looking for problems you know I was
trying to figure out some things you
know I guess everybody when he's a young
man he wants to know things he get you
get to a certain age and you're curious
you want to know what's going on what am
I supposed to be doing who said so why
what's going to happen happen if I do it
what's going to happen if I
don't uh you know Common Sense yeah yeah
all these things so these are the things
that got me
going so now not only did you pick up
the Quran read the Quran you found
answers to all these questions that
people should be asking it made sense
the evidence is there now you you you
went and actually this is one of the
Miracles of the Quran that its
authenticity the signs that are in there
exactly the prophecies how we've been
created everything is there now you went
because we hear often young boys at the
at the age of six seven eight memorizing
the entire book and you know this you
know the statement that if we were to
take all of the books out there the
religious books burn them lock them up
you wouldn't be able to bring them back
except the Quran because that's one of
the Miracles it's been memorized by
millions living today we can bring it
back in a matter of days you actually
now you went at an age of 67 memorized
the entire Quran is that
true uh yeah I finished at the age of 67
I mean I started I mean when I was a new
Muslim you know you have to learn some
yes to make law so I was learning and
you know I learned some in the early 80s
learned here here here but I wasn't
really in a
serious uh Quran program until I went to
daram to the Quan
Institute and uh I stayed with the same
teacher there for from
like uh 2011 to now I just recently
graduated um and I had learned some here
and there and you know um you know this
it has to go with where you learn at
where you learn okay um it wasn't
something that was uh
uh pushed or encouraged you know I mean
I want we had a competition one time to
learn Jama the last 30th so I was like
oh okay so let's do that and we tried it
and half the guys flaked out a few of us
finished and and that was that you know
there was no in inducement to learn more
in fact in the 80s uh when it was
Ramadan they would bring people from
overseas to lewi no nobody here knew I
mean you had one or two places but I
mean for the most part you know you had
to uh they brought people from
overseas and um now we have a a
Institute I mean the cran Institute
where where I attend they send boys all
over the country and even to other
countries to lead T wow yeah it's it's
it's incredible man and this is you know
the the Quran this is you know as a
Muslim this is the this is the the bread
and butter I mean you start with the
Quran you don't start someplace else you
know you start with Quran and Quran is
Arabic it's not English you can
translate it to English but you know it
it doesn't match you know the words
don't match one for one too many things
in Arabic they when you translated to
English you find oh that doesn't mean
that it means this MH as you're learning
the Quran and Arab you're learning oh
wow I thought this was this I thought
that was that no it doesn't mean that it
means something else a a much deeper
meaning and Arabic is
very uh what would be a good word
specific it's very specific about
details when you're reading whereas in
English you could get something you you
don't it's just a a general
word I mean it's okay in the beginning
but as
you you know you you want to learn more
did that increase your faith your Iman
the more you this started to open up oh
my God yeah By Night and Day man there's
too many things you know you read and uh
I I can
remember uh when I was learning Surah n
the the women and uh reading in the part
about where on the day of judgment Esau
will be a witness against the Christians
who said that he's God and son and died
and all that stuff he'll be the witness
against them reading this in Arabic and
I'm reciting it I'm a truck driver so
I'm
driving and while I'm reading it man it
hit me Boom the tears just just exploded
on the highway you just start crying on
the highway driving a truck
yeah yeah while I'm I'm trying to recite
a little bit while I'm reading and I'm
going over stuff and for some reason it
hit me while I was driving I can if you
were here in DC area I could take you to
the exact spot where that happened and I
think I boohoo the rest of the day man
and when I got off work I went straight
to my father and and and just lost
it
sorry but just fell apart man I went
home and and told him hey dude don't let
your eyes close thinking that somebody
died for you nobody died for you you're
going to die for yourself you're going
to be responsible and if you die like
that I can't open my mouth I can't say
anything for you please and I just and
showed him in the Quran and man I was
just hysterical almost so out of your
love your father who's still a Baptist
Christian out of your love and concern
you went back to him went to went to him
and told him I had to tell him you you
have to tell him that's the love yeah
you want you want him in Paradise you
you want to abut give him the proper
salvation yes and
I'm at the end of the day my father died
in
2015 at the age of
94 and me and my son got him to accept
Islam before he passed alhamdulillah
alhamdulillah amazing news so your
father Baptist Christian you talking to
him giving D educating him yeah he ends
up accepting Islam also submission to
the Creator
notation yeah I mean
all
that no just I mean your parents they do
so much for you you want to do some what
can you do for him what's the best thing
you can do for him he do need any money
I mean we were poor growing up like that
but I'm saying you know money isn't
going to help him he's 94 what can you
do for him you know you can't take his
pain away you can't you know what can
you do the only thing you can give him
is Islam this is there's no greater
greatest gift yeah connect with the
Creator he has to consent he has to
consent I can't put it in his pocket you
know and uh we pleaded with him man I
mean I I pleaded with him for years for
years man um I'll tell you another
incident one time we were my son was in
college and I think it was eeve or
something and for some reason I had him
in the car and we were listening to a
lecture by siraj waj
and he was talking about he had went
back to the church where he had went and
to to talk to the preacher or whatever
but the preacher had passed and he was
going on and like well you know Allah's
going to if if a he was he was reading
the aats in MAA and the table spread
where Allah questions Esa on the day of
judgment did you tell the people this
stuff and he said well if he's going to
tell him what about being you if he
going to question them what about us I
looked over the and I'm looking at my
dad out the corner of my eye while I'm
driving and I could see tears running
man I was like man this dude he's he's
getting to him Subhan Allah and so you
know you you know you all and he's the
only one out of my family that accepted
hisl I had I have three sisters a lot of
cousins uh uncles like that some
preachers and you know all this stuff
whatever but he's he was the only one
him and I you know and of course my
children are Muslim but um you know you
try to give it to your family man it's
what what you know that's your
job absolutely may Allah sorry if I was
EDD I didn't mean to huh what I'm sorry
if I started rambling on too much no
this is amazing this is very touching um
heartwarming and uh sure for a lot of
people be very emotional I mean parents
so dear to us Mar Allah the almighty the
Creator you reunite us with our parents
my father's in Jenna and that's so
wonderful to hear your father accepted
uh Islam right towards the end it's
amazing and reminds us you know the
Hadith where a person the prophet
paraphrasing that a
person right towards the end that's it
hands Bann away and was written
overtakes him yeah that's just amazing
so tell us before we conclude what kept
you motivated that you kept with it it
took some time but you stayed with it so
other people can take a lesson and they
can get motivated to stay with it giving
a little bit at a time whatever it takes
well Ed to tell you the truth you uh you
and I neither one of us are getting any
younger okay and we learned the Quran
the Quran is not it wasn't for me a
thing where I was in a race to learn I
wanted to learn the Quran in Arabic to
understand it in Arabic language you
want to understand what Allah says not
what the commentator says what did Allah
say okay so and as you're reading it the
the the bar for reading the Quran every
letter every
har Al if L me each one you get reward
and double reward for those of us is not
our language it's difficult and I wanted
that and the Quran you know the Quran is
sh it'll intercede for you on the day of
judgment you think think about these
lawyers we got today these Hot Shot
lawyers Johnny Cochran or whoever F Le
Bailey or whatever you want Surah bakar
and Surah Imran will be the best lawyers
on the day of judgment on a day after
which will be no night they will
continue to to argue and and beg for and
intercede for you for your forgiveness
until you're forgiven
they won't leave
you so from that you would want them in
your corner I mean all of us we're not
perfect we have all we make sins we fall
short we get lazy what have you we want
everything on our favor to achieve our
objective what's the objective genda if
you miss it you know what's waiting for
you right so you you're not try to deal
with that so we try to do the best we
can to learn the Quran I mean I'm good
I'm grateful to the my teachers man my
Quran teacher he there so many guys that
took Quran from that guy's hands it's
it's just you know it's just I get I'm
floored you know you just think about
that how many people people learn the
Quan from somebody and uh I'm just I
feel very I'm very humbled I'm very
grateful that you know to reach this
Milestone uh in my life you know and uh
I'm I'm not finished you don't ever
finish
Quran you you keep when do you finish
you don't finish even after you die in
you still read Quran so we want to you
know we're just trying to do our best
and uh as a convert as a
revert uh you have this thirst you want
to learn it um you need to learn it you
know for um people over 40 they think oh
I can't do it I'm too old I don't have
time
I don't know Arabic okay well you need
to first of all you need to learn how to
read the Quran when Ramadan comes it's
the month of Quran take this time learn
something of the CR learn how to read it
then you want to read it every day you
should have a relationship with the book
of Allah anyway how are you going to you
know develop as a Muslim if you're not
reading the mus you need to know what's
in the Quan you need to know what read
all of it I mean I even had a Christian
guy asked me one day while I'm sitting
in my truck do you uh I do you read all
the
Quran and I'm thinking to myself I mean
what kind of question is that I mean how
am I going to know what's in it if I
don't read it don't you read all the
Bible he said no we don't have
to what what what is that how do you how
do you know what's in it he we started
he got mad and I stormed off you know
I'm thinking myself what is what's wrong
with this guy you know we need yes you
need to read all the Quran how are you
going to know what's in it if you you
don't read it and you need to know how
to read it properly you should as a
Muslim it's the most important thing in
your life I don't I can't think of
what's more important more important
than your
career you know if you died today what's
what's going to help you the Quran or
the
job so you
know uh you know you want to encourage
people man to read uh study the Quran
does wonders for your Iman
too many things you don't see in
English uh that you they translate one
thing it means something else and I'll
give you a quick example like you'll see
poor translated as
MKE here and must a all neither
those three things are not the same
thing mskin is somebody who doesn't have
enough money for his monthly stuff
forier he doesn't have nothing not even
for today the must a he's the guy
somebody's foot on his neck like in Gaza
this is you know so they're not the same
thing you can't translate all those as
poor it it doesn't mean that they're
just layers and layers and layers that
oh man it just goes so deep yeah
everywhere and you as you that's that's
what I say when you reading the Quran in
Arabic every day wow I didn't know that
I thought this was this you read oh wow
I didn't know that I thought that was
this was this this this no no that's
it'll be
that takes you to a whole another
dimension over here you're still like
kind of in audio not even maybe black
and white but then over here you get 4k
and Beyond yeah and it and it never ends
uh you know you read the Quran and you
go back and pick it up you see something
you didn't see MH you know you go all
the time when you go back you see
something you know and it'll it'll the
more you understand it the more you I'm
just at the level where I can taste it
you know I used to wonder when I was a
new Muslim why people cry when you read
Quan now I know
why now I know why you know you you feel
it you can you can taste it it's like
eating some very fine sweets hwa
whatever you from you
know uh you can taste it it it has an
effect on you Allah mentions in the
Quran he said if he put it on the
mountain it crush it if Allah sent the
Quran down on the mountain so what about
you you get a taste you going to home
you
too so you know so from that you know we
try to encourage people to learn it to
study it and because you're over a
certain age don't think you can't learn
and you shouldn't have the objective in
mind oh I need to finish I can't don't
worry about finishing worry about
improving your relationship with the
book of Allah that's what you should
worry about this is I this is personal
this is for your benefit it doesn't
benefit anybody else it benefits you you
know this that's what you want I mean I
can't think of anything else more
important great advice thank you so much
let's end with this for the non-muslims
and not yet Muslims never had really any
kind of exposure to the Quran in this
I'd ask you to go ahead and recite the
faat the opening which is actually
translated in English they can go ahead
we'll put the translation this is how
you can get Guided by making this
supplication this Dua that's actually in
there so can you recite the opening
chapter of the Quran for us
so can hear
it ald
[Music]
you wanna or should I you want to
translate
it yes I can translate it I said
first we seek refuge in Allah uh from
Shan when we before we start reciting
the Quran from the Devil
this is real powerful now
yeah in the name of Allah the beneficent
the merciful all Praises are due to
Allah the Lord of all the worlds the
most gracious the most merciful the
master of day of judgment you alone do
we worship and you alone do we seek
assistance guide us to the straight way
the way of those on whom you have
blessed not on Those whom your wrath has
been brought down nor of those who have
gone astray I mean we ask Lord to accept
ja thank you so much for sharing your
story with
us heav and Earth reward you thank you
am me man I'm very humbled to be here
thank you for inviting me I hope I
didn't talk too much uh you know what I
mean I'm you're doing a good job with
the da and like that man may Allah
reward you and your team your family and
put this on your scale in the day of
judgment am me amen amen amen thank you
and I want to thank you guys for tuning
in and amazing story what an amazing
story I hope you benefit like I have if
you like a free copy of the Quran go to
the Deans show.com we'll get you a free
copy so you can see what took him to
this level where he's at figuring out
the purpose of life why why you here
where you going when you die all the
answers that he was looking toward was
quisitive he wanted to know they're all
there in the Quran and we'll get it to
you for free we'll see next time until
then peace be with you assalam alikum