this is
the alhamdulillah look man tell us when
when we hear we hear the words uh
Hellfire Paradise you as a former
atheist I mean this is like over the
head what tell get us into Mind Of The
Atheist when he hears these termin these
these terms okay so uh when I was an
atheist I was I was people of kufar I
was I was Hardcore I was a hardcore
caffer I mean I no I I listen up listen
up I I was I was a science nerd you know
I I I I majored in science and in in
college and uh you know my professors
would make fun of religious people and I
would make fun of religious people you
know I mean I I just couldn't understand
it at the time but then you know as you
get older like you start asking deeper
questions you know and I started asking
myself what's going to happen after
after this is all over after this this
this after I die what's going to happen
you know I mean first of all I mean who
would come to my funeral and at that
time I knew like very few people would
come to my funeral you know I mean and
and I I I I wouldn't be able to blame
them either because you know if I was if
I died as a non-believer I would go to
the Hellfire right I mean so so then the
funeral would just be a very sad event
right whereas if I died a Believer I'd
be going to paradise and I I would want
everybody to have a party at my funeral
you know so I I thought it would just be
you know it would it just made sense to
me you know if I died a Believer I I
would I would I would like to die a
Believer um anything to add no tell us
uh Professor uh did you at that time you
were former Christian so did you you
believed in the Trinity that Jesus was
God the father was God that Jesus died
for your sins was this the common belief
that was uh prevalent in your family
yeah there was um both of my parents
were actually um Christian preachers so
your your family were Christian
preachers yeah both my mom and my dad
and had knowledge yeah I was born in in
Chicago but they were part of a church
that said you need to move away from the
city so we moved to Ru Mississippi and
we were part of like this very
conservative uh Christian church and
both my my mother and my father that
used to who TD Jak come upon you right
now keep you in a c i thank you for your
blessing no no it was before him I'm not
that
young um it was uh basically yeah that
was the the the belief of the church and
and our family but um as I can say
probably about 8 or N9 years old I
stopped believing in that but I just
didn't know what other options were out
there so I I I never got to the point
where I rejected Faith completely like I
always believed in um I always believed
in God I believed in heaven and hell
like my parents are are people of like
very very like deep Faith like my mom
she uh she's the type of person that
like if we need a new car she would
start buying the stuff for the new car
and like every day she's looking looking
outside okay you see it yet you see it
so that's the kind of house that I came
from so um yeah the Trinity was a part
of um what we said we believe but I
personally never didn't believe it and
um I had a little bit of like
introduction to Islam my father joined
the Nation of Islam in the ' 80s um so
we called ourselves Muslims but we
didn't actually pray or fast we met on
Sunday we mostly like our lessons came
out of the Bible so I I just didn't know
like what Islam was until I actually
went to college and got got a chance to
talk to Muslims so you mentioned your
parents were preachers or your father
was a preacher both my parents were
preachers my parents got divorced and my
father eventually he joined the nation
uh of Islam for a little bit uh for a
few years he was a part of the Nation of
Islam and at that time I was a part of
what they call the junior fruit of Islam
just for a very short time um and then
eventually like I started going back to
church like in high school
but I didn't really believe in it I just
didn't know what else I could do so then
you and your father and your mother
accepted Islam oh just um uh the the
Muslims in my family are uh just my
uncle who uh he accepted Islam with with
the IM Muhammad's community in the 70s
um he's my father's brother uh myself
and my wife who's also part Filipino
from California so I wish my sons were
here to see she musallah um and uh I
have a cousin that also accepted Islam
like a few years after me but none of my
siblings or or my parents are are Muslim
so tell us right now we know that the uh
Christian faith revolves totally Around
Jesus this relationship with Jesus who
we love you know many people don't know
that it's an Article of Faith to believe
in Jesus you can actually go to the
Hellfire If you deny Jesus as a Muslim
is this right amen right so tell us
what's your relationship with Jesus now
as a Muslim actually what what convinced
me about it I read two uh two chapters
of Quran I read bak and that just kind
of laid everything out and the last
question that I had was okay what do
Muslims believe about Jesus and so I
read uh Sur Sur M um and that just it it
it just explained what I already believe
I just didn't know how to vocalize it so
for me like accepting Jesus uh peace be
upon him as a prophet that was very
natural I just didn't know like that
that was that option out there so seeing
it in Islam just made it like the choice
that I should make so do you can you do
you feel your relationship with Jesus is
stronger now than it was before um that
you know him better his true Mission um
I think in a in a sense uh yes but uh
unlike Sheik Musa I haven't exerted
myself in studying like him so uh I
think probably I I definitely could
learn a lot more um but I think as a as
a as a person
seeking um a type of belief and I was
thinking about this this morning and
it's probably the first time I actually
realized this I think my search for like
the truth was more from a point of
arrogance I wanted to say like this is
the truth and I have it and now I can
tell everybody else about it so like
when I when I took Shada I used to
debate with the the like preachers on
campus and stuff because that's the kind
of family that we came from we my
parents used to preach on the street
corners and stuff like that
so after a few years you see yourself
not progressing with that that uh
methodology you figure out that maybe
there's something else so I think I'm
still even though I've been Muslim for
14 years I think I'm still trying to
figure out like how to navigate that
path beautiful mashallah tell us John
have you had some some interactions with
your family and you know when this whole
topic comes up yeah I've accepted Islam
and some people say has anyone said oh
you become a terrorist
has that has that been thr that
curveball been thrown at you how how do
you respond to that uh a lot of times I
just you know uh close my eyes and and
and ask Allah for to to forgive them for
their you know they don't realize what
they're saying they don't realize what
they know I mean a lot of people get
their information about Islam from Fox
News you know and and so that's that's
the whole point of having Islam
Awareness Week here at UIC is so that we
we we can you know uh inform uh the
general student body and and everybody
else that that Islam isn't a religion of
of terrorism or anything like that you
know but uh it's a beautiful religion
and it's a it's a it's a a it's
something that should bring bring people
together and it should be uh uh uh you
know like like I like like I I tell my
colleagues you know uh whenever they ask
me you know my my other social scientist
friends and stuff like that they're like
what's going on uh with uh with with
this uh religious thing you got going on
now you know and and and and I tell him
I was like you
know um I understand like the the the
you know this this there's this err of
islamophobia and stuff like that going
on in the country you know and and so
naturally that bleeds over into even
into Academia it's you know academics
you know but
um I I tell them that you know I I'm
bringing uh you
know I try I try I try to talk about
incl inclusion as opposed to exclusion
and I try to talk about like we we you
know uh we're trying to include
everybody uh in in in Islam and trying
to it
like I don't know you know my my f my my
family would would talk about you know
this this terrorism stuff and what and
and uh and you know I went I went to a
uh I went to a weekl long uh summer
intensive you know to to learn more and
and of course my dad thought I was going
to an Al-Qaeda training camp or
something like that and I was like no no
it's it's it's a family oriented thing
it's like Camp Lawrence or something
like that you know it's it's uh uh it's
it's nothing crazy you know but but yeah
I I think I think every convert you know
has to experience some form of uh you
know some form of uh you know Jihad like
a struggle you know amongst our families
and friends and stuff like that so true
true Jihad often mistranslated as holy
war the word Jihad means to struggle
Islam does not preach violence it does
not preach vicious holy war it certainly
does not condone Terror and suicide
bombing Islam preaches compassion
tolerance and justice find the truth
about Islam call toll-free 877 why Islam
order your free copy of the Quran
today word can't have defects in it can
it if it is literally God's word yes it
cannot have
defects I mean this was written by men
we know that this is a collection right
even if you have Matthew Mark Luke and
John The Gospel According to according
to right um the thing about the Quran
and the biggest and and you know I'll
leave you with this is the biggest thing
for me is if the Quran is exactly what
it says it is and this doesn't matter
whether you're Muslim or not if the
Quran is what it says it is the Quran is
literally the word of God delivered via
Gabriel to Muhammad who was an
unlettered man who couldn't read or
right right and he was just told to
recite right that was the first thing
right first thing he was told recite
right um so if it is literally the word
of God then that's pretty important to
me and and before I became Muslim I said
if this is the word of God
then I'm going to follow it because I'd
be stupid not
to I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
a li by I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
Li by I am not afraid of stand
alone I am am not afraid to stand alone
if Li by I am not afraid to stand
alone tell us uh Sheik Musa why is it
important now that people really reflect
because when you talk about religion
it's not really the cool thing to talk
about and and you might get some you
know heads that turn the other way but
why is it we know this this Dean this
way of life that we practice is not
restricted it's not just a religion it's
a total complete way of life from a to A
to Z tell us but how do you get people
to really reflect and to take the matter
seriously about the purpose of life
really reflecting why we've been created
what's the purpose of life you know why
why is this you know for somebody out
there who's viewing us and maybe they
just you know turned over from a from a
MTV m music video and they're watching
the dean show and we got their ear why
is it really important to contemplate
about the purpose of
life when we look at our existence you
know we have have the physical we have
the intellectual and there's also the
spiritual and if you neglect any one of
those three you're going to feel an
emptiness and I think sometimes that's
why a person can have everything in life
you know tangibly speaking and have
family have people who like them be
popular have wealth have status but they
can still feel that emptiness because
that spirituality is lacking so
spirituality is a part of the equation
that you have to to and just like if you
ignore your physical you'll get sick but
the only danger about ignoring your
spiritual is that you know uh you don't
see the ramifications you don't see the
the the symptoms because it's something
which is unseen your soul is not
something which you can see the body you
can see so you don't see the symptoms
when your soul gets sick and when your
spirit gets sick and that can be very
dangerous because if you don't take care
of a sickness then it escalates so
spirituality is definitely something
that you have to address
it's not like something you know that a
minority group or people or something
like that some people on the side try to
think this this is a part of life it's
in the discourse of Life something you
should try to address when it comes to
the purpose of your existence and the
existence of God in general um it's
something you have to give serious
thought to because um chances are you're
probably Born Into the wrong religion if
you believe right if you believe that
there is one right way or one God and
there's one way that he wants you to
follow chances are you were born into
the wrong religion that's just the way
it is if you look at it from a numers
perspective um so you have to actually
find out why you believe and that's why
even you said right as I think I heard
overheard you speaking um that as a
Muslim even as a Muslim there has to
come a point in your life where you
choose you want to be a Muslim just the
fact that your mother and Mommy and
Daddy was Muslim doesn't make you a
Muslim you have to choose there comes a
point where you have to make a conscious
decision and this is an issue in in in
and Theology and and and the science of
theology that is the Muslim valid the
the the inherit can you inherit faith
and the answer by the most schars is no
right because what that what that
suggest is that whoever you inherited
from and whoever you blindly follow if
they were to change you would also
follow them in that so your faith isn't
real you have to make a conscious
decision at one point that yes this is
what I believe in and whoever ever it
was that led me to this if they left I
would stay even if a person's mother and
father left I would stay so you have to
make that conscious decision and that's
why we have to learn our faith even it's
not enough to just be a Muslim but we
should try to also learn as much as we
can and that's I guess advice for
everyone find out why it is that you
follow what you follow and make a
decision for yourself and you can live
with that tell us uh lman you've uh
you're going attending the university
correct yeah and have you taken or for
anybody that's taken a a philosophy 101
class and now the teacher the professor
comes in and puts on the board no God
here and now the engagement starts have
you had this happen to you at all have
you had um or how would you if you were
in this predicament now being a former
atheist now a Muslim how would you
engage with them Professor if this
happened they were laughing at religious
people no you you you hear this comment
happen where you know it's it's a a real
scenario where the teacher comes in and
puts no God and then now the debate
opens well then I would laugh at them
because I mean then because they they
don't know what they're talking about I
mean they has anybody had this happen I
it hasn't happened to me yet I I don't
know i' I've I mean I I respect
everybody's beliefs though if you if you
don't want to believe there's a God I
mean there's there's nothing I can
really do about it I mean I might I mean
like if if I was I think the best way to
perform dawa is actually just to lead by
example you know just just to just to
lead a clean life for yourself and when
other people see that then they're more
likely to to actually find the truth you
know I mean that's that's all I can
really say beautiful beautiful tell us
now uh Professor we know sharing is
caring we care so we share that's why
you know it's not our job to the
guidance is in the hands of the Creator
he guides who he Wills like he guided
you guys he wanted to know the truth he
facilitated away but now you have
friends you have family and you know uh
you start to engage and your friend or
family member says look man I don't want
to follow any organized religion have
you had this
statement come up and how how did you
tackle it or if it does come up we hear
this a lot this a common phrase I don't
want to follow an organized religion
yeah it it uh it comes up I actually
have um family members and friends that
are very close to me um uh the one
blessing that I think the
African-American Community has is that a
lot of us are very uncomfortable with
saying we don't believe in God so at
least to some at to some level like we
we retain some some form of Faith but a
lot of people are really disenchanted
with what they see in the church um and
the the abuse that they might have
experienced in the church so they might
become disenchanted from all religions
because they just don't know what else
is out there so um the thing that that I
try to
um if if that conversation ever comes up
and it it has a couple of times is that
we we usually end up at talking about
what do we think is going to happen when
when we die so like if the person
believes like nothing is going to happen
I'm just going to turn to dirt it's very
difficult to to uh talk beyond that I
haven't figured out a way to to uh to
reason with any with that type of person
but the person believes that like
they're going to be judged based on how
they live this life the things that they
do with their time and their money and
then you can start talking about the
Criterion uh that we should live our
life by and usually what I find is that
most of my family they're not uh they're
not against Islam per se and it's
actually a good thing they feel like
they can't do Islam halfway so for
example if they drink they're like well
I could go to church and drink but I
can't go to the mash and drink you know
or I have a girlfriend I would have to
let her go I don't want to do that you
know so really I think it's
just we continue to pray that Allah
soften their heart and that eventually
they will accept Islam and we try like
luk and said try to just be consistent
if it's time to pray we pray if we say
we don't eat this we don't eat it and
just be consistent so they can't find
any like inconsistency in US L you want
to comment on this yeah yeah I wanted to
comment on that so I mean I was I was a
little bit caught off guard by your
question earlier but uh I mean so I was
talking about performing dawa by Leading
by example and uh so actually uh when I
first flew into Chicago the first place
I went to was actually maid Al fattier
which is where Jeremiah is associated
with and so he he was actually calling
ad and you know leading the prayer and
everything and so actually Jeremiah is
actually the one who invited me to uh to
come out to Juma at at at UIC and uh so
I mean I I knew Jeremiah for for a
little bit more than a month and
everything and at Juma actually uh some
students some fellow students came up to
him and said uh I missed your lecture
can I get the notes and I was really
confused because up until then I thought
Jeremiah was just a little bit older
than me you know I thought thought maybe
he was a grad student or something you
then then I realized oh you're a tenure
Professor you know not okay okay well
okay okay okay okay my my bad May okay
but um so then he he he brought me into
his lab and he had uh like he's an
electrical engineer uh who does a lot of
research and does a lot of Publications
and I saw like all these grad students
working for him doing all this technical
stuff and uh I mean it just I just
realized like for for a whole month I
didn't even know he was a professor he
was just that modest you know it it was
that modesty that that came from Islam I
think I think if you could sum up Islam
in one word or if I could sum up Islam
in one word I would say modesty you know
so I I think I I I can see that you know
I I actually have a question for
Jeremiah I mean do you I mean I mean
this might be a really deep question but
uh so Eddie asked me what would you do
if uh if your professor started mocking
religion and uh so I mean back then it
was actually one of my biology teachers
who was teaching evolution uh who who
was who was you know bringing up all
this stuff about the Flying Spaghetti
Monster and just just laughing at at at
religious people but I mean it seems
like Jeremiah doesn't seem to have that
problem Jeremiah is you know he you
teach science right um maybe not biology
but I mean do does that ever bother you
that maybe some of your uh some
scientific principles like the
scientific method might not really um
you know flow with religion at all
or um no it doesn't um I think like as
scientists we we we focus on what we can
like study like what we can like you you
you formulate a hypothesis you design an
experiment and then you like test that
hypothesis and like and you draw your
conclusions from there so I think
science to me just can like open another
window to like believing in God but I
think it's very difficult I think it's a
a treacherous road to go down to try to
use science to try to argue with someone
about like Faith because a lot of times
and I've seen this happen you have
Muslims that start aru about Evolution
and they don't know that much about
biology you're arguing with a graduate
student or a scientist and the biologist
and they're going to make you look silly
and so that that makes them think okay
well the the faith is is is not right so
I mean the I think it was abif who who
said uh like if you see a ship like just
sailing in the middle of the ocean like
and someone said this ship just created
him itself and it just got out there and
is guiding itself no one would believe
that so if if a person can't like just
reflect on that basic level you didn't
structure yourself as you are like from
your fingerprints all the way down to
the color of your skin every every every
feature that we have they just have to
they just have to reflect and think
about it like for me being in the the I
guess we say engineering or hard
scientist we don't really have that
issue and also I went to a historically
black college for undergrad which again
as I say African-Americans typically are
are very religious so we we just didn't
have that issue in in undergrad even in
philosophy like I took a philosophy
class I took intro to logic and that
wasn't the case arguing against God you
know they're they're more so just trying
to sharpen the mind so I haven't
personally dealt with those issues but
um I think we just need to be careful
when we try to argue with people and
make sure that this is our strength when
we're debating with people and also
debates only go so far what if someone
uh
makes a mistake or they don't have their
information correct or the person is
only convinced by debates and then after
that high goes down what do they do they
still have to practice so a lot of times
people they fall out of uh out of Islam
and I've actually seen this I know a guy
who took shahad on pal talk and like he
was coming to the Mas for like a year
and he just couldn't deal with it
because he didn't get that Adrenaline
Rush from just coming to pray and
breaking fast because it wasn't this
like aggressive exchange so I think we
should be a little bit careful with that
I'm I'm not skilled in debate I don't
know how to deal with that that
issue do you worship Jesus no you don't
worship Jesus you worship the god of
Jesus you you worship the god of Jesus
the one who Jesus fell on his face and
prayed to yes that's who we worship yes
now do we only believe in Muhammad no we
believe in all the prophets starting
from the first Man created
from Adam to Abraham look son Jacob and
the tribe Moses and Jesus the the last
prophet was only Muhammad peace be upon
the so we believe in all those
Messengers you mentioned who you
mentioned we we believe and there's many
more so we believe in all of them all of
them yes all the ones that are mentioned
in the Quran and all of them they all of
them that you know you you don't worship
them but you you worship Allah who's the
creator but it's part of the belief to
believe in these messages you name like
Jesus you believe in them but you don't
worship them don't worship them
yes how important is it now for people
who have come to this way of life we see
it's the fastest going way of life in
the world yesterday today and tomorrow
it's constantly people who are really
looking into Islam and they use their
mind they take an academic scientific
approach Islam provides evidence and
proof it's not a blind decision that
people make you know it provides all the
different
proofs that one would need to know that
indeed it's not an organized religion by
man or men but it's organized by the one
who created man and men but how
important is it now you take the shahada
okay you declare there's nothing worthy
of worship except the Creator not the
creation Muhammad is the last and final
messenger including Jesus Moses and all
the preceding Messengers bam you're in
but now the uh Shake was talking about
Professor was talking about how you know
a person might have lost that drive so
we know the field for that is knowledge
let's talk about the importance of
continuing education from the Cradle to
the Grave because we know it's
obligatory and every Muslim to keep
seeking knowledge how important is this
would you say well mallah keeping a good
environment an environment which will be
conducive to learning about your faith
it's it's definitely necessary because
you have that and we were just talking
downstairs I think that newly wed phase
of a Muslim when you take your shahada
everything just feels great a brick can
fall on your head and you're just saying
mashallah ald that was from God you know
it's okay and you know you're just happy
all the time and everything's all good
you're praying you're praying you know
you're you're praying in the night
actually when I took my shahada right my
brother and my my cousin and my friend
we pretty much hung out that night I
went home and my brother we stayed up
the whole night keep in mind they were
Muslim about two months at that time
maybe three months so we stayed up the
whole night and it was a Wednesday night
when I took my shot we stayed up the
whole night and it was in July so it was
summer it's short nights early fuder
late M so it's about 3:30 a.m. and my
brother tells me oh it's about 3:30
let's have some breakfast right now
because tomorrow's Thursday when we fast
on
Thursdays right so it was a Sunnah it
was a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad
peace and blessings be upon him that he
would fast on Thursdays and Mondays so
you know here I I just took my shahada
and he's like we're going to fast
tomorrow right so I was like okay
alhamdulillah no problem and then you
know I we had our breakfast then fuder
came when we prayed together and I went
to sleep got some rest and I woke up
later that morning and it was really
like one of the best sleeps I've ever
experienced and I remember thinking the
first thing I thought when I woke up was
I'm Muslim and I was extremely happy
about that and I was happy to fast I
broke my fast I didn't even feel hungry
that day right but that dies out and if
a person thinks for example they have to
maintain that or you need to do that as
a Muslim you might not last so it's it's
a marathon for sure you go in sprinting
you're not going to finish the race but
you you go too slow if you go too slow
you might not you know you might fall
too far behind you do have to pace
yourself and that's by putting yourself
in good environment good people people
where you can increase your knowledge
with because it is through knowledge is
food for the soul that's how you feed
the soul is through learning and to stay
motivated is through learning and you
could only learn through people of
knowledge because you will even burn
yourself out by reading some people get
really into books and that becomes dry
unless you're really just like that but
that can become dry right you can lose
motivation just from reading but being
around people people of Faith people of
practice people of knowledge this will
continue to motivate you right so Allah
he says in the Quran right um to the
people who will enter the paradise
before entering
par he first will command them go with
my righteous servants now go into
paradise and that's a for us that the
door to paradise and the road through
Paradise is through the company of the
righteous you enter their company and
that will lead you to the paradise so
you have to put yourself in good
environment and good surroundings people
where you can learn
from take that simple step that you ask
your maker to guide you that he'll guide
you yes I I I advise this a lot uh so
for people who are searching put your
head on the
floor in the in the in the state of
frustration like all the prophets did
and asked the creator of the universe to
show you the way to guide you to the
straight path and someone who sincerely
asks for guidance subh they'll found it
in Islam that's
it do you want to know what makes an
grow then everybody watch de
show are you
ready host is ready
if there is something you if there is
something you sit right back and watch
Dean show the dean
show