ALLAH IS ONE
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I was a Christian Bible thumper. I practically lived in church.
00:04I learned the Bible very well, and I woke up, I went to sleep, and I dreamed everything about God and Jesus.
00:10My family is a big military family. My brother joined. My cousin joined.
00:15My father was in the military. My uncle was in the military. So I joined the military, too.
00:19My brother was in the army, too. He was stationed in Alaska. I was stationed in Korea.
00:22Opposite ends of the world, right? But it's fun. Every week, we would call each other.
00:27So we're talking, and he said, oh, yeah, you know, I have to tell you something.
00:29I'm like, yeah, well, what is it? He's like, I'm Muslim. I'm in disbelief.
00:36And then I just start crying. So we hang up the phone there. I said, all right, I know my Bible.
00:42I'm going to study this Islam, and I'm going to use it to bring him back.
00:46Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
00:50Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
00:52All right, brother, what's your name and where are you from?
00:54My name is Jacob Marino. I live in Yonkers, but I will have to add I was born and raised in the Bronx.
00:59But, yeah, I'm a 15 year resident of Yonkers now.
01:01OK, so what was your experience like growing up?
01:04I grew up in the 80s in New York City, the quote unquote crack era.
01:08And, you know, it was quite an adventure because all I saw in the South Bronx was destruction.
01:15It looked like a war zone, torn down buildings.
01:17There's a picture, a famous picture of like Jimmy Carter looking like lost, exploring the Bronx because it was so bad.
01:23And that was my childhood, destruction and negativity all over the place.
01:27But Alhamdulillah, I had, you know, good parents that kept me, you know, either by the whip or, you know, by stern talking on, you know, on a good path.
01:38Did you always believe in God?
01:40I always believed in God. I was a Christian Bible thumper.
01:44Let me tell you, I remember my mom.
01:46I remember being four years old, five years old and her telling me about heaven and about one day she's not going to be here.
01:51But we will be reunited in heaven. And that I was stuck with me, even as a member, four or five years old.
01:56And I still remember it to this day. And then when I was around nine or ten, my father really put me into a church was everything for us.
02:03Every Sunday in church, you know, I practically lived in church.
02:06I learned the Bible very well and I woke up, I went to sleep and I dream everything about God and Jesus as a Christian.
02:14Everything was about my religion.
02:15And, you know, so God was always in my mind and my heart so much so that, you know, like, again, growing up in the Bronx, you know, in that era, I was taught not only by my parents, but by my faith.
02:27You know, don't lie, don't cheat, don't curse.
02:29I stood out from my friends.
02:31They used to call me at 10 years old.
02:33You're an old man because I didn't want to, like, do mischievous things with them.
02:38Just, you know, God is watching me, you know, so I was always, you know, cognizant of God.
02:43So how did you hear about Islam and what attracted you to it?
02:47New York City, it's a melting pot.
02:48So we have everything.
02:49So I was aware that there are people called Muslims and they wear funny hats and, you know, and they don't eat pork.
02:56And they have this prophet named Muhammad.
02:58That's what I know.
02:59That's the extent.
03:00And honestly, I think that's the extent of today of non-Muslims, what they know about Islam.
03:04But I was aware of Islam that much in New York City.
03:07My brother had a Muslim friend.
03:10There were Muslims in my school, junior high school and high school.
03:13So I was aware of them.
03:14So, you know, as a Christian, I used to say, that's just a desert religion.
03:20That's my train of thought.
03:21That's a desert religion.
03:22And so as a young man, you know, I went, you know, I graduated from high school.
03:27My family is a big military family.
03:29So it was inevitable that I was joining.
03:32My brother joined.
03:33My cousin joined.
03:34My father was in the military.
03:35My uncle was in the military.
03:36Everybody's in the military.
03:37So I joined the military too.
03:39And so when I was stationed in Korea, it's amazing that now that I think about this,
03:44my roommate was Muslim and he had the Bible open.
03:48And I was like, you're Muslim.
03:49Why do you have the Bible?
03:50And he was like, oh, you know, he started talking to me all contradictions and this and that.
03:54And I used to be, you know, I had the veil over my eyes.
03:57I'm a Bible thumper, man.
03:58I'm like, nah, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
04:01He's my roommate.
04:02You know, we're in the army.
04:03My brother was in the army too.
04:04He was stationed in Alaska, the opposite ends of the world.
04:06Right.
04:08And we would call each other, you know, we grew up with each other.
04:11We had a big family that, you know, because of some circumstances, we were split up.
04:15But him and I always were together.
04:17And so one day, one conversation, it was a Friday, I remember, because the weekend's coming up.
04:22And now, you know, I'm going to get a little two day pass.
04:24I can leave the base.
04:26So we're talking and he said, oh, yeah, you know, I have to tell you something.
04:28I'm like, yeah, well, what is it?
04:29He's like, I'm Muslim.
04:30And I and I can still hear it the way he said it.
04:33I'm Muslim and I'm quiet.
04:35And I'm like, I'm in disbelief.
04:40And then I just start crying and I'm crying.
04:43And these are not tears of joy, brother.
04:45I am sad.
04:48I am thinking, how can he betray us like this?
04:51How can he do something like that?
04:53You know, I'm in denial.
04:56And, you know, he said he told me this is, you know, I found Islam and this is what I want to do.
05:01So we hang up the phone there.
05:03And, you know, I I'm questioning everything, you know, how we grew up.
05:07Because remember, I told you that we were I, you know, Bible thumper Sunday.
05:10He was with me.
05:11You know, we were hand in hand and all this, you know, in Christianity.
05:15And for him to be a Muslim now, it was just so shocking to me.
05:18And my roommate's Muslim, too.
05:20I said, all right, I'm going to see what this Islam is about because I know my Bible.
05:25So I'm going to study this Islam and I'm going to use it to bring him back.
05:29That's my plan.
05:32So that starts a little bit of a little adventure for me.
05:38Tell me when the moment you realize Islam was for you.
05:47I have to preface the answer with this because it's an integral, integral part of my journey.
05:53And it's it goes along with my brother.
05:55So in the army, I'm studying Islam to use it against Islam.
06:00And in the army, so I, you know, I go where they tell me to go.
06:04So I got orders to go to Iraq.
06:06So I'm like, oh, man.
06:07So before my my deployment to Iraq, you know, I'm doing my studyings.
06:11I go on online and I start downloading a lot of different things about Islam.
06:15There's this one specific thing that I saw.
06:17I don't know if you remember Napster and stuff like that, that you can just download anything.
06:20A lime wire.
06:21There were things that you could download without paying for it.
06:24So I put Islam and there was this one thing.
06:26There's an Arabic and it's connected with Islam.
06:28So I download it and I play it and it's Arabic.
06:30I don't know what it is, but I just burned it on CD.
06:32I'm going to take it with me and doing my studies.
06:34So here I am.
06:35I go through Iraq.
06:36And so Iraq, I'm there for a year, 365 days.
06:40When I first arrived there, I'm thinking I'm only going to be there for maybe two months.
06:44After two months, they told me, no, no, we're here a year.
06:46My heart went from here to the ground.
06:48I told myself I'm not going to survive.
06:52It was hard enough, brother, to make it to those two months.
06:56Because every day I'm thinking when I wake up, today is going to be my day.
07:01It's my last day on earth.
07:04And to feel that stress and, you know, it was overwhelming.
07:14So at the end of the day of whatever I'm doing, any mission I'm at, you know,
07:17I come back to base, go back to my little tent.
07:20I am so numb because I'm too stressed out.
07:22So I get my CD player out, put my headphones on,
07:25and I start listening to that Arabic thing that I, you know, that I downloaded.
07:32And it's calming me down, all right?
07:34It's calming me down.
07:36And, you know, and for the moment from when I press play,
07:39and it's maybe like a five-minute thing, I'm lost.
07:42I'm not, am I Iraq?
07:43I'm not on that, in that tent.
07:47I'm in total safety and I'm, you know, I'm good.
07:50I'm good.
07:52So it's like a refresher for me.
07:54I'm good.
07:55And so I do that every day.
07:57Whenever I'm feeling really, really stressed out,
07:59and every day I'm telling you, every day is my last day.
08:02I am going to die.
08:04And when I realize at the end of the day I'm still alive,
08:06even now I'm shaking a little bit,
08:10I just play that little thing and it's like a reset for me.
08:14So fast forward, you know, I got my orders that I'm going home.
08:18SubhanAllah, I made it.
08:20I made my whole tour without a scratch.
08:23I come home and I don't come home the same man that I went over there.
08:29Came home bitter, angry.
08:33I came home a different man.
08:34I lost family members because I pushed them away.
08:37I just didn't want to do, I didn't want to do with anyone.
08:41I wanted to be by myself.
08:42Isn't what I know now is post-traumatic stress.
08:46And so, you know, I'm a loner.
08:49My friends who used to call me the priest,
08:51because again, I never curse and like that.
08:53I came back like, you know, like a drunken sailor, so to speak.
08:58I was a 180 and I'm like, you know what?
09:00I don't want to study anything.
09:01You know, my little, little thing that I wanted to do with Islam with my brother.
09:05I was like, I gave up everything.
09:07But those stressful moments were still there.
09:09And so I would every now and then get that CD out.
09:12I go into my car and I just, you know, close my eyes and I listen to it.
09:17And that would, again, that's my reset.
09:19That calms me down.
09:22So eventually, you know what?
09:23I put that CD away.
09:24I'm living my life.
09:2520 years after I came back from Iraq, brother, 20 years later.
09:29This is about COVID era.
09:30I forgot to mention during my little studies,
09:32I met a Yemeni brother in one of the bodegas in New York City.
09:35He gave me a Quran.
09:36And from the day he gave me the Quran,
09:38I went all over the world.
09:39When you travel, you lose things here and there.
09:41But I always had that Quran with me.
09:43Always.
09:44So 20 years after I came back from Iraq, I'm in my house.
09:48I looked at that Quran, a lot of dust on it.
09:50I took it out.
09:51There's dust everywhere.
09:53I'm coughing.
09:54I said, you know what?
09:55I'm going to read this.
09:56I'm going to read it.
09:57And so I read it, you know, Surah Al-Fatiha, all the way to chapter 114.
10:01And so when I finished the Quran, it disappeared.
10:05And so when I finished the Quran,
10:07this was maybe like two or three days before Christmas.
10:11I got in my car.
10:12My wife, I dropped her off at work.
10:14She works in Manhattan.
10:15There's a masjid in Manhattan.
10:17There's a big masjid.
10:18I told myself, if there's a parking spot,
10:19because you know, New York City, there's no parking anywhere.
10:21I said, if there's a parking spot near that masjid,
10:24then I'm going to park and I'll go in.
10:25If not, I'm going home.
10:26As soon as I get this,
10:27pa la la, a parking spot right across the street.
10:30I said, all right.
10:31I said, God, do you want me to park?
10:33I'm going to park.
10:34I park in, park in.
10:36I go into the masjid, talk to the brother.
10:38I'm like, yes, you know, I want to talk about,
10:40I want to learn about, I want to talk about Islam.
10:42You know, he's all, the imam's on his way.
10:44The imam gets there.
10:45And I told him, yes, you know, I read the Quran and, you know,
10:48and I think, I think I want to go toward Islam.
10:50The imam was like, okay, you know, I'll take your time, learn more.
10:53And then when we come back, you can take your, I said, no, I'm ready now.
10:57I want to take my shahada.
10:58So he said, okay.
10:59So I took my shahada.
11:01I met my brother right there that same day.
11:03I called him.
11:04He said, I got to meet you because remember, he's Muslim.
11:06It was 1998.
11:07I remember he became Muslim.
11:08And so he was so happy, you know, you know, I'm Muslim.
11:10And, and I started, you know, I'm on my path.
11:13This is December.
11:14So I'm, you know, they gave me a lot of pamphlets and it's so overwhelming.
11:17And, and then the transliteration, I'm like, oh, I'm reading something.
11:21I'm like, wait, this, this sounds familiar.
11:23When I'm reading, you know, how to pray.
11:25This sounds familiar.
11:26I said, I'm home, right?
11:27I said, wait a minute.
11:30I go into my closet, into my archives.
11:33All right.
11:34And I take out that OCD that I haven't listened to in 20 years.
11:39Put it in.
11:40I press play.
11:45When I press play, it said,
11:52It was al-Fatiha.
11:55It was al-Fatiha that I listened to every day in Iraq.
11:59That gave me calm.
12:00It was al-Fatiha that I listened to when I came back and I was battling with that post-traumatic stress.
12:05It was, it was the words of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that,
12:10as a non-Muslim, gave me the comfort and the peace that I needed at the time.
12:16Thinking that today I'm going to die.
12:17And Allah said, you know what, listen to this.
12:20And so realizing that it was al-Fatiha, I said, well, I already know how to say it.
12:24And I've been Muslim for five minutes, you know, subhanAllah.
12:27So, you know, I tell myself this was, you know, all this time for 20 plus years, you know, I had the veil over my eyes.
12:37You know, I was, I couldn't see Allah, but I realized Allah saw me.
12:41And, you know, he allowed me to live as a kafir for that was 20 years.
12:46Because sometimes I say to myself, I said, you know, and I don't question the color of Allah.
12:49He wanted me to be Muslim at the age when I have gray hairs.
12:54I said, imagine if I was a Muslim as a young man.
12:57But I said, no, no, Allah wanted me to be a Muslim at this age.
13:00As a matter of fact, I learned, and this is the beauty of Islam.
13:03When you keep learning more, it's so beautiful that 50,000 years before the creation of everything,
13:10Allah ordered the pen to write that Jacob is going to be a Muslim at this age, not at 20 years old.
13:17Because maybe I wouldn't have accepted that Islam at that time or understood it the way I do now as an older man.
13:25So, yeah, so that really, you know, realizing that al-Fatiha helped me all these years, it really gave me an iman boost.
13:35So that, in a nutshell, was how I got to that point in Islam.
13:40So when you took your shower, how did the experience feel?
13:45I remember, like, I was so nervous, thinking about my family.
13:52Because, except for my brother, everybody, they were Christian, all of them.
14:00And before my shahada, the conversation with the imam, he's like, you know, is anybody forcing you to do this?
14:06I'm like, no, this is what I want to do.
14:07And I said, I told him, I said, I know that I'm going to hit brick walls.
14:13I know that I'm going to have problems.
14:16I know that I'm going to hit a lot of bumps in this road from within my home and outside.
14:23But I can't deny the truth anymore.
14:25I can't, because, you know, I don't want to walk on this earth blind like I have been, knowing the truth now.
14:31And so there was fear, but not fear of Islam.
14:35That part I was, I wanted, I definitely wanted that.
14:38It was fear of the external things that I knew I was going to have to deal with.
14:44Family, friends, which amazingly, being, you know, being Puerto Rican, I'm a minority in New York City.
14:52Now I'm a Muslim.
14:53That's a two times a minority, right?
14:55But as a Puerto Rican, I, you know, a little micro racism, you know, you get to experience New York City.
15:04But again, New York City is so multicultural and multipart.
15:08There's Puerto Ricans everywhere, Dominicans everywhere, Arabs everywhere.
15:10So people are used to something.
15:12They really ignore it.
15:13But as a Muslim, you know, sometimes I wear my, my, my kufi was the first time I really felt and experienced racism.
15:22I had a brother and I say brother was a black brother, African-American.
15:26I guess he didn't like what I was, you know, how I look when he was like, go back to your own country.
15:30I'm like, come on.
15:31Well, I'm from the Bronx.
15:32I can take the D train up there, you know, but, you know, that little experience, I said, I said, I'm like, you know, this is just one little taste of what, you know, what, you know, Muslims are.
15:45And there's a little taste of what Muslims are dealing with, you know, in America.
15:49How did your life change after becoming a Muslim?
15:52Sounds like an oxymoron became easy and hard at the same time.
15:55It became easy because now life there's a framework there already.
16:00You know, there are things in life that I don't have to think about because it's there.
16:04How to be a good husband, how to be a father, how to be a good son.
16:08I got to tell you, my father, my relationship with my dad, if I saw him once a year, that was a lot pre-Islam.
16:14I didn't want to see him.
16:15Remember, I didn't want to see anybody.
16:16I threw away everyone from out of my life.
16:19And as a Muslim, let me tell you, my relationship with my father is beautiful.
16:23I see him all the time.
16:26The best way to say it is I'm fulfilling the role as a son, according to the Quran and the Sunnah.
16:32And by doing that, and I do it without thinking because this is what we're commanded to do.
16:37And it's so easy to do.
16:38And you know what?
16:39The byproduct of that is happiness.
16:41Because now I got my dad and I'm happy and, you know, I'm flourishing, you know, with my son now.
16:47And now my father, you know, is his grandson.
16:51So that's the easy part.
16:53The hard part is, you know, being the only Muslim in my immediate family feels like I'm on a desert island.
17:03I love my wife.
17:04I love my son.
17:05I love them.
17:07And my son is three years old.
17:08And inshallah, he'll, you know, continue with Islam.
17:14But the hard part is feeling like I'm in a desert island.
17:17Because when I fast, I wake up and do Fajr by myself.
17:21Suhoor by myself.
17:23Breaking the fast by myself.
17:25Eid by myself.
17:26That's hard.
17:27That's so hard.
17:28But subhanAllah, I will say, and this is the Qadar of Allah.
17:32One month after my Shahada, I'm in my local masjid.
17:35And I see, I think it was something like a little poster or something like that.
17:39And it was partially covered.
17:40Well, the Imam Wesley, Reverts Reconnect and Zoom.
17:43So, I'm a revert.
17:45So, let me try this.
17:47Let me see.
17:48What's this about?
17:49And so, Zoom.
17:50And I don't know anything about Zoom.
17:51But this is the COVID era.
17:52All right.
17:53Post-COVID.
17:54My wife knows all about Zoom.
17:55I'm like, what is this?
17:56Zoom.
17:57Download it on your iPad.
17:58Can you do it for me?
17:59And so, she sets it up for me.
18:01And so, you know, the little phone number or whatever.
18:04At the time and place, I logged on.
18:06When I logged on, I see this Imam Wesley there and Brother Abdul Rashid.
18:10Just us three.
18:11And, you know, I tell them who I am.
18:13Let me tell you, that was three years ago.
18:15I've been Muslim, alhamdulillah, three years.
18:17From last three, there's three brothers there.
18:19From those three brothers, if you go today to Reverts Reconnect and Zoom classes,
18:23sometimes there are hundreds of people on it.
18:26And that's such a blessing from Allah.
18:28That little desert island feeling that I get sometimes, you know,
18:33is taken away by just logging on or by just calling.
18:37Knowing that though physically some of the brothers are far away from me,
18:41we have a WhatsApp group.
18:42We just, you know, say, listen, brothers, I'm feeling this.
18:45So, what does this mean?
18:46And two in the morning, three in the morning, somebody's up.
18:48You get a response right there.
18:50And so, I get that connection there.
18:51So, that's like, you know, the medicine for the loneliness as a Muslim there.
18:56Nevertheless, you know, I'm still right there by myself.
19:01You know, I try to go to the masjid, especially during Ramadan, to break my fast.
19:04But because of circumstances, I do it by myself.
19:07And alhamdulillah, my wife, there were days she fasted with me.
19:11And, you know, she makes sure she makes some halal food for me.
19:15So, that's great.
19:16So, you know, it's gotten a lot better, three years as a Muslim.
19:21And inshallah, when I'm 30 years as a Muslim, inshallah,
19:25things will be a lot brighter than what it is now.
19:28I try to convey this to you, brothers, to learn as much as you can.
19:31Because when you think you know something and you really don't know,
19:35that's going to be a heavy burden on your shoulders.
19:37So, the prayers, I'm like, okay, five times a day.
19:39What if I'm here and what am I supposed to do?
19:42And, you know, what if I'm nowhere near, you know?
19:45I was so stressed out.
19:47What to do?
19:48So, there's this Instagram page.
19:52It's called Places You Pray.
19:54And they showcase people praying everywhere and anywhere.
19:57Brother, when I saw that, just the first picture that they posted
20:01gave me such an inspiration to, like, pray anywhere.
20:05From that point on, I said, you know what?
20:07Wherever I am, I'm going to pray.
20:09And then when I learned that, you know, the window of prayer you can have.
20:12I love soccer.
20:13So, I'm in Yankee Stadium watching my soccer team.
20:16When I get the notification it's time for salah,
20:19I tell my wife, I'll be right back and I'm praying in Yankee Stadium.
20:21I don't care who's looking at me.
20:23The subway, the Yankee Stadium, like I said, the library, anywhere I am,
20:27when it's time to pray, I'm going to do it.
20:30And so, that fear that I once had, the biggest part of the problem, it vanquished.
20:35Allah has alleviated that for me.
20:37So, again, the biggest fear became fun, I should say.
20:43How did your family and friends react to your conversion?
20:46A lot of them are confused.
20:48They don't understand Islam.
20:50And so, when I tell them, I say, you know, Moses and Aaron and Noah,
20:55you heard of those people?
20:56Those are prophets.
20:57We have that in Islam too.
20:58Even myself, I'm guilty of it.
20:59Prior to becoming Muslim, I was thinking that Islam was something like a religion from Mars,
21:03you know, something akin or close to Hinduism,
21:06which after just looking into Islam, you see that it's, you know,
21:10the purest monotheistic religion in the world.
21:13And so, I still have a lot of friends that don't understand that.
21:17So, little by little, I try, you know, whenever we get together,
21:19I let them bring the subject up.
21:21I don't, you know, I say to myself, I'm just going to be who I am.
21:24I'm Muslim, I'm going to be Muslim.
21:26If they ask me, I'll answer their questions.
21:28And so, I do.
21:29And so, inshallah, you know, those little seeds are planted,
21:32at least for tolerance, if anything else.
21:35So, there's still confusion there, you know, like,
21:38listen, I'm not going to go to the bar with you anymore.
21:40Sorry, brother.
21:41If you want to go to the coffee house, we can do that.
21:43Let's do that.
21:44You know, just a few things in my life has changed.
21:47There are certain places I'm not going to go with you,
21:49but there are great substitutes that we can do.
21:51Family members, you know, there's a lot of denial there on their part.
21:55A lot of denial, like, no, no, it's a phase.
21:57It's a phase.
21:58But then I say, you know, my brother's been Muslim more than 20-something years,
22:02and, you know, I've been Muslim three years so far.
22:04And so, you know, if it's a phase, let it be a phase until, you know,
22:07I'm in the grave.
22:08Yeah.
22:09So, that's still a little bit of a minor bumpy road with the friends and family.
22:13But, inshallah, you know, things will be, you know,
22:15we need some construction guys to smooth out that road, you know.
22:18What would you say is your favorite thing about Islam?
22:20The fact that it makes life so easy.
22:23I mean, it's so easy.
22:25Like, as a Christian, you know, when you steal something,
22:28stealing is wrong, obviously.
22:29You're going to get punished.
22:30It's a sin.
22:31Grain of rice, a million dollars, it's a sin.
22:33Boom, you're getting punished.
22:35In Islam, there are minor sins, there are major sins.
22:37But I discovered, subhanallah, that a lot of active ibadah,
22:41your minor sins are being washed away.
22:43You go to do wudu, your sins will be, you know, washed away.
22:47Do two rakah, the sins will be washed away.
22:49Smile at somebody, that's charity.
22:51Your sins will be wiped away.
22:53And so, I say this is a win-win situation.
22:56There's no way, you know, if you understand that, you know,
22:59the path becomes even clearer to me, you know.
23:02So, as long as you actively understand, you know,
23:05try to stay away from these sins.
23:07Just because it's easy to cleanse the minor sins
23:10doesn't mean, you know, do it.
23:12But it just means, you know, follow a bad deed with a good deed.
23:15At least I know that, you know, my plan of action, it exists there.
23:19So, you know, again, like I said before, the framework of life is there too.
23:24Easy.
23:25I don't have to worry about, you know, how I'm going to be the good father.
23:27You know, the Prophet ﷺ, he taught me how to do that.
23:31So, now I can focus on other things in order to, you know,
23:34better the life of my son, my wife, my family, and worship Allah even better.
23:39That's one of my favorite things about Islam.
23:41What's your favorite thing about Allah?
23:43My favorite thing about Allah, you know, it's amazing that it's my favorite
23:47and at the same time, I don't understand it.
23:51His mercy.
23:54Because everywhere in the Quran, most merciful, most merciful.
23:57Then the Prophet ﷺ taught us that, you know,
23:59there's a woman with her little child and there's a fire there
24:03and she wants to protect her son from that fire, all right?
24:06Allah has more mercy toward us than the mother to her child.
24:11And I'm trying to wrap my head around that because that mercy is so beautiful.
24:17I can understand the mercy of a mother.
24:19Something more than that is like, the only way I'll understand it is,
24:23inshallah, when I'm entering the gates of Jannah, inshallah, I'll understand it.
24:28But just the journey to try to understand it is, you know, I love that about Allah
24:34and His mercy is just, it's just like, you know, again, the descriptions,
24:38even the descriptions of the mercy is more than the universe.
24:42It's so great.
24:44Would you say one of your favorite hadith or verses in the Quran?
24:51I would say this, that I'll paraphrase.
24:56You're not a believer until you want for your brother what you want for yourself.
25:03When I first learned the wording of the hadith, subhanAllah,
25:06I was already experiencing that from the other Muslims and then it made sense.
25:11I'm like, wow, that's why they're, you know, they're doing so much for me
25:16because it's like they're doing it for themselves.
25:19And, you know, I love it so much because it really builds brotherhood.
25:24It's the cement.
25:26That is the cement of our brotherhood and that's the cement that will keep our ummah together.
25:31If you were to follow the hadith right there, you know, truly, I mean, and everybody,
25:36imagine this world how it would be because we've got to be honest, you know,
25:41our deen and I don't know, let me rephrase that, our faith and iman is a spectrum.
25:46Because even me, there are high days and there are low days.
25:49And we have Muslims that, you know, are Muslim by name
25:52and there were Muslims that are Muslims, you know, or believers.
25:55But if you just follow the hadith, you know, even if your faith or your iman is low,
26:00follow the hadith.
26:01Go out there and give, you know, if you have to travel two hours to give your brother a bottle of water,
26:05then do it because you will want that bottle of water.
26:07And so that is my favorite hadith, you know, and I try and I ask Allah to always help me implement that in my life.
26:14Not only to my blood brother, to all my Muslim brothers and honestly, even to humanity.
26:20Because we have, you know, living in the West, living in America, you know, 99% of my neighbors are not Muslim.
26:28But if I implement that, and of course, you have to be, you know, I cannot eat and have my neighbor hungry.
26:34So if I were to implement that hadith towards my non-Muslim neighbors, not only is that a form of dawah,
26:40but it's, you know, the rewards are there.
26:42Again, win-win situation, one of my favorite hadiths.
26:45Why should other people learn about Islam or consider becoming a Muslim?
26:50For non-Muslims, tolerance.
26:53Tolerance because, you know, we have the benefit living in America, especially in the New York metro area,
26:59of knowing people of different faiths and different religions.
27:03Different religions and different ethnicities and different races.
27:06So the more you learn about somebody, the more tolerant you can be with them.
27:11And what comes with tolerance? Peace and happiness.
27:15And it reduces hatred and it reduces ignorance.
27:18Because I was a victim of ignorance when it came to Islam.
27:21Let me tell you, ignorance was off the charts.
27:25But even as a non-Muslim learning about Islam, I remember thinking, man, this is beautiful, you know.
27:30This is nothing like, you know, what they're seeing on TV.
27:33Nothing at all like the movies portray.
27:35So tolerance is a good byproduct of learning Islam at the lowest level.
27:41More than that, if you want peace in your life, let me tell you, you know,
27:45I spent 26 months in the military on foreign ground, you know.
27:51That does something to you, coming home.
27:53And the peace that I get from Islam really helps.
27:57And I got to tell you, if it helps me, you know, it can help you when you can't get your coffee in the morning, you know.
28:04And if you're irritated, it's going to help you.
28:06If you could ask Prophet Muhammad ﷺ anything, what would it be?
28:11You know, when I first became a Muslim, I was aware who the Prophet was.
28:16And I admit, I didn't love him because I didn't know who he was.
28:18That's what's very important for Muslims.
28:20Whether you're born Muslim or a believer, it doesn't matter.
28:22Study the Sira and learn about the Prophet and learn the trials he did.
28:27Learn the mercy he is to the world.
28:30And one of the things that sticks out on me is that when he went to Taif,
28:33and reading that, how they treated him and pelted him with these rocks,
28:37and there was blood in his sandals.
28:40That hurt me so much.
28:42Even thinking about it, I just, I don't like, you know, I wish that that didn't happen.
28:46But because it happened, he was asked by the angel,
28:49if you want, I can take this mountain here and just crush him.
28:52He said, no, because perhaps their offspring will become believers.
28:56And look what happened, they became Muslim.
28:58And I will ask him, how did you get that mercy?
29:00How were you so merciful when these things, horrible things happened to you?
29:05How did you keep it together?
29:06Because we need that. I need that.
29:08Because every day, you know, there's nothing that happens to me or anybody in this world
29:13that hasn't happened to him.
29:15And he handled it in a way that is really, it's perfection.
29:19And so we have, I want to mimic that way.
29:22You mentioned you were in the military.
29:24Were you able to grow your beard?
29:26How did you go about that process to do it?
29:29When I realized that the beard is Islam.
29:32Sisters have hijab, brothers have the beard.
29:34When I realized that, and I knew that this is how I want to follow this,
29:40I went to my commanding officer and explained to him,
29:43I'm Muslim now, and, you know, as part of my religion, I want to grow my beard.
29:49Man, you should have seen the look on his face, man.
29:54You know, it was like confusion and like, get out of my office.
29:59But he didn't say any of that.
30:00He didn't say nothing.
30:01I could see it in his face.
30:02And my first, we have a first sergeant, which is, I was enlisted.
30:06And so my commanding officer is a commissioned officer.
30:08And so my first sergeant is the highest ranking enlisted troop
30:14that is supposed to be our representative and the advisor of the commander.
30:17So my first sergeant is there too.
30:18So the first sergeant was like, all right, these are the steps you got to do
30:21in order to, you know, maybe go that way.
30:24In my mind, I'm like, these guys are trying to stop me.
30:27In my mind, I'm like, I'm going to win this battle one way or another.
30:31And so he's giving me a hard time, let me tell you.
30:33He barely gave me the steps of how to do it.
30:35But you know what?
30:36I knew one of the ways to go is go to the chaplain's office.
30:39All right.
30:40Every branch, no matter what branch you're in, they have a chaplain's office.
30:43And the chaplain, for those that don't know, is the, whether it's a priest and an imam too.
30:48They have imams and a rabbi and they're a member of the military, but that's their role.
30:52And they're legit, you know, member of their faith.
30:55And they have, and in the chaplain's office, they have, you know,
30:59workers who work with them of various ranks.
31:02Set up an appointment with the chaplain and they explained to him, this is what I need to do.
31:06And I asked him, what do I need to do in order to get, you know, I want to grow my beard.
31:09And he was aware about Islam a little bit, but he referred me to his assistant.
31:13And may Allah bless the assistant because he, you know, not Muslim,
31:17but he is true to his job when it comes to, you know, people and practicing their faith in the military.
31:22He said, all right, let's, I have to interview you to make sure you're sincere.
31:26Because a lot of guys just want to grow a beard and just look cool.
31:28Yeah. So let's set up a date to, you know, for the interview.
31:31And we did. So he asked me, you know, about my sincerity, about Islam and what I knew about it.
31:36So I'm telling him and he knows all this because as a chaplain's assistant,
31:39they have to study every religion so that way they can help or assist those members of the service that are of those religions.
31:47So he knew that, you know, first of all, I was telling him everything that is right.
31:51And in his opinion, I was sincere, which I was.
31:55So he said, OK, this is what we need to do.
31:57There's a packet we have to fill out as a request forms and all such a thing.
32:00I'm going to help you with that. So the chaplain's office is essential because you're not going to do it by yourself.
32:06The chaplain's office has to endorse everything and then send it to the commander, my commander.
32:12And then from there, believe it or not, has to be sent down to the headquarters in Washington, D.C.
32:18This dude didn't want my command. They didn't want to sign anything.
32:20He was giving me, you know, he was trying to do the red tape thing.
32:24Delaying this, delaying that.
32:26And so I told the chaplain's assistant, I said, this guy's playing games with me.
32:30You know, what can we do?
32:31SubhanAllah, in my situation, the chaplain's assistant that I knew, he knew people, very well connected.
32:38That's why his networking is really good.
32:40He made a few phone calls and they called.
32:43So one way or another, the commander, my commander said, you know, and I'm paraphrasing.
32:48They said, brother, see that piece of paper that's on your desk?
32:51Put your rubber stamp on it. This is a courtesy.
32:53We don't need you. Hurry up and do it because we don't want more attention from us.
32:56So it was, he signed it and there are stipulations in it.
33:00He signed it and it was endorsed.
33:02And then it has to go through different, you know, different ranks to the base commander, which is a colonel in where I was.
33:07And so he endorsed it.
33:09And so Alhamdulillah, I'm like, good, I can grow my beard.
33:12So I'm walking around in uniform with a beard and people looking at me like, who the hell is this guy?
33:16You know, like weird because you don't see that.
33:18You don't see that.
33:19Again, it's a form of Dawah too.
33:20Because they would ask me, you know, you're Muslim now, what is that?
33:23And I would tell them, you know, this is what Islam is.
33:25And so there were a few brothers that actually I can see sincerely want to know more about Islam.
33:31So I told them what I could.
33:33But Alhamdulillah, yeah, you know what?
33:35I couldn't grow more than two inches, but the beard was there.
33:38But then there was, then they changed the rule that you can grow as long as you want to,
33:42but then you have to roll it up to appear to two inches.
33:45I said, oh man, they opened a door for me, man.
33:49But it got to the point where, you know, I was nearing my 20th year in the military.
33:54And I said to myself, you know, you know, I got my little son.
33:57I want to focus more on learning the deen because this is taking too much time away from that.
34:02So I told my chain of command, I want to retire.
34:05You know, I don't want to be that weird guy in uniform with a beard anymore, you know.
34:10And so I put in my retirement papers and I honorably retired from the military with a beard, walking around in uniform.
34:17So I say to like a lot of brothers who are in the military and want to grow their beard, go to the chaplain's office.
34:22It's a smooth process, especially in this day and age.
34:25Go to the chaplain's office and you have to be sincere.
34:27They want to make sure that you are sincere, not, you know,
34:29you just want to be the cool guy with the beard and thank your special forces, you know.
34:33But yeah, easy process, you know.
34:35It took, it was some bumpy road for me because of my specific commander.
34:38But, you know, they're genuine, you know.
34:40If you have a genuine, you know, sincere commander that wants to care for his troops,
34:45he wouldn't give you any problems.
34:46And if he's not sincere, so what?
34:48The chaplain's going to help you.
34:49So that's the key right there, the chaplain.
34:51Okay, think of this scenario.
34:53It's the Day of Judgment.
34:55Where would you hope you'd meet and what a lot would be like?
34:58It's funny you asked me this question because I think about it every day.
35:00Lately, every day about the Day of Judgment, 50,000 years worrying.
35:05I say to myself, you know, you know, I'm looking, I imagine my scales and I want my good deeds to be heavy.
35:11So I keep saying, you know,
35:14I said, do zikr.
35:15So, you know what, while I'm thinking that, I'm like, let me put more weight on it.
35:18Because I'm scared.
35:19Because it doesn't matter how good of a Muslim you think you are.
35:23Nothing's guaranteed.
35:24And so I, and then also the Sunnah prayers, you know, because the first question is going to be, how were your prayers?
35:32And I know I'm not perfect.
35:33One way or another, I'm messing up.
35:35So I try to do my Sunnah prayers because I learned if I didn't, I'm not up to standard with my Fajr prayers.
35:42All right, let's look at the Sunnah prayers.
35:43And so I, I would want it to be smooth.
35:46I want, I ask Allah for his mercy because it doesn't matter what I do.
35:50Because the only way to get past that into Jannah story is mercy.
35:53Because even the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, only by Allah's mercy am I going into the paradise.
35:59And if the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying that, who am I?
36:02So I got to work hard.
36:03I got to work really hard.
36:04And, and I would hope that when I'm standing there, you know, and I get nervous about this.
36:11I want it to be smooth.
36:12And I want to hear you're forgiven.
36:15And I want to hear salamu alaykum from the angels as I'm entering paradise.
36:19That's what I would like to, that's how I envision it.
36:22But those 50,000 years, brothers, I hope, you know, not too much sweat is coming down my forehead, you know.
36:27So inshallah, smoothly, it will go smoothly.
36:31Thank you, brother.
36:34May Allah reward you.
36:36I mean, thank you.
36:37Thank you for having me here.
36:38May Allah bless you.
36:39May Allah bless you.
36:40May Allah bless you.
36:41May Allah bless you.
36:42May Allah bless you.
36:43May Allah bless you.
36:44May Allah bless you.
36:45May Allah bless you.
36:46May Allah bless you.
36:47May Allah bless you.
36:48May Allah bless you.
36:49May Allah bless you.
36:50May Allah bless you.
36:51May Allah bless you.
36:52May Allah bless you.
36:53May Allah bless you.
36:54May Allah bless you.
36:55May Allah bless you.
36:56May Allah bless you.
36:57May Allah bless you.
36:58May Allah bless you.
36:59May Allah bless you.
37:00May Allah bless you.
37:01May Allah bless you.
37:02May Allah bless you.
37:03May Allah bless you.
37:04May Allah bless you.
37:05May Allah bless you.
37:06May Allah bless you.