but we live in I call it the middle
finger culture all right parents kids
don't respect their parents at all right
Sharia God's law tells you to respect
your parents you can't even say say what
do you that's nuts after allah subhanaw
taala says what about a book a lot I
would do in London I said unless Allah
commands
he sat together and he told me listen I
just have a question for you I just have
a simple question and I want a simple
answer
are you here to kill us are you here to
take over this country and you know I
was shocked people got to actually hear
him recite some Quran and were these
Christians that were crying yes
talk to us about that
[Music]
assalamualaikum how're you guys doing
we're gonna give you a before-and-after
before when you go to someone ignore it
like many of these people do isn't that
crazy ironic and you get fooled you get
duped not too long ago Fox News they
sent out the reporters and they were
asking people in Dearborn hey man do you
guys like Sharia you want Sharia and and
all everybody all of our lovely
neighbors out there did scared I think
the boogeyman's they painted like Sharia
like the boogeyman is coming to get you
these Moslems ah now after when you go
to someone with knowledge and we got
someone who was an imam in Dearborn
let's ask him what Sharia and let's see
after local open your mind remember it
for the mind to work it's got to be like
a pair of shoes got to be open okay so
open your mind and now you be honest
with yourself after we come to an expert
right in the area and it's defined for
you let me see if you still got that
same trepidation in your heart how's
that Salaam alaikum guys I'm here with
imam Bulow who's for who was actually
from Dearborn obviously from day one now
he's in Daytona I'm from Florida now
Florida what Julia said yeah well this
is one of the terms that that one of the
terms that are misunderstood and also
misused the term Sharia as simply means
the way or the instructions or the
rulings or the acam the set of akkem as
in the meaning of the the acam is Sharia
we find that in the in the Bible and the
Old Testament and also in the New
Testament the term Sharia is used and in
the Arabic Bible for example in the New
Testament the the term Sharia is
mentioned more than 250 times Wow in
there did you
did you guys hear that the term Sharia
look in your Bible in the Bible right
because not everybody who reads the
Bible is American right there's some
Christians who read the Bible and what
language do they speak if they're Arabic
they're reading the Bible in Arabic and
Arabic I know right
the Arabic Bible is is way older than
the English Bible and what is in Sharia
is in the Arabic Bible yeah if you go to
any Arabic Christian and you ask them
about the term Sharia does the term
Shelley I exist in the in the Bible I
think if they are honest they will say
yes it exists and it means the way the
Sharia at moosa they call it Sharia at
moosa the rules or the way of moosa
aleihsalaam Moses Moosa Moses at itself
yes so what you're telling us now is
that because many people okay they can
relate to it often we tell them is it
true I mean you're the me mom you're the
academic you're the scholar in this area
Sharia we can say Moses you guys believe
in mouvement Moses really was one of the
greatest messengers that came with the
same message as Jesus and Abraham and
Noah they all call people to worship the
Creator not the Christian Muhammad just
being the last and final messenger they
all brought Sharia and the Ten
Commandments with Sharia is that correct
yes
yes sirree I also means the legislation
so the legislation of moosa
alaih-is-salaam and the set of rules and
commands of moosa alaih-is-salaam they
are also referred to as Sharia dear
so we have the Sharia of moosa
aleihsalaam also we have the Sharia of
Moses peace be upon him this area of
Mohammed also peace be upon but I'm
telling you this is one of the terms
that that are being misused and also
being misunderstood especially by the
the mainstream media they come and also
when they when they talk about today and
they say Sharia law which means la la la
because Sharia and the meaning of Sharia
as blood the law of Moses the law of
Mohammed so you can say la la Shelley is
you know the rules regarding divorce
regarding marriage regarding the way
that's I deal with you and you deal with
me the way that we deal with our
neighbors the way that we deal with our
parents all of that is considered Shinya
Sharia is Islam Islam Islam Islam yeah
so charity tradition yeah being kind to
your parents this is part of the shitty
way of the Prophet sallallaahu yeah so
for the parents out there who's we live
in I call it the middle finger culture
right parents kids don't respect their
parents at all right Sharia
God's law tells you to respect
your parent you can't even say say what
do you that's that's after allah
subhanaw taala says what about a book a
letter I would do in let you know below
and then I said unless Allah commands
and Allah prescribes upon you Allah
Allah Subhan Allah instructs you to
believe in him and do not associate any
partners with him and that you have to
believe that there is no deity worthy of
worship except God except Allah and then
the second thing the second most
important thing after that after believe
in Allah and His Messenger and the and
the articles of faith is respecting your
parents and being dutiful to your
parents yeah it comes right after to
eight because the meaning of trade is
knowing the rights of Allah upon you God
is the one who created you then he is he
has the right to be worshipped and also
your parents because they they are the
purpose for your existence and because
they raised you they have a big right
they have a great right upon you a
responsibility upon you to respect them
it's a right that they have upon you
just like a Lhasa Mountain has a right
upon you that you should worship Him
alone there are if I'm correct to 6236
verses in the verbatim word of God Quran
right now many people they get stuck up
on the Penal Code and we often give this
example it's like if the Martians came
down to the America and they want to
know about the US Constitution and we
just tell them about the electric chair
we tell them about the Penal Code right
the punishment system right that's there
is a deterrent and then they didn't get
to hear about all the other wonderful
things and values that the Constitution
exposes on right that would be unfair
that be unjust but you see that many of
the opponents of Islam the Islamophobes
you know the people who who have this
bitter hate in themselves and is
projecting out and they got no one else
to point their lives upside down so they
got no one there was a person standing
outside the mosque I not the mosque in
front of the White House I just I do
this just you know really just
bewildered me he's got a sign it says
Islam is the problem dummy or a stupid
right it's like you know we're always as
human beings we're trying to point you
know outward instead of ready but they
they play the blame game and hit the
blame game so my question is to you
Imam Sheikh Bilal is that
when people they go ahead and they talk
about you know Sharia they right away
think about the penal system Islam what
does that equate to what is that like 1%
of the whole you know 1 or 2 what
percentage wise nearly what 1% you know
the Quran the Quran talks about allah
subhana wa ta'ala talks about you as
human beings and the way to deal with
the creator and also to do how to deal
with the creation and also the quran
also talks about stories from previous
generations talks about prophets and
messengers talks about jesus christ
peace be upon him so to meet let me put
it this way the verses that talked about
maybe Jesus Christ peace be upon him are
more than the verses that talk to talk
about punishment when you do certain
things so but people they're ignorant
when it comes to and knowing the the
Quran the Quran talks about you know the
purpose for our existence and how to
live a meaningful purposeful life the
Quran talks about how to deal with each
other how to deal with our as I
mentioned with our parents with our
neighbors even with our enemies that we
have to be kind to them and we have to
be merciful to them and we have to be
just to them even if they wronged us so
the Quran talks about the Quran talks
about all of that so to cherry-pick or
to pick and choose from the one say hey
look man talks about violence the Quran
talks about this and that and take it
out of context and misunderstand these
verses and why they were revealed and
when they were revealed I think this is
I think this is a problem and this is a
this is a challenge that we face as
Muslims also in the in essence it's just
like the example that the earth that we
always give that it's like taken you
know words out of context for example
say listen George Washington and one of
his speech speeches he said today we
will kill all the British ok he said
that but he did not he did not mean that
we will kill all the British everywhere
anywhere we find them he was talking
about a specific place so these verses
that talk about violence the Medina was
you know the the Prophet peace be upon
his companions were attacked and they
were thrown away from there
out from their own homes from their own
houses and their money were taken also
and many of them were killed and they
were persecuted and they were being
abused verbally and physically and then
Godwin did when they went to al-madinah
and he gave him permission and I
mentioned to the first verse that was
revealed allah allah subhan allah says o
el ateneo Cottenham and william o allah
gives permission to those people or
being attacked because they were and
also they're being oppressed or in the
latter I didn't Oklahoman them they were
kicked out from their home so Allah gave
them a la semana - Anna gave them
permission to protect themselves not to
attack and by the way the most of the
actually all of the battles that took
place in the history of Islam especially
those battles that took place in the
time of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam
the prophets allah wa s-salam was
protecting the medina is protecting the
muslims and some people might say how do
i mean how's that so and we tell them
better what did it take place within the
boundaries of medina or heard inside
medina our head is a mountain in medina
and a sap was inside the medina they
attack the prophet salallahu alaihe
salam so these are the things that
people need to pay attention to and try
to understand so you were actually Imam
in dearborn at that time when the Fox
News they were sending reporters and
they were were you there and I was not
there no but you know the guy knows I
know that I know the people yeah how
what was their level of knowledge and
what was what's your what's your opinion
about this one day what do you think are
they genuine in their in their search
and quest you know are they picking out
just random real ignorant people and
then when you saw you saw those videos
right the ones we're going to show yes
what's your take on that so it's like
it's like when you go if you go outside
and you and you and you start talking to
people about the Constitution just
random people tell them listen you know
in the Constitution you're allowed to
kill whomever you want and all of that
they would say yeah and they will try to
justify that because they're ignorant of
the Constitution I'm just giving you an
example the same the same thing you just
you know Fox News they wouldn't and they
just found ran
people then they started asking them
about terms and and about things that
they don't know anything about they
don't have any clue about these terms
and they're just ordinary people and and
they're happy to see you know a lot of
people they see the camera they just
want to talk because they you know I
want to appear in and and Fox News I
want to appear in the television so I I
think they were not honest they were not
honest because if you really want to
know anything about any religion or any
or about any type of people you have to
go to a reliable source you have to go
to the person so for example if I want
to learn about Christianity I will go to
a minister I would go to a clergy and I
will ask them about the Christian faith
similarly if you have a question about
the religion of Islam you go to an
expert you go to and someone who studied
the religion of Islam so I think that
there were this honest and and I think
they just wanted to just pick and choose
anyone and I think by the way I think
they've talked to other people but they
pick and choose whatever goes hand in
hand with the their judgment with their
agent not now you've also you've had the
opportunity to sit with some with he
it's I get really really elated when I
hear these stories about people who are
sincere and they visit you in the mosque
and they visit other Muslims in the
mosque and you've actually had people
come up to you and ask you you know and
apologize at the end tell us those
encounters you've had with people who
come and they've heard they've actually
asked they've got to ask tough questions
even questions they're kind of timid to
ask or they they feel they're gonna put
you on the spot you welcome those
questions right yes tell us some of
these encounters that you've had oh one
of the times that there was a an elderly
person he came to the mosque and he was
looking for the Imam he said he wants to
speak to the Imam so I welcomed him and
I welcomed him then I was
you know I told him that I am very happy
to see you and I really thank you for
coming to the mustard and you know to
ask you know the right person so we sat
together and he told me listen I just
have a question for you I just have a
simple question and I want a simple
answer are you here to kill us are you
here to take over this country and you
know I was shocked but in the same time
I really understand I really understood
you know his fear because he listens
because that's what I came to understand
after the meeting is that you know
because he came the second time and I
asked him and he said yes I I watched
these mainstream media and I you know
and and and they just instill fear
inside of us from Islam and from Muslims
and I told them you know I can you know
I should ask you the same question are
you here to kill us are you here to take
over the and I said I'm just an American
citizen I'm just like you so why are you
why I why are you afraid he said the
reason why because we hear a lot of
things that we see a lot of things are
you know on TV and we hear from you know
from Muslim cleric so you know
extremists and I said extreme you know
extremism exists in each and every
religion each and every faith but you
cannot judge the majority by the
minority there's a small you know a very
small group of people who you know wants
to hijack Islam and they they misquote
the Quran they misrepresent the Quran
and they miss implement the Quran and
they misquote even the Quran you know so
you cannot judge the the many by the few
this is a few people and I and I
explained to him and I said you know
throughout history throughout history
you had many extremists from the from
the Christians from the Jews from the
Buddhist now and Myanmar they're killing
Muslims you know and they're wiping the
Buddhists are yeah Buddha's are so I
said you cannot judge and then we I
explained to him and I gave him a copy
of the Quran and I explained him and I
showed him the ayah that
talked about that talks about mercy and
also I showed him some of the verses we
discussed some of the verses that talk
about violence and then in that you
cannot take them out of context because
they're talking about a specific time
they're talking about a specific place
and also if you read any verse and I can
challenge anyone that any verse that
talks about violence either before or
after Allah subhana WA Ta'ala is
limiting that that to defending yourself
not to transgress against other people
or to attack other people there's a
beautiful
ayah I mean all the verses of the Quran
you guys should read it for yourself
verbatim word of god one in particular
that comes to mind is chapter 60 verse 8
and god almighty allah is talking about
he'd not he god does not forbid a lot is
not forbid you from showing kindness and
being just with those who have not
fought you were driven out yes your land
I mean that trumps all of these other
verses can you and I and I I even told
you the first dress that was that was
revealed regarding you know defending
defending yourself and Allah Samantha
have made it very explicit very clear
that the reason why I give you
permission to fight is to defend
yourself and I mentioned to you also
that for 13 years the prophets allah wa
sallam was persecuted and some of his
companions were killed and they were
dragged in the streets and also on the
outskirts of Mecca and the prophesy
Sodom said do not fight back you know
we're a peaceful religion we're just
calling people to the path of allah
subhana wa ta'ala with wisdom and good
speech just like a lot of hannover to
anna commanded us so also the verse that
you mentioned Allah Samantha's saying
those people who are not attacking you
they're not fighting you they're not
being you know they're not showing
showing you any animosity they're not
driven you out from your homes
those people you should respect and
those people you should be just to them
and you should be kind to them you
should be you know merciful when dealing
with them you know and this is the Quran
this is the essence of the this is the
essence of the Quran this is the norm
this is the norm is to be a kind person
to be merciful at
other to other people even if you don't
believe in the in the same religion but
the exception is coming back the
exception as the Islam just like any
other law in the world allows you to
defend yourself the law here in the
United States gives you with the right
to defend yourself if you attack even
the animals of Vienna attack an animal
it will defend itself so taking these
verses out of context and say no but the
Quran says this the or answers that but
you coming back as you mentioned to
these explicit ayat Allah cement and I
said Allah does not love those who
transgress against other people it's
very case closed
so any person that comes after that you
should understand it I'm the light of
this and the light of this verse let's
end on honest a very emotional a very
positive note it really touched my heart
and it really must have touched the
person's heart was it in a church it was
people got to actually hear him recite
some cry and were these Christians that
were crying yes talk to us about this so
you know every time I visit a church you
know it happened one time four years ago
I want and I said let me try this let me
read some of the verses from the Quran
you know it's the word of allah subhanho
to a day when you say all you got come
on somehow know what the Anna the
Creator somehow find a reason the reason
why I say Allah because I don't want to
use the term God because the term God
can you can twist it you can play around
with it it becomes plural you can add
you know it become becomes feminine if
you add you know ESS you know so um
that's why I used the term the term
Allah because you can se a las you can
sa Allah says it's just Allah then Jesus
just to go off real quick Jesus he spoke
Aramaic he speaking he said Aloha you
said you know that the last words they
mentioned that Jesus said when he was on
the cross based on the biblical
narrative that he said Eli Eli lama
sabachthani
he said my lord my lord why have died
forsaken me
so I said Eli Eli it's like Eli we say
yeah Eli and in urban and
I think the term the term Allah as close
as closer to the term Elohim Elohim and
in Hebrew this is the name of God his
name is eloheem and that's why in the
Bible it is mentioned when when Jesus
was asked by one of their rabbis he said
master what is the first command that
God commanded you and then he said and
then he said Shema Yisrael Adonai
Eloheinu Adonai echad that's in Hebrew
Elohim means God okay and and and
Aramaic it's it's called also I think
yaha way or Allah or it's close to to
Arabic but when it comes any to English
it's something else and let me just
mention one more thing the we have about
40 40 million Arab Christians they call
him Allah they call him Allah so coming
back to the story when I went to the
church I said you know let me try to
recite some of the persons from the
Quran and translate these verses so I
started reading the the these verses and
I translated these verses and tried to
explain them explain these verses to the
to the congregation to the crowd and
then after the you know after the the
the program they came to me and they
were you know they were shaking my hand
and they said this is the most beautiful
thing will lie Allah is my witness that
some of me said this is the most
beautiful thing that I ever heard in my
life and then let me tell you what
happened
these were the people from the church
restrictions and then the second time I
want they requested they said we want to
hear verses from the Quran by your voice
we need you to they say chance we need
you to chant and I said okay and then
every time I go they would it's upon
request they tell us no we want you to
read some of the verses but you know
with your voice
so in him that I understood that these
are the you know this these are the
words of Allah Allah actually spoke
these words and they have the Baraka you
know and and and some and some people
will lie some people they were weeping
some people they were crying they said
Wow
and this really touched our hearts and
and my advice to myself and also my
brothers and sisters if you want to give
that a shot with the Quran it's the
speech of Allah subhanAllah Dada
these are the words of allah subhanaw
taala and allah subhana wa ta'ala put
barakah in these verses Allah cement I
said Ebor Mubarak and Allah subhana WA
Ta'ala made this book a blessed book so
when you want to start that were either
an internal Dawa or external that WA
start with the Quran start with the
words of Allah subhana WA Ta'ala and
there you have it why don't you guys
pick up the Quran that would be great I
mean start with that you hear all of
this hearsay but go straight to the book
read the Quran you know for those who
want to know the message of Islam and
how about if people want to visit you if
they're in Daytona yeah they want to
hook up or they want to visit you guys
online and support some of your work our
doors and our hearts are open to
everyone and they can they can go to our
website I will provide you with the with
the website and also they can come to
our table right now WW dot I see D be
calm they can go and they can set up a
meeting with me they can come during the
that you know the prayer times and we
can sit together we can you know we can
discuss different things if they have
any question you are welcome to come and
ask the Imam or and let's discuss any
question that you have you know you know
any misconception that you have and you
need and you need it to be clarified
come to let us sit let us drink some
coffee or something let us discuss you
know and the end of the day we are all
human beings we are
on the the same ship we are you know
American citizens we really want the you
know to benefit our community we want to
unite our community we want to build
bridges of understanding with other
faiths because we have two options as
this is maybe a message to everyone we
have we have two options either that we
accept one another we accept one another
we we understand one another and this is
even that what I mentioned that that the
reason you know one of the objectives
why Allah Allah Samantha God created us
is to understand one another
he said he created us and he divided us
into nations and tribes to know one
another to know my culture to know your
culture to know your religion to know my
religion so this is the first option
either that we understand we accept one
another I don't have to agree with you
but I have to accept you I have to
respect you all we have the second
option which is a very bad option which
is to fight with one another and to kill
one another and to think of one another
as you know insignificant and that's
that's that's very bad that's very bad
for our for the entire human race or the
entire planet so I think we should we
should go with the first option which is
to come open dialogues
let us discuss you know let us accept
one another let us build bridges of
understanding with one another I go with
option number one it's easy to hate but
appreciate the invitation and visit Imam
Bilal here and Daytona and visit us
every week at the Deen show continue to
tune in thank you very much Michael and
my pleasure thanks I love listen we'll
see you next time peace be with you
salamé