peaceful peaceful peaceful
peace peace peace be unto you welcome to
another episode of the dean show can
tv36 Wednesdays at midnight Thursdays at
2 pm. and if you miss us on the TV here
in Chicago don't worry about it you can
catch us as people do all around the
globe at theed Deen show.com where we're
here trying to help you understand Islam
and Muslims now my next
guest is going to come out to talk about
some of the common
holidays it's the season to get jolly
and during these times people do all
sorts of things so we're going to be
talking about some of the origins of
where some of these holidays came from
so when we come back we're going to get
enlightened God willing with our next
guest Abdul hakeim quick here on the
dean show you don't want to go
nowhere there's only one God and muhamad
is his messenger
Allah
Allah there's only one God and Jesus was
his messenger
Allah
I don't know why I did that maybe maybe
it's just to break the iceam
alayum for non-muslim guests they want
to know what we said so they don't have
to take an Arabic class please tell us
we we said peace be upon you and that is
the greetings of peace and I pray that
uh all those who watch this program can
find uh peace in their life uh and their
society is it just coincidence or did
Jesus Moses and the last and final
message did they greet their followers
with this greeting of Peace yes this is
the greetings of all of the prophets and
um people of Consciousness and wise
people all over the planet begin with a
state of Peace cuz that is where we come
from and hopefully that is where we go
now you're our teacher you're our Shake
I've personally been learning from you I
mean you started studying probably when
I was born so you've uh really been
around you've been helping to clear many
of the misconceptions you actually
weren't Muslim you accepted Islam you
used to be a Christian that's right can
you just tell us
briefly how you came to
Islam in the name of Allah the
beneficent the merciful um I was born
and raised in Boston
Massachusetts and um with mixed
parentage and um I was basically raised
as an African-American uh however I do
have some uh European background and
also some native uh American background
the from the Mohawk Tribe so from a
young age I question my own identity and
um I questioned the things around me and
I was raised in a Christian family we
were first Baptists and then we became
episcopalians that's closer to Catholic
yeah of course and um I questioned
certain sites and symbols and um what I
was learning within the church itself
and I was raised in the turbulent 60s in
the 60s uh the age of Aquarius yeah um
young people were very uh rebellious and
questioning and um so I was part of that
group M and um I wanted to know what the
background was to information that was
being given to me so I became a student
of history and I consider that to be my
love uh to go into history which really
gives the background to things that we
see today because if people do not know
where they come from then they can't
fully understand where they are and
they'll be confused where they're going
so therefore history gives a a
background or a basis to what we we face
in life
and uh I began to uh um go into this uh
and focus on you know all the different
things I was being taught and then
finally this is not the show where we're
talking about your journey to Islam God
willing hopefully we'll get to go into
some of the details on another episode
but finally you ended up coming to that
way the way of all the prophets that way
of surrender and submission not to
anything in the creation but to the
creator of the heavens and earth sumed
up with one word Islam yes eventually um
I did uh leave the church
I didn't leave my belief in God or my
respect for Jesus and Mary peace be upon
them and I used to read The Lord's
Prayer I used to love that prayer yeah
and I would always read The Lord's
Prayer and uh focus on the fact of you
know the Father the creator of the
heavens and the Earth and so even though
I was disillusioned with the
institutionalized Church uh I was not
disillusioned uh dis uh uh you know
disillusion with God or with um the
respect for the prophets so I continued
my journey
until I came across the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him and I found that he
was the continuation of the message and
the Fulfillment of what Jesus was
talking about uh when he spoke about a
comforter so this was something- which
really uh completed my religious
understanding uh and really helped me to
get a world view and to respect all of
the prophets not one or two but all of
the prophets who came to teach
monotheism that this amazing how you are
searching for the truth and you know
when you want it it's there you got want
to want it that's right so tell us now
these common holidays I actually saw
your lecture on the origins of the
common holidays Christmas Easter
Valentine and I think when people get to
know some of the roots of where these
originated from it's very enlightening
yeah so why don't we start with
Christmas can you talk a little a little
bit to us about Christmas well I think
it's important to get a background for
all of the holidays yes because what I
found out is that from the from Early
Times there were people who uh worshiped
the creation itself so they would take
different aspects of the creation if
they live by a river yeah then the river
was God if they lived in a desert with
big rocks then they would worship around
the Rocks yeah probably uh the most
important um god of the ancient world
was the sun mhm so the sun god became
symbol of power and authority and in
Europe as in other many parts of the
world they would structure their
holidays and structure their their
religion around Seasons yeah so they
would focus on um vegetation the growth
of veget vegetation um also the the the
the Sun how the sun moves and so you
would find in in different seasons or or
the Meridian the point that they call
Solstice so you have that middle point
in the winter the winter Sol Solstice M
you have the spring solstice the summer
and the fall so it was right at the
solstice point that special ceremonies
uh were happening in the ancient world
and it was in the winter solstice
especially in the northern countries
that they would celebrate um the the the
conquests or the or the coming returning
of the sun because around December 22nd
or so this is like the longest day and
then it goes in by December 25th now
it's changing back and so in many
Northern countries where it's very cold
um it was dangerous to be living during
the winter people would die yeah because
they didn't have Central Heating and
whatnot and and then if you're really
far north in in in December the Sun goes
away for maybe 20 20 days sometimes a
whole month it's dark outside so they
would literally light bonfires and they
would make certain idols and have
special uh symbols in order to bring the
sun god back yeah and so these
ceremonies were developed in the north
uh based upon you know the the the
coming back of the sun um and um in
Greece and in Rome they celebrated what
is called the Balia for for the god of
wine and play bakus yeah and the Greeks
and the Romans had uh they had the
saturnalia which was for Saturn and and
this is like the god of time the sun god
and so special C ceremonies were held at
that time where they would um uh uh make
sacrifices and um they would have
certain symbols and U even the Romans uh
it was reported that they would
sacrifice many of the early Christians
when Christianity or the followers of
Jesus peace be upon them came into Rome
they would sacrifice them to the Lions
and uh and whatnot and so when uh
Christianity when the teachings finally
became strong in Rome they no longer
sacrific people but then on on that
December 25th they had gave out little
dolls and they would say to each other
Bona saturnalia mhm which means like
today we would say Merry Christmas yeah
and B Bonas Bona saturnalia sataria
which means Mar which is have a good
saturnalia which is the the holiday on
December 25th and around their coliseums
they would put lights so the light
concept around the building that was
there in ancient times also uh in the
northern countries they would bring the
fur tree into the house cuz the fur tree
was the only living thing in in in the
cold countries and so they figured that
there must be some power that this tree
has so they wanted that spiritual power
in their house in order to protect them
from Evil and give them good give them
health so they would bring in the fur
tree and they would put a a a light on
the top of it that represented the Sun
God and so all of these symbols the
mistletoe and Holly and all of these
symbols were actually from the ancient
world I was really surprised to find out
when I visited ancient Egypt you find in
in the ancient times they had what is
called the an and that is like a cross
with a loop on the top and that was the
original cross so the cross was a symbol
in the ancient world that stood for
eternal life and so when the followers
of Jesus peace be upon him when they
came into that area and they were
suffering and they couldn't take the
pain so somebody must have made the
decision if you can't beat them join
them and so H an amalgamation of the two
religions came about and so they
celebrated the birth of Christ uh on
December 25th and when actually the the
religious historians will tell you that
Jesus peace upon him was not born in the
winter because even according to the
Christian Traditions yeah the um the the
flocks uh were being were outside you
know the the manger and and and in
winter time you have to have your flocks
inside cuz it's cold in Palestine yeah
so for your flocks to be outside
means that it was warm outside also uh
Joseph and Mary paid their taxes to the
government and the taxes is ripe fruit
and that happens in the warm weather
yeah the Quran itself the book of
scripture of the Muslims talks about
Mary may Allah be pleased with her that
she in her pregnancy at the end of it
that she was told to go out to the palm
tree and she should shake this nla this
ripe uh dates would come down and so the
ripened dates we know come in August MH
it's In the Heat of the summer so all
religious Traditions show that Jesus was
born in the warm weather MH but in order
to make the religion Fair seeming to the
nature worshippers they Incorporated the
birth of Jesus at the time of the winter
solstice so this is where Christmas
originally begins now the the the the
main character in Christmas today for
most people is not really Jesus only for
religious people the main character is s
Santa Claus yeah and Santa Claus really
um many people believe and you'll see a
number of books that are written he is
like the image of Saturn because there's
a picture of Saturn that was uh done in
the cine chapel and he's he's a
well-built man with a beard and he's on
a sleigh but he has snakes with wings
yeah so that's similar to a sleigh with
the reindeers that don't normally fly
but they're pulling Santa Claus around
it's like Saturn right yeah um similarly
uh the whole name St Nicholas or St Nick
um Nicholas himself was a bishop who
lived in Constantinople and what is now
turkey and he was a very austere person
he used to fast and he was very
different than the Jolly merry Santa
Claus that we know of that's a different
image altogether I was shocked even more
to find out that in Germany they
actually considered uh St Nicholas to be
the devil he was dressed in red and you
can you can go in their traditions and
they considered him to be a dangerous
person they would say to their children
don't go outside in in the winter
because Nicholas will get you you see
and so this is why up until 1647 the
British Parliament banned Christmas yeah
in England it was against the law to
celebrate Christmas because they
considered it to be a satanic type of
thing a nature worship thing not a
Christian uh ceremony so therefore so
this is what started me to think that
really you know something's going on and
we have to become detectives to really
separate monotheism from polytheism to
separate nature worship nature worship
from the worship of one God MH I took it
a step further yeah when the spring
solstice came MH this was the time of
the return of life life after death yeah
because in the northern countries that's
the time when uh the trees and plants
that have died then become green and so
the ancient nature worshippers in uh in
northern Europe they had a goddess
called uh austre or Ain or what we now
call Easter mhm so they believe she was
a goddess and she waved her wand and
everything turns green yeah so the bunny
rabbits and the eggs and chickens and
flowers and all these symbols of Easter
have nothing to do with Jesus peace be
upon him because Jesus was Jewish he was
following the law of Moses so these have
nothing to do with Jesus the egg is the
symbol
of Life mhm and the rabbit uh is a
symbol of fertility because the rabbit
is one of the most productive mammals in
terms of having babies so all of these
are really uh fertility symbols so it's
a fertility uh nature cult and so they
Incorporated life after death meaning
spring after winter um they they mix
that with the concept of
resurrection of life after death so they
Amalgamated the two and that's the
reason why Christians today say Easter
when actually that was not a Christian
uh ceremony or a Jewish ceremony that
was a pagan uh nature worship so all of
it's mixed up together uh today um and
uh uh this is what we have to do to
separate the two I took it a step
further yeah and then we found Halloween
mhm Halloween is coming in at a time um
it is really the celebration of some who
was you know the god of evil mhm and the
underworld and so it was a underworld
cult as well um and Halloween is
actually a time of evil and and a time
when they believe that the spirits of
the Dead would rise to the surface and
they would um uh uh come to people's
homes and they would haunt them and so
the people used to wear a mask they
would mask their face so if there was a
a ghost or a spirit that had wanted to
take revenge on you you have a mask on
so he doesn't know who you are yeah so
this whole concept of masking on
Halloween actually came from the ancient
practices uh during that time another
interesting uh holiday we found out that
has two sides um is St Valentine's Day
yeah now St Valentine's Day in February
falls on what was called lupercalia and
the lalia uh for the Greeks and the
Romans this was a time when they would
get young people to together and in
order to get them into sexuality and and
to you know prepare them for marriage
they would bring them together and they
would actually allow them to have sexual
relations uh during this time this is
the
lupercalia and so um this is the reason
why Valentine's Day you have Cupid who
shoots you with the arrow and you fall
hopelessly in love yeah okay Valentine
himself St Valentine he was another U
Christian uh um uh bishop or priest and
he was in a sense the the patron saint
of lovers because the Romans in ancient
times they would force their soldiers um
to go into battle and and they would
stop them from getting married until
after the great battles were over and
many of them wanted to get married and
they would secretly have lovers and so
Valentine would help them and support
them and so when they found this out
they arrested him and and when he was in
jail uh he wrote a letter to his friends
the lovers and he said from your
Valentine mhm so so this incorporation
then comes it it it it appears to be an
innocent day but in reality um it is a
day of heightened sexuality and it is
something which is dangerous for the
Youth today because it can get them into
adultery and fornication and uh sexually
transmitted diseases and HIV AIDS um all
of these things can happen unless you
know they deal with marriage and and and
proper sexuality now how do we bring it
home because this is a lot of
information people can get overwhelmed
like well I'm just trying to pass a
little love note to the woman or I'm
just trying to you know in school they
might have the little sweetest cards and
that and it seems so innocent but bring
it home what is the actual when you go
deeper and you see the the roots and
what is the the danger or the outcome of
all this innocence that later you had
mentioned fornication and all these
other well what we realize with and what
Islam shows us is that you know the the
Quran itself tells us well
he said don't come close to adultery
yeah because it is an evil uh and it
will destroy everything in your life so
the therefore the Allah is telling us
he's not saying don't commit adultery
but don't come close to it so therefore
anything that can lead a person towards
you know a fornication or an adulterous
relationship we try to stop this because
we realize in this case you see if a
person is going to commit murder murder
is not a natural thing to see a person
killed or a person raped that's a
horrible thing but for a man to have a
relationship with a woman for a woman to
have a man that's natural thing we're
created for this yeah so therefore it's
something that the body wants to do yes
so that's why Allah said don't come
close to it he didn't say don't do it
yeah because if you come close then
you're going to do it because you're
made for this so therefore what Islam
does is is that it gives the protections
so the sexual ity can come out but it
will come out with respect and
especially for the young girl she will
be uh um given you know the place that
she deserves her body is protected her
honor and dignity is protected her
family is protected and that's really
what we want and that's through lawful
marriage right now we went from we're
going to go a little in Reverse
Halloween I want to just identify with
my favorite Superstar favorite comic
figure hey look I want to just go from
door to door and get some candy what's
wrong with that well uh
trick-or-treating and when I was young
um as a non-muslim i trick-or-treated
yeah and we were living in a big housing
project so we had thousands of kids
walking around you know with mass on and
whatnot but actually unfortunately
because of the rise of Satanism yeah in
America this time has become extremely
dangerous and people will tell you today
don't send your children out on
trick-or-treating because there's
perverts and there's murderers and
satanists who actually capture the
children kidnapped them during that time
also some of the people used would put
filthy things in the bag yeah I mean if
your child is going to beg you know
people for candy you better be sure what
that candy is yeah um and so it's a
dangerous thing I mean disease can be
passed on um you know so many uh dangers
for children that most people who have
sense won't send their children out
trick-or-treating yeah so Muslims who
who are supposed to be more or organized
you know should really um avoid this
because we have no relationship with
that uh event at all but for person
who's not a Muslim what I say is think
about it yeah don't follow the hype
don't be pushed along to do things right
without using your intelligence this is
so important today because you know even
very dangerous drugs are given names
like you know designer names and you
know things which are really dangerous
are made to seem uh Fair seeming and and
seem innocent yes so we have to question
what is behind things and so therefore I
would say for Muslims and people of
Consciousness don't be involved in
trick-or-treating at all yeah close your
door right and don't do it I mean that's
unfortunate because if you don't if you
don't treat they're going to trick you
yeah and we used to throw eggs on the
door right so you might get in trouble
but after a while I think most most of
the trick-or-treaters they can see a
door they know if somebody's not into it
and they just leave it alone that's a
perfect time to get robbed also you got
the mask on open the door give them up
that's right not the not the uh the um
Candy but the money that's right so be
safe that's right yeah tell us now look
I don't see my family all year and it's
the season to be jolly we're getting
together yeah family time what's the
problem here well this is a great crisis
for those who have accepted Islam yeah
because we are supposed to keep
relations with our families it is part
of the Sunnah not to break off with your
mother or your father and to keep your
relations and so therefore we need to be
balanced some people would go to
extremes and they have nothing to do
with their families and cut them off
that's not the Islamic way but at the
same time the Other Extreme is to just
go there and sit up there when they're
eating ham and they're eating things
that are not permissible and to sit
there and to be involved in it so really
um it is permissible to visit families
there's nothing wrong with showing
respect you know to your family but um
Muslims need to be very clear with their
parents that they don't eat uh pork they
don't drink alcohol they need halal food
you know and if the family gets together
on you know on an occasion like that um
for most people there's no religious
part of it it's it's a social thing so
if they get together for social reasons
you can do that but we just have to make
sure that it's uh Halal that the food is
halal and of course no drinking of
alcohol in some cultures you have a
pudding or you know a cake that's got
wine inside of it you got to watch out
for that as well fruit cake or whatever
it is it depends on the culture so um
you know it's like a balance it's it's
it's it's a way of showing respect to
your family but not following their
Traditions MH and so um I would um
recommend that we still keep relations
with the family in terms of presen you
can receive presents there's nothing
wrong with that but the giving of the
presents what we Tred to Institute is
that um we would not give presents on
Christmas but when Eid day comes yeah
then we would give our families presents
to show them that yes we are giving you
we do love you we're giving you presents
but we're not necessarily following this
tradition because this is not um Islamic
and it's not even Jesus from the
followers of Jesus peace be upon him
none of them ever come celebrate any of
these holiday none of these holidays
these are nature-based holidays has
nothing to do with the prophets yeah so
we have to make it clear but you see for
a lot of the people in the older
generation it's tough to to distinguish
this because this is a cultural thing
now and it's become a North American
Western Way of Celebration and family
and whatnot so we have to be sensitive
to people's feelings and to let them
know that we still do love them and we
care about them but we're not going to
follow traditions um which lead us into
polytheism or or eating uh food which is
not permissible uh in Islam so before we
come to an end just a few more points
how do we bring it home as far as now we
want to do things the correct way so for
what advice do you have for those people
who are just going with the flow just
letting their desires dictate their life
why is this something so important that
we mention a lot of the is it safe to
say Pagan roots from some of these
holidays and why it's important to
really investigate like you did instead
of just blindly following
along well um it's important uh for
people
today um that we uh have a balance you
and that we realize that Islam is a gift
M that in this world of confusion today
the last Propet Muhammad Sall wasallam
he did not come to start a new religion
but he came to bring the final test
Testament he gave the final version of
the Quran which actually filled in those
uh parts that were missing from the
message and corrected uh aspects of the
message that had been lost over time and
so we believe that in the teachings of
Jesus what is left there is truth in
there in the teachings of Moses there is
truth but the truth is has been
polluted or mixed up with paganism and
with nature worship and so Islam has
given you a pure straightforward way of
approaching religion and you know the
straight monotheism and so we need to to
to to really be thankful for this and to
keep oursel out of you know the negative
practices uh which have destroyed the
messages of many of the prophets who
came uh in the past what advice do you
have for that person who sees the
contradictions he sees the flaws he sees
that you know what the majority of these
religions they have man's interpolation
in them they have man's fingerprint on
it and you know what but they're just
going with the Customs now they see when
they watch the show they've met some
Muslims possibly and see you know what
it makes sense this call to worship the
Creator alone to submit to him alone to
do what he wants you to do and then
there's nothing less than Paradise
that's a simple rational thing that's
right and and we should realize that
that this this um uh religion of the one
God monotheism this is something which
was practiced by All Nations and the
Quran itself says we have sent verily a
messenger to every nation that they
should worship one God and stay away
from false deities and so in China in
India in Europe Africa the Americas
Middle East Every Nation every tribe has
received a Warner a messenger the
prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him is
only the seal or the finality of all of
these prophets so in everybody's culture
there is some good there is monotheism
there is Purity and and nobody should be
disrespected but we we we have to
realize that there are negative forces
there are forces of the devil there are
forces of paganism which seek uh to to
defy the Creator and take people on a
course that would lead them uh
ultimately to Hellfire and so um it is
our prayer that our friends and our
those who are watching our program and
our families you know could all be saved
from the fire of Hell in the next life
and that that we could all live in this
life in peace and security uh and find
the best uh in this world and the
Hereafter couple more points everything
sounds good it sounds like it's
something that it's practical it's
rational and there's evidence behind
what we're saying all the people have to
do is to dig a little bit but there's
some stigma attached to Islam people
seeing some things blowing up and
they're associated with Muslims they
think that Islam oppresses the woman
they think Allah is some strange Moon
God what do you have to say in general
about this to help remove some of this
garbage that has been put out there well
um what I've found is that um the the
the Islam itself like other ways of life
U is is is not necessarily the same as
those who claim to be in other words in
Christianity itself there are extremists
in Judaism there are extremists Hinduism
they're as extremists similarly are
those people who have Muslim names but
they're not actually practicing Islam
yeah and so it's important for people
today because um today since we have
technology we we we are able to
communicate we we have Googles we have
so many ways of bringing information in
we need to go to the essence what we
call in history primary sources go back
you know as we say take it from the
horse's mouth you want to find out what
something is really about go to the
source and to find out what it is then
you can judge the followers yes then you
can judge an event and say is this a
Christian event is this a Muslim event
is this a Jewish event Islam is no
different than the other ways of life
and so that is important today uh for
everybody to be to have that
open-mindedness when they're dealing
with each other and we don't say that
everybody has to be a Muslim everybody
has a choice the Quran says Uh there's
no compulsion in religion truth stands
clear from falsehood and so people
people have the right to choose what
they want but it's important that at
least they they take a good look that is
the important thing today um to to
respect other cultures and and to seek
knowledge to share knowledge right so
that we can all come to the best
position in life thank you very much may
God Almighty the Creator Allah reward
you for being with us and I'd like to
thank you for tuning in to another
episode of the dean show I hope you got
to benefit I sure did and as our teacher
and shik has said come to go to the
horse's mouth and this is the place if
you like what we had to say come back
every week here to the dean show where
we got more teachers teaching us this
beautiful way the way of life of all the
messengers of God that way of submission
and surrender obedience not to your
desires not to a man not to a woman but
the one who created man and woman the
one who created the Sun the moon the one
who Jesus prayed to the one who Muhammad
prayed to the creator of the heavens and
the Earth and this is summed up with one
word
Islam we'll see you next time God
willing here on the dean show until then
alayum peace be unto
you
for
come and see what everyone's talking
about Pro you find one contradiction it
can't be from
God but the rational idea the rational
explanation is you do your best give up
and God is one I will never give up
spreading this message hope that you
take that necessary step you don't know
if you're going to live till
tomorrow so you got to find that urgency
to do the right thing right
now the reality of Life usually doesn't
sink in until tragedy
comes you get a few bad people the media
grabs a hold of of that and Spins it the
way they want
to if you say that you do not believe in
Jesus you have stepped outside of Islam
you cannot be a Muslim is attended our
faith
to it's
lame everybody
sleeping I
arise and ask Allah to foring me oh
Allah you
see oh Allah you
know all the sins I
do I turn to you to forgive my sins and
my
heart I'm your sinful
slave you're my love and
Lord I'm the one who run
away oh Allah guide
me